ON THE ROOTS IN THE MALAY LANGUAGE. D5 
word-tones new words are formed by the addition of the pre- 
fixes fé and /é, though these words are described as being 
entirely synonymous with the roots from which they have 
come, but, if this were perfectly true, these prefixes would 
either constitute nothing more than phonetic affixes, or inde- 
pendent representations of tone conveying the idea that a more 
extended and general meaning should be attached to their pri- 
mitives. In considering the prefix /é, one would, in sucha 
case, have to assume that it merely suggests the sound é 
which, by being aspirated had become #é, and further that 
this h2 has been final ally hardened of into /&é by aspiration. 
Now, as a matter of fact, such an 2 was originally an intrusion 
between two consonants inserted for the sole purpose of sim- 
plifying the pronunciation, therefore we also meet with it in- 
tervening between the final consonant in which the prefix ter- 
minates and the initial consonant with which the root opens ; 
for this reason it is often erroneously looked upon as forming 
a component portion of the root ; hence numbers of words are 
considered to open with an @ when such is not the case, and 
the truth of this assertion becomes apparent when a prefix ter- 
rainating in a vowel, e.g., d/, is substituted for such a one as is 
closed by a consonant. Presuming we were to accept the 
above rule for derivation as noldins ood i in the case of tk, tak, 
teek, we should then feel ourselves compelled to admit that the 
verbs, méngétik, méngétak, méngétoek, were derived from 
them in the first place and that then, from the further deriva- 
tive forms of étik, &c., such words as k2tik, &ec., had been ob- 
tained through the working of some unknown ‘phonetic prin- 
ciple. On account of the close relationship between & and ¢ 
as initial letters, one might likewise be led to imagine that the 
form kétik merely owed its cri igin to reduplication. In favour 
of this opinion would be the circumstance that kz very tfre-- 
quently precedes syllables opening with a dental and, though 
it is often prefixed to other letters as, for instance, in kelip and 
kilap, this might be accounted for by attributing the cireum- 
stance to a transition from the liquid / into the dental d. Con- 
sequently, it would be more advisable to consider the & as hav- 
ing originated through reduplication after another manner, 
¥1Z., to Beol: upon it as proceeding out of the final consonant ; 
