Eay & Haddon — The Languages of Torres Straits — II. 141 



hulhale, red ; huama, heat ; huamalnga, hot ; kaura, ear ; Icaurare 

 hauralenga, possessing ears ; geto, hand ; gitaUnga^ possessing a hand. 



The negative of adjectives in le or lenga is formed by adding igi, 

 gi, or ge to the noun, with or without the ending nga. Cf . Miriam 

 adjective in hah, Daudai tato. 



Example : Sola, slow ; solaginga, smart ; tari, quick ; taregi, 

 slow ; h6%i, child, hoziginga, childless ; mahaegogi, deserted ; mitai- 

 ginga, tasteless. 



When persons are qualified gigal is sometimes used. Ngita 

 muamuagigal, ngita imaigigal, you (are) without understanding ; you 

 don't see. 



A few adjectives are formed by reduplication as in Miriam. 



Example : Idi, oil, idiidi, fat ; huhi, charcoal, hulihubinga, black ; 

 mudo, crowd, mudomudo, crowded. 



Macgillivray has the following note on this method of forming 

 adjectives : — 



" The formation of many adjectives can be clearly traced : in fact, 

 one of the most obvious features of the language — imperfectly as it is 

 understood — is the facility with which many nouns may be converted 

 into either adjectives or verbs. Thus, ' mapei = a bite,' becomes 

 ' mapeile = capable of biting,' and is the root of the verb ' mapeipa -to 

 bite.' The positive adjunct * leg,^ and its negative * aige,'' are also used 

 to convert nouns into adjectives : the former follows the same rules 

 as those before given for forming the plural : — ^ gi%u = sharpness,' 

 becomes either ' gizule = sharp ' or ' gizuge = blunt,' literally, ' sharp- 

 ness possessing, or, possessing not' : from ' nuhi = water,' we get the 

 form * nuhile mar am = the well contains water,' or, ' nuhegi mar am = 

 the well is dry': ' <?flf^^fly^ = blind,' literally means, 'eye possessing 

 not ' : as a further example, I may give, * ipihai ajirge wap'ina ladale 

 mapeip = the shameless woman eats this sore-producing fish'" [n. 

 p. 301]. 



A few adjectives are formed by the addition of thung, meaning 

 " like, the same as." Macgillivray gave the example, gariga thung = 

 like the sun, or, as bright as daylight. No examples of this are found 

 in the Gospel. 



Colours. — Macgillivray noted that: — "There are two forms of 

 each adjective denoting colour, except grey and white. Thus, 

 ' black ' is rendered either ' huli-huhi-thung ' or, ' kuU-huU tha 



