20 THE FORMATION OF WORDS. 
ion scant because the historic element is almost entirely want- 
ing. Wehaveas yet no data as to the time of division of the 
various branches of this family, though some writers have 
settled this question to their satisfaction by intuition, without, 
however, convincing the careful enquirer. Nevertheless the 
comparison of Malayan languages will lead us a considerable 
distance towards the solution of the problem of the proto- 
malayan language. Nor will this task bea very difficult one 
after the necessary materials for such a work have once been 
collected. 
In the present paper we will attempt to study, in some of 
its phases, a more difficult subject, not the original form of 
words but the formation of words ( Wortbildung). We will 
find not a little agreement in the manner of these formations in 
widely differentiated languages of this family, and this avree- 
ment must necessarily point back to a common source. Sucha 
study. to be on a strictly scientific basis, should start from one 
of the more unchanged and original languages of the branch, 
preferably from the Batak ( Batta) or one or the other of the 
Filipino vernaculars, and not from the highly disintegrated and 
corrupted Malay of the present day.* I have, however, will- 
ingly incurred the difficulty and undergone the inconvenience 
of making Malay the foundation of my remarks, because Malay 
is a lancuage better known to my readers and consequently of 
greater interest to them. 
The simplest formation of words of a new meaning in 
Malay is by 
I, REDUPLICATION. 
Herein and in the use of ‘ classifiers” or numeral co-effici- 
ents the Malay family of languages is related both to the 
Chinese (Mongolian ) and the Papuan languages. Let us en- 
* This must not be understood as in any sense disparaging to 
the usefulness and importance of the language. Malay has bought 
its popularity as a medium of speech over so vast a territory at the 
same price at which English has acquired its world-wide sway: 
Grammatical finesse and linguistically interesting forms have been 
lost in equal proportion as the language has affected larger circles of: 
population. 
Jour. Straits Branch 
