HANDBOUND
AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF
TORONTO PRESS
MELANESIAN LANGUAGES
CODRINOTON
HENRY FROWDE
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE
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Ciarendffn, Press, OaforcL.
THE
MELANESIA^ LANGUAGES
BY
vv^
E.° H^CODEINGTON, D.D.
OF THE MELANESIAN MISSION
FELLOW OF WADHAM COLLEGE, OXFOED
SEE^4 BY
PRESERVATION
SERVICES
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
M DCCC LXXXV
[All rights reserved']
PL
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-i
PREFACE,
I HAVE endeavoured in the following1 pages to carry on the
work of Bishop Patteson. He brought to the philological
study of the Melanesian languages an extraordinary linguistic
faculty,*which enabled him to use very many of them with
ease, but he left little behind him in print or in manu-
script. In the year 1864 he printed privately some outline
grammars or grammatical notes, and in 1866 phrase-books,
and Vocabularies of Mahaga, Bauro, and Sesake, which have
furnished material for the Melanesischen Sprachen of Von
der Gabelentz. In the latter year also phrase-books were
printed in some of the languages of the Banks' Islands.
I have not taken these as tne foundation for my own
work. I never had the advantage of studying them with
Bishop Patteson, and I know that he considered them im-
perfect and tentative. It seemed better to work indepen-
dently on materials obtained directly from natives of Mela-
nesia, and afterwards to compare my conclusions with those
of the Bishop where the subjects were the same. Bishop
Patteson, therefore, is not answerable for the general views
concerning the Melanesian languages here put forward, nor
for the structure and arrangement of the Grammars ; but I
can never forget that I owe any knowledge of these languages
that I may possess to the impulse towards the study of them
and to the direction which I received from him in the first
instance; and I desire to make all that I have been able
to do a memorial of gratitude and affection to him.
We have in our Mission school in Norfolk Island from time
to time boys and young men from many of the Melanesian
vi Preface.
Islands, who all come to know and use, more or less, the
Mota language. From these natives of the various islands, and
by the medium generally of the Mota language, I have ob-
tained what I now offer ; with the exception of what concerns
the Duke of York, Rotuma, Sesake, and Fate languages.
There is an evident advantage in a method that is throughout
more or less comparative ; and in some cases my interpreters
have been able to speak more languages than their own
and Mota. In this way I received the greatest assistance
from my friend and pupil the late Edward Wogale, a native
Deacon, who used with much intelligence his knowledge of
the languages of the Banks' Islands, Torres Islands, Florida
and Fiji.
Great, however, as are the advantages of Norfolk Island for
gaining knowledge of the Melanesian languages, the want of
books and of communication with scholars is much felt in so
remote and isolated a place ; and I hope in consideration of
such difficulties that some indulgence will be allowed to the
many defects of which I am sensible. Since my return to
England I owe much to the kindness and learning of my
friend the Rev. A. L. Mayhew, of Wadham College, who
has saved me from many errors and helped me in many
difficulties.
In conclusion, I venture to say that I put forth my con-
tribution to the knowledge of these languages with a certain
desire to show that in my long absence from Oxford I have
not been altogether idle or unmindful of my connexion with
the University and College to which I owe so much.
WADHAM COLLEGE,
Aug. i, 1885.
CONTENTS.
I. INTBODTJCTION.
I. The Groups of Melanesian Islands. 2. The Melanesian languages here in
view. 3. Polynesian settlements in Melanesia ; their language not in
view. 4. The Melanesian languages homogeneous, and of a common
stock with the Ocean languages, those of the Indian Archipelago and
Polynesia. 5. Great and conspicuous differences between the various
Melanesian languages tend to disappear on closer view. The most ex-
ceptional among them not Australian. 6. Proof of kinship to be found
in Vocabulary ^Grammar, and Phonology, whether between the Melanesian
languages themselves or between these and the Ocean languages gene-
rally. Examples of the use of Vocabulary. 7. Common Numerals and
systems of Numeration. 8. Examples of proof from Grammar ; suffixed
Pronouns, and Verbs. 9. Great differences among Melanesian languages
to be accounted for by the probable history of the population of the
islands. Note. Theory of the connexion of the Melanesians with the
Ocean races pp. 3-35
II. VOCABULABIES.
Mr. Wallace's Vocabularies in his ' Malay Archipelago.' Examination of his
nine words in fifty-nine languages. Seventy words in forty Melanesian
Notes on the Vocabularies .... pp. 36-100
III. SHOBT COMPABATIVE GBAMMAB OF MELANESIAN
LANGUAGES.
Comparison of Melanesian languages with Malay, Malagasy, and the Maori of
New Zealand. Absence of Inflexion and formal Parts of Speech. I.
Demonstrative Particles. 2. Articles. 3. Personal Articles. 4. Pro-
nouns. 5. Personal Pronouns. 6. Suffixed Pronouns. 7. Possessives.
8. Interrogative Pronouns. 9. Demonstrative Pronouns. 10. Nouns.
ii. Independent forms of Nouns. 12. Classes of Nouns. 13. Construct
Nouns. 14. Prefixes to Nouns. 15. Collective Nouns. 16. Redu-
plication of Nouns. 17. Plural of Nouns. 18. Prepositions. 19. Ad-
verbs. 20. Adjectives. 21. Verbs. 22. Verbal Particles. 23. Verbal
Suffixes. 24. Prefixes to Verbs. 25. Reduplication of Verbs. 26. Pas-
sive Verbs pp. 101-192
IV. PHONOLOGY.
I. Alphabet. II. Phonetic Changes: — i. Gutturals; 2. Dentals; 3. La-
bials ; 4. Compound Consonant ; 5. Nasals ; 6. Liquids ; 7. Sibilants ;
8. Aspirates; 9. Metathesis; 10. Vowels; n. Phonetic Character
pp. 193-219
viii Contents.
V. NTTMEBATION AND NUMEBALS.
i. Systems of Numeration. 2. Grammar of Numeration. 3. Peculiar
Methods and Terms. 4. Numerals pp. 220-251
VI. GBAMMABS.
I. Banks' Islands — PAGE
1. Sugarloaf Island, Mota 253
2. Saddle Island, Motlav 310
3. „ Volow 322
4. Vanua Lava, Pak . . . . . . . . 332
5. „ Leon and Sasar ...... 337
6. „ Vuras 345
7. „ Mosin 350
8. „ AloTeqel . .355
9. Star Island, Merlav 357
10. Sta. Maria, Gog 367
11. „ Lakon 377
12. Bligh Island, Norbarbar 384
II. Torres Islands —
14. Lo 391
III. North of Fijir—
15. Botuma . 401
IV. New Hebrides —
16. Aurora Island, Maewo 408
17. Lepers' Island, Oba 420
18. Pentecost Island, Arag 431
19. Espiritu Santo, Marina 441
20. Ambrym 449
21. Three Hills Island, Sesake . 459
Tasiko, Lemaroro, Tonoa.
22. Sandwich Island, Fate 471
Nuna, Anaiteum.
V. Loyalty Islands —
23. Britannia Island, Nengone 478
VI. Santa Cruz —
24. Sta. Cruz, Deni 486
25. Nifilole "... 493
VII. Solomon Islands —
26. San Cristoval, Fagani 499
27. „ Wawo 505
28. Contraries Island, Ulawa 5^
29. Malanta, Saa 5*6
30. Florida, ffela 522
31. Guadalcanar, Vaturawa 539
32. Ysabel Island, Bugotu 54"
33. „ #ao 555
34. Savo 559
35. Duke of York Island 565
3o
MELANESIAN LANGUAGES.
GUIDE TO THE PRONUNCIATION OF
MELANESIAN WORDS.
Vowels have the Italian sound.
Consonants : —
1 . In the languages Grammars of which are given —
b, generally mb. d, generally nd.
g, a guttural with a trill, peculiar sound.
5r=ngg, i. e. ng in ' finger.'
j, as in English, but ch in Santa Cruz, Torres Islands, Ure-
parapara.
m, nasal, n—ng in 'singer.'
gn, same as n, as in Italian.
q, compound of kpw.
2. In Fiji words —
b=mb. d=nd.
g=ng in 'singer.' q=ng in 'finger.'
c=th in 'that.'
3. In Fate and Anaiteum —
g as in Fiji;
4. In Nengone words —
g, hard ; ng as in ' singer.'
c=ch. 'm, nasal m=m.
x, the peculiar g above described.
N. B. — The Malagasy o is u.
/
The italics n, m, g, are used when the words are in Roman type :
when native words, as in the following pages, are distinguished by
being printed in italics, the Roman n stands for ng, g for ngg, m
for the nasal m. Thus in Roman type sin, in italic stn, sounds
' sing.'
INTRODUCTION.
1. 'MELANESIA comprises that long- belt of island groups
which, beginning in the Indian Archipelago at the east
limits of the region there occupied by the Malay race, and
as it were a prolongation of that great island region, runs
south-east for a distance of some 3500 English miles ; i. e.
from New Guinea at the Equator in 130° E. longitude, to
New Caledonia just within the Tropic in 167° E. longitude,
and eastwards to Fiji in 180°. This chain of groups has a
certain geographical as well as ethnical unity. Its curve
follows roughly the outline of the Australian coast, and
large islands occur, with a number of small ones, along the
whole length, with mountains of considerable height coin-
ciding pretty closely with the line of volcanic action. Mela-
nesia is usually held to begin with New Guinea, this great
island being then viewed as the headquarters of that dark
Papuan race which, widely and variously modified in all
the other groups, occupies the whole region, as the name
Melanesia implies1.' To the east of New Guinea lie the
two great islands of New Britain and New Ireland, with
Duke of York Island between them. Next come the So-
lomon Islands, seven large islands running N.W. and S.E.
for 600 miles. The curve is continued by the Santa Cruz
group ; and further on by the Banks' Islands, with the
Torres Islands to the north of them, which, with the New
Hebrides, stretch for more than 500 miles. South-west from
the New Hebrides and zoo miles away lies New Caledonia,
an island 240 miles long, with the Loyalty group 70 miles
1 Encyclopaedia Britannica.
B 2
Melanesian Languages.
«5
to the east. Fiji lies detached to the eastwards, and ap-
proaches very nearly the limit which divides Melanesia from
Polynesia. Although Polynesia is often made to include the
Melanesian islands as far as New Guinea, yet if Melanesia is
to be the name of the region defined above, as undoubtedly
the languages and the people are separated by a clear line
of division from their eastern neighbours, it is desirable to
use the term Polynesia strictly to indicate the region of the
East Pacific, to the west of which Melanesia begins with the
Fijian group. To the north of Melanesia lies the region of
small and scattered islands which are comprised in the name
of Micronesia.
The attempt here made to give an account of the languages
of Melanesia does not include, except in the way of occasional
reference, the languages of New Guinea. Whether the in-
habitants of Melanesia can be all called Papuans or not, it is
clearly desirable to avoid the use of the name Papuan when
the languages of Melanesia and not of New Guinea are in
view. That some of the languages of New Guinea, e.g.
Motu, are Melanesian is clear, the vocabulary of a very distant
part, such as Mafoor, contains a large proportion of words
common in Melanesia, and by no means all of these Malayan
or Polynesian ; but the languages of New Guinea have not
been available for consideration and examination together
with those of Melanesia in the narrower acceptation of the
word. Of these languages, those of the great curve stretching
from New Guinea, beginning with New Britain and New
Ireland and ending in the Loyalty Islands, it may perhaps be
said that a general representation is here given. The lan-
guage of Duke of York Island, which has been kindly communi-
cated by the Rev. George Brown, may be taken to represent
those of the great islands between which it lies. The likeness
of this language to those of the Solomon Islands and of the
New Hebrides, and its wholly Melanesian character, together
with the Melanesian character of such a New Guinea lan-
guage as that of Motu, warrant the assumption that the
space between New Britain and Ysabel is occupied by not
Introduction. 5
dissimilar languages. The personal knowledge and enquiries
of the writer begin with Ysabel to the north, and extend, with
serious deficiencies here and there, to the Loyalty Islands.
The Fiji language is within easy reach in Hazlewood's Gram-
mar and the translation of the Scriptures1. A Grammar and
Dictionary of the Anaiteum language has been put forth by
the Rev. John Inglis2. The two treatises on the Melanesian
Speech of the elder von der Gabelentz deal with many of the
languages included within the limits above specified3. The
materials were supplied to him to some extent by Bishop
Patteson, and the same materials have been employed here ;
but in whatever case the same language has been dealt with,
what is put forth here is either, as in the case of Nengone, the
result of independent enquiry from natives of the place, or, as
in the case of Wawo in San Cristoval, the representation of
a dialect not the same as that which has been given by von
der Gabelentz. It may be confidently hoped that a view of
languages taken from within, that is, by means of a native
language in which Melanesians give an account of their own
speech, has certain advantages over a view taken, with greater
intelligence and more knowledge of language generally, from
without, that is, from printed books. A Nengone man, for
example, who can speak Mota will probably be able to ex-
plain some things to an European who can speak Mota, which
may be misunderstood even by an European who can speak
Nengone himself. The Melanesian languages, like all kindred
languages, explain one another, and appear in the light when
they are viewed one with another. At the least, all the groups
of Melanesia are represented here, at the furthest point west-
wards by the Duke of York Island, at the furthest southern ex-
tremity by Nengone ; and if the regions towards the extremities
are comparatively unexplored, there is a tolerably complete
1 I am bound to take the earliest opportunity of expressing my sense of
what I owe to the assistance of the Rev. Lorimer Fison, late Missionary in
Fiji, in the discussion of the various problems that arise in the comparison of
the Fijian with other Melanesian languages.
Williams and Norgate. London, 1882.
3 Die Melanesischen Sprachen. Leipzig, 1873.
Melanesian Languages.
2. New Hebrides.
3. Banks Islands.
investigation of the central part in the languages of the
Northern New Hebrides, the Banks' Islands, Santa Cruz, and
the Southern Solomon Islands.
2. It will be convenient to give a list here of the languages
of Melanesia which are brought into comparison in the intro-
ductory treatises of this book, and of which Grammars, or
outlines of Grammars, are subjoined. Beginning at the ex-
tremity furthest from New Guinea : —
1. Loyalty Islands. 1. Nengone or Mare.
2. Fate, Sandwich I.1
3. Sesake, Three Hills.
4. Ambrym.
5. Espiritu Santo.
6. Araga, Whitsuntide or Pentecost.
7. Oba, Lepers' I.
8. Maewo, Aurora.
9. Merlav, Star I.
10. Santa Maria, Gaua, or Gog.
11. „ Lakon.
12. Vanua Lava, Pak.
13. „ Sasar.
14. „ Vureas.
15. „ Mosina.
16. „ alo Teqel.
17. Mota, Sugarloaf I.
18. Saddle I., Motlav.
19. „ Volow.
20. Ureparapara, Bligh I.
21. Lo.
22. Rotuma.
23. Deni, Santa Cruz.
24. Nifilole.
25. Ulawa, Contrarie'te I.
26. Malanta, Saa.
27. San Cristoval, Warco.
28. „ Fagani.
1 The sketch of this Grammar is drawn from the translation of a Gospel.
4. Tones Islands.
5. N. of Fiji.
6. Santa Cruz.
7. Solomon Islands.
Introduction. 7
Solomon Islands 29. Guadalcanar, Vaturawa.
(continued). 30. Florida.
31. Savo.
32. Ysabel, Bugotu.
33. „ GQ.O.
34. Duke of York.
Some of these are but dialects differing not much from one
another, as those of Vanua Lava here given ; but there is
much instruction in the comparison even of dialects philo-
logically and geographically very close. Vanua Lava, an
island fifteen miles long, had, before its depopulation by the
labour trade, fifteen dialects recognised as distinct by its in-
habitants : it was worth while to preserve as much as possible
of so characteristic a specimen of Melanesia. Other lan-
guages, though very near together in one island, as those of
Gog and Lakon on Santa Maria, are not less valuable or less
characteristic because they differ so widely one from the
other. The absence of the Fijian language from the above
list leaves, no doubt, a great incompleteness in that general
view of the Melanesian languages which might otherwise be
thought to be given. But the language of Fiji, so much the
most important of all, is so well known as not to need what it
would be a presumption on the part of one not practically
acquainted with it to offer. Much, no doubt, remains to be
learnt about it by the study of dialects and by the com-
parison of other Melanesian languages, for which materials
may be here supplied.
3. From the limits of the Melanesian languages as defined
above, the language of the Polynesian settlements in Me-
lanesia has to be withdrawn. The distinction between this
and the Melanesian is everywhere plain, and there is very
little distinction apparently to be made of dialect in the
speech of one settlement and another. These Polynesian out-
liers are to be found in Uea, one of the Loyalty Islands ; in
Futuna, a small island of the New Hebrides ; in Fate, Sand-
wich Island ; in some of the islets of the Sheppard group, and
8 Melanesian Languages.
notably in the settlement of Mae in Three Hills ; in Tikopia,
north of the Banks' Islands, and in several of the Swallow
group near Santa Cruz ; in Rennell and Bellona, south of the
Solomon Islands, and in Ontong Java, near Ysabel. The
language of these is said, on good authority, to be substantially
that of Tonga, and the same throughout ; speakers of the
Maori of New Zealand can understand it and make themselves
understood ; it has nothing directly to do with the Melanesian
languages *. The existence of these Polynesian settlements,
however, in the midst of Melanesia cannot fail to suggest ques-
tions of interest and importance which it is impossible to dis-
miss without consideration. As to their origin, it is not difficult
to conjecture what it has been. Canoes accidentally drifting
or blown away, or expeditions purposely directed to known
islands, have landed small parties of Polynesian people either
on uninhabited places or on islands occupied by Melanesians.
Some at least of such settlements may be supposed compara-
tively modern. If such islands as Rennell, Bellona, or Tikopia
have been reached, remote from any large Melanesian island,
the colonists naturally remain purely Polynesian in language,
habits, and physical characteristics, for there is no admixture.
If a single canoe, or a small male party, has found its way to
an inhabited Melanesian island, the Polynesian element has
been absorbed, leaving perhaps only some fairer and more
straight-haired children as an evidence of mixed blood2. In
the case of such a settlement as Mae the case is different.
The middle part of that island, one only about six miles long,
is occupied by people whose speech is that common to all
these Polynesian settlers, but who physically are not dis-
tinguishable from their neighbours who are Melanesian both
1 Some few years ago a whaler picked up in the Solomon Islands and
brought down to Norfolk Island some natives of Mae and of Fate, survivors
of a crew massacred in Ongtong Java. They belonged to the Polynesian
settlements, and they told me that they, the Mae and Fate men, spoke the
same language, and also understood that of the Ongtong Java people.
2 I have seen myself in Ureparapara a man and woman with a son, drifted
thither from some Polynesian island ; and I have noticed straight-haired chil-
dren in Saddle Island who were known to be descendants of Polynesian cast-
aways.
Introduction. 9
in language and physical character. The same is the case in
the Swallow Islands : the inhabitants of islands close together
speak either a language like that of Santa Cruz' or the Poly-
nesian ; but they are all alike Melanesians in appearance.
The Tikopians, an isolated Polynesian settlement, are wholly
unlike Melanesians, — tall, heavy, light-coloured men, with
straight hair. The reason why the Polynesian-speaking
people of Mae, for example, are Melanesian in appearance
clearly is that the Melanesian blood in them has overborne
the Polynesian element ; that is to say, the Polynesian settlers
have, generation after generation, taken Melanesian wives
into their villages in which the speech was Polynesian. The
speech, the descent of chiefs, certain religious practices, have
remained Polynesian, the physical aspect has gradually lost
its original character. Under such circumstances the speech
which will be permanent is the speech of the settlement ; the
physical character that will prevail will be that of the blood.
Hence the Tikopian is physically and in language purely
Polynesian, the Fileni man of the Swallow group is in speech
Polynesian but physically Melanesian. The phenomena of
the case are thus explained1.
It remains to state another remarkable fact. In Three
Hills Island, Mae, the Polynesian settlement above men-
tioned is about two miles distant from Sesake, at one end of
the island, occupied by those who may be called the aborigines.
The Mae language is Polynesian, if not purely at least de-
cidedly so ; the Sesake language is Melanesian decidedly, and
at any rate has nothing that makes it appear more influenced
by its Polynesian neighbour than if Sesake and Mae were in
1 Some fifty years ago the Banks' Islands were visited in two successive
years by -double canoes. The people in these canoes said they came from
Tonga. They settled the first year for a time on the Islet of Qakea, close to
Vanua Lava, quarrelled after a time with their neighbours, and went off.
When they returned next year they were attacked by the natives and driven
off. There were women with them. If they had settled on Qakea there
would be there now a Polynesian-speaking people, but Melanesian wives
from Vanua Lava would be continually bringing in Melanesian physical
characteristics. If Qakea had been an isolated place like Tikopia, there would
have been then a small purely Polynesian colony.
io Melanesia*, Languages.
different and distant islands. This cannot be too positively
stated, and the importance of the fact is very great. It is an
exemplifi cation, in a very narrow field, of what is found also to
be the case with regard to Fiji. The Fijian group is only
some 200 miles west of the Friendly Islands, which are de-
cidedly part of Polynesia. There has been a considerable
intercourse between the two groups, and no doubt a great
infusion of Tongan, Friendly Islands, blood among the higher
classes of Fijians. There has been also, according to native le-
gends, a considerable intercourse between Fiji and the purely
Polynesian Samoa1. Yet the Fiji language is most decidedly
Melanesian ; it has no doubt something directly derived from
Tonga, but it is no more Polynesian than the languages of
the Banks' Islands, which lie far away to the west, out of
reach of any but the most casual and insignificant intercourse
with Tongans or other Polynesians. Intercourse therefore
and close neighbourhood with Polynesians do not as a matter
of fact materially affect the language of Melanesians.
4. The view of the Melanesian languages here proposed is,
in the first place, that they are homogeneous ; and secondly,
that they belong to a common stock with the Ocean tongues
generally — those of the Indian Archipelago and of Polynesia.
The view which is opposed is one which would make the
Melanesian stock of languages originally distinct from that
to which Malayan and Polynesian languages belong, and
would pronounce all that is found in Melanesian languages
common with Malay and Polynesian to be borrowed from
these tongues, or due to influence received from them. In
opposition to this latter view, it is by no means denied that
the Melanesian languages have borrowed from those of the
Indian or Malay Archipelago on the one side, and from those
of the Eastern Pacific on the other, or that they have been
influenced in various ways ; allowing this, what is maintained
is, that whatever has been introduced has been brought from
1 Turner's Samoa, Macmillan, 1884, pp. 41, 123, 225, 228, 230, 256. In
these stories the Fijians are by no means represented as inferior to the Samoans.
See Vocabulary Notes under the word ' Bow.'
Introduction. 1 1
languages of a kindred, not a distinct stock. By way of
illustration, not of exact comparison, the English language
has borrowed largely, directly and indirectly, from Latin and
Greek, but still what has been borrowed has been taken from
kindred languages. It is not as when Arabic is found in
Spanish. There was an archaic flow of Aryan language over
Europe, and over a great part of the region so covered
more recent waves of the same have passed. There is differ-
ence enough between Celtic, Slavonic, Italic, and Teutonic,
but they are members of one family. Let as much difference
be allowed between the various Ocean families, and let not
one be said to borrow from the other without good reason.
The Melanesian languages, which are very little known,
come geographically between the Malay and Polynesian
languages, which are well known. Any observer of the
Melanesian languages who approaches from the West and
sees in them much that is the same with the Malay, calls
that a Malay element, and calls that which he does not
recognise the native Melanesian or Papuan element. One
who approaches the Melanesian languages from the East
finds much that is common with the Polynesian, and he calls
that the Polynesian element, and again what he does not
recognise the Melanesian or Papuan. But suppose an ob-
server to begin with the Melanesian languages, and, being
familiar with them, to advance on the one side to the
Polynesian regions and on the other to the Malayan. He will
find in the islands of the Eastern Pacific people of a brown
colour, using a language very much of which is familiar
to him, but one poorer in sounds, poorer in grammatical forms.
He will say that they speak a kind of Melanesian dialect.
If, as is conceivable, it had so happened that an English
occupation of Australia had made the Fijian language familiar
to Australian merchants, officials, and scholars, before English-
men had advanced far enough to the East by India to have
come in contact with Malay; then as Australian commerce
advanced westwards from Fiji, and the native languages were
found more or less to resemble Fijian, it would certainly
12 Melanesian Languages.
have happened that the Melanesian, the Indian Archipelago
languages, Malay, Malagasy itself, would have all been found
marked by Fijian character, would even by Australian scholars
have been said to belong to the Fijian family. It is a matter
of chance or circumstance after what member of a family a
family of languages is called, just as it is by what name
foreigners call another country. The first that comes perhaps
is the one that gains the place, and it is very likely that it is
quite inappropriate. At any rate, there is a certain fallacy in
the natural conclusion that the language after which a family
of languages is named is the standard, the characteristic, and
to the unlearned the original, language of them all. If an-
other supposition may be ventured on ; suppose America to
have discovered Europe and not Europe America, and the
American discoverers to be in a superior state of civilisation
to the discovered Europeans, so that they should extend their
acquaintance with them and observe their languages: they
would discover England first it may be supposed, find the
Dutch language a form of English, recognise in French an
English element in that which was found in common ; when
their learned men knew more they would distinguish the
languages of Northern Europe from the Southern, but the
Northern languages would take their name from English ;
German would be classed as Anglic, and not English as
Teutonic. It is possible, by the correction of a similar mis-
take, that, instead of speaking of Malay or Polynesian elements
in Melanesian languages, it would be right to class Malay
and Polynesian languages as Melanesian.
The Melanesian people have the misfortune to be black, to
be much darker, at least, than either Malays or Polynesians ;
and because they are black it is presumed that their original
language cannot be of the same family with that spoken by
their brown neighbours ; that where their language has a
general resemblance to that of their neighbours they must
have cast off their own and taken another in the lump, and
that where the resemblance is not conspicuously apparent
they must have borrowed words and expressions in com-
Introduction. 1 3
mercial or other intercourse. With regard to colour it is
enough to say, if the matter is to be considered at all in a
question of language, that between the black of Melanesians
and the brown of Polynesians the difference is not so very
great, and that the colour of the inhabitants of the Indian
or Malay Archipelago is much the same as that of the
Melanesians. There is a great variety of shades of colour in
Polynesians, Melanesians, and others ; with quite enough of
general distinctive character to throw them into classes, but
yet such that among Polynesians are to be seen very dark
individuals, as among Malays those who might be taken for
Chinese. Given an original dark and frizzly-haired stock,
it is not difficult to conceive such a cross with straight-haired
and light-coloured men as would produce a brown and wavy-
haired progeny, and beyond that such a series and confusion
of inter-crossings as would give a great variety of inter-
mediate shades of colour, straightness or curliness of hair,
and other physical characteristics. There is no doubt a
certain reluctance on the brown side to acknowledge the
kindred of the black. The Melanesians are the poor relations,
at the best, of their more civilised and stronger neighbours ;
but a question of language must be discussed on its own
merits, and degrees of complexion or cultivation may be put
on one side.
Any one who approaches the Melanesian languages with
some knowledge of a Polynesian or Malayan language cannot
fail to find a certain resemblance ; he will find words, perhaps
very many words, the same; he may find the Melanesian
language so much like the one he has been before acquainted
with that he will hazard the assertion that it is a corrupt
Samoan for instance, or will conclude that commercial inter-
course with Malays has had a great effect upon the native
language. Whether, except in the Polynesian colonies above
mentioned, he will ever find a language that he can think
taken over by Melanesians as a whole to supersede their
original tongue is very doubtful. That such a language has
been taken over from Polynesians one may say is certainly not
14 Melanesian Languages.
the case. In a Melanesian language many words will be the
same as the Polynesian, many grammatical forms will be the
same ; but undoubtedly, as a rule, the phonetic character of the
Melanesian will be fuller than that of the Polynesian word,
and the Melanesian grammar will fail in some feature con-
spicuous in the Polynesian, the Passive for instance, and will
have in vigorous life some power which is at work, but com-
paratively little at work, among the Polynesians ; for ex-
ample, the definite transitive power of certain forms of verbs.
If the inhabitants of any Melanesian island have cast off
their old tongue and taken to a new one, which is not here
! denied, at any rate it has not been one of the Polynesian
languages of the East Pacific that they have taken. If the
people, for example, of the Banks' Islands have, either in
their present seats or in some place from which they came
in a distant time, given up their old speech and taken to
another, we should not expect to find what they had given up,
but we should have every reason to expect to find the source
whence they have obtained their present language. Cer-
tainly this is not Polynesian, and certainly not Malayan ;
looking round for a language resembling the Banks' Islands
languages we may fix on Fiji as being very similar on the
whole. But in Fiji the same process has to be gone through.
If the Fijians, Melanesians, have thrown off their old speech
and taken another, whence did they get their modern lan-
guage? Most certainly not from their Polynesian neigh-
bours. The most remarkable characteristic of the Fiji
language, that very efficient suffix of a transitive termination
to a verb, which flourishes in this even more than in any
other Melanesian language, is absolutely unknown to their
Tongan neighbours, and to the Malays also, if in consideration
of the immense space which divides them it is necessary to
mention the Malays. But the fact that Melanesians, pre-
sumed to have cast off their original language and taken
another, have not taken a Malayan or Polynesian one instead,
is no proof that they have not taken any other. It may be
that the languages here treated of, those of which a list has
Introduction. 1 5
been given above, and here called Melanesian, because the
islands in which they are spoken are Melanesian, are not
the original languages of the race that now speaks them.
It may be that a third term should be used for the languages
which, not Malay, not Polynesian, are now spoken in the
Indian Archipelago and in the Melanesian islands. Those now
in use are the languages here called Melanesian ; and if the
ancient language once possibly belonging to the people now
inhabiting Melanesia could be found, there would be a great
difficulty about nomenclature ; a difficulty which only does not
arise because the languages here called Melanesian are the
only languages, with the exception always understood of what
is spoken in the Polynesian settlements, now found to be
spoken in the Melanesian islands. This last assertion, resting
on no authority, requires some explanation ; the truth of it
can only be assented to, or dissented from, after the study of
the languages themselves.
5. The first view of the Melanesian languages no doubt
shows great differences between some languages and others ;
the learner who has acquired one approaches another as if
it were quite a foreign language, with some words only in
common with that which he knows. But languages which
are mutually unintelligible to natives of parts of the small
islands on which they are spoken are often perceived without
much trouble to be really not far apart, when once acquaintance
has been made with them ; for, without any substantial differ-
ence in vocabulary and with little difference in grammar, two
languages as closely allied as Dutch and English may have so
far diverged in pronunciation and in the use of the vocabulary
as to be very different to the ear. As acquaintance with the
languages increases, the likeness of one to another becomes
more apparent ; a sort of ideal standard is established to which
they conform, the specific differences become subordinated to
the general character, the difficulty presented by the multi-
plicity of forms diminishes more and more. But there will
remain some among the Melanesian languages which seem
exceptional and hard, not fitting into the neighbouring
1 6 Melanesian Languages.
groups, and having forms which cannot well be matched
with parallel examples. Supposing-, for example, that the
languages of the Northern New Hebrides are to be learnt
by one who has an acquaintance with Mota : it is not long
before he sees that the languages of Aurora, Pentecost,
Lepers' Island, and Espiritu Santo belong to a type with
which he is acquainted, though a knowledge of Mota does
not enable him to understand what he hears. But when he
reaches Ambry m he finds that the language is much more
hard ; there are words indeed that he knows, but he seems a
stranger. Beyond Ambrym, in such a language as Sesake,
he is comparatively again at home. The same is the case in
the Solomon Islands, where round Florida, in Guadalcanal
Malanta and Ysabel, the languages which are heard are not
very far apart ; but at Savo, which lies in the midst of
them, the language seems altogether puzzling: many words
indeed are the same and the people identical in customs and
appearance, and yet to make out the speech is very difficult.
Far beyond Savo, the language of Duke of York Island is
again familiar, with hardly anything in it which has not an
easily-perceived analogy with the Solomon Islands, Banks'
Islands, Fiji, and New Hebrides tongues. If difficult ex-
ceptional languages are to be named in the list of thirty-four
Melanesian languages given above, they would be Nengone,
Ambrym, Santa Cruz, Savo. The very important question
then arises whether these differ so fundamentally from the
other languages that they cannot group with them as mem-
bers of the same family. The lesser question, whether they
agree together in difference from other Melanesian languages,
is easily answered in the negative : they sometimes agree,
but generally do not ; each has its own peculiarities. On the
main question the judgment of the writer has been already
given when the Melanesian languages have been pronounced
to be homogeneous. As with the Melanesian languages
generally, very much as their differences are conspicuous at
the first view, greater acquaintance with them makes them
appear more and more alike, so with these exceptional Ian-
Introduction. i 7
guages, the difficulties of them do not disappear, they do
not range themselves by the side of the others in orderly
groups, but the more they are known the more their features
show the family likeness. It cannot be said of these that
they are the remains of the old Melanesian speech, now in
many islands thrown off to make room for a foreign language
to take its place. More archaic they well may be, belonging
to an earlier movement of population, carried forwards by an
earlier wave of speech passing onwards among the islands,
but having somewhere a common origin with those which
have since and successively passed among them.
It is equally clear that these languages, which are rather
exceptional among those of Melanesia, do not, in the points
in which the exceptions appear, agree with the neighbouring
language of Australia. It would seem natural, on the sup-
position that there was a language in the Melanesian islands
originally which has since been exchanged for another and
that some traces of the original still remain here and there,
that we should look to Australia with the expectation of
finding in the native people and languages the kindred of
the original Melanesian. But in regard to language it must
be said that any one familiar with the Melanesian tongues
finds nothing but what is strange to him in Australian
grammar and vocabulary. Illustrations of this will be offered
hereafter, but the statement is necessary here that, with
regard to words at least, whereas a strange word appearing
in a Melanesian language is very often to be found in some
distant Ocean vocabulary, no correspondence whatever seems
to occur between Melanesian and Australian vocabularies.
If then two distinct families of language do not appear in
Melanesia at the present time, not including New Guinea in
the consideration, and the Melanesian languages are homo-
geneous, it further has to be established that they belong to
the same family with the Ocean languages generally, that is
to say, with the Polynesian, the Malay, the Malagasy, and
those of the Indian Archipelago generally. This can only be
-done here, so far as a very limited acquaintance with those
c
1 8 Melanesian Languages.
languages can enable it to be done at all, by a comparison
of Vocabularies and Grammar.
6. The proof of the kinship of languages must be made in
consideration of Vocabulary, Grammar, and Phonology. Some
material is here offered towards this end. Seventy words in
forty languages of Melanesia are given, which can be com-
pared among themselves, to see what proof they give of the
substantial unity of the Melanesian languages ; they can be
compared further with the same list of words given in thirty-
three languages of the Malay Archipelago by Mr. Wallace
in his book on that subject ; and they can be compared also
with the corresponding Malagasy and Polynesian words, which
will make comparison with the Ocean languages tolerably
complete. A comparative sketch of the Grammar of the
Melanesian languages is given, with reference also to the
Ocean languages as exemplified in Malay, Malagasy, and
Maori, and in the Marshall group in Micronesia. There is
also added something on the phonology of the Melanesian
languages, the vocabularies and grammar of which are the
subjects of consideration. With regard to Vocabulary it may
be observed that the use of it requires always careful con-
sideration when proof of the kinship of languages is sought
in it. There is always a certain element of chance corre-
spondence to be expected, such as may be seen in the words
tarn, as, si, if, the same in Latin and Mota, or sike in Mota,
the same in sense with the English seek. There is also to be
calculated on the presence of borrowed words. It proves
nothing as to the kinship of two languages that many words
are found common to both. On the other hand, the pre-
sence of very many common words must be allowed to prove
something in favour of relationship, and disagreement to a
very great extent in vocabulary does nothing to disprove
relationship. No one could refuse the evidence of vocabulary
in proving the kinship of English and German, and no one
is shaken in the belief of such relationship by complete
disagreement in the ordinary words for the commonest
things, horse, dog, or pig, woman, boy, or girl. If there-
Introduction. 19
fore in comparing- Melanesian vocabularies among themselves
we find a great deal of agreement, that is not without
its value in proving them homogeneous ; if we find differ-
ences where we might look for agreement, that does not
prove any fundamental distinction. The same is the case in
comparing Melanesian vocabularies with those of the other
Ocean languages. For example, if we find iga the common
Melanesian word for a fish, it argues something for the re-
lationship of the languages which have it ; and if we find the
same word common in the Polynesian and Malay Archipelago
vocabularies, as it is in the Melanesian, it argues something
for the relationship of all these Ocean languages together.
But if we find two neighbouring Melanesian languages like
Merlav of the Banks' Islands and Aurora of the New Hebrides,
one having the word for fish ig and the other mast, there is no
proof whatever of radical difference between the two 1. There
is no reason why a language should not have taken into its
use a word for fish which is unknown elsewhere. When, how-
ever, in Borneo a fish is masik, as it is masi in Aurora, and
many common words are found in Borneo and in Aurora be-
sides, although this particular coincidence may be accidental,
it is impossible not to admit the fact as going some way to
prove that a common stock of words is found in the Malay
Archipelago and in Melanesia. Exceptional words have thus
their value, as have those which are so commonly the same.
It is certain, however, that the presence of words the same
in form and in meaning, in two or many languages, does not
do anything like so much to prove a common stock as the
presence of words either the same in form but differing in
signification, or the same in signification but with a change
of form. With regard, in the first place, to words which are
substantially the same in form in different languages but
different in signification, this may be rather apparent than
real, it may be only a difference of application 2. Words also
1 The words for fish in the nearly related languages of Latin and Greek are
radically distinct.
2 ' Would not a man, not well versed in the Teutonic languages, infer from
C 2
2O Melanesian Languages.
are often present in two languages, or more, but when a
vocabulary is being compiled they will appear in one and not
in another, because they lie in different levels of the language1.
What is the general term in one language is specific in
another, what is the common word in one is an out-of-the-
way word in another. If English and German vocabularies
are compared in the few words mentioned above, Horse and
Pferd, Dog and Hund, Pig and Schwein, Woman and Weib,
Boy and Knabe, Girl and Madchen, are wholly different
words, and the effect of them set side by side is to make the
two languages seem distinct. But there are in the English
language prad 2, hound, swine, wife, knave, maiden, on
other levels in the language, some of them only different
in application, some with a specific instead of a general signi-
fication. Vocabularies such as are gathered by travellers are
made up of words taken from the surface of language, and are
therefore apt to deceive. Very often a word is in a language
but in another meaning, very often it is there but is not
ordinarily used : a common stock of words is held by various
languages, but in the lapse of time and changes of use they
get sorted and re-sorted into various applications and employ-
ments, though they may lose very little of their original
form. A few examples may be useful, taken from Melanesian
and Ocean tongues. The word rangi in Maori is the sky, as
in other forms it is in all the Polynesian languages ; the same
rani in San Cristoval is rain ; the same in Mota, Ian, is wind ;
the same in Fiji, cagi (dhangi) is wind and, more generally,
the atmosphere. If the% Maori ua, rain, is put against the San
Cristoval rani, or the Maori hau, wind, against the Mota Ian,
there is nothing to show a likeness in vocabulary. But usa for
but, maar, sondern, and to, naar, zu, that English, Dutch, and German are no
kindred languages ? Such words seem different, because they are very liable
to different applications.' Outlines of Malagasy Grammar, H. N. van der Tuuk.
1 Mr. Fison has used the expression that ' words are not in the same focus,
microscopically speaking,' using the illustration of infusoria in a drop of water,
one of which may be invisible until a turn of the screw brings it into focus.
2 The word palfrey, I am informed, contains the same root ; and wife is in
fact contained in the word woman, wife-man.
Introduction. 2 1
rain is used in the next island to San Cristoval, and saw in Mota
is the blowing of the wind ; the words are there, though in the
latter case not in the same application. The common word for
blood in Melanesia, as in the Malay Archipelago and in
Malagasy, is ra, dara, nara ; the common Polynesian word is
toto. But toto appears in the Solomon Islands in the name
of a disease, and as congealed blood, and no doubt is the
same with the totoa, toto, of the Banks' Islands, where it
signifies the sap or juice of trees. The word tasi, tahi,
tai, is common in Melanesia, Polynesia, and the Malay
Archipelago for salt, salt-water, the sea, and a lake. In the
Banks' Islands, though tas has gone out of use as meaning
salt, or salt-water, the verb tasig is used for seasoning
food with salt-water ; tas is no longer the sea or sea- water,
but the names of places on the lee or weather side of islands
retain it in that sense : Tasmate, where the sea-water, the surf,
is dead or still; Tasmaur, where it is alive or breaking. The
lake in Santa Maria is the Tas l. Again, the Maori wketu,
Samoan fetu, is no doubt the Mota vitu, a star, which,
with the termination commonly suffixed, is in the Banks'
Islands also vitwgi. In Celebes bitui is clearly the same and
the meaning the same; but in Dayak of Borneo betuch is
'eye ;' as in the compound betuch anuh, the eye of day, the
sun. The word is the same, and the expression is paralleled
in the Malagasy maso andro, eye of day, the sun, masoe being
a star also in the Banks' Islands, and maso, eye, in Malagasy.
To add one more, the word for mouth in Maori, waka, in
Batak baba, Malagasy vava, in Lepers' Island wawa, does
not appear in Mota as a mouth, but in a verbal form is
wawan, to open the mouth. Another Maori word for mouth,
mangai, is ma&a, mouth, in Florida, which is also a word or
speech ; and in Mota again is formed into the verb manasag, to
make a word or speech about a thing, to make known 2.
1 In Madagascar one of the large lakes is Itasy, and on the weather S. E.
coast is Tasimoro. These names Tasmate and Tasmaur, in varying forms,
are applied to places on weather and lee sides of islands in the New Hebrides
and Solomon group.
2 See further these words in the Vocabulary Notes.
22 Melanesian Languages.
To observe words which are evidently the same under
changes of form is equally interesting-, and more effective as
a proof of kinship between languages. The word for star,
mentioned above, whetu, vitu, betuch, bitiii, is no doubt the
Malay bintang, the Malagasy vintana, n having been intro-
duced to strengthen t. It is plain that the Malay bintang
cannot have been introduced in the form vitu, vitugi ; the
word has not been borrowed by the Melanesians from Malay.
Has it then been borrowed from the Polynesians ? There is
one objection to the supposition, in the fact that in Fiji,
which is nearest to the Polynesians in Tonga, kalokalo is the
word for star, not vitu ; but, as has been observed, there is no
greater nearness in speech coinciding with geographical near-
ness to the Polynesians. It is in the likeness of the Dayak
form to the Melanesian that the argument for the common
property of the Ocean tongues in this word mainly lies. The
Dayak nouns have this termination ch where the Banks'
Islands languages have gi or g ; buruch, feathers = wulugi ;
turoch, egg = tolegi ; jipuch, tootk = liwoffi J ; as the non-Hova
Malagasy has a similar ending in ch. There cannot well be
conceived an importation from the Dayak into the Banks'
Islands, there must have been a common source for both ;
and the Polynesian wlietu^fetu without the termination can-
not have got into Borneo as betuch, and into the Banks'
Islands as vitugi.
A good word perhaps to show changes of form stretching
over a vast extent of Ocean with identity of signification is
what in Malay is rumah, house. This in Javanese is uma,
in Amboyna lima,, in Bouru huma, in Gilolo um. In Mela-
nesia there is ruma in Duke of York, San Cristoval, and in
Motu of New Guinea. ; uma in the New Hebrides and Banks'
Islands ; luma, nima in the Solomon Islands ; sumo, in Fate ;
ima in Banks' Islands and New Hebrides ; 'ma, ma, in Nengone
and Santa Cruz ; and ^m, em, and en in the Banks' Islands.
1 See Vocabulary, No. 64. Out of the seventy words selected for these
Vocabularies twenty-seven in the Sarawak Dayak are known to me as Mela-
nesian.
Introduction. 23
The changes and variations are regular, no one can doubt the
identity of the word ; and it is impossible to suppose that
the words were imported into Melanesia from the places
in which they have the corresponding- form — ruma into San
Cristoval from Malay, uma into Lakona from Java, suma into
Fate from Bouro, lima into Malanta from Tidore or Amboyna.
It is evident that the word belongs to some common ancient
stock, that it has been modified into various forms in use,
and that it has travelled hither and thither in a way that it
is now impossible to trace. But this word is not in use in
Polynesia ; it runs from the Malay regions down the Indian
Archipelago, through New Guinea, and through the Mela-
nesian islands to their extremity, not continuously, but here
and there ; and it should be observed that it is present in
such places as Nengone and Santa Cruz in such a form as does
not look like a recent importation. The distribution of words
in these regions cannot be traced ; but as the question arises
whether we can find in Melanesia some original stock of
language upon which the languages now spoken have been
superinduced, it is important to attempt to find regions
to which particular words are confined. In the word for
house that which is characteristically Melanesian is also
Malay. It happens, as before remarked, that certain lan-
guages in Melanesia strike the enquirer as different from
others, such as those of the Southern New Hebrides, Am-
brym, Loyalty Islands, Santa Cruz, Savo, and it is in these
that the supposed original stock of language would be sought.
This word ruma is found among them, as it is found in the
Mafoor of New Guinea, which, it seems, has been observed
as an example of a language very different from those of
Melanesia generally1. Such points of agreement are common
in that language ; for example, the word which the Voca-
bulary No. 10 shows to be very common in Melanesia for
' bone ' is in Mafoor ; but it is not in those languages of
Melanesia in which exceptions are often noticed, and it is
not in Polynesian or in Malay. The divisions into which the
1 Georg von der Gabelentz and Meyer.
24 Melamsian Languages.
Vocabularies appear to arrange themselves cross and perplex
one another. There are disconnected lines of passage along
which words, like ruma, can be traced from one end of the
Ocean region to another, and often a word quite unknown
in Melanesia, except in some isolated spot, is found to be
well known very far away * ; but, whether sporadic or fre-
quent, common words appear in all the Ocean languages,
and bear their share of witness to the common kinship of
them all.
7. The presence in the Ocean languages of Numerals which
have a general resemblance does not in itself go far to prove
a common origin, for languages may very likely borrow nu^
merals from others more advanced than themselves. At the
same time, there is something which cannot be passed over
as without signification when numerals radically identical
but very various in form are found in regions widely separated
from one another, and in languages which are otherwise
shown to be akin. There is much more, however, when
comparison shows not only numeral words but numeral systems
to be related ; and when in languages the most advanced in
the art of numeration the traces of the same methods are to
be found which are in use in the most archaic or least deve-
loped members of the family. It is not only that there is a
general consent in the Ocean languages with regard to the
first five numerals at least, but it may be seen that the
grammatical form of the numerals is common, that what can
be made out of the meaning of Melanesian terms explains
others, and that the methods used for expressing numbers,
such as those above ten or twenty, are in fact the same. It
is also important to observe that the numerals common in
Melanesia have certainly not been borrowed from the Malay,
because four out of ten of them are different, and that the
Melanesian forms are phonetically fuller than the Polyne-
1 For example, the word for head in Vaturama, lova, Malagasy loha ; the
Santa Cruz loju (j=tch), Sula Island lotu, canoe; blood in Araga, New
Hebrides, daga, in Philippines dagga, Formosa tagga. The common word
butterfly in Melanesia and in Polynesia is pepe, but Savo in the Solomon
Islands has bebeula, and Morella in Amboyna has pepeul.
Introduction. 2 5
sian as they now appear. In the Island languages, at any
rate, numeration advances with ease and accuracy up to
a considerable height; there is no difficulty in counting
thousands in the languages which are here examined. And
the difference in this between the Melanesian languages and
the Australian is very remarkable. It is not only that the
numerals, so far as the latter go, are different ; it is that the
Australian, who calls three two-one and four two-two, appears
to be in matters of numeration altogether in a different
mental region from that in which the Melanesian reckons.
An account therefore of the Numerals and Numeration of the
Melanesian languages is given, not only because of the inte-
rest of the subject in itself, but on account of the bearing
which it has on the argument for the radical connection of
all the Ocean languages.
8. The proof of kindred afforded by the Grammar of
languages is no doubt more effective than that given by
Vocabulary. Grammatical forms may no doubt be borrowed,
but not so freely as words, and in themselves they are more
characteristic. It is necessary, however, to use caution in
comparing grammars as well as vocabularies. In the first
place, it cannot be assumed that the presence of a common
grammatical form is any proof of kindred at all when two or
more languages have the same, apart from the consideration
whether one has borrowed from the other. In languages
which have no inflexions, and therefore little grammar, it is
particularly likely that the same method of putting words
together should occur when there is no family connection of
one language with another. For example, the practice of
suffixing pronouns to nouns and verbs is one which may
well have arisen in quite distinct families of language ; it is
only when vocabulary comes to the assistance of the grammar
in such a case, as it does when the Melanesian languages are
compared with the other Ocean tongues, that the proof of
relationship is complete. In the second place, since in making
comparison some sort of standard must be set up, it is very
important that the language taken as the standard should
26 Melanesia^ Languages.
not be a late, simplified, or decayed member of the family
the members, or presumed members, of which are being com-
pared. Such a standard is naturally to some extent fixed by
the language from which the start is made, and it is neces-
sary to guard against this natural bias of judgment. Any
one who from the Indian side approaches the languages of
the Indian Archipelago and starts with Malay, has Malay as
his natural standard ; it is a Malayan element that he sees
where there is agreement, and a divergence from Malay where
there is disagreement. But Malay is undoubtedly, as com-
pared with the languages of Madagascar and the Philippine
Islands, a simplified form of the common language, just as
English is as compared with German. It would be absurd to
judge of the relationship of a claimant to the position of a
Teutonic language by its correspondence to the grammar of
modern English. In the same way, one who approaches the
languages of the Western Pacific from the Polynesian side,
starts with the standard of Maori or Tongan or Samoan
naturally in his mind. If he finds correspondences to Samoan
it is to Samoan intercourse that he ascribes it ; if he begins
with Tongan, it is the Tongan influence that he observes.
But it is quite certain that, as compared with Fijian, the
languages of Tonga and Samoa are late, simplified, and
decayed1. It would be absurd to put down some Greek
grammatical forms as belonging to a distinct, perhaps more
ancient, element in the language because they are not found
in Italian ; and there is a danger lest something of the same
kind of mistake should be made in the case of the Ocean
languages. If it be asked what language should be taken
as a standard, conformity to which may be assumed to be a
proof of membership of the Ocean family of languages, the
only answer can be that no such standard is likely to be
agreed upon. Let the whole range of languages be examined,
and it will not be difficult, in some particulars at least, to
1 This statement will be shocking to some who are impressed with the
excellences of the Polynesian tongues ; but a comparison of grammars will
uphold its truth.
Introduction. 2 7
determine where the most archaic forms are to be found.
To recommend caution lest a false standard be set up, is not
the same thing as to point to a true one.
As an example of grammatical forms which being com-
pared together show the common kinship of the Melanesian
languages, and of these again with the Ocean languages
generally, the suffixed Personal Pronoun just referred to will
be useful. There is a form of the Personal Pronoun in the
three persons singular the characteristic consonants of which
are k, m, n ; in Malay, ist person ku, 2nd mu, 3rd tia ; in
Malagasy, 1st ko, 2nd nao, yd. ny ; in Maori, ist ku, 2nd u,
3rd na ; in Melanesian languages, ist, ku, gu (qu), k, g, ffw,ffo,
ng, n£, n ; 2nd, mu, ma, m«, na, m, m, n ; 3rd, na, na (gna), ne,
n, de. These Pronouns, in all these languages alike, are
suffixed to Nouns, giving, in a general way, a possessive sense,
as Malay rumahku, my house, Malagasy volako, my money.
But although, as was inevitable on any extended and intelli-
gent observation, these suffixes have been recognised as in
fact personal Pronouns, their limited employment in the Poly-
nesian languages has caused them, together with the stem to
which they are suffixed, to be considered only as Possessive
Pronouns. It has not been apparently recognised that what
is called a Possessive Pronoun in Polynesian languages is in
fact a Noun with a Personal Pronoun suffixed, that ku in the
Maori toku, my, is exactly the same grammatically with ku in
the Malay rumahku, my house. The suffixed Personal Pro-
nouns then, being common to all, or almost all, these Ocean
languages as far as may be known, and substantially identical,
are used in three ways. In Malay they can be suffixed in-
discriminately to all common Nouns ; they are not usually as
a matter of fact so suffixed, but there is no distinction : in the
Melanesian languages they are suffixed, according to a definite
rule of practice, to certain Nouns only: in the Polynesian
languages they are used only in the suffixes of what are called
Possessive Pronouns. Thus the Malay says rumahku, my house,
suffixing ku to that noun as to any other ; the Fijian says
valeqii ; the Solomon Islander says valegu, because vale is one
28 Melanesian Languages.
of the nouns which take the pronoun suffixed ; the Maori says
toku wTiare, because he cannot suffix ku to any common noun,
only to the o or a which appears in what is called the
Possessive Pronoun. The Melanesians have a strict rule
dividing common Nouns into two classes, those that take the
suffixed Pronoun and those that do not. Those that do not
are in the condition of all Polynesian Nouns; there is a
Possessive, with the appropriate Pronoun suffixed, which goes
with the Noun and qualifies as a Possessive Adjective would
do. Melanesians, generally at least, would not have their
word for money in the class of Nouns which takes the suffixed
Pronoun ; they cannot, like the Malagasy, say volako, but
noqu lavo in Fiji, nok som in Mota, nigua na rono in Florida ;
and these Possessives exactly correspond to the Polynesian
toku, inasmuch as they consist of a nominal stem no or ni,
signifying a thing belonging, and the Pronoun suffixed. We
see then a general agreement in the practice of suffixing a
Pronoun to make a Possessive, and a general agreement in
the Pronoun suffixed ; but we see a difference in the use, in
that the Melanesians suffix to a certain fixed class of common
Nouns, Malays to common Nouns indiscriminately, and Poly-
nesians to no common Nouns at all. If then the Melanesians
have borrowed these suffixed Pronouns, whence have they
borrowed them ? and how is it that they use them according
to strict rule unknown to Malays or Polynesians ? It appears
that it is no case of borrowing, but that these Pronouns
which are suffixed and the practice of suffixing them are
common property, which the Melanesians use in a more
elaborate way. In fact, it is very instructive to observe that
one of the first effects on a Melanesian language of inter-
course with foreigners is a relaxation of this rule of theirs ;
they come down to the Polynesian level ; they use the
possessive noqu, nok, or whatever it may be, with all common
Nouns alike, to make their language more easy to strangers
because less idiomatic. It is no longer tamak, tamaqu, my
father, but noqu tama, nok mama, like toku matua, like the
Pigeon English ' father belong-a-me.' It is impossible surely
Introduction. 29
to doubt that the Melanesians have the ancient idiomatic
use1.
If further examples are needed, they are easily supplied by
the Verbs. It is characteristic of the Ocean languages gene-
rally that the Verbs are preceded by certain particles which
mark them as being Verbs, and to a certain extent fix tense
and mood. But these particles are not used in Malay, though
they are present and mark tense in Madagascar and the
Philippine Islands. Here then is a grammatical feature
which connects the Ocean languages together. Another
characteristic of Melanesian Verbs is the termination which
turns a neuter Verb into a transitive one, or gives a definite
direction to one already active, the taka, caka, raka of Fiji, tag,
sag, rag of Mota, the ni, M, li, ti of Florida, and n, s, I, t of
Mota. These terminations in some form, like the Verbal
Particles, appear in all Melanesian languages ; they are not
in Malay or Malagasy, though they are in Javanese to some
extent, and they are not in the Polynesian languages except
in Samoan2, and in that not very conspicuous. The presence
of the termination in Javanese and in Samoan shows this
grammatical form not to be purely Melanesian, but it is very
characteristically so. In Fijian, for example, it is the most
conspicuous feature in the language, and it is certainly a very
effective mode of speech. If then the Melanesians have
borrowed this form, whence have they borrowed it? It is
indeed, a little of it, in the Polynesian language, but the
ample and elaborate forms of Melanesia cannot have been
borrowed from that little ; that little in Samoa shows rather
that they have retained there something of a common
property. Fiji is very near Tonga and has this feature in
1 The Polynesian languages have only two roots, o and a, which are the
foundation of their Possessives. Melanesian languages generally have more
than two of these possessive nouns ; at least one meaning a nearer, and
another a more distant, relation, at most five or six applied to things owned,
produced, eaten, drinkable, &c.
2 The reciprocal Samoan verb, with the terminations fcfi, scfi, ta'i, &c. j
the termination -alee in Javanese.
30 Melanesian Languages.
great force ; Tongan has none of it. If Fiji borrowed verbal
particles from Polynesia, whence did it get its definite transi-
tive terminations ? If these transitive terminations belong
to an original Papuan stock, and therefore are characterist-
ically Melanesian, how have they come into Javanese and
Samoan ? It is easy to account for their absence in some
regions while present in others if they are supposed to belong
to a common stock of which all, with various peculiarities,
partake : but to account for their conspicuous development in
Melanesia, on the supposition that the Melanesians have bor-
rowed from Polynesians or Malays, would be certainly very
difficult.
The mere fact of a comparison being possible between the
grammars of the Melanesian languages and those of the
Malayan and Polynesian branches of the Ocean family, such
as is here attempted, goes some way to show relationship
between them all. That they have a great deal in common
is unmistakeable ; the question is whether what the Me-
lanesians have in common with the others is really their own
or borrowed, and, if borrowed, whether there can be found
anything of the original languages upon which what has been
borrowed from Malayans or Polynesians has been super-
induced ? The examination of vocabularies does not seem to
disclose any such ancient stratum of words, nor does the com-
parison of grammars show any greater difference than may
well be consistent with a community of origin. There is
perhaps only the one language of Savo among those the
grammar of which is here examined which shows a form not
to be reconciled with the rest ; but this only in one particular,
and with very little known about the language. It is con-
ceivable, on the supposition that the languages now spoken
by Melanesians are not originally their own, that the original
stock is not now represented anywhere, either in vocabulary
or grammar, that languages derived from without have en-
tirely taken the place of some earlier speech, but it is difficult
to allow it to be more than possible. The circumstances that
have brought about such a state of things elsewhere do not
Introduction. 3 1
seem to have occurred in Melanesia ; and there is the great
difficulty that the present Melanesian languages certainly
have not been introduced by intruders speaking the present
Malay or Polynesian languages. The analogues of the Me-
lanesian languages are found in Madagascar, the Philippine
Islands, not in Malay ; the Melanesian languages spoken
nearest to the Polynesian settlements, such as Sesake near
Mae, or in regions, like Fiji, most visited by Polynesians, are
distinctly not more Polynesian in character than those that
are exposed to no such influence. This is most important in
view of the theory that Malay commerce or Polynesian coloni-
sation has made Melanesian languages what they are.
9. It has been said, with regard to Melanesian Vocabulary,
that it does not appear to coincide at all with any Australian
list of words, and the same may be said, though with less
confidence, of the Grammar. There is included in the vocabu-
laries given hereafter one of Murray Island, situated on the
edge of the great reef that fringes Australia, opposite the
Gulf of Papua. This is given to show that, although as an
island tongue it might be supposed Melanesian, it is quite
distinct, so far as this list of words goes, from the Melanesian
languages here considered. It is the same with the grammar.
The translation of a Gospel in the Murray Island language is
quite strange to one accustomed to Melanesian languages ; it
is very likely that close study would show many resemblances,
but the aspect of the language is strange. It would be too
much to assert that it is Australian, but the construction which
corresponds to the use of prepositions with nouns by way of
making up for the loss of case is also Australian l. Have we
then in this an example of the supposed original Melanesian
language ? and are there among the New Guinea languages
some which agree with this, and are distinct from those which
are upon the face of them, like Motu, similar to the ordinary
Melanesian tongues ? It would be very natural that in New
Guinea the aboriginal population should be the same with
1 ' Nouns form their dative and ablative in im and lam ; plantation gedub,
to plantation gedubim, from plantation gedublam? Eev. S. McFarlane.
32 Melanesian Languages.
that of Australia. If it should be so, and upon these should
have come the same people who have occupied the Melanesian
islands, it would certainly result that one acquainted with the
Ocean languages would find himself in a foreign region of
speech when he was enquiring into these languages of Aus-
tralian affinity1. But it would go no way to prove that there
are, or ever were, people or languages of the same stock in
the Melanesian islands, other than New Guinea.
In these latter islands it may be safely asserted that the
vocabularies and grammars here given do not show more
than one family of language to exist. The languages are
very numerous and various, their differences are such as to
make them mutually unintelligible, there are some among
them that seem to depart considerably from the common
type ; but, on the whole, they have a vocabulary and grammar
which is found in them all, and in the other Ocean lan-
guages in common with them. It is plain that there has
been no one unbroken flow of population and of language
into and among these islands. There may have been an
ancient movement of the primitive inhabitants of the Indian
Archipelago of which Melanesia is but a prolongation, which
by successive advances has arrived at the very furthest islands.
Upon this, age after age, may have succeeded immigrations
from one quarter or the other of the Oceanic region, from
Micronesia, from Polynesia, from Indonesia again, and these
somewhat mixed on their wanderings, possibly with Austra-
lian, certainly with Asiatic blood. But the family of popu-
1 Mr. McFarlane, of the London Mission Society, has been kind enough to
send me short vocabularies of the languages of Erub, Tauan, the Fly River,
Port Moresby, Kerepuna, South Cape, East Cape, Teste and Heath's Islands,
all belonging to the coast of New Guinea, from Torres Straits eastwards. The
first three of these, close to Cape York in Australia, contain no words that I
know ; all the others have words with which I am familiar as belonging to
Solomon Islands, Banks' Islands, and New Hebrides. The suffixed pronouns
are shown in tinana, his mother, tinalcu, my mother, and the verbal particle,
i, is prefixed, as in Melanesia, to adjectives and to verbs. The pronouns of the
first three languages are quite different from the Melanesian, those of the six
latter substantially the same. In the numerals the same difference appears,
and not merely in words, but in capacity and system.
Introduction. 33
lation and of language is apparently one, languages and
dialects of one family intermixed, migrations from one stock
crossing and intercrossing. We may conceive of the peopling
of Melanesia and the settlement of its languages as of the
filling with the rising tide of one of the island reefs. It is
not a single simultaneous advance of the flowing tide upon an
open beach, but it comes in gradually and circuitously by
sinuous channels and unseen passages among the coral, rilling
up one pool while another neighbouring one is dry, appa-
rently running out and ebbing here and there while generally
rising, often catching the unwary by an unobserved approach,
sometimes deceiving by the appearance of a fresh-water stream
on its way into the sea, crossing, intermixing, running con-
trary ways, but flowing all the while and all one tide till the
reef is covered and the lagoon is full.
NOTE. — Although the connection of the Melanesian Lan-
guages is here considered entirely on the side of language, and
ethnological difficulties do not properly belong to the subject,
yet such a theory of the ethnological connection of the Me-
lanesian people with those of the Ocean races generally, as
may be consistent with the varying physical characteristics
of the inhabitants of the Indian and Pacific Archipelagos,
may perhaps be propounded without presumption. It has been
stated above, p. 8, that the Polynesian settlements in Three
Hills Island in the New Hebrides, and the Reef Islands
near Santa Cruz, show us people physically indistinguishable
from Melanesians but speaking a Polynesian language ;
whereas isolated Polynesian settlements at Tikopia, Rennell
Island, and Bellona, with no Melanesian neighbours, are
physically Polynesian. The children speak the language of
the village if their mothers are foreigners, still more would
they speak the language of the village if their fathers were
foreign visitors. Suppose, then, in the islands adjacent to the
Asiatic continent a population of dark-coloured and curly-
haired physical character with their own language. Suppose
34 Melanesia* Languages.
the islands to be settled with this population, originally of
one stock, and the gradual settlement of the islands further
away to the south-east to be going on by the people of this
one stock, their languages diverging as time and distance
increase. Suppose Asiatic people, lighter in complexion and
straight-haired, to have intercourse with the island people
nearest to the continent, going over to trade with them,
residing on the island coasts, giving rise to a certain number
of half-castes. These half-castes then, in regard to language,
would be island people, they would not follow their foreign
fathers' speech, but their mothers' and their fellow-villagers' ;
but in regard to physical appearance they would be mixed,
lighter than their mothers in complexion, with natter features
(if their mothers were like Papuans and their fathers like
Chinese), and their hair would be straighter. This mixed
breed would begin on the coast, and increase ; it would mix
in its turn both with the inland people and with the foreign
visitors, relatives on the fathers' side. The result, after a
time, would be that in the interior of the island the aboriginal
inhabitants would remain physically and in speech what they
were, but on the coast and towards the coast there would be a
great mixture of various degrees of crossings, some very like
the Asiatic visitors, some very little unlike the inland people ;
but all speaking the island language. Suppose this to be the
case in all the islands, most in those nearest the continent,
but as time went on and migrations took place extending
far beyond, we should find great diversities of appearance,
ranging between the light and straight-haired and dark and
curly-haired ; yet the languages, various as by distance and
isolation they might well become, would show that they
belonged to the same stock. This would account for the
Malay and Chinese being, if dressed alike, very much alike to
look at, and for the Malay and Banks' Islander being a good
deal unlike to look at, and it would account for the Malay
and Banks' Islander speaking languages of the same stock,
and quite distinct from Chinese. It would do more ; it
would account for Asiatic words, if there be such, being found
Introduction. 35
in Melanesian languages, for some words would come in from
the continent, though the language of the islands would
not be superseded ; and it would account for the fuller less-
decayed grammar of the darker less-mixed people of the
further islands. Let a branch of the mixed population, of a
certain degree of mixture, go off by themselves where they
could mix no more, they would carry a branch of the old
stock of language with them which would vary into dialects
in time, and they would not change their physical character-
istics except as circumstances might modify them ; yet there
would naturally be visible among them, as there are among
the Maoris of New Zealand, individuals or strains darker and
less straight-haired than the rest: the dark ancestry would
show. This would account for the Polynesians having a
language allied both to the Malay and to the Melanesian.
To the Polynesian, who is shocked at being claimed as a
relation by a much blacker man than himself, it is answered
that he speaks a language very like the Melanesian, but not
so complete and full, and that he has a good deal of black
blood and shows it. To the Malay, who will equally disclaim
his poor relation, it is replied that his speech is that of the
dark man, but much decayed and simplified ; and though he
has a good deal of Sanskrit and very likely some continental
Asiatic words in common use, yet that there is no doubt
but that his tongue and that of the Banks' Islanders belong
to a common stock.
Nor would the truth of this theory be upset if in New
Guinea were to be found languages which could not be re-
conciled with the island Melanesian tongues. The Austra-
lian languages are evidently distinct from these, and the part
of New Guinea on the other side of the Torres Straits from
Australia has people whose language is not like Melanesian.
There may be New Guinea men, Papuans, not Australians
nor Melanesians of the Islands ; but if there be, what is here
considered is the stock to which the Melanesian islanders and
their languages belong.
II. VOCABULARIES.
MR. WALLACE, in his valuable book on the Malay Archi-
pelago, has given Vocabularies of one hundred and seventeen
words in thirty-three languages of that Archipelago. He
also gives nine words in fifty-nine languages of the Archi-
pelago.
He divides the Archipelago into two portions, by a line
which he conceives to separate the Malayan and all the
Asiatic races from the Papuan and all that inhabit the
Pacific. This line is not the same as that which divides the
animal productions of the same countries ; but since it divides,
as is conceived, the races, it must be taken to divide the
languages, according to Mr. Wallace's view of the radical
distinction between the Malay and Papuan races. This line
then would be the boundary of Melanesian and Malayan
languages ; and it is of great importance, to the under-
standing of the relation of the one set of languages to the
other, to ascertain if the distinction thus made holds good
according to the Vocabularies.
For this purpose the nine words in fifty-nine languages
supply convenient matter for investigation. Do these nine
words divide themselves into two sets, the one on the one side
and the other on the other side of the dividing line ? If they
do, we have the boundary of the Papuan and Melanesian
Vocabularies ; if they do not, there is no boundary, at least
where such an observer as Mr. Wallace marks the difference of
physical characteristics. Of the fifty-nine languages twenty-
seven are Malayan, according to Mr. Wallace's division, and
Vocabularies* 37
thirty-two are Papuan. Examination of the nine words
shows them distributed as follows : —
1. Slack. Out of fifty-nine words thirty-six are forms
to which the Malay itam belongs. Of these thirty-six,
ten are on the Malayan side, and twenty-six on the Papuan.
More than two-thirds of the Papuan languages have the word
which is also Malay; and the proportion is greater on the
Papuan side than on the Malayan.
2. Fire. Excluding doubtful words, there are about equal
numbers on either side agreeing with the Malay word api ;
fifteen out of the twenty-seven Malayan, fourteen out of the
thirty- two Papuan. If words rather doubtful, i.e. farther
from the form api, are taken, there are many more on the
Papuan side.
3. Large. There is no word common by which comparison
can be made. Words are very various on both sides.
4. Nose. Here there is the same word in nineteen lan-
guages, fourteen on the Malay side, five on the Papuan. The
word therefore, in Malay idong, may be claimed as Malayan
rather than Papuan.
5. Small. There is no word by which to make a division.
6. Tongue. There is an approach to a division of words
corresponding to the supposed division of races. The Malay
lidah has seventeen on its side, against one Papuan ; the other
word, ma, has twelve Papuan to two Malayan.
7. Tooth. This most common word occurs eighteen times,
and in nearly equal proportions on either side ; eight on
the Malayan, ten on the Papuan. Malay itself is an ex-
ception.
8. Water. Taking ayer to be the same as wai, thirty-four
of the fifty-nine are the same. Of these, twenty-five are on
the Papuan side, nine only on the Malayan ; but Malay itself
has the Papuan word.
9. White. The Malay word putih is very common on both
sides, thirty-five out of fifty-nine. But about half the Ma-
layan languages have it, and two-thirds of the Papuan. It is
rather then Papuan than Malayan.
38 Melanesia* Languages.
On the whole, it is from this Vocabulary quite impossible
to draw a line between the languages. In only one case
out of nine do words arrange themselves on the two sides
of the line in accordance with the proposed division of the
races.
So much being ascertained, we can compare with more
satisfaction Melanesian Vocabularies with those of the Malay
Archipelago ; and Mr. Wallace's Vocabularies supply an ex-
cellent basis for comparison. It is evident that those voca-
bularies can be taken as a whole, and that there is no danger,
while concerned with them, of travelling beyond reasonable
and legitimate limits of comparison. To go further beyond,
and search for likeness between Melanesian words and those
belonging to the continent of Asia, would be to go altogether
beyond the inquiry which is undertaken here. What is pro-
posed is to compare Melanesian vocabularies together, so as to
ascertain what evidence they show as to the possession of a
common stock of words ; and further to compare the Me-
lanesian words with those of other Ocean languages which
may add their testimony to that of the Malay Archipelago
lists and make the comparison tolerably general and com-
plete.
Vocabularies are here given of seventy words in forty
Melanesian languages, the words being chosen from those of
Mr. Wallace's list. Many of his words are inapplicable in
islands where metals are unknown ; and there were good
reasons for leaving out others. With the Melanesian words
are added, for comparison, the corresponding ones in Malay,
Malagasy, and the New Zealand Maori. Words from Murray
Island, an island between Australia and New Guinea, are
given among the Melanesian for the sake of the example it
affords of a vocabulary very unlike the others, where a Me-
lanesian language would perhaps be expected. Only one is
given of New Guinea, from a part where the language is
clearly very near to those of the Solomon Islands.
Vocabularies.
39
SEVENTY WORDS IN FOKTY MEtANESIAN LANGUAGES.
I. Ashes.
i. Sad.
3. Banana.
4. Belly.
5. Bird.
I. Nengone
cekole
nia
hnamaco
ore
ia
2. Anaiteum
ohpa
has
nos
etga
man
3. Eromanga
owanta
sat
—
tini
minok
4. Fate
tano ou
sa
at
kweli
manu
5. Sesake
tano au
sa
adi
bele
manu
6. Api
—
poparua
pirai, adi
sine
manu
7. Ambrym
—
hagavi
vi
—
bwehel
8. Espiritu Santo
avuavu
oso
vetali
tia
nanu
9. Whitsuntide
taniavu
hantai
ihi
siqeni
manu
10. Lepers' Island
qie
esi
votali
taqanigi
manu
ii. Aurora
digevu
seseta
udi
taqa?iii
manu
12. Meralava
vurua
sasat
vetal
teqei
man
13. Santa Maria, Gog
tarowo
tes
vatal
toqan
man
14. „ Lakon
tawehav
sa
vetal
toqan
inah
15. Vanua Lava, Pak
uwus
se
ve'el
eqei
men
1 6. „ Sasar
uwus
se
ve'el
eqegi
men
17. „ Vureas
wowo
tisi
vetel
toqai
man
1 8. „ Mosina
tuwus
tisi
vetel
toqegi
man
19. „ alo Teqel
UWU8
see
ve'el
oqegi
mon
20. Mota
tarowo
tatas
vetal
toqai
manu
21. Saddle Island, Motlav
wowo
het
vtel
tqege
men
22. „ Volow
ao
heat
vetel
teqegi
men
23. TJreparapara
powo, puio
set
vetel
toqegi
man
24. Torres Islands, Lo.
wowa
hia
vetel
toqa
mon
2.> Fiji
dravu
ca
vudi
kete
manumanu
26. Eotuma
roh
raksa
pori
ef
inanman
27. Santa Cruz
bu
jia
bepi
bole
kio
28. Nifilole
nublese
ea
nou
noweso
deguluo
29. Ulawa
ora
tataala
liuti
iia
manu
30. San Cristoval, Wano
dohu
taa
hugi
ahu
manu
„ Fagani
ravu
tai
fuki
oba
manu
31. Malanta, Saa
pwasa ora
eaiala
huti
lie
manu
„ Bululaha
ora
tataala
huti
opa
manu
„ Alite
ora
taa
bau
oga
malu
32. Vaturana
ravu
taulaka
vudi
toba
manu
33. Florida
ravu
dika
vudi
kutu
manu
34. Savo
lavu
isarowo
sou
pika
kosu
35. Ysabel, Bugotu
pidaravu
dika
vudi
kutu
manu
36. „ £ao
parafu
di'a
jau
tia
waji
37. New Georgia
eba
jena
batia
tia
oloko
38. Duke of York
kabu
akakai
un
bala
pika rowo
39. Murray Island
—
adud .
kaba
—
adua
40. New Guinea, Motu
kaliu
tika
/ —
boka
manu
Malay
habu
jahat
pisang
prut
burung
Malagasy
lavenona
ratfti
ontsy
kibo
vorona
Maori
pungarehu
kino
—
kopu
manu
Melanesian Languages.
6. Black.
7. Blood.
8. Boat.
9. Body.
10. Bone.
I. Nengone
nashene
dra
koe
hnengome
dure
2. Anaiteum
apig
injairan
elcau
ohu
eduo
3. Eromanga
—
de
lo
okilis
oiran
4. Fate
gota
ta
rarua
kwatoko
vatu
5. Sesake
maeto
da
rarua
saranaliokakana
vatu
6. Api
mokoliko
—
wa^a, rarua
—
puriu
7. Atnbrym
—
—
bulbul
—
—
8. Espiritu Santo
naeto
tsae
ovo
oson
sui
9. Whitsuntide
meto
daga
wa.g'a
repehi
hui
10. Lepers' Island
maeto
dai
&g&
turegi
huigi
1 1 . Aurora
osooso
dai
aka
turii
surii
1 2. Meralava
silsilig
dar
ak
turi
suri
13. Santa Maria, Gog
wirwiriga
dar
ak
turgi
suri
14. „ Lakon
wiwirig
dara
ak
tigri
suri
1 5. Vanua Lava, Pak
malegleg
tar
ok
arpegi
sirigi
16. „ Sasar
melegleg
tar
ak
arpegi
sirigi
1 7. „ Vureas
korkor
dar
ak
turgi
sir!
1 8. „ Mosina
meliglig
nar
ak
turgi
surgi
19. „ alo Teqel
melegleg
tar
ok
arpegi
sirigi
20. Mota
silsiliga
nara
aka
turiai
suriu
21. Saddle Island, Motlav
mlegleg
dar
ok
trige
hir
22. „ Volow
sisilig
dar
°g
tarbegi
hir
23. Ureparapara
melilia
dar
ak
tarepegi
hirin
24. Torres Islands, Lo.
meligaliga
dara
eka
tarapi
hur
25- Fiji
loaloa
dra
waqa
yago
sui
26. Rotuma
lahlah
tot
ak
for
sui
27. Santa Cruz
bo
newia
loju
neke
^lu
28. Nifilole
weo
dela
loasiu
namele
ve
29. Ulawa
rodohono
apu
haka
sape
suisuli
30. San Cristoval, Wawo
buruburu'a
abu
haka
abe
suri
„ Fagani
buruburuga
kara
faka
ape
suri
31. Malanta, Saa
rotohono
apu
baka
sape
suisuli
„ Bululaha
pulpulu'a
apu
haka
sape
suli
,, Alite
golu
abu
va^a
rape
rabegu
32. Vatura«a
bora
habu
vaka
kokora
suli
33. Florida
bili
gabu
vaka
huli
huli
34. Savo
boraga
gabu
vaka
mejila
tovolo
35. Ysabel, Bugotu
jowo
gaugabu
vaka
tono
huli
36. „ (?ao
dodofu
dadara
vaka
tono
huli
37. New Georgia
kiki
juka
vaka
—
susuri
38. Duke of York
marut
A'.ap
a£a
pani
uri
39. Murray Island
qoleqole
mam
nar
—
lid
40. New Guinea, Motu
koremakorema
rara
lakatoi
tau
—
Malay
itam
darah
prau
badan
tulang
Malagasy
mainty
ra
lakana
tena
taolana
Maori
mangu
toto
whaka
tinana
iwi
Vocabularies.
II. Bow.
12. Butterfly. 13. Child.
14. Cocoa- 15. Cold.
nut.
I. Nengone
pehna
wabiengo
tene, tei
nu
leulebue
2. Anaiteum
tana
teijig
halav
aig
idoido
3. Eromanga
—
—
nitni
—
—
4. Fate
asu
pepe
karikik
niu
milate
5. Sesake
asu
—
gari
niu
maladi
6. Api (Pama, hisu) viu
lepepe
susua
niu
manini
7. Ambrym
yu
—
terera
ol
mala
8. Espiritu Santo
vus
—
paule
matui
narir
9. Whitsuntide
ihu
pepe
nitui
niu
masisi
10. Lepers' Island
vuhu
bebe
natugi
matui
madidi
II. Aurora
usu
bebe
natui
matua
madidiw
12. Meralava
VU8
beb
nati
matua
mamarir
13. Santa Maria, Gog
vus
beb
iiatu
motu
mamerir
14. ., Lakon
vus
pep
natun
matu
misiw
15. Vanua Lava, Pak
vus
pep
nenigi
me'ig
mamgit
1 6. „ Sasar
vus
pep
ni'igi
mi'ig
manwit
1 7. „ Vureas
vus
rom
notui
moto
mamegin
18. „ Mosina
vus
rup
natugi
moto
mamegin
19. „ alo Teqel
vus
pep
niigi
mi'ig
mamgit
20. Mota
us
rupe
natui
matig
mamarir
21. Saddle Island, Motlav
ih
beb
nten
mtig
momrir
22. „ Volow
ih
beb
netei
metig
mamrir
23. Ureparapara
wuh
peb
juin
meji
mamedin
24. Torres Islands, Lo.
u
pip
magola
matu
melehih
25- Fiji
dakai, vucu
bebe
gone
niu
liliwa
26. Botuma
fan
pep
lelea, riri
uiu
matitf
27. Santa Cruz
netevu
bo
ito
nalu
abao
28. Nifilole
jeepoa
mumulo
dowolili
nu
balelo
29. Ulawa
pasi
pepe
kale
niu
wawai
30. San Cristoval, Wa»o
ba'e
bebe
gare
niu
wanusi
„ Fagani
aepage
pepe
kare
niu
magauga
31. Malanta, Saa
pasi
pepe
kale
niu
wawai
„ Bululaha
pasi
pepe
kale mela
niu
wowai
„ Alite
basi
iigra
gale
liu
guaguari
32. Vaturawa
periga
bebe
baka
niu
bisi
33. Florida
bage
uleulebe
dale, <7ari
niu
bihi
34. Savo
bage
bebeula
niuba
gazu
gaule
35. Ysabel, Bugotu
bage
aloalo
dathe, ^ari
niu
gaula
36. „ Gao
ba'esu
kokou
tuna
koilo
luuna
37. New Georgia
bakala
—
koburu
Mosara
gamu
38. Duke of York
—
toto
nat
lama
madarig
39. Murray Island
sareg
kap
uerem
bunari
gebgeb
40. New Guinea, Motu
peva
kaubebi
miro
niu
kerukeru
Malay
panah
kupukupu
anak
klapa
dingin
Malagasy
renifa
lolo
zanak
nihu
malaina
Maori
kopere
pepepe
tamaiti
—
makariri
Melanesian Languages.
1 6. Door.
17. Ear.
18. Egg.
19. Face.
20. Father-
I. Nengone
pa ma
wabaiwa
wa tei
paegogo
caca
a. Anaiteum
eucse neom
tikga
hakli
soga nimta
etma
3. Eromanga
buketampiat
teligo
akli
ipmi
temi
4. Fate
meta
taliga
toli
rai
tema
5. Sesake
mata ki kopu
dalina
tolu
nako
tama
6. Api
—
dalina
kokolu
mara
ara
7. Ambrym
—
ri«i
—
—
—
8. Espiritu Santo
natan na ima
saliga
gotolina
nago
tetai
9. Whitsuntide
mat gatava
qero
toll
lol mata
tama
10. Lepers' Island
matai vale
qerogi
toligi
nagogi
mama
II. Aurora
gatame vale
qoroi
tolii
nagoi
tata
12. Meralava
meteim
qoroi
utoli
nagoi
mam
13. Santa Maria, Gog
mate govur
qoron
tolin
nago
mama
14. „ Lakon
mate uma
telwan
wii
nawon
mam
15. Vanua Lava, Pak
me'e e»
telwegi
olgi
nogogi
mam
1 6. „ Sasar
me'e qeqek
telwegi
olgi
nogogi
mam
1 7. „ Vureas
mate govur
qoroi
wowese
nogoi
mam
1 8. „ Mosina
meteim
qorogi
weswesegi
nugugi
mam
19. „ alo Teqel
me'e qeqek
telwegi
olgi
nogogi
mam
20. Mota
mateima
qoroi
toliu
nagoi
tama
21. Saddle Island, Motlav
mteem
delmege
tlen
ngoge
mam
22. „ Volow
meteem
delnegi
tili
negegi
mam
23. Ureparapara
mete e»
delwegi
juluin
weregi
mam
24. Torres Islands, Lo.
mete ima
daliwa
tul
nago
ma
25- Fiji
katuba
daliwa
yaloka
mata
tama
26. Rotuma
nusura
faliaw
kaleuf
maf
o' fa
27. Santa Cruz
neva
dole
li
maku
nuwe
28. Nifilole
ba a foa
gdko
nuolie
nuoeinibe
tumai
29. Ulawa
ma na nima
alma
saulu
maa
ama
30. San Cristoval, W&no
ma nai ruma
karma
poupou
ma
ama
„ Fagani
ma rima
kariwa
oru
ma
wama
31. Malanta, Saa
ma na nume
alme
maopu
ma
ama
„ Bululaha
ma na nima
ali/za
maomaopu
ma
ama
„ Alite
ma luma
alma
rau li main
lao mae
mama
32. Vaturawa
samani
kuli
duva
mata
tama
33. Florida
mataula
kuli
tolu
mata
tama
34. Savo
^ola
ta^alu
sii
nito
mao
35. Ysabel, Bugotu
hagetha i vale
kuli
kidoru
mata
tama
36. „ G&o
tana
kuli
keredi
matata
ma
37. New Georgia
tolagra
talerae
vovo to
mata
mama
38. Duke of York
bona na naka
taliga
kiau
mata
tama
39. Murray Island
—
girip
—
—
babi
40. New Guinea, Motu
ituala
taia
—
vaira
tama
Malay
pintu
telinga
tulor
muka
bapa
Malagasy
varavarana
sofina
tody
tarehy
ray
Maori
tatau
taringa
hua
mata
matua tane
Vocabularies.
43
21. Finger.
22. Fire.
23. Fish.
24. Flesh.
25. Fly.
I. Nengone
tubenine
iei
wa ie
iaile
nengo
2. Anaiteum
upsikma
cap
numu
emihta
lag
3. Eromanga
dugerugo
om
nomu
elat
—
4. Fate
kini
kapu
ika
pakas
lago
5. Sesake
kini
kapu
ika
visiko
—
6. Api
sulima
kapi
ika
—
—
7. Ambrym
—
av
ika, malo
—
—
8. Espiritu Santo
pisu
gapu
natj
visigo
latto
9. Whitsuntide
pihu
gapi
ige
vigoho
larao
10. Lepers' Island
bisugi
avi
ige
vihigogi
lareo
11. Aurora
bisui
avi
masi
visigoi
lawo
12. Meralava
bisi
av
ig
visgoi
law
13. Santa Maria, Gog
bisu
av
eg
moswivin
la wo
14. „ Lakon
pisin
av
mah
pihvi
ItlH.
15. Vanua Lava, Pak
pusugi
ev
ig
vosogi
Ian
1 6. „ Sasar
pusugi
ev
inanat
vosgegi
Ian
1 7. „ Vureas
busui
ev
mes
vusgoi
Ian
1 8. ,, Mosina
pusugi
ev
eg
visugi
Ian
19. „ alo Teqel
pusugi
ev
eg
vosgegi
Ian
20. Mota
pisui
avi
iga
visogoi
lawo
21. Saddle Island, Motlav
bhuge
ev
eg
vhog
len
22. „ Volow
bihigi
ev
eg
vohog
Ian
23. Ureparapara
pusugi
ev
ie
viho
Ian
24. Torres Islands, Lo.
pub.
ev
iga
vog
lew
25- Fiji
gagalo ni liga
buka waqa
ika
lewe
lago
26. Rotuma
kak'e
rahe
i'a
tiko
Ian
27. Santa Cruz
tokiamu
gnie
no
vode
mo
28. Nifilole
( gogago nime
( (nails, bisi nime)
nie
si
nuwe
nula
29. Ulawa
kiki
tuwa
ia
hasio
lawo
30. San Cristoval, Wa»o
kakau
eu
i'a
hasio
lawo
„ Fagani
kakau
giu
iga
visogo
rawo
31. Malanta, Saa
riirii
tuwa
iie
hasio
laMo
„ Bululaha
uu
tuna
i'a
hinasu
lawo
„ Alite
^rau
duwa
ia
vilisi
lawo
32. Vaturawa
ririki
lake
cheche
venesi
lano
33. Florida
giffiri
lake
iga
vinahi
lano
34. Savo
karakara bizi
keda
mii
melomelo
kurigidi
35. Ysabel, Bugotu
kaukau
joto
fei
vinahi
thawo
36. „ #ao
0e#esu
kaagi
sasa
nnahi
(flanu
37. New Georgia
kakarisi
ikusu
ihana
borabora
dodo
38. Duke of York
kalkali na lima
ugan
ian
pani
lag
39. Murray Island
—
ur
lar
gem
nager
40. New Guinea, Motu
dodori
laki
—
—
lao
Malay
jari
api
ikan
daging
langau
Malagasy
rantsan tanana
afo
(fiana)
nofo
lalitra
Maori
matehao
ahi
ika
kikokiko
ngaro
44
Melanesian Languages.
26. Fowl.
27. Fruit.
28. Good.
29. Hair.
30. Hand.
I. Nengone
titewe
wawene
roi
ie hawo
wa nine
a. Anaiteum
jaa
howa
upene
umri
ikma
3. Eromanga
tuwo
buwa
ariiui
ov limpu
nokobe
4. Fate
to
ua
wia
lulu
ru
5. Sesake
toa
wa
qia
ululu
ru
6. Api
to
—
po
ilu
lima
7. Ambrym
to
wi
bua
ili, wolu
vera
8. Espiritu Santo
toa
va
pei
vul
gave
9. Whitsuntide
toa
wai
tavuha
ilu
lima
10. Lepers' Island
toa
wai
rea
vulugi
limegi
ii. Aurora
kur
oi
wia
ului
lima
12. Meralava
ov
we
wia
uli
lima
1 3. Santa Maria, Gog
toa
we
wi
vulu
lima
14. „ Lakon
to
wehi
we
vul
lima
15. Vanua Lava, Pak
to
wewegi
we
viligi
pinigi
1 6. „ Sasar
to
wowegi
we
viligi
pinigi
1 7. „ Vureas
to
wie
we
vului
peni
1 8. ,, Mosina
to
weegi
we
vulugi
penigi
19. „ alo Teqel
to
wowegi
we
viligi
pinigi
20. Mota
toa
woai
wia
ului
panei
21. Saddle Island, Motlav
to
we
we
ilige
bnege
22. „ Volow
kav
wenen
we
iligi
benegi
23. Ureparapara
to
wo
wie
wulugi
pinigi
24. Torres Islands, Lo.
to
win
wia
ul
pan
25- Fiji
toa
vua
vinaka
vulu
liga
26. Rotuma
moa
hue
lelei
leva
si'u
27. Santa Cruz
kio
va
mela
nini na ve
mu
28. Nifilole
kio
nua
fako
lu
nime
29. Ulawa
kua
hua
tiana
waraehu
nimanima
30. San Cristoval, Wawo
kua
hua
goro
warehu
rinianma
„ Fagani
kua
fua
koro
waraefu
ruma
31. Malanta, Saa
kua
hua
tiana
warehu
ninime
„ Bululaha
kua
hua
tiana
uuhu
kikii
„ Alite
—
vuavua
oka
ivu
limalima
32. Vaturawa
kokoroko
vuvua
vasea
ivu
kima
33. Florida
kokoroko
vuavua
uto
ulu
lima
34. Savo
kokoroko
igu
dai
luta
kakau
35. Ysabel, Bugotu
kokorako
sagaro
toke
sesehu
lima
36. „ <?ao
kokorako
ure
keli
klakla
kame
37. New Georgia
kokoroko
ure
leara
kalu
lima
38. Duke of York
kareke
wai
auakak
weu
lima
39. Murray Island
—
—
debele
mus
tag
40. New Guinea, Motu
kokoroko
huahua
namo
houi
ima
Malay
ayam
bua
baik
rambut
tangan
Malagasy
koho
voankazu
tsara
volo
tanana
Maori
heihei
hua
pai
huruhuru
ringa
Vocabularies.
45
31. Hard.
32. Head.
33. Hot.
34. House.
35. Large.
I. Nengone
tace
hawo
shodrone
ma
hmaiai
a. Anaiteum
ehka
idjini
ehri
im, coin
lupas
3. Eromanga
—
pu
—
imo
tamas
4. Fate
kasua
bwau
futunu
suma
kwila
5. Sesake
^asua
bau
dorodoro
kopu
bula
6. Api
—
ba
pisusunu
uma
taura
7. Ambrym
—
botu
—
hale, ima
tlam
8. Espiritu Santo
yaur/aua
re
tutunu
ima
tagasuei
9. Whitsuntide
wasi
qatu
aruaru
ima
gaivua
10. Lepers' Island
siaga
qatugi
mamavi
vale
lawua
II. Aurora
tortoruga
qatui
raragai
vale
lata
1 2. Meralava
inarniar
qatu
sawsaw
im
lav
13. Santa Maria, Gog
mamartig
qotu
tutun
govur
lava
14. ,, Lakon
lekteg
qatu
tutun
u»wa
rig
15. Vanua Lava, Pak
marmar
qi'igi
vavat
ew
lowo
1 6. „ Sasar
marmar
qi'igi
i'in
qeqek
lowo
17. „ Vureas
meneg
qotui
tutun
govur
luwo
1 8. „ Mosina
marmar
qutugi
tutun
im
lowo
19. „ alo Teqel
marmar
qi'igi
i'in
qeqek
luwo
20. Mota
maremare
qatui
tutun
ima
poa
2 1 . Saddle Island, Motlav
marmar
qtige
seuseu
em
Iwo
22. „ Volow
marmar
qitegi
sousou
em
luwo
23. Ureparapara
maremare
qujugi
seseu
ew
luwoa
24. Torres Islands, Lo.
mermer
qat
tun
ema
luwo
25. Fiji
kaukaua
ulu
katakata
vale
levu
26. Botuma
momo
filo'u
sunu
ri
te'u
27. Santa Cruz
muwe
vo
luepu
ma
levu
28. Nifilole
«a«o
nu otaa
vepe
nu opwa
elo
29. Ulawa
paapau
pa'u
matoro
nima
paina
30. San Cristoval, Wawo
babau
ba'u
raurau
ruma
raha
„ Fagani
gata
bau
raurau
rima
rafa
31. Malanta, Saa
papau
pa'u
madoro
nuwze
paine
„ Bululaha
mauta
pau
matoro
nima
paina
„ Alite
«a«ata
^ualu
ra^a
luma
baila
32. Vaturawa
kakae
lova
papara
vale
loki
33. Florida
«asi
ulu
papara
vale
sule
34. Savo
wasi
batu
parapara
tuvi
duiroMO
35. Ysabel, Bugotu
(heta) «asi
ulu
papara
vathe
hutu
36. „ <?ao
maku
pa'u
jalatoga
su^a
bio
37. New Georgia
«ira
salevi
—
vanua
^etena
38. Duke of York
dekdek
lori
uan
ruma
galapi
39. Murray Island
—
kerem
ureuri
meta
aule
40. New Guinea, Motu
auka
kuara
siahu
ruma
paga
Malay
kras
kapala
panas
rumah
busar
Malagasy
mafy
loha
mafana
trano
be
Maori
pakeke
upoku
wera
whare
nui
Melanesian Languages.
36. Leaf.
37. Little.
38. Louse.
39. Man.
40. Mat.
I . Neugone
ru
waami
ote
ngome
gucoe
2. Anaiteum
ri
tintin
cet
atimi
ap
3. Eromanga
—
—
—
eteme
—
4. Fate
ulu
kiki
kutu
tamole
mwit
5. Sesake
lau
(^iki) riki
—
tamoli
lae
6. Api
—
takisi
—
aru, tamoli
takue
7. Ambrym
—
rakakre
—
vantin
—
8. Espiritu Santo
rau
tagapiu
gut
tatsua
tatavura
9. Whitsuntide
rau
tirigi
gutu
atatu
qana
10. Lepers' Island
raugi
biti
wutu
tawaloe
qana
II. Aurora
doui
riki
wutu
tatua
eba
12. Meralava
doi
werig
wut
tanun
eb
13. Santa Maria, Gog
do
wesekit
wut
todun
eb
1 4. „ Lakon
drawi
sik
wut
t&t\m
ap
15. Vanua Lava, Pak
togi
tiktik
wu
ansar
anap
1 6. „ Sasar
togi
wogrig
wu
amar
ep
17. „ Vureas
doi
menet
wut
tansar
am
1 8. „ Mosina
no
meule
wut
tawtsar
apa
19. „ alo Teqel
togi
wowrig
wu
amsar
ep
20. Mota
naui
mantagai
wutu
tanun
epa
21. Saddle Island, Motlav
ron
su
git
et
tabge
22. „ Volow
raren
siwi
git
ta, at
eb
23. Ureparapara
dugi
sosogot
wut
at
am
24. Torres Islands, Lo.
hoi
ririg
gut
tela
epa
25- Fiji
drau
lailai
kutu
tamata
ibi
26. Rotuma
rau
me'ame'a
ufa
fa
cap
27. Santa Cruz
leu
topa
kutu
nepala
nini
28. Nifilole
taav
laki
no
sime
niiia
29. Ulawa
apaapa ni ai
haora
pote
inoni
hull
30. San Cristoval, Wawo
raua
kekerei
bote
noni
bona
,, Fagani
afa
kikirii
fu
enoni
bwana
31. Malanta, Saa
apaapa
maiinai
pote
inoni
hulite
„ Balulaha
apapaie
maimai
u'u
inoni
hulita
„ Alite
abe
maude
u
ioli
vau
32. Vaturawa
rarau
tetelo
»otu
tinoni
poro
33. Florida
rau
pile
gutu
tinoni
gime
34. Savo
kiba
gnari
dole
mapa
vagu
35. Ysabel, Bugotu
eloelo i gai
iso
gutu
tinoni
wehe
36. „ <?ao
klakla
maniko
teli
noni
nia^ru
37. New Georgia
rokroko
kikina
—
tinoni
ekoani
38. Duke of York
dono
lik
nanut
muana
bat
39. Murray Island
lum
kebile
—
le
—
40. New Guinea, Motu
—
malaki
—
tau
kipai
Malay
daun
kichil
kutu
orang
tikar
Malagasy
ravina
kely
hao
olona
tsihy
Maori
rau
iti
kutu
tangata
whariki
Vocabularies.
47
41. Moon.
42. Mosquito.
43. Mother.
44. Mouth.
45. Night.
i. Nengone
cekole
nine
nene
tubenengoce
ridi
2. Anaiteum
mohoe
nyum
risi
ipjineucse
Pig
3. Eromanga
—
—
dinemi
navran
pumrok
4. Fate
alelag
paterik
pwile
goli
P°g
5. Sesake
masina
—
qila
—
bowi
6. Api
variu, kapaiiu
—
awia
—
boni
7. Ambrym
ola
—
—
noe
—
8. Espiritu Santo
vula
namugi
tiai, tina
vava
powi
9. Whitsuntide
vula
namu
ratahi
lolwa
qo»
10. Lepers' Island
vule
gagasi
garuwegi
wawagi
bora
1 1 . Aurora
wula
namu
veve
valai
qow
1 2. Meralava
vul
nam
vev
velei
qon
13. Santa Maria, Gog
vul
nam
rave
valan
qon
14. „ Lakon
vul
namug
vev
valan
qew
15. Vanua Lava, Pak
mar
nem
mo
velegi
qow
16. „ Sasar
mawar
nom
mo
weregi
qo»
1 7. „ Vureas
wol
nam
retne
velei
qow
1 8. „ Mosina
vol
nam
lei
yieregi
qow
19. „ aloTeqel
magag
torn
mo
»orogi
qow
20. Mota
vula
namu
veve
valai
qow
21. Saddle Island, Motlav
wol
nem
tita
vlege
qon
22. „ Volow
wol
nem
vov
naregi
qew
23. Ureparapara
mewe
nem
tat
velegi
qo»
24. Torres Islands, Lo.
magaga
nam
reme
vala
qow
25- Fiji
vula
namu
tina
gusu
bogi
26. Rotuma
luial
rom
o honi
nuchu
bowi
27. Santa Cruz
tema
mo
jia
nao
vabu
28. Nifilole
pe
namu
ise
nede
ni tabu
29. Ulawa
warowaro
tahula
nike
wawa
roto
30. San Cristoval, Wawo
hura
namo
ina
hara
rodo
„ Fagani
fagaefa
namu
ina
no
bowi
31. Malanta, Saa
warowaro
tahule
nike
wawa
roto
„ Bululaha
warowaro
tahula
nike
wawa
roto
„ Alite
ailua
simi
tetelia
voka
bowi
32. Vaturawa
vula
namu
tina
mawa
bom
33. Florida
vula
namu
tina
mana
bowi
34. Savo
kuge
namunamu
mama
napu
muzi
35. Ysabel, Bugotu
vula
gnamu
ido
livo
borai
36. „ G&o
<7laba
nufi
ido
floflo
bowi
37. New Georgia
paleke
—
tina
huduru
—
38. Duke of York
kala&
namu
na
wa
bug
39. Murray Island
meb
—
apu
nuga
ki
40. New Guinea, Motu
—
namu
tina
utu
boi
Malay
bulan
namok
ma
mulut
malam
Malagasy
volana
moka
reny
vava
alina
Maori
marama
waeiroa
whaea
mangai
po
48
Melanesian Languages.
46. Nose.
47. Pig.
48. Rain.
49. Rat.
50. Red.
I. Nengone
gupiede
puaka
ebe
xeli
dicadica
a. Anaiteum
gidjin
picad
copda
cedo
cap
3. Eromanga
—
opia
ehe
—
—
4. Fate
gusu
wago
usa
kusue
miel
5. Sesake
nisu
wagro
lisa
kusuwe
miala
6. Api
nisu
pui
ua
kawe
iliili
7. Ambry m
guhu
bue
0
tomo
—
8. Espiritu Santo
gogo
poe
usa
garivi
gagara
9. Whitsuntide
qarmanho
qoe
uhe
garivi
memea
10. Lepers' Island
qanogi
boe
uhe
garivi
memea
1 1 Aurora
lisui
qoe
reu, usa
gariv
memea
12. Meralava
inadui
qoe
reu
gasuw
memea
13. Santa Maria, Gog
modun
qo
urei
gosug
meme
14. „ Lakon
iiiatnn
qo
uh
wohow
meme
15. Vanua Lava, Pak
metigi
qo
wat
gosog
lawlaw
1 6. „ Sasar
mitigi
qo
wet
gosow
meme
1 7. „ Vureas
medui
qo
wen
gosow
mame
1 8. „ Mosina
monugi
qo
wen
gusuw
meme
1 9. „ alo Teqel
mitigi
qo
wet
gosow
meme
20. Mota
manui
qoe
wena
gasuwe
memea
21. Saddle Island, Motlav
mdige
qo
smal
gohow
lawlaw
22. „ Volow
medigi
qo
wed
gohow
lawlaw
23. Ureparapara
modugi
qo
wen
gosow
mama
24. Torres Islands, Lo.
mot
qo
weta
gahuwa
memi
25. Fiji
ucu
vuaka
uca
kalavo
damudamu
26. Botuma
isu
puaka
uas, usa
picha
mia
27. Santa Cruz
no
qoi
ua
leke
poa
28. Nifilole
noto
poe
lu
lavu
opulo
29. Ulawa
palusu
po
mmo
as uhe
waruwarua
30. San Cristoval, Wawo
barisu
bo
rawi
gasuhe
meramera
„ Fagani
barusu
boo
rawi
gasufe
merameraga
31. Malanta, Saa
pwalusu
pwo
nemo
asuhe
nonoro'a
„ Eululaha
palusu
po
nemo
asuhe
nonoro'a
„ Alite
»o»ora
bo
uta
^ruaua
kuakuala
32. Vaturana
isu
bo
usa
^asuve
chichi
33. Florida
ihu
bolo
uha
kuhi
sisi
34. Savo
gnoko
polo
kuma
kuzi
sisi
35. Ysabel, Bugotu
ihu
botho
uha
kuhi
sisi
36. „ <?ao
nehu
bosu
hani
kusi
jijia
37. New Georgia
—
moa
ubata
kutu
orova
38. Duke of York
gigiro
boro
bata
kada
dara
39. Murray Island
pit
borom
inner
mokis
mamomam
40. New Guinea, Motu
udu
burumu
medu
bita
kakakaka
Malay
idong
babi
hujan
tikus
mera
Malagasy
orana
lambo
ranonorana
voalavo
mena
Maori
ihu
poaka
ua
kiore
whero
Vocabularies.
49
51. Road.
52. Root.
53. Salt.
54. Sea.
55. SKw.
i. Nengone
lene
wee
cele
cele
nenune
2. Anaiteum
efalaig
icvan
mohoanjap
jap
arasi
3. Eromanga
silat
noatni
natukus
tok
—
4. Fate
pua
koa
tasmen
tas
wili
5. Sesake
mata ki sala
; lake
tasi
tasipua
weli
6. Api
dapa
—
—
si
kulu
7. Ambrym.
—
—
—
tie
—
8. Espiritu Santo
rio
goe
tasi
getja
tinina
9. Whitsuntide
hala
garo
tahi
tahi
vinui
10. Lepers' Island
matahala
goarigi
tahi, navo
wawa
vinugi
II. Aurora
tursala
goarii
tas
lama
vinui
12. Meralava
metsal
gari
naw
lam
vini
13. Santa Maria, Gog
matawirsal
gerin
naw
lelam
vini
14. „ Lakon
matali
gegi
naw
lam
vingi
15. Vanua Lava, Pak
me'esal
gergi
naw
lam
vinigi
1 6. „ Sasar
ma'al
gorgi
naw
lam
vingi
1 7. „ Vureas
rnateqersal
malsei
naw
lam
vini
1 8. „ Mosina
metesal
sigrigi
naw
lam
vingi
19. „ alo Teqel
me'esal
gergi
naw
lam
vingi
20. Mota
matesala
gariu
nawo
lama
viniu
21. Saddle Island, Motlav
mtehal
goren
naw
lam
vnen
22. „ Volow
metehal
girigi
naw
lam
vinigi
23. Ureparapara
matehal
durin
naw
lam
vinin
24. Torres Islands, Lo
matsala
gurah
new
lem
gilit
25- Fiji
sala
vu
masima
taci
kuli
26. Eotuma
sala
va'a
ternosi
sasi
uli
27. Santa Cruz
naji
nau no
navo
daopue
be
28. Nifilole
bara^i
nuo
nao
lo
l&gs
29. Ulawa
tala
imimi
asi
ahowa
teetee
30. San Cristoval, Wano
tara
rari
asi
asi
uriuri
„ Fagani
tara
rari
asi
matawa
gafo
31. Malanta, Saa
tala
imiimi
asi
ahowa
teetee
„ Bululaha
tala
imiimi e
moi asi
ahowa
tete
„ Alite
tala
kalokalo
asi
matakua
suwasuw*
32. Vaturana
sautu
lamu
tasi
horara
kokora
33. Florida
halautu
lala
tahi
horara
guiguli
34. Savo
keva
ogni
gnagnue
zorara
korakora
35. Ysabel, Bugotu
hathautu
oga
tahi
horara
guiguli
36. „ #ao
brau
^lati
tahi
orara
#uli
37. New Georgia
huana
—
idire
kolo
korekore
38. Duke of York
akapi
akari
masima
tai
pin
39. Murray Island
gab
sip kak
—
gur
egur
40. New Guinea, Motu
—
—
tamena
tavara
kopi
Malay
jalan
akar
garam
laut
kulit
Malagasy
lalana
vody
sira
riaka
hoditra
Maori
ara
putake
wai tai
moana
hiako
E
Melanesian Languages.
56. Smoke.
57. Soft. 58. Spear. 59. Spittle. 60. Star.
I. Nengone
kali
nidra
cace
kadeu
wajecole
a. Anaiteum
adaran cop
mulmul
mopul
danmas
moijeuv
3. Eromanga
—
molokloku
—
—
mosisu
4. Fate
asua
maneinei
olo
tanue
masei
5. Sesake
asua
manukunuku
io
puvurai
masoe
6. Api
—
—
pulamera
—
rue
7. Ambrym
walehi
—
meta
—
moho
8. Espiritu Santo
asu
nalumlum
gole
loto
vitui
9. Whitsuntide
aho
madamada
sari
loto
visiu
lo. Lepers' Island
ahu
madamada
sari
lodo
visiu
II. Aurora
asu
malumlum
mataso
wura
vitiu
1 2. Meralava
asu
malumlum
matas
lot
viti
13. Santa Maria, Gog
asu
malobus
sar
loton
wo vitig
14. „ Lakon
ahau av
masoksok
ser
anuh
maha
15. Vanua Lava, Pak
OS
mulumlum
ma'as
garmes
vi'
1 6. „ Sasar
OS
mulumlum
ser
garwis
vi'
1 7. „ Vureas
es
melumlum
ser
garmes
wo wiase
1 8. „ Mosina
as
molumlum
eser
garmos
wo viti
19. „ alo Teqel
OS
muluwluw
ser
garmis
vi'
20. Mota
asu
malumlum
isar
anus
vitu
21. Saddle Island, Motlav
aho
mulumlum
mtah
nib.
vit
22. „ Volow
aho
melewlem
metah
wih
vit
23. Ureparapara
suio, ah
molumlum
matah
garewd
vit
24. Torres Islands, Lo
hiev
meluwlure
mata
wewuh
veji
25- Fiji
kubou
malumulumu
moto
weli
kalokalo
26. Rotuma
aasu
parapara
oi kou
onusi
hefu
27. Santa Cruz
kagnie
nomio
lu
bika
vei
28. Nifflole
#asi
momave
va^i
bui
vu
29. Ulawa
sasu
motau
lula
«isu
uui-heu
30. San Cristoval, Wawo
asu
magomago
00
wusu
he'u
„ Fagani
asu
marumurumu
rura
%usu
figu
31. Malanta, Saa
qa'ule dufia
mairo
noma
wisu
he'u
,, Bululaha
sasu
mina
noma
nisu
he'u
„ Alite
rasu
eikoaliatu
sua
«ilu
kualikuli
32. Vaturawa
pu«u
maluka
bao
chuve
vitugu
33. Florida
ahu
malumu
tinabe
areusu
veitugu
34. Savo
azuazu
malumu
#oru
suasua
simusimu
35. Ysabel, Bugotu
ahu
malumu
garatu
awusu
vaitugu
36. „ (?ao
^a^ahu
pila
goru
misu
tunu
37. New Georgia
rovu
ma^uana
bao
kamisu
seru
38. Duke of York
mi
galom
bele
kara
nagnag
39. Murray Island
—
kamur
kalak
—
ver
40. New Guinea, Motu
kualau
manoka
io
—
—
Malay
asap
lumbut
tombak
ludah
bintang
Malagasy
setroka
malemy
lefona
ivy
kintana
Maori
paoa
ngawari
tao
hauare
whetu
Vocabularies.
61. Sun,
62. Sweet.
63. Tongue. 64. Tooth.
65. Tree.
i. Nengone
du
buruia
gutinene
ge
sere ie
2. Anaiteum
gesega
aiyu
man
ijin
cai
3. Eromanga
ipminin
—
luami
—
—
4. Fate
elo
kasi
mena
pati
kasu
5. Sesake
elo
masoso
mena
bati
kau
6. Api
mat ni elo
—
pomeno
bati
kau
7. Ambrym
yial
—
meen
lowo
liye
8. Espiritu Santo
maso
tasi
meme
uju
gau
9. Whitsuntide
alo
reterete
mea
liwo
gae
10. Lepers' Island
uho
gologolo
meagi
livogi
gai
1 1 . Aurora
aloa
tartar
luemei
liwoi
geiga
12. Meralava
aloa
derwot
luamei
liwoi
tankei
1 3. Santa Maria, Gog
lo
vadurus
mea
liwo
regai
14. ,, Lakon
alo
lulu»s
gamaran
liwon
rega
15. Vanua Lava, Pak
lo
nonos
garmegi
lowoi
enge
1 6. „ Sasar
lo
tetres
garmegi
lowogi
enge
1 7- » Vureas
lo
derderes
garmei
liwoi
retenge
18. ,, Mosina
lo
nerner
garmegi
liwogi
rekenge
19. „ alo Teqel
lo
tetres
garmegi
lowogi
enge
20. Mota
loa
nerewzot
garameai
liwoi
tangae
21. Saddle Island, Motlav
lo
neneh
garmege
Iwege
tenge
22. „ VoloW
lo
noh
garmegi
liwegi
tenge
23. Ureparapara
loa
dodoros
garamegi
liwogi
tenge
24. Torres Islands, Lo
elo
ditweh
garemi
luwo
raga
25. Fiji
siga
kamikamica
yarne
bati
kau
26. Rotuma
astha
suinami
alele
ala
oi
27. Santa Cruz
nana
upwa
lapu
nine
no
28. Nifilole
le
pelawi
libia
wotede
ena
29. Ulawa
sato
malimali
mea
niho
ai
30. San Cristoval, Wawo
sina
mamagi
meamea
riho
hasie
„ Fagani
sina
mamaki
mea
lifo
gai
31. Malanta, Saa
sato
malimali
mea
niho
dawo
„ Bululaha
sato
malimali
mea
niho
ai
„ Alite
davi
^ari^aria
mea
livo
ai
32. Vaturawa
aso
mami
lapi
livo
hai
33. Florida
aho
manilu
lapi
livo
gai
34. Savo
kuli
imo
lapi
nale
kola
35. Ysabel, Bugotu
aho
mugna
thapi
kei
gai
36. „ #ao
aho
kuakuda
#lapi
kei
gazu
37. New Georgia
ini
mamisi
mea
livo
hai
38. Duke of York
ma&e
namian
karame na wa
lakono
diwai
39. Murray Island
lem
—
uerut
tereg
gair
40. New Guinea, Motu
dina
—
mala
—
hau
Malay
mata ari
manis
lidah
gigi
kayu
Malagasy
maso andro
mamy
lela
nify
hazo
Maori
ra
reka
arero
niho
rakau
E 2
I
Melanesian Languages.
66. Water.
67. White. 68. Wing.
69. Woman.
70. Yellow.
\. Nengone
wi
gada
kataadi
hmenewe
—
2. A 11, -ii tell 111
wai
alii
ehpan
takata
yag
3. Eromanga
nu
—
evlok
sivin
—
4. Fate
noai
tare
faru
garuni
monamon
5. Sesake
noai
dautau
varu
goroi
miloloa
6. Api
ui
uwowo
kupe
goroi
—
7. Ambrym
we
—
pan pehel
vihin
—
8. Espiritu Santo
pei, tei
voke
gave
gajae
inajina
9. Whitsuntide
wai
inaita
gapaun manu
vavine
awoga
10. Lepers' Island
wai
mavuti
painhigi
vavine
anoga
ii. Aurora
bei
siwara
ban manu
tawone
awoaga
12. Meralava
bei
wedwed
bane man
tamake
awaw
1 3. Santa Maria, Gog
liwu
wewed
beni
tawa
awoawo
14. ,, Lakon
tun
wetwet
pane mah
gamtu
anoa.no
15. Vanua Lava, Pak
pe
qagqag
gapugi
drene
nornor
1 6. „ Sasar
pe
qag
gapugi
reree
nonor
1 7. „ Vureas
be
qag
penigi
reqe
a»a»
1 8. ,, Mosina
pe
aqag
penegi
reqe
an&n
19. ,, alo Teqel
pe
qag
gapugi
reene
nornor
20. Mota
pei
aqaga
panel
tavine
arioano
21. Saddle Island, Motlav
be
qagqag
bnege
Iqovin
nornor
22. „ Volow
be
bitbit
pene men
liqeven
nornor
23. Ureparapara
pe
qaqa
penigi
retine
nanar
24. Torres Islands, Lo
pe
lul
perperi
laqavina
era
25- Kji
wai
vulavula
taba
alewa
—
26. Rotuma
tanu
fin
papau
hoina
peropero
27. Santa Cruz
luwe
peki
be
ovla
ialuli
•28. Nifilole
woi
opa
bule deguluo
siweda
kokolu
29. Ulawa
wai
rerea
apaapa
hua
sausaula
30. San Cristoval, Wawo
wai
mamahui
abaaba i manu
urao
edaeda'a
„ Fagani
wai
mafui
kakafo
fefene
getagetaga
31. Malanta, Saa
wai
rearea
apaapa i manu
hue
sa'usa'ula
,, Bululaha
wai
ekeekela
apaapa
hua
—
Alite
kuai
kakaa
abaaba i malu
majjreli
kekeroa
32. Vaturaraa
ko
sere
rapo
kakave
mera
33. Florida
beti
pura
gata
vaivine
awoawo
34. Savo
piva
sere
gavara
adoki
oreorega
35. Ysabel, Bugotu
bea
pura
bagi
vaivine
a«oa?zo
36. „ G&o
kumai
vega
bagi
gase
a«oa»o
37. New Georgia
kavo
heva
sasarava
manemaneke
—
38. Duke of York
pala
mada
bibia
tebuan
/tabol
39. Murray Island
ni
kakak
luba
kosker
—
40. New Guinea, Motu
rano
kurokuro
—
haini
—
Malay
ayer
putih
sayap
parampuan
kuniug
Malagasy
rano
fotsy
etatra
vehivavy
vony
Maori
wai
ma
parirau
wahine
pungapunga
Notes on the Vocabularies. 53
NOTES ON THE VOCABULARIES.
1. Ashes. — In Mr. Wallace's list nine out of thirty-three are
forms of the word represented by Malay — habu, avu, lavu, &c.
Many of the words mean ' dead or burnt out fire,' for which reason
the list is deficient in true words for 'ashes.' Natives will not
use the same word for the white ashes of burnt wood and other
ashes ; there may be therefore also some confusion in the Vocabu-
lary. In the words that are given an example is shown of
what is very common in the Vocabularies, viz. the varying of the
initial letter of a word, which evidently remains the same, or the
dropping of it altogether : we have habu, rapu, lavu, laf, avu, abu.
Varying forms of this same word appear in the Melanesian
vocabulary, sometimes as part of a compound word, fourteen of
which are unmistakeable. If ou, au, ao, bu, as is possible, be
added, nearly half the Melanesian words agree. In the Banks'
Islands there is a word, which, in the form rowo, may seem the
same as ravu, connected by the Rotuma roll, but which is probably
distinct. The Maori pungarehu contains ravu. We have, there-
fore, that word in varying forms in the Malay Archipelago, in
Polynesia, and in Melanesia.
2. Bad. — The Malay Archipelago list shows hat, with prefix,
jahat, rafiat, ahati, lekat-and. in some other forms. The Malagasy
ratsi may represent rahat. From the variation of prefix it is clear
that the sense of the word lies in hat. This appears in seven
Melanesian languages with little change, sat, seseta, sasat, sesati,
het, heat, set. Considering that s=£, sat=tas; and besides, words
sometimes reverse their forms ; thus we have has, han-tai, tes, tisi,
tatas. It is necessary, however, in view of the Melanesian vocabu-
lary to go further back, and find the root in sa or ta, from which
the above forms have come. Thus in the New Hebrides we have
sa ; in the Banks' Islands, sa, se ; Fiji, ca ; Santa Cruz, jia ;
Solomon Islands, taa, tai, e'ai-ala, tata-ala : the word in the simple
form is distributed through Melanesia, as reduplicated or with a
prefix it is spread through Melanesia and the Malay Archipelago.
Taking, then, the Malayan jahat, rahat, as having the same root
with the Mota tatas, we find that the simple ancient forms are in
Melanesia.
It is worth noting that ala, which appears in composition in the
54 Melanesian Languages.
Solomon Islands tataala, e'aiala, is the Malay salah, Samoa sola
wrong, Maori kara. The Florida dika is tika in Port Moresby,
New Guinea.
3. Banana. — There must always be a difficulty, when a vocabu-
lary is got by asking the name of visible objects, in getting the
generic and not the specific word. Of the words given by Mr.
"Wallace for banana some may be assumed to be the names of
various kinds, which are always numerous. There is one word,
however, which occurs seven times in his Vocabulary, fuat, fud,
2)hudi, j)hitim, the relationship of which with Malagasy and Mela-
nesian generic names for bananas is plain. In Fiji this is vudi, as
in part of the Solomon Islands. In this word d represents nd. It
is impossible to say whether the root of the word is ut or un, the
one consonant or the other, if not both, being represented. In the
Malay Archipelago, n is absent. In Melanesia vudi is pronounced
vundi', in Duke of York there is no v in the language — the word is
un as given by Mr. Brown ; Mr. Powell gives wudu for Duke of
York and New Britain. In the Solomon Islands huti is clearly the
same. The same word is the Malagasy ontsy, o being pronounced
u ; and the Betsileo in the same country use hotsy. Words as
unlike in appearance as phitim and un are thus brought together.
There are also unchim wild bananas, in Batak of Sumatra, unti
in Mangkasar, punti in Sumbawa, not given by Mr. Wallace. From
this word, common to the Indian Archipelago, Madagascar, and
Melanesia, it will be observed that the Malay pisang is altogether
different. The Samoan isfa'i, of which no form is Melanesian. In
Tongan, the nearest geographically to Melanesia of any Polynesian
group, the word isfugi, which certainly is far from the Fiji vudi.
But it is the same with the San Cristoval Tiugi and fuki in the
Solomon, Islands. It is possible that these words hugi,fugi may be
another form of the Ceram fud and the Malagasy ontsi, by the
substitution of k for t. In languages so close together as Ulawa
and ~Wa.no there may be that very ancient difference between the
two forms of the word they have taken up : or the Tongan word
may somehow have been conveyed to that small district, being itself
distinct ; or again the two words may be distinct, and Tonga and
San Cristoval have received fugi from some common source. But
it will be observed that if forms with t and k are ancient forms of
the original root, the isolated presence of the form with k in San
Cristoval and Tonga goes to show that each received the word from
a common source. If so, in the great area over which the word is
Notes on the Vocabularies. 55
spread it has divided into three distinct forms, with t, with n, with
k, all of which are in Melanesia.
The common word in the Banks' Islands, vetal *, is local. The
Ambrym w is remarkable as corresponding to jm of the Sula
Islands, and hos of Anaiteum may well be busa of Sanguir. Agree-
ment in exceptions between the Vocabularies of the Malayan and
Melanesian Archipelagos is as instructive as agreement in a generally
common word ; it tends to show that of an original stock of words
carried hither and thither abroad some have survived here, some
there, as a witness to original unity.
4. Belly. — Let it first be observed that this English word means
that which bulges ; and also that when a word is got by pointing
at an object there is often a confusion, which in this case may be
between the protuberance in view and its contents, between, that
is, belly and bowels. In Mr. Wallace's Vocabulary for this word
there are many words like tia, and these evidently got by pointing,
for they have suffixed Pronouns, tiaka my belly, tiamo thine, tian
his, tiare theirs. In Malagasy tsinay is bowels, as tinae is in the
Banks' Islands ; it is natural enough to use the word in one sense
or the other : but no doubt the word tinai originally belongs to the
bowels. In the same way it is certain that the Banks' Islands
toqai refers to the protuberance or curve, though at Saa in Malanta,
where ii is belly, 'oqa is bowels, as toba is in Florida. Both in the
Malay Archipelago and in Melanesia tia is used for the belly,
though in Melanesia only in Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides,
and in two parts in the Solomon Islands. It is not, however, in the
secondary sense of the words but in the primary that the words
used in the sense of belly are interesting, and important in this
enquiry. A word which is used in widely distant parts of the
same language area, in such a way as to imply in each use some
primary significance, is a very good proof of kinship between lan-
guages. Thus assuming the meaning of toqai, toba, to be that which
bulges, outwards or inwards, convex or concave, we can understand
that the Mota toqalaui the calf of the leg, is parallel to the Mala-
gasy kibondranjo. In Malagasy kibo is belly and ranjo (Mota rano)
is leg, the words for belly are different, for leg the same, but in each
case the calf of the leg is called the bulge. So in Fiji, kete is
1 The Motlav word is given vtel, an unpronounceable form. This repre-
sents the true word without the Article, which in this language coalesces with
it, navtel for na vetel. The Anaiteum and Fate words are in the same way
divested of the Article.
56 Melanesian Languages.
belly1, but tola, the Florida form of toqa, is a harbour, where, that
is, the shore curves inwards. In Duke of York bala is belly, and
the same figure is used, bala na waga is a harbour.
5. Bird. — Out of Mr. "Wallace's thirty-three words twenty-four
are forms of manu, out of forty Melanesian words thirty-three are
forms of the same manu, which is also the Polynesian word2. The
agreement over so large an area is very remarkable ; it can hardly
be supposed that almost all Melanesian languages and most of the
Malayan have borrowed the word from without. The exceptions,
however, are still more remarkable, and the consideration of them
is very instructive. The Malay vocabulary has not manu ; the
languages, therefore, of that Archipelago have not borrowed it from
thence. The Malay word burung is the Malagasy vorona, and has
no known corresponding form in Melanesia. There are only two
other exceptional words in Mr. Wallace's Vocabulary.
The exceptions in Melanesia, though not numerous, are very
interesting. In the first place it must be remarked that there
is a remarkable indistinctness of meaning. This is the case in
Fiji, where, as in Polynesia, all beasts as well as birds are called
manumanu, which, in the absence of almost all land animals, is not
perhaps so wonderful. In the rest of Melanesia they do not call
beasts birds, except in the Duke of York, where pika is the generic
term for all animals, which are various enough comparatively, and
pika rowo flying animal, is a bird, rowo, as in Mota, being ' to fly.'
But there is in Melanesia an astonishing case of the same word
meaning bird and fish ; the word mah in Lakona. And as manu,
even if used for a beast, must be thought to mean properly a bird,
so mah, though used of a bird, must be thought to be properly a
fish, because in another island of the Banks' Group, and in the New
Hebrides, meh, mes, and masi mean fish. We are constrained, there-
fore, to think that in these words, manu and mah, we have words
so ancient as not yet, in the absence perhaps of quadrupeds, to be
particularized. If a Lakona man were asked how it is known what
he means when he says mah, he would answer that every one would
/understand because they would know what he was talking about ;
and if there were any doubt he would add ' of the sea,' ' of the
wood,' to explain. It is nearly the same thing in Nengone of the
1 It is quite likely that this word is the same with the Mota gete a bag or
basket, the Maori kete ; as toqa also in Mota is a particular kind of woven
bag.
a Maan at Mafoor, New Guinea.
Notes on the Vocabularies. 57
Loyalty Islands, where ia is a bird and ie is a fish : the words are
too much alike, and too much like iga, to be thought altogether
separate. We have to ask what the primitive idea conveyed by
manu, mah, iga is, a creature with wings, or variegated in colour
or what ? The Mota word for a nose and beak, manui, may suggest
that manu means a creature with a beak.
Beyond this another question is raised when the locality of the
exceptions among the Melanesian words for ' bird ' is considered.
Almost everywhere is manu; but in the Loyalty ia, in Ambrym
bwehel, in Santa Cruz kio and deguluo, in Savo kosu, in Gao no/*,
in New Georgia ololco, are all very different from one another and
from the common word. There is no doubt but that, if there are
Melanesian languages which stand apart from the more common
type of language spoken in Melanesia, they are those of the
Loyalty Islands, Ambrym, Santa Cruz, and Savo : and it cannot
well be doubted that exceptional words like these in the Vocabulary
confirm, if they do not impress, the belief that these districts have
somehow not been reached by a later flow of words. But then in
this particular they are not so very unlike Malay itself in having
exceptional words for bird.
The changes of manu into Espiritu Santo nanu and Alite malu
are regular in those languages, as will be shown in the Chapter
on Phonology.
6. Black. — The word which in Malay is itam, and with the
prefix ma of quality is maita, miti, mete in the Indian Archipelago,
occurs in twenty-seven places in Mr. "Wallace's Vocabulary. There
is probably no distinction between black and dark colour. The
Malagasy mainty is the same as the Malay. No form of the word
is at any rate confmon in Polynesia. In Melanesia three islands of
the Northern New Hebrides have it as maeto, meto, naeto, and
Sesake maeto, with the meaning of black. In Mota maeto is black
volcanic stone ; in Florida meto is dirty. In Micronesia, in the
Marshall Group, the same appears in the compound kilmed black,
probably black skin. The word, therefore, is widely spread, and it
is plain that it did not spread from Malay. The chief interest of
the Vocabulary is grammatical ; the list of Melanesian words shows
a good deal of the form of the Melanesian Adjective. The charac-
teristics are three : (i) reduplication, (2) the prefix of quality ma,
(3) the adjectival termination ga.
Something may be noted concerning individual words in the
Melanesian list. The natural connection between night and black-
58 Melanesian Languages.
ness is shown in the Santa Cruz bo, which may be po, boni, and
the Ulawa and.Malanta roto, and the Anaiteum apig1. In Mota,
siliga dark, is often used for night. The Vureas korkor is the same
word, made adjective by reduplication, as kor a dried bread-fruit,
in Mota ; in which language indeed kor, at least in the slang of
nicknames, is used for black, Nus-kor Blacklip. The Gaua word
wirwiriga is used in Mota, and is indeed another form of silsiliga.
This is shown by the parallel forms of the Mota word sinaga food,
in Motlav hinag. The change is from h to w, shown in Duke of
York winagan, and as very commonly from I to r. It is out of the
question that the change has been made in Gaua, where the
language is very like that of Mota. What the word in these two
forms points to is an ancient source, from which by once diverging
channels the two forms have come in different shape into these
neighbouring islands. It is an exemplification of what we may
well believe to have been the way in which neighbouring languages
have come to differ so often and so much 2.
7. Blood. — The word represented by the Malay darah appears
more than twenty times in Mr. Wallace's Vocabulary, and again
twenty-three times among the forty Melanesian words. The prob-
able root is the Malagasy ra, which has become the Nengone and
Fiji dra, ndra, and so nara, and dara. The change from r to d
and t is shown in Fate and Sesake. We have here, then, a word
in very varying form spread over the Indian and Melanesian Archi-
pelagos, in such a manner that it is impossible to point to any
existing source ; for the root form is found in Madagascar. There
is hardly a word which does more to show the kindred origin of
the tongues.
The exceptions are not less interesting and instructive. In
Menado of Celebes and in Sanguir the word for blood is dalw,
which, having nothing in it of r, cannot be counted as akin to
darah. In Araga, Whitsuntide, of the New Hebrides, there is
daga, to which probably dai of the neighbouring islands is allied.
These exceptions, so widely separated in place, one would hesitate
to suppose the same, were it not that identical forms appear else-
where : daga in the Philippines, taga in Formosa, daya in Pam-
1 In this word a is probably a Verbal Particle, and pig night, g = ng, is the
Banks' Islands rjon.
2 Thus the English heart and French cceur, hound and chien, are in fact
forms of the same words.
Notes on the Vocabularies. 59
pango, deyia in Dayak of Sarawak. "We have, therefore, to believe
that this is one of the many words for blood which have been
obscured by the general use of ra, and that it has survived in
Melanesia isolated in the New Hebrides : daga has been no more
imported into Araga from the Philippines than ra has from Mada-
gascar to Fiji.
The Polynesian word for blood is toto, which does not appear in
the Malay Archipelago at all, and in the Melanesian Vocabulary
only as tot in Rotuma, where it is probably an importation. But
toto is used in Melanesia, and in such a way as to show that it is
at home there and cannot possibly be an importation from Polynesia.
In San Cristoval toto is congealed blood; in Florida the disease
liEematuria is mimi-toto ; and though it is not unreasonable to
maintain that toto may have been borrowed in those parts, it would
be very hard to conjecture how it had been done. sBut toto in the
Banks' Islands is a poisoned arrow, and this can be shown to be
the same word. The arrow is called after the tree with the
viscous sap of which it has been smeared, and the tree has its
name from the abundance of its sap, in Mota totoai, in a dialect of
Fiji dotoa. The sap of a tree is its blood, and it is very easy to
conceive a word at one time more general in its meaning being
particularized to signify in one set of languages blood and in
another sap. It assists this view to observe that toto in San Cris-
toval is clotted thick blood, like the thick sap totoa.
There is another word so common in the Solomon Islands as to
deserve notice, in the forms of gabu, habu, abu, apu, kap, the
variations of which argue that the word is no purely local one.
8. Boat. — This word has been taken to mean a native boat or
canoe, and this as far as possible genetically. In Melanesia each
kind of canoe has its own name, so as to obscure in some places
the use of the generic name. Thus in the Solomon Islands no
native canoe is called vaka or haka, though that the word is native
there is shown by its variation in form. An European vessel is
called vaka or Jiaka, as in the Malay regions Crawfurd says wang-
kang is used for foreign junks. The Melanesian terms in this
Vocabulary are the native equivalent to this word, aka, vaka, &c.
The words in the Vocabulary of the Malay Archipelago which are
forms of this are in number thirteen, and the forms are various ;
haka, waya, waha, waa, waim, sakaen, wog, and bunka, which last
is questionable. The terminations im and en are probably suffixed
Pronouns. Of the forty Melanesian words thirty-one are corre-
60 Melanesian Languages.
spending forms, corresponding in variation as much as in re-
semblance ; aka, haka, vaka, faka, aga, vaga, waga, ak, ok, og.
Here again this very common word fails in the Loyalty Islands
and Southern New Hebrides, and in Santa Cruz. If then we take
the very common use of aka in Polynesia, Indonesia, and Melanesia
as a proof that canoes were made and called by some such name
before the original race was scattered far away, it is still possible
to suppose that some of the family had wandered off before the
word arose, and have reached the extremity of Melanesia without
being overtaken by this word. It rather tends to encourage such
a supposition that only canoes constructed with planks are pro-
perly called aka or vaka, &c.
The Santa Cruz canoes are elaborate sea-going vessels, and
they are called loju, which, as j takes the place of t, appears to
be the same as lotu of the Sula Islands. It is possible also
that the lakatoi of Motu, New Guinea, is the same with Malagasy
lakana.
9. Body. — A considerable number of the words in Mr. Wallace's
list agree, fourteen out of thirty-three ; but the word badan is
not at all represented in the Melanesian list. Malagasy and
Polynesian words agree, tena, tinana, tino. There is nothing of
interest in the word ; but the Sula Islands koli and Florida huli
are probably the same.
10. Bone. — In the Vocabulary of Malay Archipelago words
there is nothing at all of general agreement ; the Malay tulang is
the Malagasy taolana. The Polynesian word is inn. Neither of
these words is found in the Melanesian Vocabulary; and there
is hardly an agreement of any two words in the two lists. There
are two Melanesian words common, hui or sui, huri and suri :
the first confined to Fiji and the Northern New Hebrides, the
other spread from the same group to Duke of York, and beyond
that to Mafoor in the north-west of New Guinea, where bone is
kur. The first of these is probably the same with hoi of the
Sula Islands, in the language of which remarkable coincidences
have been observed in the words for banana, boat, and body. As
concerns the word suri the interest lies partly in the phonetic
changes, and partly in the distribution of the word and the ex-
ceptions to it. We again observe in it a word very common in Me-
lanesia generally, which fails to appear in the Loyalty Islands, in
the Southern New Hebrides, in Santa Cruz, and in Savo. The
Fate word vatu is stone.
Notes on the Vocabularies. 61
11. Bow, — This is a word of extraordinary interest. The
Malay panah is said to be the Sanskrit vdna, the Malay meaning
bow, the Sanskrit arrow. That very many Sanskrit words are in
use in Malay is certain ; most of them words belonging to the
higher state of civilisation which intercourse with India has
assisted the Malays to attain. Supposing pana in all its forms to
be indeed Sanskrit, there is no reason for supposing also that the
Malays learnt the use of the bow from India ; as with many
other words, the native term may have been superseded by the
foreign one. Nor would there be any great difficulty in supposing
that the Sanskrit word has penetrated to the Philippine Islands,
or even into Polynesia. But the presence of the word in Melanesia
cannot be thought devoid of difficulty if only the distance between
India and the Loyalty Islands is considered. Yet, as immigration
from Polynesia has certainly within a few generations reached
the Loyalty Islands *, it is not at all impossible that the Nengone
pehna may have been a late importation there. In the same way
the Rotuma fan may be thought to have come from Tonga2.
But there is another thing to be considered which can hardly be
thought easy to reconcile with the belief that the Sanskrit word
has reached Melanesia. In the Vocabulary it may be seen that
pehna in Nengone, fana in Anaiteum, fan in Eotuma, are the only
forms in which pana appears in Melanesia, and they may be
easily understood to be recent ; as may the Santa Cruz nepna an
arrow. These words signify a bow ; but in Fiji and in Florida
the word does not appear as a bow or arrow, but as a Verb, to
shoot ; vana in Fiji to shoot with a bow or gun, and also to bore
a hole or pierce through ; vanahi in Florida to shoot with bow
or gun. In either language there is a native word for bow,
daJcai and bage. The fact that in Fiji vana means to pierce
through as well as to shoot is well worthy of consideration; it
seems that the sense of piercing is primary and that of shooting
secondary, rather than the reverse. But, apart from that, it
seems strange that in islands where the word does not signify a
bow or arrow, it should mean to shoot ; on the supposition that
1 The Polynesian immigrants in Uea in 1860 counted four or five genera-
tions of chiefs. Notes grammaticales sur la Langue de Lifu.
2 ' The Tongans got the bow and arrow from Fiji, as they got pottery, salt,
and their improved canoes. They say they had not the word/awa until they
got the bow, and they imported the word (Fijian vana) with the thing. They
call the bow kaufana shooting stick." Rev. L. Fison.
62 Melanesian Languages.
it has been imported from the Sanskrit. We have to make the
supposition that a Sanskrit word meaning arrow has been carried
to islands at a vast distance, and certainly never reached by direct
commerce of the Malays, and has there not supplanted the native
words for arrow or bow, but been taken up as a Verb, to shoot.
It is of course possible : but the date of Indian intercourse with
the Malayan peoples being generally put within the historical
period, it gives little time for so great a change and journey. It
is much more difficult to account for the Verb in Florida than
for the Noun in Nengone and Anaiteum. Still it is rash to put
forth a counter theory, and presumptuous to disbelieve the
identity of the words ; and perhaps only pardon for some hesita-
tion can be expected. Yet it may be that the resemblance is
accidental ; it may even be that the word has been borrowed by
the Sanskrit. For myself I cannot easily believe that Florida has
got the word from Sanskrit 1.
Among the forty Melanesian words for a bow, eighteen are
forms of vus, varying very widely indeed to take in yu and ih,
but still easily recognisable. In the Malay Archipelago there are
many words which are evidently the same, busu, pusu, husu, osio
and others. Whatever, then, may be the history of pana, here is
a word common to the Indian and Melanesian Islands. The word
bage used at Florida seems confined to the Solomon Islands, and
there are other local words. The Malagasy antsaky and the
Maori kopere also stand quite apart.
12. Butterfly. — This is one of those words in which there is
the danger of getting the species instead of the genus, and much
agreement in the names cannot be expected. There is, however, a
certain amount of interest about the word pepe, and its compounds.
This is the common Polynesian word, and it appears twenty-five
times in the Melanesian Vocabulary 2. More than this, there may
1 In Mr. Van der Tuuk's very instructive Outlines of a Grammar of the
Malagasy Language he gives voatavo pumpkin, as ' an interesting proof that
the Sanskrit words came into Malagasy from the Indian Archipelago,' making
tavo to be the Malay labu, the Sanskrit alabu. But in Mota a native
pumpkin is wo tavai, and wo is woa the same with Malagasy voa fruit. The
likeness of tavai and tavo is not of the same value as the identity of voa and
wo ; but is the likeness of Malagasy tavo to the Sanskrit alabu sufficiently
great to make us extend the Sanskrit word into the Banks' Islands ? If not,
as one may venture to think, the Malagasy tavo and Mota tavai are the same,
and quite distinct from Sanskrit alalu.
2 Mafoor, in New Guinea, apop.
Notes on the Vocabularies. 63
be a question whether the latter syllable of the Banks' Islands
word rupe (also ruj>, rorn) is not the pe which is reduplicated in
the common word. The word pepe itself is used in Mota, though
not as the name of a butterfly ; they call flying sparks pepe-
roworowo ' flying butterflies,' and two canoes sailing side by side
are counted as pepe, rua 'butterfly-two.' In Mr. Wallace's list
the word occurs only once, in Morella of Amboyna, as pepeul.
This is identical with the Savo word bebeula ; and it is further
evident that the same elements reversed make up the Florida
uleulebe, ule and be, and the New Hebrides lepepe. The Malagasy
lolo, o being u, may be the same word ul. We have therefore not
only a very wide distribution of pepe in Polynesia and Melanesia,
but an evidence that the Melanesians have not borrowed the
word from Polynesia, in the presence of the word in Amboyna in
precisely the combination in which it occurs in Savo. Observe also
the variation of a single root in G&o kokou and Duke of York toto.
13. Child. — This word is subject to confusion between the
meanings of child as a young person of either sex, and as in
relation to the parents. A native is likely, on the one hand, to
speak of his child as his boy, and, on the other, to speak of a
grown-up son as his child.
Nearly half the words in Mr. Wallace's Vocabulary are forms
of what in Malay is anak ; and this is also the Malagasy zanaka.
The Polynesian word is tama ; tamaiti, tamariki, tamachi, with
an adjective meaning small. Neither of these words appear in
the Melanesian list. The word ana is, however, in use in the
Banks' Islands, and in such a way as to suggest that the word is
the same as the Malay, and also that the root meaning of the
word is to be found in the Melanesian use. It is assumed of
course that the primary sense of the Malay and Malagasy word is
' child,' and the expressions are interpreted as metaphorical by
which in both languages an arrow is called anak panah and
zanakantsaky ' child of the bow.' The word, however, as used in
the Banks' Islands, if it be the same, means primarily an append-
age or belonging ; my boy is o reremera anak, the boy belonging
to me, o tanun anai is a man of the place, not a visitor, o tanun
anak a man of mine, a dependent. The last thing of a series is
the paspasoanai, the hundredth met nol anai. It is therefore
an interesting supposition, in view of the unity at bottom of all
these languages, that in the isolated Banks' Islands anai we
may have the primary signification of the common word; and
64 Melanesia* Languages.
that anak comes in a secondary sense to mean a man's child, and
an arrow to be called anak panah, as belonging in the way of an
appendage to the father and to the bow.
The most common Melanesian word, fifteen out of forty, is
natu ; a word the primary meaning of which is no doubt ' little.'
This word clusters about the North New Hebrides and Banks'
Islands, but there are outliers in Eromanga and Duke of York.
It may be doubted whether tu, without na, which appears in
places so far apart as ^ao, Ureparapara, and perhaps Nengone,
is not a separate word. In the Malay Archipelago in nanat and
naanati of Bouru, and untuna of Gilolo, we have no doubt the
Melanesian word; as so often happens, the word which is common
in one Vocabulary appears as exceptional in another.
There is another Melanesian word, which, though common only
in the Solomon Islands, appears also in the New Hebrides, kari,
gari, gale. The word given as ' girl ' in New Britain is probably
the same, garra vajtni; since gari mane is a boy in Florida.
Many examples occur of the interchange of k and w ; and it may
therefore be assumed that this word is represented in the Malay
Archipelago by wari in Amboyna.
A very interesting word for child is mera, used in Mota with
nat, natmera, a small child. Ordinarily, however, the word is
reremera, with the reduplicated plural sign re. It is to be
observed that this plural word is used to designate a single boy;
one boy is called ' children/ This is parallel to the use of raveve
for mother (see No. 43), and rasoai for husband or wife ; it points
back to the time when the children were the children generally
of the community, and not individualised. In Teste Island,
New Guinea, a boy is meramera, as sometimes in Mota ; mela in
Malanta is the same.
14. Cocoanut. — In the various stages of growth and ripeness
veiy different names are given to the nut ; it is possible, therefore,
that Mr. Wallace's list contains words which describe the par-
ticular cocoanut in view, and not the nut generally. However,
what is certainly the common word for cocoanut in Polynesia
and Melanesia occurs in his Vocabulary very often — the word niu ;
which is also the Malagasy niliu. There are two words which
nearly divide the Melanesian list between them, niu and matig.
The second is quite local : the first extends from New Guinea to
the Loyalty Islands. In Micronesia the Marshall Island word is
the same, ni.
Notes on the Vocabularies. 65
15. Cold. — In this word, as is the case with other Adjectives,
there is no general agreement in the Vocabularies, nor between
them. There are some words the same ; the Matabello mariri is
the Mota mamarir ; the Ceram makariki is perhaps the Maori
makariri. The two Vocabularies, however, agree in exhibit-
ing the characteristic prefix ma of Adjectives, and the similar
prefix da.
1 6. Door. — There is in this word probably some confusion
between door and doorway. The door and the doorway, the
opening and that which closes it, are more distinct in the native
mind than they are in our common speech. Neither in the
Malay Archipelago vocabulary, nor in the Melanesian or the
Polynesian, is there any general agreement. In the Melanesian
list a great number of the words are compounded with mata, or
ma, the common word for eye or opening : and this has followed
perhaps from the use of the Mota mateima, as the word to which
equivalents have in most instances been got. The same compound
appears in several words from Amboyna and its neighbouring
islands, so far at least as regards mata. The eye of the house is
the common expression in the Banks' Islands and Northern New
Hebrides, and this describes the opening and not the shutter. In
the Whitsuntide mat gatava the meaning is different, gatava is
not the house but the door ; as in Mota, palegetava is the shutter
that closes the doorway.
17. Ear. — The word which in Malay is telinga is the most
common in Mr. Wallace's Vocabulary, and this is the taringa of
Maori, and, with variation, of Polynesia generally. The ordinary
Malagasy word is different, but the Sakalava tadiny is a change
from talina. This word also is very common in Melanesia, occur-
ring twenty-four times at least in the list. It is also in Micronesia,
in Marshall Islands, lo-jeling. The great variation in the Melane-
sian forms goes far to show that the word is not an importation
from Polynesia or elsewhere. There is the very common change
between r and I, and of d and t, and from t to ts and s. There is
also the dropping of t, which is characteristic of some dialects.
But the presence of forms in which k stands in the place of t
points to a much more ancient common origin ; karina being no
doubt the same as talina. The change between Z and k certainly
sometimes occurs, and it may be that tikga of Anaiteum (g being
ng, in the other words written n) is tikinga= telinga. The most
curious variation, however, is that of the Rotuma falian. The two
changes in this are in accordance with the practice of the language ;
F
66 Melanesian Languages.
t has turned into /, and the last syllable is reversed, an for na.
Observe the Motu ta'i'a for taliga.
There is another word which occurs locally in the Northern New
Hebrides and Banks' Islands, qoroi in Mota. The word talma
signifies the orifice of the ear : this signifies its pointedness and
projection 1. This word, as usual, is not without its representa-
tive in the Indian Archipelago ; it is no doubt the same with
boronga of North Celebes. Another word again, kuli, has a
narrow range in the Solomon Islands.
18. Egg. — The two Vocabularies of the Malay Archipelago and
of Melanesia agree in the most common word, the Malay tulor ;
which, with variations, occurs in nineteen places of the former and
eighteen of the latter. It is the same word with the Malagasy
tody, the change being regular from / to d, and proved in this
particular case by the Betsileo pronunciation toly. The Poly-
nesian words are quite different, hua, fua ; the same word which
is used for fruit, having the root meaning of something round ;
and the same which appears in the Nengone wa tei and the
Vureas wowese. The exceptional words in neither Vocabulary
seem to agree.
19. Face. — In Mr. Wallace's Vocabulary there is no word which
occurs in more than three places. The Malay muka stands alone.
This, however, appears in Melanesia as an Adverb, muka being
' first ' in Duke of York. The Javanese word is the same as the
Fate rai. In the Melanesian list the words mata and nago appear
respectively sixteen and seventeen times. The former of these is the
word so commonly, almost universally, used for the eye, and used
also for the face in the Polynesian languages. The Rotuma again
shows t as /, maf for mat. The second word, nago, has no repre-
sentative in the Malay Archipelago. In Melanesia it has a wide
range, from Sesake in the New Hebrides to Alite in the Solomon
Islands, for la'o is a form of nago. In Santa Cruz the same word
is in use for ' mouth,' nao. In fact, in Melanesia it seems common
to use the word which properly designates some feature for the
face generally. The word used in Ureparapara for the face,
naregi, is mouth in Volow, and lip, snout, beak, in Vanua Lava,
and in Mota is used for a point of land. In languages where nago
is not face, as in e. g. Florida, it is used as an Adverb, ' before.'
20. Father. — The very simplest form of word naturally serves as
1 Qorqorosa is said of a plant when the buds begin to show ; a tendril is
the qoroi of a climbing plant.
Notes on the Vocabularies. 67
a vocative for father, and this may easily become a common
noun. Thus in the Malay region bapa, baba, are no doubt of the
same class of words with the English papa, and the very common
Melanesian mama. Another prevalent word in the Malay Archi-
pelago is ama, which may probably be the same with the common
Melanesian tama, which is common also in the Gulf of Papua,
New Guinea. The example of Mota may probably stand for
other languages ; mama is the vocative, tama the common noun :
yet mama is used also as a common noun, though never quite
as tama is. They will say mama inau for ' my father,' but never
suffix a Pronoun, as in tamak. The Malagasy ray is quite distinct.
The Maori matua tane is a periphrasis ; pa and papa are voca-
tives. In Samoa, however, tama is used, as in Tonga. The Nengone
caca (c=cK) is the same as Aurora tata, a word which is a voca-
tive for an uncle in Mota. In Rotuma again ta appears as fa.
21. Finger. — There is no word at all common in the Malay
Archipelago : some few are compound with lima a hand, but there
is nothing to remark. In Melanesia, however, there is one word
common to the Banks' Islands and Northern New Hebrides. That
the word has a wider range now, (a witness perhaps to a much
wider ancient use,) is shown by its presence in Nifilole near Santa
Cruz, where the finger nails are bisi nime, and in Savo where
fingers are karakara bizi. Both these latter differ generally from
the more common type of Melanesian languages, and the presence
of a word in them may be thought to argue an older connection.
There is another Melanesian word which will deserve attention
under the head of ' hand,' kakau. Another is the Florida gigiri,
which is remarkable as being the Vaturawa ririki in another shape
by metathesis. It is not at all unusual for the syllables of words
to be reversed, and in this instance k has also been nasalised ;
gigiri is kikiri, reduplicated kiri, as ririki is reduplicated riki ; the
Saa riirii is the same. The Nengone tubenine means the 'row*
of the hand, as tube nengoce means the ' row ' of the lips.
22. Fire. — There is for this an important word, because it ia
one of those which are so very widely spread in the Malayan,
Polynesian, and Melanesian languages. The forms indeed are very
different, which argues an ancient distribution. There are closely
resembling one another the Malay ajri, the Polynesian ahi and aft,
and also the forms eft, aif, yaf, yap, given by Mr. Wallace. The
forms in Bouru, Amblaw, and Ceram, afu, ahu, yafo, unite with the
Malagasy afo, and lead on to aoiv and hao. In Melanesia the
F 2
68 Melanesian Languages.
variation is not so great, avi and ev differ little ; but if, as is
probable, kapi and gapi, kapu, gapu, cap, are the same word, there
is enough.
In both the Malay Archipelago and in Melanesia there are many
exceptions, few of which agree together. Of the exceptions one
of the most remarkable is bana in Bouru, taking it to be the same
with the Malay panas and Malagasy fana hot ; because it may be
connected with the Fiji word waqa (q=ngg)and the }?&tefaga(g = ng),
which are both used to express fire. It is an extraordinary thing
that no word equivalent to fire should be in use in Fiji in any
dialect1. To express fire words for firewood and burning brands
are used. There must be a reason for this; which may be that
the word for fire became tabu, or that, fire being always ready for
use in fire-sticks, the word ' brand ' came to be used for ' fire.' In
the latter case there is a certain parallel to the use of feu and
fuoco for fire in the Romance languages.
There remain words quite distinct from one another, used in one,
or two or three languages, such as tuna, lake, joto, &c. To account
for the use of peculiar words is impossible : but the same causes
which caused the word for fire to disappear in Fiji, may have
operated to bring in some new word in other places. Generally,
however, it cannot be argued that kindred languages must needs
have a common name for so necessary and primitive a common
possession of their race as fire. Greek and Latin languages
are closely allied, yet one has irvp, the other ignis. In the
Romance languages the Latin ignis has disappeared. From what-
ever source the Greek irvp came, we have its English cognate in
' fire.' In the same way the Ocean languages may have more than
two or three distinct words for fire among them without being
on that account forbidden to claim common descent.
23. Fish. — This is again a word of great interest. There is one
very common and far-spread word for fish, the Malay ikan, Maori
ika, Marshall Island iek, Mota iga, in the Malay Archipelago,
Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia. The changes in form are
great enough to show an ancient dispersion ; even between Malay
and Javanese there is the difference between ika and iwa. In
Melanesia the consonant is often omitted, and we have ia, ie ; but
in one form or another the word extends from one end to the
other; from ie in Nengone to ion in Duke of York. The con-
nection is kept up in New Guinea in the Mafoor ijen. The
1 Rev. Lorimer Fison.
Notes on the Vocabularies. 69
exceptions are comparatively fewer in the Malayan Vocabulary
than in the Melanesian, ika appearing in twenty-seven places out
of thirty-three in the former, and in twenty- seven out of forty in
the latter : but the very general consent is remarkable.
The exceptions in these two Vocabularies in no case correspond,
unless nau of Galela be no of Santa Cruz, which is also in New
Caledonia ; but there is still much of interest to repay investigation.
In the first place, the Hova dialect of Malagasy does not appear to
have a word for fish at all, hazandrano, the expression in use,
meaning water-game ; and this is sufficiently remarkable in itself,
corresponding as it does to the deficiency in Fiji of a word for
fire. In the Sakalava language, however, of Madagascar the word
for fish is fiana. The root is fia, and this comes near to one of
the Melanesian exceptions, fei of Bugotu. The unaccountable
isolated appearance of exceptions in this and other words is
remarkable. The general character of the Bugotu language is
that of its neighbour at Florida, but it has many words in the
vocabulary of common things extremely unlike ; as joto for fire, and
fei for fish, although the common words ahi and iga are also in use.
The Savo language, on the other hand, is very unlike its neighbours ;
and here an exception is not unexpected. The extraordinary use
of one word, mah, in Lakona, for bird and fish, has been noted.
The same word is used for fish, but not for bird, in Aurora also
and in Vanua Lava, in the forms masi and mes. In central Borneo
masik means a fish, and in Koiara of New Guinea mesia, and
these probably are the same word with the Melanesian.
24. Flesh. — In Mr. Wallace's Vocabulary isi and words re-
sembling it are very numerous ; in the Melanesian Vocabulary
visogoi and words like it are seventeen out of forty. In Santa
Maria, on the one side, in Gaua the word is moswivin, on the other,
in Lakona, jrihvi ; in which two words it appears as if wivin were
another form of pihi, and compounded in each form with some
other word. From this the conclusion may possibly be that vis,
so common at the beginning of visogoi, visigoi, vihigogi, is the
same as pihi of Lakona, wivi of Gaua, though in another combina-
tion. Between vtsi and isi the difference is slight.
25. Fly. — The bluebottle fly is so much more likely to present
itself than any other, that, though we may have in some cases the
name of a species and not of the genus, the words in the Vocabularies
are still likely to be names for the same thing. The name of that
kind of fly is very widely the same in Polynesia and Melanesia, as
7O Melanesian Languages.
lano in varying forms. The same word occurs, but not often, in
Mr. Wallace's Vocabulary ; in Celebes, Sanguir, Ceram, and Baju ;
and though the common Malay word is lala, yet langau is also
there. In the Maori of New Zealand the common form is ngaro,
but rango is also used ; an example of the transposition of syllables
not uncommon also in Melanesia.
In the Melanesian languages the range of the word is from lag
(lang) of Anaiteum, through lano, rano, leu, tliano, glano, to lao of
Motu and ran of Mafoor in New Guinea.
26. Fowl. — The domestic fowl has been no doubt introduced
into the Melanesian islands : one might expect therefore to be able
to trace the source from which it was introduced by the name
by which it is called. It is disappointing, however, not to find
anything in Mr. Wallace's Vocabulary which corresponds to the
Melanesian words, unless towim of Ceram may have to do with toa,
which is not likely. In the Malay Archipelago languages, in
twenty places out of thirty-three, the common name for a bird,
vnanu, is given for a fowl. In Melanesia this is by no means the
case ; there is only the example of Jdo in Santa Cruz with the two
meanings.
The most common word in the Melanesian lists is toa ; its area of
use is compact, the New Hebrides, Banks' Islands, and Fiji. Yet in
this area three altogether different words occur, kur of Aurora, ov of
Merlav, kav of Volow. A common introduction of the fowl may be
safely argued from the common name ; but whence the introduction 1
No word nearer than moa appears, which no doubt has come from
Samoa to Rotuma ; and whether toa can be moa in another form may
well be doubted. Again, a compact little area is occupied by kua,
arguing again a common receiving of the bird ; but no foreign
quarter whence bird and word may have come is to be found.
Beyond this again is a district in which kokoroko, or some such
word, prevails. Here the case is different. We may conclude
indeed that the bird was introduced to these people in a similar
way ; but the word is imitative of its cry, and is not a name like
toa or kua. It is true that a fowl in Malagasy is koho, which is
something like, yet that words like kokoroko are onomatopoetic
is unquestionable. In Mota the ordinary cry of a fowl is
kokoko, the crowing of a cock kokorako. The word, as a noun, is
used in the Hawaian, and the Maori tikaokao is of the same
kind. In Florida the hen is* kudo. It may be interesting to
mention the fact that the old native toa having disappeared at
Notes on the Vocabularies. 71
Mota, as out of all the islands perhaps thereabouts, except Santa
Cruz, a new name has come in with the new European fowls;
these are now kokok, from the English ' cock,' not toa.
27. Fruit. — The word used to name the fruit of a tree does not
commonly, indeed it very rarely does, primarily signify fruit.
The primary meaning of the word, which in its Malay form is bua,
is something of a globular form like a ball. It is the same word
which we have met with in the Polynesian words meaning ' egg.'
In Mr. Wallace's Vocabulary this word, in many forms, occurs twenty-
Beven times out of thirty-three ; in the Melanesian Vocabulary it
is in thirty- six places out of forty. In New Caledonia the word is
hua, in Mafoor of New Guinea bon. This extremely common use of
it throughout the Ocean languages, the very various forms it
takes, and the general agreement in the secondary use of it, go far
to prove the great antiquity in these languages of the root-word.
As regards the changes of form, in the Malay Archipelago it varies,
as bua, vua, fua, hua, woa, woya, wa. The Malagasy is voa, the
Maori hua, Samoan and Tongan fua. The Melanesian forms vary
even more, and shew more plainly a simple original root. There is
bua, vua, fua, hua, woa, wa, va, we, wi. This great variation no doubt
points not to any importation or borrowing from one part of the
language-area in view into another, but the presence in all these
languages alike, in varying forms, of a word which is their common
inheritance. It follows, from the primary meaning of the word,
that, for the sake of clearness when fruit is meant, another word is
often used to make a compound with it : since bua or woa means a
ball, it is necessary, or at least convenient, to say that it is the ball
of a tree that is meant, and the Malagasy voan-kazu, the Fiji vua
ni kau, and others, are the result.
The Malay use of counting with this word bua, as a ' numeral
coefficient' or ' numeral affix,' things which are conceived of as
globular is a testimony to the primary meaning of the word ; but
it is not known in Melanesia. There is, however, a use of the word,
not in counting, but as an affix to any noun which signifies some-
thing like a globe or lump, or so conceived of by the fancy. This
use is found in two widely separated languages, in Nengone of the
Loyalty Islands, and Gaua of the Banks' Islands ; in both of which,
for example, the word for ' star' has this word prefixed, wajekole,
wevtig, or 'fish,' wa ie, weg—we eg. This use, which has its
parallel in Micronesia, as in Marshall Island lo-jeling ear, no doubt
brings the two languages together, very different as in some
72 Melanesia,*, Languages.
respects they are. In Gaua wo, wa, we, comes to be used almost as
an Article. In the Banks' Islands generally it is no doubt the
same word that is used as a prefix to the shortened name of a
person, making a kind of familiar abbreviation. A person whose
full name is Ligtarqoe goes by the name of Wolig, Orortunparawau
is Wear, even the English Andrew becomes Wean.
There still remains a very little to be said about the few words
which are exceptions to the general employment of wo, vua, &c.
None of them correspond in the two Vocabularies ; some may
possibly be the names of particular fruits. There is, however, in
Gao and New Georgia the word ure used for fruit, while in Ceram
uri is the fruit of the banana, and ur in Mafoor of New Guinea is
a bread-fruit. In the Banks' Islands ur is the hog- plum, the fruit
of the Spondias dulcis. It is likely enough that the word may be
in all these cases really the same — fruit generally signified in one
place, and the word particularized to some one fruit in another.
This would correspond to ' pomum ' and ' apple ; ' and no doubt a
word which is so treated is not an importation from without in
languages which treat it either way.
28. Good. — There is a great variety of words meaning good in
both Vocabularies. In the Malay baik, however, we have the
Maori pai, a word which possibly appears in the Melanesian pei of
Espiritu Santo. It is only in one region that a common word to
any considerable extent prevails in Melanesia, in the Banks'
Islands, where wia, wi, we, is universal. The same appears some
little way off in Fate and Sesake. In Mr. Wallace's list there are
pia in the Sula Islands, fiar in Gilolo,^a in Ceram and Matabello,
ia in Amboyna, besides mopia, mapia, which are no doubt the
same. It can hardly be doubted that these are identical with the
Melanesian words. A connection between them is found in Mafoor
in New Guinea, bie. The primary meaning of wia is pretty cer-
tainly ' mere, unmixed,' thence faultless, harmless, clear and good.
29. Hair. — This is one of the words in which agreement is
very general, almost universal, in the Ocean languages. There is,
however, a source of confusion which no doubt prevents the agree-
ment in Vocabulary being so conspicuous. The hair of the head is
often called by a different name from the hair of the body ; and
thus in languages where the common word exists, but only in
the sense of the hair of the body, the word for hair is given
differently, because the hair of the head has been indicated in
asking for information. Thus, in Malay, the word given for hair
Notes on the Vocabularies. 73
is rambut, but bulu is there used for hair as well as for feathers.
In nine other places of Mr. Wallace's list the word occurs as
meaning feather where another one is given for hair ; whereas no
doubt the languages have the same word for feather and hair.
The common word is bulu, vulu, ulu, the vowel sometimes changing
to i. The Malagasy is volo, the Maori huruhuru, the Marshall
Island word kwol, Mafoor buraim.
There is a curious use of the word which means ' leaf ' in con-
nection with hair *. In 6^0 of Ysabel the same word, klakla, is both
hair and leaf, in Fate ulu the common word for hair is leaf. In
Nengone the word ie hawo means ' shoots of the head,' ie being the
word used for shoots of trees. In Fiji we find drau ni ulu leaves of
the head 2, in Tonga lau ulu. It is evident that these expressions
carry us back to the primary meaning of the words which are used
both for hair or leaf. If it were not for the Nengone idiom one
might say that the leaf is to the tree what hair is to the animal ;
leaves the hair or feathers of trees, hair or feathers the leaves of
animals. But the Nengone expression rather refers to the notion
of locks of hair on the head being like bunches or sprays of leaves.
See further under the word ' Leaf.'
30. Hand. — This is again one of the words in which the
agreement in the Ocean languages is almost universal. It be-
comes so nearly universal because there is both a primary and
secondary signification, either or both of which may be represented
in any language ; the word meaning ' hand ' has so very generally
been taken to name the number five. Hence in many languages,
as Malay for instance, lima is ' five ' where it is not ' hand.' In
Mr. Wallace's list of thirty-three words lima for hand occurs
nineteen times, but there are only two places in which it is not
used for five. In the Melanesian list twenty-one places out of
forty have the word lima for hand, and certainly much the greater
number of those which are exceptions in this respect have the word
as a numeral. Malagasy also is an example. The very common,
almost universal, presence of the word in the Ocean languages, in
the one sense or the other, makes this a good test-word for the
Australian languages. If any one of them could show this word
for ' hand ' or ' five ' there would be some evidence in Vocabulary
of a common stock ; when even in this word there is no agree-
ment, it is hardly possible to expect it in others.
The forms which the common word has in the Malay Archipelago
1 K.6/J11), Odyssey xxiii. 195. a In Navitilevu, ro ni vulu.
74 Melanesian Languages.
vary for the most part between r and / ; but there is one change to
n in Ceram, and in one case the initial consonant is dropped.
Among the Melanesian languages the same variation is found, but
r is much less common than I ; the change to n occurs in two
distinct regions. The Anaiteum ikma probably shows a change to
k, as in Vaturana, and the initial is dropped in Motu. The Fiji
liga, and Maori ringa, differ in pronunciation only in the initial,
and there is no other example in this Vocabulary of the change
from m to ng. It is, however, very common to find the nasal m
turning into ng, as, for example, in the second Person of the
Suffixed Pronoun ; and in the Banks' Islands and elsewhere it is
this m which is present in lima hand or five. The transition from
m, to ng in Maori and Fiji is thus accounted for.
It should be observed that the word, in whatever form it may
occur, does not primarily mean the hand as distinct from the arm;
the whole limb is often signified by it. In the Tongan lau nima,
the Marshall Island lo ber in bei, the word just above noticed,
rau, lau, is used, the hand is called the leaf of the arm, that is, the
flaky bunch which is the extremity. The Nengone word is equally
interesting, wa nine having the word wa explained under ' fruit ; '
the hand is called the ' ball of the arm ' as fingers are the ' row of
the hand.'
In considering the exceptions we come first to the Malay tangan,
the Malagasy tanana, which has no Melanesian representative. The
only exceptional word in the Malay region, which may also be
Melanesian, is the Mysol kani, which may be pane. This word is
the most common next to lima in Melanesia, though it does not
extend there beyond the Banks' Islands. In no dialect probably
does it exclude lima, but it is the common word in use, and lima,
perhaps from its employment as a numeral, has gone out of use.
In all these languages it should be observed, certainly in the
Melanesian languages, that there is a sort of reserve of words not
in common use to be brought forward upon occasion. It has been
remarked in many languages, in various parts of the world, that a
word, becoming sacred perhaps by being a royal name, is forbidden in
common use, and another one takes its place. It has been supposed
that a new word is coined for the occasion ; but, judging by the
Melanesian practice, it is probable rather that a word still existing
in the language, but obscure, has been revived and brought into
conspicuous use. In the Banks' Islands, to be more particular and
to come within the bounds of certainty, there are certain words
Notes on the Vocabularies. 75
the use of which has a particular term to describe it, un in Mota.
A man may not say a word which is contained in whole or in part
in the name of his relations by marriage ; he is said to un, to use
one of the less common words which are perhaps kept in use in
this way. For example, Pantutun's father- or brother-in-law could
never speak of a hand or arm as pane, he would un and say lima.
Most of these un words are no doubt in common use in other
islands.
Among the Melanesian exceptions there is another of much
interest, which appears only once as ' hand,' in Savo kakau. But
though it is ' hand ' only in this one language, which certainly is
unlike other languages in Melanesia in some respects, and therefore
one would be likely to pass it by as an exception, as a peculiar Savo
word, yet it certainly is widely spread. We have already had it
meaning finger in Eotuma, San Cristoval, Malanta, Ysabel, and
New Georgia. In Mota it is present as a Verb, kaka to stretch out
the hand and lay hold. In Maori kakau is a handle, stalk. In
Samoa, where lima is the common word for a hand, in the lan-
guage used to Chiefs it is 'a'ao, i. e. kakao. Words are thus found
at different levels of language ; and this offers a much clearer
proof that they really belong to the languages in which they are
thus found than the finding of them all on the surface would do 1.
The Ambrym word vera is no doubt the same which, with a
prefix, is the Mota tawerai the palm of the hand, and the same also
with the Florida pera ni lima palm of the hand. It is very probable
therefore that the word was got from the Ambrym native in the
first place by holding out an open hand, and perhaps pointing to
the palm ; so that the meaning may not be exactly that of ' hand.'
Nevertheless such a word so got is, if somewhat incorrect, well
worth having ; for it brings together widely separate languages by
one of that class which, like kakau above, do not lie on the surface.
Another word to be noticed is gave of Espiritu Santo, one which
no doubt is rightly equivalent in the use of that place to the
Banks' Islands panei. A crab, of one sort, in Mota is a gave, so
called no doubt from its arms and claws, by a word which thus in
one island is used more generally and in another is specialized.
1 A visitor from New Zealand in Norfolk Island seeing a spider, asked a
Florida boy the name of it, and he gave kakaverevere. Part of this word was
familiar to the visitor as the Maori loerewere to hang or spread out, the other
part only could be explained by the boy as meaning fingers ; though kaka is
neither hand nor finger in Florida, he knew the word. The two component
parts of the word have evidently come into New Zealand and the Solomon
Islands from a common source.
76 Melanesian, Languages.
On the whole, reviewing these words we may say that lima
regards the hand with its fingers, panei the arm as a limb, vera
perhaps never the whole hand, except as with open palm, and gave
and kakau both the member outstretched. Hence lima means so
very commonly the numeral five, jtanei is used for a wing; the
verb kaka to stretch out and lay hold, and the noun kakau for
' finger,' have a common notion, as has gave the name for the limb
and the crab.
31. Hard. — This, like Adjectives commonly, does not give many
common forms. Its chief interest is grammatical. Looking down
the list of the Malayan and Polynesian words the eye catches
common formative prefixes, not common words ; makana, it is true,
occurs six times, but there are makuti, maketihy, maseti, murugoso,
kadiga, kaforat, the Malagasy mafu, the Maori maro, Samoan
ma'aa, showing the prefixes ma and ka of quality. Reduplication
is equally conspicuous in the Melanesian list, and the adjectival
termination ga.
With this it is worth noting that words which are here adjectives
have cognate meanings as other parts of speech in other languages.
It is not an accidental resemblance between the New Georgia m'ra
hard, and the Mota nira a very hard- wooded bush ; either the plant
is called uira because of its hardness, or a hard thing is said to be
mra because it has the quality of the wood. The Alite nauata is
used as an Adverb to magnify the force of an adjective in Florida.
32. Head. — The word most common in the Malay Archipelago is
ulu, uru, which, though displaced in Malay by the Sanskrit kapala,
is, as hulu, properly belonging to that language. The word is not
common in Melanesia, though it appears in Fiji and in part of the
Solomon Islands. It is not either in Malagasy or Maori, but it is
in Tonga and Samoa. It is strange that ulu in some of these lan-
guages should mean both hair and head ; the words can hardly be
the same in root, and in many languages the distinction in sense is
marked by a difference in form, as in Fiji ulu head, vulu hair.
In Melanesia the most common word is one which appears also
in the Malay Archipelago. One of the words given in Ceram is
ulukatim, to all appearance a word compounded with ulu, and kati
with the second Person singular Pronoun suffixed ; and this kati is
probably the same with kahutu of Mysol, and katu of Savu. In
Melanesia the word, in varying forms, has a very wide range, from
Fate to Ysabel. In the form qatu the initial combines k and p, and,
as is not unusual, the consonant t sometimes drops out. Thus the
Notes on the Vocabularies. 77
forms botu, bwau, j>au, come naturally together with the Banks'
Islands qat and its changes into qotu, qutugi and qi'iyi. In Formosa
vau is the word, which may very well be the same, and in Kings-
mill it is atu. The root meaning of this widely spreading word can
be ascertained in the Banks' Island languages : it means a knob,
as in Mota a qat here is a knob stick. In better known languages
the same metaphor occurs.
The Malagasy is lolia, and it is very remarkable that the same
word is found in the Solomon Islands, lova head in Vaturawa, and
forehead in Savo. Here again a word isolated in Melanesia finds
its kindred in some very remote language ; and it is plain that
loha and lova have reached Madagascar and the Solomon Islands
from a common source, neither Malay nor Polynesian.
33. Hot. — The Malay panas is a well-known word, of which
mention has been made under ' Fire.' With the prefix of quality
ma or ba it makes mofanas and bafanat in Ceram, mafana in
Malagasy, and makana in Maori. In Melanesia it is only found in
words used for fire. There is another Maori word, wera, in Samoan
vevela, which in Mota as vevera is used of red-hot stones. In Fileni,
one of the Polynesian outliers in the Santa Cruz group, vela is
the sun.
An exceptional word in Mr. Wallace's list is sasaTiu reduplicated,
dasaho with prefix of quality, in Tidore and Gilolo. This is no
doubt the siahu of Motu, New Guinea, the sawsaw, sousou, seuseu,
seseu, of the Banks' Islands, and is again a good example of the
extensive occurrence of words which in their own regions are
exceptions. The prevailing word about the Banks' Islands is
tutun, titin, which in Vanua Lava, where t is left out, becomes i'in.
The Rotuma sunn, Api pisusunu, is probably the same. Like so
many Adjectives in this and other lists, tutun is reduplicated, the
root is tun, a word which in Mota and also in Duke of York means
to roast.
34. House. — This is an interesting and important word. The
very wide range of the word, which in Malay is ruma, and the
great variety of its forms point to the great antiquity of this as a
common possession of these languages. As is the case with the very
widely prevailing name for a canoe, we may argue that a word
which has spread so far and changed so much goes to show that the
thing which it names was known to the undivided people whose
dispersion spread the word so widely abroad. If the presence of
certain common words in Aryan languages shows that the Aryans
78 Melanesian Languages.
did not separate till certain arts were known and practised by the
common ancestors, so we may argue that the Ocean languages
testify that the ancient speakers made canoes, built houses, culti-
vated gardens, before the time came when their posterity branched
off on their way to Madagascar and Fiji.
The word now immediately in view as the name of a house ranges
from the Malay Peninsula, through the islands of the Indian Archi-
pelago, to the very extremity of Melanesia in the Loyalty Islands.
It has not a continuous range, it appears and disappears at intervals,
but in that line and chain of islands it is never absent long. It
appears in Mafoor at the north-west of New Guinea, and in Motu
at the south-east, and in the Marshall Islands of Micronesia. In
Polynesian languages it does not appear ; in the Kingsmill it is im.
The fact that the word in this way has established itself generally,
but not universally, at intervals and not in a continuous line, shows
that it is not one which can be traced to one centre, from whence
it may be thought to have been introduced by commerce or modern
intercourse. The same conclusion is enforced by the consideration
of the great variety of the form of the word, which ranges from
ruma to en (eng). If a word appearing in its full form in Malay
were to appear corrupted and changed as it receded in distance
from the region in which Malay is spoken, we might well suppose
the Malay the original. But when the changes in form bear no
certain relation to the distance from Malayan regions, and the
variations are local and disconnected, it is not so ; some centre
there must have been, but it cannot now be pointed out.
The geographical range of the word must be observed by com-
paring the Vocabularies with the map. The variation of the form
can be seen in the Vocabularies. In Mr. Wallace's list the Malay
rumdh and the Javanese umah give at once typical forms, one
with and the other without an initial consonant. Of the first
type there are also luma and huma, of the second um and probably
cm1. Out of thirty-three words twenty-two are forms of these
types. The variety of forms in Melanesia is greater, but the types
are the same ; ruma is in Duke of York and San Cristoval, uma in
Api and Lakona. The vowel also changes, and ruma, with changes
of initial consonant and vowel, becomes luma, nume, huma, rima,
nima. By similar change uma becomes ima, ema, and dropping
the vowels at the beginning or end, 'ma, im, eom, em, en. To
1 The Ceram vfordfeiom, used by Alfuros, is probably om, a form of uma,
with the collective prefix fei = Fiji vei.
Notes on the Vocabularies. 79
account for this last change it is enough to say that, in the neigh-
bourhood where it is made at any rate, the m is the nasal one
which, as mentioned above, regularly changes into ng : ima, im,
makes en, as lima ( a hand ' makes Fiji liga, Maori ringa. This TO in
Nengone is written 'm, and the Nengone 'ma is identical with the
Santa Cruz ma.
A tabulated view of the forms of this word and its distribution
may be useful : —
Malay Archipelago. Melanesia,
ruma . . . Malay, Amboyna Motu, New Guinea Duke of York, Malanta,
San Cristoval.
rum Mafoor, New Guinea
luma . . . Bouru, Amblaw,
Amboyna, Ceram Malanta.
rima . . . •. San Cristoval.
numa, nima Malanta, Ulawa.
huma . . . Bouru.
suma Fate.
uma . . . Java, Sula, Ceram Lakona, Api.
ima Mota, Araga, Espiritu
Santo, Ambrym.
urn, om . . Gilolo, Ceram Anaiteum.
im, em, en Kingsmill Islands . Banks' Islands.
Marshall Islands,
ma Santa Cruz, Nengone.
The common word for a house in Polynesia is the Maori wTiare,
Samoan and Tongan fale. This appears also, but rarely, in the
Malay Archipelago, ball and bareh in Sanguir and Salibabo. In
Melanesia it is not common, but it is the prevailing word in some
parts. In New Britain and Duke of York it is^aZ, in the Solomon
Islands vale and vadhe, in Fiji and the Northern New Hebrides
vale, in Ambrym Tiale. In Duke of York pal is an outhouse, while
im is a house. In Mafoor of New Guinea siim is a chamber, while
rum is a house. In the New Hebrides ima is known and used for
some particular buildings where vale is a house. Thus these two
words to some extent overlap ; yet it may be said that the one
belongs to the Eastern and the other to the Western Pacific.
There are other words which are exceptions in all parts of this
area of language — the Malagasy trano, for example. It is singular
that in Vanua Lava in the Banks' Islands, an island twelve miles
long, there are three words used for ' house ' so perfectly distinct
as im or en, qeqek, and govur.
35. Large. — There is not any common word. The Ceram ilahe
8o Melanesian Languages.
is no doubt the Maori rahi, and another Ceram word, maina, may
be the Solomon Islands paina. The Malagasy lava is ' long,' the
Maori raha ' open, extended,' yet these are no doubt identical, and
the difference in particular signification encourages the belief that
these are the Mota lava large, of which the San Cristoval raha
and rafa are forms, as well as Marshall Island lap, and probably
Duke of York galapi. There is very little ground for comparison
between the words of one region and another. Within Melanesian
limits the Fiji and Santa Cruz levu is probably the liwoa, luwo,
of the Banks' Islands. In Malanta the baila of Alite, which con-
stantly changes n to I, is paina of Bululaha, of which latter name
the last part, is itself another form of raha, lava. In fact languages
have more than one word in common use, as Mota poa, liwoa, lava.
36. Leaf. — The word most commonly used for a leaf is very
widely spread, and has a number of forms ; the root of it we may
take to be rau. Between this and lau there is no difference. By
taking on d, as is often done before r, we have drau, and by another
process d takes the place of r. Beyond this d, as is also common,
becomes « ; and the forms rau, lau, drau, dau, nau are made.
These are shortened into ro, ru, ri, &c. To these stems then have
to be added the terminations na, n, gi, i, belonging to substantives,
and the great number of forms in the Malay Archipelago, Me-
lanesia, and Polynesia are accounted for ; the Malay daun, Malagasy
ravina, Maori rau, Samoa lau, the Duke of York dono, the Lepers'
Islands raugi, Lakona drauri, Mota naui, Ureparapara dugi, Motlav
row, Volow raren, Santa Cruz leu, Mosina no, Gaua do, even the
Anaiteum ri and Nengone ru. The Vanua Lava togi is in accord-
ance with a change commonly made there of n to t. In this case
again the wide distribution and great variation of the word point
to its antiquity in the languages, and agree very little with the
theory of imported or borrowed words.
It has been already mentioned that this word is used in the
sense of hair. In Mota little lapping waves are called nono nawo
saltwater leaves, a phrase which shows the root notion to be that
of flakes1. The same is shown by the Ulawa apaapa ni at, Bulu-
laha apapa ie, apaapa being used for the wing of a bird. The
Ysabel eloelo i gai is perhaps akin to their word alo a wing. The
G&Q Jdakla it has been said is hair or leaf, as ulu in Fate.
1 ' The complete form in Fiji is drau ni Tcau, in another dialect, ro ni Jcai,
leaf of tree, as drau ni ulu, ro ni vulu, is the hair of the head.' Rev. L.
Fison. The word drau is thus shown to be hardly yet enough specialized in
meaning not to require some further indication whether hair or leaf is meant.
Notes on the Vocabularies. 81
In many languages the word rau is used for a hundred, from
the habit of using a leaf as a tally.
37. Little. — As is the case with most adjectives, there is but
scanty agreement in the words meaning ' little.' Taking Polynesia,
Micronesia, Melanesia, there is a word riki widely distributed,
and, what is of more importance, not lying on the surface. In
Maori riki is present, but not commonly used ; in Mota it is obso-
lete, but remains as rig in names and phrases. It is in the Mar-
shall Islands as lik, and in eight places of the Melanesian Vocabulary.
Agreement between widely separated places is seen in laki of
Nifilole, near Santa Cruz, and malaki of Motu, New Guinea, the
latter with the prefix ma of quality.
38. Louse.— In the name as in the thing there is a very general
agreement. Out of Mr. Wallace's thirty-three words twenty-seven
are forms of the Malay kutu, and twenty-eight Melanesian places
have the same. The form differs very considerably. The Malay
kutu is no doubt, by the common change of k to h, the Teor hut,
and, by dropping the initial consonant, is utu and ut. The Maori
kutu is Samoan 'utu. The Micronesian kid of Marshall Islands is
no doubt the same. In Melanesia the changes are more consider-
able, and certainly do not favour the theory of a recent importa-
tion. The change from k to g, and to w is regular, and gives the
Fiji kutu, Whitsuntide gutu, Mota urutu, and the shorter forms git,
wu. The Nengone ote is perhaps, and Anaiteum cet (c = hard g)
certainly, the same ; and Eotuma, with its usual change of t to /,
makes uta into ufa. In the Solomon Islands the simplest form is
reached in u, u'u is utu, fu of Fagani is hu. The Ulawa, Wawo,
and Saa pote, bote, are not likely to be the same, but they may go
with the Nengone ote.
39. Man. — There is not in this word so great an agreement as
might perhaps be expected : and there is a certain confusion likely
between man and male. In Mr. Wallace's Vocabulary mon, omani,
manesh, are very likely the Solomon Islands mane male. The
Malay orang * is the Malagasy olona ; elsewhere there is nothing
answering to it. There is one root, however, that by itself or in
composition makes often the name for man, ta, tau ; in Celebes tau
and taumata are no doubt the same with the Motu tau and Fiji
tamata; and ta is the root of the words tamoli, tanaloe, tatua,
tanun, tamsar of the Banks' Islands and New Hebrides, and the
1 Though orang is unknown in Melanesia, the second word in the well-known
orang titan is common there for the ' forest.'
G
82 Melanesian Languages.
Polynesian tanyata. The root ta does not often occur, but it is in
Volow, and reversed in Motlav and Ureparapara. The Eotuma
becomes, by the change common there, fa instead of ta. In the
neighbourhood of the Gulf of Papua, New Guinea, man is in Port
Moresby tauna, Kerepunu anna, Teste Island, E.Cape, and Heath
Island tau. It is not easy or possible in most cases to explain the
words compounded with ta. In Mota it is not unreasonable to
suppose the word tanun to be the real man ; nun true, not the
tamate the dead man. There is in the language the word tamaur
live-man, opposed to tamate dead-man, a ghost ; tavine is a female,
ta a woman ; tamatua is a full-grown man, the mature ta ;
tamaragai an aged man, a trembling ta. No doubt the Fate and
Sesake word tamoli is identical with the Mota tamaur. When a
native says that he is a man, he means that he is a man and not a
ghost, not that he is a man and not a beast. The intelligent
agents in the world are to his mind the men who are alive, and
the ghosts, the men who are dead, the ta-tnaur and ta-mate of
Mota, na ta-moli and nat-mas of the New Hebrides. When white
men first appear to Melanesians they are taken for ghosts, dead
men come back ; when white men ask the natives what they are,
they proclaim themselves to be men not ghosts.
40. Mat. — This is a bad word for the purpose and ought to
have been left out. Mats are of very various kinds, and ea<;h has
its own name. No collection of words, however, can be entirely
void of instruction. The Alite vau gives a word as a noun which
alike in Florida, Mota, and Fiji means to weave. The Eotuma
gives cap, which is the same as the Mota epa, but with the last
syllable reversed, as we have seen in falian for talina, an ear.
41. Moon. — In Mr. Wallace's Vocabulary twenty-five out of
thirty-three are forms of the Malay bulan, in the Melanesian list
nineteen out of forty are forms of the same. The Malagasy volana
is the same. The forms vary, as in other words, by the change of
6, v, f, w, h, in the initial, and of I and r. There is a question
whether we can ascertain the meaning of the word, which, from the
use of vula as white in Fiji and Mota, and pura (probably the
same word) in Florida, may be white. Or the word meaning
moon may be used in a secondary sense for white.
Of the exceptions the Sula Island fasina is no doubt the Sesake
masina. The distance geographically is immense, but both words
are connected by the Polynesian masina of Samoa, mahina of
Tonga, and the formation from the verb meaning to shine.
Notes on the Vocabularies. 83
42. Mosquito. — In regard to this word there is a great difference
between the Malay Archipelago and Melanesia, the name extremely
common in the latter for the mosquito, namu, appearing only in
Malay and Javanese nyamok. In the Melanesian list out of
thirty-four words given twenty-seven are the same, and with no
very great diversity of form. Samoan and Tongan also have na/mu.
43. Mother. — There is likely to be the same confusion here as in
the case of ' Father/ between the common noun and the vocative.
However, in the Malay Archipelago and in Melanesia alike, there is
a good deal of agreement in the word tina or ina, which also is in
Samoa, and in the Gulf of Papua, and, as jine, in the Marshall
Islands. The chief interest of the word is not philological. It
will be seen that in the Banks' Islands the word ve, veve, is most
common ; and that in Gaua with that word in rave, in Whitsuntide
in ratahi, in Vureas in retne, in Torres Islands in reme, there is a
prefix ra and re1. In the word and in the prefix there are the
marks of the native customs in regard to marriage and of their
history. In that part of Melanesia all the population, without
distinction of island or language, is divided into two sets for
purposes of marriage. Each of these sets is called in Mota veve, a
word that means division. If, then, this word veve is used for
mother it is because the veve is looked upon as the parent, the
division is not called veve because it may be figuratively called a
mother. But if the set, the division, is properly the mother, and the
word used for mother is properly the name of the set, it is evident
that the individual woman who is the parent is in the second place ;
the child is the child of the set, not hers, the women of the set are
the mother, not she. Hence has come the use of the plural in
speaking of a single mother, raveve, rave, retne (i.e. re tine), reme,
ratahi. There was, in fact, a communal marriage, every woman on
the one side was wife to every man on the other, and consequently
every child had the women of the set into which it was born for
its mother. The plural form of the word for mother, where it
exists, is a surviving witness to this. In exact agreement with it
a word in plural form, rasoai, in Mota describes a husband or wife.
The members of one set were ra soai2 to the others, males of one to
females of the other respectively, and the plural form that was
appropriate to that state of things, now long passed out of general
1 A common plural particle.
2 The reduplicated form soasoai, member or part of an organic whole,
shows how soai came to mean husband or wife.
G 2
84 Mclanesian Languages.
recollection, remains to show what the state of things was. No such
communal marriage exists or is remembered, but it is known
among the natives that the words are plural and why they are so.
44. Mouth. — There is no kind of agreement concerning this
word in the Malay Archipelago, nor, with one interesting ex-
ception, does Mr. Wallace's list contain any words that are
common elsewhere. This exception is bawa of South Celebes,
which is baba of Batak, and bawa of Nias, Sumatra, and also
vava of Malagasy. The same is waha of New Zealand ; and in
Melanesia is vava of Espiritu Santo, wawagi of Lepers' Island in
the New Hebrides, and wawa of Ulawa and Malanta in the
Solomon Islands, wa of Duke of York. This word, then, is widely
diffused, though not generally. Its presence in Sumatra and
Celebes in one quarter, in New Zealand in another, in Madagascar,
and in two different regions of Melanesia, makes it quite impos-
sible to suppose it an importation anywhere from outside. There
is a further interest in this word. In Mota the verb vava is to
speak, which is the form the word for mouth has in Espiritu Santo.
Words to be mentioned shortly hereafter will show that it is not
unreasonable to suppose that this word has got into Mota in two
forms, one in which it means to open the mouth, and one to speak.
The word which in Aurora and the Banks' Islands is almost
universal, ra7a, appears isolated in the Wawo hara as meaning
mouth. But wala, in Ulawa, is to speak. In the same way
wana, the Maori mangai, a mouth in Florida, is also in that
language speech, and the Mota verb manasag to tell out, has
no doubt its stem the same. There are, therefore, three words in
various parts of Melanesia which mean both mouth and speaking,
vala, mana, and vava, and what one might hesitate in accepting
as more than a chance resemblance about one word becomes
pretty certain when confirmed by analogy of others.
In Melanesian languages, as was observed under the word ' Face,'
there is a certain indistinctness in the naming of features. Thus
the Fiji gusu (g = ng) is the mouth, in Kotuma nuchu, Motu utu,
and probably the noe of Ambrym, and no of Fagani, and forms
part of Nengone tubenengoce the ' row of the mouth ; ' but nusui
in Mota is the lip, and the same word in Maori ngutu is lip also.
The notion at the root of both uses is no doubt that of a pro-
jection, in which sense it is used in Mota of a point of land. In
the same way the Bugotu live is in neighbouring languages, and
very generally, a tooth; the Santa Cruz nao is no doubt the
Notes on the Vocabularies. 85
word nago, common as ' face ; ' the word also, which four times
in the Banks' Islands means mouth, naregi, in another island of
the same group means face. It should be observed that these
Melanesian words were not obtained by pointing at the feature,
from which mistakes between mouth, teeth, lips, might easily
ensue, but by asking natives acquainted with Mota the equiva-
lents for the Mota word, and, in case of difficulty, explaining the
precise name desired.
The Alite voka is no doubt the Florida voka to separate, to open ;
in Mota mana is the fold of the skin between the arm and the
breast.
45. Night. — Though it occurs very seldom in the Malay Archi-
pelago no doubt the common Melanesian word bom, gon, is the
characteristic name for night. It appears in Javanese and
Salayer bungi, and probably in composition as po in three other
places. In Polynesia it is po, in the Marshall Islands bung.
In Melanesia it is in thirty places out of forty. In Nengone
though ridi is night, days, as we now count, but nights as natives
always count them, are reckoned so many bune : in Savo po in
pogala to-morrow, is no doubt the same word.
Among the exceptional words the Ulawa and Malanta roto,
Wawo rodo, is in Florida rorodo blind ; the word is probably the
Lepers' Island dodo cloud ; matadodo blind. The Mafoor in the
North of New Guinea, rob, is no doubt the Florida ropo.
46. Nose. — The Malay idong, and Javanese irong with hiru,
iru, iri, Hi, are the only words in Mr. Wallace's Vocabulary that
agree. The Melanesian words do not agree with these. The
common Melanesian word is the same as the Polynesian, ihu
Maori, iso Samoan. The forms are various, but the identity of
gusu (g = ng), msu, ucu (c = dh), usu, isu, and ihu can hardly be
doubted. The word means projection, and is applied to points of
land. If isu is the same as msu, and usu = gusu, nusu, then this
word connects itself with the word mentioned under ' Mouth,' above,
the Fiji g-usu identical with Fate gusu, and in sound with Mota
nusu. Nor is this at all improbable, for the same word may have
come into use in some languages in different forms at different
times and with the signification differently particularised 1. If
this is so, the Santa Cruz no, and Nifilole noto belong to this root.
1 In the same way as, to take examples from our own language, we have
yard and garden, captive and caitiff, guest and host, inch and ounce. The
word ' snout ' might well be particularized to mean nose or mouth.
86 Melanesian Languages.
The word manui in Mota, with all the forms that surround it,
means a beak. The Lepers' Island qanogi applies properly to the
nostrils, Mota qanai gills.
47. Pig, — The Malay babi, there can be little doubt, is the same
with Sanguir and Salibabo bawi, and this may very well be boh of
Gilolo and Mysol. If so, the very common Melanesian word bo, qo,
qoe, connects with the Malay. This wor4 runs through the Melane-
sian Islands from Api pui to Vaturana bo at the North of Gua-
dalcanar, with remarkably little change of form. Does this, then,
argue a comparatively recent introduction of the animal from
a common source ? Hardly ; because babi is not likely to turn
into bo, though it may well be a form of the same root ; and the
small places where boh occurs are not such as could well be the
origin of the pigs, and their name, which occupy the central
islands of Melanesia. All these words more probably belong to
one original root, and spread with the animal as men took pos-
session of the islands where they now dwell.
A word no doubt recently imported, and probably taking the
place of the old word, is puaka, pooka Maori, pueta Samoan,
which appears in Nengone, and Rotuma, and as vuaka in Fiji. It
is not likely that there were no pigs in Fiji before the word vuaka
was used there. It is more probable that the Tongans brought
over their pigs, which were valued and called by the Tongan
name, and the name of the newer and fashionable kind of pig
superseded the old one. The local word bolo in the Solomon
Islands has probably the same sort of history. This is parallel
with the substitution of kokok for toa in Mota, No. 26.
48. Rain. — The Malay hujan no doubt represents a word common
to that Archipelago, Polynesia, and Melanesia ; it is the Maori and
Samoan ua, the usa of the New Hebrides and Solomon Islands,
uha and uhe of the same groups, uca of Fiji, ua of Api and
Santa Cruz, uh of Lakon, even the o of Ambrym. In Anaiteum
the verb to rain is ehe, which may be the same.
The Javanese and Batak is udan, which, by change of d to r,
becomes the Malagasy orana.
In the Banks' Islands there is a local word wena, weta, wen, wet,
which may possibly be the same as the Marshall Islands wut.
The San Cristoval rani is the same word with the Malay langit,
Malagasy lanitra, and Maori rangi, which means wind and sky.
49. Rat. — There is no sort of agreement generally between the
names for a rat in the Malay Archipelago and in Melanesia. The
Notes on the Vocabularies. 87
former differ very much among themselves, the latter very much
agree, twenty-six out of forty being the same. The forms of the
word in which they agree are very various, and without intermediate
forms it would hardly be thought that cedo, wohow, and kuzi were
the same. All may be clearly seen, however, by beginning with the
Mota gasuwe. The change of w to v, f, h, gives gasuve, gasufa,
gasuhe in the Solomon Islands. The change of w to g and g to w,
very common in those parts, accounts for the variety of the Banks'
Islands words, gosog, gosug, wohow. The change of s to h gives
gahuwa, gohow, wohow. The dropping of the initial makes asuhe,
and there can be no doubt but that kuhi, kusi, kuzi are the suwe of
gasuwe. To account for the Anaiteum cedo requires the explana-
tion that c is hard g and d-dh', the word written gedho is not
far from gosow.
There are two local and exceptional words in the Melanesian
Vocabulary which are well worth notice ; garim of the four
Northern Islands of the New Hebrides and kalavo * of Fiji. The
first of these can hardly be other than karufei of Ceram. The
second, kalavo, is the provincial Malagasy valavo, Dyak blawow,
Mangkasar balawo, keluf of Mysol. These two words, exceptional
in Melanesia, have, as we have seen in other instances, their
kindred words in far distant regions, with which it is impossible
that they can have had any recent or direct communication.
50. Red. — The only word for red at all common in the Malay
Archipelago is merah, which, however, only appears in Malay, and
a few other languages. This word is not unknown in Melanesia,
in San Cristoval meramera and merameraga are red, mela is
used also in Bugotu. In Mota, the red dawn of morning, or the
red sky of evening, is called mera ; no doubt the same word. In
Vaturawa it is yellow. The meaning of some of the Melanesian
words is plain. In Anaiteum cap is hot as well as red, and is
the word used for fire. The Mota memea is from mea red earth ;
lawlaw is naming like a fire ; the Florida sisi, Vaturana chichi,
6rao jigia are from the red hibiscus flower ; the Duke of York
dara is blood.
The reduplication and termination ga characteristic of adjec-
tives are conspicuous.
51. Road. — One word is common in all the language area
before us : the Malay jala, Malagasy lala, Polynesian ara and ala,
Marshall Islands ial, Melanesian hala, sola, tola, tara, halha, s«Z,
1 The old black Fiji rat is gaco, c = dh, the Mota gasuwe.
88 Melanesian Languages.
Jial, al. In the Malay Archipelago this word appears in twenty-
one out of thirty-three places, in Melanesia in twenty-seven out
of forty. The forms are various, but vary by plain changes. In
Melanesia the word is often compounded with mata the eye or
the middle of the road. The way is sola, the matesala is the
path along which one goes. The second part of the compound
in halautu, sautu, cannot be explained.
52. Root. — The Malay akar is also in Celebes, Sala Islands, and
Ceram, and is probably the same as waari in two other places.
This word is different from the Malagasy and Polynesian vody
and take, the first of which is most likely the Mota vuti. In the
Banks' Islands a word, the Mota form of which is gariu, is no
doubt the Malay akar, as is more plainly the Duke of York akari.
It is possible that the Araga garo, Alite kalokalo, may be the
same as this.
It is not an easy thing to get the correct equivalent for the
English word; there is a confusion between the part of the stem
underground, the root, and the fibres and roots.
53. Salt. — Between this and the next word ' Sea,' there is in
these languages a certain confusion, because salt water from the
sea is used for salt, and the sea is distinguished from water by
being called salt. The word tasi is common to the Malay Archi-
pelago and Melanesia in both senses : as in Amboyna, New
Hebrides, and Solomon Islands ; asing in Celebes, and asi in
Solomon Islands. The Maori tai is sea, wai tai salt water.
The most interesting consideration, however, concerning this
word belongs to its use in local names. In Malay tasek, though
neither salt nor sea, is a lake. In the Banks' Islands the lake in
the middle of Santa Maria is the tas ; and it is hardly possible to
separate this name from that of Itasy the great lake in Madagascar.
In the same Banks' Islands, the use of the word tas is obselete
in the sense of sea or salt, though they still tasig their food with
salt water. But the side of the island at Mota where the surf
breaks is Tasmaur, the lee side is Tasmate, the live and the dead
sea. The same expressions are in use for the weather and lee
sides of islands in the New Hebrides, and in the Solomon Islands.
In Madagascar at the S.E. of the island is Taimoro.
A very common word in Melanesia meaning, 'salt,' and also 'salt
water,' does not appear beyond it ; and within Melanesia is con-
fined to the northern New Hebrides, Banks' Islands, Santa Cruz,
and Solomon Islands — a continuous stretch of islands. This word
Notes on the Vocabularies. 89
is nawo, navo, nao, which is used very commonly indeed whei*e
tasi also is used, as, for example, in San Cristoval and Malanta,
where navo is surf, while asi is salt. The word, then, is more
commonly used than would appear from the Vocabulary.
Another word, masima, is in Fiji and Duke of York. In Fiji
there is also tad, meaning the sea. In Ceram there is masin, in
Mafoor of New Guinea masen. Salt in Malagasy is sira, also
fanasina.
54. Sea. — One of the words commonly used for ' sea ' has just
been mentioned, which, however, only appears in Mr. Wallace's
list as ' sea ' in Ceram and Matabello, tasi, told ; the Maori tai ; in
Melanesia tasi, sasi (as in Celebes and Bouru), tahi, asi, tas, tai.
The Malay word laut is more common in the Malay Archipelago ;
a word which never stands for sea in Melanesia, except in Nifilole
as lo. The word, however, as lau, for t is only a termination, is
very common, almost universal, in Melanesian languages, in the
sense of beachwards or seawards, or as in Fiji, the windward
region.
The Malagasy word for sea is riaka, and also rano vnasina,
which is interpreted as ' holy water.' But the word masina can
hardly be other than that mentioned above as masin and masen
salt, in Ceram and Mafoor. The lake Alaotra, a being the
preposition ' at,' would seem to be named from laut, as Itasy from
tasi.
Although the words tasi and lau are common alike in the
Malayan, Polynesian, and Melanesian regions, yet there are a great
number of words besides, quite different generally one from the
other. There are, in fact, several distinct things to be named :
i. the sea as salt water; 2. the sea within reefs, in lagoons, or
shallow near the shore ; 3. the sea outside ; 4. the open sea, the
Ocean. Words no doubt are given which apply in one or the
other of these significations. Thus in Fiji tad is the sea generally,
the open sea is wasawasa ; in Lepers' Island wawa is the open sea,
tahi also the sea as salt water ; in Whitsuntide, tahi is sea,
wawana, the open distant sea ; in TJlawa, asi is sea, ahowa, the
open sea ; in Fagani, asi and matawa ; in all these words, as in
Sesake tasipua, Santa Cruz daojme, Alite matakua, wa forming
part and probably the distinguishing part of the word. In
Vaturawa mao is shallow sea, horara the deep sea, and this is the
meaning of horara, zorara, orara in that part of the Solomon
Islands. This is also the distinction between the Polynesian tai
90 Melanesian Languages.
and moana. In Marshall Islands the sea within the lagoon is
lama-lo, the outer sea is lame-do, the sea generally is lojet. Here
lo probably is lau, in the sense of seawards, and do is landwards,
lok and dok being the common particles of direction ; and lama is
the Banks' Islands word.
55. Skin. — In Mr. Wallace's Vocabulary eleven places in the
Malay Archipelago have the word kulit, kurito, koli, urita, uliti,
kolit, which is also the Malagasy hoditra, in Betsileo holitra. In
the Marshall Islands the word is gil. The same word continues to
appear at intervals in Melanesia as far as Fate in the New
Hebrides. In the Solomon Islands, at Florida and neighbouring
parts, it is guiguli, guli, in San Cristoval uriuri, in a dialect
where g is dropped. In Fiji it is kuli, in Rotuma uli. The
Torres Islands, gilit is no doubt the same, and, by the common
change from g to w, it becomes in Fate wili 1. The word, therefore,
has a vast stretch of extent with very little general variation in
form. It is also in the Polynesian languages, the Maori kiri, the
Samoan iliola.
Another word occupies the Northern New Hebrides and Banks'
Islands, the Mota viniu — a word not altogether local, for it appears
in the Duke of York pin.
Of exceptional words the Espiritu Santo tinina corresponds to
tinyan of Amblaw, lelulini of Ceram. No other correspondence is
shown between one Vocabulary and another. But there are
two words worth noting. The Fagani gafo recalls the word
gagavu used for cloth in the Banks' Islands and New Hebrides,
the Maori kakahu, kahu. Another word for bark in New
Zealand is hiako, which is the Samoan siapo the bark of the
paper mulberry and the cloth made therefrom. In Mota, cloth
is called siopa, and the origin of the word is ascribed by natives
to a visit, some fifty years ago, of a party of Polynesians from Tonga,
who were clothed in sio2>a, by transposition from siapo ; so when
Europeans appeared clothed, they used the word again.
56. Smoke. — There is no word which occupies many places in
the Malay Archipelago Vocabulary, but there is one, the Malay
asap, which represents a word very common in Melanesia, and in
Polynesia also. The Maori is au, Samoan asu, Tongan ahu. In
Melanesia the word is found from Ysabel to Fate in varying forms,
dhu, dho, ah, asua, asu, as, os, es, and belonging probably to these
sasu, and rasu. The Malay word is probably compounded with
1 It is possible that the Mota mil, to peel, is the same word.
Notes an tlie Vocabularies. 91
api fire, and so we find in Lakona ahau av, in Torres Island
hiev. The Mafoor of New Guinea is aas.
The exceptions in Melanesia are not numerous. The £ao
gagahu is the Mota gagavu thick, clouded.
57. Soft. — The words in this list, as with adjectives generally,
show the characteristic prefix ma, and the reduplication. It is
the same with the Malay Archipelago words, which begin, many of
them, with ma, mu, and da. The Mafoor mababoot shows the
same formation. A root common through a very large part of the
language area is lum. It appears in Malay lumbut, in lumut and
murumpito of Celebes, in lomo of Bouru, mulumu of Ceram, rum
of Mysol. The Malagasy malemy may be the same. In Melanesia
it is common, in the northern New Hebrides, Banks' Islands,
Fiji, Solomon Islands, up to Duke of York galom.
Some of the exceptions in Melanesia are interesting. The
Motu, of New Guinea, manoka is no doubt the Mota, of Banks'
Islands, manoga. It may be very likely that their sense is identi-
cal, though manoka is soft, and manoga is said of cooked food.
The Sesake manukunuku may be the same word. The Anaiteum
mulmul may be lum reversed.
58. Spear. — No doubt there are many kinds and shapes of
spears, each with its own name. It is not surprising, therefore,
that there should be a great variety of words. It is very remark-
able, however, that in Mafoor at one end of New Guinea, Motu at
another, and at Sesake far down in the New Hebrides, there is
the common word to. This is not by accident. The Rotuma,
which has a fancy for reversing syllables, may have turned io into
oi. In the Banks' Islands spears are not fighting weapons, the
names are merely descriptive : sar is to pierce, tsar, after the Fiji
manner of prefix i to an instrument, a piercer ; as is to stab, hence
matas, matah. The names are applied properly only to a sort of
spear used in killing pigs on solemn occasions, and by analogy
to foreign spears.
59. Spittle. — There is no word at all common in the Malay
Archipelago. In Melanesia the word in Mota, amis, is found in
fourteen places ; and this is the Samoan and Tongan anu. There
is some variation in the Melanesian forms, anus, anuh, onusi,
anusu, nusu, nisu, kamisu, misu, nisu, m'/t, nih. Though the noun
in Fiji is different, the verb ' to spit ' is kanusi.
In the Banks' Islands the word garmes is no doubt connected
with garameai tongue. The Duke of York kara shows the word
92 Melanesian Languages.
at a considerable distance. In one instance a word belonging to the
Malay Archipelago appears in Melanesia, bulai of Bowru is evi-
dently wura of Aurora, pavurai of Sesake.
60. Star. — This is an interesting word. In the Malay Archi-
pelago there is no great measure of agreement ; bintang and
bitmn must be looked upon as kindred forms, t being supported by
n; betol of Gilolo again is the same. The Malagasy kintana is
farther away. The Polynesian forms show a simpler character
than the Malay whetu, fetu. The Dayak betuch, though the signi-
fication is different, is plainly the same word. The Marshall
Islands iju is formed by the loss of the initial consonant and
change of t.
In Melanesia the same word occurs in twenty-five of forty
places. The forms are very various. "With a termination it is
vaitugu, vitugu, vitig ; with the change of the initial consonant
hefu, he'u,figu ; by the change of t, mo-ijeuv, visiu, veji, hefu,figu ;
by cutting off t in a way characteristic of Vanua Lava vi'. From
bintang to vi is a long way, but the word is evidently the same
throughout. The formation of the Fagani figu deserves notice.
In that place the h of Wawo, three miles off, regularly turns to /,
but g represents the same letter left out, perceptibly, with a gap
in the sound, in Wano. The Fagani (Ha'ani at Wa?io) word figu
ought, then, to represent the Wawo hi'u, and in fact it represents
Jie'u. But it is very instructive to observe that the gap in the
Wano word really means t not g, and has been filled up with g in
the Fagani word under a misapprehension. It is plain that the
Fagani and Wano words are independent, because one comes from
vitu, one from vetu. The interest lies in the filling up the gap with
g in Fagani, because the gap in Wano generally represents g,
though sometimes it is in place of t. Whether all Fagani people,
or only the one who gave me the word, say figu, I cannot say ; but
the mistake is interesting. It is too far to go back to an inter-
change of the primary tenues, as if Fagani figu came from fiku,
Wano he'u from hetu, or both from a viku parallel to the common
vitu.
The Dayak betuch is used for the ' Sun/ but it is clearly the same
word, and the original idea expressed can easily be conceived
which would include sun and star. The Dayaks, who call the sun
betuch, have the Malay bintang for a star. The two words, the
same originally, have come to be particularised, as the Dayaks,
needing a word for star distinct from that used for sun, borrowed
Notes on the Vocabularies. 93
from the Malay. The antiquity of the use of betuch as sun as well
as star must be great. The form of betuch is just parallel to that
of vitig in the Melanesian languages.
There is another word, also widely used, which has the same
double signification of star and sun. The word maso is the sun in
Espiritu Santo, a star in the New Hebrides and the Banks' Islands.
In no single language does it signify both sun and star ; but it is
sun in Espiritu Santo, star in Fate and Sesake, Ambrym, Lakona,
and Vureas. In Mota it is used only for a conspicuous planet,
maso maran the morning star. In Malagasy maso andro is the
sun, the maso of day, and maso is an eye 1. But from the use of
maso as the sun and as a star it may be concluded that maso is not
originally an eye. Rather it is that the primitive idea expressed
by maso is one under which both sun and star and eye can come —
the notion of a disk or round. There is no metaphor of eye of day,
the word maso is too old.
61. Sun. — This word shows much more variety and complica-
tion in the Vocabularies. The Malay mata ari shows very plainly
the word mata, which, like maso above, is eye or round, and
ari which is day. But there is in Amboyna and Ceram a word,
the constituents of which seem the same, riamata. In Celebes it
is mataalo, and in Salibabo alo is sun as in Melanesia, and
matalon, Baju, is probably the same. While there is alo, in
common with the Melanesian languages, there is no appearance in
the Malay Archipelago of the ra and la of Polynesia. In Micro-
nesia, Marshall Islands has al, the same as alo.
In Melanesia alo is much the most common word, supposing loa
to be the same ; in Aurora and Merlav it is aloa, and often elo,
in Ambrym yial. With this we have again in Api mata an eye,
mat ni elo. The word does not extend further than from Fate in
New Hebrides to Nifilole near Santa Cruz. In the Solomon
Islands the word aho, which is also in the New Hebrides, is
common. In the latter, in Lepers' Island, matan aho is used for
the sun just up. The maso of Espiritu Santo has been men-
tioned.
In Fiji and San Cristoval we have siga and sina, mata ni siga
more definite, for the sun. This is no doubt the word sina sina to
shine, which appears also in the names fasina, masina, for the
1 The Latin sol sun, is the same word with 2e//>«oy the Dog Star, and with
the Irish suil eye. Curtius.
94 Melanesian Languages.
moon. In dina of Motu, New Guinea, there is the dina liari day
break, of Malay. In make of Duke of York, k being hard g, we
have perhaps magag, used for the moon in the Banks' Islands.
62. Sweet. — The interest of this word is grammatical ; as is
usual with adjectives, there is no agreement in the Vocabularies.
In the Malay Archipelago words, and in the Melanesian, may be
seen the adjectival prefix of quality ma commonly occurring. In
the Melanesian words there is the characteristic reduplication,
and the terminations, s, ca, a.
The word local about the Banks' Islands is worth noting for the
changes of its form. The root is tar, representing some effect on
the mouth, reduplicated tartar in Aurora ; the change to d and n
is seen in the other forms with sharper or thicker vowels. With
reduplication, and the adjectival termination s, the forms tetres,
derderes, dodoros arise. In Gaua the causative prefix makes
vadurus. Further than this there can be little doubt but that
the Araga reterete is the same, it being so common to reverse the
words, ret for ter. The difference in form between reterete and
vadurus is great ; but these and the other forms of the same
word are contained within a small area. From the root comes
the Mota neremot, Merlav dermot ; mot is to cut or stop short, nere-
mot is that which ners short in the mouth. Hence vadurus with
the causative is that which makes the mouth durus.
63. Tongue. — In Mr. Wallace's list the Malay lidah with lilah,
and dila must be considered the same ; and the Malagasy lela
belongs to them. This is only represented in Melanesia by the
Rotuma alele, which may connect with the Polynesian alelo, arero.
There is, however, another word more common in the Malay Archi-
pelago which is abundant in Melanesia, me, ma. With what may
be supposed to be suffixed pronouns it appears as maki, mahmo,
maan, me, meem, &c. In Melanesia this word is present from
Anaiteum man to Duke of York karame na wa. It is combined
in the Banks' Islands and Duke of York with gar, kara, which in
both places also has appeared as spittle. The word lua, which is
compounded with me in Eromango, Aurora, and Merlav, has the
meaning of putting forth.
64. Tooth. — This is a remarkable word, because the two forms,
one with I and the other with n, are so widely distributed that the
change or distinction must be very ancient. There can be no
doubt but that the Malagasy nify, Samoan nifo, Maori niho, are
the Solomon Islands livo, Banks' Islands liwo. In the island of
Notes on the Vocabularies. 95
Malanta both forms are present, niho and livo, though at Alite,
where they are fond of n for Z, they have the more common
Melanesiaii form. Both forms appear in the Malay Archipelago ;
nifoa in Matabello, kelif, kali/in in Mysol. Nor is there any
reason why what is / in these words should not be h in nihi, and
s=h in nisi. The Malay gigi is exceptional.
In Melanesia in one place liho becomes riho ; Kwo beomes lowo
in Vanua Lava and Ambrym. It has been mentioned that livo is
the mouth in Bugotu. The Fiji bati is in the New Hebrides,
Fate, and neighbourhood.
65. Tree. — This word is substituted for Mr. Wallace's word
' Wood,' for the reason that the Malay kayu wood, is undoubtedly the
Batak hayu, hau, the Malagasy hazo tree, the Fate kasu and kau,
and so all the many forms of the same word that mean primarily
a tree and secondarily wood. Of Mr. Wallace's thirty-three words
twenty-eight are forms of this, taking kayu to be a longer form of
the word, which in its shortest form is ai, ei. Of the forty
Melanesian words thirty-seven are forms of the same word, alone
or in combination, ranging from kasu to ie. The Mafoor of New
Guinea is ai. The rakau of New Zealand, la'au of Samoa, contains
the same word.
If at the two extremities of the long geographical line which
stretches from the Malay Peninsula to the Loyalty Islands we find
words so different as kayu and ie, the statement that they are in
fact the same may require some defence. But, if taking some
more central position we find a word such as kai of Teor, it is
not difficult to follow the variations in the direction of greater
fulness and complexity, or of slenderness and simplicity. When
to the stem kai the terminations su, zu, ju, u, are added, we
have kaju of Celebes, kayu Malay, hazo Malagasy, hayu Batak,
gazu (?ao, kasu Fate. From this to kau1 there is but little
change, or hau as in Motu of New Guinea, or gau as in Espiritu
Santo. It is the same whether a word is in the form kai, /uti, wai,
gai, or gae or kei. To drop the initial leaves ai as in Amboyna and
Ceram, or in the Solomon Islands. And when a word is so very
commonly diffused there is less hesitation in admitting a variation
such as ei in Mysol or ie in Nengone.
It must be observed that in many words this is compounded
with some other, as in Maori rakau, Santa Maria regai, the Mota
tangae, the Duke of York diwai, San Cristoval liasie, Nengone
1 In a dialect of Fiji, Jcai represents the Bau kau.
g6 Melanesian Languages.
sere-ie, Ambrym and Ceram liye, lyeii. In the case of some of
these the natives who use them are well aware that they are com-
pound words. Thus in Mota mol is a native orange, and properly
describes the thorn ; tan mol is the trunk and body of the tree ;
tan gae is the tree regarded in the same way, gae being tree, and
tan the bulk of it. The Santa Maria people explain regai in the
same way, re is the bulk, gai the tree. By this the Maori rakau is
explained. The resemblance between two words evidently of this
character is extraordinary, lyeii of Teluti in Ceram, and liye of
Ambrym in the New Hebrides.
' Backbone ' is ' tree of the back,' hazondamosina in Malagasy,
just as in Toba hau-tanggurung. So in Mota the backbone is
ga-togoi.
66. Water. — There is probably no doubt that the Malay ayer
is the word wai so common in the Malay Archipelago, universal
perhaps in Polynesia, and common also in Melanesia. Out of
thirty-two words given by Mr. Wallace twenty-three are forms of
this word. It may be doubted whether the termination er is with-
out meaning, seeing that it appears as I and Zi. The Ahtiago of
Ceram, wai-im, is probably drinking water, the Banks' Islands
im to drink.
In Melanesia wai appears also in composition, for noai of Fate
and ~kuai of Alite can hardly be other than compounds 1. It will
be seen that from Nengone to Malanta in the Solomon Islands the
word is present ; but wai cannot be considered the characteristic
Melanesian word. The Banks' Islands are entirely occupied by
another word, pei, which itself has no other representative in any
word in these Vocabularies. In New Guinea, however, there is bey.
The most interesting word in the Melanesian Vocabulary is the
Motu of New Guinea rano, and Port Moresby lanu, because this
is identical with the Malagasy rano, and the same with the
Marshall Islands dren. The word is present also in Duke of
York, though not standing for water generally ; danim is used for
a river. In Fiji drano is a pond or pool of water, and ano is the
same in Tonga. In Malay danau is a lake ; but in three languages
of North Celebes rano is water. These are all isolated usages, and
the word is a very good example of the way in which a word which
belongs to the stock of languages generally maintains itself here
1 In Nengone Icua ni bone is ' his drink.' This can hardly be other than
leu in Alite Tcuai ; may be the Vaturawa Tco.
Notes on the Vocabularies.
97
and there in places which can have no recent communication with
one another.
The Gaua liwu, which may be Santa Cruz luwe, has a correspond-
ing lewo in Sumatra. It is the same with the Mota ligiu fluid.
Just as rano is water in Malagasy and a pond in Fiji, so tun is
water in Lakona in the Banks' Islands, and twain is a pond in
Torres Islands. These uses correspond, whether the distance
which separates the varieties be a few miles or a third of the
circumference of the globe.
67. White. — Unlike most adjectives, this is an interesting word.
In the Malay Archipelago twenty-four words out of thirty-three
are the same as the Malay putih ; and it should be observed that
the prefix of quality is present in maputi, mopotito, maphutu, babut.
This word in Malagasy is fotsy. In Melanesia it only appears in
one place in Lepers' Island mavuti. The Maori ma does not seem
to have any kindred elsewhere.
In Melanesia there is no common word. In the Banks' Islands
the word is local : elsewhere there is no word common to more
than two or three languages. There are words, however, of much
interest. The Fiji vulavula and Florida pura are probably the
same, isolated in the Vocabulary, though vula is used as white in
Mota, make vula a white make tree. But this word is not without
representatives elsewhere : the Malagasy vola silver is probably
the same; and in Gilolo wulan, in the Moluccas bulam, in Rolti
and Solor near Timor fala and burang evidently correspond.
These words suggest relationship with vula the Moon.
Another Melanesian word, which is common also to the Malay
Archipelago, is the pita of Lepers' Island, bitbit of Volow, which,
with the prefix of quality, is mabida of Celebes. The word pita is
used in Mota only of a light complexion. The Fiji siga sun, day,
is the same word with Mota sina to shine ; the E. Fiji sigasigau
and Maewo sinara white, are formed from these words. Several
words, in fact, are thus common to different islands, in one in a
primary, in another in a secondary signification. Thus voke is
white in Espiritu Santo, and in the Banks' Islands woke is a kind of
nick-name for an albino ; wedwed, wewed, wetwet white in some of
the Banks' Islands, are the Mota wenewene clean, the Fiji wede-
wede ; in Torres Islands lul is white, in Mota fair ; rerea, rearea
white, in the Solomon Islands, is at so great a distance as Fiji rea
an albino. Thus words are, in fact, common to many languages, are
in the common language of the area under consideration ; but, not
H
98 Melanesia* Languages.
all lying on the surface of the language, are not seen till lower
strata of speech are explored.
68. Wing. — There is no common or prevailing word in either
Vocabulary, but there is not wanting a word common to both.
The word most used in the New Hebrides and Banks' Islands,
pane, which is also the common name for a hand, is also a wing in
the Malay Archipelago : opani (o probably the article) and panidey
in Celebes, panin in Bouru, fanik in Teor.
One of the words which occurs most frequently in Melanesia is
akin to the Samoan apaau, the apaapa of the Solomon Islands ;
which is also probably in another form the gapugi of the Banks'
Islands. A fluttering flight is gapagapa in Mota. It has been
observed under 'Leaf that in Ulawa leaves are called apaapa ni
ai wings of trees. The Fiji taba may be the same word as the
Florida taba, which in that language means layers, taba ni vure
people generation upon generation, or class above class.
69. Woman. — The word used for a wife is very often only
woman, as that for a husband is man. There is also the distinction
of woman and female, so that a word which means a woman in one
language is ' female' in another.
In very many words of Mr. Wallace's Vocabulary there is an
agreement. In twenty-four out of thirty-three places wine, bine,
fine, pin, hina, is found. This is the Polynesian wahine, fqfine,
the tavine, ravine, laqavina, hoina, fefene, vaivine, haini of Me-
lanesia. The root appears in Eromanga sivin, and Ambrym whin ;
in Duke of York waivina, in New Britain vafini, is feminine. In
Mafoor of New Guinea the word holds, bien woman ; in the Gulf of
Papua wawine, babine, Jiaine, sine, shine.
Other words in the Melanesian Vocabulary are hard. It is not
without meaning that in the Banks' Islands the words begin with
the plural re, and that the Ureparapara retine woman, is the same
almost as the Vureas retne mother.
70. Yellow. — Beyond the grammatical forms, the reduplication,
and the adjectival terminations ga and r, there is nothing of interest
in the Melanesian list of words ; and in the Malay Archipelago list
only the prefix ma. What interest there is, is of another sort.
The Malay word kuning means the turmeric, the curcuma root,
conspicuously yellow. Though the word is different, the notion is
the same in Melanesia, where ano, out of which the adjective is
made, is the turmeric. The Vaturar&a mera is the word elsewhere,
as in Malay, used for red.
Notes on the Vocabularies. 99
It may be well to add a few words concerning- the vocabu-
lary of the Mota language with a view to meeting the
question whether the stock of words in such languages as
these is not scanty and deficient. Scanty it certainly is not,
though in some ways it is very deficient. There are, as a
matter of course, no names for objects which do not present
themselves in the islands, but for everything there is to be
seen there is a name, and for every particular action or way
of doing things. In this respect the ordinary vocabulary of a
native is much fuller than that of a European, and a native
language always suffers from European intercourse. An
Englishman talks of 'shutting' a door or an eye or an um-
brella ; a Mota man uses tipag *, describing a downward
dashing motion such as is used in striking the native shutter
into its place, for shutting a door ; he uses vataqav for the
shutting of an eye, describing a closing over from above, and
lil, to fold, for the shutting of an umbrella. To use tipag for
the closing of a door of European fashion is a necessary trans-
ference, though in itself improper ; but natives will go on to
use the word in imitation of Europeans where it becomes
absurd. To carry, is used in English of any way of carrying ;
in Melanesian languages different words will always be used
for carrying on the head, the shoulder, the back, in the arms,
in the hand, or by two or more persons. Misuse of one of
these terms will often be most ridiculous.
One who wishes to learn a native language should not be
content with any native word which occurs as an equivalent to
an English one ; he must find out what is the image pre-
sented to the native mind by the native word, the particular
thing or action it represents as in a picture, not the general
class of things or actions which is in his own mind more
vaguely conceived. Native languages, which are often spoken
of disparagingly as deficient in general terms, are in this way
fuller in vocabulary than the ordinary speech of Englishmen.
Though abstract terms are not unknown in Melanesian lan-
1 This is no doubt the Malay timpa to strike, used for forging iron. In
Mota tipa is used for beating and breaking up stones.
H 2
ioo Melanesia*, Languages.
guages, such words are undoubtedly few, and they can hardly
be expected to exist. At the same time no great difficulty
has been found in expressing, not in one word perhaps,
but in a compound, the meaning of most English words, and
such ideas as require words to express them in the translation
of the Scriptures, at any rate in the Mota language. In
making such translations nothing is to be more deprecated
than the substitution of general for particular terms, or the
turning of a metaphorical expression into dull prose because
such a metaphor is not in native use. What can be more
dismal than to translate, ' they fell by the edge of the sword '
as 'they died in war,' because natives have no swords? A
true and natural metaphor will make itself at home among
Melanesians, as images from the Hebrew Scriptures are in
English. Missionary translations, sermons, and speaking are
the ruin of native languages.
With regard to the fulness of a Melanesian language I may
give an illustration from my own experience of Mota. After
some twelve years' acquaintance with the language, talking,
teaching, and translating (with something of the effect above
mentioned), and after having acquired more or less correctly a
considerable Vocabulary of Mota words, I began to buy words
that I did not know at the rate of a shilling a hundred from
the scholars at Norfolk Island. I left off when lists of three
thousand words unknown to me had come in. It is certain
that elder natives living at Mota use many words hardly
known to those who have gone away from their own island as
boys, and that the boys had by no means exhausted their
stock. I calculate therefore that there were probably as
many words still to come as would bring up my Vocabulary
to at least six thousand words. Of these many of course are
compound and derivative, but they are distinct words. This
concerns a small island with less than a thousand inhabitants,
with whom European intercourse began within the memory
of living men.
III.
SHORT COMPARATIVE GRAMMAR OF THE
MELANESIAN LANGUAGES.
A COMPREHENSIVE view of the principal grammatical forms
of the Melanesian languages makes it easy to compare them
among themselves, and to judge of their common character
and relationship to one another ; and at the same time it
supplies a convenient means of comparing these languages
with others to which they may be thought to be allied. The
forms here brought together represent the Melanesian lan-
guages generally which have their place between New
Guinea and Polynesia. For the purpose of comparing these
with the forms of the Oceanic languages generally, examples
are added from Malay, Malagasy, the Maori of New Zealand,
and, in part, the language of the Marshall Islands ; lan-
guages which may well represent Indonesia, Polynesia, and
Micronesia 1.
These languages, all of them, are destitute of Inflexions,
and this gives them a common character. There are, there-
fore, no Declensions or Conjugations ; there are no Cases, no
Genders, and, excepting Pronouns, there is no Number or
1 For this I have used Crawfurd's Grammar and Dictionary of the Malay
Language ; Maxwell's Manual of the Malay Language, Trubner, 1882 ; Parker's
Concise Grammar of the Malagasy Language, Trubner, 1883 ; Outlines of a
Grammar of the Malagasy Language, by H. N. Van der Tuuk ; Grammaire
Malgache, par Marre de Marin, Paris, 1 876 ; Malagasy Grammar, by E. Baker,
Mauritius, 1845 ; Maunsell's Grammar of the New Zealand Language, Mel-
bourne, 1882 ; Shortland's How to learn Maori, Auckland, 1883; Archdeacon
Leonard Williams' Grammar and Dictionary of the New Zealand Language ;
Pratt's Grammar and Dictionary of the Samoan Language, Trubner, 1878;
Beitrag zur Sprache der Marshall Inseln, von Franz Hernsheim, Leipzig,
1880.
IO2 Melanesian Languages.
Person. Since then these grammatical forms do not exist, it
is unreasonable and undesirable to speak of them as if exist-
ing. A word in a sentence of one of these languages may be
the Object, but there is no Case, and the word is not in the
Objective Case ; if the Genitive relation is expressed by
simple juxtaposition, or by the use of a Preposition, there is
no word in the Genitive Case.
Corresponding with the absence of Inflexion there is an
absence of those variations in the form of words which
may distinguish the Parts of Speech. It is not that there is
a complete absence of such special forms of Verb or Noun;
but that the same word, without any change of form, may be
in use as almost any of the Parts of Speech. The use of the
word, not its form, commonly declares its character. ' Many
Malay words must be treated as now substantive, now ad-
jective, now verb, according to the position they occupy in
the sentence V This being the case it is evidently wrong to
speak of a Noun as derived from a Verb, while the form is
unchanged, or even a Verb from an exclamation. For con-
venience words must be distributed into Parts of Speech ;
but it must be understood that nothing, commonly, in the
form of the word shows what it is.
By way of example from a Melanesian language : in Mota
siwo, the Maori iko, is ' down,' and in most common usage
would be an Adverb ; but with a verbal particle it becomes
a verb, and with a preposition indicating place, i siwo, it is a
noun ; Ke ! is an Exclamation, and yet it is used as a Verb 2.
In these cases it may be fairly conceived that the words came
into existence, the first as rather an Adverb, the second as a
mere cry, and that the use as Substantive or Verb is posterior.
But yet, as the words undergo no change in form, it is merely
their use that distinguishes in the one case the Noun from
the Adverb, in the other the Verb from the Exclamation.
In whatever way a word has come into existence, when once
1 Maxwell, Manual of the Malay Language.
3 Ni me Ice apena he ke'd at it, as we say that one poohpoohs a thing.
Short Comparative Grammar. 103
it has come into existence it may be used as almost any Part
of Speech. In this matter there can be no doubt but that
the Melanesian languages and those of the Pacific and Indian
Oceans generally are at one.
It is highly probable that words generally are in the native
mind names or Nouns. The thing, the action, or the state,
receives its name. Words thus are Nouns or Verbs, and they
receive discriminating marks, Articles or Verbal Particles in
these languages, according to their use ; but there is no such
distinction in the native mind between the thing and the
action, between the visible object and the visible act, as to
force them to think the name of an action a different sort of
word from the name of a thing. Nevertheless, in all the
languages under consideration, a word used to name an action
or a state has a special particle attached to it marking that
use, making in fact grammatically a Verb ; and in many of
these languages the presence of Verbal Substantives shows
that the abstract idea of the action or condition has required,
and has found, a name.
From words thus originally Nouns or Verbs, the Adverbs,
Prepositions, Adjectives, possibly even Conjunctions, in com-
mon use as such, have proceeded. Some words in Melanesian
languages which must needs in their use be called Pre-
positions, still are in use also as simple Nouns. It is evident
in many cases that what must be called Adverbs are merely
Nouns. The Mota vea, Duke of York wai, (Maori kea,)
though they can hardly be translated except as Adverbs,
' where,' are in grammatical use Nouns. In Mota pe is in
use as a Preposition ; in Lepers' Island it does the same
work as a Preposition, but always in full form as a Noun.
But if all words were in their origin names, there is a
class of vocables in the Melanesian languages which certainly
are not now the names either of objects or actions. These
are the Particles which point in one direction or another,
the demonstrative directive particles with which language
itself gesticulates. These may be found separate as demon-
strative particles, and probably as the simplest Prepositions ;
iO4 Melanesian Languages.
but they are found combined in Pronouns, in Adverbs of
Place, and therefore of Time, and in Articles. If they are
fragments of old nouns they are now nothing- but fragments
of that which has been lost ; they name nothing, they only
point. These cannot, like ordinary words, become, as the
speaker is pleased to use them, Nouns or Verbs ; they never
can have an Article or a Verbal Particle prefixed.
It may be thought that the presence of these Particles,
if they be fragments, shows that the language in which
they are present is not in its primitive condition. At
least the use of directive demonstrative particles, not im-
bedded in words, but inserted continually in phrase or
sentence, is the use of people who have visible in their
mind's eye the actions and the things of which they speak, —
a simple primitive condition of mankind. In this condition
it is not only with such particles, but with Adverbs also,
that language will be continually pointing to this and that,
here and there, up and down, seawards and landwards1.
Whether the directive and demonstrative words employed
are plainly Adverbs and Pronouns in which the demonstra-
tive particles have been combined with some other root, or
whether the particles themselves simply are used, it is by
no means easy in the Melanesian languages exactly to
distinguish the place or the direction indicated. Nor for
the present purpose is it necessary. The simplest particles
represented by k and n may in some two languages point
in opposite directions ; what in one language points here,
in another points there : but both point and direct the mind
as the finger might the eye ; both are demonstrative, and
can fairly be classed together. It may be said again that
the variety of meaning in these Particles, while the character-
istic demonstrative force remains the same, shows rather
the antiquity of their place in the various languages in which
they are found. If the Mota of the Banks' Islands has ma
1 'A Lifu, comme en Polynesia, la direction vers l'inte"rieur des terres ou de
I'inteVieur vers la mer joue un grand role dans la langage.' — Notes sur la
langue de Lifu, par le P. A. C.
Short Comparative Grammar. 105
and at hither and thither, sage and siwo up and down, as
the Maori of New Zealand uses mat and atu, ake and iho,
the close similarity of form and meaning does not argue the
remoteness of the source from which both have received the
words. But if ko in the Banks' Islands points somewhere
near, and ko in Santa Cruz points afar; if ine in Mota is
that, and ini in Florida, this ; while ne, na, is a general and
vague demonstrative in Ambrym of the New Hebrides, and
Malanta and San Cristoval of the Solomon Islands ; then it
appears as if widely separate languages had received their
common word, in a general not yet particularized sense, from
some ancient remote original.
The Demonstrative particles in the Melanesian languages
may be found in Pronouns, Adverbs, and Articles, answering
generally to the English (i) ' this ' and (2) ' that ;' (i) 'here'
and (2) ' there,' and the definite article ' the.' In the follow-
ing table these are given in the simplest form, either as
distinct particles or as combined. The geographical order in
which the Islands to which the languages belong are arranged
is that which begins with the Loyalty Islands at the ex-
tremity of the Melanesian chain, and follows on to the North
and West towards New Guinea and the Archipelago of
Indonesia.
1. Demonstrative Particles.
LOYALTY ISLANDS.
Nengone o, ko, no, le.
Lifu la, ke.
NEW HEBRIDES.
iteum . . . . i ki, 2 ko.
wa, na, ga,.
.e wa, wo, na, ga, se.
Ambrym we, wa, ge, le, li.
Espiritu Santo . . . ne, na, ka.
Pentecost, Raga . . ke, ko.
Lepers' Island, Oba . i »aha, 2 wehi.
Aurora, Maewo . . i ka, 2 la.
BANKS' ISLANDS.
Merlav i ke, 2 me.
Gaua .1 kere, 2 keren ; i kose, 2 kosen.
io6 Melanesian Languages.
<3 <3
Lakon i og, 2 rek.
Vanua Lava . . . . i le, 2 no ; i ko, 2 lo ; i es, 2 -ne.
Mota i ke, 2 ne. lo.
Motlav i ke, 2 nen ; i igoh, 2 hanen.
Volow i iges, 2 ena, no.
Ureparapara . . . I ke, 2 ne.
Torres Islands . . . i ke, 2 na.
FIJI i qo, 2 qori ; I eke, 2 kikea.
SANTA CRUZ i lo, la, 2 ko, ka.
Nifilole i keli, 2 ela, kala ; I e»i, 2 ewa ; I la, 2 li.
SOLOMON ISLANDS.
Ulawa i aka, 2 kala ; I ga, 2 la. we, ho.
Wawo i nani, 2 nasi ; i ini, 2 esi.
Fagani I «a, 2 ni.
Saa we.
Vaturawa . . . . i wene, 2 nu«u.
Florida I eni, ini, 2 keri, iani, go,.
Savo lo, la.
Bugotu i iaani, 2 iaweni.
(?ao i ani, 2 igno.
Duke of York . . . i kumi, 2 kuma ; i kuri, 2 kura.
The general result of the bringing- together these Demon-
stratives is to show that in the thirty-two places represented
some form of a particle of which k is the characteristic occurs
in twenty-one. Some form with n occurs in twenty-two.
In ten places a form with I occurs ; in five places a form
with s.
The forms with k and n are very generally, almost uni-
formly, distributed : those with I appear in each group,
except Fiji. Those with #, or its equivalent k, though so
much more rare, isolated, and distant one from the other,
are the more interesting, because it is impossible to suppose
that they have been communicated directly from one of
these groups to another.
Attention must again be called to the fact that there is
no fixed meaning to the particles with £, «, or I ; they point,
direct the view, demonstrate, everywhere, but generally ;
and when they particularize, their particular force is local.
In the Banks' Islands generally k points to ' this ' or ' here ; '
Short Comparative Grammar. 107
in Santa Cruz to a more distant object or place : the rarer 8
in the Banks' Islands points near, in San Cristoval afar.
Bringing- into comparison with these Melanesian demon-
stratives Pronouns and Adverbs of Place of Polynesian,
Malayan, and Micronesian languages, we find as follows : —
Malay, ini this, itu that, sini here, situ there.
Malagasy, ity this, iny that, itsy that near, iry that afar,
aty here, ary, any there.
Maori, nei this near me, na that near you, ra that afar.
Marshall Islands, kein this.
In these the particle na, ne, ni, so common in Melanesia,
is conspicuous. No form with k appears ; and, unless r has
taken the place of it, no I. In Maori and in Malagasy ri,
and ra point afar ; which may very well be li and la of
Melanesia. But the demonstrative Pronouns kere of Gaua
in the Banks' Islands, keri of Florida, and rek of Lakona,
give something more exactly resembling, being probably
compounded of ke and re or ri.
2. Articles.
The Definite Article is in itself a kind of demonstrative,
and it is natural to expect, in these languages as in others,
a likeness in the form of the Articles to that of the demon-
strative particles. The following table, which gives a view
of the definite Articles in use in Melanesia, will show that
this likeness to a considerable extent exists : —
LOYALTY ISLANDS.
Nengone ... re. Gaua .... na, u.
Lakon .... en.
NEW HEBRIDES. T
. ., . Vanua Lava . . n-, na. o.
Anaiteum . . n-, in. __
_, , . Mota . . . . na, o.
Fate . . . . n-, in.
„ , Motlav . . . n-.
Sesake .... na.
_. volow .... n-.
-Paina .... a. o. TT
_,..,,-, Ureparapara . n-.
Espiritu canto . na, a. m T , •,
Torres Islands . n-.
Oba .... na, a.
Maewo . . . na, a. FIJI na, a, ko, o.
BANKS' ISLANDS. SANTA CRUZ . . . na, te.
Merlav , na. Nifilole . . . n-.
io8 Melanesia1* Languages.
SOLOMON ISLANDS.
Ulawa . . . . na. Florida . . . na.
Wawo . . . . na, e. Savo . . . . lo.
Fagani . . . na, a. Bugotu . . . na.
Saa «a. G^ao na.
Vaturarea . . . na. Duke of York . na, a.
In these the predominance of na cannot fail to be observed,
and it can hardly be doubted but that it is the Demonstrative
particle so conspicuous in Pronouns and Adverbs.*
In some languages it coalesces with the Noun, and is
written with it in one word, as in Anaiteum and Fate,
where it has not even been recognised as an Article at all1.
In some languages it shifts its vowel according to the first
vowel of the noun which follows, as in Motlav, na tar, ne
tenge, ni til, no to, nu bug : or, as in the same language, it
parts with a vowel altogether before a word which begins
with one. But almost throughout Melanesia some form of
na appears. In Nengone re, in Santa Cruz te, are probably
borrowed from the Polynesian settlements close by ; but in
Nengone re is always accompanied by the Demonstrative o.
In Savo lo is used certainly as an Article, but is plainly the
Demonstrative. In Fiji alone ko appears, but o is probably
the same.
The Articles of the Oceanic languages which have been
brought in for comparison are : — Malagasy, ny. Maori, te
definite, lie indefinite, nga Plural. In Samoan re is in the
definite Article. In Malay no Article is used. In Ambrym
and Araga, of the New Hebrides, and in Lifu, of the Loyalty
Islands, no Article is found. In'the Malagasy ny there is iro
difficulty in recognising the particle that appears in iny
' that,' in that language, and in so many of the Melanesian
Articles. ..
3. Personal Articles.
These stand altogether apart from Demonstrative Particles ;
but they are so common, though not universal, in Melanesia,
1 ' The Rev. J. Copeland, an accomplished linguist in the New Hebrides,
says, " In the Aneityumese language all the Nouns, with scarcely an exception,
begin with in or n." ' — Dr. Steel's New Hebrides.
Short Comparative Grammar. 109
and so characteristic, that they require and deserve observa-
tion. They are called Personal Articles, because they are
with Proper Names of persons what Articles, definite or
indefinite, are with common Nouns. They accompany the
name, not in any way qualifying1 it, except as pointing- it
out as a personal name. The convenience of such an Article,
where Personal names are commonly taken from the names
of things, is evident ; o vat in Mota is a stone, i Vat is Stone,
a man's name. There is also an effective use in personifica-
tion. To deceive is gale, i gale the deceiver ; not as calling
a man by his name, unless possibly it should happen to be
such, but giving him a title from the quality ascribed to him 1.
This Article varies but very little, being i, e, a, and it will
be convenient to arrange the forms accordingly.
Personal Article i. Oba, Maewo, Merlav, Gaua, Lakona,
Mota, Motlav, Volow, Ureparapara, Vanua Lava.
e. Vanua Lava, Torres Islands.
a. Ulawa, Saa, Vaturawa, Florida, Ysabel.
Where Personal Articles do not appear to be commonly
used with Proper names, they seem to show themselves in
Pronouns, especially in the personal Interrogative.
In Maori Dr. Maunsell calls a an Arthritic Particle, and
describes it as ' the Article by which the names of individuals
and tribes are always preceded ; ' as 'a regular attendant on
the personal Pronouns ; ' and as ' always prefixed to any
inanimate thing to which a proper name has been given, to
trees, canoes, ships, boats, mere, guns, &c.2 ' No description of
the use of the Melanesian a, e, or i, could be more exact. This
Personal Article does not appear in all the Polynesian lan-
guages.
In Malagasy >3 the Personal Article i is placed before the
proper names of persons ; also before common names of
1 There could be no ambiguity in a Melanesian language like that in the
Greek a.irb rov irovrjpov. If ' from evil ' it would be nan o ganganor ; if ' from
the Evil one,' nan i ganganor.
" Grammar of the New Zealand Language.
3 Marre de Marin, Graminaire Malgache.
no Melanesian Languages.
relationship, father, mother, brother, sister, &c. In this
latter particular also the correspondence with Melanesian use
is complete.
In Malay such an Article is not so clear ; though it
may perhaps be traced in the Pronouns aku, angkau. The
Javanese before the names of persons of ordinary condition
employ the particle si1. Since in many words which are
Malay and Javanese the Malagasy suppresses the initial s,
the Javanese si may well be the Malagasy i. If this be so,
siapa ' who ? ' in Malay, corresponds to the Mota i sava ; and
si mati the deceased, si bongkok the cripple, in Malay, are
what i mate and i qages are in Mota.
The use then of a Personal Article — a remarkable feature in
a language — is found certainly to prevail in Melanesia, in
Polynesia, in Madagascar, and, almost certainly, in the Malay
Archipelago. The meaning and use is identical. The
variation a and i is found in Melanesia, and, the use and
significance being the same, it is immaterial. The common
possession of this feature is certainly a point to be noted in
the comparison of the Ocean languages.
4. Pronouns.
The consideration of the Melanesian Pronouns will naturally
now follow ; inasmuch as in them, as it has been remarked, are
found the demonstrative Particles, and also, very probably,
the Personal Articles. To take, for example, the third person
singular, in Mota ineia, or in Florida agaia, it is not difficult
to analyse each into the Personal Article i or a, the Demon-
strative ne or ya,, and the pronoun that remains ia. Similarly
in the Maori first person singular ahau> the Malay aku, the
Malagasy aho, the Personal Article being separated, we have
ku equal to 1m and fiau, and the true Pronoun. In all these
languages alike, Melanesian, Polynesian, and Indonesian, it is
the Pronoun only which has Person and Number. But it
has not Gender or Case. The variation in form which
1 Marre de Marin, as above.
Short Comparative Grammar. 1 1 1
belongs to the Person and the Number is not a matter of
inflexion ; Pronouns in this respect are like the Nouns : to
speak of Cases is only to mislead. This does not mean that
the form of a Pronoun in any Person or Number is invariably
the same. There are longer and shorter forms which are used,
to a certain extent, in accordance with the place the Pronoun
occupies in the sentence, or with the character of the sen-
tence itself. In Mota, for example, inau is the longest form
of the first Person Singular, and na is the shortest. But na
can never be the object in a sentence, and when the sentence
is optative na only is correctly used ; ni we ilo nau he sees
me (not na], si na ilo let me see (not nau].
Each Personal Pronoun is the word that represents the
person or thing, or the number of persons or things, for whom
or which it stands. The personal Article may be separated,
the demonstrative particle may be separated, but the true
Pronoun can have no Case. There is no Gender.
In the Plural number, in all the Ocean languages alike,
there are two forms of the first Person, the Inclusive and
the Exclusive1. This alone would be no proof of common
origin ; but it will be seen that there is a very general
similarity in the words employed.
The Dual Number, and what is called the Trial, are in
Melanesian languages, with the exception of a very few words,
really no distinct Number, but the Plural with a numeral
attached. In Hazlewood's Fijian Grammar, we are assured
that there are in that language ' undoubtedly ' and ' really '
four Numbers, ' the Singular, Dual, Triad, and Plural.' But to
take the inclusive first Person, in the Plural keda, and in the
Dual kedaru, and in the Triad, as it is called, kedatou, it is
evident that the Dual is keda rua ' we two,' and the Triad
keda tolu ' we three.' There is no distinct Number in the
Fijian more than in the English. The Anaiteum exclusive
is an example of the same : aijama is ' we,' ero two, eseij three,
and the Dual is aijumrau ' we two,' the Trial aijumtaij ( we
1 The one in which the person or persons addressed are included with the
speaker, the other in which they are excluded.
H2 Melanesian Languages.
three.' The Dual and Trial are therefore of no great gram-
matical interest generally. There are exceptions, as in
Nengone, where the Dual shows distinct forms without the
assistance of a numeral.
The Melanesian languages, with some exceptions, do not
use a Trial for a Plural, do not, that is, when more than
three are spoken of, commonly add the numeral three *. The
Polynesian languages do this. In the Maori tatou, matow,
koutou, ratou, the numeral tolu is present in a contracted
form, which appears in full in Tongan. The same is in fact
the case when in San Cristoval the Plural is igcfu, ame'u,
amo'u, ira'u : the numeral 'oru three, is represented by 'u, and
the natives who speak the language know it.
The Malay and Malagasy, like the Melanesian languages
generally, use the Plural without the numeral. The Melane-
sians, however, use the numerals two and three, making the
Dual and Trial, with great care whenever the use of the
number is appropriate. If the persons or things spoken of
are two or three, the number is never forgotten, it is always
'they two,' 'they three.' Very often also when more than
three, the exact number is not so accurately observed, and the
Trial is used for the Plural when no considerable number is
in view. This is not the same thing, however, as to use,
like the Polynesians, no other form for the Plural, than one
which carries with it the numeral three.
5. Personal Pronouns.
LOYALTY ISLANDS.
IST PEUSON. 2ND PERSON. SRD PERSON.
Nengone.
Sing, inu, nu nubo, bo nubone, bone
Plur. eje, incl. buhnije buije
ehnije, excl.
1 ' The Trial is dropping out of use in Fiji, excepting Jcemudou, which 4bids
fair to supplant the Plural Jcemuni? 'In some dialects tolu is used in the
Trial where the Bau has tou.' — Kev. L. Fison.
Short Comparative Grammar.
Nengone (continued}.
IST PERSON.
2ND PERSON.
3RD PERSON.
*Dual. ethewe, incl.
hmengo
bushengone
ehne, excl.
Lifu.
Sing, eni, ini
muna, ioe
nan, angece
ani, ni
nupa, nupati
PI. she, sha, asha, incl.
nupun
flunden
hun, ahun, excl.
Dual, sho, asho, incl.
fiupo
nundo.
ho, aho, eaho, excl.
NEW
HEBEIDES.
Anaiteum.
Sing, ainyak, nyak
aiek, euc
aien, yin
PI. akaija, caija, incl.
aijama, cama, excl.
aijaua, caua
ara, ra
Pate.
Sing, kinu, au
na$o, go
nai, a
PL ^ita, incl.
kumu, mu
nara, ra
^ami, excl.
Api.
Sing, nu
ko
na«a, a
PI. ita, incl.
amiu
nanala, ra
mimi, excl.
Sesake.
Sing, kinau, au
niujo, go, ko
nae, na, a
PL niwida, nida, incl.
nimui, mui
nara, ra
ni^rami, g&uii, excl.
Ambrym.
Sing, na, ne, ni, niena
new, o
ge, ne, «e, wea, a, e
PL ken, yi, iwcZ.
gimi
niera, «eira, ner, ra
gema, excl.
Espiritu Santo.
Sing, inau, nau, na, au
inigo, nigo, go, o
ken, a
PL igige, gige, incl.
ikanam, kanam, excl.
ikaniu, niu
igire, gire, ra
Araga.
Sing, inau, nau, na, au
igi^o, g\go, go
kea, a, e, i
PI. igita, gita, ta, incl.
ikimiu, kimiu, kimi
ikera, kera, ra
ikamai, kamai, ka, excl.
Oba.
Sing, inew, new, nu, ew
inigo, nigo, go, go
iwe, we, e
PI. igide, gide, da, incl.
igimiu, gimiu
were, ra, re
igamai, gamai, ga, excl.
Maewo.
Sing, inau, nau, na, au
iniko, niko, go, ko
ia, ni, i, a
PI. igida, gida, da, incl.
ikamu, kamu
ira, iri, ra.
ikami, kaini, excl.
1 The Dual and Trial are only inserted here when they are distinct Pronouns ; not
when merely the Plural with the numeral suffixed.
I
Melanesian Languages.
BANKS' ISLANDS.
Merlav.
IST PERSON.
2ND PERSON.
3uD PERSON.
Sing, ino, no, na, o
iniko, nik, ik
kisin, ia
PI. igid, gid, d, incl.
ikamiu, kamiu, kam
iker, ker, r
ikamam, kamam, excl.
Q-aua.
Sing, ina, na
inik, nik, ke
ini, ni, i
PI. igid, gid, incl.
ikemi, kemi
inir, nir, ir
ikama, kama, excl.
Lakon.
Sing, ina, na
nik, ke
ne
PI. get, incl.
gamu
ge
gama, excl.
Dual iwoto, incl.
gamou
iworo
gamar, excl.
Vanua Lava.
Sing, eno, no, ina, na
enik, nik, nek
eni, ni, ne
ite, te, ta
PL enin, nin, iget, get, incl.
kemi, kimi
enir, nir, ner, tar, ter
ikamam, kamam, kama,
excl.
kemem, komom
Mota.
Sing, inau, nau, na
iniko, ko, ka
ineia, neia, ni, a
PI. inina, nina, incl.
ikamiu, kamiu, kam
ineira, neira, ra
ikamam, kamam, excl.
Motlav.
Sing, ino, no
inek, nek
ike, ke
PI. iged, ged, incl.
kimi
iker, ker
ikemem, kemem, excl.
Volo'w.
Sing, ino, no
iniff, ni?
i^e, ge
PI. igid, gid, incl.
groini
\fj&c, gzv
i^emeam, excl.
Ureparapara.
Sing, ino, no
niek, nek
kie, ke
PI. gen, ren, incl.
kimi
kier, ker
kamam, kemam, excl.
•
. L. '•
Torres Islands.
Sing, noke, nok, no
fiike, ke
nia, ni
PI. daga, incl.
kemi
iiihe, he.
kemem, excl.
FIJI.
Sing, koiau, au
ko iko, iko, ko
ko koya, koya
PI. koikeda, keda, eda, da,
incl. koi kemuni, ko ni, ni
ko ira, ira, era, ra.
koikeimami, keimami, excl.
Short Comparative Grammar.
IST PERSON.
2ND PERSON.
3RD PERSON.
Sing.
PI.
Nifilole.
nine, we, ke
ni^u, ^u, ku, incl.
ni^o, go, ko, excl.
nimu, mu
gamu, mu
nide, de, te
nide, de
Sing.
PL
iu
ide, incl.
iwo, excl.
imu, mu
imi
ina, na
idii.
Ulawa.
SOLOMON
ISLANDS.
Sing.
PL
Wawo.
inau an
ikia, kailu, incl.
iami, iirneilu, excl.
ioe, o
iomoulu, moulu
i»eia, a
ikiraeilu, racilu, ra
Sing.
PL
Fagani.
inau, nau, au
iga'u, g'au, incl.
iame'u, ame'u, excl.
ioe, o
iamo'u, amo
iia, ia, a
ira'u, ra
Sing.
PL
Saa.
inau, nau, au
ikia, kia, incl.
igami, garni, excl.
igoo, goo, go
igamiu, gamiu
iaia, aia, a
iraira, ra
Sing.
PL
Vaturawa.
ineu, neu, eu
ikolu, kolu, incl.
iemeilu, rneilu, excl.
ioe, io
omoulu, moulu
iweie, weie, na, ie
ikere, kere, ire
Sing.
PL
Florida.
inau, au
ihita, hita, incl.
ihami, hami, excl.
ihoe, ho
ihaiuu, lianiu
aia, a
hira, ra
Sing.
PL
Savo.
inau, nau, u
igita, gita, incl.
igami, garni, excl.
igoe, go
igamu, gamu, gau
a^aia, g&\&, a
a^aira, ^aira, ra
Sing.
PL
agni, gni, ai
ave, incl.
no
me
lo
ze
mai, excl.
Dual
age
pe
to
Bugotu.
Sing.
PL
Gao.
inau, nau, u
igita, gita, incl.
igaini, garni, excl.
igoe, go
igamu, gamu
imanea, ia, a
imaraira, iira, ra
Sing.
PL
irei, erei, rei, gau
tati, gita, incl.
geati, ganii, excl.
igoe, go
goati, gamu
wiee, za
iree, ra
I 2
n6 Melanesian Languages.
Duke of York.
1st PERSON. 2ND PERSON. SRD PERSON.
Sing, iau ui, u i
PI. dat, incl. muat diat1.
meat, excl.
A view of all these forms of Pronouns, taken generally,
shows some long and some short, some very long, some very
short, in any Number or Person that may be observed. Be-
yond this, it may be seen that the shortest form is almost
always contained in the long ; and moreover that the short
form comes after some prefix or prefixes, which, together with
it, make up the long form. In the first Person singular the
very common longer form inau is accompanied by the very
short form u : inau or nau may be used, which shows i to be
a separable prefix ; nau therefore resolves itself into na-u, and
inau into i-na-u.
Are we to say that the short forms are contracted from the
long ones, as in some Grammars ? If we do, we lose a great
deal of the knowledge which examination of these Pronouns
can afford to us. It is well worth while to stop and enquire,
rather than to pass on with an easy explanation.
To the observation then of the forms as they present them-
selves to the eye we must add what the Syntax of these
languages tells us : that these shortest forms of the Pronouns
are in use always, or almost always, when the Pronoun is
under government. They are in fact generally suffixed to
Verbs and Prepositions. The short, the shortest, form then
contains in itself the meaning of the Pronoun, without any
1 Compare with these the following Personal Pronouns of New Guinea
from the Gulf of Papua : —
Pi. Moresby. Kerepunu. Teste I. IS. Cape. 8. Cape. Heath I.
I
Iau
au
iau
tau
au
eau
thou
oi
oi
kowa
tarn
oa
kowa
he
ia
ia
ia
iai
ia
ia
we
ai
ai
kai
tauta
ai
kai
you
they
umui
itia
omi
keria
komiu
sia
tamiai
inuqoneina
omiu
ita
komiu
sia.
These, which I owe to Mr. McFarlane of the London Mission in New
Guinea, are evidently Melanesian.
Short Comparative Grammar. 117
prefix whatever. In other words, the short form is the true
Pronoun. In the many languages whose Pronouns are shown
above, and whose first Person singular is inau, it is plain that
the true equivalent to ' I ' is u. When that very short word
is used the full meaning of the first Person singular is con-
veyed by it. Whatever, then, may be the meaning of i and
na, it is not that meaning, but some other.
The Personal Article i has been" seen to be in common use
in these languages, and it is evident that the sense of it is
appropriate in a Pronoun. It designates a Person, and shows
the word by which the person is spoken of to be a Name. It
may in fact be said that in the Melanesian languages the
difference between inau and nau is that the first is more
emphatic in calling attention to the individual personality1.
There is, however, a difficulty in the way of the assertion
that i in this and other Pronouns is the same as i the Per-
sonal Article. Those languages in which a is the Personal
Article, in the Solomon Islands for example, have still the
form inau. But this difficulty is not insuperable. The varia-
tion of the Personal Article a, i, or e, need not be supposed to
have been fixed in this or that language from the first.
Rather it is reasonable to suppose that the use of a Personal.
Article established itself in the language generally before each
particular branch of the language settled down into the par-
ticular Article it now uses. It may therefore be laid down
that i in the Pronoun is very probably, though not certainly,
the Personal Article. It may be added that a primitive
Particle i may be conceived of, which may have been used in
such a way that, when the languages tended more to par-
ticularise, the original general force in it took a special direc-
tion either in the Personal Article or in the Pronoun.
The other member in i-na-u is na. Here again it is an
obvious and very probable conjecture that there is the very
1 Mr. Fison says of the longer Fijian Personal Pronouns, Jco i OM, Jco i Jco,
&c. : ' These forms are not used as simple nominatives ; they are emphatic,
and the ordinary nominative is used in addition : Jco i au, au na lako, or au
na lako, ko i au, as for me, I will go.'
n8 Melanesian Languages.
common demonstrative particle which furnishes in so many of
these languages the definite Article. The analysis so com-
pleted of the word inau gives at any rate a very intelligible
signification to each member and to the whole : i designates
a person, na points as a finger to his breast, u stands for his
name. I-this-person, in the native order person-this-I, appears
the equivalent of inau.
In the thirty-three languages, the Personal Pronouns of
which are given above, twenty-three have in the first Person
singular the three members of the word thus explained :
seven have two members. Two only cannot thus be ex-
plained, containing neither of these prefixes nor the Pronoun
u ; those, namely, of Savo and Santa Cruz : one of which will
receive an explanation further on.
To carry on this way of explaining the longer forms of the
Pronouns to the second Person singular is comparatively
easy. Twenty-eight of the thirty-three forms given above
show the short form, the true Pronoun, as ko, go, o, of which
Jco perhaps is the primary form. Of these a large propor-
tion show both i and n, as in the first Person ; and many
have one or the other. Of the five that remain it will be
seen hereafter that some can be explained.
It is much the same when an examination of the third
Person singular shows in twenty-one examples the short
Pronoun a. As in the Mota ineia, and Florida agaia before
mentioned, it is easy to see in the Fiji koya (kola) the de-
monstrative ko, the Personal Article i, the Pronoun a ; and in
Araga the demonstrative ke before a. In some languages not
unnaturally a simple demonstrative seems enough to de-
nominate the third Person, as in Savo lo, Gaua ke. Others
again can receive explanation when another series of Pro-
nouns is adduced.
The same analysis of the Personal Pronouns may be carried
on in the Plural forms. In the first Person we are met by
the distinction between the inclusive and the exclusive, the
' we ' which includes the persons addressed with the speaker,
and that which excludes them. This very useful and effective
Short Comparative Grammar. 119
way of speaking, which perhaps requires to be used before its
excellence is fully understood, does not immediately concern
us here, except in so far as the forms of the words are con-
sidered.
In the inclusive first Person' plural twenty-seven of the
thirty-three languages shown above agree in a short form of
Pronoun (a, da, na, 'a, t, d, n, ja> Je, she. The change from t
to d and n is common in these languages, and from t to /,
which latter letter represents a modification of the sound
of t. There are Melanesian people who, like some Poly-
nesians, throw out the consonant t : with them therefore
it is but natural that 'a should appear instead of ta. Of
some of the few exceptional forms an explanation can be
offered : but it is better first to call attention to the longer
forms.
In the longest form there is present i, which has been
before discussed. There follows in most cases a member in
the form of ki or gi, in some in that of ni. These may very
well be demonstrative particles corresponding to those with
which the longer forms of the Singular Number are built up.
Such words, then, as Mota inina, Florida igita, Ulawa ikia, Fiji
koikeda, show a structure made up of a presumed Personal
Article, Demonstrative Particle, and true Pronoun, corres-
ponding to that of the first Person inau. The difference in
the words themselves is considerable, but the method of con-
structing them is the same ; and a common method of con-
struction does much more than a common form to show a
common origin.
The forms which are exceptional are those of Ambrym,
Espiritu Santo, Santa Cruz, Savo, and in a less degree of Saa
in Malanta, and Wawo in San Cristoval. The latter of these,
iga'u, in which 'u represents the numeral 'oru, may well be
thought equal to the Ulawa ikia, if the numeral be removed.
The same explanation does not hold with the Saa word ikolu,
in which, however, the prefix i and the numeral lu are plain.
The Savo language is singular in its forms.
The exclusive form of the first Person plural, with only
i2o Melanesian Languages.
four exceptions, shows the same composition with i and a
Demonstrative, and the Pronoun mam, ma, or am.
The second Person plural, with only three exceptions, is
seen to agree with the form of construction common to the
Persons already reviewed, with the form mi or mu cha-
racteristic as the Pronoun. It should be observed that, in
each Person, the exceptions do not occur regularly in the
same languages. If the Savo inclusive first Person is unlike
the common form, the exclusive mai and the Second Plural
me are no exceptions : the Anaiteum second Person is here
altogether exceptional, aijaua, while the first Person is of the
common character. It is only in the Loyalty Island lan-
guages and in Savo that the Pronouns are most of them un-
like those common elsewhere in Melanesia.
The Pronouns of those islands are again exceptional in the
third Person plural ; and so are those of Lakona, Torres
Islands, Santa Cruz, Nifilole, and Duke of York. The two
latter of these belong probably to another series of Pronouns
to be hereafter shown. Savo ze and Torres Islands lie may be
the same. The Santa Cruz de is much more interesting,
because, while mu in the second Person is both Singular and
Plural, it is a question whether both Numbers are not in fact
the same in the third Person also. There is a difference in
the sound of the vowel, de or de, but this may leave the word
the same. It will be shown hereafter that in another form of
Pronoun there is in some languages no distinction made of
Number in the third Person ; and it is not surprising that in
backward languages it should be so. In the great number of
these languages, however, the characteristic third Person
plural is ra\ The Mota ineira, the Florida agaira, cor-
1 There is a certain dislike in Melanesian languages generally to the use of
ra for inanimate things. In some parts of the Solomon Islands another plural
form is introduced, i. In Florida it is i, but after i becomes gi ; te kenera
seeks them, persons, te Tcenei seeks them, things ; te rigira sees them, persons,
te rigigi sees them, things. It cannot be said that this i is a Pronoun : wula-
dira their season, of persons, vulani of things, in which ni is the singular
suffix na made plural by the use of i. In San Cristoval omesira see them,
persons, omesii see them, things ; i is added to show plurality of things : ada
their, of one thing, adai their, of many things.
Short Comparative Grammar. 121
respond to the Singular ineia and agaia, as does the Fiji koira
to koya, the Warco, with the numeral, irau to ia, the Sesake
nara to na. The Plural meaning- seems to be conveyed by
the sound r.
Again a general comparison of the Personal Pronouns of the
Melanesian languages here exhibited shows, with certain
exceptions, an agreement in a common form ; in the First
Person singular u, the Second ko, the Third a, in the Inclu-
sive First Person plural ta, in the Exclusive am, in the
Second Person mi, in the Third ra. There is apparent also a
common method of prefixing Particles to these Pronouns,
which may be readily explained as making the lengthened
form more personal and more distinct.
It will now be desirable to compare with the Melanesian
Personal Pronouns those of other languages of the Ocean
family.
The Malay Personal Pronouns, extricated from the forms of
politeness, appear to be : —
Singular, i. aku. 2. angkau. 3. iya, dia.
Plural. i. kita, kami. 2. kamu. 3. dia.
With regard to the First Singular there can be little doubt,
viewing the other languages allowed to belong to the same
family, that kit, is no ' abbreviated form ' of aku, but that ku is
the Pronoun augmented by the prefix a. It is, however, open
to much doubt whether ku, can in any way be made the same
as the common Melanesian u, for reasons which will appear
hereafter. It is quite possible, for k may have been intro-
duced as easily as n, and aku have been made as easily as
inau from u ; but it is not perhaps probable.
In the Second Singular angkau appears to be precisely cor-
responding to the Lepers' Island inigo, in both words k
having changed to ngk or ngg ; and the true Pronoun being
in either case kau and ko, with the prefix a or i. But where
Malay is spoken ' each syllable of the word may be used
separately for the whole : ang or hang is much employed in
Keddah and Perak, and kau in other parts of the Peninsula
122 Melatiesian Languages.
and in Borneo1.' And this is the same as the use of the
Banks' Islands, where nik or ko is equally employed.
The third Person iya, dia, so closely resembles the Me-
lanesian forms ia, neia, koya (koia), that no further remark is
needed.
In the Plural the use of the remarkable Inclusive and Ex-
clusive First Person, though it does not appear to be com-
monly observed in the Malay, since Crawford's Grammar does
not even notice the distinction, shows a striking- agreement.
But the forms klta and kami are identical with, for example,
the Florida gita, garni. If in Melanesia we found here and
there words thus identical in form and meaning with the
Malay it would be easy to suppose them borrowed. But the
forms klta and garni are not commonly so closely represented,
the Mota nina and kamam bear at first sight but little re-
semblance to them. Yet the examination and comparison of
the Melanesian Pronouns show very plainly that those of
Mota and Florida are in this particular in fact the same, na
being a change from da, ta ; nina, gida, kita?. No one could
think the Mota nina and kamam borrowed from the Malay
kita and kami, yet they are radically the same. The conclusion
follows then that kita, nina, kami, kamam, are varying forms,
of the same character as inclusive and exclusive, containing
the same root, belonging to the same stock.
The Malay kamu of the second Person varies very little
from the common Melanesian form. If mu is used also, that
is in fact the true root, as has been shown.
The Malay third Person would appear the same in the
Singular and in the Plural, dia standing for both. It has
been remarked that the same is the case in Santa Cruz. In
the Duke of York diat is the third Plural.
The Malagasy Personal Pronoun is, —
iist Person, aho, zaTio, izaho
2nd „ hianao, anao
3rd „ izy, azy.
1 Maxwell's Manual of the Malay Language.
2 The Motu nina is the Motalava ged, Volow gid, which is clearly Florida
gita, Malay Jcita.
Short Comparative Grammar. 123
ist Person, inclusive, antzika, isika
Plural
„ ,, exclusive, izahay, anay
2nd „ hianareo, anareo
3rd „ izy, ireo, azy ireo, reo.
The resemblance between these and the Melanesian Pro-
nouns is certainly not easy to see. But we may notice at
once the presence of the Personal Article, the use of Exclusive
and Inclusive Plural First Person, the longer and the shorter
form, according as the prefixes are employed or not. The
first Person singular aho may very well be the same as the
Malay aku, u being written o in Malagasy. The presence of
re also in the second and third Persons plural seems to make
the Plural, e. g. anao Singular, anareo Plural, and so may be
thought to recall the third Person ra of Melanesia1. But until
the second series of Melanesian Pronouns comes into view
there is not much to be learned from the comparison of these
with the Malagasy.
It is different when the Personal Pronouns of the Maori of
New Zealand, as representing the Polynesian languages, are
compared. These Pronouns are —
Singular, i. ahau, au. 2. koe. 3. ia.
Plural. i. tatou, incl. ; matou, excl. 2. koutou. 3. ratou.
The likeness of these to the Melanesian is at once ap-
parent ; the Plural Number having the numeral tou, a con-
tracted form of toru 'three,' suffixed. In the first Person
singular a is taken for the Personal Article, which in Maori
is a2; and the question occurs again whether hau is a varied
form of the Malay ku or not. The Pronouns, apart from
prefix and suffix, are identical with the common Melanesian
forms ; except in the Second Plural, where kou takes the
place of kamu. Are then, it must be asked again, the Me-
lanesian Pronouns borrowed from the Polynesian ? The reply
must be, as when the question concerns Malay, that they are
not. What is identical is the stem, the true Pronoun. The
1 The Plural of the Malagasy Demonstrative Pronouns is made by re, iny
that, ireny those ; compare Florida ini, raini.
2 Shortland, How to learn Maori.
124 Melanesian Languages.
Florida agaira, the Mota ineira, the Araga ikera, are not
borrowed from ratou, but ra is the common property of them
all, the stem to which prefix and suffix are applied. This ra
is not the third Person plural in Malay or in Malagasy,
(though in the latter it is a plural sign,) as it is in the Poly-
nesian and Micronesian, nor is it in every Melanesian tongue.
In claiming a common source for it, from whence it has come
alike to Melanesia and Polynesia, it is not unreasonable to
suppose that to use it as a Pronoun, third Person plural, is a
later product of the common language which has divided into
the Malay and Malagasy, the Polynesian, and the Melanesian
branches, coming into use after the division had begun. The
Singular Pronouns would come first into use, the Plural later ;
a third Person would satisfy for a time without distinction of
Number ; as it is plain that in some of these languages,
Malay and Melanesian, one form of Second Person still
suffices for one or many. In Malagasy the plural force of ra
shows itself, but the third Person plural is not there de-
veloped. It is remarkable also that the Inclusive and Ex-
clusive forms of the first Person should seem to have pre-
ceded in time any form for the other Persons of the Plural.
The Personal Pronouns of the Marshall Archipelago in
Micronesia, ten degrees North of the Line, supply further
material for comparison and illustration1 : —
Singular, i. i, ij, nga. 2.ki0e}kwo. 3. e, ej.
Plural, i. ji,jej, incl. ; kij, kirn, excl. 2. kom. 3. re, rej.
In all these languages alike, whether Melanesian, Malay,
Polynesian, or Micronesian, the number of Pronoun forms give
them an important place 2. A comparison of the forms shows
not only a similarity in the pronoun stems, but a resemblance
in the structure of the longer forms, which tells much more of
the relationship of the languages than could be conveyed by
the presence of identical words, which might be borrowed.
1 Beitrag zur Sprache der Marshall-Inseln, Franz Hernsheim. j has been
substituted for 3, as representing the 'zischlaut' with preceding d.
2 An enthusiastic admirer of the Tongan language claims for it seventy-two
Plural Pronouns.
Short Comparative Grammar.
125
6. The Personal Pronoun suffixed.
There is in the Melanesian languages a second, and ap-
parently quite distinct, series of Personal Pronouns of the
Singular number, which never stand as the Subject of a
sentence, very rarely indeed as the Object, and are in fact, it
may be said, almost always suffixed to a Noun. A table of
the forms of these Pronouns, in the various Melanesian
languages here considered, is subjoined : —
1st
2nd
yd
ist
2nd
3rd
Pers.
Pers.
Pers.
Pers.
Pers.
Pers.
LOYALTY ISLANDS.
Motlav
k
(m)
n
Nengone
g°
ne
Volow
9
(m)
n
Lifu
ng
Ureparapara
k
n
n
NEW HEBRIDES.
Torres Islands k
ma,
na
Anaiteum
k
m
n
FIJI
qu
mu
na
Fate
gv
ma
na
SANTA CRUZ
ke, ne
mu
de
Sesake
ffu
ma
na
Nifilole
mu
Ambrym
n
m
n
Espiritu Santo
ku
mu
na
SOLOMON ISLANDS.
Lepers' Island
ou
mu
na
Ulawa
ku
mu
na
Arag
ou.
ma,
na
Wawo
gu
mu
na
Maewo
k
na,
na
Fagani
ku
mu
na
BANKS' ISLANDS.
Saa
ku
mu
ne
Merlav
k
n
na
Vaturawa
ffll
mu
na
Gaua
k
n
n
Florida
011
mu
na
Lakon
k
n
n
Bugotu
#u
mu
na
Vanua Lava
k
m, n
n
#ao
9*
mu, u
na, a
Mota
k
ma,, m
na, n
Duke of York
n
ma
na.
In Savo this form is not present.
Compare with these : —
Malay1 ku mu na i Maori ku u na
Malagasy ko nao ny I Marshall Isl. o m n.
The terminations ku, n, na, of the Maori and Polynesian
Possessives, though not generally recognised as suffixed Pro-
nouns, have been declared to be so by Archdeacon Williams
in his Maori Grammar ; and it would be surely impossible to
carry a comparison beyond the Polynesian languages and not
to perceive this to be the case.
That these Pronouns are distinct from the Personal Pro-
1 Dayak of South Borneo, i. ku, 2. m, 3. e.
Melanesian Languages.
nouns before examined is clear in the second and third
Persons. In the first Person there may be a doubt whether
ku is the same as u, whether the Malay aku is the same with
the Malagasy aho and the Maori ahau. In Malay aku is used
as the subject of a sentence, and ku is suffixed ; in Maori and
Malagasy ahau and aho never have the same use as ko and ku,
which latter are always suffixes. The difference then between
ko and ku and aho and ahau seems established, although k
might well change to h. The conclusion is that ko and ku of
Malagasy and Maori are the Malay aku, and that aho and
ahau are not represented in that language. But, whatever
may be the case with these forms, it is plain that between mu
and ko, na and a, there is a very much greater difference :
and on the whole the series ku, mu, na, must be considered
distinct from u, ko, a.
This second series is used in Melanesia as a suffix to Nouns,
but only to Nouns of a certain class. In Malay these Pronouns
are suffixed to Nouns without any distinction of class, though
in colloquial use the third Person na alone is common. In
Maori these Pronouns only appear in the Possessive and are
spoken of as suffixed to Prepositions to make the Possessive *.
In the Micronesian of the Marshall group m and n are suf-
fixed to words of a Class as in Melanesia; those, namely,
which signify parts of the body and degrees of relationship,
or a man's belongings 2. In this particular then the Mela-
nesian agrees with the Micronesian and not with the Malay
or Polynesian. It is necessary first to call attention to the
universal diffusion of these Pronouns as suffixed with little
variation of form ; a feature common to all the Ocean lan-
guages alike. The Melanesians, who use this suffix according
to a strict rule with nouns of a certain character to make
a Possessive, can certainly not be thought to have borrowed
it from the Malays, on the one hand, who use it with nouns
without distinction of class, or, on the other hand, from
Polynesians, who do not use it with nouns at all. No one
1 Williams, Shortland. 2 Hernsheim.
Short Comparative Grammar. 127
probably will suggest that the Melanesians have received it
from Micronesia. It is clearly, then, a common possession in
all these Archipelagos ; and this unites the languages to-
gether in a very remarkable manner. From whatever region,
by whatever routes, they have reached their present seats, it is
evident that these Pronouns were among them before they
parted. This is a point of very great interest, because of the
Pronouns of Khamti, one of the Tai languages of the Asiatic
continent, kau, I, mau, thou, man, he 1. If it be supposed that
ku, imi, na, have come from the continent of Asia, from the
valley of the Irrawady, into the languages in which they are
now used as suffixes, these Pronouns must have come into
them while still undivided.
In Santa Cruz these Pronouns are suffixed to Verbs as if
the Subject of them ; mopene loju ko I saw that ship ; ne, another
form of ke the first Personal Pronoun, is suffixed to the Verb
mope. The construction doubtless is that the Verb is treated
as a Noun, ' my seeing that ship.' The Pronouns suffixed are
used in the same way in Malagasy with some Verbs ; tia-ko
I love, vono-ko I kill, which, if explained as the Santa Cruz
example, are ' mine the loving,' ' my killing.'
It has been said that it is only in the Singular that these
Pronouns are suffixed 2. For the Plural the radical forms of
the ordinary Pronouns are used as suffixes. We have then
two sets of Pronouns ; one with fuller as well as shorter forms
used as Subject and Object alike, and with Plural forms as
well as Singular ; the other only used as suffixes, in a large
region according to strict rule, and in the Singular number
only. Is it probable that both of these sets of Pronouns
belong originally to these languages? If not so, which of
the sets has most probably been introduced? In reply
I venture to say, the latter ; if ku, mu, na, are Pronouns of
the Asiatic continent, their use rather shows them to have
been borrowed from thence, than parts of the original stock of
1 Professor Max Miiller in Bunsen's Philosophy of Universal History and
Lectures, i. 370.
2 The Florida plural suffixed Pronouns differ only in form.
128 Melanesia*. Languages.
the languages which are now spoken in the Indian and Pacific
Islands.
Two points more require some notice, (i) The suffixing of
these Pronouns is merely that juxtaposition which expresses
the genitive relation, and in which, in these languages, the
word that would be called the genitive stands second. Such
juxtaposition is no doubt a more primitive way of expressing
the relation than the use of a preposition. Natives, in order
to make themselves more easily intelligible to Europeans, will,
with a correct idiom, not suffix ku, mu, na, but add the full
and more commonly employed pronoun ; will say, ima inaw,
instead of imak, for my house. In thus speaking they are
right, though they do not speak as they would among them-
selves. (2) Secondly, these suffixed Pronouns sometimes seem
to have taken the place of the other set, either entirely or
in part, still remaining suffixed to some pronominal root.
Such may be, for example, the third Person singular of
Nengone nubone, and the Pronouns of Anaiteum and Santa
Cruz ; for which see the Grammars of those languages 1.
7. Possessives.
It will be well in this connexion to consider the Mela-
nesian and other Possessives.
It has been said that in the Melanesian and Micronesian
languages, to judge the latter by that of the Marshall Group,
the suffix of a Pronoun of the second series ku, mu, na, in the
Singular, or of the radical form of the more common Pronoun,
is the way to express a Genitive or Possessive. My hand is
limaku, his hand limana, and so on. But this only with a par-
ticular class of Nouns according to a strict native use — Nouns
generally which signify members of the body, parts of a
thing, equipments of a man, or family relationship.
There remain the Nouns which are not of this class. With
these either a genitive Preposition is used, (a use apart from
the present consideration,) or else an expression answering to
1 In Florida also some Verbs take gw, mit, na as their object.
Short Comparative Grammar. 129
the Possessive Pronominal Adjectives ' my,' ' thy,' ' his,' &c.
is employed. These are here called Possessives for want of a
better term, and are not called Possessive Pronouns, because
Pronouns they are not.
These Possessives consist of a radical and the suffixed
Pronoun ku, mu, na, &c. An example of the one most common
in Mota will suffice to show the form and use.
If it be a member of my body the Pronoun is simply
suffixed ; or if a relation, or something- nearly belonging to
me : qatuk my head, tasik my brother, usuk my bow. But if
something not of that class, nok is 'my,' noma 'thy,' nona 'his,'
nonina, and nomam ' our,' nomiu ' your,' nora ' their.' These
words are evidently no with the Personal Pronoun suffixed ;
nok is just as plainly 'my no' as qatuk is 'my qatu' The
Suffix is the Pronoun, the radical to which the Pronoun is
suffixed is, from the nature of the case, a Noun. It may be
called a Possessive Particle, or a Possessive Preposition, or a
Possessive sign. But it is in fact a Noun. Because it is a
Noun it does not follow that we can translate it by an English
Noun ; there is no English word perhaps meaning- thing-
belonging-to. But we talk of a man's belongings. Let us
take the word ' belonging ' and use it as the English equiva-
lent of the Mota no, and then the nature of the Melanesian
Possessive will be clear. Nok, then, is my belonging, nok
siopa is my garment, a garment my belonging, in Pigeon
English 'shirt belong-a-me.' Noma is thy belonging, noma
parapara thine axe, axe thy belonging, nona tapera his
basket, basket his belonging. Every Possessive can be thus
explained, if it be taken as in fact a Noun, in every Mela-
nesian and Polynesian language : unless it be taken as a
Noun it will never be properly understood.
It must not be supposed that there is but one of these
Possessive Nouns. There are in Melanesian languages always
at least two, one expressing closer and the other remoter
relation ; in many there are four. In Mota there is, with the
first Person singular suffix, nok a thing belonging to me
generally, gak a thing belonging more closely to me, mak a
3o
Melanesia* Languages.
thing for my drinking, mok a thing of my doing. In Fiji
nequ or noqu is the same as Mota nok, kequ as gak, m'yqu as
mak. Of these Hazelwood justly says that they are ' un-
doubtedly Nouns, whatever might originally be their sense : '
and, for one reason, that, as the Mota words above and all the
corresponding ones in Melanesian languages, ' they take the
Article like Nouns1.'
The Mota^fl, Fiji ke, are most commonly used of food, and it
happens that gana is in Mota the verb to eat. But the word
has in itself no reference whatever to eating or food, and only
applies to it because it signifies something entering into very
close relation with a man. So in Florida gagua na levu ni
mate is ' my enemy,' in Duke of York ana maden is ' an axe to
kill him with,' in Mota gan o wena 'rain got for him by
charms.'
The Nouns of Possession occur in almost all the Melanesian
languages, in some more, in others fewer ; and it will be well
to exhibit them together. As it is impossible to translate
them precisely with an English word, they are here arranged
under the Mota words to which they are equivalent, the
signification of which has been given above : —
BANKS' ISLANDS.
I.
2.
3-
4-
Mota
no
mo
ga
ma
Motlav
no
mu
ga
ma
Volow
ro
mo
ga
ma
Vanua Lava
no, ro
rnugu, mo
go, ga, ge
mo, ma, me
Gaua
no
mu
ga
ma
Lakona
na
mo
ga
ma
Merlav
no
mugu
ga
ma
Torres Islands
no
na
ga
ma
FIJI
no, ne
ke
me
SANTA CRUZ
ba
...
na
po
Nifilole
no
...
SOLOMON ISLANDS.
Ulawa
na
...
a
Wawo
a
'a, u
1 In Bugotu always, in Florida sometimes, the Possessive has its own
Article, as the Noun to which it is attached has its own, na nigua na gau my
knife, the thing-belonging-to me the knife. So Motu na nok, na mole, mine
thing-belonging-to me, or thing-done-by me.
Short Comparative Grammar. 131
SOLOMON ISLANDS (continued).
i. 2. 3- 4-
Fagani a ... ga
Saa ... ... 'a
Vaturawa ni ... ha
Florida ni ... ga
Bugotu ni ... ga
<?ao no ... g&
Duke of York nu ... a ma
NEW HEBRIDES.
Maewo no ... ga ma
Lepers' Island no ... ga me
Arag no ... ga ma
Espiritu Santo pila ... ga na
Ambrym ma, me ... a
Sesake a ... ...
Fate a
Atiaitenm u
It will be observed that the list of these Possessive Nouns
is fullest in the region of Fiji and the Banks' Islands, the
region nearest to the Polynesian people. The poverty of
the list elsewhere does not always indicate deficiency in the
languages represented, but deficient information.
In Espiritu Santo pila is given, because no other word
appears to be used for the simplest kind of Possessive:
the reason being probably that ma, the common word for
something to drink, has become, after the fashion of the
language, na, which might cause confusion with the common
form no. But in very many of the languages in the Banks'
Islands and Northern New Hebrides the same word pula, bula,
pila, is regularly used of a chattel such as a pig, and of a
garden. The word is simply a Noun of the ordinary kind ;
no one would think of calling it a Possessive Particle,
or Preposition, or Sign, much less a Pronoun ; only because
it is too long. But it is in use, and in fact, of identical
character with those given above. In Santa Cruz a word of
the same kind, nie, is used of the house and the garden. In
Nengone a thing for eating is kaka, a thing for drinking
kua ; but these are used with a Preposition like other Nouns,
and can hardly take their place in the list.
In the Malay language there does not appear to be anyT
132 Melanesian Languages.
thing corresponding to this usage of the Melanesian tongues.
There is no special class of Nouns which receives the suffixed
Pronouns ku, mu, na. But the word puna placed after the
Personal Pronoun makes a Possessive in a way altogether
distinct.
The Malagasy Grammars also show nothing more than the
suffixed Pronouns to make the Possessive a.
The language of the Marshall Group, on the other hand,
shows in Micronesia a Possessive Noun like those of Melanesia,
a : mine ao, thine am, his an, and so on. This seems to fol-
low on the practice of suffixing the Pronouns to Nouns of
a particular class.
In the Polynesian languages, as has been said, the Personal
Pronoun is not suffixed at all to common Nouns. To express
therefore a Possessive they use what are called Possessive
Pronouns — words which are really Nouns, signifying a thing
in such a relation to a person that, if not his possession, it is
belonging to him, with the Personal Pronouns, in the form
Jcu, u, na, suffixed. It has been said that Archdeacon Williams
recognises these suffixes as Pronouns, and Mr. Shortland does
the same, for the Maori. The stems to wrhich the Pronouns
are suffixed are called Prepositions, or the Possessive Preposi-
tions, a, o ; na, no ; ma, mo : ta and to, which are used only in
the Singular, being regarded as contractions of te a and te o.
These are in the Possessives called Prepositions, because in
fact they are among the simple Prepositions of the language.
But in all languages a Preposition is very often a Noun in
origin, very often an existing Noun in secondary use. And it
is perfectly plain that a, o ; na, no ; ma, mo, which are otherwise
used as Prepositions, are, when the stem of a suffixed Pronoun,
that is to say, when the first of two words in juxtaposition, Nouns
and nothing else. The two forms in a and o have a clearly
distinguished force : a signifying that the thing referred to is
regarded as acted upon by the person with whom it is in
1 In ny anao thy things, nao being the suffixed Pronoun, a has the ap-
pearance of being a Possessive Noun, as in San Cristoval and Marshall
Islands.
Short Comparative Grammar. 133
relation ; o that the action is from the thing- upon the
person l. Whether in the form of Prepositions, or Possessives,
this is the rule of the Polynesian Grammars, though the par-
ticular application of it is not easy 2. To this there is nothing
corresponding in the Melanesian languages, in some of which,
as in Motlav, the vowel in fact shifts and is indifferent. This
in itself is enough to show that the Melanesians have not
borrowed from the Polynesians in this matter. What the
Polynesians do with the change of a and o, the Melanesians
do by the use of four distinct words ; in which it is not the
difference of vowel but of consonant that makes the difference
of signification. But in both Polynesian and Melanesian
there is a stem, in fact a Noun, to which identical Pronouns
are suffixed to make a word which corresponds in sense to the
Possessive Pronouns in English.
8. Interrogative Pronouns.
The words for ' who ? ' and ' what ? ' are, with few exceptions,
varying forms of the same root in Melanesian languages.
The one, as concerning persons, has the Personal Article i,
or a, before it ; the other has, as a common Noun, the Article
«, na, o.
The varying forms of the first are, sei, hei, se, he, tei, ti, di,
si, hai, ai, oi, cei.
Exceptions occur in Vanua Lava, the Torres Islands, the
Loyalty Islands, and Santa Cruz.
The forms of the word for ' what?' are sava, hava, sav, hav,
sa, ha, cava, taha, tava, ta, sofa, naha, neva.
There are exceptions in Vanua Lava, Santa Cruz, Loyalty
Islands, Savo, Vaturarca, Duke of York, where the words are
different from any form of sava.
It should be observed, however, that in some of the lan-
guages where the words are exceptions, they agree in their
character. In Vanua Lava, at Sasar, where ene is ' who ? '
1 See distinction between no and mo in Mota Grammar.
a Hawaian, Samoan, in Mr. Pratt's Samoan Grammar and Dictionary.
134 Melanesia* Languages.
and na ne ' what ? ' the same word in fact used for both, the
one has the Personal Article e, the other the common Article
na. The same is the case with Vaturawa na kua what ? '
Both these words, sei and sava, in the various forms, are
commonly used as Indefinite as well as Interrogative Pronouns :
isei is ' somebody' as well as ' who?', o sava ' something- ' as
well as ' what ? '. For this the reason is plain : the fact
being that either word is originally a Noun.
With regard to sava, in its various forms, this is quite
plain : the Article goes with it as with any common noun,
and it takes a suffixed Pronoun. To ask in Mota what part
of a person is in pain, it is said, na savama me vivtig ? your
4 what ' hurts you ?
The fact is not so apparent with the word for 'who?';
but, on consideration, the use of the Personal Article with it
shows it to be a Noun. The word in fact signifies not the
person of a man, but his name. When the question as to
a man's name is put, it is asked isei nasasana? Mota, ahei
na aJiana ? Florida, o cei na yacana ? Fiji ; not ' what ' is his
name ? but ' who ' is his name ? Not indeed that hei, sei, cei,
are really equivalent to ' who ? ' they stand as representing the
name. In Fiji* they ask of the name of a country o cei na
vanwa ? the ' who ' the place ? cei being plainly a Noun, but
a Noun the direct translation of which into English is im-
possible. It represents a personal name, and therefore has
the personal Article, or, if the name of a place, goes without it.
The word therefore can be used as an Indefinite Pronoun, as
' somebody ' expressed by ' some name : ' it is as if ' name '
were used for ' person.'
The language of Lepers' Island supplies an excellent
illustration. There is in that language the word ketw or hen,
which is to a Personal Noun what hava is to a common Noun.
In this language, this word only stands in the place of a Proper
Name which is not known or not remembered. If the question
is asked i /teno? who? the question is not who he is, but
what his name is. If a person fails to remember the name of
another he asks i heno ? What 's his name ? The reply
Short Comparative Grammar. 135
gives the name. But if the person inquired of does not him-
self know the name, he answers i hei somebody, some name.
In Florida, what is no doubt the same word, harm, stands
for the name of person or thing-. If one does not remember
the name of a person or thing-, or action, if one forgets, that is
to say, a word, one asks, if a personal name, a hanu ? if a
common noun or verb is sought for, na hanu ? The Pronoun
hanu stands for any word, not for the person or thing.
These two languages alone in Melanesia, so far as I know,
have the word in this use *. Ordinarily, the word for ' thing '
is used in place of a person's name, ka in Fiji, gene in Mota.
The names of things are taken to make proper names ; the
word ' thing* ' therefore stands in lieu of a proper name ; as in
vulgar English ' thingummy,' in French ' Monsieur Chose.'
The difference between this and hanu, heno, is, that this
recalls the thing from which the name is taken as a common
Noun, while hanu recalls it as a Proper Name.
The particular, and really extraordinary, interest of this
word is, that it appears in precisely the same use in Malagasy.
In that language o is written for u ; ano therefore is nearly
Florida hanu. The Malagasy Personal Article is i, as in
Lepers' Island, not a, as in Florida. The words therefore
a hanu, i heno, i ano are identical ; a word, that is, standing in
place of a personal Name, with a Personal Article prefixed.
The Malagasy use is thus described by Marre de Marin :
' Dans la conversation les mots ano et i ano sont d'un frequent
usage, car on ' les repete indefiniment quand on cherche et
qu'on ne trouve pas le nom de la personne ou de la chose que
Ton veut exprimer. Rita ko izy mitondra ano . . . ano . . .
ano. Je 1'ai vu qui portait un . . . un . . . un . . . Hita ko
izy tamy ny i ano . . . i ano . . . i ano. Je 1'ai vu chez le . . .
le . . . le . . .' He adds that ano in Javanese is an Indefinite
Pronoun, applicable alike to persons and to things.
In Malagasy the Interrogative Pronoun, as used for Persons,
is iza, for things ino.
In Malay the Interrogative Pronouns are siapa who ? apa
1 San in Espiritu Santo is the same word, an indefinite Pronoun.
136 Melanesian Languages.
what ? We have seen that si is used as a Personal Article
in the same way as i and a in Melanesia: apa is no doubt a
form of the word which in Melanesia is sava, hava, &c. : siapa
therefore may be equivalent to the Mota i sava ? ' who ? ' an
Interrogative which similarly asks concerning a person's name.
The word gene thing is used in Mota, as mentioned above, in
place of a person's name, but not interrogatively: gene is
'thing,' sava is 'what?' To ask therefore what a man's name
is, they ask, with the Personal Article, i sava ? who ? that
is, ' what person ? '
The Interrogative Pronouns in Maori are wai who ? aha
what ? evidently cognate forms of the Melanesian kai, and
hava. Wai is used in asking a name, as in Melanesia, ko wai
kena kiwi ? what is that dog's name ? The Samoan ai, and a,
are worn down forms of the same.
In the Marshall Island language of Micronesia ta is
' what ? ' ; another form of sa.
9. Demonstrative Pronouns.
There are no Relative Pronouns in Melanesian languages.
The Demonstrative Pronouns, a great part of the forms of
which consists of Demonstrative Particles, have been already
sufficiently considered.
There is one form of Demonstrative Pronoun, existing only
in the plural, which requires notice. It is not generally
used in Melanesia, being found in one region only, in which
it may be supposed to have come comparatively lately into
use. In the Banks' Islands there are the forms iragai Mota,
or ragai, in Motlav irge, Volow raga, Vanua Lava irge and
rege. The apparent origin of these words is remarkable, as
it can be traced, for example, in Mota. In addressing a single
person he is called gai ; and this word would certainly be
called an Exclamation. In addressing more than one the
plural Pronoun ra, which is suffixed to Verbs as the object in
a sentence, and which is used as a sign of plurality, is pre-
fixed, and several persons are addressed as ragai\ The word
must now be said to have become a Pronoun. In the Dual
Short Comparative Grammar. 137
and Trial ragera, ragetol, the addition of the numeral has
reduced gai to a shorter form. The next step is that the
Pronoun thus formed from an Exclamation, a Vocative,
becomes a Demonstrative, and ragai, ragera, ragetol, represent
' those, those two, those three, persons.' The Exclamation
gai ! is to the native a Noun.
The resemblance in form of the Lepers' Island ragarue,
ragatolu, vocative or demonstrative, is deceptive ; in these
words ga is a verbal particle used with the numeral, not akin
to gai \
10. Nouns.
It has been already observed that in the Ocean languages
words may be, and commonly are, various Parts of Speech
according to their use. This being the case, it is not only
undesirable, but it is wrong, to say that a word in use as a
Noun is derived from the same word in use as a Verb, or
that a Verb in the same way is derived from a Noun :
and it makes no difference if one is reduplicated and the
other not. But there are some words which name not
things but actions or conditions, and so, in their first and
original meaning, are rather Verbs than Nouns. To lie, in
either sense of the word, is to do something, it is primarily
a Verb. But in English, in one sense of it we talk of a ' lie,'
without any change whatever of the form of the word, and
use it as a Noun ; in the other sense of the word to make a
Noun, we change the form of the word, and speak of a 'lying*
down. In the Melanesian and other Ocean languages, words
thus in a primary sense Verbs, that is, names of actions or
conditions, are used as Nouns ; either, as according to the
example ' lie,' without any change of form, except very often
reduplication to express a continued action ; or else, accord-
ing to the example ' lying,' with such a change of form as
to show that the Verb has become a Noun. To take an
example from Mota, gale is ' lie ' in the sense of deceive, gale or
galegale is ' a lie ' or deception, galeva is ' lying ' or deception.
It is with these Nouns, with a form of their own varying from
the form of the word when it is a Verb, that we are here
138 Melanesian Languages.
first concerned; because such Verbal Substantives are common
among all the Ocean languages.
To take the Melanesian languages first ; there are two
Classes of these Verbal Substantives to be found, those which
may be called Gerundives, which are rather more verbal than
nominal, and others which are more properly Abstract nouns.
To make the distinction more clear by the help of an English
example, the first class are such words as ' thinking,' the
second such words as ' thought.' Melanesian languages do
not generally appear to have both kinds of Verbal Substan-
tives together 1. Polynesian languages do not seem to have
the second class at all. Nor in Melanesian languages is the
form of the Gerundive always the same, as the Polynesian
has the termination -nc/a. Mate is, commonly, to die ; but
matea in Florida is ' dying,' while in Mota it is ' death.' In
Fiji mate without change is ' to die ' and ' death,' as it is in
Maori. But when the Maori uses Jiemo for to die, death is
hemonga ' dying.'
The Verbal Substantives in Maori have always the termi-
nation nga, either nga, anga, kanga, kanga, manga, ranga, tanga.
Such words denote the taking place of an action, the place of
the action, the time of its taking place. The action may be
either Passive or Active 2.
The Verbal Substantives in Melanesia most nearly resem-
bling these are formed by adding to Verbs the termination
ana, na, ana, ena, ina, na. The signification is very much
the same. Such words are found in the Solomon Islands
and the New Hebrides. In Duke of York ketketina, from
kete to hang, is a thing hanging up, or the hole or peg by
which it hangs. In Ulawa, wala to speak, walaana language.
In Fagani, ateate to speak, ateatena speech. In the New
Hebrides, Maewo, rasu to come, rasuana coming ; Araga
rovogi to work, rovogana work ; Lepers' Island geana work.
In Sesake, vasa to speak, vasana speech. In Api, visiena
speech. In Fate, lot-it (a foreign word) to worship, lotuena
worship.
1 Fagani has both, and Merlav. * Shortland.
Short Comparative Grammar. 139
There is another form of Verbal Substantive distinct from
this, but yet of the same class, which is found in Florida and
Ysabel, and is formed by adding a to the Verb. The pecu-
liarity of this is that the sense is Passive. The Verb without
any change of form stands as a common Noun, and takes the
suffixed Personal Pronoun, bosa to speak, na bosana his speak-
ing ; but when the Verbal Substantive is formed by adding
a to losa, the suffixed Pronoun makes bosaana, and the mean-
ing is Passive, his being spoken to. (Compare Sesake vasana.)
In Ysabel it is the same, gotigotiki to break in pieces, na
gofigotikiadia their being broken in pieces, a to make the
Verbal Substantive, dia the Pronoun suffixed.
The Verbal nouns of the Malagasy ending in ana have a
clear relation to those of the Polynesian and Melanesian
languages, which have the same, or a nearly resembling
form.
Of the same character and of much the same form are the
Abstract Nouns of the Malay ; e. g. from mataku to fear,
panakutan cowardice ; from tidor to sleep, partidoran a sleeping
place ; kata to speak, parkataan speech.
The Abstract Nouns which are found in Melanesia, of the
second class, are formed by adding to the Verb a, ia, ea, e, va,
v, ga, g, ra, r. They are found most commonly in the Banks'
Islands, and in the Southern Solomon Islands. There is no
distinction of meaning made by the one termination or another,
except it be when to the same Verb in one language is given
two terminations to make two Abstract Nouns conveying
different meanings ; as from toga to abide, in Mota, are made
togara behaviour, and togava station. But in such cases it is
plain that it is not the termination ra or va that makes the
difference, because in other words the sense is not affected by
the variety of termination. In Mota mule and vano are both
' to go,' but the one makes muleva and the other vanoga ;
Verb and Substantive alike without difference of meaning.
Examples from Mota show the fuller forms, which in other
Dialects of the Banks' Islands are cut short. With the
termination a, matea death, from mate to die ; with ia,
140 Melanesian Languages.
nonomia thought, from nonom to think ; with va, tapeva love,
from tape to love ; with ga and ra, vanoga and togara as above.
In the Solomon Islands this form of Noun is found in San
Cristoval and Malanta. At Fagani mcfe is to die, ma^eva is
death. At Saa mauri to live, maurihe life ; he being a change
from va.
The presence of Abstract words like this, among people of
whom it is said ' that they are unable to conceive an abstract
idea, is worthy of notice V
It is remarkable also that these latter forms are found only
among Melanesians, not at all among Polynesians : and that
neither these nor the Verbal Substantives in the form common
in Polynesia are found in Fiji.
11. Independent Forms of Nouns.
This is the case also with regard to another class of
Melanesian Nouns which take a special termination. Nothing
corresponds to them in the Polynesian languages, and they
are not known in Fiji or the Solomon Islands. In the Banks'
Islands or Northern New Hebrides a stranger endeavouring
to obtain words for a Vocabulary naturally points at the
object whose name he wishes to write down. The native at
whose head he points will naturally answer ' my head ; ' if he
points to his own foot will answer ' thy foot.5 He has in his
mind and before his eye a concrete object, and he gives the
name of it. Hence very often it is said that his mind is un-
able to entertain an abstract idea. But when the same native,
in those parts, finds out that the inquirer is not in search of the
word that describes any particular head or foot, that he wants
the word for head and foot generally, for the class, not for the
individual, then he no longer suffixes a Personal Pronoun to the
stem word, nor does he give the stem word barely, but he adds
1 ' There is no word in Malay which corresponds to our word " stroke " or
"blow," the idea of distinguishing the blow struck from the act of striking
not having suggested itself to the native mind. "So many blows" must be
translated " struck so many times." ' — Maxwell's Manual of the Malay Lan-
guage. But in Mota, for example, there is the distinction between vus strike
and vusiva stroke ; ' so many blows ' can be translated, o vttsiva nivisa.
Short Comparative Grammar. 141
the termination i or gi, iw or ui, or n, to the stem word. Thus
he expresses not an abstract notion, which we have seen he is
well capable of doing when even concepts only are named by
him, but he gives a general name of the thing a particular
example of which is before him. The Vocabularies given
above supply examples of this.
Again, for an example, a native writing to a distant friend
thus expresses himself : ' Hereafter if we shall live we shall
see one another face to face ; but it is now thought to thought,
heart to heart, and affection (bowels in Scripture phrase) to
affection.' In Mota, Si te qale esuesu (i, te var ilo nagoi ape
nagoi ; pa ilokenake o nonomia ape nonomia, toqai ape toqai, wa
o loloi ape loloi. In this the notion of face, heart, bowels, is
general, therefore i appears. If it were a particular face,
thine or mine, the word would be nagok, nagoma, the stem
word with the suffixed Pronoun.
There is only one class of words which receive this gene-
ralizing termination : Nouns which signify parts of a whole,
members of a body, and such like ; things which can stand in
a certain relation to some inclusive whole. Nouns with these
terminations will therefore be found in the Vocabularies of
Banks' Islands and New Hebrides languages, for 'belly,'
'body,' 'bone,' 'child,' 'ear,' 'egg,' 'face,' and such like.
The termination which in Mota is i or ui is the same which
in Motlav is ge, and elsewhere gl. The termination n appears
also in Motlav : child is nten, egg tlen, while belly is tqege^
body trige 1.
It is difficult at first to believe that this n is not the
suffixed Pronoun, and that nten is not in fact ' his child,' and
tlen ' its egg,' that the native is not giving the concrete for
the abstract. But when a native who understands the diffi-
culty declares that he does not mean ' his child,' ' its egg,' but
that, as they say ge with tqe, so they say n with nte ; when
also it is plain from the words ending in ge that his mind is
used to rise above the concrete ; then it becomes necessary to
1 These words are given as they combine with the Article, without their
proper Vowel.
142 Mel artesian Languages.
acknowledge another form of this kind of termination. In
Nengone also, at the extremity of Melanesia, we find tenene
for 'child,' whereas tenego, the stem with suffix go, is 'my
child.' Here again the Nengone native who knows Mota is
clear in the assurance that ne is the same thing as the Mota i.
When therefore in the Anaiteum vocabulary we find netgan
for ' belly,' nohnn for ' body,' naklin for ' egg,' just as we learn
from other Melanesian languages that n at the beginning is
nothing else than the very common Article, so we can hardly
hesitate in setting down the n at the end as nothing else than
that which in the Banks' Islands and in the Loyalty Islands
is the special termination, which carries the same signification
with gi and i.
It is hard indeed to say of people in whose languages these
Nouns are found, and the Abstract Nouns mentioned above,
that they cannot conceive the abstract, but express every-
thing in the concrete. It should be observed also that the
special form of Noun just considered appears to be peculiar to
the Melanesian languages, and not to be known among all of
them, as, for example, in the Solomon Islands or Fiji J.
12. Classes of Nouns.
The consideration of Melanesian Nouns is not yet com-
plete. It is most important to understand that all Nouns in
Melanesian languages are divided in native use into two
classes ; those, that is, that take the Personal Pronoun suffixed,
and those that do not. Since the Malay and Malagasy suffix
these Pronouns, Jcu, mu, na, and ko, nao, ny, indiscriminately,
and the Polynesian languages do not suffix them to common
1 The terminations of Malagasy Nouns tra, Tea, na, which are undoubted
additions to the root word, may be thought to bear a certain resemblance ;
e. g. ravina leaf, Motlav ron, Mota naui, Fiji drau, Maori ran. But the
Malagasy terminations carry no definite meaning with them, and do not
characterize a class. In the Dayak of Sarawak betuch eye, buruch hair,
jipuch tooth, seem to represent vitugi (in another sense), iligi, liwogi, in
termination, as in the root word. The Betsileo of Madagascar do not say tra
at the end of words, but 'a kind of tsa,' which Drury represents by ch or tch.
Mr. Richardson, in Antananarivo Annual 1875, says, 'This seems to be the
Dayak ch, at least.'
Short Comparative Grammar. 143
Nouns at all, it is evident that this distinction does not find
place in them. In Melanesian languages, excepting Savo, it
is a rule, strict, and remarkable. The distinction is based
upon the notion of closeness or remoteness of connection
between the object possessed and the possessor ; but the
carrying out of this principle in detail is by no means easy to
follow. Different people in neighbouring islands disagree
about the application ; us a bow, in Mota takes the suffix, na
usuk my bow, the same word ih in Motlav does not take it,
nik mino my bow. In some cases also no doubt the same
word may be used with or without the suffix ; but never
when the word is used in precisely the same meaning. Thus
in the Duke of York, Mr. Brown gives a nug nat my child,
a naiig a child under my care, not my own1. In Mota it
could be nothing but natuk ; where examples are napanek my
arm, nok o pane my armlet, mok pug debt owing to me, na
pugiik debt owed by me. But it should be observed that
natives find that Europeans more readily understand a Noun
preceded by what corresponds to a Possessive Pronoun of their
own ; and that this is one way in which they accommodate
their language to strangers. A man, who would always say
natuk in speaking at home, recognises a phrase more like
' boy belong-a-me ' as better suited to those who do not know
his idioms. He gives his dog-Mota or dog- Fiji in exchange
for Pigeon English. The accurate, uncorrupted idiomatic
speaking of a native language does not long survive the
presence of Europeans.
13. Construct Nouns.
When two Nouns are in juxtaposition, it may be that one
qualifies the other, and does the work of an Adjective without
becoming one. In these languages the qualifying word comes
after the word qualified, o ima vatu, Mota, na vathe gahira,
Bugotu, ' a stone house.' Or the relation may be a genitive
one, in which case also the word in the Genitive will be the
second. In some Melanesian languages this is not effected
1 In Fiji Mr. Fison says that noqu ulu is ' & head I have for sale,'
' my head.'
144 Melanesian Languages,
by mere juxtaposition of Nouns ; a Preposition intervenes, as
in Fiji ; or both methods may appear to be employed. In
Fiji a su ika is a basket of fish, a su ni ika is a fish-basket.
In the second example a Preposition is used ; in the first the
relation appears to be genitive, and ika would be said to be
the Genitive of the object. But in fact ika coming- after
qualifies su, and tells what kind of basket it is. The ex-
pression is of the same sort as ima vatu above, a house of
stone. The Genitive made by the Preposition in English
makes the Fiji word appear to be in the genitive also, when
it is not. The native construction must not be interpreted by
the English, but must be examined by comparing it with
other native forms.
In Mota, to take that language as an example, the Genitive
Preposition ni is unknown, nor has it any equivalent ; yet of
course that relation of one object to another, which we express
by ' of/ has to be expressed. In one large class of Nouns
nothing in the form of the words in juxtaposition can show
the meaning ; it has to be perceived by the sense. The
words of this class have no form that can change to show the
grammatical relation in which they stand to another. In
Mota the 'water of life,' not meaning live water, but the
water with which life is connected, has a genitive relation
between the word that means water and that which means
life ; it is o pel esuva, with no Preposition, and with no
change in the form of pei, because that word is incapable of
anything like inflexion. In Florida, as in Fiji, and in many
Melanesian languages, ni the genitive Preposition is em-
ployed, na beti ni maurihali.
But there are words, in Mota for example, which, when
they are thus constructed as the first of two Substantives,
undergo a change of termination. These end in a, though it
would be too much to say that all Nouns ending in a change
their ending. The word which in English would be the
Nominative changes the termination a into e. Thus ima is a
house, ime qoe is a pig's house. This, which has something of
an appearance of inflexion, is the result of bringing two
Short Comparative Grammar. 145
words into so close a construction tog-ether that they make
a kind of compound word, the first member of which is
shortened.
This is never done except when the relation is genitive,
never when the second Substantive only qualifies in an
adjectival way. Thus ime qoe a pig's house, but ima qoe a
pig-house, a house whose use is for pigs not men ; sinage vui
is a spirit's food, sinaga vui is spirit-food, spiritual.
Those words which, as above, take a special termination i,
gi, iu, n, when they are used in an independent sense, cannot
take that termination when they are thus in a construct
relation to another. A leg, independently, is ranoi, a man's
leg rano tamin. But if the construction is not this, and the
second Substantive comes to qualify, the termination holds ; a
wooden leg is ranoi tangae. When, however, the word, which
independently has a special ending, in construction appears
only in its simple form, it is not correct to say that it has
dropped its termination, or that there is any approach towards
inflexion ; the word has never assumed that termination.
Thus the true word for head in Mota is qat, the termination
of it in an independent form makes it qatiu, and in con-
struction it is qat, qat qoe a pig's head. A word so ending in
a consonant cannot be cut short ; of those that end in a
vowel, only those that end in a have it shortened.
A word, then, in Mota, for example, the true form of which
ends in a, may, if it belong to that class, assume the special
termination i ; sasa a name, independently sasai ; and in con-
struction with a second Noun the final a becomes e, o sase
tanun a man's name. In Motlav nakan his name, the root
being ha, na he et a man's name. The same is the case where
the ending of the independent form is n. In Gaua liman a
hand, the root lima, his hand na liman, where the last n is a
suffixed Pronoun, a man's hand lime todun. In Anaiteum,
nipjin the shell of anything, nijojipaip the bowl of a pipe,
show nipji the true word ; nerin a leaf, neri itai leaves, grass.
Although, then, there is in this construct form something
which is worthy of notice as having the look of an inflexion,
L
146 Melanesian Languages.
yet the two words so constructed must be taken to make one
compound word. As such the two words together take the
Article before them, and the Personal Pronoun suffixed, if the
latter of the two belong- to the class which takes the suffixed
Pronoun ; sasai name, vanua place of abode, no, sase vanuana
the name of his place.
14. Nouns with Prefix.
(1) In Fiji, in the Banks' Islands, in Florida, but much
more commonly in Fiji, there are Nouns which are formed
from Verbs by prefixing- i. Thus Fiji sele to cut, itele a
knife, koti to shear, ikoti shears. Mota got to cut, igot a
cutter, ras to bale a canoe, iras a baler, Fiji and Mota ilago,
ilano, pieces of wood put underneath anything- as rollers.
Florida karu to bale, ikaru baler, gaJio to dig-, igaho digging
stick. In Fiji this i, which by the use of it in other lan-
guages is clearly shown to be a prefix to the Noun, is
strangely affixed to the Article by grammarians1.
(2) Another prefix of this kind in the Banks' Islands is ga ;
sal to cut, gasal a knife ; pulut to make to stick, gapulut glue
or paint. In both these cases it will naturally be conjectured
that the prefix is in fact a Noun, with the signification of an
instrument whereby what the Verb imports is done. In
Mota gae is a band or tie. In some cases the word is very
intelligible if the prefix ga be taken in this sense, as being
really the first of two Substantives in a compound word ; rot
to bind, garotrot a band. But the prefix so continually occurs
when this sense is quite inapplicable that it is not possible to
advance beyond a surmise. To press down is yisau., a thing
that presses down gaqisan ; and gasal a knife, as above.
(3) When an object appears to the eye with a general
shape of a round, or a lump, short or long, there is a disposi-
tion to combine a word bearing such a signification with the
1 The short Vocabulary of Motu given in Mr. Stone's Few Months in New
Guinea shows words apparently of this character ; isiva a digging pole, ipidi
a gun, iJcolco a hammer, ivarivari a looking-glass.
Short Comparative Grammar. 147
name of the thing-. Thus in Gaua not only things round or
globular like the sun, moon, stars, have the prefix wo or wa,
Tout canoes, fish, anything- of a compact form, have the same
prefix. In Nengone it is the same, with the same word wa
when the object is regarded as round, wa baiwa ear, wa ie
fish, wa nine hand. If the object is regarded as a lump of
longer form, the prefix in Nengone is gu ; kmu to strike,
gii-hmu a club, gupiede nose, gutinene tongue. In the Micro-
nesian language of the Marshall Islands the same way of
speaking is shown in the words lo-ber-in bei hand, lo-ber-in-nei
foot, lo-jeling ear, in the preposition ' of.' This is not the
same thing, though this wo, wa is the same word with bua,
with what are called Numeral Coefficients or Numeral Affixes
in Malay.
15. Collective Nouns.
There are Nouns used in Fiji and in the Solomon Islands
which express a definite number of certain things, generally
in tens. In Fiji a uduudu ten canoes, a buru ten cocoanuts,
a bola a hundred canoes, a selavo a thousand cocoanuts. In
Florida na gobi ten canoes, na pigu ten cocoanuts, na kua ten
eggs, na paga ten pigs, birds, or fish.
16. Reduplication of Nouns.
Reduplication, of the whole word or of a part, magnifies,
intensifies, expresses size and number. It comes thus to
make a plural by the repetition of the object which it
presents to the mind. The legs of a centipede would be
called pispisuna in Mota. Size also is expressed by this
way of making more of the word, gate panpanei ! What
big hands ! There is also a diminutive power in reduplica-
tion, or rather depreciatory ; in Fiji and Florida valevale,
vaevale, is a diminutive or inferior house. In Duke of York,
in the Solomon Islands, and the Banks' Islands, the redupli-
cation of the name of a fruit-tree gives the name of the
wild kind.
L 2,
148 Melanesian Languages.
In Malay the repetition of a noun in some cases makes a
Plural.
In Malagasy reduplication is common, giving the signifi-
cation of collection and repetition, and also of diminution.
In Maori an act often repeated, or many things of the
same kind, are denoted by reduplication.
17. The Plural of Nouns.
There being no mark of Number in the form of Melanesian
Nouns, it is often only by the context that it can be dis-
covered whether one thing or many is in view. When,
however, it is desired plainly to mark the Plural, words are
added before or after the Noun. These are either plainly
Nouns themselves signifying an assemblage, or they are words
which cannot be further explained than that they have a
collective or plural sense.
Examples of the former class are clearly shown when the
Article precedes, as in Vanua Lava o tore z'm houses, a collec-
tion or group of houses ; in Florida na lei totobo things (in
which language lei is shown to be a Noun itself in the singular
by the singular Pronoun agreeing with it) ; in Bugotu this
Noun is komi, which is no doubt the Duke of York bum, a
kum boro pigs, being the same as Bugotu a komi botho. Such
words as these naturally come before the Noun to which they
impart plurality.
Other Plural signs come after, some of which may be
called Adjectives and more than signs of Plurality, such as
maraga in Maewo, mau and maga in Sesake, rago in Wawo.
Some are mere signs, as Mota nan, Motlav^^.
The Fiji commonly forms plural Nouns by prefixing vei,
the particle which prefixed to Verbs gives the meaning of
reciprocity : a -veivale houses. It is probably in this use
a collective noun ; and it is not applicable as a prefix to all
Nouns, with some of which the notion of a group in which
objects occupy positions in relation to one another does not
agree. Things which are commonly in motion cannot be
Short Comparative Grammar. 149
regarded in a collective relation to one another as things
stationary are : hence houses, gardens, villages, reefs, are
examples of the use with vei l.
These Plural signs, of whatever character, are not used,
unless it be desired distinctly to convey the idea of plurality.
Otherwise, as Number does not enter into the native concep-
tion of a Noun, the name of the object or objects is given
alone. In the same way, if it be required to mark a word
as singular, the numeral ' one ' is used with it.
It has been said above that Reduplication also gives some-
times a Plural sense.
In Malay, Number not belonging to Nouns, the Plural,
if needed, is indicated by added words, baniak many, sumua,
sakalian. The numeral satu is used when it is required to
show that a single thing is spoken of.
In Malagasy, besides Reduplication, the word maro before
or after the Noun indicates plurality. If the Singular is to
be clearly marked, the numeral precedes the Noun.
In Tagala, of the Philippines, manga is the mark of the
Plural ; with which agrees maga of Sesake.
In Maori the presence of the Plural Article nga marks the
Noun in the Plural. In the same way the presence of the
singular definite Article te is a mark that the Noun repre-
sents a single object. The absence of te is enough to show
that plurality is in view. In Samoan the absence of the
definite Article le shows the Plural : and when the notion
of plurality is to be distinctly expressed nouns of multitude
are combined with the name of the object, '0 le mou mea
a number of things, shows perhaps the word used in Sesake,
and the presence of the Article marks a construction similar
to those above mentioned in Vanua Lava or Duke of York.
1 'I am sure that vei is never really a plural form. We have veivale,
veiniu, &c., but the idea here is not plurality but a sort of reciprocity. Veivale
does not mean " houses " but a cluster of houses ; you cannot say e tini na
veivale if you mean ten houses, though this is often said by foreigners. If
you mean ten groups of houses, then the phraseology is correct.' — Rev. L.
Fison.
150
Melanesian Languages.
18. Prepositions.
A view of the Prepositions of the Melanesian languages
may be given here, because many of them are in fact Nouns,
and some of them are Nouns in form by construction with a
suffixed Personal Pronoun.
Prepositions may be divided into those which are simple
particles, and those which can be recognised as other parts of
speech. These latter again may be seen to be either Nouns
or Verbs.
The Prepositions can be classified as Prepositions of Place,
of Motion to and from, of Relation, Dative, Genitive, and
Instrumental. In many cases it is not possible perhaps to
separate a Dative Preposition from one of Motion ; but in
some languages the distinction is so clear that it is right
to make it conspicuous.
(i ) Prepositions that are simple Particles thus classified are :—
LOYALTY ISLANDS.
Geni- Instru-
tive. mental.
e, i, o,
Place. mo™«
m™ ' delation. Dative,
from.
Nengone i
si du, so
Lifu e
koi
NEW HEBRIDES.
Anaiteum u, an
Fate e, to
toll gor, me
Sesake a, e ki
ki ^roro
Ambrym a
tene me, pe, ta
Espiritu Santo a sur
tan sura, goro sur, ne
Araga a, la
nin huri huri
Lepers' Island a, lo
den ta, me, huri, goro lawe
Maewo a, le
dani be, ta, me, goro sur
BANKS' ISLANDS.
Merlav a, i, le sur
dan mi, ta, be, gor min, sur
Gaua a, i, le
den ta, be, ag, gor min, sir
Lakona a
ten to, mi, at mun, uh
Vanua Lava a, e, lo, le
nen, 'en ta, me, gor mi, sir
Mota a i, sur
nan ta, ma, goro mun
Motlav a, 1-
den be, gor mi, hir
Volow a, 1-
dean ma, ta, gor bev, hir
Ureparapara a,le,re,mi
den to, ta, be, gor hiv
Torres Islands a, li
den te, pi, hi, mi, goro hiv
FIJI e, i
ki
SANTA CBUZ ma
ma
Nifilole «a
na
u, an
ni
ki
ni
m
gin
g
ni, gi
ni
men
mun, min
mun, nia
mi
me
mi, ne
mi
ff°
Short Comparative Grammar.
SOLOMON ISLANDS.
Place.
Relation.
Ulawa
Wawo
Fagani
Saa
Vaturawa
Florida
Bugotu
G&o
Duke of York
Motion Motion
to. from.
man mai, ana
tai,bani horo
tani
ana, pe
i, kori
a, i, u
ko, taka
Dative.
G-eni-
tive-
Instru-
mental.
muni, suli
ni
ana
tana,bei,suri
i
ini
tana
h uiii, suli
ni
i
ni, na
gini
ana
hini
ni
nia
ni, i
nia
hara
na
kup
na
ma.
Among these Prepositions are some which there will after-
wards appear reason to believe are not simple words con-
cerning which no explanation can be given ; some which may
be taken as really Nouns, though in the languages in which
they occur they are simple Prepositions ; such, for example,
as ma and ta. Since Prepositions may generally be taken as
a comparatively late product of speech, and generally as
having their origin in Nouns, it is only natural that, in bring-
ing together the Prepositions of cognate languages, we
should not only find many of them the same, but find them
in different stages of development. Suppose a common stock
and origin of the Melanesian languages, it would be natural
that in one language ta or ma should be still in syntax a
Noun, while in another it is a simple Preposition. It is in-
conceivable that a word imported and borrowed from a
language in which it is a mere Preposition should have been
turned by the borrowers into a Noun.
(2) The Prepositions which are plainly Nouns in the
languages in which they are in use as Prepositions are as
follow : —
Dative. Instrumental.
ba bne
Locative.
Rela
i. Nengone
ri
line, 86;
2. Ambrym
ra, lo
3. Lepers' Island
be, me
4. Gaua
gi, mi
5. Vanua Lava
pe
6. Mota
pe
7. Motlav
be
8. Ureparapara
lo
9. Santa Cruz
ba
152 Melanesian Languages.
Locative, Relative. Dative. Instrumental.
10. Vaturana kone ta
11. Florida ta
12. Bugotu ta
13. <7ao ta
14. Duke of York ta, na.
It is here taken as a proof that a word is used as a Noun,
that it takes a Personal Pronoun suffixed, because such a
construction is in fact that of two Substantives, the second of
which stands in genitive relation to the first l. It is a proof
also if one of the words, otherwise used as a Preposition, takes
a simple Preposition before it. For example, pe in Mota is
used as a Preposition, and accordingly appears in the list
above. But the form apena, in which pe is unquestionably
the stem, shows a suffixed Pronoun na, and also the Preposi-
tion a prefixed. The word is not written a pena because ape is
commonly used as a Preposition ; and this is itself compound,
consisting of a the true Preposition, and pe, which is a Noun.
The translation of pe cannot be given perhaps in English, but
'by' may be taken as sufficient to show the formation of apena.
The Preposition a is ' at,' the suffix na is ' its ;' the whole word,
therefore, is ' at its by,' ' thereby.' The compound Preposition
ape is thus intelligible as 'at by,' 'by,' being made for the
occasion into a Noun.
To go through these Prepositions, which are really Nouns,
in the languages to which they belong : —
1. Nengone. — ri appears as a true Preposition, done ci sere
ri pa- ma he stands at the door ; and is shown to be a Noun in
the sentence hno rine o puha within the box, when hno is a
Preposition, and ne is the third Person Pronoun suffixed to
ri, in the inside the box.
kne, with the suffixed first Personal Pronoun hnego, is 'by
me,' in an instrumental sense, and ' with me ' in the relation
of place.
se is similar, ci hue sego he lives with me.
1 In the same way some Prepositions in Mota may be seen to be Nouns by
the absence of the Article : ape nagok before my face, not ape nanagok ; here
a is the true Preposition, pe the first of two Substantives, of which nagok is
the second.
Short Comparative Grammar. 153
ice and ba have the meaning of ' cause,' and with the pro-
nominal suffix ne are equivalent to ' on account of,' ' for.'
wen* o re nge bo co ridi bone ? for what did you strike him ?
bane nge ? for what ? ' its cause what ? '
2. Ambrym. — The word lo, which often occurs as a locative,
is in this language shown to be a Noun by its taking the
suffixed Pronoun : mo ne mumur va Ion tie he fell out into sea ;
here va gives the sense of motion, Ion tie is the lo of the sea :
Ion vir is on the land. With this corresponds, but with a
different signification of the word, the Ureparapara lo, which
is the inside of anything : na hav gene Ion ? what is that
inside ? The word is here a Noun, as it is when reduplicated
in Mota.
ra on, with, in, also appears in use as a Preposition with
the suffixed n, which shows it to be a Noun, ran bulbul on
board ship, mam ro bo ran yu we shoot with bow. This word
also is in use at Ureparapara in the sense of ' on,' re vet on
a stone.
3. Lepers* Island. — In be of this language the true character
of pe, given above as an example in Mota, appears, and there
will need no further remarks upon it in the other languages.
In Lepers' Island be is always constructed as a Noun with the
Article and the suffixed Pronoun ; hen nabena ? who is witE
him? literally, 'who is his 6e?' So nabegu is 'with me,'
nabe tamagu with my father ; ' my be,' ' my father's 6e.'
me, this is a form of a word present in many languages as a
Preposition. In this language, though it is used as a simple
Preposition, it appears in the form of a Noun with the
suffixed Pronoun, men kano ? with what ? i. e. what the
thing- with-him ? In Mota this word has two forms, ma and
me, of which ma may be taken as the full form. Its use in
that language with the simple Preposition a shows it to be a
Noun. There are pretty certainly two roots ; ma as here, and
the other which appears in the Mota mun, and also in the forms
min, mi, me in many languages. Both these roots are trans-
lated by the English ' with,' but ma, spoken of above, in the
sense of ' in company with,' mi in an instrumental sense.
154 Melanesian Languages.
While ma of accompaniment is plainly marked as a Noun by
the locative Preposition a which sometimes precedes it ; mi
of the instrument can only be presumed to be a Noun by its
terminating-, in some languages, in n.
4. Gaua. — The Preposition mi, me, as above, is shown to be
a Noun in amik with me, amed with us, amer with them ; a a
Preposition, and mi, me, with the Pronoun suffixed.
The same construction appears as that of the Preposition
ag which only appears in this language, in the sense of ' in
company with.' ag na is with me, ag nik with thee, aginse ?
with whom ? This can only be interpreted by taking a as
the Preposition and gi as a stem, cut short into g, according
to the habit of the language : a-gi-n-se ? Preposition, Noun,
Pronoun suffixed, Interrogative.
9. Santa Cruz. — In this language the continual interchange
of m and b makes it difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish
between ma, a word already noticed as a Preposition, and ba.
But as ma is used as a Preposition before la as a Noun, a
practical distinction is sometimes made : nide ti bapule me
bade he bought it for his own, me is a Preposition, ba with
suffixed Pronoun a Noun. However, ba is used itself as a
Preposition, ba ma in the house ; and it can be translated
only as a Preposition, as in languages before mentioned, when
it has the Personal Pronoun suffixed to it as a Noun ; kam
bane give to me, ka bade give to him. If therefore ba be dis-
tinct from ma, it is, like it, a Noun become a Preposition.
10. Vaturana. — The word kone, evidently a Noun, is used
with a suffixed Pronoun as a Preposition, Aonegu by, with, me.
In this language, as in Florida, Bugotu, Gao, and Duke of
York, ta is in very common use as a Preposition, ta na vale in,
at, from the house. But when i tagiia, itamna, itatana with
me, thee, him, are used, the character of the word as a Noun
is at once apparent, by the preceding Preposition i, and by the
suffixed Personal Pronoun. It may be seen, by reference to
the first table of Prepositions, that ta is used in many lan-
guages where it bears no marks of substantival character, and
has become completely a Preposition.
Short Comparative Grammar. 155
14. Duke of York. — The word na is a Preposition ; na ra
matak before me, i. e. at my front. But, like ta in this lan-
guage, na shows itself to be a Noun by suffixing the Personal
Pronoun ; ki nag sit by me, iau ki nam I sit by thee. The
chief interest of this word, which may be the same with na the
genitive Preposition in this language, is that there is a Pre-
position of Motion from, very common from Ambrym to the
Torres Islands, which falls into varying forms of nan. Is this
word a Noun na with the Pronoun suffixed, after the fashion
of so many Melanesian Prepositions ? The character of na in
Duke of York makes it probable that it is. That nan always
signifies ' from ' in the Banks' Islands and New Hebrides,
while nan in Duke of York means ' by ' him or it, will cause
no difficulty when the remarkable indefiniteness of the mean-
ing of these Preposition-nouns comes into consideration, and
another idiomatic use of locative Prepositions which will
presently be noticed.
On the whole the review of these words, which being still
in use in the form of Nouns are true Prepositions, leads to
the conclusion that many more Prepositions, of which no
explanation is apparent, are also obsolete Nouns, or fragments
of such. One cannot say this of all Prepositions ; some of
which, as <z, e, ?', o, u, may well be supposed to be primitively
indicative particles of speech.
(3) There are besides some Prepositions which can be seen
to be Verbs, naturally perhaps with the sense of Motion
rather than of position. These are : —
Motion from.
Motion to.
i. Fate
libi
2. Sesake
punisi
3. Espiritu Santo
reni
4. Ulawa
losi
5. Wawo
6. Fagani
7. Vaturawa
vani
8. Florida
vani, varigi
9. Savo
lege
10. Bugotu
II. <?ao
kofi
13.. Duke of York
barasi
qarasi
tani kaputi
sani puwisi
ponotili
puwisi
fa^loni
koromi.
156 Melanesian Languages,
I. Fate. — It will be seen that the word libi and libisi in
this language is in primary meaning the same with all that
are under it in the column of Motion to. The word is used
as a Preposition, but it is a Verb. The termination si, when
the form is libisi, is the transitive termination of the Verb,
which appears also in the words in the column of Motion
against. The Verb libi, libisi is to see ; used as a Preposition
it means 'to;' libisiau to me ; ago tulena bo ba libi mama agi-
nau, I will arise and go to my father. The same is the signi-
fication of punisi, reni, lost, varigi (go see), lege, kofi, all Verbs
meaning to see. The word was doubtless in the first use of
it meant to signify to see, ba libi in Fate, bo legea in Savo,
go see ; as in Mota va iloa is used without having lost its
full meaning as a Verb. The transition of the use of a Verb
to that of a Preposition with the sense of Motion to some one
is easy.
5. Wano. — The Verb barasi, as in a slightly different form
at Fagani, is used as a Preposition though the form shows it
to be a Verb ; ura barasia i dani stand in the way of the
light, ari barasia go to meet him.
7. Vaturana. — The Preposition tani may be taken to be the
Florida sani. At any rate it has the same signification and use.
In the same language vani, kaputi, are Verb-prepositions.
8. Florida. — The words vani, sani, are more certainly ex-
plained in this language. The sense of vani is to go ; its
use as a Preposition is simply ' to,' without necessarily a
sense of motion, bosa vania speak to him. The meaning of
sani as a Verb is to throw away, its use as a Preposition is
simply that of ' away from ; ' punisi as a Verb is to stop, as
a Preposition ' against/
9. Savo. — That ponotili is a Verb from the root pono, vono,
wono to fill up, seems certain, though little is known of the
language. Its use as a Preposition is that of the Florida
punisi ; sika no lo marara alu ponotili ale don't you the light
stand against there.
II. Gao. — The wovdfagloni is of the same kind.
12. Duke of York. — The word korom, koromi appears by its
Short Comparative Grammar. 157
form to be a Verb with a transitive termination. The Verb
Tcoro is used for ' to assemble and look on at a fight.' It is
possible that koromi has the more general sense of going
up to or meeting. Wan koro diat go see them fight, as a
Verb, wan korom diat go to them, as a Preposition. The con-
jecture that koromi has this character is worth hazarding,
because the Pre position goro, with the sense of Motion against,
extends from Fate to San Cristoval, and may thus receive
illustration.
A view of the tables of Prepositions here given suggests
some useful considerations. The Prepositions, to some extent,
group themselves, not only in regard to the area in which the
same word is employed, but as Prepositions of a certain
character which are common in one region, and uncommon or
unknown in another. Thus the simple locatives a, i, e,
appear throughout the whole Melanesian area ; but the
genitive Preposition ni is absent from the Northern New
Hebrides and Banks' Islands : it is in these latter islands
again that the Preposition nan is found. The Preposition?
which are seen to be Nouns appear, it is true, in every group,
except in Fiji ; but in the Loyalty Islands, in Nengone, they
are more numerous than elsewhere. The Prepositions that
are Verbs appear only in one region of the New Hebrides,
and in the Solomon Islands 1. The paucity again of Preposi-
tions in Fiji is remarkable.
The common possession of very simple forms of Prepositions
appears to argue their antiquity as a common inheritance
from an original stock of language. If, on the other hand,
a Preposition like ni is absent entirely from one group of
languages, it might be conjectured that the Preposition was
of comparatively late introduction into the language. The
fact that ni is found in widely distant regions, from the
Loyalty Islands to Ysabel in Melanesia, shows again that
the word is no local one ; it may have come in late and not
1 ' Verbs often supply the place of Prepositions, and are gradually giving
birth to a class of words similar in use to our Prepositions.' — Baker's Malagasy
Grammar.
158 Melanesian Languages.
reached one group ; but it is not a modern importation from
outside or a recent product.
Again, in estimating1 the probable antiquity of Prepositions,
the simple particles which do not seem to be formed from
Nouns, <z, £, «, &c., may well be set down as primitive : but
there can be no doubt that the Prepositions which are
Nouns in form represent a more archaic stage of these lan-
guages than that in which Prepositions, though plainly Nouns
in origin, are in grammar Prepositions and nothing else.
One cannot fail to perceive be in Lepers' Island to be a Noun ;
one can perceive pe in Mota to be one, or to have been one,
on examination. The Mota pe is in a further stage than the
Lepers' Island be. When, therefore, we find many Nengone
Prepositions which we see to be Nouns, we are inclined to
set down that language as relatively archaic.
The use of Verbs as Prepositions will probably be judged
a late use of language. It will argue nothing, therefore,
against the common origin of all the Melanesian languages
that some of them know nothing of such use.
It is no doubt impossible to ascertain how it has come
about that a word lingers in one language as a Noun,
which in another is only present as a Preposition ; but the
identity of words which if viewed as Parts of Speech are
different is beyond doubt. For example, ta in the region of
the Northern New Hebrides and Banks' Islands is but a
Preposition, and with a limited meaning ; in one region of
the Solomon Islands it is plainly a Noun, and of very wide
significance. The identity of the word is plain ; the difference
of character and meaning is observed with great advantage
to the understanding of both.
There are words which appear to be purely local, whether
formerly more widely diffused than now it may not be
possible to ascertain. But words generally confined to a
certain area, which as local are comparatively insignificant,
assume at once an interest when an example occurs at a
distance. We observe ri in Nengone, ra in Ambrym, re in
Ureparapara, isolated, of different significations ; are they
Short Comparative Grammar. 159
not relics of a once wider or more general use ? We see goro
in use, without a break, from Fate to the Torres Islands, and
in Wawo in the Solomon Islands an isolated horo : surely
this horo belongs to the goro of the other islands. If the
Noun na, used as a Preposition in Duke of York, is really the
root of nan, the Preposition of the New Hebrides and Banks'
Islands, then na survives in a primitive shape far off from its
more advanced kindred. An isolated single example of a
Preposition common elsewhere is like the patch of gravel on
the top of a chalk hill in Salisbury Plain.
There remain two points of interest which belong to the
consideration of Melanesian Prepositions ; the indefiniteness of
signification in the words which are used as Prepositions, and
the way in which Prepositions are used in regard to locality.
(i) In the Florida language, for example, we have the
Noun-preposition ta used in the sense of at, in, into, on, to,
from. Whether a man is at his house or in it, goes into it
or comes out of it, it is ta na valena. The verb that is used,
or an adverb introduced, or the sense of the context, defines
the precise meaning which ta has. If it be desired to mark
particularly the relation, there are many ways of doing it, but
still the radical indefiniteness of the word remains 1. In the
same way the Nengone hue has been shown to have the double
meaning of the English ' with,' or ' by.' So also in Mota mun
is both dative and instrumental, ma in Santa Cruz is both
locative and dative. Languages have no doubt particularised
a meaning which they originally inherited as general ; and the
particularised meaning is for that reason the more modern.
In fact a general sense of relation is the mother of all the sig-
nifications of the Prepositions. If one particular language be
taken, the precise signification of each Preposition may be
ascertained, though some may have more than one meaning.
At least, the true meaning of any given Preposition can be
ascertained in any one language. But a neighbouring language,
1 ' The Preposition amy (in Malagasy) derives its meaning entirely from
the governing Verb ; it may signify with, to, from, out of, in, at, &c.' — Baker's
Malagasy Grammar. This is the Mota ama.
160 Melanesia* Languages.
substantially the same, will have the same Preposition with
a slightly different signification ; the Motlav hir is not pre-
cisely in meaning the same as the Mota sur. The general
meaning, which includes all meanings, is common to all the
languages which have the word ; each of which defines and
specialises it.
(2) The Melanesian mind does not regard the locality of
actions as we do ; natives do not use Prepositions, therefore, as
we do. It may seem to us strange that ta na vale should mean
at once into a house and from a house, but this to the native is
natural, not from indistinctness of conception, or poverty of
expression, but from a different way of looking at the matter.
If a man standing on a cliff sees a ship on the sea, we should
say that he sees the ship from the cliff. To the Melanesian
it has quite another meaning to say ' from ' in such a case ;
they would say that the man sees it ' at ' the cliff. It is he
who sees and whose position is in view. We ask where
a thing comes from ? they ask ' at what place a thing comes
hither ? ' The Adverb ' where,' in Mota avea, in Florida ivei,
in Fiji evei, is in fact a Noun with a Preposition. When,
therefore, it is asked in Mota whence is this ? it is Iloke ma
avea ? literally, ' this hither at what place ? ' The answer is
a Mota ( sit Mota.' From this not having been understood,
the Adverb ma, mai, has been taken for a Preposition.
When this way of regarding locality is recognised as ruling
the native idiom, there is no difficulty in taking the Mota
nan ' from ' to be the Duke of York nan ' by, beside, it.'
What are called Compound Prepositions, in which a Pre-
position and a Noun together make up one word, need not be
examined here ; their force depends on the Preposition in the
compound, as in the English 'above,' 'before/
It is desirable to mention particularly the singular use of i
postfixed in the language of G*ao and Ysabel, which has the
appearance of a Preposition put after the Noun instead of
before it : aniza Tcllai strike him with club, (kila a club) ;
igne kilai te anizai this is the club (with) which he struck
him with. If a Preposition, there is nothing like it in the
Short Comparative Grammar. 161
languages here considered : if not a Preposition, it still is
difficult to explain.
Looking for the Prepositions of other Ocean languages, to
compare them with these of Melanesia, we find the simple
Prepositions in Malay only three, di at, in, on ; ka to, towards ;
deri from. Of these it is possible that di is the Melanesian
ni. In the Batak of Sumatra ni is a genitive Preposition x.
In Malagasy the genitive Preposition nyz is the same,
though apt to be confused with ny, the suffixed third person
Pronoun : raviny ny hazo, ravina ny hazo, leaf of a tree,
(Iran ni kau Fiji, ran ni yai, or rauna na gai, Florida.
Other Prepositions are a, an in, by, with ; amy with, in, at ;
amby on ; avy to. Comparing these with Melanesian Preposi-
tions, it would appear that the Melanesian locative a is repre-
sented by a, as in an, and that an and the other Prepositions
are compounded with this a, answering precisely to the Mota
compound Prepositions ama and ape3. Further, Malagasy
Prepositions, with a prefixed, take the suffixed Pronoun ; amy
nao with thee, Mota amaiko. It is not, then, too much to take
these Prepositions as composed of a Noun with the Preposi-
tion 0, like so many of the Melanesian. There is another
remarkable coincidence. In the Banks' Islands, for example,
while Prepositions like ape, ama, compounded with the loca-
tive «, signify ' at,' ' with,' the prefixing of t, or it should
rather be said the putting the Preposition ta in the place of a,
changes the sense so as to make it equal to ' belonging to,'
' remaining with.' In Mota amaira is ' with them,' o gene
nan tamaira the things of their country, or of their village,
or their house. In Malagasy, ' the initial t, placed before
certain prepositions, indicates, as it does with Adverbs of
Time and Place, the past, or the place whence one comes V
1 ' Many Prepositions in Dayak of Southern Borneo were originally Verbs.'—-
Von der Gabelentz.
a Van der Tuuk.
3 Compound Prepositions in Malagasy, formed by prefixing a, am, an, i to
Nouns, correspond to the Melanesian Compound Prepositions, Nouns with a,
and i ; for example, ambony, Mota avune, above.
* Marre de Marin.
M
1 62 Melanesian Languages.
Amy nao izy he is at your house ; tamy nao izy he was at your
house ; zaho avy tamy nao I am come from your house. In
Mota an Adverb of Place is formed with ta ; avea where ?
tavea belonging to what place ? One may doubt whether it
is not this sense which in Malagasy is transferred to, or is
taken for, that of past time.
There is a much more characteristic, and more widely
applicable, correspondence between the Malagasy and the
Melanesian use of the Preposition an, a. ( A peculiarity of
the Malagasy is the use of the preposition before the substan-
tive, not with the sense of an Adverb, as might be supposed
and is really also the case (andanitra in heaven), but very
often to designate the proper name of a place as a real
substantive ; as, for instance, we have Ankova (the country
of the Hova tribe), although it is composed of any (at, in, &c.),
and Ilova, and should signify in the Hova, or at Hova. The
same is seen in Javanese, e. g. ngayodya, out of ing Ayodya
literally at Ayodya, the ancient name of the Indian Oude ;
the Sanskrit Langka, Ceylon, is mostly in Javanese ngalengka,
instead of ing Lengka, on Ceylon. In Batak a few remnants
of this are to be traced ; v. g. jwma (Dairi, a dry field for
cultivation), although it is melted down from di uma, in the
field1.' The names of Islands on the Maps show that this
holds good in Melanesia : Efate is ' at Fate ; ' Aoba, Api,
Ambrym, Araga, in the New Hebrides, all show the locative
Preposition before the real name of the Island. It is, in fact,
a difficulty in teaching Geography to Melanesians to make
them clearly apprehend that Asia, Africa, and America are
not Sia, Friea, Merica, with the Preposition a 2 ; so entirely is
1 Van der Tuuk, Outlines of the Grammar of the Malagasy language.
' Names of Places require i or an before them.' — Baker. It may be added
that uma in the New Hebrides, Banks' Islands, Solomon Islands, is a garden
or to clear a garden ; in Aurora, where they have irrigated plantations, uma is
a dry one.
8 In the same way, from the habit of using the Personal Article with
Proper Names, a Florida boy will write Dam for Adam, a Mota boy Safe for
Isaac.
Short Comparative Grammar. 163
that manner of using the name of a Place in accordance with
their way of speech.
The Prepositions in Maori are numerous, of which some
have an apparent agreement with those of the Melanesian
languages. Of the simple Prepositions some are mere par-
ticles, others have sometimes the form of Nouns. There is
much variety and much nicety in the use of these words, to
some extent owing to the distinction in the sense of a and o,
already mentioned in the case of Possessives.
The simple Preposition i is locative, with other senses ; and
in complete accordance with Melanesian idiom it also means
' from ; ' haerenga o te tino Kawana o Niu Tireni i Akarana kl
Taranaki Journey of the Governor of New Zealand from
Auckland to Taranaki. Another locative is #, instrumental
and dative ki.
It has been said above that the stems to which Pronouns
kut u, na are suffixed to make Possessives are by some writers of
Maori Grammars called Prepositions, but that, in fact, we may
venture to call them Nouns. The same roots undoubtedly
very often are really Nouns. There is the distinction which
in the Polynesian languages is so well made between the
active sense of the vowel a and the passive of o, which
appears as much in the words used as Prepositions as in the
same when used as Possessive Nouns. It may very well be,
however, that, anterior to such distinction, na and no are at
bottom the same with na noticed in Duke of York, and ma,
mo, the same root ma as in so many Melanesian Prepositions,
really Nouns, and the Malagasy a-my. In dealing with Pre-
positions, it is necessary, where any view of an early stage of
language can be had, to go back as far as possible to the
substantival roots with very indefinite and not yet particu-
larised signification.
Compound Prepositions are made of Nouns with the
locatives i and a ; i muri is behind, as in Florida, a reira
there, i. e. at that, as a ia in Mota.
In the Marshall Islands the genitive Preposition is in ;
M 3
164 Melanesian Languages.
that for near, by, is ib, a form probably of pe, de, with i a Pre-
position of place prefixed.
19. Adverbs.
The Adverbs in Melanesian languages, those particularly of
Place and Time, are very commonly Substantives. Those of
Place and Time which are made up of Demonstrative Particles,
are commonly the same for both uses. Adverbs of Manner
are generally perhaps independent words ; and it may be
said that there are some true Adverbs, words which do no-
thing else but qualify the signification of Verbs.
For example, the word already referred to, the Mota vea,
Florida and Fiji vei, Maori hea, Samoan fea, means the place
where, and is plainly a Noun. It is not only shown to be
so by the Preposition that precedes it, making avea, ivei, evei,
a hea, no Tiea, i hea, i fea where ? i. e. at what place ? but it
takes the Article or ' sign of the Nominative absolute ' before
it, o vea, na vei, Tco /tea, 'ofea. The words in Malagasy which,
with the prefix of the Preposition an, serve as Adverbs of
Manner, Time, and Place, are quite as plainly Nouns. The
words for ' to-morrow ' in Mota, a maran ' at light,' (Malagasy
maraina], the day after to-morrow a risa, (Malay lusa), with
the Preposition a, are Nouns. It is easily to be understood
that Adverbs of Place are used to mark Time, past, present, or
future, especially among those who, like the Melanesians and
Maoris, can only express time by space. It makes no differ-
ence if Adverbs of this kind are Substantives, or whether
they are those Particles which point here and there in Place,
and therefore in time, and it may be even in logical conse-
quence. In the Marshall Islands kie is ' this,' and ' here,'
as nake in Mota is ' this ' and ' now.' It is evident that in
all the Ocean languages, with much that is common in the
words they use, the mental view and attitude of the native
speakers are the same.
Here also the habit of introducing continually Adverbs of
Place and of Direction must be again referred to, up and
Short Comparative Grammar. 165
down, hither and hence, seawards and landwards, which is
characteristic alike of Melanesians and Polynesians. Every-
thing and everybody spoken of are viewed as coming or going,
or in some relation of place, in a way which to the European
is by no means accustomed or natural.
Nothing is more difficult than to ascertain precisely in
each language the place or the direction indicated by some
of the Adverbs of Place. It is probably impossible to arrange
them so as to show a corresponding sense. In regard also
to the principal points of direction, used as we should use the
points of the compass, it is impossible to fix the native
points in agreement with North, South, East, and West.
The winds are accurately named, but each has its own name
without reference to anything like North or South. On
shore the sea and the cultivation inland are generally spoken
of as down and up ; and, according to the configuration of an
island, these points of direction are perpetually changing, so
that on the opposite sides of a small island, or of a promontory
in a large one, the signification of sage and siwo, lau and lona,
becomes reversed ; landwards is North on one side and South
on the other.
20. Adjectives.
Nouns Substantive in Melanesian languages, it has been
already said, are used as Adjectives, but are not on that
account to be classed as other than Substantives. There are,
however, some words on which it may be well to make a few
observations in this place, which may be set down as truly
Adjectives, either (i) because they are never used as Substan-
tives, or (2) because they have a change of form which marks
them as Adjectives.
i. These words are never the names of things. It may
very well be that all of them may be used as Verbs1, but
they cannot be Substantives. Such words as these are
1 When Malagasy Adjectives are said to have Tenses, and those Tenses
marked by the same particles as in the case of Verbs, it is plain that Adjec-
tives in that language are used in the form of Verbs as much as in Melanesia.
An Adjective, as such, cannot have tenses.
1 66 Melanesian Languages.
probably few in any Melanesian language. To take the
example of Mota ; there are two words meaning- great, poa
and liwoa, neither of which is used as a Substantive. The
difference between them is that poa can never be added to
qualify a Noun except in a verbal form, while liwoa can,
o tanun we poa> o tanun liwoa a great man: it cannot be
tanun poa, the word must be used with the verbal particle
we ; it may be tanun we liwoa with a little change of meaning.
The words, then, that can be used to qualify, without a verbal
form, and not being otherwise substantives, may well be said
to be true Adjectives. Such are in Fiji levu great, lailai small,
&c., and it may be safely said that such Adjectives are in use
in all Melanesian languages. Whether a word is reduplicated
or not makes no difference as to its character as Adjective,
Substantive, or Verb : reduplication of a word used as an
Adjective is indeed very common, but a reduplicated Substan-
tive does not turn into an Adjective, nor does a reduplicated
Verb. Reduplication as it intensifies, or sometimes diminishes,
the force of words, extends also the signification as spreading
it over a wider surface of time or action. Thus it naturally
conveys the notion of a quality, and the Adjectives in the pre-
ceding Vocabularies may be observed to be generally redupli-
cated when they are derived. If, as in Fiji, an Adjective is
reduplicated when it is meant to convey a sense of plurality,
it is a very natural contrivance ; but it is impossible to regard
it as an example of singular and plural forms.
In all Melanesian languages also, it may be said, it is
common to use words, which might be used as pure Adjectives
simply added to qualify, in the shape of Verbs.
2. Excluding reduplication, which makes no grammatical
change in a word, words otherwise Substantives, (a very ex-
tensive description,) become Adjectives by changes in form in
the way of suffix and prefix. The prefixes attached only to
Verbs are thus excluded ; the Verb reduplicated, or with
whatever prefix, may be used to qualify a Noun, but it
remains a Verb. But when one of these Adjectival termina-
tions is suffixed to a Verb, it may well be said to make that
Short Comparative Grammar. 167
also an Adjective, even though the word may be used in a
verbal form with a verbal particle. In Maewo tani is to weep,
tantamsa is pitiful, in both senses of the English word ; the
reduplication extends the weeping- from a single act to such a
repetition as makes a habit ; the termination marks the word
as conveying the character of one who frequently shows pity,
or is an object of it. In this case the value of the Adjectival
suffix sa is shown by the difference of the purely verbal suffix
si in tantanisi to be pitiful to.
The Adjectival terminations in Melanesian languages are
these : —
NEW HEBEIDES.
Sesake a
Araga ga
Lepers' Island ga, gi
Maewo ga, gi, sa
Ulawa
BANKS' ISLANDS.
Merlav g, r
Gaua g, r
Lakona g
Vanua Lava g, r
Mota ga, ra, ta
Motlav g
Volow s
Ureparapara a, ra
Torres Islands ga
FIJI a, ta, li
SOLOMON ISLANDS.
Wawo 'a
Fagani ga
Saa 'a
Vaturawa ha
Florida ga
Savo sua ?
Bugotu ga
Duke of York ina.
From this list several languages of those which are under
consideration are absent — notably those of the Loyalty Islands,
Ambrym, and Santa Cruz ; while that of Savo is an exception.
There is a certain significance in this, inasmuch as it is pre-
cisely in those languages that such archaic characteristics
have been observed as the use of Nouns for Prepositions, and
a less full form of Pronouns. It may certainly be thought
that the formation of Adjectives by suffixing a termination,
whether a mere particle suffixed or a word with a sense of its
own, to a Noun, would come comparatively late in the history
of a language.
It cannot escape observation that the Adjectival termina-
tion is almost everywhere ga, g, a, or gi ; ga being evidently
represented by g and a. There is no language which uses
1 68 Melanesian Languages.
this termination so boldly as that of Florida, and so well offers
illustration of the common use. The natives can make an
Adjective at will by suffixing- ga to a Noun or Adverb, so much
so that there are no fixed words with this termination ; but it
can be applied to any words except to Verbs, as in English
' y,' ' ly,' ' ish,' or ' some ' are suffixed. Thus a room lighted
with candles, bulu, is said to be buluga, as we might say
' candlesome ' as well as ' lightsome ; ' a collar with long points
is kuliga, from kuli an ear ; a deep well is horuga from the
Adverb Jwru down. In other languages, as e.g. in Mota, there
may be Adjectives ending in ga which are evidently words of
this kind, though the nouns to which the ga is suffixed are
not in use, such as agaga white, turturuga blue, taniniga
straight.
The other terminations, such as sa, ra, ta, II, show no dif-
ference in signification. In Fiji ulouloa is maggoty, from
ulo, dukadtikali dirty, from duTca dirt, dregadregata gluey, from
drega glue. In the Banks' Islands ligligira fluid from ligiu a
fluid ; sasarita even, from sar to match. In Duke of York
kibagina is white like lime, from kibag lime, rumaina full of
houses, from ruma a house.
In looking at other Ocean languages for comparison we see
that in Malay an Adjective is merely a qualifying word with-
out form or character of its own. Nor do Vocabularies of
words from the Indian Archipelago show any Adjectival ter-
mination. The Malagasy equally fails us. In the Polyne-
sian languages, however, there is something for comparison
and illustration.
' Maori Adjectives have no peculiar or appropriate form ;' but
in Samoan the addition of a to a Noun makes an Adjective, as
'eldelea dirty, from 'ele'ele; fatufatua stony, fromfatu a stone1.
It is at once evident that this is the termination ga, so common
in Melanesia, and it deserves notice that the Samoan termina-
tion is not X as if k had been dropped, as in Wawo or Saa the
break is heard where g has disappeared. This is one of those
cases in which the Melanesian might not unreasonably be
1 In Tongan gele mud, gelea muddy.
Short Comparative Grammar. 169
thought to have borrowed from the Polynesian. But the
Melanesian has ga, ra, sa, ta, li, as Adjectival terminations,
of which the consonant is evidently the formative part,
since g and r are used without a vowel ; and the Poly-
nesian has only a, and that in not all Polynesian languages.
It is not to be supposed that Melanesians borrowed ga or g
from a.
There are words which have been called compound Adjectives,
two Nouns, in fact, in juxtaposition, of which the second qualifies
the first, which, as there is nothing in the compound form dif-
ferent from an ordinary compound Noun, are really not more
Adjectives than simple Nouns are. In English such compounds
may be classed as Adjectives, but it is very undesirable to do
so here. The same may be said of words compounded in Fiji
with the prefix dau, no doubt the same word as the Torres
Islands to, to-wuwuk fond of beating, and the same sort of
word with the Mota man, man-vus fond of beating, and with
Duke of York tara, taradono full of leaves. These, whether
compounded of two Substantives, Verb and Substantive, or
two Verbs even, make one word, and that a Noun used to
qualify.
The common causative prefix vaka gives in Fiji a sense not
commonly given in other Melanesian languages, vaka vale
'having a house.' In Fate/a/foz is used to make an Adverb,
but generally the prefix belongs to Verbs. With Verbs also
it will be better to connect the prefix of condition ma, though
the word resulting from the prefixing of it is often only an
Adjective. This prefix is very common in Melanesia, and in
Polynesia also * ; as in Mota sare to tear, masare torn, in Sa-
moan liligi to pour, the Mota tin, maligi spilt. Similar pre-
fixes are ka and ta. Though these words often have the
appearance of Participles, ' torn,' ' spilt,' &c., yet they are not
always formed from Verbs, mavinvin thin, matoltol thick. The
Malagasy words with this prefix ma are classed as Adjectives.
Many roots in that language form Adjectives of quality by
1 Compare the servile m in Semitic languages, prefixed to the verbal root
to make Participles.
170 Melanesia*, Languages.
prefixing ma, loto dirt, maloto dirty1. Compare Mota nara
blood, manaranara bloody. See also the Adjectives in the
Vocabularies.
21. Verbs.
The two broad divisions of Melanesian speech are Nouns
and Verbs, the Names of Things and the Names of Actions
or Conditions. In Melanesian languages a word is marked
as a Verb by its being used with a preceding Particle, the
office of which is to declare, very often with something of
Tense and Mood, that it is an action or condition that is spoken
of, and not a thing. It is true that in all the languages it is
possible, in some it is common, to use a Verb without a Par-
ticle ; but all these languages use Particles with Verbs.
Besides these Particles used with Verbs, and in these lan-
guages generally written distinct from the Verbs, there are
Prefixes and Suffixes written with the Verbs which make a
change in their signification. It will be better to leave these
till later and deal first with that which is purely Verbal;
the addition of which marks certainly the presence of a
Verb.
22. Verbal Particles.
Verbal Particles always precede the Verb. It makes no
difference whether they are written in one with the Verb, or
separate, except in so far as their separation keeps the Verb
itself more clearly in view2. In Melanesian languages the
Particle is written apart, except where the contracting ten-
dencies of the languages, as in Motlav, make it impossible.
There are Particles also which follow Verbs, but these are of
the character of Adverbs.
The Verbal Particles themselves cannot be called anything
but Particles. The Personal Pronouns in many languages
coalesce with them, or influence their form, or accompany
them, even sometimes replace them, and for this reason in
1 Parker's and Baker's Grammars.
2 If Particles of this kind were written separate there would not be so
many cases of Infix discovered.
Short Comparative Grammar. 171
some languages they may appear to be forms of Pronouns.
Bishop Patteson at one time classed some of them with Pro-
nouns. But, when taken as a whole, including the languages
in which the Particle in no way varies with the Person or the
Number, and considering the universal use of them in the
Melanesian, Polynesian, and Malagasy languages, and their
presence in Micronesia, it will be seen to be impossible to
class them as Pronouns.
Much less can they be called Substantive Verbs, as has
been done in the New Hebrides l ; any extended view of the
Melanesian languages, even without including others, must
be thought to make it impossible.
In every Melanesian language here considered these Par-
ticles are, more or less, in use. There is one marked division
according to which they may be classified, viz. those which
are invariable in form in each Number and Person, and those
which change. These latter again have to be divided into
those that change in accordance with the characteristic vowel
of the Pronoun, and those that change inasmuch as they coalesce
with some short form of the Pronoun. It must be particularly
noted that the Particle of the third Person singular neither
shows a vowel in sympathy with that of the third person Pro-
• noun, nor coalesces with it. Before proceeding further it will be
well to give examples of these three kinds of Verbal Particles.
1 . Invariable. Mota we, Fiji sa, the most common Particles,
are the same in all Persons and in each Number ; nau we
valago I run, Mota, au sa lako I go, Fiji. The Verb, in the
same Tense, will be throughout we valago, sa lako.
2. Variable ly change of Vowel. In Florida and the neigh-
bouring islands this change is most regular : —
SINGULAR. PLUEAL.
1. Nau tu bosa I speak. i.\^ita ta bosa> inc1'
{.Igami tai bosa, excl.
2. Iffoe to bosa thou speakest. 2. Igamu tau bosa.
3. Agaia te bosa he speaks. 3. Agaira tara bosa.
Here what may be taken as the characteristic Particle is te,
1 Eev. J. Copeland, in Dr. Steel's New Hebrides, 'The Verb "to be," as
in English, conjugates the verbs through all their moods and tenses.'
172 Melanesian Languages.
the vowel of which is not that of the Pronoun. In the other
Persons it is plain that the vowel with t follows that of the
Pronoun.
Here also two observations must be made, (i) The presence
of t in every form of the Particle, and never, except once, in
the Pronoun, shows that the Particle is not a Pronoun.
(2) When the character of the Personal Pronoun has been
conveyed to the Particle by its characteristic vowel, there is
no need for the Pronoun to be expressed at all. In Florida
tu bosa, ta bosa, is ' I speak,' ' we speak,' without inau or igita.
In Mota or Fiji, where the Particle is invariable, this could
never be ; we vava, sa vosa, is the verb ' to speak,' but a word
only, not a sentence ; there is no subject indicated.
3. Variable by coalescing with the Pronoun. The Northern
Islands of the New Hebrides give examples, as Lepers'
Island : —
SINGULAB. PLURAL.
T ., „ \Darn toga. incl.
1. Nom toga I sit. l.< _ , ' .
[Gam toga, excl.
2. &om toga thou sittest. 2. Mim toga
3. Mo toga he sits. 3. Earn toga.
In this mo in the third Person contains nothing- of the third
Personal Pronoun ne, and is the representative Particle. In
the first Person Singular no is a short form of new, in the second
go of inigo ; in the Plural da represents gide (of which de is the
pronominal stem), ga is gamai, mi is the pronominal stem in
ffimi, ra is the pronominal stem in nere : the Particle is -m.
Since the Pronoun is in fact, as in Florida, present in these
forms of the Particle, nom toga is a sentence without requiring
another Pronoun. The avoidance of a Pronoun in the third
Singular is remarkable : the Particle is, in fact, m, and the
natives will not assume e or a from the Pronoun, for the
beginning, but fill up the end with o.
From the manner in which the forms of the Particles vary,
when they do change, it may be concluded that the invariable
Particle is of the older use. The languages, it may be observed,
in which variation occurs are comparatively few, when the
whole area of the languages is regarded. In some of those
Short Comparative Grammar. 173
languages where the Pronoun coalesces with the Particle we
shall see that it does not do so with all the Particles. In
some languages also the Particles here given cannot be ex-
actly ascertained, though enough is shown to prove that
Verbal Particles are in use. The extent of the use of these
Particles varies in different languages, and this too is not
easy to ascertain. In the languages of which the writer has
any considerable knowledge rules can be made out according
to which the Particles are dispensed with ; but concerning
many others it must suffice for the present to know that the
Verb is used with these Particles.
As it is by means of these Particles that a word expresses
itself as a Verb, so it is by means of these that the Verb
exercises its power of expressing Tense and Mood. It is by
no means common in Melanesia that Particles should be used
to express Mood ; such is found to be the case only, in fact, in
the Banks' Islands and Fiji. The use of them to express
Tense is much more common, and yet there are some which
depend entirely upon Adverbs to declare the time. Nor must
it be understood that the expression of Tense is very definite.
For the Present Tense it may be said that there is no Par-
ticle ; what is used is indefinite in regard to time. If nothing
is added to fix the point of time, it may be assumed to be the
Present ; when the point of time has been fixed by an Adverb,
or by a definitely temporal Particle, then the Verb is carried
on by the indefinite Particle without the expression of Tense,
but with the understanding that the Past or the Future is in
view. This is the case not only in narrative, but even when
only two Verbs are connected by a conjunction ; ' shall eat
and drink ' in Mota is te gana wa we ima, te being the Future
Particle and we the Indefinite. In the Banks' Islands,
Northern New Hebrides, and at Nengone there is a Particle
which expresses continuance, ti, ji, ci, giving the sense of
continued action or condition, which is also used in narra-
tive.
In the following table, which exhibits a view of Verbal
Particles in use in Melanesia, those in which the vowel
174
Melanesian Languages.
varies in agreement with that of the Personal Pronoun are
marked * ; those with which the Personal Pronoun coalesces
are marked f ; a third kind, not yet described, are marked §,
These last occur in languages in which the vowel of a Particle
shifts to match the first of the Verb to which the Particle is
prefixed. In Motlav, as the Article shifts its vowel in this
way, so do the Verbal Particles. But these Particles are
substantially the same as the Invariable Particles, and must
be by no means confused with those in which the change
depends upon the Pronoun. For this reason they were not
mentioned in the division established between those Particles
which change with the Person and Number, and those that
do not *.
Table of Verbal Particles.
LOYALTY ISLANDS.
Indefinite. Past. Future.
Nengone
me
ha, hna co
Lifu
a, e, ka
na toa
NEW HEBRIDES.
Anaiteum
a, i
Fate
e, u, te
Sesake
*e, u, t
Ambrym
tma, a, e,
te, ve
Espiritu Santo
mo, mu, ga
Araga
fma, me,
fn i, fvi
Lepers' Island
fmo, ga
•fna, fvi, i
Maewo
u, mo
ta ni, fn
BANKS' ISLANDS.
Merlav
nu
ma sa
Gaua
ve
me te
Lakona
e, ft
en te
Vanua Lava
g»> ge, §g
me, §m- te, §k-
Mota
we
me te
Motlav
-k, §n-
§m- §t-
Volow
§n-
§m- §t-
Of
Contin-
uance.
ci
Modal.
ti
mi
to, qe
ta, qe
pe, mu
1 For example, in Motlav the Particle »- with shifting vowel is no before
gob, ne before we ; the Particle t- is ta before vav, in every Person and both
Numbers : whereas ta in Florida has the vowel without any reference to the
following Verb, but wholly to the Person of the Pronoun.
Ulawa
*a
Wawo
*a
Fagani
*a
Saa
*e, *ke
Vaturawa
*e
Florida
*e, te
Savo
na
Bugotu
*e, ke
<7ao
e, te, we
Duke of York
i
Short Comparative Grammar. 175
Of
Indefinite. Past. Future. Contin- Modal.
nance.
Ureparapara §k- §m- te, ji ji
Torres Islands na, ve §m- te
FIJI e, sa a, ka na mo, me
SANTA CKUZ ka, ti na
Nifilole ki na
SOLOMON ISLANDS.
i
i
i
*ke
*ke
This table does not perhaps exhibit all the Particles which
may be found in use, nor does it possibly show them all cor-
rectly. But it is enough to show that the use of Particles
with Verbs is characteristic of the Melanesian languages as
a whole. To observe carefully so characteristic a way of
forming or using a Verb is evidently important. For details
the Grammars of the several languages must be consulted. It
is plain here that, with great diversity in the particular Par-
ticles employed, there is a remarkable agreement in the use of
them.
23. It becomes, in the next place, necessary to look to the
other Ocean languages for comparison. Among these the
Malay is disappointing. According to Crawfurd the Verbal
Particle ma is in very frequent use prefixed to Verbs, and is a
sign to distinguish a Verb ; so much so that the use of ma
makes the difference between Verbs and other Parts of speech 1.
1 In Maxwell's Manual of the Malay Language, the particle ma is not
mentioned ; the ' inseparable prefix me (in all its various forms meng, men,
meny} is the mark of a Verb which expresses an action.'
176 Melanesian Languages.
Yet no prefixed Particle avails to give Tense or Mood to a Verb.
The practice also of writing the Particle ma with the Verb
adds to the difficulty ; makan is given as to eat and minum
to drink, words which the Fiji kana, Mota gana, to eat, inu
Florida, un Mota, to drink, clearly show to exist as Verbs with-
out the Prefix. It is therefore not easy to determine whether
the Verbal Particles of Melanesia are present in Malay.
In Malagasy, though a certain obscurity belongs to the
practice of writing the Particle in one with the Verb, Verbal
Particles appear which change according to the tense : mijery
aho I think, nijery aho I thought, hijery aho I shall think.
By writing mijery it becomes if not necessary at least natural
to say that to form the past mi is changed to ni ; for mijery is
taken as the Verb, jery as the root. By writing mi jery
separately mi is shown as the Verbal Particle. The Prefix or
Verbal Particle may be ma, na, ha, as maliay (know), naliay,
hahay, or mo, no, ho. The main point of comparison is the
common use in Malagasy and the Melanesian languages of
Particles prefixed to Verbs which change to mark the tense.
As in the Melanesian languages these Particles are used when
a prefix, reciprocal, causative, conditional, is taken before the
Verb : mankatia is to love, mampankatia to cause to love, the
causative prefix is said to be intercalated, ma remains before
the causative. In Mota tape is to love, with the Verbal Par-
ticle we tape, vatape to cause to love, and this with the Verbal
Particle we vatape ; we corresponds to ma, va to mpa, the true
Verb is tape and katia. In this there is the double cor-
respondence of the Verbal Particle and the causative prefix.
In the Philippine languages the prefix m changes into n to
mark the past time.
In Maori ' the Verbal Particles are words which have no
meaning in themselves, but which, prefixed to a word, endue
it with the qualities of a Verb V The Particles are e, i, ka,
kia, kua. Of these ka ' is independent of time ; merely giving
to the word to which it is prefixed the force of a Verb ; e is
1 Dr. Maimsell's Grammar of the New Zealand Language.
Short Comparative Grammar. 177
used chiefly with the future, and accompanied with the suffix
ana forms a present imperfect : i denotes the past indefinite1.'
The agreement in the use of Verbal Particles with the Mela-
nesian languages is complete. The Samoan Particles e, te, na>
sa, marking the tenses of Verbs, are of the same character.
In the Micronesian language of Marshall Islands the par-
ticle e before Adjectives is no doubt the same ; e lap large,
corresponds to the Mota we lava, in verbal and in gram-
matical form. It has been already said that the verbal form
is used with most Adjectives in Melanesian languages.
23. Verbal Suffixes.
To continue the consideration of the forms of words which
make them or show them to be Verbs, the terminations —
the Suffixes, not the Prefixes — must be taken in hand. The
Prefixes to Verbs are common to them and other parts of
speech, so far at least as that words with these Prefixes are
not always used as Verbs. In the case of the Suffixes it is
not so ; the Verbal Suffix marks a word as a Verb.
It needs not to be said that all Verbs have not Suffixes ; a
Suffix is added to a Verb to change in some way its signifi-
cation. It may very well be that a Verb with a suffixed
termination may be found in a language in which the Verb
without the Suffix is not found at present, but the stem is a
Verb, and the signification of the Suffix will be felt in the
meaning of the word.
The suffixing of terminations to Verbs is practised to a
great extent in Fiji ; and the system according to which it is
practised is set forth at great length in Hazlewood's Gram-
mar. It is not difficult, however, to put it more briefly.
i. An intransitive Verb receiving one of the Suffixes becomes
transitive. 2. A transitive Verb with one of these Suffixes
has its action determined upon some definite object. Thus
(i) moce to sleep, mocera to sleep upon, lako to go, lakova to
go in. Intransitive Verbs thus become transitive, the Suffix
1 Shortland : How to learn Maori.
N
178 Melanesian Languages.
conveying1 the action on the object, as a Preposition does in
English. (2) Transitive Verbs are determined upon definite
objects, which therefore have the definite Article ; caka to
work, caka were to work garden generally, cakava na were to
work a garden, the garden, some garden. If in the first case
the Suffix appears to be equivalent to a Preposition, in the
latter case it is seen to be not so.
Inform the Fiji Suffixes are divided into two classes ; it
being understood that the language does not close a syllable.
The one class consists of a suffix of a, ca, ga, ka, ma, na, ra, ta,
va, wa, ya ; that is, of almost any simple consonant with an
accompanying vowel. The other, of caka, kaka, laka, maka,
raka, taka, vaka, waka, yaka ; that is, of almost any simple
consonant with aka.
It is important to observe that Verbs take these termina-
tions indifferently ; that is to say, there can be no rule found
to determine what termination a Verb will take, and no par-
ticular sense can be assigned to any termination. Hence it
must be concluded that some sense of the fitness of some
Suffix to a Verb, in sound perhaps, has fixed the native habit
of using that Suffix with that Verb ; and further, that it is
in vain to seek for a special meaning in each Suffix. A larger
comparison, however, than can be made in one language is
necessary to establish these conclusions.
These Verbal Suffixes are as largely employed in the
Banks' Islands as in Fiji, and they are in fact the same ; but
they hardly appear to be used with so much exactness of
definition. To take Mota as an example ; the way of using
the Suffixes is the same in making intransitive Verbs transi-
tive, and determining the action of transitive Verbs upon an
object. In form there is only the difference which belongs to
the character of the language as allowing a close syllable.
The one class of terminations consists of a Consonant, almost
any Consonant, but most commonly g ; g, n, n, r, s, t, v ; the
second class of ag, and ag with almost any Consonant ; gag,
lag, mag, nag, naff, raff, sag, tag, vag.
It is equally impossible to say in this language that any
Short Comparative Grammar. j 79
one of these terminations has a sense of its own, which may
be supposed to be derived from some original word now be-
come a Suffix. Attempts have been made. Mr. Hazlewood
attempts to make the Fiji suffix va, which also means ' go ' in
Mota, applied by rule to Verbs of motion ; but he confesses
that ' many other words besides those of motion take va ; '
adding-, ' but for these perhaps there is no rule.' Many Verbs
in Mota with the Suffix v can be made to show a sense of
motion, but as soon as others are adduced with the same
Suffix which have no sense of motion, it is apparent that
what sense of motion there is does not lie in the Suffix. If
vanov to put, sogov to give freely, may seem to contain a sense
of motion, tanov to touch, sarav to rub, vataqav to shut down,
have not 1. Moreover a Suffix which in one language is used
with a Verb in one sense, in another neighbouring language
is used in another sense. Thus in Mota ronotag is to hear ; the
same stem and Suffix is in Fiji rogotaka, which means to tell,
report : the stem rono, rogo, is to hear as an intransitive Verb ;
tag in the one language gives the signification of listening to
something, taka in the other gives that of making hear. It
is a proof of the same kind when the same taka in Fiji can
with one Verb be represented by the Preposition ' in,' with
another Verb by 'with;' sokotaka na waga sail in a canoe,
kabaiaka na matau climb up with an axe. Or a Verb without
difference of meaning takes two Suffixes, as Mota saromag and
sarovag mean equally to sheath.
The following table will show how characteristic these
Suffixes are of the Melanesian languages ; the Santa Cruz
1 The Verb tano is to touch, and needs a Preposition after it to connect
it with an object, tano ape touch at or to ; but the suffix v enables the Verb
to work directly upon the object without a Preposition, the form tanov
describes not mere touching, but touching at work on something. There IB
no more motion in one than in the other. So taqa is to incline downwards,
with a certain idea of motion possibly in the ' downwards ;' va is the
causative prefix, v the suffix makes the Verb mean to make something
incline downwards ; whatever motion is in the word was there before the
suffix was added. Sarav is to rub something definite; there is movement
indeed in the act of rubbing, but generally, not with regard to one definite
object.
N 2
i8o
Melanesian Languages.
group alone is not represented. The two classes of Suffix are
kept distinct, though there is no difference of use or meaning
between them.
Melanesian Verbal Suffixes.
LOYALTY ISLANDS.
Consonantal. Syllabic.
ne, ni, ti
Nengone
Lifu
Anaiteum
NEW HEBBIDES.
frai, raig, jai, jaig,
I taig, haig
naig,
Fate
si, ki
reki, naki
Sesake
ti, i, vi, ki
..
Ambrym
..
ta
Espiritu Santo
v
tag
Araga
i
tai, mai, rai
Lepers' Island
hi, si
tagi
Maewo
si, gi
va, ragi, nagi.
BANKS'
ISLANDS.
Merlav
n, r, t
va, ra, la, na
Gaua
g, n, v, r, t, s, n
fvag, sag, tag, lag,
mag,
1 rag, gag
Lakon
or y
sag, vag
Vanua Lava
g, n, r, n, t
te, se, re, ve, me, teg,
leg
Mota
v, r, t, s, n, n, g
fag, gag, lag, mag, nag, nag,
I rag, sag, tag, vag
Motlav
g
heg, teg, geg, veg
Volow
g. r
via, wia, hea, tea, rea
Ureparapara
n, v
te, sa, ran
Torres Islands
g. J. *
te, ge.
FIJI.
a, ca, ga, ka, ma, na, ra,
ta, va, wa, ya
caka, kaka, laka, inaka, raka,
taka, vaka, waka, yaka.
SOLOMON ISLANDS.
Ulawa
si
..
Wawo
si, ri, hi, ni
Fagani
si
vagi
Saa
si, hi, ni
hai
Vaturana
ni, si, li, hi, mi, vi
vahi
Florida
Jti, li, vi, hi, ni, mil
I si, vi, «i J
vagi, lagi, hagi, sagi,
pagi
Savo
li
Bugotu
ni, vi, hi, ti, ri
hagi, lagi, vagi
(?ao
ni
Duke of York
i
tai, pai, ruai, uai.
Short Comparative Grammar. 181
For details reference must be made to the Grammars of the
particular languages ; the mere possibility of presenting a
comparative view of the Suffixes shows plainly the general
use of them to be characteristic of Melanesia l.
Suffixes of this character are looked for in vain in Malay ;
that is to say, the causative suffixes i and kan cannot be sup-
posed identical with the Melanesian terminations shown
above. But in Javanese there is the Suffix ake, and another i,
which are added to the verb with n or k e^eXKuoruoV, making
kake, or ni, which correspond to the Fiji kaka, Mota gag, and
Fiji na, Mota n, Florida ni. Thus ' Javanese ngoinbeni to give
to drink (to a person), ngombekkake to give to drink (milk) V
If there be no other Suffix to Verbs in use in Javanese, the
presence of these two suffices to encourage the student of
Melanesian languages with the sight of a kindred form. The
Suffix ake is not in separate use in Javanese as a Preposition.
In Malagasy no Suffix of this kind appears. In Maori also
there is no suffix to the Verb. But in Samoan the termina-
tion tcti or sai adds the sense of ' with ' to the Verb ; momoe
to run, mo'eta'i to run with a thing, a'au to swim, 'ausa'i to
swim with a thing. This is evidently the same suffix with
the Fiji caka, taka, and in other Melanesian languages tag,
sag, tagi, sayi. Besides it is said that ' the suffix ai (inter-
posing a consonant when euphony requires) makes the mean-
ing emphatic3.' These Suffixes again, with a consonant
indifferently taken up, are no doubt the same as the Melane-
sian. If it be true that they merely give emphasis, they
must have lost the significance properly belonging to them,
and witnessed by ta'i and sai which work as with Melane-
sian Verbs. If such Suffixes are found in other Polynesian
languages they certainly do not play the important part they
do in Melanesia. In Tongan, which is nearest to Fiji, these
Suffixes are not apparent.
1 In Motu of New Guinea rano is water, ranosa to bale out water.
3 I am indebted for this illustration to Dr. Eost.
8 Pratt's Samoan Grammar. Verbs with the Reciprocal Prefix have cfi,
cfi, mcfi, n'ai as well, and consonantal suffixes ^/i, ni, si.
182 Melanesian Languages.
In the Marshall Islands language it is plain that the Suffix
kake is present ; wia is to buy, wia kake to sell, that is, to make
a deal of something.
However little Suffixes in these forms may be in use in
the Polynesian languages, the terminations of Passive Verbs
and Verbal Nouns in those languages resemble them in one
particular so much that something may be learnt from them.
The Passive Verb is made in Maori by adding to the Active
the termination a or ia, either alone or with the consonants
h, k, m, n, ng, r, t, that is, almost any consonant ; and these
indifferently as regards signification. The Passive is made
by any form of the Suffix ; all have equal signification, but
custom confines the Verb to its own Passive termination.
The same thing happens in the case of the Verbal Nouns ;
the Suffix is nga or anga with the consonants h, &, m, r, t,
fcpfKKvaTiKov, the Suffix with any one consonant having the
same meaning as with every other. It may possibly be that
the Maori Passive has arisen from the impersonal use of Verbs
with the transitive termination /«', ki, mi, &c. ; as the nearest
approach to a Passive Verb in the Melanesian languages is
an impersonal Active one, it may be that the forms of Verbal
Nouns and of Transitive Verbs have the same origin : but
the indiscriminate use of most of the consonants in Polynesian
Passives and Verbal Nouns, where all must have one signifi-
cation, where kia cannot mean anything different from mia,
or hanga from tanga, supplies a ground for arguing that the
Suffixes of Melanesian Verbs are equally destitute of meanings
of their own. It points to these Suffixes not being originally
independent words, Prepositions or others, come down to the
position of Suffixes, but terminations, by which the language
has contrived to make the Verb express itself in a way that
was desired. Why should not a living language contrive
terminations to supply its needs ?
24. Prefixes to Verbs.
These Prefixes are not entirely and exclusively Verbal, they
are applied to other Parts of Speech. Yet they show their force
Short Comparative Grammar.
'83
best when applied to Verbs, and it must be remembered that
words used as Verbs can never be taken as nothing else
but Verbs, whether with or without a Prefix. It will be
observed that those Particles which precede Verbs as belong-
ing to them strictly as Verbs, and which are capable of
marking Tense and Mood, the Verbal Particles, are not
included among these Prefixes, and are indeed written
separately from the Verb in order to avoid being confused
with these. If such Verbal Particles were written in one
with the Verbs, these Prefixes would have the appearance of
Infixes.
The Prefixes applied to Verbs come under four principal
heads ; those of Causation, Reciprocity, Condition, and
Spontaneity. The first is when a Verb comes to signify the
making to do or be ; the second when a double action, one
upon another, or of many on one another is indicated ; the
third when a thing is shewn to be in or to have arrived at
a certain condition ; the fourth when that condition has come
about of itself. The two latter might well have formed one
class, but that the last is somewhat remarkable.
Nengone
Lifu
Causative.
Anaiteum
ua
Fate
baka
. .
Sesake
va, vaka
Ambrym
..
..
Espiritu Santo
va, vaga
• •
Araga
va
vei
Lepers' Island
vaga
vui
Maewo
vaga
Merlav
Gaua
Lakona
va
va
va
Table of Prefixes.
LOYALTY ISLANDS.
Reciprocal. Condition.
NEW HEBBIDES.
ma, ta
ma, da
ma
ua
ma, ta
ma
ma, mo
BANKS' ISLANDS.
var ma, ta
ver ma, ta
va' ma, ta
Spontaneity.
tama
tava.
tava
tav
1 84
Mela nesian L anguages.
BANKS' ISLANDS (continued).
Causative. Reciprocal. Condition.
Spontaneity.
Vanua Lava
va, ve
ver
me, ta, 'a
tav, 'av, tamo
Mota
Motlav
va, vaga
va
var
ver
ma, ta
m-, t-
tava
tav
Volow
va
vear
m-, t-
Ureparapara
Torres Islands
V-
va
ver
ver
m-, t-
ma, ta
tava
temor
FIJI
vaka
vei
ka, ta, ra
SANTA CRUZ
va
..
..
..
Nifilole
wa
SOLOMON
ISLANDS.
••
Ulawa
haa
hai
ma
..
Wa»o
haa
hei
ma
..
Fagani
Baa
faga
haa
fai
he
ina
ma
ava
taka
Vaturawa
va
vei
ta
tapa
Florida
va
vei
ta
tapa
Savo
au
..
Bugotu
Gao
va
fa
vei
ta
••
Duke of York *
wa
we
ma, ta
1. It will be convenient to take each Class of Prefixes
separately. The Causative is almost universally va, alone or
with a second syllable, ~ka,ga. The Loyalty Islands have no v,
and use a for the causative. Duke of York, having no v, use wa.
The Anaiteum ua is equivalent to wa. The Savo au alone
seems distinct. This Causative Prefix is plainly the whaka,
faka, aka,fa'a, &c., of the Polynesian languages, in which the
simpler form va does not seem to occur. In the Melanesian
languages, except in Fiji and Fate, where it makes a kind of
Adverb, this Prefix is purely causative, for in this sense it
must be taken when it makes the multiplicative of Numerals.
This Prefix seems unknown in Malay. In Malagasy the
changes of letters /, p, m, make it difficult to ascertain its
presence. It is perfectly plain, however, ih&i fahatelo is the
same word with Fiji vakatolu, Mota vagatol, though in the
Melanesian languages it is 'three times,' not 'third.' In
Batak of Sumatra the same word, compounded of the Prefix
and Numeral, appears paJiatolu. There can be little doubt
1 Motu of New Guinea siahu hot, vasiahu ' hot water,' no doubt meaning
heated, the causative va.
Short Comparative Grammar. 185
but that the Malagasy Prefix maha is the same, which is said
to form Potential Verbs, maharesy, ' pouvoir vaincre.' What
is called also by the same Grammarian l the Causative Inter-
calary appears to be the causative particle fa ; mandeha to go,
mampandeha to cause to go, manao to do, mampanao to make
to do ; miditra to enter, mampiditra to cause to enter ; miboaka
to go out, mampiloaka to cause to go out. To call the
Particle intercalary misleads, for the Verb is nao, deha, dira,
boaka, as is shown by the change of the Verbal Particle from
ma, or mi, to ha, na, hi, ni with the change of Tense. The
Malagasy Verb with the causative Prefix, like the Melanesian,
takes the Verbal Particle before the Prefix. In Araga, where
the Verbal Particle is ma and the Causative Prefix va, an
example shows a complete likeness to the Malagasy ; raliu to
live, varahu make to live, ma varahu makes to live. To write
the Verbal Particle separate from the Verb prevents the
misconception conveyed in the word ' intercalary.' In the
Malagasy words above, n in mandeha belongs to d, not to ma,
and the causative Prefix appears as mpa, mpi, for pa, pi, fa*, ft,
in accordance with the use of the language 2.
The forjn va, fa, pa undoubtedly appears to be the original
particle, to which ka, ga, ha has been attached. This may
perhaps be the Verbal Particle ka, ga, which is used in
several languages.
2. The Reciprocal Prefixes of the Melanesian languages
here given may be seen to be two, represented by vei and
rar ; the latter, with no material variation, in the Banks'
Islands only, the former as vei, vui, hei, hat, fai, we and e,
extending from Duke of York to the Loyalty Islands. It is
plain then that vei is the more characteristic Prefix. The
1 Marre de Marin. ' All words and even phrases are capable of assuming
tnaha to cause to be.' — Baker's Malagasy Grammar.
2 It is presumptuous to offer a view of a Malagasy Verb which perhaps is
not given in any one Malagasy Grammar. But writers of Malagasy Gram-
mars are by no means agreed among themselves ; and it is certain that the
true account of Malagasy formations will not be got without going outside
the language, and comparing many others of the same family, among them
the Melanesian.
1 86 Melanesian Languages.
meaning is altogether one, and simply that of reciprocity,
the action of one upon another, of two or many persons or
things in relation to one another. In Fiji the Prefix applies
to Nouns as well as to Verbs, and with Verbs is used when
reciprocity is not altogether in view. This use in Fiji is
useful as showing what is the notion that lies at the bottom,
and rules every application of the Prefix. This notion is
evidently that of relation of one to another. In this sense,
as has been shown, it comes to be a Prefix of Plurality,
veivale houses, not scattered singly, but standing grouped in
relation to one another. The use of the Prefix in vei keve
to nurse, to carry in the arms, is thus intelligible though
there is no reciprocity : and vei moku, literally meaning to
strike one another, reasonably comes to mean to fight, as
vei tologoni, to spear one another, is to fight in Florida. The
form in use in Lepers' Island departs rather widely from the
type, but appears to be the same.
The Prefix var of the Banks' Islands is interesting on
account of its likeness to, if one may not say identity with,
the Malay prefix bar. To fight in Mota is varmis, beating
one another, and is in Malay bar-kalahi. But bar^ in Malay
is not a Prefix of reciprocity ; it is described as the mark of
a Verb which expresses a state or condition ; a state of cor-
relation perhaps with something. It is easy to comprehend
how the general sense of mutual relation belonging to vei in
Fiji is particularised to plurality on one side, and reciprocity
on another. It might well be that in some language vei
should be found only as a plural sign, as there are many in
which it is only a mark of reciprocity. We have in Fiji the
explanation of both uses. So if in Malay we have bar a
Prefix to Verbs expressing state and condition, and var in
the Banks' Islands expressing reciprocity, we may well take
the words to be the same, and suppose an original meaning,
which on the one side has passed from a sense of relation of
one to another into general correlation, and on the other side
has been particularised to reciprocity. Malay words like
barkalaJd to fight, barestri to be married, bartamu to meet, seem
Short Comparative Grammar. 187
to lie half way : bartamu sa orang in Malay is ' to meet a
man,' varnma o tanun in Mota.
In Malagasy there is a Prefix voa or voi which is called
Passive. It may be. that this is the Lepers' Island vui, as
Malay 6ar is Mota var. But there is in Malagasy what
M. Marre de Marin calls the Reciprocal intercalary, which,
if treated as we venture to treat the causative Prefix, seems to
answer to the Prefix vei. If after the Verbal Particle this Par-
ticle of Reciprocity is added, of which f is the characteristic
letter, we have a form of Verb which exactly corresponds to a
Melanesian Verb with the Prefix vei. Thus mankatia to love,
mifankatia love one another, corresponds in form to an Araga
Verb with the Verbal Particle ma ; ma tape is ' loves,' ma vei
tape { love one another,' the parts correspond. If the causative
Prefix is added also before the Reciprocal, we have three
Particles before the Verb, the Verbal, the Causative, the
Reciprocal, as in the Malagasy mampifankatahotra make to
fear one another ; a word to which the Araga Verb above
adduced part for part corresponds, ma veivaraku, except that
in the Melanesian word the order is Verbal Particle, Reci-
procal Prefix, Causative Prefix, Verb ; the Malagasy ' do
make mutually to fear,' the Melanesian ' do mutually make
to live/
Among the Polynesian languages a Prefix of Reciprocity
does not appear in Maori ; but it does in Samoan in the
form offe, the same of course as vei. This particle also serves
to make a plural ; not, as in Fiji, of Nouns, but of some
Verbs.
3. The Prefixes of Condition ma, ta, are again almost uni-
versal in the Melanesian languages. In Fiji ma is not
counted one of these Prefixes, though the Dictionary shows
many Adjectives with this beginning : ka and ra are not
found in other Melanesian languages. There is no difference,
however, in meaning, except that ta in most of the languages,
more than ma, signifies that a thing has come into the
condition the word describes, of itself, and not by some known
cause from without. In Fiji ta, ka, ra are called Passive
i88 Melanesian Languages.
Prefixes, but clearly improperly if 'they imply that the
thing has become so of itself'
These Prefixes are not only applied to Verbs, and the word
compounded with them would be ordinarily translated in
English by an Adjective or a Participle. The word to which
ma is prefixed may not now perhaps be used in the language
in which the compound occurs, and thus many Adjectives and
Participial forms beginning with ma cannot be resolved into
their component parts, about which nevertheless there can
be little doubt but that they are words with this Prefix of
Condition.
Examples : — in Fiji dola to open, tadola open ; voro to
break, kavoro broken; gutu to cut off, ragutu cut off. In
Mota, wora asunder, mawora broken, Motlav mowor ; papa
(the same word with the Malay papan a board, Maori papa,
but not used as a substantive in Mota), taptapapa slab-shaped,
with reduplication. In Lepers' Island hare to tear, mahare
torn ; Araga mahera torn, daivaga come open, broken. In
the Solomon Islands, Wa?zo makari torn ; Saa oi to break,
maoi broken ; Florida bilu to pull out, tabilu come out of
itself as a plug. Duke of York pala to unloose, tapala get
adrift, as a canoe.
These Prefixes do not appear in Malay, but in the Malay
Archipelago the Vocabularies of Mr. Wallace show that they
are present in Adjectives. Thus jahat ' bad ' in Malay is
rahat in Matabello and Baju, hat, sat being Melanesian forms.
In the words for ' cold ' several begin with ma, some with da.
The Malay panas hot, is mofanat in Celebes. The Banks'
Islands sawsaw is Celebes dasaho hot.
In Malagasy ' many roots form an Adjective of the quality
by prefixing ma ; loto dirt, maloto dirty V In the Polynesian
languages ma is present. The Maori Grammars do not
acknowledge it, but it is conspicuous in the Dictionary ; hora
to spread out, Mota wora, mahora, an adjective or participle,
spread out, Mota mawora ; hore to peel, mahore peeled. The
Malay panas is acknowledged to be the Maori mahana. In
1 Baker's Malagasy Grammar.
Short Comparative Grammar. 189
Samoan it is said that 'ma prefixed to an active Verb makes it
neuter ; as sasa'a to spill, masa'a spilt, liligi to pour, maligi
spilt. The Dictionary shows many Adjectives evidently made
in the same way.
4. The Prefix which signifies spontaneous condition — the
state into which a thing- has come of itself — is probably a
compound one, for we have seen that ta has in some languages
something of that meaning. An example from Mota will
explain it : to untie a rope is to ul it, but a rope that has not
been untied by anybody, has come untied by itself, me tavaul.
The same is the case when the Prefix is not applied to a
Verb : raka in Mota is ' up/ tavaraka is to get up, not to be
raised, to get up of oneself. Thus also the Florida tnguru, to
stand, becomes tapatugura to stand up. This prefix, contain-
ing probably ta, would hardly deserve notice, were it not that
it occurs with remarkable similarity of form and signification
in Malagasy. There the difference between the Prefix voa
and tafa is said to be that between a transitive and an in-
transitive Verb : voa lentika izy it is sunk, i. e. by some one ;
tafa lentika izy it is sunk, i. e. of its own accord *. The re-
semblance between this Malagasy tafa and the Banks' Islands
tava is so complete in form and signification, and this in a
fine point of meaning, that, considering the space of Ocean
that separates the languages, it is a matter of astonishment
that it should exist. It is impossible that it should be ac-
cidental ; it could not be introduced by Malays or Polynesians
who have it not ; it must have survived no one can tell what
vicissitudes and changes, in a course of years which no one
can number, and presents itself, like a rare species of plant
or flower in isolated and widely separated localities, a living
and certain proof of common origin and kindred.
25. Reduplication of Verbs.
It is possible to reduplicate either by repeating the whole
or part of a word : and it is obvious that the way in which
1 Antananarivo Annual, 1876.
i go Melanesia* Languages.
a part of a word can be reduplicated must vary according to
the syllabic character of the word. Languages which close a
syllable with a consonant can repeat a syllable in a way
impossible to languages which end every syllable with
a vowel. Hence the Melanesian languages with open
syllables reduplicate either the first syllable or syllables
without change, or, if a change is made, take at any rate
the whole syllable. Languages which have close syllables
take for reduplication either the first syllable or syllables, or
take with that a consonant belonging to a further syllable.
Thus the Florida sopou to sit, can be reduplicated soposopou or
sosopou, while the Mota pule to sit, can be reduplicated pute-
pute, pupute, or putpute, in the last form the consonant of the
last syllable being borrowed and reduplicated with the first.
Nor is this the case with words when the consonant may
seem to belong to the root of the word, as put might be
thought the root of pute ; but tira is to stand, neuter, vaiira
to stand, active, va being the causative, which is reduplicated
vatvatira.
Changes in the form of a reduplicated syllable made in
Melanesian languages are two. (i) In Florida, Bugotu, and
thereabouts, when two syllables are taken for reduplication the
consonant between them is generally dropped ; thus varono, to
hear, is reduplicated vaovarono not varovarono, lahu to promise,
laubaku. This makes no difference in sense. (2) In Santa Cruz
and Sesake the first consonant of the reduplicated word often
changes into another akin to it, tabulabu to fight, Santa Cruz ;
ganikani to eat, qosiwosi to work, guvakuva to fly, Sesake.
In Lepers' Island not the consonant but the vowel changes ;
galegele reduplication of gale to lie.
Reduplication in Malagasy also sometimes alters the first
consonant of the root, mivadibadika, mizavajavatra, mifaopaoka.
This is of course what we have ourselves in good English in
words like hurlyburly.
It should be observed, as concerns form of reduplication,
that though Prefixes, causative and other, are reduplicated
with the Verb, the Verbal Particles never are. This is the
Short Comparative Grammar. 191
case also in Malagasy, as in the examples just given ; and
where, as in that language, it is customary to write the
Particles in one with the Verb, it is a useful observation to
make.
With regard to the meaning of reduplication in Verbs, it
has been mentioned that in Fiji and Samoan it is used with
a sense of plurality, and so makes what is, improperly, called
a Plural Verb. Commonly, however, reduplication signifies
repetition, or continuance, or emphasizes the meaning of the
Verb. Reduplication of the whole word, or two syllables of
it, rather conveys the idea of repetition ; reduplication of the
first syllable gives rather the sense of prolongation of the act :
and this, may be done at pleasure by repeating over and over
again the first syllable, pipipipiva go on speaking, Santa Cruz,
pupupupute go on sitting, Mota, or by prolonged pronuncia-
tion without repetition, as in Nengone. Reduplication with
a close syllable rather intensifies the meaning of the word.
As an example of each form the Motajswte, to sit, will suffice,
putepute to sit from time to time, pupute keep on sitting,
putpute sit down closely.
26. Passive Verls.
In none of the Melanesian languages here compared, with
the doubtful exception of Fiji *, is there any Passive form of
the Verb. It by no means follows because a Passive Verb in
English is translated in a certain way in a Melanesian lan-
guage that the Melanesian form is that of a Passive Verb ;
nor because a Melanesian form is best translated by an
English Passive that it is a Passive form. For this reason
the prefixes of condition ma, ta, ka, may be at once dismissed
as having no claim to make a Passive Verb.
It may be said that what nearest approaches a Passive
Verb is an Active Verb used impersonally. To build a
house in Mota is we taur o inna, to say ' the house is built '
1 Mr. Fison says, ' I doubt whether there be a true Passive. No Fijian
would use Hazlewood's example.'
1 92 Melanesian Languages.
the expression is o ima me taur veto, : the Verb undergoes no
change, yet the sense undoubtedly is Passive, that the house
has been built. It cannot be denied that ima is the subject of
the Verb taur, if grammatical construction should be pressed ;
but me taur veto, o ima may equally be said, in which ima
would appear to be the object of the active Verb taur. The
truth appears to be that strict construction, according to our
Grammar, is not to be sought ; the Verb is impersonal, has
no subject or object, and the Verb and Substantive simply
combine to show the house and the building of it, and to
make a statement. From such a way of conveying the notion
which would be couched in a Passive sentence where Passive
Verbs exist, may have arisen the Passive Verbs of the Poly-
nesian languages.
In Florida to express the Passive they put the active Verbs
into the third person Plural, as we say ' they are building
a house,' without reference to any particular persons. For
' the house is built ' they say, tara pitua tua ua vale they have
built the house.
M. Marre de Marin maintains that the Malagasy Verb with
affix, in its radical state, indicates a Passive, and that the
various prefixes make the Verb active, neuter, causative, or
reciprocal *. The truth probably is that in these languages
the Verb is originally the name of an action without any
regard to the agent or the patient, and is neither Active nor
Passive, until, in the advance and cultivation of speech, affixes
come into use to give a positively active or passive form.
1 ' On ne saurait trop insister sur ce fait si curieux et qui est 1'une des
assises fondamentales des grammaires malgache, malayse et javanaise.1
IV.
PHONOLOGY OF THE MELANESIAN
LANGUAGES.
I. ALPHABET.
THE Melanesia!! languages have of course been written
and printed in the Roman Alphabet. As regards the Vowels
there has been little room for diversity of practice, no
attempt having been made to use them in the English way 1.
As regards the Consonants there is a good deal of diversity,
because four missionary bodies have been engaged in reducing
the native languages into print without any concert or agree-
ment ; the Wesleyans in Fiji, the London Mission in the
Loyalty Islands, the Presbyterians in the Southern New
Hebrides, the Melanesian Mission in the Northern New
Hebrides, Banks' Islands, Santa Cruz, and Solomon Islands.
There are many Consonants about which there is little room
for difference ; a dental tenuis will be written t, a guttural
tenuis k ; m, n, r, 1, s, h, represent sounds about which there
can be in a general way very little question. But this is only
in a general way. One will use t where another will use d. It
is difficult to determine sometimes whether a sound is what
in English would be k or g ; natives themselves are not certain
about r and 1 : it is a question whether . the sound made in
some locality is really an aspirate which may be written h, or
ought not rather to be represented by f. There is much dif-
ficulty in settling the orthography of any one language or
dialect ; and if it be settled in one the question arises whether
the letter printed should vary with the change of sound be-
longing to neighbouring dialects. Suppose, for instance, that
1 In Fate, however, o« is wrongly used for an.
O
194 Melanesia/* Languages.
in some island the people of two or three villages use ngg or
ngk where all the rest of the population use k, is it desirable
to mark their nasalization in letters, or is it enough to use k
in printing and let them give it a nasal sound if they please ?
If the language is printed for the benefit of foreign scholars the
system of orthography should no doubt be strictly phonetic,
each symbol representing one distinct sound ; but if the
printing is for the use of natives, it is better to have one
typical symbol, and then dialectical varieties of sounds will
be represented by a single character the value of which will
vary in each dialect.
Again, when the Consonant as sounded by the natives
differs from the same Consonant when sounded in English, is
it necessary or desirable to mark the difference by diacritical
points or some such contrivance ? In no Melanesian language
is the dental tenuis the English t, yet it is the hard dental
check of the natives ; it is t, though not our t. There must be
taken into consideration the fact that generally what is printed
in one of these languages is printed for the use of natives, and
very often has to be done with only the supplies of an ordinary
fount of type. It is moreover very desirable to make reading
and writing as easy as possible to the natives for whose
benefit the art is introduced. To take the case of Fiji ; the
natives cannot close a syllable with a consonant, and they
cannot say d without the sound of n preceding. A word
sounds enda, but if it be so written the native scholar will
naturally insert a vowel between n and d and turn the word
into enada ; a word which sounds wangka would puzzle them
altogether with its three consonants if so written. In Fiji as
it is printed the first word is eda, the second waqa ; every
Fijian child who learns his letters learns d to represent nd,
and q to be either ngg or ngk, calls them nda and ngga.
The problem, then, is a difficult and complicated one. If
a language be written scientifically for Europeans it may be
done accurately but laboriously, and will be most inconvenient
to the natives. If the language be written as simply as
possible for the convenience of natives with the fount of type
Phonology. 195
made the most of, the natives will read it right, but the
European will be puzzled. The old king of Fiji was Cakobau^
which the native will sound Dhakombau (au = ow in cow),
while the trader or planter will read it Kakobaw. The
general solution is that the alphabet must be used to suit the
native in the first place, and that the European must learn
the value of the alphabet of a Melanesian language as he does
in any other foreign tongue ; but that at the same time the
letters should be used in the native alphabet scientifically
and not arbitrarily. Bishop Patteson, who first reduced to
writing the languages of many Melanesian islands, followed
the advice of Professor Max Miiller in his Outline Dictionary
for the use of Missionaries : he used no letters arbitrarily, but
the Roman letter represented a sound in the native language
the same in general character with that represented in
English, and an italic letter was employed to show a
variation in the sound. For example, in some Melanesian
languages which have no hard g, there is a consonantal sound
which is peculiar and cannot be represented by any letter
with the power it has in English : this consonant is guttural
and is represented by g l. Every native who learns to read
starts with the use of the sound and associates the letter with
it ; every European has to learn the sound and to apply it
to the letter. It is true that in this there is danger. The
European starts with the association of the English sound
and the English letter, and will naturally give the native g
the sound it has in English. In the case of the sound of ng
in the word ' finger,' it is in Melanesian languages a form of
the guttural and is therefore represented by the italic g, not
arbitrarily as in Fiji by q. In Fiji, where there is no hard g,
except in a few words, they use g for ng in ' singer,' as they
do also in the Southern New Hebrides. Bishop Patteson,
using g for the peculiar guttural, which is not in Fiji, intro-
duced the italic n for the ng in ' singer ' into the languages
which he wrote.
In printing the words belonging to the Melanesian lan-
1 The same sound is in the Loyalty Islands arbitrarily represented by x.
0 2
196 Melanesian Languages.
guages, not for native use but for European students, it is pos-
sible either to use a scientific and accurate method of spelling
applied to all the languages alike, or to give the words as
they are actually spelt in the method already adopted in the
languages to which they belong. The latter plan is followed
here, with such occasional explanations as seem necessary, and
a table giving the value of the letters in use has been pre-
fixed. This, it is true, is neither scientific nor accurate, but it
is almost unavoidable ; there are different systems already at
work which seem to have a right to the words of the lan-
guages to which they have been adapted. References to
books in which some languages are already printed would be
much more difficult if the words to be referred to were to be
found there in a shape other than that given here.
It is desirable here to give a brief view of the powers of
the letters used in printing languages of Melanesia by the
Wesleyan, Presbyterian, and London Missionaries respec-
tively, in Fiji, the Southern New Hebrides, and the Loyalty
Islands.
1. The peculiar use of letters in printing Fiji is confined
to b, d, g, c, q : b is always sounded as inb, and d as nd ; g is
ng in ' sing' ; c is th in ' that' ; q is ng in 'finger.'
2. In the Southern New Hebrides, in Anaiteum, c is used
for hard g, d for th in 'broth,' g for ng in ' singer,' and j for te
in 'righteous1.' In Fate g apparently stands for both the
sounds of ng in English.
3. In the Loyalty Islands, in Nengone, or Mare as it is
now called, g is hard g, ng is as in ' singer,' c is the English ch,
'm is a nasal m, x is the peculiar guttural common to most
Melanesian languages, represented in the Melanesian Mission
by g, but not existing apparently in Fiji, and not represented
in printing the Southern New Hebrides languages.
4. To come now to the languages with which the Melane-
sian Mission has to do. The general principle being that the
Roman letters represent the same sort of sound that they do
1 So in Mr. Inglis' Grammar, where h at the end of a syllable is said to be
'like x in Greek, or gh or ch in Scotch.'
Phonology. 1 9 7
in English, and italics variations of those sounds 1 ; a good
deal of uniformity has been obtainable in printing- the many
languages that have to be reduced to writing. Thus, t stands
for the hard dental, though it is nowhere the English t, and
where a peculiar sound of t occurs t italic is used ; the nasal m
is m, n is ng in ' sing.' But uniformity has unfortunately not
been attained ; the alphabet belonging to each language has
to be learned. For example, in Ysabel j represents either the
English j or nj, but is used in printing Ureparapara or Santa
Cruz for tch. The reason is that in the one case it was
naturally used to represent the English or nearly English
sound, and in the other, not being wanted as the English j, it
was used for a sound which to the natives represents the
English j. If the natives knew nothing of English spelling
it would be an easier matter ; but when they call the English,
j che or tche it is better to meet them half way and let them
spell chichi jiji.
Another great obstacle to the carrying out of an uniform
orthography has been that the knowledge of the variety of
sounds requiring to be expressed has been obtained partially
from time to time. When b has been settled as equivalent to
mb a dialect appears in which m does not go with b ; it is un-
avoidable, therefore, that b should have a different value in
those two places : when j has been settled as representing tch
in one or two languages another comes into view which has
the sound of j and also of ch. It is practically impossible,
therefore, to attempt a complete uniformity ; but a general
uniformity has been attained, and the natives, for whom in
fact the languages are printed, learn their own alphabet.
The Alphabet as used in the Melanesian Mission.
Voweh — a, long and short ; a short, and sharp,
e, „ „ e, French e.
1 Italics in writing are marked with two dots above, not with a stroke
below, because for dotting i and crossing t the pen goes over above the words.
In printing words in italics the letter which is ordinary type would be italic,
becomes Roman, siw, sin, sing.
198 Melanesian Languages.
i, long- and short.
o, „ „ o, German 6.
u, „ „ «, German ii.
Diphthongs — ai, ae, ao, au.
Consonants — b, generally mb, in some places b.
d, generally nd, in some places d 1 ; d see t.
f, as in English.
g, generally a guttural trill, in some places hard
g2 ; g is ngg, as ng in ' finger.'
h3, as in English, it closes a syllable.
j4, nj, or, as in English in Solomon Islands; tch
in Santa Cruz, Torres Islands, and Urepara-
para.
k
1, more trilled than in English,
m m 5, nasal,
n n, ng in ' singer.' gn for n 6.
p, nearly the English,
q, a compound of k p w, in which sometimes p
is obscure, and sometimes k hardly heard7,
r, trilled.
1 In Bugotu the difference of sound in d belongs to the village or the
family ; in Araga it seems individual. At Saa it is sometimes dj.
a It is difficult to determine at Saa whether the sound is hard g or k, k is
written. In Wawo it is the hard g, and as there is no k distinct from hard
g it might be well to use k for that sound. But at Fagani, close by, the
peculiar Melanesian g reappears, which is represented by a gap at Wawo ;
there is no hard g, but k is sounded. To make the difference therefore
between the hard g of Wawo and k of Fagani both letters are used.
3 At Lakona h approaches f, at Fagani, Ha'ani, it becomes f.
* In Bugotu j follows d ; those who say nd sound nj : in some words some
individuals at least sound j as tj. In Santa Cruz and other places the sound
is much the same, but tch rather than tj.
5 Written in the Loyalty Islands 'm, in Southern New Hebrides mw.
8 In writing what in printing is the italic n two dots are put over n ;
it is not easy therefore to use n for the sound usually so represented, for fear
of confusion, and the native g lends itself well to the combination gn, sounding
as in French or Italian.
7 The lips are closed upon the formation of the guttural and opened some-
what suddenly to emit the breath. The sound varies towards kw and pw,
according as the guttural or labial is more fully formed.
Phonology. 1 99
s
t, never the same as English, the tongue broader
and not so far forward ; t in Lakona and Torres
Islands ; the check to the breath is incom-
plete *.
v, more labial than English v 2.
w, closes a syllable 3.
z, as in English.
II. PHONETIC CHANGES.
When in cognate languages, like the Melanesian, what
is evidently the same word is found in two forms, the
one form may often be seen to be owing to a phonetic
change ; one may be pronounced the older form, the other
more modern ; one may be shown, by comparison between
many languages, to be a normal word, the other a modification
of it. For example, the very common word for a canoe is in
Maori waka, in Fiji waqa (wangka), and no doubt walca is the
normal form ; k has changed to ngk by nasalization. But
again the same word will appear in many languages in various
forms, and no one can determine which form is the original,
no order of change can be asserted. The same word appears as
waka, vaka, haka> and it is impossible to say that w has changed
into v, or v into w, though h may be thought a change. These
languages have no history that can be traced externally. If
two forms of a word are found they are, if simple, parallel, not
one original and the other derived ; kiko in Florida and tito in
Maori are two pronunciations of the same word, and one has as
much right to be called original as the other. The Greek weWe
and Latin quinque are two forms of the same word,
1 The sound of t is not so blunt as in Maori, and varies slightly in different
languages : that of t is something like tr, the breath passing over the tip of
the tongue and vibrating ; the medial d is pronounced in the same way.
3 When the Banks' Islands were first visited the names now written Vanua
lava, Meralava, were spelt Vanua laba, Meralaba. The native v is not the
English. It sometimes approaches w.
3 The sounds of the three words in Mota gau a fishhook, gao to spread like
fire or news, and gavo to take in a handful, are quite distinct.
2OO Melanesian Languages.
brothers, not father and son, just as the Fiji lima and Maori rima.
But all languages have a history, however lately they may have
come into view, and something of their history can be traced
internally — some words show a phonetic change, some decay.
In modern European languages there is historical evidence
by which the old form and the new are certainly known ; in
Melanesian languages there is nothing of the sort, but yet
there is some certainty to be obtained that one form is older
than another. That cinq is a modern form of quinque rests
on outward evidence ; but it is just as certain from internal
evidence that the Marquesas ima five, is later than the Fiji
lima and Maori rima ; and the Fiji liga and Maori ringa, hand,
may just as surely be said to be later than lima, rima, five.
It is important also to consider the question of the indis-
tinctness and uncertainty of sounds, whether this means that
distinct articulation of separate sounds has not been yet
attained, or whether it is that people now pronounce sounds
indistinctly which formerly were separate in their language.
In the language of the Sandwich Islands there was so much
indistinctness between t and k that one set of Missionaries
used t and another k. The spelling is now settled to k, but
the pronunciation is not settled to correspond J. In San
Cristoval in the Solomon Islands, at least at Warco, it is suf-
ficiently ascertained that they use r not 1, yet a native who
can read and write, and will tell you that they say r not 1,
will pronounce some familiar word with 1, not r, and be per-
fectly unconscious of it. When a native of Tikopia speaking
a dilapidated Polynesian language, with a quid of betel leaf and
areca nut in his mouth and his lips stiff with lime, was before
him, Bishop Patteson himself could not ascertain the sounds
he made. But with the organs of speech unimpaired, either
1 This is said on the strength of a single example. A Sandwich Islander
living in Norfolk Island pronounces the printed k plainly sometimes as t,
mailcai he reads maitai ; in other words he reads k with the guttural tenuis
clearly pronounced : in many words it is difficult, in some it is impossible, to
distinguish whether it is t or k, the sound is so obscure. The man himself
believes the sounds to be all the same ; one letter k is used, and he cannot
perceive that his pronunciation varies.
Phonology. 20 1
through carelessness or imperfectly exercised faculties, a gut-
tural sound will sometimes be made, not quite in the throat,
and a dental a good way from the teeth, and what is produced
is neither distinct k nor t. Or else from the same causes it is
sometimes one and sometimes the other. The question is
whether this double indistinctness and uncertainty are a primi-
tive condition of articulation not yet settled into distinctions,
or a degradation of articulation which has lost exactness.
Melanesian examples go to support the latter view ; unless it
be held that to pronounce a word with a gap in it, where a
consonant is sounded in a kindred tongue, is a more archaic
practice than to pronounce the word with the consonant dis-
tinct. In one region of the Solomon Islands, in Ulawa for
example, it is the practice to say 'olu instead of the common
numeral tolu three, i'a for ika fish, and words full of vowels
are common ; and it is there that the learner is most puzzled
with indistinct and uncertain consonants1. This indistinctness
or uncertainty is plainly a different thing from phonetic
change.
In the changes which do occur it is generally impossible to
find a law of change. The two languages of Florida and
Vaturawa in Guadalcanar are so much alike as to be dialects
of the same ; and between them there seems to be a certain
law of change in the letters g, h, s. The Florida g (the
Melanesian g), is always h in Vaturawa, in words common to
the twro languages, the Pronouns hita, liami are the yita, garni of
Florida and other tongues. No g therefore remains in Vatu-
rawa. The Florida h, into which g has changed, becomes in
Vatura?m s, sanavulu for /lanavulu ten, e nisa for e nika how
many. Thus, by metathesis also, Florida gelie is Vaturawa
sehe. But beyond this no rule can be made. Some words
show Florida s turned to ch, written j,jiji for »isi, some to t,
1 Some natives of Ulawa have been educated in Norfolk Island and read
and write the Mota language ; but in writing Mota they use indifferently
k and g, w and v, v and p. The variation of consonants in Santa Cruz, 1 and
n, — p, v, b, — k and g, is not accompanied with any indistinctness in pronuncia-
tion.
2O2 Melanesian Languages.
lani for sani, in some # remains. In no other of the Melane-
sian languages considered here can so much as this of a rule
of phonetic change be set down. The same words occur in
different languages in various forms, with equivalent sounds,
but with no regular law of change. In Bugotu the Florida
1 changes to dh, bodko a pig for bolo ; but not every 1, fault,
lima, vula, are the same. In Mota there is no h, which abounds
in Motalava ; in many words, therefore, Mota has s where
Motalava has h, sava for hav, us for iJi : but there is no regular
change, for Motalava very often has s where Mota has it.
These are examples showing the general character of the
Melanesian languages in this respect. Sounds which differ one
from the other correspond one to the other in different lan-
guages; and, interesting as the phonetic changes are, it is
apparently impossible to show a law prevailing between one
language and another. The reason for this probably is that
the various languages and dialects have been brought irregu-
larly into their present seats, not in successive and considerable
migrations from one quarter or another, but by chance and petty
movements of people whose language, though belonging to
one family, was already much broken up and diversified.
It is worth while to remark that some sounds do not seem
to be constant in a language. In Samoa k has quite recently
begun to take the place of t ; in Fiji the foreign p is coming
into use and dispossessing the native v T : in Tahiti r and not
1 is now used ; but the old Pitcairn women in Norfolk Island,
who spoke Tahitian with their mothers, cannot pronounce a
word with r. Some years ago, in Warao of San Cristoval, the
practice began to turn h into f, no doubt in imitation of their
neighbours at Fagani, Ha'ani, but it was again discontinued.
Such changes no doubt go on in languages which are un-
written, and a language just brought into view may show
forms of words which are quite modern in it. But such
1 ' The tribes of Eastern Fiji have a p of their own co-existent with v,
and do not confound them at all. Their p is the equivalent not of Bau v, but
of its b.'— Eev. L. Fison.
Phonology. 203
changes also are seen to take place in languages already
printed and read 1.
It will now be attempted to represent the sounds belonging
to the Melanesian languages, with the changes which can be
seen to be made, and the equivalents used in the various
dialects.
1. Gutturals. — The tenuis k is absent in very few lan-
guages. When it is absent it is represented either by ngg,
(g, q) or by the hard g.
In Lepers' Island in the dialect of Walurigi g is used,
while the neighbouring places have k, ago. a canoe, and aka.
The same is the case in Volow, Saddle Island, in the Banks'
Islands ; g takes the place of k, og a canoe, where neighbour-
ing Motlav has ok.
g. — In Waflo of San Cristoval the hard g takes the place
of k. The languages of Ulawa and Malanta, which are closely
allied, have k, not hard g ; but there is not a very clear dis-
tinction between the surd and sonant: there is a doubt
wrhether to use both k and g, or k only.
The hard g is very rare in Melanesia. In the Solomon
Islands it is only heard in San Cristoval. In the New
Hebrides it is written c in Anaiteum. It is in the Loyalty
Islands written g, but in Nengone slightly nasalized. In
Fiji the sound is rarely heard, and has no symbol.
g. — In some languages where k is fully used it is very com-
mon to use also g (ng in finger), the Fiji q, as a change from k,
which belongs to what no doubt is the original form. Thus the
Fiji waga, the Araga waga, represent waka in languages in
which there is no difficulty in using the latter form. It may
be said that wherever y, or Fiji q, is found it is a change
1 In view of the question whether Melanesian languages, uninfluenced by
the presence of Europeans, are fixed or changing in their words and gram-
matical forms, there may be brought forward the case of that of Bugotu in
Ysabel. In 1 863 Bishop Patteson wrote down some descriptions of canoe-
building, crocodiles, etc. from the mouths of natives, which in 1883 were
declared by a later generation to be in accordance with their present speech,
with the exception of an adverb used superlatively which has gone out of
fashion.
2O4 Melanesian Languages.
from an original k. Sometimes, but not often, the Fiji q
is ngk, not ngg, and so is g in Araga : .sometimes in individual
pronunciation the nasal sound is slight. That the sound is
heard in Fate, though it is not represented as distinct from
ng, is almost certain, since Bishop Patteson marked it in
Sesake. It may be said that g and hard g are never found
in the same language, except that in Fiji some words written
with k have the letter pronounced like g. But at the
beginning of a word the nasal sound is often not so con-
spicuous but that what is really g is taken for hard g. In
Araga and in Santa Cruz k and g interchange ; they are one
or the other at pleasure in the same word.
n. — Another change from k is the nasal ng (in Fiji and
elsewhere written g), in the Melanesian Mission n. The
change from k is shown in Lifu, Ambrym, Santa Cruz, and
Duke of York in the suffixed first person Pronoun, the
characteristic form of which is undoubtedly k. This in Lifu
becomes ng, in Ambrym and Santa Cruz n, in Duke of York
g = ng. Often however as the sound n occurs in Melanesian
languages it is probably seldom that it represents k or an
original guttural.
g. — The guttural consonant thus written in the Melanesian
Mission, and called hereafter the Melanesian g, is very
characteristic of the Melanesian languages, and yet is not
heard, or is not recognised, in some parts of Melanesia. In
Fiji it may be said that it is not heard ; in the Southern New
Hebrides it is not recognised in print, though it certainly
is heard * ; it has not been recognised in Duke of York. In
the Loyalty Islands it has made itself so conspicuous as to
receive a peculiar character, x. That it should exist and not
be recognised is not improbable, because it may be taken for
k or for r, or may be missed altogether. It has been written
g (hard), r, g, r, gh, rh, and k. That it resembles r is shown
by the spelling of visitors ; Gaeta in Florida could never have
1 Bishop Patteson, whose authority in questions of sound is undoubted,
and who took much pains with this sound, did not hesitate about it in Sesake.
I have heard it plainly myself from a Fate native.
Phonology. 205
been written Rita, or garu, to swim, in Mota raru 1, if the sound
had been hard g. On the other hand, in the Mota printing-,
when the language was first committed to writing, the words
takai for tagai, and ate for gate, show that the sound seemed
sometimes very different from r, and sometimes was not
caught.
We may learn from this something of the true sound that
has to be represented, and we may understand how the sound
may have failed to impress itself as one requiring a distinct
character 2.
The sound, no doubt, is difficult to Europeans, and it is
difficult to describe. It is written g, because where it occurs
there is no pure hard g, and because it is certainly guttural ;
but it is never hard g in the mouth of a native, and no native
who can write ever hesitates as to its use. Bishop Patteson
was struck by its resemblance to the Arabic gkain, and Pro-
fessor Max Miiller's description of the Hebrew am as ' a
vibration of the fissura laryngea, approaching sometimes to a
trill, nearly equivalent to German g in tage, closely suits it.
There can be no doubt but that this sound in the Melane-
sian languages represents k in kindred tongues, as gagavu is
Maori kakahu ; and that it is a step towards the break or
gap which in Samoan represents k which has fallen out,
symbolised by an inverted comma, and described as 'a sound
something between h and k/ In fact in Melanesian lan-
guages the break never represents k directly ; but indirectly
through g, as in San Cristoval, it does. The loss of t makes
the break, in words in which t and k have probably an equal
original right, in Ulawa or Pek ; but in "Wawo, where k is re-
placed by hard g, the Melanesian g falls out and leaves a
break. The common word for fish, ika in Maori, is i'a in
1 Mota Vocabulary in Commodore Goodenough's Journal.
2 Hebrew names written in the Greek of the LXX. and New Testament
have the ain sometimes represented by r, sometimes omitted ; e.g. Gaza and
Gomorrah, Amos and Eden, have equally in the original the initial ain. In
the same way, as I am informed, Europeans have borrowed Arabic words
beginning with this letter and made it sometimes k, carafe, sometimes g,
gazelle, sometimes r, razzia.
2o6 Melanesian Languages.
Samoa, but generally in Melanesia it is iga, which in Wawo
is Va. Between the break, which is a sound in Samoa, and the
Melanesian g, which is sonant, the difference probably is not
great.
This sound, then, is not heard in Wano, where the break
represents it, or in the neighbouring dialects of Ulawa and
Saa ; but the natives there have no difficulty in pronouncing
it. At Fagani near Wano and in great part of San Cristoval
it is in use. At the north-west end of Guadalcanar it changes
regularly to h1. In Florida, however, and Bugotu it re-
appears, at the same time that w disappears. The connexion
between these two semivowel sounds is shown both in the
last named region, in Fiji where wa string is Mota gae, and
in Mota. In Mota one dialect substitutes w for g in many
words, tawur for tagir, uw for ug ; in Florida g is used in
pronouncing foreign words with w — wowut is pronounced go-
gutu. The passage of k to w is perhaps through this g, as
the Fiji kumete, kumi, kune are the Mota wumeto, wuviu, wune.
It must be added that this Melanesian g sometimes repre-
sents a more common n ; pogi in Espiritu Santo is #0m, night ;
n and g constantly interchange in Ambrym ; ge and ntf, he.
In the dialect of Veverau at Mota g at the end of a word
is pronounced like i, mantai, wurvai, for mantay, wurvag.
2. Dentals. — It has been said that the Melanesian t is
never the same exactly as the English ; it represents a blunter
sound. Still there can rarely be any doubt but that the
sound should be written t. In Ulawa t comes near to d.
But in Ulawa, as in Saa and Wano, t sometimes drops and
is represented by a gap or break, as in the word for head
pan, ba'u, Mota qatu. In the word for ear 'alina, it is t that
has been lost though the Wawo has garma. It is a remark-
able peculiarity in the dialect of Pak, a small district of
Vanua Lava, and its neighbourhood, that t is dropped in the
same way where it is present in the common words of the
Banks' Islands — qtigi is the Mota qatugi, Ulawa pa'u. But t is
1 The change of k to g and h is shown in the Vocabulary : ' Tree,' Malay
kayu, Fate kasu, Malagasy hazo, Florida gai, Vaturawa hai.
Phonology. 207
not absent from the language ; it comes back partly represent-
ing n, and partly in words apparently borrowed from without.
The word for a cocoanut in Mota, matiy, is me'ig with t
thrown out, but the Mota manui a nose comes out as metigi,
n having turned into t. In borrowed words some of the
people at least support t with n ; nto for toa a fowl.
t. — There is a second t which is printed t and occurs in the
language of Lakona in Santa Maria and the Torres Islands.
In this the contact of the tongue with the teeth is not quite
complete, and a certain vibration is heard as the breath passes
over the tongue, which has caused the sound to be represented
by tr. It is a way of pronouncing in some words what is
t in neighbouring districts, but more often it represents n ;
iaiun in Lakona, Mota tanun; ten, nan; tomtom of Torres
Islands, Mota nomnom ; words, however, which are todun, den,
dom elsewhere.
s. — The change from t to s is shown in vas, Lakona and
Lepers' Island, for the common vat four, tei and taha, Wawo,
for the Interrogative Pronouns sei and sava, and in many
examples.
r. — The change from t to r is found in Ambrym and the neigh-
bouring island of Api. In Ambrym the common words mate to
die, m-ata an eye, become mar; qeta qer. In Api the numeral
vati becomes vari, tai one makes o rai six. The change no
doubt is due to the connexion between t, d, and r.
j. — Along the west side of the New Hebrides and the Banks'
Islands, and by the Torres Islands to Santa Cruz, there
stretches a practice of turning t into tch, spelt j. This begins
in Api, though chua,jua, represents the numeral two as dua. In
Ambrym Bishop Patteson wrote chene and dene, showing that
t before i changes to ch as it does in Lakona, Ureparapara,
Torres Islands, and Santa Cruz, and in some dialects of Fiji.
In Espiritu Santo the sound is rather ts than tch a ; tajua,
1 Ti Sakalava, in Madagascar, is tsi Hova, fotsl white, Malay putih,
Lepers' Island mavuti. ' Malay and Dairi have often chi where Toba (Sumatra)
has ti.' — Van der Tuuk. In Anaiteum j is used for 'the sound of te in
righteous.'
208 Melanesian Languages.
iatsua^ is the Lepers' Island tatua a man. The peculiar local
character of this sound suggests that it has been the result
of some common influence coming down upon the islands
from the North.
f. — The language of Rotuma has f as a change from t ; for
Mota turiai body ; falian Fiji daliga, Maori taringa, ear ; maf,
mata face ; fa, fa man ; hefn, vitu, whetu star.
d. — The distinction of the media and tenuis has been stated
as comparatively small. In Ulawa the observer hesitates
whether the sound is t or d and decides for t ; in Araga and
Sesake both are heard, but both are indifferently used. A pure
d not strengthened by n is not common : at Wo.no and Saa it
is heard, and in Nengone, in Araga and in Bugotu it is in
some places or by some people pronounced without n. It is
often associated with r, sometimes strengthens it, as Fiji drau
for raw, sometimes takes its place, as Sesake dua, dono, rua,
rono :. The association with n is so close that it is impossible
to determine in many cases whether n strengthens d, or d n ;
d = nd, for example, in Gaua, is the Mota n, dina and nina, den
and nan.
j. — As t changes to tch, j, so d changes to dj2. At Saa the
sound is but a modification of d ; the English sound is heard
in Nengone and in some mouths at Bugotu. When d is nd,
n is heard in j, as with some in Bugotu, in Savo, Vaturafta,
and Nifilole. This is not the case in Lakona, where j that
comes from n and d, as Jime, deme, mimei, has not a different
sound from that which comes from t, B&Jefaan, leliga.
d. — A modification of d corresponding to that written t
is found in Lakona and Torres Islands. The breath passes
over the tongue, which is raised as if for an imperfect contact,
1 Compare 'Malay daun, Fiji drau, Maori rau, Mota naui. The change
from 1 to d is the same, shown in Malagasy todi egg, and the common word
in Melanesia toll.
2 'This j with sound of n is heard in Fiji among the tribes who pronounce t
before i as tch. When nd comes before i, they pronounce it nj, e.g. ndina,
njina. This is the practice of the Eastern tribes, but it crops up in Western
Fiji* also, at Kadavu, and among the hill-tribes and coast-folk of Navitilevu.' —
Rev. L. Fison.
Phonology. 209
and hardly any consonant is heard. The sound is rare but
certain in some words, as den Lakona, daga Torres Islands.
th, dh. — In Rotuma th in astha is said to be the English
th in ' thin ;' in Anaiteum d is written for th in ' broth ;'
in Nengone the same sound is heard. It is the dh, written c,
that is common in Fiji, and the same in Florida and Bugotu.
The sound in these latter languages is a change from s, h, r, 1,
and never from t.
3. Labials. — It probably makes a good deal of difference in
the character of labial sounds if the people who speak are
thick-lipped. It may be said that the Melanesian labials are
never the same as the English — blunter, less explosive. This
may be seen in the spelling, which in many places has hesi-
tated between p and b, b and v, v and w. In Fate they have
settled in b, but it is certainly not the English b ; in Urepara-
para mb, written b, is nearly mp ; Motlav is often spelt
Motlap or Motlab by traders ; the word now written vivtig
in Mota was first printed wivtig.
p. — There is no p in Fiji, b = mb taking its place, and this
is the case in many Melanesian languages. In the Banks'
Islands, for instance, p is only heard in Mota and parts of
Vanua Lava, elsewhere it is represented by mb. In Santa
Cruz it is used indifferently with mb and v, as in Araga.
In TJlawa it is p, not b. In Florida and the neighbourhood
both p and mb are used distinctly.
b. — It is much more common to strengthen b with m than
to sound it purely. The pure b is hardly heard in Melanesia
except in San Cristoval and the Loyalty Islands ; to dis-
tinguish it from p, on the one hand, and v on the other, is
difficult. In Araga some individuals use b and some mb ;
and the same word will be pronounced indifferently pev,
6ev, mbev, vev. The equivalents in other Ocean languages of
Melanesian words show continual interchange of p, b, v, to
which must be added w. Examples are frequent in the
Vocabulary. It is not often that m, so commonly associated
with b, represents it separately, yet, no doubt, the Java 6uri
2io Melanesia*, Languages.
is muri behind, common alike in Polynesia and Melanesia ; as
the Ysabel bale is the Florida male.
v. — Passing to b and p on one side, and w on the other, the
sound of v is very general. It is used indifferently with p
in Nifilole ; in Duke of York its place is taken by w. A
singular use of v may be mentioned. In Mota they have p
as well as v, yet for the English captain, cap, carpenter, they
always say kavten, kav, kavinta: in Motlav b=mb takes the
place of Mota p, yet for Mota map they say mav : in either
case aiming at p, which is not their own (for English p is not
Mota p), they come to v.
f. — This is by no means a common sound in Melanesian
languages ; on the other hand, it is very characteristic of the
Polynesian settlements among them. Hence it follows that
in the Reef Islands, near Santa Cruz, it is very difficult to
ascertain whether f or p is the true sound ; some say one, some
the other. In Ambrym, however, which has no Polynesian
neighbour, f is conspicuous, though there is still a confusion
with p. In Ysabel f has its place distinct from p, and does
not generally at least represent p in neighbouring dialects.
In Gao fafi, falu are the Bugotu vati, alu (Fiji walu] 4, 7 ; but
fofo is the Bugotu popo ' above,' which again is Florida kokou ;
Bugotu jufu is Florida dutu. In Ysabel, therefore, f takes the
place of p, v, and t. In Fagani in San Cristoval the aspirate
has become f ; their neighbours at Wano call the place Ha'ani.
In places where they have no f, though v is generally sub-
stituted, they will often substitute p, as Florida people call
Fiji Pidi.
w. — This is a very common Melanesian sound, inter-
changing with v, h, k, g. It is completely absent in
one district ; in Florida, Savo, and Bugotu. In Florida and
Bugotu v represents it, lovo, thovo, up, Mota r-owo, though, as
has been said, they substitute g in pronouncing foreign words.
The words for a canoe waka^ vaka, haka, for a paddle, wose
Mota, vose Florida, hole Ulawa, show the common interchange ;
that it includes s is shown by the Duke of York winaga food,
Sesake vinaga, Motlav hinag, Mota sinaga ; or, to take a wider
Phonology. 2 1 1
range, by the interrogative Pronouns, Maori wai, Bugotu hai,
Florida Jiei, Mota sei. The dialectical variation of w and g
at Mota has been mentioned, and the alliance with k J.
4. Compound Consonant. — q. There is a sound common in
Melanesia, though by no means uniform, which is compounded
of guttural and labial in varying proportions, and is, for
convenience, represented by one character, q, in the Melanesian
Mission. The full compound is k p w ; the lips are closed
upon the formation of the guttural and opened somewhat
suddenly to emit the breath. As the guttural is sooner or
later superseded by the labial, the sound of k or p relatively
predominates. In some languages, or in some words in one
language, one or the other element is conspicuous ; so con-
spicuous perhaps that either the guttural or labial is missed :
but careful observation probably, wherever the sound is made,
will show that the composition is the same 2. With its vary-
ing modifications the sound extends from Fate, Sandwich, in
the New Hebrides, where it is printed kw, kb, bw, to San
Cristoval and Malanta in the Solomon Islands. In Florida
and the neighbourhood, where w is lost, it ceases to be heard.
If not continuously heard within the limits mentioned, it is,
at any rate, a very characteristic Melanesian sound.
It has been said that some dialects, as, for example, at
Walurigi in Lepers' Island, always substitute ngg for k, and
mb for p ; others, as at Lobaha close by, use k, but mb for p.
In the one place, therefore, the compound sound fully expressed
is nggmbw, in the other it is only kmbw. It is impossible
probably for the organs of speech to produce the sound in full,
though it is amazing to observe how much a native of Volow,
speaking slowly, can get out of this sound after a vowel, ni
nggmlwil in ni qil a candle. Either the nasal will generally
1 See also in the Vocabularies No. 38.
2 'Some Navitilevu (Fiji) dialects have this sound, but I have not been
able to hear any trace of p in it, though there may perhaps be faintly heard
a trace of some indefinite sound between k and w ; vinaka, Bau, becomes
vinaJcwa. There is a sort of hesitation between the enunciation of the k
sound and that of the w.' — Rev. L. Fison.
P 2
212 Melanesia*, Languages.
overpower the labial, and the sound of ngg will leave little
of p to be heard, or the labial, strengthened by m, will over-
power the guttural1. Where there is no k, as at Warco, and b
is pure, the sound is rarely more than bw ; at Saa, where p
is in use, q is nearly pw. The letter q being used in the
Melanesian Mission for all the languages alike has its own
value in each of them, and in each dialect of them according
to the power which each of the constituents has in the place ;
the constant quantity is the w. This is the sound which prob-
ably is meant when it is said that something like a ' click ' has
been heard in Melanesian languages ; but it is most certainly
not a click properly speaking.
5. Nasals. — n. The sound of n, as has been said, is very
commonly combined with d, and one passes into the other.
The most interesting change is of 1 and n. In Santa Cruz
the two sounds are indifferently pronounced in the same word,
naplu or napnu ten. It will be found in many of the Melane-
sian languages that in some very common words n represents
the usual 1. This is the case in nima for lima in the dialects
of Ceram ; the same with nimanima, hand, in Ulawa. The
change the other way, from the common n to 1, is remarkable
in the dialect of Alite in Malanta ; malu for manu bird, liu for
niu cocoanut, II the genitive Preposition ni, ioli for tinoni man.
The varying forms for the common word for ' tooth,' shown
in the Vocabulary No. 64, give examples of this interchange
covering very wide ground ; Uwo of the Banks' Islands and
New Hebrides being the same with niko, lifo, livo, riho of
the Solomon Islands, nifoa, nifin, mo, niki of the Malay
Archipelago, nify of Malagasy, nifo of Samoa, and ni/io of
New Zealand. This change is, of course, as much of n and r as
n and 1 ; a word which changes to nima being as commonly
perhaps rima as lima. The varying forms of the word for
1 The name of a Walurigi boy brought to Norfolk Island was written by
Europeans Huwqe, the nasal having obscured all the sound of p = mb in the
compound. But the same name was written by a native of Lobaha Humqe,
because in his dialect, k being the simple guttural, the mb sound made itself
conspicuous.
Phonology. 213
' Leaf,' Vocabulary No. 36, will show these changes. In Mela-
nesia rau in Araga or Florida, lau in Sesake, drau in Fiji, naui
in Mota, do in Santa Maria ; daun in Malay, ai-Zow, ai-rawi in
Amboyna, laun in Saparua, ravina Malagasy, rau and lau in
Polynesia. The form togi in Vanua Lava, Banks' Islands,
shows how the change includes t.
n. — The guttural nasal ng is a very common sound in the
Melanesian languages. It is in some cases, as has been
shown, a change from k ; but there can be no doubt that
it is generally connected with n. On that account it is
printed in the Melanesian Mission with the italic n.
n. — The palatal nasal commonly written n is not often heard
in Melanesia. It is heard, not very decidedly, in the Torres
Islands and Ureparapara ; certainly in Santa Cruz, and very
frequently in Ysabel and Savo. It is represented in the
Melanesian Mission, for fear of confusion in manuscript, by
gn, as in French and Italian. Its occurrence in the suffixed
third person Pronoun, gna in Ysabel as na in Malay, shows
that it is a change from n.
m. — The labial nasal m has been mentioned as very often
strengthening b. It is remarkable that in Espiritu Santo it
changes to n in many of the words common to this family of
languages — Una for lima five, kanam for kamam we, nanu for
manu bird.
m. — There is in many of the Melanesian languages a second
and more nasal m, which is printed m. It is heard in the
Loyalty Islands, where it is represented by cm, in the New
Hebrides and Banks' Islands, in Santa Cruz, and very markedly
in the South-eastern Solomon Islands. It ceases at Florida,
where w fails, and is not recognised in Fiji. There can be
little doubt but that it is an ancient feature in the phonology
of these languages, because the change in which it bears a
part is widely marked in parallel forms of words with m
and ng.
The sound is made by a rather more prolonged closing of
the lips before pronouncing m ; the breath does not pass
through the nose, but a slight nasal sound is heard before the
214 Melanesian Languages,
lips open to allow the accumulated force of the breath to pass
out with something- of the explosive character of w. The
sound has been represented by mw ; but this is wrong-,
because the character of the sound is imparted to it before the
opening- of the lips *. This nasal character was caug-ht when
the Mota reremera was spelt in Commodore Goodenoug-h's
Vocabulary as rerengnera ; natives have tried to express it by
writing- nm, ngm, and mm. The educated Mota people call
it the mala m, the bad m ; and, althoug-h the distinction
between the two, m and m, is very often missed by the
European ear, no native hesitates in discriminating the one
m from the other. The difference between many words in
meaning depends upon this difference in sound ; as in Mota
ima a house, and ima to drink, tama as, and tama father.
The chief interest in the sound is that it is the link
between m and ng, n, not only in Melanesian languages in
which m occurs, but also presumedly in languages of the
same family in which it is not found2. In the Banks' Islands
the suffixed form of the second personal Pronoun is generally
m or ma, but in Merlav and Ureparapara it has become n,
and in Maewo na : ima house in Mota, is im in Motlav, m
in Ureparapara. There is no m in Fiji, but no doubt Uga
(lingo) hand, is the lima so common in Melanesia. In this
way the Maori ringa, (the Fiji liga,) is seen to be the same
with the Melanesian and Malay Archipelago lima, rima, nima.
The reason why Maori among the Polynesian dialects has ng
in this word, where others have m, is that the older sound
was m, which the Melanesian languages maintain.
hm, hn, hng. — The Nengone language of the Loyalty
Islands aspirates the nasal sounds m, n, ng. In hm the
breath passes sharply through the nose before the lips are
separated for m. In hn the aspirate is heard in the throat
before the nasal, and hng is of the same character.
1 It is a proof of this that a syllable is closed with m, which could not be
with mw, Motlav im house, Mota noro thy.
2 It is an illustration of this change that the Sanskrit sima, with the nasal
m, has become the Malay singa a lion ; Singapore, Simapura.
Phonology. 2 1 5
6. The Liquids or Trills. — It has been said that r and 1 are
sometimes confused in Melanesia. In some places there is
no 1, as properly at Wawo ; in some no r, as at Santa Cruz : but
generally both are pronounced. The two are equivalent and
interchangeable, but it will generally be found that, in the
languages where both r and 1 are sounded, the word will have
settled down in Melanesia into one form or the other. For
example, the very common word for hair in the Ocean
languages is in Melanesia always in a form with 1, ulu,
like Malagasy volo, not uru, like Maori huruhurn.
r. — It cannot be said that r is quite uniform in sound,
though trilled much more than in English. In Lakona at
the end of a word it is cut off very sharply. The taking of
d to strengthen r has been mentioned, and what is perhaps
in some cases the consequent change of it to n. In some
languages r cannot follow n without an intervening d, as in
Mota nan ra cannot be pronounced except as nan dra. In
Ambrym d comes between m and r, lorn dro for lorn ro. In
some cases r disappears and leaves only d, and so riia two
has become dua in Sesake, as daun in Malay is ran. In the
same way t strengthens r in Fate, ratrua for ra rua they two ;
and in Ambrym t and r are so far interchangeable that to
and ro are forms of the same word.
y. — Changes of a different kind are from r and 1 to y and
dh. That to y is found in the Banks' Islands, in Saddle Island,
and Ureparapara. In Saddle Island the children always sub-
stitute y for r, and as they grow up use r ; but in one district,
Bun, adults go on with y all their lives. In Ureparapara the
use goes rather by district than by age. As in English, y
with these people is both vowel and consonant ; vowel at the
end of a syllable, consonant at the beginning. The Mota
poroporo, Motlav borbor, is at Bun boiboi, or boyboy, if it were
worth while to write it so : the Mota rawe becomes yaw :
both consonant and vowel y appear in the name Vaiqalyaw
for Varqalraw. In Fiji y is used as a consonant, but it some-
times only represents i. In Ambrym y has been written.
dh. — The change of r to dh occurs, or perhaps it should
2i 6 Melanesian Languages.
rather be said of a region depopulated by the Labour trade, oc-
curred, in a small district near Volow in Saddle Island, where,
for the Volow eresei, they said idhesei, for Volow iger, igedh.
If this change occurs nowhere else in Melanesia, it is parallel
with that of dh for 1 in Bugotu and elsewhere 1. Very many
words which in Florida have 1, in Bugotu have dh in its place ;
dalhe for dale child, botho for bolo pig, vathe for vale house.
The sound of n contained in the native d prevents the use of
dh in printing the words. There is no rule, as has been said
before, for the application of the change from 1 to dh ; in
many common words 1 remains in both languages. It is not
only with the neighbouring Florida that the Bugotu inter-
changes 1 and dh ; thepa, earth, is no doubt the distant Mota
lepa. The same change is found in Fiji ; cagi (dhangi) is the
very common word for sky, rain, or wind, lani, rangi.
1. — The language of Ga,o, close to Bugotu, does not follow in
the change from 1 to dh, but strengthens 1 with g, Florida
lano, fly, Bugotu thano, Gao glano ; lapi tongue, thapi, glapi.
In Vatura^a 1 is left out, as k and t are in other languages ;
the Florida tidalo> madola, become tida'o, mado'a. The inter-
change of 1 with n at Santa Cruz has been already mentioned.
7. Sibilants. — s. These are entirely absent in Santa Cruz,
in Duke of York, and in the greater part of the Torres Islands.
At Santa Cruz they cannot, without practice, say s ; they
substitute t for it in pronouncing foreign words : the English
'box' becomes baketi2. In native words j = tch represents
sometimes the sibilant of other languages. In Duke of York
w to some extent represents s, but the sibilant and aspirate are
often left out in words which commonly appear with one or
the other, as uri the Mota vu-riu, Florida hull. In the greater
number of languages which have both sibilants and aspirates
h and s are equivalent.
1 In Gao gnorai, yesterday, equals Bugotu ignotha, r = dh : but the Florida
is nola, Mota nor a.
3 In this way the island properly called Sikopia has got the name of
Tikopia, in charts Tucopia. The name has been taken from Santa Cruz. An
island of the Fiji group has the same name Cikobia, c = dh, a form of s.
Phonology. 2 1 7
z. — This sound is found, like the English, in Nengone,
Savo, and (rao. In Vaturawa it has a somewhat different
value. In Savo it takes the place of s, and so is equivalent
to h ; bizi finger, the Mota pisui ; kuzl rat, the Florida kuhi ;
azuazu smoke, the Florida a/nt, Mota asu. The sound takes
the place of h in part of Florida, and equals there dh. In
Gao it is equivalent to the Bugotu dh, in words apparently
in which dh does not stand for 1 ; Bugotu thehe to die, (/ao
zehe. The sound also represents a more distant s ; the Savo
kazu tree is Fate kaso, Malagasy hazo, Malay kayu. In
Vaturawa it is not easy to determine whether the sound is nj
or nz ; in either case it is likely that d = nd is represented,
which changes to the Bugotuj. But z also represents an
aspirate, zare to speak is hare, the Maewo ware, Maori kare.
ch, j. — In Vaturawa s turns to ch ; Savo is called Chavo,
the Florida sisi red is chichi, written jiji, as in (?ao j in the
same wordjijia has the sound of j.
c. — In Fiji c = dh often represents s in other languages,
which is indeed only to say that it also represents h. The
Fiji cake up, is the Mota sage, Florida huge ; cava is sava Mota,
hava Florida, as cei is sei and hei in the same languages.
8. Aspirates. — In several Melanesian languages there is no
aspirate ; in Fiji 1, Fate, Mota, Santa Cruz, Duke of York.
In Lakona and the Torres Islands h is rather explosive ; in
Fagani it becomes f. Where it is absent, in Mota and Fiji, it
is often represented by s ; but s and h are so fundamentally
interchangeable in the whole family of languages that one
cannot be said to take the place of the other 2. Except in the
case of Duke of York, it can hardly be said that there is in
Melanesia a dropping away of sibilant or aspirate without any
equivalent, as when hage and sage, above, become Maori ake,
and Samoan a'e. In Duke of York, as has been noted, w
sometimes takes the place ; winaga for sinaga or hinaga, a word
1 ' In the Nadroga, Navitilevu, dialect h is heard and changes with s, Bau
siga, Nadroga higa ; but not with every Bau s.' — Rev. L. Fison.
3 In South Cape, New Guinea, sine is woman, which must be taken as a
change from hine. At Teste Island the word is shine. Elsewhere sh is only
heard in Nengone.
218 Melanesian Languages.
which in Sesake is vinaga. The change of k to h and Mela-
nesian g shown in the words for ' Tree ' (Vocabulary No. 65)
extends throughout the languages.
dh. — In a considerable part of Florida the aspirate becomes
dh, and in one part it becomes z, after the fashion of Savo.
Thus the negative is taJw in Boli, Halavo, and Ho^o, taclho
in Belaga and Gaeta, tazo at Olevuga.
9. Metathesis. — Consonants and syllables occasionally shift
their places. This happens sometimes when there is no
dialectical difference, as in Mota people in the same village
may say either valakas or vakalas, or in Florida magora or
maroga. Sometimes the people of some place will have their
own form, as wesara for werasa in one Mota village ; in Fiji
bakola or bokala., waqa and qawa. More commonly the same
word appears regularly in two forms, in different, perhaps
distant } dialects or languages ; as Florida dikl is Ysabel kidi,
Florida liege is Bugotu gehe^ Mota gese, Fiji kece ; Maewo
tarisa is Mota sarita, Lepers' Island tatarlse, Mota sasarita l.
Metathesis often serves to show the identity of widely
distant words ; as the common Melanesian and Malay Archi-
pelago word for fly, lano, rango, is shown to be the Maori
ngaro by the dialectical metathesis rango.
10. Vowels. — No regular change of vowels between one
language and another takes place. To take the example of
the Banks' Islands, there is found on one side a preference
for u, on the other for i. This belongs to a disposition either
to use long and open vowels and diphthongs, or to cut the
vowels short and sharp and do away altogether with diph-
thongs. Thus the Mota tauwe a hill is at Motlav to. One
set of people think the others speak ' thick ' or ' thin,' ' large '
or ' small ' accordingly. Allowing for the shortening and
lightening of vowel sounds, it may be said that the vowels in
Melanesian languages change much less than the consonants.
The shifting of a vowel by attraction to the one that
succeeds it is not uncommon, especially in the Article and
Particles of the New Hebrides and the Banks' Islands.
1 In Eotuma, Tiual for hula moon, uas for lisa rain,/afo'an forfalma ear.
Phonology. 2 1 9
In Lepers' Island there is a singular inconstancy in the
vowels ; a word will be pronounced first with one and then
with another, without any apparent reason ; wai, water, or wei.
11. The phonetic character of languages to the eye depends
very much on the proportion of consonants to vowels which
they present. Observers are not unwilling to divide into
distinct families languages which show very harsh consonantal
syllables or open syllables with abundant vowels. The
Melanesian languages differ very much among themselves
in this particular. The languages of the Solomon Islands
allow none but open syllables, and are besides, in the South-
eastern Islands of the group, very vocalic because of the fall-
ing out of consonants. The languages of the Southern New
Hebrides present a great contrast to these, exhibiting very
harsh combinations of consonants. Many languages are of
an intermediate character: Fiji closes no syllable1, nor, in
spite of the appearance it may present, does Nengone ; the
Northern New Hebrides languages dislike a close syllable ;
Lepers' Island only closes with m, n, «, and w. In the Banks'
Islands there is great diversity within very little space : Mota
does not refuse or dislike to close a syllable or to bring
together consonants in harsh combination, but is very vocalic
in general character ; Motlav, on the contrary, casts out
every vowel it can, and is as consonantal as the worst of the
New Hebrides languages. Mota and Motlav (Mota lava
great Mota) are seven miles apart, inhabited by people
identical in every respect, even in language ; but they speak
their common language in very different ways, and have
made their respective dialects so unlike that they are
mutually unintelligible. Although, therefore, different regions
present different characters of language in this respect, it is
quite impossible to treat such difference as fundamental, or
perhaps as worthy of more than particular observation when
the several languages come under view.
1 ' This is true of the Bau dialect ; but some of the other Fijian dialects
admit a close syllable ending in m, e. g. homhom, tarn. There are also unusual
combinations of consonants, as mt, mn, tl, mbr.' — Rev. L. Fison.
Y.
NUMERATION AND NUMERALS IN
MELANESIAN LANGUAGES.
I. Numeration.
THE three systems of numeration which are based on the
practice of counting- on the fingers are found in Melanesia.
' To count the fingers of one hand up to five, and then go on
with a second five, is a notation by fives, or, as it is called, a
quinary notation. To count by the use of both hands to ten,
and thence to reckon by tens, is a decimal notation. To go
by hands and feet to twenty, and thence to reckon by
twenties, is a vigesimal notation V In some of the islands of
the New Hebrides group and in the Banks' Islands the nota-
tion is quinary ; in other islands of the New Hebrides, in
Fiji and in the Solomon Islands, it is decimal ; in the Loyalty
Islands, New Caledonia, and in Anaiteum, the notation is, or
was, vigesimal.
It must be premised, however, that in none of these places,
except in one part of the~New Hebrides, is the system purely
quinary or purely vigesimal. That is to say, the advance to
higher numbers is not made by fives, but by tens, where the
notation is quinary, and where it is vigesimal the advance up
to twenty is made by fives. In the decimal system each
numeral is distinct, from one to ten, as in English, and all
further advance up to a hundred is made by the use of these
numerals. But in the Melanesian languages, whose system
must be called quinary, the numerals up to five are distinct ;
the digits of the second hand are named with reference to the
1 Tylor, Primitive Culture.
Numeration. 221
first ; ten has its own name without any reference to five ; and
further advance is made by tens, not by fives. Thus, for ex-
ample, in Mota tuwale, nirua, nitol, nivat, tavelima are the
first five numerals ; in lavearua seven, laveatol eight, laveavat
nine, the numerals used for two, three, and four, are evidently
repeated with a difference : but when ten, sanavul, is reached
the word is quite distinct, there is no repetition or recalling
of five ; and further advance is made by tens, not fives. This,
then, is not purely quinary ; five is used to get to ten, and
then the notation becomes decimal. A purely quinary nota-
tion would have no ten, that number would be expressed in
fives. Such a notation appears in Tanna and Fate of the New
Hebrides ; in Tanna karirum is five, karirum karirum ten ; in
Fate rua is two, lima five, and ten is relima, twenty relima
rua ; ten in fact is two-five and twenty two two-five.
In the same way, with regard to the vigesimal notation
found in Melanesia, it is not purely vigesimal, but quinary
up to twenty, and after that vigesimal. A purely vigesimal
notation would provide distinct numerals from one up to
twenty, as the pure decimal system does up to ten. If such
a series of numerals be found elsewhere, there is none such in
Melanesia ; the advance up to twenty is made by fives, by the
fingers and toes. For example, in Nengone five is expressed by
se donffo, which means that the counting of the fingers of one
hand is finished by bringing them to a point together ; after-
wards the counting goes on with five and one, five and two,
till the second set of fingers is finished, and ten is called rewe
tubenine, two rows of fingers. In this way by going on to
reckon the toes they reach twenty, which they call re ngome
a man. Having reached this number, they go on with
twenties, with ' men,' forty is rewe re ngome 'two men,' and so
. on up to a hundred, ' five men.' The vigesimal notation in
Melanesia, curious and interesting as it is, is based on the
quinary, and must be taken with it.
In fact the Melanesian languages have a pure quinary
system, and a pure decimal notation ; and between these a
quinary system of notation, which becomes decimal when ten
222 Melanesian Languages.
is reached in some languages, and vigesimal when twenty is
reached in others. It may be taken for granted that the
oldest method is the quinary1, and it is pretty certain that
the decimal notation in Melanesia is comparatively recent there
and introduced. It will be well, therefore, to begin with the
purely quinary, and to take the decimal last ; the combinations
of quinary and decimal, and quinary and vigesimal, being
intermediate 2.
1. Pure Quinary Notation. — No word for ten is in use, except
such a one as shows five to be the number really in view. In
Tanna karirum karirum, five five, stands for ten. In Eromanga,
by an advance, ten is narolim two fives, in Fate relima is the
same. In Sesake dua is two, lima five, dua lima ten, twenty
duo. lima dua two two-fives. In the neighbouring island of
Api lua lima, and tua lima, is ten, lua and tua being two, lima
five.
The region in which this purely quinary notation is in use
is very limited ; the southernmost island of the New Hebrides,
Anaiteum, having a vigesimal form, and the more northern
islands having either a decimal system or a word for ten. It
should be observed that the power of rising to high numbers
1 The way of reckoning on the fingers differs in various islands. In
Nengone, as has been said, the fingers are turned up and brought together at
five. In the Banks' Islands the fingers are turned down. This is often done
with the spoken numerals, often without the use of words. The practice of
turning down the fingers, contrary to our practice, deserves notice, as perhaps
explaining why sometimes savages are reported to be unable to count above
four. The European holds up one finger, which he counts, the native counts
those that are down and says ' four.' Two fingers held up, the native, count-
ing those that are down, calls three ; and so on till the white man, holding up
five fingers, gives the native none turned down to count. The native is non-
plussed, and the enquirer reports that savages cannot count above four.
2 The difference between the Melanesian numeration and the Australian is
remarkable. In none of the Melanesian islands is found the incapacity for
counting above two or three that is at least common in Australia. In New
Guinea, among people close to Cape York in Australia, the natives of Erub,
Fly River, and Tauan use the Australian way of counting : in Erub I netat,
2 neisi, 3 neisi- netat, 4 neisi-neisi ; in Tauan I urapon, 2 ukasar, 3 ukasar-
tirapon, q.ukasar-ukasar ; in Fly River I au, 2 etoa, 3 netoa-nau, 4 netoa-netoa.
There is nothing in the Melanesian languages here collected which cor-
responds to two-one for three, two-two for four.
Nu meration. 223
is not impaired by this way of counting. There are in Fate
words for a hundred and a thousand ; relima, although in fact
it means two fives, and not one ten, has become to all intents
and purposes a single numeral. No doubt also lua lima, though
distinctly two numerals, two five, has come to occupy in the
mind the place of a single word. Although they may
say ' two-fives,' and not say ' ten,' yet in fact they count
numbers above ten by two sets of fingers, and not by one
set of five.
When the second hand comes to be used in reckoning it is
interesting to observe how the digits belonging to it are
named. In Tanna, where karirum is five, riti one, karirum riti
is six : in Eromanga, sukrim naru, five two, is seven. This
corresponds to the lima sa five one, lima zua five two, for six
and seven, given by Hurnboldt in the Kawi Sprache. It is the
simplest and no doubt the most ancient method ; but there is
another, which will be considered further on, in which a sign
is affixed to the numeral used on the first hand to show that
a digit of the second hand is meant, and five is not repeated.
It is as if seven were called the 'other two,' or the 'two
above : ' as in the Fate rua two, larua seven, tolu three,
latolu eight. This appears to be an advance on five-two, five-
three.
2. Imperfect Decimal Notation. — In this system there is a
word for ten ; after five is reached there is no further mention
of this number. So far it is decimal ; but the digits of the
second hand have not their own independent names as they
have in a purely decimal notation : they are reckoned by words
which correspond to the names of the digits of the first hand.
In this the system is quinary ; the two hands are always
present to the view, the succession from one to ten is not a
simple continuous series but has a joint in it ; everything is
measured with a two-foot rule.
This, no doubt, is an advance upon a purely quinary nota-
tion, and practically does as well as if it were purely decimal.
In Mota they have invented for themselves a decimal series
for a game, although they use this half quinary method in
224 Melanesian Languages.
ordinary affairs1. An example from that language will show the
character of this imperfectly decimal method of reckoning : —
1 tuwale 6 laveatea
2 nirua 7 lavearua
3 nitol 8 laveatol
4 nivat 9 laveavat
5 tavelima 10 sanavul.
It will be seen that the word for ten has no reference to
five, and that five is not repeated on the second hand ; but
with a different prefix the same numerals, rua, lol, vat, serve
for the second, third, and fourth digits of both hands. In fact
the word laveatea, six, is the same in construction, for tea is a
form of the numeral most commonly used for ' one.' When
this Mota numeral series is examined it appears that the pre-
fix ni is a verbal particle, the Numeral in that form is being
used as a Verb. On the second hand lavea, which is prefixed
to the numerals, is most reasonably taken as a word signifying
the other side, or something above ; in the same way that, as
will be shown hereafter, the units are expressed in quantities
above ten ; in the same way, in fact, in which in ' eleven ' and
' twelve ' in English there is contained an element which sig-
nifies that the number combined with it is in a certain relation
to ten. It is plain, at least, that in the words for seven, eight,
nine, the numerals two, three, four, are repeated, and with no
express mention of five.
In Fate, though there is no independent word for ten, the
same system appears: la in latesa 6, larua 7, latolu 8, lafiti
9, corresponds to the Mota lavea. This method of forming
the numeral series up to ten prevails in the Northern New
Hebrides, Banks' Islands, and Santa Cruz, and in the curiously
isolated language of Savo in the Solomon Islands. In the
Banks' Islands there is nothing very different from the Mota
example given above. The language of Ambrym in the New
Hebrides is very distinct, but the same way of forming the
1 There is a third way of counting in Mota, (for which see the Mota
Grammar,) where Numerals properly speaking are not used, but descriptive
expressions employed to avoid the common numerals.
Numeration. 225
numerals is found ; one hu, two ru, three sul, four fir on the
first hand ; and on the second hand six luse ($e=tea in Mota),
seven luru, eight lusul, nine liafer. In Malikolo, one sikai, eix
sukai, two e-?/<z, seven whi-u, three m>£, eight cm', four evatz,
nine w/ii-vatz, show the same formation.
In Santa Cruz there is the difference that a suffix marks
the numerals of the second hand; one eja, six ejame, two
all, seven elime, three atu, eight otume, four apue, nine 0/J«-
eme.
in Savo one £&z, three edo, four agava, are repeated in /?0yoa
six, pogoro seven, kuava nine.
The numerals of New Britain, given by Mr. Wilfred Powell,
correspond, except in ten, to those of the Banks' Islands :
one tikai, two urua, three otul, four ivat, five a lima ; six lip
tikai, seven lov urua, eight lov otule, nine lov ivat, ten tfwr a
Urn. There is another word for ten in which five is not
repeated, ave nun.
The same thing is found in some of the languages of New
Guinea. In Yule Island aia one, abaraia six, rua two, abarua
seven. In numerals given by Latham, a dialect of Seroei,
near Port Dorey, has one boiri, six boiri-kori ; two boroe, seven
bor-kori\ three botoro, eight boto-kori; four boak, nine boa-kori.
Here it is evident that there is a prefix bo to the numerals
on the first hand, and a suffix kori with those of the second.
In another language, Ron, onemegnokor eight, onenfak nine,
evidently repeat ngokor three, and/a^ four.
These are all cases in which the digits belonging to the
second hand are named with reference to those of the first,
but without mention of five. There are some languages
which, though they have advanced to a word for ten, still
make up the numbers between five and ten by the addition
of one, two, three, four, to five. Such is that of Duke of York
Island, where seven is limadi ma ruacli. In the language of
Yehen or Yengen in New Caledonia, given by Von der
Gabelentz, the numerals after five are expressed in the same
manner, nim five, nem wet six (i. e. nim we fiefs, hets being one),
nim we Ink seven, nim we yen eight, nim po vits nine ; the
Q
226 Melanesian Languages.
numerals two, three, four being1 he-luk, he-yen, po-viis. The word
for ten is pain-clnk.
In two languages of the Malay Archipelago which have a
name for ten, the same way of forming- the numerals of the
second five is found. In Ende of Flores lima is five, lima a
six, lima zua seven. The formation of the numeral eight is
different ; wutu is four, rua 5utu, two fours, is eight. In En-
ganho, near Sumatra, alima is five, adoea two, and alimei adoea
is seven. A pure decimal series has not yet been formed ;
the system is still quinary up to ten.
3. Vigesimal Notation, — The example of the Nengone lan-
guage has already been given, showing that up to twenty, which
they call ' a man,' the notation is quinary, five being in terms
the counting of one set of fingers, and ten the completion of
two sets. Beyond twenty, though with multiples of twenty
they use vigesimal notation, they have to recur to the quinary
for intermediate numbers. Forty is two twenties, two men,
rewe re ngome, thirty is ' one man and two sets of fingers,' i. e.
one twenty and two fives, sa re ngom.e ne rewe tubenine.
In Lifu also they count by ' men,' twenties, and advance in
a purely quinary system to twenty. Five is tripi or fy'ipi, two
is lue,ten is two-five, luepi, fifteen is three-five kani-pi, twenty
is cha-atre or ca-atj one man, a hundred is five men, tjipi o atj.
The same method of counting by ' men ' as twenties is shown
by Von der Gabelentz in two parts of New Caledonia.
In the southernmost island of the New Hebrides something
of the same system was found, and there, as in the Loyalty
Islands, has been made away with by the Missionaries, who
have substituted the less cumbrous English numerals. The
Rev. J. Inglis does not admit the native numerals into his
Grammar of the Anaiteum language at all, and only the first
four into his Vocabulary. He gives us to understand, how-
ever, that the Anaiteumese counted by fives up to twenty,
using their fingers and toes ; but it does not appear that they
used the word ' man ' for twenty, or indeed rose beyond
twenty at all x.
1 ' The Papuans proceed thus : They count the fingers on one hand till they
Numeration. 227
These all belong1 to one region, and there is no other part
of Melanesia in which a vigesimal notation can be said to
exist. At the same time there is a way of counting by
twenties still in vogue in another part of Melanesia, and
there are traces of the same practice far away. In Bugotu,
Ysabel, they have a pure decimal notation, hanavulu being
ten ; but for twenty they like to say tutugu, and for multiples
of twenty so many tutugu. At Savo they use nebolo in the
same way, sale being ten. These words are rather collectives,
perhaps, than numerals ; but the presence of a name for the
unit above twenty, lisoa, different from that above ten, nipiti,
is a mark in Savo that counting by twenties, nebolo, is
an ancient practice. This corresponds to the distinction
in Malay between bias, the unit above ten, and likul, the
unit above twenty, which seems to show that the counting by
tens only was not the original practice in that language. In
Polynesia also counting by scores, twenties, is part of the
system of numeration. In the Marquesas ten is onokuu,
twenty is tekau ; which last word in the Maori of New
Zealand is ten. When twenty has been reached further
advance is made by tekau, thirty is tekau me ouohuu, forty e ua
tekau two score, one hundred e iima tekau five score. In the
Sandwich Islands the word used for ten when twenty is named
is not the same word which is used for ten by itself or in any
other multiple of ten. Ten is unu, for twenty iva kalua, two
nines, is used, for thirty kana kolu, three kana. In these
methods of numeration twenty is differently treated from
other multiples of ten, which seems to show that it has a
different history, that there was a time when twenty was the
come to five, and then they say my hand, whatever that word may be in the
language, for five ; then my hand and one for six, my hand and two for
seven, and so on till they come to ten, for which they say my two hands ;
they do the same thing with their ten toes, and then say my two hands and
my two feet for twenty. All beyond this in Aneityumese is many, a great
many, a great great many.' Mr. Inglis takes the Anaiteum people as an
example of Papuans ; but his description is plainly inapplicable to the
Melanesian people in the neighbouring Loyalty Islands, or in the other New
Hebrides, or in any of the groups the languages of which are here examined.
q 2
228 Melanesian Languages.
limit of counting. The cause of this may well have been
that the natural limit of counting was the number of the
fingers and toes ; but it does not appear that in any of the
Ocean languages the feet were directly referred to, except
perhaps in Anaiteum, and the term ' man ' to represent twenty
is confined to New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands.
4. Decimal Notation. — The purely decimal series of numerals,
in which each number is expressed by an independent word,
is found in the Melanesian languages, in the New Hebrides
in two islands, Lepers' Island and Whitsuntide, in Fiji, and
in the Solomon Islands. In the latter, the isolated language
of Savo is an exception ; and in New Britain a quinary
system has been noticed. The same decimal series substan-
tially is in use in the Polynesian islands, and in the Malay
Archipelago.
It is important here, without considering the particular
words, to ascertain how far the ten numerals of the Melanesian
decimal series are the same with those of Polynesia and of
the Malay Archipelago. Mr. Wallace, in his Vocabularies
of thirty-three languages of the latter division, gives the
numerals, and it will be found that generally they are the
same throughout.
In 33 languages for one 22 have some form of sa
„ two 30 „ rua
three 27 „ tol
four all pat
five 31
six 30
seven 29
24
nine 2 9
ten 12
lima
an
pitu
walu
sio
pulu.
It must be noticed that the Malay, from which this group
of languages is named, by no means has a characteristic set
of numerals ; the words for three, seven, eight, and nine,
tiga, tujoh, delapan, sambilan, are exceptional. The Melanesian
decimal series is identical with that just given of the great
majority of the languages of the Malay Archipelago, not with
the Malay.
Numeration. 229
The Polynesian numerals are substantially the same, with
a general agreement among themselves, except in the case
of ten ; and the Polynesian numerals are of course in use in
the Polynesian settlements in Melanesia. Have not then,
it may be asked, the Melanesians who use this series of
numerals borrowed them as a whole from the Polynesians ?
It is certain that they have not. The first Polynesian numeral
is tahi, tasi, kasi, from which it is not possible that sa has
been derived, though no doubt ta in tahi is the same as sa.
So the Polynesian four is fa, wha, ha, «, no doubt the same
with the Malayan ampat, but not a form from which the
Melanesian vat could have come. In Fiji, which is so close
to Tonga and in communication with it, four is indeed ra,
not vati, but one dua and ten tini are altogether different
from the Tongan taha and hongafulu. We have, therefore, to
conclude that the Melanesian decimal series of numerals is
not borrowed from the Malay, from which it differs in four
numerals out of ten, or from the Polynesian, than which it has
stronger forms, but that it is identical with that generally in
use in the Malay or Indian Archipelago and Madagascar.
But there can be no doubt that, though not introduced as
as a whole either from the Malay or the Polynesian languages,
the purely decimal notation has been comparatively lately
adopted by the Melanesian people, whose system was originally
quinary. The numerals up to five, whether a quinary or a
decimal notation be used, and ten, are generally the same ; it is
the numerals of the second hand 6, 7, 8, 9, which have been
introduced into Melanesia : and these most certainly not
from Malay, in which three out of the four are different from
those used in Melanesia. These numerals, and the general
use of a decimal series, may possibly have been introduced
from Polynesia, though the form of the numeral nine does
not encourage the notion x. How and when they were
1 Not one of the Polynesian words for nine has a form with s ; Tongan alone
has h, hiva. But the characteristic word in the Malay Archipelago, not
Malay, is sio, and in Melanesia the sibilant is more common than the aspirate,
and is represented in the Fiji civa.
230 Melanesian Languages.
introduced, and how it came about that their introduction
was partial, would be an interesting and difficult inquiry.
The consideration, hereafter, of the particular numerals may
throw some light upon the subject.
It is a remarkable thing that in one island of the group
in which the notation is quinary, but has a word for ten and
counts by tens — in Mota of the Banks' Islands, there is a
purely decimal series of numerals used in a game *. These
numerals are all different from any that I can discover else-
where ; they appear to be entirely indigenous, and not in
use even in the island nearest to Mota. We have, therefore, the
phenomenon of a people inventing a series of numerals for
themselves which is decimal, and using it in a game, while
they continue to use for ordinary purposes their old notation,
the basis of which is quinary. It is probable that in the
use of their words for seven or eight, lavearua, laveatol, though
the numerals two and three are expressed in them, the deriva-
tion and original meaning of the words are no more before
the native mind in Mota, than it is in English with ourselves
when we use ' eleven ' and ' twelve,' or in French when they
say ' douze ' and 'treize.'
5. Numeration beyond ten. — The methods of carrying on the
numeral series beyond ten in Melanesian languages are two,
one of which is of much interest. The addition of the unit
to the ten with or without a conjunction is simple, and would
deserve little consideration if it did not appear a sign of the
simplification of a language. The introduction of the unit
above ten, with an explanatory particle or designation of it,
has all the appearance of an original idiomatic method.
If we look at Mr. Wallace's list of numerals in the collo-
1 This decimal series is I qasa, 2 wura, 3 lovi, 4 tama, 5 rina, 6 qaru,
7 lini, 8 nag a, 9 viga, 10 wesu. These words are not all unintelligible ;
sa, though never used as one in Mota, is in fact the same as tea, which
appears in the Mota word for six, and qasa i, the first qa, corresponds to
qaru 6, the second qa ; wesu in itself means completion, arrival, and is
elsewhere used for a hundred. In Florida also there is a series of numerals
used only in play, which, however, are mostly the ordinary numerals reversed ;
lira for rua 2, lotu for tolu 3.
Numeration. 231
quial Malay of Singapore we see satu one, dua two, and
sapuloJi ten ; eleven and twelve are sapulok satu, sapulok dua ;
the unit is simply added to ten. But in his Java numerals,
sa being one, low two, and pulak ten, eleven is swalas, and
twelve rolas ; las added to the unit designates it as a sum
above ten. Similarly in Salibabo in ressa eleven, there is no
mention of mapurok ten, but res is evidently the Java las,
and sa is one. But in true Malay, not the lingua franca of
commerce, sablas is eleven, duablas twelve ; lias, evidently
the same as the Javanese las and Salibabo res, is the designa-
tion of the unit above ten. Another expression of apparently
the same character is given in Masuratty : polo is ten, sia one,
dua two, polo tern sia eleven, polo tern dua twelve ; in Wayapo
polo is ten, umsium one, rua two, polo geren ensium eleven,
polo geren rua twelve. In these tern and geren appear to be
words designating the unit above ten. It is plain, then, that
in the Malayan region there is an idiomatic use of a desig-
nation for the unit above ten, not a Conjunction or a Pre-
position, but in fact a Noun ; and that where, as in the
colloquial Malay, the language has been simplified and
disturbed this idiom has been given up. It is just the
same in Melanesia. There is commonly in the languages
which retain their quinary notation, a word designating
the unit above ten, or above five, corresponding to the Malay
bias, and in some cases identical with the Masuratty tern ;
while the languages which have adopted the no doubt com-
"paratively recent and foreign decimal notation have generally
no such idiom. Thus in the Solomon Islands the isolated Savo
language, with its quinary system, has the designation nipiti
for the unit above ten, while all the neighbouring islands
which use the decimal series add barely the unit to the ten.
Among the Polynesian languages in the Sandwich Islands
ten is umi, one kaki, two lua, eleven is umi kuma ma kahi,
twelve umi kuma ma lua : kumi is described as a number or
company, and ma as signifying company, and coming after
the word to which it is applied. The explanation of the
words signifying eleven and twelve, therefore, is ' ten, the
232 Melanesian Languages.
number in company one, or two.' The same word is used in
the Maori of New Zealand, tuma a number in excess ; and
tuma may very well be taken to be the same word with tern of
Masuratty and with the temei, demei, numei of the Banks'
Islands.
In Melanesia a word of this kind is not used only to
describe the unit over ten, but with the same notion the unit
over five where the numeration is quinary, and the sum
also, whatever it may be, over a hundred. The meaning1 of
the word is the ' sum over,' whether over five, ten, or a
hundred.
In the Loyalty Islands, in Nengone, the name of the unit
above ten is cemene or xecene, eleven is rewe tubenine ne sa re
cemene, literally, two the sets of fingers and one the sum
above.
In Lifu ngemen is the name of the number above five, ca
ngemen is six, lue ngemen seven, that is, the number-above
(five) one, the number-above two. The designation of the
number in the next set of five is ko, the digits belonging
to the first set of toes are ca ko, lue ko eleven, twelve. The
digits again between fifteen and twenty are called huai ano,
ca huai ano, lue kuai ano sixteen, seventeen. Thus each set
of five has its appropriate name for the quantity above five,
or ten, or fifteen.
In the New Hebrides, in Fate, the designation of the unit
above ten is temati, eighteen is relim iskei temati latolu, one
ten, the unit-above eight. This temati recalls the tern, tuma'
already mentioned.
In Espiritu Santo the name of the number above ten shows
itself plainly as a noun ; forty-four is sonovul vat na vana
movat, ( tens four, its unit above is four.' This word va is
probably the same as ve of Araga, Whitsuntide, used for the
number above a hundred, and the Santa Cruz wa ; both of
which are, like it, constructed as nouns with the pronoun
suffixed.
In Araga and Lepers' Island1, in both of which the decimal
There is another way of counting in Lepers' Island without the domagi,
Numeration. 233
series of numbers is employed, the name of the unit above
ten is doma, the word already familiar ; in Lepers' Island,
twelve is sanavulu domaffi gairue ; in Whitsuntide twelve is
hanavulu doman gairua, ten, its doma two. The same word
is used in Aurora.
In the Banks' Islands the same word in varying1 shapes is
universally employed ; in Merlav demei, in Gaua dome, Lakona
jime ; in Vanua Lava deme, temei, temegi, nur&egi ; in Mota
numei ; in Mota Lava dome ; Volow neme ; Ureparapara deme.
It should be observed that in these languages there is no
need for the mention of ten ; for twelve it is enough to say
domaffi gairue, o numei nirua, as dua bias in Malay, or twelve
in English. In the Torres Islands the word is different,
mahali, the meaning of which is a thing-above.
In Fiji the numeral above ten is simply introduced with
the particle ka (the ga of Lepers' Island above), but mani is
also used with or without ka ; tini mani tolu, or tini ka mani
tolu, thirteen.
In Santa Cruz the unit above ten is wa constructed as
a Noun, naplu na wade tu thirteen.
In the Solomon Islands the unit is generally added simply
to the ten, or with a Conjunction ; but in Fagani, San Cristoval,
matara is the sum above either ten or a hundred. In Florida
a Verb is often used, rua Aanavuhi me sara rua twenty-two,
i. e. two the tens, (and) it has come up to two. In Savo the
characteristic Melanesian idiom reappears, the number above
ten is nipiti, edo nipiti twelve, edo is two, and ten is not
named. In this singular language, while nipiti is used to
designate the number above ten, and any multiple of ten
except twenty, another word, lisoa, is used for the unit above
twenty. This corresponds remarkably with the Malay use of
tikul above twenty, instead of lias above any other number
of tens ; and it surely points in both cases to something of
a vigesimal notation. In both twenty is treated as in
which is instructive as showing the meaning of the word commonly used for
ten to be a ' set ' not a numeral ; forty-eight can be expressed, navulu gevesi,
navulu gailimegi gaiwelu, i.e. tens 4, the fifth ten (set), eight.
234 Melanesian Languages.
many Melanesian languages a hundred is and as ten is, as the
conclusion of a series beyond which counting goes on with
a new expression.
From what has been shown, we may observe an agreement
in this practice of using a word as the designation of the unit
beyond ten, or of the digit beyond five, which extends from
the Malay to the languages of New Caledonia and the Loyalty
Islands, and is explained as well as exemplified in Polynesia.
The identity also is very remarkable of tern, teme, tuma, doma,
nume, in Bouru, New Zealand, and the New Hebrides and
Banks' Islands.
6. Numeration leyond a hundred. — It is a natural extension,
and in another point of view an illustration, of the way of
adding units to tens, to use a word also to designate a number
above a hundred. This use is not so common in Melanesia
as the other. In the Loyalty Islands, where there is a
designation for the digit above five, the number above a
hundred is simply added ; in Lakona, where jimei is the unit
above ten, there is nothing for the number above a hundred.
In the Northern New Hebrides, however, and the Banks'
Islands, it is common to use such a word, and it is commonly
possible to learn the meaning of the word. A word in
general use is in the Mota form avaviu, a form which shows
it to be a noun, and which is derived from the word av
to pile one thing upon another. In Mota no is melnol
vatuwale o avaviu sanavul, hundred once, and the pile above
ten : in Lepers' Island vudolue vagatuwale, avigi sanavulu.
In Volow it is nivivin ' its number above ' so many. In
Aurora the word used is /an, a verb meaning to turn one
thing over upon another ; 320 is medol tol, Ian wonana
sanwulu rua, ' hundreds three, turn over upon it two tens.'
In Araga, Pentecost, they use ve for the number above a
hundred, no doubt the same word as va used in Espiritu Santo
for the unit above ten. In part of Vanua Lava they use
the same word above one hundred as above ten, teme. In
Savo the same name is used for the number above a hundred
that is used for that above the score, lisoa.
Numeration.
2-*
MELANESIAN NUMERALS.
i. Quinary (no word for ten).
NEW HEBRIDES.
i
2
3
4
5
10
Anaiteum
etbi
e ro
e seij
e manowan
iknian
Tana
riti
ka ru
ka bar
ke fa
ka rirum
karirum-
karirum
Eromanga
sai
du ru
di sil
di vat
sukrim
narolim
Fate
iskei
rua
tolu
bate
lima
relima
6 la tesa
7 la rua
8 la tolu
9 la fiti
Sesake
sikai
dua
dolu
pati
lima
dua lima
6 la tesa
7 la dua
8 la dolu
9 lo veti
Api
tai
lua
tolu
vari
lima
lua lima
6 o rai
7 o lua
8 o tolo
9 o vari
Pama
tai
e lua
e tolu
e bati
e lime
ba lua lim
6 a liitai
7 o lu
8 o tolu
9 o bati.
ii. Imperfect Decimal (a word for ten).
NEW HEBRIDES.
i
2
3
4
5
10
Malikolo
sikai
e ua
e roi
e vatz
e rima
singeap
6 su kai
7 wbi u
8 o roi
9 wbi vatz
Ambrym
hu
ru
sul
vir
lim
Barnaul
6 li se
7 lu ro
8 bi sul
9 lia ver
Espiritu Santo
tea
rua
tol
vati
lina
saraovul
6 arave
7 ve rua
8 ve tou
9 ra tati
Aurora
tewa
i rua
i tol
i vat
tavalima
sawwulu
6 lava tea
7 lava rua
8 lava tol
9 la vat.
BANKS' ISLANDS.
Merlav
tuwale
i rua
itol
i vat
tavalim
sawavul
6 live tia
7 livea rua
8 livea tol
9 lev vat
Santa Maria, Gog
tuwal
i ru
itol
i vat
tevelim
sawovul
6 leve te
7 leve ru
8 leve tol
9 leve vat
„ Lakon
tuwa
ni ru
ni tel
ni vas
tivilem
gapra
6 le tuwa
7 lavu ru
8 lavi tel
9 la vas
Vanua Lava, Pak
vu wal
vu ru
vu 'ol
vu ve
'eveleni
samvul
6 leve 'a
7 leve ru
8 leve 'ol
9 leve ve
„ Vureas
tuwel
ni ro
ni tol
ni vat
tevelem
sawzol
6 leve te
7 lovo ro
8 lo vo tol
9 leve vat
,, Mosina
towal
ni ru
ni tol
ni vet
teveliwi
sawwul
6 leve te
7 livu ro
8 livi tol
9 livi vet
Mota
tuwale
ni rua
ni tol
ni vat
tavelifna
sawavul
6 lavea tea
7 lavea rua
8 lavea tol
9 lavea vat
Melanesian Languages.
BANKS' ISLANDS (continued}.
I
2
3
4
5
IO
Motlav
vi twag
vo ro
ve tel
ve vet
tevelein
sorewul
6 leve te
7 livi ro
8 leve tel
9 leve vet
Volow
vo twa
vo ro
ve tel
ve veat
tevelem
sattwil
6 leve te
7 leve ro
8 leve tel
9 leve veat
Ureparapara
vo towa
vo ro
vo tol
vo vet
teveliem
saraowul
6 leve jea
7 leve ro
8 leve tol
9 leve vet
Torres Islands
vu jia
vu rua
ve tal
ve vat
tevelima
hewawol
6 livi jia
7 lave rua
8 lave tal
9 liv vat.
Nifilole
Savo
Nengone
Lifu
SANTA CRUZ.
e ja a 11 a tu a pue
6 e jame 7 o lime 8 o tume 9 o pueme
nipi lilu eve uva
6 wele g\ 7 pole lu 8 po le 9 polo ve.
SOLOMON ISLANDS.
na vlu nu na vlu
vili nukolu
atale
ela edo igiva agava
ara
6 pogo a 7 pogo ro 8 (kui) 9 kua va.
in. Vigesimal.
LOYALTY ISLANDS.
1 2 3 4
5
sa rewe tini ece
Be dongo
gfdongone fdongone ofdongo ne fdongo ne
[ sa *\ rewe \ tini "\ ece
f rewe tube
I0\ nine
ca lue kceni eke
tjipi
r fca nge- flue gne- g Jkceni gne- feke nge-
\ men '\ men \ men °\ men
10 lue pi
ii ca ko 12 lue ko 13 kceni ko 14 eke ko
1 5 kceni pi
.-fca huai fluahuai ofkcenihuai feke huai
\ ano '\ ano \ ano "\ ano
20
re ngome
ca atj.
iv. Decimal.
NEW HEBRIDES.
Lepers' Island
I
gai tuwale
a
gai rue
3
gai tolu
4
gai vesi
5
gai lime
6
gai ono
7
gai bitu
8
gai welu
9
gai siwo
IO
sawavulu
Whitsuntide
i
gai tuwa
a
gai rua
3
gai tolu
4
gai vasi
5
gai lima
6
gai ono
7
gai vitu
8
gai welu
9
gai siwo
10
hanvulu.
FIJI.
I
e dua
2
e rua
3
e tolu
4
e va
5
e lima
6
e ono
7
e vitu
8
e walu
9
e ciwa
10
e tini
Ilotuma
i
ta
2
rua
3
folu
4
hak
5
liain
6
on
7
hif
8
vol
9
siav
10
saghulu.
Numeration.
237
SOLOMON ISLANDS.
Ulawa
i e ta
2 e rua
3 e 'olu
4 e hai
5 e lima
6 e ono
7 e hi'u
8 e walu
9 e siwa
10 tawahulu
Malanta
i e ta
2 e rua
3 e 'olu
4 e hai
5 e lime
6 e ono
7 e hi'u
8 e walu
9 e siwe
lo tawahulu
San Cristoval, Wa»o
i tai
2 e rua
3 e 'oru
4 e hai
5 rima
6 ono
7 bi'u
8 e waru
9 e siwa
10 tawahuru
„ Fagani
i i tagai
2 i rua
3 i 'oru
4 i fai
5 i rima
6 i ono
7 i pi'u
8 i waru
9 i siwa
lo tawavuru
Florida
i sakai
2 rua
3 tolu
4 vati
5 lima
6 ono
7 vitu
8 alu
9 hiua
10 hawavulu
Vaturawa
i kesa
2 ruka
3 tolu
4 vati
e loll 6
6 ono
7 vitu
8 alu
9 siu
10 sawavulu
Bugotu
i sikei
2 rua
3 tolu
4 vati
5 lima
6 ono
7 vitu
8 alu
9 hia
10 salage
Gto
i kahe
2 palu
3 tolu
4 fati
5 lima
6 famno
7 fa fitu
8 falu
9 fa hia
10 faboto
New Georgia
l meke
2 karua
3 hike
4 made
5 lima
6 onoono
7 fopa
8 vesu
9 sia
10 na^uru1.
Malay
i sa
2 dua
3 tiga
4 ampat
5 lima
6 anam
7 tujoh
8 delapan
9 sambilan
10 sapuloh
Malagasy
i isa
2 roa
3 telo
4 efatra
5 dimy
6 enina
7 fito
8 valo
9 sivy
lo folo
Maori
i tahi
2 e rua
3 e toru
4 e wha
5 e rima
6 e ono
7 e whitu
8 e waru
9 e iwa
10 tekau.
II. The Grammar of Numeration.
1. Cardinals. — Numerals in the Melanesian languages are
used as Nouns, Adjectives, and Verbs ; that is, the same word
expressing- number may be used grammatically in either way.
For example, in Mota two is rua, sanavul ten ; when twenty is
expressed as sanavul rua, it is plain that sanavul is used as
a Noun and rua as an Adjective, two tens. If they speak of
ten men, tanun sanavul, the Numeral is an Adjective which
just now was a Substantive ; if in speaking of the number ten
having been reached we say me sanavwl veta, sanavul is gram-
matically a Verb, it is literally ' they have tenned.'
This does not mean that in each Melanesian language the
Numerals are thus used indifferently as occasion may serve,
1 The Numerals of Mafoor, N. Guinea, are i sai, 2 dui, 3 Jcior, 4 fiaJc,
5 rim, 6 onem, 1 file, 8 war, 9 siw, 10 santfur.
238 Melanesian Languages.
but that Numerals may have either of these grammatical
characters, though each language perhaps prefers one use to
another. In the case of a Numeral being preceded by an
Article it is of course a Noun ; if it takes a verbal Particle, it is
in fact a Verb, though in English we translate it as an Adjective;
and when a numeral plainly qualifies a preceding Substantive
it is an Adjective, as in English. An Adjective in these
languages as a rule follows the Substantive it qualifies, and
one Numeral following another may qualify the one before it
and be a numeral adjective, as in the Mota sanavul rua above,
two tens. But two Numerals may stand together without any
grammatical relation ; as in Florida hanavulu rua means
twelve, not twenty, is ten-two, not two tens. The Numeral
also as an Adjective may precede another Numeral which is a
Noun. In Nengone tubenine a row or set of fingers is used
for five, rewe is two, ten is expressed by rewe tubenine two sets
of fingers. In this instance tubenine can hardly be called a
Numeral. When the expression sa re ngome, one man, is used
for twenty, the Noun ngome, man, has even the Article re with
it : but the same construction is seen in Florida rua hanavulu
above, and in the Fiji rua sagavulu twenty, in the Malay dua
puloJi, and the Samoan luafulu ; words and construction are
the same.
The idiomatic uses of the several languages differ in this
respect. In Florida kanavulu rua, like Malay (low Malay)
sapuloTi dua, means twelve, in Mota sanavul rua means twenty:
the Fiji rua sagavulu is not a possible expression in Mota.
The Sesake dualima dua, twenty, combines two ways of speak-
ing ; in dualima two fives, i. e. ten, dua comes first though
dua qualifies lima, but dualima having become one word,
a Noun, dua as an Adjective comes after it.
It is not always plain, therefore, when a Numeral is cer-
tainly an Adjective or a Noun Substantive ; but some-
times the Article going with a word which is a Numeral,
and not, like tubenine above, a Substantive used to express
number, shows it to be in use a Substantive ; as in Malagasy
the substantive character of folo, the same as puloh, vulu,
Numeration. 239
is shown in the expression roa amby ny folo twelve, ' two
above the ten ;' and in Fiji e rua na tini twenty, two the
tens.
The use of the Numerals as Verbs is perhaps difficult
comparatively to ascertain, because the Numerals are com-
monly obtained in that form. Any one learning- Mota
would find the Numerals presenting1 themselves to him as
nirua two, nitol three, nivat four, and it would only be on con-
sideration and by comparison with other languages that
he would ascertain the true Numerals to be rua, tol, vat, and
the prefix ni one which puts them into the place of Verbs.
So in a Fiji Grammar, Numerals, under the name of Numeral
Adjectives, are given e dua, e rua, e to In, e vat, one, two, three,
four, and ka dua, ka rua in eleven and twelve ; and though e and
ka may be called ' numeral particles,' it is certain that they
are the same with those that commonly go before Verbs. In
Maori of New Zealand e and ka are the ' ordinary prefixes
of the numerals below ten,' and those particles 'which pre-
fixed to a word endue it with the qualities of a verb/ It
is often also the case that the common verbal particles of
a language are not those used with Numerals. In Lepers'
Island, for example, ga, which goes with the Numerals, is not
used with ordinary verbs, yet it is no doubt the verbal
particle in use in the neighbouring island of Espiritu Santo,
and the same with the Fiji and Maori ka. The true Numerals,
and consequently the verbal particles attached to them, are
ascertained by comparison of languages among themselves, and
by observing the Numerals as constructed with other words.
In Mota ni is seen to be a verbal particle in nirua two, when
sanavul rua twenty, is examined ; the very bare expression, as it
seems at first sight, karirumkarirum five-five, ten, in Tanna,
appears in the light thrown upon it by other languages to be
after all a verbal expression ; karirum five has the verbal ka,
just as karu, two, is the same in form and grammatical character
as Fiji or Maori ka rua. A prefix seen accompanying any
series of Numerals may generally be taken as a verbal particle
and a sign that the Numeral is used as a Verb, as in Anaiteum
240 Melanesian Languages.
one e thi, two e ro, three e seij, four e manowan. (See Table of
Numerals.)
2. Ordinals. — Ordinals are naturally formed from Cardinals.
It is remarkable that very generally in Melanesia the ordinal
'first' is a distinct word from the cardinal 'one.' Some
of these ordinals, which are unlike the cardinals of the lan-
guage to which they belong, can be seen to be the same with
the cardinals of a cognate language, as moai, first, in Mota
is no doubt moi, one, in Gilolo. It is not uncommon also
that a word meaning ' another ' or a ' fellow ' should be used
for second, like the Mota tuara^-.
The Ordinals are formed in the Melanesian languages
by applying prefixes or suffixes to the Cardinals. In Fiji
ka is prefixed, e rua two, karua second ; as in Malay duwa two,
ka duwa second. This prefix ka in both languages gives some-
thing like the sense of a passive participle, and is distinct
from the verbal particle commonly used with cardinal nu-
merals. In Fate ke or ki is prefixed in the same way, kerua
second, kelima fifth. The causative prefix whaka in Maori
makes an ordinal, whaka tekau tenth, as faha in Malagasy
does, roa two, faharoa second. The same causative prefix as
vaga, or va, makes the ordinal in the Northern New Hebrides
and Banks' Islands, with a substantive termination at the
same time added to the cardinal : Maewo rua two, vagaruai
second, Lepers' Island tolu three, vagatoligi third, Mota vagaruei,
vagatoliu, or vatoliu. This prefix, however, unless the word
be thus made into a substantive, forms a multiplicative, as
Fiji vakatolu, Mota vagatol, three times.
The most common way in Melanesia of forming an ordinal
is to suffix na, ne, ni, to the cardinal. In Nengone of the
Loyalty Islands rewe two, rewone third, tini three, tinone third ;
in Eromanga of the New Hebrides duru two, durungi second ;
in Espiritu Santo, with vaga also prefixed, vagatoluna third ; in
Whitsuntide gairuana second. In the Banks' Islands vaga is
1 This is connected no doubt with the practice of counting things in pairs.
Compare the Mota un expression for two, tana valuna, the one that has its
fellow.
Numeration. 241
sometimes prefixed when this termination is used, and some-
times not ; Motlav vagrone second, vagtelne third, in Vureas
rone, tolne. In the Solomon Islands this suffix, Savo being an
exception, is general ; Ulawa ruana, 'oluna, Florida ruani,
toluni *. In Duke of York it is di, limadi ma ruadi seventh,
i. e. fifth and second.
In some of the Banks' Islands languages the word anai,
noticed in the Vocabulary under the word ' Child,' is used to
make an ordinal ; Mota melnol hundred, melnolanai hundredth ;
Santa Maria, Gaua, rua nan second, tol nan third. In the
Banks' Islands generally the ordinal is a Noun and in the form
of a Noun.
III. Peculiar Methods and Terms used in Numeration.
1. There is not, so far as I am aware, in Melanesia any way
of counting by pairs like the use in Polynesia 2. In Fiji and
the Solomon Islands there are collective Nouns signifying
tens of things very arbitrarily chosen, neither the number
nor the name of the thing being expressed. Thus in Florida
na kna is ten eggs, na banara is ten baskets of food. In
Florida these words are in no case the same as those in Fiji,
and they are not so numerous, but the same objects are often
counted in this manner. In Florida ten canoes or ten pud-
dings are na gobi, which in Fiji are respectively a udundu, and
a wai\ in Florida napaga is either ten pigs, or ten birds, or
ten fish, or ten opossums ; in Fiji ten pigs are a rara, ten fowls
a soya, ten fish a bola. There are many other words of the
same kind naming tens of cocoanuts, breadfruit, crabs, shell-
fish, bunches of bananas, baskets of nuts. In Fiji bola is a
hundred canoes, Tcoro a hundred cocoanuts, a selavo a thousand
1 It is worth notice that with this termination the indefinite Numeral niha,
how many, so many, quot, is made into the ordinal Adjective which has no
English equivalent, the Latin quotus.
2 ' In counting by couples in Duke of York they give the couples different
names, according to the number of them there are. The Polynesian way was to
use numerals with the understanding that so many pairs, not so many single
things, was meant ; holcorutt, twenty, meant forty, twenty pairs.' — Maunsell.
11
242 Melanesia* Languages.
cocoanuts. In Florida parego is a collective noun for ten
of anything ; in Bugotu selage is ten, tutugu twenty, things of
any kind.
2. There are not in any Melanesian language, so far as I
know, any ' numeral coefficients ' or ' numeral affixes ' such as
are employed with numerals in the Indo-Chinese languages
and in Malay. It is true that a word which is identical with
the Malay buwak is used with things which strike the mind
as globular1, but this is not used in numeration. There is
nevertheless an idiom in giving a number in which a word
precedes the numeral carrying with it the image which the
things enumerated seem to present to the mind. Thus in
Fiji four canoes in motion are a waqa saqai va, from qai to
run. In Mota two canoes sailing together are called oka
peperua butterfly-two canoes, from the look of the two sails.
Using the indefinite visa so many, so many men together are
tanun pulvisa, from pul to stick together, pulsanavul ten
together, piiltavelima five together, pulvisa so many together ;
if they are in a canoe they are sagevisa, on-board-so-
many. Arrows shot, and canoes under sail are 'stand' so
many lira visa, things in a bunch are sogovisa 'bunch' so
many, bats are taqa visa 'hang' so many, money is tal visa
'string' so many. In the Solomon Islands this use is not
common, though in San Cristoval tae siha is the Mota sage
visa. In Nengone with the number of spears they use naiu to
strike, with the number of birds dede to fly, or te to sit,
accordingly as they are flying or sitting.
IV. The Melanesian Numerals.
The consideration of the words used as Numerals is dis-
tinct from that of the method of their use or grammatical
arrangement ; their meaning in themselves and origin, if
they can be discovered, must be full of interest and instruc-
tion. We have seen that the Numerals which belong to the
digits above five, of the second hand, are apparently of later
introduction in Melanesia than those of the first hand ; as no
1 See Vocabulary Notes under the word ' Fruit.'
Numeration. 243
doubt the way of counting- by fives is the earliest to come
into use among1 mankind. It will be seen that in fact the
series of the first five numbers is, generally speaking, the
common property of the languages which are here considered.
There are many exceptional numerals to be found, but
generally speaking in an island language, whether in Formosa,
in Madagascar, or in New Guinea, a list of Numerals will show
the first five digits substantially the same, and any one of
these island numerals will be looked for in vain on the
continent of Asia, Africa, or Australia. In New Guinea
vocabularies, for example, there are often seen Numerals un-
like those common in the Melanesian islands ; but it cannot
be mistaken that the New Guinea numerals generally, in the
vocabulary of any one language that may be taken, are to
some extent the same as those of the Ocean languages,
whereas Australian vocabularies show nothing whatever in
the Numerals which is familiar to those acquainted with the
island tongues.
1. — The first Cardinal is not one in which the greatest
agreement prevails. There is a practice in some places in
counting to begin with a word which is not used as the
common Numeral : in Malagasy isa is only used in counting,
while iray, iraiky is used in composite numbers ; but this isa
is no doubt the very common sa which, by itself or in a
compound, is in many of these languages ' one.' The Florida
sakai is compounded with it, yet in beginning to count a
series keha is used for ' one/ not sakai. Since the numerals of
little known tongues are often got by counting a series, no
doubt the true Numeral ' one ' is often wanting in vocabularies.
The common first Numeral, however, is no doubt sa or ta. In
Mr. Wallace's lists of the numerals of the Malay Archipelago,
there are but five out of thirty-three in which sa is not
present. It varies to se, so, si, kia, but may be taken to be
the same ; when as in Malay ' one ' is satu, sa shows itself as
the true numeral in sa puloh ten, sa bias eleven. The Poly-
nesian tahi, tasi, shows the same root. In Micronesia the
Pellew Islands have tang, the Kingsmill te. In New Guinea,
244 Melanesian Languages.
at Guebe (the numerals having the prefix pi), ' one ' is pi sa, at
Arago ossa, in other languages tata, sa, sai, in Redscar Bay
ta, in the Gulf of Papua fa, tea. In New Britain and Duke of
York takai is the same with sakai of the Solomon Islands,
where also are tai and eta. In Santa Cruz where t often turns to
tch, written/, ' one ' \&jia, which in the Torres Islands is vujia.
In the Banks' Islands tea forms the Numeral laveatea six, and
though not in use as a Numeral is well known to mean ' one1.'
In the New Hebrides tea is in Espiritu Santo, in Api ta, tai ;
in Sesake sikai, Fate iskei, are the sikai, sakai, of the Solomon
Islands, but latesa six, and the indefinite pronoun tea give
forms of the common numeral. In Eromango one is sai,
in Anaiteum ethi ; in the Loyalty Islands the word continues,
in Nengone sa, in Lifu c/ta, in Uea hets (he a prefix) ; in
Baladea of New Caledonia it is ta. The general resemblance,
the general distribution of this numeral from the continent of
Asia to the extremity of Melanesia is very remarkable.
There is another quite distinct numeral, in Fiji dua, in the
Banks' Islands tuwa in Lakona, in Torres Islands tuwa, tuwaga,
tmoe ; with the verbal prefix votowo, votwa, vitwag, in the
Banks' Islands ; where the same root no doubt makes tuwale,
and, where t is dropped, vuwal, owal. In the three Northern
islands of the New Hebrides tewa, tuwa, tuwale is the Numeral
in use. The region occupied by this word is confined to Fiji,
the Banks' Islands, and the Northern New Hebrides ; in the
two latter it seems to have ousted tea, which still keeps its
place in six, the first of the second hand. It is possible that
the Marshall Islands dzuon is the same.
2. — The second numeral is almost universally in some form
rua, the Malay dua ; thirty out of Mr. Wallace's thirty-three
agree in -this, and quite as much agreement is found in
Melanesia. There are some remarkable forms. To find dua
' one ' in Fiji and dua ' two ' in Malay, tuwa ' one ' in the Banks'
Islands and tua ' two ' in Api of the New Hebrides, is not to
find an apparent identity of numerals. But dua is only a
1 ' In dialects of Fiji ta, taya, tia, are in use for one. There are besides
in Navitilevu t'la. Jilla, Ha, Jcila, £?'«.' — Rev. L. Fison.
Numeration. 245
form of rua, which often becomes drua, and the difference
between t in some places and d in others is so slight that
what one European would write tua another would write dua.
In Api the form lua is also found, and cliua with a not
uncommon change of t to ck.
The Malay dua is in Celebes diet, which is paralleled by the
form li for ru in Santa Cruz. In Malikolo, as in Marquesas,
r has fallen away, leaving ua ; in Florida they sometimes
make it rulca. In the New Guinea lists I have seen some
form of the common numeral appears in the greater number,
though it may be disguised as do. In Savo do also appears.
3. — This Numeral in the form of tol is also so nearly uni-
versal in the region under view that it is only necessary to
remark on some exceptions. One of the most remarkable of
these is the Malay tic/a, which stands alone in the languages
which are called Malayan. In Nengone three is tini, which
is also the numeral in Tarawan of the Kingsmill group of
Micronesia. But tini in Fiji is ten, and is said to signify con-
clusion. The resemblance can hardly be accidental, and raises
a hesitating conjecture that there may be here a trace of
counting by threes. The change of t to s and ch gives disil,
cJdln\ it is dropped in San Cristoval oru, and Port Dorey ki-or ;
in the plural suffix ou of San Cristoval r or I is dropped, as in
Marquesas ton.
4. — There is not in Mr. Wallace's list a single exception to
some form of pat, which appears in Malay ampat : in the Poly-
nesian languages without exception t is absent, in Melanesia
it is, with very few exceptions, present or represented by s.
The Malayan, Polynesian, Melanesian, have no doubt the same
Numeral, but no doubt the Melanesians have not received it
from the Polynesians ; pal, vat, va, are the same, but va has
not been borrowed in the form of vat. In several Melanesian
languages other words appear instead of this Numeral, but
none of them call for explanation.
5. — The examination of the common word for five has been
to some extent anticipated, — lima means a hand. Whatever
may have been the original meaning of the other Numerals,
246 Melanesian Languages.
this is clear, men counted by their fingers and called five the
hand. In many places the same word is both the Numeral
and the common Noun ; in some the two words are different
altogether; in some there is a slight difference. In the Banks'
Islands lima is five and pane commonly hand, but lima is
known to mean the hand. In Fiji liga is the hand and five
lima 1, as in Maori ringa the hand and rima five, by a change
from m to ng in the noun. Other variations in form are com-
mon ; nima in Tongan and in the Kingsmill group, nim in
New Caledonia, show a change of I to n, which appears also in
nimanima the Ulawa word for hand. The variation in form,
however, is of comparatively little interest, the important
thing is the testimony borne by this very common Numeral
to the primitive quinary method of numeration.
There are languages in which, for some reason, a different
Numeral is used, as the curious chehe in Vaturawa. If numbers
were counted on the fingers there was no necessity for calling
five the hand ; as is plain at Nengone, where the word which
stood for the Numeral described the finished act of bringing
the fingers together. In Santa Cruz the same word, with a
mark of distinction, is used for five and ten, meaning probably
' the set.' But taking the Ocean languages as a whole, this
and the four first numerals generally agree ; generally sa, rita,
tol, vat, lima are one, two, three, four, five ; whereas on the
continents close to the shores of which the islands lie, not
only this set of numerals is absent, but not a single one of
them is present.
6. — When we pass on to the Numerals above five, which
belong in counting to the second hand, there is very little
difference between them, anam and ono will represent six in
the languages which use a full decimal series. This is no
doubt a mark of the comparatively recent spread of the
numerals.
7, 8, 9. — With regard to these Numerals it is important to
observe that, as with tiga three, the Malay language is sin-
gular in its use of tujoh, tfelapan, sambilan, in place of the pitn,
1 In some Fiji dialects lima is hand as well as five.
Niimeration. 247
walu, sio, which are generally used in the Malay Archipelago.
This numeral series has not then been introduced by the
Malays into any of the regions in which it is used, and it has
been shown above that the Melanesians who use it have not
derived it from the Polynesians. It has spread recently and
is probably still spreading, but the original centre from whence
it spread does not appear ; it belongs to the Oceanic island
speech, and seems first to have appeared with the five nu-
merals almost everywhere in use, and later with the names
for the digits between five and ten which have come into very
general use.
10. — In Mr. Wallace's lists twelve languages out of thirty-
three use a form of puloh for ten ; this is the very common
word in Polynesia and Melanesia. There are, however, a
number of different words for ten, many more than there are
for five. The reason seems to be that the natural use of the
fingers supplied in the word for hand a natural Numeral,
whereas the choice of tallies or signs of the complete number
of ten was arbitrary, and many came into use. There must
have been something more than ordinarily suitable in the idea
originally conveyed by the word pulu to cause its very
general use.
vThe stem word in various forms is pulu, puru, vulu, vuru,
burn, Iiuru, kulu, huu, uu. In Malay sapuloh is one ten, dua
puloh two tens, sa is plainly the Numeral ' one.' But in Fiji,
for instance, sayavulu is ten, which is not the same thing in a
language in which sa is not one, and where the word is made-
up of another syllable besides. It is possible to explain saga-
vulu in Fiji, sanavul, hanavulu, or whatever form the word
may take in Melanesia. The word vulu may be shown to
mean probably a set of fingers, and saga (sanga] double ; if this
be so, sangavulu corresponds to the Nengone rewe tubenme two
sets of fingers, In the Marquesas, in which it is the practice
to leave out I, the verbpu'u is translated ' rassembler,' ' entasser,'
and the noun pu'upuu ( poignee ; ' in Mota to take a handful
is to pulim. ; the word pulu then may well mean the handful
of five fingers, if one hand is used, or, if both hands are taken
248 Melanesian Languages.
together, the handful of ten. The use of Santa Cruz cor-
responds to this, though they say napnu or navnu as often as
naplu or navlu; na is the article, plu, vlu is the Noun used as
the Numeral, naplu ten, naplu-nu five, the full set of fingers is
ten, the single set five. The meaning of sanga we may find
in Banks' Islands sana, Fiji saga. The Mota sana is applied
to the fork of a tree or stick; in Fiji saga is 'a crotch,' 'having
a crotch,' ' the thighs because they branch off from the body,*
' a pair of tongs/ a word which is compounded in the Samoan
pi-saga-vae. The two hands with the fingers brought to-
gether in counting, and held up in a double set, may well be
described by sagavulu, sanavul, /tanavuru, or any similar form,
and it will be seen that a word in use for a hundred is open
to the same sort of explanation. It is true that there remains
a difficulty in the Maori ngahum, the Lepers' Island navultt,
in which nga cannot be thus explained.
There are other words for ten which may be examined.
The Fiji tini is only used in Bau for the first ten ; twenty,
thirty, and so on, are expressed by sagavulu ; and tini is ex-
plained as meaning finish ; when ten is reached the series
naturally given by the fingers is complete. The same word
appears in the Ceram tinein, and with a different sense in
Maori tini many, or ten thousand, and the Marquesas tini tini
a very large number ; but there is no difficulty in the use of
a word meaning that counting is finished to signify a very
great number.
Another Maori word tekau is given by Gabelentz as used
for ten in New Caledonia. It is inconceivable that a word
should have found its way thither from New Zealand ; but if
its meaning be some kind of tally there is no reason why it
should not be used in both places. In fact tekau represents
the tally and not the number. ' The native way of counting
is by elevens, on the principle of putting aside one to every
ten as a tally,' and thus tekau in New Zealand means eleven
as well as ten.
A word which in itself, though we may not be able to trace
its original meaning, is used to signify the end of the counting,
Numeration. 249
naturally rises as the practice of counting advances to the
signification of a higher number than it expressed at first.
Thus in Savo tale or sale is ten, which in the Torres Islands
is a hundred ; the word no doubt the same. As tini may pos-
sibly have signified the complete numeration as three in
Nengone, and have advanced to ten in Fiji, and even to ten
thousand in Maori, so tale may have signified the end of the
counting when no number beyond ten was counted, and have
retained the meaning of ten in Savo, while it has been ad-
vanced as numeration improved to signify one hundred in
Torres Islands. Many means more in a later generation than
in an earlier : the Lakona gapra ten, means nothing but ' many ;'
tar, which in some languages is vaguely many, is in one a
hundred, in several a thousand.
Hundred. — There appears a quinary method of expressing a
hundred in the Eromanga narolim-?iarolim, two-five-two-five,
i. e. ten tens. The vigesimal of the Loyalty Islands is se
dongo re ngome of Nengone, five men.
The most common word in use in Melanesia, as in Polynesia,
is ran a branch or leaf. The explanation of this use is to be
had from the meaning of another expression used to signify a
hundred in the Banks' Islands. In Mota this is mel nol, i. e.
a whole mele, the mele being a kind of cycas. To count the
days after a death a mete frond was taken, and beginning on
one side of it a leaflet was counted for each day, one being
pinched down as a tally for every tenth. The frond when
treated in this way on both sides furnished tallies for a
hundred, and the final death-feast was commonly held on the
hundredth day ; the whole mele, mel nol, was used and done
with.
The same practice is found in the Solomon Islands, where,
in Ulavva and San Cristoval, not the simple raw but tanarau
is the word in use. It is plain that this corresponds to
their word tanahuru ten, the same as the sanavulu of other
tongues ; that is to say the word for hundred means the
double frond, counted on both sides, as the word for ten means
the double handful of fingers. In Florida the word is ftanalatu,
250 Melanesia,1* Languages.
in which hana has the same meaning of double, whatever latu
may be J.
In the Torres Islands when hundreds are named they are
called tale, the word used in Savo for ten, but in counting- up
to a hundred the hundred when reached is na won, the close,
or completion.
Thousand. — As high numbers are reached there is no doubt
an increasing vagueness in their application, yet there can be
no doubt but that Melanesians count with accuracy thousands
of bananas, yams, and cocoanuts for feasts. The indefiniteness
is shown in the word tar, which in the Banks' Islands is used
for a thousand and also for very many, the same being a hun-
dred in Espiritu Santo. In Nengone to count a thousand was
to go as far as could be reached, e dongo, finish. The Fiji udolu,
thousand (the same word as nol in va.el nol above), means all,
complete. In Wa#o of San Cristoval they have no word for a
thousand. There is a word in use in Florida and Bugotu, mola,
which is used indefinitely for a great number beyond count ;
and this, but doubtfully, is given in Malanta and Ulawa for
a thousand.
To go accurately beyond a thousand is not commonly pos-
sible, except as two or three or so many thousand ; if there be
a word said to mean ten thousand a certain indefiniteness
hangs about it. If the Malagasy alina means ten thousand,
the meaning of the word is still ' night,' and there is a certain
absurdity in saying alina roa ' two nights,' for twenty thou-
sand, using a word for a certain number which denies the
possibility of counting. In the Banks' Islands tar mataqela-
qela is literally ' eye-blind thousand,' many beyond count.
Figurative expressions show how the unpractised mind fails
to rise to exactness in high numbers. In Torres Islands they
use dor paka banyan roots, for very many beyond count, at
Vaturawa rau na Jiai leaves of tree ; in Malanta they exclaim
warehune huto ! opossum's hairs ! idumie one \ count the sand !
1 How the meaning of a word disappears from men's minds in use is shown
by the Bugotu form of this word, Tiathanatu ; the syllables, as is very common,
are transposed, and the meaning of the parts is lost.
Numeration.
251
In Fiji, however, the name of a tally like vatu loa, a black
stone, no doubt is used with a definite number in view, though
a number so large as one hundred thousand is given, and while
yet oba is said to be used indefinitely for a lower number as
well as for ten thousand. In the same language vetelei, woka-
niu, are given for a million.
VI. GRAMMARS.
I. Banks' Islands.
THE languages of the Banks' Islands are given the first place
because that of one of them, Mot a, much better known than any
other to the compiler, has been the medium through which,
generally speaking, information concerning the Melanesian lan-
guages has been obtained. Mota has thus been a kind of standard
to which the others have, more or less, been found or made to
approach ; natives of other islands knowing Mota have explained
the uses of their own languages with reference to it. The Group
consists of eight islands, lying about the i4th parallel of South
Latitude, and between 167° and 169° East Longitude1. The
Islands are — (i) Vanua Lava, the largest, Great Banks' Islands ;
(2) Santa Maria, (3) Saddle Island, (4) Sugarloaf Island, Mota,,
(5) Ureparapara, Bligh Island, (6) Rowa, (7) J/erlav, Star Island,
(8) Merig, Sainte Claire Island2. Charts show in equal pro-
minence a rock, Vat Ganai, misspelt Vatu Ehandi. The languages
began to be known to Europeans in the year 1858, and were first
acquired and written by Bishop Patteson, the Rev. Lonsdale Pritt,
and the Rev. John Palmer, of the Melanesian Mission. There is
great difference between the languages, though there are many
dialects where the difference is not so great as to prevent those
who speak them from readily understanding one another. The
Banks' Islands languages generally are closely allied to those of
1 The Group was discovered and named by Bligh in his boat-voyage to
Timor, after having been cast adrift by the mutineers of the Bounty.
2 The natives used another set of names when sailing between the Islands :
Mota was Ure-Jcor, the place full of dried breadfruit ; Vanua Lava Ure-qauro ;
Saddle Island Ure-wari ; Santa Maria Ure-tiqalano ; places of different kinds
of yams; Ureparapara lire us, the place of bows ; Merlav Ure-kere, the place
of clubs ; Merig lire-gave, the place of crabs ; Qakea, an islet of Vanua Lava,
Tire-pug, the place of debt, because the shell of which money is made is
abundant there; Ravewa, another islet, Ure-marete, the place of a kind of
holothuria.
TORILES
Ganaau
? 1.
'UREPARAPARA
VANUA
LAVA
Tfcrecus.
?\R,OWA
SADDLE I.
i AST IKS* KSILA:
AND
VI
U2DS
^J. 3 a
J) ME RIG-
; fa HEBRIDE S
Pr&ss, O^i-ford,
Mota. 253
the Northern New Hebrides, and are not far removed from the
Fijian. Indeed, a Mota man finds it easier to learn to speak Fiji
than the language of Motlav, close to his own island. Of the eight
islands, Merig is the only one, being extremely small and lying
between Merlav and Santa Maria, that has no dialect of its own.
Eowa is as small, but has its own dialect, with a peculiar mincing
pronunciation.
1. MOTA. SUGARLOAF ISLAND.
The name of the island is Mota, with the nasal m : from the
common practice of the Melanesians of prefixing a Preposition to
the name of an island (see p. 162), it was at first known as Aumota.
The island is very small, and its language has become important
only by the accident of being used as the common language in the
Melanesian Mission.
Phonetic Character. — The language is generally vocalic, though
it does not reject close syllables and combinations of consonants of
some little difficulty, such as sonuag, tarnag. There is a certain
tendency towards throwing out vowels when suffixes are added, as
tarnag for taranag, vapteg for vaputeg ; in reduplications, as gilag-
lala for gilagilala ; and in names of persons and places.
Accent. — It cannot be said that the accent usually falls on any one
syllable, except in words of two syllables, in which the stress is on
the first. It is certain that the incidence of the accent on one
syllable does not, as in English, obscure the vowels in other
syllables ; if the accent is on the first syllable in manigiu it does
not prevent the full sounding of the succeeding i. In compound
words, and words with affixes, the members of the compound, or
the stems, retain their natural accent ; tdno matur a sleeping
place, gasdl a knife, mawora broken, maworavag break with. In
fact, the accent falling on the latter syllable is a safe guide to the
character of the words — ga-sal from sal to cut, ma-tur from the
prefix ma and the root represented by the Malagasy turi. The
accent in such words as nasasdna, ravevena falls distinctly on the
penultimate, for the reason that sasa, veve are reduplications of
sa and ve. Sometimes, it is true, in a long word, or in a clause
sounding like one long word, the Accent in native speech will fall
on some syllable on which there is no apparent reason for its
resting, iloneia, patyaldtevat. Unless the word be one in which a
dissyllabic suffix like iu is present, it may be said that the accent
254 Melanesian Grammars.
can never be cast far back ; mdnig is the word, and with the ter-
mination it remains mdnigiu, but ulus ulusiu.
Dialects. — There are two well-defined dialects on the island, one
sympathizing with the neighbouring Motlav, the other with more
distant Merlav. There are not many words of vocabulary dis-
tinct ; the difference consists chiefly in the preference of u on the
leeward side and i on the other, and the frequent substitution on
the leeward side of w for g ; as tawur behind, in Veverau is tagir
in the other dialect. It would have been well if one of these
dialects had been in the first place chosen and followed, that of the
leeward side by preference ; but the two have long been hopelessly
confused in the speech and writing of foreigners. There is, besides
what amounts to distinction of dialect, a variety in the way of
pronunciation, which is paralleled in the neighbouring islands.
The people of Veverau on the leeward side think that the Tasmate
people, who are nearest to Merlav, speak thick, matoltol, and that
the Maligo people, on the other side of them, nearest to Motlav,
speak thin, mavinvin. The Maligo people say that the Luwai
people, again, on the windward side, speak thick. The way of
speaking, therefore, goes to some extent with the dialect, Veverau
and Tasmate using one dialect, and Maligo and Luwai the other,
and Tasmate thinking that Luwai speaks thin as much as Maligo
thinks Tasmate thick. These are districts lying round the island.
The Veverau people also are more inclined to introduce an
euphonic i, maros-i ava, for maros ava.
"With reference to dialect the Veverau people are called by the neighbours
who speak ' thin ' ira we nao, and they call their neighbours ira we tak, those
respectively who say na and talc. Some of the words in which they differ are
these : —
IRA WE NAO. IRA WE TAK.
na. ge do.
mule, van. va, vano go.
tur. tira stand,
rap. vega climb.
le. la give.
leo. lea *.
un. ima drink.
gangan. ganagana eat.
gasavai. gasei how.
vavine. tavine woman.
sasae. sea different.
1 This word is hardly to be translated in one English word ; it may be law,
custom, ways, speech. It is the same with the Maori reo.
Mota.
Song Dialect, — The Songs are always in a Dialect different from
what is spoken, resembling the language of Gaua, Santa Maria,
but not identical with it. Examples will be given below.
Un words. — Quite distinct from the words which differ in dialect
are those which are used to take the place of such as form part or
the whole of the names of relations by marriage. For example,
one whose son-in-law, father-in-law, brother-in-law, is named Pan-
tutun, hot hand, could not use the word panei for hand or tutun for
hot, but would have to substitute others. These substitutes are
either common words used in an unusual way, as a knife may be
called a cutter, or a bow a shooter ; teveteve for gasal, or venevene
for us ; or as paito a shed may be used for ima a house ; or else
words not commonly used in the language except under these circum-
stances. These words, again, are either some common in neigh-
bouring islands, as lima for hand, or else such as are only known
in this use. To use a word in this way, in place of one which it is
not correct to speak, is called to (un.' A list of some of these
words is subjoined.
UN WORDS.
liwu for pei water.
Jcakae „ nam yam.
suliu „ qeta arum.
toqon „ tana bag.
varea „ vanua place.
marapun „ vat stone.
sasaqo „ loa sun.
gire „ tuvag sell.
wana „ vila lightning.
tatar „ vilog umbrella.
saproro „ mate die.
tignag „ ima drink.
niiv ,, tagai no.
surata ,, maran light.
In Mota val is to put things one against another, answering to one another,
the same word with valui to answer, Malagasy vali. There is a way of
counting when they wish to un ; ' one ' is val instead of tuivale ; ' two ' is tana
valuna, i.e. 'and his fellow,' answering; 'three' is valvava, missing the
match, the odd one ; ' four ' is valvalwia, match well, the reduplication re-
ferring to the double pair. For ' ten ' the word is vawonot, va-wono-t, ' make it
complete.'
I. ALPHABET.
The Vowels are a, e, i, o, u.
These have the proper sound, not the English. There is a longer and shorter
pronunciation of a, e, i, and on the broader or narrower a depends mostly the
limai for
panel hand.
wanea „
som money.
manarai „
repes ,,
Tcarwae ,,
pug debt.
qoe pig.
sogae ,,
mawega ,,
vula moon.
rewv, „
samali „
Id nil I ,,
molemole „
viena rain.
» »
galao left-handed.
Ian wind.
nanarag ,,
esu live.
raw ,,
sur sing.
rawrata ,,
as song.
256 Melanesi&n Grammars.
thickness or thinness of speech mentioned above. There is no shortened u.
There are two sounds of o, the one approaching the English u in ' pull,' but o
not u, and the other a simple o. The variation of sound depends, in fact, on
the syllable being open or closed, no approach to u being heard in an open
syllable ; for example, toliu an egg is to-li-u, but in composition tol manu,
bird's egg, makes a close syllable, which is in danger of being written tul man,
becaiise the sound of o is modified. For this reason there is no need for
marking the change of sound by a change of sign. When the language was
first written many words were spelt with u which should have had o ; after-
wards some were spelt with o that should have u. No native doubts which
is right. At the end of a word u is often faint, often silent ; a word therefore
may be written manu or man.
Diphthongs are ai, ae, ao, au, clearly distinct one from the other.
That these are diphthongs is shown by the difference of pronunciation
between words like vagaus and ga-us, tinaena and naesuna ; where the word
is compounded, ga-us bow string, na-esu the life, a break occurs between the
two vowels which is not made when the vowels follow one another in the
ordinary way.
Examples of the distinction between au and ao, ai, and ae, are
sau to lift up, sao to take up a net (from both of which saw, sawu,
to blow, is distinct) ; gai, the conjunction ' until ' or an exclamation,
gae a string.
The Consonants are k, g ; t ; p, v, w ; q ; m, m, n, n ; r, 1 ; s.
The sound of g has been described (page 204). In the Veveran dialect, on
the leeside of the island, g at the end of a word after a is pronounced i,
wurvai for wurvag.
The Mota t is blunter than the English. It is sometimes introduced to
avoid the hiatus between two vowels, as before the suffix ia, me ge rakatia
sage, raised him up, for ralca-ia.
The Mota p is not so sharp as the English ; v approaches nearer to b : lava
was at first written laba.
A syllable is distinctly closed with w, e. g. mawmawui, to work, is a re-
duplication of mawui, ma-wui, and the consonant from the second syllable is
taken into the reduplication with its consonantal value, making a sound dis-
tinct from man.
The compound sound represented by q is kpw, though k is sometimes so
obscure as to be missed, as in goqo to boil, tuqei a garden : yet some, especially
children, not able to pronounce both guttural and labial, will leave out p, and
say tulcwei.
The nasal m is certain in the words in which it has its place ; it does not
vary with individual speakers. The old spelling of the name of the island
Aumota for a Mota is instructive as to the sound. The following words are
some of those that differ in sense according to the sound of m and m : ima to
drink, ima a house ; tania father, tama as ; mera dawn, mera boy ; lama sea,
lama to drum ; nom to think, nom thy ; mala a hawk, mala a sow ; mata an
eye, mata a snake ; inanig cause, manig to dive. In printing for native use it
is not worth while to use m as well as m ; natives will not go wrong in pro-
Mota. Articles. 257
nunciation. European students, for whose benefit m is used, will always be
wise to mark the m in books and manuscript for themselves. By a native a
syllable is closed with m, but mom is not very easy for a European to say.
The trill of r and 1 is greater than in English : r cannot be pronounced after
n and 1 without the intervention of d or u. Some will pronounce pulrua, two
together, puldrua, some pulurua ; after n, u is not introduced.
A true Mota man cannot pronounce h.
II. AETICLES1.
The Mota Articles are o, na, Demonstrative, and i, Personal.
1. There is no difference in meaning between o and na; both
answer to the English ' a ' and ' the,' but are in the native mind
probably definite. The difference is that na is always used before
the Noun to which a personal Pronoun is suffixed, and only with
that construction. It is the practice to write it in one with the
word so formed : o panei a hand, but napanena his hand.
Before terms of relationship «a is not used ; tasik not natasik my brother.
The Article o is commonly used with Nouns where nothing very definite,
perhaps, is in view, but something is indicated or present to the mind, for o
no doubt is a demonstrative Particle. But when the notion is very general
the Article is not present : to catch a fish is rave o iff a, to catch fish rave iff a ;
to shoot a bird vene o manu, to shoot birds venevene manu.
2. There is no distinction of Number ; o zma the house, o ima
nan the houses ; naimak, naimak nan, my house, my houses.
3. With names of places o is used ; o Mota we asau nan o Gaua,
Mota is distant from Gaua.
4. The Personal Article is i, which is used with personal names,
native and foreign, male and female ; i Sarawia, i George, i Rota-
viro, i Sara.
There is no need to use this Article, but as names of persons are generally
words in common use, and i marks the word as a Proper Name, it is usually
employed.
5. This Article applied to a word makes it at once a Proper
name ; it has therefore the power not only of showing a word to
be a personal name but of personifying the notion conveyed by the
word. Thus gale to deceive, i gale the deceiver ; esu to live, i Esu
1 Words are not divisible into Parts of Speech as distinctly as they are, for
example, in Latin. The same word may be used as almost any Part of Speech
without change of form. Nevertheless, there are words which cannot be so
used, and there are certain changes of form which belong to words used in
various grammatical characters, as well as certain ways of using them as
different Parts of Speech. It is therefore convenient to divide words in the
customary manner, and to arrange the Grammar accordingly.
S
258 Melanesian Grammars.
the Living one ; ganganor wickedness, i Ganganor the Wicked
one ; i Vavae the Word ; i Vaesu the Saviour.
This, however, can only be properly done when a title or special appellation
is in view, when a capital letter would be appropriate ; the Sower is rightly
i Savsavur, but it will not do to translate a Greek Participle with the Article
in this way, unless a sort of title is given. See John iv. 36.
A special characteristic is thus designated : i Tanaro Gilagilala, ineia i
gilala ape savasava nan nanra tatasina, he was the one who knew about all
sorts of things more than his brothers, i.e. he was the knowing one. It is a
singular use of this Article by which i gopae is a sick man ; gopae sickness,
gopa to be sick.
6. The Personal Article can take a Plural form with the Plural
sign ra, ira Tinqoro the Disciples ; and perhaps with a wider use
than in the Singular, ira naro the widowers, though not widowers
in general but the widowers of the place.
7. When a native name is that of a female i is applied to it, hut
another Particle ro is prefixed, which shows the name to be
feminine. This ro is not an Article, but combines with i to make
the feminine Personal Article iro : i Taviro is a man's name, iro
Taviro, or i Rotaviro, is a woman's.
This ro does not apply to foreign names, English or of other islands, which
are only known as personal names ; a girl named Anne is i An, not iro An,
a woman of a distant island i One. But if a foreign name is that of a known
object, like a boat, it is iro Pout. A girl was called i Nas after a nurse, but
the name was taken as a personal one.
A mother is spoken of as i Veve, not iro Veve, and i sogoma is your relation
by the mother's side without reference to sex.
8. The Personal Article in the feminine form personifies : iro
Gale the female Deceiver, the woman whose title is Deceiver, iro
Maranaga the Queen ; if the English word is used it is i Qin, not
iro. The Plural form is iraro, with the same latitude as above,
iraro naro the widows of the place.
9. In consequence of personal names having a meaning, meaning
some thing, the Personal Article with the word meaning ' thing '
means a Person, or interrogatively with the word meaning ' what '
asks who is the Person : but always with reference to the name,
not to the Person. Thus gene thing, o gene the thing, but i gene
the Person, ira gene the Persons ; iro gene the female Person :
sava what ? i sava ? who ? what man ? iro sava 1 what female ?
The word gene does not call a man a thing, or iro sava ask in an uncompli-
mentary manner what thing the woman is ; it is saying ' So-and-so ' instead
of a name, asking ' what's her name ? ' not ' who is she ?' See Pronoun
sei.
Mot a. Nouns. 259
10. Animals being personal enough to have names, their names
take Personal Articles ; horses are i Bob, and iro Vitu, Star ; the
cat .of the house is i Pus, any cat o pus.
This is not old Mota, though correct and useful to illustrate the use. pigs
only had names in old Mota, and their names, like the shortened names of
men, began with Wo, not i; but a dog in Mota now is i Pap, Bob.
11. The names of men and boys are often cut short, and the first
syllable or two used with the prefix Wo', Wolig for Ligtarqoe,
Wogale for Galepasoqoe. The Personal Article is not so commonly
used with this.
III. NOUNS.
1. There are, as in Melanesian languages generally, two divisions
of Nouns Substantive, viz. those that take the Personal Pronoun
suffixed (with the Article no), and those that do not. This division
is properly exhaustive.
The principle of the division appears to lie in a nearer or more
remote connection between a thing and the possessor of it. Parts
or members of a body or organization, the ordinary equipment and
properties of a man, belong to the class the names of which take a
Pronoun suffixed to show possession. Nouns of the other class are
used with a Possessive sign to be hereafter explained.
The application of this principle is not always clear, though it can be applied
without forcing the sense of it : a man's bag is natanana, na Article, tana
bag, na third person Pronoun suffixed, but his basket is non o gete, non his
(in which, however, no is really a Noun and n the suffixed Pronoun), o the
Article, gete bag ; a man's bow is na-usu-na, his paddle non o wose. The bow
and the bag are looked upon as closer appendages of the man than his paddle
and his basket, being always in his hand or on his shoulder.
With Compound Nouns the last member determines the class in
this respect : na-ga-usu-na his bow-string, o kere wose anona the
end of his paddle, non o tano-togatoga his abiding place.
It is possible that words belonging to the class which takes the suffix may be
used as if belonging to the other class ; but this can only be the case when they
are used in a secondary sense, or when there is a purposely marked difference
in the kind of possession indicated. Thus pane is not only an arm but an
armlet ; in the primary sense my arm is na paneJc, in the secondary noTc o pane
my armlet. The latter difference but rarely occurs ; mok pug a debt owed
to me, napuguk a debt that I owe. In Hazlewood's Fiji Dictionary the
words that take the suffix are marked. It is of great importance that the
words of this class should be accurately observed in all the Melanesian
languages. Mr. Fison gives the distinction in Fiji of uluqu my head, and
noqu ulu the head I have for sale. See Duke of York.
S 2
260 Melanesia*. Grammars.
2. Another division, but not one of equal importance, can be
made, of Nouns which have and have not a special termination as
such. Very many words are Noun, Verb, or other part of speech,
without any change of form ; but there are others which by their
termination may be known to be Nouns Substantive, at any rate
when they stand uncompounded. Of these which have substantival
terminations, many are Nouns belonging to the class which take
the suffixed Pronoun, names of things which are relative to some
other things, not names of things which have an absolute existence
of their own. The Verb qeteg, to begin, is the same word with
qetegiu a beginning, but the latter has a substantival termination
which marks it as a Noun.
3. Of the Nouns with no special termination it is not necessary
to say anything. Those that have such a termination may be
divided into Verbal Nouns and Independent Nouns.
4. The Verbal Nouns are words which give in form as a Noun
the abstract sense which is conveyed by the Verb, with a special
termination added to the Verb. The terminations in Mota are a,
ia, ga, ra, va. Thus mate to die, matea death, nonom to think,
nonomia thought, vano to go, vanoga a going, toga to abide, togara
way of life, tape to love, tapeva love.
There is no difference of signification according to the difference of termina-
tion : mule as well as vano is to go, and muleva is a going as well as vanoga.
But a verb may assume two terminations, and make two nouns with a differ-
ence of meaning ; as toga with ra is togara behaviour, and with va is togava
station. A native thus defines the two words : o togara, we toga tama
avea, o toc/ava, we toga avea, how one abides and where one abides. We may
compare the English suffixes -ness, -hood, and the difference between hardiness
and hardihood.
Of these words matea alone takes the suffixed Pronoun ; namateana his
death, but nok o nonomia my thought, nolc vanoga, togara, tapeva.
5. The Independent Substantives are so called because these are
names of parts, members, things in relation to something which
possesses or includes them, but are by this special termination
shown to be in thought and in grammar free for the time from
this dependence. Thus an eye is in the true form mata, as in so
many languages, and when any one's eye is spoken of, since the
word belongs to that class which is mostly made up of this kind
of Nouns, and has the Pronoun suffixed, this is the stem to which
the suffix is applied ; namatana his eye. But if an eye is spoken
of independently of any person, or any organization, the word
assumes the termination i and becomes matai not mata. In
Mota. Nouns. 261
thought the eye is independent, not viewed as a member ; in
grammar the word is independent, not constructed; it assumes
therefore the termination that marks it as such.
The termination, when the radical ends in a vowel, is i, when it
ends in a consonant iu or ui, according to dialect : sasa-i a name,
tuqe-i a garden, roro-i report, ulu-i hair ; qeteg-iu beginning, qat-iu
or qat-ui a head.
There are words which have two forms, panei, a hand, and paniu ; the one
from pane, the other from pan. The same account must be given of the word
qaraTia a hole ; this would make qaranana, but o gasuwe we toga alo qaranina,
a rat stays in its hole, there must be a form qaraniu ; so tavaliu is a side, but
tavala pei, the other side the water, shows a form tavalai.
There are Nouns with the termination e, vavae a word, gae a string, tinae
bowels, gopae sickness, which have much in common with the Nouns ending
in i, inasmuch as the radical is vava, ga, Una ; but this e is different from i.
In the case of gae this is shown by the addition of i, making gaei, when a
bunch of bananas is spoken of. The word tinae, bowels, takes the suffixed
Pronoun without modification, tinaek, but tina as in tine vanua, the middle
of the place, is the same word, though in an independent form it is tinai.
6. Words of this kind, those that take the terminations i, iu, ui,
form compounds with other Nouns; but, since it is the true
original form of the word which is the element compounded, the
terminations never appear in composition. Where the true word
ends in a consonant the composition is simple ; qatui, a head, in-
dependently, qat the true word, qat qoe a pig's head, in construction :
the termination is not dropped, for it has never been assumed.
Where the true word ends in e or o composition makes no change :
tuqe a garden (tuqei independently), tuqe sinaga a garden of food,
roro, roroi a report, roro vagalo a report of fighting.
In the case of a word like ului hair, which when in composition with
another is ul, it may be rather thought that ulu is the true form of the word,
and that u is dropped in ul qoe pig's hair. Some, however, would say ulu qoe.
It is common to introduce an euphonic i before a vowel, qati-aka not qataka,
the fore part of a canoe.
Where the true word ends in a this termination in composition
becomes e; sasai a name independently, sasa the true word and
the stem to which a Pronoun is suffixed, na-sasa-na his name, sase
tanun a man's name, a lightened in composition.
7. For further consideration of this subject the character of a
word, whether it takes an independent termination or not, whether
it takes a Pronoun suffixed or not, must be dismissed : what are to
be kept in view are Nouns ending in a, and the fact that these
262 Melanesian Grammars.
when compounded with another Noun, as the former of the two,
change a to e. Sasai a name (na-sasa-na his name showing true
form sasa}, sase tanun a man's name ; tma a house, ime tanun a
man's house (a word that takes the suffix, naimana his house) ;
sinaga food (which cannot take the suffixed Pronoun), sinage tanun
man's food.
These words are said to be compounded together because of this modification
of the vowel : the relation of possession between them is close, so that the idea
and the word may be called compound. Hence the first member of the com-
pound takes a lighter termination. There is an appearance of inflexion, but
no true inflexion.
It should be observed again that there is no case of composition where two
Nouns are together and the second qualifies the first in the way of an
Adjective : ima -vat a stone house, ima vui a spiritual house, different from
ime vui the house of a spirit. This is not always clear, partly because of the
English idiom ; a house of prayer is one of that character that it is used for
prayer, not one of which prayer is the owner or inhabitant ; it should not
therefore be ime tataro but ima tataro.
The same modification of a to e takes place also, but not often, where there
is no relation of a possessive kind, and where the second word does not qualify
the first : o moegene, the first or principal thing, moai first, moa, moe, gene
thing.
One word seems an exception, in which au becomes o : naui a leaf, nau the
true word by analogy, but no tangae the leaf of a tree. The account of this
probably is that nau = rau being shortened into no in neighbouring dialects,
has been taken up in Mota.
8. Prefixes to Nouns. — There are a few words in Mota, cor-
responding to a great many in Fiji, which are formed from Verbs
by prefixing i : pala to take up as with tongs, ipala $>ngs ; sar to
pierce, isar a spear ; ras to bale, iras a baler ; got to- cut, igot a
cutter ; goso to husk cocoa-nuts, igoso a stick for the purpose ; lano
to put rollers under, ilano a roller.
Another Prefix which makes Nouns of Verbs is ga : sal to cut
with a drawing motion, gasal a knife ; nor to bear a grudge, ganor
malice ; qisan to press down, gaqisan a weight ; pulut to stick
together, gapulut glue, paint. - - Such examples as these show that
this prefix cannot well be ga'-from gae a string or bond, such as
appears in garotrot a tie/ from gae and rot to tie ; gatogoi the back-
bone, gae and togoi vertebra.
9. Verbs are often used as Nouns without any change of form,
or rather words are Noun or Verb indifferently. But a Verb used
as a Noun will very often be reduplicated, rave to write, o rave-
rave a writing.
Mo fa. Nouns. 263
10. Reduplication in Mota is either (i) of the whole word, vat a
stone, vatvat stones, soasoai members ; or (2) of the first syllable,
ganor a malicious feeling, gagaganor malice as a characteristic
quality ; or (3) of the first syllable closed by the consonant suc-
ceeding it, ranoi a leg, ranranoi many or great legs. The effect
of reduplication is with Nouns to express number and size, and
with Verbs, and consequently with Verbs used as Nouns, con-
tinuance and repetition. Eeduplication with the close syllable
rather expresses number and size, and intensifies or exaggerates
the notion of the word ; pispisui fingers, ranranoi legs, gate ran-
ranona ! what big legs he has ! o sulatalamoa o pispisui we qoqo,
the centipede has many legs ; ganor malice, ganganor wickedness.
Reduplication in the case of the name of a plant signifies that it is
wild or useless ; matig a cocoa-nut, metigtig a wild palm, qeta the
esculent caladium, qetaqeta wild caladium. Compare Florida and
Duke of York.
When a reduplicated word becomes the first part of a compound, if the
termination be a which, as above, changes to e, the reduplication is of the
word as so changed, not of the true word. Thus soasoai, members, is the re-
duplicated form of soai, the reduplication signifying multiplicity, and the true
word is soa : o soasoai members generally, na-soasoa-na his members, but o
soesoe oka the component parts of a canoe ; sina to shine, sinasmai a shining,
o siuesine loa sun-shine.
11. Plural. — The plural of Nouns is marked in three ways:
(i) by reduplication as above, (2) by the addition of a plural sign,
and (3) by prefixing a particle.
(2) The plural sign in common use is nan, which follows the
Noun ; o tma a house, o ima nan houses.
It may be presumed that this is in fact a Noun meaning a collection or
multitude, but there is nothing to prove it to be so. It is sometimes sepa-
rated from the Noun and placed after the Verb, o qon. we wesu nan, days are
coming, the plurality perhaps being extended to the Verb. In o lama we reve
nan ilo vanua it is plain that nan has not a merely plural meaning, the sea in
many places runs up into the land ; the sea does not appear before the mind
as one body of water but many.
Another word is known and used, but seldom, at Mota, taure,
the Vureas tore, o taure ima houses, a collection of houses : the
word is plainly a collective Noun.
(3) The particles prefixed to mark plurality are re, ra, the latter
of which commonly forms part of plural Pronouns. The use is
only with words which describe persons with regard to age and re-
264 Melanesian Grammars.
lationship : tasiu brother or sister, o retatasiu the set of brothers
or sisters, ratatasik my brothers ; o retutuai the set of sisters or
brothers, ra tutuak my sisters ; o re tamtamai the fathers, the men
of the generation above, ra tamak my fathers ; raveve mothers, and
with a singular sense, mother ; o rerelumagav the young men, o
reremera the boys ; ira qaliga relations by marriage ; o mereata a
male, o rereata the men-folk, o tavine, or vavine, a female, o reta-
vine, or revavine, the women-folk ; ira tamtamaragai the old men ;
o retawu the strangers. The use of these Nouns in Mota is pecu-
liar, and from a point of view other than grammatical very interest-
ing (see Vocabulary No. 43). It is to be observed that re is used
when the whole class of persons is spoken of, ra when a certain
number only are in view, o retawu the body of foreigners, ira tawu
the foreigners ; a man out of his own country being a tawu. The
word ra is used also in what looks like the position of a
Noun, ra ta Motalava the Motalava people ; where, however, ta
being really a noun, as will be shown, the construction is the
same.
In these languages the words ' brother ' and ' sister ' are used with refer-
ence to the sex of the person relationship to whom is in view : tasiu, tutuai
is brother or sister as the case may be, if of the same sex tasiu, if of the other
tutuai. A man's brother, a woman's sister, is tasiu ; a man's sister, a woman's
brother, is tutuai.
In some of these words there is reduplication to mark plurality, naera is a
boy, reremera properly boys, but, like raveve mother, which is properly plural,
used as singular, boy. The singular is mereata, the plural rereata ; mere is
probably the same word with mera.
When the Personal Article i, or, with the feminine sign, iro, becomes
plural ira or iraro, it is this ra which is added. It is also an idiom to use ira,
or ra, before a person's name to signify that person and his company, or the
companions or people of the person : ira Bishop the Bishop's people, ira Wo-
ivutris the gang at work with Wowutris at their head.
In cases where a simple plural would be enough in English it is often
idiomatic in Mota to use expressions which mean ' all kinds ' and ' every,' sale
and val : o sale gopae sicknesses, all kinds, val gopae sicknesses, every sick-
ness. These are combined and nan is added, o val sale gopae nan, sicknesses
of all and every kind.
12. Since in a language of this kind there is no Grammatical
Gender, it is idle to say that lumagav, a young man, or qoe, a boar,
are masculine, and malamala, a girl, mala, a sow, feminine. When
it is desired to signify sex, mereata male, and tavine or vavine female,
are added to qualify as Adjectives.
Mota. Pronouns.
265
IV. PKONOUNS.
1. Personal Pronouns. — There are in Mota two distinct sets of
Personal Pronouns, (i) those which are used as the subject or
object of the Verb, and (2) those which are suffixed to a Noun
Substantive.
(i) Singular. I. inau, nau, na.
2. iniko, ko, ka.
3. ineia, neia, ni, a.
Plural. i. inclusive, inina, uina.
exclusive, ikamam, kamam.
2. ikamiu, kamiu, kam.
3. ineira, neira, ira, ra.
Dual. i. inclusive, inarua, narua, inara, nara.
exclusive, ikarua, karua, ikara, kara.
2. ikamurua, kamurua, kamrua, kamra.
3. irarua, rarua, irara, rara.
Trial. I. inclusive, inatol, natol.
exclusive, ikatol, katol.
2. ikamtol, kamtol.
3. iratol, ratol.
Observations.
1. For the probable composition of these words from the Personal Article i,
a demonstrative n or Tc, and the true Pronoun u, ko, a in the singular, na,
mam, miu, ra in the plural, see Comparative Grammar, page 116.
2. The use or omission of the Prefix i has something to do with the greater
or less directness with which the person is indicated, but probably is often
without any other reason than the caprice or convenience of the speaker.
3. Some of the forms ar« evidently shortened from the fuller, na from nau,
ni from neia, Jca from ko, kam for kamiu, and in the Dual na and ka, narua,
nara, karua, kara, from nina and kamam ; but these shorter forms must not
be taken generally as equivalent to the longer ones. This may be so in the
Dual nara, kara, kamra, but in the Singular and Plural it is not so.
In the Singular and Plural the shorter forms, na, ka, ni, kam can never be
the object, but always are the subject of a Verb.
There is again a distinction to be made among these ; na, ni, kam are used
directly in an indicative sentence, ka is not, though one may ask ka ge o sava ?
where ka probably follows on an omitted si: na, ni are always used when the
sentence is indirect, potential, subjunctive, optative, though they can also be
used indicatively, as ka is not. For example, it is right to say na we pute, ni
we pute, kam we pute, I sit, he sits, ye sit ; but it must be nau or na we pute
ai na rave, neia or ni we pute si ni or sin rave, I sit that I may write, he sits
that he may write, na and ni, not nau and neia, in a subjoined clause ; and
similarly ko we pute si ka rave, thou sittest that thou mayest write : si ni
266
Melanesia* Grammars.
contracts to sin. So in the case of an optative or imperative sentence, no, ilo
let me see, ni mule let him go, Tea rave write thou.
4. It is evident that the Dual and Trial are not in fact more than the Plural
with the Numerals rua, tolu, two or three, suffixed; but inasmuch as both
members of the compound thus made have been subject to change in the com-
position, it is desirable to set them down as distinct persons. In karua the
Pronoun kamam appears as ka, while the Numeral rua is entire ; in kara
both parts, kamam and rua, are shortened to ka and ra. So nara, kamra,
rara have ra for rua, and natol, katol, kamtol are for nina tol, kamam tol,
kamiu tol. It should be understood withal that there is no true Dual or Trial
as there is a true Dual in Nengone. It is necessary always to use the Dual
and Trial when two or three persons are in view, never the Plural. The Dual
is used in speaking of or to a single person when a near relation by marriage.
5. The third person plural ra presents some difficulty; it is a Pronoun,
but at the same time it is not always more than a plural personal sign.
In an expression like ira Bishop, the Bishop and his companions or the
Bishop's people, mentioned above, it is clear that ra is not a Pronoun but a
plural sign added to the Personal Article. When ra ta Motalava, the Mota-
lava people, is said, it may be questioned whether ra is not a Pronoun. When
inanimate things are in view ra is perhaps never used.
6. The third singular a is never the subject, and only appears after a Verb
or Preposition, and suffixed to it.
7. Suffixed forms of these Pronouns. — In Mota only the second and third
singular and third plural are suffixed, in the forms ko, a, ra, to Verbs and
some Prepositions. After a Consonant i, sometimes u, is introduced before the
suffix ; nau we iloko, iloa, ilora, I see thee, him, them ; ni me vus-i-ko, vus-i-a,
vus-i-ra, he struck thee, him, them ; mun-i-ko to thee, nan-i-a from him, sur-
i-ra to them ; so palua, gaplotua, gapua: nanra, munra can be said without
an intervening i by pronouncing a, nandra. When a is suffixed to a word
ending in a the euphonic i is introduced, laia for laa ; the same sometimes
occurs after e, vus mateia kill him. To write these Pronouns as suffixes is not
necessary, but comes naturally to the natives.
The Mota language does not (like Florida, for example) repeat the object of
the Verb as a suffixed Pronoun when the object has been already expressed.
It dislikes the suffix of the third singular a to a Verb except when a person
is spoken of ; si ko qe ilo o tanun Hone amaira gaganag luea ma mun nau, if
you should see that man with them point him out to me ; si namatama qe ge
iniko si ka tutuag, wakele lue, savrag naniko, if thine eye should make thee
to stumble, pull (it) out, cast (it) from thee.
8. Since there is no Gender, the third person singular is he, she, him, her, it,
in English, as the case may be. But there is a certain dislike to using the
Pronoun for inanimate objects.
2. Pronouns suffixed to Nowns.
Singular, i. k. 2. ma,, m. 3. na, n.
Plural. I. nina, incl. 2. miu. 3. ra, r.
mam, excl.
It will be observed that the Plural forms are those of the
Mota. Pronouns. 267
ordinary Personal Pronouns; the Singular consists of a perfectly
distinct Pronoun.
These Pronouns are suffixed only to one particular class of
Nouns already described, giving a possessive sense ; and also form
part, as suffixes, of the words which take the place of Pronominal
Adjectives or Possessive Pronouns in English.
Example — o panei, a hand.
Singular. I. napanek, my hand.
2. napanema, thy hand.
3. napaneiia, his hand.
Plural. I. napanenina, our hand, inclusive.
napanemam, „ „ exclusive.
2. napanemiu, your hand.
3. napanera, their hand.
Dual. I . napanenara, hand of us two, inclusive.
napanenkara, hand of us two, exclusive.
2. napanemurua, hand of you two.
3. napanerara, or -nenrara, hand of them two.
Trial. i. napanenatol, hand of us three, inclusive.
napanenkatol, hand of us three, exclusive.
2. napanemtol, hand of you three.
3. napaneratol, hand of them three.
Observations.
1. The first person singular Jc is sometimes Tcu ; na of the third person is
often n before another word ; as ma is m ; and ra is r.
2. The suffix n, as distinct from na, points to some definite person, or thing
spoken of as if a person, not an inanimate object. Thus ni we pute ape kikin
o tanun he sits by a man's side, but ape JciJci ima beside a house ; o tete we
toko ape sus tavine a baby hangs at a woman's breast, generally, but ape susun
ravevena at its mother's breast, particularly.
3. There is in Mota only one use of this Pronoun suffixed to a Preposition,
apena, about it, concerning it. In other languages this use is common.
4. It may be seen that in the first Dual and Trial, exclusive, panenJcara,
panenkatol, and third Dual panenrara, there is n after the Noun and before
the pronominal suffix. There can be little doubt but that this is itself the
third singular Pronoun suffixed, napanen his hand, Tcara we two, the hand of
him and me. It should be observed that Tcara is idiomatically used where we
should say he and I ; kara Sarawia we two Sarawia, 5. e. Sarawia and I. So
imanrara, the house of them two, is iman his house, rara two of them, his
house and the other's.
5. There is often added to the suffix k the syllable sa, napaneksa my hand,
nagaksa my food : it cannot be explained in origin or purpose.
268 Melanesian Grammars.
3. Demonstrative Pronouns.
Iloke this, Hone that; ike this, ine that. The plural sign nan
added to these makes the equivalent to ' these ' and ' those.'
The particles Jce and ne in these Pronouns are demonstrative.
The fuller demonstratives, nake and nane, are often added : iloke
nake, Hone nane.
There is a difference between iloke and ike, Hone and ine : iloke,
Hone, can be used as Adjectives, o tanun iloke, Hone, this or that
man ; ike and ine can only be used as Substantives, with the
Article, o ike this, o ine that, or with the Personal Article, i ike
this person, iro ike this woman ; plural o ike nan, o ine nan, these,
those.
Note that iloke and Hone, and in the plural iloke nan, Hone nan, are used
as Demonstrative Pronouns, this, that, these, those, without any Noun, but
can never be used with an Article.
There is another Demonstrative Pronoun in the Plural, which
has arisen from a Vocative particle. If a man is called to, the ex-
clamation is gai ! an Exclamation and not a Pronoun ; but the
plural of this with the plural particle ra, and with the personal
Article i, ragai ! or iragai, is both an Exclamation and a Demon-
strative Pronoun ; ragai 1 you people ! iragai those persons, ragai
ta Luwai those Luwai people, ni me la at mun ragai he gave it to
those people. In the Dual and Trial there is a shortened form,
ragera, ragetol, for ragai rua, ragai tol, those two, those three, or
you two ! you three !
The Demonstratives nake, nane, pointing here and there, can hardly be
called Pronouns ; they go with and repeat the signification of iloke, Hone,
iloke nalce this here, Hone nane that there. See Adverbs of Place and Time.
4. Interrogative Pronouns.
The words used are no doubt really Nouns, set who ? sava what 1
The Personal Article makes isei who ? irosei what woman ? irasei,
irarosei feminine, who ? plural. With sava the definite Article is
used, o sava what ? o sava nan what ? plural.
The word sei stands as a Pronoun in the place of a person's name, not of the
person himself. If in English the question is ' who ?' the meaning is ' who is
he ?' the person ; if in Mota the question is isei 1 the meaning is ' what is the
name ?' To ask a name is not o sava nasasana ? what is his name, but isei
nasasana ? who is his name ? On the other hand, sava asks concerning a
thing ; it is asked, if a person is in pain, nasavama we vivtig 1 your what
hurts you? (compare Duke of York). It is asked concerning a relation, nasa-
Mota. Pronouns. 269
vama Hone 1 your what is he ? your father, brother, or what ? But persons'
names being themselves taken from the names of things, the personal Article
with sava makes that also an Interrogative of a personal name : i sava ? who ?
iro sava ? what woman ? sava referring not to the person, as has been said,
but to the thing the name of which has become a personal name.
Often sava becomes sa, o sal what ? This becomes a sort of interrogative
exclamation, sa / si learn gate gilala ? what ! do ye not know ?
When it is a question as to which or whether of two things, it is the idiom
not to use a Pronoun but an Adverb, avea Ico we maros ? which, literally
where, do you like ? But if it be a question as to persons the Pronoun is
used, isei nan rara ? which of the two ?
Another meaning of sava is ' what or any sort or kind,' o sava manu Hone ?
what bird ? i. e. what kind of bird ? o tol sava manu ? the egg of what bird ?
Team qe kalo pata ilo sava ima, if ye enter into a house of any kind.
The reduplication savasava means many things, all things, everything ;
non o savasava all his things, o savasava nan all sorts of things.
A verbal form is used, we savai : gate gilala si o vat we savai Hone, it is
not known what sort of stone that is.
5. Indefinite Pronouns.
Both sei and sava, being in fact Nouns, are used as Indefinite
Pronouns, isei some one, whosoever, o sava some thing, any thing,
irasei some people, o sava nan some things, o savasava nan any sorts
of things. Some one is tuara sei ; o tuara tanun a certain man.
Some persons or things is tuaniu, tuan, o tuan tanun some men, o
tuan ima nan some houses : tuaniu is by its form a Noun, and is
so used alone, o tuan iga nan amaia, pa ni me la ma mun nau o
tuaniu, he had some fish with him, and he gave me some; o
tuanimiu some of you.
There is a Verb tuan to help ; and a Noun tua, helper, companion ; i
tuanira he their companion, he and some others, i tuamiu sei one of you,
some one your companion.
There is another Indefinite Pronoun in frequent use, tea some-
thing, a word the same as the numeral tea one. It is used in the
sense of something, anything, at all, le ma tea give me some, si ta
lai tea if it be at all possible, o sava tea anything whatever, na
gate lav mok tea I have not received anything at all. When
translated by the English ' at all/ tea has the appearance of an
Adverb, but it is grammatically a Pronoun in Mota, anything-at-all.
The distributive Particle val expresses ' each,' val neira, valval
neira, they each of them, val tanun each man, val sei each and
every one, valvanua each island, or an island in each part.
There are no Relative Pronouns, and care must be taken lest the
Indefinite be taken for a Relative. When a relative would be used
270 Melanesian Grammars.
in English, the sense is conveyed in Mota by the use of the
demonstrative ; the man whom you sent told me, i gene me gaganag,
ko me vatrama ma ti, ' the person told, you had sent him hither.'
Or two Verbs may combine, without a conjunction or a relative
clause ; i gene me ilo me gaganag the man saw, told ; i gene me
gaganag me ilo the man told, saw ; the meaning being, the man
who saw told, the man who told saw. Or by the use of the In-
definite Pronoun ; ni me gaganag munrasei me vatatua, he told
those who. met him, literally he told whatsoever persons met him,
those persons whoever they were. The demonstrative particle
nane is useful to do the office of a relative in pointing back, like
the English ' that ' ; o tanun nane Hone ko me vusia, or o tanun
Hone ko me vusia nane, the man whom you struck ; the man, that
one, you struck.
V. POSSESSIVES.
1. These are not Pronouns, though these words, which take the
place of Possessive Pronouns or Pronominal Adjectives in English,
have always a personal Pronoun suffixed. It has been said (page
259) that one class of Nouns takes the personal Pronoun suffixed to
the Noun, giving a possessive sense, napanek my hand ; and that the
other class takes, generally, before the Nouns a word meaning 'my,'
' thy,' ' his,' &c. which is not a Pronoun, but must be called a
Possessive. These Possessives consist in fact of a Noun meaning
a thing belonging or possessed, a Possessive Noun, and of the
suffixed Pronoun, which shows to what person and number of
persons the thing belongs, as 'my,' 'thy,' 'our,' do in English.
Thus my knife is nok gasal, and nok is no-k, no thing-belonging-to,
k me.
The fact that these words never actually occur without a suffixed Pronoun
gives them so much of the appearance of a Pronoun that without consideration
it is not easy to recognise their true character. It is worth notice and record,
as showing how these words appear to a native, that Wogale was disposed to
think no tangae, a leaf of a tree, not made up of naui a leaf and iangae
a tree, but of no and tangae, no being this stem to which the Pronouns are
suffixed, no the thing-belonging-to tangae a tree, i.e. a leaf. It was more
natural to him to regard the possessive stem as a common Noun than to admit
the shortening of naui to no
2. These Possessive Nouns in Mota are four : no, mo, ga, ma.
The difference between no and mo is that no means a thing that
comes into possession from without, mo a thing coming from
Mota. Possessives. 271
within, possession of which rather follows on the action of the
possessor1. This distinction is not perhaps always clearly main-
tained, but this is the distinction, and it is of importance. There
is a closer relation signified by ga, generally of food : ma is always
of a thing to drink.
These Possessive Nouns then take the suffixed Pronouns like the
other Nouns : nok is thing belonging to me, moma thing belonging
to thee and of thy doing, gana thing belonging to him for his
eating, mara thing for their drinking. The compound is the
Possessive made up of nominal stem and suffixed Pronoun, and
generally precedes those Nouns which cannot take a suffixed Pro-
noun themselves, nok wose my paddle, mom o vavae thy word, gana
o nam his yam, manina o pei our drinking-water.
3. These words, though going so often with Nouns, and qualifying
them as 'my,' 'thy,' &c. do, have a purely substantive use, as
' mine,' ' yours/ ' ours,' in English, and take the Article accord-
ingly : nonsei iloke ? whose is this ? (no-n-sei thing-belonging-to-
him who) nok mine ; or na nonsei ? na nok ; nagaksa iloke a thing-
for-me-to-eat this.
4. These Possessives have often the Prefix a : anok, amoma,
agana, amanina.
Although the best native authority makes this the Preposition a it may be
doubted. In Florida, where there is no Preposition a, it is equally anigua,
anina. In Mota also the same appears in other words, a avin sei ? a avik,
whose fire ? my fire. It may be a Noun which survives also in the Preposition.
When anok, amok, &c. are used, they generally follow the Noun ; nok, mok,
&c. generally precede it.
5. Observations.
1. no. — The meaning of no being simply a thing-belonging in a general way,
there is not much that needs explanation. It should be observed, however,
that the translation of the word, when in the third person, is often made by the
English preposition 'of ' ; o parapara non tamana his father's axe, or the axe
of his father ; i pulsalana me rouotag non Qat o rararao his friend heard the
crying of Qat. Care must be taken to keep the distinction clear; there
is no 'of in Mota. It is necessary also to bear in mind that no cannot
be used as an equivalent for 'my,' 'thy,' &c., unless the thing can be rightly
spoken of as a kind of property; 'my father' cannot be nok mama. Juxta-
position of two words conveys the possessive or genitive relation : it is not so
idiomatic to say ima inau, my house, as ivnak, but it is right. Sometimes, as
often in Motlav, ' with him' will be used for ' his,' o gasal amaia his knife.
1 ' Anoma tama apeniko, we van ma, amoma tama ko me ge? Your no as
if a thing with you that comes to you, your mo as if you had done it : a native
explanation.
272 Melanesian Grammars.
2. mo. — It is common to use mo&, moma, &c., after a Verb with the sense
of ' for my part,' 'myself : si na ilo mok let me see, nau qara ilo goro mok
reremera I am now for the first time looking after boys, tama ni me vet uwna
as he said himself; amonsei me ge sare o siopa ? who tore the garment ? whose
doing was it ? In another way it is said, Jco te ge momam you shall do it for
us, as our agent ; isei te mule momam ? who will go for us ? Again, in a way
apparently inconsistent, one will write in a letter, nau we gaganag moma I
tell to you, rather, I tell a piece of news for you. Since this word signifies a
thing done by or proceeding from a person, it is conveniently used to translate
an English passive participle ; at the end of a book ' Printed by A. Lobu,
H. Silter and others,' it is Namora A. Lobu, J5T. Silter, &c. me qisan, i.e. the
doing of A. L. &c. (they) printed (it) ; amonsei me ge sare ? torn by whom ?
ga. — This word only accidentally resembles the word gana, to eat ; the
radical notion in it is of something which is in a very close relation to the one
who has it, and things to eat are so regarded. When it is said gan o tano his
ground, gar o nolmeat their edge of reef, it may be because food is got there,
which makes the place a peculiar possession ; but there are uses of the word
which have no reference to food. A charm prepared for any one's destruction
is nagana, gan o talamatai ; an arrow meant to kill some one is gan o qatia ;
ni me vanan o tamatetiqa, nagaku, he loaded a gun, for me, to shoot me with.
So also rain, sunshine, wind, calm, procured by a weather-doctor, is nagana
his, gan o wena, loa, Ian, taro.
ma. — This is only used of things to drink, including sugarcane ; mam o pei
wa! here's your water, ilolce o tou, namama, here's the sugarcane, for you.
6. There are two other words, not different indeed grammatically
from these, and equally translated by English pronominal Adjec-
tives, but not likely to be taken for Possessive Pronouns : pulai,
A pig, a fruit tree, anything which is a choice possession, is pulai ; pulak
som my money, pulan o qoe his pig, napulanina nol ilolce all this is ours, our
property. It may be a pulak.
With persons, not property but dependents, anai is used : o tanun anak my
man, a man who follows me, o rowrotcovag anana his servant. A man of the
place or of the veve is o. tanun anai. See Vocabulary No. 13. The first
syllable a must not be taken to be the same with a before wo, mo, &c.
VI. ADJECTIVES.
1. Adjectives properly so called are few in Mota ; that is to say,
words which are not Nouns Substantive used to qualify other
Nouns, nor words which would be translated by an English Ad-
jective, but which in grammatical form are in Mota Verbs. If o
ima vat, a stone house, be considered, it is seen that vat stone is just
as much a Substantive as t'ma house ; it qualifies, but is not an Ad-
jective. So o tanun we tatas, a bad man, is translated by an
Mot a . A djec lives. 273
Adjective ' bad ' in English, but we tatas is in grammatical form a
Verb \
It may be said, probably, that no word used to qualify as an
Adjective in Mota refuses to be put into form as a Verb : but
some are used simply as Adjectives without verbal form. Such are
mantagai small, liwoa great, nun true, words with the adjectival
termination ga, or with the prefix of quality ma. These are used
as Verbs, some frequently ; but they are used, and properly, as
true Adjectives ; ima mantagai small house, tanun liwoa great
man, vavae nun true word, qon malakalaka joyful day, matesala
taniniga straight path. These words are all primarily Ad-
jectives.
2. Some of these words have a form which belongs to them as
Adjectives, owing either to termination or prefix.
Adjectival Terminations.
These in Mota are ga, ra, ta.
ga. — The examples of other languages, Lepers' Island, Florida, show that
this termination is added to Substantives or other words to make Adjectives ;
but in Mota many words evidently of this character have no such apparent
stem : such are taniniga straight, aqaga white, turturuga blue. Of some the
stem is found, silsil of silsiliga black, rono, as in ronronotar multitude of
possessions, of ronoga famous, wmouai dust, icuwuaga, dusty. Sometimes i is
inserted ; mamasa dry, mamasaiga parched ; tala to be careless, wanton, tata-
laiga wanton, wicked.
ra. — This is seen in ligligira fluid from ligiu fluid, wotwotora rough from
^cot to stick up.
ta. — This is no doubt the same with sa in Maewo ; sasarita level, equal,
from sar to be straight with ; taperata dish-shaped, tapera a dish ; mamani-
gata full of ulcers, maniga an ulcer.
It is probable that sa is to be added to these Adjectival terminations ;
magarosa, pitiful, has probably the stem garo, with affixes ma and sa ; and
garo probably is the same with aro, the stem of the Florida arovi. In gaela
tough, stringy, there can be little doubt but that la is a termination, like ra,
added to gae string.
Adjectival Prefix.
There is a Prefix of condition ma, which may be seen commonly
in the Adjectives given in the Vocabularies. It is prefixed usually
to Verbs, and then makes a word which seems participial, sare to
tear, masare torn, late to break, malate broken. But though this
Prefix no doubt demands consideration with verbs, it is no less
certain that words formed with it are very often not such as can
1 Inau o malinsala I am hungry ; malinsala is here an Adjective used as
a Substantive, a hungry person.
T
274 Melanesian Grammars.
be called Participles, but are most conveniently at least called
Adjectives, and those particularly which are formed from nouns.
Examples, matoltol thick, mageregere weak, mamarir cold, malum-
lum soft ; mavinvin thin, from viniu skin, manaranara bloody,
from nara lood.
There is no doubt but that ta in taniniga straight, taj)tapapa flat-
sided, taplagolayo cylindrical, is a prefix of the same kind.
3. Comparison of Adjectives.
Degrees of comparison are expressed either by the use of a
Preposition, or of an Adverb, or by a simple positive statement
which implies a comparison made in the mind.
The Preposition used is nan from ; o qoe we poa nan o gasuwe a pig is
bigger than a rat ; iloke we ma.no poa nan this is rather larger than (it) ; or
without the Preposition nan, but with the Adverb mano ; iloke we mano poa
this is rather large, i. e. larger. Another expression is vara, vara poa larger.
A Superlative is expressed by an Adverb, we poa aneane very large, i.e.
largest.
In the use of these Adverbs the statement is positive, but there is an
enhancement of the force of the Adjective expressed by the Adverb. When
the statement is merely ilolce we poa, this is large, there is nothing in the
words to express comparison, but it is understood that the estimate is relative ;
there is something smaller which makes this large. This is more plainly the
case when it is said iloke we wia, Hone we tatas, this is good, that is bad,
meaning 'this is better than that,' not that the one is positively bad, but the
other is good and makes it seem so. So it may be said, iniko tuwale we
wia gai you only are good, meaning not much more than that ' you are very
good.'
If the comparison is of numbers the Adverb, or perhaps Pre-
position, sal, over and above, is used ; Tcamam we qoqo sal neira, or
sal avunara, we are more than they, over and above them.
4. There are some expressions which may conveniently find a
place here.
There are two words which come before Nouns and qualify them as good
and bad, matai and mala : o matai tanun a good man, o mala tanun a bad
man. The latter is said in a depreciatory way also, without a positive state-
ment of badness, as was said of King Cakobau of Fiji, o mala maranaga iloke
o tausis tagai a poor kind of a King this (with) no trowsers. Matai is
possibly the Polynesian maitai.
The word sokore before a Noun makes it decidedly bad : o sokore tangae &
bad tree. This appears to be itself a Noun Substantive sokorai ; another
such is parasiu ; o paras qoe a poor sort of pig.
The word mano, sometimes an Adverb, is also used with Nouns, diminishing
the significance, or expressing a certain contempt or pity ; tagai wa ! o mano
poroporo wia, not at all, (no harm meant) merely a little joke ; ineia o mano
tanun ta Valuga he was a Valuga man, poor fellow ! or, only a Valuga man.
Mota. Adjectives. 275
An expression meaning the real thing, the true genuine thing, is o tur
sava, tur being the same as turiai body or trunk : o tur vava ta Mota real
Mota language, o tur ineia gai ! his very self ! of a picture.
Of anything big about a person, matig a cocoa-nut is playfully used, na-
matig-manuna his cocoa-nut nose, na-matig-toqana his cocoa-nut belly. This
is rather used when, for example, it is a small man with a big nose or big
belly ; o matig mona is a big package with few things in it, o matigi aka
a large canoe with few men on board.
Vat, a stone, is used in something of the same way : o vat tangae a large
thick piece of wood, o vat tanun a big heavy man.
Of food it is said to be matig wia, nae wia, wotaga ivia, cocoa-nut good,
almond good.
Of one who has an abundance of something it is said that he is mere, child,
of it ; meresom rich, som money. One who is fond of something is said to be
a bird with regard to it ; mansom one fond of money, manuima fond of
drinking. The image is taken from a bird haunting a bush or tree of the
fruit of which it is fond.
VII. VERBS.
1. Almost any word can be a Verb in Mota, being made so by
the use of the Verbal Particles to be mentioned below ; qon night,
me qon veto, it is night already, I Qat qara ukeg o qon sin qon,
Qat then let night go, that it might be night ; the substantive
qon is in a verbal form : mantagai little, is an Adjective, o ima
me mantagai mun nina, the house has become too small for us,
shows it a Verb : siwo down, an Adverb, ni me siwo ma, he has
(come) down hither : mun to, a Preposition, na te munia mun
tamana I will (be) to him a father 1 : ke ! an Exclamation, ni me
ke 1 he (cried) Jce I Veve mother, isei me Veve inau ? who called
me Mother 1 ' Mothered ' me. A clause of a sentence may become
a Verb, o matava wa o ravrav me o qon vagaruei the morning and
the evening (were) the second day.
Any word then used in a verbal form may be called a Verb, but
there are some words which are in their own proper nature Verbs;
nonom to think, vava to speak, sua to paddle, and such like, are
Verbs ; words which are names of actions, not of things, and are not
Nouns Substantive. To think is nonom, a thought is nonomia ; to
speak vava, a speech vavae ; to paddle sua, a paddling suava ; the
1 The Preposition being in fact a Noun makes it possible for it to be a Verb
here, otherwise it might be said that the clause was the Verb. These Particles,
judging by the English translation of them, might be thought to be Substantive
Verbs, but they are not.
T 2
276 Melanesian Grammars.
Mota Nouns and Verbs are as plainly distinct as the English. It
is possible, no doubt, to make these words Nouns by putting an
Article before them, but they are then Verbs made into Nouns,
and not words indifferently one or the other ; te rusagia ape non o
mawmawui he will be paid for his work.
Besides these words which are naturally Verbs, there are Verbs
which have a particular form as such, either by means of a prefix
or a termination. The causative prefix va makes esu, which 13
either Verb or Noun, live or life, into vaesu to save ; the transitive
termination makes rono, to be in a state of feeling, into ronotay, to
hear or feel something; and vaesu and ronotag are words the form
of which shows them to be Verbs.
2. Verbal Particles.
When it is said that these Particles are the means by which a
word shows its character as a Verb it must not be supposed that
one of them invariably accompanies a Verb. There are exceptions,
to be hereafter explained. Verbal Particles, besides marking the
word as a Verb, express Tense and Mood, to some extent at least.
They may be divided in Mota into Temporal and Modal.
The Verbal Particles are written apart from the Verbs to which
they belong, we vava, me nonom, te sua, not wevava, menonom,
tesua, the manner of writing Maori having been followed. It is
useful to keep the word which is the Verb distinct from the
accompanying Particle.
(i) Temporal Particles — we, me, te, ti.
we. — The temporal force is hardly anything; but yet, as me is decidedly past
and te future, we does express the present by difference from the others. It is
better, however, to dwell as little as possible upon its temporal character ;
whatever may be the time present to the mind of the speaker, when it has been
already marked as past or future by me or te, we continues to be used ; if no
time is marked, the tense can be only said to be present.
In the case of a narrative the past particle me sets the time ; subordinate
actions require no more mark of tense, and go on with we : but successive
stages of action, if of sufficient consequence, are introduced again with me.
Nan ira tatasina me valago nina alo vanua, we ilo i Qat tana rasoana we
pute, wa neira me mamakci lava apena : Then his brothers ran and reached
the village, and see Qat and his wife are sitting, and they were greatly
astonished at it. In this me gives the time past ; as they reached the village
they saw, it was not & subsequent event, therefore it is we ilo ; Qat was sitting,
but the scene is present to the mind, therefore it is iv e pute is sitting ; astonish-
ment followed on the sight, the narrative resumes with me. We should say
they came and saw and wondered ; in Mota they say that they came and see,
and wondered. In this way an Adjective, or what answers to an Adjective,
being in the form of a Verb, has we for the particle, whatever may be the
Mota. Verbs. 277
tense of the sentence : ni me puna ilo ape maiig si we fatas he smelt the
cocoa-nut and found it was bad. It is the same if the time is marked as future
by te. If the action is a kind of compound, with no successive stages, there is
only the mark of time with the first Verb : Team te ganagana wa we imaima
ye shall eat and drink.
me. — Though the past is certainly indicated by me, it is strengthened by an
Adverb veta already : ni me mate veta he is dead, has died already. The past
particle also can be used for the future in anticipation : na me mate nake 1
have died now, o aka, qa, me tul ! the canoe has sunk : the apprehension is
lively, and the strictness of the tense is lost.
te. — Here again, though te certainly is future, an Adverb is used to make it
more definitely so, anaisa hereafter. When a thing can be considered sure to
happen, te is used without a future sense as ' will ' in English : te tamaike
val tau it is so every season, will be so. In narrative, when events now past
are in view, the future te is still used : ni me vet si te van ma, paso nan me
gisraka, he said he would (will) come, and then he started.
ti. — This particle conveys the notion of immediate succession of one action
on another, and of continuity, regularity, invariable occurrence. Thus it is
commonly used in narrative, as one thing succeeds another without any con-
siderable interval. There is very little of a temporal character about it. As
an example of narrative of successive actions closely connected making up one
event, Nan i Qat me ronotag si o qon a Vava, ti ligo raka o rawe, ti map alo
aka, ti gamo i Vava, ti tun o qon nia; Qat heard that there was night at
Vava, ties up a pig, puts it in a canoe, sails to Vava, buys night with it.
Invariable condition or recurrence is not very different ; na imana ti taqa pan
matesala his house stands (leans forward or overhangs) by the road ; ti tiratira
kelkel apena he keeps standing about near it; o gaviga ti taivaga alo rara,
the Malay apple, Eugenia, flowers in the winter ; o no paka ti nun saru, ti
awisiga gaplot feel, the banian sheds its leaves (and) soon buds again, i.e.
every season.
The following native story gives an example of the use of these
Particles : —
Concerning a woman and her child (who) slept, and a ghost took
Ape tavine tana natina me matur, pa o lamate me la
a basket put them two in it then hung them two on the
0 pora me sogon rara alolona, qara siplag rara avawo
top branch, of a tree decayed, then her child woke says Mother
wot tangae we kor, nan natina me mamata ti vet wa, Veve
1 see stars many, and her mother woke says
na we ilo o vit we qoqo, nan ravevena me mamata ti vet wa,
my child don't move about, we two shall die. And they two called
natuk nipea risris nara te mate. Nan rara me suware
the birds, but (they) not fly could, the fan-tail then at last flew with
o manu nan pa gate gava lai, o tage qara gavag
them two, and they two rewarded him with an umbrella palm leaf, and he
rara wa rara me rusagia mun o vilog, wa ni
rejoiced at it, saying it was because it matched his tail.
me malakaldka apena was ape me taram na golona.
278 Melanesian Grammars.
(2) Modal Particles — qe, ta.
These mark something like a Subjunctive or Potential Mood ;
si kamiu qe ronotag o sava if you feel anything ; we pute nare ira
tasina a vawo aJca ti qe olo sage sits waiting for his brothers still
on board when they should bring the canoe to shore ; ta taro if it
should be calm. The difference between the two is small, qe is
less potential perhaps than ta, and the latter is more used with
a view to the future ; ta nawo te nowo, ta fete nawo tete noivo, if
there should be surf will weed, if there should not be surf will not
weed. The conjunction si, if, is used with both, but less commonly
with ta.
(3) The Particle— ti.
This is distinct from the narrative or continuous ti before men-
tioned. Its use is double, one to throw back the time so as to
make a pluperfect, the other to mitigate or moderate the direct-
ness of a statement. In the one case it rather belongs to the tem-
poral particles, but it cannot be classed with them. It follows
the Verb.
1. The Pluperfect in English is not always used where ti is in Mota, but in
most cases it can be used to translate it ; neira me matur tamo, ni me varegira
ti they went to sleep as he had commanded them ; nan neia wa, Hone o gene
nau me vet ti mun Jcamiu apena, then said he, that is the thing I told you of,
i.e. what I told you of before, what I had told you of. Since this use of ti
throws the time back a stage it is evident that it cannot be applied except in
a narration in which successive stages of time may be brought into view. It
cannot be used with the Present.
2. There is no exact translation of ti in its other use, but 'just' is like it,
when one says ' Just come here.' A Mota man would not say to his father-
in-law, mule ma gai, come here ; na apena te maragai, he would be shy of
doing so ; he would say mule ma ti just come here ; the directness of the
request would be moderated. The use is a matter of feeling.
The same particle, which is not a Verbal Particle as we, me, te are, but here
is rather adverbial, has another use : it signifies that something still remains ;
mantagai ti & little still remains, o Jcereai ti there is still some-at- the-bottom.
The sense is intensified by e: mantagai ti e o oka me tul, the canoe was a very
little short of sinking.
This is probably the same ti that following a Verb gives the sense of in-
completeness to the action described. It goes with ti of continuity or te : ti
iiratira ti he keeps standing about ; o manu te rorowo ti birds will (or, in
narrative, would) Iteep flying off.
3. A Verb is used without a Verbal Particle before it (i) in the
Imperative, (2) in a Subjoined clause, (3) in a Negative sentence,
(4) after certain Adverbs.
(i) Imperative. — The simple Verb is enough, pute siwo sit down,
Mota. Verbs. 279
mule go : but in the Second Person singular it is common to
use the Pronoun ka, ka pute siwo ma sit down here, ka mule at go.
In the First Person na mule, nara, nina, kara, mule, let me, us,
us two, go ; but kamam a mule with a Preposition ; in the Third,
neira mule let them go, ni mule let him go. In the Dual for the
Second Person ura or wura is used ; ura mule ilo tuqei, ura nowo
valis, go you two into the garden, clear away the grass ; pa alo
me nowo qet wura mule alo takelei, and when the weeding is quite
finished go you two on the other side. In ura the numeral rua is
present as ra. When three persons are spoken to tol is used, tol
mule, tol nowo, you three go, weed.
In a respectful way a qaliga, son-in-law or father-in-law, will say ura, you
two, to his qaliga ; and a woman with an infant is spoken to, and of, as two
persons ; and in addressing more persons than three tol is sometimes used.
But whenever ura or tol are used, two or three persons are in the mind of the
speaker.
In the Plural tur is used; tur mule jmljml rua gese, go two
and two.
Sometimes the future te is used in an Imperative sense ; kamiu
te ge tamaine you shall do so.
For Negative Imperatives see below under Negatives.
(2) In a Subjoined clause there is no Verbal Particle ; na me vet
si na mule at, I said that I would go, si neira mule, that they
should go.
(3) When it is said that in a Negative sentence there is no
Verbal Particle it is meant that none is apparent, except in
the case of qe and ta. Nau gate maros I don't wish, I won't, or
(because in the absence of a Verbal Particle there is no note of
Tense) I did not wish, I would not : in the Future na tete maros
ran I shall not like it at all, I certainly shall not be willing.
But si na qe tete maros, or nau ta tete maros, if I should not be
willing.
This is enough to put qe and ta upon a different footing from we, me, te ;
shows them more like Conjunctions. It will be seen, when Negatives are con-
sidered, that there are, in fact, Verbal Particles in gate and tete.
(4) After certain words which may be called Adverbs there are
no Verbal Particles, perhaps because the time is given by them.
These are qara, qale, kere, and teve.
The meaning of qara is, now for the first time, upon that, immediately, just
now, recently ; nau qara rave mok let as, I now for the first time write a letter ;
280 Melanesian Grammars.
ni me gopa o qon nitol, qara mate, he was ill three days, then died, or it may
be ni qara mate, he then died, ni qara mate ti he. is just dead. The meaning
of qale is still : Jcamam not qale esuesu gese we all of us are still well. It is a
matter of dialect whether Tcere or teve is used ; the meaning appears to be
something like ' only ' in the way of diminishing the importance of the action ;
see, however, ker in Motlav and Gaua : ni we tantan apesa f Jco me vusia
apesa ? why is he crying ? what did you beat him for ? Tagai tea, nau kere,
or teve, tut gap neia, No, I only just hit him with my fist.
These correspond to what have been called expletive particles in Fiji.
Thus mani appears to answer to qara : sa taura e dua na vatu ko koya ka
mani viriki au he took (Mota taur) a stone and threw it (Mota vivir) at me.
So also ' bagi gives a tone of surprise to a statement.' Rev. L. Fison.
(5) It often happens that a Verb without a Particle appears
in a kind of Infinitive, and it is then really a Noun ; kamiu me
mule ma si a mawmawui you came here to work.
Perhaps gai until, till, can hardly be called an Adverb, but a Conjunction ;
the Verb after it has no Particle, na te goara amaiko nau gai mate, I shall
abide with you till I die, neira me vagvagalo gai mate get, they went on
fighting till they all died.
A Verb with a Particle may equally be used as a Noun ; ko toe pute mamasa
gai, ape sava ? ape we nala qa, You are sitting idle, what for ? because of
being tired ; neira me ilo me silsiliga they saw it had become dark ; ape me
taram na golona because it matched his tail. In these examples it must not
be supposed that the Nominatives, ' it ' in English, are omitted ; we nala, me
silsiliga, me taram, are Nouns : the being tired, the having become dark, the
having matched.
4. Suffixes to Verbs.
These suffixed terminations make a Verb which without them is
Neuter or Active definitely transitive ; there must always where
one is employed be an object before the mind, though it may not
be expressed in words, upon which the action of the Verb passes
over. The Verb vava, to speak, expresses an action of a general
kind ; when g is suffixed, giving it a definite transitive force, the
speaking is shown to be directed upon or against some object ;
vavag to speak against ; gava to fly, gavag, as in the story page 277
to fly with, convey by flying : rono is to be in a state of feeling
generally, rono vivtig to be in pain, rono puna to have a sense of
smelling, ronotag to feel or hear something, ronotag o vivtig to feel
a pain, ronotag o punai to smell an odour ; vano is to go, vanov is
to put, vanogag to go with something, to convey. The suffix may
apply to a word which is not commonly a Verb, mata an eye, matag
to eye, making a transitive Verb.
These Suffixes do not in Mota, as in Fiji, take altogether the place of Pre-
Mota. Verbs. 281
positions ; sometimes a Preposition, especially goro, is used after a Verb in
this form, kokor goro to protect something from or against what may do
harm.
These Suffixes are of two forms, Consonantal, the addition of a
single Consonant, and Syllabic,
(1) Consonantal Suffixes. — It is evident that these can only be
added to Verbs that end in a Vowel. The Consonants suffixed are,
g, t, V, r, s, n, n. For example, mana, spiritual influence, or to
have it, manag to enable by passing over that influence ; mava to
be heavy, mavat to be heavy upon, to weigh down ; sora to lay a
plot, entertain a design, sorav lay a plot against some one ; koko
to shut in, kokor to protect ; kokos to enclose ; ran to thrust the
hand into a bag, raun to thrust in the hand and take out some-
thing ; tiqa to shoot, let fly an arrow, tiqan to shoot some-
thing.
The most common of these suffixes is g.
(2) The Syllabic Suffixes are ag, gag, tag, vag, rag, sag, mag, lag,
nag, nag. Examples, taleag turn, from tale about ; vanogag take,
from vano to go ; altag to look after , from al to go about ; sirvag
to cut close, from sir to shave ; matarag to gaze at, from mata
eye ; maraesag to laugh at, from marae to laugh ; earomag to
sheathe, from saro to go in ; tigonag to pole a canoe, from tigo ;
lilnag to spread) from lit to unfold. The effective part of these
Suffixes is ag, the consonants preceding serve only to introduce
this.
In the case of either the Consonantal or Syllabic terminations, it is im-
possible to connect any particular force with the form of the Suffix. The Verb
has assumed the Suffix which use has appropriated to it. Sometimes two
terminations are in use without any variation of meaning, as sarovag or saro-
mag to sheathe : or in some cases a variation of meaning accompanies a varia-
tion of Suffix, as from koko is made kokor to enclose in the way of protection,
kokos to enclose in the way of preventing escape, kokot to enclose in the way
of straitening ; cases in which it is evident that use only, and not any force in
the consonant suffixed, gives the particular signification.
The Separable Suffix — vag.
There is a Suffix vag which must be distinguished from the
definite transitive termination vag above mentioned. This is
always equivalent to the English ' with,' and can be separated
from the verb to which it is usually affixed. Thus mule to go,
mulevag to go with, o reremera we mulevag o taj>era the boy is
going with a dish, ni we mule raveaglue o tinesara vag o tapera
he is going through the courtyard with a dish.
282 Melanesian Grammars.
The Preposition ' with,' to which this separable vag is equivalent, is that of
accompaniment, not ' with ' instrumental : rciasvag o tapera to fall down with
a dish, matevag o gopae tutunsag die with a fever.
The distinction between this and the other vag, which is one of the
Syllabic Suffixes above enumerated, and is not separable from the Verb, throws
light upon the character of them all. The Syllabic Suffix vag, which makes a
Verb definitely transitive, may indeed in some instances be represented in
translation into English by the Preposition ' with,' but so may also the other
inseparable Suffixes ; it may also, like the rest, be represented by some other
Preposition. But vag which is separable is always equivalent to ' with.' In
proportion, therefore, as it appears to be separable, it appears to differ in
signification and power from the inseparable Suffixes, and to assume the
appearance of a Preposition. Two questions then arise : is the separable vag
the same with the inseparable ? If the same, is the separable vag an example
of a Preposition on the way to become a Suffix, and left behind by tag,
rag, sag and others, which are inseparable Suffixes ? or is it an example of a
termination beforehand with the others in becoming detached and turning
into a Preposition ? The fact that all the inseparable Suffixes, including vag,
are identical in signification is against the probability of their having been
Prepositions. In Fiji some at least, if not all, of the corresponding Suffixes
are separable, the Suffix coming at the end of a number of words and combining
them into one Verb, as mule-raveaglue-o-tinesara-vag may be regarded as a
compound Verb. In Volow hea = sag is equivalent to Mota vag.
There are some Adverbs usually or often written in one with
Verbs as if Suffixes : such as reag, vitag ; mapreag to put away,
nomvitag to forgive. This proceeds partly from the dropping of i
in vitag ; toavtag for too, vitag to go away and leave ; rakavtag,
raka vitag to take up and away, leaving something behind ; tanov-
tag take hands off, tano to touch.
It should be observed that a transitive suffix and causative prefix frequently
combine in the same Verb : vaputeg to seat, from puts to sit, valcoJcot to close,
vasinar to make to shine, valeasag to dispute.
It is with an uncommon force of the Suffix tag, more like Fiji taka, that
vegatag means to climb for a person ; isei te vegatag inau 1 who is there to
climb (cocoa-nuts) for me ?
5. Prefixes. — These are Causative, Eeciprocal, of Condition, and
of Spontaneity.
(1) The Causative is va, sometimes vaga ; esu to live, vaesu to
make to live, to save ; qoqo many, vagaqoqo to multiply.
This Prefix is in very frequent use, but yet the Verb ge or na, to make, is
often used in place of it, me ge esua instead of me vaesua, saved him, vat ge lot
a pestle to make lot. But ge often means to act, not to do, ni we gege loloqon,
he acts like a fool, not makes others foolish.
The Verb va to go, combined with another word, may sometimes appear like
the Causative : vailo to visit, vatatu to encounter.
(2) The Reciprocal is var; rara we varvus they two are beating
Mo la. Verbs. 283
one another. This may be reduplicated ; varvarvus, keep on beat-
ing one another.
(3) The Prefixes of Condition ma and to, have been already
mentioned under the head of Adjectives ; as they are prefixed
to words which cannot be called Verbs, it is not possible to con-
fine them to this connection. Prefixed to Verbs ma often gives
much the sense of the Passive, or of a Participle: sare to tear,
masare torn. Inasmuch as words which would be translated by
English Adjectives have generally in Mota the form of Verbs,
i.e. are used with Verbal Particles, it is hardly possible to keep a
distinction in the case of this Prefix between the words beginning
with ma of condition which should be called Adjectives and those
which may be called Participles. Examples illustrate the value of
the Prefix : wora asunder, mawora parted, to come apart, o tapera
me mawora the plate is broken ; late to break, malate to be broken ;
laka to kick up the heels, malaJcalaka to rejoice, to be in an
exultant condition ; luqe to fold, maluqe folded 1. It may be re-
duplicated mamagese lonely, mamagarosa pitiable.
The Prefix la is not so common as ma, and may be thought to
have more of the meaning of spontaneity. It is found in the
words latiotio to stagger, taavaava to miss footing; in taplagolago,
from ta and qolago a cylinder, a word now used for a wheel as
qplago is for a barrel ; in taptapapa slab-sided, from ta and papa, a
word which perhaps is not used as a Noun in Mota, but is found in
Malay and Maori as a plank or slab. It is reduplicated in tata-
wilwil to come rolling over and over.
To these may perhaps be added sa ; sasaroro to corns or sink
down.
(4) The difference between ta and tava is that the latter shows
the condition indicated to have come about of itself : ul to untie a
rope, o tali me tavaul the rope has come untied of itself; tavamasu
to fall down, tavaroro to sink down, tavaraka to rise up, spon-
1 Nouns are formed from these Verbs or Adjectives : masare, torn, o masarei
a rag ; maluqei, malqe siopa, a roll of cloth. A singular word of this kind is
magesei, for which there is no English translation : it is compounded of the
prefix of condition ma, the Adverb gese only, and the nominal termination i.
The Noun thus compounded takes the pronominal Suffix, and magesek, ma-
gesema, magesena, is used where in English the Adjective 'alone' would be
used ; I alone did it, by myself, inau magesek, iniko magesema, ineia ma-
gesena, thou alone, he alone, literally my lone, thy lone, his lone. The usage
of suffixing the Pronoun belongs to Florida and Bugotu, hegegu, gehegu, and
284 Melanesia* Grammars.
taneously; tav is sometimes used, tavsare torn. In reduplication
tatavaul, tavtavaraka.
Another form of rare use in Mota is tama : o gae me tamarurus a line run
out to full length. There is no difference in meaning between this and tava-
tttrus, and tama is the Prefix in Lepers' Island.
It may be doubted whether in the word tawaga to come open (tawagasiu
a flower) iawa is not another form of tava, for gaga is to split, gape. Other-
wise it may possibly be to, the Prefix, and waga = waka to open.
The Prefixes var and va can be applied to the same word, and make up one
Verb, as varvaesu save one another. It is usual to write the Causative and
Reciprocal Prefixes together with the Verb, and it is convenient, by doing so,
to mark the distinction of them from the Particles by which the Verbal
character of the word, or compound, is marked : thus neira we varvaleleasag
gese, they do nothing but dispute among themselves, might be written we var
va leleasag, but with less clearness.
6. Comyyound Verbs. — There is a use of two Verbs combined in one
word by which the actions described are represented as succeeding
one another in time, in such a way as would seem most naturally
to be given by two Verbs connected by a Conjunction. Such a
word is rowopute, rowo to fly, pute to sit ; o manu me rowopute
a bird has flown and sat, rowotira jump and stand, light on the
feet, valago nina, run and arrive.
Tt may not be possible to separate this use from that of a Verb added to
another as an Adverb. It is common to use paso, finish, after a Verb, to mark
the completion of the action, qalo, to hit, to mark success, and ilo, to see, to
convey the notion of attempt or approach to success : o aka me kel paso ma
nau qara kel siwo avunana, after the vessel has come back I shall go home on
board her, i. e. the vessel has come back, that complete, I shall return ; ni me
vivir 0 toa, gate vivir qalo, he threw at a fowl, did not hit it, i. e. did not
throw (and) hit ; nau me ge ilo apena, I tried to do it, i. e. did (to) see (if I
could) ; tagai, nau gate ge ilo mok, not so, I did not do it at all.
7. Impersonal Verbs. — There are some Verbs which are regu-
larly used without a nominative ; we vivtig nau it pains me, me
<oule veto, inau I am already tired ; me rakutia he is in great pain ;
me tama mun nau I was confused, it came awkwardly to me.
These Verbs can be used otherwise : o sava we vivtlgiko ? what hurts you ?
o vivtig we rakutia pain causes him agony.
All Verbs can be used in what may be called an Impersonal
way, and a Passive sense is so frequently conveyed.
8. Passive. — There is no Passive form. The Mota Verb, in fact,
has no Voice ; the Verb names an action or condition as a Noun
names a thing ; if the signification is such as would in English be
Mo fa. Verbs. 285
conveyed by a Passive form, the Mota Verb conveys it as well as
an Active sense.
In some instances this is plainly the case, in others the ex-
pression can be explained as an impersonal form of sentence. To
build a house is we taur o ima, they build a house neira we taur o
ima ; but o ima me taur veta cannot be otherwise translated than
as ' the house is already built,' although, according to the form of
the sentence, o ima is now the Nominative to the Verb taur, as
neira was, and the Verb, without change in form, has become
Passive in sense. It is the same when no Nominative is directly
expressed, but clearly understood ; map siwo ma o tapera put the
basket down here; me map veta wa (it) has been put down already;
avea nom o tausis 1 where are your trowsers 1 me asa qa, me wor,
(they) have been washed, (and) laid in the sun to dry. The Verbs
map to put, asa to wash, wor to spread out in the sun, can be
certainly called Active Verbs, yet they are clearly used in a Passive
eense.
It is just as correct, however, to say me taur paso o ima the
house is built, me map o tapera the basket has been put down,
me asa o sz'opa the garment has been washed, in sentences in
which, to speak according to European grammar, ima, tapera,
siopa, are no longer Nominatives, but the objects of the Verbs
taur, map, asa. Such sentences, therefore, can be taken as im-
personal, me taur o ima, as if neira, they, have built the house.
But it cannot be too positively stated that the Mota Verb must not
be considered as capable of Voice.
It has been already said (5. (3) page 283) that the Prefix ma
gives something of a Passive meaning to the Verb to which it is
prefixed ; ni me sare non o siopa he has torn his clothes, non o
sioj)a me masare his clothes have been torn. But it would not be
right to call that a Passive form which may equally carry an
active sense, as malakalaka rejoicing ; the Prefix ma shows a con-
dition, which may be Passive or not.
A Verb added to a Noun to qualify it may be Active or Passive,
that is, may be translated in English by a Passive or Active
Participle. Thus o qat vusvus is a stick to strike with, a striking
stick, vus to strike, and o gene vus is a thing struck ; taur to
catch, o gene taur the thing caught, vasigtag to abhor, o tanun
vasigtag an abhorred or despicable person. In these cases the
Verb is added in a bare form which does not show, or perhaps
when thus added and qualifying does not even allow, it to be
286 Melanesian Grammars.
really a Verb. Sometimes, however, a full Verbal form with the
Verbal Particle qualifies a Noun, and may have the signification of
a Passive Participle ; nau me ilo o oka me lamas aqaga, I saw a
ship (that) was painted white.
9. Reflective Verbs. — A reflex action is described by the Adverb
kel, back : I strike myself, nau we vus kel nau I strike me back ;
he strangled himself, ni me ligo mate kelua. An example of another
sort is ni me gana vasusumagia he ate to excess, to stuff himself.
Ko we vava Jcel o sava apenikol What do you say of yourself?
10. Negative Verbs. — It has been said (3. (3) page 278) that Verbs
in a Negative use have no Verbal Particle except qe and ta ; nau
gate ilo I do not, or did not, see, nau fete ilo I shall not see. A
comparison of Mota with other languages makes it appear, how-
ever, that the negative lies in te, and that probably gate and tete,
written as one word, are ga te, te te ; ga being the Verbal particle,
present, with te negative, te the future particle with te negative.
Sometimes mate is used in Mota as the negative with a Verb, nau mate
taJca ineia I won't obey him ; it is perhaps borrowed from Vureas, Vanua
Lava, and is thought stronger than gate and tete. It is correct to say ineia
tagai iake he is not here, as well as ineia gate iaJce.
The Negative Imperative or Dehortatory form is with the use of the word
pea, which probably means ' naught.' A person tired or wearied will say na
me pea ran I am good for nothing, have become utterly naught : so of anything
given up or put down as objectionable it is said me pea veta it has been done
away, has been brought to naught. To forbid anything the expression is ni
pea let it be naught, i. e. let it not be. With this the Verbal Particle may or
may not be used, nipea matur don't sleep, or nipea we matur, matur or we
matur being both, in fact, Nouns. The use varies to some extent with the
different persons : inau nipea matur (or we matur] let me not sleep ; in the
Second Person nipea matur, or iniko nipea matur, in the Third ineia nipea.
With the Dual ura is used, as ordinarily in the Imperative, ura pea matur
don't you two sleep ; of three persons tolpea ; and with the Second Person
Plural tur, turpea matur don't sleep. It may be, however, Jcamurua nipea or
nipea ineira we matur, the difference being rather that between a direct and
indirect prohibition.
Another word, wa lest, may be used : ko wa masu don't fall, rather take
care lest you fall.
11. Auxiliary Verbs. — There are certain Verbs which may be
called Auxiliary, having rarely a separate existence of their own,
and being Verbs, not Prefixes. For example, ni me ti nanagona
ape vanuana, he set his face towards his own place, shows ti in all
respects a Verb, yet ti usually occurs in composition, tikula to turn
the back. Another is so ; ni we so naranona a matesala he sets,
advances, his foot in the path ; in composition sonago to scorn, set
Mota. Adverbs. 287
the face against, so-nus to hate, set the lip against, sororo to set
about a report. These words may thus be translated to show their
use and meaning, yet ti and so only mean to set when in such
combination and connection as this.
12. Kedu])lication of Verbs. — Yerbs, like Nouns, are reduplicated
in three ways, either by (i) repetition of the first syllable, or (2)
by that of the first syllable closed by the succeeding consonant, or
(3) of the whole word ; for example, pute to sit, pupute, putpute,
putepute. The force of these reduplications is — (i) Continuance,
prolongation of the action, pupute keep on sitting ; the redupli-
cated syllable may be repeated as often as the idea of continuance
or prolongation to be conveyed requires. (2) Intensification, the
force of the word is magnified, putpute to sit closely down, siksike,
from sike, to seek earnestly. (3) Repetition, putepute to sit, get up,
sit again, sit from time to time, tma putepute a sitting room.
Characteristic examples are : o oka me sale- sale- sale sasasale the
canoe floated and floated and went floating on ; neira me toga totoga
they stayed and stayed ; nan ira Qat me tootoga a Tetgan Qat and
his company prolonged their stay at Tetgan. Reduplication of this
latter kind depends more on the tone, feeling, and gesture of the
speaker than on anything that can be reduced to rule.
The form of Reduplication (2) is evidently only applicable to words having
an open first syllable, to close which in reduplication the consonant is borrowed
from the second : pu-te, put-pu-te.
Sometimes two syllables are repeated, with perhaps the character of this
second form : liwoa great, liwoliwoa ; purei unskilled, purepurei.
VIII. ADVEEBS.
Some words used as Adverbs are Nouns, assisted often by Pre-
positions ; some are Verbs ; some are words not used in any other
grammatical form.
Adverbs can be divided into those of Place, Time, and Manner,
but place and time are generally conceived of as the same. It is
the habit of the native mind to have place constantly in view, to
use continually Adverbs and Particles of direction pointing hither
and thither, up and down, landwards and seawards.
The Particles ke and ne point here and there, and form part of
many Adverbs of Place and Time ; ma, hitherward, and at, outward,
are in continual and conspicuous use to indicate motion, or direc-
tion of thought, or course of time.
288 Melanesian Grammars.
EXAMPLES or ADVERBS.
1. Adverbs of Place: —
Here iake ; there iane, aia ; where avea. Hither iake ma ;
thither at aia ; whither ] ivea ? Hence iake at ; thence ma aia ;
whence 1 ma avea ? Up kalo, raka, sage ; down siwo, sur ; afar
aras ; everywhere valval ; off away, reag ; near pan^ petea, arivtag ;
a varea outside.
The primary meaning of the last is not in the house, but in the varea, the
village area, but the Noun vareai has come to mean the outside generally.
There is a difference between iane and aia ; the one is demonstrative, the
other indefinite.
2. Adverbs of Time : —
Now ilokenake ; then alo Hone ; when 1 anaisa ? ananaisa of past
time. To-day qarig ; anaqarig of past time ; yesterday ananora ;
day before yesterday anarisa ; to-morrow amaran or maran ; day
after to-morrow arisa. Hereafter anaisa ; heretofore, already, veta,
we tuui; henceforth iloke at nake; presently qarig, rigrig; yet
tiqa; while alo; still qale; afterwards paso ; for the first time raka,
totowo, and in sequence qara ; again mulan ; beforehand, prema-
turely, solsol.
Nipea rowo solsol, nara te rowo tuwale don't jump off too soon, we two
will go together ; nau we rave sohol iloke na akanina qale toga siwo I am
writing this beforehand, or too soon, our vessel still remains down West.
3. Adverbs of Manner : —
As tama ; thus tamaike ; so tamaine ; how tarn avea, gasei, ga-
savai ; thoroughly ran ; completely qet ; very much aneane, ras ;
well mantag ; only gese, vires ; in vain ae.
1. The directive particles Tee and ne are added to ia, which itself may be
called an Adverb : when a thing is found when looked for, or shown, ia is a
kind of exclamation 'here!'. But ia by itself does not designate more than
some place, does not direct to the place where ; iake is the place this way,
iane the place that way. To these may be added the demonstratives nake and
nane, iake nake, iane nane, and these demonstratives are indeed often intro-
duced in native speech as Adverbs (though to European notions expletives),
not distinctly either of place or time, but adding life and clearness to a
narrative, nake always with a view to present time or near place, nane
pointing to distance of place or time ; gate wia nake this is not good, or not
well thus, ni me mate nane he is dead. The Adverb aia is made up of ia,
in this a Noun, and the Preposition a, at.
The Demonstratives ke and na are sometimes added to Nouns : vatiu a
place', vatike this place, ratine that place, alo vatike in this place, here, o tano
tulne loa the place of setting, there, of the sun.
Mo la. Adverbs. 289
The Adverb avea is similarly the Preposition a and the Noun vea. This
Noun, which is untranslateable in English, is used in Mota with the Article ;
Jco me nina mun o vea ? where have you arrived at ? o vea Hone ? what place
is that ? asked of an island just come in sight ; and with a Preposition, ko me
nina ape vea ? to what place have you reached ?
The use of ma and at with these Adverbs gives motion, ma hitherwards, at
outwards : thus iake ma is ' here ' with a motion hither from elsewhere, and is
equivalent to 'hither;' aia is 'there,' and with at signifying outwards is
equivalent to 'thither;' with ma it is 'thence ;' ura Tcel ma aia you two come
back from thence. The Preposition of motion i with the Noun vea makes ivea
' whither.'
The Adverbs giving the sense of upwards and downwards are often used in
pairs : Jcalo sage, raka sage, sur siwo.
The words alalanana, avunana are in fact Nouns with a Preposition pre-
fixed and a Pronoun suffixed, a-mma-na on the top of it. They are used,
however, as Adverbs equivalent to ' below,' ' above.'
The same Preposition a is seen in aras, afar, and that of motion i in iras,
to, not at, a distance. The distributive particle val is applied to place ; valval
everywhere, valvanna in every place, valuivaa in every house.
2. The Pronoun iloJce, containing the directive Ice, makes practically one
word with nake as an Adverb of Time ; the two members are not separated.
The corresponding Hone nane cannot be used as an Adverb ; alo Hone is ' in,
or on, that.' In anaisa and ananaisa the Preposition a precedes a Noun
naisa ; in the latter na, as in anaqarig, ananora, anarisa, points to the Past
in a way that cannot be explained. The word naisa, in various forms, is
common in these languages as a Noun meaning the time when, Florida niha.
To-morrow, a maran, is 'at light.' For yesterday, nora = Florida nola, and
for the day before yesterday and after to-morrow, risa, it should be observed
that there are names to which nothing corresponds in English : for the English
periphrasis yesterday, day-before-yesterday, day-after-to-morrow, languages
which are supposed deficient have simple words, nor a, risa. The day before
the day before yesterday, the third day back, is anarisa siwo, the day after
the day after to-morrow, the third day hence, is arisa rowo, the past being
marked by na, and the place in time by siwo down and rowo up, risa, being the
name of the third day ; so alo tuara vula rowo in the month after next. The
use of Adverbs of Place to describe time is shown in the phrase Jcalo sage ran
ma from long ago up to the present time, literally, up all along hither. To-
day qarig, or with the Preposition aqarig, contains the Adjective (obsolete in
Mota except in composition) rig little, which also makes rigrig by-and-by;
qarig itself is used for ' presently.'
The words descriptive of time more or less near at hand will be made clear
by a diagram, it being understood that nora, risa, maran are Nouns, and na
used to mark the past.
PAST. FCTUBE.
qarig to-day
yesterday a nanora a maran to-morrow
day before yesterday a narisa a risa day after to-morrow.
a narisa siwo 3rd day a risa rowo 3rd day.
290 Melanesian Grammars.
Anaisa, ananaisa, interrogatively, refer to future or past time respectively ;
anuisa, meaning hereafter, refers to future time generally, and is added some-
times to emphasize the future marked by the Verbal Particle : Tco te Jcel ma
amiisa ? when shall you come back ? Tco me Tcel ma ananaisa ? when did you
come back ? nau te Jcel ma anaisa I shall come back at some future time. To
mark in the same way the past, veta is used after the Verb with the particle
me ; ni me kel veta ma he has already come back. The word ice tuai is in a
Verbal form, tuai is old, of old time, of past time regarded as long past, ni me
mate we tuai veta he has been long dead, he died it is long ago already ; ti
tuai ti tuai lasting a long time, for ever.
The force of at, onwards, added to iloke naJce, now, is to project the matter
forward into the future, iloJce at naTce now and onwards, from this time forth ;
or the addition of raka has the same effect, iloJce at naJce or iloke raJca naJce
Jco te vanona o tanun henceforth thou shalt catch men as fish ; in these
instances Adverbs of Place are used for time, motion outwards at, and upwards
raka. The notion in the use of raJca is that of beginning, raising, not carrying
on, the matter ; that in qara is rather of sequence, not the beginning of the
whole matter but a fresh step. The latter word has been mentioned (VII. 2. (4) )
as, like qale still, preceding a Verb without a Verbal Particle. Such a
particle, however, may be used.
The word used for 'while,' 'when,' alo, is a Preposition 'in;' me rivtag o ma-
ran alo toa we JcokoraJco it was near morning when the cock crows. It is more
idiomatic, however, in narration not to use it ; ni me mule ma me ilo he came
and saw, not alo ni me mule ma ni me ilo when he came he saw. Tiqa yet, nau
gate lolomaran tiqa I don't yet understand ; paso is ' finish ' and is used as an
Adverb in a way best shown by examples : me ge taurmate paso o savasava
neira qara pute siwo after everything was ready then they sat down, literally,
got ready, finish, everything, that is, everything was got ready and afterwards ;
or me ge taurmate o savasava, paso nane, or nan, neira qara pute siwo, every-
thing was got ready, afterwards (the demonstrative nane pointing backwards)
they (qara in sequence of events) sat down. It is plain that paso is still
much of a Verb.
It must be observed that qara, qale, precede the Verb immediately, ni qara
vava he thereupon speaks or spoke, ni qale vavava he is still speaking.
3. The equivalents to 'thus,' ' so,' 'how,' are made up with tama, tarn, as, and
the Pronouns ike, ine, this, that, and the Adverb of Place avea ; tama ike as
this, thus ; tama ine as that, so ; tarn avea as where, how. As avea, where,
is used for 'which,' tana avea, how, is used for 'what sort,' Tco we maros tarn
avea ? what sort do you want ? The difference between torn avea and the
other word meaning 'how,' gasei, is that the latter signifies 'by what means'
rather than ' in what manner.' Between gasei and gasavai is only the differ-
ence of dialect ; by the addition of the Preposition nia, gasavai nia, gasei nia
becomes 'wherewith' or 'whereby,' and perhaps 'somehow,' Jca ge gasei nia,
manage somehow.
The meaning of ran is ' right out,' ni mo mate ran he is dead outright, Hone
i Qat ran that is Qat and no mistake ; qet signifies completion, neira me mate
qet they are all dead to the last, dying of course one by one ; gese is ' only ' in
the sense of 'that and nothing else,' vires 'only' in the sense of 'that and
nothing more,' vires neira they alone by themselves ; both words consequently
Mota . A dverbs. 291
can be used together ; Jcamam me ur qon gese we have been only doing nothing
all day ; Jcamam we ga.no, vires kumara we eat only sweet potatoes, o kumara
vires gese sweet potatoes only, no change and no addition. These words ran,
qet, gese, and also nol (which signifies totality), can often be translated by the
English 'all,' and it is important, therefore, to keep the distinction clear; o
ima me ura ran, me ura qet, me ura nol, may each be roughly translated 'the
house was all full,' but me ura ran means that it was full so that it could not
hold more, me ura qet that the filling of it was now complete, me ura nol that
the whole house was full. When it is said Jcamam ta Mota gese iaJce, it may
equally be translated ' we are all Mota people here.'
The word ras, used in the sense of ' very,' is no doubt the same word with
a ras afar. The sense of ae is peculiar : nau me sike ae I sought in vain, ni
me masu ae he fell clear, without striking against anything, nau me ilo aea aia
I looked for him there in vain, ilo ae making as it were one word.
There are many Adverbs in use which require no particular remark : mantag
well, perfectly, wurvag well, carefully, vaglala distinctly, with understanding,
varirgala distinctly amidst confusion ; ko gate ilo varirgala inau you did not
see me in the crowd, o qoe we gilala varirgala i tagina a pig knows his master
so as to distinguish him from others ; taurmate ready, complete, matemate
ready, beforehand. There is a difference between qara mentioned above and
totowo, for the first time, in that the latter has no sense of sequence ; both,
therefore, can be used together, nau qara ge totoivo I do it for the first time.
The sense of taqai is much the same, gana taqai, to eat for the first time as in
a new house.
Repetition is conveyed by mulan again, feel is back and so also again.
There is a meaning ofmulan like ' even,' ' yet ' (St. John iv. 21). The reflective
use of kel with Verbs has been mentioned, it answers to ' self : ' munsei Hone ?
mun nau kel, for whom is that ? for myself. The word viviris, hardly, re-
luctantly, has nothing to do with vires. It is hardly possible to translate gap,
a word of so frequent use ; it means without thought, without deliberate
intention, without definite object or motive. The form of the Causative Par-
ticle which is sometimes used with Verbs, vaga, must be counted as an
Adverb, vaga qoqo many times, vaga purat often, purat many, much.
A word which in Gaua is a Verb, to strike, is used in Mota as an Adverb,
though as a Verb also, and must be translated by the English 'can;' ni gate
rave lai he cannot write, te lai it can be done, me lai it has been done, has
succeeded. It may be said also that suar, a Verb, is used as an Adverb, ni me
sale suar o aJca he floated till he met the canoe, ilo suar to find, come upon a
thing and see it, find casually, sike suar seek and find. But see Compound
Verbs.
There are other words very important in the use of the lan-
guage which must be classed as Adverbs ; wun, probably, I sup-
pose, leva referring back to something passed over, and others.
Negative Adverb.
The Negative tagai no, is plainly a Noun, nothing, and as such
it takes the Article, o tagai ; ko we matur ? tagai, are you asleep ?
No ; ka ge o sa ? tagai, what are you doing ? Nothing.
U 2
292 Melanesian Grammars,
It is common to prefix i : itagai no, nothing ; isei iake 1 itagai who is here ?
No one ; itagai isei nobody ; o sava iane ? itagai, what is that ? Nothing ; ko
me iloa si tagai'l itagai; have you seen him or not? No. This Prefix
lacks explanation.
A native will often say ' No ' when we should say ' Yes ;' he replies to what
he takes to be in the mind of the questioner ; me paso Hone ? tagai, me paso,
is that finished ? No, it is finished ; as if he said, You are wrong, it is finished.
IX. PEEPOSITIONS.
Prepositions may be divided into Simple and Compound, the
latter being words in which the presence of a Simple Preposition
gives the force which makes the Compound equivalent to a Pre-
position.
Another division may be made between Simple Prepositions, and
words used as Prepositions which are really Nouns ; but these in
Mota are few and inconspicuous.
1. Simple Prepositions are : —
Locative, a, pe.
Motion to, i, sur, goro. Motion from, nan.
Dative, mun ; Instrumental, mun, nia.
Relation, ta, men, ma, pe.
Of these pe, and ma, men, can be seen to be in fact Nouns.
(1) a is simply locative, at; avea ? a T&.ota, where? at what
place ? at Mota. This has been seen in Adverbs, and enters into
the Compound Prepositions.
It is very important to observe that the native idiom uses this Preposition
where in English we should use 'from;' the place in the native mind is that
from which the motion starts, not where the object in view is. Thus ni we mule
ma avea ? a Mota nan qa where does he come from ? from Mota to be sure,
literally, 'at what place does he come hither? at Mota;' ni me masu avune
tangae he fell from a tree, literally, he fell on the top of a tree ; Jcamam me ilo
o aka a matenua we have seen a vessel from the cliff, at the cliff. See
p. 1 60.
This Preposition is used before the Infinitive Verb, as before a Noun, much
like the English ' to ; ' a na sava nia ? to do what with it ? (what are you
going to do ?), a na o gagarat nia, ni mawo apena to do my skin disease with
it, that it may heal ; ni me risa si a matur he lay down to sleep.
(2) * is of Motion to, ni me van ivea ? i lau, where has he
gone to, to what place ? to the beach.
It is probably this which is used in expressing direction, i siioo, i rowo,
inexactly, West, East.
(3) sur, sir, is of Motion to a person, not to a place ; mule
suria go to him, neira me gaganag ma, sur fcamam, they came and
Mota. Prepositions. 293
told us, literally, they told it hither to us. Without personal
approach, however, sur may he used, ni me rave ma o letas sur nau
he has written me a letter. This preposition is never merely
Dative in Mota.
A singular use of the word is in the phrase ni me ilo sur anona he has
chosen for his own. The use of the word in songs has a much wider scope,
as it has in other islands. In the phrase mule sur (or sir) vanua go along
through the country, gamo sir pan vanua sail along the coast, the word sur is
a different one ; the same which as reduplicated is susur to sew, and which
means to sing, sur o as.
(4) goro is the most difficult of Mota Prepositions. There is
always the idea of motion in it, and of motion against, although in
fact no motion may take place. If a man stands by a house ni we
tira ape ima, if he stands leaning against it, ni we pesinag goro
ima ; if a rail leans against a fence the preposition is ape, but if it
props up the fence it is goro ; if a man sits before another without
any reference to motion ni we pute ape nagona, he sits at his face,
but ni we pute goro nanagona if he be spoken of as coming and sit-
ting over against his face. With this is connected the sense of
round about as in the way of guard or protection ; with a view to
motion inwards or outwards, to fence round a garden is geara goro
o tuqei, as if to keep the garden in ; to fence against pigs is geara,
goro qoe, to keep them out. In many cases goro will be translated
'over,' but not with the simple sense of superposition, with the
sense of ' over against,' of motion or of action. To put on clothes
is to saru goro natarapema mun o siopa, to clothe over your body
with a garment, the notion is that of the garment being made to
pass over, and o siopa we toga goro natarapema is over your body,
in the way of protection or concealment. In the same way to paint
over a surface is lamas goro. If clothes are spread out to dry in
the sun, we wor goro loa, to meet the sun's action ; if one sits by the
fire simply with the notion of position, ni we pute pan av, but if he
sits to look after it, ni we pute goro ; so ni we masil goro av, he
warms himself at the fire, sits against it, to meet the warmth.
Then follows upon this the sense of ' after,' ilo goro look after, in
common use as an exclamation of warning, ilo goro ! look out ! that
is against something occurring ; kamam we ilo goro mantag nai-
mama, we look well after your house, take care of it lest any harm
should come to it. Beyond this there is the meaning of 'after' as
in going after to fetch, mule goroa go after him, not in the sense of
following only but of coming to him.
294 Melanesian Grammars.
The word is often in use as an Adverb, as in ilo goro ! look out !
ni me mule goro veto, he has already gone to fetch, o tuqei me geara
goro nan o qoe the garden is fenced round to protect it from the
pigs.
It should be remarked that goro after a Verb refuses to be separated from
it by an Adverb. Unlike other Prepositions it adheres to the Verb, not to the
Noun it governs ; as above, ilo goro mantag naiiaama, not ilo mantag goro
naimama, look after well your house, not look well after. This is probably
because of the adverbial use of the word. The Verb ilo is transitive, and
therefore can govern, to speak in the way of European grammar, the object
ima, and goro may be taken as an Adverb ; but the same is the case with
intransitive Verbs also, as tira to stand, ni me tira goro maremare inati a
matesala he stood firmly against me in the path ; goro is plainly a Preposition,
but it follows closely on the Verb.
The Verb goro, goro late o tangae snap off a plant, goro mot o gae break
short off a line, is not connected with this Preposition.
(5) nan. — The Preposition of Motion from is nan, with the
simple meaning of ' from ; ' not used, however, as has been observed
above, in all cases where ' from' would be used in English.
Like an English Preposition, this is used at the end of a sentence
without a Substantive, referring back to one that has gone before ;
Hone naimana ni qara rowolue nan, that is his house he has just
gone out from.
Such a use may be thought adverbial, as nan may be called rather an
Adverb than a Preposition in the following use, nan ma avea Hone? nan a
~M.ota ma from whence is that ? from Mota ; literally, hither from at what
place ? from at Mota hither. The Preposition in this sentence which answers
grammatically to the English 'from ' is a 'at;' nan may be translated by 'out,'
out hither at Mota, Mota the place in view, the motion outwards and hither-
wards. So ni me sere lue nan alo vatitnara he went out from among them,
literally, from in the midst of them.
It may be conjectured from the Duke of York na (see that language, No. 34)
that nan is in origin a Noun.
The use of nan in comparison has been noticed, p. 2 74. It is used also as
' more than,' ni we gilala nan ratatasina he is more knowing than his brothers.
Another use is with wa lest, nan ni wa Tcel ma lest he should return.
(6) mun. — As the Dative mun is simply 'to' and 'for;' la ma
mun nau give it to me, munsei Hone ! who is that for ? mun nau
kel for myself.
There is a use of mun not precisely equivalent to the common
use of ' for,' though often properly so translated ; lav nau mun
mereima, na te rowrowovagiko take me for one of your household,
I will work for you ; neira me lav rasoana mun rasoara, wa naa-
kana mun akara they took his wife for their wife and his canoe
Mota. Prepositions. 295
for their canoe. In this use the Noun after mun takes no Article,
as it would in the ordinary sense of 'for/ mun naakansei o epa iloke
we susur ? for whose canoe is this sail being sewn ? mun naakak
nake qa, for my canoe here to be sure.
(7) mun. — The other use of mun may almost always be trans-
lated by ' with/ and is mostly instrumental ; ni me vusia mun o
Jcere he struck him with a club, neira me galea mun o galeva nan
we qoqo they tricked him with many deceits, o qolago we ura mun
o jyei the barrel is filled with water, equivalent to uravag. It is
sometimes to be translated by ' by/ ni me vusia mun o galeva he
struck him (killed him) by guile. The notion of a means or in-
strument depends on the previous conception of something accom-
panying, so mun still translated by ' with ' has a sense not
instrumental ; ni we mule ma mun o sava ? what has he come
here with ? mun o tana kumara with bags of sweet potatoes ;
o tanun mun o rurus a man with a rheumatic complaint.
There is an interesting question concerning this word, as concerning nan,
whether it is not possible to view it as a Noun. In neighbouring languages,
see e.g. Motlav, Volow, Pak, the corresponding word has no final n, from
which, following the analogy of other Prepositions, it may be conjectured that
mun is an archaic Noun, mu = mi, with the Third Person Pronoun suffixed.
This is confirmed by the use of mura to them, murara to them two, otherwise
munra, munrara, in which mu certainly appears as a complete Preposition.
Since this is so it is allowable, though not perhaps desirable, to write munau,
munina, muneira, not mun nau, mun nina, mun neira. There is a further
difficulty in the fact that in Vanua Lava, e. g. me corresponds to instrumental
mun and is also the equivalent to the Mota me (12), which has the sense
of accompaniment. It may possibly be that the Mota mun ' with ' of accom-
paniment (the same with mun 'to' dative), though in but one form, repre-
sents two Prepositions of the neighbouring languages.
(8) nia. — The use of this is peculiar, inasmuch as it always
comes after the noun to which it belongs ; iloke o kere ni me vusia
ti nia this is the club he struck him with. The English equivalent
is perhaps ' withal/ sometimes ' thereby.'
There is a peculiar use of nia after the Verb r is to change, o torou Hone te
ris rupe nia that caterpillar will turn into a butterfly. It is said also la mun
mama nia give it to father, in which, as in the other, it is possible to use ' withal '
as a translation. The question thus arises whether it is a Preposition at all.
The Banks' Islands languages generally do not have the word, but in Merlav
and Gaua ni is the instrumental Preposition, and in the New Hebrides in
Espiritu Santo, gini, ginia, show the same. Florida, though far off, uses nia
as a Preposition, and uses it also with the word liliu to change.
(9) ta. — This is a Preposition of relation with regard to place
only; o tanun ta Mota a Mota man, o tangae ta Maewo a Maewo
296 Melanesian Grammars.
plant, o vava ta Meralava the language of Merlav, o ta M.otalava
a Motlav person. The meaning is 'belonging to' a place ; it cannot
therefore be used of a part of an island, as of Veverau a place in
Mota, or Takelvarea a part of Veverau, which is takele Mota, takele
Veverau. In o ta Mota a Mota person, o talo vanua Hone a person
of that country, ko we vava ta Mota you speak Mota, ta hardly
appears to be a Preposition.
When in Mota they say o tanun ta Inles, o vavae ta Inles, English man,
English language, Inles is in the native view the name of the country.
The same relation to place is shown in the Compound Prepositions, tape,
talo, tamen, tavunana, and with Adverbs ; inilco gate ta iake, iniJco tavunana,
you don't belong here, you belong to heaven.
There is no doubt, from its use in other languages, that ta is in fact a Noun,
but it cannot be said to be distinctly used as such in Mota. There are ex-
pressions, pun-ta-lig-as the smell of fire, lesles-ta-gasuwe head-over-heels, in
which ta seems to be present as a Preposition without reference to place.
(10) sal. — This word is often an Adverb, o tapera me ura sal
the basket is full over and above ; but it is also used as a Preposi-
tion, ni we gilala sal neira he knows more than they, i. e. is know-
ing over and above them.
The Prepositions pe, ma, me, differ from the preceding in being
unmistakably Nouns though in use as Prepositions. It is a clear
proof of this that the much more common use of them is as Com-
pound Prepositions, ape, ame. The words, however, are used as
simple Prepositions and therefore must be noticed in this place ;
avea i natuma ? iloke qa neia pe kikik nake where is your son ? this
is he here at my side ; ko we toga avea ? iake men tamak nake
where do you live? with my father here. Though less seldom used
without a or i, lo ' in,' may be classed with these.
2. Compound Prepositions are made of Nouns with the Simple
Prepositions a, i, ta. It is not easy to draw the line precisely
between what may be properly called Prepositions and compound
expressions; but it will suffice, in a rough way, to take as Com-
pound Prepositions those which are translated by a Simple Prepo-
sition in English, in, on, of, with, by, for, at.
(n) Compounds with pe; ape, ipe, tape.
The radical signification of pe may be taken to be that of relation
in place. The word is, as has been said, a Noun, as is shown by
its use in other languages ; in Oba, for example, where begu, equiva-
lent to ape nau, is plainly a Noun with the suffixed Pronoun.
There is in Mota a single use of the word which cannot otherwise
Mo fa. Prepositions. 297
be interpreted than by taking it to be constructed in this way,
apena.
This cannot well be otherwise written than in one word, but is made up of the
Preposition a, the Noun^>e, and the suffixed Pronoun na; and taking pe as
translated for the occasion by ' side,' the compound can be translated by ' at
its, or his or her, side.' Thus Hone naimana ni we tiratira apena that is his
house, he is standing beside it. But pe can seldom be translated by ' side,'
and the compound has to be represented in English by Prepositions ; thus ni
me gaganag veto, ma mun nau apena he has already told me about it ; Hone
nane nau me mule ma apena that is what I came here for, i. e. in reference to
it. The word, in fact, is used as an Adverb, o sinaga tea apena ? apena gina
is there any food ? there is to be sure ; apena is equivalent to ' there is,' and
since no substantive Verb exists it must be taken as an Adverb like ' there.'
The value of this use is that it shows, by a construction which cannot be mis-
taken, that pe is in Mota, as elsewhere, a Noun.
The primary signification of pe being that of relation in
place, then of relation and reference generally, the Compounds
with the Simple Prepositions a, i, ta — ape, ipe, tape — follow the
meaning of the Prepositions.
With simple reference to position, ni we tira ape geara he is
standing at the fence, tur sua ma ape taqani oka paddle here to the
side of the ship. With more general relation, o tangae iloke we
wia ape us this wood is good for a bow ; ko me mule aia ape sava ?
ape siopa what did you go there for 1 for clothes ; ni we leasag ape
ni me ge he denies that he did it, literally, he disputes about his
doing it ; ko me le o pel munia ape sa ? ape ni we gopa why did
you give him water ? because he is ill ; nau me valago ma ape
wena I ran here because of the rain.
When motion is signified the Preposition i properly but rarely
takes the place of a ; o iga nan we taran ipe gape the fish swim in
rows towards the net.
With ta is formed tape, translated in English ' of,' ' from,' ' be-
longing to,' o tana tape ima kumara a bag belonging to the sweet-
potato-house ; we tape tuqema it is from your garden; tapena is
used in the same way, o vagalo wa o renren nan tapena fighting
and the weapons of it.
It should be remarked that before a personal name or a Pronoun open is
often used ; Tco we TcaTcaTcae apensei ? apen Qat wa, you are telling a story
about whom ? About Qat ; apeniko about you. This is in natural accordance
with the character of pe as a Noun, and is to be compared with mun. Tt is
also an example of this character of pe that ape in use as a Preposition is not
followed by the Article before a Noun ; it is ape nagona at his face, before
him, ape kulak at my back, behind me, not ape nanagona, ape nakulak, nor
as it is with other Prepositions, goro nanagona or mun napanena. In the
298 Melanesia*, Grammars.
native mindj>e is still a Noun, in ape kulak the construction is in fact a pe-
kulak at the-region-of my back. But sometimes ape comes as a Preposition
not before a single word but a sentence, and such a sentence often begins with
an Article, thus, ape o aka me nina veto ma because the vessel has arrived,
ni toe tigotigo ape naranona me malate he uses a walking-stick because his
leg was broken.
(12) Compounds with ma; ama, ame, tama, tame.
What has been said of the radically substantival character of pe
holds good of ma, and the proofs are the same. The signification
of ma is that which is 'with' a person.
The presence of two forms ma and me presents some difficulty, though there
can be no doubt that the word is the same. The Preposition never is used
except with reference to a person, or at least to living creatures spoken of as if
persons ; natanona amen o qoe his place is with the pig. Examples, therefore,
showing when ma and when me are used are taken from the Personal Pro-
nouns; amen nau with me, amaiko with thee, amaia with him, amen nina,
amen kamam with us, amen kamiu with you, amaira, amenra, amera, with
them. Why the change should be made is obscure. The use of men is similar
to that of pen.
The idiom by which the Preposition a has the sense of the
English 'from' makes ama to mean also not 'with' but 'from,'
especially when ma hither is added ; ko me lav Hone amensei ?
whom did you receive that from ? nau me lav ma amen i gene Hone
I received it from that person.
The prefixing of ta making tama or tamen has a similar effect to
that mentioned with tape ; o ima nan tamaira the houses of their
country, those that are with them in their place, o aka tamen
kamiu the ships of your country.
(13) Compounds with lo; alo, ilo, talo.
The primary meaning of lo appears, from its common reduplica-
tion lolo, to point to the inside of a place or thing. Its use in
Ambrym Ion shows it a Noun. The common meaning of alo is ' in,'
and of ' ilo,' with the Preposition of Motion i, ' into ; ' area ineia ?
take, alo ima where is he ? here in the house, ni me kalo vela ilo
imana he has gone up into his house. Sometimes alo cannot well
be translated ' in,' but the sense is the same ; ni me kalo pata alo
mate tironin ilo ima he climbed by the window into the house ; alo
translated ' by' signifies that he went inside the window.
The translation of talo is ' of,' the notion being that of having a
place in and so belonging ; o tangae talo mot a tree of the forest,
o linai talo we tuai a custom of old times.
The use of alo as an Adverb, whilst, when, follows on this signification of
the Preposition.
Mo fa. Prepositions. 299
Observation. — To some Prepositions it is usual and natural to write the Pro-
noun suffixed, muniJco, suria, amaira, nania, goroa ; to the others it is not
possible so to suffix a Pronoun. With some Persons it may be doubtful whether
the Pronoun should be so suffixed, whether it is correct to write munau, nanina,
not mun nau, nan nina. It should be remarked that the Pronoun following these
Prepositions is never (except in apena) that suffixed to Nouns, but the short
form of the Personal Pronoun that is suffixed to Verbs. But there is not in Mota
a shorter form of nau and nina used after Verbs, and it would therefore seem
more correct to write mun nau, than munau, while munia, muniko, munra are
undoubtedly right. See above, (7).
3. There are many words, constructed of Simple Prepositions
and Nouns, which naturally are written as single words and are
represented by the English 'upon/ 'above,' 'below,' 'between,'
' within,' ' beside/ ' beyond.' These, as the Noun takes before it
the Prepositions a, i, or ta, change their signification accordingly.
For example, vunai is a Noun, the upper side, avune vat is on a
stone, ivune vat on to a stone, tavune vat from on a stone. These
are evidently not true Prepositions, but since they are translated by
Prepositions they have their place here. In most of them the
Noun is, like vunai, of the kind that takes an independent
termination ; a few are made with Nouns that have not that form,
such as vawo, lele ; and these latter cannot change their termina-
tion when constructed with another Noun ; it is avune vat, because
vuna, the independent form of which is vunai, becoming the first
of two substantives, part of a compound word, lightens its termina-
tion a to e ; it is avawo ima, aide ima, and there is no use of vawo
or lele in Mota except in this way.
Examples of these words are avawo on, alele in, of one kind. Of the other,
vunai, avune as above; lalanai the under side, alalane ima under the house,
that is, at the under side of the house; ilalane, talalane with the change of
meaning belonging to the Preposition i and ta ; o gasuwe me valago ilalane ima,
the rat ran under the house, o wetov talalane ima a bottle from under the
house ; vatitnai the middle part (va causative, titinai, tina inside), alo
vatitnai, alovatitne, ilovatitne, talovatitne, between ; panei a hand, apan by.
These are naturally written in one word, but there is nothing but convenience
to cause it. Other words, though translated by an English Preposition, would
never be written otherwise than as Preposition and Noun, tavaliu a side,
a tavala pei beyond the water.
All these Nouns are used with the sense of Prepositions when the Pre-
positions are in fact left out, vatvo vat, vune vat, as well as avawo, avune ;
tavala pei, lele ima : but in Mota the use of the Preposition is correct.
When a person is spoken of, the Pronoun suffixed to the Noun destroys the
appearance of a Compound Preposition: vunai is 'top,' a Noun, vune vat, a
compound of two Nouns, top-of-stone, avune vat on top of stone, on a stone ;
it is natural to write o tangae me raasu avune vat a, tree fell on a stone ; but
' top of me ' is vunak, o tangae me raasu a vunak a tree fell on me, though
300 Melanesian Grammars.
avunak, not a vunaJc, may be written, on top-of-me will not be taken for a
Preposition ; a is always the Preposition really, but avune appears to be one.
4. There are words also which may be called Complex Prepositions,
because, though no part is a Preposition, the compound has the
force and use of one ; such is raveaglue, raveag in a straight
direction, lue out, o sinosino loa we sina raveaglue o tironin the
sunbeam shines through the glass.
Other words, which are properly Adverbs or Verbs, are used as
Prepositions ; waliog around, leas instead of, peten. near, tataga
according to, lagau over.
X. CONJUNCTIONS.
1. The common Copulative Conjunction is wa, and.
2. The Adversative, pa, has but very little adversative force, and
is often to be translated not ' but,' but ' and.' A decided Adversa-
tive is nava, but. These two together pa nava, commonly written
in one word, make a strongly Adversative Conjunction 'but not-
withstanding.' Nan i Qat me ronotag, wa ni me gilala ran si
ratatasina me lav rasoana wa naakana, pa sin siwo gaplot, nava
gate lai, ape wot naraga me rip gese ; pa ni me galoi matila sin
siwo, pa ti tantau gese, Then Qat heard it and knew that his
brothers had carried off his wife and his canoe, and (pet) he would
have got quickly down, but (nava) he could not because the boughs
of the nutmeg tree had all swelled to a large size, and (pa) he tried
in vain to get down, and (pa) does nothing but cry.
3. The Conjunction nan is a connective in narration, without
any logical force or sense of time. It may begin a narration like
' now ' in English ; and it may be convenient to translate it ' now'
or, as above, ' then.'
4. The Disjunctive is si or, UoJce si Hone this or that ; and
may be repeated as an alternative, si iloke si Hone either this or
that.
5. The same word si is the Conditional si if, and ' whether.'
Si is not always expressed when the Verbal Particle is qe ; qe wena qarig
if it rains to-day.
6. Another sense of si is illative, 'that,' 'in order that;' ni me
siwo i lau si ni, or sin, sugsug aia, he went down to the beach that
he might bathe there; or with a and the Infinitive Verb si a
sugsug to bathe. This also is declarative like ' that,' neira me ga-
ganag si ni me siwo i lau, they said that he was gone down to the
beach ; nau we nonom mok si te tamaine, I think that it will be so.
Mota. Conjunctions. 301
In narrative si is used as if a clause was understood before it ; I Qat ilolce
ni gate toga ran ma, nava si ravevena apena, This Qat was not from ever-
lasting, but (the story goes) that he had a mother ; nan i Marawa me wurvag
gaplot kel mulan o aJca, si me wurvag mun napisuna, so Marawa quickly
repaired the canoe again, (they say) that he repaired it with his fingers. In
another use it seems expletive, but is idiomatic, ira tatasina we maros we la
naakan Qat mun aJcara, wa irasoana si mun rasoara, his brothers wanted to
take Qat's canoe for their canoe, and his wife (as if) for their wife.
7. In quotation the declarative si is used, but with the sign of
quotation wa ; ni me vet wa si ni te van ma he said that he was
coming ; wa si is sometimes was : wa interposed shows that there
is something more than the declaration of a fact, that the words of
the speaker are quoted. When a mere fact is declared wa cannot
be used ; it is incorrect to say neira me ilo wa si ni me mate veta
they saw that he was already dead. The mark of quotation wa
cannot be called a Conjunction. When the quotation is direct wa
alone is used ; nan ni me vet mun ravevena wa, Veve, van ma savrag
inau ilo lama then he said to his mother (wa), Mother, come and
throw me into the sea. If the quotation were indirect it would be
ni me vet mun ravevena wa si ni van ma he said to his mother that
she was to come. There is no need for a Verb; nan neia mun rave-
vena wa then (said he) to his mother that — .
8. The same sound (wa) is used again in a third and distinct
sense, that of 'lest;' ilogoro ko wa masu take care lest you fall.
The same is used as a word of warning like ' ware,' wa iniko nan o
vat get out of the way of the stone, ware stone ! wa iniko take
care of yourself, out of the way.
9. To express cause there is no Conjunction, but a Substantive
manigiu is used, which may be translated ' cause,' ' reason,' or
'purpose,' and stands therefore for the English ' because,' 'therefore,'
' wherefore,' ' in order that,' ' by way of.' For example, nau gate
ronotag, o manigiu ni gate vava poa I did not hear because
(the cause) he did not speak loud ; manigiu o sava ko me ge ?
manigiu nau we maros why did you do it ? because I like ; mani-
giu (or o manigiu) o ine therefore, wherefore, on that account ; ko
me kos gajma ? Tagai, o manigiu apena did you ill treat him with-
out a cause ? No, there was a reason for it ; ni me vega kalo o
manigiu sin ilo mantag he climbed up in order that he might see
well ; o manig gale by way of, with the purpose of, deceit.
10. Till, until, is gai', nau tete loloqon laiko gai mate I shall Hot
forget you till I die ; nau me mamata vires gai matava I was awake
all the time till morning.
3O2 Melanesia*, Grammars,
But this Conjunction is often left out : nau me mamata maran I was awake
(till) morning, kamam me ur qon we have done nothing (till) night, i.e.
all day.
In many cases in which ' and ' is used in English an expression is used in
Mota which must be mentioned in this place. It is when, for example,
persons or things which can be looked upon as companions or fellows are
spoken of: I and my brother, talc tasik, Peter and John, Peter tana John, you
and who besides ? tama isei ; a man is standing between the almond tree and
the breadfruit tree o tanun we tira alo masaoi o nae tan o patau ; we and our
fathers tamam tamamam. It is plain that it is in fact a Noun ta, which may
be translated companion or mate, with the Suffixed Pronoun : talc tasik my
companion, my brother, Peter his mate John, who is your companion? and
so on. In the Plural there is a little difficulty, tamam tamamam we and our
fathers, i.e. our fathers our companions, we and our fathers with us, ta.ro,
tasira they and their brothers, their brothers with them, tamiu rasei ? who
with you ? In the Singular there can be no confusion, but in the Plural it is
not easy to perceive whose companions are spoken of, whom the ta represents ;
and in consequence tanina, tamam, tamiu, though undoubtedly correct, are by
some natives viewed with disapproval, and there is some divergence of opinion
concerning the Third Person Plural. Is it correct to say tarasei or tara rasei
for ' and some persons,' taragai or tara ragai for ' and those persons?' to say
ira manua tara gopae the orphans and sick persons, or ira manua tara ra
gopae ? There is no number in the Noun ta ; it may be companion or com-
panions : number is shown by the Suffix, talc my ta, tama thy ta, tana his
ta ; I, thou, he are one person, but tak does not tell how many are my com-
panions; if I say inau tara I call myself their companion, not them my
companions. When tara is used the ta is the companion or companions of
many, not one, of them. If then the phrase is o manua tara gopae it is
evidently correct if the orphan is one, it is the orphan the sick men's com-
panion ; if it be ira manua tara ra gopae it is equally correct, meaning the
orphans (and) their companions the sick men.
Tak is a common expletive, esi tak ! but the meaning is ' my mate.'
XI. NUMEEALS.
The numeral system in Mota is imperfectly decimal ; that is to
say, there is a word for ' ten,' and when ten has been reached all
higher numbers are expressed in tens, but there is not a series of
independent numerals up to ten. The basis of calculation being
the five fingers of one hand, the first five numerals which belong to
one hand are repeated with variation for the numerals belonging
to the second hand up to nine.
1. Cardinals. — These as in ordinary use are —
One tuwale, two nirua, three nitol, four nivat, five tavelima,
six laveatea, seven lavearua, eight laveatol, nine laveavat, ten
sanavul.
It is seen at once that the true numerals two, three, four, are
Mot a. Numerals. 303
rua, tol, vat ; which appear again in seven, eight, nine. Three is
often tolu, and four vati; as in counting, rua, tolu, vati.
The Prefix ni is in fact a Verbal Particle, and can be applied also to tuwale,
tavelima, and sanavul.
The Particles in common use with Verbs, except we, ti, are applied to all
these Numerals, taking of course the place of ni with rua, tolu, vat : me tuwale
it was one, te tuwale will be one, ta tuwale let it be one, qe tuwale if it be one.
In this way Numerals are constantly used in Verbal form, as Adjectives are. It
may be said that rua, tolu, vati, are hardly ever used except in a Verbal form.
The other Numerals commonly appear as Adjectives : o tanun tuwale one
man, o qoe sanavul, tavelima, lavearua, ten, five, seven, pigs.
Sanavul may be said to be naturally a Substantive.
The meaning of the Prefix lavea in the Numerals of the second hand has not
been made out. In laveatea six, tea is the Numeral tea, one, obsolete in Mota,
but in use elsewhere. The Prefix tave in tavelima, five, has not been explained,
but may be tavaliu, taval lima, hand on one side.
Twenty, thirty, forty, sanavul rua, tolu, vat, and so on up to
ninety sanavul laveavat.
To mark exactness of reckoning wonowono, full, is used ; sanavul tuwale,
rua, wonowono, full ten, twenty.
For the units ahove tens a substantive is used, o numei ; eleven
is sanavul tuwale o numei tuwale one ten, the unit ahove it one ;
twelve o numei nirua, and so on. It is not necessary always to
mention the ten, o numei nirua by itself will signify twelve. The
Verbal particle may equally be me, ti, ta with the numei ; sanavul
tol o numei me vat thirty-four, when past time is declared, ' three
tens the number-above was four.'
A hundred is melnol, that is, a whole mele leaf. This may be
made a Verb, o qon me melnol the days were a hundred ; or may
be used as an Adjective o qon melnol a hundred days.
The sum above a hundred has the name o avaviu, from the Verb
av to put one thing upon another ; a hundred and three melnol
tuwale (or vatuwale) o avaviu nitol, two hundred and fifty melnol
vagarua o avaviu sanavul tavelima, twice hundred, the sum-above-
hundred five tens.
A Thousand is tar, Substantive, Adjective, or Verb ; tar tuwale
one thousand, o tanun tar a thousand men, o vetal me tar vagavat
the bananas were four times thousand. The exact use of tar for a
thousand is settled in native usage as ten hundreds, but the word
is also loosely used for any great number. There is no name for
a sum greater than a thousand; tar mataqelaqela is a very large
indefinite number, mataqela blind.
The Mota numeration thus exhibited is clear if lengthy: 1884 is tar vatu-
304 Melanesian Grammars.
wale, melnol laveatol (or vagalaveatol), o avaviu sanavul laveatol, o numei
nivat, thousand once, hundreds eight (or eight times), the sum-above-hundreds
eight tens, the unit-above four.
2. Ordinals. — The Cardinals assume a Substantival termination
in becoming Ordinals, and the second, third, and fourth take also
a Causative or Multiplicative Prefix ; varuei or vagaruei second,
vatoliu or vagatoliu third, vavatiu fourth, tavelivaai fifth, laveteai
sixth, laveruai seventh, lavetoliu eighth, lavevatiu ninth, sanavuliu,
or -ui, tenth.
Though the terminations are those of Nouns it cannot be said that the words
are generally used otherwise than as Adjectives, o qon vatoliu the third day.
It is, however, equally correct to say o qon o vatoliu ; and o sanavului, or -iu,
is the tenth, and the tenth part.
It must be observed that the Causative vaga or va replaces the Verbal ni in
second, third, and fourth, and that a is dropped in sixth, seventh, eighth, and
ninth.
There is no Ordinal Numeral in the first place; the word in use
for 'first' is moai. For 'hundredth' the expression is melnol anai,
anai being the same word explained under Possessives (p. 272) as
meaning ' belonging to.'
To express such Ordinals as twelfth, twenty-fifth, where the numei occurs,
the Numeral belonging to the numei alone becomes an Ordinal : twenty-second
sanavul tuwale o numei varuei, twenty-fifth sanavul rua o numei tavelimai.
The same applies to Ordinals above a hundred, melnol vatuwale o avaviu tave-
limai hundred and fifth.
There is a word, tuara, which may be generally translated ' other.' If there
are two things, either of the two with reference to the other is tuara : o tamate
ti Jcur o tuara gaviga, ti la mun o tanun o tuara the ghost eats one of the
(two) gavigas, and gives the other to the man. So tuara is the next, alo tau
tuara next year, not this, the other. The word also, like ' other ' in English,
is used indefinitely, alo tuara qon the other day, some day, o tuara tanun
a certain man, tuarasei one or the other, some one.
3. Multiplicatives are formed with the Causative Prefix vaga or
va ; vatuwale, or vagatuwale, once, vagarua twice, vagatol thrice,
vagasanavul ten times, vagamelnol a hundred times.
4. A word which cannot be translated in one English word is
visa, which means interrogatively 'how many?' and indefinitely
'so many.' This has the Verbal Particle, ni visa? how many?
ta visa let them be so many, me visa ? how many were they ? te
visa ? how many shall there be ? As a Multiplicative vagavisa ?
how often ? how many times ?
5. When persons or things under certain circumstances are
reckoned the Numeral is not simply used, but is introduced by a
word which more or less describes the circumstances. If ten men
Mota. Exclamations, Expletives. 305
are spoken of regarded as in a company together it would not be
o tanun sanavul, but o tanun pul sanavul, 2>ul meaning to be close
together ; ten men in a canoe are tanun sage sanavul ; sage visa
avune oka ? how many in the canoe 1 sage meaning ' up' or, as we
should say, ' on board.' Using visa instead of a numeral, so many
things in a bunch together are sogo visa ; o gaviga sogorua two Malay
apples in a bunch ; arrows are lira or fur visa standing so many,
canoes sailing also are tira visa ; bats taqavisa hanging so many ;
money is reckoned tal visa string so many ; so many things or
persons at once are sorako visa ; ni me tiqa o mes sorakorua he shot
two parrots at a shot, ratol we vavava sorakotol the three men are
talking all three at once. With something of the same manner of
speaking two canoes sailing together are said to sail butterfly-two,
we gamo peperua. The only use of wo with a Numeral is with
tuwale ; natuna wotuwale his only child.
6. It is very remarkable that in counting in the game of tika,
and in that only, a regular decimal series of Numerals is in use ;
one qasa, two wura, three lovi, four tama, five rina, six qaru, seven
lini, eight naga, nine viga, ten wesu.
These Numerals appear to be peculiar to Mota, and of native invention,
none of them corresponding to the Numerals of other islands. Of the words,
wura, two, may be the same as that used in Dual Imperative ; wesu, ten,
means arriving at the conclusion ; qasa one, qaru six, seem to refer to the first
and second hand respectively, sa being elsewhere 'one:' but the use of a pure
decimal notation, not of foreign origin, in a game, by people who in common
life use one of a quinary character, is very remarkable.
XII. EXCLAMATIONS, EXPLETIVES.
1. Exclamations are some of them such cries as naturally or
conventionally express pain, pleasure, surprise, and other emotions
of the mind ; and though they are not uttered indiscriminately,
they are incapable perhaps of exact definition as to meaning.
Such as these are e !, ke ! which express a general emotion rather
of admiring surprise or satisfaction. With e ! are combined other
sounds, e ke / of admiration, ewe! of disapproving surprise, e qe !
more emphatic than e ke !. The simple sound a is not used, but
o wo 1 is a cry of astonishment and general emotion, a qo ! perhaps
stronger, a wa ! of grief or fatigue, a re ! of pain.
With e are combined words which give a meaning to the Ex-
clamation that can be translated ; e si! I don't know, si meaning
' if,' ' whether ; ' e wun I I suppose so, wun probably.
2. Other Exclamations are more articulate, and become words.
x
306 Melanesian Grammars.
To express affirmation and assent, besides the upward backward
movement of the head, nodding upwards, or a cluck of the tongue,
the Exclamation we ! is used ; and various degrees of assent and
satisfaction are shown in the character of tone and prolongation of
the sound; we may be strong and decided, hesitating and timid, or
very faintly acquiescing ; uwe is strong, we-e apprehensive.
A Vocative addressed to persons is gai ! very commonly used,
and sometimes with a force of asseveration. The prefix ra by
which it becomes plural has been noticed ; but gai ! is applicable
to one or more persons. Another less common is ara ! but these
are not necessarily addressed to individuals. The meaning of
alova ! is ' indeed ! '
The Negative gale is used in admiration ; gate tanun gai, Oh I
what a man !
3. There are other words which must be called Expletives,
which indeed are by no means devoid of signification, and add
clearness and vivacity to native speech, yet cannot be classed with
any Parts of Speech. Such are wa and qa ; tagai wa no, certainly
not, ineia nan qa he, that one, to be sure. It is hardly possible to
give in words the force of gina and gita, though they have a
certain demonstrative character, as gine is ' that ' in Vureas ; avea
ko we maros ? iloke gina, which do you like ? this one ; avea ineia ?
alo mo£ gita, where is he ? in the bush. Of these two words some
natives say gita, some gina, most of them gina.
XIII. EXAMPLE OF MOTA NAEEATIVE.
By way of a specimen of native Mota writing is given the
following part of the story of Qat. It was written by the late
native Deacon Edward Wogale.
O KaJcaJcae apen Qat.
I Qat iloke ni gate toga ran ma1, nava si ravevena apena, wa nasasana iro
Qatgoro ; wa iravevena ilone si o vat me mawora nania, pa gate gilala2 si o vat
we savai ilone. Wa ira tatasiua mulaw apena, tuwale nasasana i Tawaro Gila-
gilala, ni we lolomaran3 ape savasava n&n, pa ni we gaganag lue mun neira
apena, wa o varuei nasasana i Tawaro Loloqow, ni we loloqow* o savasava, pa
ni we gege loloqow. Ineira sawavul tuwale o nuwei nirua, we log tataga o
no-tangae ta Mota gese ; o varue nuwiei5 i Qat. Wa ineira me togatoga a
Vanua Lava, alo vatiu o sasai alo Sepere6; wa neira me togatoga aia i Qat
qara tintiw o savasava. Pa ni me tin paso o savasava n&n, nava ni gate gilala
we tiw o qo», pa o maran me marmaran gese7. Nan ira tatasina me vet
munia wa, Gai, Qat, gate wia nake gai o maran vires, ka ge gasei mulaw ti 8
nia ; paso nan i Qat qara sike sin te ge o sava ape o maran ilone. Naw ni me
rowotag si o qo» a Vava, ti ligo raka o rawe, ti map alo aka, ti gawo i Vava,
Mota. Narrative. 307
ti tun9 o qow ma mun i gene ta aia10. Wa ni me la mula» munia o toa sin te
gaganag o maran si me maran kel mulaw. Paso nan ni me kel ma sur ratata-
sina, ti vet mun neira wa, Ilokenake tur ge taurmate o tanoi kamiu te risa sur
ilolona ; naw neira me ge o no-matig, me vau, me wosalag mantag natanora
n&n. Naw i Qat me varus neira wa, Kamiu me taurmate paso, ragai ? Na»
neira wa, We, me paso. Naw i Qat qara ukeg o qo« sin qo»u. Nan ti vet
muneira wa, Kamiu qe ilo o nago vanua qe savsavai, pa ineia veta nan, wa tur
risa sur siwo ilo tano epamiu. Naw neira wa, We-e12. Paso nan neira me ilo
me silsiliga ; naw neira wa, 0 sava nake, Qat ? Naw Qat wa, Pa ineia veta
nake '3 ; wa kamiu qe rowotag o sava ape matamiu tur risa rorowo nan. Ni me
vet tamaine ape matamaragai, ape neira gate gilala o matamaragai. Nan me
silsiliga mantag, neira me ronotag namatara we maragai ; wa neira me vet mun
Qat wa, Qat, o sava me ge namatamam ? Naw neia wa, Hone o gene nau me
vet ti '* mun kamiu apena, tur risa roromo mantag, wa vataqav namatamiu, tur
matur. Wa neira me matur tama i Qat me varegira ti. Nan me qow maul
paso, i Qat me la o mavin15 memea, me teve o qon nia, wa o maran qara
rowolue niulau ma, si ape o qow me gara goroa ti. Wa neira me toga maul alo
vanua ilone Lo Sepere ; ni me tintiw o savasava aia.
LITERAL TRANSLATION. A Story about Qat.
This Qat (he) was not from everlasting, but (they say) that he had a mother,
and her name was Qatgoro ; and that mother of his (they say) was a stone that
burst asunder from him, but it is not known what sort of stone that was.
And he had also brothers ; one his name was Tawaro Gilagilala, he understood
about all sorts of things, and made known to them about it ; and the second
his name was Tanaro Loloqon, he was ignorant of everything, and he behaved
like a fool. There were twelve of them, all called after the leaves of Mota
trees ; the twelfth was Qat. And they lived at Vanua Lava at a place the
name (of which) is At the Sepere, and (while) they were living there Qat
began to make all sorts of things. And he finished making all kinds of things,
but he did not know how to make night, and the day was always nothing but
day. So his brothers said to him, Hallo Qat this is not good, this nothing but
daylight, just manage somehow again about it. Then Qat sought what he
should do about that daylight. Then he heard that there was night at Vava,
(and) to begin with, he ties up a pig, puts it in the canoe, sails to Vava, buys
night with it from a person of the place. And he gave him also a fowl to
make known the daylight that it was light again once more. After that
he came back to his brothers and says to them, Now get ready a place you
will lie down into ; and they got cocoa-nut leaves, plaited them, spread well
their places (with them). Then Qat asked them, You fellows, have you
finished getting ready ? Then they (said), Yes, it is finished. Then Qat let go
the night that it might be night. Then he says to them, If you should see the
face of the land should be something or other, but that is it already, and lie
down on to your mat-places ; then (said) they, Ye-es. After that they saw that
it had become dark ; and they (said), What is this, Qat ? Then Qat (said), But
this is it already ; and, if you should feel anything about your eyes, lie quietly.
He spoke to them thus about eye-quivering, because they did not know eye-
quivering (sleepiness). Then it became perfectly dark, they felt their eyes
quivering, and they said to Qat, Qat, what has done (something to) our eyes ?
X Z
308 Melanesian Grammars.
And he (said), That is the thing I spoke to you about, lie perfectly still, and
shut your eyes, sleep ; and they slept as Qat had ordered them. Then, after
it was long dark, Qat took a red piece of obsidian and cut the night with it,
and the daylight thereupon came through again, (they say) because the
night had come down upon it. And they lived a long time in that place,
Lo Sepere ; he made all sorts of things there.
NOTES. — 1 toga to abide, ran right throughout, ma hither. 2 Impersonal
use of the Verb. 3 we lolomaran has become a Verb, but it would be better
Mota to write nalolona we maran the inward part of him is light. 4 Similarly
nalolona we qon ape savasava his inward part is night about everything, is
better, but the metaphor has become a Verb, which takes the object without a
Preposition. 5 The second number-above-ten, so the twelfth. 6 The names of
places are generally 'At' a tree, or some other natural object, see p. 162.
7 maran is both light and day. Observe that maran is reduplicated to show
prolongation, and becomes a Verb, ' day only dayed.' 8 This is the ti of
civility. 9 tun is to buy with a great price. 10 This Person, a Vui like Qat,
not a man but a spirit, was i Qon, his name was Night ; ll qon becomes a
Verb, ' that it might night.' I2 This shows a little apprehension, hesitating
assent. 1S nalce spoken of a thing already present, ' this,' corresponds to nan,
nane, said above, and again below, of the thing still future, not here, therefore
' that : ' the demonstrative gives emphasis. " ti throws the time of his telling
them back beyond that of the sleepiness coming on. 15 Obsidian was used to
cut native string and threads; the Mota idiom says that the dawn cuts, not
breaks, o maran ti teve.
XIV. THE SONG DIALECT.
Mota songs are never made in the language commonly used ;
nor is their language that of any neighbouring place. This holds
good of the Banks' Island songs generally ; they are always in the
song dialect of the Island or district in which they are sung, and
that is never the spoken language of any other part. The language
of the Mota songs resembles that of Gaua, in Santa Maria, on the
one side, or of J/btlav on the other ; but the Mota song is not in
the Gaua or J/otlav spoken language ; the example of the Bishop's
gong here given shows that a J/otlav song, in the song dialect of
that place, when sung in Mota differs from the same when sung in
J/otlav. There is, that is to say, belonging to each Banks' Island
language its song dialect. It would seem natural to assume that
this song dialect is an archaic form of the spoken language, but
there is probably nothing to prove this to be the case.
The characteristic differences of the Song Dialect from the common speech
of Mota may be seen in these examples to consist (i) in the casting out of
vowels, and consequent contraction of the words, (2) in the occasional addition
of a final vowel, (3) in the use of words not used at all or used differently in
common language, (4) in the imitation of foreign forms. Examples may be
Mota. Song Dialect. 309
Been of (l) innalnik, nasrik, for na lanik, nasurik, in Song i ; of (2) in mae
for ma in both songs, vee, lumagave, in Song 2 ; of (3) in nirmanfoT the Third
Person Plural Pronoun, and the Verbal Particle se in Song I, sa for sage, and
the Verbal Particle e in Song 2, sur for ape in both ; of (4) in we and wu in
place of the Article in both, Vano lave, and na as the Article in Song i, vonue
for vanua in Song 2. The contractions and elongations are no doubt adapted
to what may be called the tune. Besides this there is the change of a to e in
lave, lame, wore, &c.
To compose a song is to measure a song, we totvo o as, an expression which
shows that there is a fitting of words to a sort of metre. This is not a measure
of lines or number of syllables, but an adaptation to a sort of tune. To sing a
song is we sur o as, sur being the word which when reduplicated means to
sew, and the notion that of drawing out a thread stitch after stitch. The
string of vowels at the beginning sets in some way the tune or the character
of it ; and a new strain of different character is introduced in Song 2, in the
same way. The song is called the song of the person who is the subject of it,
na-asina ; it is the ' measure ' of the poet who composed it, na towona. A
third person will give money to the poet to compose a song in honour of the
subject. To make a song about a person is to tara him. .
The Bishop's Song was composed in honour of Bishop Selwyn the elder, by
a Jfotlav woman. The Mota version of it here given differs from the original,
which may be seen at the end of the .Mbtlav Grammar, but it is in the Jfotlav
style. The other song was composed by a boy at Norfolk Island, and written
down by him : it is after the Gaua fashion of singing, but not in the Gaua song
dialect.
i. Naasin ~Besop.
Oeoewa ! wu roro sa ? naroron i Besope ni gam tal na Vano lave ; nalwik na
\&n lave, nasrik na ar .Merlav, ni se turtur ale lame ; gis nok melov ok ; melov
rer me rere levran Rohenqow, nam loslos wore sur na te mul Ulsilane, ro
Tiwgormew se tur gor norue.
Oeoewa ! Wu roro Ian ni se lul ma ale lame, wu roro ak Besop gam mae,
naroron i wowut gam ma ; na me rowtag mas narorom, na te ilo nangoma ve ?
Nirman sororo ma napasi nagoma, na pasi gar manuma, ni se rer le varan
Relepe. Nam tawtaw, nam loslos wore sur na te mul Ulsilan.
TRANSLATION. The Bishop's Song.
Oeoewa ! News of what ? news of the Bishop, he sails round Vanua Lava.
My wind is a great wind, my bones are the Casuarina tree of Merlav ; he
stands in the sea. Oh ! my sailing of the ship ; the sailing on the flow of the
sea has flowed into the bosom of Rohenqon ; I am nothing but rejoiced because
I shall go to New Zealand ; Eo Tiwgormew withstands us two.
Oeoewa ! The noise of the wind ! it has sounded hither on the sea, the news
(noise) of the Bishop's ship sailing hither, the news of the hero sailing hither ;
I have heard merely the report of you, where shall I see your face ? They
have brought the report of the beauty of your face, the beauty of the root of
your nose, it has flowed into the bosom of Eelepe. I have wept, I have only
rejoiced because I shall go to New Zealand.
NOTES. — wu for Article ; na for o, never used in this way in prose ; nalnik
— na lauik, in prose nok o Ian; nasurik o aru fa Meralava; se a Verbal
310 Melanesian Grammars.
Particle never used in prose, no doubt the Fiji sa\ melovoJc = molov alca;
levran = lo varan ; nam = na me ; sur for ape, use of the Preposition only made
in songs; norue = narua, warn; mas—mamasa bare; nangoma = nanagoma ;
nirman a Demonstrative Pronoun only used in songs. The song is from
Jfotlav, but is not identical in the form of the words with that used in
Jfotlav ; which see at the end of the Grammar of that language.
2. Naasin ~M.el.
Eale ! inam sa, na me ile we ak me sale erow, pe were ve ? pe were vate. Me
tug lue e rer le varan Jfel, te mul soror le vonue, ero vano mae. JfalaTwale
taw lolowonwon sur paka lave, nin te mul vee ? lumagave enin teve laklake,
row naronse me g&m mae, e row naroron kavten te mol kel Nusilane. 0 aieoe,
o eieoa, eoeieoe, weae, nin laklak sur we save ? we ak tavea ? we ak ta tow, ni
te mul kel.
TRANSLATION. Mel's Song.
Eale ! I was sitting, I saw a ship had floated in the East, at the point of
land where ? at the rocky point of land. The flow of the sea drew out into
the breast of Mel, he will go and give the news in the village, They two
are coming hither. Damsels weep with sorrow for the ship, whither shall
we go ? Youths, let us rejoice to hear the news of someone who has sailed
hither, to hear the news of the Captain who will go back to New Zealand.
O aieoe ! oeieoa ! eoeieoe weae ! what do we rejoice about ? of what place is
it a ship ? it is a foreign ship, it will go back.
NOTES. — inam sa = inau me sage, the Jfotlav Tiag to sit; we ak = o aka,
Gaua use for the Article ; e row=i rowo ; nere face in Ureparapara, lip, beak,
in Vanua Lava ; ve = vea where ; vate, e added, as in mae, vee, below according
to the use of songs ; tug to untie a string, used for the flow of the sea ; e rer =
o rere ; le = lo; mul soror = mule sororo; vonue = vanua ; ero=irara; sur in
prose cannot be used except of motion to a person ; enin = inina ; laklake =
Idkaldka, the final a changed to e, as in vonue, &c. ; ron—ronotaff; se = sei;
gam mae=gamo ma; e ron = we ronotag, e for Verbal Particle; sur we save
=ape sava, we for o. The song is after the Gaua fashion of singing.
2. J/OTLAV, SADDLE ISLAND.
The South-western end of Saddle Island, which lies seven miles
North of Mota, is 3/btlav, i. e. Mota lava, Great Mota. Attached
to it by a reef is the islet a Ma, in Mota a Rao, in which the same
dialect is spoken. To the east of J/otlav is Volow, separated by a
district in which the variation of speech is insignificant. On the
other coast is Bun, the dialect of* which is not very different
from that of Jt/otlav, but is characterized by the change of r to y.
Between Volow and Bun there was a dialect resembling that of
Volow, and changing r to dh. The little reef Island of Rowa to
TAotlav. Alphabet, Articles. 311
the North-east of Saddle Island has a distinct dialect, not much
unlike J/btlav, but changing k to g, and known by a peculiar
mincing pronunciation.
The difference of J/bta and Jlfotlav language to the ear is very
great, though the people are the same in race and customs, and the
Islands are so near. The J/btlav speech casts out as many Vowels
as possible, shortens those that remain, and changes p to mb, n
very often to nd. It is what in Mota is called mavinvin, thin. An
example, in which the same words are used in both languages,
will briefly show the difference ; J/btlav, nabte metweh woqtin, mo
lolo gor namtan, Mota, o patau me tawosa vawo qatuna, me lolo goro
namatana, a breadfruit smashed on his head, poured over his eyes.
A characteristic of J/otlav is the shifting of vowels to accord
with an anticipated sound. Such words as Articles and Verbal
Particles can have no fixed form, na han, ni nitmer, ma van, mo tog :
in the above example the Article has a in nabte because that is
the Vowel cast out of bte=patau, it is metweh because e belongs to
tweh=tavcasa. In consequence of the shortening of words and the
shifting of Vowels it is difficult to write the language clearly.
J/btlav people will write to one another in Mota, because they say they
do not know how to write their own language. The examples here are almost
all taken from a Phrase-book by Bev. J Palmer.
I. ALPHABET.
The Vowels are a, e, i, o, u, and a short o.
There are no Diphthongs ; the Mota lau, maur, tauwe, sao, are le, mir,
to, he.
The Consonants are k, g ; t, d ; b, v, w ; q ; m, m, n, n ; 1, r ;
s, h.
There is no p, b=mb replaces it; Jfotlav people in Mota words will put v
for p, mav for map; b sometimes represents Mota m, boros = maros. Mota n
is often represented by d = nd. Mota s is sometimes h, ih = us a bow ; h closes
a syllable. The sound of q is kmbw, because b = mb=p; before a vowel the
whole compound can be heard, ni qil.
II. ARTICLES.
1. The Demonstrative Article is n — combining with a Noun which
begins with a Vowel, and before a Consonant having a shifting
vowel in accordance with the first vowel of the Noun ; net, n-et,
a man, nih, n-ih, a bow, nok, n-ok, a canoe : na tar a calm, ne tenge
a tree, ni til a certain fish, no totgal a picture, no to a hill, nu bug
a debt.
312
Melanesian Grammars.
When, as commonly, the first vowel of the Noun with an Article is cast out,
the vowel of the Article represents it : ndbte for na bate, namtan for na matan.
But as the language loves to shorten vowels, the Article has often a shorter
vowel than that which has been cast out of the Noun : gohow rat, naghow a
rat. Sometimes also the Article has a vowel which properly belongs to the
Noun, but is shortened when pronounced in it : nagmel for no, gemel, Mota
gamal. It is evident that because of the elisions the Article must be generally
written in one word with the Noun.
2. The Personal Article is i, Plural ir.
The Feminine sign is r- with shifting vowel : Ra Las, Re Sem, Ro G-(o}vur,
Si Tit, Ru Bur.
I personifies as in Mota : i meren=i gene the person, i hav who ?
III. NOUNS.
1. There is a like division as in Mota between Nouns which
take a Suffixed Pronoun and those that do not.
2. Verbal Substantives. The terminations are e, r, g ; mat to die,
mate death, tog to abide, natgar way of life, vano go, navnog going.
Reduplication often gives the same sense, dem think, nedemdem
thought, tab to love, natdbtab love.
3. Independent Substantives. The terminations are ge, n ; na
hege name, stem ha ; nabnege hand, ban ; nenten child, nat ; netlen
egg, tel.
This termination has no place in composition ; nabnege, nabne men bird's
wing, nelwege, nelwo eg fish's tooth, nahege, nahe et a man's name, nahan his
name ; the termination of the first member of the compound is lightened.
The true form of the word meaning tooth is lewo, of that meaning name Tia ;
the suffixing of ge shortens o and a to e, nelwege, nahege.
4. Plural. The sign of Plural is geh, the Mota gese ; na ge geh
things, net geh men. The Prefix for persons is ra, ratelki some.
That geh has the same meaning with gese is shown by Tcemem to M.otlav geh
we are all ^/otlav people and no others ; del, Mota not, is ' all' in the sense of
totality, but is also used with the sense of plurality.
IV. PRONOUNS.
1. Personal Pronouns.
i. ino, no.
Dual.
2. inek, nek.
3. ike, ke.
1. incl. doro.
excl. kamamro.
2. komro.
3. koro.
Plural.
Trial.
1. inclusive, iged, ged.
exclusive, ketnem.
2. kimi.
3. iker, ker.
1. incl. detel.
excl. kamam tel.
2. kemtel.
3. kertel.
Mot lav. Pronouns. 313
Observations. — i. These forms are all used indifferently as subject and
object, and in indicative or subjoined sentences.
2. The Prefix i gives more personal emphasis.
3. In the Third Person ke is a demonstrative ; r (Mota ra) makes the Plural.
4. The Dual and Trial are the Plural with the Numerals ro and tel. The
vowels belonging to the Pronoun shift in accordance with those of the
Numerals do, ko, with ro ; de, Ice with tel. Why it should be Tcemem in the
Plural and kamam in the Dual and Trial cannot be explained. The inclusive
First Person Plural ged gives only d to form the Dual and Trial, showing the
true Pronoun (see p. 119).
2. Pronouns suffixed to Nouns.
Singular. — i. k; 2. (m) ; 3. n.
Plural. — i. excl. mem; 2. mi; 3. r.
Examples. — nabnege a hand.
Singular, i. nabnek, my hand. Plural. I. i«c£. nabnenged, our hand.
excl. nabnemem.
2. nabne, thy hand. 2. nabnemi, your hand.
3. nabnen, his, her, its, hand. 3. nabner, their hand.
na Tiege a name. — Singular: i. na hek; 2. na he; 3. na han. Plural:
I. na hanged, na hamem ; 2. na hami ; 3. na har.
nangege a face. — Singular: I. nangek ; 2. nange ; 3. nangon. Plural:
I. nangonged, nangomem ; 2. nangomi; 3. nangor. Dual: i. excl. nango-
mamro ; 3. nangorro.
Observations. — I. The absence in general use of a suffixed form for the
Second Person Singular is very remarkable, and cannot be explained ; as in
Volow and Vanua Lava ; it appears only with the Possessives no and go. The
Noun in the form to which the independent substantival termination ge is
suffixed is, as it were, in a Genitive Case with the Second Singular : niqtige a
head, nigti thy head, namtege an eye, namte thine eye. It must be remembered
that the termination ge is not always suffixed to the true form of the word
(III. (3) ) ; ha is the stem from which nahege, nahe come, mata that of
namtege, namte ; a modification of the termination of the true word makes a
Genitive.
2. For the inclusive First Plural there is no other form than ged, though d
would seem natural, see Pak ; the others are modifications of the Personal
Pronouns. The introduction of n before ged is parallel to the same in the First
exclusive in Mota, napanen kamam.
3. If the Noun to which the Pronoun is suffixed ends in a consonant, a
vowel must be supplied before k, n, r ; em a house, emar their houses, bug
debt, nebgor their debts, nebgun his fault.
4. For the Dual and Trial there are no special forms ; ro and tel are added
to the Plural : but mem becomes mam before ro.
5. In the different Persons the vowels of the stem come out differently
before the various Suffixes : e. g. ha has been said to be the true word, which,
with the independent termination ge, becomes hege; the shortened vowel
remains in na hek, na he, the true vowel appears in each of the other Persons.
314 Melanesian Grammars.
So the stem of nangege is, in its true form, nago, and o comes out in all the
Persons except the First and Second Singular.
3. Demonstrative Pronouns.
Igol, gol, igoh, goh, hagoh, this.
Inen, nen, hanen, that.
Examples. — Ne tenge e we gol bih a good tree this for a bow, non he ne
Tielmismis igol ? whose is this knife ? navno liwo igoh a large land this ; worn
mahab inen your garment that ; na hav nen ? no qo, what is that ? a pig.
The Personal Pronoun Tee is also used as a Demonstrative, hardly as more
than a Particle: wos Mr ho no totgal Tee nail (it) under that picture, the
picture there. A demonstrative expression is ike genha goh ! he, that one to
be sure, Mota ineia nan qa !
The Demonstrative which in Mota is iragai, those people, is irge : irge ta
Qauro te ter geteg nemar how do the Bauro people build their houses ?
4. Interrogative Pronouns.
Ihe ? he? who 1 Feminine irohe ? Plural irhe J
Na hav ? what ? a Noun.
Examples. — He me bel ? natga, nag how mo kor who stole it ? No, a rat
ate it ; irhe gol ? who are these ? irohe ma van me ? what woman came
here?
For ' which,' ' whether,' the Adverb ' where ' is used as in Mota : noli nakhi
a ve ? which do you like ? your heart desires where ?
5. Indefinite Pronouns do not appear; ratkelgi some persons,
(ra takelei Mota) a Noun with the Plural ra ; but hav is something,
somewhat, as well as ' what ? ' and lie indefinite some one. The
Distributive vel is ' each,' vel he, every one, each, velvel kimi each of
you.
To express an English Relative ; ave net nik mi tig he where is the man
whom you saw ? you saw him ; net nen nik mo woh Jce that is the man whom
you struck, you struck him.
V. POSSESSIVES.
These are no of general relation, mu with rather the sense of
origination, ga of close relation, ma of things to drink.
1. no. — This is never used with the First Singular Suffix (see VII. (4) ) :
nih mino the ' bow with me ' is my bow. The Suffix m is used in the Second
Singular; in the Plural, First and Second, n is introduced. Singular: I. — ;
2. worn thy; 3. non his, her, its. Plural: i. nonged, nonmem; 2. nonmi;
3. nor. With the Article noraom, nonon, &c.
2. m«. — The meaning is, more distinctly than that of Mota mo, that of a
thing proceeding from, rather than possessed by, the person ; no me te muk I
saw it myself, na mun he mi tin. whose making was it. The Suffix m is not
used. Singular: I. muk; 2. m«; 3. mun. Plural: i. munged, munmemi
2. munmi ; 3. mur. With the Article numuk, &c. ,
3. ga. — In the First Singular this is not used at all ; na kis is used : be Ttis
lAotlav. Possessives, Adjectives, Verbs. 315
hinag for my food. In the Second Singular the Suffix m is used, and the
vowel becomes o. Singular: I. — ; 2. ^om; 3. gan. Plural: i. ganged-
ganmem ; 2. ganmi; 3. gar. With the Article nagom, nagan, &c.
4. ma. — In the First and Second Singular the vowel is e; mek, me; in the
other Persons it is ma ; man, manged, &c. With the Article nemek, neme,
naman, &c.
The MotajpwZat is liege ; nablek qo my pig, noble thy, nablan his property.
There is not the Mota anai ; net mino the man with me, my man.
VI. ADJECTIVES.
There are pure Adjectives ; et liwo big man, nem su small house ;
but Adjectives are generally in verbal form ; net nilwo, nem nusu,
a man (that) is big, house (that) is small.
The Comparative is made by the Preposition den : no qo nilwo den naghow
a pig is bigger than a rat. When the comparison is of number hev is used :
kemem na madeg hev her we are more than they.
For ' fond of ' man, mansem fond of money ; mere possessed of, meresem
rich ; diminutive, depreciatory, var, varsit, rather small ; na mati et a good
man, na mali et a bad man.
The Terminations g, r, as Mota ga, ra. The Prefixes ta and ma shift the
vowel before a consonant, or elide, togolgol straight, netgolgol is straight,
mow/or, nemwor broken, malaklak happy.
VII. VERBS.
The Temporal Particles are n-, m-, t-, with shifting vowel.
There is no Modal Particle of the same kind.
1. n-. — This is the Indefinite, na hag sits, ni tig stands, ne Jiet is bad, no
gob is sick, the vowel shifting with the vowel of the Verb. When the Verb
has two or more syllables the vowel of the first is elided and is represented in
the Particle, nebros from boros, being, as in Nouns, shortened also. The
Particle coalesces with a Verb that begins with a vowel ; nin rather than ni in
drinks, net sees.
2. m-. — The Past Particle is similar in all respects ; ma hag sat, me ten
cried, mo tog abode, mi tin made, mu wuh struck ; meslon put lengthways,
salon; met saw, et.
3. t-. — The Future Particle is similar ; ta hag will sit, te gen will eat, to sok
will seek, tu raw will plant ; si Ice tes nek, nek ta mat ae if it should pierce,
es, you, you will die of it.
It follows from the shifting of the vowel after t- that there is no distinction
of te and ti in sense as in Mota ; there is only the future t-, none of continu-
ance ; nagveg tetwag the Malay apple flowers, Mota o gaviga ti tawaga ; na ro
tak ti nin te her lokse the banyan leaf falls, (and) buds again.
Besides these regular Particles there are two others used only
with the first and third Persons Singular, Jc, and ni.
4. k. — After the Pronoun this has the deceptive appearance of the Possessive
nok, which, perhaps on this account, is never used j nok hag I sit, nok vav I
316 Melanesiaii Grammars.
speak, noJc boros I like ; but the Ureparapara form Jca makes it plain that it
is a Verbal Particle used only with the First Person Singular, and with a
present signification.
5. ni. — This again has the appearance of the Indefinite n-, but is shown not
to be so because the vowel i remains before the other vowels in the Verb, and
does not shift; Tee ni hag he sits. This, being used only with the Third
Singular, appears like the Mota Pronoun ni, but must be said to be, what it
is also in that language, a Verbal Particle.
6. e. — With we, good, e is used ; ne tenge e we gol bih this tree is good for
a bow. The use of it in other languages makes the use of it here likely, but
not with one word only.
7. In Conditional or Potential clauses the Future t- is used, or
rather it is from the shifting vowel impossible to distinguish a
separate Particle like Mota ta ; no tet ke, no te lev kir ke if I
should see him I will give (it) to him. The Particle wo is com-
monly used, but is not a Verbal Particle, so no wo met ke if I
should see him, or nok wo et ke.
8. The Particle which marks a Pluperfect is to ; ke me lev lok me
no bok ke mevtavtah to alon he brought back the book he had been
reading in.
The same Particle signifies something remaining; misu lev to
there is still a little. The same also is used in a civil way of
speaking; van to me, van me to, pray come here.
9. Without a Verbal Particle the Present or Indefinite tense is
used in all but the First and Third Singular, in which k and ni
are used ; nek hag thou sittest, ged vav we speak, inclusive, kemem
sok we seek, exclusive, kimi in you drink, Jeer gen they eat.
10. In the Imperative the Verb has no Particle; van me come
here ; or the Number and Person are marked by a form of the
Pronoun ; nek van Second Singular ; ami van Second Plural ;
amru van Second Dual.
The Particle ni is used, as in Mota, Jce ni van let him come.
11. A sort of Infinitive is the bare Verb; nek ma van me so
mugumugu you have come here to work.
12. Suffixes to Verbs.
Consonantal — g, maneg to convey mana ; n, salon to put length-
ways ; r, vetgir to set on end, va-tig-ir. Syllabic — fieg, borheg laugh
at ; teg, ronteg hear ; geg, evevgeg throw away ; veg, matveg die
with.
The last example is of the separable vag of Mota, no qolag murveg ne be the
cask is full of water ; but there is another termination not of this character,
though of similar force, ter : ne wet tenge memlatter ke the branch of the tree
broke with him. See Volow, Pak.
TAotlav. Verbs, Adverbs- 317
13. Prefixes. — i. Causative, va, ve; vaeh make live, veigir make
stand. 2. Of Condition as mentioned with Adjectives, m-, t- ;
nemwor is broken, netgolgol is straight. 3. Spontaneity, tav ; ma
tatavser has come undone, (Mota me tavasaru, reduplicated) 4.
Reciprocal, ver ; vervav talk together.
The auxiliary Verbs as they may be called appear as Prefixes ;
he (Mota so) henege set the face (Mota sonago) hatig stand up ; tig
(Mota ti) tigkele turn the back.
14. Impersonal Verbs as they may be called do much of the
work of Passives, (see Mota) ; ne tenge meslon wolwol avwo be the
tree has been laid lengthways across the water, me vetgir netrag
bem the ladder has been set up against the house. But the sense
need not be Passive ; tak na hav ae ? tak na gar gar ae, ta maw ae
to do what with it ? to do the skin disease with it, that it may
heal with it ; t- the future Verbal Particle.
15. Reflective Verbs — lok back is used; mu wuh ke ? si ke mak
mat lok ke ? was he killed 1 (impersonal) or did he kill, (make
dead) himself?
16. Negative Verbs. — The Negative Particles with Verbs are
two, et and te, which come before and after the Verb ; no et boros te
I don't like, no tit moros te I shall not like ; no et et te ke, ne tenge
ni tig gor I did not see him, the tree stood against.
The first Particle goes with the Present and Past, as the Mota ga ; in the
Future the Verbal Particle t- precedes it. It may be doubted whether e in et
is not itself a Verbal Particle.
The Cautionary or Dehortative Particle is tog ; tog haghag ho
nen don't sit down there ; ni tog let it not be, is in form a Verb.
1 7. Reduplication is simple because the love of short forms and
elisions only allows of the repetition of a syllable, haghag, tenten.
The notion of repetition and continuation of the action goes with
the circumstances. The Verb without the Prefix is reduplicated
metegteg, fear, takut Malay.
VIII. ADVERBS.
1 . Adverbs of Place — igoh, inen, here, there, are the Pronouns this,
that ; me ' hither ' makes with ve ' where,' the equivalents of ' whence '
and ' whither ;' lok back, nok lil lok I return back ; hir, ho (Mota
siwo), down, van in a certain direction, are pure Adverbs. Others
are Compound Adverbs, Nouns with Prepositions; ae there, ave
where, amag before ; some Nouns without Prepositions vawo, wo,
above ; some in origin Verbs, beten near.
318 Melanesian Grammars.
Examples. — Nek met Tee a ve? Van gin Where did you see him Over
there ; nek me ave ? whence are you ? lit. you hither at where ; namtehal gol
van ave ? where does this path go to 1 rav "hir ho na gaban pull down the sail ;
ko In ne leio pull out the tooth ; he mevher lu ne ternin ? who threw a stone
through the glass ? no lo alge the sun above, a lege ; mole aslil put it outside,
a selil ; Ice na hag aslil he sits without, in the space outside ; evevgeg aqut
throw it away at the back of the house, a qut ; hag beten me sit near here.
The Adverb ae is used as 'thereby,' 'therewith,' 'thereat:' mi ti nu bul,
nem memreren ae a candle was lighted, the house became light thereby ; ave
naqrin nek mn, wuh Tee ae ? where is the club you struck him with ? therewith ;
lev me ne qet lot, nok bits no lot ae give me the pestle, I will pound the
pudding therewith ; ke ten ae he cried thereat.
'•'• 2. Adverbs of Time — qirig, a qirig to-day, righagoh now, (rig
little, hagoh this,) anor yesterday, anereh day before yesterday, aneh
of past and future time, (nor, ereh, neh, Nouns,) talow to-morrow,
oreh day after to-morrow; ne te formerly, Verb, Mota we tuai',
rigrig soon, to still, teqe yet, qoro thereupon.
Examples. — Terse ker neh Jem? when will they be paid for the house? ke
ma van me aneh ? anor, when did he come here ? yesterday ; na ma vav
vagsiso vatag I have often said so already ; no met ke to ne te a Motf I had
seen him formerly at Mota.
3. Adverbs of Manner — qele as, qelegoh, qelenen, thus, so, as this,
as that, qele ave ? how ? as where 1 hethet badly, reduplicated Ad-
jective ; galsi well, hoqur without due cause or consideration ; ae
' there ' is used like Mota apena ' on that account ; ' the Noun ma-
nege, cause, makes 'why'? and 'because.'
Examples. — Ker mo ho a qirig na manege beg they paddled (went out in a
canoe) to-day on account offish, literally, the cause about fish ; na manege na
hav nek mak ? why did you do it ? nek mu wuh bel net ba hav ? why, about
what, did you murder the man ? no tu ruw geteg ne tenge ke ? how shall I
plant this tree ? ker mak qele ave ne qen ke ? how do they make this net ?
Ara na hag lolha den na Vno Lav qele so Mot a Vlow Ara lies (sits) far
from Vanua Lav as if Mota from (at) Volow ; ker ma hag bat lo toti tenge
they sat in hiding, out of sight, by the stem of the tree ; no mu wuh ke, ke
qoro tenteo. ae I beat him, he thereupon cried because of it.
4. Negative. — This is not an Adverb but a Noun; natga or
netga No, i.e. na taga the nought ; nek mo tog to ale aqirig ? Nataga
have you been at the beach to-day ? No. ' Nothing' is nat- or net-
hav, na Article, t- Negative Particle, hav somewhat; nek me rev
neg veveh ? nat hav, how many fish have you caught ? None.
A word, veh, by which ' can ' is expressed, must probably be ranked as an
Adverb, no et rav veh te I cannot write ; it is the Mota wesu, to reach com-
pletion.
Wot lav. Prepositions. 319
IX. PREPOSITIONS.
These are Simple and Compound.
1. Simple. — Locative, a, I- with shifting Vowel ; of Motion and
Dative, hir ; of Motion from, den ; Motion against, gor ; Instru-
mental and Dative, mi, ge ; of Relation in Place, t- with shifting
Vowel ; mi of Persons ; of general Relation, b- with shifting Vowel.
Examples. — i. a. — This has been shown in Adverbs, ave, aqirig, aslil, and
with names of places, a Mot at Mota, a JRa. In accordance with the idiom
explained pp. 160, 292, a is translated by 'from,5 Tee mi sis gor avwo em he
fell from on the house.
2. 1-. — This is no doubt in origin a Noun meaning inside ; it either coalesces
with a Noun beginning with a vowel, lem in the house, or shifts its vowel to
match that of the Noun when it begins with a consonant, lo tot tange at the
tree trunk ; or it takes the vowel which the Noun casts out of its first syllable,
generally shortened or modified as e for o, levno = l-vono in the place : na hav
letter'1, what (is there) in the dish? Tee ma Teal le ternin he climbed up into
the window ; neg ma har le qen the fish drew into the net ; nek lin ne be letno
suffswg pour the water into the washing-tub (tano the place of anything,
receptacle) ; Ice a ve ? Tee lem where is he ? he (is) in the house.
3. hir. — The Mota sur with wider application. Dative, nek lav hir Tee give
(it) to him ; Motion, van hir Jce go to him.
4. den. — Simply ' from ;' lev naqrin den ike take the club from him ; na
Vno Lav et te wiwi te den na Mo£ Vanua Lava is not far from Mota, Jce mi
sis gor den nem he fell from the house.
5. gor. — The Mota goro, explained in that Grammar, p. 293 ; Jcemem ma
hag gor nange we sit (have come to sit) before your face. It is used
Adverbially as above, sis gor fall against something, tig gor stand against.
6. mi. — The difficulty felt in Mota as to the identity of this word in origin
with me is equally or more felt in .Jfotlav. Dative, le me mino give (it) to
me. Instrumental, mu wuh Tee mi na hav ? he was struck with what ? ke ma
kar ke mi nih he shot him with a bow, ker ma kar ni siso mi nih nonor they
shot many with their bows ; no qolag mur mi ne be the cask was full with
water.
me, probably the same as this, is used at the end of a sentence like Mota
nia ; na hav nek mak me ? what have you done with it ?
7. mi. — Relation with regard only to persons. In this way it serves with
the First Singular Pronoun instead of a Possessive, 'with me' for 'my;' le me,
mi no ke give (it) here, it is mine ; tog mi no stay with me ; ke me gel me no
ba lantanu he was angry with me about the bees. In nok tar mi no ih I will
shape myself a bow, mi no may be equally translated ' for me ' or ' my.'
8. ge. — To these must be added ge, though natives are not clear in their
account of it ; le me, nok tar mino ih ge give it here, I will cut for myself a
bow with it.
9. t-. — Relation in respect of belonging to a place; with shifting, assimi-
lated vowel, or coalescing ; to Mot of Mota, ta Maeico of Maewo, Torbarbar
of Ureparapara.
10. b-. — The Motajpe, but never used, as is the case with I- and mi, with a
320 Melanesian Grammars.
preceding ; shifting to la, be, bi, bo, bu, or coalescing ; Jcimi hu me ba qaqare
ok paddle here to the side of the ship ; nek ma van me ba hav ! ba malsab, be
helmixmis, what have you come here for ? for clothes, for knives ; vah ne tenge
bi bigi gear plant the trees by the side of the fence ; Tee ma hag tab bemtem
he sits leaning back by the door ; mok no ro meumen bekletber (be kule taber)
put the cloth behind the dish ; Jem, beg, as above 6- em, b- eg.
2. Compound Prepositions are those in which a Noun with a
Simple Preposition has a sense equivalent to that of a Preposition.
Example: avwo be, a vawo, over the water; avwok, on me, shows vawo a
Noun.
These Nouns are often used as Prepositions by themselves ; wo, namlig
womram a cloud above the earth ; toor na tdbge wovlih spread out the
mat to dry on the grass, ke ave ! wo ner where is he ? on the ner tree, reb
Teal womtig climb up on the cocoa-nut tree. The same is seen in lalnek
beneath me, my neath ; naqran gohow lalne era the rat's hole is under the
house. In levetne the Preposition I- is seen, net ni tig levetne ner nabte the
man stands between the almond and the breadfruit trees ; Ice na hag levetnar ro
he sits between them two, levetnanged in the midst of us. Others are, ne
met no tog dilnet nem the wood is round about the house ; nek mo mol dilnet
na Flow! We, have you gone round Volow? Yes; ke ave! ke ne res fatal
tenge ho where is he ? he is lying beyond the tree down there ; Norbarbar
taval Sow ho Ureparapara is beyond Rowa westwards ; sili ev beside the fire.
Some are Verbs in origin : sureg lege nem throw it over across the house ; hag
beten no sit near me ; nek ma van hog a vet No ma van hog Melwo, qoro mol
me, where did you arrive at ? I came up to Melwo, then came here.
X. CONJUNCTIONS.
The common Copulative is wa, and.
The Adversative is ba but ; ke met ke ba memtegteg ae he saw
him but was afraid of him; it is sometimes, however, not much
more than copulative. One Conjunction si, is Disjunctive, or, Con-
ditional, if, Declarative, that, and Illative, that. There are two
forms, si and so, but the Vowel does not shift.
Sometimes si and so are used together : si so Sawa tet ger gor te Ice wa ke
ma mat if Sawa had not swum after him he would have died, literally, if Sawa
shall not swim and he was dead ; nek me ter naqrin ba hav ! nok so wuh no
qo ae what were you holding the club for ? that I might strike the pig with it ;
ave na malsab so nok her! where is the garment, that I may put it on ?
Another Conditional Conjunction is wo; nek wo kur ta mat if
you eat it you will die.
Others are tevle, tele, lest ; et gor tevle leb take care lest it get
dirty ; tevle or tele sisgor (take care) lest it fall ; qoro the Mota
qara ; goh until, hag goh den bel sit till the bell rings. The Noun
manige because of. 'As' is qele ; ke ma van qele nek ma vav to he
went as you had told him.
Mot lav. Numerals. 321
The use of a Noun, meaning companion, in a way that must be translated
' and ' is the same as in Mota, metek my companion = and I ; ino metek ithik
my brother and I ; matan he he and who besides ? matan he mol ? who will go
with him ? The ma or me here is probably the same word as the Preposition
mi. See Maewo.
XI. NUMEEALS.
1. Cardinals. — One vitwag, two voro, three vetel, four vevet, five
tevelem, six levete, seven liviro, eight levetel, nine levevet, ten sonwul.
Hundred is meldel. Thousand ter.
The Verbal Particle v- with shifting vowel is evidently employed here, the
Gaua ve. An indefinitely large number terterwor.
2. Ordinals are formed by adding ne; vorone second, vetelne third,
sonwolne tenth, meldelne hundredth ; the first is na magi.
The word used for ' last ' bahbahnegi corresponds to the Mota paspasoanai,
and shows negi = anai.
3. The unit above ten is nadme; souwul voro nadme vetel twenty-
three : the sum above a hundred ni vivnegi.
4. Mvttiplicatives are formed with vag ; vagro twice ; no tin
vagveh lo qon vitwag ? how many times shall I drink in one day ?
vagtel, three times ; na ma vav vagsiso vatag I have said (so) often
already; siso many.
5. Interrogative and Indefinite, veh ; with the Verbal Particle ve ;
nok ve veh ma gam me a qirig ke ? vetel, how many canoes have
sailed here to-day 1 three.
There is the same way of counting persons and things in certain circum-
stances as in Mota; hag veh wok] how many on board the canoe? bulveh
how many, or so many, men together, salakveh so many at once, Mota sorako
visa.
XII. EXCLAMATIONS, ETC.
These differ little from those of Mota. The common Vocative is
ae ; the Affirmative hir we, combining Mota sur and we ! The ex-
pletive gin has occurred in one of the examples.
XIII. SONGS.
There is in Motlav, as has been said, its song dialect. The
Bishop's Song, already given in its Mota form, was composed in
Motlav as follows : —
Nasin Sesov.
Aeoewae, wo1 reronse ? wo reron e Besove ni gawtel weveno mee, nalm
nelenlav, e nasri neer Merlav ni se turture le lame2; gis wo melovok ;
melovrer3 emrer levrane2 Rehirqon, nam loslos wor enaen4 te mul Olsilade.
Retiwgormew se5 tur gor doro.
Y
322 Melanesia tt Grammars.
Aeoewae, Worerolen ni selul me le lame, wo rorooke 2 Besov g&m mee na-
rorone2 wewut gam me ; na me rowteg mas narerom6 na te il nangom6 loave ?
Nirman7 se ror me napsi negom napsi ger meden ni serer levrane Relepe.
Nam tewtew wor, e nam loslos wore naen te mul Olsilade ketlew qo me ti il
na me do to mol.
Eoaewae oaeae ! gede row nareron e Besove ken wel tel we vonomee, ken
tiw gor lam eken tira gor na vono Olsilade, ken weswes gor mete le»i lave, ken
gaw» vevelreg pas wo vano tere sal medud pi kele Mewe gen teger wo melig, do7
te mol qirig Olsilade, mi nom pesi g&mg&m. Wo vere wose wasvere malmal pu-
lero, do te weswes dero hir Besov, do to mol res li wiwi, iii do to mol Olsilad.
The translation of the first two parts has been given with the Mota song,
the latter part is as follows : We have heard the fame of the Bishop that he
has bought the land all round, he sets the bounds of the sea and he sets the
bounds of the land of New Zealand, he beats in the eye of a great wind, he
sails round and round all the lands, he floats far off behind Maewo, he is lost
in the cloud ; we two shall go to-day to New Zealand. . . . two damsels,
we two shall beat till morning against the wind to go to the Bishop, we shall
go very far off, we shall go to New Zealand.
A difference between this and the spoken dialect may be observed l in the
use of wo for the Article, '2 in lengthening words by final e, s in the use of em
for me as the Past Verbal Particle, * enaen for ged inclusive First Plural, 5 se a
Verbal Particle only used in songs, 6 use of Second Singular Suffixed Pronoun
m, 7 nirman for Jeer, do for doro. Generally there is not so much contraction
and elision of vowels.
3. VOLOW, SADDLE ISLAND.
This district of Saddle Island is by the Motlav people called
a Vlow, by the Mota people according to dialect Valuwa or Valuga.
Their language is not so contracted as that of Motlav. It is
characterized by the substitution of <7=ngg for k, and by the
introduction of e before a and i before e, in a close syllable. This
latter peculiarity is not heard in the mouths of all the people, but
it is characteristic. The sentence given as an example in Motlav,
with a little change, is in Volow, no goq me teweh wo quten, na
matan me be, the bread-fruit smashed on his head, his eyes were
blinded. The Examples are mostly from Mr. Palmer's Phrase-book.
I. ALPHABET.
1. Vowels — a, S, e, i, o, 6", o. There may be a doubt whether u
is ever heard, it is rather o. The sound of a and o is short and
sharp. There are no Diphthongs ; the Mota maur, sao, tauwe, are
mir, ho, to.
Volow. Articles, Nouns. 323
2. Consonants — g, g ; d, t ; b, v, w ; q ; m, m ; n, n ; r, 1 ; h, s.
There is no k, which turns always to g ; d = nd ; no p, which is represented
by b = mb ; since k is g = ngg and p is b = mb, q = nggmbw, as in ni qil the Mota
pul; in some words g, in some b, is most conspicuous, as k and p in Mota.
II. ARTICLES.
1. Demonstrative Article. — n- with shifting Vowel before a Con-
sonant, and coalescing with an initial Vowel.
The vowel with n- anticipates the first of the Noun : na qatag an arrow, ne
teange a tree, ni qil a candle, no goq a breadfruit tree. The first vowel of the
Noun is not elided as in Motlav. With an initial vowel, nat a man, at, neb a
mat, eb, nih a bow, nog a canoe. The Article goes with names of places : No
M.ot na rah den no Go veh go Norbarbar bo M.otlav, Mota is as far from Gaua
as Ureparapara from Motlav.
2. Personal Article. — Both i and e are used ; ihei singular, erehei
plural, who 1 i mera the person, e hav ? who ?
III. NOUNS.
There is the same division between those that take and do not
take the suffixed Pronoun.
1. Verbal Substantives, — terminations e, r, v, g : mat to die,
ne mete death, tabe to love, na tabev love, toga to abide, no togar
behaviour, vono to go, no vonog a going. A reduplication of the
Verb makes a Substantive, dod to think, Mota nom, no doddod
thought.
2. Independent forms are in ge, and n ; benege hand, raren leaf,
wenen fruit.
3. In composition the final a of the former of two substantives
becomes e ; haha name, hehe at a man's name.
There is the difficulty in this that in the Independent forms of Nouns,
the final syllable, when a in the stem, is shortened to e because of the follow-
ing termination gi, or en ; thus gelege, back, the true stem of which is seen in
galan his back, to be gala. But as a is shortened to e in both syllables of
gelege, so in composition e appears in the first syllable, gele teber the bottom of
the dish ; the vowels are shortened in view of the length of the following part of
the word. In the word raren a leaf, no doubt there is a reduplication of a form
of the Mota naui, Motlav ran, the vowel of the true stem ro is shortened to a
and e ; but in composition o appears, ro meanmean a wiping leaf, a napkin ;
mog no ro meanmean be gele taber put the cloth under, at the back of, the dish.
The Pronouns suffixed to Nouns affect the vowels of the stem in a manner
which can hardly be explained, though no doubt they are more or less shortened
according to the value of the suffix : ne negege a face, independently, ne negeg
my face, ne nege thy, na nogon his, na nagonged, na nagomem our, ne negemi
your, na nogar their face. The stem must be nogo.
4. The Plural is made by adding gen.
Y 2
324
Melanesian Grammars.
Personal.
Singular,
Dual.
IV. PRONOUNS.
i. incl. iged.
excl. i^emeam.
2.
IMC?, doro.
,jroniro.
Plural.
Trial. I. iwcZ. detel.
earcJ. ^eatel.
2. ^omtel.
3. grertel.
The Pronoun is in fact the
The Prefix i is used or disused at pleasure.
same as that of Motlav.
2. Suffixed to Nouns.
Singular, i. g. Plural, i. excl. meam.
2. (m). 2. mi.
3- n. 3. r.
Observations. — i. It has been noticed above that the vowels of the Noun
are affected by the suffixing of these Pronouns, III. 3.
2. The Plural forms are modifications of the ordinary Personal Pronouns,
except ged.
3. The Second Singular m is only used with Possess! ves. The remarkable
Genitive Case, as it may be called, in the Second Person, is the same as in
Motlav ; negege a face, independently, negeg, g suffixed to the stem nege, my
face, but nege thy face ; Tiehege a name, heheg my name, hehe thy name ; the
true form of the Noun being in the one case nago, in the other haha. A
modification of the final vowel of the true word has the effect of a Genitive in
the Second Person Singular of such Nouns as in the other Persons take a
Suffixed Pronoun.
4. In the First Plural inclusive n is introduced before the Suffixed Pronoun.
3. Demonstratives. — Iges this, ena, ga, that, eraga those.
Examples. — Na hav ga? no qo what is that? a pig, nat ga me bel no go
that man stole the hook, no ronhe na gasiel ga? whose is that knife? ne
metehal ges ma van lo vel where does this path come out?
The Plural from the Vocative ogai is eraga : eraga ta Saur me ter vehveh
nem me ger how do the Bauro people build their houses ?
4. Interrogates. — Ike, plural ereJie, who ? hav what ?
5. Indefinite. Some persons re teane, Mota ra tuaniu.
Relatives are expressed by Demonstratives : ave nat nig met ge where is the
man whom you saw ? ete, nat ga nig me weh ge look, there is the man whom
you struck.
V. PoSSESSIVES.
The Possessive Nouns are (i) ro, (2) mo, (3) ga, (4) ma; but
there is considerable irregularity in the forms in use.
Volow. Adjectives, Verbs. 325
1. ro. — This is no doubt a form corresponding to Mota no, and it takes the
Suffixed Pronouns regularly in all but the First Singular ; no rom. thy, no ron
his, her, its, no ranged, romeam our, romi your, ror their. For the First
Singular rigis is used, gw = Motlav Jcis, meaning a thing belonging to me, and
ri probably ro with the vowel changed to match that of gis ; le me, rigis ge
give (it) hither, it is mine.
Often for the First Singular, and sometimes also with other Persons, no
Possessive is used, but the Preposition m- with shifting vowel ; motto scab my
garment, i.e. with me; nog me Tie\ whose canoe? nog me Matagoro Mata-
goro's canoe, i. e. with whom ? with Matagoro.
2. mo. — The meaning is that of Motlav m«, Mota mo. The Pronoun is
regularly suffixed to all but the First and Second Singular. The form for the
First is megw, the vowel changed ; no met ge megis I saw him myself. That
for the Second, mewe, is very remarkable, because here it is not, as seen
above with Nouns (IV. 2. 3.), a modification of the final vowel of the word,
but an addition of we to it.
3. ga. — Usually of food. There is more irregularity in this. For the First
Singular gis alone is used, na gis a thing for my eating, without ga. In the
Second Singular the Suffixed Pronoun m is used, but the vowel changes, no
gom the thing for thy eating.
4. ma. — Of things to drink. For the First Singular either, as with ri and
me, gis is used, magis a thing for me to drink, or the Suffix g is used, na mag
or na meag my drink. In the Second Singular mo is thy thing to drink, the
vowel being shortened as with Nouns generally.
VI. ADJECTIVES.
There are pure Adjectives ; nat lowo big man, nat heat bad man,
nem su small house ; but Adjectives are usually in form Verbs, nat
ne heat.
Comparison is made with dean from ; no Vono Lav no lowo dean
no Mot, Vanua Lava is larger than Mota. In comparison of
number heav ; igemeam no soso heav ger we are more than they.
Rather small is su siwi ; fond of money meansem, possessed of much money
meresem.
The Prefixes m- t- are those of condition as with Verbs.
VII. VEKBS.
1 . The Verbal Particles shift the Vowel to assimilate with the
first of the Verb, or coalesce with an initial Vowel. They also
join on to a preceding word before a consonant ; see below, gem,
gen.
(i) The Temporal Particles are n- Indefinite, m- Past, t- Future.
n- Indefinite, without more than general Present sense : mi ti ni qil, nem
ne mereren ben a candle has been lighted, the house is light thereby ; ne le
naghe ve ? etc gin, your heart desires which ? that (see) one to be sure.
m- Past. — The vowel shifts : nat ma lage ne be the man crossed over the
326 Melanesian Grammars.
water, ged mo tog no Vono Lav we stayed there at Vanua Lava, nat mi tiff
la make ner tea no goq the man stood between the almond tree and the bread-
fruit tree, gero mo ho ni qirig, no, manigan leg they two went out in a canoe
(paddled) to-day for the sake of fish. With a Verb beginning with a vowel,
as ag to do : ger mag vehveh ne qen 1 how did they do the net ? Joining on
to the preceding word : gem valeah ge go te le te he said that he did not
take it.
To make the Past sense more distinct the Adverb vata is used.
t- Future. — No ta vah vehveh ne teange ? how shall I plant the tree ? no
tin (t-in) vagveh le qen votwa? how many times shall I drink in one day?
To these must be added the Particle used with Numerals v-, and
one which appears only with Adjectives,^/ geswi=ge siwi ; ne
teange me ter geswi bih wood is cut small for a bow.
(2) There is no narrative Particle; nor of continuance or habit,
the Indefinite and the Future are used according to sense ; ne
geveg gen (or ge te} taw the Malay apple does, or will, flower ; no
TO bag gen (or ge te) hew sor, gen (or ge te) ihag log the banian leaf
falls, or will fall, off, it comes, or will come, into flower again.
In this is not only an example of the Particle joined on to a preceding
word, but it is remarkable that the Pronoun is introduced after the Subject is
expressed, no ro bag ge-n hew the leaf it falls, or will fall.
(3) Pluperfect Particle te ; ge me le log me no bog ge ma vavtap
te Ion he brought back the book he had been reading in (it).
The same te has the meaning of the Mota ti : lemete just give it hither, of
courtesy in making a request.
The other Mota ti of remainder is ti in Volow : ni siwi ve ti there is still a
little remaining.
4. The Conditional t- is indistinguishable, because of the shifting
Vowel, from the Future t-, but no doubt exists ; ge te es nig, nig te
memeah ben if it should pierce you, you will suffer pain from it.
5. Verbs are used without Particles (i) in the Imperative ;
(2) in Conditional and Subjoined clauses; (3) in the Infinitive.
1. Imperative. — With the Pronoun expressed; nig lin ne be ho le tene loloh
pour thou the water into the bath, gomi mol ha lem. go ye up into the house ;
or without a Pronoun, wir neb wovlih spread out the mat to dry on the grass,
rev hir ho na gaban draw down the sail.
2. Subjoined : le me, no go tar mo no ge nih give it here, that I may cut
a bow for myself out of it. Conditional : Sawa gere gear goro ge, ge ta mat
if Sawa had not swum after him he would have died. In this gere is no doubt
the Mota kere, but has the meaning of ' if not ' (see Gaua) : nig too gir nig to,
mat ben if you eat you will die of it. As in Mota qara does not need a Verbal
Particle after it : nig ag bah ne ge geh mag, nig qara mol when you have
finished doing things first, then go.
3. Infinitive : ag na hav me"? ag na gargar me, ge go na maw ben do what
with it? do the skin disease with it, that it may heal thereby.
Volow. Verbs, Adverbs. 327
2. Suffixes. — The transitive and directive terminations are the
same as in Motlav, with little variation.
(1) g, r; man influence, meneag to impart it, tig to stand, vatgir
to make to stand on end.
These correspond to the Consonantal Suffixes of Mota, but since the stems
end in a consonant, a vowel is needed.
(2) The Mota nag, sag, &c. take the form of nea, hea, tea, rea,
vea.
Examples. — Matagoro me besnea be mete em Matagoro stood leaning against
the door, ger mo borhea ge they laughed at him, no te rontea te I don't hear,
iger mi Korea bat be tet teange they hid themselves behind the trunk of the
tree, sisiwerea be giqit throw it outside at the back, ne wet teange ma malatvea
ge, ge ma mak ha the branch broke with him, he fell down, no qolag murhea
na be the cask is filled with water. This last example is valuable as showing
that the meaning ' with ' is not confined to the Suffix vea ; it may equally ba
murvea.
The separable Suffix vag of Mota, here vea, is replaced to some extent in
Volow by ter as in Motlav : mol ter, van ter, to go with.
3. Prefaces. — The Causative is v- with shifting vowel before a
Consonant ; eh to live, veh to save alive ; me veatgir besnea ne tene
reabreab (tano-raprap Mota) bem, the ladder was set up leaning
against the house.
The Conditional are m- and t- ; malaglag, mowor, miliglig, to-
golgol, teweh.
The Reciprocal is vear ; vearvav talk to one another.
4. Verbs which are translated as Passives; ne teange mo mog
wolwol wo be, the tree was put across the water ; and as above, mi
til n qil ; me ter geswi ; me veatgir ne tene reabreab.
5. Negative Verbs are made with te te as in Motlav.
The first te may have no vowel : not van te I don't go, no tet (t- et} te ge, ne
teange mi tig goro gero I did not see him, the tree stood before them two.
The vowel shifts with that of the Verb : na maniginan ge ta vav lowo te by
reason that he did not speak loud : te combines, no temros te I don't like.
There is no distinction between Present and Past time, but the Future has
the Verbal Particle t- : no tit van te I shall not go, ne leg tit aghe te my heart
will not desire, tit = te te. With the Adverb teqe, te is not repeated : no ma
talmete nig mag, nig ta vav teqe I knew you at first, you had not spoken yet.
VIII. ADVERBS.
1 . Of Place. — Some are the same with Demonstrative Pronouns :
ges here, ga there. The greater number are simple.
Examples. — Me hither, gomi ho me ba tarabe og paddle hither to the side
of the ship ; at outwards, nig ma van hog ve? no ma van den no Taragveg at,
328 Melanesia*, Grammars.
qara mol se me where did you go down there ? I went as far as (reach, a Verb)
there at Taragveg outwards, then came back hither ; no there at a distance,
ged mo tog no Fono Lav we stayed over there at Vanua Lava ; hog down
there, i. e. seawards, se back ; ve the place where, me ve whence, gomi mo mol
me ve ? no Mot where have you come from ? Mota ; ha down, ho, hir, down,
wos hir ho no totgal nail (it) under the picture ; ha, Mota sage, up, gal up,
reap gal ha womtig climb up the cocoa-nut tree ; riwes near, nig hag riwes no
you sit close to me ; log back, used like the Mota kel, log ho =• kel siwo sea-
wards but this way, not very far that way ; ige ve ? ge mi ris taval teange log ho
where is he ? he is lying beyond the tree down over there ; mag the Mota
moa, is used of place and time, i Matagoro may, i Woqas ba kalan Matagoro
before, Woqas behind him.
Nouns, with or without Prepositions, will be translated as Adverbs : hag be
gigig sit beside me, gomro ba galag you two behind me, ge ma hag la mahe
tinan gero he sits between them two ; mahe Mota masaoi, tinan as in Mota
vatitnai; tevalege side, Mota tavaliu; gemeam ma hag taveal tawa be nege we
eat on one side at your face, i.e. before you, na Gawau taval Sanitoto ho
Kawau is beyond Bangitoto seawards ; ne met mo tog wealig nein the bush is
round the house.
2. Of Time. — These Adverbs are mostly the same, with the
difference of pronunciation, with those of Motlav, and Nouns ;
qirig, ni qirig to day ; neh distant time, neh when ] in the future,
neneh when in the past ; te rese ger neh bem ? when will they be
paid for the house? ge mo mol me neneh 1 when did he come
here?
3. Of Manner ; — some are simple, some Nouns with or without
Prepositions.
Simple : veh how, mag vehveh ne revrev how is writing done ? bat out of
eight, inwards, vata already, bel stealthily, tel round about, lo through, out ;
van lo silil go out into the village, go lo ni liwege pull out the tooth, na qatag
ma qal mo ro wor lo ne benen the arrow struck, came out through his arm, ge
meav wor lo no tornin he threw through the glass, breaking it ; wor, asunder,
in the two latter examples, shows that the flesh and the glass were parted.
Nouns : ba hav why, nig mi win bel na ta ba hav ? why did you murder the
man ? teten cause (the same word with tet teange trunk of tree, above), ne
teten na hav ge magi what was the cause he did it? maniginan the Mota
manigiu. The Preposition be, in fact a Noun, with the Suffixed Pronoun n,
makes an Adverb ben, already shown, 'thereby,' 'therewith,' 'thereupon.'
The Negative is tateh ; he me bel ? tateh, no gohow mo tot who
stole it ? No, (nobody) a rat eat it ; veveh ne sem me nig ? tateh how
much money have you ? None ; tateh vogome at ges, no mahgeg,
there is no second man here, I by-myself. These examples show
that tateh is rather a Noun.
IX. PREPOSITIONS.
1. Simple. — Locative a, 1-; Motion to, hir; Motion from, dean ;
Volow. Prepositions. 329
Motion against goro ; Dative lev ; Instrumental me ; Eelation,
general, b-, personal, m-, local, t-.
(1) Locative : a at, a8 in a w where, at what place? Z- before a vowel, and
with shifting vowel before a consonant, in, into : ge ma gal bat lo tornin leva.
he climbed into the house by the window, lo and I- are the same, in the
window and into the house ; neg ma har le qen the fish drew into the net ; na
hav.le teberl what (is there) in the dish? mog no goq lo bogor put the bread-
fruit into the chest. With both these locative Prepositions there may be a
sense of motion.
(2) Motion to : Tiir as in Motlav 'to' or 'for,' not restricted to persons ; it
is also Dative ; le Mr ge, give to him, van Tiir ge, go to him.
(3) Motion from : dean ; gomi le ves ne tetqeat dean ge you take away the
club from him ; ged ma van dean no Mo£ we came from Mota. The use of this
in comparison has been observed. It is used at the end of a sentence ; ne
teange ges ge mo moh, dean this is the tree he fell from.
(4) Motion against, or position after motion over against, goro ; ne teange
mi tig goro gero the tree stood before, i.e. came in the way. The meaning
and use the same as of Mota goro.
(5) Dative : bev, a Preposition peculiar to Volow ; le bev no me give it hither
to me.
(6) Instrumental, me with ; 710 qolag mur me ne be the cask is filled with
water. It is used at the end of a sentence, ave ne tetqeatge nig me weh ge me ?
where is the club you struck him with ? nig me ter ne tetgeatge la hav ? no go
gi weh no bo me what have you got hold of the club for ? that I may strike a
pig with (it). From two examples it appears that another Preposition must
be added as Instrumental, gi : no go tar mo no gi nih that I may cut for
myself a bow with it ; no go gi tvih no qo me that I may strike the pig with it.
There is, however, the difficulty that natives do not take the word them-
selves as equivalent to anything in Mota, as to nia ; and also that in the
second example me certainly means ' with.' It is probable that gi is lei, gi,
of Fiji and the New Hebrides. See Motlav Prepositions.
(7) Eelation. — The Preposition m- with shifting vowel, or no vowel, must
be held to be distinct from the Instrumental me ; it is ma of Mota, of accom-
paniment ; ge mo tog mo no he stayed with me ; with other Pronouns with
other vowels, mi nig, me ge, mo gomi ; ge me gel mo no bo qo he was angry
with me about the pig. Before a Proper name it is men, no doubt a Noun
with Suffixed Pronoun, no mo tog men Diluet I stayed with Dibjet ; men his
companion, a thing with him.
b- with shifting vowel, or without, the Mota pe ; ba galan at his back ; na
qatag ma sal be bersis the arrow was put lengthways at the side wall ; ho me
be teqien og, be beagi og, paddle hither to the side of the vessel ; mog bo qolag
put it by the cask ; beg about fish, Jem at the house. The root Noun makes
ben, which has been noticed as in use an Adverb, literally in relation to it,
rather its relative. In the sentence ni siioi ve ti there is still a little, it seems
as if ve is another form of be.
t- the same as Motlav and Mota ta, belonging to a place ; nat to Mo£, to
Not, te Mew, ta Lakon, a man of Mota, Nuta, Maewo, Lakona, the vowel
shifting.
330 Melanesian Grammars.
2. Compound Prepositions are Nouns with Simple Prepositions ;
but as the Nouns are commonly used without Prepositions it must
be allowed to include words which are merely Nouns.
Such a Noun is wo above ; wo veat on a stone, ne melig wo maram a cloud
above the earth, ge ve ? wo near where is he ! on the tree, ge mo mol wo hav
what did he go upon ? i. e. on board what canoe or vessel ; but with Suffixed
Pronoun, no lo wowonged the sun above us, wowon on him, and woweg on me,
(Motlav avwefy, the reduplicated wo is clear, but it is not clear why it is not
woweg. In accordance with the native idioms wo is sometimes to be trans-
lated 'from;' ge mo moh wo em he fell from the house, literally, on the house.
In na qarean gohow lalne era the rat's hole under the house, lalue is a Noun
in composition with em ; lalnege the under side.
X. CONJUNCTIONS.
The Copulative and Adversative are as in Motlav, wa, ba. The
Disjunctive 'or' is si. The Illative 'that' go; ave ne seab no go
har ? where is the garment that I may put it on 1 nig mo mol me
go mimwi you have come here to work, Mota si a mawmawui.
The same go is Declarative ; ge ma valeah ge go te le te he denied
that he had taken it. The Conditional is wo ; no wo met tig ge if I
should find him, go ge wo tit maros te if I should not wish, nig wo
gen nig ta mat ben if you eat it you will die of it. But in this
sentence wo may well be taken as the Cautionary Particle, don't
eat, you will die ; et gor den wo moA take care lest it fall ; nan wa
jnasu Mota. Another Cautionary is tevele as in Motlav.
In the sentence given above, Sawa gere gear goro ge ge ta mat, gere is
equivalent to ' unless ;' but, remembering the Mota Jcere, it is possible to
translate it as ' Sawa just swam after him, he would (otherwise) have died.'
There is the same expression as in Motlav ino meteag tihig I and
my brother, ige matan tehen he and his brother.
XI. NUMEKALS.
1. Cardinals. — One votwa, two voro, three vetel, four veveat, five
tevelem, six levete, seven levero, eight levetel, nine leveveat, ten
sanwil ; hundred meldel, thousand tear. The Prefix v- with shift-
ing vowel is a Verbal Particle. The unit above tens is ne neme ;
the number above hundreds is, with Suffix, ni vivin.
The full form for ' one ' is tawa ; taveal tawa one side ; two hundred and
fifty-three meldel voro sanwil tevelem ne neme vetel ; four hundred and six
meldel veveat ni vivin (its number above) levete.
2. Ordinals are formed by adding ne, with the Prefix vag ;
second vogorne, for vagrone, third vagtelne: 'first' is mag.
WaterfidL
PORT SATTESON
"WadberfdJL
paxub
CocbrinatorLG
Clarendon, Press,
Vanua Lava. 331
3. Multiplicatives are formed by the Prefix vag ; twice vagro,
oftentimes vagsoso.
4. The Interrogative and Indefinite, how many 1 so many, is veh ;
nog mo mol me ni qirig veveh ? vetel, how many canoes came here
to-day ? three ; vagveh ? how often ? hag veh wo og ? how many on
board the canoe ?
XII. EXCLAMATIONS, EXPLETIVES.
Hirwe as in Motlav; others also the same.
Expletives ; — we the Mota wa ; ige ve ? ige ha lem we, where is
he ? he is up in the house ; gin (Mota gina) nig met ge ve ? ete van
gin, where did you see him ? there he is over there to be sure ;
ne le naghe ve ? ete gin, which do you like ? that one to be sure :
in these ete is literally ' see.'
VANUA LAVA.
This largest Island of the Banks' Group, Great Banks' Island, is
fifteen miles long. Two small inhabited islets lie close to the
eastern side ; on one, Ravena, the language of Motlav is spoken,
on the other, Qakea, that of Mota. On the island itself each of the
districts or groups of villages has its own dialect, viz. Pak, Lusa,
Sasar, Leon, Vatrat, Vuras (Avreas), Mosina, Lomrig, Nawono, Alo
Teqel, Qatpe, Tolav, and Qe'i. Some of these are, no doubt, very
much alike, but the natives themselves thought them different;
and between, for example, Pak and Mosina the difference is con-
siderable. The dialect of Nawono, Port Patteson, is lost, the labour
trade having destroyed the population, at one time considerable.
The language of Vanua Lava has its own type, of which Pak
may be taken as characteristic ; the dropping of t is peculiar to it
in that region, and it differs from the other Banks' Island lan-
guages in its comparatively little use of Verbal Particles. On the
side from Ravewa to Pak there is and has been much intercourse
with Motlav, yet there is no influence on the language to be
noticed ; h, for example, being entirely absent. From Qakea and
Nawono to the south-east there has been much intercourse with
the leeward side of Mota, and the dialect of Mosina is more like
that of Mota than the others ; that and Vuras, which has inter-
course also with Gaua, have the Vanua Lava characteristics less
marked.
33 2 Melanesian Grammars,
4. PAR.
The district of Pak, called by Mota people Pek, in Motlav Bek,
is quite small, comprising only five villages of a few houses each.
The language, however, is of much interest, because it exhibits
conspicuously the peculiarity of some of the Vanua La,va dialects
in dropping t. This practice, so common in some parts of Poly-
nesia, and prevailing also to some extent in the Solomon Islands,
is found in full force at Pak ; where it may be said that except in
borrowed words they retain no t in its original place. The
language stands as an example of a well marked variety of the
Banks' Island speech, distinct in character from Mota, from Motlav,
and from Lakona.
I. ALPHABET.
1. Vowels. — a, e, i, o, o, u, u.
The difference between o and u and o and « is the shortness and sharpness
of the latter. There are no Diphthongs, the Mota tauwe is, 'o.
2. Consonants. — k, g ; t ; p, v, w ; q ; m, m, n n ; r, 1 ; s.
To these must be added the sounds b and d ; b is heard between m and r,
amro sounds ambro ; d at the beginning of a word is heard before r, but it is
only a strengthening of the sound.
1 . t is consistently cast out from words in which the analogy of other lan-
guages shows it to have an original place ; e. g. me'ei for mat eye, 'olgi for tol
egg, qfigi for qatu head, vi* for vitu star. Between two vowels, as in qi'igi,
a slight break is heard where the gap occurs, and this is conveniently repre-
sented by a mark ', which is usefully employed also at the beginning and end
of words like ''olgi and vi", though representing nothing of which the ear is
aware. But t is not absent from Pak, it occurs in many words in place of n ;
a yam is in Mota nam, in Pak tern, wena rain is wat, manui a nose is metigi,
whereas Mota matig a cocoa-nut is me'ig. This change has no doubt come
through d, as in Volow dem, wed, medigi. There is also in Pak an occasional
appearance of t in words in which t is present also in the neighbouring
dialects, tiTctik small, to a fowl ; but it may well be conjectured that these are
lately borrowed, not true Pak words ; and certainly this t is not pure, but
strengthened with n, not to, but nto.
2. It is remarkable that p should be sounded and not mb ; yet in the com-
pound sound q it is rather kbw than kpw, without the sound of m.
II. ARTICLES.
1. The Demonstrative Article is n- with a shifting Vowel before
a Consonant ; no qo a pig, ne gemel a club-house, wu pur a candle,
(jpul Mota), nu ^ws a cat, na ma'an his eye. Before a Vowel n-
coalesces with the Noun ; nok a canoe, wen a house. But when a
Pak. Nouns, Pronouns. 333
Noun begins with a Vowel because t has fallen out the Article
does not coalesce, but its Vowel shifts as before a Consonant ; ne
'enge a tree, no 'o a hill, no 'olto a fowl's egg.
2. The Personal Article is i ; shown in ise 1 who ? irge they.
III. NOUNS.
1 . Verbal Nouns have the termination r and a ; 'oga to abide,
logar behaviour, ma' die, ma'a death.
Reduplication of the Verb is a Verbal Noun, 'ap'ap love, totot thought,
(Mota nom).
2. Independent Form', — the termination is gi\ penigi a hand,
sesegi a name, 'olgi an egg. These cannot take an Article.
3. In Composition the former of two Nouns undergoes no change,
peni 'ansara a man's hand, 'ol to a fowl's egg : it is probable, how-
ever, that any Noun ending in a would change that to e in
composition ; sa is no doubt the stem of sesegi a name, sese 'ansar
a man's name.
4. Plural. There is a Noun of Plurality 'aur, a collection,
reduplicated to signify a number of assemblages, 'aur en houses,
a collection of houses, 'au 'aur en many houses.
Totality is signified by qe' (Mota qef), fir qe1 they all of them ; ges does not,
as in Motlav, make a simple Plural, 'a Gua ges all of Gaua and no others.
IV. PKONOUNS.
1 . Personal Pronouns.
Singular, i. ina; 2. inik; 3. ite.
Plural, i. incl. iget, excl. ikama; 2. ikimi ; 3. iter.
Dual, i. incl. igotro, excl. kamaro ; 2. komro ; 3. tor ro.
Trial, i. incl. igot 'ol, excl. kama 'ol ; 2. kom 'ol; 3. tor 'ol.
Observations. — i. The Prefix i can be omitted.
2. In the Third Singular te = ne in Mota ineia, the Demonstrative Particle ;
the same with the Plural personal sign ra makes the Third Plural.
3. In the same way in the Plural inclusive, iget has the t as corresponding
to Motlav iged, and more remotely to n in Mota nina ; which last is thus con-
nected with Florida igita, Malay Tcita.
4. In the Dual and Trial it is to be observed how the numeral suffix ro and
'ol affects the vowel in get, kimi, and ter, making got, Jcom, tor.
5. All are equally used as subject or object with a Verb.
2. Suffixed to Nouns.
Singular, i. k; 2. in; 3. n.
Plural, i. incl. t, excl. ma ; 2. mi; 3. r.
334 Melanesian Grammars.
For the Dual and Trial ro and 'ol are added. These Pronouns
are suffixed, as in other languages, only to certain Nouns.
Example. — sesegi a name, gi being the independent termination, *a the
original stem shortened before the Suffix to se and reduplicated. The true
stem, therefore, is sa : Singular ; I. ne sek my name, with the Article ; 2. na
sem ; 3. na san. Plural ; i . incl. na sat, excl. na sama ; 2. no sami ; 3. na sar.
Dual; i. na satro, na sam ro; 2. na samoro; 3. na sarro. Trial; na sat ''ol,
na sam 'ol, &c. The variation of the vowel of the stem in the First and Second
Singular is not easily to be explained, nor why the Article is ne with sek and
na with sem. The First Plural inclusive t is the da of Gaua, Fiji, &c., not
used in Mota and Saddle Island.
3. Demonstratives; tite this, tine that; ti demonstrative this
or that; tite ges these, tine ges those; ne ge ti this or that
thing.
The difficulty in this is that te must be in origin ne, whereas tite is 'this,'
tine 'that.' The Adverb 'here' is tite, as is natural, but 'there' cannot be
found. It seems as if the Demonstratives were vague.
The Demonstrative from the Vocative ige ! is irge ; irge 'a Mo'-
lav those Motlav people : but ge is ' thing.'
4. Interrogates, ise ? plural : irse ? who ? na sav ? what ?
V. POSSESSIVES.
i. General ro; 2. mo; 3. of closer relation, ga ; 4. of drink, ma ;
with the Pronouns suffixed.
All are used with the Article ; no rob, no rom, na gan, na mat, &c., mine,
thine, &c.
1. It is likely that ro through dro is the same with the more common no.
As in Motlav roTc is not always used for 'my,' a Preposition being preferred
with certain Nouns, vono ma na my land, land with me. There is, of course,
the division of Nouns into the class which has the Suffixed Pronouns and that
which makes the Possessive with these Nouns.
2. The meaning of mo is something proceeding from, rather than added to,
the possessor.
3. ga and ma are undoubtedly the true words, yet, as with sa above, the
First and Second Singular are gelc, gem, mek, mem, when with the other
Persons suffixed it is gan, man, gat, mat, and so on.
4. For a pig or such thing pele; pelek no qo my pig.
VI. ADJECTIVES.
Proper Adjectives are such as lowo, tiktik; nen lowo a large
house, nen tiktik a small house : but Adjectives are generally in
Verbal form, ge lowo.
There are some expressions as in Mota ; ma'ai me'esal a good road, soJcore
me'esal a bad road, mer som one possessed of money.
Pak. Verbs. 335
Comparison is made by the Preposition 'en, from ; no qo ge lowo
'en gosog a pig is larger than a rat. In point of number ' more'
is expressed by mateg, na ge mateg, literally, many things; a
Superlative expression is ge me'entol a very large thing.
Adjectives have the Prefix of Condition ma with shifting Vowel
in common with Verbs ; malaklak happy ; and also what would be
t- with a shifting Vowel, but that t is dropped ; a Vowel therefore
alone makes the Prefix ; 'ogolgol, 'enene straight.
There are also the Terminations proper to Adjectives g, and r ;
meliglig black, wotwotor rough.
VII. VEEBS.
Verbal Particles. 1. The Indefinite is ge; used with Adjectives
ge lowo, ge 'ue old. The Past is m ; which, however, is often used
in a present sense, nam pu' ravrav I sit writing, nam pu' I sat,
nam ta va'a I have already done it, (Mota na me na veto) tern vus
na he struck me. There seems to be no Future Particle.
It is plain, even from analogy, that m is properly a Verbal Particle ; and it
is attached to Pronouns which end in a vowel. It is probable, from Leon and
Sasar, that with Pronouns ending in a Consonant there is no Particle used.
With regard to the Future, k is used after na, and n after te, and these must
be regarded as Verbal Particles, as Motlav and Ureparapara have k, Tea, and
Oba n. See further in Leon. Examples : a log naic va Pale to-morrow I shall
go, or go, to Pak, nam vav me te si, ten va I told him that he should go.
There is no Particle of continuity like Mota ti ; ne marag ten
'awag lo rar the Malay apple flowers in the winter ; and in narra-
tive, ten vav ma na says he to me.
The Particle 'i makes a Pluperfect, tern le kel ma no pok tern
vasne 'i lolon he brought back the book he had been reading in.
The same is in tiktik la 'i there is still a little.
There is no Conditional Particle ; si na wa etteifl see him, si and wa are
Conjunctions ; na 'ar pa get stt if it should be calm we will go out in a canoe,
literally, a calm but we paddle.
It is evident from the above that Verbs are often used without
any Verbal Particle; and that the temporal force of ge and m, is
very slight. Adverbs are added, va'a for the past, manas for the
future.
2. Imperative. Pronouns, some modified, precede the Verb ; nik
fa, nik vav go thou, speak, ami va go ye, amro va go ye two,
am 'ol va go ye three, nak va let me go, ten va let him go.
3. Suffixes. Examples of consonantal transitive suffixes are
sogon, n as in Mota, and vepen=ve-pu'en to make to sit. Syllabic
336 Melanesian Grammars.
transitive suffixes are re, sejtre throw away, se, parse ridicule, ve,
sirve shear. The separable vag of Mota is represented by 'ur,
va 'ur go with, 2>u' 'ur sit with ; Motlav ter.
4. Prefixes, i. Causative, va, ve; vaes make to live, wpen. make
to sit. 2. Reciprocal ver ; vervus fight, vervav converse. 3. Of
Condition, m-; ser to tear, meser torn, wor apart, mowor come
apart, le' break, mele1 broken : 'a before a, 'o before o, and so on,
'awag come open. Spontaneity, 'av ; 'avroro hang down of itself.
5. A Reflective Verb is made with kel back ; ten ta ma' kel te he
kills himself.
6. Negative Verbs. The Negative Particle is 'a; na va 'a I don't
go, lok 'oron 'a I don't like, lok 'oron 'a manas I shall not like
hereafter, literally, my heart desires not, le 'a it cannot be done.
The Dehortative is no 'og (Motlav ni tog) ; but 'a also is used, 'a tata
maJcane don't do so.
VIII. ADVERBS.
1 . Of Place ; tite here, tino there ; ka, va, ekava ? where ? te ka
va ? where is he 1 nik va va ? where are you going ?
2. Time; qere te to-day, now, lo qere te to-day past; manas
hereafter, lo nas heretofore; aloq to-morrow, lo nonor yesterday,
ires the day after to-morrow, lo nores the day before yesterday :
qere, nas, log, nor, res, being Nouns with Prepositions.
Other Adverbs, ma hither, at outwards ; maJcane thus, so ; ves, Mota wesu,
used as Motlav veh completely, quite, na va ves 'a I will not go at all, le ves 'a
can't be at all ; qal, to strike, in the same sense, na va qal'a I shall not go
by any means ; mak of immediate consequence, te mak ron he hears thereupon,
or for the first time. The Negative is e 'aga, no.
IX. PREPOSITIONS.
Locative, a, lo ; Motion to, sir ; Motion from, en ; Motion against,
gor ; Dative me ; Instrumental, men, me ; Relation, general pe ; to
Persons, ma, me; to Places, 'a.
i. a is not common, but it appears in Adverbs, as aloq. 2. lo in ; tern pit1 lo
en he sits in the house, tern va pa1 lo en he has gone (pala inwards, out of
sight) into the house. 3. sir to persons, va sir te go to him. 4. en from, no
doubt Mota nan, Motlav den, must have been ten and so 'ere ; le en te take
from him, tine vono me te, te va en that is his place (that) he comes from.
5. gor; ta nor gor 'eqe make fence to protect the garden, ten et gor let him look
after it, va gor go after. 6. me ; le me te give it to him, same as 9 below.
7. me, men with ; vus te men qoron strike him with a club, tite no qoron tern
vus te 'i me this is the club he struck him with ; the same with 6 and 9 below.
8. pe at, about, because of; pe sav why ? on account of what ? te pe me'e en he
Leon and Sasar, Vanua Lava. 337
is at the door, pe ivat because of rain. 9. ma, me, with, near, by, persons : in
this language not to be distinguished from men the instrumental. The
possessive use has been mentioned, vono ma na my land ; it is ma or me ; mo-
no, me nik, me te ; mek'ma with us, mek'mi with you ; tern 'o ma na he stayed
with me. 10. 'a belonging to a place ; irge 'a Mo' the Mota people : combines
with lo and me, these being in fact Nouns, 'alo en belonging in the house, 'a
mek'ma belonging to the things with us.
Prepositions which are plainly Nouns are voao (Mota vawo) on, vogo en on
the house ; lalne en under the house ; peri ev beside the fire ; lo ne in the
midst ; ne represents tine, 'ine.
X. CONJUNCTIONS.
Copulative, wa and; Adversative, pa but, not strong; Condi-
tional, if, si, wa ; si na wa et te nak vav meteifl should see him I
will speak to him, na wa et 'a te if I should not see him ; Illative
and Declarative, that, si, wa ; nam tot iva ten wat I thought that it
would rain, nam vav me te si ten va I told him that he was to go,
nam vav si nak va I said that I would go ; Disjunctive, or, si ; ten
wat si e'aga ? will it rain or not ? ' Lest' wa, with en, from ; et gor
en wa mes look out lest it fall.
The Noun of companionship is me'e, ma' a, Motlav mata ; ina me'elc 'isik I
and my brother, ite ma'an 'esen he and his brother, inik me'em 'isim you and
your, irge me'er 'eser they and their, brothers (es and is unaccountably
changing).
XI. NUMEEALS.
1. Cardinals. — One vuwal, two iniru, three -yu'u/, four vuve', five
'evelem, six leve'a, seven leveru, eight leve'ol, nine leveve' ', ten sanwul ;
twenty sanwul ru ; thirteen sanwul wal demei vuul ; a hundred
meltol, four hundred and nine meltol vagve' venegi leveve'; a thousand
'ar.
The Verbal Particle v u is prefixed to the true Numerals, as shown in twenty
and thirteen. The unit above ten demei, sum above a hundred, veneyi, Nouns.
The Interrogative, Indefinite, ves.
2. Ordinals end in gi ; megi first ; Jceregi, lologi.
3. Multiplicatiws formed with va or vag ; vawal once, vagru,
vag'ol ; vagves ? how many times 1 vagve four times.
5. LEON AND SASAE, VANUA LAVA.
Leon and Sasar are close together, and about half way between
Pak and Vuras ; it is natural therefore that the dialects of the two
should be much alike, and that both should show a connection
z
338 Melanesian Grammars.
with the dialects on either side. The two are here combined ; the
language of Sasar being added when it differs from that of Leon.
The word Leon means 'on the sand;' one dialect is spoken on the
beach and on the point JVarames. That there is considerable
difference between the Vocabulary of Leon and Sasar is shown by
the words for ' house,' en and qeqek, ' fish,' mes and mcmat.
I. ALPHABET.
1. Vowels. — a, long and short, e, e, i, o, o, u. There are no
Diphthongs.
2. Consonants. — k, g ; t ; p, v, w ; q ; m, m, n, n ; 1, r ; s, h ? at
Leon.
The dropping of t, so characteristic of Pak, still prevails, but is not so com-
plete; yet less so in Leon, where vit is 'star,' vf at Sasar ; it comes in for n
as at Pek. Before r at the beginning of words d is sounded. The sound of q is
peculiar. There may be a doubt whether h is not heard at Leon at the end of
a word where s would occur; e.g. in Mota us, a bow, is at Sasar vug, but at
Leon vuh or vu\ Sasar ge is Leon geh, Mota gese ; Sasar vi, Leon vih, Mota
visa. But the breathing is not so strong as to demand a symbol, and it ia
better, probably, to write im\ vi'.
II. AKTICLES.
1. The Demonstrative Article is n ; neu a house, ndk a canoe.
It is remarkable that this Article never seems to be used except when a
Noun begins with a vowel, and not then when t has been cast out ; it cannot
be nenge with 'enge a tree : when Nouns also have the Suffixed Pronoun they
have no Article ; 'arpek my body.
2. The Personal Article is e ; ge a thing, e gene the person. In
Leon the feminine particle is used, e ro before a woman's name.
III. NOUNS.
1. Some at least of the Nouns that take the suffixed Pronouns
undergo a change when they take them ; ak is a canoe, with the
Article nak, but ' my canoe ' is kak, ' thine ' kam, ' his ' kan. No
Article is prefixed and ak becomes ka-k. This, however, is not
clear.
2. Verbal Substantives have the termination a ; me', Sasar ma, to
die, ma' a death.
3. The termination of Indejwndent Nouns is gi; pinigi hand,
qu'gi head, 'olgi egg, Leon nagi, Sasar sesegi, name. This termina-
tion does not of course appear in Composition ; jrini 'amar a man's
Leon and Sasar. Pronouns. 339
hand, qi'i qo pig's head, 'ol to fowl's egg, na amar Leon, sese emar
Sasar, man's name. Observe change of a to e in the latter.
4. There is no Plural sign. For houses they would say vol en at
Leon, that is every house, or en ge ; at Sasar qeqek ge', taking in all
the houses and nothing besides ; en, or qeqek, tol the whole house or
all the houses. There is no proper Plural ; but Reduj)lication gives
number ; tirtirigi many legs, Leon ; malmalpegi many feet, Sasar.
IV. PRONOUNS.
1. Personal Pronouns.
LEON. Singular, i. no; 2. nik; 3. te.
Plural, i. incl. get, excl. kamam; 2. kimi; 3. ter.
Dual, i. incl. gotro, excl. kamaro; 2. komro; 3. tor ro.
SASAR. Singular, i. no; 2. nek; 3. te.
Plural, i. incl. gat, excl. kemam; 2. kimi; 3 tar.
Dual. i. incl. gatro, excl. kemaro; 2. komro; 3. ter ro.
In both Dialects for the Trial 'ol, three, is added to the Plural.
Observations. — i. It does not appear that the Prefix t is used with the Pro-
nouns, which are substantially the same as those of Pak.
2. In the Dual in Leon, and to a less extent in Sasar, the vowels of the
Pronouns are modified by the suffixing of ro ; got, kom, tor, ter, for get, kirn,
ter, tar.
3. There is no difference between the Pronouns as Subject or Object.
2. Suffixed Pronouns.
Singular, i. k; 2. m; 3. n.
Plural, i. incl. t, excl. mam; 2. mi; 3. r.
These are suffixed, as in the other languages, to certain Nouns only, as ' my,'
' thy,' &c. ; 'arpek my body, 'arpem thine, 'arpen his.
3. Demonstrative Pronouns.
LEON, ties, ekes, this. SASAR, tegen, genegen, this.
tine, ekene, that. tene, genene, that.
In Leon the Demonstrative Particles are cs and ne this and that ; ti, the
stem, is probably the same with the Pronoun te ; eke represents rather some
definite object, ties this, ekes this thing.
In Sasar, while ne is the Particle that points to ' that,' gen, very different
to es, points to 'this.' In this dialect gene is 'thing' (which in Leon is ge);
genegen and genene are therefore this and that thing ; and vol gene is ' these ' or
' those ' when definite objects are pointed to, Mota o ike, ine, nan.
The Demonstrative which comes from the Vocative ge ! is in
Leon eraga, raga, in Sasar rege; both 'you people!' and 'those
people,' Vocative and Demonstrative.
Z 2
34° Melanesian Grammars.
4. Interrogative Pronouns are the same in both ; ene ? who I
nane ? what ] n- being the Article. In Leon ' who ? ' of a woman, is
roene ? and ' who 1 ' plural, is reene ? the common feminine and plural
personal particles ro and ra being used. In both another plural,
enepa, is found ; pa, a plural sign in Lakona. These Interrogatives
are no doubt also used as Indefinite.
5. In both a Noun 'owogi is used, like tuaniu in Mota, for ' some ;' with UJe
also, which cannot be explained. In Leon 'otco ane, 'owo ane lik some things ;
in Sasar 'amar 'owor/i lik some men, 'owogi ane lik some things.
The Distributive Particle, not a Pronoun, is vol.
V. POSSESSIVES.
i. General Relation, ro, dro; 2. as belonging to, because pro-
ceeding from, mo; 3. of close relation as food, Leon ga, Sasar go;
4. of drink, Leon ma, Sasar mo.
I. In Leon ro follows the Noun, vono ron his country. In Sasar the Pre-
position ma, as in Pak and Motlav, is used with some words as a Possessive ;
vono me te his country.
For property such as a pig, pula in Leon, polo in Sasar ; pulak,
2)olok, qo my pig.
VI. ADJECTIVES.
Though Adjectives are commonly used in Verbal form with ga,
they some of them stand as pure Adjectives after the Noun ; 'amar
lowo a big man, nen wogrig the small house.
Comparison is made by a Preposition 'from;' qo ga lowo ten gosow (Sasar
en) a pig is bigger than a rat, kamam ga mew ten ter we are more than they.
The Prefix ma and Termination g characteristic of Adjectives are
seen in meleyleg black, mulumlum soft, qag white.
In Leon ma 'amar is good man ; in both mal 'amar bad man ;
but in Sasar me 'emar is for some reason correct, not '
VII. VEEBS.
1. Verbal Particles are comparatively little used in either dia-
lect, and there is no difference in those that are used. There are
two ; ga indefinite, and -m past.
1. ga is used with Adjectives, with words that declare condition ; ga we good,
ga se bad, ga mav heavy ; but also with ordinary Verbs ; no ga van alow I go
to-morrow.
2. -m is used only with and after no, te, and Jtimi of the Personal Pronouns,
those, that is, that end in a vowel ; nom, tern, Icimim ; nom van I went, tern ta
va'a he has already done it, nom van et te ine I went (and) saw him not.
Leon and Sasar. Verbs. 341
In Leon this m seems to be a part of the word man, which IR used as a
mark of past time ; no man ta I did, nek man van you went, te man van, &c.
The First and Third Pronouns Singular take after them, before a Verb, k
and n respectively, but without any temporal force : nok van I shall go, ten,
van alow he will go to-morrow, nok po1 ravrav I am sitting writing (Sasar), ten
po1 he is sitting. This k and n might be taken for Suffixed Pronouns, were it
not that Ureparapara (compare Motlav) has ka and Mota ni as Verbal
Particles. This whole matter is unsatisfactory, from want of examples in
which the Subject in the sentence is not a Personal Pronoun.
In SASAK there is a Particle of continuance te ; merag te 'awes
lo rar the Malay apple flowers in the winter; in LEON there is
none, vegig 'awes lo rar.
2. The Pluperfect Particle is 'i ; LEON, tern 'ur kel ma belel te
gen 'i lolon ; SASAK, te 'ur kel me belel tern gen 'i Ion, he brought
back the dish he had eaten in.
The same Particle signifies that something remains, as elsewhere ; LEON
tiktik va 'i, SASAR ga icogrig lav 'i, there is a little left there.
3. Verbs without Particles appear to be the rule, and without
any sign of tense ; in LEON, gotro po'e siksik we two are sitting and
seeking ; nik van, get van, ter van, you, we, they, will go ; vegig
'awes, te gen, as above ; SASAK, nek po' ravrav you sit writing, get
van we went ; te 'ur as above. All Verbs are thus used.
4. In the Imperative a modification of the Pronouns is used in the
Plural ; emi van go ye, omro van go ye two, 'ol van go ye three ;
in the Singular the Verb is as the Indicative, nek van, ten van, go
thou, let him go ; or without a Pronoun, van gasem go tell.
5. A Conditional sentence is expressed either, as in LEON, as
Indicative, nok eso nok asem me te (should) I see him, I (will)
tell to him ; or with a Conjunction, as in SASAK, si no wo et te no
mak aram me te if I should see him I will thereupon tell to him.
6. Suffixes. — i. Consonantal transitive Suffixes are n, sonon to
put together, n, vepen to seat, v, vaqev to cover over. 2. Syllabic,
ve, sirve shear close; me, ulme annoy; re, sepre throw away; se,
SASAR, porse mock ; 'e, LEON, porv mock (Mota porosag, and, as it
might be, porotag) ; ge, vange go with, ulge fall with, ulge o fall
down with, kalge rak kel get up again with.
This last is no doubt the Mota gag, if it be right to spell it ge,
for it is inseparable from the Verb. But it has been also written
o. It is clear that it is not the Motlav ter, for that word, as in Pak,
is 'ur.
7. Prefixes. — i. Causative, va, ve; va 'aka to hang up, vaqev to
cover over, cause to turn down, vepen cause to sit, va-pute-n.
34 2 Melanesian Grammars.
2. Reciprocal, ver; tor ro ver vu they two beat one another. 3. Of
Condition, m- ; meser torn, mowor come apart, mele broken, with
shifting vowel ; 'a ; 'awag to come open. 4. Spontaneity, 'am ';
'amol come loose of itself as a rope.
8. Reflective Verbs are made with Jed back ; te ta me1 kel te he
killed himself.
9. Negative Verbs. — The Negative Particle is 'e repeated before
and after the Verb ; no 'e et 'e I do not see, te 'e van 'e me he has
not come here, no'e van 'e I shall not go. There is no sign of
Tense.
This Particle is also used with the Dehortative 'og ; 'og 'e _?;eZ-
pel don't steal, 'og 'e ta 'amne don't do so.
1 0. Reduplication signifying repetition and continuance, po' po
go on sitting, luklufam, LEON, vasvasyo, SASAR, count.
VIII. ADVERBS.
In both dialects the Adverbs of direction hither and outwards
are me and nar, the latter a strange word.
1 . Place. — LEON, Jces here, etarti there, ekene there ; te po1 ekene
he is sitting there ; ava where, nek van ekeva ? where are you
going to ? ten van va ? where is he going to ? See Demonstra-
tives. SASAR, aken here, etarne there ; ge tagen 'o aken this thing
stays here, ge tene 'o etarne that thing stays there ; pan and akne
there, ava and lokva where ? ten van lokva ? where is he going 1
In these there appear the Prepositions a, e, lo, and the demon-
strative ne.
2. Time. — In both, kire now, to-day, alow to-morrow, mana
hereafter; in LEON, nanor yesterday, aris day after to-morrow,
naris day before yesterday ; in SASAR, lova'an to-day, of past time,
etegine now, lo mana ? at what past time 1 ras the day after to-
morrow, lo naras the day before yesterday, lo nonor yesterday.
3. Manner. — In both, 'am as, like ; LEON, 'ames thus, 'amene so,
like this, that ; 'am va (Mota tana, avea) how ? SASAR, 'amgin thus,
'amne so, 'am ava how ?
The Negative in LEON is 'iga (Mota tagai), in SASAR ine.
IX. PREPOSITIONS.
1. Locative^ a at; a Pak at Pak; seen in Adverbs, ava where
alow to-mor/ow; lo, lef-in, is more commonly used, lo gemel in the
club house ; ""LEON, le en in the house, leon on the sand ; and in the
Leon and Sasar. Prepositions. 343
SASAE Adverbs lo warns, lo nonor ; SASAB, le vene in the middle,
lo lolo qeqek inside the house.
2. Motion to a person ; LEON, ir ; van ir te go to him ; SASAB
van gir te ; both strange if forms of hir, sur.
3. Motion from, LEON ten, SASAB en; used at the end of a
sentence, LEON, tine vono ron te van me ten, SASAB, tine vono me te
te van me en, that is his place he has come from.
4. Motion against, gor ; LEON, et gor look out after, van gor go
after ; SASAB, ta nar gor qo make a fence against pigs.
5. Dative, me ; LEON, 'or me te, SASAB, 'or me te, give to him.
6. Instrumental, men ; LEON, nom vu te men ker, SASAE, nom
vus te men ker I struck him with a club. But at the end of a
sentence me ; LEON, ties ker nom vu te me, this is the club I struck
him with, SASAB, tig en ker nom vus te 'i me, I had struck him with.
7. Relation, general, pe ; pe ane ? about what ? why ? pe ma'aen
at the door.
8. Relation to Persons, me; the same with the Dative and In-
strumental ; LEON, me no, me nek, me te, men kamam, with me,
thee, him, us, te 'og meno he stays with me ; SASAB, mo no,
me nek, me te, me get, men kemam, men kimi, me ter. The ter-
mination n in men with kemam (compare Mota), shows the word a
Noun.
9. Relation in Place, 'a, belonging to ; 'amar 'a Mo lav man of
Motlav, 'amar 'a ve ? man of what place 1 'amar 'amen kamam man
of our place, belonging to us.
On these it may be observed that there is no great use of locative Preposi-
tions ; the Noun stands alone : leon Pak on the sandy beach at Pak. The
forms ir and gir may be explained if both are supposed to be hir (of Motlav
and elsewhere) borrowed by people who cannot say h, though it would be
natural that they should make it sir, as at Pak. Similarly ten and en are no
doubt the same word, the Mota nan, Motlav den, properly represented by ten
with the characteristic change of n to t ; but en must be supposed 'en by the
loss of t, and this difference between the two dialects suggests that the Pre-
position came into them from different quarters.
Nouns used as Prepositions ; LEON, lalana en under the house,
SASAE, lalane qeqek ; LEON, venigi the middle, SASAB, le vene vono
in the middle of the place ; LEON, te po'e melno ev, SASAB, tepo an
pensi ev, he sits by the fire. In the last example an shows what is
in fact again a Noun used as a Preposition, and with the suffixed
Pronoun n. The Mota vawo is wow in LEON, vogo in SASAB ; a
Noun not used here as as a Preposition but as the Noun ' top ; ' an
wow en on the house, on top of the house ; ve' ul an ivok a stone
344 Melanesian Grammars.
fell on top of me, LEON ; in SASAR, an vogo qeqek on the house, an
vogok on me : see also Alo Teqel.
X. CONJUNCTIONS.
The common Copulative is wa, but often omitted ; nom van et ten
mav I went (and) saw that he was away. Conditional, si if ; si na
'ar if there be a calm. Disjunctive, si, or ; ga we si 'iga ? is it good
or not ? Declarative and Illative, si that ; tern tek si nok van he
said that I would go, or was going. 'Lest' is wa, but not used
without ten or en the Preposition ' from,' which also is used alone
with the sense of ' lest ;' et gor ten nek wa ul look out lest you
fall, et gor ten ul look out lest it fall ; et gor nek en ul, SASAE.
The Noun which is translated by ' and ' is 'a, in Leon ; 'ak 'isik I and my
brother; in Sasar, ok isik, 'am 'mm you and your brother, 'an 'isin he
and his.
XI. NUMERALS.
1. Cardinals. — LEON, one vowel, two voru, three ve'ol, four veve',
five 'evelim, six leve'a, seven liviru, eight livi'ol, nine leveva', ten
sanwul. SASAR, one vowal, two voro, three ve'ol, four veve', five
'eweZem, six leve'a, seven liviro, eight livi'ol, nine loveve', ten
sanwul.
In both the sum above ten is teme ; thirteen sanwul wal, or wel,
teme ve'ol. Hundred meltol. In LEON the sum above a hundred is
still teme, in SASAR virnegi ; a hundred and forty, LEON, meltol
vawel teme sanwul ve', in SASAR, meltol vawal virnegi sanwul ve'.
A thousand is in LEON 'er, in SASAR 'ar. The Interrogative and
Indefinite in LEON ve vi, in SASAR vo ve.
With the Cardinals is the Verbal Particle v- with shifting vowel ; the true
Numeral being shown in sanwul wal, or ve\ After meltol the Leon vawel, and
Sasar vawal, do not show the Verbal Particle va, but the Prefix va, = vaga.
2. Ordinals. — Second, LEON vorunagi, SASAR voronegi ; third,
LEON veolnagi, SASAR veolnegi ; with Prefix va and shifting Vowel,
and nagi = Mota anai. First, in LEON meagi, SASAR 'ow'ow,
Mota towotowo.
3. Multiplicatives with Prefix vag except before w ; once vawel,
vawal, twice vagru, vagro, three times vag'ol ; how many times 1
vagvi ?
XII. EXCLAMATIONS.
Vocative, ge ! Affirmative, LEON wugi, SASAR irgi, the Motlav
irwe. Negative, LEON 'iga, SASAR inc.
Vuras. Alphabet, Articles, Nouns. 345
6. VUKAS, VONO LAV.
The district called by its inhabitants Yuras, at Mota Vureas, or
Avreas, lies between Mosina and Leon on the coast. The same
dialect is spoken in the bay of Vuras and on the promontory
JVerepot, Mota ^uspaut. It is the part of Vanua Lava which
has most communication with Santa Maria.
I. ALPHABET.
1. Vowels. — a, e, e, i, o, o, u, u.
The tendency is to shorten the Vowels, which are sometimes difficult to dis-
tinguish : e represents generally the a of Mota, netui — natui. There is a
sharp short e heard in mSs a parrot, as distinct from mes a fish.
The only Diphthong is ai.
2. Consonants. — k, g ; t, d ; p, v, w ; q ; m, in, n, n ; r, 1 ; s.
d = nd often represents the Mota n. Though p is rather to be written, there
is a tendency to sound mb ; this, however, does not affect q, which is kpw.
II. ARTICLES.
1 . Demonstrative Articles, o, na ; the latter used only with Nouns
which have a suffixed Pronoun; o qotui a head, na qotun his
head.
2. The Personal Article i ; feminine iro, plural ira ; o vo a thing,
i vo the person.
III. NOUNS.
There are the two classes, as elsewhere, those which take and
do not take a suffixed Pronoun ; and again there are those which
have a special termination as Nouns.
1. Verbal Substantives. — The terminations are g and e ; vano to
go, vanog a going, meat to die, mate death. Verbal Nouns are
often reduplicated verbs, tern to love, temtem love ; Mota tape.
2. Independent Substantives have the terminations i and gi,
connected with the stem ending in a consonant sometimes by u ;
qotui head, turgi body.
3. In Composition with a second Noun, which stands in a
genitive relation to it, a Noun has the form of the stem to which the
Independent termination is affixed ; qotui a head, qot qo a pig's head,
doi a leaf, do tenge leaf of a tree, neregi a snout, Nerepo£ locust's snout.
But the final a of a stem becomes e, matai an eye, mate govur a
door, mateqersal a road. See Mota.
346 Melanesian Grammars.
4. Plural. — There is no Plural sign but tare, a Noun meaning
an assemblage ; tare govur houses, a group of houses ; dol signifies
totality, o vono dol the whole land, kamam dol ta Vuras veles we
are all belonging to Vuras only. Reduplication gives the notion
of plurality and size ; ranranoi many, or large, legs.
IV. PKONOUNS.
1. Personal.
Singular, i. ino, no, na; 2. inik, nik; 3. ine, ne, ni.
Plural, i. incl. inin, nin, excl. ikamam, kamam ; 2. ikemi, kemi ;
3. iner, ner.
Dual, i . incl. doro, excl. komorok ; 2. komoro w ; 3. roro.
Trial, i. incl. nindol, excl. kamaktol; 2. kemitol; 3. nertol.
Observations. — In the Singular, na and ni are not used as objects of the
Verb. The forms of the Dual are remarkable : doro is a combination of the
Numeral ro with the Pronoun which in the Plural is nina, here probably na,
of which the vowel has shifted to o to match ro, and n has been attracted by
r to d. In the terminations of komorok and komoron there are, no doubt, the
Suffixed Pronouns k, n, of the First and Second Persons Singular ; the vowels
of kamam and kemi have shifted to match ro, kamam ro, kemi ro, = komoro.
It may be supposed, then, that k and n distinguish komoro-k, my komoro, the
two of whom I am one, from komoron thy komoro. In roro, r, which is the
true element of the Pronoun in ner, has become ro before ro two. The Trial
is more simple : nindol has d rather than t because of n before it ; in kamak-
tol, k, though not wanted for distinction, must be taken fcr the Suffixed
Pronoun.
2. Suffixed Pronouns.
Singular, i. k; 2. n; 3. n.
Plural, i. excl. mam; 2. mi ; 3. r.
In the Singular Second Person n is a change from m. In the Plural, in the
inclusive, the common nin is used.
3. Demonstratives. — OJco, iloko this ; leke that ; gine, that thing,
is the same with Mota gina.
The Plural ra makes a Demonstrative; ra ta Mot the Mota
people. The Plural Demonstrative which comes from the Vocative
is rege.
In calling to a person they use vo, a thing, vo standing in place of a name ;
but a common vocative Exclamation is i ka ; esi ika, Mota esi gai, I don't
know ; i in this being the Personal Article.
4. Interrogatives ; ise, feminine irose, plural irase who ? o so ?
what ? i the Personal Article. These are also Indefinite.
Vuras. Possessives, Adjectives, Verbs. 347
V. POSSESSIVES.
The Possessive Nouns taking suffixed Pronouns are no, mugu,
ge, me ; with the same significations as in the neighbouring lan-
guages ; nok my, mugun thy, of thy doing, gan his for eating,
men nin ours for drinking. For a pig, &c., bula a property.
VI. ADJECTIVES.
These are generally in Verbal form with ga, but there are pure
Adjectives; govur luwo a big house, govur netui, or menet, small
house. The Comparative is made by the Preposition den, from.
Adjectival terminations are g and r; wuwuag dusty, wotwotor
lumpy.
VII. VEEBS.
1 . Verbal Particles have shifting Vowels as in Motlav, accord-
ing to first Vowel of the Verb. The Temporal Particles are g-
Indefinite and m- Past ; there is no Future Particle.
1. g-\ the yowel shifts according to that of the Verb, but does not always
become identical with it : thus with Adjectives in the Verbal form, gi tise bad,
ga mame red, ge dederes sweet, go korlkor black ; but go we good, go tutan hot.
With Verbs, na gu mul ma I come, na gi siag I sit.
2. m-: na ma van me il ne I came (and) saw him, na mi siag I sat, no mo
tog ai I stayed there, ni mo tur he stood.
2. The Particle ti of continuance and consequence ; o ^tak ti nun,
ni qoqet sag the banian sheds its leaves (and) buds again.
The same Particle with a Pluperfect sense ; ni me le Jcel me o
teper me gengen ti lolon he brought back the dish he had eaten in.
Signifying remainder ; ge menet ti there is still a little.
3. The Verb is used without a Particle sometimes in the Present,
no qaqaq I write; and in the Future, na van I shall go, na
gagneg I shall tell.
The Verb with a, which must be taken as the Preposition, is
often used in the Present and the Future ; nin a siag we sit, ner a
tur a tenteu they stand (and) cry, win tar a kalo mes if it is calm
we shall catch fish. It is used with an optative meaning, as in
Mota ; nin a van let us go, komorok a van let us two go, nertol a
van let them three go.
4. In the Imperative there is no Verbal Particle, but a modifica-
tion of the Pronoun ; nik ke van go thou, ni ne van let him go, ru
van go ye two, used also in speaking to many.
5. Siiffixes. — These, Consonantal and Syllabic, are the same as
348 Melanesian Grammars.
in Mota ; meteg to eye, wonot to confine, JcoJcor to keep, ronteg to
hear, tegleg throw away, porseg to scoff at, unmeg to annoy. The
suffix corresponding to the Mota tak is tek, not a suffix of the same
kind as the foregoing teg ; vantek go with a thing, mastek fall with,
kal raka tek climb up with.
6. Prefixes. — Causative, va, vi ; vategev to hang up, vies to save,
make live, vasgir put on the fire. Conditional, m- ; melet broken,
meser torn, mowor come apart, mamarseg pitiful ; ta ; tanenig
straight, tawag come open, tatewilwil roll over and over. Spon-
taneity, tamo ; tamoul come undone as a rope, tamoras fall of itself.
Reciprocity, ver ; vervuvus fight, heat one another.
7. JKeflective Verbs, with kel ; ne me lig meat Jcel ne he strangled
himself to death, no mo vus kel no I struck myself.
8. Negative Verbs ; the negative Particle is te, used either with-
out a Verbal Particle, no te He o so I don't see anything, or with
one, no me te He ai I did not see (him) there.
The Dehortative is ni tog as at Motlav, or mawe, the Mota mawia it is
enough ; mawe palpal don't steal any more. The word of prohibition is Tcoro ;
Jcoro palpal don't steal, Icoro dada timeakgine don't do like that ; to many
persons ru Icoro, literally, don't you two.
9. Auxiliary words as in Mota, ti, so; tikule turn the back,
sonogi set the face against.
10. Reduplication ; dada do often, siagsiag sit as a habit, sisisiag
go on sitting.
VIII. ADVEKBS.
1 . Place ; loko, here, = lo oko, Preposition and Demonstrative, in
this, gine, demonstrative, there, ai there, indefinite, ave where. Of
direction, me hither, et outwards.
2. Time; okoi now, garqe now, to-day, whether present or past,
tolow to-morrow, ares day after to-morrow, nares day before
yesterday, nais hereafter, nanor yesterday.
3. Manner ; timeak as, timeak gine, like that, so ; timeak ave,
how, in what manner, literally as \, here ? gese, gese ai, how ? by
what means ?
4. The Negative is tege, sometimes as a Verb ga tege.
IX. PREPOSITIONS.
i. Locative, a, at; as in ave where? at the place where; lo in.
2. Motion to, sur ; of persons, van sur ne go to him; 3. Motion
from, den from. 4. Against gor. 5. Dative, min; la min ne give
Vttras. Conjunctions, Numerals, Exclamations. 349
it to him. 6. Instrumental, inin ; min o so? min o ker with what ?
with a club. 7. Ai at the end of a sentence, the same word with
ai there, compare Motlav ; iloko ker ne mo vus no te ai here is
the club he struck me with. 8. Relation in general, b- with shifting
Vowel ; bo so why ? about what ? bo qotuna at his head, be mate-
govur by the door. 9. Of Persons, me ; me no with me, me nik with
thee. 10. Of Places, ta; ra ta M.ot the Mota people, n. A Pre-
position the same as Ureparapara ri, on ; li tow on the hill, li mekek
on me, i. e. on the top of me.
Compound Prepositions ; the last example shows meke a Noun ;
so alaliie govur under the house, a lalnak under me, at my underside,
bersi ev, without a, beside the fire.
X. CONJUNCTIONS.
Copulative wa ; Adversative pa, nava ; Disjunctive si ; Illative
si ; Conditional win ; na win il ne na gagneg min ne if I shall see
him I will tell him ; probably the Mota wun.
The Preposition den is used for ' lest,' il gor ten ni mas look out
lest it fall.
The Noun ta is used, tak I and-, ton, tan, &c.
XI. NUMEBALS.
1. Cardinals. — One tuwel, two niro, three nitol, four nivat, five
tevelem, six levete, seven lovoro, eight lovotol, nine levevat, ten samul,
a hundred meldol, a thousand tar.
The unit above ten deme', thirteen samul tuivel deme nitol ; the
sum above a hundred o vivi, a hundred and forty-two melnol vagaro
o vivi samul vat deme niro. How many, so many, ni vis.
The Numerals ro, tol, vat, have the Verbal Prefix ni. The vowels in levete,
lovoro, lovotol, change with the numeral stem : samul should, probably, be
saiawul for sanwul.
2. Ordinals, formed by suffixing ne to the true Numeral ; second
rone, third tolne, fourth vatne, tenth samulne; first is moai.
3. Multiplicatives, with va or vag prefixed ; vatewal once, vagoro
twice, vagtol, vagvat, vagsamul ; vagvis ? how often ?
XII. EXCLAMATIONS.
The Affirmative is we ! ; ika ! esi ! have been mentioned.
350 Melanesian Grammars.
7. MOSIN, VANUA LAVA.
Mosin is the part of Vanua Lava nearest to Mota of those
districts the dialects of which are given here, lying not far from
Qakea where Mota is spoken. It will be seen that the language is
more like Mota than the rest. The Mota name is Mosina.
I. ALPHABET.
1. Vowels. — a, e, i, o, u. These are all sometimes sharp and
short. There are no Diphthongs ; the Mota lau, maur, tauwe, au,
sau, tursao, lai, are in Mosina Id, mur, tow, a, so, metesd, le. The
Mota u, when there is a change, is generally represented by <5.
2. Consonants. — k, g ; t ; p, v, w ; q ; m, m, n, n; r, 1 ; s.
II. AKTICLES.
1. The Demonstrative Article is o ; na is remarkably absent.
2. The Personal Article e; e Masre', feminine ero, plural era,
feminine eraro. It personifies ; e gale the deceiver, gale to deceive ;
o va a thing, e va a person.
III. NOUNS.
There is the double division of Nouns into those that do and do
not take suffixed Pronouns, and those that have and have not a
termination marking them as Nouns.
1. Verbal Substantives have the terminations r, ea, a; toga to
abide, togar behaviour, nonom to think, nonomea thought, mat to
die, mata death.
As in Mota mata takes the Suffixed Pronoun, matah my death. A re-
duplicated Verb makes a Noun ; tap to love, taptap love.
2. Independent forms of Nouns end in gi; penigi, qatugi, qetgi,
ulsigi.
3. In Composition the true word takes a Vowel after a final
Consonant ; o peni qo a pig's shoulder, o qatu ig a fish's head, o ulsi
gd the end of a line, o qetgi motu the stem of a cocoa-nut.
The last example requires explanation, for the independent form is qetgi.
The Mota qetegiu shows the true word to be qeteg and qetgi to be in fact
qeteg-gi. The words metesa a landing place, matesala a road, show e as the
termination in composition of Nouns which in Mota end in a.
4. Plural. — The Noun tare means an assemblage; o tare im
houses ; there is no other Plural sign, except ra with persons.
Mo sin. Pronouns, Possessives, Adjectives. 351
Totality is expressed by nol ; gese is replaced by veles only, Mota vires.'
5. Reduplication gives notion of number and size ; rouronogi
many or large legs.
IV. PBONOUNS.
1. Personal.
Singular, i. en5, nS; 2. enik, nik; 3. eni, ni.
Plural, i. ind. enin, nin, excl. kemem ; 2. kemi ; 3. enir, nir.
The Dual is the Plural with ro, for ru, suffixed ; except kemuro for kemi ro.
The Trial is the Plural with tol three ; except also Jcemtol for kemi tol.
2. Suffixed Pronouns.
Singular, i. k; 2. m ; 3. n.
Plural, i. mem; 2. mi; 3. r.
In the inclusive First Person nin is suffixed. With some Nouns there are
vowel changes when the Pronoun is suffixed, e.g. i. o pinik my hand, 2. piniia,
S.penen; Plural, i. incl. penenin, excl. p inimem, 2. pinimi, ^.pener; the in-
dependent form being penigi, and the stem no doubt pen. In the Dual pe-
nenro, the hand of them two, shows the introduction, as in Mota, of n.
3. Demonstratives ; le this, no that ; ovale this thing, o va no that
thing ; He this, ilno that, o tare va le, tare va no these, those,
things.
Another is ti, with the Plural ra, ra ti those persons ; vet row
mun ra ti tell those people. Ra ta Mot the Mota people.
This corresponds to Mota ragai, but is not made with the Vocative va !
which means ' thing,' and is used for the person's name.
4. Interrogative ; esei, Plural erasei, erosei, erarosei feminine, who ?
o sav ? what 1 all also indefinitive. The Distributive Particle is
val ; val sei each one, val nir each of them.
V. POSSESSIVES.
Nouns with suffixed Pronouns, i. no; nok, nom, non, &c ; 2.
mugu ; muguk, rather in the sense of done by me ; 3. ga, of food ;
4. ma, of drink. With the Article o nok, o muguk, o gak, o mak,
mine, a thing of mine. A piece of property such as a pig is polak.
VI. ADJECTIVES.
Adjectives generally are used in Verbal form, ga liwo ; but some
are used as pure Adjectives, o im liwo a large house, o tin manle a
small house.
Comparison is made by the Preposition nen from ; o qo ga liwo
nen o gusuw a pig is bigger than a rat. The Adverb anan makes a
352 Melanesian Grammars.
Superlative ; o kau ga liwo anan a cow is very large, is the largest.
Greater number is shown with salo ; kemem ga raarag solo we are
more.
As in Mota, mansom is fond of money, meresom possessed of much money ;
mal is bad, mal matesala a bad road ; tir matesala, Mota fur, the right sort
of road.
Adjectival terminations are g, r ; silig black, lenlenir fluid.
VII. VEKBS.
1. Verbal Particles. — The Temporal Particles are, i. ga, indefinite
and Present, no ga sag, no ga ravrav I sit, write; 2. me, Past,
no me sag I sat ; 3. te, Future, talow nin te so to-morrow we shall
paddle.
To make the Past unmistakable the Adverb vetag is added; no me nag
vetag I have already done it.
4. ti, of continuance, consequence ; o gevig ti taw le rar the gaviga
flowers in the winter ; used in narrative, ti vet mini speaks to him.
5. The Pluperfect ti ; ni me le kel me o pok ni me vosvosog ti lolon
he brought back the book he had been reading in. The same
Particle signifies remaining ; manle vog ti, there is still a little ;
and le me ti is a civil way of asking, just give it here.
The Conditional Particle is pe, Mota qe ; na pe il ni should I see
him.
The Imperative may be the simple Verb ; mul, vet row mi ni go
tell him ; or modifications of Personal Pronouns are prefixed ; ka van
ka vet, go, say, ru mul go ye two, tur mul go ye; ni mul let
him go.
2. Suffixes. — These are much the same as in Mota ; Consonantal,
meteg, from mete eye, sonon, vasager make to sit, from sag ; Syllabic,
route, same, sarve, matve, Mota rouotag, savrag, sarovag, matevag.
The suffix tek, Mota tak, is not of this character, multek go with,
mastek fall down with, mul gaplot tek go quickly with.
3. Prefixes. — i. Causative, va ; es to live, vaes save, sag to sit,
vasager make to sit. 2. Reciprocal, ver ; nir ro ga vergat they two
are talking one to another. 3. Of Condition, me ; meser torn ; mo,
molumlum soft ; ta, reduplicated, tatawilwil roll over and over.
4. Of Spontaneity, tav, and tarn. ; tavror to go down of itself, tata-
mul, reduplicated, to come undone, ul of itself.
4. Impersonal Verbs ; me vuwul no it has tired me, I am tired of
it, ga momos no it pains me.
Mosin. Adverbs, Prepositions. ^ 353
5. The little auxiliaries ti and so are used as in Mota; tikul
to turn the back, sonag to set the face,
6. Reflective Verbs with kel back ; ni me nag mamat kel ni he
killed, did to death, himself.
7. Negative Verbs. The negative Particle is te, used without
a Verbal Particle ; no te nag ves I have not done it at all ; but te is
also ete and mote ; no ete ilman I don't desire, no mote ilman ; there
is no distinction of meaning or of tense between te, ete, mote,
Dehortative as Motlav, ni tog ; ino ni tog let it not be I.
8. Reduplication; sag sag sit often, sasasasasag sit on continu-
ously, the number of reduplications conveying the notion of the
length of continuance.
VIII. ADVEBBS.
1. Place; He here, pen there, eve where ; of direction hither me,
outwards nat. 2. Of Time ; garqe to-day, whether present or past,
lenor yesterday, talow to-morrow, tee ris day after to-morrow, noris
day before yesterday, anes when, of future time, nanes when, of
past time ; vog still, towo, still, vatag already, qarak thereupon, for
the first time, ves at all, the Mota wesu to arrive at completion.
IX. PEEPOSITIONS.
Locative, i. a at, and e ; ave, eve where : 2, le in ; ni ga sag le im
he sits in the house, ni me mul le im he went into the house.
3. Motion to a person, sur; mul sur ni go to him. 4. Motion from,
nen; also at the end of a sentence, lele o vanan ni me to vatag nen,
that is his country that he has already gone away from. 5. Mo-
tion against, gor ; ar gor o vutus fence in a garden, ar gor qo fence
against pigs, sargormun sioj) dress, clothe over the body, with clothes,
il gor ! look out ! look after, van gor go after, fetch. 6. Dative,
mi; le mi ni give to him. 7. Instrumental, mun; different it should
be observed from mi ; used also like Mota mun ; me le mi no mun
polak given to me for my property. 8. Of general Relation, pe; pe
sav ? why? The same with the Mota pe, but never used as a com-
pound Preposition. It is shown a Noun by pen, the Adverb
' there,' which is used also as an Instrumental Preposition ; le o ker
no me vus ni pen this is the club I struck him with ; compare
Motlav ai. 9. Of Relation to persons, me; komoru me tog me no
you two have stayed with me. This is shown to be a Noun by its
being men before kamem and kimi. 10. Of Relation to Place, ta;
ra ta Mo£ the Mota people, ta Mosin ; also ti, combining with pe
A a
354 Melanesian Grammars.
and Ze and making, in fact, compound Prepositions; ti pen le belong-
ing to this, ti le lam belonging to the sea.
Nouns are used as Prepositions ; vogo im on the house, the Mota
vaw o ; lalne «m under the house.
X. CONJUNCTIONS.
Copulative, wa. Adversative, £>«; strong, like Mota nava,vakvo.
Connective in narration nag. Disjunctive, si. Conditional, mu ;
mu tar ga so if it be cairn can (paddle) go on a voyage ; mu wen
mote mul if it rain cannot go ; na mu te il ni if I should not see
him. Illative, Declaratory, ta ; no me vet mi ni ta ni mul I said
to him that he should go, told him to go ; no me vet ta no mul I said
that I should go. This Declarative ta comes after wa the sign of
Quotation ; ni me gat mi no wa ta ni van me he said to me that he
was coming. For ' lest ' the Preposition nen, from, is used ; nen ni
mas lest it fall: 'until' is gin; gin mate till death: 'as' is tama,
like.
The Noun of accompaniment is to, ta ; tok, <om, tan.
XL NUMEEALS.
1. Cardinals. — One towal, two niru, three nitol, four nivet, five
tevelim, six levete, seven livuro, eight livitol, nine livivet, ten sanwul;
twenty sanwul ru, thirty sanwul tol ; a hundred melnol, a thou-
sand tar.
The unit above ten o numegi ; eleven sanwul towal o numegi
towal. The number above a hundred o vivigi. The interrogative
and indefinite ves.
The Prefix ni is Verbal ; the Past or Future Verbal Particle can be used ;
me tol vatag three already, te tol ernes will be three hereafter. The Vowels of
the prefixes leve, livu, livi, of six, seven, eight, are affected by those of the
Numeral stems. The word tar, though used accurately for a thousand, is used
also loosely for any great number.
2. Ordinals are formed by adding ne or negi to Cardinals ; second
ronegi, third tolnegi, and so on, tenth sanwulnegi ; or rone, tolne,
sanwulne, melnolne ; gi and ne are the Mota i and anai.
3. Multiplicative vag ; vagtowal once, vagru twice.
4. As in Mota there are signs of the character or circumstances of some
things numbered ; of men together pulves so many, of men on board sagves, of
arrows turves, things in a bunch soyves, money, so many strings takes, things
at once sarakves.
XII. EXCLAMATIONS.
The Affirmative is we 1 Negative ni iv.
A lo Teqel, Vanua Lava. Alphabet. 355
8. ALO TEQEL, VANUA LAVA.
The Dialect of alo Teqel, on the Slope, was spoken by the people
between Qatpe and the shore opposite Ravewa, below the hot
springs. It is valuable as showing something of a different type
from Vuras and Mosina on one side, and Pak on the other. While
it agrees with Pak in casting out t, it has peculiarities such as the
Article of its own. This sketch was given by the late Edward
Wogale, who had lived at Lalne Qog.
I. ALPHABET.
1. Vowels. — a, e, e, i, o, u.
2. Consonants. — k, g; t; p=mp, v, w; q; m, m, n, n; r, 1; s.
The dropping of t is seen in me'egi eye, 'ansar man, ma' die; and
its substitution for n in ter they, tar blood, togi leaf, all as at Pak.
II. ARTICLES.
1 . The Demonstrative Article is nan ; nan pinigi a hand, nan
pinin his hand.
This Article, which is peculiar, is not fully pronounced with Nouns with
suffixed Pronoun ; it sounds rather n'pinin. Before a Vowel also it is cut
short; no! 'ansar, we'en.
2. Personal Article i and e, Plural ere ; ise who ? ge thing, i ge
the person, feminine iro ge the woman, erege those people.
III. NOUNS.
1. Verbal Substantives', ma' to die, me'e death.
2. Independent forms end in gi ; nan me'egi an eye, nan pinegi
a hand, nan qu'ugi, or qi'igi, a head, nan lowogi a tooth.
3. Composition ; qi'i qo pig's head, pine 'ansar man's hand.
4. Plural sign, mateg many; ne' en mateg houses, ansar mateg
men. Totality is tol ; get tol all of us ; ow is Mota gese ; iter ow
they and only they, they all and no others.
IV. PBONOUNS.
1. Personal.
Singular, i. eno; 2. enek; 3. ite.
Plural, i. incl. iget, excl. ikomom ; 2. ikimi ; 3. iter.
Dual, i. incl. gotro, excl. kamaro; 2. komro; 3. toro.
Trial, incl. got'ol, excl. kama'ol; 2. kom'ol; tor'ol.
2. Suffixed to Nouns.
A a 2
356 Melanesian Grammars.
Singular, i. k; 2. wi ; 3. n.
Plural, i. twc£. t, ease/, mem; 2. mi; 3. r.
The Prefixes e and t are used or not at pleasure. In the Dual and Trial the
changes of Vowels are in all Persons intelligible except in the First exclusive,
in which kama before ro and Jol can hardly be a change from komom : rather
it is that kamam is the true form changed to komom.
3. Demonstrative. — This tiwo, tigen ; that tine ; this thing ge
tiwo, ge tegol, that thing ge tene ; te and ti are the 3rd Singular
Pronoun ; erege, those people, is demonstrative as well as Vocative.
4. Interrogative. — Who ? ise, ine ? what ? sav ? naav ?
A Noun 'ewegi is the Mota tuaniu, some, and this with Third Person Pro-
noun suffixed is 'awan, some. The distributive Particle is vel ; vel ansar each,
every man.
V. POSSESSIVES.
i. ro; 2. mu; 3. go; 4. mo.
VI. VERBS.
1. Verbal Particles are i. ge indefinite ; ge we it is good, no ge
po'o I sit; 2. m suffixed, Past, nom /;o'o I sat; 'i Future, no 'i
po'o I shall sit. The last is used also as Mota ti; mereg 'i 'aw lo
rar the Malay apple flowers in the winter ; and also as Conditional,
'i 'ar 'i le should it be calm it will be possible. The Pluperfect is
marked by 'i ; nom ]>o'o 'i I had been sitting : and the same signi-
fies remainder ; ge wowrig 'i there is still a little.
2. The Imperative is the simple Verb ; van, ege, gasem, go, you
fellow, tell ; or has a Pronoun before it, Jcimi gasem tell ye, komro,
kom'ol gasem, tell ye two, or three, ten gasem let him tell.
3. Suffixes. — Consonantal Suffixes making a Verb directly trans-
itive are seen in sogog, (Mota sogov), vaqev, and sonon. Syllabic
Suffixes are re, le ; sopre or opre throw away, siple hang up ; mol'or,
van or, go with, show the Pak 'ur, Motlav ter.
4. Prefixes. — i. Causative, v-; es to live, ves to save alive; vaqev,
Mota vataqav. 2. Of Condition ; misir torn, mili'i broken, Mota
masare, malate; the same Prefix as in the Adjectives malaklak
happy, molunlun soft; 'a, 'awilwil rolling over. 3. Of Spontaneity,
'an ; 'am*/ to come undone as a line.
5. The Negative Verb has the two Particles 'i and 'e ; te 'i mol 'e
me he has not come hither, no 'i mol 'e I shall not go. Dehortatory
no'og ; no'og polpol don't steal, no'og vus te don't strike him.
VII. ADVEKBS.
The common directive ' hither ' is me, but that outwards is wel.
Of Place ; kowo, Jcogol here, kene there, eve ? where ? the Noun nan
Alo Tegel, Vanua Lava. Prepositions- 357
ve the place where. Of Time ; meren to-morrow, lonor yesterday,
wores day after to-morrow, loneres day before yesterday, nes here-
after, lonenes heretofore ; nor, res, nes, Nouns ; ne sign of past time.
Of Manner ; 'erne as, like, 'emewo, 'emegol thus, 'emenle so, 'erne ve
(lama avea, Mota) how.
VIII. PBEPOSITIONS.
i. Locative, e; seen in eve where. 2. lo, seen in Adverbs of Time.
3. Motion to a person, sir ; from an ; against gor. 4. Dative, me.
5. Instrumental, min. 6. Relation ; general pe, of place 'a, to per-
sons me.
Nouns used as Prepositions ; lalne en, or qeqek, under the house,
vogo the top, ran vogo, atop, upon, ra a Noun also used as Prepo-
sition with suffixed Pronoun n; ran vogo ve'e on a stone, ran vogok
on me, i. e. on my top. See Leon and Ureparapara, an and re.
IX. CONJUNCTIONS.
Copulative, wa. Adversative, pa. Disjunctive, si ; ge we si
na'ager ? is it good or not ? Conditional, si. Declarative, si ; tern
tek si 'emenle he said that it was so. For ' lest ' en, away from, is
used ; et gor en mos look after it lest it fall ; but the Mota wa is
used as Cautionary ; wa enek out of the way with you, take care of
yourself. The Noun is mo'o ; eno mo' ok 'isik I and my brother.
X. NUMERALS.
1. Cardinals. — One vo'owal, two varo, three vo'ol, four ve ve'e,
five 'evelem, six lime, seven liviro, eight livi'ol, nine livive'e, ten
sonwul : thirteen sonwul 'awal temegi vool : a hundred and forty
meltol sonwul ve'e ran (upon it): a thousand 'er: how many? veves ?
2. Ordinals. — First 'ow'ow, second vorogi, third vo'olgi.
3. Multiplicatives. — Vagve'e four times, vagves 1 how often ?
XI. EXCLAMATIONS.
Yes we ; No line ; na'ager nothing, no, a Noun.
Vocative, e ge I ge a thing, standing for the man's name.
9. J/ERLAV, STAR ISLAND.
Jl/erlav, Star Island, the nearest of the Banks' Islands to the
New Hebrides, shows a little approach in language to Maewo.
358 Melanesia* Grammars.
The language of the people of the leeward side appears to the
Mota people to be ' thick ; ' those, however, who speak it say that
the natives of the windward side speak ' heavy.'
There is a way of almost cutting off a final a ; vanov1 for vanova.
I. ALPHABET.
1. Vowels. — a, e, i, o, u. No true Diphthong.
The Mota lau becomes lou, led becomes lei.
2. Consonants. — k, g ; t, d=nd; b, v, w; q; m, m, n, n; r, 1; s.
The sound of b is mb, but tends towards mp ; q in consequence
is rather kmpw, or kmbw. There is no h.
II. ARTICLES.
1. The Demonstrative Article is na. This goes with names of
places ; na Vun Lav nu lav dan na Mot Vanua Lava is larger than
Mota.
2. The Personal Article i, feminine iro, plural ira. It personi-
fies ; i gale the liar ; na vei a thing, i vei the person, iro vei, ira vei ;
see Mota.
III. NOUNS.
The class taking the suffixed Pronoun is of course present ; not,
however, always the same words with Mota, e. g. nok vus my bow.
1. Verbal Nouns. — The terminations are va, ne, ia, a; vanova,
muleva a going, togne behaviour, matea death, vatgoa teaching, do-
domia thought.
2. The termination of Independent Nouns is gi and i ; and the
Vowels of a dissyllabic stem are in some cases modified when the
termination is suffixed, appearing in their true form when a Pro-
noun is suffixed. Thus sesei a name, from sasa, nasasak my name;
teqei stomach, from t aqa, limei hand, from lima ; qoii knee, from
qou; qati head from qatu; while daloi, neck, dalok; uusui, lip,
nusuk ; qotogi, beginning, qotogina ; show no change.
3. When two Nouns are compounded together in a genitive
relation, and the former ends in a, it changes the final a to e, and
the foregoing vowel also may be shortened, as in Volow ; na sese
tadun a man's name, sasa ; na sinsine aloa ma sin lue le turodid,
the sunshine shone through at the window.
(i) When the genitive of a person is signified, when the second word is a
Personal name, or a Pronoun, the Suffixed Pronoun is used, na lim.au Wenag
Wenag' s hand ; yet the lighter ending is used, and i is also sometimes inserted,
na limei set whose hand ? _In na dk iseil na aJc_i Wo.qas^ whose canoe ?_ Woqas'
Pronouns, v 359
canoe, it may rather be thought that i is the Personal Article. The house of
the two im i rarua, by the hand of the two ni lime rarua.
(2) Words ending in a Consonant, which in the Independent form have the
ending i or gi, are compounded in their true form ; na qat qoe a pig's head, net
utol ov a hen's egg, kesin nu sag be bag bei he sits by the water side.
4. Prefixes. — An instrumental Prefix is ga; gabala tongs, bala
to take up with crossed ends of sticks, gabulut glue, bulut to make
to stick, gasva, ga sava, how. A roller for a canoe is gettan, in
which ga is apparently combined with the Prefix i of the Mota
and Fiji.
5. The Plural sign is ges ; na im ges the houses, ges having the
same radical signification as the Mota gese. A word meaning a
company is also used ; na tore tadun.
Dol is ' all,' with the sense of totality ; tagu, an Adverb, signifies comple-
tion ; na im dol all the house, na im ges tagu all the houses.
A Plural Prefix, with terms of relationship, &c., ra.
IV. PKONOUNS.
1. Personal Pronouns.
Singular, I. ino, no, na, o; 2. iniko, nik, ko, k; 3. kisin, a.
Plural, i. incl. igida, da, excl. z'kamam; 2. ikamiu; 3. ikera, ra.
Dual, i. incl. durua, excl. kamarua; 2. kamrua; 3. rarua.
The Trial has no distinct form, the numeral is added to the
Plural Pronoun; igida bultol, we three.
Observations. — I. The Prefix i is used or not with more or less of emphasis.
2. The Third Singular kisin is evidently not the original Pronoun, but is the
same with the Gaua demonstrative Jcosen ; the original was probably Ice. 3. In
the Dual inclusive da has become du by the influence of « in rua. The longer
forms of these Pronouns are regularly used as the subject, but may be the
object of a Verb.
2. Personal Pronouns as the object of a Verb, or after Preposi-
tions, have a form so far different from that which they have when
the subject, that it is desirable to exhibit them separately.
Singular, i. o; 2. k; 3 a. Plural, i. incl. da; 3. ra, r.
After a Consonant i is introduced before the Pronoun ; vus to
strike, vusio strike me ; dan from, danik from thee.
These forms are the true Pronouns without the prefixed parts of the Pro-
nouns used as subject in a sentence : a via na tadun nik ma malania ? where
is the man, you saw him ? nik sa surmeleir Ties be im ? when will you pay them
for the house ? kisin ma gon mi o he was angry with me.
The Pronouns in these forms are generally written in one with the Verbs, or
Prepositions which precede them are taken as Suffixed.
3. Pronouns suffixed to Nouns.
360 Melanesian Grammars.
Singular, i. k; 2. w ; 3. na. Plural, i. incl. da, excl. mam ;
2. miu; 3. ra.
In the Second Singular » represents the more common w. It is remarkable
that in one case, at least, the form of Pronoun used as suffixed to a Verb
occurs where, in other languages, the form suffixed to Nouns is employed. In
Mota inau magesek is I by myself, alone, magesema thou alone, and so on,
magasei being in fact a Noun ; in Merlav it is ino gaso, iniko gasek, Tcisin
gasea, gasegida, gaskamam, gaskamiu, gasera, as if gas were a Preposition.
The Dual is not formed simply with the ordinary Dual Pronoun
after the Noun (with e if the termination be a as given above),
except in the 3rd Person : e. g. no, limadrua, inclusive, na lima-
marua, exclusive, hands of you two. In the 3rd Person na lime
rarua. The hands of us three na limada bultol.
4. Demonstratives.
Ke, kei, kekei, this, kekei ges these ; ne, ma, that, ges ma those.
The Demonstrative formed from the Vocative is vatlumer; and
another rava = Mota ragai.
A Vocative ' you people ! ' is semiu ; vatlumer and rava can be explained by
the Gaua exclamation vae ! ( = Mota gai) and mer ( = Mota mera), a common
word for boy ; vatlumer is then vae ! tolu mer ! ' three,' being used often in
addressing a number of persons.
Examples. — Na tankei nu wia ikei be vus the tree is good this for a bow ;
na ak isei fee ? whose canoe is that ? non isei na tevtev keke ? whose is this
knife ? na tadun ne kisin ma bal na mavid that man, he stole the glass
(bottle), literally, the obsidian ; na sava le tamber ma ? what is in that dish ?
rava ta Qaur ma tor gasva na imara ? how do those Bauro people build their
houses ? avia nik nu maros ? keke gina, which (where) do you wish ? this, to
be sure.
5. Interrogatives.
I sei ? feminine, iro set ? plural, ira sei ? who ?
Sava ? what : ' which ' is expressed by ' where.'
6. Indeftnitive.
Sei and sava are indefinite as well as interrogative, some one
and some thing. There is also tia any ; taga tia not any, not at all.
The Eelative in English is represented by a Demonstrative, or has nothing
to represent it : le ma na ve na ma warek apen give me the thing I spoke to
you about it (observe ware to ' speak to ' has the object Pronoun k) ; na tadun
ma le mino na gagav ma mat vita the man (who) gave me the garment is
already dead ; kisin na tadun nik ma vusia he is the man you struck (him).
V. POSSESSIVES.
i. no, general relation; 2. mugu, relation of proceeding from
the person whose the thing is ; 3. ga, of closer relation, as of food ;
4. ma, of drink.
Merlav. Adjectives, Verbs. 361
1 . no, with the Article, na nolc mine, na won thine, i. e. a thing of mine, Sec. ;
le ma, nanolc, give it here, (it is) mine. The word is never ano.
2. m«$rw, or muff ; na mug isei ? aor na mugun sei ? whose doing is it ? na ma
mata muguk I saw it myself. The word has the same use as the Mota mo,
on behalf of; mugma. for you, mugumam for us, on our behalf.
3. 4. ga and ma, as at Mota and elsewhere.
For property, such as a pig, bili is used ; na bilira sei na qoe 1
whose (plural) property (is) the pig 1
VI. ADJECTIVES.
1. There are pure Adjectives; na tadun lava a big man, na ima
wirig a small house ; but Adjectives generally have a Verbal
Particle ; na tankei nu wia a good tree.
2. Adjectival Terminations are ga, g, ra, r. Mamaraniga light-
some, (maran light), silsilig dark, wotwotor rough.
3. The Prefix ma is common in Adjectives.
4. Comparison is made by dan, from; na qoe nu lav dan na
gasuiv, a pig is bigger than a rat ; kamam nu karea danira we are
more than they, many from them. The word vever, Mota vara,
signifies comparison; ikike vever nu lava this is comparatively
large.
5. The expression that in Mota, and elsewhere, means 'possess-
ing much' here means 'fond of;' mersom fond of money ; tagsom is
rich in money, Mota tag, proprietor.
A depreciatory or diminishing prefix is wes ; nu wes lav rather
large.
VII. VEEBS.
1 . Verbal Particles are, Indefinite nu ; Past ma ; Future sa ;
of Continuance ti ; Pluperfect tu ; Conditional mi.
I. nu is Present and Indefinite ; na nu sag I sit.
a. ma is Past, but to mark decidedly past time is assisted by vita ; kisin
ma mat vita he is already dead.
3. sa is Future ; but probably is Fiji sa, which is Indefinite.
4. ti describes what is habitual, or of constant occurrence, and continued
action ; na gavig ti tawgas le raravia the Malay apple flowers in the winter ;
wo ti na but na im ti mamaraniga light a candle, the house is light with it.
5. tu throws the time back ; kisin ma le kel me na lok ma vevev tu lolon
he brought back the book he had been reading in (it).
The same Particle signifies that something remains : na werig tu there is
still a little left ; and is used in the way of civility, le ma tu just give it here.
6. mi ; si na mi matania, na sa sur if I should see him I shall tell him ; si
nik mi gan, nik sa mat ben if you eat it, you will die of it.
2. Verbs are used without Verbal Particles in subjoined clauses,
in the Imperative, and after certain Adverbs.
362 Melanesia* Grammars.
1 . Avia na gagav 1 na sasar, where is the garment ? that I may put it on ;
le me, na iara nok vus, give it here that I may cut my bow, a bow for
myself.
2. In the Imperative the Verb may be simply used, or with a Pronoun, or
with certain signs.
Lva. sttwo na be ile tan sugsug pour the water into the bath ; wor na eb
make valis spread the mat to dry on the grass ; mab na qoe le taber put the
pig into the dish ; nik sag be liwak sit you by my side ; nik mul go you, gida
mul let us go.
The signs of the Imperative vary with each Person : Singular, Second, wo,
Third, ti. Plural, First, inclusive, da ; Second, aru ; Third, ge. Singular,
Second, wo vasog na tankei be ban geara, or nik wo vasog, plant the tree
beside the fence ; Third, kisin ti mul let him go. Plural, First, da mul let us
go, da being the true stem of gida ; Second, aru sua me kalke be liwe ok
paddle here to the side of the vessel, aru mul me be gatogok come here behind
me ; Third, leer ge mul let them go. To three persons aru mul bultol, which
shows that aru cannot be, as it would seem, the Mota ura, a Dual.
3. There are no doubt other words besides kere, which is not easy to explain.
In one sense it gives reason or ground, as in Mota : na ma vusia sur kisin
kere da nok bok I struck him just because he damaged my book ; but also, as
in Motlav, it has a negative sense ; si Saw kere gar goroa mar kisin ma mat
if Sawa had not swum after him it was as if he (would have) died.
3. Suffixes.
The Consonantal Suffixes as they are used in Mota, n, r, t,
appear in matan, kokor, wonot, but g is absent ; the place of g is
taken by a lengthened a ; mata an eye, mata to eye a person,
man influence, mand to convey influence.
The Syllabic Suffixes are those common in the Banks' Islands
but without g ; va, vanva to convey, ra, vilra to distribute, la, sibla
to hang up, na, besna to lean against. The Suffix van represents
the separable vag, besides va.
Examples. — Sarta be gub im throw it at the back of the house ; ma visra
na gatogon make vat his back was broken on a stone ; na wot tankei ma
malatvania ti soe suwo the branch of the tree broke with him he falls down ;
van ffui va na taber go through with a dish, va separable.
4. Prefixes.
1. The Causative is va; vatabu to make holy ; but it is not com-
monly used, the Verb da to make, taking its place ; na Taug isei
ma da sar na gagav ? who tore the garment ? whose doing
was it?
2. The Reciprocal is var; rarua ma varvus rarua, they two beat
one another, na ak irua sua vardio. two canoes paddled to meet
one another.
3. The Conditional ma and ta; wor asunder, mawor broken;, lat
to break, malat ; taavav to be unsteady.
Adverbs. 363
4. The Prefix of Spontaneity is tawa; na boto ma tawadan (Mota
tavanaua) make qatuna, na matan ma qel a breadfruit came off on
his head, his eyes were blinded.
5. The Impersonal use of Verbs is shown by examples ; na lua
<ma salna be beresin the arrow was put lengthway on the wall ;
nu da gasva na revrev how is writing done ? sa da sava nia ? sa
da na gatgat nia, ti maw ben, to do (future) what with it 1 to do
the sore with it, it heals with it.
6. Negative Verbs are preceded and followed by the particles
ti and tia ; na ti maros tia I don't like.
In the Present and Past ti alone is used before the Verb : na ti matania tia
be tankei nu tur goroa I do not see him because a tree stands before him, or I
did not see him ; na ma valgira iniko amoa nik ti manas tia I knew you at
first, before you had spoken, literally, you spoke not ; no Verbal Particle.
In the Future bi (see Lepers' Island and Araga) is added before ti : no bi ti
maros tia I shall not wish, si kisin bi ti maros tia if he should not be willing.
To this v it also is added, si na bi ti vit maros tia if I should not like ; vit,
however, has much the appearance of bi ti.
7. What were called in Mota compound Verbs are thus shown,
nik ma dm avea 1 na ma mul din a le qil, na ni kel me, where did
you get to ? I went-to-get to the pool, then came back hither.
VIII. ADVERBS.
These are either simple Adverbs or Nouns with Prepositions ;
they can be shown by Examples.
1. Place. — With demonstrative Particles, kalke here, koine there, avia
kisin ? kalke le im, where is he ? here in the house ; nik ma matania avia 1
ka vano ne, where did you see him ? there, up that way. Direction hither
me, outwards at ; up kalo, sag ; isei ne ma kal sag ? who is that who has
climbed up ? down suwo, sur ; na madim sage, na velen suwo, your nose
above, your mouth below ; rev sur suwo na gaban haul down the sail ; out
lue ; was lue na liwoi pull out the tooth. With the Preposition a and ia, aia
there, nik ma mul aia be sava? Se gagav, what did you go there for? for clothes.
The place where, via, with Preposition a at, avia ? where ? with me hither,
whence, kamiu me avia whence are you ? kamiu ma mul me avia ? where
have you come from ? with i, to, whither, na metsal kei nu mul i via ? nu
mul i Veverau, where does this path go to ? to Veverau ; amoa first, Woqas
amoa, Wober be gatogon, Woqas first, Wober behind him ; nik wo mul amoa,
ino tagur, go thou before, I after.
2. Time. — Qarig present, na qarig past, to-day ; rarua ma sua na qarig na
maniyi be iya they two have gone out in a canoe (have paddled) to-day for
fish ; nes when, of future, na nes of past ; nik sa surmeleir nes be im ? when
shall you pay them for the house ? kisin ma mul me na nes ? when did he
come here ? weis the day after to-morrow, na weis the day before yesterday ;
na nanoa yesterday (na the sign of past time) ; ronia now, na qetogi na sava
364 Melanesian Grammars.
kisin me matur ronia 1 ma na? be suasua, why is he sleeping now ? he is tired
with paddling. The Verb pas, finish, is used, as Mota paso, adverbially ;
kisin ma mogmogi pas ti mul i varea when he has finished work he goes into
the village ; varea the village ; mob a varea put it outside, i. e. not in the
house ; i varea into the place.
3. Manner. — How gasva, ga the instrumental Prefix to Nouns, and sava
what ; na sa vasogi gasva na tankei ? how shall I plant the tree ? mar as ;
mar avia as where, how, Jeer nu da mar avia na gabe 1 how do they do the
net ? Why, be sava, what for ; nik ma vus bal na tadun be sava ? why did you
secretly strike the man ? manigi a cause, reason ; na manigi na sava nik ma
da ? na manigi na nu maros ? why did you do it ? because I like ; gab without
cause or consideration ; nik ma kasia gab ? tege, na manigi ben, did you ill-
treat him without cause 1 No, there was a reason ; bal secretly ; bat inwardly ;
wolwol crossways, na tankei nu loo. wolwol make bei the tree lies crossways
over the water; visol over, na tadun ma row visol na bei. the man jumped
over the water ; barta visol na im throw it over the house ; tal round about,
nik ma van tal ? have you come round about ? waliog round, geara waliog na
t'm fence round the house.
The Negative is tege ; isei ma bal ? tege, na gasuw ma norot who
stole it ? or did anyone steal it ? No, a rat ate it : taga is the same
word, a Noun ; taga tia none at all.
IX. PREPOSITIONS.
1. Simple. — Locative, a, le\ Motion to, i, sur; Motion from,
dan ; Motion against, gor ; Dative, min ; Instrumental, mi, ni, gi,
nia ; Relation, general, be, of place, ta, to a person, me, mi.
1 . a at, as in many examples ; gid nu tog a KoMmarama we are staying at
Kohimarama ; to, nik ma din avia ? a Tasmat, where did you get to, arrive
at ? to Tasmate ; from, according to Melanesian idiom, kamiu ma mul me
avia ? a ~M.ot, where have you come from ? from Mota.
2. le in, na sava le taber ? what (is) in the dish ? na qatia ma leia, me revea
lue le banen, the arrow struck him, came out through in his arm; kal tal le
turodid, come round and climb, climb round, in at the window. With i, as
below, into : kisin ma kal sara le turodid i le t'm, he climbed and got in by
the window into the house ; sara move into an opening.
3. i, motion to a place ; i varea to the village, i via ? to what place ? With
le into ; na iga ma sara i le gabe the fish drew into the net ; aru mul i le im
go ye into the house.
4. sur, motion to a person ; wo van suria go to him. There is, however, a
more general use of the Preposition, with a sense of motion, but not to a
person ; sur sa ? what to ? what for ?
5. dan from ; aru le reag na ker dania take away the club from him ; gid
ma mul dan na M.ot we have come from Mota ; kisin ma soe dan na ?'m he
fell from the house. The sense of motion is not always present ; na Mot nu
asau dan na Merlav mar Vun Lav a Vava Mota is distant from Merlav as
Vanua Lava is from (at) Vava ; kisin ma tur ron dan no be liwe tankei he
stood in hiding from me by the trunk of a tree. The Preposition may come
. Prepositions. 365
at the end of a sentence, na im keke kisin ma soe dan this is the house he
fell from.
6. gor, same as the Mota, always with a sense of ' against,' motion to meet ;
Tea/mam nu sage gor na nagon, we are sitting, have come to sit, before your
face.
7. min is no doubt from a word mi ; min being mi with the Pronoun n
suffixed. It is necessary to allow the form min as a Preposition ; wo le minia
give to him.
8. mi instrumental, with : na qolag ma vuvur mi na bei the cask was filled
with water.
9. ni instrumental, with, by : nik ma vusia ni na sa ? ni na leer, what did
you strike him with ? with a club ; ma wet maremare ni na gae he was tied
fast with a rope. There is a use of ni corresponding to the Mota use of mun,
a man buys a thing ni na bulan for his property, takes a boy ni natun for his
son, Mota mun pulana, mun natuna. It is introduced into a sentence also as
' withal ; ' le me, na ni tara nok vus, give it hither, that I may cut myself a
bow, my bow, withal ; and with something of the same meaning, na ma mul
din a le qil, na ni kel me, I reached (the place) at the pool, with that I came
back.
10. gi, also ' with ;' gi na sav ? gi na ker with what ? with a club.
u. nia, as in Mota, comes at the end of the clause : be sav nik me tor na
ker? na si a vus na goe nia, why have you got a club in your hand? that I
may strike a pig with it ; na ben kalke no ma rev tu nia this is the pen I have
been writing with. As in Mota nia is used with ris to turn, na bei ma ris
dar nia water turned into blood ; also gasva nia ? how ? a is the Pronoun, nia
as mia.
12. be, of general relation, by, near, at : Woqas ma besiia be mate im
Woqas was leaning at the door, nik sage be liwak sit by my side, kisin nu sag
be bag bei he sits by the water side. The suffixed Pronoun in ben, shows it a
Noun ; ben is used as thereby, thereat, therewith, U maw ben it heals with it,
na manigi ben there is a reason for it ; ben is also ' because,' nik ma le na bei
minia be sava 1 ben kisin ma siam. why did you give the water to him ?
because he was ill ; and be alone must sometimes be so translated ; na ti ma-
tania tia be tankei nu tur goroa I did not see him because a tree stood before
him, though be here is a Preposition before the clause tankei nu tur.
13. ta has the same meaning as in Mota ; rava ta Qaur the Bauro people.
14. me, mi, relation to a person. There are two forms, mi and me, the
Mota ma, and this mi must be distinct from min. The form of Pronoun
governed by the word is that which follows Verbs, not Nouns ; it is mia, not
min ; with me me o or mi o, with thee mi iko, with him mi a, with them me
ir ; tog me o stay with me, nik ma tog mi Woqas you stayed with Woqas ;
kisin ma gon mi o, mi iko, he was angry with me, with you.
2. Compound Prepositions are made up of Nouns with Preposi-
tions; with which must be taken Nouns serving as Prepositions,
though perhaps they are strictly the members of a compound, as
Ian im under the house.
Above, on, make ; na aloa make gida the sun above us ; na maligo make
maram a cloud above the earth ; makek above me, ma/ceu above thee, maken
366 Melanesia* Grammars.
on him, it ; kisin ma mule Qakea make sava 1 on board what (canoe) has he
gone to Qakea ? avia kisin ? make nei where is he ? up an almond tree, on ;
kal make matua climb up a cocoa-nut tree ; tavala side, the other side, avia
na qoe? tavala geara, where is the pig? beyond, the other side of, outside,
the fence ; avia kisin ? where is he ? kisin nu on tavala tankei suwo he is
working down there beyond the tree ; na Q-o tavala ~M.erig suwo Gaua is on
the other side of Merig to the west ; na lul gasuw Ian im the rat's hole (is)
under the house ; lalanan under it ; lolon inside it ; mab na manman be gatogo
tabera put the cloth under the dish, at the back of ; na tadun nu tur le wesan
nei tan na boto the man stands between the almond and the breadfruit tree ;
kisin nu sag le vatitne rarua he sits between them two.
X. CONJUNCTIONS.
The Copulative is dan ; in connected narrative le nei ' in that :'
si is Disjunctive ' or,' Conditional, ' if,' Illative and Declarative
' that ; ' si nik ma gan if you eat ; si sa asiko sa magavsik ben if it
should sting you you will suffer pain from it; na ma ware/a si
kisin sa mul I told him that he was to come ; na me sur si na sa
mul I said that I would come ; kamiu ma van me si sa mogmogi
you have come here that you may work.
In these examples it is to be observed that si is followed by the future
Particle sa. In an example given above there is a difference ; na si a vus that
I may strike, the order is different, and a, the Preposition before the Infinitive
Verb, is used as in Mota.
The sign of quotation is a = Mota wa, with si before it, or not.
The Noun ta is used as in Mota, tak, tan, tan, and I, and thou,
and he, tarsei ? they and who besides ? na nei tan na boto the
almond tree and the bread fruit tree.
XI. NUMERALS.
1. Cardinals. — One tuwale, two irua, three itol, four ivat, five
tavalim, six livetia, seven livearua, eight liveatol, nine kvvat, ten
sanavul, twenty sanavul rua, thirty sanavul tol, a hundred meldol,
a thousand tar.
The Verbal Particle i is prefixed to rua, tol, vat, being, as is commonly the
case, one not used except with Numerals.
The unit above ten is demei; eleven sanavul tuwale demei tuwale.
The sum above a hundred avavi ; a hundred and ten meldol vatu-
wale avavi sanavul.
The Interrogative and Indefinite 'how many?' 'so many,' visa,
with i ; na ak ma mul me na qarig i visa ? i tolu how many
canoes have come here to-day 1 three.
2. Ordinals are formed by prefixing vaga to rua, tol, vat, and
by suffixing to those and others substantival terminations.
Gog, Santa Maria. Alphabet. 367
There is some irregularity ; second vagaruei, third vagatoli, fourth
vagavati, fifth tavalmei, sixth levete, seventh livearue, eighth livea-
toli, ninth lev-vati, tenth sanavuli. First is moai.
3. Multiplicatives are formed with va or va^a ; vatuwale once,
vagarua twice.
Men together are bul visa, on board sage visa ; things taken up
together sogo visa, things done at once sarak visa.
Examples. — Taga tia na vaguruei tadun kalke, ino gaso, there is not a
second, an other, man here, I by myself; na sa sim vagavisa le qon tuwale?
how often shall I drink in one day ? sage visa make ak 1 how many on board
the canoe ?
XII. EXCLAMATIONS, EXPLETIVES.
Exclamations are much the same as in other Banks' Islands.
We /= Mota el we si! I don't know ! na sava ne ? we si I na sava ?
what is that ? I don't know ! what is it ?
The Expletive gina ; avia nik nu maros ? keke gina, which do
you wish ? this to be sure.
10. GOG, SANTA MARIA.
The Island of Santa Maria has two languages very much unlike,
one of which, that of Lakon, occupies but a small part of the island.
There are dialectical variations in the language which generally
prevails, but the difference between any two is small in comparison
with that between any one of them and that of Lakon. The
north-eastern part of the island is properly Gog, by which name,
in the form of Gaua, the whole island is known in the Banks'
Islands and Northern New Hebrides.
The dialect here represented is that of Tarasag, which is sub-
stantially that of Gog. The people have a good deal of intercourse
with Mota, Merlav, and Vureas in Vanua Lava.
Compared with Merlav the language is ' thin.' There is a
good deal of elision of Vowels, and some such attraction of vowel
sounds as is characteristic of Motlav.
The examples here given are almost all written by a native
translating from the Mota.
I. ALPHABET.
Vowels. — a, e, i, o, u; a and o are by some persons made very
short. There are no Diphthongs.
368 Melanesia*, Grammars.
Consonants. — k, g; t, d=nd; b=mb, v, w; q=kmbw; m, m,
ri, n ; r, 1 ; s.
The elision of Vowels is conspicuous in Nouns with the Article na and a
suffixed Pronoun : liman hand, nalmak my hand, govur a house, nagav-rur
their houses. In the latter example the Vowel o is changed to a. This modi-
fication of Vowels by attraction to the sound of a succeeding Vowel is seen in
the Prefix wa, we, wo ; wa lo, wo vul, we v(f)tig, we liw, the Vowel does not,
as in Motlav, anticipate the following sound, but is modified to meet it, a
before o, o before u, e before i.
II. ABTICLES.
1 . The Demonstrative Articles are u and na, the latter used only
when a Pronoun is suffixed to the Noun.
It is necessary to write na together with the Noun to which it belongs
when the first Vowel of the Noun is elided : le ma na te tar navsuk give it
here, I will cut my bow, na vusuk ; nu sar lu nalwon his tooth was pulled
out, na liicona. It is natural, therefore, to write together always this Article
with the Noun. Before a Vowel this Article is n-, nak a canoe.
2. The Personal Article is i, the feminine iro, plural ir. This
personifies as in Mota ; va a thing, i va a person.
3. There is a Particle in frequent use which is not an Article, but approaches
to one. Since the Vowel in it shifts according to the one that follows, it has
no fixed form, but it is the Mota wo, a word originally meaning something
round or a lump. This is used with the names of things of a generally round
or lumpish form, but is more widely applied, so much so that it is likely to be
taken for an Article. Sometimes when it is used there is no Article, some-
times u is used with it. Examples : wa lo makelced the sun above us, u wale
me ru me su vardin two canoes paddled to meet one another, nik ine le u weliw
mini abe sa ? abe ni me sera why did you give the water to him ? because he
was sick, u weg me sar ale gab the fish drew into the net, wor u web meke we
velis spread the mat to dry on the grass. In these the particle is used with
lo, ak, liw, eg, eb, velis. With Nouns which begin with a Vowel, w- coalesces.
For a similar use of wa see Nengone. The same wo, wa, we, is prefixed to
shortened forms of personal names.
III. NOUNS.
The division of Nouns into those that take and do not take the
suffixed Pronoun of course obtains.
1. Verbal Substantives end in g, and i; vano to go, vanog a
going, dodom to think, dodomi a thought.
2. Independent Nouns have the only certain termination n ;
lima hand, the true word, na lima-k my hand, liman a hand in-
dependently. Other Nouns end in i or u when unconstructed and
grammatically independent ; suri a bone, nalu a child, vini skin,
Gog. Pronouns. 369
qotu head ; but it may be doubted whether these terminations have
any distinctive character.
3. Nouns in Composition. The former of two Nouns, the latter
of which is in a genitive relation, appears in the true form of the
word, without an added termination ; nws the root form of the
independent nusun, snout, nus qo a pig's snout; qotun, indepen-
dently, a head, qot qo a pig's head; tawagesin, tawages, a flower,
tawages regai flower of a tree ; met govur a door, house's eye. It is
thus when the root form ends in a consonant.
Many words the root forms of which certainly end with a Consonant assume
a Vowel before the suffixed Pronoun, but only for the sake of pronunciation :
qot the root, but naqotun his head, nus, nanusun its snout; tawur back,
taw(u)ruk my back, natawru teber the back of the dish.
When the root form of the Noun ends in a the termination in
composition with another Noun is modified to e ; lima hand, lime
todun a man's hand ; u sinsine walo me sin lu die turudid the sun-
shine shone through at the window. This is the case also when
a person is the possessor, nake se u wak kere ? Woqas, whose canoe
is this canoe ? Woqas'.
Here, however, ok is the ordinary form ; oka, whence ake, seems to be used
rather to show the character of the construction ; compare Merlav. In the
word for ' name' the vowel changes to i ; sa is the root, nasak my name, but u si
todun a man's name.
4. Prefix. — The instrumental prefix is ga ; ga-manman a cloth
for wiping, man to wipe.
5. Reduplication of Nouns signifies size and number ; ronronon
great or many legs, limliman great or many hands.
6. Plural. — The word, no doubt a Noun, vaweg, added to a
Noun gives a plural sense ; todun vaweg ; but it is not common to
mark the plurality of Nouns. The common word ges is used in its
more proper sense ; u todun ges including all in view as men, and
excluding all others, men and nothing but men. Totality is signi-
fied by dol.
IV. PRONOUNS.
1. Personal.
Singular. I. ina, na. Plural, i. incl. igid, gid.
excl. ikama, kama.
2. inik, nik, ke, k. 2. ikemi, kemi.
3. ini, ni, i. 3. inir, nir, ir, r.
Dual. i. incl. idoru, doru. Trial, i. incl. idotol, dotol.
excl. ikamar, kamar. excl. ikamatol, kamatol.
2. ikomur, komur. 2. ikomtol, komtol.
3. iroru, roru. 3. irotol, rotol.
Bb
370
Melanesian Grammars.
Observations. — The Prefix i is used or not, according to the emphasis
desired to be laid on personality.
In the Second Singular Ice corresponds to the Mota ko ; Ice te van ve 1 where
are you going? si ke qe moros if you please. In the Third Singular and
Plural i, ir, are used as the object after Verb or Preposition, and are written
as Suffixes. In the First Plural exclusive kama is pronounced shortly, as if m
were cut off from kamam.
The Dual and Trial are seen to be made by adding the Numerals ru, tol, to
the true Pronouns, d, kama, kem, r; and the Vowel in the Pronoun is
modified by that of the Numeral ; do, ro before ru and tol, komur for kem ru,
2. Suffixed Pronouns.
Singular, i. k; 2. n\ 3. n. Plural, i. incl. da, excl. mai ;
2. mi; 3. r.
Example. — liman a hand.
Singular, i. nalmak, my hand.
2. nalman, thy hand.
3. nalman, his hand.
Dual.
1. incl. nalmadru.
excl. nalmamar.
2. nalmamuru.
3. nalmaruru.
Plural.
Trial.
incl. nalmada.
excl. nalmamai.
nalmami.
nalmar.
1. incl. nalmadotol.
excl. nalmamatol.
2. nalmamtol.
3. nalmarotol.
In the Second Singular n is a change from m. In the Dual and Trial it is
to be observed how u and o are introduced before ru and tol, but not in the
exclusive Trial, where mai changes to ma.
3. Demonstrative Pronouns.
Kere, kerel, kose this; keren, kosen that.
Kere, keren, kose, kosen this, that, thing; i kere, i kose, i keren,
i kosen this, that person.
The Plural of kere, and keren, is ker vawege.
There are also Demonstrative Particles rather than Pronouns,
e and nene ; u regai ve wi e dbe vus a good wood this for a bow,
u sa nene ? what is that ? u todun nene ini me bal u wetov that
man he stole the bottle.
The Demonstrative made from the Vocative vae ! is irava, or
rave ; rave ta Qaur me ter gasag na gavrur ? How do the Bauro
people build their houses ? irava is the Mota iragene, not iragai.
There is also, corresponding to the Merlav words, ra melmer Voca-
tive and Demonstrative, you people ! and those people; rarmer you
two ! and those two ; ratolmer you three 1 and those three ; mer
meaning boy, child.
4. Interrogative Pronouns.
Se ? ise ? who ? feminine irose, plural irase.
Gog. Verbs. 371
Sa, u sa ? what ? Both se and sa are also used as Indefinite
Pronouns.
The English 'which?' is represented by an Adverb 'where;' ave nik ve
moros 1 which do you wish for ?
5. Examples will show how the Demonstrative is used where the Relative
would be used in English : u todun me le mina na gagav ve mat vata the man
(who) gave me the garment is dead already ; ave u todun nik me kervi ? where
is the man whom you saw ? you saw him ; ini u todun nik mevsi ? me v(u)si,
where is the man whom you struck ?
V. POSSESSIVES.
The Noun of ordinary relation no ; of closer relation as of food
ga ; possession as of a thing done or caused by oneself nm ; of things
to drink ma. Of a chattel such as a pig bula.
1 . With the Pronoun suffixed nok, non, non my, thy, his, and so on ; and
with the Article nanok mine, &c. ; le ma, nanok give it here, it is mine. It
seems that no becomes na; nan se u gasal kereJ whose is this knife ?
2. NaroMn sei, or namusei, me da meder u gagav ? whose doing was it that
the garment was torn ? na me kere namuk I saw myself. With an elided
vowel, nablerase u qo ? whose property (plural) is the pig ?
VI. ADJECTIVES.
1. Adjectives are commonly used in a Verbal form; u todun
ve lav a big man; though there are some pure Adjectives like
weskit ; u todun weskit a small man.
2. Adjectival terminations g, r; wirwirig black, taninig straight,
qotqotor rugged.
3. The Comparative is expressed by den from ; u qo ve lav den u
gosug a pig is bigger than a rat ; u Vunlav ve lav den u M.ot Vanua
Lava is larger than Mota ; gid ve lol denir we are more in number
than they. Adverbs wos, leler, express a Superlative ; ve lav wos,
ve lav leler very great. ' Rather ' is man ; man lav rather large.
4. Meresom rich, mansom avaricious, as in Mota.
VII. VEBBS.
1. Verbal Particles. — The Temporal Particles are, ve Indefinite,
me Past, te Future.
1 . ve corresponds to the Mota we, but it is used when the Past me would be
used in Mota : ve gon vata it is already night, ve mat vata he is already dead.
2. te is used both for the Future and as the Mota ti of sequence or habit.
The sentence ave u gagav na te sar ? where is the garment I shall put on ?
was written by a Gog native as a translation of the Mota avea o siopa si na
saru ? where is the garment ? that I may put it on. It may be that a Future
is more natural in the language than a subjoined clause ; where is the garment ?
B b 3
372 Melanesian Grammars.
I shall put it on; or it may be translated by the Relative, where is the
garment that I shall put on ?
2. The Pluperfect Particle ti is used ; le me u va na me vavarek
ti aben give me the thing I spoke about, ni me nor ti he had been
asleep.
The same ti in the civil way of asking ; le me ti just give it here ; and of
remaining ; weskit ti there is still a little.
3. The Modal Particles are qe and te; si ni qe moros if he
should wish, si ni te moros the same. But to is another form of
the latter ; mu to tar if it should be calm.
4. Another Verbal Particle i is used with Numerals ; with
which again te, not the Future sign, is used.
5. Verbs are used without Verbal Particles after a Conjunction
such as mu above. After Adverbs such as tov : nik ve din ave ?
na me van din a le qil, na tov kel ma where did you get to ? I went
as far as to the pool, I then came back; £ov=Mota qara. After
kere, with a negative sense as in Motlav and Merlav : ise kere gar
goro ve tan ni ve mat ; if some one had not swum after him it was
as if he would have died ; literally, some one just swum after him
(if not) it was as if he were dead.
6. Imperative Verbs have no Particles, either the Verb is simply
used, or with a Pronoun, or other sign.
Examples : sa suw sit down; mob u madman abe tawrii teber put the cloth
at the back of the dish ; nik van go you ; ar, though it must properly refer to
two persons, is addressed to two or more, ar su mei belwe ak paddle hither to
the side of the vessel ; ar mul i govur go into the house ; tol, the Numeral, is
used in addressing three, tol van go you three. For the Third Person, ni, nir,
van me, let him, them, come hither, and the First, na, gid, van, let me, us, go.
7. The Verb in what may be called the infinitive is a Noun :
te surmaler abe nor mowmowu they will be paid for their work.
8. Suffixes, transitive and determining.
1. The Consonantal Suffixes are the same as in Mota, g, n, v, r,
8, t, n. For example, kere to see generally, kerev to see some thing
or person, na me kere namuk I saw myself, na me kerevi I saw him ;
magav pain, magavsi to cause pain.
2. The /Syllabic Suffixes are vag, tag, sag, lag, mag, rag, gag, nag,
but these are sometimes cut short to te, sei, nai, ni.
Examples : vanvag convey, rontag hear, mabsag breathe, gaslag hang up,
adumag annoy, matarag gaze at, sargag put together ; u qeti me salanai ale
bersin. the arrow was laid lengthways upon the top of the wall ; Woqas me
pasini abe met govur Woqas stood leaning against the door ; me visarag na
gatogon a meke vat his back was broken on a stone ; ke tiosi u regai abe ban
garar plant the trees alongside the fence.
Gog. Verbs, Adverbs. 373
The Suffix vag, with, is separable ; u wut regai ve malalvag ni,
ni tov so suw the branch of the tree broke with him, he thereupon
fell down ; ni me van revaglu leme vag u teber he went through the
garden with a basket.
9. Prefixes, Causative, va; of Condition, ma, ta; of Spontaneity,
tava, tav ; Reciprocal, ver.
1 . va ; tur to stand, vatru, for vatur, to set on end.
2. ma; wor apart, mowor come apart, broken; lat break, malat broken ;
seksek, maseksek cheerful ; metil, Mota matila, vain. The Vowel shifts to
some extent in sympathy with the one following.
3. ta; waJc to open, tawak to come open.
4. tava ; here also the final Vowel changes : rus to draw out, tavurus to
draw out of itself like a rope, tavaras to fall of itself; u pata me tavadan
(Mota tavanana} amek qotun, namatan me qel, a breadfruit came off its stalk
on to his head, his eyes were blinded.
5. ver ; iroru ve vermanas they two are talking to one another.
10. Verbs have no Voice, and therefore must frequently be
translated as if Passive : ve da gasa u reverev ? how is writing
done ? how do they do writing 1 te da u sa ni ? te da u gagarat ni,
te maw aben to do what with it 1 what will be done with it ? will
do the itch with it, it will heal because of it.
In the sentence given above, u qeti me salanai, the subject of the Verb is
« qeti, but it must be translated as if the Verb were Passive, the arrow was
laid lengthways. The Verb magavsi is impersonal, like vivtig in Mota : si
mu to asik, ve tan ni ve magavsik aben if it were to pierce you in that way it
would hurt you.
11. Reflective Verbs ; kel back, gives a reflective sense ; ni me da
mat kel ni he killed himself.
12. Negative Verbs. — The Negative Particle with Verbs is ta,
inserted between the Verbal Particle and the Verb : na ve ta moros
I don't wish, na ve gil inik amo, nik ve ta manas I knew you at
first, you did not speak; na ve ta kervi I did not see him.
With the Future man is added; na man ta moros I shall not
like; with the Conditional, na mo to ta vana ma if I should not
come here.
13. The union of two Verbs, the latter of which becomes almost an Adverb,
such as was called in Mota a Compound Verb, is shown in the sentence above,
nik ve din ave 1 na ve van din a le qil, where did you reach to ? (din = Mota
nina arrive at) I went (and) reached the pool.
14. Verbs are reduplicated much as in Mota : vus to strike, vuvus, vuvuvus
go on striking, vusvus strike often.
VIII. ADVERBS.
1. Of Place. — The Pronouns here, keren, kosen, serve as Adverbs
374 Melanesian Grammars.
for ' here ' and ' there ; ' ave ini ? where is he ? Jcere a govur here
at the house ; aben (see be the Preposition) is ' there.' The Adverbs
of direction, hither and outwards, are ma, me, and at. Many Ad-
verbs, like a ve where, i ve whither, are compounds of Nouns and
Prepositions.
Examples : ve the place where, ave 1 where ? ma ave f whence ? Jcemi me
mul ma ave 1 a Mo£ where have you come from ? from Mota ; Jcemi ma ve ?
whence (are) you ? nik me mul aben abe sa t be gagav what did you go there
for ? for clothes ; mo the fore part, tuwur the back, Woqas anno Wober be
tawmn Woqas before, Wober behind him ; vere the village place, mob a vere
put it outside the house ; Z7 Gog tavla ~M.erig sutv Gaua is the other side of
Merig westwards ; sag up, sum or sug down ; isei me deg sag ? who has
climbed up ? na modun sag, na valan sug his nose above, his mouth below ;
ror down, the Mota roro deep ; rev saw ror u gapan draw down the sail, tin
ror weliw le ten sugsug pour down the water into the bath; waleg round
about, garar waleg utgovur fence round the house ; lu through, out, mul lu go
through, me sara lu nalwon his tooth was pulled out ; u qeti me la agni me
reva lu ale benin the arrow hit him, came through in his arm ; tal by a
roundabout way, nik me van tal ? did you go round ? Teal tal le turidid go
round and climb in, climb round, by the window; viteg away, gar viteg sal
govur throw it away over the house. Perhaps sal should be a Preposition,
but it is rather an Adverb 'over;' u todun me row sal weliw the man leapt
over the water.
2. Of Time. — The Nouns nes distant time, no yesterday, is two
days off, make up many Adverbs of Time; na signifying the
Past.
Examples : qerig now, to-day, naqerig to-day of past time ; Iroru me su
naqerig u qetgin abe eg they two have paddled out to-day because of fish ; nik
te surmaler anes abe govur ? when shall you pay them for the house ? ini me
mul ma nanes ? when did he come here ? nano yesterday, ais the day after to-
morrow, nais the day before yesterday. Of Present time, now, anoknok : u
sa ini ve nor anoknok 1 ve nal abe susu why does he sleep now ? he is tired
with paddling. The Verb bas finished, is used as in Mota as an Adverb : ini
me mowmowu bas, tov mul vere, when he had finished work, he went into the
village ; tov thereupon, is an Adverb.
3. Of Manner. — As, like, is ton, used commonly with ve as a
Verb ; as that, like that, tan ni, so ; ten ni ave how. Many are
simple Adverbs.
Examples : inir ve da tan ni ave u gab? how do they make a net? also
gasa how ? na telwun gasa u regai ? how shall I plant the trees ? The Mota
gap, without due cause or consideration, ab : nik ve kesi ab 1 did you beat
him for nothing ? Cause is qetgin beginning : u qetgin u sa nik me da ? u
qetgin na ve moros, why did you do it ? because I like ; wolwol crossways :
u regai ve Ian wolwol ameke liiv the tree lies crossways over the water. The
Verb bal to steal, is, as Adverb, stealthily : nik me vus bal u todun abe sa ?
why did you murder the man ?
Gog. Prepositions. 375
Negatives. — ' No ' is tagar ; nik me kesi db ? tagar, u qetgin aben
did you illtreat him without cause ? No, there was a reason for
it ; isei me bal ? tagar, u gosug me nonot who stole it ? No, a rat
eat it. Another word bek is a Noun, nothing ; u bek u ruanan u to-
dun kere, ina magesek there is no other man here, I alone ;
literally a nothing, a second, a man.
IX. PREPOSITIONS.
Simple Prepositions are Locative, a, le ; Motion to, i, sir ; Mo-
tion from, den; Motion against, gor ; Dative, mi, min ; Instru-
mental, ni ; of Relation, general, le ; of Place, ta ; with Persons,
me, ag.
1. a at, as with names of places, a Tasmat ; gid ve tog a Ver we are living
at Ver. By native idiom a, comes to be the English ' from ;' inir me gam me a
Mo£ they sailed hither from Mota.
2. le in ; which, being originally a Noun, has the Prepositions a, i, ta, with
it ; lin ror tveliw le ten sugsug pour the water into the bath ; u weg me sar ale
gab the fish drew into the net ; u sa ale teber apen Iceren ? what is there in
that dish ? mob u qo He teber put the pig into the dish.
3. i to, the same as in Mota ; u matawirsal kerel ve mul i ve ? ve mul i
Ver, where does this road go to ? to Ver ; ar mul i govur go into the house.
4. sir to, of persons only ; van siri go to him.
5. den from; ar le rag u ker deni take away the club from him ; gid me
mul den « M.ot we have come from Mota ; ni me tur dodo den na abe liwe
regai he stood hidden (or hiding) from me by the trunk of a tree ; u M.ot ve
asau den MerZav ve tan ni Vunlav a Vav Mota is as far from Merlav as Vanua
Lava from Vava. This Preposition comes also at the end of a sentence : u
vonu kosen nir ve van ma den that is the place they came from.
6. gor, same as Mota goro ; Jcama me sa gor nanagon we have come to sit
before you, sit over against your face ; used also rather as an Adverb ; na ve ta
Jcervi, abe u regai ve tur gor I did not see him because a tree stood in
the way.
7. mi to ; in lemni give to him, the Vowel of the Preposition is elided ;
min sei ? to whom ? mi ni to him.
8. ni, with, Instrumental ; u qolag me vuvur ni weliw the cask is full of
water, filled with ; me it mamartig ni u gae it was tied firm with a line ; ni
me vusi ni leer he struck (bim) with a club. This also comes at the end of a
sentence ; Jcose u ker ni me vusi ni this is the club he struck him with ; abe
sa nik me ter u ker ? na te vus u qo ni, why have you got hold of a club ? T
shall strike a pig with (it) ; ti wobul, u govur te marmaran ni light a candle,
the house will be light with it. As in Mota ni is used after the Verb ris to
change ; me ris qo ni turned into a pig. This ni is used like the Mota mun :
ni me tool o qo ni nabulan he bought a pig for his own property ; a man takes
a boy ni notun for his son.
9. be, shown to be a Noun by the use of Prepositions a, i, ta, before it, and
the Pronoun n suffixed in aben ; the Mota pe. The word is used simply, or
376 Melanesian Grammars.
with a Preposition, making really a compound Preposition ; nik me mul abe sa 1
be gagav ; many examples have been already given. In the constructed form
aben, with the Preposition and the suffixed Pronoun, the Mota apena, the
word is either the Adverb ' there ' (see Adverbs of Place) or is an Adverb
translated ' thereby,' ' therewith,' ' withal ; ' niTc te gan nik te mat aben if you
eat it (you shall eat it) you will die of it ; u qetgin aben there is a cause.
i o. ta of, only with reference to place : u manas ta Gog the language of
Gaua. It joins with be and le, tabe, tale.
1 1 . me with, of accompaniment, is shown to be a Noun by being often preceded
by a. It is used simply : niJc me tog me Woqas you stayed with Woqas ; ini
me vogol mek abe sa f why was he angry with you ? With this word, as with
the Mota ma, being a Noun, it would be reasonable to expect the suffixed form
of the Pronoun Jc, n, n, amen, as in fact we find aben ; but the Personal Pro-
noun, in the shortest form in which it is the object of the Verb, is in fact
found suffixed, as it is in Mota ; with me ame na, with thee ameJc, with him ame
ni, with us, inclusive, amed, exclusive, ame kama, with you ame kemi, with
them amer.
12. ag with, in reference to persons, seems peculiar to Gog ; ag na with me,
ag nik with thee, ag ni with him ; u qeti me lai ag ni the arrow struck him,
came to meet with him ; but it is remarkable that aginsei ? with whom ?
seems to show n suffixed as to a Noun ; although it may be agin for ag ni
like tawrun for tawur-n.
2. Compound Prepositions, properly Nouns with a Preposition, are often
represented by the Noun alone : a meke upon, a mekek on me, that is, at top
of me ; and also meke alone ; walo ameked the sun above us ; u melig a mek
maram a cloud above the earth ; ini me mul i Qeke a meke sa 1 on what
(canoe) did he go to Qakea ? deg meke motu climb up on to a cocoa-nut tree.
So lanan the under side, tavali the other side, vetitnan the middle, wasenin
the space between, Ion the inside ; u lule gosug ale Ian govur the rat's hole is
under the house ; ave ini ? ini ve on a tavla regai iror, where is he ? he is
lying on the other side of the tree down there ; ini ve sa ale vetitne roru he
sits between them two ; ve tur ale wasen nae tan pata stands between the
almond and the breadfruit tree. In abe ban liwi beside the water, there is
nothing of a Preposition in ban.
X. CONJUNCTIONS.
The common Copulative is wa. As in Mota, si is Disjunctive,
Conditional, and Illative. Another Conditional is mu. The mark
of quotation is wa.
The Conditional si is used together with mu ; si mu to asik if it should pierce
you ; or mu stands alone, mu to tar should it be calm.
The Cautionary Particle is tov, used with the Preposition den in
the sense of ' lest :' ker gor den tov so take care lest it fall ; tov so !
don't let it fall !
The Noun ta is used as in Mota, tak my companion, he and I,
tan he and you, tan and he ; u nae tan u pata the almond tree and
the breadfruit.
Gog. Lakon. 377
XI. NUMERALS.
1. Cardinals ; one tuwal, two iru, three itol, four ivat, five teve-
lim, six levete, seven leveru, eight levetol, nine levevat, ten sanowwZ.
The unit above ten is domen ; twelve sanovwZ tuwal domen teru ;
twenty scmovul ru ; a hundred meldol ; a thousand tar.
The sum above a hundred avavin; a hundred and thirty-four
•meldol vagatuwal, avavin saiaovul tol domen tevat.
The Interrogative and Indefinite ' how many ?' ' so many' is vis.
The Verbal Particle i is only used in counting numbers ; in numeral state-
ments te takes its place, which is not the same as the Future Particle ; u wale
me mul ma naqerig te vis ? te tol, how many canoes came here to-day ? three.
In a statement concerning the past, the Past Verbal Particle me may be used :
« waJc me ru me su var din two canoes paddled to meet.
2. Ordinals are formed by adding nan, an, to the Cardinals;
second rua nan, third tol nan, fourth vat nan, fifth tevelman, sixth
levetan, seventh leveran, eighth levetol nan, ninth levevat nan, tenth
sanovul nan, a hundredth meldolanan. First is amo, no Ordinal.
In these anan, nan, is evidently the Mota anai ; and an in levetan, leveran,
must be taken to be the same.
3. Multiplicatives are formed by prefixing vaga, or, before u and o,
vago ; once vagatuwal, twice vagoru, thrice vagotol, four times vaga
vat, and so on ; vaga vis ; na te sim vaga vis ale qon tetwal ? how
many times shall I drink in one day ?
4. Particular accompaniments of the Numerals are used as in
Mota in view of certain circumstances ; ve sa vis ameke ak ? how
many men on the canoe ? so many men together are te bul vis,
things done at once sarako, sarako tol three at once.
XII. EXCLAMATIONS, EXPLETIVES.
U sa nen ? a si / u sa? what is that ? I don't know, what is it 1
nik me mat ni ave ? a van in where did you see him ? up there, to
be sure, Mota gina. ' Yes' is in words ' ve dun,' true.
11. LAKON, SANTA MAKIA.
The language of Lakon is spoken in a district on the North-West
of Santa Maria, from Lakon itself to Lotarar, some seven miles
along the coast and reaching back to the Tas, the central lake.
Beyond Lotarar to the East the people speak nearly as at Gog.
378 Melanesia* Grammars.
At Togla inland and Ulrata, to the South of Lakon, the language
is more like Mota. The language of Lakon is indeed remarkably
different from the speech of the rest of the island ; the people who
speak it themselves consider it to be hard (gona complicated), and
do not expect others to learn it. They say that they ' hear,' that
is, that they understand when they hear, a good deal of the lan-
guage of Torres' Islands ; and the Torres' Islanders say the same
of Lakon. They have in common the change of t to tch, written
j, which is traced along the West side of the islands from Api to
Santa Cruz, in Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides, and in Lakon
and Ureparapara in the Banks' Islands. The language is cha-
racterised by a sharp, quick, and abrupt pronunciation ; their
peculiar r, t, and d, make the words difficult to catch.
I. ALPHABET.
Vowels. — a, e, i, o, u ; a is sometimes very short and sharp.
Consonants. — k, g ; t, t, d, d ; j ; p, w, v ; q ; m, ra, n, n ; r, 1 ;
s, h.
The dentals t and d are modifications of t and d, produced by an imperfect
contact of the tongue and the teeth ; there is a certain vibration as the breath
passes over the tongue, and with quick and abrupt pronunciation the Con-
sonant is sometimes hardly heard. The sound represented by j is tch, and
sometimes rather dch, taking the place of t and d ; as jelnan for talma ear,
jime, meljel for numei, melnol, Mota, and domen, meldol, Gog. The compound
q is kpw. There are two ways of sounding r ; at the end of words it is not
trilled, and sometimes with abrupt pronunciation is not heard ; it is convenient
to indicate the cut-off r as to? for tar. The Aspirate is explosive, as if vh, or
hv ; when it closes a syllable it has not this character.
II. ARTICLES.
1. The Definite Article is en; which is never used when the
Pronoun is suffixed ; unaek my house ; nor when the notion is
general.
2. The Personal Article is i ; i Qotenen; with the feminine sign ro,
iro, and with the plural sign ge, ige; e.g. vd, a thing, i vd a person,
isei, irosei, igesei who 1 masculine, feminine, and plural ; ige at,
Gau the Gaua people.
III. NOUNS.
There is the double division of Nouns ; with and without a special
termination ; and capable or incapable of a suffixed Pronoun.
1. Verbal Substantives; terminations e, g; mat to die, mate
death, van to go, vanog a going. A reduplicated verb is often
used ; galegale lying.
Lakon. Pronouns. 379
2. Independent Substantives ; the terminations are n and gi ; en
panen a hand, en qotun a head, en qetgi a beginning, vingi skin.
3. In Composition these Nouns are not always the mere stem
to which n or gi is suffixed, as en pane qo a pig's shoulder ; but
change, as en qata mdh a fish's head, en qete raga a tree trunk.
A final a of a Noun with suffixed Pronoun is in some cases lightened to e ;
uma a house, umefc, amen, umen, my, thy, his, house ; but lima a hand, limafc,
liman, liman.
4. Plural ; the particle pa is not properly a Plural sign ; its
meaning is rather that of the Mota gese ; tatun at Lakon pa all
Lakona men and no others ; uma pa houses, taking in all ; still
there is no other sign used to mark a plural; iheog pa these
things.
5. Reduplication signifies size and number; ronronon many or
great legs.
IV. PRONOUNS.
1. Personal Pronouns.
Singular, i. ina, na ; 2. nik, ke; 3. ne.
Plural, i. incl. ge£, excl. gama ; 2. gamu; 3. ge.
Dual, i. incl. woto, excl. gamar ; 2. gamou; 3. woro.
Trial, i. incl. teleji, excl. telema ; 2. telemu; 3. tele'.
Observations. — i. The Prefix i may be used probably with any one of these,
as ina, iwoto, itooro. 2. The Second Singular alone has two forms ; of which
nik is used both as Subject and Object, but ke only as Subject of the Verb.
3. In the Plural ge instead of the common ra is remarkable, r being in use as
a Suffix to Nouns. It would seem that it is the demonstrative stem of get,
which is no doubt the gid of Gaua. 4. The Dual is remarkable as being
something more than the usual Plural with the Numeral. The First Inclusive
appears to be compounded of four elements, if iwoio be taken. Of these the
personal Prefix i is plain ; the second is wo, which may be taken to be wo used
with Proper Names, and in the Exclamation toote! the third is t the true
Pronoun, as t, ta, da, in so many languages ; the remaining o may be taken to
represent ro, two, the r having been absorbed in t. To pronounce r after t is
perhaps impossible ; at any rate, an educated native would not allow r to be
written, while he still asserts the virtual presence of the Numeral. The First
Exclusive is plain ; the Second appears to be gamu ru in a modified form ; the
Third shows again wo. The Trial is equally remarkable in that the Numeral
precedes the Pronoun ; in teleji, ji=t represents t of get, and tele is tel three.
In the Third Person nothing but the Numeral is heard, ge or r are expected ;
probably r is, according to the habit of the language, cut off: tele' not tele.
2. Pronouns suffixed to Nouns.
Singular, i. k; 2. n; 3. n.
Plural, i. incl. I, excl. ma; 2. mu ; 3. r.
In the Third Plural r is not trilled. The Pronouns are not suffixed simply
380 Melanesia** Grammars.
in the Dual forms; e.g. I. unaetru, umemar, 2. timemou, 3. umeru, in which
there is no appearance of woto or woro. In the Trial the ordinary Trial Pro-
noun is added, not to ume, but to umen ; umen teleji the house of us three ;
compare Mota, &c.
3. Demonstrative Pronouns ; iheog, heog this, iherek, herek that ;
for the Plural, these, those, iheog pa, iherek pa.
There is no Demonstrative made from the Vocative : the Personal Article
with the Plural sign ge becomes a Pronoun, ige at Lakon the Lakon people.
4. Interrogative Pronouns ; isei, irosei feminine, igesei plural,
who 1 en naha ? what 1 These are used also as Indefinite ; there
is also oiun some.
5. The Distributive Particle is val ; val tatun each, every man, val vanu
each land, or the land in every part.
V. POSSESSIVES.
i. na general; 2. mo; nat vat mok I shall go myself; 3. ga;
4. ma of drink.
ga is used of food, a garden and reef producing food, of an arrow meant to
kill one, of rain or sunshine obtained for one by charms, of a ghost with whom
one has magical intercourse. A pig is pulansei qo someone's property. These
are the Possessive Nouns with suffixed -Pronouns, nak, nan, nan, nat, &c.
VI. ADJECTIVES.
Adjectives appear always to be used with the Verbal Par-
ticle ga.
There is the Adjectival termination g, and the Prefix of Condi-
tion ma.
Comparison is made with den from ; en qo ga rig den wohow
a pig is bigger than a rat ; gama ga qihi den ge we are more than
they. A /Superlative expression is ga rig ga won very large ; won
to complete.
VII. VERBS.
1. Verbal Particles are of two kinds ; ga, te, and e, of the ordinary
character, and t, and n, combining with Pronouns. Of these ga, e,
t are indefinite in point of Tense, te is Future, and n Past.
1 . ga is used with all words which convey quality, such as Adjectives in
Verbal form ; but also nek ga hag heog you are sitting here, ke ga maris oha ?
why do you want it ?
2. e corresponds to Mota we ; na e teh, nik e teh I am, you are, writing.
3. te is Future ; na te van ata mob I shall go see for myself. The same is
used of continued, regular, action or condition; gavig te tatwag le mawu the
Malay apple flowers in the winter.
4. t is suffixed to a Pronoun, with which it coalesces ; nat hag I sit, Ttet hay
Lakon. Verbs. 381
thou sittest, and so net, gamat, gamut, hag, he sits, we, ye, sit. After the
First Inclusive, gei, there is no room for the Particle, it is get hag ; for the
Third Plural re, the very common Plural Particle, is introduced, ret hag. In
this alone the Pronoun, if the Nominative, is not expressed ; but it is correct
also to use ge ret hag, they sit, and nik ket hag, thou sittest ; compare Lepers'
Island. The Particle is also et ; kama et, and kamat.
5. n the sign of the Past is suffixed to the Pronoun, but has also an in-
dependent form en : qirig nan hag nere nik to-day I sat waiting for you ; ken
hag thou satest, nen hag he sat, and in the Plural ge ren, or ren hag they sat.
At pleasure, however, en is used ; gei en hag, ffama en, gamu en ; en vat en siv
maken a stone fell upon him.
2. The Pluperfect Particle te can hardly be the same as the
Future ; nen as sapel nen gan te lolon he washed the dish he had
been eating in. Observe sapel for taper of Mota.
3. Another Particle is to ; van ma to just come here, will you ?
It is used also of remainder; ga sik to there is still a little.
4. Verbs are used without Particles in the Conditional and the
Imperative.
1. Conditional ; na won ate ne te vala mun ne if I should see him I will
tell him, speak to him ; in this won is the Mota Adverb wun, probably, I
suppose.
2. Imperative ; without Pronoun, van ma come here, or with the Pronoun
expressed, ke van, ke vala ehe go thou, tell thou there. In the Plural, tu' van
go ye, wu"1 van go ye two, tel van go ye three. In the Optative, ne van let
him go, na van, ge van let me, let them, go.
5. Suffixes. — The directing transitive terminations are present
as in neighbouring languages, manag, sogov, porsag; and the
separable vag ; siv vag fall with, siv hew vag fall down with. There
is also a word of another character ses ; van ses to go with ; com-
pare ter, in Motlav.
6. Prefixes. — i. Causative, va ; taka to hang, neuter, vatka to
hang, transitive. 2. Reciprocal, va; va' ateate see one another,
va' vuh strike one another, fight. 3. Of Condition, ma; mawra
burst ; to, tawilwil rolling over, tatwag coming open. 4. Of Spon-
taneity, tav; tavulvul come undone of itself.
7. Reflective Verbs ; nen vuh kel ne he killed himself, struck
himself back.
8. Negative Verbs. — The Negative Particle is te, and it is used
with the Verbal Particle ga, as in Mota; na ga te ate I don't see.
After the Verb avo is added ; nik ga te ate avo ne ehe you will not
see him there, na ga te maris avo I don't wish : avo is probably an
Adverb ' at all.' The Negative sentence need not have ga ; na te
van avo I shall not go. There is no sign of Tense. The Dehorta-
tive is sao ; sao noo don't sleep.
382 Melanesian Grammars.
9. The auxiliaries ti and so are present ; nen ti nawon he set his
face ; sotal.
10. Reduplication. — As in Mota a different idea is conveyed by
different ways of reduplicating ; "hag to sit, JiagJiag to sit repeatedly,
hahag to sit continuously. The word above, tavulvul, shows how
a consonant belonging to another part of a word is added to a re-
duplicated syllable, tarn, ul, tavul-vul.
VIII. ADVERBS.
Adverbs of direction hitherwards and outwards, ma, at. Ad-
verbs of Place ; lieog here, herek there ; Demonstrative Pronouns ;
herek is there not far off, hou is there at a distance, ehe is in-
definitely ' there ;' iri ve, have, where ; ve is the Noun, the place
where. Of Time; noknok now, qerig to-day, no'no' yesterday,
na'ihni day before yesterday, talow to-morrow, a'ih day after to-
morrow ; no' is nora, a'ih in other languages aris. Of Manner ; mere
as, like, as at Oba ; mereheog like this, thus ; oha why, makala how.
IX. PKEPOSITIONS.
I. Locative, a; a Lakon at Lakon, amina with me. 2. Motion
to a person, uh ; van uh ne go to him. 3. Motion from, den ; la den
ne take from him ; herek uman nen rowol den that is his house he
has come out from. 4. Motion over against, corresponding to goro,
wo ; kama et peret wo mas den qo we fence gardens against pigs,
fence against garden from pigs ; nik ken sar wo nek men ulosalsal
you clothe yourself over with garments ; ata wo heog ne mete siv
look after this lest it fall ; aid wo nek mete siv take care, look after
it, lest you fall, van won tun go after water ; the last example with
suffixed Pronoun n shows wo a Noun. 5. Dative, mun; la mun ne give
to him, nen wel mun pulan he bought it for his own. 6. Instru-
mental, men ; nen vuh ne men ke' he struck him with a club. At
the end of a sentence it is mi ; iheog ke' nen vuh ke mi this is the
club he struck him with. 7. Relation in general, to; ne tu to mate-
uma he stands at the door ; to oha ? why ? concerning what ? what
for ? 8. Relation as to Place, at ; en iatun at Lakon a Lakon man.
9. Relation to Persons, mi; no doubt the same word with mi and
men above, shown to be a Noun, not only by n in men, but by the
use of the Preposition a ; mi na and a mi na. with me, mi nek, a mi
nek with thee, mi ne, mi get, &c.
The diversity of these Prepositions from those common in the Banks' Islands
generally marks the peculiar character of the language ; the absence of the
Lakon. Conjunctions, Numerals. 383
familiar pe, as well as the presence of wo, uh, to, which are unknown in this
region, show that this language represents some distinct branch from the
common stock which has somehow made its way into Santa Maria, and into
which no doubt many words and uses have been introduced from the other
parts of the island.
Nouns used as Prepositions are make top ; nen siv make vat he
fell on a stone, en vat en siv makek, makeu, maken, a stone fell on
me, thee, him ; talva ; to en vahu talva uma a fowl laid eggs under
the house ; there is also the common lalna, lalnan underneath you.
The common le also is used as a Noun with to ; ne nen hag, or net
Jiag, to le uiaa he is sitting in the house.
X. CONJUNCTIONS.
The Copulative is ton, but not often used. The Adversative,
but, is to ; nan van, to na te ate avo I went, but I did not see any-
thing ; it has little adversative sense ; to noha ? but what is it ? to
nik ? but you ? what did you do ? Disjunctive, le ; heog ga we le ga
sa ? is this good or bad ? Declarative, sa ; ke ga marts oka ? sa na
teh mi, who do you want it for 1 that I may write with it. There
is no Conjunction in the following : ken van ehe ken makav naha ?
he went there that he might do what? went there, did what1?
' Lest ' is mete ; ate wo mete siv look after it less it fall. ' Till ' is
gai ; nan mawmawu gai qen I worked till night.
There is no Conditional Conjunction ; won, the Mota wun, cannot properly
be called so ; ne won ta' te hal wes, no won naw, sao if it should be calm it
will be possible to catch fish, if there is surf, it cannot be : wes = Motlav weh
as lai in Mota ; sao is used like the Mota pea, ' nought.'
The Noun of company translated ' and,' is mete ; ina metek Weqan
I and Weqaw.
XI. NUMEKALS.
1. Cardinals; one tuwa, two niru, three nitel, four nivas, five
tivilem, six letuwa, seven lavuru, eight lavitel, nine lavas, ten
gapra ; eleven gapra jime tuwa, twenty-three gapra ru jime nitel ;
a hundred meljel ; a hundred and thirty meljel tuwa gapra tel ;
a thousand tar. Interrogative and Indefinite vih.
These are the ordinary Banks' Islands Cardinals with the exception of gapra,
ga pra, Mota ^ve purat, many, become however a Numeral. The first of the
second hand has tuwa instead of the common tea. The Verbal Particle ni is
used with ru, tel, vas. There is no name for the sum above a hundred.
2. Ordinals do not appear ; mo is first, niru second as well as
two. Multiplicatives are formed with vag', vagtuwa once, vagru
twice, vaggapra ten times, vagwih ? how many times ?
384 Melanesian Grammars.
So many men together are pulvih ; on board a canoe hagvih ; bats
hang takavih ; two at once halakru.
XII. EXCLAMATIONS.
Affirmative hoo ; Negative gaiv, a Verb ; ga iv heog there is
nothing here.
12. NORBARBAR. UfiEPARAPARA. BlIGH ISLAND.
The native name of Bligh Island, commonly called Ureparapara,
is Norbarbar, the place full of slopes. Its language is more like that
of Saddle Island than any other of the Banks' Islands, having the
Vowels of Prefixes assimilated to those of the stem, and being of much
the same phonetic character, with the change of r into y, and the
introduction, as in Volow, of i before a Vowel. The change of t
to tch, written j, occurs here on the Western side of the group as
in Lakona and Torres' Islands. The dialects represented here are,
in the first place, that of the bay on the Eastern side, and in the
second, that of Eetan on the Western. The difference is not con-
siderable ; there is a certain variation in Vocabulary, and in
Ketan r is always y, b is p, there is no j=tch, and i is not inserted
before e. There is some difference of dialect even between a
village on the beach of the bay and one on the heights above.
I. ALPHABET.
Vowels. — a, e, i, o, u. In Eetan e. There are no Diphthongs ;
Mota tauwe is tow, tau is te.
Consonants. — k, g; t, d=nd, j=tch ; b=mb, p at Retan, v, w;
q ; m, m, n, n ; r, 1 ; h, s.
The change from t to j = tch is before i and u, Jin for tin, qujugi for qutugi ;
not at Retan. d represents often n, as in Motlav. The practice of pronouncing
r as y cannot be limited precisely ; it is always followed at Retan, but in the
Bay children and some adults do it ; r would at any rate be written. In some
words there is a dialectical difference in the use of s and h, vasger and vahger.
The nasal n is sometimes slightly palatal.
II. AETICLES.
1 . The Demonstrative Article is n-, coalescing with a Noun which
begins with a Vowel ; en, nen (pronounced nien) a house ; and when
the Noun begins with a Consonant taking a Vowel corresponding
to the first of the Noun ; na tar a calm, ne men a bird, ni til a cer-
Nor bar bar. Nouns, Pronouns. 385
tain fish, no to a fowl, nu qujugi a head. Norbarbar shows it
used with the name of an island.
2. The Personal Article i, feminine iro.
A Plural does not appear ; de tovea is Mota ira tavea the people of any
place ; de a Plural Particle ; see ihei.
III. NOUNS.
Two divisions of Nouns have or have not a termination as such,
and take or do not take the suffixed Pronoun.
1. Verbal Substantives: the terminations are e and a; mat to
die, mete death, Retan mate ; van to go, vana a going.
Verbs are, as of course, used as Nouns, but, what is unusual, not always
reduplicated when used in the sense of a Verbal Substantive ; don is thought,
thinking, while dodon is to think, though tdbtab is loving, love, tab to love.
2. Independent Nouns have the terminations gi and n ; jrinigi
a hand, liegi a name, tojin a beginning, hirin a bone. In Retan gi
is not so often used ; plni hand.
3. Composition of two Nouns is simple ; ni pini men (ne peni
man, Retan), a bird's wing, nu quju qo (no qotu qo, Retan), a pig's
head, ne heat a man's name.
A Noun with a Suffixed Pronoun is, in fact, a composition of the same kind ;
ni pinik, ne hek, nu qujun, my hand, my name, thy head ; but with some
words e is introduced before the Pronoun ; no tojin a beginning, no tojein its
beginning ; sina food, ni sinaen at man's food, ni sinaen no qo the pig's
food.
The Vowels change in some words, as elsewhere, when Pronouns are suffixed ;
see below under suffixed Pronouns.
4. Plural. — Many is moson ; men moson, houses, is in fact many
houses. Totality is expressed by dol, del ; no vonio dol (ne vene del,
Retan), the whole island. The meaning of geh is properly to ex-
clude all that is not included ; kemem to Norbarbar geh we are all
of us Ureparapara people and no others ; but geh is used, less
strictly as in Motlav, as a Plural sign.
IV. PRONOUNS.
1. Personal Pronouns; Singular, i. ino, no; 2. niek, nek;
3. kie, ke.
Plural, i. incl. ren, excl. kemem ; 2. kimi; 3. kier.
Retan, i. incl. gen, excl. kamam; 2. kimi ; 3. ker.
Dual, i. incl. renro, excl. kemro; 2. komoro ; 3. kiero.
Retan, i. incl. genro, excl. kamaro ; 2. kemero; 3. kere.
The Trial is made by the addition of tol, tel, three, to the Pronouns.
c c
386 Melanesian Grammars.
Observations. — I. Where kie is used ke is the form for the object of a Verb ;
kie mo wuh ke he struck him ; probably because the position does not favour a
lengthened form. 2. The two forms of the inclusive Plural probably represent
the two forms of Mota and Motlav, ren = nina, gen=ged; the Pronominal
element being n = d = t, and re and ge being demonstrative Prefixes ; gen is
plainly the same as ged ; the Prefix re cannot equal ge, but naturally connects
with «. 3. The Dual has the Pronouns to some extent modified by the suffixed
Numeral. There is no real Trial.
2. Suffixed Pronouns.
Singular, i. k; 2. n] 3. n.' '
. Plural, i. incl. ren, gen, excl. mem, mam; 2. mi; 3. r.
Example, showing change also in the stem ; ni pinigi a hand.
Singular. I . nipm'.k, my hand, Retan. ne penik.
2. ne penew, thy hand. na panew.
3. ne penen, his, her, its hand. na panen.
Plural. i. incl. nipininren, our hand. incl. ni piningen.
excl. ni pinimim, our hand. excl. ni pinimam.
2. ni pinimi, your hand. ni pinimi.
3. ne penier, their hand. na paner.
Dual. — I. incl. ni pininro, excl. ne penememro ; 2. ni pinimoro ; 3. ne
peniero. Trial, tol in place of ro.
The inclusive Plural has no special form ; the introduction of » before gen
and ren corresponds to the Mota na panen kamam when the suffixed form
mam is not used.
3. Demonstrative Pronouns ; keke this, gene that, keke geh, gene
geh these, those ; with the Article ne keke, ne gene ; ne itself is
demonstrative in Retan ihe ne 1 who is that 1
The Demonstrative made from the Vocative ge i is in Retan raga, but on the
other side there is no such, qer corresponds to it. Another Pronoun, as it
must be called, is de, which takes the place of the common ra (which still is
suffixed in the Third Plural), de to Motlav (da ta, Retan), those of Motlav,
the Motlav people.
4. Interrogative Pronouns ; ihei, plural dehei who ; na hav what ;
Nouns with Articles i, na; plural particle de; also used indefinitely.
5. Indefinite ; takalegi a somewhat, Mota takelei a part ; taJcal
' at, (Retan tekel at] a somewhat of men, some men.
The distributive Particle is val, vel ; val at every man.
V. POSSESSIVES.
i. Ro; 2. mu, mo; 3. ga, ge ; 4. ma, me.
i . As in Pak ro — no ; the Possessive comes after the Noun, nu wuh rok my
bow, no wok rok my paddle, nien rok my house. In Retan rok is not used ;
it is, as in Motlav, rekes ; nu wuh rekes. In the inclusive Plural ro does not
appear ; the Preposition, or the word used as Preposition, mi or me, takes its
place; wuh miren, or megen, our bows, as in Motlav ih mino my bow. The
Norbarbar. Adjectives, Verbs. 387
Vowel inro is also affected by that of the Suffixed Pronoun ; remem our, exclu-
sive (in Retan, remam), rimi your. 2. As with ro the Vowel in m« changes ;
nu miik a thing of my doing, but no mon thine, no more his, no momem, no
momi, no mor ; the inclusive no mon gen. In Retan, however, it is always
mo. 3. The Vowel changes ; ne gek a thing for my eating, or in close relation,
na ffcm, na gan, gan ren ; in Retan na gak. 4. So with a thing for drinking ;
ne mek, na man, man ren ; in Retan, na mak, man gen.
VI. ADJECTIVES.
There are pure Adjectives ; nat luwoa a big man, nat set a bad
man, men sosogut (in Eetan, nen. seget) a small house.
Comparison is made with the Preposition den ; no qo ne luwoa,
den gosow a pig is bigger than a rat, kemem ne moson den kier we
are more than they. As a superlative sign re, above, is used;
luwoa re exceedingly large. In Retan sal is used in comparison ;
luwoa sal larger than.
Adjectival terminations are a, ra ; mililia black, wuwua dusty,
qaqara, from qaqa, lumpy. The Prefixes of condition ma and ta,
with assimilated Vowels, appear as with Verbs ; mosur calm, togol-
gol straight.
VII. VEBBS.
1. Verbal Particles. — Those that mark Tense, Past and Future,
present no difficulty ; but it is otherwise with those that are
indefinite in respect of time and only mark the Verbal character
and employment of a word. These indefinite particles appear to
be four, and to be employed in the Singular Number only, each
Person having its appropriate Particle ; (see Motlav.)
1 . The Particle belonging to the First Person is k-, either coalescing with a
Verb which begins with a Vowel, as no ket I see, no k-et, or else with a
shifting Vowel assimilated to that of the Verb, no ko toron I desire, no ki
risi I pay, no ku wuh I strike, no ka van I go ; sometimes with a less perfect
assimilation, no Ice ji I stand.
In Retan k is suffixed to the Pronoun ; nok van, as in Motlav.
2. With the Second Person wu is used ; niek wu van you go ; but in Retan
it does not appear, nek van.
3. With the Third Person ni, ne, n- is the Particle ; kie ni van he goes, Jon
ne toron your heart desires ; in Retan ken van he goes, len. ni tirin.
In the Plural no Verbal Particle is used; ren, or gen, van;
kemem, kimi, ker, ran, we, you, they go.
A fourth Particle not specially marking time is va ; ke va ta
va ? ke va to ve ? Eetan, where is he staying ]
2. The Particle marking Past time is m- with shifting Vowel ;
ke ma mat he has died, kemem mu mugu we have worked,
c c a
388 Melanesian Grammars.
Retan kamam mu mumuw ; nom et, I saw, as in Retan now van, I
came, shows the Particle coalescing with the Pronoun. The as-
similation of Vowels is not always complete ; me tir, Retan, not
mi tir.
3. The Future Particle is ji without any change; no ji van
I shall go. But in Retan it is t- ; no tet, t-et I shall see, ke te tir he
will stand, no ta van I shall go. This Particle ji is used to express
continuance ; ne geve ji tewa le rara the Malay apple flowers in the
winter. So the future Particle in Retan, ne vege te tawa le rara.
Observe the metathesis vege, geve.
4. The Pluperfect Particle is ji ; Jceke no bok ke ma vatah ji Ion
this is the book he has been reading in ; in Retan te ; ke mo ho lok
ma ne pelel ke ma gangan te Ion he brought Jback the dish he had
been eating in.
5. The same signifies remainder; sosogot lap ji there is still a
little ; in Retan na sogot ve ti.
6. There is no Conditional Particle of the same character with
the foregoing; but there is a Particle added to a Future Verb
which expresses condition, and is interesting as being the same
with that similarly used in Florida, ke ; no ji van ke if I should go.
A Conjunction is also used, wo : no wo van Tee if I should go, no wo ket ke
if I should see him ; in Retan, nek wo van if you go ; and with the Verbal
Particle suffixed to the Conjunction ; no wok van, ke won van.
7. Imperative. — The Indicative sometimes serves as an Impera-
tive ; niek wu van go thou, ke ni van let him go ; but ro van is go
ye two, tol van mo come here you three.
8. Negative Verbs. — The Verb, or the word which conveys the
idea negatived, comes between two Negative Particles teji and
ta ; teji ke ta it is not he ; ke teji van ta he has not gone ; ke teji
moros ta he does not wish; no teji van te I will not go, or I am not
going; ke teji van go he is not going yet; niek wo teji moros teji mas
ta if you don't wish it cannot be. In Retan it is tat and te ; ke tat
van te he has not come ; no tat lolmaran te ne I don't understand
that ; ne lek tati tirin te my heart does not desire. It may be con-
jectured that teji and tat are in fact a negative te, ta, and the
Verbal Particle ji, t.
9. Suffixes directing transitive force of Active Verbs are, Con-
sonantal, v ; heriv, Mota sarav to rub ; n, hogon to stow ; Retan,
harav, hegen ; Syllabic, te ; route tere feel pain ; Retan ronta ; sa,
meksa to breathe ; ran, mav heavy, mavran to bear heavy upon.
As in Motlav, Pak, &c., tor, Eetan ter, is used as a Suffix equivalent to the
Norbarbar. Adverbs, Prepositions. 389
separable vag of Mota, to be translated 'with,' vantor, or ter, to go with,
hator to sit with ; no wot tenge ma melet tor Ice the branch of a tree broke
with him ; in Eetan na sawan tenga me melet ter ke.
10. Prefixes. — i. Causative, v- with Shifting Vowel; ji to stand,
vijigir make to stand ; Retan, vatgir ; hag up, vahger, Retan vasger,
to place up upon ; visis, Retan vusus, Mota vasus, to give birth.
But the Vowel does not always assimilate ; vatogar to establish,
vabulbul to make to stick. 2. Re^rocal, ver; Retan var; verwuh
beat one another, vervav converse. 3. Of Condition, m- ; mowor
come asunder, melet broken, motoltol thick ; t- ; togolgol straight.
4. Of Spontaneity, tovo, tava; tovoTiora drop of itself, tavases drop
suddenly of itself; in Retan tavohoro, tavses.
1 1 . deflective Verbs are made with lok back ; ke ma da mat lok
ke he killed himself; Retan ke me ge mat lok ke.
VIII. ADVEKBS.
The general Adverbs of direction are, hitherwards mo, ma; of
direction outwards lok, which is also ' back.' The Particles ke and
ne which appear in Demonstrative Pronouns make up Adverbs of
Place; keke here, gene there, in Retan kene here, en there : ' where'
is va, ve, a Noun, sometimes uaed with the Article ; ne va ; and in
Retan with the Preposition a, ave ; 'there ' is e ; ne vene ron en ke mo
wot e that is his place he was born there, i. e. where he was born.
Adverbs of Time ; qiri to-day ; nor, Eetan nonor, yesterday, reh
day after to-morrow, nereh day before yesterday; of future indefinite
time naib, Retan \\eh; of past indefinite nenaih, Retan neneh,
Adverbs of Manner ; venan like, as, venan keke thus, venan gen so ;
venan va how, as Mota tarn, avea ; ve is probably a Verbal Particle,
re nan is like. In Retan, danon ke thus, danon en so, da geta
how.
IX. PREPOSITIONS.
i. Locative; the Retan ave, ve being a Noun, shows the presence
of the Preposition a, but it is certainly not often found ; le pro-
perly meaning ' in ' is used as a locative ; le en in the house (in
Retan Zen), le vene in the place. 2. Motion to a person, hiv; van
hiv ke go to him. This is also Dative ; ho mo hiv no give it hither
to me; (see Torres Island.) 3. Motion from, den; shown in its use
in comparison. 4. Motion against, gor; as in other Banks' Islands.
5. Instrumental, mi; ke mo wuh mi ni qejige he struck with a
club ; Eetan mun ; mo wuh mun qetiga. . At the end of a sentence
in Retan ne; keke ne qetiga no mo wuh ke ne this is the club I
39O Melanesian Grammars.
struck him with ; but in the other dialect e, the Adverb used for
' there ' is employed as in Motlav ; keke ni qijige mo wuh ke ji e
this is the club he had struck him withal. 6. delation in general,
be. Retan pe ; no ji rise be ron mamugu I shall pay him for his
work; be hav ? be qo what about? about a pig. 7. Relation to
2>ersons, mi ; mi no with me ; no ko toto mi ke I am staying with
him, mi niek with you. Retan me ke, mi no. 8. Relation to Place,
to, Retan ta ; de to Mot the people of Mota ; Retan da ta Mot.
For ' upon ' re, which is no doubt a Noun, is used ; re vet on a
stone, (see Ambrym and Nengone.) The more common vowo is also
used ; vow o vet on a stone, shown to be a Noun by vowok on me,
i.e. top of me; in Retan vowo, vowok. In Retan lalane en is
under the house. The Adverb Ion is literally ' in it ; ' na Jiav gene
Ion ? tejigai, what is that there, in it ? nothing ; Retan na Juiv
Ion ? tatiga son.
X. CONJUNCTIONS.
The Copulative is wa ; Adversative, ba but, and no stronger ;
Disjunctive, si; ne wia si tege ? good or not? Ion ne toron ne va ?
keke si keke ? which do you like, this or this ? Conditional wo, as
shown with Verbs.
The Preposition den. is used for ' lest ;' et gor den tovohora take care lest it
fall. As sometimes in Mota ' till ' is not expressed in the sentence ; kemem mu
mugu qon we have worked (till) night.
There is no Noun, as in the Banks' Islands generally, signifying a com-
panion, and used where we should say ' and.' The Preposition mi is used ; no
mi Kere I and (with) Kere, no mi tihik I and my brother.
XL NUMERALS.
1 . Cardinals ; one votowa, two voro, three votol, four vovet, five
teveliem, six levejea, seven levero, eight levetol, nine leveret, ten
sanowul. In Retan vetwa, vera, vetel, vevat, tavalem, levete, levera,
levetel, levevat, sanwol. In these vo and ve are Verbal Particles.
The completeness of ten is shown by the addition of wonowon;
ten sanowul towa wonowon, twenty sanowul ro wonowon.
The unit above tens is deme, Retan dome; eleven sanowul towa
ne deme votowa; twenty-two, Retan, sanwol ra dome vera. Hundred
is meldol, and there is no name for the sum above ; a hundred and
thirty-six meldol vatoiva, sanowul tol, ne deme levejea. Thousand is
ter, tar.
2. Ordinals; second voronan, third votolnan; Retan veranan,
vutelnan; but tenth sanowulin, hundredth meldoldin; first is
Torres Islands. Lo. 391
maran made of ma, Mota moa fore, and the suffix ran, which ap-
pears in Retan sanwolran tenth.
3. Multiplicatives with the Causative va ; once vatowa, as meldol
vatowa above, twice varo; vatol, vavet.
XII. EXCLAMATIONS.
Yes is ne; No tege. The Noun, nought, none, tejigai, Retan
tatlga son. The Vocative to call a Person is gei !
II. Torres Islands.
14. Lo.
The Torres Group lies some forty miles to the N. \V. of Ure-
parapara, the nearest of the Banks' Islands. The Islands of the
group, beginning from the North, are Hiw, Metoma uninhabited,
T^gua, Lo, and Tog. The whole group has got the name of Vava,
from a certain part near Lo with which the Ureparapara people were
acquainted ; but there is no native name for the group. Tog has
in some unexplained way come to be called Pukapuka by traders.
The names of the islands here given belong properly in fact to a
single district in each, not to the whole of each island.
The language of Lo represents the group very fairly, though
there are several dialects. It belongs evidently to the group of
Banks' Island languages, and to that division of them to which
Lakon belongs. The explosive h, the peculiar t, d, and j = tch,
belong to both, and those who speak one or the other recognise the
likeness. The following Grammar of the language was obtained
from the native Deacon Edward Wogale, who established, and died
in carrying on, a Mission Station at Lo.
I. ALPHABET.
1. Vowels. — a, a short and sharp, e, e like French e, i, o, o
German o, u, u French u. There are no Diphthongs.
2. Consonants. — k, g; t, t, d=nd, d, j=tch ; p, v, w; q; m, ra;
n, n, n ; r, 1 ; h.
The sound of t, d, resulting from an imperfect dental check to the breath, is
the same as in Lakon ; t answers to the Mota n, tomtom to think, Mota nom-
nom ; j represents the change of t before i into tch, as in Ureparapara. As in
Vanua Lava p is pure ; v approaches nearly to b. In q the sound of p is not
392 Melanesian Grammars.
as conspicuous as of the other components, k, w. The sound of ft is a palatal
nasal, not very clear, though certain in the words in which it occurs ; it is not
worth while to mark it by a separate symbol for native use. As at Lakona h
is explosive, except when it closes a syllable ; s is not used at Lo, or elsewhere
in the group except at Tegua ; but, unlike the Santa Cruz people, the natives
have no difficulty in pronouncing it.
II. ARTICLES.
1. The Demonstrative Article is n-, coalescing with a word which
begins with a Vowel, and before words which begin with a Con-
sonant taking a Vowel more or less assimilated to that of the
following Noun ; nima a house, nu a bow, ne tela a man, no qo
a pig, ne hur a bone, ne pe water.
2. The Personal Article is e, but it is not used with men's
names. It personifies ; ja a thing, e ja a person ; e loloJnew the
surf- board swimmer. To feminine names ro is prefixed.
III. NOUNS.
1. The distinction between Nouns that take and do not take
the suffixed Pronouns is a matter of course; but the language
differs from those of the Banks' Islands in not having any indepen-
dent form of the Noun.
2. Verbal Nouns. — Terminations are i, ve, r; met to die, miji
death, mule to go, muleve a going, tog to abide, jigar behaviour.
In miji and jigar there is a double change in the stem, of met to mij, and
tog to jig; as in Motlav the addition of the Suffix has changed the vowel of
the stem, e to i by assimilation, o to i by shortening ; t then before i becomes
by the custom of the language j =tch.
3. In Composition the final a changes, as in Mota, to e; dalina
ear, daline qo a pig's ear, vala mouth, vale iga fish's mouth.
Nouns which end with a Consonant prefer to take a Vowel when
compounded with another; qat head, qatu tela man's head, pan
hand, pane tela.
4. Reduplication signifies number arid size; puhpuhgav crab's
claws ; te qatqatranona ! what large legs he has !
5. Plural. — The plural sign lol comes before the Noun ; lol ima
houses, lol tela men, ne lol hinega food of all kinds ; it is a col-
lective Noun.
Another sign pah is used with not much more than a plural sense, though
its proper meaning is ' all ' of many things, the word being the same as the
Mota paso finish ; tela pah the men, all of them, ne temegjor pah tomagos of
all sorts. A word answering in meaning to gese, geh, of other islands is
apparently ia ; kemem ta Lo ia we are Lo people all of us, and no others.
Nouns are often Plural that have no Plural sign.
Lo. Pronouns. 393
IV. PRONOUNS.
1. Personal Pronouns.
Singular, i. noke, nok, no ; 2. nike, ke; 3. nia, ni, a, e,
Plural, I. incl. dags,, da, excl. kemem ; 2. kemi ; 3. nihe, he.
Of these no, ke, da, Ae, are used only as the object of a Verb ;
noke ma nat nia I struck him ; nia, or ni, ma nat no he struck me ;
nihe mi ji he they saw them; nike mi ji he you saw them; ni/ie mi
ji ke they saw you, mi ji da saw us.
Dual, i. incl. doro, excl. kemaro; 2. komor ; 3. hor.
Observations. — Of these Pronouns only nia, kemem, and kemi require no
particular notice. I . The use of no alone as ' me ' shows that it is the common
no = nau, and the use of ke alone as ' thee ' shows that it is the Pronoun with-
out ni, as ko in Mota. It may be said, then, that ni in nike, and in nia, is a
demonstrative like ne and ni in Mota neia and inilco. The Suffix ke in noke
remains to be explained, and may possibly, but not very probably, be k the
suffixed Pronoun. 2. With the Preposition mi there is used e, making mie
with him ; with hiv, a, hivia to him ; showing a and e to be forms for the Third
Singular Pronoun. 3. In daga, da is the Pronoun in a form common as a
Suffix, but ga cannot be explained. 4. In nihe, ni is a demonstrative Prefix,
and he, the Pronoun, is quite an unique example. 5. The Dual is made by
the suffixing of ro, representing the Numeral rua two ; the Vowel of the Pro-
noun is modified by the approach of ro, or of r in the anticipated form of ro.
6. There is nothing to be called a Trial ; daga pqlagatal we three-at-once,
and so on.
2. Pronouns suffixed to Nouns.
Singular, i. k; 2. (ma) ; 3. na, n.
Plural, i. incl. da, excl. mem; 2. mi; 3. he.
The second singular is not commonly used; as in Motlav the
Noun without a Suffix stands alone, but with a Vowel as its
termination.
Examples: na pan a hand. Singular, i. na penik my hand, 2. na peni
thy hand, 3. na penina his, her, its hand. Plural, I . incl. na penida, excl. na
penimem, 2. na penimi, 3. na penihe. Another word for 'hand,' lime: I. na
limek, 2. na lima, 3. na limena.
i. In these, as in Motlav, the addition of the Suffix affects the Vowel of the
Stem, but in a manner not easy to explain. No doubt pen, pan, is the true
word, with i as the Vowel termination, and lim with e ; but the suffixing of k
makes limek, as naie, a name, makes naiek. 2. It will be seen that ma is
used with Possessives. 3. In the Plural, as elsewhere, the ordinary Personal
Pronouns are suffixed, with the modification only of mem and mi.
There are no special forms of suffixed Pronouns used with the
Dual : (see below, Possessives.)
3. Demonstrative Pronouns. — Demonstrative Particles ke and na
point here and there and become Pronouns this and that. With
394 Metanesian Grammars.
the demonstrative ni prefixed these become nieke this, nina that ;
there is also kike this. With the Article nak is ' this thing,' nana
' that thing ;' and with the sign j)ah, nake pah these all of them,
nana pdh those.
The Vocative Pronoun is haqoqera ! you people ! which is not
used as a demonstrative, though qiqera is; qiqera ta Mwn the people
of Mim. Another Demonstrative Pronoun corresponding to the
Merlav vatlumer and Gog melmer, though not connected with a
Vocative, is Jiemer, compounded of he, they, and mer, in many lan-
guages a hoy; /temer te Lo the Lo people.
4. Interrogative Pronouns. — Who ? singular paiia ? plural
pai/ie ; ne va is what ? va being a Noun, as appears in the expres-
sion na ven ge in which n is a suffixed Pronoun.
5. The Noun tekele, in Mota takelei a part, makes as in Ure-
parapara an Indefinite Pronoun ; tekel tela na mot, pa tekel tela na
ivia some men are foolish, but some men are good.
6. The distributive Particle is valu.
V. POSSESSIVES.
1. The Possessive Nouns, stems to which Pronouns are suffixed
to make the equivalents to my, thy, his, &c., are i. no; 2. na;
3. ga ; 4. ma.
1. no; this is only used as equivalent to 'mine,' 'thine,' &c., and not to
• 'my,' 'thy;' is not used to qualify a Noun like a Pronominal Adjective (see
2, below) : nok ge mine this, or that, «om ge thine, non ge his, nohe theirs this,
or that. As in Motlav the Pronoun ma is suffixed.
2. na; this corresponds partly to the Mota mo ; nok He nak let me see for
myself ; nak, nama, and so on ; but is used of property, nak qo my pig.
3. ga, but with the First Singular Suffix go-k, as usual of things to eat, and
producing food ; gok ten my ground, garaa jieg your field, gamem hinega our
food. But, as usual, it is applied to all things regarded as in peculiarly close
relation ; gana wonor a club to kill him with.
4. ma, of things to drink ; mak pe, mama, mana, my water for drinking,
thine, his.
2. It has been said above that no is not commonly used as a
Possessive : the ways in which the Possessive relation is commonly
expressed are two, by the use of the Preposition me, mi, and by
juxtaposition ; as, first, in Motlav, second, in Mota. Examples of
the Dual and Trial of one Noun ima a house, in a Possessive
relation, and of the Singular and Plural of another, u a bow, will
fchow both ways.
Examples : I . u, with the Article nu, a bow ; nu mino my bow, nu meke
your bow, mi mie his bow, nu meda inclusive, nun kemam exclusive, our bows,
Lo. Adjectives, Verbs. 395
nun k&mi your bows, nu mehe their bows. The Preposition mi, with, is in
simple juxtaposition with the Personal Pronoun, with the genitive or possessive
relation which obtains in these languages. With kemam and kemi the con-
struction is different ; as in Mota, the suffixed Third Person Pronoun appears
with u, it is nun his bow, nun kemem, nun kemi, literally, his bow (and) ours,
yours (see Mota, page 267.) 2. The other Example will require no further com-
ment ; ima a house, with the Article nima, and with the Vowel modified by
the Suffixes nime ; Dual, nime mi doro inclusive, nimen kemaro exclusive,
the house of us two, nimen komor of you two, nime mi nor of (with) them two.
frial, i. e. Plural with added Numeral expression, m'me me da house of (with)
us, nimen kemem our house, palaga tal three of us, nimen kemi your, nime
me he palaga tal the house of (with) them, three of them together.
VI. ADJECTIVES.
1. Words are used as pure Adjectives ; nima ring a small house,
tela luwo a big man; but Adjectives are commonly used in a
verbal form ; tela na wia a good man.
2. The Adjectival terminations ga, h = Mota sa, and na, are
seen in meligliga black, tatereh, Maewo tatarisa, equal, magma-
garina pitiable ; and the Prefix me, ma, in the last word and in
melunlun soft.
3. Comparison is made with the Preposition den from; ne tow no,
wia den mijiv water from a spring below high-water mark is better
than water from the hollow of a stone. More in number is ex-
pressed by levi; kemem na vehe levi he we are more than they.
4. The superlative expression varamat ; na wia varamat exceedingly good ;
is compounded of vara, used in Mota as to enhance a quality, and mat, which
in Florida expresses a superlative (uto mate exceedingly, perfectly, good) ; ho
luwo is rather large.
5. Prefixed words expressing character and quality are : to ; towuhwuh fond
of beating, the Fiji dau ; lili, Mota lul to abound ; liliqo possessed of many
pigs, lilihuru possessed of much clothing ; jir, Mota tur, real j jir mena
almighty, truly powerful, jir tewotner true virgin.
VII. VERBS.
1. The Verbal Particles are remarkable because among them, as
in Maewo, there are secondary Particles which are only used in
subjoined clauses. The direct primary Particles are, Indefinite na,
ve, Past ma, Future ji.
1. na, the common sign of a Verb, as used with Adjectives in Verbal form.
It has no temporal force, but translates the Present ; noke na hag tehteh I am
sitting writing, na gaviga na teteteweh li rara the Malay apple flowers in the
winter. The Vowel may be modified by that of the Verb.
2. ve, va; the Particle used with Numerals, the Mota we, having no
temporal force ; ne tela va hag the man is sitting ; nike mun ne pe ve he you
396 Melanesian Grammars.
have drunk much water; nihe ma gal ve pero they came slowly, delaying; ve
he, ve pero like Mota we qoqo, we maul, are indeed Verbs, though translated
by an Adjective and an Adverb.
3. ma ; before a Vowel m- coalesces with the Verb, mun, m-un drank, mije
saw them ; though ma is the usual form, the Vowel shifts as modified by that
of the Verb ; ilia me ven me na temee he came here to-day ; nihe me lia no qo
they chased the pig ; nike me qulqul mino you made friends with me ; ne vat
mo ho the stone fell ; nike miji he you saw them. In the latter example it
takes i euphonic before he, and iti, by rule of the language, becomes iji, with
which the Verbal Particle coalesces to make miji. The addition of te, t, to ma
makes it more decidedly past, and te must be taken as an Adverbial Particle :
nike mat un ne pe ? have you drunk the water ?
4. ji, simply a Future Particle ; j'a kike ji mola ? will this person go back ?
ne va ni ji da hivia ? what shall he do to him ?
2. There is another way of expressing the Future which is not
simple, by the use of te ke', and this in two ways, either i. the two
particles combined before the Verb, or 2. the particles separated
by the subject ; te being the Future Particle -=ji.
Examples : I . maren kemem te ke rav niga to-morrow we shall catch fish.
2. te noke ke ven, te nike ke ven, te nina ke ven, I, you, that person, will go ;
ke must be taken as an Adverb. When the Plural Pronouns are the subject
of the Verb, a further Particle ga is introduced (see Secondary Particles) ;
daga te ga ke ven ; kemi, nihe, te ga ke ven ; we, ye, they, will go.
3. The Pluperfect Particle is te ; na wonor hi (or niek) ni ma nat
iiia te this the club he had struck him (with). The same makes
a civil demand ; ola te ma give it to me.
4. Secondary Particles. — If it were not for the use of Secondary
Particles in Maewo these would be much less intelligible ; (see the
Grammar of that Language.) It is remarkable that as in Urepara-
para, (see Norbarbar, VII. 1,) these Particles, which are there the
common Indefinite, change with the Number and Person of the
subject. These are mostly used in a subjoined clause, and there-
fore are called Secondary. They are ka, wa, ga, ge.
Examples : noke ma hag ve pero nateme ka hag ve jege nike I sat a long
time (delaying) to-day, sat waiting for you ; te nihe ji hipa rake nohe winin,
te ge ton, (they say) that they began to peel off the rind, that they planted it.
After the Second Person Singular, and the Third, the Particle is wa ; nike,
nia, ma hag wa hag ve jeje, sat, waited; wa before a Vowel is w-, ioite =
wa ite. After a Plural Subject in any Person, the Particle is ga or ge ; and
no doubt ka and wa have their Vowels also modified by the succeeding
Verb.
5. The Conditional is expressed by ven, as in Ureparapara ; te
ven tar ji rav jige, te ven new tat rav jige if it should be calm we
shall be able to catch (fish), if there should be surf we shall not
Lo. Verbs. 397
be able to catch ; m&e ven molaji mol wele ma if you should return
come here again; nikQ ven ite ji vahe no e if you see him tell
me about it.
6. Imperative. — The Verb without any imperative sign is enough;
ven go, Tcimi ven go ye, nike domvite do thou forgive ; in ven wite
go see, wite is made up of the secondary Particle w- and ite ; to
two persons gor ven is said, r representing TO.
7. Verbs are used without Particles in an Optative sense; ni
mula ma let it come ; and after some Adverbs, like Mota qara ; te
noke ven it te, kaka vejia hivia if I should see him, (I will) there-
upon speak to him.
8. Prefixes to Verbs: i. Causative, va ; hem to hang, neuter,
vahemig hang, active. 2. Reciprocal, ver; verwuh to beat one
another. 3. Of Condition, ma, ta, da tal to break, matal in a
broken condition, ta vava to be unsteady; the Vowels are modified;
melunluu, teweh. 4. Of Spontaneity, temor; ho to fall, temorho
fall of itself, ruh slip down, temwrruh slip down of itself.
9. Suffixes making Verbs transitive or determining their transi-
tive force; ig as vahemig above; ji; na mevejike, Mota mavatiko,
it weighs upon you. These are in fact the Consonantal Suffixes g
and t, the latter becoming j before i. Syllabic Suffixes are te,
route to hear or feel ; ge, venge go with ; ne, halne to lay length-
ways ; ve, hove fall with.
10. Reflective Verbs are interesting as not being formed as in
the Banks' Islands with an Adverb ' back,' but as in the Solomon
Islands with the word signifying ' by himself,' ' alone ; ' nia me lige
mejia magena he strangled himself, tied himself to death by him-
self; Mota magesena, Florida hegena; mejia is met die, i, and a
Pronoun.
11. Negative Verbs. — The Negative Particle with Verbs is fate,
tat ; and there is no distinction of Tense ; kemem tate venven e we
don't go there ; daga tate gengen eqe we have not eaten yet ; ni tat
mola ma he will not come back ; noke tate mule I shall not go ;
noke taj it te I do not see completely; tat become taj before t. The
Dehortative is tat, don't.
12. Reduplication signifies repetition; venven go as a habit,
gengen, unun, eat, drink, habitually; prolongation, teteteweh flowers
continually ; the form haaag, tuuu, from hag and tu, go on sitting,
standing, is peculiar.
39 8 Melanesian Grammars.
VIII. ADVERBS.
The Adverb of direction hither is the common ma, me; but that
of direction outwards is ven, Mota vano. The Demonstrative
Particles ke, ne, with the Noun veta, make the Adverbs of Place,
vetak here, vatane there (the Mota vatike vatine), and vata to, ha
place at a distance, i. e. there far off : venin, there, is ven with the
demonstrative ne. Where 1 is avia ? and ave ? but na vea is the
Noun, the place where. There, not demonstrative, is e ; (see Pre-
positions, IX. 3.)
Time ; the Noun vea, ve, makes luvneneke now, luvlo ve ; and
while iane is hereafter of distant time luvnenevia is heretofore.
To-day is temee, to-day in the past na temee ; to-morrow, maren,
yesterday nanora, neweria day before yestesday, weria day after
to-morrow. The demonstratives ke and ne make up Adverbs of
Manner ; weke, wene, ia weke, ta wene, thus, so ; ta being to make ;
ta we via ? how 1 in what manner ? ta make, we as, via what,
where 1 ia vetenia ? how 1 by what means ? With the Preposition
2>e, pewek thus, pewen so.
The word vetog is used like Mota apena ; ne hinega vetog ? is there any
food ? ve tog, meaning ' there is,' is probably a Verb.
IX. PREPOSITIONS.
1. Simple Prepositions.
Locative, i. a; 2. li. Motion to, 3. hi which is also Dative.
Motion from, 4. den. Motion against, 5. gor, or. Instrumental,
6. ene, (mi); 7. nia. Relation, general, 8. pi; of place, 9. ta; to
persons, 10. mi.
1. a. — Not commonly used, but shown in ave, avia.
2. li, properly ' in,' but the common Locative ; li lema in the sea, li pakih
in the box (the English word), li matoen on his right hand. Also 'into,'
ugon li gat stow into the bag.
3. hi and hiv, v being introduced before a Vowel ; ven hivia go to him. As
Dative, ola hi no give to me, hivike, hivida, hi kemem, hi kimi, hivi he to
thee, us, you, them. There is also a meaning of Relation ; hi no concerning
me ; and hiv at the end of a sentence refers back ; ne venge ni na vijia hiv ?
what did he speak about ?
4. den from ; ola denia take away from him.
5. gor, with the meaning which obtains in the Banks' Islands; Icememge ha
gor na lata den no qo we fence over against the garden from the pigs ; niko
na hor goroke mi na venge ? you clothe yourself over with what ? qur gor ne
mete ima shut against the doorway. It seems strange that or also should be
used, but it cannot be doubted ; ven or ne pe go after the water ; ven or ja go
after the person ; it or look after (it).
Lo. Prepositions^ Conjunctions. 399
6. ene, probably not a simple Preposition ; we teh ene va ? written with
what ? ma kar ene liwa ? shot with an arrow ? ni ma nat nia ene wonor he
struck him with a club. For mi see below.
7. nia ; this is not used in the simply instrumental sense common in the
Banks' Islands, but in the other sense, as in Mota, in which, coming at the
end of the sentence, it can be translated ' withal,' ' wherewithal ;' ji ta vete
nia? how shall it be done ? shall do how withal? Also, as in Mota, me temet
ma ta tela nia the ghost became a man withal, turned into a man. For the
Instrumental e see below.
8. pi, the common pe, be; pi aval about what? why? ni na tu pi mete
ima he stands at the door ; pi nina, in regard to that, becomes an Adverb ;
pinina therefore.
9. ta, te ; tela te ve ? tela te Lo, man of what place ? of Lo ; nat ta Mo£ a
Mota man ; nat, as in Lepers' Island, the native of a country ; in na ta rie ka
he is from on board ship, belongs to the ship, ta is used as a Verb as in the
Mota we tavune aka.
i o. mi, me, the common Preposition ; mi no, mi ke, mie, meda, mi kemem,
mi kemi, mehe, with me, thee, &c. ; mi paia ? with whom ? you and who ? It
has been shown under Pronouns and Possessives how this Preposition is used
in a Possessive sense, vono mehe their land, land with them. The same is also
used instrumentally ; ni ma nat nia mi na wonor he struck him with a club.
It may even become a Conjunction ; riena mi viena heaven and earth.
2. Nouns used as Prepositions ; I . ri is interesting as found in
the Loyalty Islands, as well as re in Ureparapara, ra at Ambrym :
na vat ma ho riek a stone fell on me, literally, my top; we tela va
hag ri ema a man is sitting on the house, rie raga on a tree ; riena
on it. 2. vi, under, is no doubt of the same character; no to ma
gara vi ema a fowl has laid an egg under the house.
Like vunana, lalanana, in Mota, riena, viena are used for heaven and
earth, its part above and below. It is plain that li also is properly a Noun ;
liona its inner part, within.
3. The Adverb of Place e, is, as at Motlav, used at the end of a sentence,
and translated as a Preposition ; na wonor niek ni ma nat nia te e this is the
club he struck him with, nike da ve nia ? te noke tar lit e what are you
going to do with it ? that I may chop firewood with it. The same, however,
cannot always be translated 'with,' and no doubt remains an Adverb; nike
ven ite ji vahe no e if you should see him tell me about it.
X. COKJUNCTIONS.
Copulative, e. Adversative, pa, but. Disjunctive, si, or. Con-
ditional, ven if, (see Verbs, VII. 5.) Illative te that, (see IX. 3.)
The same is Declarative, and marks quotation ; like Mota si it is
used in telling a story, meaning ' they say that/ ' the story goes.'
' Lest ' is mit ; it or mil ho take care lest it fall ; ' until ' wahe ;
kemem ge mewmewgu wahe no gon we work till night ; wahe is no
doubt a Verb, arriving at.
4OO Melanesian Grammars.
XI. NUMERALS.
1. Cardinals. — One vujia, two vurua, three vetal, four vevat,
five tevelima, six livijia, seven laverua, eight lavetal, nine liwat,
ten henaivul ; twenty henawul rua ; thirteen henawul tuwaga maha-
lin vetal ; a hundred na won ; a hundred and twenty-one, na won
vaga tuwe, na avavin henawul rua, malialin tuwe ; a thousand ter.
With the first four Numerals, as is usual, the Verbal Particle is used.
Three words for ' one ' appear ; jia = ta, sa, tuwe = Fiji dua, and an Adjectival
form of the latter, tuicaga. The unit above ten is mahalin, its (sum) above,
mahali being a Noun meaning what is above, the air, sky. The word for a
hundred is a Verb, complete, Mota wono ; but this is only used in counting
things up to the number ; if ' hundred ' is used as an Adjective tela is used ;
no qo tela tuwe a hundred pigs. This word also means ' man,' but is not
allowed here to have any connection with that meaning ; it is probably the
same as Savo tale. The sum above a hundred corresponds to the Mota avaviu.
2. Ordinals ; formed by adding an, ian, or n, according to the
termination of the Cardinal; with certain modifications of the
vowels, and change of t to j : second vuruan, third vntelian, fourth
vnvejian, fifth tevelemian, sixth livijian, seventh laveruan, eighth
lavetalian, ninth liwajian, tenth henawulian. There is no first
Ordinal ; ' first ' is towtow.
3. Multiplicatives ; by prefixing vaga ; vagajia, vagarua, once,
twice ; vagavia how many ? or so many, times.
A great number is figuratively called na dor paka banian roots ; many be-
yond count is also no, midal. So many men together are palaga via ; palaga
rua, palaga tal ; two men on board a canoe are hag rua, two things at once
Jiorave rua, two bats hanging together hem. rua.
XII. EXCLAMATIONS.
The Vocative to a man is jia ! Affirmative weoh ! Negative
tatege. The Verb na vewia, it is true, is also used as an affirmative.
A quasi Expletive is pa, Mota qa, explanatory or emphatic.
XIII. EXAMPLES.
Kemem ie Lo na gengen ne lol hinega vehe ; ne c?a, ne temeg,
ne voh, ne molo, ne gohowa, ne dula, ne via ; ne temegjor pa,
na wia varamat ; na gengen gaga ; tate leraler ; ne hinega pah
ven ler, ne temegjor no tog ret pewen. Pa kemen na unun ne
mijiv, ne tow, ne wage: tat pe row mi keinem; te ne Wu ma
Imere den ne tela te Lo. Ne hinega wele tate liliwo hia mi
kemem : te hemei ie Lo ma tog poro li qot met, tat ite ne hinega
liwo. Qiqera ta Mint ma rav tel me le vano mehe, te nihe ji hipa
Lo. Examples. 401
rake nohe jije winin, te ge ton : pa nihe ma vile ne gilit worono,
ma qul ji pi guruh raga, luwomejal ; nihe ake ton. Ne hinega tat
lilav mi kemem pinina.
Translation. — We of Lo eat1 many kinds of food (names follow, the last,
Via, a gigantic arum, has the same name in Madagascar) ; the temeg jor to
be sure (a kind of temeg, Mota tomago) is good exceedingly ; we eat (them)
always ; they never2 fail ; if all kinds of food fail, the temegjor remains3
always so. But we drink rain-water in stones, water from springs below high-
water mark, water from wells : there is no running water with us ; (they say)
that the Spirits hid it from the men of Lo. Food also is not very large4 with
us ; (they say) that those Lo people remained lingering on the edge of the
reef, did not see the large-sized food. Those people of Mini came (drew)
round about in the uninhabited country, (they said) that they should begin to
pare off* for themselves the rind of them, that they6 should plant them : but
they took the rough bark only, (which) had stuck to the projecting limbs of
the trees, (in) the path ; they thereupon planted. Food is not large with us
on that account.
Notes. — l The reduplication here and with unun shows the habit, lol is a
Noun, ve he a Verb, literally, the collection of food (they are) many. 2 The
reduplication showing continuance, the simple negative becomes ' never.' 3 The
word ret = Mota rot to bind, but is here equivalent to ga (gae a bond), in
Mota galava, (see p. 262). * liwo is generally luwo, the reduplication gives
plurality. 5 nohe is here used like Mota mora ; jije is not translated. 6 Ob-
serve secondary Particle ge; ton, to bury, Mota tanu, Malay tanam, Malagasy
tanim.
The Lord's Prayer. — Ne Vavteme nan Lord. Ma riena; Naie
ni araru ; ne mil meke ni mula ma ; ne mewehie meke ni ho to, viena
tfawe riena. Ole me ne hinega hi kemem feme na tatereh pi feme.
Nike fomvite na hamemem <awe kemem na tfomvite naha mehe.
Tate vawavawoke kemem li wulima ; nike ola kemem den ne hiwhiw.
Na mil meke, e na mena, e na herher, ni tog ni toga.
III. North of Fiji.
15. KOTUMA.
The particular interest of the language of Eotuma lies in the
fact that the people of the island are counted as Polynesians, as
distinct from Melanesians, and that their language is naturally
taken to be a branch of the speech of the Eastern Pacific, and
to be specially connected with Samoan.
I am indebted to the Eev. Lorimer Fison for the Vocabulary
already given, and for very careful phonological notes. The Rev.
Dd
402 Melanesian Grammars.
George Brown has kindly supplied me with a short Grammar of
the language compiled by the late Eev. "W. Fletcher, a Missionary
on the island. From these it appears plainly that the language
can by no means be classed with those of the Eastern Pacific, but
must be ranked as Melanesian. In the following sketch of the
Grammar, which embodies Mr. Fletcher's information, differently
arranged and sometimes differently interpreted, the Samoan forms
are given for comparison.
With regard to the Vocabulary ; of the seventy words twenty-
nine appear to be common to Rotuma and Samoa, but many of
these are very dissimilar in form ; e. g. roh Rotuman and levulevu
Samoan; falian Rotuman, taliga (g=ng) Samoan; maf Rotuman,
mat Samoan ; kakae Rotuman, 'a'ao Samoan ; ufa Rotuman utu
Samoan; nuchu Rotuman, gulu Samoan; boni Rotuman, po Samoan;
onusi Rotuman, anuga Samoan ; sasi Rotuman, tai Samoan ; fiefu
Rotuman, fetu Samoan; oi Rotuman, la'au Samoan.
The Rotuman Vocabulary, then, cannot be said to be Polynesian,
certainly not characterised by similarity to Samoan. On the other
hand, of the seventy words there are more than thirty known as be-
longing to Melanesia, of which several are not found in Samoan.
As regards Phonology it is almost enough to point out that
besides the fourteen letters of the Samoan Alphabet Rotuma has o
as in German, k, th, b, r, h, ch ; and also'iias such close syllables
as fapluk. These close syllables are indeed produced by the
habit of clipping the final a, iris for irisa, and by the singular pro-
pensity of the language for metathesis, by which tiko becomes
tiok, faUna falian, epa cap, hula Jiual, lima Ham, and Rotuma
itself Rotuam.
Rotuma lies some four degrees North of the Fiji Islands. The
language, according to Mr. Fison and Mr. Fletcher, is in the course
of corruption through intercourse with European and other
foreigners. There is every reason to suppose that many words
and perhaps forms of expression have been in recent times derived
from Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji. To ascertain the sound and ortho-
graphy of the language is evidently difficult ; n is used here for
ng where Mr. Fletcher uses g, and t for the sharp th.
I. ALPHABET.
1. Vowels. — a, a, e, i, o, o, u.
2. Consonants. — k; t, t ; p, b, v, f ; m, n, n ; r, 1 ; s, h, ch, per-
haps j.
Rotuma. Article, Nouns. 403
1 . The Vowels a, e, o, u, are marked by Mr. Fison long and short, and i
long ; he found a, as a in ' all,' very distinct, and equally distinct the sound of
the German 6, here printed o.
2. Although k is abundantly present, it is sometimes represented by a
break, as t"a fish, and va'a root, Samoa a'a, Maori ika, aJca. The word for
' sun ' is given by Mr. Fletcher as asta, but Mr. Fison says that t is nearly th
in the English ' thin ; ' he marks the same sound in matit cold. A singular
and characteristic change in the language is that of t to f; as in for belly,
Mota tur,falian ear, in many languages talina,fa man = £a, nfa louse, hefu
star, maf face, hof=vat stone. That the sounds are not kept perfectly dis-
tinct in pronunciation is shown by Mr. Fison's writing both/aww and tdnu for
water, no doubt the Malagasy rano. In some words a more common t is re-
presented by s, as sunu hot, sasi sea. There is no w. Mr. Fison notices an
explosive h, ' short, sharp, and strongly breathed,' as in roh ashes, rdhe fire,
as well as the common aspirate. The sound of ch is soft, as in nuchu, picha ;
Mr. Fletcher wrote nuusu, as indeed Mr. Fison writes nusu ra. It is a modi-
fication of s ; nusu, nuchu, is Mota nusu, Samoan gutu, g = ng. Mr. Fletcher
writes in a few words j, which may represent this sound, ncmaja a chief,
nonoj right.
II. ARTICLE.
The Indefinite Article is the Numeral ta, one, by the customary
metathesis at. It either comes before or follows the Noun ; ta fa,
or fa at a man. After the Noun it becomes t, the final vowel
being dropped ; or with a change of vowel at becomes et and it ;
famorit a man (tamoli of New Hebrides), ta hofu or hofut a stone,
ta afo or afot a basket, ta lee or lee et a child, ta ri or ri it a house.
With vanua land, and nusura door, there is a change of Vowel,
vanuet, nusuret.
The Samoan Articles are le and se. Mr. Fletcher adds, ' Sometimes both
ta and t are used, with the change of Vowel ; ta oris parofita, ta oris paro-
fiet, ta oris parofitet.
What is said to be used with the Vocative Case, Jco, is no doubt Samoan 'o,
1 a kind of Article ; * the Fijian Article Tco.
III. NOUNS.
1. Verbal Substantives are formed by suffixing wn to the Verb;
alaki to kill, alakiun killing. This termination is no doubt the
same with na ; amaurina a saviour, from amauri to make to live ;
furimaria easy, furimariakia to make easy, comfortable, afuri-
mariug or ina a comforter, afurimariakina comforting, hoiafuri-
mariakina comforting one another. It is the Samoan ga = na, the
ana, na, ana, &c. of the Solomon Islands and New Hebrides.
The Suffix «n applied to Nouns gives a remarkable meaning to them ; ri a
house, iris riun esea they have a house in common ; koinana friend, iris hoi
koinawm esea they are mutual friends ; esea is not explained.
D d 2
404 Melanesian Grammars.
2. There is of course no gender in moa cock, wo/ hew, ko boar,
tinanom sow. Gender is marked by adding fa and hen or honi,
male and female ; Jcau fa bull, kau hen cow, o y« male parent,
o honi woman parent. Samoan terms for male and female po'a
and fafine.
3. As the sign of plurality, teu ne conies before the Noun ; tew
ne te things, teu ne ri houses ; these words no doubt mean an
assemblage. Another word meaning many is mave ; ri mave many
houses. To signify ' all ' akatoa, Samoan 'atoa, is used in addition,
teu ne ri akatoa all the houses.
IV. PKONOUNS.
1. Personal Pronouns.
Singular, i. wou ; 2. ae; 3. ia.
Plural, i. incl. isa, excL omis ; 2. ausa ; 3. irisa.
Dual, i. incl. itara, excl. omiara; 2. aura; 3. iria.
Observations. — In the Singular the First now and Second ae are not very
far from what are common in Melanesia, and the Third ia is well known
there, as in Samoa. In the Plural s is characteristic, as t is in Duke of York.
In the inclusive isa may be ta, as shown in the Dual ; in the exclusive omi =
Tcami ; in the Second au = Florida gau ; and in the Third is the common r.
The Dual shows the Plural s supplanted by the Numeral ra. In regard to
presumed connection with Samoa, it should be observed that here is a true
Plural, as in Melanesian languages, and not a Trial used for Plural, as the
tatou, matou, &c., of Samoa and Polynesia.
The termination sa becomes s, is, omis, aus, iris.
2. Suffixed forms of Pronouns are only to be gathered from the
Possessives; they appear to be
Singular, i. ti, to; 2. u ; 3. n.
Plural, i. incl. s, excl. temis, tomis ; 2. mus; 3. ris.
In these ti, to, of first Singular and Plural are alone strange ;
the characteristic s of the Plural again appearing.
3. Demonstrative Pronouns : tei, teisi this, ta, taana that; plural
on those, famor on those persons.
Taana is used of what is near, on of what is distant ; teu ne te ta, teu ne te
taana, teu ne te on, these, those, things. Another word is heta. Sasar,
Vanua Lava, ties this ; Samoa, le nei, lea, lena.
4. Interrogative Pronouns ; sei who ? tis, is, or s suffixed, what ?
which 1 ri tis ? which house ? or ri is ? vakas ? which canoe ? afos ?
which basket ? pukus ? which book ? and with change of final
vowel, Jianues ? hanua, what land ? lee on sei ? whose child ?
Samoan ai ? who 1
Rotuma. Adjectives. 405
V. POSSE SSIVES.
The Possessive Nouns are two ; o of things in general ; and e of
food and drink, and rarely with other words. With Personal
Pronouns suffixed, see above, these become equivalent to Possessive
Pronouns.
1. o. Singular: oto my, ou thy, on his, her, its. Plural: o* inclusive,
otomis exclusive, our, omus your, oris their. Dual: otara incl., otomiara
excl., of us two, omuara of you two, oria of them two.
2. e. Singular : eti, eu> en. Plural : es, incl. etemis, excl. emus, eris.
Dual : etara incl., etimiara excl., emuara, eria.
By the insertion of n after the Possessive o and e in oto, eti,
otomis, etemis, or by prefixing on and en to the other forms
given above, words are made which are equivalent to ' mine,'
' thine,' i. e. 'a thing of mine,' &c. corresponding to the Mota Pos-
sessive with an Article.
Example ; oto te my thing ; if it is asked whose 1 on sei ? the
answer is on tou mine ; oris ri their house ; whose 1 onoris theirs.
These words are, with 6 : ontou mine, onou thine, onon his ; onos, ontomis,
ours, onomus yours, onoris theirs. Dual : ontara, ontomiara, onomuara,
onoria. With e : enteu, eneu, eneu ; enes, entemis, enemus, enerisa. Dual :
entara, entemiara, enemuara, eneria.
It appears as if the added n has the same meaning that it has in Mota ; na
imara their houses ; if it be asked whose ? naiman ragai those people's houses ;
nor o gene their thing ; whose ? non ragai theirs ; gar o sinaga their food ;
whose ? gan ragai theirs. But this does not explain n in the Singular also.
Another form with a appears in use with the Verb.
VI. ADJECTIVES.
1. There are Adjectives used after the Noun; tanu (ton) momi
fresh water. Some are formed by reduplication of a Noun ; peara
dirt, pearapeara dirty, Tiofs, stone, hofhof stony, pul gum, pulpul
gummy. The Prefix faka, as in Fiji vaka, in Samoa fa? a, turns a
Noun into an Adjective ; fakrotuma Rotuman like ; nanaja a chief,
fako.cm.aja chief-like.
2. Comparison : oi teisi roa e oi ta this tree is longer than that
tree ; oi teisi roa e ten ne oi this tree is the longest of the trees.
The statement in roa is positive ; if e, as in Melanesian languages,
may be taken as ' from,' the form is the common one ' long from '
that tree, the trees. A word ak modifies the force of the com-
parison : oi teisi roa ak e oi ta, this tree is rather larger than that
tree. Another word introduced is wn; Sotoma lelei uu e noho
taana, better than that place.
406 Melanesian Grammars.
3. The Prefix es signifies 'having; ' es koroa having property, es
veveni alat having a dead husband.
VII. VERBS.
1. There are apparently no Verbal Particles as there are in
Samoan ; the Verb is conjugated, as in Santa Cruz, with the
Possessive o or e ; is in fact treated as a Noun.
Example : mauri to live, with e.
Singular, i. now mauri etoua. Plural. I. is mauri esa, incl.
omis mauri etomisa, excl.
2. ae mauri oua. 2. au mauri omusa.
3. ia mauri ena. 3. iris mauri erisa.
In this e does not regularly appear ; there is probably some mistake. In
another example, pumu to excel, given by Mr. Fletcher, e and o are mixed in
the same Verb ; and another, a, is introduced with mose to sleep. It is as if
in Mota one were to write nau we matur mote, Tco we matur noma.
Singular, i. now mose atoua, I sleep. Plural. I. is mose asa incl.
omis mose atomisa.
2. ae mose aua. 2. au mose amusa.
3. ia mose ana. 3. iris mose arisa.
The Verbs which have the Possessive in this way are intransi-
tive : and the Possessive is not invariably used, it can be ia mose
he sleeps, as well as ia mose ana, and with some difference of
meaning ; asia poni mea the sun shines.
2. Tense. — The Future is signified by tola ; now tola lao I will
go. For Present time, kota re ma it is only now done, re makikia
is still being done. Past, re vehia or voihia is finished doing ;
veh is no doubt the Motlav veh, Mota wesu: a te see finished
eating.
3. Suffix. — The transitive suffix ki appears in the Verb alakia
kill, from ala to die.
4. Prefixes. — Causative a ; mauri to live, amauria make to live ;
Samoan fa' a. Reciprocal hoi] Fiji vei, Samoan fe ; hoi afurimaria-
kina comforting of one another.
5. There is no form of Passive, so characteristic of Samoan and
Polynesian Verbs.
6. Negative Verbs ; eaki not ; eaki now inea I do not know ; or
Jcat before the Verb and ra after ; now kat inea ra I don't know ;
ra comes after words which qualify the Verb ; iris kat lao Tioiaki
mijim ra they will not return quickly. "With Adjectives se is the
Negative Particle (Lepers' Island se) ; te se nonoj, not right. The
Samoan negative is le.
Rotuma. Numerals. 407
VIII. ADVERBS.
The Adverbs of direction hitherwards and outwards are mea=
ma, and ofu=atu; leum come hither, leu of go away; Florida
liu mat, liu atu.
Time is reckoned by days not nights. There are many names
for the days to come ; to-day terani tei, to-morrow eka, day after
to-morrow teem, days after that up to the ninth day,/ajpan,/o/;awse,
fapluf, fapluk, faprere, faplop. Yesterday easa, day before reetana,
day before that reetaneri.
IX. CONJUNCTION.
The Copulative is ma ; ia ma on hoiena, he and his wife.
X. NUMERALS.
1 . Cardinals ; one ta, two rua, three folu, four hak, five lima,
Ham, six on, seven Mf, eight volu, nine siva, siav, ten santmlu ;
twenty ruunhulu, a hundred tarau, a thousand ef.
Eleven is sanhulu ma ta, ten and one. The Interrogative and
Indefinite is his ; ri his 1 how many houses ? Mota visa, Samoan _/?«.
2. Ordinals : on is placed before the Cardinal on rua second, as
if ' its two.'
The Numerals are those of the common decimal series, with the exception of
hak four. Hundred, ta rau, is one leaf. The word for thousand, ef, is
probably Samoan afe.
3. Some things are counted in sets of twos, tens, or twenties;
niu asoha two cocoa-nuts, poa he ten cocoa-nuts, kauui twenty
yams.
XI. SOME KEMARKS OF MR. FLETCHER'S ON THE LANGUAGE.
1 . There is a great tendency to clip the words and run them together. The
final vowel is very generally dropped ; on for ono, hos for Jiosi a paddle (Fiji
voce, Mota wose) ; m for mea, and of for ofu, noom for noo mea. Words are
run together as mauroa for mauri roa, hirun for Mri un.
2. In many words there is an interchange of Vowels ; fe and foi ; fa ta fe
ten ne te, puk ta ne foi ; pen and poni ; asta pen sio sun shines down (hio,
Mota siwo, Samoan ifo), asta poni mea sun shines hither ; fel and foli, fek
and fokia, vev and vovi, peri and port banana, mem and momi fresh, rep and
ropi swim ; hen, honi, hoiena are all used of a woman, hen on sei whose wife ?
ia ma on hoiena he and his wife, honit a woman.
3. There are many catches and incomplete vowels ; many words so like in
pronunciation that probably none but a native can with confidence detect the
difference.
408
Melanesian Grammars.
4. The language of the past is rapidly dying out; the young men do not
know many words familiar to the old men.
5. There are many words used to chiefs ; mariu mea come here, to a chief,
leu mea to a common man.
6. Some words were introduced from English into Tonga, and by Tongan
teachers to Rotuma ; one of these, vito widow, was declared to be a genuine
Rotuman word.
IV. New Hebrides.
The languages of the Northernmost of the New Hebrides are not
very different from those of the Banks' Islands, though they are
distinguished from them by some characteristic differences. Such
are the languages of Aurora, Maewo, Pentecost or Whitsuntide,
Arag, Lepers' Island Oba, and Espiritu Santo Marina. The lan-
guage of Ambrym, South of Whitsuntide, is very distinct from
these. Further south the languages of Api, the Sheppard Islands,
and Sandwich Island Fate, are much more like those of the
Northern Islands than Ambrym, though the difference is consider-
able. Among these are intermixed the Polynesian language of
Mae, Fila, and others. The language of the large island of Mali-
kolo, with no doubt many dialects, may be presumed to connect
Marina and Api. Between the middle islands of the New
Hebrides and the three Southern, Eromanga, Tana, and Anaifeum,
is a considerable gap ; and the Southern languages no doubt differ
much from those above mentioned. The Anaiteum language only
of these three will be at all noticed here.
16. MAEWO, AURORA ISLAND.
The language here represented is that of the Northern extremity
of the island, near Merlav of the Banks' Islands, and particularly
that of Tanoriki, a place some twelve miles from the end of Maewo.
There is but little difference in the speech of this and other parts
of the north of the island. The language of the southern part is
more like that of Lepers' Island and Whitsuntide.
The pronunciation of the language is ' thick,' broad ; the syllables
are mostly open ; indeed, though it is common to close a syllable,
it is hai'dly looked upon as correct. The language is now well
N° 3
ESPHUTU
SANTO
15'
AURORA
MCLKWO
PENTECOST
MALIKOLO
SANDWICH I
15°
16°
J73
W\
19°
MIEW
MABEVNET5TGOJSE
Codriji£rtoTt.<i $£&LtML*>$i ifti, TirisuJK
TANA
19"
20?
ANAITEUM
JTEl
o
170°
Maewo. Nouns. 409
known, and a Prayer-book, with Psalms, Hymns, and Catechism,
has been printed under the care of the Rev. C. Bice.
I. ALPHABET.
1. Vowds. — a, e, i, o, u. Diphthongs, au, ao, ae, ai.
2. Consonants. — k, g, g rarely ; t, d = nd ; p, b = mb, v, w ;
q = kmbw ; m, m, n, n ; r, 1 ; s.
II. ARTICLES.
1. Demonstrative Articles. — a and na.
The distinction in the use of the two Articles is not very clear. As a rule
it may be said that a is used with a Noun which is the subject of a sentence,
and na with one under government of a Verb or Preposition. As in Mota, na
is always used with a Noun which has the Suffixed Pronoun; nalimak my
hand, not a limak. When a Conjunction joins on another Noun to one under
government, which has therefore the Article na, the conjoined Noun has a ;
matagoro na vanua dan na adoana ti a maro guard the land from sickness,
(na}, and famine, (<z). It is not easy to say why na is used in ira na pita, the
white people.
2. The Personal Article is i; Plural ira. The feminine sign
with a proper name is ro and te, making i ro and i te. This
Article personifies ; i masinagi the person engaged in the work ; i
sava tatua ? what is the man's name 1 a sava ? what thing 1 i sava ?
what person ? See Demonstrative and Interrogative Pronouns.
III. NOUNS.
1. There is the common division into those which take and do
not take the suffixed Pronouns.
2. Verbal Substantives are common ; they are formed by adding
ana, na, or a to a Verb ; rasu to go, rasuana a going, toga to sit,
togana, or togaana, a sitting, mate to die, matea death, dodomi to
think, dodomia, also dodomana, thought.
3. Independent forms of Nouns have the termination i, ui, ii, gi,
suffixed to the true form of the Noun ; sasai a name, qatui a head,
tolii an egg, veigi the under side.
4. Such Nouns generally take the Pronoun suffixed with a
genitive or possessive sense, the Pronoun being suffixed to the true
form of the word ; yet always, as the language dislikes close
syllables, with a vowel before the Pronoun ; sasak my name, qatuna
thy head, tolina its egg.
In some cases the vowel changes in the stem when the Pronoun is suffixed;
dai blood, deiJcu, deina, my, thy, blood.
4io Melanesian Grammars.
5. In a composition of two Nouns, if the former of the two end
in o or a, the vowel is modified to e; sasa the stem of the in-
dependent form sasai name ; sase tatua a man's name ; roro, roroi,
report ; rore meroana report of fighting.
In Mota it is only a that changes to e.
If a Personal name be the second in the composition, there is the change of
Vowel ; lirae Duwu Duwu's hand : the construction is not, as in Mota, with a
suffixed n.
When the second Noun qualifies the first, without genitive or possessive
meaning, the Vowel also changes, though not always ; tatue masinagi the
ministering man.
If the true form or root of a Noun ends in a Consonant, it is common to in-
troduce a Vowel between it and a second Noun in composition with it, as
before a Suffixed Pronoun ; qatu qoe pig's head, toli kur fowl's egg ; but it
may be qat qoe, tol kur.
6. Plural. — For a simple Plural maraga is added ; a vale maraga
the houses ; or sometimes ririki.
The word expressing totality is odulu (at Tanoriki) or dolu (at Qarawgave),
the Mota nol ; odolu a vanua the whole country. But many things brought
together in one, not one thing in the lump, odolu, are expressed by murimuri ;
a tatua murimuri all the men, nona aniani ririki wuriwuri all his works ; a
tatua odolu the whole man, a tunubua odolu all the crowd, as a whole. These
words are Adjectives, as is gasegi, ' all ' in an exclusive sense.
IV, PRONOUNS.
1. Personal Pronouns, disjunctive.
Singular. I. imau, nau, na. Plural. I. incl. igida, gida, da.
excl. kami.
2. iniko, niko, go. 2. ikamu, kamu.
3. ia, ni, i. 3. ira, iri, ra.
There is no Dual or Trial, gida irua we two, ira itol they three.
These forms, in the Singular, are used as subject in a sentence,
and may also be the object after a Verb if it be desired to bring the
Pronoun into prominence. The short forms na, go, ni, da, are
only used before an Imperative or Optative Verb, never in an
Indicative sentence. The third Plural ra is not confined to persons.
2. Pronouns suffixed to Verbs and Prepositions.
Singular, i. au ; 2. ko ; 3. a.
These forms are only used after Verbs and Prepositions, to which they are
suffixed. There is nothing distinct for the Plural ; ira, however, or ra, is
suffixed. After a Consonant i is introduced before the Suffix ; vagis to strike,
vagisiau strike me ; and after a Vowel n is introduced before ia., ira ; dago to
make, dagonira make them.
Maewo. Pronouns, Possessives. 411
3. Pronouns suffixed to Nouns.
Singular, i. ku, k; 2. wa ; 3. na.
Plural, i. incl. da, excl. mami, mi ; 2. mu; 3. ra.
Example: timai a hand. Singular: i. limaku, Jc\ 2. limana', 3. limana.
Plural: i. limada, limamami or limami; 2. limamu; 3. limara; my hand,
thy hand, and so on.
For Dual and Plural irua or itol is added to the Plural ; a valera irua,
itol, the house of them two, or three.
For the change of na, from ma see Vuras and Merlav.
4. Demonstrative Pronouns.
Demonstrative Particles are na and ka ; a qatagii na that the
beginning, a qatagii ka.
This, Tdaga, ikiaga, kaikiako ; that, Mala, ikiala, kaikiala. With
the Article, a nika this thing, a nikala that thing ; and with the
Personal Article i oka this person, i kola that.
From this it appears that Tea, is generally demonstrative, and that la points
to a distance.
There is no Pronoun made from the Vocative ae !
5. Interrogative Pronouns.
Of Persons isei ? plural irisel ? (at Tasmouri irasei) who 1 Of
things sava what 1
6. Indefinite Pronouns are the same, sei somebody, sava some-
what. The distributive val makes ' each,' ' every.'
V. POSSESSIVES.
The Nouns which with the suffixed Personal Pronoun are
equivalent to the Possessive Pronouns 'my,' 'thy,' &c. are only
three ; no of general relation, ga of closer relation as of food, ma of
things to drink.
1 . As in Mota, &c., a is sometimes prefixed to no ; anoJcu as well as noku
'mine.' This cannot be the Article a, because na is always used with Nouns
that have a Pronoun suffixed.
2. It has been observed above (II. 5) that o at the end of the first of two
Substantives in composition is modified to e. In accordance with this (and it
is a proof, if such were needed, that these Possessives are really Nouns), no
also becomes ne, and so becomes equal to ' his, her, its,' ne sei f whose ? a
laqana ne, or ane, tamaiia, the word of thy father. This is only before a
proper Noun ; and the Maewo use of ne where the Mota has non corresponds
to the use mentioned above (II. 5) of the lightened termination of the first
Noun when the second in composition is a proper name, lime Duwu Duwu's
hand, where Mota would have liman.
3. A pig my property is bulak qoe.
412 Melanesian Grammars.
VI. ADJECTIVES.
1. There are pure Adjectives; a vale riki a small house, a tatua
nagonago an influential man ; but it is common to use qualifying
words in a verbal form ; a tatua u lata a big man.
2. Adjectival terminations are ga, gi, sa; anoaga yellow from
«no turmeric, gasegi only, tantanisa merciful.
The termination sa in an Adjective becomes si when the word becomes a
transitive Verb ; tantanisa is pitiful, either an object of pity, or feeling pity,
tcmtanisi is to feel pity for, or show mercy to, some object. See the similar
distinction between a and i in Prepositions, Adverbs, and Verbs.
3. The Adjectival Prefixes ma and ta are shown in masarusaru
fleeting, tagologolo straight. These words are pure Adjectives
when used without a verbal Particle.
4. Comparison is made with the Preposition dan] a qoe u lata
dan na garivi a pig is larger than a rat. When numbers are in
view liwi is used. A Superlative is made with ranai very.
A prefix modifying a quality is malamala ; malamala lata rather large.
Words of the same kind are muro gangan fond of eating, gangan to eat ; tag-
tagsom rich, som money, tag possessor.
VII. VEEBS.
There are found in this language Verbal Particles of a kind not
used in the Banks' Islands, those namely that have in combination
with them the Personal Pronouns, and therefore change with the
Person and Number of the Verb. These Particles are here called
Secondary, and those which are of the character already exhibited
in the Banks' Islands languages, and do not change with the
Person and Number, are called Primary.
1. Primary Verbal Particles. — These are all used in indicative
sentences. The distinction of Past and Present time is not de-
finitely expressed.
(1) The most common and Indefinite Particle is u, in itself
devoid of temporal significance. It is to this that the Verb reverts
when the time has been set by some other means, and it is this
which is used when Adjectives are in a verbal form.
Though devoid of special temporal force, u may be taken to represent the
Present. It makes a word a Verb, and a Verb with u may be sometimes an
Infinitive ; Jcamu u lolomu u lailai you wish to take. It is the same with
Mota we.
(2) mo is also devoid of temporal force. But when the Past is
represented it is with, though not by, this Particle; to express
Maewo. Verbs. 413
time positively ta (as below), or the Adverb tau, already, has to be
added ; (see Pluperfect).
It is said that mo is destitute of Tense, because it is used when the time
before the mind is present, past, or future ; it is ma of Araga : nevertheless it
is that which naturally seems to go with the Past. In the sentence nau u ete
Jcamu mo riwuriwu kumara the Verbs convey no tense, though the meaning is
' I saw you planting sweet potatoes.' When ta is added it brings its tense
with it ; iniko mo ta lai you took it. Compare the double Particles in Florida.
(3) ta is Past ; kami ta riwu wuriwuri no, Jcumara qariki we
have all been planting sweet potatoes to-day ; ta baso it is finished.
(4) ni is Future ; ni tig sikul tea qariki, ni riwuriwu Jcumara,
there will not be school to-day, there will be planting sweet
potatoes.
This Particle is used often as n, combined with a form of a Pronoun in the
Singular Number, and therefore like one of the Secondary Particles ; nan ras
I will go, gon ras thou wilt, in ras he will go ; and in the Second Plural also
gin ras. But it must be placed among the Primary Particles, because it is
used as ni after all the Pronouns, nau ni ras, go ni, ia ni.
(5) ti conveys the notion of continued or regular action ; a
gaviga ti mamatasa le wule rara the Malay apple flowers in the
winter. This Particle is employed in Narrative. It is used also
with a future sense in the First Person Plural.
(6) tei optative or of supposition ; tei tewa si tei visa, should it
be one or so many more, let it be one or so many.
The word wa, which is a Conjunction, is used before Verbs in such a way
as to appear like a Verbal Particle with a conditional sense, or even with a
future signification when there is suppositibn ; nau wa etea na na laqa minia
if I should see him I will speak to him ; a sava qa niTco tea dago ? what are
you going to do ? what do you suppose that you shall do ? expect to do ?
2. Secondary Verbal Particles are combinations of a Particle
and Personal Pronouns, and consequently vary. These can be used
in a simple indicative sentence, but appear generally in conjoined
clauses, signifying consequence, logical or in time. There are two
forms which may be said to be characterised (i) by e, and (2) by a.
(1) e. — Singular, i. ne ; 2. go ; 3. ti or it or iti.
Plural, i. ind. te, excl. ge; 2. ge; 3. ge.
(2) a. — Singular, i. na ; 2. go; 3. na.
Plural, incl. ta, excl. gana; 2. ge; 3. gana.
The first form e appears to be used as consequent on a former
clause with the Particle u, i. e. when present or past time is in
view. The second form a after a former clause in the Future.
414 Melanesian Grammars.
(1) Example : nau u toga ne revereve I sit and write, niJco u toga go reve-
reve thou sittest and writest, ia u toga ti (or it or itf) revereve he sits and
writes ; and so in the Plural, I . gida u toga te revereve, garni u toga ge reve-
reve, 2. Jcamu u toga ge revereve, 3. ira u toga ge revereve. In this the
Secondary Particle does instead of a Conjunction.
It is possible to use these Particles in a simple sentence without any prior
clause, but it is not the common use.
It is difficult to separate the Pronoun and the Particle said to be combined ;
it can only be said to be plainly a combination in ne, te, ge.
Example in the Past: na u sage ne tig saqea tea I went but did not see
him. The sentence in the other Persons and Numbers follows accordingly.
Here the Secondary Particle is equivalent to ' but.'
(2) Example of the other Secondary Particle with the Future in the prior
clause : i. nau ni rasu qatea na ete I shall go and see for myself; 2. go ni
rasu go ete ; 3. i ni rasu na ete. Plural : i. gida ni rasu ta ete, kami ni rasu,
gana ete, 2. Jcamu ni rasu ge ete, 3. ira ni rasu gana ete.
In these the combination of Pronouns with a Verbal Particle a is more
easily seen. The Secondary Particle again is equivalent to a Conjunction.
(3) Further, to both these Secondary Particles another Particle
vi is added. This is no doubt the Future Particle vi of Arag and
Lepers' Island : it is used here to convey the idea of consequence
after a certain interval; not only, I shall go and see, as at once,
but I shall go, and then I shall see ; or I went, and then I saw.
Example : in a sentence of Past time with the Secondary Particle (i) e ; nau
u suwo le tas, ne mule taliwura, ne m suwo le qarana, I went down to the sea,
(and) came back, (and then) went down into the valley. Here the Secondary
Particle ne does the work of the Conjunction 'and' in English, and ne vi in
the third clause does as well as the Conjunction and Adverb, 'and,' 'then.'
In the other Persons, Singular and Plural, the sentence can be followed with
go vi, ti vi, te m, ge vi. •
This form is used, strangely, with the sense of 'lest,' without
any kind of negative particle ; tura goro kami dan na tavala mero-
ana tivi rowo suri kami protect us from the enemy lest he assault
us ; kami ge vi sova qariki le an seseta lest we fall to-day into evil.
So also with the Secondary Particle (2) a, in a Future sentence : na ni reve
na vi valu I shall write (and afterwards) read; and Singular, 2. go vi, 3. na
vi ; Plural, I. ta vi, gana vi, 2. ge vi, 3. gana vi.
The ordinary arrangement may be reversed, the Secondary
Particle with vi may come first ; na vi vano na ete I shall go and
see; and here the notion is that an interval is to elapse before
going.
3. Pluperfect. — There is no use of a Particle to express it ; but
the notion of a Phiperfect can be sufficiently conveyed by the use
of tau meaning 'complete;' u lai taliwura mai na taratara mo
dago masiua tau ginia} he brought back (brings) the hoe he worked
Maewo. Verbs. 415
complete with, completed his work, had worked with. The word
tau means to make.
4. A Verb may be used without a Verbal Particle in a direct
statement, positive or negative, where u would be used ; but it is not
common, and is recognised as an exceptional way of quick speaking.
5. Imperative. — The use of the Verb without a Particle in the
Imperative is by no means the rule. A direct Imperative has the
Verb preceded by a form of the Personal Pronoun ; go van go thou,
ge van go ye. These are the Secondary Particles. The Secondary
Particles (2) are also used in the Plural ; da ta van let us go, gana
van let them go.
The Future is used with the sense of 'let :' nan van let me go, in van let
him go, Tcami ni van let us go ; and if gida, not da, is used as the Pronoun,
ffida ti van let us, inclusive, go.
6. Suffixes. — Transitive terminations of Verbs are not con-
spicuous; these are i; weda heavy, wedei to be heavy upon; va; siri
to shave, siriva to shave off something; nagi in kokonagi, Mota
kokomag, to take care of; rag in tektekerag to put away from one-
self, reject.
The remarkable form of this kind is that of si, where sa is the
termination of an Adjective; as tantanisi to be pitiful to some one or
thing, tantanisa pitiful ; though the termination si is not necessarily
connected with an Adjectival termination sa; garusa to wash,
garusi to wash some one ; bunibuniai is to kiss in native fashion
by smelling at, for example, a baby, bunibuni to smell without any
direct object. Nor is the termination only si ; seseta is bad, dago
sesetagi libatina is to do evil to one's neighbour, in which dago-
seseta do evil becomes a Verb with the transitive suffix gi.
These Transitive Suffixes not being in very common use, Prepositions take
the place which they occupy in, for instance, Mofca.
7. Prefixes. — i. Causative, vaga; maso to live, vagamaso make
to live, save. 2. Reciprocal, vagal; vagai laqalaqa talk one to
another, vagal vagisa to fight, strike one another : but it is not
clear what vagal itself may be. 3. Of Condition, ma; dare to
tear, madare torn. 4. Of Spontaneity, tava; tavaragata get up,
tavarisa lie down.
8. Reflective Verbs are not made, as in the Banks' Islands, with
an Adverb, but with a Noun and Pronoun suffixed ; na u vagisiau
tabuk, I strike (me) myself, ia u dago vagamatea tabuna he killed,
made dead, (him) himself; this is the Mota matapuk 'of myself/ 'of
my own accord.'
416 Melancsian Grammars.
9. Negative Verbs. — In a negative sentence the Verb is preceded
by tigi, tig, and followed by tea; tigi coming after the Verbal
Particle before the Verb, and tea being preceded by any words
immediately qualifying or depending on the Verb. A negative
sentence thus shows tense in the same way as a positive one ; ia
u tigi dago sesetagi lebatina lea he does not do harm to his neigh-
bour ; nan tigi ruwagi na mateawota tea I shall not fear accident.
This Negative is used in admiration like gate in Mota ; tigi tatua lata tea !
what a big man !
The DeJiortatory or Cautionary word is kare, a Verb meaning to
do away wit!) ; ge kare dago qala tea do not ye do so ; go Jcare tek-
teJcerag kami ale galeana do not thou bring us into temptation ; tea
being added as a Negative. The Pronoun is suffixed also to the
Verb, karea, as if it were ' do away with it ; ' karea balubalu tea
do not steal ; inau karea let it not be I.
10. Reduplication. — There are two forms, (i) of the whole word,
or, if that be long, of the first two syllables, conveying the sense of
repetition ; toga to sit, togatoga to sit, often ; (2) of the first
syllable, with the sense of prolongation of the act, totoga to sit a
long time. But the syllable or syllables can be repeated more
than twice, and the tone and manner do much to modify the sense.
11. Passive — Verbs have no Voice (see Mota, VII. 8); mo vagisia
gi na kere he was struck with a club.
VIII. ADVERBS.
1. Of Place. — ka and la, as among Pronouns, are demonstrative
of place; na also is 'there' and naka 'here'; laka, and alaka
' here ' of a definite locality, ede indefinite ; ala ' there ' is used also
in reference to time, or to a cause or reason ; bea, a bea where ;
bea a Noun, and a the Preposition. The demonstrative ka is used
in the sense of ' still'; ka go ete goro you still look after; and ka, ga,
followed by a Verb with a Secondary Particle have the sense of
'thereupon.' The common Adverbs of Motion hitherwards and
outwards are mai and atu.
2. Of Time. — Adverbs of Place, demonstratives, serve also as
Adverbs of Time; but some more properly marking time are,
gariki, a qariki to-day; nanova yesterday, oisa day after to-
morrow, naoisa the day before yesterday; words which are Nouns,
and in which the Past is marked as in the Banks' Islands with na;
ka roronia or roroniaka is ' now ' ; qaraga denotes sequence.
3. Of Manner. — udisinia why, saginia how, whereby, with what,
Maewo. Prepositions. 417
moi because. The word taliwura, taliwuri, back, gives an interest-
ing example of the way in which the termination i is assumed
when the Verb becomes transitive ; see VI. 2 ; VII. 6 ; na vano
taliwura I will go back, niko mo tun taliwuri kami thou hast
bought us back. See below the Preposition suri.
The Particle which corresponds to the conciliatory or polite ti of Mota is
qa, and must be considered an Adverb ; sumai qa just come here, be good
enough ; lai vano mai qa just give it hither.
The Negative tigai, no, is a Noun.
IX. PBEPOSITIONS.
1. The Simple Prepositions are numerous. Some of them,
marked *, take a Pronoun governed by them as a Suffix, in the
form in which Pronouns are suffixed to Verbs.
Locative, i. a ; 2. le ; Motion to, 3. suri* ; Motion from, 4. dani* ;
Motion against, 5. goro* ; Dative, 6. mi* ; Instrumental, 7. gi* ;
Relation in general, 8. be; 9. moi, (suri); to Persons, 10. me* ; to
Place, ii. ta, data. To these must be added Him* over and above,
used in comparison.
1. a has been exemplified in several Adverbs.
2. le, the Mota lo, properly 'in,' but used of position generally; le lole vale
in the house, i. e. in the inside.
3. suri is, when used of motion, only of motion to a person ; na vano tali-
wura suri tamaJcu I will go back to my father ; go Jcare tektekerag kami tea
ale galeana let us not go into temptation. There is another use of suri, or
sur, of general reference, sur sava ? why ? with regard to what ? van sur go
after (it), not with notion of going to a person, but with reference to some
thing. The same word has two forms, suri and sura, the former when a
transitive force is present (see VI. 2 ; VII. 6 ; VIII. 3), and therefore when it
is a Preposition. Thus rono sura is to be in a state of belief, rono suri is to
believe somebody or something.
4. dani can be used, as in Mota, at the end of a sentence.
5. goro has the sense already described in Mota, &c.
6. mi, to ; la miniau give to me. It is not possible to make a clear
distinction between this and me, for mi is used of accompaniment and near
position ; toga miniau sit by me, ia u toga mi na ara he sits by the fence.
Before the Suffixed Pronoun beginning with a Vowel n, as in the case of
Verbs, is introduced ; the Article na also belongs to a Noun under government
of a Preposition. There is an appearance, therefore, of min rather than mi.
7. gi is likely also to be taken to be gini, gin. It is instrumental, like
'with;' ia mo vagisia gi na kere he struck him with a club, kiaga na kere
mo vagisia ginia this is the club he was struck with (it). But there is another
use, not instrumental, corresponding to that of mun in Mota ; lolowia gihei
well disposed towards someone, nagas ginia ill-disposed towards him ; kami «
E 6
41 8 Melanesia* Grammars.
arewia giniJto we speak well to, praise, thee ; a man buys a pig gi na bulana
or gin bulana for his own ; ginia has much the use of Mota apena.
8. be, the Mota pe ; na anian u tarisa be leo the thing which is right
according to law. This Preposition is not very frequently used, gi taking the
place it has elsewhere.
9. moi, mo, with reference to, because of, for ; a tamaniJc u laTcalaJca moi
ia mo etetiwia inau my soul rejoices because he has looked on me with favour ;
mo ni ronosura that I shall believe, for my believing.
10. me, with, as in Mota ; mean, meko, mea, with me, thee, him. Since
this is no doubt originally a Noun (see Mota), it does not seem natural that
the Pronoun should be suffixed as to a Verb; but Merlav mio=meau; see
6. mi.
11. ta, data ; lagrana ta Maewo language of Maewo, data le vale belonging
to the house.
2. Compound Prepositions are not common; ale in, is a at and
le (also a Preposition) the inner part ; alalona inside may be
written as one word.
3. There are Nouns used as Prepositions ; tavalu, a side, comes
to mean ' with ; ' tavaluk with me, beside me, my side ; ve under,
•veigi the under side ; veiku under me, ve vale under the house ; wo,
wowo, on, above, the upper side, wowok on me, wone vale on the
house.
X. CONJUNCTIONS.
The Copulative is ti, tia; wa is sometimes added, ti wa and.
The Connective, which is really a demonstrative Particle, ki, has
something of the sense of ' but ; ' ki kaga but this ; ki iniko ? but
you ? introducing rather than opposing. If many are spoken of ka
is used, not ki; ka a tunubua, then, but, the multitude of people.
A decided Adversative is moi ; used with ka, of things kamo, of per-
sons kamoi. Disjunctives, ' or/ are si and le, of which si is said to be
used in affirmation and le in interrogation ; kiaga si kevano this or
that ; bea niko u taran ? kiaga le ikevano ? which (where) do you
like ] this or that ? Conditional, if, wa ; in wa taro if it should be
calm, in=ia ni, wa coming after the Verbal Particle; isei wa dago
na ani u seseta if any does the bad thing. A quotation has the
sign wa. The Declarative, 'that,' is war', ia u vet war in sumai he
said that he would come. A word which is in fact a Verb, vavano,
is ' until ; ' vavano na mate till death ; mere is ' like,' ' as.'
The Noun signifying companion, by which the English ' and ' is often re-
presented, is in the Singular ta ; taJc, tana, tana, I and, thou and, he and — ;
but in the Plural matara, matarsei ? they and who ? See Mota and Motlav.
Maewo. Numerals. 4 1 9
XI. NUMERALS.
1. Cardinals. — One tewa, two wua, three tolu, four iiiat, five
tavalima, six lavatea, seven lavarua, eight lavatol, nine lavat, ten
sanwmZw, sawul ; a hundred medol, a thousand ton' ; the unit above
ten is its domai, twenty-three saioulu rua daman itol ; the sum above
a hundred is expressed by loo. wonana, lana turn over wonana on
it ; three hundred and twenty medol tol Ian wonana saurulu rua.
The Prefix i is a Verbal Particle ; rna is an Adjective in sawul rua, as itol
is a Verb in doman itol, its unit-above is three. When sanwul is alone n is
heard, but combined with another Numeral it is sawul.
The system is still that of the Banks' Islands, the second hand repeating the
Numerals of the first. According to native opinion, la with the Numerals of
the first hand has the same sort of signification as doinai. For a hundred
some say meldol.
2. Ordinals. — Second vagaruai, third vagatolii, fourth vagava-
tii, fifth vagatavalimai, tenth sanwului, hundredth medolui. Thus
the Numerals from two to nine take the Prefix vaga, and all the
suffix i. The first is moai.
3. Multiplicatives are formed by prefixing vaga.
4. The Interrogative and Indefinite is visa, how many? so many;
with the Verbal Particle i visa.
There are several words which go with Numerals to qualify them ; two men
together are bulr-ua ; on a canoe togavisa sit so many ; arrows are turavisa
stand so many ; things in a cluster sogovisa ; things in so many strings tal-
visa ; things so many at once soralcovisa.
XII. EXAMPLE. THE HUNDREDTH PSALM. Asi 100.
1. Ge rorovi lakalaka min i Lord, vanua maraga: ge dago ma-
sina lakalaka min Lord, vano goro nanagona gi na lai ranai
na asi.
2. Ge gigilea gin i Lord war ia God : ia mo tau gida, ti tigi
gida tabuda tea ; gida nona tunubua, ti a sipu tale melena.
3. Ge sasaroro etetiwia ale mateara anon a, ge vano arewia le
tinenagoiwa anona : etea tiwia, laqawia nasasana.
4. Ki i Lord u wia, ia u tawtawisa radu : ia u garawia val salai
wiaraga.
i . Shout rejoicing ; dago masirm work, dago to do, masina an Adverb ;
with the lifting very far up a song. 3. sasaroro as Mota VII. 5. (3) ; etetiwia,
arewia, Verbs used as Adverbs ; are wia call good, Maori Icare ; tine nagoimti
the open space of the house-face. 4. Ki is not ' for ' ; a connective only ; he is
merciful outright ; he is true (in) each generation many (of them).
Compare the same Psalm in the neighbouring languages of Whitsuntide,
E 6 2
420 Melanesian Grammars.
Arag, and Lepers' Island, Oba. The translation is made by a native from the
Mota version, which is literally as follows: — I. Shout rejoicing to the Lord,
lands ; work joyfully for the Lord, go before his face with singing loud (great)
a song. 2. Know concerning the Lord that he is God ; he made us and (it
was) not our doing : we are his people and the sheep belonging to his field
(garden). 3. Go up (and) enter thanksgiving into his gateway, go praising
into his court : thank him, bless his name. 4. The Lord is good, he is merciful
for ever : he is true in every generation.
17. OBA, LEPERS' ISLAND.
The native name of Lepers' Island is Oba (b=mb), or, according
to the idiom by which a Preposition is prefixed, a Oba, ' at Oba.'
The language here represented is that of the northern face of the
island, and particularly of Walurigi. There is no material varia-
tion in the speech of this part of Oba, but there are two styles of
pronunciation, the dividing point of which is between Walurigi
and Lobaha. The Walurigi people to the West of Lobaha say that
the Tavalavola people to the east of it speak ' small ; ' the Tavala-
vola people say that those of Walurigi speak 'large.' A con-
spicuous distinction is the pronouncing on the Walurigi side of k
as <7=ngg. The language was first to some extent acquired and
written by Bishop Patteson at Tavalavola ; his few remaining
notes have been compared with the Grammar here compiled of the
Walurigi dialect. What has been printed in the Oba language,
under the care of the Rev. C. Bice of the Melanesian Mission, is
in the Walurigi dialect. The language of the southern face of the
island is different, but probably not very different.
The language is characterized by open syllables ; though the use
of b=mb, <7=ngg, and q=nggmbw hardly makes it sound so; no
syllable can be closed by any other Consonant than m, n, n and w.
It is characteristic of the language to change the vowel of a
word on . repetition, whether in Reduplication, as hau heu for hau
hau, or whether a word recurs ; wai, water, if repeated will be
wet. There is also a certain instability about vowels when there is
no repetition ; it may be na or ne, he or hi, vi or ve, lai or lei, &c.
There is very much in common between this language and those
of the neighbouring Pentecost and Aurora, Arag and Maewo, and
with those of the Banks' group. Words are often disguised by
metathesis, manivinivi, tatarise, the Mota mavinvin and sasarita.
Oba. Alphabet, Articles. 421
I. ALPHABET.
1. Vowels. — a, e, i, o, u. Diphthongs, ae, ai, ao, au, eo, eu.
2. Consonants. — g, g; t, d,=nd; b=mb, v, w; q; m, m, n, n;
r, 1 ; h, s.
i. There is no k in Walurigi, but g=ngg takes its place. Since k is pro-
nounced in Lobaha and Tavalavola, it would be better to print k, and let
Walurigi people nasalize it if they please. There is no hard g ; but the nasal
sound of g is apt to be missed when not immediately preceded by a vowel : g
is the Melanesian g, and is not likely to be mistaken by the ear for hard g.
2. d = nd ; there is certainly sometimes the sound of r : Bishop Patteson wrote
ndrai for dai blood. The sounding of r after d may be found to be fixed to
certain words, in which case it might be worth while to write it ; or it may be
individual or local. The value of it in connecting Oba words with other
vocabularies is plain ; dai pronounced ndrai appears at once the Fiji dra, the
Malagasy ra. 3. There is no p; b = mb takes its place at Tavalavola, as at
Walurigi : w frequently closes a syllable. 4. The sound of q depends on that
of its regular constituents, k, p, w. Hence at Lobaha, where k is sounded, q
represents k, mb, w, and the sound of m is distinctly present. At Walurigi
the full sound is ngg, mb, w, and the element of b is obscured (see p. 212).
Thus the Mota taqaniu is in Oba taqanigi, belly ; q has to be pronounced
according to the custom of the place ; to write it tanqanigi is to suggest at
once a false pronunciation and to obscure the connection of the words. 5. The
nasal m is well marked ; Bishop Patteson marked it in MS. as mw ; mnaumnau
for mawmaw ; a native scribe has tried mm.
II. ARTICLES.
1. The Demonstrative Articles are, as in Maewo, two; a and na.
As in Maewo, a is used with a Noun which is a subject ; or, if with a Noun
under government of a Verb or Preposition, at such a distance from the
governing word that its influence cannot reach so far ; gon lai gamai den vile
go a lanuwe save us from lightning and tempest. With a word under govern-
ment na is used ; and always with a Noun that has a suffixed Pronoun ; na
qatune his head, never a qatune.
These Articles are very often absent altogether, not only when
the notion is general ; da van da rave ige let us go catch fish ; but
particularly after Verbs and Prepositions.
2. The Personal Article i goes with names of persons, and makes
a name by personifying ; i lalagoa the minister, the person carrying
on the work. It applies equally to masculine and feminine names ;
the Plural is ira; ira mavuti the white people, ira ta salesale the
floating people, Europeans.
For a person's name i ginew {ginew thing) is used, like Mota i gene ; ginew
referring to the name, not the person. In case of forgetting the name heno
takes its place, and i heno stands for So-and-so, or it is asked i heno ? what's
his name ? (see p. 1 34, and below IV. 5.)
422 Melanesian Grammars.
III. NOUNS.
1. There is the division of Nouns into those which do and do
not take a suffixed Pronoun ; those that take the suffix being, a8
elsewhere, generally those which represent things which have an
existence relatively to something else.
2. Verbal Substantives are made by adding ana to the Verb;
tabe to love, tabeana love ; mate to die, mateana death ; dom to
think, domiana thought ; gea to do, geana work.
3. The termination of Independent Nouns is gi ; qatugi a head,
limegi a hand, garugi a leg, toligi an egg.
4. These Nouns in Composition, whether before another Noun
or with a suffixed Pronoun, appear in the normal form ; qatu boe
pig's head, qatugu my head ; lime taualoi man's hand, limemu thy
hand ; garune his leg ; bainM manu bird's wing ; toli toa hen's
egg. But i is often introduced between two Substantives, qatu i
boe ; a matter of individual choice ; i is not a Preposition.
If the hand of a definite man, or the wing of a definite bird, is
in view the Pronoun of the Third Person is suffixed to the former
Noun ; limen tanaloi hti that man's hand, bainhin manu the
bird's wing ; limere tanaloi hli those men's hands. The Pronoun
is not suffixed before a personal name ; lime ^eratavalavola Mera-
tavalavola's hand.
There is then no modification of the vowel in the termination of the former
member of a genitive or possessive compound ; hinaga tcmaloi man's food.
5. The mark of Plurality is teri, the word used for a thousand ;
but very often the general sense is enough to show plurality, or it
is shown by other words in construction.
Totality is shown by an Adjective, doloegi ; tcmaloi doloegi all the men ;
another Adjective gesegi is ' all ' in an exclusive sense ; tanaloi ta Oba gesegi
all Lepers' Island men, no others. Sao is ' many.'
6. Reduplication gives the notion of number and size ; bisubisugi
many fingers ; hava garugarune ! what big legs he has ! what his
legs.
IV. PKONOUNS.
1. Personal Pronouns, disjunctive : —
Singular, i. inew, new, no. Plural, i. incl. igide, gide, da.
excl. igamai, gamai, ga.
2. inigro, nigro, go. 2. igimiu, gimiu.
3. me, ne. 3. were.
Dual.— i. incl. gideru, deru, excl. gamaru, maru ; 2. gimiru, miru; 3. aru.
Observations. — The Prefix i gives a certain emphasis. The shortest forms,
Oba. Pronouns. 423
n«, go, ne, da, ga, are not used as the object of the Verb. The short nu, go,
ne, da, ga, are used in indicative sentences when there is no kind of emphasis
on the Pronoun ; and also in the Imperative, and in conjoined clauses.
In the Third Plural re is the same as ra ; which may always, when with-
out the demonstrative prefix ne, be taken to be suffixed to a Verb or Preposition.
The Dual is made of the Pronouns, gida, gamai, gimiu, with the Numeral
rue, with modification of both, except in the Third Person, where ra game are
used in full ; not raga rue, like Mota ragarua. There is no Trial ; the
Numeral is used complete : gida gai tolu we three.
2. Personal Pronouns suffixed to Verbs and Prepositions.
Singular, i. ew; 2. go; 3. e, a. Plural, 3. ra.
The Singular forms can never be used as the subject of a Verb; it is a
matter of convenience to write them as Suffixes. An euphonic ni is introduced
between a Verb and the Pronoun ; da tuleginia we buried him. There are
only some Prepositions which take the Pronoun in this form.
3. Personal Pronouns suffixed to Nouns.
Singular, i. gu; 2. mu, m; 3. na, ne, n.
Plural, i. incL da, de, excl. mai, mei; 2. miu ; 3. ra, re.
Dual, i. incl. deru, excl. meru ; 2. mini.
These forms are in fact the same with those of the Banks' Islands and else-
where ; and their use as suffixed to a certain class of Nouns to express the
Possessive ' my,' ' thy,' ' his,' &c., is the same.
4. Demonstrative Pronouns.
There are various demonstrative Particles ; na (which probably
is the same with ne the Personal Pronoun), go, hi, ha. From these
come the Demonstrative Pronouns naha, inaJia, in Lobaha ina, this;
and nehi or hine, and hit that. At Lobaha hinaha, and at Tavala-
vola nenaha are used for ' this.' The Plural ra may be taken as
a Pronoun ; ra ta Oba the Oba people : i ginew naha, or neM or
hit, this or that person, ira ginew nehi those persons ; ra garue the
two, ra gatolu those three persons. But ra has no^ more than
personal and plural force, it belongs to the second person also,
ra gatolu ! ye three ! vocative.
This Plural Particle also appears in the Vocative naraha, you
people 1 This word is not used as a demonstrative Pronoun at
Walurigi, though it is at Lobaha and Tavalavola.
5. Interrogative Pronouns.
Of a person ihen 1 or iheno ? Plural irahen, iraheno. Of a.
thing hava 1 what ? not used however without the addition of
ginew thing ; ha is a shorter form ; huri ha ? about what 1 what
for ? But heno, hano, representing a name, is used also in place of
the name of a thing.
The word heno, Tien, is one of great interest. It is the same with the
424 Melanesian Grammars.
Florida hanu, Malagasy Jtano. It is to a Personal name what hava is to a
common Noun, standing in the place of the name ; iheno ? who ? what is his
name ? men hano ? with what ? i. e. what is the name of the thing with him ?
6. Indefinite Pronouns.
The word which is commonly in these languages the Interroga-
tive is in Oba only the Indefinite ; hei ihei, anyone, someone. If
one fails to remember a person's name he asks iheno ? ihen ? who
is he ? what is his name ? If the name is not known the answer
will be ihei ! somebody ; hei representing the name not the person.
Plural irahei.
The Interrogative heno is also indefinite ; hen mo hige anyone
who desires.
The Noun lavasigi is ' some.' The Distributive vataha makes
' every/ ' each.'
V. POSSESSIVES.
The Possessive Nouns are : no of general relation ; ga of closer
relation, such as food ; me of things to drink.
1. With the suffixed Pronouns, nogu, nomu, nona, &c., are 'my,' 'thy,'
' his,' &c. It may be also, as elsewhere, anogu, anomu, &c. After a Verb no
is used, like Mota mo ; nu vei nogu I did it mine, it was my doing. It has
been noted that the Pronoun is not suffixed when, e.g., the part of a person is
called his with the mention of his name ; the Noun and the Name are in
simple juxtaposition, or with an euphonic i between ; lime M.era Mera's hand,
or qatu i Huqe Huqe's head. In the same way no, being a Noun, is used
with a person's name for a thing of his, or with hen, which is equivalent to a
personal name; no hen, or no i hen? whose is it? the thing of whom? no i
Eai Bai's thing. See Maewo V. (2).
2. ga, as elsewhere, is used generally of things eaten, but of other things
also thought in close connection with men ; gagu hinaga my food, gana tano
his ground, gamu liwai an arrow to shoot you with, gada vuro our enemy.
Charms are spoken of in the same way.
3. Property such as a pig is bule ; bulegu boe my pig.
VI. ADJECTIVES.
1. There are many true Adjectives, though most, if not all, of
them are used in verbal form ; vale lawua a large house, vale biti
a small house, tanaloi mavuti a white man, tanaloi maelo a black
man.
2. Terminations of Adjectives are gi, ga ; mana influence,
managi influential, ano turmeric, anoga yellow ; se in tartarise is
of the same character.
3. The Prefix of condition ma is common to Adjectives and
Oba. Verbs. 425
Verbs : mavuti white, Malay putih, maeto black, Malay itam. To
this may be added ga ; gamadidi cold, Mota mariri.
4. Comparison is made by a Preposition ; boe lawua den garivi
a pig is larger than a rat ; ne u hago sao denire he took more than
they. To modify the power of an Adjective vei is prefixed ; vei-
lawlawua rather large, veibitibiti rather small.
5. Other expressions of the last kind are tuen, mera ; tuen hinaga fond of
food ; meraigagarue possessed of all sorts of things.
VII. VEBBS.
1. The Verbal Particles are mo, u, na, vi, i; of which the first
three are the most common. These Particles only appear in full
form in the third Person Singular of the Verb, and na hardly
then. The Particle, as in Maewo and Araga, combines with a
short form of the Personal Pronoun. For example mo combines as
m with the Pronouns to make the Particles: Singular, i. nom',
2. gom. Plural, i. incl. dam, excl. gam', 2. mim ; 3. ram. The
Pronoun thus combined with the Particle is enough for the subject
of a Verb ; nom toga, I sit, equivalent to new mo toga ; but if the
subject of a sentence is a Noun or Pronoun expressed, the Verbal
Particle, except in the third singular, still carries a combined
Pronoun with it ; inew nom toga I (I) sit ; a tanaloi teri ram veve-
garea inigo many men (they) speak well of thee.
In the Dual there is no such combination.
It is generally the case that the Third Singular is used when things which
are many are spoken of ; without, perhaps, any expression of plurality, either
in the Noun or the Verb. Or the Noun may be a Noun of Multitude, like vao
& crowd, which may take the Plural Particle ; a vao ram veve the people say.
In the third Singular the bare Particle appears, mo, u, na, vi',
ne mo toga he sits ; ne u mate beno he, she, it, is already dead.
(i) mo. The Verb toga, to sit, is thus conjugated with mo :
Singular, i. nom toga; 2. gom toga; 3. mo toga.
Plural, i. incl. dam toga, excl. gam toga; 2. mim toga ; 3. ram toga ; I sit,
thou sittest, he sits, and so on.
Dual, i. deru mo toga we two sit, maru mo toga ; 2. miru mo toga ; and in
the Third Person aru, not used ordinarily as a Pronoun; ra game aru mo
toga they two sit.
(a) u. The Verb toga is thus conjugated with « :
Singular, i. nu toga; 2. gu toga ; 3. u toga.
Plural, i. incl. dau toga, excl. gau toga; 2. miu toga; 3. rau toga. There
is no Dual form with u.
It is impossible to determine any distinction between mo and u in meaning ;
both are alike destitute of temporal signification; nom toga, nu toga are
equally I sit and I sat, ne mo mate beno, ne u mate beno are equally he is
426 Melanesian Grammars.
already dead. Nor can one Particle be said to apply to action and the other
to condition, though mo seems rather to belong to action ; it is indifferently
mo and « garea it is good, and wai u gamadidi or wai mo gamadidi cold
water. The Adverb leno added fixes a past time.
(3) na has a distinctly Future meaning. It combines with the Pronoun as
in the following conjugation of toga :
Singular, I. nain toga; 2. gon or goin toga; 3. na toga.
Plural, i. dan, dain, gan, gain, toga', 2. min toga; 3. rain, ran, toga.
Dual, i. derin, marin, toga; 2. mini vin toga; 3. aru vin toga,
The introduction of i in nain, dain, &c., belongs to the habit of the language
of changing the vowel sounds.
In the third syllable na is used, ne na toga he will sit, but it is generally
combined with vi as vin ; ne vin mate tagaha he will die hereafter ; the same
combination is seen in the Second and Third Dual.
For the Future force of na compare na Fiji, da Bugotu.
(4) vi cannot be denied a place among Verbal Particles, though it does not,
as in Arag, combine with Pronouns, nor is used after them ; it is used alone
in the Third Person Singular with a future signification, vi vagamaso tamtena
he shall save his soul. See the Conjunction ve.
(5) i is also Future; it combines with Pronouns to make, Singular, I. nai;
3. goi. Plural, I. dai, gai; 2. mii; 3. rai. In the Third Singular it does not
combine.
(6) A sixth Verbal Particle ga, ge, gai, appears with the Numeral; and
this may possibly be the Prefix in some Adjectives, like gamadidi cold ; it
may have become obsolete as a Verbal Particle.
2. The Particle tau added makes a Pluperfect; ne u van atu
mere gu veve tau he went as you had told him.
3. The Imperative has no Particle ; ronhogosi gamai listen to us;
but the Future with na is much more commonly used. With the
Imperative is connected what may be called the Optative as ex-
pressing a wish. This is expressed partly by the Verb with a
short form of Pronoun, but no Verbal Particle, and partly by the
Future : na van, Future, let me go, go van go thou, na van, Future,
let him go. Plural da, ga, van let us go, min van go ye, Future,
ran van let them go, Future. Dual, daru, garu, van let us two go,
miru van go ye, aru van let them go.
The Dehortative Particle is se ; go se balubelu do not steal ; used
with the Particle ve=vi in the third person and with short forms
of Pronouns in other persons. In Walurigi they say ve se, in Tava-
lavola me se : na se let me not, go se do not thou, ne ve se let him
not, da se, ga se let not us, mi se do not ye, nere ve se let not them.
4. The use of the short form of the Pronoun without a Verbal
Particle also conveys a supposition ; gide da veve if we say.
5. The use and omission of Verbal Particles in a Negative sen-
tence is peculiar, and makes it desirable to introduce the Negative
Oba. Verbs. 427
Verb here. In a Negative sentence the Verb comes between the
particles he or hi, and tea. The Particle mo is never employed ;
but in the first and second Singular of the Present Tense u is used,
and in the third Singular and in the Plural no Verbal Particle ;
thus, new nu hi taran tea I do not wish, gu hi taran tea thou dost
not wish, ne hi taran tea he does not wish ; Plural, da, ga, mi, ra,
hi taran tea we, you, they do not wish.
The Negative may be expressed in the Plural also without a
Verbal Particle, hi combining with or following the Pronoun ; gide
dahi, gamai gahi, tarain tea ; gimiu mihi, nere rahi, tarain tea.
These serve for the Future as well as the Present ; but if a Future
sense is to be distinctly given the Future Particles are used in the
Singular ; nu hi taran tea, gon hi taran tea, vi hi taran tea. In
the first Person na is the Future Particle.
A Conditional Negative is made with the use of the Conjunctions
tare and ve, and with the Verbal Particles mo or u; if I should
not wish, tare ve nom hi taran tea, or tare ve nu hi taran tea.
It may be questioned whether he, hi, is not a Verbal Particle ; the Negative
force lies in tea.
6. Suffixes; the definite transitive suffixes are (i) consonantal,
and (2) syllabic.
1. Tarn to cry, tamhi to cry for somebody; mava heavy, mavasi
to be heavy upon ; vono to be close, vonosi to close.
2. For example, tagi; rono to feel any sensation, rono gagarasi to
be in pain, rorontagi to hear a sound.
Such Suffixes are rare. There -is an appearance of such when the Preposi-
tion gi follows the Verb ; gi being followed by ni before the Suffixed Pronoun ;
thus a marama doloegi mo tabetdbeginigo all the world worships thee, with
the Verb, Preposition, and Pronoun written together, seems to show a Verb
with a transitive Suffix ; but it is mo tdbetabe ginigo. See Florida Verbs.
7. Prefixes. — i. Causative, vaga; masoi to live, vagamasoi to
save, make to live : but vei, vai, to make, is often used ; vei garea to
make good. 2. Reciprocal, vui; vui laqa speak to one another,
vui wehe beat one another. 3. Conditional, ma ; mavolo broken,
come apart, mahare torn, hare to tear. 4. Of Spontaneous change
of condition tama ; tamarurus slip off of itself.
8. Voice; the Verb has no Voice; it may be Active or
Passive, or with a Passive signification may be taken as Im-
personal ; a gigilegi mo la vanai lawe gide a sign (that) is given
to us.
9. Reflective. — The Adverb taligu, back, coming round again;
ne mo vagamatea taligu he killed himself.
428 Melanesia*. Grammars.
10. Reduplication. — In a language that loves open syllables
there can hardly be much variety of reduplication, either the first
or the first two syllables can be repeated. The reduplication of
the whole word rather signifies the repetition of the action; that of
the first syllable the prolonging or intensifying of it : rono, roron-
tagi of the first syllable ; togatoga of the whole word ; garegarea,
very good, of the two first syllables ; lawlawua, very large, with
closed syllable.
The change of Vowels in Eeduplication is very characteristic,
balubelu, balu to steal ; galegele, gale to deceive.
VIII. ADVERBS.
The common Adverbs of direction hither and outwards are ma
and atu.
Adverbs of Place', nenaha here, nehi there, demonstratives; logo
where, ae there, with Prepositions lo and a ; vea where. Others
are hage, galo up, hivo down, taligu back, vagdhau afar; vuine
below, a Noun with Pronoun suffixed.
Adverbs of Time', gaqarigi to-day, now, nainoa yesterday, ma-
vugo to-morrow, waihe day after to-morrow, nawahe day before
yesterday, na marking the past; tagaha when, either past or
future, hitaga hereafter, bagatehe now just past, siseri naha (Walu-
rigi), mamo (Tavalavola) now, just at hand.
Adverbs of Manner ; mere as, tamere ; mere logo how ? as where ?
mere naha thus, as this, mere si so, as that ; huri ha ? why ? what
for?
The Negative particles he te combined make an Adverb hete not ;
ne mo tau gide, go hete noda, he made us, and (it was) not our
doing.
IX. PREPOSITIONS.
1. Simple Prepositions are Locative, a, lo; Motion against, goro,
Motion from, den; Dative, la we; Instrumental, gi; JRelation, huri,
of persons, me, of places ta. Of these all except a, lo, and ta take
a Pronoun after them in the form in which it is suffixed to the Verb.
I. a appears only with the names of places, a Oba, a Raga, and in Adverbs
ae there, a namawe above. But very often place is indicated without any
Preposition ; Ola at Oba, namawe above, vea where. There is also vagi used
for 'at;' vagi Raga, vagi Marina.
i. lo is the common locative, found also in logo where. It is, as is seen in
other languages, originally a Noun.
3. goro is the same as in the Banks' Islands. There is no Preposition of
Motion to place or person.
Ob a. Prepositions. 429
4. den is the same as in all the neighbouring languages, ' from.' It cannot
stand at the end of a sentence without a Pronoun after it ; nehi na valena u
me lue dene that is his house (that) he came out from, literally, his house he
came out from it.
5. lawe is simply dative.
6. gi is instrumental ; Site mo wehe Rovo gi roqi Bite struck Rovo with a
club, a roqi hinaha ne u wehie ginie this is the club he struck him with (it).
There is another use like that of the Mota mun, a man adopts a boy gi nitune,
for his son. After the Verb dore, to change, gi is also used; mo dore gi
'turns into.' The Preposition is undoubtedly gi; between this and a suc-
ceeding vowel n is introduced, so that gi-ie becomes ginie.
7. huri is of general relation and reference ; ne mo tu huri ara he stands by
the fence ; huri ha ? about what ? why ? huri hinaga about food ; van hurie
go for him, not to him. At the end of a sentence huri is used as an Adverb,
'because of it,' 'on that account,' 'thereby,' like Mot&apena; sige hen vin
leidori taligu vi vagamaso tamtena huri if any man should turn back he shall
save his soul thereby.
8. me is, as in other languages, ' with ' as regards persons ; ihen mego ? who
is with you? van meie go with him. But men, which seems naturally the
same word, is used with regard to things, men hano ? with what ? It is re-
markable that men is me with suffixed n, as if me were a Noun, whereas, as
above, meie shows the Pronoun suffixed as to a Verb. This may point to the
difficult question as to the presence of two roots, ma, me, or mi, me ; (see Mota
IX. i. (7).)
9. fa, belonging to a place ; tanaloi ta Ola an Oba man, ta logo ? belonging
to where ? ta ae of that place, ta lumu from above you, belonging to the place
above you ; ta lo compounded with lo of. It is more common to say nati Oba
of a native of the place than to use ta.
It must be noted that i, found between two Nouns, is the same as that
between Preposition and Pronoun, me-i-e, not a Preposition.
2. There is a word used as a Preposition but still entirely in the
form of a Noun ; the word be, used of accompaniment and position.
It has the Article and the suffixed Pronoun ; Tien na bena ? who
(is) with him ? na begu with me ; or in composition with another
Noun na be tamagu with my father.
It is remarkable that huri has taken the place which "be occupies in the
Banks' Islands, of general reference and relation ; and that (as there is no
Preposition signifying, as huri often does, motion to) be is used when motion
is in view ; though with no idea of motion attaching to be in the native mind.
3. Compound Prepositions made with a Noun and Simple Pre-
position are not common ; the under part vavagi, makes the equi-
valent to an Adverb with the locative lo ; a taki lo vavagi, a vusi a
namawe the sea below, the hill above ; and also the equivalent to a
Preposition, lo vava i vale under the house : vavagri=Maewo veigi.
It is much more common to use Nouns of this sort as Prepositions ; lu the
upper part, lugu, lumu, lune, on me, on thee, on him, or it, lu i Sugu on
Bugu. This word is used with the more general sense of 'with;' a masoana
430 Melanesian Grammars.
M toga tea lumei life does not abide (sit) with (on) us. The word lo, redupli-
cated lolo, becomes 'in;' lolon in it. Others are livvgi the middle,, vaga-
livugen in the middle of it ; tavalugi one side of two, tavala walu beyond the
valley, the other side ; mararagi a side, marara i evi beside the fire ; tagugi
the back, tagugu, tagumu, behind me, thee.
Words not properly Nouns used as Prepositions; dalibulu, dali round, bulu
to stick, wawa u horo dalibulu vanue the open sea is full round about the
land ; varavasi across ; haqe, perhaps a Verb, against with the sense of motion.
X. CONJUNCTIONS.
Copulative go, and. As a narrative Conjunction maraga is used,
properly a Verb. The Adversative, but, is la. The Disjunctive
sige, or ; a Jiogo sige he tea ? the truth or not ? dan hue mavugo
sige Tie tea ? shall we paddle to-morrow or not ? The same sige is
also Conditional, if; but there are two Conditional Conjunctions
ve and tare; ve nu lehee, nan lei lawea if I see him I will give (it)
to him ; tare nom lehee if I see him, tare nain lehee if I should see
him, tare vin lehiew if he should see me. Both are used together ;
tare ve nom taran if I should wish, tare ve u tarain if he should
wish. The Conjunction with the future Verbal Particle makes
vena ; vena taro dan hue if (it) shall be calm we shall paddle. In
Quotation vena is used and also voga. The same Conjunction ve is
Illative and Declarative ; gom hora ve na vai thou didst command
that it should be done ; in this the third Person singular na is used
without Verbal Particle ; but it is ve go vai that thou shouldest, ve
da, ga, mi, ra, vai, that we, you, they, should do ; gom vanai vena gon
veve you came that you might speak, if correct, shows vena become
itself a Conjunction.
As a Conjunction of Consequence be, no doubt the same as the
Preposition, is used ; nu veve taligu mo lie rou I spoke again, there-
upon he heard; be mate thereupon he died; but this seems rather
adverbial. The future Verb expresses .' until ; ' nai mate I shall
die, i. e. until death ; but be is also used ; vataha bonigu no be i
mate all my days till I shall die. The cautionary ' lest ' is te ; leo
goro va te sot look after it lest it fall, na te sola radu lest I be
lost utterly. This is probably the negative te.
The Noun used of persons where we use ' and ' is to ; inew togu tehigu I and
my brother, ne tona tehine he and his brother.
XI. EXCLAMATIONS.
The Affirmative is io ! the Negative he tea! The Vocative ae !
A rag. A Iphabet. 431
XII. EXAMPLE. THE HUNDBEDTH PSALM. AHI 100.
1. Mi rorovi hauheu la we Lord, vanue teri : mi #ea wetuwetugi
lawe Lord, van goro nagona gi huri lawua na ahi.
2. Mi iloi huri Lord ve we God ; we mo tau gide go hete noda :
igide non vao, go a sipu talo talune.
3. Mi ahu, mi gareahurie lo mataiara nona ; mi van vevegarea
lo sarana : mi gareahurie, vevegarea na hena.
4. Ne i Lord u garea, we u hahagavi redu : we u hogo vataha
talui teri.
i . huri is the Mota sur, a word distinct from the Preposition. 3. Enter,
thank him. 4. He, the Lord.
See the same Psalm in Maewo and Arag.
18. PENTECOST OR WHITSUNTIDE, ARAG.
The language here represented is that of the North end of the
island, particularly of Qatvenua, which does not substantially differ
from that of Vunmarama and Loltavola. Vunmarama is the
northern extremity; and 'Bishop Patteson's brief sketch of the
Grammar of the place is shown by von der Gabelentz, from which
the following may be found in some points to differ, as the
Qatvenua people differ a little in their speech from their neigh-
bours. The native name of the island is A Rag; the English
name either Pentecost or Whitsuntide. The language of the
Northern half of the island is believed to differ little from this
of the North end ; that of the Southern end near Ambrym is
said by the Qatvenua people to be very different, and to resemble
the certainly very different language of Ambrym. It will be seen
that this agrees very much with the languages of Maewo and
Lepers' Island.
The following sketch of the Grammar has been gained from
natives of Qatvenua at Norfolk Island. Translations of Prayers,
Psalms, Hymns, and Catechism are in print, made from his native
language of Mota by Thomas Ulgau, assisted by his scholars at
Qatvenua.
I. ALPHABET.
1. Vowels. — a, e, i, o, u. Diphthongs, au, ao, ai, ae.
2. Consonants. — k, g, g ; t, d ; p, b, v, w ; q ; m, m, n, n ; r, 1 ;
s,h.
432 Melanesia* Grammars.
sometimes, but not often, nk ; it is a way of pronouncing k. A
word which is at one time pronounced with k is at another time pronounced
with 17, but not by the same individual. Sometimes the nasality will be so
slight, especially at the beginning of a word, that the sound may be taken for
hard g ; but there is no hard g ; the letter is always the Melanesian g.
There is a remarkable interchange of t and k ; keko or teto indifferently.
d is sometimes pure d, sometimes nd. The same person will use both t and
d indifferently in the game word, but the same will not use both d and nd.
b is sometimes pure, sometimes mb ; the same person will not use both, but
the same person will use p, b, v, indifferently, either according to fancy, or by
association with neighbouring sounds, pev, bev, or vev. These variations of k
and g, d and nd, b and mb, are individual, or belong to families or groups ;
they are not local and dialectical. But the variation is so frequent and
characteristic that words must be spoken and written indifferently with k and
g, t and d, p, b, and v ; and this must be borne in mind in the following pages.
The power of q varies as p or b, k or g, is pronounced.
Bishop Patteson wrote fasi for vas in Vunmarama, but there is
no f in Qatvenua.
Syllables are not often closed ; never with h.
II. ARTICLES.
It is remarkable that there is no Demonstrative Article, such as
is almost universally found in these languages, particularly in the
neighbouring and very closely connected Maewo and Lepers'
Island.
The Personal Article cannot be said to be absolutely deficient
since there is the Interrogative ihei ? who ? and i with ra the
plural sign, ira ma/rogagas the hungry.
III. NOUNS.
The two classes of Nouns which take and do not take a suffixed
Pronoun are not distinguished by any termination ; but there are
Verbal Substantives and Independent forms of Nouns.
1. Verbal Substantives are formed by adding ana to a Verb;
mate to die, mateana dying, death ; rovogi to work, rovogana work ;
avo to speak, avoana speech.
2. Independent Nouns have the termination i ; loloi the inside,
visogoi flesh, nitui a child ; but these do not appear to be at all
common. The stems to which i is suffixed are shown in the com-
bination with the suffixed pronoun; lologu my inside, visogoma
thy flesh, nituna his child.
3. Composition. — Simple collocation does not generally show a
genitive or possessive relation, but the second Noun rather qualifies
the former, as ima vatu a stone house ; but nitu hogoi, nitu lolo-
A rag. Pronouns. 433
matgagarasia, show compound Nouns which must be translated
child of free gift, child of anger.
When a genitival relation is expressed, the former Noun has a Pronoun
suffixed ; ihan atatu a man's name, qatun qoe pig's head, tanon but candlestick.
To suffix the Personal Pronoun in this way to the names of inanimate things
is not common.
4. Plural. — Simple plurality is expressed by gaha, ima gaha
houses, but generally no mark of plurality is required ; the sense,
or a Plural Pronoun, shows the plurality of the Noun. When
number is to be insisted on ivusi, many, is added to the Noun ; in
form a Verb.
Totality is expressed by doluai or dol ; vanua doluai or dol the whole
island ; ata Sai doluai Iceko these are all Lepers' Island people.
IV. PRONOUNS.
1. Personal Pronouns. — Those which are only used as the object
of a Verb may conveniently be separated ; those which are or-
dinarily the subject, though they may be the object also, have
longer or shorter forms.
Singular, i. inau, nau, na; 2. igi^o, gi^o ; 3. kea.
Plural, i. incl. igita, gita, ta, excl. ikamai, kamai, ka; 2. ikimiu,
kimiu, kimi; 3. ikera, kera, ra.
Dual, i. incl. gitaru, taru, excl. kamairu, karu; 2. kimiru, kiru.
Trial, i. incl. tatol, excl. katol ; 2. kitolu; 3. ratolu.
The longer forms are used with more particularity or emphasis. In the
Third Singular and Plural a Demonstrative Jce is evidently prefixed to the
Pronouns a, ra. The Dual and Trial are really the Plural with ru = rua, two,
or tolu, three, added to the short form of the Pronoun. To say at full length
gita gaitolu, or gairua, is common, and so with the other persons. These
Pronouns in the Singular, if used as the object, are always, perhaps, so used
with a certain emphasis.
2. Personal Pronouns only used as the Object of a Verb, and
after some Prepositions, written as suffixes; Singular, i. au;
2. go ; 3. a, e, i.
1 . These are not different Pronouns from the foregoing ; nau is n demon-
strative and au, gigo is gi-go, Tcea Tce-a. The use of e and i for the Third
Singular is remarkable ; e and i are used indifferently after any vowel.
2. rais only used of animate objects ; the Singular e or i stands for Plural
inanimate things ; nam gitae I saw them, things, nam gitara I saw them,
persons.
3. When the object of the Verb is plainly expressed by a Noun, a Pronoun
of the object is suffixed also to the Verb, or Preposition ; gov ronoi nomai
tataro hear (it) thou our prayer.
Ff
434 Melanesian Grammars.
4. The syllable ni is often inserted before the Suffixed Pronoun; lainira
mai bring them hither, lai-ni-ra\ and i before aw, tautauiau, mataguiau.
5. Examples of the Pronouns thus suffixed: I. to Verbs; wehi to strike,
icehiau strike me, wehigo thee, wekia him, her, it, wehigita us, ivehira them ;
gom sogoi mai give it freely hither, gitae see it. 2. to Prepositions; lalui
to, lalaiau to me, lalainigo to thee, lalainia to him, lalaigita, lalainira',
goro against, goroe against him, her, it.
6. The Pronoun may be suffixed not only to the Verb, but to the Adverb or
other word qualifying the Verb ; nam wehi muleiau I strike myself.
3. Pronouns suffixed to Nouns.
Singular, i. gm, ku, k; 2. ma; 3. na, n.
Plural, i. incl. da, excl. mai; 2. miu; 3. ra.
Dual, i. z'ncJ. dam, ea;cZ. maru; 2. mini; 3. ram.
Example. — limagw, limaku, limak my hand, limama thy, h'mana, Ziman
his ; limada, limamai our, limamiu your, fo'mara their.
These are the common forms, without any peculiarity.
The Dual is given because there is a modification of the Pronoun in maru
and miru. There is nothing to make a Trial, tolu being simply added.
4. Demonstrative Pronouns.
These are mostly compounded with ke or its equivalent te ; keko,
teto, kekhado, tethado or tehado, keki, kekea, are all equivalent to
' this,' referring to things more or less near the speaker ; uhu is
also ' this,' uhu ivusi ' these : ' kahaga is ' that.'
The indifferent use of t and k, parallel to that of k and g, and p, b, and v, is
remarkable. In TceTcTiado, tethado, the k, t, and h belong to different syllables.
5. Interrogative Pronouns.
For Persons, ihei, hei ; Plurals, iranei ? rahei ? who ? nonhei ?
whose ? ganhei ? whose food 1
For things havanau ? what ? hava is the common word, but nau
is not explained : hano ? also is what ? see Oba IV. 5.
6. Indefinite ; ritual some : hei is also indefinite.
7. Distributive ; vatdha ; vataha atatu every man.
V. POSSESSIVES.
The Possessive Nouns used with such Nouns as do not take
a suffixed Pronoun are, i. no, of general relation; 2. ga, of closer
relation, chiefly of food ; 3. ma, of drink. These with the suffixed
Pronouns become equivalent to ' my/ ' mine,' ' thy,' ' thine,' &c.,
nogu, grama, mana, &c.
As in other languages, no has sometimes a prefixed ; wani vol anoma thy
purchased thing. A property of value, such as a pig, is pila, qoe pilama
thy pig ; pila alone is a garden.
A rag. Adjectives, Verbs. 435
VI. ADJECTIVES.
1. There are a few words used as pure Adjectives; atutu gaivua
a big man, ima tirigi a small house. These can also be used in
a Verbal form, which is the common way of using words translated
as Adjectives.
2. The termination ga is characteristic of Adjectives ; lenlenaga
stupid, ignorant, anoga yellow, from ano turmeric; Aa=Maewo
sa in dadariha equal.
3. Comparison is made by means of the Preposition nin from ;
gigo gaivua nin Tarioda you are bigger than Tarioda. Or a state-
ment without expressed comparison is enough ; qoe gaivua, garivi
tirigi a pig is large, a rat small, i. e. a pig is larger than a rat.
VII. VERBS.
1. Verbal Particles. — These are five, ma, nu, vi, i, men.
The three first are only used in the form of ma, nu, vi, in the
Third Person Singular. In the other Persons the Particle combines
with a shortened form of the Personal Pronoun ; thus, nain dogo
I sit, (nam=nau ma), gon tavuha thou art good, (gigo nu). The
form used in the Third Person, and not combined with a Pronoun,
may for convenience at least be taken as the true form.
1. In the Third Person Plural, if the subject of the Verb represents persons,
ra combines with the Verbal Particle ; but if inanimate things are the subject
the Particle is used as with the Third Singular without any Pronoun com-
bined ; alatu gaha ram vev men speak, but amare i halataa ma masiri heaven
and earth are full. See IV. 2.2.
2. The Pronoun combined with the Verbal Particle repeats in a manner the
subject of the Verb when it has been already expressed. If the Nominative
be a Substantive, the Verbal Particle contains the Pronoun appropriate to it ;
ira sipimiu ram lol Icitai inau your forefathers (they) tempted me. Every
added Verb carries with it, therefore, a repeated Pronoun representing the
original subject; as in the continuation of the verse above, ram galiau, ram
gitai nogu lalaigova they proved, they saw my works. If the Nominative be
a Pronoun, the same Pronoun in combination with the Verbal Particle is
immediately repeated ; kamai gam uloi didinigi we (we) praise.
3. The Pronoun combined with the Verbal Particle cannot ordinarily suffice
for the subject of a sentence ; but when the subject has been declared, the
Pronoun combined in the Particle is enough not only for added clauses, but to
carry on further sentences. Thus, in conversation or narrative, no other
subject often is expressed than what is conveyed with the Particle ; and this
is naturally the case when people are speaking of themselves. See Florida.
4. A Verb with its Particle can be treated as a Noun ; la, ma, garni inau
when I was washed, in the washed me.
Pf 2
436 Melanesian Grammars.
(1) ma. — This has absolutely no temporal force, it merely makes
a Verb. In the Persons other than the Third Singular it thus
combines with the Personal Pronouns : — nam dogo I sit, gom dogo
thou sittest, tarn dogo, gam dogo we sit, gim dogo ye sit, ram dogo
they sit. In the Dual, tamuru and gamuru dogo we two, gimuru
ye two, ramuru they two, sit : in which the Numeral ru follows
the Verbal Particle.
In the Third Singular ma dogo would be the form in ordinary Indicative
sentences. But it is important to observe that ma also combines to form
gem, it may be supposed with kea he ; and this is used after bere, lest, and
after siv.
(2) nu ; — in combination with Pronouns, Singular, i . nan ;
2. gon. Plural, i. tan and gan; 2. gin', 3. ran: the Third Sin-
gular, and for inanimate subjects the Third Plural, being nu.
This is Past ; nu haro, ma rahu, he was ill, is well, i. e. has
been ill and has recovered ; but the temporal force cannot be
pressed; gigo gon tavuha thou art good. To signify distinctly
the Past the Adverb hupa is added ; nu nogo hujm it is finished,
nu mate huj>a he is dead already.
(3) vi> — combined with Pronouns, nav, gov, tav and gav, giv,
rav; vi remaining uncombined for Third Singular, and Third
Plural if neuter.
This Particle is Future ; vaigogo tav riv damn to-day we shall
plant yams. It also conveys the idea of continuance or regular un-
failing action or condition ; gaviga vi tatawaga lolo rara the Malay
apple flowers in the winter.
There is a Particle si, which combines with v, making siv. But siv cannot
be thought a Verbal Particle, since another Particle is used at the same time
to express consequence ; gov lol tautau iaut nam siv nituma teach me that I
may be thy child.
(4) i is also Future ; it is written in one with the Pronouns, nai,
goi, tai, gai, rai. The Pronoun, in this use, of the Second Plural
being gi, i if added is lost. This Particle is not used except with
a Pronoun ; i. e. in the Third Singular and, where things are the
subject, the Third Plural vi, and not i, is used.
(5) The remaining Particle men does not combine with a Pro-
noun to make one word like the first three ; but it goes with a
Pronoun, na men, go men, ta men, ga men, gi men, ra men. In the
Third Singular men has no accompanying Pronoun.
Though m&n is used with indicative statements its common use
is in conjoined clauses ; ma horaau be na men binihimasi ginia
it is commanded me that I should believe him ; nam bev lalainia pe
A rag. Verbs. 437
men van I told him to go, that he should go, gom bev lalai kamai
2)e ga men van you told us to go.
In the absence of a conditional or potential Particle, purpose or condition is
conveyed by an indicative sentence ; nav gitae nai vev lalainia if I should see
him I will tell him, i. e. I shall see, I shall speak.
The only example of a Particle used in conjunctive clauses is
gem; see Conjunctions, 'lest.'
2. The Verb without a Particle makes the Imperative ; van, vev
huria go, speak to him. But men also is used, go men vev speak
thou. See also Conjunctions, ba.
The Future with vi is also used in an Imperative or precatory
sense, as in prayers ; gov hagavi kamai have mercy upon us ; nom
hagav vi togo alumai let thy mercy rest upon us. So in the nega-
tive, gov hav mataguiau tehe don't be afraid of me. The Future i
is equally used ; tai vano let us go ; and n combined with Pronoun,
gin vano go ye.
3. The Particle to or do, added to the Verbal Particle, gives the
sense of continuance ; gom to gitai goro thou still dost look after,
ram do lenlenaga they are still ignorant. Compare to, do, in Am-
brym and Sesake, there called auxiliary Verbs.
4. Suffixes. — The terminations of Verbs that give a transitive
force, or direct their action, are not conspicuous. One such Suffix
is i; gogona sacred, gogonai treat as sacred, worship. There are
also tai, rai, mai ; rono to hear, rorontai to listen to ; daturai, Mota
taturag, to stumble against ; van to go, vanmai to convey.
Between these terminations and a suffixed Pronoun ni is introduced, roron-
tainia listen to him, gogonainigo worship thee. This appears to be a Pre-
position, though ni is also introduced between a Preposition and a Pronoun ;
see IV. 2. 4. 5. and Oba VII. 6. 2.
5. Prefixes. — The Causative is va; rahu to live, varahu save,
make to live. The Reciprocal vei ; veigaigai dispute, argue one
against another. The Conditional ma and ta ; hera to tear,
mahera torn ; tawaga or dawaga come open.
6. The Verb is Passive as well as Active ; a Verb with a Par-
ticle, as in Third Person Singular, expresses the Passive sense;
dovonana avare vi gitai a sign outside (that) is seen, ma lai mai
lalai gida is given to us.
7. In a Negative sentence the Verb comes between two negative
Particles, ha and tehe or te ; to the first of which si is sometimes
prefixed and v suffixed, making sihav, contracted sav and hav;
nam hav gita tehe I do not see ; ram ha wehia tehe they did not
strike him. There is no change for Tense.
438 Melanesia^ Grammars.
The Particles si and v are those mentioned under the Particle vi ; and sav is
appropriate in conjoined clauses; ma horaiau be na sav wehiwehi ponogai
ihei I am commanded that I am not to strike anyone without due cause.
The Dehortative, Cautionary, or Prohibitive Particle is vina ;
inau vina let it not be I ; vina linlin kamai la ruruhi lead ua not
into temptation. The negative Future is equally used, vi in vina
being indeed the same particle ; gov hav maturu tehe don't sleep,
tav ha maturu tehe don't let us sleep.
8. Beflective action is signified by the Adverb mule back ; nam
wehi muleiau I strike myself.
9. Reduplication either conveys the notion of repetition or in-
tensifies the notion of the simple Verb.
YTEI. ADVERBS.
The Demonstrative Pronouns keko, teto, kekhado, tethado, keki,
teti serve as Adverbs of place and time. Those of motion hither-
wards and outwards are mai and matu.
Adverbs of Place ; — aia here, there, amare above ; a being the
Preposition ; halataa below, hautu afar, abena near, bul together.
Of Motion, mule back, vai onwards ; radu right out, completely.
Adverbs of Time ; — garigi, kahagarigi to-day, bategaha now,
vaigogo to-morrow, ninovi yesterday, vaiweihe day after to-morrow,
nonaiha day before yesterday, vainonaiha hereafter, time to come.
Adverbs of Manner; — kunas, like, so, kunia thus ; nan, nankunia,
only, huri hano ? why ?
Prepositions with Suffixed Pronouns are used as Adverbs, such as
abena, huria, ' at that/ ' because of that/ thereby, therefore. The
Negative sigai no, is also ' not.'
IX. PBEPOSITIONS.
1. Simple; i. a, locative, at; it occurs most commonly in com-
position, as in Compound Prepositions, and in names of Places,
A Raga Pentecost, A Bai Lepers' Island.
2. la, locative, in, on; manu ma dog la gai a bird sits in a
tree, la vatu on a stone, la ara in the garden. It is used also
where motion is in view, as a bird flies into a tree la gai, or a man
puts something upon a stone la vatu; but la has no sense of
motion.
3. huri, motion to ; mai huriau hither to me, van huria go after
him, to fetch him. The same is of general relation, for, because of;
huri hano ? what for ? why ?
A rag. Prepositions. 439
4. goro, motion against, opposition ; vano goro lolmatana go
before his face, ara goro qoe fence against pigs; to warm oneself
at the fire is goro avi ; gita goroe look after it.
5. nin, motion from ; ma lai ninigo took it from you.
6. lalai, dative ; vev lalainia speak to him. Probably the same
word with la.
7. gin, instrumental ; nam wehia gin iruqe I struck him with a
club ; at the end of a sentence with a Pronoun, uhu iruqe nam
wehia ginia this is the club I struck him with (it).
There is also a meaning of reference ; kea ma lavia gin nituna
he took him for his son, lolok ma tavuha gin dam marahi, I desire,
my heart is good for, heavy yams.
8. ta, reference to place, belonging to a place; ta lol pilaku (a
thing) from my garden, ta lolo ara from within the fence, ta pehe ?
where from ? belonging to what place 1 This is used also with a
prefixed; atat ata Mota a Mota man, avoana ata Raga Raga
speech.
There are two other words which, though used as Prepositions,
are hardly distinct from Nouns and Verbs.
(1) lolo, lol, le, in, a Noun; lol tana in the bag, leima in the
house.
(2) dum up to, a Verb, to strike, attain to ; nam vano dumia
I went right up to him.
The Verb va, ba, to go, makes vai, also meaning ' up to ; ' kera la mai vai
a Vunmarama they came hither up to Vunmarama.
2. Compound Prepositions, a with a Noun Substantive. These
take therefore the Pronoun suffixed as Nouns, not as Verbs; ku,
ma, na, not au, go, a, &c.
1. abe, a and be; abeku with me, aben matgatava at the door,
i. e. at the door's be, side ; be is used alone.
2. ame, ama, a and me, ma; gam baloa maira Loltavola we
fight with the Loltavola people. The word is not often used, abe
taking its place.
3. ate, a and te the underside; aten gai under a tree, at the
underside of a tree ; toa ma bahuhu aten ima a fowl has laid eggs
under the house.
4. alu, a and lu the upper side; vatu ma hovi aluk a stone fell
upon me, alun qatuku on my head.
5. alolo in ; alolona in it.
440 Melanesian Grammars.
X. CONJUNCTIONS.
Copulative, i ; aware i halataa heaven and earth, above and be-
low. With Verbs this conjunction is often dispensed with; nam
ban, nam gitae I went, I saw him. Adversative, but, take, and more
strongly Tiageta. With Verbs a conjunction is commonly left out
where ' but ' is not strongly intended ; nam ban, nam hav gitae te
I went, (but) I did not see him. A connective Conjunction in
narrative is hage. The Disjunctive is sa, and si, or ; gigo magahemu,
sa or si, gidaru ? you only, or you and 1 1 Conditional, be if; be
Ian sikai if (there should be) no wind. This is also often omitted ;
nav gitai, nai vev lalainia if I should see him I will speak to him.
Declarative and Illative, be ; ma vav be nu tavuha he said that it
was good. This be is no doubt the same with the Preposition. It
is also a sign of quotation.
Besides these, bere lest ; after which the Verbal Particle gem is
used ; gita didini ginia bere gem hovi look out after him lest he fall.
There are two expressions which translate ' until,' ' till ; ' dare, the
Mota nare to wait for, dare mate till death ; and siv, see Verbs
i. (3); gem siv votu varana gaitoluna i gaivasina until the third
and fourth generation arise.
The Substantive used of two persons together, and equivalent to ' and,' is
mato ; matoTc Tarioda Tarioda and I, matom Tiei ? you and who with you ?
TJlgau maton Maslea,.
XL NUMEEALS.
1. Cardinals; one gaituwa, two gairua, three gaitolu, four gai-
vasi, five gailima, six gaiono, seven gaivitu, eight gaiwelu, nine
gaisiwo, ten hanvulu. Twenty navulu gairua,
In these it is evident that gai is a Prefix. The decimal series is as in
Lepers' Island. The change to navulu when more than one ten is reckoned is
remarkable, and cannot well be explained ; compare Maori ngahuru.
The unit above ten is its doma, doman ; twelve hanvulu doman
gairua ; forty-six navul gaivasi doman gaiono.
Hundred is vudolua. The unit above vena ; hundred and
twenty vudolua vatuwa, vena navul gairua ; ve is probably a
Noun, the pile above, vena its pile above. Thousand is tari, or
vudolua vasanvul ten times a hundred, h being remarkably changed
to s. Beyond this sum is vudolua vasanvul tamlen ten times
hundred to confusion.
The Cardinals are sometimes Substantive, as hanvulu doman gairua ten its
A rag. Numerals. 441
unit above is two ; sometimes Adjective, atatu gaitolu three men; sometimes
Verbs with Verbal Particle, atatu ma navul gairua the men were twenty.
2. Ordinals ; formed by adding na to the Cardinal ; gairuana,
goitoluna, hanvuluna, and so on. There is no ordinal ' first/
moana is used : wati is ' another.'
3. Multiplicatives ; formed by prefixing the Causative va to the
true Cardinal, divested of gai ; vatuwa once, varua twice, vahan-
vulu ten times, vavu&olua hundred times, vatari thousand times.
4. The Interrogative and Indefinite is viJui ; how many ] gai-
viha ? how many times ? vaviha ? so many at once soragoviha.
XII. EXAMPLE, THE HUNDREDTH PSALM. IBOI 100.
1 . Gin tapur samsamara lalai Lord, vanua kaha : gin loli ro-
voga samsamara lalai Lord; vano </oro lolmatana gin lol gaivua
iboi.
2. Gin iboi huri Lord be kea God : kea ma tau gida nu ha wora
te noda ; gida non sinobu, i sipu talol non ara.
3. Gin tali goro ^ariana la matgatava nona, gin vano uloitavuha
la lolonsara nona : ^ariauia, avkari ihana.
4. Hagre Lord tavuha, nu hagavi vatuwai : nu masigi vataha
lalawana kaha.
See the same Psalm in Maewo and Oba. I. loli to do, rovogi work.
4. Hage connective.
19. ESPIRITU SANTO, MARINA.
The large island of Espiritu Santo in known as Marina in the
Banks' Islands, and as Marino at Aurora and Lepers' Islands ;
traders call it Santo. There are no doubt many dialects. The
language here represented is that of the great bay of SS. Philip
and James, perhaps in more than one dialect. Information has
been obtained partly from MS. notes of Bishop Patteson's, chiefly
from words and sentences taken down by a native teacher at
Motlav, Walter Woser, from a Marina man settled there. In what
follows all that is derived from Bishop Patteson's notes is put
within brackets. The Bishop's notes were made at two dates and
probably in two places, but there is a general agreement. It will
be seen that the language is closely connected with those of the
Banks' Islands and of the neighbouring New Hebrides.
442 Melanesian Grammars.
I. ALPHABET.
1. Vowels. — a, e, i, o, [o, o], u.
2. Consonants. — k, g; t, j = ts; p, v, w; m, n, n; r, 1; s.
The First Person Singular Pronoun, as suffixed to Verb and Preposition, is
written by Bishop Patteson o, and by Woser, the Motlav interpreter of the
language, au ; a distinction of dialect may be indicated.
The changed sound of t, here represented by j, is written by Bishop Patteson
ts and tz, by Commodore Goodenough in his Vocabulary ts and tch, by Woser
ts, tj, and j. From this the sound may be gathered ; j as used by Woser being
meant to represent the English j. This change of t does not occur only or
generally, as in Torres Islands, Ureparapara, and Santa Cruz, before i. It
sometimes represents a remote r, through d and t ; jae, blood, is ra. If d
were present it would not escape, any more than b, the ear of a Motlav scribe.
Once in Bishop Patteson' s writing, and once in Woser' s, w occurs. It is
probable that v approaches w. The absence of w, as in Florida in the Solomon
Islands, is accompanied by the absence of q, i. e. of the compound common in
Melanesia, k, p, w.
There is no doubt m, though it has not been marked.
The most remarkable change in this language is from m to n, as shown in
the Pronouns and in common words ; nanu bird, nata eye, for manu, mata.
Another singular change is of g (the Melanesian g) for n ; pogi for qon [tig
for tin], a change found also in Ambrym, Santa Cruz, and Duke of York.
II. AKTICLES.
1. The Demonstrative Article, na ; [a ; a usa rain, a ima a house,
a sule a stone. The Noun is used as the subject of a sentence
without an Article.]
2. The Personal Article i appears in isei who.
III. NOUNS.
1. There is the common division between Nouns which take and
do not take the Pronoun suffixed as a Possessive ; na imaku my
house, na giseku my name, but na pilaJcu na tigo my club, not
tigoku.
2. Verbal Substantives are apparently shown in [losia fighting]
losi to strike ; but mate is both to die and death ; vue to love,
na vuevue love.
3. When a genitive relation between two Nouns is expressed
the first takes the Pronoun suffixed ; na rena poe a pig's head,
na gotolina toa a hen's egg, matan na ima eye of the house, door,
na nagona ima the front of a house, na vana na gau the fruit of
a tree, nalolona na ima the inside of a house.
It might be doubted whether these should not be written re na poe, gotoli
Espiritu Santo. Nouns, Pronouns. 443
«a toa, &c. ; na being taken as the Article, and the words as simply put
together; 'the head the pig,' 'the egg the fowl,' rather than 'its head the
pig,' ' its egg the fowl,' meaning the pig's head, the fowl's egg ; but na vana
na gau, na lolona na ima show the Pronoun plainly.
4. Plural. — The Noun naure, the Mota taure, meaning a com-
pany, is used, but not in a simply plural sense ; gire na naure ga
naeto they the lot are black, i. e. they are all black. Another
Noun vao, also meaning a company, is perhaps more simply plural ;
na ima vao, houses, the group of houses. The whole land is na
vanua vanogo.
TV. PKOKOUNS.
1. Personal Pronouns.
Singular. I. inau, nau, na, a. Plural. I. incl. igije, gije.
excl. ikanam, kanam.
2. inigo, nigo, go, o. 2. ikaniu, niu.
3. ituga, ken (i). 3. igire, gire, gireken.
Dual, I. gijerua, kanamirua; 2. kanirua; 3. girerua.
Bishop Patteson has Singular Third Person [sike, nid\ and Second Plural
\iamiu, ami].
In the Third Singular ituga is the Demonstrative Pronoun ; and ken, which
also appears in the Plural, is demonstrative, (see Motlav Ice.) These are hardly
Personal Pronouns in the usual way.
The short forms a, go, o, i are only used before Verbs when no Verbal
Particle is employed.
The inclusive First Person Plural je is the common ta, da.
There is a little change of form in the Pronouns combined with the Numeral
rua in the Dual. The Trial is made in the same way with tol three.
2. Pronouns suffixed to Verbs and Prepositions.
Singular ) i. au, [o]; 2. [go]; 3. a.
Plural, i. incl. ja ; 3. [ra].
These suffixes are often introduced by an euphonic i; after
Consonants suriau to me, tania from him ; after a final e, kileia
see it.
1. Example with the Verb losi, to strike: Singular, i. losiau strike me,
2. losigo thee, 3. losia him, her, it. Plural, I. inclusive losija, exclusive losi
kanam strike us, 2. losi Jcaniu, 3. losira.
In the First exclusive and Second Plural there are no special forms.
2. It is very remarkable that o should be found suffixed also to a Noun
[gamalio my gamal\.
When the object of a Verb is expressed, being a Noun, the Pronoun also is
suffixed to the Verb, as in Maewo, Ambrym, &c. ; rasia tugelai wash (it) a
garment, [niko tisia tost] you see (it) the sea.
3. Pronouns suffixed to Nouns.
Singular, i. ku, [k], [o] ; 2. mu, [m] ; 3. na, n.
Plural, i. incl. ja, excl. nam; 2. niu; 3. ra.
444 Melanesian Grammars.
Example, gave & hand; Singular, i. na gaveku my hand; 2. gavemu thy
3. gavena his, her, its. Plural, i, incl. na gaveja, excl. gavenam our
hands ; 2. na gavemu your hands \ 3. na gnvera their hands. The Dual shows
a change of vowel in na gavejerua the hand of us two.
The Plural inclusive ja is da of Maewo, &c.
4. Demonstrative Pronouns.
The Demonstrative Particles ka and ne appear in almost all;
neka, naka this ; ituga, nituga that ; [ne eno] this, neka nie that ;
nie here being probably the same with [nia] the Personal Pronoun ;
na pilak neven a thing of mine ; na sa naka this thing ; isei naka ?
who is this 1 [isei ne eno ? sei ni ?] who is that 1
The word used as Third Personal Pronoun, ituga, is also a
Demonstrative Pronoun ; ituga na sol nau gai losia nia this is the
club I struck him with. The Third Plural Personal Pronoun igire
is also a Demonstrative Pronoun, those.
5. Interrogative Pronouns.
Of persons, isei, sei, plural raisei, who ? na pihsd ? whose pro-
perty 1 na gave sei ? whose hand 1 [gisen isei ?] what is his name ?
i. e. who his name ? Of things na sava ? what ?
It should be observed that the examples na gave sei and [gisen ise{] repre-
sent on the one hand the Maewo construction without the Suffixed Pronoun,
and on the other the Mota use, like nasasan sei.
6. Indefinite Pronouns.
The Interrogatives sei and sava are used indefinitely. Another
Indefinite Pronoun is interesting, see Oba IV. 5, 6 ; [sanu, san
anything ; ti sa paligoi na pilam san not steal anything of yours].
7. It is desirable to mention among Pronouns the word gesi, gisi, which may
be translated ' self.' This is no doubt the same with the Mota magese, the
Florida liege, &c., which are Nouns with Suffixed Pronouns, and to be trans-
lated 'myself,' 'by myself,' &c. Here [c/isena] is 'he alone;' but in the
following sentences the word can only be translated as equivalent to a Personal
Pronoun, though in the form of a Noun ; lavi sonai na gesiku give hither to
me ; ituga mo tog na gisiku he stays with me ; na sule mo jovi ta na gisiku
the stone fell on me, i. e. on myself. Bishop Patteson has [wotoa nia gesioi]
take away from me, probably gatoa, 'let not that be with me.'
V. POSSESSIVBS.
The only Possessive Nouns, such as are in common use as equi-
valent to Possessive Pronouns, are ga used for things to eat, and
no doubt for other things in close relation to a man, and na,=ma,
of things to drink ; na gam sinaga nituga your food this, [ti kani
gaja] eat our food; na nam tei naka your water for drinking
this.
. Espiritu Santo. Adjectives, Verbs. 445
With Nouns that do not take the suffixed Pronoun pita, some-
times pile, is used; na pilaku na tigo my club, i.e. my property
the elub, na pilak neven mine that, na pile set na poe ? whose is
the pig ? The word is much more generally used than elsewhere,
taking the place of the common no.
VI. ADJECTIVES.
1. The Verbal Particle ga is commonly used with qualifying
words; that is to say^ Adjectives are used in Verbal form. But
there is the use of Adjectives without the Verbal form ; [rasia tu-
gelai pulii] wash dirty clothes ; na tajua tagasuei a big man, na
ima tagakiu a small house.
2. The Prefix na=ma appears in narir cold and nalumlum soft.
In tagasuei big, tagakiu, and tagapui, small [tagaoso bad, tagonai good],
there seems to be an adjectival Prefix ; and [oso] occurring by itself seems to
show ga at least the Verbal Particle ; but the Verbal Particle mo is used with
this Prefix, mo tagasuei.
Commodore Goodenough gives topei, for pei, good.
3. Comparison is made with a Preposition, tan from ; na poe mo
tagasuei tan na garivi a pig is bigger than a rat ; kanam na vao
tan gireken we are more than they, i. e. the many from them.
VII. VEKBS.
1. Verbal Particles. — These are ga or gai, mo or mu, and [ti].
They do not combine with Pronouns, and there is no distinction of
Tense to be observed.
1. ga is used with words which qualify as Adjectives, ga narir cold; but
mo is also used with these, mo tasi sweet, mo pei good, mo oso bad. There is
no apparent difference between ga and gai ; see Oba VII. i . (6.).
2. The form mo or mu seems to vary with the neighbouring Vowel; mo
votoga, mu rugu • mu losia perhaps shows that o in losia is o.
3. To mark Tense, Adverbs are added ; nau gai sige I sit, nau ga sige rus
I sat, nau gai tog mautu I shall sit ; inau kileia nine na ovo ituga I have
already seen that ship ; ituga mo votoga niau nine he has taken it from me
already.
4. The Particle ti appears in Bishop Patteson's notes as of continued action
or condition; [ti sa losia~\ there is no fighting ; [ti sa paligoi na pilam san\
there is no stealing of your property ; [ti lavi poe, ti voli najiapagi] pigs are
brought, axes are exchanged (for them) ; \niko pupura bell nu mai, ti kani
gajd] you hear bell, come back, we eat our food. It is reduplicated ; [titi
leleo inigo~\ you are seen. This ti may probably be assigned to a dialect a
little different from that which is mainly represented here, and in which mo
expresses continuity or habit ; gaviga mo viragurag na rara the Malay apple
flowers in the winter.
2. A Pluperfect sense is given, as in Maewo, by tau after the
446 Melanesian Grammars.
Verb ; o losia sura sava ? ituga mu losiau lau why did you strike
him ? he had hit me. But tau is not always used with this plu-
perfect sense ; and nine may serve the purpose ; ituga mo lav mule
na taga mo gan nine alolona he brought back the dish he had
eaten in.
3. A Verb is often used without a Verbal Particle ; inau kileia
nine na ovo I have seen the ship.
There is doubt whether a, o, i before Verbs ought to be called short forms
of Pronouns or Verbal Particles changing with the Person, like the Maewo
Secondary Particles, and those which appear in Sesake. They are thus shown :
First Person Singular, na a losia ni na maja I struck him with a club ;
Second Person, o losia sura sava ? why did you strike him ? Third Person, i
turi tau na nagona ima he stood at the front of the house.
With regard to a there seems to be a proof that it is a Pronoun in a
sentence in which the Verbal Particle is also present ; [na ma mo piroiau, a
ga mariri] the rain wetted me, I am cold. Whether i is a form of Pronoun is
much more doubtful, since it occurs after o and go.
4. Imperative. — Either no Particle is used ; lavi van ituga give
to him, mule van ituga go back to him, lavi so nod give (it) hither ;
or, in speaking to one person, goi, oi, or go is used ; goi, or go, aso
speak, oi van goro na tei go after water.
5. Conditional sentences may have no Particles ; nau Jdleia na
vetia, (if) I see him I will tell him ; go taroe go lavia (if) you like
you (can) take it.
6. Suffixes. — The syllabic Transitive Suffix tag is seen in rogo-
tag to hear, and probably rag in viragurag to blossom. The Con-
sonantal Suffix v appears in lavi; la, or lavi, mule na taga, take
back the dish; and in [alow to beckon a person, from aZo] the
Mota alovag.
In the examples keleia toinia look after him, and ituga mo votoganiau nine
he has taken that away from me, there may probably be the definite Transitive
Suffix ni.
There are Verbs which, by the way in which they have to be translated,
seem to require a Preposition or a Transitive Suffix ; vetia speak (to) him,
[vareiau] say (to) me; but these, the Mota vet, the Maewo ware, mean
speak-to, say-to.
7. Prefixes. — The Causative Prefix va may be presumed from
vauma to work a garden, uma. The Prefix of Condition na=ma
is seen in navua broken, nakala torn ; na asi naule the rope is un-
done. In the probably different dialect it is ma, [mageregere] weak.
8. The use of the Verb in a Passive as well as an Active sense
has been shown in the sentences ti sa pilagoi na jrilam san nothing
of yours is stolen, ti lavi poe pigs are brought.
E * spirt 'tu Santo. Adverbs, Prepositions, 447
9. Negative Verbs. — The Particle sa (Oba se) is used after the
Verbal Particle ; nau ga sa taroi I do not wish, [ti sa losia] (they)
don't fight ; or [so/;a] ; [na sapa leleo tipa\ I don't see yet.
The Particle sa is used without a Verb : [sa vanuana poe] not country of
pigs.
The Dehortative word is togo, Motlav tog, i. e. stay, let it be ; i togo turi
goro na melumelu don't stand in the light, \losa ligol na poe, malisa togo]
kill only pigs, not men ; i. e. let men remain.
10. The Verb so, called auxiliary in Mota, here shows as a distinct Verb ;
na ovo mo so mai the ship has come hither.
VIII. ADVEBBS.
1. Of Place; — veai ? where? ituga veail where is he? even?
where ? o van even ? na tasi where are you going ? to the sea ; this
is the common vea. The Demonstrative Pronoun is used as an
Adverb, neka here, neka nia there; for the indefinite 'there' aee.
The Adverbs of direction hither and outwards are nai=mai
and \tau\ ; laia nai give it hither, \oi lavia tau\ put it away.
There is a difficulty in \Jconera tinaii] where are they ? [konea] is where ?
and the Plural Suffix ra shows Jcone a Preposition, as in Vaturawa; [tinaii,
also tanaii, tunaii~] is also translated ' to me.'
2. Of Time; — gavune now, to-day; nagavune to-day or lately of
past time ; inovi to-morrow, nanovi yesterday ; na, as in the Banks'
Islands, marking past time ; pogi rua, pogi tolu, two nights, three
nights, the day after to-morrow, day after that : nautu hereafter,
nine already, [^;a] yet, Mota tiqa, mule again, back.
3. Of Manner; — pale as, like, as in Sesake [vanua pale New
Zealand] country like New Zealand; pale ven how, as Mota torn
avea. ' Why ' is sura sava ? because of what ? niu mo tarn sura
sava ? why are you crying ?
4. The Negative is joa, with the Verbal Particle mo joa. I nau
mojoa I not, declining.
Bishop Patteson writes [maso iralcia whatoa rasia tugeni] sun set, not
wash clothes ; wh was here certainly written before the use of g was fixed ; and
ga toa shows in another dialect the Verbal Particle ga corresponding to mo in
mojoa.
IX. PBEPOSITIONS.
1. /Simple. — i. Locative, a; this appears in aee there, and with
names of Places, ituga veai ? a Ra where is he ? at Ra ; alili
around. 2. Motion to a Person, [sur; suriau to me, lago (Fiji
lako, run) juria tamam go to your father, laia juria give it to
him]. 3. Motion towards, van ; mule van ituga go back to him.
448 Melanesian Grammars.
4. Motion against, goro ; i togo turi goro na melumelu don't stand
against, in the way of, the light ; oi van goro na tei go after the
water. 5. Motion from, tan ; the sentence naiman ituga mu rugu
sivo turen that is his house he has come out from, appears to show
another Preposition. 6. Instrumental, ni ; na a losia ni na maja
I struck him with a club. This probably is by the common change
the same with mi, [a tarasia mi na pet] wash it with water, [lavia
ta sage mi na rem\ put it on your head. There is another Instru-
mental Preposition, the Maewo gina ; [a gina sava] with what ?
7. At the end of a sentence nia is used as in Mota ; ituga na sol
nau gai losia nia this is the club I struck him with. 8. Of
Relation generally, sura ; as in sura sava ? why ? in regard to
what ? 9. Relation in regard to Place and Person [ne and me] no
doubt according to dialect ; \ne tugo] on the shore, [rasia tugeni
pulu ne na pei~\ wash dirty clothes in the water ; \aso mego speak
to thee, vano mera go to them], lavia ta mea give it to him. The
Pronoun is suffixed as in Maewo, meau, mego, mea, &c. The same
word probably appears in \mo vano mi Nogonauni go to Nogo-
nauni]. 10. Relation of Position, ta ; na sule mojovi ta na gisiku
a stone fell on me, on myself ; this can hardly fail to be the Florida
use of ta. ii. Genitive, of, ni; tajua ni Marina, aso ni Marina,
man, speech, of Marina. This must be taken to be the ni of Fate
and Fiji.
2. The Verb reni to see, is used as a Preposition, as in Ambrym,
Sesake, and in the Solomon Islands ; [reniau] to me.
3. Nouns are used as Prepositions ; motu upon ; motu na vatvoti
on the mountain, na kula mo jovi varara motu na suU the tree has
fallen across upon the stone.
4. Prepositions seem to be omitted, as in Sesake, where in
English it is necessary to supply them ; nalolona na ima, nalolona
na pea in the house, in the store, literally, ' the inside of the house.'
So lavi so nai na gesiku give it hither (to) myself ; ituga mo volia
na pilana he bought it (for) his own ; mo vol tuga na pilana,
vauma he was paid (for) his work in the garden; i turi tau na
nagona ima he was standing (at) the front of the house ; tuga mo
tog na gisiku he stays (with) myself.
X. NUMEKALS.
1. Cardinals. — One tea, two rua, three tol, four vati, five Una,
six arave, seven verua, eight vetou, nine ratati, ten souovul. Other-
wise [six larave, marave, lima rave, seven laverua, eight lavetoJ]
Espiritu Santo. Numerals. 449
The Verbal Particle is used with the first five digits; motea,
tnorua, motol, movati, molina.
In the Numerals of the second hand rave is no doubt the same with the
Mota lave ; and ma with rave may be the Verbal Particle. Commodore
Goodenough has linarabe for six, and erua, etou, for seven, eight. The ex-
planation of ratati, nine, is probably found in the change of p to t, tati for
pati = vati, as tei=pei water; [lima rapati] appears for nine.
A remarkable application of the Verbal Particle mo is shown in Teen mo
girerua tasina he and his brother, he, they are two, his brother.
As in Araga there is another word for ten ; twenty is sonovul
rua, and [gavula rua twenty, gavula tea ten].
The unit above tens is na vana, its sum above ; forty-four sono-
vul vat na vana movat.
A hundred is [tori], an indefinite number so used; [tari vaga
lima rave] six hundred. Commodore Goodeuough has patevuli.
The number above a hundred is its vule ; tari vagarua na vulena
sonovul vati two hundred and forty. A thousand is tairao.
2. Ordinals are formed from Cardinals by adding na and pre-
fixing the multiplicative vaga ; third vagatoluna, fourth vagavatina.
The second is tuana.
3. Multijdicatives with vaga ; vagatea once, vagarua twice.
4. The Interrogative and Indefinite, how many, so many, is visa.
XI. EXCLAMATIONS.
Affirmation, io ! Negation, mojoa ! (see Adverbs.)
20. AMBKYM.
The name by which the island is known is that given by Captain
Cook, who took it for the native name. Commodore Goodenough
noted that the Malikolo people called it Ambrr. It is probable
that it represents a at, and marum fire. At the neighbouring
Api it is called Arosi or Aroti.
The language is strangely different from that of Pentecost to the
North and Api to the South. Bishop Patteson said it was the
most difficult he had to deal with. The material from which the
following pages have been prepared are a few sentences written by
a native, a few MS. notes written by Bishop Patteson, and one of
GS
45° Melanesian Grammars.
three slips printed by him in 1864 ; which last have furnished the
materials for Von der Gabelentz in his ' Melanesischen Sprachen.'
These materials I have endeavoured to interpret, having no native
assistance, by such knowledge as I have of the languages of the
New Hebrides North and South of Ambrym, and of more distant
parts of Melanesia. This sketch of the grammar of the Ambrym
language is not put forth as correct, but as giving an interpreta-
tion which is probable.
There are no doubt several dialects in the Island ; the language
here given is that of the North-west face, and particularly of the
part nearest to Whitsuntide Island, Limbol, and Loliwara.
The language is characterized by the indifferent use of certain
Consonants, f, b, v, p, and n, g, and by a similar variation of
vowels ; so that the same word may be bi or fo. The vowels shift
to assimilate with neighbouring sounds. The combination of fl, tl,
at the beginning of a word is peculiar. Close syllables are com-
mon ; and the elision of Vowels makes it necessary to write as one
word what for clearness would be better separated ; e. g. magtu
for ma gutu, ronne for ro nene.
I. ALPHABET.
1. Vowels. — a, e, i, o, u.
2. Consonants. — k, g; t, d; p, b, v, f, w; q; m, m, n, n ; r, 1,
y ; s, h.
The change between g (Melanesian g) and n is regular ; ge and ne he, gene
and newe to eat.
A sound here represented by ii was by Bishop Patteson written ch, and by
the native j ; but neither was consistent, — both wrote also ti. Since, then, it
is not possible to know whether every ti is meant for this sound, j has not
been used. From the use of the spelling tiene, cJiene, and jene for one word, it
is pretty clear that the sound is that of tch, as in Espiritu Santo, &c. Between
m and r, and n and r, d is introduced, and it is not used by itself.
The indifferent use of p, b, v, f, has been noticed, and the constant change
of one for the other has to be calculated on in interpreting the words.
b sometimes, but apparently not always, is ml ; b and v turn into f,
before 1 in particular, with which f, casting off the vowel following it, com-
bines ; mi tlo ne flo Tia don't swim out to \i,f represents va, an Adverb of
direction, a is cut off, and v as f combines with lo to swim. The compound
sound represented by q is bw.
In many words r represents the t of other languages ; qer = qeta, mar = mate
and mata ; and t and r are used indifferently in some words, as ro and to. To
strengthen r, d = nd is frequently prefixed to it ; the words, therefore, to, ro,
dro, are forms of the same ; and it must be understood that the vowel o is not
more constant than the consonant.
Ambry m. Nouns, Pronouns. 451
II. AKTICLES. None.
III. NOUNS.
There is the common division between (i) Nouns which take the
Suffixed Pronoun, and (2) those which are used with a Possessive ;
i. li a leg, lin his leg; 2. im a house, men im my house.
Two Nouns in juxtaposition may show a genitive relation ; pan bekel bird's
wing ; or it may be lowon malo a fish's tooth, with a Suffixed Pronoun ; or a
Preposition may be used, im ne ul house of cloth.
IV. PKONOUNS.
1. Personal Pronouns.
Singular. I. na, ni, ne, niena. Plural. I. incl. ken, yi.
excl. gema.
2. new, o. 2. gimi.
3. ge, we, wea, ne. 3. weira, niera, ner.
Dual. i. incl. ken row. Trial. I. incl. kew sul.
excl. gemaro. excl. gema sul.
2. gomoro. 2. gumu sul.
3. neero, wiero. 3. nee sul, nie sul.
Observations. — Singular : I . Bishop Patteson gives also ino in First Sin-
gular, apparently from an East coast dialect, na is the presumed original
form from which ne and ni are changes. These are Objects of the Verb as
well as Subjects ; niena, which is probably demonstrative, appears only as
Subject. 2. o only appears before a Verb; it is valuable as being the true
Pronoun, as appears from other languages, while nen is probably a demon-
strative. 3. ne as in Lepers' Island, and nea is a lengthened form ; ge is
another form of ne.
Plural : I . ken is peculiar to Ambrym ; yi is only used before a Verb. The
other Persons have common forms.
The Dual and Trial are the Plural with the Numerals ro and sul added;
the Vowels shifting accordingly. In the Dual inclusive ken ron is the form
given, but n must be taken as a Demonstrative Particle. The same probably
makes Jcen in the Trial into ken.
2. Pronoun suffixed to Nouns.
Singular, i. n; 2. m; 3. na, n.
Plural, i. incl. nken, excl. ma ; 2. m; 3. ra, r.
The Dual and Trial add ro and sul to the Plural.
Example : lo the heart.
Singular. I. Ion my heart. Plural. I. lonken, loma, our heart.
2. lorn thy heart. 2. lomi your heart.
3. Ion his heart. 3. lor their heart.
Dual, i. lonro, lomaro; 2. lomro; 3. loro.
Trial, I. Ion sul, loma sul ; 2. lorn sul ; 3. lo sul.
This example, like the Personal Pronouns above, being taken from the
G S Z
45 2 Melanesian Grammars.
writing of a native, is correct. The word sa, name, shows the Third Person
Suffix na, and ra ; Sana his name, sara their names. The Second Dual of the
same is samoro, for samaro, the Numeral having affected the preceding
vowel.
The n inserted in the First inclusive must be taken to be a Demonstrative.
The same letter in the First Singular represents k, as in Santa Cruz and Duke
of York.
3. Pronouns suffixed to Verbs.
These are only the third person Singular a, e, and the third
Plural ra. These forms do not appear as suffixed to Prepositions.
4. Demonstrative Pronouns.
Demonstrative Particles in very common use are ne or ge, na,
and le or li; these are sometimes Demonstrative Pronouns, single
or in combination.
For example, geli, neli this, ge Tiu this one ; ha ne li ? what is
this ? of a thing near ; ha ne le ? of a thing more distant ; ha ne?
of a thing quite distant ; plural ha ne nira ? ha ne niri ? ha ne
nira ne ? what are those ?
The Demonstratives ne, ge, li, continually introduced in sentences, cannot
always be translated ; they are directive, like ga in Sesake. See Adverbs.
5. Interrogative Pronouns.
1. Of Persons, and of names of persons, si ?.<who? both singular
and plural ; si a nea ? who is he ? si a ne nira ? who are they ?
gomoro si ? you two who ? i. e. who with you 1 sam ne si ? what
(who) is your name ? si magtu menen ayi ? who took my knife ? It
is also se ; hi sent a se ? what is your name ?
2. Of things, ha or haha ? what ? ha neli ? what is this ? na ha
sen ? is translated what is this 1 sen may be ' its name,' or the
Marina san ; ha mun nea ? what this person or thing 1
V. POSSESSIVES.
The only Possessive Noun which corresponds to those common
in other languages appears to be that used with things to eat, and
no doubt with other things thought to be in very close personal
relation, a ; another form of which is ye ; yen ol my cocoa-nut, am
dim thy yam, an peta his breadfruit.
Another which with the Suffixed Pronoun is equivalent to a
Possessive Pronoun in English is ma, me ; no doubt the same word
with the Preposition ma, me : men im my house, mam im thy
house, man im his house, man ken im, mama im, our house, mami
im your house, mar im their house.
Another very commonly used for a thing possessed is mena,
Ambrym. Adjectives, Verbs. 453
mewe ; bulbul mewa si ? canoe the property of whom ? menm nea
his property, naenen wria my land, menam ul thy garment, mewew
were his place, mewan ken property of ours.
VI. ADJECTIVES.
There are simple Adjectives ; Jen bua good wind, len kon great
wind; but words which qualify Nouns are commonly used with
Verbal Particles ; were ge tlam neli large land this, terera gerkakre
small boy, vantin be HI many men.
VII. VEBBS. ;
1. The Verbal Particle in most common use, ma, is like those
of the Northern New Hebrides in combining with a short form or
representation of the Personal Pronoun, except in the third
Person. With the Third Person singular or plural of the Verb
this is ma, mo, me, mu, the Vowel shifting to assimilate with that
of the Verb ; ma gali digs, me mar dies, mo kone carries, mu mur
falls. With the other persons of the Verb m follows and combines
with a form of the Personal Pronoun ; Singular, i. nam; nam sene
I give; 2. om; omfi thou sayest. Plural, i. inclusive, yim; yim
dru Ion tie we abide on the sea.; exclusive, mam ; mam gene we
eat : 2. mim; mim dro you abide.
2. e is only found in the third Person, and occurs together with
ma ; bi e ma nene lin shark ate his leg, vantin be HI e ma nene
many men eat. The two combine as em ; e appears to vary to a ;
Ion a tlo hagabi my heart is not bad.
3. te does not combine with the short form of the Pronouns (except
with the second Singular o, making to), but follows them; Singular,
i. na te, 2. o te, 3. ne te. Plural, i. yi te, ma te, 2. mi te, 3. te.
It is used together with me ; marin te me ru psare ni formerly
he stayed with me ; and also with e, as e te third plural.
4. be, ve, is regularly used with Numerals, and with words
which signify number, such as HI many, viha how many 1 This is
used together with e ; e be viha ho Fanu ? how many are at Fanu ?
5. ga, ge ; also used with Numerals, and with Adjectives ; ga
perhaps changes to na.
6. The Verb is used without Verbal Particles, when a Pronoun
is the subject ; the short forms na, o, yi, ma, mi being used, in ad-
dition to the Pronoun if that is expressed. The third Person
either Singular or Plural is exceptional throughout ; e is used with
454 Melanesian Grammars.
either, and not a Pronoun, just as when the Pronouns and ma com-
bine there is no Pronoun in the third Person.
7. The Imperative Verb is preceded by a short form of Pronoun ;
ofie lane speak thou to him, mi rofana sit ye down, perhaps, sit
ye two down.
8. Tense is expressed either by Adverbs, or by Auxiliary Verbs ;
Adverbs, marin formerly, na te lehe marin I saw formerly ; lonle
now, nam dro lehe lonle I see now ; nane hereafter, he na na lehe
nane I shall see hereafter.
Example of Tense, the Verb lehe to see.
Present. Singular, i. nam dro lehe lonle. Plural, i. yim, mam, dro lehe
lonle.
2. om dro lehe lonle. 2. mim dro lehe lonle.
3. ne dro lehe lonle. 3. em dro lehe lonle.
Past. Singular. I. na te lehe marin. Plural, i. yi, ma, te lehe marin.
2. o te lehe marin. 2. mi te lehe marin.
3. ne te lehe marin. 3. — e lehe marin.
Future. Singular, i . he na na lehe nane. Plural, i . yi, ma, na lehe nane.
2. omfo lehe nane. 2. mina lehe nane.
3. he pa lehe nane. 3. emfia na lehe nane.
In this example, besides the Adverbs there are the Verbs dro,fo, pa,fia,
and the Demonstrative na, unless the latter be a form of the Verbal Particle
ga. For the Past the Particle te is used; for the Future na (and in two
Persons m), and for the Present m ; he cannot be explained1.
9. Auxiliary Verbs. — There are certain particles which con-
tinually occur and can be seen to be really Verbs ; they may be
called Auxiliary because they are introduced to assist the sense
of the principal Verb. These Verbs are i. ro=to to sit, stay, re-
main; 2. ho also to remain; 3. va to go. Each shifts its vowel
according to the accompanying sound ; ro becomes dro ; and v
changes to b, p, f. Those in most common use are ro and va ; and
they appear plainly as principal Verbs also ; hoho be HI mo ho Ion vir,
mu ru Ion tie crabs many live on the land, stay in the sea ; gema
mam ba ran qeta ha we go on to the reef; ne vura, ne do me haru
he (is here) already, he remains this way (hither) sitting, i. e. he
has already come here and is sitting. From the sense of ro, re-
maining, it follows that as far as Tense is concerned that auxiliary
rather marks the Present ; and from the meaning of va to go, that
1 This example is taken from a note by Bishop Patteson, dated May 10,
1871 ; the last known to have been made by him on the Island languages.
Ambrym. Verbs, Adverbs. 455
it gives a future sense. This also is used conditionally; namfe
nalhe nagtu pane if I should see him I will give it to him.
The Verb ro comes near to being a Substantive Verb to be ; compare Fiji tw,
sa vua tu na Tcau the tree is in fruit, literally, fruits, stands. But no doubt the
original sense of these Verbs is always in the native mind ; mam dro bo ran
yu we shoot with bow, stay shoot, a habit ; Tioro a dro me ni I am in a sweat,
literally, sweat remains with me ; gerin ronne pet a flying fox eats (ro nene)
breadfruit ; rofi ha ? what does he say? stays saying what ? nen o vofi you
say, vulgarly, go for to say. (See Sesake.) The changes of form make these
words difficult to follow ; see Adverbs and Preposition pe.
10. The Transitive Suffix is shown in the common word ronta
to hear ; tlo ronta ne not hear him.
1 1 . The Negative Verb is made by tolo, generally tlo ; Ion a tolo
hagabi my heart is not bad, I am not angry ; tolo hela not hard ;
tlo ronta not hear. As in neighbouring islands te, otherwise ti, is a
Negative Particle ; na tlo te va mi I did not come hither. The
same is used in prohibition ; mi tlo tomen ti bulbul do not ye hold
the boat.
12. Keduplication with a change of Consonant (see Sesake) is
probably shown in niera e magilelile bi HI they make a great
noise; or, taking ma as a Prefix of condition and not a Verbal
Particle, they are noisy many.
VIII. ADVEBBS.
1. The Adverbs of direction hitherwards and outwards are me,
mi, and ale ; mul mi come hither ; ne mdo ale he went away ; me
or mi is introduced very often when it is hardly translateable as
' hither,' the native speech always abounding in Particles of di-
rection.
2. Adverbs of Place ; bea where, a Noun ; it is also ve ; with the
Preposition a ve; o mi ave ? whence are you ? you hither where ?
This is of course the same with vea common in Melanesia ; but ve
becoming be, pe, fe, and changing the Vowel is likely to be con-
founded with the auxiliary Verb va, and the Preposition be ; nea
ne v or pe ? where is he 1 menen viria ne ve ? where is my place ?
he na lini pi ? where shall I put it ? The Demonstrative Par-
ticles are used as Adverbs ; ne as above, na, ge, and le, li : me li
here, with motion hither signified by me ; lini me li put it here ;
Ion le here, Ion a Preposition, in this.
3. Adverbs of Time ; Demonstrative Particles naturally serve as
such, lonle now ; ne, na, ge, pointing to present time, mean ' now,'
456 Melanesian Grammars.
though they really do not require to be translated. Of past time
marin formerly ; of the future nane when ; yin (yi ne Pronoun
and Demonstrative Particle) va Loliwara nane ? when shall we go
to Loliwara 1 fan or van rin to-morrow. Others are mon again ;
ola be sul na mul mon mi three moons I come again hither ; moot,
at first, before.
4. Adverbs of Manner ; ne ~ha ? why ? the Preposition ne and
ha what, te va ne ha ? what does he go for ? why does he go 1 om
ro tovinia te van ha ? why do you strike me ? shows va ne ha ' go
for what ' with the simple meaning of ' why.' The Preposition be,
bi, makes bi ha ? why ? because of what ? and pe ne because of that,
therefore ; ne malhe mamtehag pene he saw and was frightened at
it, malhe = ma lehe, mamtehag = ma matehag. The word meli thus,
is different from me li ; Loliwara me fie meli Loliwara speaks thus.
A Verb nona, nuna, to be complete, is used for ' quite ; ' kon great,
makes konkon exceedingly.
5. The Verbs before called Auxiliary are equally used as Ad-
verbial Particles indicating place and motion. In the sentence
vantin be ru vu roflo va hatin two men paddle away far, both vu
and va are the same word, vu roflo is the two go paddle, va again
points away ; ne mu mur va Ion tie he fell into the sea, va gives
the direction of his fall, into the sea.
Besides what can be at all called regular Adverbs, it must be understood
that the Demonstratives as mentioned above, le, na, which is often n, are con-
tinually introduced in native speech in Ambrym, as in Sesake, to give vivid-
ness and clearness, as if by pointing to the subjects before the mind ; thus, na
tlo le Tcelea nafie ral ta Loliwara I don't here understand how to speak the
language of the people here of Loliwara ; le occurs twice, and seems to us
entirely expletive.
The Negative ' not ' is mereana or bereana ; e yi va Mai e ve moa,
he e bereana ? are we going to Mai first or not 1
IX. PROPOSITIONS.
1 . Simple Prepositions ; i . Locative, a at, appears in the Adverb
ave, and probably in the name of Ambrym ; he yi va New Zealand
me a Fanu tene Mota we go to New Zealand from (hither at) Fanu,
from Mota, i. e. starting from Mota. 2. ne has a wide meaning ;
genitive, im ne ul house of cloth. It may be taken to make part
of va ne, ba ne, pa ne; va, ba, pa being directive Particles of
motion ; o va ne Talsil go to Talsil, in which va may well be the
Verb and ne the Preposition signifying ' to ; ' na se pa ne nen
Ambrym. Prepositions, Conjunctions. 457
I give to thee; o fie pa, ne niera, speak to them ; ofe me ne ni speak
hither to me. 3. Motion from is tene ; om va hatin tene ni you go
far from me ; Oba den, Maewo dani, Mota nan, prevent one from
taking ne as the Preposition just mentioned. Prepositions of
Kelation; 4. general, pe, no doubt that common in the Banks'
Islands and New Hebrides ; pe sao in the place, shows it locative.
It is bi ; om dro man bi nia ne JM ? you laugh at me, why 1 The
change of Consonants and Vowels makes it difficult to distinguish
this from va ; om fo mul mon ba New Zealand you are going again
to New Zealand, ba may be pe to, or va away. 5. Of personal re-
lation me, mi ; the same with the Banks' Islands word ; me ni with
me. 6. ta belonging to a place, as in Banks' Islands again; terere
ta Loliwara a boy of Loliwara. It is remarkable that ra the plural
sign accompanies ta ; vantin ta ra bea ? men belonging to what
place ? ral ta Loliwara the people here of Loliwara. 7. biri with ;
biri ni with me, e. na ru biri niera I stay with them ; this is
probably a Noun. Another Preposition meaning ' with ' is found
in marin te me rupsareni formerly he stayed with me, ru
psare ni.
2. Nouns used as Prepositions. — i. The common Preposition lo
is used with a Suffixed Pronoun as Ion, in, on ; ne mu mur va Ion
tie he fell into the sea, va giving the sense of motion; Ion vir
on land, Ion tie in the sea. 2. ran is no doubt a word of the
same character ; mam ro bo ran yu we shoot with bows, man dru
ran bulbul stays in the ship ; man is ma the Verbal Particle and n
the Demonstrative Particle, which gives the sense of ' still.'
3. The Verb lehe is used also as a Preposition ; o va lehea go to
him, go see him, va ma lehe nia come hither to me. Compare
Sesake punusi, &c.
X. CONJUNCTIONS.
Conditional, heif; he mi lehe bulbul gemne if you see a different
vessel : the same is also ' or ; ' e yi va Mai e ve moa, he e bereana ?
are we going to Mai first, or not 1 This word often occurs at the
beginning of a sentence, sometimes as hi. It is probably used
like the Mota si ; he na lim pe ? where shall I put it 1 Mota si na
map avea ? and is, as in Mota, used as a Conjunction of con-
sequence.
A Particle of supposition is ke ; leu bua Jce if the wind is good ;
as in Florida.
45 8 Melanesian Grammars.
XL NUMERALS.
1. Cardinals. — One hu, two ru, three sul, four vir, five &'m, six
Use, seven /wrw, eight lusul, nine Haver, ten sanaw?, sanwfo. By
the usual change of Vowels and Consonants four is also fir, six
luse, seven luro, nine liafer.
Another list of Cardinals, from Embululi in the Great Bay on the East side
of the island, is given by Bishop Patteson : one hu, two ru, three svl, four it,
five Urn, six Ksa, seven Zwrw, eight lisul, nine iafer, ten ahu.
The digits of the second hand are marked by li, lu, as in Fate by la. In
lisa, and therefore also in Use, luse, the common Numeral sa, one, is shown.
The form it is connected with vir by vid, which is also heard in Limbol, r
representing the t of the common vat. Sul becomes su.
The Verbal Particles used with Numerals are bi, be, vi. The
Interrogative of Number is viha ; mam be viha ho Fanu how many
are we at Fanu ? Sometimes m stands for viha ; dim e ve vi ne
wen o foli ? how many yams (will) you buy ?
With the Interrogative and with Cardinals na is apparently used instead of
be, as a Verbal Particle ; na, by the common change, equals ga ; na m ? how
many ? na hu na one this.
Bishop Patteson, influenced by the Maori word hunga, a company of people,
interpreted hu na as a 'monad ; ' olabe (ve~) huna te ia Fanu month a monad,
one month, we sail to Fanu. So also he interpreted ron as runa ; Teen ron e
rohe nea we a two strike him ; and su na a 'triad,' su na me lehe monfan rin
we a three come again to-morrow ; and viri na ; len bua Ice ve viri na if the
wind is good it will be a four (days' sail). But hu is not 'one' in Maori;
and if na added after the Numeral be taken as a Demonstrative it requires no
further explanation.
XII. EXAMPLES.
1. Vantin be ru vu ro flo va hatin ; geli me haruti en balnan,
ge me haru mo n& mu mur va Ion tie ; bi e ma wene lin, bi mo gen
fu mma. Vantin Loliwar ma gali tan, mo fo he tlo rowta ne.
Men two, they two paddle away far ; this sits (on) stern, he sits (and) he
falls away into sea ; shark eats his leg, shark ate it quite. Men of Loliwar
dig the ground, bury so as not to hear him.
2. Hoho be lil mo ho Ion vir, mu ru Ion tie ; tie me mar, gema
mam ba ran qete ha, mam lehe malo Ion qerire, mam dro bo ran
yu, mam lo me se noro, me fawa, mo nona, mam gene.
Crabs many are on the land, are in the sea; the sea dies (ebbs), we go on
reef, we see fi»h in pools, we shoot with bows, we come back hither on the
beach, cook, (when that is) finished, we eat.
3. Gerin drow ne (dro wene) peta, mam lehe, mam tea yu, mam
barbo, vagtu (va gutu) me Ion ima, me fline, me fawa, mo nowa,
vantin be lil e ma nme.
Flying-fox eats breadfruit, we see, we take bows, we shoot, go take them
hither into the house, make oven, cook, (that) finished, many men eat.
Sesake , Three Hills. 459
4. Bi mam drom (dro ma) tintine, ma tlo wene we ; terere ta
Loliwar bi ma wene hatin konkon Ion mehau ; bi ma newe lin, mo
kone we va Ion tie.
Shark we fear, not eat him ; boy of Loliwar a shark ate him far away ex-
ceedingly in open sea ; shark ate his leg, took him away in the sea.
These are taken from Bishop Patteson ; the words in some instances divided
differently, to agree with the interpretation of the language in the foregoing
Grammar.
21. SESAKE, THKEE HILLS.
Sesake is the Eastern division of the small island of Three Hills,
one of the Shepherd Group in the New Hebrides. The interest in
the language lies in its close neighbourhood with that of Mae, the
central district of the same island, which is purely Polynesian;
whereas it will be seen that this is very like the languages of the
Banks' Islands, and the Northern New Hebrides, and indeed is
evidently connected with the Solomon Island tongues. Bishop
Patteson was well acquainted with the Sesake language, and
printed in 1866 a Vocabulary and Phrase-book, from which the
following sketch of the Grammar has been drawn. In the ' Mela-
nesischen Sprachen ' of Von der Gabelentz there is a Grammar of
Sesake taken from the same materials ; but there is a certain con-
fusion of this language with that of Tasiko, the large island oppo-
site which Three Hills lies. It is true that in a part of Tasiko the
language is identical, or almost, with that of Sesake ; but Sesake
is part of Three Hills and Tasiko of Api, as it is commonly called.
The particulars in which the Sesake materials fail may well be
supplied from Tasiko; and there is appended so much as I have
from that island.
The Vocabulary and Phrase-book if interpreted by a native
would amply suffice for a view of the language ; failing such assist-
ance, something, perhaps a good deal, has to be inferred from other
Melanesian languages ; for the greater part of the examples given
are not fully translated. In any work of Bishop Patteson's at any
rate correct rendering of sounds may be depended on, and the
sentences he has given are written with a fair colloquial knowledge
of the language. This is of much value for the interpretation of
the neighbouring and closely allied language of Fate, Sandwich
Island.
The change of Consonants, within certain limits, in this language
460 Melanesian Grammars.
is characteristic, as of k and g, t and d, shown below. A cor-
responding change of Consonants in Sesake words which are found
in other, sometimes remote, languages is equally interesting and
instructive; e. g. palo=lcalo up; kalau spider's web, Mota talau;
qia, Mota wia, good; qoka to open, Florida voka; vinaga food,
Motlav hinaga, Mota sinaga, Duke of York winaaan.
I. ALPHABET.
1. Vowels. — a, e, i, o, u.
2. Consonants. — k, g, g', t, d=nd; p, b=mb, v, w; q; m, m,
n, n; s.
It is important to observe that g is the peculiar Melanesian sound, not
hard g. Bishop Patteson has printed «g for the sound here represented by g.
The three sounds interchange ; a word is indifferently sounded with g or g, k
or g, goroi and goroi wife, Tcinau and ginau I.
There is also an interchange of d and t ; tu and du to sit ; d is introduced to
strengthen r ; and d in Sesake words often represents r in other languages ;
dono = rono, doioo = rowo, (Nuns,, towo), duatwo = rua.
The change of p and v is continual, pasa and vasa to speak, Fiji losa,
Florida vosa ; the change is even made in one sentence, tava varau e parau
qia high hill is high indeed. Sometimes, at least, p is strengthened by m,
mpula, mpurapura ; b is always mb. In one word Bishop Patteson has
written f ; fonu a turtle. The sound represented by q varies according to the
predominance in it of the compound parts k or b (see Mota, Oba). If b pre-
dominates, the sound of m is conspicuous, and qele is heard mbele ; if k pre-
dominates, qila, sounds Icwila. Sometimes p and q interchange, as it is
indifferently poTca and qoJca to strike. Bishop Patteson wrote mw for m.
II. AKTICLE.
There is only one, the demonstrative, na ; but it is sometimes
not used ; a dono atai kusuwe na lake ni ekopu I hear plainly a
rat under the house; do e do palo a nmida the sun stands
above us.
III. NOUNS.
1. There are two classes of Nouns; (i) those that take the Pro-
noun Suffixed; (2) those that do not: i. na qauna his head;
2. na rarua a neana his canoe.
2. Verbal Substantives are formed by adding na to Verbs ; vasa
to speak, vasana speech.
3. Words signifying plurality are mau, mamau, maga, and
these are added to Nouns; na ta e ga ti pitua na loriki mau aneana
duara mau the man who does not give his things to people, literally,
things many to them many ; kana maga, tu ka lolos tasipua you
fellows ! (men many), we will bathe in the sea. ' All ' is marua.
Sesake. Pronouns. 461
4. Juxtaposition of two Nouns gives to the second a genitive
character, whether with or without the Article, and whether the
former has a Suffixed Pronoun or not ; na vuna na kau the
blossom of a tree, (Malay bunga) ; meluna tasi lower part of the
sea, its lower part the sea ; na buena na wago the tail of a pig.
The Preposition ni is also used ; tolu ni toa a fowl's egg.
IV. PKONOUNS.
1. Personal Pronouns.
Singular. I. kinau. Plural. I. incl. niwida.
excl. ni^ami.
2. nii^ro. 2. nimui.
3. nae. . 3. nara.
Dual. 3. rarua.
It is evident that lei, ni, are demonstrative Prefixes. There do not appear
any shorter forms, except in so far as they may be contained or combined in
the Verbal Particles, which see. These are subject or object of the Verb.
2. Pronouns suffixed to Verbs and Prepositions.
Singular, i. au; 2. ko, go; 3. a.
Plural, i. wida, ^ami; 2. mui ; 3. ra.
These are, as in other languages, short forms of the Personal Pronouns.
When the object of a Verb is expressed, the Verb has still the Pronoun
appropriate suffixed ; soroa na Jcau soro saw it the wood (with) a saw ; Ke !
kana wona e donoataia e da pale na vasana a nigami ? Why ! how does this
man understand (it) our language ?
3. Pronouns suffixed to Nouns.
Singular, i. gru ; 2. ma; 3. na.
Plural, i. mda, (/ami; 2. mui; 3. da.
The Singular forms are those so very common, and the Third Plural is a
change from ra. As in other languages, again, the First and Second Plural
are not different from the ordinary Personal Pronoun.
Some Verbs (as in Florida) and Prepositions take this Pronoun suffixed
rather than that which properly belongs to them ; e masauna e lapa na tanoto,
e qia I like (it) many axes, they are good ; though the Plural ' axes ' has to be
used in English because of e lapa, the Noun remains Singular in Sesake, and
the Suffixed Pronoun is Singular ; pa dape lua Tciana take it away from him.
4. Demonstrative Pronouns.
The Particles wo and wa seem to be simply Demonstrative ; the
addition of the Particles se, i, na, direct the view here or there,
nearer or farther, and make what may be called Demonstrative
Pronouns wose, woi, wai, woina, waina, this, that ; wose kita woi
this or that ; na qe wo a poka nae woina na qe this is the club
with which I killed him, literally, the club this I killed him that
one (with) the club. The Particle na is common as a Demonstra-
462 Melanesian Grammars.
tive, as in nae he, nara they; ga is continually introduced in sen-
tences, and is rather an Adverb ; keni also is ' that.'
5. Interrogative Pronouns.
Of Persons, sei who ? set na nisana ? what (according to Mela-
nesian idiom who) is his name? sei nae? who is he? a gi sei
rarua ? whose canoe ?
Of Things, sava, and sa ; sava na, and sa na, the Demonstrative
na being added. The word is a Noun, with Article, na sa na ? na
sava na ? which ? Another word is seve ; ku mesau seve tea ? wose
kita woi ? which do you like ? this or that ? ve shows this to be
' where/ not ' which,' in accordance with native idiom.
6. Indefinite Pronouns.
The word tea is used for ' thing ; ' kini tea that thing ; but the
meaning is properly, as in Mota, &c., 'one; ' in JVuna tea sigisigileo
the Evil one, a person. Hence, as in Mota, &c., it is used as an
Indefinite Pronoun, as it is with seve above, something, anything ;
a ga vua seve tea ? tea gauwata kita tea kiki ? which one shall I
take ? the big one or the small one ? Some seara.
V. POSSESSIVES.
There is hardly any appearance of the Possessive Nouns with
Suffixed Pronouns such as are universal in the Banks' Islands
and Northern New Hebrides ; ' my' is aginau, ' thy' a niigo, ' his '
aneana, ' our ' inclusive, a nimda, exclusive, a nigami, ' your ' a
nimui. That is, in all except Third Person Singular, a is used
with the Personal Pronoun ; ginau=kinau. To explain a is
difficult, for if it be a Possessive Noun it should have a Suffixed
Pronoun ; it should be agu not a ginau. The form aneana, how-
ever, shows a Suffixed Pronoun, and the analogy of the other
languages compels the belief that a Possessive Noun is present.
In Tasiko aneara is ' their.'
VI. ADJECTIVES.
1. Some words are used to qualify as true Adjectives; rarua
giki e ovi na vidana rarua gauwata small canoe is alongside large
canoe. But Adjectives are used in the form of Verbs, where we
should use the Substantive Verb; masina e dali, elo e dali the
moon is round, the sun is round ; tava varau ni Sesake, tava ni
Mae e puru a high hill at Sesake, the Mae hill is low. But the
Particle must not be taken for a Substantive Verb; manu ni
Mahaga e gaikai the white bird of Mahaga, i. e. the cockatoo.
Sesake. Verbs. 463
2. The word iduulua rough, seems to show the termination
a=ga.
3. Adjectives very frequently have the Prefix of condition ma ;
maladi cold, madana heavy, masamasada, reduplicated, smooth,
manukunuku soft.
4. Comparison is made by the Preposition ki ; nae weina e maeto
Jci nau he is blacker than I, black from me.
5. Reduplication is characteristic of the form of Adjectives ;
and sometimes adds to the force of one which is commonly simple ;
lavulavu very large, gasugasua very strong.
VII. VEEBS.
1. Verbal Particles. — These cannot be precisely determined from
the materials, especially with regard to Tense ; but it is plain that
words are used as Verbs with certain Particles, as in the languages
already considered, and that these Particles change according to
the Person, with some reference to the Pronoun appropriate to the
Person ; except, as in the other New Hebrides languages, in the
Third Person; in which the Particle is not assimilated to or
combined with the Pronoun.
It is very remarkable that there is no difference between Singular and
Plural, at any rate in the Second and Third Persons.
To take the Third Person, as uninfluenced by the Pronoun, for
the type, there seem to be three forms, e, u, te. These, with many
gaps, may be thus arranged.
Singular, e. i. a, ga, ka. u. i. — te. i. ta.
2. ko (go). 2. ku. 2. tu.
3- e. 3. u. 3. te.
Plural. i. incl. — I. — I. tu.
excl. a. excl. u —
2. (ko) go. 2. ku. 2. (tu).
3- e. 3. u. 3. (te).
Dual. i. — i. — i. —
2. — 2. — 2. turu.
3- eru- 3- — 3- —
These are sometimes combined, as eu, au, tu Jcu.
Examples. — Ka vakali masmas I sharpen a knife ; ga tova wago I cut pig ;
Jcinau a si dono na sana e qoa I smell something that stinks ; niigo ko lauwo
Jceni midiri, sa Jceni you are blotting that writing, bad that ; nae e masiki he is
sick ; sagiki nimui go vunusicr na rarua bula parau soon you will see the ship
large (and) long; loriki a niigo e lapa your things are many; sikai Jcu
punusia ku dipu sikai one you see (it), you seek for one; eu mado he is
thirsty ; u masau noai he desires water ; nigami au masau tagau igona we
464 Melanesian Grammars.
like barbed hooks ; nimui Tcu masau na vuna na Icau ? do you like berries ?
i. e. beads ; na tamoli u pisa ? u pisa rarua ? how many are the men ? how
many (in) the canoe ? nara u gurupiri ia they are astonished at it ; Sawa epe
ti puatiau to, pe tiro if Sawa had not pulled me out I should have sunk ;
masoso tu Jca to e Jcopu a niigo now you are here in your own house, to to
abide, be ; elo e sake, te aleati, te marama the sun is up, gives light, it is
light ; pulo qoni (Mota qon quloi) ninida tu du leana in early morning we get
up ; natae rodua e ru du mada suwa ira two men run against each other ;
turu pisua mataki-sala we two meet in the path ; na ta eu lapa eu puku
SesaJce, lipuasa e mate, lipuasa e mauri many men cough at Sesake, some die,
some live.
The examples do not cover the Particles placed within brackets, which are
inserted as they are inferred to be used. It cannot either be ascertained how
the Particles are related to the Pronouns, or to the Persons with which they
are used ; but it is clear that different Verbal Particles are used with different
Persons of the Verb.
There are continually associated with the Verbal Particles the Demonstrative
ga, Tco, and the Verbs, which will presently be spoken of as auxiliaries, tu, or
du, to or do, pa or va. In this use ga is an Adverb.
2. There is reason to think that ko is a mark of Future Tense ;
pa tuau wa na tagau gasua, a ga Jco puati punusi pakoa give me
that strong hook, I will try to catch a shark.
3. Verbs are used without Particles in the Imperative, and also
in direct statements ; na vuna na kau qokapiri the blossom opens.
4. Imperative ; — the Verb without a Particle ; pilikiti na adi
peel the banana, pili= Mota wil. But the Verbal Particle ko is
used ; ko mara pasa pe kinau say it again to me. The usual sign
of an imperative is pa ; pa punusia go to him, pa vasa pe ki nia
speak to him, pa tuai ea give it to him. The word no doubt is the
Verb to go ; pa tave go out, pa ki katama go outside.
5. A Conditional form of sentence does not appear; ku munu
woai, ku qia (if) you drink you will be well.
6. Suffixes. — The addition of ti to a transitive Verb evidently
directs its transitive power to some object; pita lua sage rarua na
tad pull out to shore the canoe from the sea, puatia sage rarua na
tasi pull up the canoe from the sea ; poka nae woina strike him
there ; e pokatia na sana ? he hit him with what ? pa liko wago, e
2)6 sava, pa likotia make the pig fast lest he should get away,
make him fast ; pa likoti na tali (Mota ligog o tal) belay the rope ;
pa ti garuti (Mota karu) don't scratch it. The termination vi also
appears; sorovia noai pour away the water.
The Suffix i gives a transitive force to a word not otherwise
transitive ; mena a tongue, menai to lick, pora (Mota wora)
asunder, puti porai to split asunder; va to go, vai to convey;
Sesake. Verbs. 465
naranara dry, panarai na kulukulu memeu dry the wet clothes ;
mawora na rarua the canoe is broken ; mawori na kau na valu
which may be translated either ' the tree is broken by the stone,'
or 'the stone broke the tree.' Compare Maewo, VI. 2.
There may well be a question whether ki is also a transitive Suffix ; probably
the words nuanua Tci ni na "bula shake the board, pa ti mataku kinau don't
be afraid of me, soro sapura ki na lepa sweep away the dirt, e pakamauri
kinau he saved me, should be thus written ; ki ni being Prepositions, and
kinau the Pronoun. But sapuraki closely resembles the Mota savrag ;
sapura is an Adverb in Araga, and sapuraki is to sow in .STuna.
7. Prefixes', — i. Causative, vaka or palta ; mauri to live, paka-
mauri to save alive; dautau white, pakadautau to whiten, qia
good, pakaqia to make good.
It is possible that va is also used ; masmas e di makali the knife is not
sharp ; e vatu e pai ka vakali masmas ia ? where is a stone to whet the knife
on ? But va here may be 'go.' However, vakalo is Mota vagalo to fight, and
in Mota va is certainly Causative.
2. The Prefix of condition ma,', as in makali, mawora above;
malivusa bent, makpto broken ; and da, as dagelegele cracked.
8. There are Compound Verbs, as in Mota, the second of which
may perhaps be taken as an Adverb ; puati punusi pakoa try to
catch a shark, literally ' catch see ; ' e dipe pute, e di dipe nara he
shot (and) missed, did not shoot (and) hit. See Mota, VII. 6.
9. The Negative Verb is made by the Particle ti or di; e di gai-
kai, e di miala, e di miloloa, e nonota it is not white, it is not red,
it is not yellow, it is black ; e di punusia, na ta e qili he does not
see, the man is blind ; pa ti, pa ti ! don't, don't ! pa ti saliau
don't deceive me.
The Demonstrative Particle ka, ga, added makes a word which, written
dika, is apt to deceive ; na vinaga e dika, nigami au noa e pitolo (when)
there is no food we say (there) is a famine (Florida vitolo) ; na uluuluna e
dika, e masua he has no hair (his hair is not), he is bald ; dika looks like
Florida dika bad.
10. Auxiliary Verbs. — As in Ambrym (VII. 9) there are in con-
stant use Verbs which may be called Auxiliary. They are du, tu,
to stand, to, do, to sit, to abide, pa, va, to go. Their primary sense
is clear; na ta e du maleputo na niu na adi the man stands
between the cocoa-nut and the bread-fruit tree ; e do pe aginau he
stay's with me ; pa va ki palo go up above. When used as aux-
iliaries they hardly qualify in any way the meaning of the
principal Verbs; but as the native views what he speaks of
in his mind's eye it is natural to him to say that a man does
anything standing, sitting, or going; he describes the standing
Hh
466 Melanesian Grammars.
to do, abiding doing, or going to do. It is possible also that, as
in Fiji 'the Auxiliary Verbs generally determine the tense of a
Verb,' so these may also add a sense of time.
1 . du is the least common of these Verbs ; na ta e ro dua e ru du mada
suwa ira the two men run against each other ; come into collision probably.
2. to, do is very common ; na ta wona e do kapu na vinaga that man cooks
the food ; au di pivimeri, au do qaro we don't fight, we are peaceable. In
fact, this word is almost equivalent to a Substantive Verb ; e do daridoroa it
is crooked ; tano au e do na kapu ashes are by the fire.
3. pa has been shown in the Imperative; pa ti garuti, sagiki e pa Havana
don't scratch it, soon it will be sore ; in this the primary meaning of pa is
plain, as in vulgar English, 'don't go for to scratch, it will go to be sore.'
But the meaning 'go' is by no means always to be so translated; pa vasa pa
kinia speak to him. There is danger of confusing this with the Adverb pa ;
e do pa kinau he stays here with me.
11. Reduplication. — The language delights in a change of Con-
sonant in reduplication, like Santa Cruz ; ganikani eat, qosiwosi
work, guvakuva fly, piliwili wink.
VIII. ADVEKBS.
1. Words which are directive of the thought and eye are very
frequently used with the Verb in a sentence; particularly ga,
which comes between the Verbal Particle and the Verb. In
English it is not so natural to speak thus ; a ga tape gato tagau
I put here a piece of crab (Mota gatou) on the hook ; nimui ku ma-
sauna tatarai ku ga va gokoto you want beads you here come buy
them ; sagiki usa, ku ga va ki ekopu soon (it will) rain, you there
go into the house : there is not the same strength of meaning in
the Sesake word as iu the English Adverb by which it is translated.
Another Adverb continually introduced is pe, pa, the same word
doubtless with the common pe, be, the Preposition of the Banks'
Islands and Northern New Hebrides ; e do pea ginau he lives here
with me ; ku ga vilai ea pe na kau pe na kapu bring hither wood
for the fire ; pe is not a Preposition ' with ' or ' for,' it points only
to the place in view of the" mind.
2. Other Adverbs are the common directive mai hitherwards ;
sei mai mau eu lapa pe ? who are those many coming hither ? and
a, e, and i. Of these, a means ' thereby,' ' therewith,' ' thereupon ; '
e puku bula na rumana e pitunu a he coughs much, his chest is
painful thereby ; pa tuau wa masmas, ga tova wago a give me that
knife, I will cut the pig therewith ; na rarua e da palosuwo, na
tamoli e diro a the canoe upset, thereupon the man was drowned.
This is perhaps joined with i to make ia ; ka vakali masmas ia
Sesake. Adverbs, Prepositions. 467
I shall sharpen a knife thereon. But i stands alone as an Adverb
of Place ; nae e do i? where is he 1 ga ve i hither ; e pa i ?
whence ? with the sense of motion in pa. The Verbal Particle e
may be taken for the Adverb e, which however is plain ; vanua a
niigo e ? where is your country '{ Id e thither, to there.
1. Adverbs of Place ; vea denotes a distant place ; pa vea, a ga vo e daku
go on before, I go here behind ; pa ti pa lei u vea Tci naw don't go far from me,
« the Verbal Particle ; lei sa na 1 whither ? to what there ? Jcoa is indefinitely
there ; a punusia no, vanua leu do koa I see the place where you live, literally,
you live there. Whence is also Ice ; ku pa ke ? a pa fee Sesake whence do you
come ? I come from Sesake. Others are palo (Mota Icalo) up ; suwo down ;
palosuwo upside down ; palo makes a compound Adverb with a Preposition ;
manoena ni palo, manoena ni tano his upper lip, his lower lip ; his lip of
above, of below. The village space about the houses is the Jcatama ; pa ti
Jcatama don't go outside, to the outside the house ; lua is ' out ; ' si, se, is
'here,' wosi 'there,' with the Demonstrative, but si points here or there; pa,
doko si na vidigu sit here by my side ; e toko si he sits there ; se ve where.
2. Adverbs of Time ; masoso, dave, to-day ; sagiki by-and-bye, giki little ;
nanova yesterday ; nanasa when, of past and future ; tuai formerly, as in
Mota; sua, perhaps Florida tua, after a Verb marks completion of the act.
The Adjective giki, little, becomes an Adverb ; ba ko doko giki sit a little,
meaning by-and-bye.
3. Adverbs of Manner ; 'how?' gasa? gasakini? Ku pati ataia ga sa
Jcini na bua ? na tasipua how do you know the way ? it is the open sea ;
compare Mota ga savai nia ; kini with sa ? what ? ' Why/ e ga sa 1 what is
there ? e ga sa eu pivimeri ? why do they fight ? ' Like ' is pale ; e ga sa ku
pati e da pale se ? why do you do so ? like this ; nimui ku lauwo e da pale
sana na wui ? how, like what, do you plant yams ?
Adjectives qualify as Adverbs ; qia good, like wia in Mota ; tava varau e
parau qia the high hill is high indeed, nothing but high ; na Ian gauwata,
rarua e sava bula the wind is strong, the ship goes fast, great.
Negative. — There does not appear a Negative Adverb beside ti used with
Verbs ; eo ! no, is an Exclamation. The same ti is used as prohibitive and
cautionary ; pa ti do na koro, ku pe rowo don't sit on the fence lest you fall ;
but a Dehortative Particle appears in gwa ; nimui gwa to na vakalo don't
you fight ; to = do the auxiliary ; gw should probably be q.
IX. PREPOSITIONS.
1. It is characteristic of Sesake that sentences are formed with-
out any Preposition, to translate which a Preposition must be
used ; e poJcatia na sana ? e pokatia na qe what did he strike him
(with) ? he struck him (with) a club ; au dipe na ta na asu we
shoot men (with) bows ; pa vai na wui dana put the yams (into)
a bag ; na savana na lasa ? what is (in) the cup 1 ku j)auo moli l,
1 This word moli, similar in meaning to the Mota mamasa, explains the
word tamoli man ; ta moli a bare man, nothing else, not a ghost or spirit.
Correct from this the Vocabulary, Note 39, Man.
H h 2
468 Melanesian Grammars.
taqau e di ka na bauma you go bare, no hat (on) your head ; na
kau wo e qia na kapu this wood is good (for) firewood; puatia
sage rarua na last haul up the canoe (from) the sea ; na nai lapa
Sesake the ahnonds are large (at) Sesake.
2. Simple Prepositions are ki or ke, ni, dent, gore.
1. ki is of Motion to or from ; it is gi of the Northern New Hebrides, and
like that has n inserted before a Vowel ; pa vasa kinia speak to him ; pa dape
lua ki ana take it away from him ; na ika u pa ki kupena the fish go into the
net ; pa vaui ki na niu go up upon the cocoa-nut tree ; na tamoli e dowo siwo
pa ki na tano the man fell down to the ground ; kinau a marita usu ki, niigo
I am angry with you. Another form of the same appears to be ke ; e pa ke a
sana ? e pa ke Sesake he comes from where ? he comes from Sesake. In the
sentence nae e pai ? pa ki na vanua ki Naika, or pa ki rarua, or pa ki law,
where is he ? at the village at Naika, or at the boat, or at the beach ; the
sense of motion is given by pa, meaning ' go,' and ' at ' is not an adequate
translation.
2. ni is the genitive Preposition of Fiji and the Solomon Islands; manu ni
boni the bird of night ; kanau ni Mota man of Mota, na bula ni ekopu ki
palo a ninida the board of the house is above us. This with ni makes kini, Fiji
kini, gin Maewo ; e ga sa ku para kini na asu ? why do you go about with a
bow ? but this must be regarded as doubtful, the Verb may be paraki.
3. deni is the common Preposition further North; ga tape lua denigo I
take it away from you.
4. goro is also familiar, of motion, or position succeeding motion, against ;
toko goro na nakogu sit over against my face ; na ta e du goro, a di punusia
rarua the man stands in the way, I can't see the ship ; sari goro na roara
fence round the garden.
Besides these there are a and e apparently Prepositions ; a locative, at ; e
pa ke a sana he comes from whence, i. e. at what ? e do pe a ginau he lives
here with me ; e appears in Adverbs, e ga there, i. e. at that, e da there, e pe ?
where ?
3. The practice above noticed of omitting, as it seems, the Pre-
position which must be used in translating makes it difficult to
say that Nouns are used, as in other languages, for Prepositions ;
nawokana na lasa, inside the cup, may be taken to be (in) the
inside of the cup ; matau e do meluna tasi the anchor is below the
sea, (in) the under part of the sea.
4. Verbs are used as Prepositions; punisi to see, va punisia
go to him ; compare Florida va rigia. In the same way the Verb
du or tua is a Preposition ; tuau or duau wa give that to me, tu to
give to, au me ; du wa ea give that to him ; pa save na adi duau
wa pluck that banana for me ; du is thus a Preposition.
The Verb tu may be the same with Santa Cruz tua and Mota tuan. The
Mota ilo, the Preposition, is quite distinct from ilo to see ; but the Florida
Verb-Preposition punisi may possibly be identical with this.
Sesake. Conjunctions, Numerals. 469
X. CONJUNCTIONS.
No Conjunction ' and ' or ' but ' appears. The Disjunctive is
Idta ; ku masau seve tea 1 wose Jcita woi ? which do you like ? this
or that ? The Conditional is pe ; ku pe rono ataia na vasana tu
ku pe mauri if you hear the word you will live. The same word
is used for ' lest ; ' pa tape soki e pe rowo hold carefully lest it fall ;
tiqa goro na matakisala, wago e pe ve shut the gate lest the pig
come in. Though pe is thus rightly translated as a Conjunction it
is no doubt the same word as the Adverb pe, and may be properly
taken as an Adverb in these examples.
j
XL NUMERALS.
1. Cardinals. — One sikai, two dua, three dolu, four pati, five
lima, ten dua lima : six, seven, eight, nine, twenty, and a hundred,
may be conjectured from Tasiko. The Verbal Particle is used ;
ninida tu dolu we three.
2. Ordinals. — ke rua is ' another,' i.e. a second; ku punusi rarua
ke rua you see another ship ; see Fate.
3. Multiplicatives. — -pakasikai, paka rua, once, twice, paka visa ?
how often 1 with, as usual, the Causative.
XII. EXCLAMATIONS.
The Negative is eo ! niigo ku pati ? eo f a di pati, did you do
it ? No, I did not. Of surprise ke ; Tee ! kana wona e dono ataia e
da pale na vasana a nigami ? Oh ! how does this man understand
our language ?
API, TASIKO, LEMABORO.
The large island, commonly called Api, is by Bishop Patteson called Tasiko,
probably because the people of Three Hills so call it ; it is also Tasiwo, and on
the North of it it is called Tasitso. Bishop Patteson's notes give a little of
the language on the West and North-west of the island.
1 . Phonetic changes : t changes to s and ts or tz ; tatua, a man, is sasua
and tsatsua; tasi, sea, is tsi and tzi; t also changes to r; or a for of a six,
orolu for ntolu eight. In chua, two, and chima, five, 1 is changed into what
is probably tch, through r, d, and t ; for chua is the common rua, and chima,
lima. There is also y ; yua for ua, usa, rain.
2. Numerals. — Cardinals, on West coast: one ta, two chua, three tolu,
four veri, five chima, six ora, seven olua, eight orolu, nine overt, ten lua lima.
470 Melanesian Grammars.
Here o with the digits of the second hand corresponds to the la of Fate. It is
remarkable that lua in seven and ten does not change to cJiua. Two more sets
of Numerals are given, from the West and North-west coasts : (i) one tai,
two lua, three relu, four vari, five lima, six oraga, seven o lua, eight o relu,
nine a vari, ten lua lima ; in which oraga only is obscure : (2) one peni, two
viago, three pun sulu, four pun vire, five pun lima, six ^>o or, poa ralca, seven
0 lua, eight o roZw, nine lea vari, ten Z«a fo'ma. Here sulu may be tfo£« ;
vire — vari = vati; but^>««, po, ka, are strange.
3. A verbal Substantive is shown; visiena = vasana Sesake, speech. A
Possessive Noun is given in nagw mine ; and in that and kiagu, my name, the
Suffixed Pronoun of the First Singular gu. A Preposition of motion i.
In Tasiko opposite Three Hills, the Verbal Particles, called Pronouns, are
thus given. Singular, I. a; 2. ku; 3. e. Plural, inclusive tu, exclusive au;
2. ku, ko; 3. e, u, eu. Dual, I. incl. toru, toro, excl. aru, aro ; 2. koru, Jcoro ;
3. eru, ero. Compare these with Sesake.
The auxiliary Verbs dro = do, and da, are used as in Sesake ; kinau a dro
punusia I see him ; Sila e da pea dua koa Sila gives to thee.
LEMAROBO.
Another part of Tasiko on the South-east, called Lemaroro, has a dialect in
some respects different. The following is from the notes of the Rev. R. B.
Comins, of the Melanesian Mission.
1. t is sometimes strengthened with n ; but otolu, tolu, is Fiji udolu, Mota
nol, all.
2. Nouns. Verbal Substantive, msiena speech. Simple juxtaposition
conveys a genitive relation ; kokulu manu a bird's egg.
3. Pronouns, (i) Subject and Object of Verbs. Singular, I. nu; 2. ko;
3. nana. Plural, I. incl. ita, excl. mimi; 2. amiu; 3. nanala. The Third
nana is a Demonstrative ; la is the common Plural sign ra.
(2) Suffixed to Nouns. Singular, I. u; 2. ma; 3. na. Plural, I. incl. ta,
excl. mimi ; 2. miu ; 3. la.
(3) Suffixed to Verbs. Singular, 3. a. Plural, 3. ra. When the object is
expressed, the Pronoun is still suffixed besides ; o pe ulia pui don't buy (it)
a pig.
(4) Demonstratives : a Particle ne that ; iolai Plural, those.
(5) Interrogative : ai, kiai, who ?
4. Possessives : sa and ma ; with Suffixed Pronouns. But the First in-
clusive Plural of ma has Suffix si, masi our. Another also is Second Singular
anoma, 3. anena. The difference between sa and ma is that sau is ' mine ' of
a foreign thing, mau ' mine ' of a native thing ; probably like Mota no, mo.
5. Adjectives; lani taura great wind, ui pisusunu hot water, ui manini
cold water.
6. Verbs. Particles are, Singular, i. ne; 2. o; 3. a. Plural, i. incl.
te, 3. a. Imperative, o imi come here. The Adverb pe is used with the
Particle.
The Negative Verb has re poli ; nu ma re poli I see not; ne nila re poli
1 know not. Dehortative, pe; o pe marau don't be afraid. Also po ; poli is
' no ; ' and no is ' yes.'
7. Adverbs, (i) Of Place: pe where; ko pe? whither? su mo before; su
Fate. A Iphabet. 471
rau behind ; su mava over (Oba matve) ; su tono (Mota, Sesake, tano) under ;
Jco un su pe ? whence come you ? (2) Of Manner : si pe ? why ?
8. Prepositions, su as in Adverbs ; e as in e pa at ; lo in ; pu by, pu nu
by me ; vani, ani, to, Dative. The Noun mava ni ta above us, shows the
genitive Preposition ni.
9. Conjunction : a and.
Tcmoa is the nearest of the Shepherd Islands to Tasiko. A few
words of the language written for Bishop Patteson show as follows.
(i) The Article is na. (2) Pronouns; suffixed to Nouns: Singular,
I. k, or g; sisiak my side, urag my land ; 3. n; nakian his name.
Demonstrative kehe, (3) Verbs. The Particle with first inclusive
and Third Person Plural is tu. The Negative with the Verb is te ;
te biviati not fight. A Negative Noun is buel ; na vi bud (there is)
no bow. (4) The Numeral ten is drualima.
22. FATE, SANDWICH ISLANDS.
The following sketch of the Grammar of this language has been
compiled from a translation of the Gospel of St. Luke printed in
1877. It makes therefore no pretension to completeness or ac-
curacy, but is useful for comparison. In order to avoid confusion
the orthography is here accommodated to that of the other languages
represented ; with some mistakes probably. In the translation g
is, according to the use of Fiji and Samoa, used for ng in ' singer ; '
and it is unfortunately also used for ng in ' finger ; ' for consider-
ing how near the Fate language is to that of Sesake it is impossible
to suppose that k or g in such very common Melanesian words as
the Pronouns ko, gita, kami, ku, or the Prepositions ki, goro, should
change to w=ng, rather than <7=ngg. Again to write ou for the
sound of ow in ' cow,' shown in bulumakou leather, ' bull-and-a-
cow,' is clearly a mistake. Here therefore n, g, au, are printed.
The sound of the Melanesian g is not represented, though it is no
doubt present.
I. ALPHABET.
1. Vowels. — a, e, i, o, u.
2. Consonants. — k, g; t; b, f, w; q; m, m, n, n; r, 1; s.
i. The word printed lagki, i.e. langJci, shows that besides the sound 'of
<7 = ngg there is, as in Fiji and Pentecost, that of ngk, as in the English
'sinker.' 2. d is not used; t alone represents the sound, which is sometimes
472 Melanesian Grammars.
strengthened by n, e ntano on the ground ; t also strengthens r ; ra trua they
two, for rarua, in tra blood, for in ra. 3. p is not used, nor v ; it may be
conjectured that the sound sometimes v, sometimes b, sometimes p, in Sesake,
is here symbolized by one character, b ; this changes with f, bisa or fisa to
speak. 4. q is here used for the sound printed kw, kb, bw. 5. m represents
mw of the translation ; n the sound there symbolized by g, when there is no
reason to suppose it to mean ng in ' finger,' which is here g.
It will be observed that the Vowels change a good deal in sympathy with
neighbouring sounds. They drop off terminations, and drop out in con-
tractions ; e.g. mitiri to write, namtirien' writing, mataku to fear, namta-
Tcuena fear ; na the Article coalesces with m'tiri, m'taJcu.
II. ARTICLES.
This is n ; printed in one with the Noun in the translation,
and with a changing Vowel ; ne suli gi na qatokoma e bi ni mi~
tama the lamp of thy body is thine eye. Before t and 1 it becomes
in; in tas, in lam. For the sake of clearness the Article is here
separated from the Noun, when it is possible to do so.
III. NOUNS.
1. There is the division of Nouns into those who do and those
who do not take the Suffixed Pronoun.
2. Verbal Substantives are formed by adding ana, ena, some-
times an, en, to the Verb ; taw, to weep, taniena weeping ; e ka
sili na sum na lotuen na liati na marmaroen he entered the house
of worship (on) the day of resting.
3. There is no Plural sign; a Noun of Number man, or an
Adjective laba, many, are used.
IV. PRONOUNS.
1. Personal Pronouns. — Singular, i. kinu; 2. nago; 3. nai.
Plural, i. incl. gita; excl. garni; 2. Jcumu; 3. nara, kita. Dual,
3. ratrua.
In nago, nai, nara, na is a Demonstrative, the true Pronouns go, i, ra;
kita is used of persons and things, nara only of persons.
2. Pronouns Suffixed to Verbs and Prepositions. — Singular, i.au;
2. ko, go, mu; 3. a. Plural, i. incl. gita, excl. garni; 2. mu;
3. ra, ta.
The use of mu in both Singular and Plural is remarkable ; ta (as in kita)
may show a change of r to t, as Sesake da suffixed to Nouns. The Pronoun
is suffixed to a Verb when the object is otherwise expressed ; in seta u go
batia 1 what shall we do (it) ?
3. Pronouns Suffixed to Nouns. — Singular, i. gu; 2. ma; 3. na,
n. Plural, i. incl. gita, excl. garni; 2. mu; 3. ra.
Fate. Adjectives, Verbs. 473
4. Demonstrative Pronouns ; netu, wan, wanetu, this, naga, wa-
naga that ; mau a netu these ; wa, na, ga, Demonstrative Particles
as in Sesake. The Numeral iskei one, is used as a Demonstrative,
iskei mau that only.
5. Interrogative Pronouns ; se ? who ? in sofa ? what ? in sefa
naga 1 safa a Noun with Article ; se gamu na tamoli 1 what man
of you ?
6. Indefinite Pronouns ; the Numeral iskei, one, a certain one ;
na ta any one, a man ; tea, the primary meaning of which is also
' one,' is ' any ; ' tea laba all, persons or things ; tetea as if Adverb,
at all ; tea kerua any other, second, one ; see Mota, IV. 5. The
distributive is sera ; sera na tamoli each man.
V. As in Sesake, there is no appearance of such Possessive
Nouns as are common further North. For ' my,' ' thy,' ' his,' &c.
we have aginau, aginago, aginai ; Plural, anigita, aginami, agumu,
aginara, agata.
The explanation of these as a, a Possessive Noun, with the Preposition gi,
and the Personal Pronoun, is satisfactory with most; a gi nago thing or
possession of thee; the Preposition ni may be used in anigita to save the
repetition of g ; agumu, agata remain a difficulty.
VI. ADJECTIVES.
Words are commonly used to qualify with Verbal Particles ; but
Adjectives are used without them : na bua matua go na bua kik
great roads and small roads.
Comparison is made with the Preposition toli from ; tea matua
toli one greater than.
. VII. VERBS.
1. The Verbal Particles, changing to some extent with Number
and Person, can be arranged under e, u, te.
e. Singular. I. a. u. Singular. I. — te. Singular. I. —
2. — 2. ku. 2. —
3. e. 3. — 3. te.
Plural, i. — Plural, i.excl.u. Plural, i . tu incl. and excl.
2. — 2. ku. 2. —
3- r»- 3- ">• 3- —
This is fragmentary, but agrees sufficiently with Sesake. To these
Particles are continually added the directives ga, ka, and the
Auxiliary Verbs ba and to.
2. Tense. — The Future time seems to be conveyed by ko, go ; in
sefa naga u go batia? what is that (which) we shall do? There is
474 Melanesian Grammars.
a Particle to added after the Verb, as ta in Maewo, giving a sense
of past time.
3. Imperative ; as in Sesake, ba is almost always used ; ba bano
go, ba leo see ; but Jco ratUu forgive ; ko being the Pronoun go.
4. Conditional sentences have the same word, as ba, bi, bo', u bi
ti ba bano bo bankotefi tea famiena e ga bi am tealaba oane mau
if we do not go so as to buy something to eat that may suffice for
all these people.
5. Suffixes. — The Consonantal Transitive Suffix is seen in libisi
to see, from libi ; the Syllabic Suffixes raki, naki, seem plain ;
usireki follow, from usi, (Mota usurag); tokonaki na melimafatu
dash thy foot against a stone.
6. Prefixes. — i. Causative baka; mauri to live, bakamauri to
save ; used also as in Fiji ; faka Roma Latin, Rome like. 2. Of
Condition ma ; marakaraka wishful ; ta, tageli crooked.
7. A method of conveying a Passive sense by a Verbal Substan-
tive is remarkable ; go ko ti ba bisabota mau, go ku go ti ba bi tea
bisabotaiena mau ; — ko ratilu, go ku go bi tea ratiluana judge not,
and ye shall not be judged ; forgive, and ye shall be forgiven ;
literally, ye shall not be a thing of judging, shall be a thing of
forgiving.
8. Negative Verbs. — The negative Particle is ti, followed by
mau after the Verb or the word negatived; ba is used with ti;
na tamoli te go ti ba mole tea famiena iskei mou mau man shall not
live (by) food only. The same is dehortative ; ko ti ba ba na suma
baki na suma mau go not (from) house to house.
9. Auxiliary Verbs. — As in Sesake, and Ambrym, these are con-
tinually introduced ; i. to, properly to stand; e ka to roni na leora
he was obedient to them, remained hearing their word ; kinami
mera mafa ra ka to bilagako thy father and I have sought, been
seeking, thee. 2. ba properly to go, as in the examples above,
imperative and negative.
VIII. ADVERBS.
1. The commonly used directing Adverbs are mai hitherwards,
and is or s outwards ; banamai, fanamai come hither ; tiki mu is
tell to you ; kinia to him, kinias with motion outwards (Mota munia
at] ; e ka tikia nafas he tells to his father.
2. Adverbs of Place; we is the place where, (vea) e we where; e
ga there, ga being a demonstrative Adverb continually introduced
with Verbs ; tonaga here ; entano down ; bakilan up, bakitan
Fate. Prepositions, Conjunctions. 475
down, i. e. ba Jd Ian, and tan, go to sky, and earth, i. e. skywards,
earthwards.
3. Adverbs of Time; Jo now; ba maloanaga henceforth; wanetu
now ; mis go mitimei to-day and to-morrow ; selaitaku hereafter.
4. Adverbs of Manner ; egua ? why1? igua naga? why? tebeloa-
netu thus, like this ; mo again, as Santa Cruz.
5. Negative ; ti ka no ; e ti ka it is not ; see Verbs, 8.
IX. PREPOSITIONS.
1. It is very common, as in Sesake, to use no Preposition ; e ka
fifisia kulikul wrapped him (Mota pipisiagia] (in) clothes ; na qomu
e ga wia na murien agumu be content, let your heart be good,
(with) you wages ; e ka fanamai ni maruna he came (by) the
Spirit ; ru go selatiko na rura, kit bla tokonaki na melima fatu
they shall hold thee (in) their hands, lest thou dash thy foot
(against) a stone.
2. Simjde Prepositions. — (i) e, locative, as in names of Places ;
e Fate at Fate, the name of the Island ; and in Adverbs e we?
where ? at what place 1 entano down, e ntano on the ground. (2) to,
locative, at ; tonaga here, at this. (3) ki, gi, very general ; ki noai
with water ; na lioana gi na falikauiena feast of the Passover ;
often combined with ba go, with the sense of motion, baki Jeru-
salem, to ; tuli bakita say to them ; combined also with ni, kinia
to him. (4) Motion against, gor ; tuni gori gami (Mota tanu goro
kamam) fall over upon us; leo gor look after. (5) toli, from;
toliko from thee. (6) ni, genitive, of; na worawora ni mata off-
spring of snakes ; tea ni because of, i. e. something in relation to ;
also ini ; ini bom by night. (7) me, relation to a person; me nai
with him.
3. The Verb libi, libisi to see, like Sesake punisi, is used as a
Preposition ; a go tulena bo ba libi mama aginau I will arise that
I may go to (go see) my father ; libisiau to me, libisimu to thee.
X. CONJUNCTIONS.
The common Copulative is go, and, as in Oba. The Disjunctive
and Conditional is kite ; used at the end of a sentence in asking a
question ; e go tuai mata auli ne ika kite ? will he give a snake for
a fish ? as si in Mota. The Verb ba, be, bi, bo, serves as a kind of
Conjunction ; as of consequence, tu gai bano bo libi let us go that
we may see ; ba ba ba indicates a kind of suspense ; bla, ba la is
' lest ; ' ku bla tokonaki na melima lest thou dash thy foot. The
476 Melanesia*, Grammars.
Preposition me is used as if a Conjunction, ' and,' ' but ; ' mera and
they, i.e. with them.
XL NUMERALS.
1. Cardinals; one iskei, two rua, three tolu, four bate, five
lima, six latesa, seven larua, eight latolu, nine ?«/&&', ten relima;
twenty relima ma. The unit above ten temati ; eighteen relima
iskei temati latolu ; eighty-four relima latolu temati bate ; a hundred
bunti, five hundred bunti lima ; a thousand manu ; twenty thousand
manu relima rua.
1. iskei is sakai, siJcai of Solomon Islands; 2. la marks the digits of the
second hand, changes to li before fiti = bate; tesa = tea; relima = rua lima.
The absence of sanavul is remarkable. The Numeral is used with Verbal
Particle ; ninety-nine, relim e lifiti, temati e lifiti, tens are nine, the unit
above is nine.
2. Ordinals ; formed by prefixing ke, modified by the vowel of
the Numeral ; Jcerua other, second Jcuru, third Jdtolu, sixth kela-
tesa, fifteenth relim iskei temati kelima.
3. Multiplicatives ; with causative prefix, bakaskei once, baka-
larua seven times.
XII. EXCLAMATIONS.
It is remarkable that, as in Malagasy, the Vocative o is added
after the Noun ; temagami 0 O our father.
jVlJNA.
The little island of NVCO.&, Montague Island, is close to Fate ; the following
example of the language, taken from a reading book printed at Sydney, will
show its close resemblance to Sesake and Fate. As printed, au is correctly
used, but g seems to be used confusedly, as in the Fate St. Luke ; n and g
are here substituted.
St. Matthew xiii. 3-9. Parable of the Sower.
3. Na tamoli saburaki sikai e tave pano na^a, e g& saburaki na pati na wa
na kau. 4. E to saburakinia, go na patina seara e towo na rigi na bua, go
manu u rumai bo ^ania. 5 . G-o seara e towo malo ni fatu, waina na tano bisa
mau asa ; go e bisu maraverave, na lakena waia u tu tuni a ki na tano matulu
man. 6. (?o elo e sake, bo tara e, go e kokolo, na lakena waia no koana e ti
ka. 7- ^° seara e towo tea makalikali, e ulua sake, bo mari a e toto. 8. Ma
seara e towo na tano wia, bo tau ki na wana ; sikai e tau ki ponutia, go sikai
e tau ki rualima latesa, go sikai e tau ki rualima tolu. 9. Na ta waina e
bilake na talimana, e ga, rowo.
NOTES. — 3. saburaki, the Mota savur 'scatter;' s ikai = Bugotu sikai,
Anaiteum. 477
Florida sakai, similarly used sakai na tinoni a man ; e Verbal Particle ; tave
pano go in a certain direction, Mota vano ; ga Demonstrative added to Verbal
Particle ; na pati na wa na kau seed of fruit of tree, the genitive relation
given by juxtaposition without Prepositions. 4. to the Auxiliary Verb, stands,
remains, sowing ; go and ; na patina, if na is Suffixed Pronoun, is question-
able ; seara some in Sesake ; towo = rowo, change of r to t ; na rigi (on) the
side, no Preposition used; rigi = Florida liligi; bo a form of ba, to go, may be
taken as Conjunction ; waina demonstrative ; maraverave an Adjective used as
Adverb, ma Prefix of condition ; na lakena wai its root, cause, that ; because ;
« Verbal Particle ; matulu deep, Mota matoltol thick. 6. sake, Mota sage,
Florida hage, Fiji cake, &c. ; tara — rara Mota, dry with heat, t = r ; e there-
upon, Adverb ; kokolo, Mota golo to shrivel ; ti Tea not, as in Sesake. 7. tea
makalikali (on) a something prickly; ma of condition. 8. Ma but; tau may
be the same as the Noun tau season, ki Preposition, na wana its fruit ; ponutia
100, Fate bunti; rua Zi»wa = Fate relima, Sesake dua lima. 9. That man
(who) possesses his ears, bilake probably bila, pula, property ; e ga rono hears
there, as if a direct statement.
ANAITEUM.
Concerning the other languages of the Southern New Hebrides I have no
information ; but from the Grammar and Dictionary of the language ', by him
called Aneityumese, published by Mr. Inglis, the speech of the Southernmost
island of the group may be seen, with many differences, to be not very remote
from that which may be thought characteristically Melanesian. For ex-
ample :
1. Article. — The statement that 'Nouns generally begin with n or in," and
that ' the Plural is formed by dropping n or in,' shows the Article to be n, in,
as in Fate.
2. Nouns. — That there are two classes, one taking the Suffixed Pronouns,
the other not, is shown by the example etmak, etmam, etman, my, thy, his
father (tamak, tamama, tamana Mota), and by the so-called Possessive Pro-
nouns unyak, unyum, o un, my, thy, his. The independent form of a Noun
with the termination n is gathered from comparison of the Banks' Islands
languages and Nengone, and such an example as ne rin a leaf, ne ri itai leaves
of grass ; as in Motlav no ron a leaf, no ro vlis leaves of grass.
3. The Pronouns as suffixed to Nouns, k, m, n, and in the Third Plural ra,
are identical with those common, if not universal, in Melanesia. These
appear, as in Santa Cruz, to be present in the Personal Pronouns used as
subject and object in a sentence.
4. Verbs are said to be conjugated 'by means of the Verb " to be " or Par-
ticles.' The Pronoun following the Verb with a possessive character re-
sembles the use of Santa Cruz and Rotuma.
5. Prepositions are seen to be, many of them, compounded of a Noun with
a, i, >'.
1 A Dictionary of the Aneityumese Language, also Outlines of Aneityumese
Grammar; by the Kev. John Inglis. Williams & Norgate. London, 1882.
478 Melanesian Grammars.
V. Loyalty Islands.
23. NENGONE.
Britannia Island, the Southernmost of the Loyalty Group, is now
always called Mare, but the native name is Nengone. The follow-
ing sketch of the Grammar of the language was made in the first
place from information given to me in the Mota language by the
Rev. Mano Wadrokal, a native of the island employed in the Mela-
nesian Mission ; it was afterwards revised, and compared with
that of Von der Gabelentz in his ' Melanesischen Sprachen/ with
the further assistance of Wadrokal and his wife. Since they can
speak Mota, Bugotu, and some Santa Cruz, besides their native
language, they were able to compare Nengone with other Melane-
sian tongues, and probably to explain what otherwise would not
have been understood.
Since the Nengone language has now an established orthography
of its own, it has not been departed from here.
Comparison has been made with the language of Lifu, the next
of the Loyalty Islands, as set forth in ' Notes sur la Langue de
Lifou, par le P. A. C. Paris.'
I. ALPHABET.
1. Vowels. — a, e, i, o, u.
2. Consonants. — k, g, x, c ; t, d, th, j ; p, b, w ; m, 'm, hm, n,
ng, hn, hng ; r, 1 ; h, s, sh, z.
g is hard, but it has sometimes, at least, the sound of ngg. The Melanesian
g is symbolized by x, the English ch by c. The sound of th is as in ' thin ' ;
j, as in English, is at least sometimes a change from t. There is no v. The
sound of 'm is that in other languages represented by m ; and n is here ng.
The sounds of hm, hn, hng, are strange ; hm represents the breath sent sharply
through the nose before the lips are separated for m. When hn follows a
vowel, as ehn, the aspirate is as in Motlav eh, and n succeeds to it ; but when
hn begins a word, as in the name Snaisiline, there is heard hardly an aspirate,
but an approaching sound in the throat. The sound of hng corresponds to
this. That of z, and of sh, is the same as in English.
The syllables are all open, except when a vowel is cut off, which is marked ',
as ngom?.
II. ARTICLES.
The definite Article is re, which is almost always preceded by
the demonstrative o, or ono ; o re ngome the man. The Numeral
se one, is used in the place of an indefinite Article. Nouns are
often used without an Article.
Nengone. Nouns, Pronouns. 479
There is no Article in Lifu ; and it is possible that re may be borrowed from
Polynesian immigrants ; since le is the Samoau Article.
III. NOUNS.
1. There are two classes of Nouns; those that do and those
that do not take Suffixed Pronouns.
2. Verbal Substantives. — The same word is often Verb and
Noun ; rane love and to love. But Nouns are made from Verbs
by prefixing na; menenge to sit, namenenge an abode, wose to
bind, nawose a band.
3. Independent form of Nouns. — The termination is ne, as in the
Banks' Islands; uiene soul, ielene name, elene head. This does
not appear in composition; uieje our souls, ielego my name, ele
puaka pig's head.
4. There is a practice, such as to some extent is found in Gog,
of using with Nouns a Prefix which indicates something of the
shape or character of the object before the mind, wa if globular,
gu if long and thick : see p. 7 1.
The primary meaning of wa is a globular object, secondarily it is a fruit ; wa
nu a cocoa-nut ; the appropriateness of the image is seen in wa baiwa ear, wa
iei egg, wa ie fist, wa nine hand, wa cekole moon, wajecole star ; wa 'ma
is a small house, not a long one. The notion in gu is plain in guhmu a club,
gupiede nose, gutinene tongue. As wa nine is the hand in the lump, tubenine,
fingers, is the hand in a row, tube a row, tubenengoce the mouth, row of lips.
5. The Plural is made by prefixing a Noun or sign of number ;
'ma house, ie 'ma, nodei 'ma houses.
Totality is described by node; node ileodene the whole place;
node didi so all are black, i. e. the company (are) black all of
them ; so has the same meaning with the Banks' Islands gese, and is
used as a plural sign, but with that meaning ; so tusi books and
nothing else. See Motlav, III. 4.
IV. PRONOUNS.
1. Personal Pronouns.
Singular, i. inu, nu ; 2. nubo, bo; 3. nubone, bone.
Plural, i. incl. eje, excl. ehnije ; 2. buhnije ; 3. buije.
Dual, i. incl. ethewe, excl. ehne ; 2. hmengo ; 3. bushengone.
The short forms nu, bo, bone, are used as object of the Verb.
The First Singular is the only familiar Pronoun. The close resemblance of
nubo and nubone suggests that nu is demonstrative, and bo is the person not
oneself. In the Third Singular ne, as in Santa Cruz, is probably the same
with the suffixed form. In the Plural je is a mark of plurality, like sa in
Kotuma and t in Duke of York. In the Second and Third Plural bu may be
480 Melanesian Grammars.
taken as the same with bo in the Singular. The Dual is remarkable as a
really distinct Number, not the Plural with a Numeral. Nothing of a Trial
appears.
The Lifu Pronoun is very different, except that she = eje.
2. Pronouns Suffixed to Nouns.
Singular, I. go; 2. — ; 3. ne.
Of these go is freely used. In Lifu ng corresponds to it ; imeng
my hand, umang my house. The Third Person Suffix is not com-
monly used with Nouns, bone is added to signify possession ; but
in Nouns used as Prepositions ne plainly appears as a Suffixed
Pronoun ; ripogo on me, i. e. top of me, ripori o re wece on the
hill, top of it.
In the Plural ^'e and hnije are suffixed, but these are not distinct forms.
In Lifu ng is suffixed as the subject of a Verb.
Before the Suffix go there is sometimes inserted ie ; celuaiego my brother,
celua brother. It must be doubted whether this is, as Wadrokal says, a con-
nective without meaning.
When the Pronoun is not suffixed, the Preposition ni, of, is used ; as shown
in the Example, ielene a name.
Singular. I. ielego my name. Plural. I. ieleje, ielehnije our name.
2. iele ni bo thy name. 2. iele ni buhnije your name.
3. iele ni bone his, her name. 3. iele ni buije their name.
Sometimes, however, simple juxtaposition without a Preposition is enough;
'ma hne house of us two.
3. Demonstrative Pronouns.
Demonstrative Particles are o, ko, no, me, which do not occur
alone but in combination, making Demonstrative Pronouns and
Adverbs. It is characteristic of this, as of other Melanesian
languages, to make demonstrative reference in predication ; inu
ha ule o re koe I have seen the ship, i. e. a certain known ship ;
o ko re koe hnei nubo hna ule ? what that ship you saw ? o no re
koe hnei nubo Tina ule o ? what that ship you saw there ?
The Particles ko and o, point to a near object, and combine
with me ; ome, kome, this ; o re 'ma ome this house ; ono is of things
near. It is impossible to distinguish these Pronouns from the
same words used as Adverbs of Place ; the native mind turns in a
certain direction, to a certain place, rather than views the thing or
person. (See Adverbs.) Lifu Demonstratives are formed with la, ke.
4. Interrogative Pronouns.
Of Persons, la ? who 1 iele ni la ? whose name 1 'ma ni la ?
whose house 1 la kome ? who is this 1 Of Things, nge ? what 1
taking as a Noun the Article, o re nge ? With these Demonstra-
tive Particles are combined, la ko, o ko, nge ko which ?
Nengone. Possessives, Verbs. 481
5. Indefinite Pronouns.
The Numeral sa, one, is so used ; ome sa any one ; etha each,
etha sa each one. Self is nide ; ha nide taedengi keinije we have
ourselves heard for ourselves.
V. POSSESSIVES.
There are no Possessive Nouns such as are found in almost all
Melanesian languages ; see Prepositions ni and hue. But kaka is
a Noun, a thing for eating, and kua a thing for drinking ; kakago
a thing for my eating, like Mota gaku.
VI. VERBS.
1. Verbal Particles; me, ci, ha, hna, co, ho; the same in each
Number and Person.
1. me is indefinite, marks a Verb without any reference to time; it may
generally be taken as Present, but will represent Past or Future when the
time has been set by something else in the sentence.
2. ci, Mota ti, represents continuity of action ; inu ci menenge I am sitting,
icakee ci enge ri leulebue the Malay apple flowers in the winter.
3. ha marks the Past, not the distant Past ; sereiei ha cara a tree has
fallen.
4. hna of a more distant and complete Past ; ete hna cara a stone fell : hna
thus makes a Pluperfect ; Lone hna hueti o re tusi tone hna icie ri hnorine he
brought the book he had been reading in.
5. co, Future ; inu co aehngeni du bone I shall tell to him ; nu co menenge
I shall sit, remain. This is used in a Conditional sentence, assisted by da ; bo
da co alane ha thuni if you should wish it would be done ; ha marking the
thing viewed as already done. It is also used imperatively ; co io so re tusi
go for the books ; bo co ie speak thou. It is also used of a present action, as
if of something going to be done ; weri o re nge bo co ridi bone ? because of
what will you strike him ? what are you beating him for ?
6. ho is Optative ; bone ho hue let him go.
There is another Particle that must be added, thu ; it appears to have two
senses ; o Jcoe eje thu sasa our vessel does run swiftly ; nubone hna Icanone o
re tenene thu waruma he has given to his son to live. It is said to be very
emphatic.
The Lifu has a the Verbal Particle with Present Tense, e and Jca with
Adjectives, i. e. indefinite. After the Verb ha marks completeness ; toa marks
the Future.
2. Verbs are used without a Verbal Particle especially when
no sense of Time is present ; with the Negative, nu deko ma alane
I do not wish ; in supposition, da ule ke inu if I should see.
3. Suffixes. — The Transitive terminations suffixed to Verbs are
ni, ne, and ti : nene influence of a supernatural kind, nenene to
impart it ; nerene to shine, nereneni to light ; tango to die, tangoni
I i
482 Melanesiari Grammars.
to kill ; menenge to sit, amenengone (with o for e) to set ; hue to
go, hueti to convey; JOTW co hueti o re nejei he goes with, takes, the
dish.
So Lifu ; loi good, aloin to make good ; tu great, atun to make great ; with
Causative a.
4. Prefixes. — i. Causative a=va', as above amenengone to set
or seat ; sere stand, aseri lo make to stand up ; waruma to live,
awarumani to save, make to live. The Causative Prefix, as in
other languages, accompanies the Transitive Suffix ; Mota va-pute-g
=a-menengo-ne. 2. Reciprocal e-=vei Fiji; bushengone ci erete
they two are fighting one with another.
5. Negative Verbs have deko, deko ma ; inu deko ma alane I do
not wish ; nu deko co hue I shall not go. There is no negative
force in ma, which indeed may be used in a positive sentence.
Cautionary Prohibitive words are da and hage ; dai hage hnen-
gone judge not; hage thaiet don't sleep.
6. A Bejlective sense is given, as in other Melanesian languages,
by an Adverb meaning ' back,' iawe ; bunije ci amani bunije iawe
you pride yourselves ; or by ko the Demonstrative pointing to the
agent ; ha tangoni bone ko he killed himself.
7. Reduplication does not appear. To express continuation or
intensity of an action they make a prolonged ca after the Verb ; or
convey the notion by prolonged or strengthened enunciation.
Instead of using directly a Noun or Pronoun as the subject of a
sentence the language delights, like Santa Cruz, in the use of a
periphrasis, with the use of the Prepositions hne and kei ; rather
of the words hne and kei which are also used as Prepositions ; it is
not ' I struck ' but ' of me, mine, the striking ; ' hnego hna ridi ;
kei hmenewe ci ie the woman said, of the woman (who) said; ci
tango kei tenego my child dies, literally ' dies, the doing of my
child.'
VII. ADVEKBS.
There are many Demonstrative Adverbs introduced according to
native habit of speech, directing the eye or the mind, which,
though they can be always translated, do not always find natural
equivalents in an English sentence ; such are lo, lu, te, bote.
i. lo is up; apugani lo to make to stand up ; ceceni lo to fill up. 2. lu
down ; cara lu fall down ; also, down from ; sere lo to stand up, in advance,
sere lu to stand down, away from. 3. te hitherwards ; hue te come hither.
4. bote of motion outwards ; cengi bote to unloose, untie and let go ; pie bote
pour away.
Nengone. Prepositions. 483
1. Adverbs of Place. — It is the habit in the islands generally to
speak of place with a reference not to points of the compass but to
the relative position of sea and land. The diagram here given
was made by Wadrokal to show how the Adverbs in most common
use apply ; the speaker being at the spot marked OME ' here,' the
sea ' down ' at the right, the land ' up ' at his left.
3. madio.
i. modi.
i . omeioi.
pula.
omezoi. madi.
3. mazo. 2. mazoi. upmazo. OME. eake down. 2. maduo. 3. maduo.
hmuula. omehii.
ro.
hmuuni. l . omeioi.
2. madi.
3. madio.
It will be observed that there is no difference in the words which describe
position at a distance except seawards and landwards. But pula and ro
indicate places which are said to be equivalent to the Mota rowo and vano
respectively, which again can hardly be determined. To explain precisely the
meaning and use of words which point landwards and seawards would be
probably very difficult; maduo represents the prolongation of distance by
lengthening of the syllable.
Besides these Adverbs there are nada before ; leu after, hue leu
go behind after ; conge, weneile, whence ; sere away : most of which
applying to persons as well as places become Pronouns. The most
general direction hitherwards and outwards is given by te and
nge ; hue te come, hue nge go : inge and He are ' there/
2. Adverbs of Time; o nome now, to-day; ngei to-day of past
time; hoxedide yesterday, oerore to-morrow; owol day after to-
morrow ; odeniwol day before yesterday ; odraele at some future
time ; wenekoda at some former time ; oviu not yet ; iara, be, still ;
ibetu quickly ; naderi afterwards ; iawe again ; one marks the Past.
3. Adverbs of Man er; inomelei so; ine like; koricne how;
inome thus ; roi well ; oneile quite so : jo, so, only, merely, similar
in meaning to the Mota gap and Florida soo; ure so just saw,
only saw did not take ; ji mane so is just crying without any cause
given ; ji kemukemu so is just shivering, nothing more.
VIII. PEEPOSITIONS.
1. Simple Prepositions, i. A Locative i appears in the Adverb
He ; bo hue He ? where are you going 1 o melei 'ma ni bone, bone
hna okone bote He that is his house he has gone out therefrom.
li 2
484 Melanesian Grammars.
2. The Demonstrative o may be taken as a Preposition ; hnego hna
ridi bori o guhmu I struck him with a club. The same probably
appears in o nome to-day, o melei here. 3. Genitive ni j 'ma ni
la ? whose house ? 'ma ni Mr. C., Mr. C.'s house. 4. The same
Genitive sense is found in no ; o re toke no Nengone the chief of
Nengone. It is added in an instrumental sense, and is inter-
preted as equivalent to Mota nia, with a suffix ne ; omeki re hmu
hnego hna ridi bon' none this is the club I struck him with.
5. Dative, du, and of motion to ; hue du bone go to him ; inu co
aehngeni du bone I shall tell to him. 6. si, which is perhaps another
form of se below, has the sense of Mota ta, belonging to a place ;
ngome si Rusi a man of Lifu. 7. Another form may be so, for;
so kaka ni bone for his food, so kua ni bone for his drink ; bone
hna itice so bone he bought it for himself.
2. Nouns used as Prepositions, i. A Locative Particle ri; bone
ci sere ri pa 'ma he is standing at the door ; sereie ha cara gune-
bote ri ete the tree fell across the stone, crosswise in regard to the
stone ; ri 'ma in the house. This Preposition makes compound
Prepositions with Nouns ; ri pone on the top of, ri pogo on me,
i. e. on my top ; ete hna cara ripogo a stone fell on me ; po is a
Noun with the suffixed Pronoun go, ne; but ri is also shown
a Noun with a Pronoun suffixed to it ; hno rine o puha in the
box, hno representing 'in' and rine 'in regard to.' 2. set, se, is
shown to be a Noun by the suffixed Pronoun ; sego from me ;
bone ci hne sego he lives with me. The notion in the word is
merely locative, and the translation may be ' from ' or ' with ' ac-
cording to the meaning of the sentence ; as ta in Florida. 3, 4.
Two Nouns we and ba meaning cause, occasion, with the suffixed
Pronoun ne, become Prepositions ; wen' o re nge bo co ridi bone ?
why, because of what, did you strike him ? bane nge ? why ? on
account of what ?
There are two more Nouns used as Prepositions, hnei and kei,
which are of great importance because of their use with Verbs :
hnego with me, of me, by me ; i. e. a thing done by me. Apart
from its use with the Verb, hne has the force of a Preposition, ' by '
in the way of action, ' with ' in relation of Place.
Like all ordinary Nouns it takes only the suffixed Pronoun go ; Singular,
i. hnego, 2. hneibo, 3. hneibone; Plural, i. hneje, hnenije, 2. Anei buhnije,
3. hnebwije.
Nengone. Conjunctions, Numerals. 485
IX. CONJUNCTIONS.
Copulative ne ; inu ne cduaiego I and my brother. Connective
Jca then, so. Adversative, kachene but, also used for ' if.' Dis-
junctive ca or. Conditional, da if; da ule ki inu if I should see,
meaning also ' by and bye ; ' there is the further meaning of ' lest ; '
da cara lest it fall. The word hage used as a Prohibitive is also
' lest ; ' hage ma tango lest he die. There is a Particle of supposi-
tion coming after a Verb, as da before it ; da ule Tee, inu co aehngeni
du bone if I should see him I will tell him. This is probably the
Mota qe, Florida he.
X. NUMEEALS.
1. Cardinals. — One sa, two rewe, three tini, four ece, five se
dongo, six se dongo, or dongo, ne sa, seven dongo ne rewe, eight
dongo ne tini, nine dongo ne ece, ten rewe tubenine. The name of
the unit above ten is cemene, or xecene ; eleven rewe tubenine ne sa
re cemene, i. e. two sets of fingers and one the unit-above. Twenty
is ngome; sa re ngome 'one man.' Multiples of twenty were
counted as so many ngome ; forty rewe re ngome, two men ;
forty-three rewe re ngome xecene tini. When the sum is no mul-
tiple of twenty the word for ten coines in ; thirty sa re ngome ne
rewe tubenine one man and two rows of fingers. Hundred se dongo
re ngome five twenties, men. Beyond two hundred they did not
go ; e dongo ! finished ; but rewe dongo rewe re ngome two hundred
and forty.
The explanation of these Numerals is simple ; the fingers of the first hand
are named up to five, when dongo ' finish ' is called ; se signifies the bringing
of the fingers together to a point. The fingers of the second hand are ' five
and one ' and so on, till ten is reached, which is called ' two rows of fingers.'
The toes are counted in the third and fourth set of five digits, and when the
whole man is counted twenty is re ngome ' man,' sa re ngome one man. This
system of enumeration is now obsolete.
The interrogative and indefinite ' how many ?' ' so many ' is ele.
As in the Banks' Islands words are used with the numerals to
indicate the kind of things enumerated ; xara ele so many, of
men together ; naiu ele so many, of spears having struck ; dede ele
go many, of birds flying ; te ele so many, of birds sitting ; i. e.
strike so many, fly so many, sit so many.
2. Ordinals are formed by suffixing ne, the last vowel of the
Cardinal becoming o ; second rewone, third tinone, tenth rewe tu-
beninone. First is hnadane.
3. There is no multiplicative : the Cardinal in a verbal form of
486 Melanesian Grammars.
the Past Tense is used ; ha ece fourth. For the Lifu Numerals see
p. 236.
XI. EXCLAMATIONS.
Affirmative e ! Negative deko.
XII. CHIEFS' LANGUAGE.
The words used in speaking to Chiefs are some of them different
from those used in common speech. To some extent the difference
consists in the added termination ngo. The Personal Pronouns, ex-
cept the Second Singular, show this ; inungo I, nubonengo he, &c. ;
re toke a chief, doku a great chief, become re tokengo, dokungo.
Others are quite distinct, as below.
Tcaka eat, Chiefs' Jcodraru. nubo thou, Chiefs' bua.
ule see, „ rowone. hmaiai great, „ Jcebeni.
hue lo come, „ lenge lo. roi good, „ wiene.
deko no, „ tangoko. nia bad, „ tero.
wegele wake, „ rowe. hnengome body, „ Tineiwa.
Others are only varied in form, or have additions.
« yes, Chiefs' egewa. lamashe don't { Chiefs,
know, }
thuni understand, thunitone. thaeti sleep, „ nideti.
omelei that, „ onewalei. waami small, „ wakiki.
nashene black, „ hnanashene. tenene child, „ tenengoeane.
VI. Santa Cruz.
24 DENI, SANTA CRUZ.
The language of Santa Cruz was unknown to Europeans until
the year 1881, when the Rev. Mano Wadrokal, a native of the
Loyalty Islands who had resided some months on the island, gave,
through Mota, enough information for a beginning. The following
sketch of the Grammar was made from such information, and has
been revised with the aid of Santa Cruz scholars at Norfolk Island
by Mr. Alan Lister-Kaye of the Melanesian Mission and myself.
It cannot be looked upon as exact or complete.
The native name of the main island of Santa Cruz is Deni.
The dialects spoken on it are said not to differ much, and this,
which is spoken at Nelua, is generally understood. It is a lan-
guage difficult to reduce to writing because of the uncertainty of
toe
('.....^•Analoqo
N° 4.
GuiertcL
C. Byron.
loo.
Lorn,
, QacfbrcL.
Santa Cruz. Alphabet, Articles. 487
the sounds, Consonants and Vowels varying continually. The
women are reported to speak differently from the men, using
different words.
I. ALPHABET.
1. Vowels. — a, e, e, i, o, o, u, u. No Diphthongs.
There is a shorter sound of a, which it is not worth while to symbolize.
The sound of e and of u is that of the French e and u ; that of o is the same
as of the German o. It is not uncommon to pronounce u so slightly that it is
hardly, if at all, heard; apula, ap'la, a stone. The sound of o is commonly
short, no a tree.
The Vowels are inconstant ; they appear to shift by attraction, or the word
assumes the Vowel which is most agreeable to the neighbouring sounds ; e.g.
the Preposition is ma, me, mo.
2. Consonants. — k, g, g ; t, d, j ; p, b, v, w ; q ; m, m, n, n,
gn; 1.
The sounds of k and g (the Melanesian g) are continually interchanged ; it
is either na Tcae or na gae. The same, less commonly, is the case with k and
g, as in the Pronominal Suffix g« or ku. More remarkable is the indifferent
use of k and n, as in the suffixed Pronoun ne or fee.
d = nd interchanges with t. There are two sounds represented by j ; before
the vowels i and e it is tch, jia = tchia bad ; the other sound is rather that of
the English j, eja one. The change is from t, and remotely s, a&jia is sa bad,
andja is tea, sa, one.
The indifferent use of p, b = mb, and v, is very confusing; it may bepe, be,
or ve, in the mouth of the same person, and in the same sentence ; but w does
not interchange with these. As part of the change between p and b, p seems
to borrow m from b, and be sometimes sounded mp.
There is a doubt whether q is needed ; if there be a perfectly distinct sound
it is interchanged with p.
There is no f, but there is no difficulty in pronouncing it.
The m is more marked by suspended pronunciation than by the subsequent
explosion of the breath ; w is not suggested by the sound. Wadrokal says it
is identical with the Nengone 'm. The change of n and k has been mentioned.
There is also, but not very conspicuous, the Spanish n, here symbolized by gn.
The natives cannot pronounce r. The change of 1 and n is common, naplu
or napnu ten, but only after p. In pronouncing foreign words, 1 is substituted
for r ; laiti for ' rice.'
They cannot pronounce either s or h ; ' horse ' is pronounced oti, ' box '
bafcoti; it is a nearer approach to use j for s.
II. AKTICLES.
A Demonstrative Article is te ; te ua rain, te mologu the croco-
dile. There is also the appearance of the common Article na ; but
it is not possible without further knowledge to ascertain it. Well
known words seem to show it ; naplu ten, nepna an arrow. There
is a Demonstrative Particle na.
488 Melanesian Grammars.
III. NOUNS.
1. The common Melanesian division of Nouns obtains; viz.
those which take, and those which do not take, the Pronoun suffixed
in a possessive sense ; mu an arm, takes the Suffix ; mumu thy
arm, mude his arm ; qoi pig, ma house, cannot take the Suffix ; qoi
bade his pig, ma gniane my house.
2. There is no change of form when two Nouns are together
with a genitive relation ; nave qoi a pig's head, noli Jcio a fowl's
egg-
3. Plural. — There is no sign of a simple Plural ; kulu is many.
Totality is expressed by lepa, vulepa ; nide lea bo lepa they are black, all
of them ; matalia vulepa the whole place. Completeness is expressed by nw,
which is added to vulepa and lepa ; nide lea bo lepa nw they are all quite
black; apla vlepa nu malo the stones are all quite sharp; tuam vlepa nw
bring all of them here.
IV. PBONOUNS.
1. Personal Pronouns.
It is very remarkable that there is not in this language a set
of Personal Pronouns distinct from those which are suffixed to
Nouns. The same forms are used as Personal Pronouns when the
object of a Verb, and when suffixed to Nouns and giving a posses-
sive sense.
In the words again used as Personal Pronouns when the subject
of a Verb the same set of Pronouns appears as suffixed. These
Pronouns are : —
Singular, i. ne, ke; 2. mu, pu; 3. de, te.
Plural, i. incl. gn, ku, excl. go, ko; 2. mu, pu; 3. de, te.
It is evident that these are the Pronouns commonly suffixed in Melanesian
languages, ~k, m, n=d, in the Singular Number. The change, or indifferent
use, of mu, pu, and de, te, is characteristic of this language. In the Plural
the inclusive First Person corresponds to that common for the Singular ; and
it is remarkable that the Second Plural is identical with the Singular, and the
Third very slightly different.
These Pronouns are used as suffixes, whether to Verbs as the Object, or to
Nouns making a Possessive.
Examples : nide ti tabune or tabulce he strikes me, nine ti tabude I strike
him. A Noun, ne a name : Singular, I. nene or neJce my name, 2. nemu or
nepu thy name, 3. nede or nete his name. Plural, i. inclusive, negu or neJcu,
exclusive, nego or neko our name, 2. nemu or nepu your name, 3. nede or nete
their name.
These cannot be the subject of a Verb ; the forms used as the
subject, and also as the object, are : —
Singular, i. nine; 2. nimu; 3. nide.
Santa Cruz. Nouns, Pronouns. 489
Plural, i. incl. ni#u, excl. ni^o; 2. gamu ; 3. nide.
1. These may be Subject or Object of a Verb ; nide ti tabu nine he strikes
me, nine ti tabu nide I strike him. The change of k to g makes nige ; abunago
nige ma Giamanu wako ma ba ne to-day I and (?iamanu built a house in the
garden.
2. It is evident that these words consist of a stem ni and the Pronoun
shown above as a suffix ; ni then, whatever it may mean, is a Noun. It is
probable that ni is the same as the Florida Possessive Noun ; and that nine,
nige, is the same as nigua ; that is to say, a Possessive is used for the Personal
Pronoun, 'my,' 'thy,' 'his,' for 'I,' 'thou,' 'he.'
3. It is to be observed that the Second Plural is gamu, not nimu. It may
be conjectured that the difference has been made to distinguish the Persons.
For the sake of this distinction it is common to say nimu ejanemu thou singly,
when only one person is spoken to. In the same way the slight distinction
between nide and nide in Third Person Singular and Plural, if indeed it be
constant, is assisted by saying nide ejanede he singly.
The Dual and Trial are formed by adding the Numerals li two,
tu three, to a form of the Plural : —
Dual. i. incl. nig\ li no^i. Trial. I. incl. nign e tutu no^w.
excl. nigo li nogo. excl. -mgo e tutu no^o.
2. nimu e li nemu. 2. nimu e tutu nemu.
3. nide e li lide. 3. nide e tutu lide.
In this there is a reduplication of the Pronouns, and of tu ; the change from
n to 1 in reduplication is characteristic. A modification of the Vowels with
li and tu may be observed, from nigu to nigi and «ogu.
2. The use of a suffixed Pronoun with a Verb, as if it were a
Noun, is characteristic; mopene loju Jco I have seen that ship,
literally, my seeing already that ship. (See Verbs.)
3. Demonstrative Pronouns.
The Particles ko, ka, lo, la, combine with each other and with
ma to mark distinctions of place which are difficult to ascertain.
The words thus formed become Adverbs and Demonstrative Pro-
nouns. Another Particle is de ; deka, dela, that, there not far off;
this is no doubt the same with the Third Singular suffixed Pro-
noun.
There is a word meaning the people of a place, le, probably Fiji lewe,
which may be mentioned here ; Ze Te Motu na oeja nu nivej'a the Te Motu
people weave all of them mats ; le vlo pedo na ola do be vada the bush people
cut trees with shell-adzes.
4. Interrogative Pronouns.
"Who ? is ne, nie ; nie ko ? nie ne / nie le ? Who is that ? What 1
is na kae or gae. What is his name 1 netenel literally, c who his
name ? '
4QO Melanesian Grammars.
V. POSSESSIVES.
With Nouns that do not take the suffixed Pronouns, as in other
Melanesian languages, certain Possessive Nouns are used; ba, na,
po, gnia.
i. la; the same word as the Preposition, but used with the suffixed Pro-
noun as a Possessive Noun, bane, bamu, bade, &c., my, thy, his ; qoi bade his
pig, domu bane my man. 2. na; of food and other things closely connected
with a man ; namu no koko thine this food. 3. po, of drink ; luwe pumu
mako this thy drinking water. 4. gnia is used of a house, garden, dancing
ground ; ma gniane my house ; it stands alone for garden, like pila in Arag ;
nigo na peti te omu kalo la gniago we shall plant that yam in our garden ;
nava gnia Natei jia pe, nupala te valiau bade Natei's dancing-ground was
bad, men did not dance in it.
VI. ADJECTIVES.
Words that qualify are commonly used as Verbs ; nupala Jca topa
a small man ; but they are also used as Adjectives ; ma topa
a small house, qoi lepu a large pig, nupala jia a bad man.
Comparison is expressed by two contrasting clauses ; qoi ka lepu, like ka
topa a pig is large, a rat is small. Intonation and prolonged enunciation
convey the notion of degree, mo pipa-a-a very small fly. Superlative Adverb
vae ; mela vae very good.
VII. VEEBS.
1. Verbal Particles are ka, ti, na. These do not change with
Number or Person. No precise temporal signification can be
assigned to either, though na may seem to be Future. It may be
said that ti represents habit or a continued action, Jca condition,
and na action.
Examples : navu ti pulo ti po a certain tree flowers in the winter, i.e. navu
flowers, it is winter; nana peta mou, nalo ti nale, nigu ti obu be, nigu tu
lave sun gets up again, all becomes light, we open our eyes, we get up ; nigo
opne nale ti do ma no we shoot bats hanging (hang) on tree, nigo te opne ti
volo, te kla wo we don't shoot flying, can't do it ; nupala li na ope nu dai two
men went down to the beach ; nide na oka teli nine he helped me. The use
of ka, the same with ga of other islands and ka of Fiji, is chiefly with
qualifying words ; ka bo black, naude ka lebu vae his mouth is very big.
The Tense is shown by Adverbs, the most common of which is pe, be, ve,
marking the past ; nupala ba ve na iumu ve ma dano a man died, was buried
in the ground ; no nine ba ve my fish is dead ; no nine ba be, pue pe my fish
died, was four, was the fourth.
2. Verbs are commonly used without Particles; nine banedu
tamatau I want a fish-hook.
3. The Imperative has no Particle, but va, as in Sesake, is con-
tinually added ; pi va speak, pi va mou say it again.
Santa Cruz. Verbs. 491
4. The Negative Particle is te, the same as te of Banks' Islands
and New Hebrides. It conies before the Verb, which is followed
by another varying Particle. There is no difference for Tense.
Example, wa to work.
Singular, i. nine te wa we I do not work, 2. nimu te wa wu thou dost not
work, 3. nide te wa u he does not work. Plural, I. incl. nigu te wa wu, excl.
»tgo te wa wo, 2. gamu te wa wamu, 3. nide te wa «n«.
' No ' is tege, teke, which is also used with a Verb ; bona mino be tege vlo u
the pigeon (Mota qona) remained, did not fly.
The Cautionary or Dehortative Particle is bale ; baJc tu epeme nine nana
don't stand in the way of the sunshine; luwe koko nupala ti mlo, baku kuli
that water man drinks, don't let a dog (drink it). The meaning of bak is
shown by its use as a Verb ; bak te throw it away. Compare Maewo karea,
Florida sania.
5. The use of the Verb with suffixed Pronoun, mentioned above,
is no doubt the idiom of the language, and is important to be
observed ; na mo bane, na pikalobuane ma nide when I see him I
will tell him, literally, seeing with me, my telling to him ; weku
ma dopwe we bathe in the sea, our bathing ; jaolo lapo pe, nigo
oli nogo alevlula pe ko canoe was upset, we two, ours was the set-
ting it right again ; te puke boo pe, baku pe, nigo vlepa we pe go
matalia sailing canoe went down, was lost, we all swam ashore, we
pe go ours was the swimming.
6. Transitive terminations of Verbs do not appear.
7. The Causative Prefix is va', tu to stand, vatu to make to
stand ; nine na vatu I set it up.
8. Reduplication is either of the first syllable, or of the whole
word. The first gives the notion of repeated or prolonged or
excessive action ; pokia deceive, popopokia ; pi to speak, pipipi va.
When the whole word is repeated the initial consonant sometimes
changes ; nide li nede ti tabulabu they two are beating one another,
fighting. Compare Sesake.
Examples of Verbs. Te mologu Bomalu kulukulu crocodiles at Bomalu
many, mlo ma luwe stay in the water, mu qoi eat pigs, te mologu kia, qoi vo
la the crocodile cries, pig goes to it, te mologu mdkepeli qoi the crocodile
t ites pig ; nonide boi malo its teeth long, sharp ; mate li, te pue, topa eyes
two, not four, small, nibode lala his back rough, noglude boi his tail long,
node pue his legs four, natokia mude naplu eja his claws ten ; kalilole qoi ma
natokia mude he scratches pig with his claws ; qoi vulepa Bomalu ba ve all
pigs at Bomalu dead already, te mologu mu pe the crocodiles have eaten them ;
le Bomalu tabu te mologu Bomalu people kill (strike) the crocodiles.
Nupala ba ve, na iumu ve ma dano a man has died, was buried in the
ground, gu vaola hole deep (Florida vahola) ; na iumu na ba ina bury him in
the house; nupala ba ve abu li na iumu man dead two days, bury him.
492 Melanesian Grammars.
Nupala ba, pe ma dano, duka pedo man (who has) died (is) in the ground,
ghost (is) in the bush ; nupala mode duka pedo, moe pe men see, their seeing,
ghost in bush, are afraid ; mo le me, mate, na ba buade, apule api men see
fire, eyes, under their arms, like fireflies.
VIII. ADVERBS.
1. Adverbs of Place are many of them Demonstratives which are
also Pronouns ; maka, kaka, koko ; na io maka put it here, na io
makalo put it here not far off, na io koko put it there, far off.
The Preposition ma appears in makaule, mede, where. A Noun meaning
the place near is vai ; webu ba vai sit near, at the near place. The common
Adverb of direction hitherwards appears as m ; kam JcaJca bane give that to
me, kam bade give to him.
2. Adverbs of Time; abunaga, abunago, to-day, now, abu a day;
bu yesterday, bu night ; puna marks time past ; ba pe he is dead,
ba puna he died some time ago ; mou again.
3. Adverbs of Manner ; an Adjective is thus used ; Kaebo ti nuba
levu na ba loju Kaebo was very sick in the vessel.
IX. PREPOSITIONS.
1. There appears one word ma which is plainly a simple Prepo*-
sition, with a locative, dative, and instrumental sense; the form
is also me, and mo.
i. Locative : ma kaule where ; nimuji ope makaule ? ma dai where are you
going to ? to the beach ; nide ti tu ma nave ma he stands at the door ; nigu
na we ma dopwe we swim in the sea ; mo beli in the dish ; ma na ba beli
inside the dish. 2. Dative : nide ti bapule me bade he bought it for his own ;
Motion, vo ba ma nide run to him. 3. Instrumental : nine ti tabude ma nopo
I struck him with a club. This word is shown to be at bottom a Noun by its
use with a suffixed Pronoun, as the Adverb mede where.
2. The word ba does the office of a Preposition as a Noun with
Pronoun suffixed, or as one of two Nouns together ; kam bane, kam
bade give it to me, to him ; ba ma in the house ; na laj>a na io ma
ba na bokoti the garment lies in the box ; ma is combined with ba
as a Preposition with a Noun, in the inside the box ; luwe talovlo
dalo apla na bade na bageti water drops from the stone into the
bucket.
This word is used rather adverbially, like Mota pe, apena ; when a thing is
present it is said io ba it sits at (it) ; nigo mu nale, mela vae, te lolode io ba
we eat the flying foxes, very good, its fat is there, it has fat ; qoi vo ba a pig
runs to (it) ; nana ka levu, ma apu na bade the sun is great, the house is hot
because of it ; mitopu niklakode bade, te omo teke the tomago has its prickles
on it, the yam not.
Santa Cruz. Conjunctions, Numerals. 493
In wu ma, upon, ma is a Preposition and wu an Adverb ; wu ma nawa on
the hill ; apula ti taope wu ma naune a stone fell on my head ; no ti motu ve
wu ma apula a tree fell on a stone.
X. CONJUNCTIONS.
The Copulative is ie ; kumala ie bitiketi ie laiti sweet potatoes
and biscuit and rice. In coupling persons together ma is used ;
nine ma kalene I and my brother ; nide ma kalede he and his
brother. Disjunctive e, or ; banedu e teke like it or not.
A conditional sentence is expressed indicatively, without a Conjunction ;
navo ka lepu tege tue no (if) surf is great, not catch fish.
XL NUMEBALS.
1. Cardinals ; one eja, two all, three atn, four apue, five nav-
lunu., six ejame, seven olime, eight otume, nine opueme, ten navlu,
twenty naplu li, thirty naplu tu. The unit above ten is na wade ;
thirteen naplu na wade tu ten its unit three. Hundred is tetiki
or tejigi ; the sum above a hundred is marked by ba ; two hundred
and thirty tejigi li napulu ba tu; see IX. 2. Thousand Jew.
Interrogative and Indefinite, how many ? so many, tule ; nupala
tuli vatopo qoi ? kulukulu how many men drive pigs ? many.
The Prefix e, a, o, is of the nature of a Verbal Particle, and drops in a
sentence. The digits of the second hand are marked by the Suffix me ; and
MU in the same way distinguishes five from ten ; navlu is also napnu. For eja
one, some say teja. Beyond a thousand counting is indefinite; jiu labu
said with a closing of both hands, is vaguely ten thousand ; there is also jiu
walao.
Example of the use of Numerals. Ma Deni otopou ejame a Santa Cruz
house (has) six posts, "ka boi li, ka mabo pue tall two, short four, no na erne eja
ridge-pole one, toka naplu eja rafters ten (one ten) ; nei na ba ma stage in
the house, wu ma nie over the fire, nigo oio Zu&e nina bade nei we put almonds
on the stage ; ma na gae ? what for 1 na gl& to be dry ; nei koko bo tapani
that stage extremely black ; ma Deni nave pue, dapu fake Santa Cruz house
(has) four doors, no windows.
2. Ordinals', second lipe, third tupe, tenth naplupe, i.e. two
already, &c. First is vakai.
MultipUcatives : na eja pe once, na pue ape four times.
25. NlFILOLE.
Nifilole is one of the Reef Islands called the Swallow Group,
which lie some thirty miles to the North of Santa Cruz. It is
494 Melanesian Grammars.
better known as Nufilole ; but the inhabitants, who are very few,
call it themselves Nifilole. Some of the Reef Islands are inhabited
by men of Polynesian origin speaking a Polynesian language,
which, from one of the group, is by the other natives called
the language of Matema. Each of the non-Polynesian islands has
its own language or dialect, akin to the language of Santa Cruz.
How great the difference may be between them may perhaps be
judged by the difference between this and Santa Cruz. The fol-
lowing very imperfect sketch of the Nifilole language was obtained
from scholars from the island in Norfolk Island.
I. ALPHABET.
1. Vowels. — a, a, short and sharp, e, e, i, o, u.
2. Consonants. — k, g, g; t, d=nd, j=nj; p, b=mb; v, w, f;
m, m, n, n ; r, 1 ; s.
There is difficulty in ascertaining the correct sounds, particularly in words
in which p and v, 1 and r, are used indifferently ; f does not appear in the
Vocabulary, or in these examples, but it is plain in the name of the island ; it
interchanges with p ; the neighbouring island is Pileni or Fileni. As in
Santa Cruz, 1 and n interchange ; for example, the people of Santa Cruz, Deni,
are called pe Lede 'because the Nifilole people call Deni Nede.' It is a
question whether q should be used ; pw is written in words like opwa house.
The sound also of n, written gn in Santa Cruz, is heard, but uncertainly. In
the Vocabulary r is used as it was heard ; but in these examples only 1
appears, which is probably correct, the speakers not being conscious of any
difference.
II. AETICLES.
There can hardly be doubt about the Article n- with shifting
Vowel, though it does not always appear.
The Vocabulary shows most Nouns beginning with nu, no ; and Ni in the
name of the island is probably the Article.
III. NOUNS.
The division into two classes obtains ; viz. those that do and
those that do not take a Pronoun suffixed.
There is no common Plural sign ; sime a man, sime dao many men. There
is, however, shown in the Interrogative Pronouns the Santa Cruz le, a
collective, and pe, possibly pa of Lakona ; the latter also appears in Pe Lede,
and Pe Mible the Pileni people.
The latter of two Nouns may stand in a genitive relation to the former ; na
Hie kio a fowl's egg. One Noun also qualifies another; nu opwa ni »e a
stone house, literally, house stone.
Nifilole. Pronouns. 495
IV. PRONOUNS.
1. Personal Pronouns.
As in Santa Cruz those used as subject and object of a Verb
consist of a stem, here i, with the Suffix, generally, of the form in
which the Pronoun is suffixed to Nouns to make a Possessive.
Singular, i. iu; 2. imu ; 3. ina.
Plural, i. incl. ide, excl. ino ; 2. imi ; 3. idii.
Dual, i. incl. iji (iji lilu), excl. mo le; 2. imi le ; 3. idi le na.
Trial, i. incl. ide ve le, excl. mo eve ; 2. imi eve ; 3. li eve.
Of these, the Second and Third Singular, and First inclusive and Second
Plural, are familiar. The Dual and Trial have the Numerals le for lilu two,
and eve three, added.
2. The Pronouns suffixed to Nouns to make a Possessive, and,
to some extent at least, to Verbs as the object, have a common
form, which may be thus represented : —
Singular, i. (u, no); 2. mu; 3. na.
Plural, i. incl. de, excl. no; 2. mi; 3. di, i.
1. Examples of Pronouns suffixed to Nouns.
Singular. I. nime my hand. nenu my name. noutau my head.
2. nimemu thy hand, nenumu thy name, noutaumu thy head.
3. nime his hand. nene his name. nouta his head.
Plural. i . nimede our hand. nenude our name. noutaude our head.
nimeno our hand. nenuno our name, noutauno our head.
2. m'jwewM your hand, nenumi your name, noutaumi your head.
3. nimai their hand, nenai their name, noutai their head.
In this it is remarkable that in the First and Third Singular there is no
Suffix, and that the final Vowel of the Third Singular and Plural is modified.
This cannot be explained ; but see Possessives.
2. Example of Pronouns as Object after the Verb, vaglo to strike.
Singular. I. ina i vaglo gu (iu) he strikes me.
2. ina i vaglo gu mu he strikes thee.
3. imu i vaglomu ina thou strikest him.
Plural. I. iji la i vagloi ide they strike us, inclusive.
imi i vaglomi ino you strike us, exclusive.
2. ino i vaglono imi, we, exclusive, strike you.
3. ina i vaglogui he strikes them.
In these the Pronoun, which is the Object of the Verb, is suffixed only in
the Second Singular mu, and Third Plural i ; in the other examples the Per-
sonal Pronouns above given are the Object ; as also in the following : imu i
vaglomu iu thou strikest me ; iu i vaglono imu I strike thee ; imi i vaglomi
idi ye strike them ; ide i vaglode idi we, inclusive, strike them. This pre-
sents no difficulty. There is no difficulty either in perceiving that, as in
Santa Cruz, the Verb presents itself as a Noun with the Pronoun suffixed as
Possessive ; vaglomu thy striking ; vaglode, vaglono our striking ; vaglomi
49 6 Melanesian Grammars.
your striking ; vagloi their striking ; and by analogy vaglono my striking.
See Verbs, VII. 3.
The Verb in the Third Person Singular has no such Suffix ; g« is the
Possessive Noun, which see ; the Object ' me ' of the Verb in the first example
may probably be supplied by iu, having been missed by the ear or the pen.
3. Demonstrative Pronouns ; li, keli, eni, this ; la, kela, ela, ena,
that; sime eni this man, sime ena that man; iji (=idi) li these
persons, iji la those persons ; Jcala dena niepu that thing far off;
gala inaga that person.
4. Interrogative Pronouns; ie? who? do? what? i&pe? who
are they all of them ? lebie ? who ? plural.
V. POSSESSIVES.
A Possessive Noun gu is seen in the following example : —
daepoa no g« my bow. daepoa no gu de, no gu no our bow.
daepoa no gumu thy bow. daepoa no gumi your bow.
daepoa no go his bow. daepoa nogui their bow.
The same is shown in na eamolige nogu I see for myself, or for my own
part ; and in the examples above, ina i voglo gu mu, ina i vaglo gu i, he
struck you, them. It would seem natural to make no the Article and gu the
Possessive Noun, and no gumu corresponding to Mota na noma ; but poe nou
my pig, poe nomu thy pig, poe nS his pig, show no also a Possessive. It is
remarkable that, as in Motlav the shortening of the Vowel makes a kind of
genitive for the Second Person Singular, so here no and go, shortened from no
and gu, stand for ' his ' in the Third Person.
VI. ADJECTIVES.
Qualifying words are used as simple Adjectives; sime lagi a
small man ; and perhaps with the Verbal Particle, na opwa e lo
a large house. Comparison is made by a contrasted statement ;
poe e lo, lapu laid a pig is large, a rat small ; a pig is larger than
a rat.
VII. VEEBS.
1. Verbal Particles; these appear to be hi, Indefinite, and na
Future. They coalesce with the Pronoun except, as in Maewo
and other New Hebrides languages, in the Third Person Singular.
Perhaps also i, and e, are Verbal Particles.
1 . Example : togoli to sit, in the Present, with lei.
Singular, i. iu iTci togoli I sit, 2. imu muk togoli thou sittest, 3. ina Jci
togoli he sits. Plural, I. inclusive ide dele togoli, exclusive ino nok togoli,
2. imi miJc togoli, 3. idii, or ijila, those persons, Jcil togoli. In the last Person
I probably represents the common Plural Particle ra.
2 . Example of Future, with na ; nubo to die.
Singular, i. (iu Jcu nubo), 2. imu muna nubo thou wilt die, 3. ina na nubo
Nifilole. Adverbs. 497
he will die. Plural, i. incl. ide dena nubo, excl. ino nona nubo, 2. imi mina
nubo, 3. idii na li nubo,
There is another Future sign «, which is added after the Verb which has
the Particle ki, or combines to make leu ; ina ku nubo Tea, ba ku lu te gu he
will die, will not be well again, literally, will not live back for his part (gu,
the Possessive) ; iu ik wo u te na numeto I shall go back there into my country.
Example, wo te go back. Singular, I. iu ik wo u te I shall go back, 2. imu
mule wo u te thou wilt go back, 3. (ina na wo te}. Plural, I. ide da wo »
te, ino nok wo u te, 2. imi mik wo u te, 3. idii kil wo u te.
2. The Negative Verb has ba before it ; iu ba ik mo gu nanene
I shall not stay (gu for my part) here ; ba ku lu le gu he will not
recover, live again ; iu iki be I am sick, iu ba iJd be gu I am not
sick myself; iu ba iki me gu na I shall not be able to sleep
myself.
3. The use of the Verb, as in Santa Cruz, with a Suffixed Pro-
noun as if a Noun has been observed above, IV. 2 ; imu i vaglomu
thou strikest, as if ' thy striking.' But here the Verb with its
Suffixed Pronoun is, unlike Santa Cruz, preceded by the Pronoun
which is its subject ; imu i vaglomu ina thou strikest him. Com-
pare the Verb in Rotuma.
4. The Causative Prefix is wa ; lu to live, walua save, make to
live ; bole asunder, wabolea break, make to be asunder.
VIII. ADVERBS.
1 . Place : na, which makes part of Demonstrative Pronouns,
points ' here ' and ' there ; ' na nana there ; po na nene come here ;
iu i amolika no na nana ki togoli I saw him myself (no) there sit-
ting ; nene is also here ; kalave where ; ina kalave ? where is he ?
na nu opwa there in the house.
2. Time : lenene to-day ; pulape to-morrow, buglo yesterday,
bugloana day before yesterday ; (bug night) ; tabona day after to-
morrow ; ubla hereafter ; to already, baoa to it is already finished,
kalave to ? where is it gone to 1 ba ne not yet ; koloke by-and-bye.
3. Manner : guo ? why ? keledoe thus, kaladoa so ; te back.
4. Negative : ' No ' is bawo. The Cautionary or Dehortative is
ka ; ka mu de me io don't go to sleep ; ka mu de se io bem mio me
polao don't stand against the light.
The Affirmative is une.
IX. PREPOSITIONS.
1. There are two Prepositions, na, and go.
i. na; Locative, ina na ni veli he (is) in the garden ; no na ne io a cloud
on the hill ; idii na agu they are in the bush ; ina ki so na nu baba he stands
Kk
49 8 Melanesian Grammars.
at the door ; nu ei na tenu water (is) in the bottle ; ni ena i ebu na no baragi
a tree has fallen on the path ; ni ena Tci Jcoaule na baragi a tree lies across the
path. In these examples na might well be an Adverb of Place. Dative :
lano na gu give it to me ; gu the Possessive, give it for mine ; iu i lagano to
na go I have already given it to him, i.e. for his. Motion : puga, na go go to
him ; Iwaisiki na nu opwa kiapave run into the cooking house. It may be
thought that na makes a Compound Preposition ; kio i ton na nike nu opwa
a fowl lays eggs under the house ; Tci togoli na nike gnie he sits by the fire.
When na is used before gu the Possessive, the Pronoun not being expressed,
it is not clearly a Preposition ; imili mi ki togoli li male na gu you two sit
both of you with me ; iu iki mo ge na go I stay with him ; ni ve i ebui na gu
a stone fell on me. According to Melanesian idiom the Locative is translated
' from ; ' ina i apola na nu opwa ta he has gone out of his house ; luabeila
na go take it away from him.
2. go is Instrumental ; i vagloi go do ? what did they strike him with ? idii
i vagloi go teatu they struck him with clubs. In the sentence keli teatti i
vagloi la this is the club they struck with ; la is an Adverb, ' there ; ' compare
Motlav VIII. 2. There is another meaning of go ; pe go nu ei go for water.
X. NUMEKALS.
1. Cardinals^ one nigi, two lilu, three eve, four uv&, five vili,
six welegi, seven polelu, eight pole, nine polove, ten nu kolu ; twelve
nu kolu e nigi nu a lilu ; thirty nu kolu e ve; a hundred tevesiki,
a hundred and thirty-five tevesiki nigi e totoge kolu eve nu a vili ;
a thousand tegu. How many, so many, o.
These Numerals are strange ; the unit above ten is the a, a Noun ; the sum
above a hundred is expressed by a Verb, e totoge. With Numerals and o a
word which is perhaps the Fiji lewe is used when men are spoken of ; sime Iu
o ? Iu lilu how many men ? two men ; si o 1 how many fish ?
2. Ordinals ; formed by prefixing mi and suffixing ne; second mi-
lilune, third mievene, fourth miuvene, fifth mivilene, sixth miwelegene,
seventh mi^)olelne, eighth mipolene, ninth mipolovene, tenth mimi-
kolune.
3. Multiplicatives with the Causative wa ; wa o ? how many
times 1 wa uve four times.
VII. Solomon Islands.
Of the languages spoken in the Solomon Islands some fall
naturally into two groups ; those which belong to TJlawa and the
neighbouring part of Malanta, Ugi, San Cristoval, and the part of
Guadalcanar adjacent ; and those of Florida, the parts of Guadal-
1ST0 5.
3EI
ULAWA
Fagani. A Iphabet. 499
canar opposite, and the nearest extremity of Ysabel. In these
larger islands the diversity of languages does not seem so great ;
all of them agree in refusing to close a syllable. There is no great
difference in the first group, though Fagani is distinct. In the
neighbourhood of Florida Savo is strangely different in some
respects. Many dialects and languages no doubt remain unexplored.
The language of Duke of York Island, lying far away, carries on
the connection of these languages towards New Guinea, though it
does not lie between Ysabel and that great island.
26. SAN CRISTOVAL, FAGANI.
There is closer connection between San Cristoval and the
Eastern parts of Melanesia in point of language, as it lies geo-
graphically nearer than the rest of the Solomon Islands. There
are several dialects in San Cristoval ; but they divide into two
classes, not very different, at a point between Fagani and Wano on
one side, and at Makira on the other. From Fagaui the language
with variations runs round by the East to Makira ; from Fagani
and Makira towards the North- West, two dialects, with little
difference, occupy the extremity towards Guadalcanar. Wano in
the one division and Fagani in the other lie only three miles
apart, and there is a good deal of intercourse ; the sketches of the
language of both here given were obtained from natives of each
place who had lived at both, and knew something at least of both
languages. The difference of the name of one gives a ready
example of the difference of speech ; the place is called Fagani by
its own natives and Ha'ani by the Warto people; the Wano h
becomes f in Fagani ; the Melanesian g sounded in Fagani drops
out and leaves a break in Wa.no. It will be seen that the Fagani
language differs less than the Wano from those of the Banks'
Islands and New Hebrides.
It must be added that the Island of San Cristoval, which has no
native name as a whole, has been called Bauro from the most con-
spicuous part of it. The language of the real Bauro is not very
different from that of Fagani.
I. ALPHABET.
1. Vowels. — a, e, i, o, u. Diphihongs. — au, ao, ae, ai.
2. Consonants. — k, g; t; p, b. w, f ; q; m, m, n, n] r; s.
K k 2
500 Melanesian Grammars.
I . The Melanesian g, and k, mark this division of San Cristoval dialects ; k
is the Wawo hard g ; g is represented in Wawo by a break. 2. In many
words t has been dropped, 'oni for tani to cry, 'ura for tur, tira, to stand,
ma'uru for maturu sleep, 'orw for toru three. But t again comes in, replacing
the more common s, and so, more remotely, h ; tafa for sava what ; fato for
Mota paso ; tave, Bugotu have, to live ; tau afar, Mota sau, Florida hau.
3. There is no m before b. The Wawo h is always f ; and that h often repre-
sents v of other languages. The sound which here is f stands also for v and
w of other places. 4. The sound represented by q is bw.
II. AETICLES.
The Demonstrative Articles are a and na.
Of these a is used with the subject of a Verb ; na with a Noun under
government, and with one to which the Pronoun is suffixed ; afaka nifatara
mai a vessel has arrived here ; inau, nau qani rigia nafaka ea I have already
seen that vessel. Compare Mota, Maewo, &c. ; but the rule can hardly be
established.
III. NOUNS.
1. The common division of Nouns obtains, into those which take
and do not take a Suffixed Pronoun ; na rimaku my arm, a rima
aku my house ; na 'ataku my name, na jiaigai aku my club.
2. Verbal Substantives, formed by adding fa, na, to the Verb ;
ma'e to die, ma'efa death ; ateate to speak, ateatena speech. Com-
pare Banks' Islands words with va.
3. Two Nouns stand together in a genitive relation ; a ma rima
a door, house's eye ; but commonly, with perhaps a more par-
ticular sense, the former has the Suffixed Pronoun ; na mana rima,
a pauna poo a pig's head, a oruna Itua a fowl's egg.
There is no Plural sign ; except ra, which, with Pronouns, applies to both
things and men; a rima nacra these houses. ' Many' is mani ; mani finua
many places ; monoga is ' all ' in the sense of Mota gese ; raira na inimi puru-
puruga, monoga they are all black men.
IV. PBONOUNS.
1. Personal Pronouns subject or object of Verbs.
Singular, i. inau. Plural, i. incl. ikia.
excl. igami.
2. igoo. 2. igamiu.
3. iaia, iaa. 3. iraira.
Dual. i. incl. karaa. Trial. i. incl, kaoru.
excl. gamiria. excl. gamiru.
2. gamurua. 2. gamu oru.
3. irarua. 3. ira oru.
The Prefix i can be omitted. The presence of both Plural and Trial marks
Fagani. Possessives, Adjectives. 501
one great distinction between Fagani and Wawo, in which latter the Trial is
in fact used as Plural. The Dual is made by adding rua ; but not simply rua
in the First Person. Similarly in the exclusive Trial garni ru= garni oru.
2. Pronouns suffixed to Nouns.
Singular, i. ku; 2. mu ; 3. na.
Plural, i. incl. ka, excl. mami; 2. miu; 3. ta.
Example: Singular, i. na rimaku my hand, 2. rimamu thy, 3. rimana his ;
Plural, i. rimaJca, rimamami our hands, 2. rimamiu your, 3. rimata their.
Dual, i. rimakara, rimamiria hands of us two, 2. rimamurua of you two,
3. rimatarua of them two. These are seen to be the Pronouns commonly
suffixed in Eastern Melanesia ; ta = ra.
3. Pronouns suffixed to Verbs and Prepositions,
Singular, i. au; 2. go; 3. a.
Plural, i. — ; 2. — ; 3. ra.
These, again, are familiar ; the First and Second Plural Jcia and garni being
the same as those used as Subject of a Verb. Example with the Verb tagqfi
to love : go tagafiau thou lovest me, nau tagafigo I love thee, Jcaraa Jcari
tagafia we two love him ; raoru oru tagafi Ma they three love us, gamiu
mura tagafigami you love us, raira oru tagafigamu they love you, garni mi
tagafira we love them. After Prepositions : ni oga ifaginiau he stayed with
me ; i taua mai tanago he gives it to thee, tanaa to him.
4. Demonstrative Pronouns.
Demonstrative Particle na, ne ; are, nare this ; ea, naea that ;
ajinua rafa nare a large land this, iaa nare nafiniaku this is my
country ; a togoni amu neea your garment that ; a rima naera
those houses. The Third Plural Pronoun iraira is used Demon-
stratively, and naniira] maea this near, marego ae the thing
there.
5. Interrogative Pronouns.
Persons, iti, plural r&reti, who ? Things, a tafa, what 1
The Prefix i, as with Personal Pronouns, can be omitted ; ti nare ? who is
this ? na rimana iti ? whose hand ? The change of form in tafa is remark-
able ; sava of Mota, Tiava of Florida, taha of Wawo.
V. POSSESSIVES.
There are only two Possessive Nouns, a and ga ; a general ;
marego aku a thing of mine, a togoni amu thy garment, na poo
ana his pig, a inuni aku my man ; ga of things to eat and drink ;
gaku uvi my yam, gaku wai my water ; hut the Second Singular
Suffix is mua, as in Florida, not mu ; gamua uvi are this yam for
your eating ; gamua na wai are this water for your drinking.
502 Melanesian Grammars.
VI. ADJECTIVES.
1. Adjectives are used directly to qualify ; a iga rqfa a large
fish, a rima kikirii a small house.
2. The termination ga is characteristic ; jmrupuruga black,
merameraga red. The Prefix of condition ma is common to
Adjectives and Verbs ; magauga cold, marumaruma soft, mafui
white, (Malay putiK).
3. Comparison by use of preposition ; a poo ni rava pania na
gasufe a pig is larger than (from) a rat ; garni mi gafu panira we
are more than they. A Superlative Adverb tai; kare kikirii tai
very little boy.
VII. VEKBS.
1. It can hardly be said that there are Verbal Particles, unless
it be in the Third Person Singular and Plural ; a form of the
Personal Pronoun is used before the Verb.
When the Personal Pronoun is the Subject, and is expressed, it is repeated
in this short form : Singular, I. inau, an, i. igoo, go, or o, 3. iaia (ni or i) ;
Plural, i. Jcia, lea, garni, ma, 2. igamiu, mura, 3. iraira (ta or a) ; gamiu ni
Fagani mura nafuira ni Bauro you Fagani people fight with (strike) the
people of Bauro ; iraira, ni Bauro ta nafui garni ni Fagani those Bauro people
fight with us of Fagani.
There is no need, however, for the full Personal Pronoun to be expressed ;
au nafuia I struck him, o anisia na tafa ? what are you crying for ? i uraura
i ma na rima he is standing at the door.
The forms used with the Dual are, I. inclusive Jcari, exclusive miri,
2. mura, 3. oru. These short forms used before Verbs, if not Verbal Particles,
are something more than mere abbreviations of the Personal Pronouns ; ni
and i do not represent iaia, though ni is a Personal Pronoun elsewhere.
Again, ma is no short form of garni, or mura of gamiu. In the Third Plural
ta and a, like ni and i, have more the appearance of Verbal Particles. With
Numerals ni and i are plainly Verbal Particles.
2. There is no distinction of Time shown in Verbs with these
forms. For the Past Tense Adverbs are added ; nau qani regia na
faka I have already seen the ship : or ni fato, it is finished, makes
it clear.
The sign of the Future is i, following on to and combining
with a short form of the Pronoun, not the same as that otherwise
used with Verbs ; thus, inau wai oga Fagani ikaita I shall stay at
Fagani some day ; where wai is probably aui by metathesis.
The other forms are Second Singular goi, Third ai ; Plural, I. Jcai and mei,
2. murai, 3. tai ; goi rago, ai rago, you, he, will go.
There is no sign of a Pluperfect ; i tauafaporo mai na pira ni nau irarona
he brought back the dish he had eaten in.
Fagani. Adverbs, Prepositions. 503
3. The Negative is made by gae before the Verb ; au gae tagafia
I don't like it ; inau wai gae rago I shall not go.
The Dehortative is abu, used with something, again, of a Pronoun form
before the Verb ; abu o ma'uru don't sleep, to one person, abu mu ma'uru
don't sleep, to many ; abu na ma'uru let him not sleep, abu na kia ma'uru let
us not sleep.
4. Imperative ; either the simple Verb, or with a form of Pro-
noun ; rago tanaa run to him ; go ateate speak thou ; o rago tanaa
na wai run after water ; i rago fano let him go, run, Fiji lako.
5. Suffix ; transitive, determining the action on something, si ;
kone to see, konesi see something ; ani to cry, anisi cry for some ;
thing, o anisia na tava ? what are you crying for ?
There are doubtful Suffixes shown in the sentences, i konesia ma ni maguta
ginia he saw him, and was afraid of him, ni ragofagi napira he went with
a dish. See Oba and Florida ; maguta is matagu by metathesis.
6. Prefixes. — i. Causative, fag a; tafe to live, fagatafe make to
live. This is used also in Adverbs ; fagatau far off, Mota asau ;
fagaforo crosswise, Mota wolo. 2. Condition ma] matare torn,
tare-=sare to tear; makama broken. 3. Reciprocal, fai ; fai nafui
strike one another ; iraira na mane fai arifa ori they the men
fight together always. 4. Spontaneity, 'of a ; a waro (Florida galo)
ni afatete the line has come undone ; tete to loose.
7. Reduplication ; pau to sit, paupau sit and sit again, papapau
go on sitting.
VIII. ADVEEBS.
The common Adverb of direction hither is present, mai ; that of
direction outwards is fano. Others of Place, Time, and Manner,
are as follows.
1. Place ; iani here, iai there, ifi, iafee where; Jcasia away, karani near,
fagatau far off ; faporo back.
2. Time; taini now, to-day, nanora yesterday and day after to-morrow,
ifogoa to-morrow, nora fano day before yesterday ; noga of past time (Mota
nogd), used with taini, and nanora ; noga taini to-day but past already, noga
nanora the second day in the past ; noga are now, has come to this ; ia noga
mai he is here already ; ikaita in time to come, same as anaisa ; ikaita na
go oga ifaginia hereafter you will stay with him ; i nago before (literally, at
the face), noga i nago ni oga ifaginiau of old time he stayed with me ('oga =
Mota toga} ; qani already.
3. Manner ; raara as (Lepers' Island mere), marafee how, as where ; ginia
na tafa why ? because of what ? ' No ' is iaiga, ' yes ' igo.
504 Melanesian Grammars.
IX. PREPOSITIONS.
1. Locative, z; Motion to, and Dative, tana, suri; Motion from,
pani ; Motion against, qarasi ; Instrumental, gini ; Kelation, with,
fagi; Genitive, ni.
i. i; seen in Adverbs, iani, iai, ifi, ikaita ; i rago ifi? i one where has he
gone to ? the beach (at the sand) ; i uraura i manarima he is standing at the
door. 2. tana ; taua mai tanaau give hither to me; iforia taene tanaa he
bought it for himself (jfori = Mota wol} ; o rago tcmaa na wai go after water.
3. suri ; o JcoJcone si/aria look after him ; rago suria follow him, go after him.
4. pani from ; i taua kasia noga paniau he has taken it away already from
me ; nogaiai na rima ana na ni furaga pania that is his house there that he
has come out from (it). 5. qarasi, no doubt a Verb ; abu na go ura qarasia
na pewaa don't stand in the way of the light. 6. gini, as in New Hebrides ;
au nafuia ginia na mata I struck him with a club ; o nafua ginia na tafa f
why did you strike him ? ginia ni nafuiau because he struck me. 7. fagi ;
this is not quite clear, because ni follows it ; see Maewo, Oba, gi ; i rago
faginia na pira he goes with a dish ; i ogaoga i faginiau he stays with me ;
here i also is a Preposition. This resembles the Transitive Suffix of Verbs
vag. 8. ni of ; a inuni ni Sauro a man of Bauro ; ateatena ni Arosi lan-
guage of Arosi ; a rima ni poo a pig house, a rima ni togoni a house of cloth,
tent.
2. Compound Prepositions are found; i rarona paniftta inside
the chest. But Nouns without i are used as prepositions ;
Rarona rima in the house, the house's inside; fataragcma funafujia on the
hill, the hill's top ; a fau (vatu) ni asuku aforaJcu a stone fell on me ; a
paigai ni asuku fagaforo fafona fau a tree fell crosswise on a stone.
X. CONJUNCTIONS.
Copulative, wa and. Disjunctive, Jca or; a nafuia Tea ni mae
faria ? did they kill him or did he die of himself 1 Another ex-
pression ; Jcanae Tcoro noga nare mani iaiga mao ? whether is this
good already, or not yet? Conditional, maraa if; maraa wai ko-
nesia wai taua tanaa if I see him I will give it to him ; maraa go
tagafia ai mata if you wish it will be done. This is not the same
with mara as ; i rago noga, mara go farau he has gone already as
you told him.
' Lest ' is gau ; Tconesia nai gau garu take care lest it fall ; abu na, nau gau
tahoa don't, lest I should be ill. Another form of the Copulative wao ; inau
wao wasiku I and my brother, iaia mao wasina he and his brother.
XI. NUMERALS,
1. Cardinals ; one tagai, two rua, three 'oru, fourfa'i, five rima,
six ono, seven pi'u, eight w aru, nine siwa, ten tanafuru ; twenty
Wano. Alphabet. 505
i ru tcmafuru ; a hundred tanarau ; a thousand mirumiru ; forty-
five ifai tanafuru matara rima; two hundred and forty i rua tana-
rau matara i fai tanafuru.
The Numerals are used in sentences as Verbs, with the Particles i and ni,
i tagai, i rua, &c. In counting a series eta is used for ' one ; ' eta, rua, oru, &c.
In 'oru, fa'i, t has been dropped from toru, fati ; pfu is Florida vitw. The
sum above both ten and hundred is matara.
2. Ordinals ; ruana second, omna third, a tanafurumt the tenth.
' First ' is ajina, its root.
3. Multiplicatives ; fagatagai once,fagarua,fagaoru, &c.
27. SAN CRISTOVAL, WAJVO.
The language of the part of San Cristoval which lies North of
Fagani on one side and Makira on the other has at least three
dialects, two of which certainly do not much vary. The one here
represented is that of Wano, a large village three miles from
Fagani. On the same coast from Heuru to Ubuna is the district
of Arosi ; the language of which, under the name of Bauro, ap-
pears in the { Melanesischen Sprachen ' of Von der Gabelentz. This
does not much differ from that of Hada and J/ata on the other
coast. The natives inland have a dialect of their own, which the
coast people say is very different.
The ~Wano dialect is strikingly vocalic, owing to the common
dropping of t, and the entire absence of the Melanesian g, the
place of which is shown by a gap or break ; thus the Mota toga
becomes 'o'a.
I. ALPHABET.
1. Vowels. — a, e, i, o, u.
2. Consonants. — k, g hard ; t, d ; p, b, w ; q ; m, m, n, n ; r ;
s, h.
i. There is seldom the sound of k; the hard g takes the place of it, and
sometimes may be taken for it ; there are words, however, in which k is cer-
tainly heard, such as halca a ship. The common Melanesian g is not heard,
but the place of it can always be detected by a break ; as in the word for
' bow' ba'e, the Florida bage, and in fa fish, the very common iga and ika.
It is not desirable, perhaps, to mark this in print for native use; but it is
marked here where it is known. Although g is never heard with any but the
hard sound, there are words in which the common Melanesian g is almost
heard, as in maua but ; and it must be remembered that the Melanesian g in
languages where it has an established place is apt to be missed by an un-
506 Melanesian Grammars.
practised ear; see 'Phonology,' p. 204. a. The sound oft is common enough,
but t is dropped in very many words common elsewhere, such as 'ani to weep,
mete to die, tend, mate ; the omission is here marked when recognized. It is
often plain that t represents s, and more remotely h, in other languages ; as
the Interrogatives tei and taha for sei, sava, who, what ; tahi live, the
Bugotu have ; tara road, Mota sola, Florida hala. 3. There is no n, as else-
where, with d. 4. The sound of p is rare, if it really occurs at all. There is
no m before b, as is common elsewhere. The sound of q is bw. 5. The m is
very distinct, and the explosive ending of the sound is conspicuous ; there is
more excuse for the use of mw in this group of languages than elsewhere.
6. There is properly no sound of 1 ; but the natives really do not perceive the
difference between r and 1 ; a man will call his wife Laulaha, who yet is clear
in the statement that r is alone right. 7. The place of v in other languages is
frequently taken by h ; as raha great, Mota lava ; he'll, Mota vitu, star ; riho,
Florida livo, Mota liwoi, tooth. At one time h in Wa»o inclined to turn to f.
II. ARTICLES.
1. Demonstrative Articles e, i, na. Personal Article ia.
1. It may be said that na is used always when a Noun has the Pronoun
suffixed ; na rumagu my hand ; and that e is rather used with the Subject,
and i with the Object of a Verb ; e taha nasi 1 e bo what is that ? a pig ; misu
a araiia i Jo the dog bit a pig. For i in Arosi they say ni.
2. The Personal ia is no doubt a compound of i and a ; i appears in itei,
iratei, who ; ia personifies ; hereho a thing, ia hereho the person, hereho re-
presenting the name.
III. NOUNS.
1. There are the two classes of Nouns ; those which take or do
not take the Suffixed Pronoun for a Possessive ; rumagu my hand,
ruma agu my house.
2. Verbal Substantives ; haate to speak, haatea speech, appears to
show a Noun of this kind ; taha ni haatea irau what their speech ?
what did they say ?
This, however, is Arosi, not Wawo, where such Nouns are disavowed. In
the Arosi taha ni hateana ? what was his speech ? and rago ni hateanai tana
men many his speeches to us, ana may as well be the Possessive as a part of
the Noun and na the Suffixed Pronoun. The inland, ' bush,' people, however,
use the termination ha, as at Fagani/a ; ari to go, ariha going, Va to abide,
'o'o'aha way of life, ma'e to die, mcteha death.
3. Plural : there is no sign of simple Plurality ; rago is many,
ruma rago many houses. Totality is expressed by hako ; na abegu
hako my whole body ; ' all ' excluding others, mono' a ; mane mono'a
all male, no females.
Wano. Pronouns, Possessives. 507
IV. PRONOUNS.
1. Personal Pronouns.
Singular, I. inau, au ; 2. i'oe, 'o ; 3. iia, ia, a.
Plural, i. incl. iga'u, excl. i'ame'u ; 2. i'amo'u; 3. ira'u, ra.
Dual, i. incl. igara, excl. 'amiria; 2. 'amurua; 3. irarua.
The Prefix i is used or omitted in each Person and Number. The Plural is
really a Trial, 'u being in fact 'oru three, and known by the Wawo people to
be so. The Dual is formed by the addition of rua to the true Plural.
2. Pronouns suffixed to Verbs and Prepositions.
Singular, i. au; 2. 'o; 3. a.
Plural, i. incl. ga'u; 2. 'amo; 3. ra, i.
When the Noun is expressed as the Object of a Verb, a Pronoun is still
suffixed ; araia ora make (it) a canoe ; it is the same after a Preposition. The
use of i in place of ra when things, not persons, are in view is the same as in
Florida ; omesira see them, men, for example ; omesii see them, things. It is
also used with the Pronoun suffixed to Nouns j see Possessives.
3. Pronouns suffixed to Nouns.
Singular, i. gu; 2. rau ; 3. na.
Plural, i. incl. ga'u, excl. me'u; 2. mo; 3. ra, da.
4. Demonstrative Pronouns.
A general Demonstrative is na ; ni, nani, this, si, nasi, that ;
naira ini these, nairaesi, those.
The Third Plural ira is also used as Demonstrative ; ira na
Mara the Malanta people; ira'u those people.
5. Interrogative Pronouns.
Of Persons, iatei ? Plural iratei 1 who 1 oma anatei ? whose
place ? ianatei ? whose is it ? Of things, e taha ? a Noun with
Article, what ?
6. Indefinite Pronouns.
The Interrogative Pronouns are used as Indefinite. The Noun
tanei, Singular, tarainei Plural, is ' some ; ' tarai noni some men ;
tarainei moi some, if two or three, not many; enei some one,
anyone ; ta (Mota tea) something, some ; o ari ha mai ta wai go
bring some water.
V. POSSESSIVES.
The Possessive Noun used with such common Nouns as do not
Suffix the Pronoun is a ; agu my, amu thy, ana his, and so on ;
naihi agu my knife, ruraa ana his house.
The Possessive used with the names of things to eat and drink is irregular ;
gugua uhi, or wai, my yam for me to eat, or my water to drink ; mumua thy
yam or water ; ana his ; Plural, gagau, memeu, our, momo your, adaw their.
The same word is used of weapons, &c., mumua o'o a spear to kill thee with.
508 Melanesian Grammars.
The Plural Suffix i, not only when things are spoken of, is added to the
Pronouns suffixed to the Possessive a ; noni agu my man, noni agui my men ;
adai their, of many things ; marau adarui the lands belonging to them two,
the lands being separate; if it were one piece of land belonging to both it
would be adarua.
VI. ADJECTIVES.
1. Adjectives are directly used to qualify; ruma raha a large
house, a ruma kekerei a small house.
2. The termination 'a=ga is seen in buruburu'a black.
3. Comparison is made by a Preposition ; bo raha lama Jcasuwe
a pig is larger than a rat ; ame'u rago bani ra'u we are more than
they. Adverbs modify or enhance ; gere goro rather good ; raha
riu, or rakahi, exceedingly large, or largest.
VII. VEEBS.
1 . Verbal Particles do not appear in the Present ; shorter forms
of the Personal Pronouns are used with the Verbs.
Example: tahi to live. Singular, I. nau au tahi I live, 2. ioe o tahi thou
livest, 3. iia a tahi he lives ; Plural, i. incl. gctu gau tahi, ame'u men, tahi we
live, 2. amo'u mou tahi ye live, 3. ra'u rau tahi they live.
With the Verb in the Past, however, n precedes this short
Pronoun ; nau gawasia i tali I unloosed the rope, nao gawasia
thou, na gawasia he, unloosed. This only appears in the Singular.
Future. — The Particle i is used to mark the Future in the
Singular ; nau wai ari taoha I shall go hereafter, ioe oi art thou
wilt go, iia ai ari he will go. In the Plural rai also is used in
the Third Person ; ra'u rau ari or rai ari. In the Dual i is
used ; garai, ameriai, murui, rarui.
In Arosi, though not in "Wano, i is used in the Plural with each Person.
The Verb ari, to go, is used as an auxiliary, giving a future sense ; au ari
heibai be iarau I am going to forbid them, I shall forbid ; gau ari nahuia we
will kill him, are going to kill. The meaning, however, is not always future ;
wai ari bubu water goes on trickling. Compare the use of the auxiliary Verb
va in Ambrym and Sesake.
The Future follows on a Conditional Conjunction ; ona wai tahi if I shall
live. The same also after an Illative Conjunction ; a haatorau huni wai boi
he ordered me that I should come here.
The Future also is used in an Imperative ; oi ari go.
2. Imperative. — Either the simple Verb is used, or a short
Pronoun; ari, Tiaate, go, speak, or o ari o haate'} so mou, muru
(Dual) Tiaate, speak ye, ye two ; gau haate let us speak, gara us
two, rara them two.
3. Negative; ai is introduced before the Verb; au ai tahia
Wano. Adverbs. 509
I don't wish. The Dehortative qai is also used in a Conditional
sentence ; ona na qai rabasia if he should not wish ; and with the
Future ; au qai ari I shall not go. See Negative Adverb.
Dehortatives are two, qai, a qai, and a bu ; oe a qai don't you (do
it), ia a qai let him not, au qai let it not be I; abu don't, mou
abu don't you, Plural.
4. Prefixes; i. Causative haa; tahi to live, Jiaatahi save, make
to live. 2. Of Condition, ma ; makari torn. 3. Eeciprocal, hei ;
raru hei nahui they two strike one another, fight ; hei, as vei in
Fiji and Florida, is used where reciprocity is not strictly in view ;
hei taaJii to pity.
5. Suffixes ; transitive terminations directing the force of a Verb
upon some definite object, or making a neuter Verb transitive,
are si, hi, ri ; gawa to come loose, gawasi to unloose ; 'aro a
gawa the line is undone ; iatei na gawasia ? who undid it ? ma'e
to die, ma'esi to die of something ; murui naua, murui ma'esia if
you two eat it you two will die of it (Arosi) ; 'am to cry, 'anm to
cry for ; ebasia ni oma run to the village ; hana to shoot, hanasia
ni noni shoot a man ; sina sun, haasinaria i tooni dry the garment
in the sun ; siba to seek, sibaria seek for it ; oro to swim, orohia i
haka swim to the ship.
6. Reflective Verb; a haama'esia haria he killed himself, made
him die by himself, alone.
7. Reduplication is of the first syllable or syllables, or of the
whole word, signifying repetition or continuance.
8. An Arosi sentence is worth noting which shows the Verb as
a Noun with Suffixed Pronoun ; au omesia ni nahuiamu dooramu
I saw thee kill thy brother, literally, thy killing thy brother.
This to a certain extent connects with the Santa Cruz idiom;
which see.
VIII. ADVEBBS.
Many of these show forms of words common in the Adverbs of
other Melanesian languages.
1. Adverbs of Place. The common directive hitherwards is mai, outwards
wo ; naani here, naasi there, nawoni there, near, nawosi there, far off, with
demonstrative Particles ni and si ; iei there indefinitely ; noaiiei there, noni
nonaiiei man of that place ; hei the place where, ihe i, nahei, naihei where ;
a 'a1 a ihei ? where does he live 1 oi ari ihei ? where are you going to ? o ooi
hei 1 where do you come from ? noni ni hei ? man of what place ?
2. Adverbs of Time : oha space of time ; oha ni now ; oha nani then, of past
time ; oha qani then, long past ; oha orea then, not so far back ; ta oha here-
after; deeni to-day; bania gau presently; hooa to-morrow (hoo light); hoo-
510 Melanesian Grammars.
awo day after to-morrow ; nonora yesterday, nonora wo day before yesterday ;
noaigeta when ; nage, nageta when, of past time, geta when, of future time ;
man yet ; ga'u still ; no'a mai up to the present time, Mota noga ; mou again ;
gu of sequence, thereupon ; ona wai tahi wai gu ari if I should live I shall
then go ; a haatorau nau gu boi inia he commanded me, I thereupon came
here because of it.
3. Adverbs of Manner : oani thus, oasi so ; onaitaha 1 how ? haaheua f
how ? moi only ; haagoroia make it good, well ; haakomononoa completely ;
riu, rakdhi, very, exceedingly.
Negative : the Exclamation is aia, which also is the Adverb ; wai ari ome
gasi ai boi ma'ua aia I shall go and see whether he will come or not ; ai boi
mana aia 1 aia will he come or not ? no. It is also a Noun ; taha nai 'ana
si ? aia what is in that bag ? nothing. The Affirmative is io ; as an Adverb
marai truly.
IX. PREPOSITIONS.
These are Simple Prepositions, or Nouns and Verbs used as
Prepositions.
1. Simple Prepositions, i. Locative- i; seen in Adverbs ihei, iei ; i Wano
at Wa»o ; iia a 'ura i mana i ruma he stands at the door ; na i ; iia ihei ?
nai ruma, nai mou where is he ? in the house, in the garden. 2. Motion to
persons, be ; o boi beiau come to me ; no doubt pe, be, of Banks' Islands, and
meaning ' with ' rather than 'to.' 3. suri is only used in ~Wa.no of following ;
o boi suriau come after me ; but in Arosi suriau is to me. 4. Motion from,
bani ; a hora baniau he has gone away from me ; haua bania take it away
from him. 5. tai from ; boi tai inia come from him. 6. Motion against,
horo, not common; didi "horo to make a shade against. 7. Dative, tana to;
o ha tanau, tanaa, give to me, to him. 8. Genitive, ni ; noni ni Wano a man
of Wawo. 9. Instrumental, 'ini ; Tara a doria qarisuna 'ini wai Tara bathed
his nose with water ; taha o nahuia 'inia ? what did you strike him with ?
''inia i mada with a club. Another meaning is ' for ; ' o 'am 'inia taha ? what
are you crying for ? au tahuri rarua 'inia i haruta I pay those two for
rowing ; taha mou besia i bo adau 'inia ? what did you steal their pig for ?
2. Nouns used as Prepositions : I. huna, Florida vuna, Mota vuna ; hasie
a teri hunana i bauna the tree fell on (atop of) his head. 2. bahai under-
neath ; Jcua a haasusu bahaina i ruma a fowl laid eggs under the house ;
bahaigu, bahaimu, under me, under thee. 3. noai uruha the midst; noai
uruhada between them, in the midst of them.
3. Verbs used as Prepositions : qarasi ; ari qarasia go meet him ; o abui
'ura qarasia i dani don't stand against the light ; didiusi is used in the sense
of horo against, to shut something in, or out.
X. CONJUNCTIONS.
1. Copulative, with Nouns mana; with Verbs ma; au ari
noaiiei ma u omesia I went there and saw him. 2. Adversative,
mia ; au ari, mia aia I went, but he was not (there). Disjunctive,
ma'ua or; goro ma'ua aia 1 is it good or not ? Conditional, ona if;
Wano. Numerals. 511
ona ai biowa ma wai ari, ona ai nahoa ma boi if it should be
calm (and) I shall go, if there shall be surf (and) it can't be.
Illative, Declarative, huni that ; a haate huni wai boi he said that
I was to come.
The Conditional ona is used for ' as ; ' nau na haua ona haate amu I did as
you said, according to your saying. There is no word for ' till ; ' 'o'a gau ma
wai ahoi mai stay till I come back, stay a while and I will come back.
XI. NUMERALS.
1. Cardinals', one tai, two e rua, three e'oru, four e ha'i, five
rima, six ono, seven bi'u, eight warn, nine siwa, ten tanahuru;
eleven tai tanahuru mana tai, twenty rua tanahuru; a hundred
tanarau, a hundred and thirty-four tai tauarau mana 'oru ta&a-
Tiuru mana ha'i.
Interrogative and Indefinite, e siha how many, so many.
In counting eta is used, not tai. The Prefix e, no doubt verbal, can be used
with all but tanahuru. For the sum above ten madara is used by some. For
a very large number of men, not strictly a thousand, melu mane is used. For
a very great number the saying is o qai ohainia hafco i warehuna i huto you
cannot count all an opossum's hairs.
To all Cardinals, except tanahuru, ta is sometimes prefixed ; wai ha tanao
ta rtta tabaika 'inia I will give you two pieces of tobacco for it.
Men on board canoes are counted with trie ; ta'e siha ? td'e ono how many
men on board ? six, Mota sage visa. A score, used in counting betel nuts
and days, is gagau ; gagau bua twenty nuts, rua gagau forty ; but it is not
admitted that this word is JcaJcau fingers. A thousand mangos aii wawai beo.
2. Ordinals; formed by Suffixing na; ruana, 'oruna, tanahu-
runa, second, third, tenth. First is na'o, front.
3. Multiplicatives, with the Causative ha' a ; ha' a siha ? how
many times 1 ha' a ha'i four times.
XII. For comparison with Maewo and other Northern New
Hebrides tongues the Hundredth Psalm is given.
GAKA 100.
i. Mou imoimo waewae tanaa Lord, oma rago : mou tatauaro waewae tanaa
Lord ; ari qarasia i mana 'inia i suru raha i gana. 2. Mou 'irara 'inia Lord
huni ia God : na haaqaraga'u, ma ai iaga'u ; iga'u i mane huwa ana, mana sipu
nai mouana. 3. Mou siri wou haagorohia nai mana i bara ana ; mou ari unu
haagorohia nai hera hora ana : haagorohia, haate goro 'inia ataiia. 4. Maia ia
Lord a goro, a heitaahi tarau : i tawado suri jwane buruna rago.
512 Melanesian Grammars.
28. ULAWA, CONTRARIETY ISLAND.
There is little difference between the speech of Ulawa and of the
part of Malanta near to it. An outline of it is given by Von der
Gabelentz, taken from grammatical notes printed by Bishop
Patteson. The following has been independently compiled from
scholars at Norfolk Island who speak Mota. There is more
difficulty in ascertaining the correct form of Ulawa words than
has been found in any other language.
i
I. ALPHABET.
1. Vowels. — a, e, i, o, u.
2. Consonants. — k; t ; p, w ; q ; m, m, n, n ; r, 1 ; s, h.
There is no g ; what is hard g in Wano is here k ; the Melanesian g is re-
placed by a break, as in fa fish, pa'u head. The sound of t is so like d that
there is doubt whether two letters should be used; t has been dropped in
many words; 'iola, Florida tiola, canoe; pa'u, Mota qatu, head; q = pw.
Both r and 1 are used, but the natives do not easily distinguish the sounds.
II. ABTICLES.
i. The Demonstrative Article is na, not commonly used. 2. The
Personal Article a is seen in a tei who, a ola for a person's name,
ola a thing, and in personification a ola kaikai a deceiver.
III. NOUNS.
1. There is the common division of Nouns which take and do
not take a Suffixed Pronoun; pa'uku my head, ra'ma inau my
house.
2. Verbal /Substantives are formed by adding na, ana, to the
Verb ; mae to die, ma'ena death, wala to speak, walaana speech.
3. Plural. — The Plural sign mai precedes the Noun; mai nima
houses ; Tiuna, and e huna, a Verb, many, follows ; mai nima e huna
houses, many of them.
IV. PRONOUNS.
1. Personal Pronouns.
Singular, i. inau, na ; 2. ioe, o; 3. iweia.
Plural, i. incl. ikailu, ikia, excl. imeilu, iami; 2, iomoulu;
3. ikiraeilu.
Dual, i. incl. ikarai, excl. imerei; 2. iomoroi; 3. koroi, rarui.
The Prefix i is used or not, at pleasure. The Plural is, in fact, a Trial, lu
Ulawa. Possessives. 513
standing for 'olu three. The Dual is similarly made by the addition of a form
of rua two.
2. Pronouns suffixed to Verbs and Prepositions.
Singular, i. au; 2. o; 3. a. Plural, 3. ra.
As is commonly the case, there is no short form for the First and Second
Plural.
Examples : Tioroi to strike, e horoiau he strikes me, Tioroio thee, horoia him,
horoira them ; maneau from me, maneo from thee, manea from him, manera
from them.
This Pronoun is suffixed to Verbs, the object of which is otherwise ex-
pressed ; sesa parasia lalo fence round (it) the garden.
3. Pronouns suffixed to Nouns.
Singular, i ku; 2. mu; 3. na. Plural, 3. tailu.
For the First and Second Plural there are, as usual, no forms ; that used for
the Third Plural is evidently a Trial composed of the Numeral lu for 'olu,
with ta, which, as da, has been seen in Wawo, and is equivalent to ra.
4. Demonstrative Pronouns.
A Demonstrative Particle ne makes neho this, neawau that.
5. Interrogative Pronouns.
Of persons ; a tei 1 Plural Jciratei 1 who 1 Of things, na taha 1
what ? a Noun with the Article.
V. POSSESSIVES.
There is only one Possessive Noun used, with a suffixed Pro-
noun, together with such Nouns as cannot take a suffixed Pronoun
themselves ; and this is that which has special reference to food
and drink, 'a; ta mai moola ni nau 'aJcua give me my food, ta mai
wai 'akua give me my water.
There is another, na, which, with the suffixed Pronoun is used
only as ' mine,' ' thine,' never with a Noun as ' my,' ' thy ; ' nakua
mine, a thing belonging to me, namua thine, nana his.
There is with the First and Second Person of the suffixed Pronoun an added
a, as in Florida. There is also an added i ; ta mai moola ni nau ^aJcui give
me my food ; (in Bishop Patteson's Notes nakui for us, namui for you, nanai
for them ;) this i is probably the mark of Plural as in Wano, and nakui does
not mean one thing which belongs to us, but several things which belong to
me ; the plurality being in the things, not in the persons.
Possession is also signified by the Personal or Interrogative Pro-
nouns following those Nouns which cannot take the suffixed
Pronouns ; nima inau my house, nima atei ? whose house ?
Ll
514 Melanesian Grammars.
VI. ADJECTIVES.
1. The Adjective follows immediately after the Noun: nima
paina a large house, 'inoni tiana a good man, 'inoni tataala a bad
man.
2. Comparison is made by the Preposition mane from ; go paina
manea 'asuhe a pig is larger than a rat ; iami huna manera we are
more than they.
VII. VERBS.
1. Verbal Particles. — Verbs are commonly used without anything
before them ; they are also preceded by a shorter form of the Pro-
noun when the subject, a Pronoun, has been expressed ; ioe o lae
thou goest, imeilu meilu lae we go, iomoulu mmdu lae ye go. But
there are Verbal Particles a and e which go with Verbs ; na a lae
siiri I go to-day, neia e lae he goes, kailu a lae we go (or kailu e
lae), ikiraeilu a lae they go, koroi e io they two sit. These two are
sometimes combined ; neia ea lae. There does not appear to be
any temporal force in these Particles.
Bishop Patteson, at the time that he printed his notes on this language,
1864, denied that there was any 'so-called Particle' before the Verb; but in
a later memorandum he says ' e, nai, si, are in some sense Verbal Particles.'
I have no knowledge of nai ; si is an Adverb rather, of sequence, answering
to Mota qara, and is used sometimes with a; na a si lae oto iteni I shall go
to-morrow (see Saa).
2. Prefixes', i. Causative ha' a; 'inoni e a mauri a man lives;
neia ea ha'amauria he saved him. 2. Of Condition ma; 'o'i to
break (probably Florida goti), ma' o'i broken. 3. Reciprocal hai;
horoi to strike, koroi haihori they two beat one another ; wala to
gpeak, karai haiwala, we two converse.
3. Suffix, giving or determining transitive force, si; nara to cry,
narasi to cry for ; o narasia na taha ? what are you crying for ?
ma'e to die, ma'esi to kill ; neia a ha'ama'esia maraana he killed
himself, literally, killed him by himself, alone ; haka apart, asunder,
so torn, hakasia to tear ; atei hakasia ? who tore it ? io to sit,
ha'aiosia set it up, make it sit.
4. Negative Verbs ; the Negative belonging to Verbs is pale ; na
pale losia I don't see him. But the Negative Adverb qaike is
used ; na qaike lae I am not going ; koroi qaike e io they two do
not remain, sit. The DeTiortative is sia; mou sia kaikai don't
you fight.
VIII. ADVERBS.
The Demonstrative ne makes nehou here, newau there ; ha'atau,
Ulawa. Prepositions, Conjunctions. 515
afar, is the Causative Jia'a and tau=sau Mota, hau Florida ; mai is
hither; ihei where, hei the place where. 2. Of Time, otoniho now,
siiri to-day, teni, oto iteni, to-morrow, nonola yesterday, nenita
when, heretofore or hereafter.
The Negative is qaike. Affirmative exclamation iau.
IX. PBEPOSITIONS.
Prepositions are i. Simple, 2. Nouns used as such, 3. Verbs.
1. Simple Prepositions. — i. Locative, i. 2. Motion to, suli,
3. Motion from, mane. 4. Dative, muni. 5. Instrumental, ana.
6. Relation to persons, mai. 7. Genitive, ni.
1. Locative, i at; as in iheil where? i Saa at Saa, i leni above, i lalo in
the garden, i nima in the house. There is a Preposition wai, to which i
probably gives its force ; neia wai nima he is in the house. A locative Pre-
position is sometimes omitted ; e 'ura mana nima he stands (at) the door.
2. suli; lae mai suliau come hither to me; in another sense, lo sulia look
after him. 3. mawefrom; ai tale maniau go away from me. 4. muni to; to,
mai muniau give it hither to me. 5. ana with ; na horoia ana mata I struck
him with a club. This has a more general sense of connexion with ; na rarani
ana tuna I warm myself at the fire. It can come at the end of a sentence ;
ne niho peni na usuusa ana this is the pen I wrote with. It is remarkable
that this Preposition, when it refers to many things, takes the Plural termi-
nation i, either as ani or anai ; ana na taha ? concerning what ? of one thing,
ani taha ? concerning what things ? Bishop Patteson's examples can all be
thus explained. 6. mai with; maiau with me; e eo maia tei? with whom
does he stay ? maia 'amana with his father. 7. ni. of ; 'inoni ni hei ? a man
of what place? ni Ulawa of TJlawa; mapo ni Ulawa an Ulawa locust; pa'u
ni qo head of a pig ; saulu ni manu bird's egg.
2. Nouns : i. lao; eo laona wai it stays in the water, laona mausu in the
forest; tooni eo laona there are clothes in it. 2. leni; eo lemna hoihau it
stays on rocks ; hoihau e usu lemku a stone fell on me, on the top of me.
3. oroha; eo orohana ai he sits under a tree. 4. keke; Wate e io kekena
Haluwate Wate sits beside Haluwate.
3. Verbs: I. parasi; 'ura parasia stand in the way of it; na tooni para-
siau I clothe myself over ; sesa parasia lalo fence round a garden ; sesa parasia
qo fence against a pig. 2. ohi ; lae ohia go after him, go fetch ; losi, to see,
is used of motion to ; losia to him.
X. CONJUNCTIONS.
i. Copulative, na, and; Haluwate na Wate Haluwate and Wate;
the Preposition mai is also used as mi in Ureparapara ; na kau
maia na qo the cow and the pig. With Numerals ma na. 2.
Disjunctive, wa, or ; e tiana wa qaike ? is it good or not ? 3. Con-
ditional, if, does not appear ; e ahola (if) it is calm ; na a losia oto
na a walaa munia (if) I see him I will tell it to him, literally,
i, la
516 Melanesian Grammars.
I see him, after, I tell it to him. This oto becomes a connective
Conjunction ; that past, then.
XI. NUMERALS.
1. Cardinals; one eta, tai, two e rua, three e 'olu, four ha'i,
five e lima, six e ono, seven, e hi'u, eight e walu, nine e siwa,
ten tanahulu, awala ; eleven ta awala ma na eta, or, tanahulu ma
na eta, twenty e rua awala, twenty-two e rua awala ma na rua ;
a hundred tanalau, a hundred and twenty-two tai tanalau ma na
rua awala ma na rua. The Interrogative and Indefinite, how
many 1 so many, e nita.
The Particle e marks the use of the Numeral as a Verb. The difference
between tanahulu and awala is not plain ; the latter is always used for more
than one ten. The sum above ten and above a hundred is marked by ma,
which is not a Conjunction.
2. Ordinals; made by adding na to the Cardinals; ruana
second, 'oluna, ha'ina, limana; tenth awalana.
3. Multiplicatives with the Causative ha' a ; Tiaarua twice, ha'a-
'olu thrice ; ha'a nita ? how many times ?
29. MALANTA, SAA.
The great island of Malanta is called J/ara, J^ala, or Mala, ac-
cording to dialect. The South-Eastern part is divided from the
rest by a narrow channel, and is called ~M.ala matmaz, little Mala,
to distinguish it from Mala j)aina, great Mala. In MaZa maimai
there are two dialects said by the natives to be very different ; that
spoken at Port Adam, and the one here represented, which is
spoken at Saa at the extremity of the island, and with local varia-
tion along the Western coast up to Bululaha. This is not very
different from Ulawa ; the opinion at Saa is that the Ulawa people
have the same language, but do not speak it right. In the Vocabu-
lary in the first part of this book some words may be seen from a
distant part of Malanta, rather from an island close to the coast,
Alite ; the words are in many instances the same with those
of Mala maimai, but the change of n to / is remarkable.
The language of Mara Masiki given by Von der Gabelentz is
that of lolaha between Saa and Bululaha, as it was shown in
short grammatical notes by Bishop Patteson.
Saa. Alphabet, Articles, Nouns. 517
I. ALPHABET.
1. Vowels. — a, e, i, o, u.
2. Consonants. — k; t, d; p, w; q=pw; m, m, n, n; r, 1 ; s, h.
I. There is a certain variation between a and e, whereby it is voai and ivei,
mauri and meuri, paina and paine ; but e appears to be characteristic of Saa.
2. The guttural is k, and not hard g. The Melanesian g is not used, but a
gap or break marks its place ; 'apu, Florida gabu, blood, i'« fish. 3. In many
words t has been dropped ; 'inoni, Florida tinoni, man, pa'u, Mota qatu,
head. There is no sound of n with d ; but d has often the sound of dj ; demo,
djano firewood. 4. It is p, not b, at Saa. 5. Both r and 1 are used, but it
may be doubted whether the distinction is fixed.
II. ARTICLES.
1 . Demonstrative Article, na ; na wine the hand, na nimeku my
hand. The Article is often omitted.
2. Personal Article, a ; not used with Personal names ; but they
say a ola the person, when a man's name is not known or remem-
bered ; ola, a thing, being used for the name ; a, laha the big man.
III. NOUNS.
1. There is the common division between those that do and do
not take the suffixed Pronoun ; na nimeku my hand, na nume neu
my house.
2. Verbal Substantives; the termination ha is shown in maurihe
life, safety, from mauri to live. The termination ana of Ulawa is
not proper at Saa.
3. Plural. — There is no sign of simple Plurality; hune is
'many' or a collective; na nume hune houses, a group of houses,
na ahutana hune the whole country, i. e. in all its parts ; ahuta
totality, ahuta kailu we all.
IV. PKONOUNS.
1. Personal Pronouns.
Singular, i. ineu, neu, no; 2. ioe ; 3. iweie, weie, na.
Plural, i. incl. ikolu, excl. emeilu; 2. omoulu; 3. ikere.
Dual, i. incl. ikure, excl. emere; 2. omorue ; 3. kererua.
The Prefix i is used or omitted at pleasure. The Plural is really a Trial,
except in the Third Person ; lu being the Numeral 'olu three.
2. Pronouns suffixed to Verbs and Prepositions.
Singular, i. ieu ; 2. io; 3. ie.
Plural, i. — ; 2. — ; 3. ire.
518 Melanesian Grammars.
3. Pronouns suffixed to Nouns.
Singular, i. ku; 2. mu; 3. ne.
Plural, i. incL kolu, excl. meilu ; 2. moulu; 3. re, da.
4. Demonstrative Pronouns.
These are often the same as Adverbs of Place ; ie this, waune
that, 'ana ie this bag, 'ana waune that bag; kere paro ie those
persons there, not far off, kere waune those persons ; me is this or
that ; ne a Demonstrative Particle, ne wau that, nenewa that man;
na taena this, na tawaune that, with the Article na. A Demon-
strative is mo ; mo i Ulawa the Ulawa people, na mo wala ta ?
what is that word 1 mo wala neu my word. The Vocative mala is
Demonstrative ; laiio pei mala waune go with those people.
5. Interrogative Pronouns.
Of Persons ; atei, plural kiratei, who ? ola tei ? whose is the
thing ? hanua tei neniene ? whose place is this ? Of things ; ta
what 1 na ola ta ? what is the thing 1
6. Indefinite Pronouns.
The Demonstrative Pronouns are also Indefinite. A Noun na
moini is ' some.'
V. POSSESSIVES.
There is only one Possessive Noun, used for things to eat and
drink, '« ; uhi 'akua me that is your yam to eat ; 'amui thine, 'ana
his, 'ameilu our, 'amoulu your, 'ada their. To the suffixes ku and
mu, a and i are added ; as Florida gagua, and Ulawa 'akui.
In the absence of a Possessive Noun to be used with Nouns which cannot
take a suffixed Pronoun, the Personal Pronoun, or Interrogative, is simply
added to make a Possessive ; naihi ineu my knife, literally, knife I ; ola tei
nie ? whose thing is this ? ineu mine ; literally, thing who ? I.
VI. ADJECTIVES.
1. These follow simply after Nouns; 'inoni paine a big man,
me?a ra.aim.ai a little boy.
2. The termination 'a is seen in pulupulu'a very black, nonoro'a
red ; the Prefix of Condition ma in madoro hot, malimali sweet.
3. Comparison is made by a Preposition mane from ; qo paine
mane 'asuhe a pig is larger than a rat, emeilu melu Tiune manere
we are more than they.
VII. VERBS.
1. Verbal Particles. — There are two certain Verbal Particles ko
and ke. Example with Verb lesi to see.
Saa. Verbs. 519
Singular. I. no u lesie, no ko lesie I see him.
2. ioe o lesie, o Jce lesie thou seest him.
3. neie e lesiu, neie Ice lesiu he sees me.
Plural. i. incl. Jcolu Jco lesie, Jcolu Jce lesie we see him.
excl. emeilu Jco lesie, emeilu Tee lesie we see him.
2. omoulit Jco lesie, omoulu Jce lesie you see him.
3. kere ko lesie, kere ke lesie they see him.
Of these, u, o, cannot be considered other than short pronominal forms ; e
may be a Verbal Particle ; ke and ko evidently are such. The temporal sig-
nification of these is very uncertain.
For the Future i is added to ke : hooa no kei lae haaau to-
morrow I shall go fishing.
2. The Verb is commonly used without any Verbal Particle;
and often a short form of the Pronoun precedes the Verb, even
when the full form appears as the subject; no u, ioe o, neie e, as
above with lesie ; and in the Plural kolu, melu, moulu.
In the following narrative no Verbal Particles, except e, appear.
Meilu esuesu me esu, ma«o oto, nu io i 'ano ; oto, haluhe e halaie ririiku ;
nu lesie, oto nu tohue ana hau. Kere hahau henue, ana aeaeku e adiadi ; oto,
kere unue mane melu uluolosie wai, wane aeaeku e salu oto hiito. Oto, melu
uluolo oto mai henua, nu lae mai henua ; oto, eno lewine hulite, saiku rodo-
hono, no kaa manataie henua, no u warawara horodo.
We were working in the plantation, it was already finished, I sat down on
the ground; then (or by-and-bye) a centipede bit my toe, I saw it, then I
chopped it with an axe. They carried me (on their backs) to the village,
because my leg was tender ; by-and-bye they said that we were not to cross
the water lest my leg should presently pain me exceedingly. By-and-bye we
crossed over hither to the village, I came hither to the village ; then I lay on
a mat, my inside was dark (I lost consciousness), I did not know the place, I
cried till night.
There is no Verbal Particle when an Adverb si, like the Mota qara, comes
before the Verb ; ana no ko meuri no si lae if I live I shall go, si meaning
' in that case ' ; e usuneinieu mai, no si lae mai ana he ordered me, I there-
upon came here because of it.
3. Imperative; lae, unui hunie go, tell to him, molu lae, moru
lae, go ye, go ye two ; neie ke lae unui hunie let him go tell to him.
4. The Negative has kaa before the Verb; no u kaa mautai
I don't understand, no u kaa lesie I don't see it. The Dehortative
is sa ; neu sa lae let me not go ; sa horohoro don't fight ; uri is
added; sa uri, ioe sa uri, don't. The Preposition mane also is
used, which see.
5. Prefixes. — i. Causative, ha'a; mauri to live, ha'amauri to
save ; ma'e to die, ha'ama'esi to kill ; o sa 'ure ha'arodohono don't
stand so as to make dark, i.e. in the light. 2. Of Condition, ma ;
'o'i to break, Florida goti, ma'o'i broken ; dano e ma'o'i the wood is
520 Melanesia,*, Grammars.
broken, neu u 'o'ia I broke it. 3. Reciprocal, hei ; kererue ko hei-
seuni they two are fighting with one another. 4. Of Spontaneity,
taJca ; luhe loose, o ke luhesie walo you unloose the rope ; walo e
takaluhe the rope has come loose; walo e takarara the rope has
come undone.
6. Suffixes, making a neuter Verb Transitive, or determining the
active force ; si ; haka tear, hakasie tooni tear (it) cloth ; luhe loose,
luhesie walo unloose a rope ; hana to shoot, hanasie shoot him ;
uluolo cross, uluolosie wai cross water ; ma'e to die, ma'esie noma
to die of a spear (wound) ; olo to swim, olohainie haka swim with
a canoe ; sato the sun, ha'asatohaie tooni dry clothes in the sun ; in
the two latter examples hai=sag of Mota, &c.
7. Reflective Verbs have the word marana meaning ' alone ; '
atei e horoie ? wa e ma'e marana ? did someone kill him ? or did he
die of himself ? wa e ha'ama'esie marana ? or did he kill himself?
8. Reduplication of the whole word or of the first syllable,
intensifies, repeats, or prolongs the action.
VIII. ADVERBS.
Adverbs are many of them made up of Nouns with Prepositions ;
others are the same with Demonstratives.
1. Adverbs of Place. The common sign of direction hitherwards mai ; ie
there, paro ie there in that direction ; paro (Sesake palo, Mota kalo], tcHe
(Mota sage), mark points of direction, the latter landwards ; hauna there, not
far off ; ne wau there, far off, ne mai here, this way, ne being a demonstrative
Particle ; nena here, nenena there ; nume waune the house yonder ; itei, neitei
where; poo outside, one side; rau wei poo wau by the water, that side of it ;
poo mai mane hanua outside the village this way.
2. Adverbs of Time : siiri to-day, Jiooa to-morrow, nonola yesterday, nonola
oto wau day before yesterday, i. e. that nonola in the past, we ite wau day after
to-morrow ; ana na dim when, in the future, hereafter, if it should arrive, ana
na dini mano oto when, in the past ; oto mola na just now past, oto waite
formerly, oto already ; nekau soon ; neua still ; e Jcaa ma'e ua, neua e mauri ua
he is not dead yet, he still lives yet ; lou again ; o fee oo kau losieu, no Tee lae
lou mei stay awhile (kau), wait for me, I will come hither again ; 'ali hoi back
again, Mota tal round, Florida goi again.
3. Adverbs of Manner : urini thus, urine so, uri ta ? how ? e'ua (Florida
egud) why ; e'ua ko tete urine ? why do you do so ? keduana well ; hiito ex-
ceedingly ; mola without particular cause or reason.
The Negative Adverb is haike ; no ke lae Tcau lesia ohe Jco lae mai wa haike
I will go for a while and see if he is coming here or not ; ne ie ke lae mai wa
haike ? haike, is he coming or not ? no ; na ta wau laona mae ? haike what is
that in the sack ? nothing. The Negative exclamation is haike ; Affirmative
Saa. Prepositions, Conjunctions. . 521
IX. PREPOSITIONS.
1. Simple Prepositions are — i. Locative, i. 2. Motion to, suli.
3. Motion from, mane. 4. Dative, huni. 5. Instrumental, ana.
6. Relation to persons, pei. 7. Genitive, ni.
1. The locative i appears in the Adverbs ie, itei ; Jcolu itei ? where are we ?
i Saa at Saa ; neie itei 1 where is he ? wa i nume there, in the house ; i'ano
on the ground. 2. suli; lae sulie go to him. 3. mane; da manea take it
from him. The use of this in comparison is shown under Adjectives ; it is
also used in the sense of ' lest ; ' mane aeaeJcu e salu lest my leg should pain
me ; mane o nana mane o matai don't eat, lest you be sick. 4. huni ; da
Jiunia give to him. 5. ana ; e rapusia ana na ta ? ana taloili what did he
strike him with ? with a club. This Preposition has the general sense of
cause ; na ta ni Jco narasie ? what is it he is crying about ? ana o rapusia
because you beat him ; no Tee wai rerue ana Jcererua note I pay those two
because they two have paddled (in my canoe). 6. pei ; o io pei atei ? peia
'amalcu who are you living with ? with my father. 7. ni ; nume ni Tiau house
of stone ; 'inoni ni tei ? 'inoni ni Ulawa, a man of what place ? a man of
Ulawa ; poo ni nume the other side of the house.
2. Nouns are used with the sense of Prepositions.
i . leni upon ; leniku upon me, my top ; lenine qauku on the top of my
head; dano Jcire usu lenine Jioiheu a tree fell on, on the top of, a rock.
2. haha under ; Jcua e lahi Tiahana nume a fowl laid eggs under the house.
3. lao inside ; laona nume inside the house ; laomu in thee. 4. Tcerekere
beside ; Jcerekerena tola beside the path. 5. poo beyond ; poo wai the other
side of the water.
3. There are also Verbs which may be taken as Prepositions;
e 'ure honosie he stands in the way of it; hono (=wono in Mota)
with transitive si; lae oTiie wai go after water, go fetch water;
lae honie Dora go after Dora.
X. CONJUNCTIONS.
i. Copulative, na and. 2. A Connective is oto by-and-bye, that
finished, then. 3. Adversative, na but ; nu lae kau na no kaa
lesie I went for a while but I did not see him. 4. Disjunctive,
wa ; initei o sare tooana, inie wa inie na ? which do you wish for,
this or that 1 tiana wa hailce ? good or not ? 5. Conditional, ana;
ana kohola no ko lae, oto nahola haike if it be calm I shall go,
if surf not ; ana ko sare lae if you like go ; ana ko serei na ke oo if
he refuses he will stay. 6. Illative, uri; e unua uri no ke lae
he ordered that I should go. This also means ' as/ see Adverbs
urini, urita, as this, as what. Another word also means ' as ; ' no
u ta mala o unua I did as you ordered it.
522 Melanesian Grammars.
XL NUMERALS.
1. Cardinals; one e ta, two e rue, three e 'olu, four e ha'i, five
e lime, six e ono, seven e hi'u, eight walu, nine siwe, ten tanahulu,
twelve awala mana rua, twenty rue awdla ; a hundred tanarau ;
a hundred and twenty-four tata tanalau rue awala mana hai]
a thousand mola ; e nite how many, so many.
In counting a series it is e ta, but after that rua, 'olu, &c., without the
Verbal Particle e. This is never used with walu and siwe, but is sometimes
with tanahulu. A single thing is not eta but tata ; tata mane one man, tata
haka one canoe. The use of another Numeral for ten is that of Ulawa. The
exact number of a thousand is conveyed by mola when yams are counted. A
thousand cocoa-nuts is qela ni niu ; a very great number of things is sinola ;
very many past count mamau; udi exceedingly many. For a very great
number they say warehuna huto ! opossum's hairs ! or idumie one ! count the
sand !
2. Ordinals with the termination na; e tana first, e ruana
second, tanahuluana tenth.
3. MuUiplicatives with causative ha' a ; ha' a rua twice, ha' a awala
ten times; ha' a nite ? how many times.
30. FLOKIDA, #ELA.
The native name of the island of Florida is (?ela, by which, in
the form of Gera and Gela, the island of Guadalcanar is known in
San Cristoval and Malanta. The main part of Florida is divided
by the very narrow channel of Scudamore's Passage; and again
a third portion is separated by a wider channel ; but the whole
forms one country 6?ela in the view of the natives and their neigh-
bours ; and there is no separate name for either of the divisions.
The language of Florida and that of Bugotu in Ysabel are closely
allied ; and the same language in fact is spoken on the coast of
Guadalcanar to which Florida lies opposite. It is understood at
Savo, where the native language is very different. This, therefore,
is an important language by its position ; and it has become more
important as it has come into use in Missionary teaching. It is
now well known, and a Prayer Book and two Gospels have been
printed.
This is the language which is shortly represented by Von der
Gabelentz under the name of Anudha. When Florida was first
? 6.
<$><
Florida. Alphabet, Articles. 523
approached by Bishop Patteson and the native name of the island
was enquired for, it happened that the name was given of a small
islet which was near at hand, near Boli. This was naturally taken
to be the name of the country. The name of the islet is Anuha,
but the native who gave the name pronounced it in the fashion of
his part of Florida, Anudha. Hence among the natives of the
eastern Melanesian islands Florida is known as Anuta, and (a
being taken for the Preposition which commonly accompanies
local names) Nuta, and Nut.
There is no such variety of speech in Florida as to constitute
Dialects ; different words and forms of expression are found in the
several districts, but the language is one. There is only one point
in which a dialectical difference can be marked. In the districts
of Boli and Halavo, and inland between them, and in Hogro, h is
sounded ; in Belaga and Gaeta h becomes dh ; at Olevuga and the
neighbouring district across the channel they follow the Savo
fashion and use z. At Eavu some use z and some h. Thus the Ne-
gative is taho, tadho, or tazo. The language as now printed follows
the Boli use in this respect, and generally is such as is spoken in
that district and across to Halavo. The first knowledge of the
language was obtained from a place between Belaga and Gaeta.
The accent of words is generally on the penultimate syllable.
I. ALPHABET.
1. Vowels. — a, e, i, o, u.
2. Consonants. — k, g, g; t, d=nd; p, b=mb, v; m, n, n; r, 1;
s, h.
1. The Vowels are uniform and simple. Diphthongs, au, ao, ai, ae, may
be so called, but the Vowels are very distinct.
2. The hard g is again never heard ; g represents always the peculiar
Melanesian sound ; ff = ngg as in 'finger,' and is often a modification of k, as
the Pronominal Suffix gu for leu. Both d and b are always strengthened
with n and m. The complete and sudden disappearance of w is remarkable ;
it is not pronounced by a Florida man without practice ; in foreign words g is
substituted for it. With the absence of w coincides that of m and q. The
substitution of dh, not th, for h in Belaga and Gaeta, and of z in Olevuga, has
been mentioned. It would be a pity if the people were not encouraged still
to sound the soft dh where h is printed.
II. ARTICLES.
1. The Demonstrative Article is no,. "When the notion is in-
definite it is not used ; te kisua na vale he builds the house, te kisu
524 Melanesian Grammars.
vale he is house-building. When persons are in view the plural
rana is used ; rana vaovarono the hearers ; ra being as elsewhere
a Personal Plural sign.
The Article is used with the names of places, na Soli, na Hogo; and
strangely na Boli, na Sogo, means also a man of the place ; agaia na Soli
he is a Boli man ; rana Sogo the Ho^o people. Although it is convenient to
write rana in one, the Pronoun or Plural Particle is sometimes completely
separate ; ra nimua na lei gari your boys. It is common to use the Numeral
saJcai, one, with the Article ; salcai na tinoni a man.
The Article is not used with terms of kinship ; tinana his mother, not na
tinana.
2. The Personal Article is a, used alike with male and female
native names ; a Subasi, a Gauna ; and with foreign names ; a
Pene. It also personifies; a kiko the deceiver, a tupi vatu the
stonecutter.
III. NOUNS.
1 . The division of Nouns into those which take, and do not take,
the Suffixed Pronoun is certain ; though a few words may vary in
use.
Where two Nouns connected by a Preposition make up a kind of compound,
the Suffix cannot be taken ; vale a house, valena his house ; but na nina vale
ni rono, not valena, his money-house.
2. There are no Nouns formed from Verbs and expressing an
abstract idea, as in Mota or Saa; the Verb used as a Noun
suffices ; dolo to love, na dolo love ; bosa to speak, na bosagu my
saying, word.
Any Verb may be used as a Noun, and a Verb with its Adverb is treated
as one word and a Noun ; bosa to speak, galaga loud, na bosa galaga loud-
speaking.
By a remarkable idiom a Verb in the Third Person with its Verbal Particle
is used as a Noun, answering to a Participle in Greek, or to a Pronoun with a
relative clause in English ; me te vetenau mai te gahaa itagua and he that
sent me is with me, 6 we/i^as /<e (John viii. 29) ; me dutu tua na labota te
gagua te kapisia na tenediw and when the morning was come says (he who)
was entangled in the snare.
Verbal Substantives, however, are formed by suffixing a to active
Verbs; and the sense of these, which may be called Gerundives,
is often Passive. These words never appear without a Suffixed
Pronoun.
For example, bosa to speak is also a Noun, and bosagu is my speaking ; but
bosaagu is my being spoken of ; mate is to kill as well as to die, na mateana
is not only his dying, but his being killed. Sometimes the sense is active ; te
liona na sonikolttana na nina rono ta na vale he desired the collecting of his
Florida. Nouns. 525
money in the house ; sakai pe rua na mane Jcara tanomana na sipakehaana
na vatu one or two men will be able to pull out the stone. The last two
examples show that a Verb with an Adverb are taken as a single word, and
with the termination a become a Gerundive of this kind ; soni to bring, Jcolu
together ; sipa to draw, Tceha separate. The same is done with a Verb and a
Preposition ; bosa to speak, v ani to ; nau tu nia na bosa vaniamiu eni I make
this speaking to you, literally, this speaking-to of yours, miu being the suffixed
Pronoun ; na va tuguru punusiana the going and standing up against him.
3. The genitive relation of Nouns one to another is effected by a
Preposition ; vuavua ni gai fruit of tree, fruit generally, na gigiri
ni lima the fingers of the hand, hand fingers, not toes. But if a
particular object is in view it is na vuavuana na gai, na gigirina
na lima, literally, its fruit the tree, its fingers the hand ; the col-
location of the Nouns with their Articles showing the relation.
4. There are a few Florida Nouns that show the instrumental
prefix i which is found in Mota and is common in Fiji ; kara to
bale, ikara a baler; gaho to dig with a stick, igaho a digging
stick.
5. Reduplication of a Noun, as of a Verb, may signify repetition
and so plurality ; but it signifies also diminution, or inferiority ;
komu an island, kokomu a small island; vale a house, vaevale
a shed ; niu a cocoa-nut palm, niuniu a wild useless palm.
6. Plural. — i. The Plural Particle ra applies to Persons only,
as with the Article ra na, and is used without the Article with
terms of relationship ; ra hogogu my brothers, ra kukuadira their
ancestors ; and with names of other sets of men, ra hanavulu the
ten. 2. A Noun of multitude, lei, with or without the Article, is
the most common Plural sign ; na lei tinoni men. 3. The Plural
Pronoun suffixed to Verbs whether ra or i renders any further
sign unnecessary; te holora mai na tinoni he calls the men; te
gitoi na rono he steals the moneys.
The Noun of multitude lei is treated either as Singular or Plural, as the
Verbal Particle agrees with it : na lei tinoni tara dutu mai the men come,
tara Plural ; na lei boni te mai the days come, te Singular. The same is the
case with vure crowd. There may be a certain irregularity ; na lei iga te subo
tara holai the many fish they caught, te Singular, i Plural, both belonging
to lei.
Totality is expressed by udolw ; na komu udolu the whole country ; com-
pletion by soko finish ; na lei komu solco all the countries ; but lei, meaning a
collection, assemblage, often means ' all ' ; na lei didia totobo all their things.
7. When gender requires to be indicated, mane male, vaivine
female, is added to the Noun.
8. The words malei, vatei, pwku, may well be mentioned : malei is a place,
526 Melanesian Grammars.
maid sopou a place for sitting, a seat ; vatei is probably the same as Mota
vatiu a place, but is used of the object of an action ; sukagi to sacrifice, vatei
sukagi a thing sacrificed ; vatei aroviamami the object of the pitying of us,
i. e. we pitiable objects ; puku is the thick end, trunk, beginning ; hence, like
Mota tur, the real thing ; puJcu ni vunagi real chief, puJcu ni gaia his
real self.
IV. PBONOUNS.
1. Personal Pronouns.
Singular, i. inau; 2. igoe ; 3. ag'aia.
Plural, i. incl. igita, excL igami ; 2. igamu; 3. a^aira.
Dual, i. rogita, rogami; 2. rogamu; 3. rograira.
Trial, i. tolugita, tolugami; 2. tolugamu ; 3. tolu^aira.
These Pronouns are all used as Subject or Object of a Verb ; but the latter
rather when prominence is desired. The Prefixes i and a can be omitted at
pleasure. The Prefix can be separated from inau ; i mua nan not I. In the
Plural garni and gamu are shortened to gai and gau ; perhaps only as suffixed ;
the latter also gau is the Vocative exclamation.
2. Pronouns suffixed to Verbs.
Singular, i. u; 2. go, a.
Plural, i. incl. gita, excl. garni, gai; 2. gamu, gau; 3. ra, (i, gi).
1 . These forms are suffixed also to Prepositions, but to such only as may
themselves be taken to be Verbs. There is no Dual form ; the Plural is used,
and the Dual Pronoun added ; te dutuvira rogaira he approached them, the
two of them ; see the Preposition vani. As in other languages, there is no
separate form for the First and Second Persons Plural.
2. Among these Pronouns, but distinct from them in character, must be
classed the Plural Suffix i, gi, which takes the place of ra when things, not
persons, are the object of the Verb ; compare Wawo and Ulawa. When the
Verb ends in any Vowel but i, the Plural Suffix referring to things is i ; na
lei bosa tu bosai tua the words I have spoken ; na totobo ini tara gitoi those
things they stole ; nau tu pelui tua e hanavulu I have bought ten ; na lei
butuli te nei the wonders he does. When the Verb ends in i, the Suffix
becomes gi ; u mua rigigi I don't see them, the things ; tara tona sanigi na
lei didia totobo they left all their things. Inasmuch as these Suffixes are used
in place of Nouns, it is impossible to deny that they are Pronouns ; but yet
they are rather Plural signs, as may be seen, for example, by the use of i in
Ulawa with a Preposition, and by such an expression as utoi tua enough,
when many things are in view ; uto tua, it is enough, of one subject.
3. These Pronouns are always suffixed to a Transitive Verb when the
object of the Verb with the Article is expressed ; te Icisua na vale he builds
(it) the house ; te holora mai na dalena he calls (them) his sons. In accord-
ance with this, the full form of the Personal Pronoun .is sometimes expressed
when the shorter form has been already suffixed ; gaia te vetenau inau mai he
sent (me) me hither ; but this gives a certain prominence to the Pronoun, as
if it were ' it was I whom he sent.'
4. These Pronouns are not only suffixed to Verbs, but to Adverbs and
Florida. Pronouns. 527
Adjectives immediately following on Verbs ; te dolovi nanatara he loves
them exceedingly, tara vetena keha lea they send him away empty.
5. When a Preposition refers to two or three persons, the Numeral, ro or
tolu, comes before the Preposition to which the Pronoun is suffixed ; te bosa
ro vanira he speaks to them two, tolu vanigita to us three.
3. Pronouns suffixed to Nouns.
Singular, i. gru; 2. mu; 3. na.
Plural, i. incl. da, excl. mami; 2. miu ; 3. dira, dia, ni.
1. The Pronouns are suffixed only to that class of Nouns which form a
Possessive in this way ; limagu my hand, dalemu thy child, ahana his name.
But there are some Verbs to which these, and not the preceding, are suffixed ;
such are lio, tola ; ivei to liona ? which do you like (it) ? Too talana mai put
it here.
2. These Pronouns are the same as those common in the Eastern parts of
Melanesia, with the exception of the Third Plural dira. The variation of
dira and dia does not belong to dialect, but is rather a matter of personal
usage.
3. The use of ni, as it were the Plural of na, when things, not persons, are
referred to, is remarkable ; vula a month or season ; speaking of one tree,
vulana its season, of many, vulani their season ; Jco vahegami mai na gamami
na vana, ge kai nigi togotogo na laviani ta na lei vulani give us our food,
that we may rejoice with the taking of them (i.e. the various kinds) in their
seasons. To sopou vuvunana na parako, to lovo vuvunani na lei gata ni guri
thou sittest above the heaven, thou fliest upon the wings of the wind.
4. When the Pronoun is thus suffixed to a Noun it is possible also to add
the full Personal Pronoun ; na limagu inau my hand ; but this is only when
special emphasis is desired.
5. When the Dual or Trial is expressed, the Numeral comes before the
Noun to which the Pronoun is suffixed; ro limada, tolu limada, the hands of
us two, or three ; ro, tolu, dalemiu, the children of you two, or three ; ro,
tolu, komudira the country of them two, or three.
4. Demonstrative Pronouns.
This eni, keri ; these ini, Jciri ; these persons raini, rakiri ; that
iani, that person keia.
i . There is a certain difference between eni and keri, not easy to define ; eni
points probably to something nearer than keri. 2. There are double forms,
eni, ini, and keri, kiri ; it is by no means certain that eni, keri, are Singular,
and ini, kiri, Plural ; yet such a distinction is maintained by some natives,
and is an useful one to encourage. 3. Both eni and keri appear with Articles
as Nouns ; na eni, na keri this thing, a eni, a keri this person ; but aeni,
akeri are used also without personal reference. 4. The Plural raeni, raini,
rakeri, rakiri, are used with reference to things as well as persons. 5. In
iani the i is probably the Preposition, and the true meaning is rather ' there '
than 'that.' The use of keia is comparatively rare; as is kakeri this; Tea
being a demonstrative Particle. 6. The use of the Interrogative as Demon-
strative is wrong.
528 Melanesian Grammars.
5. Interrogative Pronouns.
Of Persons, ahei ? plural rahei, arahei ? who ? Of things, na
hava ? what ?
The Article, Personal and Demonstrative, with each shows Tiei and hava
Nouns ; hei represents the name ; na ahana ahei ? what is his name ? The
Adverb ivei is used for ' which ; ' ivei to liona ? which do you like ?
6. Indefinite Pronouns.
The Interrogative is used as Indefinite ; me ke mai rigia ahei ke
tanihia ke, pa ahei te dika na liona ke and if there should come
to him any one who should lament him, or any one in distress of
mind ; ahei te ke gania ke, ke nia vola whoever shall eat it shall
live because of it.
There must be mentioned here the word hanu, which being a
Noun, like hei and hava, is like those used both as an Interroga-
tive and Indefinite Pronoun (see Oba, p. 424). When the name
of a person cannot be remembered or is not known, a hanu ? who 1
asks for it, or a hanu such a one, stands for it. In the same way
na hanu ? na hanu, is ' what is the thing ? ' or ' whatever it is.'
The word stands for the name of the person or of the thing, not for
the person himself or for the thing. It is never the same as totobo
a thing. See for the remarkable correspondence of the Malagasy
in this particular, p. 135.
The Numeral saJcai one, and more commonly the shorter form of the same
siJci, and ki, is used for 'any,' like tea in Mota or Sesake; taho siki tinoni
not any man, not a single person ; e rn.ua saJcai mate he is not dead at all ; e
mua dika siki komu i taeni there is not any one place bad now ; me mua rigia
Jci saTtai and did not see any one at all.
The word sopa gives a distributive meaning, but is not a Preposition ; tara
sopa losabosa vania they each say to him.
V. POSSESSIVES.
The Possessive Nouns used to make a Possessive with such
Nouns as cannot take a Suffixed Pronoun are two : ni, of general
relation, ga, of closer relation, as of food and drink ; nigua na tivi
my garment, gagua na vana my food. These with the suffixed
Pronoun are equivalent to the English ' my/ ' thy,' ' his,' &c.
I. With both a is added to the suffixed Pronouns in the First and Second
Singular; it is nigua, nimua, gagua, gamua ; compare Wamo, Ulawa. 2. The
First and Third Plural with ni is not nida and nidira, as the suffix of the
Pronoun to ni would make them ; probably by the attraction of d to n, the
forms are dida and didira. 3. Both with the suffixes are used with the
Article as Nouns ; na nigua a thing of mine, na gamua thy food. 4. The
Article may be repeated both with the Possessive and the common Noun ; it
may be na nigua na gau, no, gagua na vana, i.e. my property the knife, my
Florida. Adjectives, Verbs. 529
thing to eat the food. 5. After a Verb ni is used, like mo in Mota, in the
sense of ' for my part,' ' my, thy, his doing ; ' tu tugunia nigua I tell for my
part, to bosa nimua you said yourself. 6. Besides food and drink ga is appro-
priate to a ghost with whom a man is familiar ; na gadira na lei tidalo their
ghosts ; also to neighbours and enemies ; na gana udu his neighbour, na
gadira na levu ni mate their enemies ; to relations, na gana Tcema his family,
gens.
There is also "ke used for food ; na Tcegua mine to eat.
VI. ADJECTIVES.
1. Words which qualify Nouns are commonly used in Verbal
form, but there are pure Adjectives ; na vale pile a small house,
na gari sule a big boy. One Noun may qualify another in the
same way ; na vale vatu a stone house.
2. The characteristic termination of an Adjective is ga, as in so
many Melanesian languages ; it is, however, very freely employed
in Florida, and may even be suffixed to a foreign word. It is
commonly suffixed to a Noun, making it an Adjective; as vana
food, vanaga food- producing ; beti-tina a river, literally, mother-
water, betitinaga river-like; halautu a road, halautuga having
roads ; but it is applied also to Adverbs and Verbs ; horu down,
horuga deep ; matagu to fear, mamataguga fearful.
3. The Prefix ma, as in other languages, shows condition and is
found in Adjectives; malumu soft, manilu sweet, magora clear.
4. Comparison. — When both terms are expressed the Preposi-
tion ta may be used, or ta with the Preposition i; gaia te sule
tamua, or i tamua, he is bigger than you. But the Adverb vaa,
further, is commonly added ; te sule vaa i tamua ; na bolo te sule
vaa ta na kuhi a pig is larger than a rat. Another word used is
vule, which is in fact a Verb ; te manilu vulea na kokolo ni midua
sweeter than honey. It is more idiomatic to make a comparison
without a Preposition ; na vua te pile, me sule vaa gaia, an alligator
is small, this is larger, i.e. this creature is larger than an alligator.
The Adverb nanata makes a Superlative ; sule nanata very big, biggest ;
nanato in Alite is 'hard,' ' strong.' The force of an Adjective is enhanced by
vaho ; te pile vaho na tivi the garment is too small ; it may be pile Tcikia too
small, very small ; leikia itself meaning small.
VII. VERBS.
1. Verbal Particles. — Any word used with these Particles is a
Verb, as in the other Melanesian languages ; vola is life, tu vola I
live ; mai, hither, is an Adverb, te mai tua, he has come hither, shows
M m
530 Melanesia*, Grammars.
it a Verb. The Verbal Particles in Florida change with the
Person and Number, as in the New Hebrides ; not by a coalescing
of the Personal Pronoun with the Particle as in that region, but
rather by an assimilation of the Vowel of the Particle to that of the
Pronoun, or the taking into the Particle of the Vowel which is
characteristic in the Pronoun. The Pronoun is so far represented
by the Particle that there is no need for a further subject
for the Verb; tu tona I go, te bosa he speaks. As in the New
Hebrides, the Vowel of the Third Person Singular is unaffected by
the Pronoun, and the Particle has to be taken in that Person as in
its true form. The Particles then are three, e, te, ke; of which the
two first are Indefinite in view of time, and the third is Future.
The Vowels of the Particles change as follows : —
Pronoun. Particles, e, te, Ice.
Singular. I. inau. u, tu, ku.
2. igoe. o, to, ko.
3. a^aia. e, te, ke.
Plural. i. igita incl. a, ta, ka.
igami excl. ai, tai, kai.
2. igainu. au, tau, kau.
3. a^aira. ara, tara, kara.
With the Dual the Numeral ro is suffixed to the Particle, the Vowel of
which is with each Person o ; toro, Icoro. When three persons are the subject
the Plural Particle is used ; tolugaira tara tona those three go ; but tolu is
also added to the Particle ; tolugaira tara tolu matagu those three are afraid.
1. e. This Particle is regularly used with Numerals ; otherwise it does not
so often occur. It must be taken, however, as the Particle which goes with
Conjunctions, which see. It is a Particle which simply gives a Verbal
character to a word.
2. te. There is no temporal force in the Particle ; it may be either Present
or Past ; but when the Past is distinctly indicated, the Adverb tua follows the
Verb ; te bosa he speaks, or spoke, te bosa tua he has already spoken.
3. Ice is Future, the time beginning in the Present. It is also used with the
Imperative, and in conditional or potential clauses.
These Particles are accumulated before Verbs without any effect
on the meaning ; nau tu ku bosa I shall speak. But while in the
Singular both Particles are in the form they would have been by
themselves, it is not so in the Plural except in the inclusive ; i . ta,
Tea, incl. ta kai, excl. ta kau, ta kara. When a Conjunction precedes
the Verb the three Particles may all appear ; mu tu ku bosa and I
shall speak, mo to ko, me te ke, ma ta ka, ma ta kai, ma ta kau, ma
ta kara. In the Dual it is to koro, mo to koro.
2. Imperative. — The Verb is used either directly without a
Particle, or with ke; tona, bosa go, say; ko tona mo ko bosa go
Florida. Verbs. 531
thou and say, Jcau tona ma kau bosa go ye and say; ku tona, ke
tona, ka tona, kara tona, let nie, him, us, them, go.
3. Conditional clauses or sentences have the Particle ke, with the
Conjunction ge, which see. There is another Particle ke of suppo-
sition which follows the Verb ; ge ku tanomana ke, mu ku gonia
if I should be able I shall do it.
4. Negative Verbs. — The negative with Verbs is mua ; u mua
pukua I don't understand, te mua rigira he did not see them, kara
mua mai they will not come.
The Dehortatory or Prohibitive is bei, which, like mua, comes
between the Particle and the Verb; ko bei tona don't go, addressed
to one, kau bei tona addressed to many, koro bei tona addressed to
two persons. So ku bei, ke bei, kara bei, tona, let me, him, them,
not go.
5. Prefixes. — Causative, va ; vola to live, vavola to save, make
live. 2. Reciprocal, vei; toro vei bosabosa they two talk one to
another. 3. Condition, ta ; boha to burst, taboha to be burst ;
rosi to tear? tarosi torn ; ko bei rosia na tivi don't tear the cloth,
te tarosi tua it is torn already. This Prefix generally, but not
certainly, refers to what has happened of itself. 4. Spontaneity,
tapa ; tuguru to stand, tapatuguru to stand up spontaneously.
2. The meaning of vei does not imply positive reciprocity ; it is rather that
of relative action, as vei in Fiji applies not only to Verbs but to Nouns ; vei-
arovi has not the meaning of pitying one another, but of pity ; arovi is the
Transitive Verb to pity, veiarovi rather to have compassionate feeling.
3. Adjectives show a Prefix of condition ma, which probably may also be
found with Verbs as in other languages ; ta is generally used when a thing
happens of itself, as tavoka is said of what has come open, taboha of what has
burst ; but goti is to break, a Transitive Verb, and tagoti is broken, not of
necessity spontaneously ; Ice mua tagoti siki pile hulina not any little part of
his bones shall be broken.
6. Suffixes. — The terminations applied to Neuter Verbs to make
them Active, or to Active Verbs determining their transitive force,
may be classed as i. Consonantal, and 2. Syllabic. The first con-
sist of a Consonant with i ; hi, si, gi, ri, vi, li, ni, ti. The second
are such as lagi, vagi, hagi.
i. tani to cry, tamhia cry for him; ramu to flog, ramusi to flog someone;
vonu to be full, vonugi to be full with, vonugia na beti is full of water ; Tiina
to shine, of the sun, hinari to burn, of the sun, koro sopou ta na unauna eni,
ke bei "hinarigita na aho let us two sit in this shade, lest the sun scorch us ;
inu to drink, ko inuvia na beti drink the water ; hage to go up, hagelia, or
Tiagevia, na vaka embark, go up on to a ship ; matagu to be afraid, ko bei
mataguniu don't be afraid of me ; gehe to do, geheti to act upon something.
M m 2
532 Melanesian Grammars.
These terminations are not suffixed only to words which are primarily
Verbs ; but as other words can be used as Verbs, they also take the transitive
Suffixes; hau far off, haMvi to set afar, taligu round about, taliguti to go
round, surround.
2. The terminations of the other class present the difficulty that they are
always followed, before the Suffixed Pronoun, by the syllable ni; while it
cannot be doubted that the Jiagi, vagi, lagi, of Florida, are the same with the
sag, vag, lag, of Mota, and the caTca, vaka, laJca, of Fiji. The most probable
solution of the difficulty is that the Preposition ni is used after these Verbs ;
but this is not wholly satisfactory ; see Oba. Examples are Jcia to laugh, Tcia-
Jiagi to laugh at ; sopou to sit, sopoulagi or sopouvagi to seat, or set. As is
shown by the latter example, there is no difference in meaning between one
termination and the other ; which is true equally of the consonantal Suffixes.
It happens that a Verb of this character is used with reference to some par-
ticular action, but it is not the form of the Suffix that determines the sense.
7. Passive Verbs. — There is no Voice ; as in other Melanesian
languages, a Verb generally active in sense may be used as
Passive; te gonia nia na lei totobo soko by him were all things
made. It is common, however, to use the Third Person Plural of
an Active Verb in an impersonal way, where the English would be
Passive ; tara kisua, tua na vale they have built the house, the
house is built ; tara vahua ta na niulu eni he was born, they bore
him, in this year.
8. Reflective Verbs. — A reflective Verb, like those of other Mela-
nesian languages, has the Adverb pulohi back (as in the Banks'
Islands), or hege, the Mota magese alone, by oneself (as in Maewo
and Wawo), or both ; te labu pulohia, or te labua hegena, or te labu
pulohia hegena he struck himself.
There is a Reflective Verb of another kind, a middle form ; gdha
to abide, and taga to be lost, have always a Suffixed Pronoun ; tu
gahau, to gahago, te gahaa, ta gaTiagita, tai gahagami, tau gaha-
gamu, or gahagau, tara gahara, I, thou, he, we, you, they, abide ;
na lei beti te gahai ta na gotu the waters remain on the hills ; te
tagaa tua it is lost, te taga lea it i simply lost.
9. Auxiliary Verb. — The Verb va to go, may be called auxiliary,
being used to supply the sense of motion or of purpose to a Verb ;
kau va pitia na tono keri ta na pilu, ma Jcau daia ; me Jce mai rigia
ahei ke, kau va tabea tie this corpse to the fence, and watch it ; and
if any one should come to see it, take hold of him; literally,
go tie, go take hold.
The Verb Tiaga may be classed with this, the meaning of which is ' to want,'
' to be going ; ' tu Tiaga inu I am thirsty, want to drink ; te haga mate a Tcisu
vale the house-builder was about to die ; me haga soko nina rono his money
was like to come to an end. The word tanomana, 'can,' 'to be able,' gene-
Florida. Verbs. 533
rally governs a Gerundive; te mua tanomana na tabeadira agaia, moro mua
tanomana na sama saniana rogaira he could not catch them, and they two
could not run away from him. But the Verb may follow as a Noun ; ivei kau
tanomana tia talu utuni 1 how shall you be able to believe ? and it precedes a
Verb, ahei Tee tanomana tuguru 1 who can stand ? There is also the sense oi
'can be;' ivei ke gagua ge Ice tanomana na lei totobo eni? how will it be
done that these things can be ?
10. Reduplication. — There are two ways of reduplication com-
mon to this and Melanesian languages generally, viz. the repetition
of the whole word, or of the first syllable of it ; and there is a
third peculiar to this and closely allied dialects, viz. the repetition
of the first two syllables with the middle Consonant left out ; thus
sopou to sit, soposopou, sosopou, and sousopu ; the latter is the most
common form.
If there is any difference in the signification of these various forms, it is
rather that the longer extend the duration or imply the repetition of the act,
and that the shorter intensifies the notion. The reduplication of Nouns and
Adjectives has the same forms.
It is characteristic of a Florida sentence that the Subject is placed last.
This is by no means invariably so, but idiomatically the Predicate precedes
the Subject. The Object of the Verb follows it; a sentence, therefore, has the
order, Verb, Object, Subject ; te kalea na vatu na tuana his foot struck a
stone, struck it a stone his foot. The Pronoun suffixed to the Verb will some-
times make clear any difficulty there may be in ascertaining which is the
Object in sentences in which this order is departed from. The following
sentences of native writing give examples of the syntax, literally translated.
On night as it were that I awoke hither it is night still it dawns
Ta na boni vagana aeni inau tu rarai mai te boui mua te labota,
and is full of itch all my body and I am cracked all and not whole
me gagalopuku soko na huligu, mu tu paga soko, me mua matapono
any spot of my body.
siki tutugu ni huligu.
Dies (a man) and they bury him, thereupon burrows into (it) his grave
E mate Taboa, mara tavugia, ge geua na giluna
(a woman) and ate (it) a bit of him ; and they chase her the people, but she
a Siriso, me gania pilena ; mara gurua na -cure, ge
gets off safe.
tugururavi.
It is by no means uncommon in other Melanesian languages, as, for
example, in Mota, for this construction to be used ; yet that the idiomatic and
natural ways of putting a sentence are different between them is seen in the
first attempts of Florida boys in speaking Mota. Much laughter has followed
the hearing of these sentences ; o toa me vara mate Sapi ; tasin Oka me gana
o pagoa ; a fowl has trodden to death Sapi ; Oka's brother has eaten a shark.
The arrangement is neither Mota nor Florida, but it shows that the Mota
order did not come naturally ; Sapi me vara mate o toa Sapi trod to death
a fowl, o pagoa me gana tasin Oka.
534 Melanesian Grammars.
VIII. ADVERBS.
Many words and expressions are used as Adverbs which are in
fact Nouns with Prepositions, or Verbs; ta na niha hereafter,
i dania formerly, te vaga eni thus, e gua why 1 na imikuna na hava
why?
Adjectives are often used as Adverbs; te tarn side he cries
greatly, te vola pilepile he is a little better, literally lives a little ;
and Verbs without a Particle ; te mua baubahu Tdko he does not
promise falsely, kiko to lie.
1. Adverbs of Place. The Adverbs of direction common in most of these
languages are here mai hither, gatu outwards. For 'here' and 'now' the
same word is used, taeni, itaeni, literally ' at this ; ' the Pronoun aeni ' this '
is also ' here ; ' ga, iga is ' there,' the Preposition i showing ga in fact a Noun.
As has been seen in other languages, this Adverb has continually a logical
reference, ' on that account,' ' with reference to it ; ' na ahana te nia lada ga
his name is famous on that account, because of it. It is also used like the
English 'there;' idania na vunagi ga once upon a time there was a chief, e
taho ga na Jcouna there is no end of it. The same word is naturally ' where'
as a relative Adverb ; nigua na buto ni Tcoinu tu gahau ga my part of the
country where I am staying ; and idiomatically ' thence ' or ' whence ; ' kau
rugu Tioru ga you shall come out thence, or, whence you shall come out.
Interrogatively ivei is ' where ? ' the very common Noun with the Preposition ;
it is used with suffixed Pronoun, ivira tara hurugo 1 where are they that
accuse you ? The points of position seawards or landwards, which are used
something like points of the compass, are lau and lona ; position with reference
rather to the motion of the sun is shown by boko and ulu.
2. Adverbs of Time : itaeni now, itaeni vaho henceforth, idania formerly,
ta na niha ? when ? gegua to-day, of time past, i ropo to-morrow, or next day,
ropo gana next morning, i nola yesterday, valiha day after to-morrow, vuni-
tolu third day. ' Until ' is polo, often followed by vuha ; polo ku vuha mate
till I die ; haia for a long time, ever ; mua haia never ; again goi ; rogaira
toro goi mai te vaga haia they two went again as (they had done) for a long
time ; gua is ' again ' with the sense only of addition, not of repetition ; ke mua
goi mate gua will not die again any more ; diki before, beforehand, for the
first time. The Adverb used in comparison, vaa, means going on ; hence it is
used for continuance of time, ke vaa me vaa for ever and ever. The Adverb
of Place, ga, naturally serves for Time ; ta na boni Jceri tara vahua ga on the
day when he was born.
3. Adverbs of Manner. To translate gua, which, with Verbal Particles,
makes the equivalent to ' why ? ' is not possible ; e gua, te gua, present, ke gua
future, o gua in the Second Person Singular, why is it ? why was it ? why will
it be ? why dost thou ? The same word makes part of sugua, mugua because,
vagua. A Verb is also used to express likeness ; te vaga eni, or Jceri, thus ;
e taho siTci vunagi te sodorono te vaga gaia not any chief is rich like him.
As a Verb it takes the suffixed Pronoun ; te vagaa is like it, te vagai is like
those things, te vagara like them, te vagagai like us ; te vagagai na dale ni
Florida. Prepositions. 535
bolo te tona sania na tina we are like a young pig (a pig is like us) whose
mother has gone from it. But it is used without an Object ; minau te mua
uto na liogu, te vaga tu gania na iga me Tcau na hulina ta na sosonogu and I,
my mind is not at ease, as if I had eaten a fish and a bone of it were stuck in
the roof of my mouth. The same word also makes te vagana like him or it,
so; and of plural objects te vagani. Other Adverbs are vamua only, lee
merely, tara uto lee vamua they are only good ; soo still, e mua mate mua, e
vola soo he is not yet dead, is still alive ; gea thereby, Ttoro gitoi na rono gea
you two will steal the money thereby ; vaa more, te matagu vaa is more
afraid ; mina, a Verb, quickly.
4. The Negative Adverb is talio, which is a Noun ; na taho nothing, taho
ke gagua vania no one will speak to him ; and a Verb, te taho it is nothing.
IX. PKEPOSITIONS.
1. The Florida Prepositions are few; the Simple Prepositions
are i Locative and ni Genitive; one of general Eelation is ta a
Noun; the Instrumental ni, and those of Motion, to, from, and
against, varigi, vani, sani, punisi, are Verbs.
1. Locative i; this has been shown in Adverbs. Though the meaning is
distinctly locative, yet, according to the idiom of Melanesian languages, i is
translated also 'to' and 'from;' ivei te gahaa gaia? where is he living? i
Kolalcabua at Kolokabua ; ivei ko va 1 where are you going ? i Soli to Boli ;
ivei te butu mai ? i Boli where has he come from ? from Boli. The name of a
place is preceded by i ; na ahana nigua na komu i Sadika the name of my
place is ' at Hadika.'
2. Genitive ni ; the same with ni of Fiji and the New Hebrides; na guiguli
ni bolo pig's skin, mane ni lutu working man, man of work.
3. ta ; this is shown to be a Noun by its being preceded by the Preposition
i, and by its having a suffixed Pronoun ; tagua, i tagua, i tamua, i tatana, i
tatada, i tamami, i tamiu, i tadira, with me, thee, him, &c. In common use,
however, it is a Preposition ; and the Article of the Noun which follows should
clearly not be written with it as if it were a suffixed Pronoun ; it is ta na vale
at the house, and not tana vale. The signification is that of relation in the
most general way, and the translation, therefore, may be 'at,' 'to,' 'from,'
'on,' 'under,' 'in,' 'into ;' ta sakai na buto ni komu te gahaa ga na mane in
a certain part of the country there dwelt a man ; ta na komuna at his village ;
te hage tua ta na valena he has gone into his house ; te rugu horu tua ta na
vale he has gone out from the house ; te sopou ta na gai na manu the bird sits
on the tree ; te kutu horu ta na gai na gari the boy fell off the tree. It
should be observed that the relation is one of place and position ; ta never
means ' concerning,' ' in regard to.' There is no Preposition with that
meaning, and when such a meaning is in the mind, the bare Noun without a
Preposition follows the Verb ; aeni nimua na letasi tu gerea vanigo gatu na
Jcabuagu itadira na vure eni this is your letter I write to you (concerning) my
stay with these people.
The Noun ta with the suffixed Pronoun is equivalent to the Prepositions
'with,' 'by,' 'to,' 'from,' &c., with the Personal Pronoun ; te Jcabu soo i tagua
he lives with me, tara subo tara vahagi itadira many are sick among them.
536 Melanesian Grammars.
The Noun is always reduplicated with the Third Singular and First inclusive
Suffix ; tatana, tatada ; perhaps to distinguish from ta na and tadu.
4. ni ; this is shown to be a Verb, when it must be translated as a Preposi-
tion, by its having always the suffixed Pronoun, Singular a, Plural gi. The
signification is ' with,' instrumental, and ' with ' as of accompaniment ; te labua
nia na tila he struck him with a club, te nigi taraira na bosa eni he taught
them with these words ; tara nia pulohi na tiola they go back with a canoe,
tara nigi mai lei didira totobo soJco they came with all their things ; te nia
sivuraga Tcolu na rorodo he was born together with blindness. There is also
the idiomatic use of the word with the Verbs hare and liliu ; te nia hare he
is astonished at it, na beti te liliu vaini nia the water turned into wine. The
word is used as a Verb, not a Preposition, in the expression nia sika to hate
one ; gaia te niu sika he hates me, tu nia siJca I hate him, tara nigo sika
they hate thee. When used as a Preposition nia is placed either before the
Verb, before the Noun which is governed (so to speak) by it, or at the end of
the sentence ; te nia labua na tila, or te labua nia na tila he struck him with
a club ; aeni na tila te labua nia this is the club he struck him with.
5. rigi is to see, and this, with the auxiliary Verb va to go, makes varigi,
which is used as a Preposition of motion to a person ; varigia ' go see him ' is
the same as ' to him ; ' compare Ulawa losi, Fate libi.
6. vani is used as a Dative Preposition, and is certainly a Verb ; perhaps
va with ni above. There is also a use with the signification of 'for;' e uto
vanigita na Jcalu iani it is good for us the staying here. A very common use
of the word makes it equivalent to ' speak to ; ' te vaniu he spoke to me, tu
vania I said to him, an expression which very often introduces a speech and
finishes a quotation ; te holoa mai hogona me vania, Ko pusia na ulugu kara
bei gilalau gea, e vania, he calls his brother to him and says to him, You cut
off my head lest they should know me by it, he says to him. There is no use
of this as a Preposition except with persons, or at least animate objects ; latia
na vana vanira na lei bolo give the food to the pigs.
7. sani is a Verb, to let go; as a Preposition it is 'away from;' Jco tona
saniu go away from me ; te mua tona sania na bona he does not go away from
the place.
8. purdsi is a Verb, to oppose, be in the way, cover over ; as a Preposition
it means ' against,' ' over against,' ' in the way of ;' tara tuguru punisigita ta
na halautu they stand in our way on the path ; to tuguru purdsigami ta na
lei levu ni mate protect us from, stand before us in the way of, the enemies.
2. Compound Prepositions, consisting of a Noun with a Preposi-
tion, need hardly be considered, because, though translated by a
single Preposition in English, their composition is plain : loka is
the inside, i lokana na vale in the house's inside, in the house,
i loka ni vale, without definite reference to one house, indoors.
But Nouns are used sometimes without the Preposition ; gero soga
dato vuvunana na tabili, ma na pusi te sara utu lokana so they
two got up on the top of the cask, and the cat was caught inside
it. So liligi ni beti beside the water, sara ni tuana under his feet.
Florida. Conjunctions. 537
X. CONJUNCTIONS.
The Copulative is ma, and maia ; Disjunctive, pa ; Conditional
and Illative ge. There is no Adversative.
These three Conjunctions ma, pa, ge shift their Vowels when
they come before the Verbal Particles te, ke ; and the two first drop
their Vowel and coalesce with the Preposition i, or with the Prefix
«, a, of Pronouns, or with the Verbal Particles e, &c.
For example : te turinunu tua me te sule na Tiina it was already noon and
the heat was great, ma becomes me before te; migoe to vahagi, po to vola soo ?
and you, are you sick, or are you well ? pa becomes po before to. Similarly,
the Conjunctions become mu, mo, before tu, to, ku, Tco ; pu, pe, before leu, Ice,
&c. ; and are ma, pa, before the Plural Particles, ta, tai, kau, tara, &c. The
question is whether in these cases the Vowel of the Conjunction is assimilated
to that of the following Particle, or whether the Verbal Particle, u, o, e, is
combined with the Conjunction ; and assimilation is shown to be more pro-
bable by the use of ma, pa, before tara, Jcara, &c.
The Conjunctions combine with the Particles, u, o, e ; mu mua rigia and I
did not see, e sakai pe rua one or two.
The Conjunctions ma and pa combine with the Preposition i, dropping their
own Vowel ; mivei and where, pivei or where, mi taeni and now, i lau pi lona
seawards or landwards. Similarly mi nau, pi nau, and I, or I, ma gaia, pa
gaia, and he, or he, show m- p- combined with the Prefixes i, a.
The Conjunction ge becomes gu before leu, go before Tco, but does not change
before Tta, kai, Icau, Jcara. It remains also sometimes unchanged ; ge Jcu
tanomana Ice, mu Jcu gonia if I should be able I shall do it. When the Verbal
Particle is e, not Jce, the Conjunction does not change ; ge u, ge o, ge a, ge ai,
ge au ; but it combines with au and ara, gau, gara ; but also ge ra.
The meaning of ge is double, conditional 'if,' and illative 'that;' the first
is simple, the latter is not always plain. There is always illative force in this
latter, but sometimes as declarative, sometimes consequential ; e gua ge o tani ?
why are you crying ? why is it that you cry ? Tco neu ge Jcu puJcua make me to
understand, that I may understand. As declarative it is used in narrative
with a new stage in the story ; ge ra gagua so they said, ge tuguru gaia, so he
got up, &c. The Conjunctions ge and ma are used together ; te gerei raini ge
ma Jcau talutuni these are written that ye may believe.
It may be doubted whether ba is not more properly an Adverb than a Con-
junction, though it must often be translated 'if;' ge kau ba gilalai na lei
totobo ini ge Icau nia togotogo Jcau ba Jcabarigi if you knew these things you
would rejoice if you did them ; aJiei te ke ba Jiovegu whoever may reject me.
It is a Particle showing hesitation.
Other words are used as connectives, which are not strictly Conjunctions ;
sdkeragi afterwards, mugua.
There is no sign of Quotation before the words quoted ; but
after the words ' says he,' ' said I,' is constantly introduced ; e vania
said he to him, ko vanira you shall say to them ; e gagua said he,
538 Melanesian Grammars.
shows the use of a word which means to do rather than to say ; e a
is often thus used after words reported; a is evidently a Verb.
When Verbs follow one another without a Conjunction the sense
which would be given by a relative Pronoun is conveyed; tara
sirou tara batobatou they look on me, they mock me, i. e. they look
on me whom they mock ; but tara sirou mara batobatou they look
on me and mock me.
XI. NUMEBALS.
1. Cardinals ; one sakai, two rua, three tolu, four vati, five lima,
six ono, seven vitu, eight halu, nine hiua, ten hanavulu; twelve
hanavulu rua ; twenty rua hanavulu ; a hundred hanalatu, a thou-
sand toga.
1. In counting, a series is begun with Tceha, not sakai. The word silci, used
as an Indefinite Pronoun, is the same Numeral ; sometimes the two go to-
gether ; taho silci sakai not a single one, any one. 2. Another form is rulca.
All these Numerals are used as Verbs with the Particle e ; e sakai, e rua,
e ruJca, e hanavulu ; ara hanavulu, when persons are spoken of. In hanavulu
rua twelve, the Numerals are simply accumulated, as they are for larger
numbers. But a Verb sara, to come to, is often introduced after ten and a
hundred ; hanavulu e sara rua ten, two has come to it, i. e. twelve ; e sakai no,
hanalatu, me sara lima hanavulu, tolu, a hundred and fifty-three, one is the
hundred, and there has come to it five tens, three.
For a very large indefinite sum mola is used. As in Fiji there are special
designations for certain objects counted in tens ; ten canoes na ffobi, also ten
puddings ; ten pigs, birds, fish, opossums, na paga ; ten cocoa-nuts, breadfruit,
crabs, shell-fish, na pigu ; ten baskets of food na banara ; ten baskets of nuts
na mola ; ten bunches of bananas na gaibala. When these words are used,
the name of the object, canoes, pigs, &c., is not mentioned. Another word,
parego, is used for any things in tens.
There is a set of Numerals used in a game at Olevuga : one eta, two ura,
three lotu, four tavi, five nila, six noa, seven tivu, eight rau, nine beta, ten
taleri. Of these, two, three, four, five, six, seven, are the common Numerals
by metathesis ; eta may be tea in the same way ; the others are remarkable,
and are not Numerals used in Savo, or, as far as is known, in any neighbouring
island. Compare the Mota Numerals, p. 309.
2. Ordinals are formed by adding ni to the Cardinals ; kehani
first, ruani second. There is also the termination ga making an
Adjective, ruaga second, or rather secondary ; and na is used as
well as ni ; ruana second.
3. There is no Multiplicative ; e tolu na neana three the doing
of it, three times ; e tolu na taba ni bosa three the succession,
literally, layers, of speaking, to speak three times ; e tolu na tuguru
ni gagua to do something three times, three the standing of the
doing.
Florida. Exclamations, Expletives. 539
XII. EXCLAMATIONS, EXPLETIVES.
1. Affirmative and Negative Exclamations are eo ! and tdho I
That of address to a Person is ge ! with the Personal Article a gel
There are many cries of astonishment, pain, excitement, which are
not easily defined. Such are are ! ree ! of pain, ake I akeke I of
astonishment ; ke, kekei, pain ; eee I of excitement ; gui of lamenta-
tion ; ina ? interrogation, but also a kind of mark of the close of a
subject, as in a letter after each sentence or topic finished; inu,
inuu, ino in wailing ; sania ! let it alone, away from it, a Verb.
The Negative, as in Mota, is used to express astonishment ; na
mua lei niulu ! how many are the years ! literally, not the years.
In Florida speech what may be termed oaths are very common.
Besides those which are obscene most of these have reference to
the food forbidden to the particular ' gens ' to which the speaker
belongs, his buto ; butogu ! my forbidden food ! gania na butogu !
may I eat my buto ; or to ghosts supposed to be powerful, Daula !
Bolojxmina ! gania Hauri 1 let Hauri eat it ! or ghosts generally,
tidalo tabu ! sacred ghost ; or to mothers ; tinada ! our mothers !
tinagu te vdhuu ! by my mother that bore me !
2. Words which may be called expletives, because hardly trans-
latable, are full of meaning, and in other use some of them are
simple Adverbs; sugua to be sure; vamua only, vagua, mugua.
The following sentence illustrates the last word ; mivei mugua ku
gagua ge ku soko na ganaganaamu ? ku mate mugua ; taho ke,
muku got rigia matamu mugua; but what, I wonder, shall I be
about that I should come to an end of thinking of you ? I shall
die rather ; if not so, then I shall in that case see your face.
31. GUADALCANAR, VATURAJVA.
The language or dialects of the large Island of Guadalcanar, so
far as they are known, fall into two groups, viz. those which
resemble the language of San Cristoval and those which
resemble that of Florida. Of the language of the back of the
island, looking southwards, nothing is known. The language of
Gera, which is divided from San Cristoval by a width of Strait
about equal to that which separates it from Malanta, belongs to
the same group with the languages of "Wawo, Ulawa, and Saa,
Nos. 26, 27, 28, and is represented by Von der Gabelentz in his
' Melanesischen Sprachen.'
540 Melamsian Grammars.
There are three dialects spoken on the North-Western end of
Guadalcanar and the coast which is opposite to Florida, viz. those
of (raobata, Visale, and Vaturawa. The two latter differ but little
between themselves, and probably not very much from (?aobata,
though the Vaturawa people say the difference is considerable.
All three are closely allied to Florida. The dialect spoken at
Vaturawa prevails round the end of Guadalcanar as far as Savulei,
looking out upon Pavuvu. Beyond that, according to the Vaturawa
people, a very different tongue is spoken.
There is a certain connection between the speech of Vaturawa
and that of the neighbouring Savo, but rather in phonology and
in Vocabulary than in Grammar, in which indeed it mostly agrees
with Florida. It has the remarkable characteristic of making
certain changes of letters with the latter language ; the Florida g
is h in Vaturawa, and the Florida h is s in Vaturawa ; Florida liege
is Vaturawa sehe.
I. ALPHABET.
1. Vowels. — a, e, i, o, u.
2. Consonants. — k, g; t, d=nd; p, b=mb, v; m, n, w; r, 1;
h, B, j, z.
I. The disappearance of the Melanesian g, so common and distinct at Florida,
is remarkable; it is not dropped, leaving a break, as e.g. in Wawo, but in
all words where Florida has g, Vaturawa has h. a. Sometimes the Florida
v is represented by b, baa for vaa ; and sometimes by p, pono for vono ; but
there is no regular change. 3. In some words common with Florida, 1 is
dropped ; tiddo = tidalo, mado'a = madola. 4. As g of Florida becomes h, so
h of Florida becomes s, by a regular change ; hai tree, habu blood, aso sun,
lisa rain, are Florida gai, gabu, aho, uJia. But it cannot be said that every h
and s in Vaturana is the equivalent of a corresponding g and h in Florida,
since the Vocabularies of the two languages are not the same. Since, then,
Florida g is h and Florida h is s in Vaturawa, the Florida s may naturally be
looked for in some other regular change ; this, however, does not occur ;
generally the Florida s is represented by j = ch in Vatura»a, Javo, jiji, for
Savo and sisi, but the Preposition tani, from, can not be taken as other than
the Florida sani. Nor must it be assumed that the Vaturawa language has
been, as a matter of history, changed from that of Florida ; rather, the same
original has come to both places, and variations have ensued. The sound
symbolized by j is the English ch. 5. The sound represented by z is not
always the same. At the beginning of a word, when no Vowel immediately
precedes it, it may be taken as equivalent to the English z, as in zare ; but in
the middle of a word n is heard. The sound thus strengthened by n is not
always the same ; in some words it is rather nz, in others nj, according to
English pronunciation: e.g. koaza = Jcoanza, moza = monja. It is probable
that further knowledge of the language will show this difference in sound to
Vaturana. Nouns, Pronouns. 541
agree with a difference in the correlative words in Florida and other allied
languages. In some words z stands for the aspirate ; xare, to speak, is hare,
Maewo ware.
II. ARTICLES.
1. Demonstrative Article, no,; but no before o; no bo a pig, no
Jioko speech.
2. Personal Article, a ; a Hodavi.
III. N OUNS.
1. There is of course the division of Nouns into those which
take, and do not take, the suffixed Pronoun.
There is no form of Verbal Substantive; na mategw my death, na vati
haluvena his being pitied, na pedehira their being judged ; the Verbs mate,
haluve, pede, are Nouns without change of form.
2. A Noun follows and qualifies another ; na vale vatu a stone
house.
The genitive relation is conveyed by the Preposition na ; duva na manu a
bird's wing, vuvua na Jiai fruit of a tree. Compare 6?ao and Duke of York.
3. Plural. — For things the Plural sign is manaume, a collective
Noun ; na ome manaume things, a lot of things. For persons the
Pronoun hira is added ; tinoni a man, tinoni hira men, ' man they.'
Totality is expressed by popono, Florida vono, Mota wono ; na vera popono
the whole country. Another word is Tcode ; na vera hira Icode all the lands,
hita na mane Icode we are all men, exclusively.
IV. PKONOUNS.
1. Personal Pronouns.
Singular, i. inau; 2. ihoe; 3. aia.
Plural, i. incl. ihita, excl. ihami; 2. ihamu; 3. hira.
Dual, i. incl. kuta, excl. kuami; 2. kuamu; 3. kura.
1 . There is no Trial ; tolu three, is prefixed to the Plural ; tolu hita we
three. 2. The Prefix i may be omitted ; hita, hami, hamu. 3. The Pronoun is
that of Florida, except the Third Person ; in the Singular the demonstrative
ga is not present ; in the Plural hi=gi is the same Prefix which appears in the
Florida first inclusive gita, hita, the true Pronoun being ta and ra. 4. The
Dual is remarkable ; the Prefix Jcu may be taken as representing the Numera
ruka two.
2. Pronouns suffixed to Verbs and Prepositions.
Singular, i. au; 2. ho; 3. a.
i. Some Verbs, as in Florida, have the Suffix which is applied to Nouns ; tu
molo tutunina I believe it or him, not tutunia. 2. The Verb does no
always, as it does in Florida, take a suffixed Pronoun when the object is
542 Melanesian Grammars.
otherwise expressed ; e labuvi su sehena lie killed himself, not labuvia.
3. There is no Suffix i, gi, of things in the Plural, as in Florida ; sometimes
there is no Suffix, na sava o goni ? what are you doing ? with reference to
many things ; or hira stands for things as well as persons ; rei hira look at
them, those things, au matahuni hira na ome hira I fear those things.
3. Pronouns suffixed to Nouns.
Singular, i. gu; 2. mu; 3. na.
Plural, i. incl. da; excl. mami; 2. miu; 3. dira.
In the Dual ko, not ku, in the Trial, tolu, is prefixed ; ko kimada,
tolu kimada, hands of us two, of us three.
4. Demonstrative Pronouns.
A general Demonstrative is na ; the precise position pointed to
is not ascertained in denu, plural hira denu, and in nene, nunu, aia
nunu, plural hira nunu; but deni= Florida eni, nunu= Florida
keri ; tadinu ' that,' and ' there/
5. Interrogative Pronouns.
Of persons, a sei, plural asei hira ? who ? Of things na hua ?
a Noun, what ? Both are Indefinite also.
In asking a person's name mea is used, as harm in Florida ; a mea ? what
is his name ? The same word, like hanu, is used in place of a name ; na mea
na aia mea ? the person there, what is his name ? In Maori mea has much
the same use.
V. POSSESSIVES.
The Possessive Nouns are two ; ni of general relation, ha of
closer relation, as of food. To these a is sometimes, as elsewhere,
prefixed ; anigu, ahagu.
Singular, nigu my, nimu thy, nina his ; Plural, dida, nimami our, nimiu
your, dira their. As in Florida n changes to d before da and ra. There is
not, as in Florida, an added a to gu and mu ; hagu, hamu, nigu, nimu.
VI. ADJECTIVES.
1 . Simple Adjectives are used ; vale loki a large house, vale
tetelo or teteo small house ; but Adjectives are commonly in verbal
form.
2. The termination ha is common; habu blood, habuha bloody.
3. Comparison is made with the Preposition ta, and with the
Adverb va ; no bo loki ba ta na bohu a pig is larger than a rat. So
loki ba larger, too large. Superlative meaning is given by
Adverbs ; loki sata very large, too large ; tetelo le very, too, small ;
and by a Noun ; na mena le a very little ; mena teteo very small.
Vaturana. Verbs. 543
VII. VEKBS.
1. Verbal Particles are two; in the Third Person Singular e and
ke ; the former indefinite in regard to time, the latter future.
The forms the Particles assume are as follows : —
(1) e. — Singular, i. au; 2. o; 3. e. Plural, i. incl. a, excl. hami;
2. hamu; 3. ara.
(2) ke. — Singular, i. kau; 2. ko; 3. ke. Plural, i. incl. ka,
excl. kami; 2. kamu; 3. kara.
With the Dual only ko is used; kuta ko maumauri we two are
alive, kura ko vano they two go; with the Third Person ra is
sometimes added; kura rako vano.
These Particles differ from those of Florida, inasmuch as they are more
nearly the Pronouns ; hami, hamu are full forms, unlike gai, gau.
The Particles coalesce with the Conjunctions as in Florida. To
mark the Past, completion of the act, the Adverb noho is added :
are mate noho, they are dead, have died. This is no doubt the
Maori noho to sit.
The Future form, ke, is used for the Imperative ; ko vano mo ko
ba reia go and see him.
2. Prefixes. — i. Causative, va; maumauri to live, vamaumauri
to save. 2. Reciprocal, vei; ara vei laulabuhi they strike one
another. 3. Of Condition, ta; tabosa come open. 4. Spontaneity,
tapa ; tapatahuru stand up.
3. Suffixes. — i. Consonantal, hi; labu to strike, labuhi to strike
something ; vi ; labuvi to strike, hanavi to shut ; ni ; matahu fear,
matahunia fear him ; si ; tarn to weep, tanisia weep for him ; li ;
sake up, sahelia go up into it ; mi ; rono to feel a sensation, ronomi
to hear, listen to. 2. Syllabic; vahi; toutu to sit, totouvahi to set;
lahi ; vose to paddle, voselahi nia na vaka paddle a canoe ; ni as in
Florida being used after these suffixes.
4. Negative Verbs ; the Negative Particle is tau ; e tau mate he
is not dead. The Cautionary or Prohibitive isjika, Florida sika in
the phrase nia sika to hate ; jika no hoko don't speak, literally, (let)
speech (be) a thing rejected.
5. Reflective Verbs are made with su back ; e labuvi su sehena he
killed himself; sehe=- Florida hege.
6. Reduplication, as in Florida, drops a Consonant; labu, lau-
labu.
544 Melanesia** Grammars.
VIII. ADVEEBS.
Adverbs of Motion hither and outwards mat and atu, or tatu',
with many others little differing from Florida. Time; ta na nisa,
when ; kalinade now ; nera, to-day, of past time ; Jce neni when of
future time ; i no to-morrow ; Tee dani to-morrow morning ; Jce
ruka boni day after to-morrow ; mu yet, e tau mate mu he is not
yet dead. Of Place; iava where, tadi there ; sahe up, Tiotu (Florida
gotu a hill), up. Of Manner; e hua ? why ? the Verbal Particle
changing with the Person, o hua ? why do you, &c. ; mu only,
Florida vamua, Jcesa mu all one ; hoi again, repetition ; Jioto also,
of addition; iava Jce Jcoaza? how?=zvei te vaga? e Jcoaza na sava?
like what ? how ?
IX. PKEPOSITIONS.
I. Simple; Locative, i; Genitive, ni, na; Instrumental, hint.
2. Verbs; Motion to, wm; from, tani; against, kaputi. 3. Nouns;
relation, ta, Jcone.
i. The Locative i is seen in iava where ; i hotu above, i lao below. 2. ni,
as in Florida ; no Tiolco ni Javo the speech of Savo, na vale ni moza the eating-
house. 3. Examples given, Nouns III. 2, show the Preposition na, but are not
enough to establish it, for it might be possible to take the words as duvana
manu, vuvuana Jiai, making na the suffixed Pronoun. But in (?ao, where the
suffixed Pronoun is gna, there can be no room for such an interpretation.
3. Tiini is identical with gini of the New Hebrides and Fagani, which is not
known at Florida ; ara labu matesia ; Jiini na hua f hini na tila they beat
him to death ; with what ? with a club.
Verbs become Prepositions and correspond to the Florida words sani, vani,
punisi ; taniau from, away from, me, tani Mra ara mate from those (who) are
dead ; zare vaniau speak to me ; Jco jiJca tu Jcaputiau don't stand in my way,
against me.
As in Florida ta is a Noun used to represent any relation ; te juna ta na
•valena he has gone out of his house ; Jco jilca molo leliami ta na tabotabo let
us not go into temptation ; aia te sake ta na valena he has gone up into his
house ; e totou ta na Jiai na manu the bird sits on a tree. The suffixed Pro-
noun shows Tcone a Noun ; konegu by, with, me.
Compound Prepositions, such as t laona inside, need not be considered.
Nouns without a Preposition are used in the same way; Una beside, linn
madoana at the right side ; vavana underneath ; polina above.
X. CONJUNCTIONS.
Copulative, ma, and maia; Disjunctive, pa; Conditional and
Illative, ti ; of Consequence, ge.
As in Florida ma and pa combine with Verbal Particles and Adverbs ; me
mate, mara beJcua, me sivo and he died, and they buried him, and he went
Vatura&a. Numerals, Exclamations. 545
down ; miava and where, piava or where ; talana pe taulaka 1 good or bad ?
Ico tona moko ba reia go and see him.
Probably ti is si of Banks' Islands ; ti Tcau tanomana ma Tcau gom if I can
I will do (it) ; e zare vaniau ti kau vano he told me that I was to go. The
Conjunction of consequence is the same with that of Florida ; e hua ge o
ronomi hira ? why is it that you listen to them ? na sava Tcau gonia ge kau
tanoli na maurisali ? what shall I do that I may obtain life ? e zare vaniau
ge kau vano he told me to go.
XI. NUMERALS.
1. Cardinals; one kesa, two ruka, three tolu, four vati, fivejehe,
six ono, seven vitu, eight alu, nine siu, ten sanavulu, twelve sana-
vulu ruka ; twenty ruka patu, thirty tolu sanavulu ; a hundred
sanatu ; a hundred and twenty-three kesa sanatu, ruka pa.tu, tolu ;
a thousand toha. Interrogative and Indefinite e nisa ? how many ?
BO many.
The Numeral jehe is singijlaff and unexplained ; patu is probably an older
word displaced by sanavulu ; sanatu is hanalatu with 1 dropped. There are
expressions for sets of ten ; pigu ten cocoa-nuts. For a very great number
they say na rau na hai leaves of a tree.
2. Ordinals are formed by adding ni to Cardinals ; kehani first,
jeheni fifth. From nisa is formed nisani quotus, standing in what,
or in such, a place in the series. Ordinals stand for multiplica-
tives ; msani how, or so, many times, quoties.
XII. EXCLAMATIONS.
Affirmative eo ! Negative taJiara.
At Ruavatu, a place near Gaobata, the Personal Pronouns are :
Singular, I. inau ; 2. goe ; 3. ^eia.
Plural, I. incl. tugita, excl. tugami ; 2. tugamu ; 3. geira,, tuira.
Dual, I. incl. kogita, excl. kogami ; 2. kogamu ; 3. koira.
The Prefix tu in the Plural corresponds to ko in the Dual, and possibly
may represent three.
The Pronouns suffixed to Verbs are in the Singular u, go, a ; those suffixed
to Nouns are no doubt g«, mu, na ; tagua is with me, nimua thine.
Verbal Particles are almost as in Florida, tu, to, te, ta, tami, tamu, tara,
without temporal signification, and the corresponding Future ku, ko, &c. In
the Dual ko is added ; ta ko, tami ko, tamu ko, tara ko ; and similarly with
a Trial, ta tu, &c.
Demonstrative Pronouns are deni this, deri that.
The Genitive Preposition is, as in Vaturawa, na ; lime na manu wing of a
bird, vae na be pig's house.
The word vae = vale shows that 1 is dropped, as in Vaturawa. As in the
neighbouring part of Florida h becomes dh ; dhau afar.
N n
546 Melanesia*, Grammars.
32. YSABEL, BUGOTU.
Bugotu is the name of a small district at the South-Eastern
extremity of the large Island of Ysabel. The language is very
similar to that of Florida. It is this which, as the language of
Mahaga, is given in the ' Melanesischen Sprachen' of Von der
Gahelentz ; Mahaga being a village in Bugotu now deserted. The
area in which the language is spoken is small ; the sketch of the
language of GQ.O which follows will show that the neighbouring
tongues are very dissimilar. The language of Bugotu, as spoken
at Mahaga, was well known to Bishop Patteson, who left a fuller
account of this perhaps than of any other Melanesian language,
and from whose notes, printed however in the first year of his
acquaintance with it, the account given by Von der Gabelentz is
taken. The short Grammar that follows was independently made,
and with the assistance of natives has been compared with the
examples of the language printed by Bishop Patteson, as he took it
down from the mouths of his earliest scholars. It is interesting to
have proof in this case that the Bishop, with a few mistakes in
spelling, perhaps in printing, wrote what is now the correct language
of the place. There was in the intervening twenty years no
printed literature to fix the language. There is now a short
Prayer Book, printed under the care of the Rev. Alfred Penny,
of the Melanesian Mission.
Though the likeness between this language and that of Florida
is very great in the Grammar and in the Vocabulary, there is a
considerable difference in the latter; Bugotu has many words
which are altogether foreign to Florida, as in the names of such
common objects as fire and fish. Phonologically the two languages
do not differ much, though the presence of f, j, gn, in Bugotu
materially affects the sound, and dh stands for 1 instead of h.
Bugotu also has the singular characteristic of throwing the accent
backwards to the antepenultimate, though by no means as a rule.
I. ALPHABET.
1. Vowels. — a, e, i, o, u.
2. Consonants.— k, g, g; t, d, j, th; p, b, v, f; m, n, n, gn; r,
1; s, h.
I. There is no hard g, though, as in other languages, the nasal character of
g may be missed when it does not immediately follow a Vowel. 2. d ia
generally nd, but it is sometimes a pure d. This variation does not seem to
Bugotu. Articles, Nouns. 547
be local and dialectical. It is rather that certain families or sets of people use
d rather than nd. Compare the corresponding sounds at Arag. 3. The sound
of j to some extent follows that of d ; j is in some mouths the English j, in
others nj. The sound of the English ch is heard also in words where j would be
written ; but only some natives use this sound in some words, and it probably
represents t rather than d. That j in Bugotu corresponds ordinarily to d in
Florida, though not to every d, is plain ; jufu = dutu, jaoigna = dania. 4. The
sound represented by th is that of the soft English th. It would be natural
to write it dh, but that the native d has, as a rule, n with it. To write dh,
therefore, would suggest n ; and the native t is softer than the English. This
sound in Bugotu represents 1 in Florida ; botho a pig, bolo ; thab'u to strike,
labu ; but every Florida 1 is not th here, lima a hand. Karely th represents
Florida h; thaba = J$o\\ haba, Gaeta thaba; and it may be doubted whether
the word is correct. It is not to be supposed that there has been a change
from Florida 1 to Bugotu th ; thepa, the ground, is not represented in Florida,
but is the Mota lepa. 5. By some b is sounded pure, but it is generally
strengthened by m ; f stands for Florida v and Tp,farafa,fufutu are varava
and puputu ; but f in Bugotu is perhaps more commonly found in words not
common with Florida. 6. The sound represented by gn is that of the Spanish
n. If it were not the established custom in languages of this region to write
n with two dots over it for the sound of ng, it would be natural to use n ; but
it would be difficult in writing to distinguish. On this account, probably,
Bishop Patteson wrote ni ; but the sound of gania na vana, eat the food, is
different from that of gagna na vana food for his eating ; and the use of gn
has been introduced. It is a change from n ; gniku nest, Florida niJcu, Mota
II. AETICLES.
i. The Demonstrative Article is na. 2. The Personal a.
I. As in Florida na Bugotu, na Mahaga, are the Bugotu, Mahaga, people.
There is no Plural ra na as in Florida. 2. The Personal Article applies to
male and female alike. It gives a nama ; a tupi gaMra the stone-cutter.
III. NOUNS.
1. There are those which take, and those which do not take, the
Suffixed Pronoun.
2. Verbal Substantives are not very frequent in this language ;
they are formed by suffixing a to the Verb ; hiro to seek, hiroa
a seeking, Jiiroagu seeking me, Mroana seeking him; gotihi to
break, gotihia breaking, gotigotihiadia their being broken.
The Verb in form of a Noun is often used where a Verbal Substantive
would be used in Florida ; theTie to die, thehegu, ihehegna, my, his, death, or
being killed ; rei to see, na reireigna the seeing of it ; jufu to approach, ma
na Jcomi nigna tinoni Jcena vano jufugna and his men come approaching him,
literally, his being approached. It cannot be said that a Verb thus used as a
Noun takes the place of a Verb in a sentence ; but a word used as a Verb,
with Verbal Particle, seems to be so far a Noun in native view that it can
N n 2
54$ Melanesian Grammars.
take a Suffixed Pronoun like a Noun ; atu, kati regia kenugua na vuvuhu,
kati reireida, come, let us see to-day the firing, let us see for ourselves,
literally, our seeing ; like atu ! sapada i tagna come, let us go down to it,
our going down.
In translations as printed, and in some of Bishop Patteson's examples, the
Suffixed Pronouns gna and dia cannot be thus satisfactorily explained; nafata
ko vetulagamigna Jciti eia the things that thou hast commanded us that we
shall do, though here possibly gna should be nia, the Preposition ; ko ei tokea
gamigna improve us, make us good ; mi nau ku veleragna and I said to them ;
ko eiradia govu thou didst make them all, eira made them, dia is further
suffixed ; ke tarairadiagna na komi hagore gougovu he taught them with all
savings, taraira taught them, gna may be taken as nia, with, but dia is
« their.'
3. One Noun qualifies another without ceasing to be a Noun ;
na vathe gahira a house (of) stone. A genitive relation requires
a Preposition ni or i.
4. Plural. — The Noun komi, an assemblage, is used when
plurality requires to be expressed ; na komi tinoni the men. See
Duke of York kumi.
The construction of na komi tinoni is that of na vathe gahira, an assemblage
of men. Natives will not naturally express plurality, except when it is posi-
tively required ; a native composition will seldom have komi ; a translation
from Mota or English will have it often, and other words as well, such as
govu, gougovu ; na komi mono gougovu lands, countries. The meaning of
govu is complete, and gougovu should not be used except when ' all ' is meant ;
me ke vaaura tagna na thehehaihavi govu saves them from all accidents.
Totality is expressed by udolu ; na mono udolu the whole country ; sethe,
suku, are ' many.'
IV. PRONOUNS.
1. Personal Pronouns.
Singular, i. inau; 2. igoe; 3. ia, (manea).
Plural, i. incl. igita, excl. igami; 2. igamu; 3. iira (maraira).
Dual, i. incl. rogita, excl. rogami; 2. rogamu; 3. roiira.
I. The Prefix i can be dropped. 2. The true Third Person Singular is ia,
and Plural ira ; but these are commonly only used of females, other words,
which are not properly Pronouns, being generally used of males. For the
Third Singular, i manea, manea, is no doubt mane male. For the Third
Plural, i maraira, maraia, marea, maria, are used, words which are in fact
Nouns, meaning a collection of men, and may have the Article na ; the Suffix
ra is Pronominal. The construction of these words as Nouns sometimes treats
them as Singular ; ko eia gua i maraia thou makest (it) them again, the
Pronoun suffixed to the Verb is Singular ; maraia also, as the subject of the
sentence, may have the Singular Verbal Particle ; gadia mara ke sede the
food of them who are many. But as a collective Noun it has the Pronoun and
Verbal Particle generally Plural ; i maria kena jefejefe i tagna na jao they
Bugotu. Pronouns, Possessives. 549
wandered in the unoccupied country ; me nagovira i marea tagna na TiatTiautu
kejino and he led them in the right road. 3. The Dual is simple. There ia
no Trial of a distinct character ; when three are spoken of tolu precedes the
Plural Pronoun, and when four vati.
2. Pronouns suffixed to Verbs.
Singular, i. u; 2. go; 3. a. Plural, 3. ra.
As is usual, there are no separate forms for the First and Second Plural.
When the object of a Verb is expressed, it is still the rule to suffix the appro-
priate Pronoun ; kati regia na vaka we see (it) the ship ; Tee vele puhiu inau
he scolded (me) me.
3. Pronouns suffixed to Nouns.
Singular, i. </u ; 2. mu; 3. gna.
Plural, i. incl. da, excl. mami; 2. miu; 3. dia.
Thus limagu my hand, limamu thy hand, and so on. In the Dual ro is
prefixed to the Noun, rolimada the hands of us two. So also tolu limamami
the hands of us three.
4. Demonstrative Pronouns.
laani, iaeni this ; iraani, iraeni these ; ianeni that, iraneni those.
The Pronoun is eni, ani, neni ; i maraira ani these persons, i ma~
raira neni those. There are also eri and geri this, or that,
generally Demonstrative ; na marai those persons.
A Demonstrative at the end of a sentence is na.
5. Interrogative Pronouns.
Of Persons hai, ahai, plural arahai ? who ? Of things hava, na
Jiava ? what ?
6. Indefinite Pronouns.
The Interrogatives hai and hava are also Indefinite, but the
Demonstrative would be rather used. The Numeral sikei, siki, si,
is used for any one or anything, si na tinoni, sikei fata', si is also
' a different one,' one this, one that ; kekeha is some ; kekeha tinoni
some men.
V. POSSESSIVES.
The Possessive Nouns used when a Pronoun cannot be suffixed
are ni and ga, of general and more intimate relation. The Pro-
noun is suffixed to these in the first and second Singular as gua,
mua.
i. It is important to observe that ni has almost invariably an Article of its
own, distinct from that of the Noun with which it is used, showing its true
character as a Noun ; na nigua na fata a thing of mine, na nimwa na tinoni
thy men, na nidia na piru their ropes. As in Florida, didia is used as well
as nidia. As in Florida, also, ni is used after Verbs ; i marea kena regia nidia
550 Melanesian Grammars.
they see for themselves. 2. go, applies to food and drink ; na gada na vana
our food, na gamua na bea water for you to drink. It does not apply to
enemies, but it does to relatives ; gagua na tamatahi a member of my family.
VI. ADJECTIVES.
1. Adjectives generally appear in the form of Verbs, but there
are words which are used to qualify directly without Verbal
Particles ; vathe hutu, vathe iso, large house, small house. These
also can be used in verbal form ; rahai kena tano nidia na fata
govu kori horara hutu whosoever do their business in the great
sea ; ma na horara gua ke hutu me ke tavotha and the great and
wide sea also, the sea (which) is great and wide.
2. Comparison is made with vano and the Preposition ta; na
botho ke hutu vano tagna na kuhi a pig is larger than a rat ; ke
hutu vano it is bigger, i. e. big beyond. For the Superlative puala,
and fofogna, the latter borrowed from £ao; hutu puala, toke
fofogna, very big, very good. There is also rae ; e roe hutu, e rae
iso, too large, too small.
VII. VERBS.
1 . Verbal Particles. — These are two, characterized by e and ke ;
both devoid of Tense. They change with Number and Person.
e.— Singular, i. u; 2. o; 3. e. Plural, i. incl. ati, excl. iti;
2. oti; 3. ena. Dual, i. incl. oro, excl. uru; 2. — ; 3. oro.
ke. — Singular, i. ku; 2. ko; 3. ke. Plural, i. incl. kati, excl.
kiti; 2. koti; 3. kena. Dual; koro, kuru, koro. Trial; kotolu,
kutolu, kotolu.
The changes in the Singular are the same as with the Florida Verb ; the
Plural is different. In the First and Second Persons U is added, which is no
doubt the same which appears in the Plural Pronouns of 6?ao, and as t with
those of Duke of York. The Suffix na of the Third Person cannot be ex-
plained. In oti and ena the stems o and e are no doubt the same as the
Singular. It is possible, but not customary, to use ti alone with the First and
Second Plural, the Verb then having no Verbal Particle.
The forms of the Dual and Trial are here incomplete and questionable.
As in Florida, the Verbal Particles beginning with, or consisting of, a
Vowel coalesce with the Conjunctions ma, pa, ge ; ma u becomes mu, ma o
mo, and so me, mati, miti, moti, mena, pu, gu, &c. The Vowel of the Con-
junctions shifts to match that of Verbal Particles beginning with k ; mu lew,
pu Jcu, me Ite, mo koti, &c.
2. The future is signified by adding da to the Particle ke; ku
da, ko da, ke da, kati da, &c. Sometimes for kena da is said ke
da na.
Bugotu. Verbs, Adverbs. 551
3. The Past is marked by the Adverb gohi; kena thehe gohi they
are dead already.
4. The Imperative is sometimes the Verb without a Particle, or
the Future form with da.
5. The Negative Particle is bosi or boi, introduced between the
Verbal Particle and the Verb ; igami kiti boi eia na fata we have
not done the thing, na havi ke bosi mono tamami life does not
abide with us.
The Negative Particle can qualify a Noun as well as a Verb ; na boi tinoni
not a man.
The Prohibitive is sa, sagoi ; sagoi fiilau do not steal.
6. Prefixes. — i. Causative, va', havi to live, vahavi to save, au to
go out, vaau to make to go out, sopou to sit, vasopou to set, seat.
2. Keciprocal, vei; veithabuthabu beat one another. 3. Of Condition,
ma ; sipa to pull out a plug, masipa come out of itself as a plug.
7. Suffixes transitive and determining the action on the subject
are numerous ; Jii ; tarn to weep, tamhia weep for him ; vi ; haidu
to come together, maraira kena haiduviu they come together
against me ; dotho to have tender feeling, dothovi to love someone ;
nago front, me nagovira he went in front of them ; mi ; iju to count,
ijumi to count certain objects ; li ; hage up, hagelia na vaka go up
on a ship ; ti ; gnovo to shake, Neuter, gnovotia na garatu shake a
spear ; gi ; kia to laugh, kiagi to laugh at ; sokara to rise, vaso-
karagi to raise. After this latter Suffix ni is added, so that it
becomes kiagi niu laugh at me, vasokaragi nia raise it up. There
is also the Suffix hagi, also followed by ni ; oboti and obohagi have
the stem 060 ; na bea gougovu kena obotira hadi kori suasupa the
waters flood up over the hills ; kena da obohagi nia na thepa they
will flood the land. For ni see Florida.
8. Reflective Verbs. — The Adverb tabiru, back, is used with gehe,
Florida hege self; manea ke vathehe tdbirua gehegna he killed
himself.
9. Reduplication has the same form as in Florida ; pilau to
steal, piajrilau go on stealing, hagore to speak, haohagore go on
speaking. The whole word or the first part of it may equally
be repeated without the omission of the Consonant ; filaupilau,
hagohagore.
VIII. ADVEBBS.
Some of Place, Time, and Manner, are as follows : —
i. Adverbs of direction, hither and outwards, mai and utu ; of direction,
seawards and landwards, lav, and lona; intermediate direction paka, eta.
552 Melanesian Grammars.
Adverbs of Place are the same as Demonstrative Pronouns; iani here, ie-
geni there, geri, gegeri there ; ivei where, a Noun, iveimu Tee vahagi ? what
part of you hurts you ? 2. Adverbs of Time : Tcenugua now, to-day, Ice agaieni
now ; geni, igeni to-day, of past time ; vugui to-morrow ; i gnotJia yesterday
(Florida nola), valiha day after to-morrow, valiha gohi day before yesterday,
vugei valiha hereafter. 3. By metathesis the Florida diJci is Jcidi, and gives
the meaning of beginning, doing for the first time. Phrases are used for
Adverbs of Manner ; Tee vaga like, Tee vagagna like it, so, vagagna no, hava ?
like what ? how ? hogogna as, literally, its fellow ; eigna na hava 1 ei to
make, why ? eigna because ; vuha to begin, na vuliagna because of it, on
account of ; bale hava 1 what for ? bale = Florida malei place for something.
The Negative Adverb is teo ; teo na ijumiagna na fata gougovu ke sethe \
Jcoragna there is not the counting of all the many things in it. The Affirma-
tive exclamation is hii !
IX. PREPOSITIONS.
These are i. Simple, 2. Nouns, 3. Verbs.
i. Simple; Locative, i, kori ; Genitive, ni, i', Instrumental, nia.
2. Nowns', taj with those making part of Compound Prepositions.
3. Verbs; vani, rigi, punusi, sani.
1 . i is Locative, but in accordance with the idiom of these languages (p. 160),
has sometimes to be translated ' from ; ' ivei Tee mono i manea where does he
live ? i Tega at Tega ; ivei ho taveti mai ? where have you come from ? i Tega
from Tega.
Jcori is very general ; Tcori vathe in the house ; i marea ge na jufu kori
. meleha i mono they then arrive at a place of abode ; Jcena sopou kori puni
they sit in the dark ; kori suasupa on the hills ; manea Ice rugw au Jcori vathe
he comes out of the house.
ni is not commonly used, being supplanted by i, which is identical in
meaning with it, and it must be presumed distinct from the Locative Preposi-
tion ; sagaro ni gai, or i gai, fruit of a tree. The same is used of a place ; i-
gita i Soffutu we of Bugotu. . >
nia is the same with the Florida word, but, unlike that, cannot be shown to
be a Verb. Its place in the sentence varies ; Tcoda vano gotigotihiadia nia
na tila thou shalt break them with a club ; na tilnt, iaani Jce thabuhia nia this
is the club he struck him with ; marea Jcena nia togotogo na sola they
rejoice at the calm. The latter example shows a sense not instrumental, but
common to Florida. The Preposition is also used as an Adverb ; Jco eia na
puni fee nia boni thou makest darkness, it is night thereby.
In translations written by a native, though not a practised writer, this
Preposition seems to have been confused with the Suffixed Pronoun gna ; Jco
Tmhasigogna na marara thou clothest thyself with light ; Jce eia na bea hutu
Jce vuhai moumolu vavahagna, me Jce eia na mono i vana ge vuhai tahigna
he makes rivers to become desert, and l^e makes the country of food to become
salt ; mena tariragna na piru and they tied them with a rope. These should
surely be huhasigo nia, vavaha nia, tahi nia, tarira nia, though the trans-
lator would not allow it.
2. ta, which is seen in Florida to be a Noun, never appears in Bugotu
Bugotu. Conjunctions, Numerals. 553
except as a Noun ; i.e. it is always tagna with the Suffixed Pronoun when it
comes before a Noun, and has the Suffixed Pronouns gua, mua, &c., when it
has the signification of ' with me,' ' with thee,' tagua, tamua. The use is of
very general relation ; na manu tagna na paraJco the birds of the air ; na
vana Ike da Jcotu (Mota totou) tagna na thepa food shall grow on the ground ;
i maria Jcena jefejefe i tagna na jao they wander in the forest ; Jcena hiroa
na gadia tagna i manea they seek their food from him, with him. The last
example might be Jcena hiroa i tagna, as sapada i tagna let us go down to it ;
in which ta is plainly a Noun with the Preposition i, as in i tagna na jao.
The many expressions which may be called Compound Prepositions are of
this character, when a Noun and Preposition are translated by an English
Preposition ; popo is a Noun, the upper region or side ; na bea Tee mono ipopo
i suasupa the water remains on the hill, shows it with the Preposition i. But
popo itself is used as a Preposition with the Suffixed Pronoun, popogna its
upper part ; na uha Tee uha popogna suasupa the rain rains on the hills. In
the same way sara, saragna under, kora, Tcoragna in, and many other Nouns
are used as Prepositions.
3. Prepositions which are really Verbs, are, as in Florida, punusi against,
vani, regi, to, dative and of motion, sani from.
X. CONJUNCTIONS.
Copulative, ma ; Disjunctive, ba ; of Consequence, ge, gi.
1. These coalesce with the Verbal Particle e, making me, be, mo, bo, go,
gena, &c. ; and assume the Vowel of the Particle before Tee, Jco, leu, &c.,
becoming mu, mo, bo, &c. There is no change, however, with gi ; it is gi u,
.gi.Jcu, gi Icena (giti = ge iti), gi Jcu da.
2. Examples of consequential significations : ko nia peo punusira gi Jcena
bosi gathaumia you fence against them so that they shall not pass over it ;
na oho Ice sogala hadi, na Jcomi tinoni gena au i tano the sun rises up, men
thereupon go out to work ; iira maraia Jcena pitugo igoe gi Jco Jcemulia
vanira gadia na vana they wait for thee with a view to thy giving out to
'them their food ; menagovira genajufu Jcori meleha and he led them so that
they arrived at the place ; Jcenugua boni giu totha na juta to-day when it is
night I shall thereupon light the lamp.
The sign of quotation is e a, or Tee a, says he, coming before or after the
sentence. There is no Conditional ; nau Jcu taveti mu Jcu hagore vania if I go
I will tell him, I go and I tell.
XI. NUMERALS.
1. Cardinals; one sikei, two rua, three tolu, four vati, five lima,
six ono, seven vitu, eight alu, nine hia, ten salage, twenty tutugu,
eleven salage sikei, twenty-one tutugu sikei ; thirty tolu haiaavulu ;
forty e rua tutugu ; a hundred hathanatu, si na Tiathanatu ; a thou-
sand toga.
In counting a series Jceha is used for ' one,' not siJcei ; si and sa are also
used for ' one.' The Cardinals from two to nine are used as Verbs, e ma, e
tolu, &c.; salage, (sa lage one set of ten), and tutugu a score, are Nouns.
554 Melanesian Grammars.
There is nothing to mark the unit above ten. For tens which cannot be
counted by scores, as forty, two score, can, hanavulu takes the place of salage ;
compare Fiji. By metathesis hathanatu = Florida hanalatu, and as the sense
is lost by the change, it may be presumed that the word is borrowed. The
Interrogative and Indefinite is niha.
2. Ordinals are formed by adding ni to Cardinals; ruani,
toluni. But e vitugna na mavitu is the seventh day.
There are no Multiplicatives ; Tco taveti me vitu na huamu tagna na lea
go, and seven are thy dippings in the water j me vitu na Jiuagna and seven
were his dippings.
XII. EXAMPLE.
This is the writing of a native scholar in Norfolk Island.
What that howl ? A steamer. Whence does it come hither ? England
Sava na guu geri ? na sitima. Ivei Ice turugu mai ? England
probably. What her name ? Nelson her name. Where is she anchored ?
tuni. Hai na ahagna ? Nelson na ahagna. Vei Tee piniti ?
At Cascades she is anchored. On ! let us to her ; just now the gun-fire, let us
Kasikete Tee piniti. Atu ! Jcati regia ; Jcenugua na vuvuhu, Jcati
see ourselves. Sounds one gun. What (exclamation) its sounding. Oh !
reireida. Tarn si na kukuro. Sava raee tanigna ! Ovi !
oh ! now I shall see a large steamer ; two are her smoke stacks, three are
ovi ! neneni gu regia na sitima Tee hutu ; e rua na bali ahugna, e tolu
her masts. On ! let us go down to her. Out hither, some of you see
na soJcaragna. Atu I sapada itagna. Soru mai, kekeha Tcoti reirei
what sort of ship is this, the gun, the smoke goes up in a mass. How many
v aJca na hava iaeni, na kukuro pugu utuni. E mha
are the men in her ? six are the hundreds, three the scores. What do they
na mane Jcoragna ? e ono na hathanatu, tolu tutugu. Na hava Tcena
eat, men many these ? Is it a ship or what ? an island surely that !
gania, na mane Tee sethe eni ? Na vaka ba na hava ? na moumolu gua eri !
We of Bugotu have not seen yet the guns that are in her. The
Igita i Bugotu ati boi regia mua na kukuro ke mono koragna. Sina-
appearance of her also, we are in awe at the sight of her. What is it that howls
thagigna gua, ati maunida na reireigna. Na hava ke guu
there ? A man or what ? No, howl that the likeness a man exactly
geri 1 Tinoni ba na hava ? Teo, gwu, geri na mutimara na tinoni jino
to be sure, not a steamer. To-day at night I will light up for you
gua, na boi sitima. Kenugua boni giu totha vanigamu
our lights these, and you shall see, says the Captain. Did you go
na nimami najuta eni, mo Tcoti reirei, e a na Kapiteni. 0 sapa
down to the beach to-day ? No. A man good are you, you heard the
i geni ? Teo. Na mane toke igoe, ko ronovia na
word of our father.
nagoregna tornado,.
Gao. Alphabet, Article, Nouns. 555
33. YSABEL, #AO.
The district of G&o adjoins Bugotu on the North side of the
point of the island above Nuro. The following brief account of
the language was obtained from the first single scholar who came
to Norfolk Island from Gao, through a Bugotu interpreter. It is
probably coloured by the medium, but it shows a language in
many respects different from that of Bugotu.
I. ALPHABET.
This is the same as that of Bugotu, with the addition of w and
z, and the loss of th.
I. There is a peculiar strengthening of 1 with k, g, and f ; Tclokla hair,
gZano the common lano fly, floflo tooth, which may be taken to be the Bugotu
livo. A word may be used with or without g, leme or gleme. 2 . There is a
tendency to leave out g, as in San Cristoval ; ba'esu a bow, Bugotu bage ; and
this is extended to k ; d£a bad, Bugotu dika. 3. The sound of j varies, as in
Bugotu; it is near ch injijia red, Florida sisi, and jau banana; injalatoga
hot, it is nj. 4. The reappearance of w shows the difference of this language
from those of Florida, Bugotu, &c. 5. The Bugotu th is pronounced z in ^ao,
and the Gao z was pronounced th by the Bugotu interpreter ; but z does not
represent the Bugotu th, i. e. generally the Florida 1 ; in gazu tree, it is s of
Fate, z of Malagasy.
II. AKTICLE.
The Demonstrative Article is na; na noni a man, na suga a
house.
There is no Personal Article ; with masculine names mae is used ; mae
Maniko.
III. NOUNS.
1. There are the two classes of Nouns, those that do, and those
that do not, take the Suffixed Pronoun.
2. There are no Verbal Substantives ; the Verb being used as a
Noun ; kinagae ame lemegna hereafter he will die, literally, it will
be his dying.
3. A genitive relation is conveyed by the juxtaposition of two
Nouns; klakla gazu leaf of tree, guli bosu skin of pig. The
Preposition na is also used ; bagi na naji wing of bird.
4. Plural signs are lei and joku ; lei na noni men, na suga joku
houses. The common word dolu expresses totality; na u dolu the
whole country ; na lau lana men only, no females.
556 Melanesian Grammars.
IV. PRONOUNS.
1. Personal Pronouns.
Singular, i. irei; 2. igoe ; 3. w-iee, (magne).
Plural, i. incl. tati, excl. geati; 2. goati; 3. iree.
DwaZ, i. zVicZ. tapalu, excl. gepalu; 2. gopalu ; 3. irepalu.
Trial, I. incl. tatolu, excl. gatolu; 2. gotolu; 3. iretolu.
The First Singular is strange. The Third Singular niee is the true Pro-
noun, but magne is used for males ; compare Bugotu. There is also maai, a
Noun, not a Pronoun. In the First and Second Plural the Suffix ti is no
doubt the same with ti in the Bugotu Verbal Particles ; compare Duke of
York Pronouns. The stems ta, ga, go, are ta and ga in gita and garni, and
the Singular go. In the Dual and Trial the Numerals take the place of ti.
2. Pronouns suffixed to Verbs.
Singular, i. gau; 2. go; 3. za. Plural, 3. ra.
The Bugotu gita, garni, gamu, are given for the First and Second Plural ;
and in the Singular za is probably the only certain (?ao form. In the Plural
tati, &c., can be used ; Jcofi tati, Jcofi geati see us. The Pronoun is suffixed
when the object is expressed ; kegra fagloniza siasigla stand against (it)
the light. Examples : igoe te Tcofigau thou seest me, lepo haraza speak
to him.
3. Pronouns suffixed to Nouns.
Singular, i. gu; 2. mu, u; 3. gna, a. Plural, i. incl. da, da
tati, excl. mami, mi gati; 2. miu; 3. ra, di.
Of these most are Bugotu ; u and a, in the Singular, di in the Plural, and
the addition of tati and gati, may be taken as true 6?ao. In the Dual palu
comes before the Noun ; palu Jcameda the hands of us two. See Possessives.
4. Demonstrative Pronouns.
The distinctions are not clear ; igne this, ai that, iaai, aiza ;
maeani these persons, maegno those, (mae male) mareia borrowed
from Bugotu ; hatimare Bugotu the Bugotu people. From mae
comes tolumae, Demonstrative or Vocative. The Vocative is koe I
agoi /
5. Interrogative Pronouns.
Of persons, ihei ? Plural, igree ? Of things na no ?
6. Indefinite Pronouns.
The Interrogatives may be presumed to be used indefinitely;
also kekeTia na noni some men.
V. POSSESSIVES.
These, used with Nouns which cannot take the Suffixed Pronoun,
are no of general relation, and ge of closer possession.
Gao. Adjectives, Verbs. 557
These Possessive Nouns take the Pronouns suffixed in what appears to be
the truer G&o form ; nogu my, nou thy, noa his, noda tati, norm gati our,
nomiM your, nodi their. Dual, I. noda tapalu, nomi ge palu, 2. nomiu go
palu, 3. nodi repalu. The Pronoun is suffixed to ge in the Second Singular,
as o, geo thy. The Article is not, as in Bugotu, used before both the
Possessive and the common Noun ; nogu fata a thing of mine.
VI. ADJECTIVES.
1. There are pure Adjectives; suga bio a large house, suga ijo
a small house. A Noun also qualifies ; suga tina a stone house.
2. Comparison is made with the Adverb fakeli, conveying the
idea of motion ; na bosu bio fakeli tagna na kusi a pig is larger
than a rat ; Superlative, bio fakeli very big ; bio fakeli is also too
big, ijo fakeli too small.
VII. VERBS.
1. Verbal Particles. — There is no change for Person and Num-
ber; and there is no temporal force. The Particles are te and we,
with e used with Numerals ; erei te fogra I am sick, erei we nokro
I am sitting, te leme hui he has already died, we nokro hui has
taken a seat. The Verb may be used without Particle.
The Past is marked by the Adverb hui. Similarly the Future is
kinagai te leme irei hereafter I shall die, kaina leme soon he will
die. The Conjunction of Consequence me also makes a Future,
though a future sense is given without it ; erei te tei te lepo haraza
I (will) go and speak to him. The Adverb kulu corresponds to
Bugotu kidi, Florida diki ; goe lepo harazau, erei kulu romza lepo
Gaoi (if) you speak to me I (shall) thereupon understand the
language of G&o.
2. A Negative sentence is made with teo 'no' and 'not;' igoe teo
leme you will not die ; teo leme, niee te kaJiara (he) will not die, he
will live ; teo me leme he will not die. There is also the Negative toa.
3. The Causative Prefix is fa; leme to die, faleme to kill;
fakariza save him, make him live. This with the Verb redupli-
cated conveys reciprocity ; irepalu te faauanu they two beat one
another.
4. It is probable that a Transitive Suffix ni appears infagloni ;
but tamza is weep for him.
5. The Adverb pulo, the stem of Florida pulohi back, gives
reflective meaning ; magne te faleme puloza tagigna he killed him-
self, literally, made him dead back of himself; tagi may be the
same word with Bugotu gehe, Florida hege.
558 Melanesian Grammars.
6. Reduplication as in Bugotu and Florida drops the consonant;
anu to strike, auanu.
VIII. ADVERBS.
Adverbs of direction mei hither, art outwards. Of Place ; hia
where, aiza there, ani here, igno there ; i the Preposition is also an
Adverb. Of Time; kainani now, to-day, ninai to-day, of past
time, gawe formerly, hui already, quite, kele hui quite finished,
mftai when, notuu to-morrow, gnorai yesterday (Mota nora,
Florida nola, Bugotu ignotha), noriha day before yesterday, Jcaina
soon, kinagai hereafter. The Suffix i in nihai, gnorai, kinagai, is
the Locative Particle. Of Manner ; hia tewe ? how ? jateuigne thus,
jateuagno so ; mala na no ? why ? Florida malei, Bugotu bale.
Besides teo there is another negative toa ; toa nogu not mine.
The Cautionary or Dehortative tovi ; tovi kegra faglonigau don't
stand in my way. The Affirmative is eo I
IX. PBEPOSITIONS.
These are, Simple, i, na; Nouns, ta, ka; Verbs, kqfi, hara,
fagloni.
1. The Preposition i is remarkable as being postfixed. It is, in fact, the
same as an Adverb, as in Motlav and Wawo ai, a simple Locative Particle, but
it must be ranked as a Preposition. There is the same in Bugotu, though not
as a Preposition ; na mono tagna Ice mono i his abode, he abides there, i. e. the
place where he stays. As a Locative, kekliagna suga i on the top of the house,
ka suga i in the house, at the top of the house, by the house there ; erei te
rana i nogu I am surprised at it, nia hare Bugotu. Genitive i : lepo Gao i
speech of (?ao, lepo Gela i of Florida, na noni Gao i man of C?ao, Jceglia suga
i top of house, above the house. Instrumental : aniza kila i strike him with
club, igne Jcila i te aniza, i this is the club he was struck with. In these
examples i may be translated as an Adverb, thereby, thereat, therewith.
2. na, Genitive : bagi na naji wing of bird. The form of the Suffixed Third
Person Pronoun gna shows na to be a Preposition here, as in Vaturana and
Duke of York.
3. Nouns : ta, as in Bugotu, and probably not true O&o ; tagu, tamu, tagna.
In ta ka sugagna at, in, from, his house, ta is plainly a Preposition, ka a
Noun ; but ka suga i, though t is present, may be thought to show ka a Pre-
position.
4. Verbs : kofi to see, la kqfiza go to him, not go see him ; as Florida
varigia ; lepo haragau speak to me ; fagloni is like Florida and Bugotu
punusi; tovi kegra fagloniza siasigla don't stand against the light, faglonira
in their way.
The Bugotu word eigna is used ; eigna na no i on what account ? for what ?
Gao. Conjunctions, Numerals. 559
X. CONJUNCTIONS.
Copulative, ma and ; Disjunctive, be or ; keli be na no ? good or
what 1 me of consequence, corresponding to Florida and Bugotu
ge ; teo me leme not so as to die, kinagae a me lemegna hereafter he
will die, erei te tei me lepo haraza I will go that I may speak
to him.
XI. NUMERALS.
1. Cardinals', one Jcahe, two palu, three tdlu, four fati, five lima,
falima, six famno, seven fafitu, eight fehu, nine fahia, ten faboto ;
twenty tutu a score, or falu faboto, sixty tolu tutu three score, thirty
tolu fulu ; a hundred gobi, a thousand tfo</a. The Interrogative
and Indefinite, niha.
In beginning to count a series tasa is ' one ;' Jcahe na noni one man. With
lima the Verbal Particle e is used. The Prefix fa goes with all above four,
but is not explained ; when falu faboto is said, p in palu probably changes, to
be assimilated to faboto. It is remarkable that fulu, the common word for
ten, comes in, as in Bugotu, when counting odd tens. The word used for a
hundred, ffobi, is in Florida ten canoes, a Noun of multitude. To express the
units above ten the ordinals are used.
2. Ordinals are made by adding ni ; paluni second, toluni third.
First is keulu, but the regularly formed ordinal is used; Jcaheni
lana all one, like Florida sakai vamua. The ordinal of mha,
nihani, is ' quotus.' Eleven is sale kaheni, twelve sale paluni,
twenty-one tutu JcaTieni, a hundred and thirty-four Jcahe gobi, tolu
fulu, fatini. The Savo tale is no doubt the same as sale.
34. SAVO.
The language of Savo is remarkably different from those of
Florida and Vaturawa, which are its nearest neighbours ; and it is
still more remarkably different from the Melanesian languages
generally, as the following sketch of its Grammar will show. It is
possible that a better knowledge of it would diminish the impres-
sion of dissimilarity. It has been difficult to make out the
language, because it is so unlike the Florida or Bugotu in which
interpreters explain themselves. Most of the Savo men can speak
Florida or Bugotu, but the Florida or Bugotu residents in Savo
cannot speak the language of the country. The following pages
contain information obtained from Savo natives by means of Bu-
gotu, Florida, and Mota, and give a very imperfect, if not incorrect,
account of the language.
560 Melanesian Grammars.
The Savo Vocabulary is not unlike those of Florida and Bugotu;
and where it differs it often has words which are common in
the Eastern part of Melanesia ; e. g. bizi finger, batu head. In
points also of Grammar where it differs from its neighbours,
resemblances occur with Ambrym and Nengone, and these rather
suggest an archaic Melanesian character than a connexion with
some other family. The archaic character of the language may be
thought to be shown by the conspicuous absence of distinction
between parts of speech, by the use of demonstratives as in-
differently Pronouns and Adverbs, and by the absence of Prepo-
sitions.
I. ALPHABET.
1. Vowels. — a, e, i, o, u.
2. Consonants. — k, g, g ; t, d=nd, j ; p, b=mb, v ; m, n, n, gn;
r, 1 ; s, z.
In phonological character the language is not different from its neighbours.
Like Olevuga in Florida, it has no h, but z, which stands for the Florida h in
Tcuzi and azu. It cannot be said, however, that the Savo z always stands for
h. Like Bugotu, Savo has j =nj, and gn the Spanish n.
LT. ARTICLE.
The Demonstrative lo is used as an Article ; lo tuvi a house. It
is used also with Personal Names ; lo Lodo, lo Salo ; and personi-
fies ; lo kori a liar ; but it is a Demonstrative Particle, not really
an Article.
III. NOUNS.
1. Unlike those of other Melanesian languages, Savo Nouns
know nothing of Suffixed Pronouns.
2. There appears to be a Verbal Substantive formed by gu
suffixed to the Verb ; ave to die, avegu dying or being killed ; ai va
avegu, no va avegu, lo va avegu translate the Florida mateagu,
mateamu, mateana, my, thy, his, dying or being killed.
3. Plural. — A Noun conveying the idea of Plurality is dulo ; lo
dulo tuviga the houses ; dulo is an assemblage, tuvi a house. The
Suffix ga is Plural.
Since tuvi is house, tuviga, by analogy of Florida, has the appearance of an
Adjective, and lo dulo tuviga a houseful assemblage ; but in Savo the
Adjective comes before the Substantive. The Suffix ga is in some way
Plural ; lo Savoga the Savo people, lo Bugotuga the Bugotu people, Florida
ra na Savo. But ga is not simply Plural ; lo tabu sua magniga the whole
country, magni country. In supurono tuvi, which may be translated houses,
supitrono is an Adjective.
Savo. Pronouns, Possessive*. 561
IV. PRONOUNS.
1. Personal Pronouns.
Singular, i. agni, ai; 2. no; 3. lo.
Plural, i. incl. ave, excl. mai; 2. me; 3. ze.
Dual, i. age; 2. pe; 3. to.
The Third Singular lo is merely Demonstrative, and has really no Number ;
the same may be said of ze, which, as zelo Demonstrative, is Singular or Plural ;
ze is perhaps the same word with the Torres Islands lie, the Third Person
Plural. In the First Person Plural there is much hesitation about the dis-
tinction between inclusive and exclusive forms ; a Savo boy, speaking Florida,
says saJcai vamua, all the same. There is only one Dual form in the First
Person, and the other Persons are very strange. In the Third Plural, po,
meaning all, is sometimes added, making zepo.
The Personal Pronouns undergo a change when they are the
object of the Verb. They precede the Verb ; and when the Verb
begins with a Vowel the Pronouns are represented only by their
Consonants coalescing with the Verb.
Example : all to strike ; lo na gnali he strikes me, lo na noli he strikes
thee, agni na lali I strike him ; ze na mai gnali they strike us, ze na me mali
they strike you, mai na zali we strike them, ze na zepo zali they strike them.
It is plain that gn, n, I, m, z, represent the Pronouns agni, no, lo, me, ze. In
the Plural mai gnali strike us, gn for the Singular agni is added ; compare
Second Dual Suffix (?ao, and Dual of the Vuras Personal Pronoun.
There is an appearance of a suffixed Third Person Singular a ; no na oo
lalia you are going to strike him, but I before ali is the object, and a cannot
be explained.
2. Demonstrative Pronouns.
These are words which point out direction, and are as much
Adverbs as Pronouns; lo, alo, zelo, Plural aizepo, ata, la.
3. Interrogative Pronouns.
Singular, lo ai ? Plural, po ai ? who 1 lo apo ? what 1 lo poi ?
what is his name ? poi being also Indefinite, lo poi the person, name
not known or not mentioned, Florida a hanu.
V. POSSESSIVES.
Since there is no suffixed form of the Personal Pronouns, the
Savo Possessive Nouns do not present the same appearance as in
other Melanesian languages. There are, however, two Possessive
Nouns, va and a. Of these, va is used with Nouns either with or
without the Article lo ; example, Icakau a hand ; ai va kakau my
hand, no va kakau thy hand, lo va kakau his hand, ave va kakau,
o o
562 Melanesian Grammars.
mai va kakau our hands, me va Jcdkau your hands, ze va kakau
their hands. With lo ; ai lo va batu my head, kosu lo va kakau the
bird's wing, kola lo va kiba the tree's leaf. The explanation
clearly is, ai va batu I, thing belonging (to me), head ; kosu lo va
kakau bird, the thing belonging, wing.
The other Possessive a does not go with Nouns to make what
would be translated by an Adjective 'my,' 'thy/ ' his ; ' it is suffixed
to the Personal Pronouns and so becomes equivalent to 'mine,'
'thine,' &c., agnia mine, noa thine, loa his, avea, maia, ours, mea
yours, zea theirs. These are used as nigua, mok, are in Florida
and Mota ; no noa savule you speak for yourself, o bosa nimua Fl.
VI. ADJECTIVES.
1 . It is very remarkable that Adjectives in Savo come before the
Nouns they qualify ; dui tuvi large house, gnari turn small house,
sisi lapeli red cloth. It is the same when the word that qualifies
is itself a Noun Substantive ; polo korakora pig skin.
2. Adjectives are also used in Verbal form ; no na dai you are
good.
3. There are two words which have the appearance of Adjectival
terminations, but are such as may be translated ' kind of ' or ' like,'
sua or sue, and rono. Both follow Substantives and Adjectives ;
gaule sua piva cold water; lavumali sua mapaga black men,
boraga sua mapa black man, Bugotu sua mapaga, Savolaga sua
mapaga the men are Bugotu, Savo, men.
In these gaule sua, bora sua, may be translated ' cold like,' ' black like,'
gaule and bora being in native view as much Nouns Substantive as Bugotu
Bugotu sua makes an Adjective, Bugotu kind of men. The Plural sign ga is
sometimes with the qualified, sometimes with the qualifying Noun. In Savo-
laga, la is a Demonstrative, as in Savo la sua vere Savo speech, Savo-like this
speech.
Examples of rono are ; isa rono bad, dui rono large, supu rono many ; dui
has been seen by itself; isa is no doubt the common sa, ta,
VII. VEEBS.
1. The Verbal Particle in use is na, the same in all Per-
sons and Numbers; agni na are I die, lo na togo he lives, and
as shown with the Verb ali to strike, IV. 1. There is no Tense
in na.
2. The Verb is used without a Verbal Particle ; ota lo epie tu
there he sits ; lo zuaza la lo gnali that club he struck me (with.)
3. To express Past Time i is suffixed to the Verb ; agni na togoi,
lo na togoi, I, he, lived, i. e. got well, lo na avei he is dead. But this
Savo, Verbs, Adverbs. 563
does not mark more than a completed action, i being possibly a
Locative Particle marking the point arrived at. To express plainly
Past Time, kama is added before the Verb, after the Verbal Particle ;
lo na kama avei he is already dead. Or no Verbal Particle is
employed ; lo kama avei, he has died, lo kama togo zelo, that person
has recovered.
This form, as is common, may be used with a Future sense, the mind being
projected into the time when the event will have become past ; agni na kama
avei tai pogala, or egala, I shall be dead hereafter. There does not appear
to be any Particle or word marking Future time, except bo, the Auxiliary Verb
hereafter mentioned.
4. The Causative Prefix is au ; togo to live, autogo to make live,
no na lautogoi thou hast saved him ; lo na gnautogoi he saved me,
lo na nautogoi he saved thee ; epia to sit, lauepia to set it, nasi
firm, launasi to fix it.
Reciprocal action is expressed by mamapa, the reduplication of mapa man ;
age na mamapa lali we two are beating one another, literally, we two, man
by man, are beating him, i. e. each man the other.
5. Suffix. — There is the appearance of a Transitive Suffix in
ponotili, corresponding to Florida punisi, see Prepositions, and in
sa lamlia weep for him, Florida tamsia.
6. Auxiliary Verbs. — The word bo, meaning to go, is no doubt a
Verb, used as va in Ambrym, bo in Sesake, to indicate the going to
do something, and therefore sometimes the Future ; no na bo lalia
you are going to strike him. Another form of the same word, or
one explained as equivalent, is bua ; pale turn la bua, or pale tuvi la
bo go up into the house. As in Ambrym and Fate, bo appears in
the Imperative.
It is likely again that tu, as in those languages, is an Auxiliary Verb ; ota
lo epie tu lo va tuvi la there he sits in his house.
7. Negative sentences are made with goma] goma gni lo lomi
I don't understand that; goma lo epie tu he does not sit. The
Prohibitive, as in Vaturawa, is sika or sia; sika no iziale don't
you sleep, sika no lo marara alu ponitili ale don't you stand there
in the way of the light.
VIII. ADVERBS.
Demonstratives are commonly used as Adverbs of Place, pointing
hither and thither without special sense of locality; as in Ambrym
for example, or Nengone, which have le and lo like lo in Savo.
Examples given above show lo, la in this use.
002
564 Melanesian Grammars.
Adverbs of Place : ala where, ale, ota there. Of Motion : baia hither-
wards, bua outwards. The expression la poi ? why ? in reference to what ?
shows la with a general sense of relation. Of Time : alaJcate now, to-day,
aziga to-day, of past time, mobia, moaba yesterday ; aia manala now ; poga
time when, pogale gata when ? of distant time ; pogala of distant time, Past
or Future, such as heretofore, hereafter ; pog in these words is night ; egala is
of time more distant still.
The Negative Adverb is goma, which is also the exclamation no ! The
Affirmative is bolaJce.
IX. PREPOSITIONS.
1. The absence of Prepositions is remarkable. It is possible
that a in Adverbs is a Locative. The words which are nearest to
Prepositions are oka and mat a, which are translated as 'to' Dative,
and ' with' Locative. These follow the Personal Pronoun, as do
Verbs when the Pronoun is the object ; gni oka, savulia speak to
me, laka savulia speak to him ; gni o mata with me, beside me, no
mata with thee, lo mata with him, mai gni o mata, ave gni o mata
with us, me mo mata with you, zo mata with them ; lo apoi na no
mata 1 what is with you ? seems to show o a Verb.
2. Verbs are used, as in other Melanesian languages, for Prepo-
sitions; lege to see; bo legea go to him; ponotili, from pono=
Florida vono, Mota wono, to be against, in the way of; sika no lo
marara alu ponotili ale don't stand in the light.
3. Ordinarily where a Preposition would seem to be required
none is employed ; as in Sesake, &c. ; ota lo etie tu lo va turn la
there he sits (at) his house, lo va tuvi la lo avui his house there he
has come out (of it) ; lo zuaza la lo gnali the club that he struck
me (with).
X. NUMEKALS.
1. Cardinals; one ela, two edo, three igiva, four agava, five ara,
six pogoa, seven pogoro, eight kui, nine kuava, ten a tale; eleven
pa nipiti, twelve edo nipiti ; nineteen kuava nipiti ; twenty nebolo,
twenty- one nebolo lisoa pa, twenty-two nebolo lisoa edoga; thirty
igiva liza, forty agava liza, fifty ara tale, or sale; a hundred kela,
pa kela, two-hundred edo kela or kelaga, a hundred and one pa kela,
lisoa pa, a hundred and two pa kela lisoa edoga ; a thousand toga.
It may be observed that the digits of the second hand correspond, to some
extent, to those of the first ; e la, pogo-a ; aga-va, Jcua-va ; ro in pogo-ro is
do in a more common form ; a appears as ' one ' in a tale ; and pa is always
' one,' except at the beginning of a series. The word tale is the 6?ao sale.
From three onwards the Plural termination ga may be used, igivaga, aga-
vaga, talega.
Duke of York. Alphabet. 565
The unit above ten is nipiti ; and tale, ten, is not needed ; pa nipiti one
the unit above ten ; edoga is used as well as edo nipiti. The name for twenty
is distinct, as in Bugotu ; and the unit above nebolo is lisoa ; nebolo lisoa pa
a score the unit above one. Some, however, only use lisoa for the sum above
a hundred, and simply add the unit after the score ; twenty-one nebolo pa,
twenty-two nebolo edoga. As in (?ao, another designation comes in for the
tens above the score, liza ; thirty igiva liza three sets of ten, forty agava
lisa. With fifty, however, tale comes back, ara tale, or talega. Here also
is a difference of use ; some use tale or sale all through ; thirty igiva sale,
forty agava sale. The sum above a hundred is lisoa. The word for a thousand
is probably borrowed.
There are no Ordinals.
35. DUKE OF YORK ISLAND.
The following outline of the Grammar of the language of Duke
of York Island, which lies between the great islands of New
Britain and New Ireland, was in the first place compiled from a
translation of the Gospel of St. Mark, kindly sent to me by the
Rev. George Brown, Wesleyan Missionary, who was the first to
learn the language and commit it to writing. He has since
further favoured me with a much fuller Grammar, with a Vo-
cabulary compiled by himself, from which I have been able to
make additions and corrections to what had been prepared. Mr.
Brown, however, is not answerable for more than the materials
from which this Grammar has been gathered, and which are repre-
sented as they appear to one approaching them from the Eastern
side of Melanesia. Though belonging to an island so far distant
from the furthest of those the languages of which have been here
examined, it is evident that this language is closely connected with
the New Hebrides as well as Solomon Island tongues.
*•
I. ALPHABET.
1. Vowels. — a, e, i, o, u.
2. Consonants. — k, g hard; t, d; p, b, w; m, n, n; r, 1.
For better comparison with other languages, n is here used rather than g,
which Mr. Brown has employed for ng in ' singer.' The absence of the
Melanesian g is remarkable, but it is possible that it has not been observed.
The absence of h and s is also remarkable ; w takes, to some extent, the place
of these and of v ; winanan is no doubt the Mota sinaga, Motlav hinag. The
aspirate h is sometimes omitted ; uri bone, is Florida huli, Mota swrin.
566 Melanesian Grammars.
II. ARTICLE.
The Demonstrative Articles are na, a, ra ; the last the Numeral
' one.' No distinction appears to hold between na and a, except
that, as in Maewo, na is rather used under government than a.
If there be no Personal Article, a is used before the name of a personal
being, Nara, which is used for that of God. Before the names of men To,
and those of women Ne, are used ; and these, prefixed to lin thing, make the
substitute for Proper names like i gene, ro gene, in Mota.
III. NOUNS.
1. There are the two classes of Nouns, those that take, and
those that do not take, the Suffixed Pronouns.
2. Verbal Substantives. — There is an extraordinary formation of
Nouns from Verbs, by infixing in, ni, and nu ; mat to die, minat
a corpse, irok to journey, inirok a journey, rntnut to be in pain,
nununut pain.
Nouns are formed from Verbs by suffixing na and ina ; kete to
hang, ketketina the hole or loop by which a thing hangs, or any-
thing which hangs up ; compare Ulawa.
3. The Plural is marked by a Noun of Plurality kum, (Bugotu
komi) ; a kum tara men, a company of men, a kum boro, (Bugotu
na komi botho) pigs, a lot of pigs.
Another Noun of Plurality is kaba ; a Jcaba muana men, a kaba boro pigs.
Another is win, sometimes written in ; a win tebuan women. This word is
used also in the sense of ' one,' ' piece ; ' ra win a uai na diwai one fruit of
tree, ra win tapaka one piece of tobacco ; also for a large single thing, or a
large quantity ; a win ian a lot of fish, a win a nala na ian pi a very large
fish ; it may be taken, then, to mean something like a lump ; a win tebuan a
lot of women together ; compare Florida lei, Vanua Lava tore. It may be
the same as wo ; a in bare breadfruit, en bare a breadfruit tree ; as in Mota
wo patau and tan patau.
When two things are spoken of the Numeral ru comes between the Article
and Noun ; a ru muana two men.
4. Juxtaposition of two Nouns conveys the notion of a genitive
relation; pala pani na pika bottles of pig-skin. The Genitive
Preposition is na ; pani na pika skin of pig.
5. Keduplication of Nouns is common, particularly when used
to qualify. As in Mota and Florida, a reduplicated name of a tree
marks it as a wild or useless one ; bare breadfruit, barebare wild
breadfruit, bua, (as in Florida, &c.,) the areca palm, buabua an
areca palm the nut of which is uneatable.
Duke of York. Pronouns, Possessives. 567
IV. PKONOUNS.
1. Personal Pronouns.
Singular , i. iau; 2. ui, u; 3. ia, i.
Plural, i. incl. dat, excl. meat; 2. muat; 3. diat.
Dual, i. incl. dara, excl. mira; 2. muru; 3. diara.
The Plural termination at is no doubt the same with the ati of G&o, and
also the ti of the Bugotu Verbal Particles. In the Dual the Numeral ru, ra,
takes its place ; tul is added in the same way as* a Trial. The variation of
the Vowel in the exclusive meat and mira is also found in WaMo, ameu,
amiria.
These Pronouns are used both as Subject and Object of the Verb. The
only form that can be said to be suffixed to a Verb or Preposition is the Third
Singular i. The termination of Transitive Verbs being commonly i, the
Suffix combines with it into a long I ; murimurl followed him.
2. Pronouns suffixed to Nouns.
Singular, i. n; z. ma, m; 3. na, n.
There is no Plural form. When the Noun ends in a Consonant
t is introduced, and the Suffix becomes tn, ima, im, ina, in. For
the change of k to n see Ambrym, Santa Cruz.
3. Demonstrative Pronouns.
This kumi, kumia; these diat kumi; that kuma, those diat
Icuma ; bi this, ba that.
4. Interrogative Pronouns.
Of Persons, o oi who 1 oi na iam ? what (who) is your name ?
Plural oi diat ? The Indefinite te is also Interrogative ; a inana
te ? whose voice ? Of things, aua ? what 1
5. Indefinite Pronouns.
Of Persons, te ; a inana te someone's voice, pa te ra not anyone ;
Plural a kum te some people. Of things, ta ; ta manan diat some
of them, mauan being a Noun. These are probably Mota sei
and tea.
V. POSSESSIVES.
The Possessive Nouns are nu, a, ma, taking the Suffixed Pro-
nouns, and becoming equivalent to ' my/ ' thy,' ' his.'
nu is general, like Mota no, Florida ni, and like those has sometimes a
Prefix a ; nun, or anun, my, &c. Since there is no Plural Suffixed Pronoun,
the Plural is nu dat, anu dat, nu meat, &c., the Dual anu dara, nu mira, &c.,
Trial, anu datul, &c. If nun diat, their, is rightly written in St. Mark iii.
2 2, there is n introduced, as in the Mota non ra ; but it may only signify that
the sound of d is strengthened by n.
568 Melanesian Grammars.
a belongs to a closer relation, as of food; adiat utna na winanan their
something as food. It is used of weapons, ana maden axe to kill him with.
As in Wa»o there is a reduplication with the First Singular Suffix; anan
mine to eat. With things to drink ma is used as in Mota.
VI. ADJECTIVES.
1. Adjectives simply follow the Substantive; weupua auakak a
good message, a wawera matakina a new teaching ; or they are in
Verbal form ; i nala pi great.
2. Many Adjectives begin with ma, the common Prefix of Condi-
tion; madirin cool, madoldol pliable, makeke dry. There is also
an Adjectival termination ina; matakina new, kabanina white, from
kaban. lime, tara rumaina having a house.
3. Comparison is made by a Preposition ; ra i murwmuru iau i
nala akit un iau one that is behind me is much greater than I.
Or, as elsewhere, two positive statements convey a comparison;
this good, that bad. The Adverb akit is probably Mota a qit far
off; a similar Superlative Adverb mat is Florida mate; liralira
mat very white. The force of the Adjective is modified by ma ;
nala lik ma a little larger.
Substantives, especially when reduplicated, are used to qualify.
The Prefix tara makes an Adjective ; tara Tcakana having branches, tara
laMaJcono having thorns, tara dono having leaves. Of the same kind may be
tena ; tena tai one having business in the sea, tena wawera a teacher.
VII. VERBS.
1. With Verbs in the Third Person Singular, and also in the
Third Person Plural when things are the subject, the Particle i is
used. The analogy of other languages suggests that this is a
Verbal Particle. With the First and Second Singular no Particle
appears. In the Plural the Pronoun is repeated, if a Pronoun is
the subject ; ma diat rap diat kakaian and they all wondered ; or
is introduced before the Verb where the subject is a Noun ; a kum
tara rap diat auare kup ui all men seek for thee. Compare the
languages of the Northern New Hebrides, in which the simple
Verbal Particle occurs only in the Third Person, while the Personal
Pronouns are represented in the other Persons. Compare also
Ulawa.
2. The Past Tense is marked by a, following i or the Pronoun
before the Verb : loane i a wanurin John did baptize, diat a wan
they went.
Duke of York. Verbs, Adverbs. 569
The Future is marked by n and n ; with the First Singular an or
wn, an papam I shall work ; Second Person, un ; Third, in ; First
Plural, na; dot na arini we shall ask; Third Plural, din. This
form serves for the Imperative ; un papaki ku hold thy peace.
3. What may be taken as an Impersonal form of the Verb,
corresponding to the Florida Verb with tara, is made with di ; di
madekruai a num pet akakai thy sins are forgiven.
4. Prefixes. — i. Causative, wa; waturu (Mota vatur) make to
stand, walonoro make to hear, wapiri make to speak : but pet, to
make, is often used instead of this Prefix. 2. Reciprocal, we;
weum fight one with another ; this has not always the Reciprocal
force, but like vei, in Fiji, implies only association. 3. Condition,
ma, ta ; ma as with Adjectives ; ta, with notion of spontaneity,
a maua '(Oba mawe) i tarara the heaven opened, a aka i tapala
the canoe got adrift, pala to unloose. It is possible that tama is,
as in Lepers' Island, a Prefix of spontaneity; tamarara koni de-
parting from him.
5. Transitive Suffixes to Verbs are not clearly made out; ra
muana lamira saito i wan i lamirai saito a man, a sower of seed,
went out to sow seed ; lamira is Indefinite Transitive, and lamirai
appears to have the action defined by i. The same Verb has a
more plainly Transitive Suffix tai; a muana i lamirataia saito
a man sows seed ; and Transitive Verbs are found with the Suffixes
pai, ruai, uai, tau.
6. The Negative used with Verbs is pa, with the Verbal Particle,
pa i ; iau j>a iau wanurin I do not come, ma i pai ua and it did
not bear fruit, i pai tare it is not lawful.
The Dehortative or Cautionary is koni ku, koni ma.
7. A Reflective sense is given by ut ; i kamkamiak koromia ut
is angry against himself.
8. Reduplication of Verbs is similar in form and signification to
that of other Melanesian languages ; piripiri, welwelara.
VTII. ADVERBS.
Of Place ; kumi, kuri, here ; kuma, kura there, Demonstratives.
The Noun wai, the same as Florida vei, &c., serves for ' where 1 '
a wai 1 It takes a Suffixed Pronoun a wain, a waim, my, thy,
where ? i. e. what place in me, in thee, like Ysabel ivdmu ; a wai
tola whereabouts ; takawai ? from what place, whence ? Nouns with
Prepositions ; u naga above, a pari, (Florida i pan), below, a kit
pp
57° Melanesian Grammars.
afar, i gen away. Nouns with Articles ; na maruna outside, na te
above. As above, ut again, tali ut round about, Mota tal.
Of Time ; kumari now, to-day, kumi ut now at once. Nouns ;
na bun yesterday, na muru after, na muka before, tiba na bun
every day; u na buru to-morrow, a mera day after to-morrow,
a lonra three days hence.
Of Manner ; lenkumi like this, thus, lankuma like that, so ; Ian
probably the same as la ; la wai ? why 1 taka like, taka Fitl Fiji
fashion.
The Negative is pa ; as pai goes with a Verb, so pa te, pa ta, te and
ta being Indefinite Pronouns, negative the presence of some thing ;
pa te a lin nothing, not anything, pa te a turu belet no rising again,
pa ta wewadu i nalapi u ra ru wewadu kumi there is no com-
mandment greater than these two commandments.
The Affirmative is iu ! ioi I maio !
IX. PEEPOSITIONS.
Simple ; i, u, a Locative ; na Genitive ; kup Dative ; korom Mo-
tion to, ko, taka, Motion from; ma, pa, Relation. Nouns; ta, na.
i . Locatives : i has, according to Melanesian idiom, the signification of ' at,'
' in,' 'to,' ' from,' ' of.' Another form of the same may be u. Before a Vowel
n is added, uniau, uni, to me, to him ; as with mi and gi in Maewo. In
Adverbs a is plainly a Preposition, a pan, a Jcit ; it is used with Verbs, a wan
a papam go to work, as in Mota a van a mawmawui. 2. The Genitive na is as
in <?ao and Vaturawa, ruma na lotu house of prayer. 3. The Dative Tcup for, di
pami Tcup diat was made for them. 4. The form of korom suggests a Verb allied
to goro ; it is used only of persons, koromi to him, Tcorom dat to us. Before a
Vowel n is inserted after Jco ; ko diat from them, koniau from me. A greater
distance seems to be in view when taka is used ; taka wai ? whence ? It is
used in combination with u ; tak u ra lanit from heaven. 5. There can be little
doubt that ma and pa are the Prepositions of the Banks' Islands and New
Hebrides, ma,pe of Mota ; ma signifies conjunction with, and is instrumental;
ma i with him, ma inana with his word, ma ra pala with water ; pa is of
relation, which may be translated 'with,' 'of,' 'from;' ra pa muat one of
you, of those with you, from you.
6. The Pronouns suffixed to ta and na show them still Nouns ; tan, tarn,
tan, to, in regard to, me, thee, him, tan taurara to the damsel (Mota tarara),
i muka tarn before thee, in face in regard to thee ; this is plainly the Florida
ta. Whether na is the same with nan of Mota and elsewhere may be
questioned ; nan, narn, nan ; ki nan sit by me.
These Prepositions, with a Pronoun after them, are used at the end of a
sentence ; a bual kuma iau tana uni that is the land I live in (it), a muana
kuma mira weuru mai that is the man we two went about (I) with him, i. e.
that I went about with, a oka iau wan mai the canoe I came in ; but the
Preposition has a Pronoun or Noun after it.
Duke of York. Conjunctions, Numerals. 571
X. CONJUNCTIONS.
The Copulative, ma ; Adversative, ba in conjunction with ma ;
the same ba is Disjunctive and Conditional.
XI. NUMERALS.
1. Cardinals; one ra, takai, two rua, ru, three tula, tul, four
wat, five lima, six nom ; ten no, noina, twenty ru noina, thirty tul
a noina \ seventy lima na noina ma ru noina, eighty ru wat na
noina ; a hundred mara.
1. These are seen to be mostly the common Numerals ; ra and noina are
exceptions ; taJcai, Florida sakai. For seven, eight, nine, Ordinal forms are
found ; seven limadi ma ruadi ; but ru wat eight. Another way of expressing
seven, eight, nine, is by talaJca signifying ' minus ' ; talaJca rua (ten) minus
two, talaJca tul (ten) minus three ; tol ta taJcai is given as ten minus one,
which is, perhaps, talaJc taJcai.
2. The unit above ten is added with the Conjunction ma ; noina ma ra
eleven.
3. The Cardinals of New Britain, given by Mr. Powell, are : one tikai, two
urua, three otul, four ivat, five a lima, six lip tifcai, seven lov urua, eight lov
atule, nine lov ivat, ten tur alim, ten together ave nun, twenty ur ave nun,
a hundred a mara. The resemblance of these, particularly seven, eight, nine,
with the Banks' Islands Numerals is remarkable.
2. Ordinals; first mukana, second ruadi, third tulani, tudi,
fourth watdi, fifth limadi, sixth nomdi.
1 . The terminations making Ordinals are evidently ni and di ; but these
forms are used for Cardinals, limadi ma ruadi seven, not seventh. In the
same way teadi appears for 'how many.' The termination na in noina is,
perhaps, collective ; in mukana it cannot be so ; Malay muJca face.
2. There is a word of the character of those which are elsewhere used to
name the unit above ten, here used in an Ordinal sense, though not in a series,
patap ; ra i patap second, ru i patap third, tudi i patap fourth, i. e. after
one, after two, after three ; patap is to accompany, follow after.
The word patap occurs also with the Reciprocal or Associative we ; a we
patap the next, the second. The same Particle with liwan, we liivan, signifies
the third, the middle of five, liwana the waist. The fourth in this series is
murumuru following, a form, probably, of the common muri after.
3. The word win has been already mentioned, III. 3. There is a resem-
blance in its use to that of wo in Gaua and Nengone ; rua win a ian two
fishes, win unu ten men.
4. In counting money they use words for quantity or length ; a tip four
shells, nara twenty, no tip ten, gagawa four hundred. A set of four cocoa-
nuts, yams, &c., is Jcuren. This is uncommon ; but there are names also, as
in Fiji, Florida, &c., for particular sets of ten, win unu ten men, waiwai ten
birds, latino ten pigs.
5. They count also by couples, using a different name for the couples with
the Numerals ; kai one couple, u rua two couple, u tul three couple, lu wat
. 5 7 2 Melanesian Grammars.
four couple, ti Urn five couple, ma nom six couple, ma wit seven couple, ti wal
eight couple, ti wa nine couple, ti keno ten couple. The Numerals ivit, wal,
loa, are probably borrowed.
3. Distributives are formed by reduplication ; taktakai one by
one, ruaruadi two and two, maramara by hundreds. The word
win lump, set, piece, is also used ; rawrawin one apiece, ruruwin
two apiece, two each, and so on.
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