THE FIRST POLYNESIAN HOME. 29 



of the modern verb, as lipat, lipatkan, to fold, lofai, to bend ; from which 

 again are formed, by external additions, modern verbal nouns and derived 

 verb forms. Thus we have lipatan, a fold; lofaian, a bending or being 

 bent; lavelavea, entangled or entangling, malibai, bent; and the derived 

 verb forms — 



Safal Fiji salove, flexible. 



Mafal Malay malipat, to fold, plait; Efate malifus, bent, flexed. 



Mifal Malagasy milcfitra, folded. 



Tafal Fiji kalove, Efate kalofa, bent. 



Manfal Malagasy mandefitra, to fold, bend. 



Matafal Samoan fa'alave, to take a turn of a rope as round a pin. 



As seen in this example the vowels of the ground forms of the Oceanic 

 verb are retained in the modern derived forms and verbal nouns. It is in 

 the ground forms, therefore, that we find the proof of the part played in 

 the ancient language (the primitive Oceanic) by internal vowel change. 



To show that this is a fair specimen of modern Oceanic words, that it is 

 not exceptional but only one out of the mass and of a piece with the rest, 

 would prove conclusively that the Oceanic primitive or mother tongue 

 had, like each of the sister dialects, Arabic, Assyrian, etc., its share of the 

 purely and exclusively common stock of Semitic triliteral words with the 

 purely Semitic common method of word formation or inflexion by internal 

 vowel change and external additions. This then is what we have now 

 to endeavor to show. 



This he follows by an example of intricate ingenuity in bringing 

 many insular words under one or other of eight types of triliterals ; 

 and thus concludes: 



These examples sufficiently show that the above Oceanic word first 

 given (lifai, etc.) is not exceptional, but only one out of the mass and of 

 a piece with the rest, and this conclusively establishes, etc. [in the same 

 form of words as before, a protracted Q. E. F.]. 



C. 



He next takes up the subject of prefixes, infixes, and suffixes. 

 Employing the freedom of phonetic treatment which he has already 

 postulated in his chapter of phonology, he identifies every form of 

 these inflectional or word-forming elements known to Semitic speech 

 with word components in Malayan, Melanesian and Polynesian. The 

 value of such identification is wholly conditioned by the adhesion 

 which one inclines to give to his system of sound mutation. 



D. 



The last chapter of the presentation of the theory rests upon 

 the pronouns and particles, the demonstrative elements of speech. 

 With remarkable patience in research, and with even more remark- 

 able generosity of treatment, he satisfies himself that he has detected 

 the same kinship in this section of the compared vocabularies. 

 Yet, while permitting himself the use of this material and erecting 

 much of the edifice of his argument thereupon, he takes the similar 



