96 MALAY LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 
Malay (and likewise of Chinese, Shan, Talaing, Burmese, and 
Siamese) is the use of certain class-words or cvefficients with 
numerals, such as orang (man), when speaking of persons, esor 
(tail) of animals, képing (piece) of flat things, J7/i (seed) of 
roundish things ; e, g., Jima biji télor, five eggs. The number 
of these class- words is considerable. Malay verbs have neither 
person or number nor mood or tense. ‘The last two are some- 
times indicated by particles or auxiliary verbs; but these are 
generally dispensed with if the meaning is sufficiently plain 
without them. ‘he Malays avoid the building up of long sen-- 
tences. The two main rules by which the order of the words ina 
sentence is regulated are—subject, verb, object ; and qualify- 
ing words follow those which they qualify. This is quite the 
reverse of what is the rule in Burmese. 
The history of the Malays amply accounts for the number 
and variety of foreign ingredients in their language. Hindus 
appear to have settled in Sumatra and Java as early as the 4th 
century of our era, and to have continued to exercise sway 
over the native populations for many centuries. These receiy- 
ed from them into their language a very large number of Sans- 
krit terms from which we can infer the nature of the civiliz- 
ing influence imparted by the Hindurulers. Not only in words 
concerning commerce and agriculture, but also in terms con- 
nected with social, religious, and administrative matters, that 
influence is traceable in Malay. See W. EH. Maxwetr, Manual 
of the Malay Language, 1882, pp. 5-34, where this subject is 
treated more fully than by previous writers. This Sanskrit 
element forms such an integral part of the Malay vocabulary 
that in spite of the subsequent infusion of Arabic and Persian 
words adopted in the usual course of Mohammedan conquest 
it has retained its ancient citizenship in the language. The 
number of Portuguese, English, Dutch, and Chinese werds in 
Malay is not considerable; their presence is easily accounted 
for by political or commercial contact. 
The Malay language abounds in idiomatic expressions, 
which constitute the chief difficulty in its acquisition. It is 
sparing in the use of personal pronouns, and prefers unperson- 
al and elliptical diction. As it is rich in specifie expressions 
for the various aspects of certain ideas, it is requisite to em- 
ploy always the most appropriate term suited {o the particular 
