280 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



80 or 100 miles up the Ply river. Kxxbira and Doropodai use a diffe- 

 rent language, but many members of those tribes have a knowledge of 

 the Kiwai tongue."^ 



The principal dialectical variation consists in the loss of a sibilant 

 or guttural in Mowat or Perem, which is retained in Kiwai, 



Example : Sera (k), era (m), breath ; ivisa, wia, buy ; sito, ito, 

 outside ; soro, oro, bone ; sopu, opu, earth ; lesere, iuere, girl ; sepate, 

 epate, ear ; sio, io, dog ; muso, muo, hair ; loso, loo, fight ; iriso, irio, 

 food, eat ; osiia, ou, sky ; siiroma, uramo, north ; snsua, no, wind ; osio, 

 oio, young man, etc. 



Kara (k), ara (m), fence ; kerigedio, erigedio, work. 



In some cases the dialects have different words. 



Example : Sai (k), iicio or ihiu (m), day ; irisina (k) ; arimina (p), 

 fish; iroidiro (k), erauidiro (k), mitidiro (v), hear; osua (k), om (p), 

 aroma (m), sky; damari (k), euri (p), see; didiri (k). auana (p), men;. 

 sagana (k), garmmo (31), moon, etc. 



MacGregor notes that "the Sumai people speak very indistinctly, 

 and as if the tongue were folded, and they slur over the words so as 

 to produce many contractions which puzzle the ear at first." ^ 



§ I. — Alplialef. 



1, Vowels. — a as yd. father ; & an in at ; ^ as « in date ; e as in let ; 

 i as ee in feet ; ? as in ^Y ; as ow in own ; as in ow ; u as 00 in soon ; 

 M as in tip. 



The orthography of Beardmore's ms. is very uncertain, and in many 

 words difficult to make out. The consonants present little difficulty, 

 but the vowels and diphthongs are sometimes puzzling, as the indeter- 

 minate English spelling is used. Thus the syllables da, de, di, do, du, 

 are written, dah or dar, day, dee, dow or doh, doo. The short sound of 

 the vowel is expressed by doubling the following consonant : — Terrico 

 for t^iko, dubhi for diihi, attah for ata. We have transcribed Beard- 

 more's vocabulary in the uniform orthography. 



Besides the vowels given above, there seems to be in Mowat a 

 broader sound. In Beardmore's ms. this is frequently written or, oar, 

 or ar. Thus, tvoworgo for wowogo, dorhee for doli, loor for loo, torp- 

 orloar for topo-olo. Beardmore also, in some Mowat words, wrote u 



^Ibid., p. 124. 



