132 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



these things ? ngadd mani ? who took it ? ngado hula taean ? who 

 rolled away the stone ? ngonu paru ina ? whose face is this ? 



Nga is sometimes added to other words. Example : N'ga mahaeg 

 ngailia garahotradiz ? who (what man) touched me ? nginu nelenga ? 

 who is thy name ? (cf. the Melanesian use of ' who' in asking a name). 



(J)) The interrogative used of things is miei? what? The follow- 

 ing forms are found : — 



Nominative, instrumental, and accusative, miei ? mido ? what ? 

 Dative, mipa ? for what ? why ? 



Ablative, mingu ? from what ? concerning what ? why ? 

 The distinction between miei and mido is not clearly made out in the 

 Gospel, but m,idd from its form should be instrumental. 



Example : Mido ngai ? is it I ? or, do I do it ? miei ngi uhinmepa f 

 what do you wish ? kuihulumai vine apangu miei mani ? what did the 

 lord of the vineyard ? ngai mido mepa ngihepa ? I do what for thee ? 



Miei is sometimes reduplicated. Mieimiei sena noi keda augadapa 

 ipidado-pugan ? why does he thus blaspheme God ? mieimiei is also used 

 for ';wMch ? ' (of two) in Mk. n. 9. 



(c) Mil the root of miei, mido, is used prefixed to nouns as an 

 interrogative adjective with the meaning ' what ? ' ' what sort of ?' 



Example : — Miza ? what thing ? mi watripawa ? what evil ? mi 

 tonar ? what sign ? mi lag'o ? what place ? mi ia umamoipa ? what dis- 

 cussion ? mi muamu ? what wisdom ? Ngalpa Augadan haselaia mi 

 ngadalnga minapa ? we make God's kingdom like what? 



For mipa and mingu, see Adverbs, § vi. 



3. Demonsteative Peonohns and Adjectives. — These are formed 

 by various combinations of particles, of which the separate meanings are 

 not very clear. It seems possible, however, to classify them as follows : — 

 na, hi, simple demonstratives, directing attention. 



p, ( i, place near ; here. 



( se, place, distant ; there. Cf. adverb, siei, sei, there. 



I pel, pal, dual. Cf . pronouns, palae, they two ; ngipel, 

 you two ; verb, palan, divided. 

 > ta, plural. Cf . pronouns, tana, they two ; ngita, you two. 

 The combinations give the following words in the vocabularies and 

 Gospel : — 



ina, ino, this one, the, here ; ndbi, inahi, this, the, a ; inabidAJt/rai, these. 

 nahi, that, the. 



