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

MALAYAN LANGUAGE. 129
disposition of the long and short, or, more properly, the accented and
unaccented syllables. But notwithstanding tliis, a general similarity ol"
cadence prevails throughout all poems of the same class, and the princi-
ples therefore on which the verse is constructed should not be considered
as an hopeless subject of investigation.
Whether there may not be a variety in tlie measure of the jt« siar or
regular poems, I am not prepared to say, but as all those in my own collec-
tion are uniform in this respect, and as they also correspond with the
specimens given by Werndly and Leyden, it may be concluded that
any other measure is by no means common. The lines of which the
couplets are formed consist at the least of eight syllables, the most perfect
lines being those of nine and ten. Lines of eleven, twelve, and even of
more syllables occur, but they are unpleasing to the ear, and seem to be
the produce of necessity rather than of choice. These syllables resolve
themselves into four metrical feet, with a pause after the second. Of
the length and quality of the feet it is not so easy to judge as of their
number, and the result of my analysis, I am aware, may not prove
satisfactory to others. In order to place the subject in a point of view
the most convenient for examination, a few lines shall be taken indiscri-
minately from a poem, and to these shall be subjoined a dissection of
each in the usual metrical notation, here to be understood as representing
accented and unaccented syllables.
tlX-j i.Uj-' l::.^U< JS ^ C-'l> j*i/« _^rj i_f;:^
^L J'j\j
JAdS Jii "5 cp .\JS il^\j
J^
Lulu ber-hdta raja baiigsaivmi
Ka-pada islrl tang dermuimn
L I Isuk