IMPORTANCE AND NATURE OF THE OCEANIC LANGUAGES, 57 
Latin amb.* Many similar examples of Oceanic prepositions may 
be found in Dr. Codrington’s work. 
The proof of the nominal origin of ye is to be found in its use 
as an independent noun in other languages, ¢.g., in Leper’s Island, 
Arag.{ In the same way the Sanskrit preposition ava ‘from,’ is 
in the Zend a perfect and declinable pronoun, while the Zend 
preposition hacha ‘out of’ isin Sanskrit found as a pronoun, 
“isque.’{ | 
It appears from the foregoing, that we may regard the Oceanic 
languages as being in the inflectional stage with traces of analytic 
forms, the evidence being of similar character to that found for 
the Huropean languages. Hence it is reasonable to suppose that 
we may apply to them the same methods of argument and analysis 
which have been applied to the elucidation of other inflectional 
tongues. The difficulty in so doing is no doubt great, owing to 
the want ofa literature preserving ancient forms, but the peculiar 
dispersion of the original population may to some extent supply 
the want of a literature. Here and there among the islands, we 
may find a few isolated remnants of an ancient people, whose 
dialects, from some cause or other, have retained forms which 
other dialects have lost. From these we may gather the true 
meaning of many an obscure word or particle, and perhaps in 
time attain some knowledge of the primitive Oceanic speech. 
A word of caution is necessary, lest what has been here written 
should be taken to imply that the writer finds any connection 
between the Aryan and Oceanic tongues. There is no evidence 
of any such connection. To affirm it, with our present imperfect 
knowledge of the Oceanic wouid be absurd and unsafe. The 
analogy is to be found in structure only. <A similar argument 
may be, and has been applied to some of the American languages.§ 
* Morris—Historical English Grammar, pp. 195, 196. 
+ Melanesian Languages, p. 153. 
~ Bopp—Comparative Grammar, pp. 530. 1441. 
§ Hale—The development of Language, Toronto, 1888, p. 29. 
