472 PHILOLOGY. 



SING. DUAL. PLURAL. 



go or you, I amia, we two am or amis, we 



ai or ei, thou aua, ye two aw or aus, ye 



Aa&i (?), he eria, they two em, they 



We were assured by the natives that there was no distinction of exclusive and inclusive 

 pronouns, as in the Polynesian ; but in one of the sentences which were written down, 

 we find the word us rendered by mokoi (instead of am), which may be a corruption of 

 the Polynesian matou. There was also a pronoun of the second person plural, amu, 

 making in the dual amua, but in what it differed from au we could not ascertain. The 

 pronoun of the third person singular is doubtful ; that which is given was only heard 

 once, the natives generally using data, that man, in its place. 



The possessive pronouns are : 



oto or otou, my otomia, of us two amis (?), our 



6 or ou, thy oua or omua, of you two ous or omus, your 



on, his oria, of them two oris, their. 



These all precede the substantive to which they belong : there are no possessive affixes. 



The affixed particles to and ti have been mentioned as answering to the demonstratives 

 that and this. When used separately, they would seem to be changed to tes (or tef) and 

 tar> ; as, oto n teg, ou ri tarj, this is my house, that is yours. Li was also used, in one 

 instance, to signify this, as, as-li, this day. 



The interrogative pronouns are sei, who or what ? (used only of persons) teste, what 1 

 and his" 1 , how many ? as, sei Qata ? who is that man ? on sei ricla, whose is that house ? 

 Sei ou as 1 what is thy name ? Before a vowel this word is sometimes contracted to s', 

 as, s'ou as? what is thy name? s'on as, what is his name? His' is perhaps the con- 

 struct form of hisa, from the Polynesian fisa ; as, hanua his 1 , how many towns, or 

 lands? 



THE VERB. 



The number of sentences which were obtained is not sufficient to enable us to give a 

 full account of this part of speech. The future tense is denoted generally by the particle 

 la; as, ~go la tsauifka ai, I will kill thee; ~go la mos e porji, I shall sleep to-night. Ma 

 seems also to be employed to express intention, as, sem.it ma rjo loo se Rotuma, by-and- 

 bye I will go to Rotuma. No sign of the preterite could be discovered, though it is very 

 probable that such may exist. Its place was supplied by some adverb significative of 

 past time ; as, rjo Id' e asa, I went yesterday ; rjo leum ma/roa e Rotuma, I came long 

 ago from Rotuma. 



La, besides its future signification, is also used to express any kind of contingency, 

 where we should employ the optative, subjunctive, or infinitive moods ; as, -go leum la 

 kel hanua, I came to see the land ; Ido la tap la rjagatga leum, go tell the chief to come 

 (go to tell that the chief come) ; ai la loo se Rotuma, -go la nao te maoi, [if] thou wilt 

 go to Rotuma, I will give [thee] many things. 



The directive particles mai and atu, so frequently used in the Polynesian to signify 

 respectively motion towards and from the speaker, are found in Rotuman under the 



