June 1, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



847 



have only one. This difference is so dis- 

 tinct in the Hawaiian's mind that the dis- 

 tinguishing words are seldom, if ever, used 

 interchangeably. In designating the cases, 

 recourse is necessarily had to Hawaiian 

 terms, since no European tongue provides 

 sufficient names. The extreme develop- 

 ment of the case relation is seen by com- 

 parison. The English has 4 ; the Latin, 6 ; 

 the Sanskrit, 8, and the Polynesian, 10. 



The formation of words is one of the in- 

 teresting phases of the language. As in all 

 .uncultivated tongues, intensity of expres- 

 sion is accomplished by repetition. This 

 may be done by doubling a letter, a syllable, 

 or even two syllables, as 



a means to burn, aa to burn hotly ; 



naki means to bind, nakiki to bind tightly ; 



pulu meana wet, puhipulu very wet. 



A noted distinction before referred to in 

 speaking of case is made between active 

 and passive relations, as indicated by the 

 prepositions a and o. If we refer to the 

 house a man built, we use a ; if he simply 

 lives in it, we use o — e. g. : 



ka hale a Keawe means the house that Keawe 



buUt; 

 ha hale o Keawe means the house that Keawe 

 lives in. 



a is employed in speaking of a man's 

 wifej in speaking of his maid servant — e. g. : 

 ka wahine a Keawe means Keawe's wife ; 

 ka wahine o Keawe means Keawe's maid servant. 



The literal translation is the luoman of 

 Keawe, but whether she bears the relation 

 of wife or servant is indicated by the choice 

 of prepositions. By the mere change of 

 one sound in the sentence a husband may 

 imply volumes of meaning. 



A refers to an oven for you to cook with ; 

 to an oven for you to be cooked in. In 

 New Zealand they say — 



he hangi mau ; to cook with ; but 

 he hangi mou ; to be cooked in. 



This introduction of a particle to com- 

 pletely change the meaning is common in 



some of the Romance languages. Take 

 the example in Spanish : 



Mi hermano quiere una criada ; and — 



Mi hermano quiere 4 una criada. 

 The first means that my brother wants a 

 maid servant ; the second, that he loves 

 one. 



Forms Similar to the French. — A striking 

 similarity to the French exists where the 

 noun is inserted between the two parts of 

 the pronoun — e. g.: 



ua moku nei = ce navire-ci = this ship ; 



ua moku la = ce navire-la = that ship ; 



ua-nei being here a strong demonstrative. 

 Note also the resemblance between 

 keia and kela — meaning this and that — and 

 ceci and cela. 



The idea of everytaing would be expressed 

 in Kanaka by that thing, this thing, kela 

 mea Jceia mea. 



In this phrase we see again the lack of 

 generalizing power of the Polynesians. 



The Hawaiian is one type of the agglu- 

 tinated languages. The combination of the 

 article with a proper name forms a new 

 compound, in which, however, the original 

 signification of the article is lost. The 

 names of two of Hawaii's famous queens 

 may be cited as examples. 



Kapiolani means the heavenly prisoner ; 

 Liliuokalani is the lily of heaven. 



IV. — SYNTAX. 



Relative Pronouns. — When we come to 

 compare the Polynesian languages with the 

 Indo-European from the point of view of 

 syntax, many interesting peculiarities are 

 developed. The fact that all their mental 

 action follows special lines involves a rad- 

 ical modification of our methods of expres- 

 sion. Some of our constructions apparently 

 necessary and certainly logical cannot be 

 employed. 



No relative pronoun has ever been found 

 in Hawaiian. This does not involve a lack 

 of logical clearness. From their mode of 



