NOTES ON THE LOYALTY ISLANDS. 685 



Dual 3r(l per. ni bn si ion 2,011, opeeni hnsliengon, their (2 



persons) father. 

 PI. 1st per, incl. nieje, or je, only, eecej, our father, 



lani eje, or laje, onr way; exclii. ni ehnije or hnije, 



node ni ehnije or nodehnije, our land. 

 PI. 2n(l per. ni buhnij, toto ni huhnij, your i^arden. 

 PI. 3rd ]ier. ni buice, toto ni buie, their garden. 

 Objective case — 

 Sing. 1st p. nu. 



In all the other ]iersons the forni is the same as the 

 Nominative, except sometimes the eje and ehnije take 

 the guttural x before them, thus — xeje, and xehnije, 



Lifu. 



Possessive case — 



Sing, 1st per. nge, suiiix, my ; henge, my bead. 

 Sing, 2nd })er, i nyip'c ; he i nyipr, thy head. 

 Sing, 3rd ])er, i ange ; heie i angeic, his head. 

 Dual 1st ]ier. i nyisho, or sho ; kenie sho, our father ; 

 inclu, hlapa i nyisho, our garden ; exclu. i nyiho, or 

 ho ; blue i nyiho, our servant ; kerne ho, our father. 

 Dual 2nd per, i nyipo ; keme i nyipo, your father. 

 Dual 3rd per, i nyido ; keme i nyido, their father. 

 PI. 1st per. incl. i ei'she, or shi- ; keme-sbe, our father ; 



exclu. i eehuni, or bun ; kemehun, our father. 

 PI. 2nd per. i nyipunio ; ixete i nyij)unie, your clothes. 

 PI, 3rd per, i angate ; unia i angate, their house. 

 Objective case — 

 Sing. 1 p. ni. 



In all the other persons the form is the same as the 

 Nominative, except sometimes the first persons in the 

 dual and plural ; they are more frequently shortened, 

 thus — sho and ho ; she and bun. 

 A peculiarity in Lifu is to use the dual pronoun in speak- 

 ing of and to a woman who is a mother ; her child is 

 supposed to be with her always ; even she herself uses the 

 dual pronoun in speaking of herself. 



There is another matter in connection with the pronouns 

 worth mentioning. You will observe that the 2nd ])er. sing, 

 in the Mare has three words, viz., bua, nubo, ehme ; all mean 

 the same thing, " thou ; " but they are addressed to persons 

 in different relations or status in life ; bua is used to chiefs by 

 his people ; " nubo " is the common and ordinaiy pronoun, 

 used by everybody to everybody in equal stations in life ; it 



