A Malayan Element in some of the 

 Languages of Southern Indo-China. 



By C. 0. Blagden. 



In a former paper I endeavoured to point out that the 

 aboriginal dialects of the Malay Peninsula show distinct traces 

 of an Indo-Chinese element, impressed upon them, probably at a 

 fairly early date, by the intrusion from Southern Indo-China of 

 a race of Mon-Annam stock speaking a language which was 

 closely allied to that of the Peguans and Cambojans.* The 

 object of the present paper is to introduce the readers of this 

 Journal to what may perhaps be appropriately described as 

 the converse phenomenon, namely, the persistence (from a 

 still remoter era) in some parts of Southern Indo-China, of 

 distinct relics of an independent group of Malayan dialects, 

 underlying the now dominant Indo-Chinese languages of that 

 region. 



As might be expected, the modern representatives of this 

 group are far from being pure Malayan tongues : they exhibit 

 obvious traces of the Mon-Annam and other influences to which 

 they have for many centuries been subjected, and it is by no 

 means certain that, in their present mixed condition, they can 

 all claim to be classified in the Malayo-Polynesian family of 

 languages. But whether that claim, which is sometimes made 

 for them by French scholars more familiar with the Indo-Chinese 

 than the Malayan languages, could be substantiated or not ; 

 whether, that is to say, these mixed dialects are to be regarded 



* This subject has been learnedly and (so far as the materials at 

 his disposal permitted) exhaustively handled by the Rev. Father W. 

 Schmidt in a recent paper "Die Sprachen der Sakei und Semang auf 

 Malacca und ihr Verhaltnis zu den Mon-Khmet-Sprachen", which 

 appeared in Bijdragen tot de Taal-hand-en Volken-Kunde van Neder- 

 landsch-Indie Vol/ LII (Series 6, part 8) Fasc. 3-4 (The Hague, 1901). 



It remains to be seen whether the author's conclusions will stand 

 the test of the further evidence that can be adduced; but at any rate 

 he has marshalled the evidence that was before him with admirable 

 skill and scientific acumen. 



Jour. Straits Branch. 



