Ray & Haddon — The Languages of Torres Straits — II. 289 



Nou gido suhuba dogo oosari, he will still give you tobacco ; nimo gido 

 suhuha dogo oosari, we will still give you tobacco. 



With the verbs " to eat" and "to preach," the suffix -ri is used 

 with the prefix n-. Moro nori dogo nirisori, I will still eat sweet 

 potatoes ; moro totoma auera dogo narogori, I will preach, I will 

 preaching word still say. 



In the singular number of these verbs "eat" and "preach" 

 MacGregor's examples have the forms moro, roro, instead of mou and rou. 



In the text the particle no seems to mark the future. Nimo no 

 oguitogu, we will go ! lesu pai diriuo nemo no oriai, Jesus does not 

 wish that we sball die. Cf. Remarks on Infinitive Mood. 



(e) Continuance of an action is shown by the word dogo, yet, con- 

 tinually. Nei dogo aue amadi, they continually rejoice; dogo oiiito, 

 gradually grew up. See also examples in future {d). 



6. l^UMBEE AND PeKSON : 



Some verbs are marked as plurals in Savage's Vocabulary, but they 

 are so few that they cannot be classified. 



Sing, aidimai; Plur. aradimai, to cover. 

 „ aru ; ,, iboriti, to sow. 



In MacGregor's example of the verb "to go," there appear 

 prefixes varying with the number and person of the verb. Thus ai, 

 ogu, meaning go ; ahrasai and doguaimi, to-day ; duduato, yesterday ; 

 dudua, to-morrow, we have the following : — 



Present : 

 Sing. — 1. Mou abrasai doguaimi nai. Plur. — 1. Nimo ahrasai nimairi. 

 ,, 2. Rou abrasai doguaimi «ai. ,, 2. Nigo ahrasai imairi. 



„ 3. JVou abrasai doguaimi nsi. ,, 3. Nei abrasai vimogMiri. 



Past : 

 Sing. — 1. Mou dudtcata nogu. Plur. — 1. Nimo duduatanogu. 



,, 2. Rou duduata nogu. ,, 2. Nigo duduata nogM. 



,, 3. Nou duduata nogu. ,, 3. Nei duduata nogu. 



Future : 

 Sing. — 1. Mou dudua wai. Plur. — 1. Nimo dudua nimairi. 



,, 2. Rou dudua wairi. „ 2. Nigo dudua imaS.r%. 



,, 3. Nou dudua nnXri. ,, 3. Nei dudua vimsdri. 



Probably with a fuller knowledge of the language the exact 

 meaning of these variations may be explained. 



7. DlHECTIVES : 



It is probable that certain particles are used as directive prefixes, 

 but their exact determination is difficult. 



