OUTLINES OF A GRAMMAR 



OF THE 



TARAWAN LANGUAGE. 



WE have elsewhere [page 90] stated the reasons which have induced us to apply the 

 name of Tarawa to the group called by the English the Kingsmill Islands, and by the 

 French, L'Archipel Gilbert. The sources from which the materials have been derived 

 for the grammar and vocabulary which follow are, firstly, a collection of about four 

 hundred words made during the brief intercourse which we had with the natives ; and, 

 secondly, the information obtained from two seamen, Kirby and Grey, the one Irish and 

 the other Scotch, who were taken by us from the islands of Kuria and Makin, on which 

 they had been resident, the former three and the latter five years. Unfortunately, we 

 had no opportunity of communicating with the natives, after taking these men on board, 

 and could not, therefore, make use of their intervention, to acquire a more thorough know- 

 ledge of the language than they themselves were able to furnish. Their chief deficiency 

 as in pronunciation, in which their errors were such as are usually made by uneducated 

 men, who attempt to learn a language after reaching middle age. The articulations to 

 which such persons have never before been accustomed can with difficulty be acquired, 

 and the nicer shades of sound are usually neglected. 



On the other hand, in the words obtained by us directly from the natives, the language 

 being entirely strange, with no common medium of communication, some mistakes, as a 

 matter of course, were made in the meanings of words. These were afterwards corrected 

 by the two interpreters. The pronunciation, however, of these words was probably deter- 

 mined with considerable exactness. The following list of vocables, given as they were 

 obtained by us from the natives, and from each of the interpreters, will exhibit the prin- 

 cipal discrepancies between the three, and will show the allowances which must be made 

 for mispronunciation in the words given solely on the authority of the two seamen. 



NATIVE. KIRBY. GRKV. 



maiaki maiak mtak above, to windward 



pdpdi popai, bobai boboi Arum esculentum 



mana-yi manayi, maar/ [mandyi, burning wood] ashes 



