VITIAN GRAMMAR. 357 



The five vowels have the regular sounds, as in the Polynesian dialects ; and, as in 

 those, every syllable ends with a vowel. Such words as tambu, manda, wapga, tandra, 

 form no exception to this rule, as the nasals m, n, jj, nd, really belong to the last syllable. 

 In the missionary orthography this is made apparent for the first three combinations, the 

 above words being written tabu,, mada, waga, and tadra. 



The vowel at the end of a word is frequently so indistinct as to be hardly perceptible. 

 Thus most foreigners pronounce the words meke, dance, tovu, oven, Moturiki, the name 

 of an island, as though they were written mek, Idv, and Moturik. 



The I and r are distinct letters, and not interchanged as in the Polynesian dialects. 



The v is one of the most remarkable elementary sounds in the language, on account of 

 the wide range of its variations. Like the Spanish b, it is pronounced by closing the lips 

 together, and according to the greater or less force of pronunciation, it is heard as a v, 

 f, p, or b, and occasionally even as m. Thus the word vanua, country, is sounded 

 frequently fanua, banua, and panua ; levu, great, is commonly pronounced nearly as 

 left 1 ; ava, what, as Sapa; and the name Viti levu has been written by different persons 

 Feetce leb, Beetee lib, and, utterly corrupted, Metalecp. At the beginning of words, it is 

 more often heard as f, and in the middle as b or p. In some few words, the sound 

 of p is so distinct that the missionaries were induced, at first, to write it with this letter; 

 but they find it impossible to keep up the distinction, and at present the sounds of p, f, v, 

 and b, (not preceded by m,) wherever they occur, are expressed by the same letter, v. 



The y and w are used instead of i and u when they begin a syllable, as, yava for 

 iava, wcduvu for ualivou. 



The accent is usually on the penultimate, and when a syllable is suffixed to a word, 

 the accent is shifted forward, as, vale, house, valimu, thy house. Some words have 

 the accent on the last syllable, as -ggaygd, brave. These, which are not numerous, are 

 noted in the vocabulary. 



The consonants of the Vitian alphabet may be arranged, according to their classes, as 

 follows : 



Labials v m mb w 



Dentals t n nd 



Gutturals k p yg y 



Liquids / r ndr (?) 



DIALECTICAL DIFFERENCES. 



Whether the variations in the language as spoken at different parts of the group are 

 sufficiently important to constitute what may be properly termed dialects, is doubtful. 

 The principal points of difference of which we obtained information were the following. 



1. In the windward chain of islands, the chief of which is Lakemba, many Polynesian 

 words are employed which are not known elsewhere, and which are probably derived 

 from the Tongan. Thus in Viti-levu, the word for " thing" is ka; but in Lakemba it is 

 mea, evidently from the Polynesian mea. In other parts of the group, me8a means an 

 enemy. In Lakemba, also, the t (as already remarked) is pronounced like ch, when it 

 precedes i. This is likewise a peculiarity of the Tongan. 



2. In Vanua-kvu and Sommomu a dialect is spoken, distinguished principally by the 



