INFLEXION AND OONSTEUCTION OF WORDS. 23 



3. After ni or li, when this word is used pleonastically in the sense of to he ; as, 

 iwo li o se e (thou it-is that did it)^ tJwu didst it ; iya li o kp6 o, inother called tliee. 



§ 97. A pleonastic pronoun of the third person singular follows verbs of saying, 

 writing, tfec, in connexion with kpe, tlmt, to wit ; as, 6 t6nunio 8 kpe 6q ko ^e G 

 (]i6 affirmed it tlmt he not did it'), lie affinned tliat he did Twt do it / mo kowe r^ kpe 

 emi mbo {Ihmlt-hook of -it that I was-coming), I to rote that Itvas coming. 



§ 98. Yi, he, she, it, is frequently employed pleonastically before verbs in the 

 future tense ; as, oba yi o kpa S, tlie hing lie will kill him. 



OMISSION OF PRONOUNS. 



§ 99. The personal pronoun 6 or 6, he, she, it, is always omitted before k6, k6, 

 or ki, not- as, ko ri, he does not see j ko m5, lie does not hioiv ; ki ise enia rere (iwt 

 is person goodness), he is not a good man. But the full form 6q or oq, he, is not 

 omitted ; and hence, instead of the above expressions, we may use their precise 

 equivalents, or) ko ri, he does not see ; 6q k6 m6, he does not know • 6q ki ise enia 

 rere, he is not a good man, 



§ 100. Possessives are sometimes omitted for the sake of brevity ; as, 16h bo 

 odi;u, go wash (your) face; iya de, (my) mother has come. 



Demonstrative Pronouns. 



§ 101. The demonstrative pronouns are yi, this ; nd, that; m,this one, that one; 

 with their plurals woqyi, these, woni, tlwse, formed by prefixing awoi), they, to 'yi' 

 and ' ni.' 



§ 102. The demonstratives are placed immediately after the nouns which they 

 define ; as, ile yi, this Iwuse ; ile woni, those Jiouses. When the noun is followed 

 by a descriptive word, the demonstrative is placed after both; as, enia rere nd 

 (^person of goodness that), tliat good person. 



§ 103. Both 'yi' and 'nd' may be attached to plural nouns; as, awoq enia yi, 

 tliese people ; gbogbo ile nd, all those houses. 



§ 104. The pronoun ' ni ' appears to be, as regards its origin, the near demon- 

 strative this. At present, however, this word and its corresponding substantive 

 ' eni ' have the following uses and acceptations. 



1. It is employed as an indefinite pronoun, which may be variously rendered 

 according to circumstances ; as, wi fu ni or eni (speak to one or a person), speak to 

 me or us ; bd ni sise, help one, or ns, to work ; eni ti mb6 (one wlio is coming), he 

 who is coming ; emi k6 ri eni kaq (I not see some one), I see no one. 



2. ' Ni' is frequently employed as a definite article (§ 108). 



3. It is combined with other pronouns in composition ; as, eyini (eyi ni), tliat ; 

 awoni (awoq ni), those; tani? (ta? ni), who? kini? (ki? ni), what? 



§ 105. When the demonstratives are employed substantively, they are aug- 

 mented by the addition of the usual preformatives ; as, eyi, alayi, eleyi, this ; 

 oqnd, tlmt; of which the plurals are awoqyi, iwoqyi, nwoqyi, tliese; awoni, awoqnd, 

 tlwse. Sometimes ' eyi ' reduplicates the second syllable ; as, eyiyi, this ; and fre- 

 quently it is compounded with ni, forming the compound substantive pronoun 

 eyini, meaning that. 



1. The substantive demonstratives are construed like nouns ; as, eyi li o se e 



