VITIAN GRAMMAR. 373 



Instead of 'oi rau, they two, the Somusomu grammar gives '' rau, which is the same 

 as the dual of the first person. How the distinction between them is made is not stated. 



POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS. 

 Those which precede nouns are as follows : 



SINGULAR. DUAL. PLURAL. 



ygou, my wendaru, our (of thee and me) wenda, our (limited inclusive) 



wendatou, our (unlimited inc.) 

 weirau, our (of him and me) weitou, our (limited exc.) 



weimami, our (unlimited exc.) 

 omit, thy omundrau, your omundou, your 



omunu, your (or thy) 

 ana, his ondrau, their ondra, their 



ondratou, their. 



These pronouns are usually preceded by the article a, as, a pgau vale, my house ; 

 a omu wayga, thy canoe. 



At Mbua, ondaru, onda, and ondatou are used instead of wendaru, wenda, and 

 wendatou, and oygiau for ygou. At Rewa, all the possessive pronouns commence with 

 n ; ~ggou becomes noygit, omu and all the others which begin with o have n prefixed 

 (as, nomu, nona, nomundrau), those which begin with we change this to no (as 

 nondaru, nonda), and those which begin with wei change the w to n (as neirau, 

 neitou). 



When the possessive pronouns are used with substantives signifying articles of food, 

 they assume a different form. Ngou becomes -ggau, which, at Lakemba, is used with 

 names both of eatables and drinkables, as, a -ggau uvi, my yam, a ygau yaygona 

 (or a rigaui aygona), my kava. But at Somusomu, ygau is used with eatables only, 

 and for drinkables meygau is employed ; at Rewa it is meygu, and at Mbua, meygiau. 

 For the second person kernu and rnemu are employed, the first for eatables, and the 

 second for drinkables. For the third person these pronouns are kena and menu ; for 

 the dual, kendaru and mendaru, keirau and meirau, and so on through all the persons 

 and numbers. 



Cocoa-nuts and sugar-cane are commonly included in the class of drinkables, as they 

 are prized chiefly for their milk and juice. 



These pronouns, it should be remarked, are used only when food is set before a person 

 for immediate consumption. When it is merely named as an article belonging to him, 

 those of the other class are employed, as, kemu vuaka, your portion of pork to eat ; 

 omu vuaka, your pig. 



There are certain substantives which require the possessive pronouns to follow them. 

 In this case many of the latter undergo contractions, and are united with the substantive 

 so as to form but one word. Hgou is contracted to ygu, and those pronouns which 

 begin with o or we lose these initial syllables. Those which commence with wei take 

 the form of the genitive case personal, as, i kei tou, i kei mami. Thus : 



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