OF THE INDO-CHINESE NATIONS. 245 



head; but, in Siamese, it it is kutt-khon, and in Ma- 

 layii, kapala orang, both of which are literally head- 

 man A similar difference occurs in the position of 

 the accusarive with an active verb, which case, in 

 Banna and Malayu, generally precedes the verb, as 

 tummal/ig chd, literally rice eat ; but in Siamese fol- 

 lows it, as ken kazv, literally eat rice, which corre- 

 sponds to the Malayu, makan-nasi. The adjective 

 generally follows the substantive, and the adverb the 

 word which it modilies, whether adjective or verb. 

 AVlienever the name of an animal, and in general, 

 wben that of a species or class, is mentioned, the ge- 

 neric, or more general name of the genus to which 

 it belongs, is repeated with it, as often happens in 

 the other monosyllabic languages, as well as in Ala- 

 layu. In the position of the adverbial particle, the 

 Malayu, often differs from the Siamese; as Mana 

 pargi, literally xvhere go, but, in Siamese, pai knci, go 

 where. The Siamese composition is also, like that of 

 the Barma, a species of measured prose, regulated 

 solely by the accent, and the parallelism of the 

 members of the sentence; but, in the recitative, the 

 Siamese approaches more nearly to the Chinese mode 

 of recitation, and becomes a kind of chaunt, which 

 different Brakmcns have assured me is very similar 

 to the mode of chaunting the Samaveda. 



The T'hay coincides occasionally, even in simple 

 terms ; both with the Barma and Malayu; but these 

 terms bear so small a proportion to the mass of the 

 language, that they seem rather the effect of acci- 

 dent or mixture, than of original connection. The 

 following are some of these coincidences which pre- 

 sent themselves spontaneously. 



