Thomson. — Wlience of the Maori. Ivii 



grammar. As tlie pronominal affixes are tlie same in all tenses, these middle 

 ■vrords become the characteristics by which each tense is distinguished. Thus, 

 in this portion of idiom the Malagasi has strong Tamilian affinities, due (if the 

 theory I formerly enunciated be admitted) to the archaic connection with 

 South Hindustan or Barata, and not, in any way, to its more distant 

 connection by relation with Malayo-Polynesia. 



In phonetic comparison it will have been noticed that Malay is nearer to 

 Malagasi than to Tongan or Maori, the number of consonants being seventeen 

 to sixteen respectively, the letter v being absent in the former, and w and y in 

 the latter. Yet the Malagasi is much more vocalic than Malay. It may be 

 here stated that there are three dialects spoken in Madagascar — the Ankova, 

 the Betsimisaraka, and Sakalava. The former is by far the most copious, 

 regular, and extensive, and is the only one as yet in which anything has been 

 written or printed. Mr Griffiths characterizes the language as melliHuous and 

 soft, and, equally with the students of Malay in the Indian Archipelago, he 

 panegyrizes it as the Italian of the South. I could never see this, though I 

 have often heard the same sentiment expatiated on. If softness be admirable, 

 then we have it advancing to extreme weakness in the eastern and southern 

 parts of Polynesia, where six to eight consonants are all that are possessed by 

 cognate tribes. Taking Malay as the middle tongue, it is more masculine 

 than the Maori or Tongan, and less vibratory than the Malagasi ; thus — 

 Langit, sky, in Malay, becomes lanitra in Malagasi. 

 Kilat, lightning, in Malay, becomes helatra in Malagasi. 

 Kulit, skin, in Malay, becomes hoditra in Malagasi. 

 Here the Malay expressions have abrupt terminations, while those of the 

 Malagasi vibrate at the end. In this characteristic the phonology of South 

 Hindustan indicates its influence. 



Embracing the whole subject then, we have this fact made patent to us : 

 that confined within fifteen degrees of the equator we have one family of 

 languages spreading from Madagascar to New Guinea, and thence easterly to the 

 extremes of Polynesia, New Zealand inclusive ; but a breach in which, in this 

 present era, occurs by the breadth of the Indian Ocean. The two portions of 

 the one family situated on the borders of the breach are glossarially and 

 phonetically closer to each other than either of these are to those portions 

 stretching into Polynesia ; while, idiomatically, the portion on the west side of 

 the breach — that is Madagascar — shows Tamilian or South Indian affinities. 

 What does this view indicate % 



That they all are parts of one original family there can be no question, 

 for when we advance beyond the limit above assigned, as shown before, we 

 meet with Asiatic or Australian nations and tribes, whose languages are 

 of entirely difierent genius. I have already brought to your notice the 



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