POLYNESIAN LANGUAGE. 221 
nations in declension; but the cases, of which 
there are but three, are formed by syllables 
prefixed: for example — 
SINGULAR. 
Nom.—7'e taata—the man. 
Poss.—No te daata—of the man. 
Object.— He taata—to the man—and the man. 
PLURAL: 
Nom.—T'e mau taata—the men. 
Poss. — Wo te mau taata—of the men. 
Object.— He mau taata—the men—and to the men. 
The Tahaitians have a great number of deti- 
nite and indefinite articles, and prefixes, which 
they apply in a peculiar manner. The article 
te often stands before proper names; also be- 
fore God, Te Atua; sometimes 0, which then 
appears to be an article ; as, O Pomare, O Hua- 
heine, O Tahaiti. Sometimes this o is placed 
before the personal pronouns in the nomina- 
tive case. 
O vau, 1; 0 oe, thou; o ota, she, he, it. In 
these pronouns the Tahaitian, and those lan- 
guages to which it bears affinity, are particu- 
