436 SIDNEY H. RAY. 
5. Comparison of Adjectives.—The three degrees, positive, com- 
parative, and superlative, common to all languages are here 
expressed much in the same way, though by different agents. 
Particles are used in both languages to form these degrees, the 
two latter especially. | 
In Hawaiian the positive degree is the simple expressed subject, 
long, short, white, black. There is nothing in the adjective to 
express comparison, thus : 
Hawaiian Positive, poko, short 
Comparative, poko iki, short a little 
poko ae, shorter (Jit. short really)! 
poko iki ae, shorter still. 
Superlative, poko loa, shortest, very short.” 
In Ponape the order is somewhat different, especially in the 
comparative. The positive simply asserts the long or short, the 
good or bad, the black or white condition of things under dis- 
cussion. The comparative appropriates the preposition jong, from 
to express its comparison, as, this is white from, or whiter than 
that. The comparative as in Hawaiian is often expressed by 
simply stating that one thing is different from another, as, this is 
long, that is short; this is good, that is bad. The superlative is 
formed by suffixing the particle ia, and by taking a heavy accent. 
Ponape Positive, mau, good. 
Comparative, mau jong, better than (Jit. good from) 
puot jong, whiter than (lit. white from) 
Superlative, maz ia, best of all, supremely good. 
|“ puotopuot ia, whitest of all. 
etch tipoi sos eee 
: 1 Ae in Marquesan a the force of the word to which it is added 
and forms a comparativ 
2 Loa, really means ae (of time and measure), here it means very or 
excessive. 
3 This is the common Melanesian Method. Cf. Ex. in Codrington’s 
Mel. Lang. Mota, 0 qoe we poa ran 0 gasuwe; Maewo, New Hebrides, @ 4¢ 
u lata dan na garivi; Wango, Solomon Islands, bo raha bania kasuwe, & pig 
is big from a rat; New Britain, ingala tadiat, it is large from thew. 
