POLYNESIAN GRAMMAR. 333 



spending element ; in such cases, the Vitian has often a <?, and the Rotuman an s ; as 

 molic, Tong., mofe, Viti., mose, Rot., moe, Sam., et cet., to sleep. 



K and t are sometimes interchanged; as tulu, Haw., kuru, Rar., to drop; wiki, N. 

 Z., iciti, Haw., quickly. 



$ 4. The vowels undergo but few changes, and those chiefly in 

 consequence of the permutations of the consonants. 



The syllable^, when it commences a word, and is unaccented, is changed in Hawaiian 

 to ho ; asfetu, star, becomes hotu; fenua, country, honua. 



The omission of the k and I produces some changes, for which no determinate rule 

 can be given; as tnafa, Tah., banana, for meika ; meae, Nuk., sacred place, for marae. 



When a vowel is repeated in Samoan, with an s between (as asa, ese, isi, &c.), or in 

 Tongan with an h, the other dialects frequently drop the interposed consonant, and 

 contract the two vowels into one ; as 'asa, Sam., kaha, Tong., burning, becomes in Man- 

 garevan ka, and in Hawaiian 'd ; 'ese or kelie, other, becomes in N. Z. ke, Tah., 'e ; 

 musu, to whisper, becomes mu, &c. 



The causative prefix, which in Tongan is faka, in Samoan fa'a, in Tahitian fa'a and 

 ha'a, becomes in Hawaiian ha'a or lufo, most commonly the latter. 



The diphthong ia in Tongan frequently becomes ie, and ua is changed to uo ; as fie, 

 to desire, for fia ; luo, a pit, for lua. In this dialect, also, when a word is doubled, an 

 alteration frequently takes place in the vowel of the first part ; asfolofola totfolafola. 



5. No Polynesian dialect makes any distinction between the 

 sounds of b and p, d and t, g and k, I and r, or v and w. The /, more- 

 over, is frequently sounded like d, and the t like k. 



The missionaries have, in general, made use of the mutes k,p, and t, instead of the 

 corresponding sonants. In the Tongan, however, the b is employed, and in Tahitian 

 and Rarotongan the letters b and d were at first occasionally used ; as medua for metua, 

 rotobu for rotopu, <fec. ; at present, we believe, the missionaries have decided upon 

 employing only the p and t. 



The sound of I is rarely heard in the New Zealand pronunciation, and that of r in the 

 Tongan ; in all the other dialects both these sounds are used indiscriminately. The 

 missionaries have adopted the I in Samoan and Hawaiian, and the r in Tahitian and 

 Rarotongan. In Vitian and Rotuman I and r are distinct sounds. 



The sound oft) is most usual in Samoan, Tongan, Rarotongan, and Tahitian, that of 

 w in the New Zealand, Paumotuan, and Hawaiian. 



In all the dialects the I (or r) is frequently so pronounced as to have, to the ear of a 

 stranger, a sound very similar to d ; Falealili, the name of a town in Samoa, is gene- 

 rally sounded Fakaridi ; riri in New Zealand is pronounced didi ; raro in Tahitian 

 has the sound of daro ; and Hilo, the name of a district in Hawaii, is usually pronounced 

 Hido. 



The confusion in the pronunciation of k and t is not uncommon, even in those lan- 

 guages in which both the sounds are met with as distinct elements. In Fakaafo aliti 

 was heard for aliki, and in New Zealand and Paumotu ariti. In Hawaiian, the natives 



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