44 ETYMOLOGY AND SYNTAX, 



Number. 



§ 197. There are two metliods of indicating that a noun is plural : 



1. By employing the personal pronoua awoq, they.^ before the noun ; as, awoq 

 Iraale fe oguq, tJie Moliammedans love war ; d 6 ri awoq esiq, we did iwt see tJie 

 horses I budi;oko awoq eleg^q, tlie seat of the scornful. 



When two or more plural nouns in this construction are connected by a conjunction, ' &yioi) ' is repeated 

 before each of them ; as, awoij alagbAra, awoq ologboi), ati awoi) olododo, the powerful, tlie wise, and the 

 righteous. But 'awoij' is not employed unless it is really necessaiy to indicate plurality. Thus in the 

 general proposition, aragbani bgboi), the ancients were wise, it is dispensed with, because we naturally infer 

 that the noun is used collectively. 



2. When the idea of reciprocity or of repetition is connected with that of plura- 

 lity, the two ideas are indicated by redu2:»lication, 



a. The ideas of reciprocity and plurality are occasionally expressed by redupli- 

 cation and a copulative conjunction ; as, ore or) ore ki iba ard woq d^^ (^friend and 

 friend not tvith self their figh£), friends do not fight with each other. 



b. Repetition and plurality are indicated by simple reduplication ; as, bu ikoq- 

 wo ikoqwo eru (talce handfid after handful of ashes), take handfuls of ashes ; eiye 

 eiye mbe nib^ {bird bird is there), birds are tliere, i. e. in flocks. 



G. In the numerals plurality is indicated by reduplicating the first portion ; as, 

 egbegb6ruq, thousands, or thonsands on thousands ; ogogorui), hundreds, many 

 hundreds. 



Case. 



§ 198. There is no inflexion of the Yoruba noun to indicate case. The relations, 

 however, in which a noun may stand to the other words in a sentence are denoted 

 in various ways. 



§ 199. The subject of the proposition, or nominative, is always placed before the 

 verb ; as, esiq sare, the horse runs. To this rule there is no exception. 



§ 200. The usage in regard to the vocative is various : 



1. In calling to a person at a distance, the particle 'o' is often employed after 

 the noun ; as, omode o ! O child ! 



2. If the person addressed is not far ofi", the speaker uses nd, tTiat ; as, 6koi)ri uA 

 wAh, man, come. 



3. In addressing one who is quite near to the speaker, the demonstrative yi, this, 

 is frequently employed ; as, omode yi, kuro ! child, get out of the way ! 



4. Usually, however, the name of the person addressed receives no addition ; as, 

 omode, t6 mi wdh, child, come to me; eqyiq Yoruba, gbo ti emi {ye Yanibas, hear 

 the words of ?ne), ye Yortd>as, hear me. 



§ 201. The position of the objective depends on the character of the sentence: 



1. It usually follows the governing word; as, mo ri oba, I saw the king ; dig 

 dkara fu babd, bake bread for fatlier. 



2. In cases of emphasis, however, the objective precedes the governing word ; as, 

 erai) ki d di ? {ineat that toe fry), shall I fry meat f obo ri ! see the baboon I 6q li 

 d wi fu {him it-is toe spoke to), we told him. 



