THE EVOLUTION OF MALAY SPELLING. 105 



pada 



2) ula 



punya 



ru pa 



S( Ujaja 



senjcttct 



A9 



Jy 



OS 



-hj 



7-\.i*w 



oW" 



(3) The insertion of the weak letters wait and ya in closed 

 syllables appears to be a growing- habit. It is this tendency of 

 the Malays to use the weak letters which van de Wall sarcas- 

 tically characterises as " kitchenmaid spelling." No amount of 

 sarcasm, however, will counteract this inevitable tendency, 

 which is not the result of ignorance at all, but rather of a set 

 determination to make words more legible. The only conces- 

 sion along this line which van de Wall is willing' to give the 

 Malay is : " If the last letter of a word is a final h, a mere aspir- 

 " ate, then he is free to express the vowel of the previous letter 

 " if it is a kasrah (/, e) or dlammah (o. u) by the corresponding 



" lengthening letter, e. g. ^jj pedih ^;". runtoh." 



Kobinson went further than this, and wished the weak letter 

 to be inserted in some words which are ambiguous, as, 



ampat umpat talis tulus 



4JU\ iiu » i jJJ wry 



The modern practice of the Malays themselves, huwever, 

 goes further still. Abdullah wrote : 



apit bargwi Hum betid gantorg gadoh hanchor hido y g ikut 

 kawan-nya kechil kepiig kris kulit lantek masirg menargis pedeh 



rirggit 



sabot 



saudagnr scbut ts'urgkor 



targgoh 



taroh tekun 



<fs-j 



SyL* 



tclut triis tuan 



OyKii 



*j>J* of^ 



li 



