Excerpt from A Grammar of the Malayan Language, Vol. 1: With an Introduction and Praxis That the Malayan language has obtained this extensive cur reney is attributable in the first place to the enterprising and commercial character of the people, who either by force of arms or in the spirit of mercantile speculation, have established them selves in every part of the archipelago convenient for their pur suits; and perhaps in an equal degree, to the qualities of the language itself, being remarkably soft and easy of pronunciation, simple in the grammatical relation of its words, and in the construction of its sentences, plain and natural. The attention indeed to smoothness of utterance is so great that not only, in the formation of derivatives, letters are systematically changed in order to please the ear, but also in words borrowed from the continental tongues, the Malays are accustomed to polish down the rougher consonants to the standard of their own organs. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from A Grammar of the Malayan Language, Vol. 1: With an Introduction and Praxis The Malayan, or, according to the pronunciation of the natives, the Malayu language (of which a Dictionary was lately, and a Grammar is now offered to the public) prevails throughout a very extensive portion of what is vaguely termed the East-Indies, including the southern part of the peninsula beyond the Ganges, now bearing the name of the Malayan peninsula, together with the islands of Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Celebes, and innumerable others, as far to the eastward as the Moluccas, emphatically termed the Spice-islands, to the southward, as the island of Timor, and to the northward, as the Philippines; forming collectively the Malayan archipelago. This great insular region may also not inaptly receive the appellation of the Hither Polynesia, as distinguished from the Further Polynesia or vast expanse of South-sea islands, between which, New guinea may be considered as the common boundary. The name of Polynesia, as applied to this tract, was first used by M. De Brosses, and afterwards adopted by the late Mr. A. Dalrymple. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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