570 A SCHEME FOR REPRESENTING MALAYAN SOUNDS. 
brous alphabet will not be very often called into use, for the actual 
number of Arabic words in the ordinary written language is not ve¬ 
ry considerable, and to the oral language, in which they are trifling, 
it has no reference. 
A very few examples will show how much better adapted the Roman 
letters are than the Arabic to the expression ot the native sounds of 
the languages of the Archipelago. The Malay words hawa, to bring, 
and bail, odour, are in the latter represented by the very same let¬ 
ters. So are bunga a flower, and buang, to throw away, so are arti 
meaning', and arta, goods, both Sanskrit words, the word baganda, 
prince or highness, is written bgnd, that is without any vowel at all, 
although it contains three. 
I conclude with a few examples of the changes which Arabic 
words undergo in Malayan pronunciation. Kabar, news, becomes ka- 
bar, fakar, to think, pikir, sabab, cause, sabab in Malay and sawab 
in Javanese, raid leave or permission, lila, and wakt, time, waktu, fa- 
luli, to meddle, paduli. The more the language abounds in vowels 
the greater the havoc committed. Majad, amosk, become in Bugis, 
masigi, salam, peace, solon, barkat, a blessing, baraka, and kartas 
paper, karotusa. The Arabic word wakt time, had been pretty well 
mutilated by the Malays and Javanese when they reduced it to 
waktu, but the Bugis thoroughly disfigure it when they make it 
watue. 
