LINGUISTICS IN THE WESTERN PACIFIC. 175 
their analysis of words and by comparative studies, have shown that 
the structure of the Polynesian and Melanesian languages is prac- 
tically the same. They have shown that in both types the following 
features occur: 
Adjectives are formed by prefix or suffix. ‘Time particles are used 
with verbs. ‘Transitive suffixes are added to verbs. Pronouns are 
suffixed to nouns to denote possession. The personal pronouns are 
preceded by the personal article (Mota 7-nau, I, Maori a-hau, Malay 
a-ku). 
In “Melanesian Languages” it has been proved conclusively, by 
evidence produced from languages of Melanesian stock, that the per- 
sonal pronouns are the same in all the Oceanic languages, also that the 
interrogatives are radically the same throughout and have similar uses. 
Polynesian scholars generally have paid little attention to Melanesia, 
yet the evidence of language is all conclusive of the close relationship 
which exists between Polynesian and Melanesian. ‘The failure on the 
part of Polynesian scholars to study Melanesian languages has caused 
them to make considerable mistakes in etymology and also to overlook 
several very patent grammatical characteristics of the Polynesian lan- 
guages. A good many of the derivations in Tregear’s ‘Maori Com- 
parative Dictionary ” are shown to be incorrect on comparison with the 
kindred forms in Melanesia. Also, one can not but think that the 
tendency to philosophize about the religion of the Polynesian and his 
consequent outlook on life would have been kept within more moderate 
bounds had the investigators been a little more content to do spade 
work and dig into the matter after the practical fashion of Dr. Cod- 
rington in his book on Melanesian anthropology. 
It has been maintained that the Melanesians had adopted Polyne- 
sian forms of speech; that in fact the Polynesians were like the Romans 
of old and had imposed their speech upon the peoples with whom they 
mixed; but the facts of the case seem to be that, so far at least as lan- 
guage is concerned, the two peoples belong to one family, and also that 
of the two types the Melanesian is the older and is less worn and stands 
to Polynesian somewhat as Anglo-Saxon does to modern English; 
also that the explanation of many Polynesian peculiarities of speech is 
to be found in the typical Melanesian usages. 
Thus with regard to the use of the passive in Polynesian, a use which 
has no counterpart whatever in Melanesian, the present writer, owing 
to his knowledge of Melanesian, has been able to show elsewhere that 
the Polynesian passive is compounded of adjectival suffixes added to 
verbal suffixes, and that the gerundives, so common in Polynesia but 
hardly appearing at all in Melanesia, are composed of the verbal 
suffixes and noun endings. These verbal suffixes are among the 
commonest features of the Melanesian languages, but with the single 
exception of Samoan they can not be said to appear at all prominently 
