TE eee ep me eee 
Wie ag a Sag QS ee a aCe ae eae 
LANGUAGES OF PONAPE AND HAWAII. 435 
3. The Adjective of Number. 
Hawaiian—Lehulehu na kanaka, numerous people. 
Na kanaka umi, the ten men. 
Ponape—Aramaj ngeter, many persons. 
Ol rick, twenty men. 
The general law of the adjective of both tongues is, that it shall 
follow the noun qualified. It is exceptional when it does not, 
In Hawaiian the numeral is allowed to precede the noun. This 
is at times the case in the Ponape, though usually the numeral 
follows the noun, thus :— 
Hawaiian—Zha hale kula, four school houses. 
Elima la papa ka oleo ana, five days perhaps 
the discussion lasted. 
Ponape—Fan limau, five days. 
Im patak wonu, six school houses. 
4, In both languages a particle prefixed to an adjective becomes 
its copula,! to express or affirm the quality of the adjective. In 
. Hawaiian the particles are wa, he, thus : 
wa ino, it is bad; wa maikai, it is good. 
he ino, it is bad ; wa loiho ke ala, long is the road. 
In the Ponape this equally marked, but only one particle is 
used, thus :-— 
me juit, it is bad ; me mau, it is good. 
. rie ame Ll - os rs 
me rai rai, it is long ; me tikitik, it 1s small.” 
YE 
1In these we probably have the remains of former verbal particles. 
Cf. wa with Banks Island we.—Mel. Lang. p. 276. 
2 Gulick (Amer. Orient. Soc. Journ., Vol. x., p- 30) regards this me as 
‘the same as the Polynesian mea, thing, substance, any person or 
mentioned ; me mau, thing good, or the thing (or it) is beautiful. There 
however, very little doubt but that it is the particle ma or me, which 
-s thing is—(Mel. Lang. p. 169,188). It seems possible so to regard it in 
onape. Gulick states “Lt very commonly takes the power of a personal 
did (it). Ape me koto, such aone has come. In this affirmative use, 
may compare me with the m, me or ma so common in elanesia as & 
sign. 
