142 president's address — section r. 



much time and earnest attention to the Oceanic languages, Indo- 

 Polynesian and Melanesian. These tongues are numerous and 

 diverse. Especially may this be affirmed of the Melanesian and 

 Papuan races, among whom a perfect Babel of tongues may be 

 found ; yet even here some philologists have discovered a root 

 language, and have traced to some extent the course of divergence. 

 That which is commonly termed the Malayo-Polynesian is most 

 readily reduced to its primary condition, and the various dialects of 

 this language are spoken by the larger portion of Polynesian nations. 

 One of our members. Dr. John Fraser, of Sydney, is now engaged 

 in a close analysis of some of the Melanesian tongues. Mr. Sidney 

 Ray, of London, has labored for many years upon the same topic, 

 and he has laid under tribute every South Sea missionary he has 

 come across to supply him with the information which each pos- 

 ses>es, and there are none so able to afford him the desired know- 

 ledge. There are many other philologists, like Dr. Max Mliller, 

 who are working in the same direction ; some of them with the 

 aim and purpose of fixing the origin of the Oceanic people in 

 defining the origin of their language. 



The Rev. D. Macdonald, of the New Hebrides, has supplied a 

 valuable paper to the Polynesian Society on " The Asiatic Origin 

 of the Polynesian Personal Pronouns " (see Journal of the 

 Society, December, 1892). With careful comparison of different 

 languages, he arrives at the conclusion " that the Oceanic pro- 

 nouns are descended from one original, and that they represent 

 the personal pronouns of the original Oceanic mother-tongue." 

 After a clear and patient analysis of the Oceanic pronouns, Mr. 

 Macdonald, with some ingenuity that arouses many questions, 

 arrives at the roots of these pronouns, and then discovers that the 

 same roots may be found in ancient Arabic, Himyaritic, Ethiopic 

 of Abyssinia, Chaldaic, Hebrew, and Pha3nician, and in ancient 

 and modern Syriac. To illustrate intelligibly Mr. Macdonald's 

 theory would require the iise of his tables 1 to 8 and his explana- 

 tions thereof. He concludes with the remark, which defines his 

 position : " It seems sufficiently clear from the foregoing that the 

 Oceanic pronouns are of Asiatic origin, and belong exclusively to 

 the particular Asiatic family indicated." There may be room for 

 difference of opinion as to this or that detail, but it seems suffi- 

 ciently obvious that the Oceanic compares with the Asiatic. 

 Oceanic. Asiatic. 



alio, ku compares with ho, ku— I. 



ik " ika — thou 



ni - . " ni, — he (they) 



ana " na, nha, ahna — we 



ituma, kemu ...... " atem, kemu — you 



in, inia, nia " (hem, hen) ani, ni, 



(inun, inin) — they 

 ila, era " ela, &c. — these, those. 



