A grammar and dictionary of the Malay language : with a preliminary ...

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DISSERTATION.
syllables frequently begin with an aspirate, but never terminate
in one, a rule the reverse of that which obtains in Malay and
Javanese. There is one peculiarity in the pronunciation of
Malagasi words which deserves notice, that the final syllable of
words ending in vowels, diphthongs, and nasals is usually
dropped in utterance. From this account, it is certain that the
phonetic character of the language is widely different from that
of the languages of Sumatra, Java, Celebes, the PhiUppinc
islands, and of the principal language of the islands of the
Pacific.
The grammatical structure of the Malagasi is simple, like
that of the Malay and Javanese, but the simplicity is of a
different character. There is one article, the definite. Rela-
tion is expressed by prepositions; gender and number by
adjectives. In these three cases the words employed in
Malagasi and in Malay or Javanese are wholly different, with
one exception, the adjective for masculine, which is the Malayan
laki, corrupted lahi, but even this has a native synonyme. The
adjective is not distinguished from the noun, the same word
being used indifferently for either. The pronoun of the first
person has a singular and a plural, with a distinct word in
the singular to express a genitive case. The pronoun of the
second person has also a singular and a plural, but no geni-
tive for the singular. The pronoun of the third has no
distinction of gender or number, but by modification of form
represents a genitive. All the three differ in form from any
of the numerous personal pronouns of the Malay and Javanese
languages.
All that is complex in Malagasi grammar belongs to the
verb. The verb is formed from roots or radical words, of which
450 are enumerated. From these no fewer than 13 different
kinds of verbs are formed by prefixed inseparable particles,
which, in so far as the present of the indicative is concerned,
always begin with the letter m. A passive verb is formed by
prefixing inseparably to the root the particles vua or tafa.
The missionaries make the Malagasi verbs to have three
moods, an indicative, an imperative, and an infinitive ; and
three tenses, a present, consisting of the initial letter of the
inseparable prefix in ni, a preterite of which it is n, aiul a future