" DESCnn'TIVK CiiMi'I.KMI'.NT "" IN SIlUlNGA. 417 



These words are invariable, ami either imitate or express 

 aetions, sounds, movements, states, position, colour, taste and 

 smell. An examination of my SiKonga Hst, together with one of 

 about 360 in SeiSocho, and a \ery incomplete list of about 140 in 

 Zulu, shows that the main types of ideas expressed by these 

 v\ords are, apart from the mere imitation of sounds, suddenness 

 and rapidity < f movement, completeness or intensity of movement 

 or action, iransit.'iicc and brevity of action or movement, degree 

 l(j which the action is pertormed. unexpectedness, the doing of 

 ;in action to a small extent, or by many people, and such actions 

 as falling (especially into water),*, striking, l)reaking, smashi4ig, 

 and rushing. 



It will thus be seen that these words are far from being 

 merely onomatopoetic, as some have regarded them; indeed, my 

 lists show that true onomatopoeias are comparaiively few, and 

 tliat a \try wide range of impressions is conveyed by them. 



11. — The Descriptive Coin plcmrnf in SiIJoiig<t. 



In SiRonga, the <ieseri|)tive complements occur with the 

 verbs ku ku, ku li, and kii it 



These verbs, beside their use as auxiliaries, have two mean- 

 ings ; — 



1. To sdij (in fugitive, speech). 



c.ij. It (Present) V U yirii'^ What dost thou say V 



// (Past) U ti tjtni! \^"hat didst thou say? 

 ku (Historic) A ku ku mine. He said to me. 



2. To do, I.e., to make a sound, etc.; like the vernacular 

 ■' go " and " went." " He went like that " (He acted 

 in that way), e.g., Tihuku it li kicee," " Chickens go 

 (say) " kwee " (C"p. Junod, Cirainmaire et Manuel de 

 Conversation Ponga, [) 15]). 



It is in this sense (2) that we constantly find //, ku and ti used 

 with the descriptive complements. 



^ I now give a classified list of some descriptive complements 

 in SiRonga, classed according to syllabication, verbs used with 

 them, and the impressions they convey. 1 give also, sect III. a 

 list of polysyllabic words used, apparently, with the copula i (is). 

 1 am not sure that these last are to be described as descriptive 

 compi -ments. They may possibly be of the nature of nouns or 

 adjectives, although they do not resemble them grammatically. 



A — Cl.xssifiI'.d List of Df,scrh>tivk CoMPLiiMi-.Nxs (SiRonoa). 



This list is not, of course, to be considered ^is more tlian a 

 >ma]| selection of the descriptive complements in SiRonga 



I. — MonofiijIIabic. 



in) Used with /;/< ku. 



