Ebook: A Concise Introduction to the Study of the Malagasy Language as Spoken in Imerina

London Missionary Society, 1894. — 110 p.I am indebted to the kindness of my brother missionaries for the opportunity of publishing this third and enlarged edition of my Grammar. I have long had by me notes collected with a view to such an enlargement. Some of the material, indeed, now used was already in my note books before I wrote the first edition in 1873, but space could not be found for it. In preparing this edition I have separated the Syntax from the account of the various word-forms and their meanings ; and I have endeavoured throughout to illustrate and enlarge on such points as experience has shown to cause difficulty to foreigners learning the language. Many points not likely to give trouble to a learner have been passed over more lightly.The main features of the book remain unchanged, and most of the additions are the result of my own observation. But I have taken hints from all quarters, though I could not in every instance exactly define my indebtedness. I would, however, acknowledge my obligation to Mr. H. F. Standing for a series of very interesting notes and suggestions, many of which I have embodied in the book. In some other cases, when I have not adopted Mr. Standing's opinion, I have somewhat modified my own statement. All readers will notice my frequent references to the Annual. The seventeen published numbers of that work contain a mass of information and speculation as to the language, and I have made it my aim to direct attention to the various points discussed. This Introduction is thus to a large extent a key to the philological papers in the Annual, and will I hope facilitate the study of the rich store of material contained therein.This book is published in the hope that it may prove useful to the missionaries of the next generation, and that they may in due time so advance the study of the language by further study and investigation as to render it obsolete.Faravohitra yJune 1, 1894.