114 TIiE EVOLUTION OF MALAY SPELLING. 



(cf) The further addition of suffixes or particles to derived 

 words should cause no change in spelling 1 . Some persons write 

 alif after the possessive pronoun nya when it is followed by the 

 particles Lilt, kah, etc., but this appears to be unnecessary. Ex- 

 amples : 



bapa-nya bapa-nya-kah kasehi di-kasehi-nya-lah 



namai di-namtCi-vya-lah 



(G) The orthographical sign hamza * , which was very 

 seldom written in the manuscripts of the 1 7th century, is now in 

 common use among the Malays, chiefly for the purpose of in- 

 troducing a syllable which commences with a vowel ; they never 

 employ it however for this purpose at the beginning of a word. 

 The hamza is placed over alif, wau or ya according to the vowel 

 sound of the syllable in which it is used. 



(a) Root words commencing with the vowels correspond- 

 ing to wau and ya are written with an initial alif, but this alif 

 drops out on the addition of the prefix sa, its place being taken 

 by the hamza; with the prefix ke the alif is retained and hamza 

 written over it. 



set ovary sci olah- olah saisi saekov saumpama keirginan 



9"jy^ K^J~> (J^i" jy^ A&*j~ L>4*JU 



In the following words the alif is the lengthening letter of 

 the preceding syllable, 



iciitu kail vcteh dairah 



(b) In similar derivatives formed from words commencing 

 with the a sound, the alif is retained and the hamza written over 

 it, as, 



keadtian keampat kaatas sdakan-akan 



Ulv ii\< ^% r^u 



