Characteristics of the Language of Ghagh or Accra. 257 



4. The pronominal forms, where, whither, and whence, are 

 not distinguished, except by the context ; as, bi-er, hence, here, 

 hither ; dzhe-i, thence, there, thither ; nergbwer, whence, where, 

 whither. 



5. There is a substantive verb ; viz. pres. dzhi, is ; past, yeh, 

 was. Thus mi dzhi, I am ; mi yeh, I was ; o dzhi, thou art ; 

 yeh, thou wast ; etc. 



6. The interjection of grief is ah or oh. 



TV. Derivation of Words. 



Abstract nouns are formed from adjectives by adding leh, li, 

 mli, or mo ; as, 



hewa, strong ; hewaleh, strength. 

 tetrer, broad ; tetrermli, breadth. 

 kwaw, high ; kwawli, height. 

 eding, black ; dimmo, blackness, 

 eyeng, white ; yemmo, whiteness. 

 etshru, red ; tshuleh, redness. 



Y. Composition. 



In unwritten languages, it is very difRcult to distinguish com- 

 pound words from the combination of words in phrases. 



VI. Inflection. 



1. There is no inflection to express gender, that is, to distin- 

 guish between the sexes, or between animate and inanimate ob- 

 jects. Sex is uniformly expressed both in men and animals by 

 adding the words nimg, male, and yio, female ; as, gbawmb yio, 

 a woman ; dzhatt'a yio, a lioness. 



% Number is expressed both in substantives and adjectives in 

 three ways : 



(1.) Some nouns add e for the plural; as, gbaivmo, a man ; 

 plur. gbawme, men. 



(2.) Some nouns add i for the plural ; as, fai, a hat ; ^Im.fai-i, 

 hats ; gbiue, a dog ; plur. gbive-i, dogs. 



(3.) Some nouns add dzhi for the plural ; as, shiflong, a dog ; 

 plur. shifong-dzhi, dogs. 



3. Cases, or the relations of nouns, are expressed partly by 

 prepositions, partly by the termination of nouns, and partly by 

 the collocation. 



(1.) The nominative case is known by its collocation before 

 the verb. 



