136 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



vowel if required. Example : ^geta = hand' becomes ^getale' in the 

 plural ; kuku = foot, kuJcule ; ' kutai = yam, kutaile ' ; ' ipi = wife, 

 tpile ' ; ' kerne = lad undergoing a certain ceremony, kernele' ; ^makaow 

 = mat, makaowle ' ; ' horn = fruit of pandanus, homale.' There are 

 exceptions, however ; ' mart = shell ornament,' makes ' marurre ' in 

 the plural ; ' gul = canoe, gulai ' ; ' tawpei = short, tawpeingh ' ; all 

 nouns ending in ra have the plural in re, as ' kowra = ear, kowrare ' ; 

 and all ending in kai gain jille in the plural, as ' ipikai = woman,^ 

 ipikatj'ille' " [n. 279]. 



We have found no examples of plurals in re, ai, ing, oy jille in the 

 Gospel. 



3. Gekdee. — Sex can only be expressed by the use of the words 

 gara, inile, male, or ipi, madale, female. Garahazi, male person, boy, 

 man ; ipikazi, woman, female person ; ipikaji hurumo (b), a sow ; 

 inil-tiam, a male turtle. For literal meaning of inile, madale, see 

 Vocabulary. 



4. Case. — The noun is declined by means of suffixes. There 

 appear to be nine cases, Nominative, Instrumental or Nominative of 

 the agent. Accusative, Genitive, Dative, Ablative, Locative, Ergative, 

 and Yocative. 



(a) Nominative and Instrumental. 



The nominative is the bare root. The instrumental is shown by 

 a suffix. To agree with the pronouns, the suffix should be do or dui 

 but examples are not easily found, though we have in Mark, ix. 24, 

 maido wokailnga, cried out with tears. In most cases no suffix is used, 

 and in others the termiaation {-n) is the same as the accusative. 



Example 1 : Without suffix. — Goiga palgizo, the sun rose; gulo 

 papudamiz, the wind ceased ; tati tarai walmizin, the father quick cried 

 out ; mui usimoiginga, the fire is not quenched. 



Example 2 : With suffix n : — Borodan kadaipa-mani nahi ai, the 

 earth brings forth food ; nongo gamu kulan lapan, cut his body with 

 stones ; xoar mabaegan Augadan haselaia ugan, a man waited for God's 

 Kingdom ; adapa idumoin moroigan, to be rejected by the elders ; dvrai 

 kawakun noino gasaman, some young men laid hold of him. 



(b) Accusative. 



As a general rule the noun in this case does not diJSer in form from 

 the nominative, but a suffix -n is also found, especially with proper 



