A grammar of the Malayan language, with an introduction and praxis..

MALAYAN LANGUAGE 125
there Is something gratifying to the ear of a native in this metrical dispo-
sition of the long and short sounds, although our own may not be sensible
to its advantages. In common writing, however, it is more usual to
mark the dupUcation of the word by the CS*\ angka or cipher, as T^lj,
TtL^il, r jJl^, but the distmction is notwithstanding observed in pronun-
ciation.
Such are the Intricate rules by which the changes of quantity In
words, upon the application of additional syllables, may be said to be
governed; although in fact the rules themselves are no more than in-
ferences from the practice of good writers ; and should they not be at
first Intelligible to the student, he should not on that account be dis-
couraged, as he may possess a very competent knowledge of the language
without having mastered them ; their accurate employment being obliga-
tory upon the writer rather than upon the reader and translator. I had
myself read many books before I thought of combining them Into a
system, and probably might have remained content to take them as I
found them, had I not conceived the idea of renderbg the experience I
had acquired, of use in the instruction of others.
It must be acknowledged that many of the words are much disfigured
with respect to their original appearance, by the dislocation of the long
vowels, and for this reason perhaps as much as from ignorance, many
scribes, not particularly tenacious of correct orthography, adopt a degree
of licence, and do not scruple to introduce the long vowels in places
where the supplementary only should be expressed or understood ; writ-
ing jjJiJ ttdoi' for jxJ tJdor sleep, tl$^ siiha lor CJ^ suka glad, ti,yl5
patut for c>j\i pdtut ought, ^j^_ bliii for ^ bmi wife ; and in many
instances it Is difficult to say on which side the authorities preponderate,
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