16 LANGUAGES OF JAVA. 



expression, but in many cases an absolute difference 

 in tbe words ; it being a bigb mark of disrespect for 

 an inferior to call even tbe commonest tbings by tbe 



his prince. The superior replies in the ordinary dialect, the 

 language still affording modifications and distinctions according 

 to the rank of the person he addresses, until that rank rises to 

 equality, when, if no intimacy subsists between the parties, the 

 language of deference is adopted by both ; or if there does, 

 ceremony is thrown aside, and the ordinary language becomes 

 the only medium of conversation. .... 



w In a few words of rare occurrence no change takes place. 

 Recourse in other cases is had to the recondite language of litera- 

 ture, which is equivalent to the Sanskrit Sometimes 



the word used in the language of deference is an entire synonym, 

 differing in sound and orthography, as for ' gawe ' to do, 

 ' damal.' .... 



" The most frequent mode of all, is by effecting a slight 

 orthographical change in words of the ordinary language. A 

 termination in s, in ng, and in tan is respectful ; and it is re- 

 spectful always to change a broad- sounding vowel into a more 

 slender one. ' Maricho ' pepper, becomes by this rule ' mariyos;' 



c priyai,' chief, ' priyantan ;' ' kayu/ wood, ■ kajang.' 



Even the names of places are in the most puzzling and provoking 

 manner, subjected to the same changes. In writing to a supe- 

 rior, for instance, it would be thought ill-bred to use the usual 

 words Cheribon, Garsik or Solo, the inferior would call them 

 respectively Grage, Tandas, and Surakarta." 



Of the ancient Kawi language, he remarks : " The Kawi, in 

 its simplicity of structure, resembles the Javanese, but it has a 

 greater variety and range of consonants and vocalic sounds 

 than the popular language, is harsher in its prosody than what 

 we expect in the genius of the soft tongues of the Indian 

 Islanders, and seems, in short, to have in this particular a 

 foreign air. In its composition it abounds in Sanskrit words — 



