George Williams Parker

“ A. But adverbs of quality or manner are few, their place being supplied— 1. by adjectives; as, mihìra tsàra, 'to sing well'. A more common and very useful idiom, is the reversal of this phrase, the adjective still keeping its adjectival force, while the verb is exchanged for a relative noun in the 'limiting accusative' case; as, tsàra-fihìra, 'good as regards the manner of singing'. 2. by prepositional phrases or compound prepositions. These are formed by joining an- as a prefix to root-nouns, as an-dràriny, 'justly'; to abstract nouns, as an-kafetsèna (from fètsy) , 'cunningly' ”

“ They are enough to show that all these dialects form essentially one language, the local differences being due to causes acting over a limited region; while strong foreign influence (limited, however, to one tribe) is seen in the case of the Hova names for the months. ”

“ A prohibition is expressed, not by the imperative mood, as in many languages, but by the indicative mood preceded by àza. In this case the verb (in the indicative) may belong to any of the three voices. Ex.: àza mitèny hìanào, 'do not speak. (N.B.—As there is no exact equivalent for the verb "to be" in Malagasy, àza may be used prohibitively with adjectives also; thus, àza tèzitra hìanào, 'do not (be) angry.') ”

“ Relative Noun.—f prefixed to a relative verb changes it into a relative noun; and as the meaning is still as wide as before (f only adding the idea of habit) another noun is often put before it, to limit its meaning; as, tràno-fivavà-hana, 'a house for prayer.'
N.B.—Do not use the habitual noun of the agent (which always begins with mp-) for an agent not necessarily habitual. Ex.: mpamòno, 'a man who often and habitually murders,' a regular assassin ”

“ Rule for choosing which voice (active or passive) is to be used:—When "the agent and his act" are most in your thoughts, choose the active voice; when "the result of the act" is most in your thoughts, choose the passive voice. The Malagasy usually prefer the passive voice.
Rule for the use of the passive voice of verbs which govern two accusatives:—Either accusative may be made the nominative of a passive verb.
N.B.—When two passives exist from the same root (viz. in a- and -ina) take care to choose the right one. ”

“ THE ARTICLE.
The Definite Article.—There is only one definite article, nỳ, which is used before common nouns, and has the same defining power as our English article the. Its special uses are as follows.
a (when used) :—
1. Like the Greek article, it is much used to turn other parts of speech into nouns; as, nỳ manòratra, 'the art of writing', or 'the people who write.'
2. It is used generically, with reference to the whole of a class; as, nỳ vòrona, 'birds' (or, the birds) . This is the only sense in which nỳ can be used with proper names; as, nỳ Màlagàsy, 'Malagasy' (as a nation) . ”

“ TABLE OF ADJECTIVE FORMS.
The scarcity of true adjectives in the Malagasy language is supplied in various ways, viz. by the free use of verbs as adjectives or participles, as already said; by the use of words which are verbal in form but practically adjectives; as, vavàna (root vàva) , talkative, literally 'mouthed'. ”

“ The Malagasy Verb has three voices, the active, the passive, and the relative; each voice has only two moods, the indicative and the imperative; and each mood has the three simple tenses, present, past and future. No changes are made for gender, number, or person. ”

“ The twelve Malagasy months do not correspond with our months, but are continually shifting their place in our calendar, the Malagasy year being eleven days shorter than ours. 1st ’Alamahàdy Hatsìa (-ka) Hatsìa Hatsìa Asìha Hataìa Hatsìa Hatsìa 2nd Adàoro Vòlasìra Vòlasìra Vàlasìra Vàlasìra Vòlasìra Vòlasìra Vòlasìra 3rd ’Adizàoza Zarày Vòlapàosa Vàlampòsa Fòsa ? ”

“ As there is no reflexive pronoun in Malagasy, tèna (body) is used for self; as, namòno tèna ìzy, 'he killed himself'.
The Rule for attaching the suffix pronouns to any word is as follows:— (1) For words not ending in -na, -ka, or -tra; attach the full form of the suffixed pronoun, without contraction. (2) For words ending in -na, -ka, or -tra; if the accent is on the antepenult, take one or other of the contracted forms of the suffixed pronouns, and either throw away or shorten their last syllable. If the accent is on the penult, either the full or the contracted forms may be used ”

“ But even in these cases the accent still rests on the antepenult, in accordance with the apparently invariable rule for all pure Malagasy words, that the accent must never be further from the end of a word than the antepenult. ”

“ After nò in some idiomatic phrases, where nò seems equivalent to nỳ or izày; as, hòy nò navàliny àzy, or hòy nỳ navàliny àzy.
The Indefinite Article.—The Malagasy language has no indefinite article, but the place of it is supplied in one or other of these four ways:—
1. By omitting nỳ; as, nahìta òmby àho, 'I saw an ox', (or, oxen) ; (2) by the use of anànkirày and sasàny in the half-definite sense of some, certain; (3) by using the relative pronoun izày, in an indefinite sense, as, ìza nò hatòky izày adàla? 'who would trust a fool' (or, one who is a fool) ? ”

“ The dependent verb, and that on which it depends, are not necessarily of the same voice or of the same tense; but, among the many possible combinations made in this way, the following two Rules should be remembered: (1) A past can only be used as dependent on a past. (2) The future is more often used in this dependent manner than either the past or the present.
An Imperative can be followed by a present or a future of any voice.
The Conditional mood is expressed by the indicative mood preceded by a conditional conjunction (ràha, nòny, &c.) ”

“ Any adjective can be made imperative or optative by following the rules given for active verbs or those for root-passives; and either the meaning of the adjective, or else the context, will determine whether a command or a wish is intended to be expressed. As, mazòto, 'diligent'; màzotòa, 'be diligent': faìngana, 'quick'; faingàla, 'be quick.'
Construction of Adjectives. ”

“ In any language the study of the roots of the words is important, but this is more especially the case with the Malagasy language, because the derivatives, though regular, are very varied. These roots are chiefly verbs (active and passive) , nouns, and adjectives ”

“ In writing, all Malagasy words are written in full, except when the first of two words is a noun followed by its possessive case, or a verb in the passive or relative voice followed by its agent.
In speaking, each vowel must be clearly pronounced, because often a single vowel is the only means of distinction between two words dissimilar in meaning. Examples:—
An elision occurs in speaking usually when a final a, not accented, precedes a word beginning with any other vowel; also when final o precedes a word beginning with o. ”

“ Rules for the formation of the Verbs with the prefix 'man-'.
a. If the root begins with a vowel or with the consonants d, g, j; simply apply the prefix, and make no change.
b. If the root begins with any consonant except one of these three:—
The first consonant of the root is rejected:—k, s, t, tr, ts, and sometimes h, are rejected.
or, The first consonant of the root is changed:—h sometimes becomes g; l becomes d; r becomes dr; z becomes j (dz) .
or, The first consonant of the root is rejected and the prefix changed (from man- to mam-) before b, v, f, or p. ”

“ In the case of a passive or a relative verb and its agent, the agent always comes next to its verb; as, nòvonòin' nỳ jìolàhy ìzy, 'he was killed by the highwaymen.'
Even in the case of compound verbs (as, mamìndra-fò, from ìndra and fò) , when the passive or the relative construction is used, the agent, and all words closely connected with it, must come next to the verb, the noun (in this case, fò) being separated from its verb ”

“ By certain active verbs, which contain a prepositional force and govern a direct accusative, where in English they would need a preposition; as, mandaìnga àzy, 'to tell a lie to him'; milàza àzy, 'to tell about him,' (but milàza àminy, 'to tell to him') . 3. The relative voice of a verb often contains a prepositional force; as, nìtondràny ràno àho, 'I was the person (in respect) to whom he brought water'. 4. Many Malagasy verbs govern two accusatives, which in English would require a preposition before one of them ”

“ When one of the changeable consonants follows a word so contracted, it is changed according to rule (see p. 8) , as if the letter m or n closed the preceding syllable. These final syllables (if not contracted) are always sounded lightly, although they become almost mute when the accent falls on the antepenult. When followed by a consonant, the sound of final a is always kept.
When a word ending in -na, -ka, or -tra, is joined with another word beginning with a vowel, the final a is replaced by an apostrophe ”

“ Euphonic h is generally inserted (both in speaking and writing) in a derivative, when two vowels would otherwise come together, of which one would be the first letter of the root, and the other the last letter of the prefix ”

“ Fòny refers to the past; as, fòny tsỳ mbòla àry nỳ tàny, 'when the earth was not yet created'. Nòny implies a succession of events. Dìeny implies something passing away; as, dìeny mbòla tanòra hìanào, 'while you are still young'. There are three peculiarities noticeable with regard to Malagasy conjunctions: viz.—
1. They are often in couples; as, àry dìa; fà satrìa. 2. The same word often has to serve for several conjunctions ”

“ The government of cases by Malagasy verbs is often puzzling, because, while many verbs govern direct accusatives, others require the preposition àmy to be inserted between them and the cases they govern; while others, again, have both constructions. ”

“ There are also in Malagasy the following common personal prefixes, i, ri, ra, ray, ilày (ilèy, ilèhy) , and andrìana. Of these, i and ra, though generally prefixed to proper nouns, are sometimes prefixed to common nouns used as names of persons; as, ivàdinào, 'your wife'; ralèhilàhy, 'the (or, that) man'. ”

“ Firìna? (passive participle of mifìry) — divided into how many? telòina, divided into three; efàrina, divided into four, &c. They also have imperative moods:—telòy, divide it into three; èfaro, divide it into four, &c.
Mànindròa (manào indròa) , to do (a thing) twice. ”

“ These secondary roots are treated exactly like the primary roots in making verbs, &c. from them; and their accent is always on the second syllable.
Of these prefixes, kan-, san-, and tan- are treated like the active prefix man-; q.v. Besides these, we find an infixed syllable om inserted into a root of either kind immediately after the first consonant, apparently only the transposed form of a prefix mo (=ma) ; thus, tàny, tomàny. ”

“ When so prepared, the pot is carried to the place where the disease to be removed is said by the 'diviner' to have had its origin; the pot is believed to attract the disease to itself, and is consequently left there, the person who leaves it exclaiming 'Sànatrìa,' May it (i.e., the disease) be sanàtry! ”

“ By the use of nouns for our adjectives of material; as, tràno hàzo, 'a house (of) wood', i.e. a wooden house.
By the use of the auxiliary verb àzo for our adjectives in -able and -ible; as, àzo hànina, 'able (to be) eaten', i.e. eatable. ”

“ N.B.—The Multiplicatives are made from the Cardinals by prefixing in-, and making euphonic consonantal changes only in the following few cases:—nf into mp (impìto, impìtopòlo, impòlo) ; nv into mb (imbàlo, inbàlopòlo) ; ns into nts (intsìvy, intsìvifòlo) ; nz into nj (injàto) . Ìsa is used in counting (as ìsa, ròa, &c.—hence the verb manìsa, 'to count') ”

“ Ambàdika (vàdika) , on the other side of (i.e. as of a thing turned upside down) . Àmpovòany (fò and vòa? or, fò reduplicated?) , in the middle of. Ampìta (ìta) , on the other side of, across (a river) . ”

“ Vowel-changes, usually taking place among the vowels of the accented syllable, viz. i (or y) into a or e.
Vowel-changes, usually taking place among the vowels of the accented syllable, viz. ai into e. ”

“ For a vocative case:—the omission of the article; as, Rainaỳ izaỳ àny an-dànitra, 'Our Father who (art) in heaven'; or, the use of rỳ (rày, or rèy) before the vocative case, or ò after it.
Special uses of the Nominative and Accusative Cases. ”

“ A subject— in assertive sentences; as, ìzy nò hanào izàny, 'it is he who shall do that'. in interrogative sentences; as, aìza nò alèhanào, 'where is it that you are going'? N.B.—When the answer to a question would be a subject, nò should be used ”