142 OCCASIONAL NOTES. 



the dialect spoken in the particular district where he was 

 stationed, the result would be an invaluable contribution 

 to the scientific study of the Malayan languages. Local 

 dialects, which were formerly neglected under the mis- 

 taken idea that they were mere corruptions of the standard 

 or written language, are now recognized to be of great 

 importance from the philological point of view, and in man}' 

 countries they are being accurately recorded and studied. It 

 is regrettable that in this respect we should lag so far behind 

 the Dutch, who have by this time compiled more or less adequate 

 records (some of them in every way admirable) of almost every 

 language and dialect spoken in their vast section of the Archi- 

 pelago. To take one instance, of which I have some slight 

 personal knowledge : we possess an excellent Dutch dictionary 

 of Menangkabau Malay and a goodly number of specimens in 

 prose and verse, of that curious and interesting dialect, yet, 

 though this same dialect, with slight variations, is spoken in 

 Naning (Malacca) and the Negri Sembilan, where scores of 

 Englishmen have heard it spoken, we have no adequate English 

 record of it. 



What is wanted, among other things, is an accurate account 

 of 



(1) peculiarities of intonation and accent; 



(2) peculiarities of pronunciation of particular syllables, 



especial ly finals ; 



(3) grammatical and syntactical peculiarities, if any, e. g. the 



use of prefixes or suffixes different from those of ordin- 

 ary Malay ; and differences in the construction of 

 sentences ; 

 (4J preference for one of two synonyms where the stand- 

 ard Malay prefers the other ; 



(5) the use of words with a meaning differing from that 



which they have in the standard language : 



(6) local words, simple and derivative, not found in the 



standard language; 



(7) local phrases, turns of speech and idioms. 



Another subject which needs working up is that of place- 

 names, both those that appear to be Malay and such as have no 

 meaning in Malay and are probably in some cases Aboriginal. 



