CHAPTER IV
THE MALAY WORD
§ 22. The Malay word may be:
I. Simple,
api fire, běsar big, chěkek strangle, tiga three, kurang less.
II. Derivative, i. e. built up by
(a) affixation (chapter vi):
běrapi fiery, těrběsar very big, měnchěkek strangling, kětiga third, těrkurang much less.
(b) reduplication (§ 63):
api-api mangrove, běsar-běsar fairly great, chěchěkek a ‘yanking’ noose, tiga-tiga three together, kurang-kurang at the lowest.
III. Compounded (§ 65): where compounded the words acquire a conventional meaning that would not belong to them taken separately. kayu-api firewood, orang běsar chief, chěkek kědadak violent strangling, vomiting, tiga-ratus three hundred, kurang akal stupid, rumah tangga wife.
Of course, not every simple word will undergo affixation, reduplication, and compounding. Some that take affixation are not reduplicated; some that are reduplicated are never compounded; some always remain simple.
§ 23. Often the Malay word cannot be assigned definitely to any one of our parts of speech. No hard and fast line exists between the radical used as substantive and the radical
