VITIAN GRAMMAR. 377 



The reciprocal affixes are also used to form the abstract nouns of relationship, as, 

 gane, brother or sister ; vri-yaneni, the relation between brother and sister ; wati, 

 spouse, husband or wife ; vei-wati or vei-watini, the matrimonial relation. Vei-toroi 

 signifies a successor, from toro, to come near ; and vei-taravi, an heir, from tara, to 

 succeed. 



Desire is expressed by via, as via-kani, to wish to eat ; via-moe, to wish to sleep, to 

 be sleepy ; an via lako, I wish to go. 



Ndau signifies frequent or customary action, as ndau-lolo, to fast frequently, to be 

 wont to fast ; tidau-kana, to eat much, to be a glutton. 



TRANSITIVE AFFIXES. 



Verbs, when they have a transitive signification, usually take certain affixes which 

 denote this state, and that whether they are or are not immediately followed by a noun in 

 the objective. These affixes are a, a, ka, ma, na, ya, ra, ta, va, ya, lakina, rakina, 

 takina, vakina, and yakina. The last five become, in the dialect of Rewa, laka, raka, 

 taka, vaka, and yaka. All these affixes, when followed immediately by a pronoun or 

 proper name, with the objective sign i before it, lose their final a, and take this i in its 

 place. 



[The missionaries at Lakemba at first considered that the final a was changed to i, 

 and the i of the objective also retained ; they therefore wrote au raiSi iko, or au raifii 

 ko, for " I see thee." But at Rewa and Somusomu they have omitted one of these 

 vowels. So far as our experience went, only one is sounded ; indeed, the pronoun in the 

 accusative appears frequently to be affixed to the verb, as au raiSiko, I see thee ; kakua 

 ni vesukidu, do not tie me. We sometimes heard the a retained, as, au raiSa iko. The 

 omission of the final vowel in Vitian, before another vowel, is by no means uncommon ; 

 lako, to go, when followed by i, generally becomes lak\ as, au sa lak' i Ovolau, I am 

 going to Ovolau.] 



Examples of transitive affixes are, 



SIMPLE VERB. TRANSITIVE FORM. 



ndere, to cleanse nderta 



sambi, to drive sambiSa 



vesu, to tie ves&ka 



fuyu, to hug fuTfwma 



loma, to love lomdna 



taro, to ask taroya 



vakatu, to erect vakatura 



sila, to trample sildta 



soro, to worship sorova 



ta, to fell, cut down taya 



koti, to cut kotilakina 



tambu, to consecrate tamburakina 



vue, to wound vuetakina 



taki, to draw water takivakina 



sole, to swathe sokyakina 



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