6 The Oceanic Languages Semitic: 



Tlie Malay lias no article like Fa. ni, Mg. ny. But ini 

 and itu, this, as Crawford remarks (Cr. p. 28), are used 

 sometimes as '' equivalent to our definite article, the." The 

 indefinite is sa, " one," " an." 



The Samoan common article is le, o is often used with it, 

 as le Atua, God ; or alone, as o Tangaloa, Tangaloa. The 

 indefinite article is se. 



d. The commonest Oceanic article is n {ni, ny, &c.), and 

 it is identical with Fa. in, na, Mg. iny. My. ini, this. It 

 prevails in Madagascar and Papuanesia. Several articles 

 are more or less common to Papuan and Maori-Hawaiian, as 

 Sam. 'o, Fi. ko ; Tah. e. Fa. e, or a. Te is common in Maori- 

 Hawaiian, Santa Cruz te, Fa. (indefinite) te. The other 

 articles are of comparatively limited use, except Sam. le. 

 The Malay, whicli has no general article like the other three 

 branches of Oceanic, makes up for it by a peculiarly large 

 use of suftixed emphatics, somewhat like the Syriac. The 

 unconscious article in the Malay, as I (d), in duiva, lima, 

 2, 5, is found also in the other branches. 



§ 4. Articles and Emphatics, Compariso:s". 



a. For the same demonstrative elements, so many as 

 used, attached to the Semitic numerals (conscious and un- 

 conscious articles), see II. As to the Semitic personal 

 pronouns, see I., an (5) is the demonstrative most commonly 

 used, prefixed as an article. Thus it is, especially in the 

 pronouns of the first and second persons, found generally in 

 all the Semitic dialects : Heb. anohi, I. Arb. ajitoy, thou, 

 Heb. anachnu, Arb. nachnu, we, Arb. antwin, ye. Now 

 this same element (5) is the one most commonly used thus, 

 with the pronouns in Oceanic, especially in Papuan and 

 Malagasy, also, see I. Thus second person, Mg. hianao 

 {ki ankao), My. angkau (ctnkau). Fa. nago (nakd), Mota 

 iniko. With respect to this an (5), prefixed to the personal 

 pronoun as an article, it is undoubtedly one of the most 

 ancient features of the Semitic languages, and as, in Oceanic, 

 the Papuan has it as fully as the Heb. or Arb., and 

 more fully than the My. or Ma.-Ha., or even perhaps 

 the Mg. We see that in this point it preserves a 

 more archaic aspect than these other two branches. 

 But the Mg. and Pa. equally have this article as the 

 common article for all nouns. In Assvrian, we have 



