12 



The Oceanic Languages Semitic: 



sefe = what ? the only difference being in the articles ne 

 and se. Finally, to this interrogative element (p, pa, ma, fa, 

 va, fe, ha, he, a,) whether with or without a prefixed article, 

 we find sometimes a demonstrative emphatic, meaning 

 " this," suffixed, as in Mg. in ona. My. TYiana, Fa. inse 

 fana, or ins ana, and na fete. An. ne vitai, My. a patah. 

 Fa. oie feha (on ?ie fesa), uase. The interrogative element 

 in the above is originally (1), that is m^a, and the phonetic 

 changes of this m here exhibited, are already familiar to us. 

 For the prefixed and suffixed demonstratives (articles or 

 emphatics), see above. 



h. Comparison. 



(in) o, (o le) a, (s) a Heb. "tnah 



(ins) a, (se) a, (a) a, (in) he 

 (a) ha, (a) pa, (se) fe 

 (sa) va, (ne) fe, (tu) fe 

 (inse) fa 



(in) ona, mana 

 (inse) fana, (ins) ana 



(na) fete, (ne) vitai 

 (a) "patah 



Mg. 



My 



iza 



siapa 



zovy 



sapa 





mana 



Arb. ma 



Eth. myi, Syr. tyio 

 Sab. Tna and ha, or va (on 

 to h or v) 



Syr. mun, mon, mono 

 Amh. m^ene 



Mod. Arb. m^ade 

 Mod. Syr. Tnude 



c. Who ? 



Fa. (Pa.) Sam. (Ma.-Ha.) 



sei, se a ai 



Ero. me (d wi) Ma. a wai 

 Tan, ha Tah. o vai 



An. thi, Fi. o cei 

 Santo ise 

 Mallic, Jcihe 



Of these Fa. fei, Eromangan me (dialect wi), Tanna ha, 

 Tahiti vai, Maori wai, Sam. ai, are identical, and consist of 

 two parts, m.a (1), as in a- and h above, and i, the personal 

 pronoun, third singular : see I., §§ 13, 23. Mg. zovy. My. 

 siapa, sapa. Fa. sei, Fiji cei (i.e., thei), Aneityum thi, are 

 also identical, being exactly the same as those in the 

 preceding sentence, with article s prefixed : thus Fa. sei 

 (north dialect) is Fa. fei (south dialect), with (3) article s 

 prefixed, sefei (Mg. zovy) being contracted to sei, or se, as 

 Mg. zovy is to za in iza ; and as Mota sava is to sa, and Fa. 

 sefa or safa to sa, and safana to sana, see a above. 



