xlviii 



Appendix. 



Malagnd. 



When there is an elision of a vowel it is 

 specified by an apostrophe, as : t.amm'olona 

 — human hand ; or otherwise, as in maso- 

 andro — sun, from maso, eye, and andro, 

 day. 



There are three definite articles — ?', ra, 

 and nij ; i and ra are prefixed to names of 

 persons to distinguish them from common 

 terms ; i is prefixed only to proper names 

 of places. The article 7iy is applied to 

 nouns, and is definite. 



Verbal nouns are derived from verbs, and 

 are formed by changing m into mp and/, 

 as : ma7ioratra — to write ; mpanoratra — 

 writer ; fanoratra —mode of writing ; fan- 

 oratana — things used for writing. 



Nouns have three numbers —singular, 

 dual, and plural. 



Singular. Omhy iray — a bullock. 

 Dual. Anahany — a brother and sister ; 



kamhana — twins ; izy roa laliy — the 



two men. 

 Plural. Olona maro — many people; 



omby ireo — these cattle ; tranon-tslhia 



— our house. 

 The above are only a very few examples. 



Gender. —The masculine and feminine 

 genders are distinguished by different 

 words, or by adding the words laliy and 

 vavy — male and female. 



Tompoholahy — a lord. 



Tompokovavy — a lady. 



Lahinomby — a bull. 



Ombivavy — a cow. 



Zanakalahy — a son. 



Zanakavavy — a daughter. 



Case. — The nominative precedes the 

 verb when the agent is the most emphatic 

 word ; but it follows when the opposite, 

 as : miteny alio — I speak ; viitoetra alio — 

 I stay. 



Nouns in the possessive case are express- 

 ed as follows : ianan' olona — a man's hand ; 

 tendrok' omby — a bullock's horn. 



Nouns in the objective case are thus 

 placed : inanoraty ny taratsy ny zazalahy — 

 the boys write the copies. 



So, also, have we d'i'oronf} — they, from 

 dya, these, and orong, men ; again, mata- 

 hnri — the sun, from mata, eye, and /ta?v', 

 day. 



Definition is effected by the use of the 

 words dl and itii, as : di orong — the men ; 

 itic orong — these men. There is no indefi- 

 nite article, but the word si is sometimes 

 used in place thereof, as : si-anu — a person, 

 or so-and-so. 



And here we have sural or meniurat — to 

 wi-ite ; ijeniurut — a writer ; meniuratan — 

 mode of writing ; per-suratan — things used 

 for writing. 



The numbers do not take so elaborate a 

 form, but yet they have exposition, thus : 

 Singular. Domba satu — a sheep. 

 Dual. Ade-brade — Brother and sister; 

 kambari — twins . 



Plural. Orong haniak — many peojile ; 

 domba itu — these sheep ; ruma-klta — • 

 our house. 



Here we have lahl and bhii, as applied to 

 man and wife ; and janfau and betina, as 

 generally applied to beasts. 



L'lmhu jantan — a bull. 



Limbu betina — a cow. 



Anak laki — a son. 



Anak betina or perampuan — a daughter. 



The noun both precedes and follows the 

 verb, the latter the more so in the written 

 language, as : ahi kata or kata ku — I 

 speak ; minanti ku or aku min.anti — I wait. 



The possessive case takes a similar posi- 

 tion, as : tangan orang — a man's hand ; 

 tundok limbu — a bullock's horn. 



Here : meniuratan turiit-i uUh anak laki 

 — the boys follow the writing. 



Adjectives. 



An adjective follows the noun when the 

 latter is the most emphatic word, as : lehi- 

 lahy hendry — wise man ; but when the 

 contrary, so the position is altered, as : 

 hendry ny lehilahy. 



Numbers, 



The system is doubtful, both positions 

 being in force, as : laki bijak — a man wise ; 

 and busoh noma — a bad name. These are 

 transposable by the context. 



Up to ten have already been described 

 (see Trans. N.Z. Inst., Vol. V.). The teens 

 are differently constructed from the Malay, 

 but twenty, thirty, forty, etc., are precisely 

 similar. 



Zato — one hundred. 



Arivo — one thousand. 



The Malagasi numbers being more simi- 

 lar to those of other races in the Indian 

 Archipelago than to the Malay, one or two 

 examples are here only given. 



Sa rat us — one hundred. 

 Saribu — one thousand. 



