Eay & Haddon — The Languages of Torres Straits — II. 143 



IToi is used as a prefix to intensify the meaning of an adjective, as 

 koisigal, very far ; Tcoimapunga, very difficult. Macgillivray gives tlie 

 example, kelcamanale, very warm. — [ii. 303]. 



5. The peculiar adjectival expressions noticed in Miriam are found 

 also in the Saibai Gospel. Zagi, zaginga, poor ; lit., nothing, not 

 having a thing; mpu, rich; lit., mother of things; zapulaig, a rich 

 person; hasa-Tcupal, naked; lit., bare-bellied. 



§ V. — Verbs. 



1, Many nouns and adjectives may be used in their simplest forms 

 as verbs, e.g. noi mm, he weeps ; ngi mina, you are true. "Where 

 verbal roots have been found in the vocabularies, they invariably end 

 in a vowel : ngurapai, teaching ; mulai, speaking ; pdlai, cutting. 



2. Yeebal "Forms. 



(a) Causative. — There seems to be no definite way of expressing the 

 causative. In many cases it is shown by a suffix pa, which is the 

 same as that forming the dative case of a noun, and the same formation 

 as that found in Miriam, where the causative in em is also the dative 

 suffix. (See Miriam Grammar, p. 536 of Part I.). Macgillivray 

 regarded the suffix pa in Muralug as the ending for the present tense 

 of the verb ; and in Haddon' s mss. it is also found as a present 

 tense ending. As used in the Saibai Gospel pa expresses an infinitive 

 rather than a present tense, and is very often used with another 

 verb. 



A very common way of expressing a causative is by the use of the 

 verb mepa, to do, or make, the tenses of which (mizi, mani), as given in 

 the vocabularies, often form verbs from nouns. 



Example : Launga-mani, to rebuke, make nothing of ; ubi, uhin, a 

 want ; ubin-mepa, to wish, want ; adapa, out ; adapa-mani, to put out ; 

 ngapa, hither, come hither ; ngapa-mani, make come hither, i.e. bring ; 

 mina-man, to measure, span, make a mark ; mari-man, to pine, become 

 a spirit, &c. Other verbs are used in a similar way. (See Verbal 

 Prefixes.) 



{h) Negative. — The negative verb is formed by affixing igi or iginga 

 to the root. This is analogous to the formation of negative adjectives 

 from nouns, and the verb usually has a participial or adjectival 

 meaning. 



