A VITIAN DICTIONARY. 



FROM what has been said in the introduction to the Grammar, it 

 will be seen that this dictionary is due principally to the labors of 

 the Rev. Mr. Cargill, missionary to Lakemba, and that it was originally 

 drawn up in the dialect of that island. The additions made to it are 

 those by the Rev. Mr. Hunt for the dialect of Somusomu (marked S.), 

 and those which we have introduced for the dialects of Rerva (R.), 

 Ovolau (O.), Mathuata (M.), Mbua (Mb.), and Ra (Ra). It should 

 also be remembered that the dialect of Somusomu omits the k in all 

 cases, and that of Mathuata generally the t, though the latter pecu- 

 liarity is admitted by the natives to be a fault in pronunciation. 



Several changes have also been made from Mr. Cargill's dictionary 

 in the order of arrangement, as well as in the orthography, for reasons 

 indicated in the grammar. These alterations are not presented in the 

 light of improvements, and, in fact, if considered with reference to the 

 Vitian language alone, they might justly bear an opposite designation. 

 But the propriety of conforming, in this part of the present work, to 

 the general system adopted for the whole, will be readily admitted. 

 And the changes which have been thus made necessary are not such 

 as to render it difficult for any one, with a little practice, to use the 

 present dictionary and grammar, in connexion with the translations 

 of the missionaries. 



Most of the verbs have their transitive particles appended to them ; 

 five of these are given in an abbreviated form, viz. : lak., rak., tak., 

 vak., and yak. In the dialect of Lakemba these all terminate in kina, 

 as, lakina, rakina, &c. ; in that of Rewa, in ka, as laka, raka. The 

 dialect of Somusomu omits the k, but otherwise agrees with that of 

 Lakemba, as, la'ina, retina. 



