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ON THE CLASSIFICATION 



tau a small indefinite plurality, but is not synonymous with 

 na ; pue and hut are prefixed to certain collective nouns 

 and mark no definite plurality, as pue arii the royal family or 

 principal chiefs, hui raatira the subordinate chiefs collectively. 



The pronoun of the third person in the plural and the deter- 

 minative pronouns "these" and "those" are often employed 

 to express plurality. In many languages no special pronoun 

 of the third person exists, and determinative pronouns occupy 

 their place ; this is, e.g., the case in the Dravidian dialects. 

 We need not therefore be surprised that the pronoun of the 

 third person and determinative pronouns are at times used 

 for the same purpose. 



The definite article is in most Negro dialects replaced by 

 the personal or demonstrative pronoun : " the person " becomes 

 person he> " the persons " persons ihey. In the Vei language 

 the plural is uniformly expressed by the termination nu, 

 which according to the Rev. Mr. Koelle is most likely 

 derived from the Plural of the third personal pronoun, anu, 

 they. 158 The personal pronoun is also employed in Fijian to 

 distinguish the numbers of the nouns, o koya na tamata is the 

 man, oi rau na tamata the two men, o ira na tamata the 

 men ; but this use of the personal pronouns is confined to 

 rational beings, as gods, angels, devils and men. 159 In Shan 

 the pronoun khau " they " is applied to the same use, e.g., kun 

 man, kun khau men ; ki, which denotes " they " in Khasi and 

 Synteng, serves the same purpose, kypa father, ki kypa fathers. 

 It is likewise probable that the syllable ko, which in some 

 Sonthali, Mundari and Kol dialects forms the plural suffix, is 

 derived from the personal pronoun ako (unko, &c.) they. 



Plurality can therefore be expressed in various ways by 

 reduplication, by numerals and numeral auxiliaries, by definite 



(158) S.W. Koelle's Outlines of a Grammar of the Vei Language, page 21. 



(159) See D. Hazlewood's Fijian and English Dictionary and Grammar, 

 page U« 



