VITIAN GRAMMAR. 359 



The indefinite article is sometimes expressed by the numeral one (ndua), followed by 

 na, as, koiau raifa ndua na wayga, I see a canoe. 



Ko (in Somusomu 'o), is included by the missionaries among the articles. It is, how- 

 ever, properly, a sign of the nominative, and is employed only with proper names, with 

 a few nouns signifying relationship, and with some of the pronouns, as, 



Ko Tanoa, name of the king of Mbau. 



Ko Tui-Sakau, title of the king of Somusomu. 



Ko Mbua, Sandahvood Bay. 



Ko tamangu, my father ; Ko tinamu, my mother. 



But in the two last cases (before common nouns of relationship), the use of ko may be 

 an inaccuracy, as, though common, it is not universal. 



Ko is used before the interrogative pronoun ei, who? and, as koi, it is prefixed to 

 the personal pronouns in the singular, and in the third person dual and plural. 



THE SUBSTANTIVE. 



The gender is rarely distinguished. When necessary, tayane, man or male, and lewa, 

 woman or female, may be used for this purpose, as, 



yone tayane, son ; -gone lewa, daughter. 



vuaka tagane, boar ; vuaka lewa, sow. 



The number is also generally left to be gathered from the subject of conversation, or 

 from the context. There are, however, several modes of designating the plural, which 

 are occasionally employed. The particle loya is prefixed to nouns for this purpose, as, 

 aloya vale, the houses; but though it occurs frequently in the translations of the mis- 

 sionaries, it is rarely heard in conversation. Yatu (or rather atu with the euphonic i 

 prefixed) is sometimes employed before nouns signifying country or island, as, ai atu 

 vanua, the lands. 



The pronouns koi rau and koi ra, they, dual and plural, are sometimes employed to 

 denote those numbers ; as, koi rau na kai Nandi, the two Nandi people (lit. they the 

 two Nandi people) ; sa ivei koi ra na lewa, where are they the women ? By an anomaly, 

 ra is sometimes used in the vocative, for " ye," as, sa lako na tamandatou, ra r/one, 

 here comes our father, children. 



Vei, which is prefixed to verbs to denote reciprocal action, has, when joined with nouns, 

 a collective signification, as, nondra vale, their house, nondra vei-vale, their houses, 

 their village; vei-kau (R.), a clump of trees; vei-utu, a grove of bread-fruit trees, &c. 



Sometimes a collective noun is employed to express number, as, a 'umu'umu tamata, 

 (s.), the company of men. 



For many articles and objects which the natives have frequent occasion to count, they 

 have words which of themselves express ten, or a multiple often, as, 



undttundu, ten canoes ; koro, one hundred cocoa-nuts ; 



mbola, one hundred canoes ; selavo, one thousand cocoa-nuts ; 



mburu, ten cocoa-nuts ; sole, ten bread-fruits ; 



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