IITFLEXION AND CONSTRUCTION OF WORDS. lY 



verbs dio, to asseirible^ and kp5, to he common^ are employed ; as, k6 d^o, to collect 

 togetlier ; soro kpo, to talk togetJier. 



3. The adverbs of place with the idea of motion, as, loke, vp^ and nisale, doion^ 

 correspond very nearly to the English words iiinvcirds and downwards ; and hence 

 to express the precise idea of iip and dxnon^ the Yorubas employ the verbs, dide, 

 to rise, and ^ubu, to fall; as, ih dide, to raise (one) up ; bi ^ubu, to push (one) 

 down. 



4. Finally, to mention one more example among many, the Yoruba adverbs 

 meaning mxicli refer to number and quantity rather than to degree ; and hence to 

 express this last idea, the noun kpikp5, oLundaTwe, is used ; as, fe kpikp6, to love 

 onucJh or greatly. 



§ 67. Many Yoruba adverbs are restricted in their use to a single word, or at 

 most to a single idea ; as, fiofio, very or mvoh, which is applied to nothing except the 

 idea of height; scqseq, (standing) uprigld ; buruburu, (hiding) closely ; biribiri, 

 intensely (dark). Ex: igi ga fiofio, the tree is very tall; li duro seqseq, toe stand 

 erect ; ole kpamo buruburu, the thief hid closely ; il^ ^li biribiri (tlie-ground is-darh 

 intensely^, it is very darTc. 



DERIVATION OF PREPOSITIONS. 



§ 68. A few of the prepositions are verbs ; as, ba, iDith, along with (prop, to 

 ineet) ; fi, with, hy means of (prop, to make) ; de, for (prop, to he ready, prqxired). 

 But most of the Yoruba prepositions are composed of a noun and one of the pri- 

 mitive particles ni, in ; si, to ; or ti, from ; as, nin6, in, within (from ni and ino, the 

 inside^. (See Prepositions.) 



DERIVATION OF CONJUNCTIONS. ' 



§ 69. A few of the conjunctions may be primitive words.; but it is not difficult 

 to refer them to verbal roots ; as, bi, if ; probably from the obsolete verb bi, to he, 

 which is still retained in composition, e. g. abi, the state of existence. 



§ 70. Most of the remaining conjunctions are compound words; as, ndiie, then 

 (from 6q, it, and d^e, to he) ; nitori, hecause (from niti, in, and ori, reason). 



§ Yl. The origin of others is more doubtful. Thus, adi, notwithstanding, may 

 be derived from di, to suhtract ; oq, and, appeai-s to be the pronoun 6ij, he ; ki, that, 

 is a primitive. (See Conjunctions.) 



CHAPTEE II. 



INFLEXION AND CONSTRUCTION OF WORDS. 



§ 72. When words are combined together to form propositions, the relations 

 which they bear to each other are indicated partly by their position with regard 

 to each other, or collocation, pai-tly by certain subordinate words or particles 

 employed for this purpose, and partly by changes in the form of words, called 

 inflexions. In the Yoruba language the first and second of these methods are 



3 



