370 PHILOLOGY. 



ygolo, ten pieces of sugar-cane ; rara, ten pigs ; 



mbi, ten turtles ; vulo, ten whales'-teeth ; 



mbola, ten fishes ; sava, ten pots. 



The cases of nouns are determined by particles and prepositions. Those prefixed to 

 proper names are, for the most part, different from those used with common nouns, as, 



Ko Tanoa, Tanoa (nom.) a tanoa, the bowl ; 



i Tanoa, of T. ni tanoa, of the bowl ; 



vei or kivei Tanoa, to or for T. ki na tanoa, to the bowl ; 



mewei Tanoa, for T. vei na tanoa, to or for the bowl ; 



kini i Tanoa, with, from, in, by, T. i na tanoa, in, at, by, the bowl ; 



mai Tanoa, from T. ma na tanoa, from the bowl. 



/ is used before proper names in the accusative, as, sa sarasara koiau i Tanoa, I see 

 Tanoa. It is also used occasionally as a sign of the vocative, as, I Seru, O Seru. 



It will be observed that the article na is used after all the prepositions except ni ; ni 

 na tanoa would be improper. 



In the Somusomu grammar, ri is given as a particle of euphony which is frequently 

 affixed to nouns, without altering the sense ; it causes the accent to be shifted forward one 

 syllable, as, a wdyga, and a waygari, the canoe. [Perhaps the latter form may have 

 a demonstrative force, as, that canoe, or the canoe before spoken of.] 



THE ADJECTIVE. 



Adjectives follow the substantive which they qualify, as, tui levu, great king ; ma- 

 rama vinaka, good lady. 



Comparison is expressed by various circumlocutions, as : 



levu Sake or levu yani, " great above" or " beyond," for greater ; 



lailai sombu or lailai Sivo, " small below," for less ; 



ko sa vuku vei kendaru, thou art wise of us two ; 



sa kaukaua koiau kini i ko, I am strong to thee (stronger than) ; 



a matau vinaka r/gou, a matau d ygou, this is a good axe, that is a bad one (for, 



this is better than that) ; 

 sa tola ko Viti, sa levu na tamata i America, empty is Viti, many are the men of 



America ; (i. e. America is more populous than Viti). 



The superlative degree is also expressed in many ways : 



(1) by prefixing an adverb, as, van levu, very great ; 



(2) by postfixing an adverb, as, vinaka laivi or vinaka sara, very good ; 



(3) sometimes two adverbs are employed, as, vinaka laivi-sara, very exceedingly good ; 



(4) the adverb is sometimes doubled, as, levu sarasara, very, very great; 



(5) sometimes the adjective is repeated, as, vinaka, vinaka, vinaka; 



(6) certain strong expressions are employed, as levu vakairere, great to make afraid, 



fearfully great. 



