liv Ai^pendix. 



Maori and Tongan. 

 Eacli language, oi' more properly dialect, of the great Polynesian language, 

 lias five vowels, but, as stated before, the Maori has only eight consonants, 

 while the Tongan has twelve. Each have two labials, m being common to 

 both. Maori has no sibilants, Tongan only one. Maori has only one palatal, 

 Tongan two. Each have only one dental. Maori has two aspirates, Tongan 

 one. Maori has no dento-labials, Tongan two ; and Maoii has two dento- 

 palatals, Tongan three, as shown below : — 



Labial. Sibilant. Palatal. Dental. Aspirate. Dento-labial. Dento-palatal. 

 Maori ... p, m — k t h, tv — n, r 



Tongan ... I, m s h, g t h f,v j, n, I 



Now, looking at the influence of this selection of their articulations in their 



respective dialects, we will see the effects on their phonologies in the following 



words : — 



PotiJci, a child, in Maori, becomes hihicjl in Tongan. 



Kuri, a clog, in Maori, becomes giili in Tongan. 



Taringa, the ear, in Maori, becomes telinga in Tongan. 



AM, fire, in Maori, becomes afi in Tongan. 



Pua, a flower, in Maori, becomes ^wa in Tongan. 



Ngaro, a fly, in Maori, becomes lango in Tongan. 



Wera, hot, in Maori, becomes vela in Tongan. 



Puaka, a pig, in Maori, becomes huaJca in Tongan. 

 and so on. Thus we see how, in a closely allied dialect, divergences commence 

 by the simple, unregulated action of the tongue on different parts of the 

 mouth ; also by one tribe having, in process of time or by contact with more 

 highly developed languages, gained and adopted more. 



Again, by reducing both dialects to one system of spelling, we find that 

 by taking several sentences of twenty words each, at random, the Maori has 

 100 vowels for every sixty-three consonants, while the Tongan has 100 vowels 

 for every sixty -two consonants ; thus, though differing in tlie number of 

 consonants in their respective alphabets, they may be said to be nearly equally 

 soft or vocalic in their speech. 



Maori and Malay. * 



Proceeding on the same principle, we come now to compare Maori and 

 Malay phonetically. The Malay alphabet, as stated before, has five vowels 

 and eighteen consonants, i.e., if we allow h soft and h hard to count as two; 

 but, as I doubt the propriety of this, I may suggest that there should be only 

 seventeen consonants. The h soft phonetically really has no existence, and 

 has been adopted by European writers who blindly follow the Arabic system, 

 where the paucity of vowel characters has necessitated the introduction of 

 the final letter " ha" to many words actually ending in a, e, i, a, or u. 



It will be seen below that Malay has three labials to the Maori two, two 

 sibilants to the Maori none, two palatals and dentals to the Maori one, three 



