One phenomenon of Polynesian speech deserves attention, viz., reduplication, complete or partial. Many new words are built up in this way and delicate nuances are conveyed by the doubling of a single syllable. In Maori haere conveys the idea "going," haerehaere means "roaming about, take a walk"; Samoan tufa, "divide," yields, tufatufa, "to split up into many pieces," etc.; Maori inn, "to drink" gives iinu, "to tipple, soak"; Tahiti parau, "to speak" gives paraparan, "to chatter"; from Tonga nolo, "to live" comes nonofu, "to live with someone." Adjectives are treated in the same way : Rarotongan nui, "big" gives nunui, "very big"; Hawaiian /ii, "small," gives /ii/ii, "very small." Word-building is simple. From tama, "a child" and ariki, "a chief" is made tamariki, "a son" (lit. a princeling, noble child) ; from tama, "a child" and wahine, "a woman," comes tamahine, "a daughter, a girl"; uritaata, "an ape" is made up of uri, "a dog," and taata, "a man." The article differs from language to language; the indefinite article is usually identical with the numeral one, (sa, se). This is not used, however, unless absolutely necessary, although the definite article (Samoan, o le or le; Hawaiian, he; Maori, te; Tahiti, Rarotongan, Mangarevan, Nukuhiva e), usually appears before a noun. Maori has a plural article no (nga), and the other languages have prefixes which mark the noun as plural although nouns undergo no change in form from singular to plural.
There are cases in the language marked by prefixes. The noun as agent is preceded by ko ('o), the genitive is occasionally still shown by position (as was the original method) although the prefixes na, a, 710 , o are now usually employed. The dative case is shown by a prefixed particle ki (before proper names and pronouns kia) and the accusative (when it is marked at all) is preceded by i or ia. The particle preceding the noun in the ablative case is e and in one or two languages there are other prefixes, but these do not actually form part of a genuine de clension. The vocative case is marked by the syllable e preceding the name or noun.
The adjective suffers no change in any of the languages and it follows its noun except when it is used as a predicate when it precedes it; Samoan loan tele, "a big tree." When the adjective follows its substantive as attribute, the plural of the whole phrase is accomplished by the reduplication of the adjective: Maori, ika pai, "a good fish," ika papai, "good fish"; Hawaiian, hale nui, "a big house," hale nunui, "big houses." The pronouns are complex in Polynesian speech, there being singular, dual and plural forms with inclusive and exclusive varieties. The normal forms are :— These forms vary according to the dialect and the consonant changes tolerated therein. There are full and contracted forms for the possessive and demonstrative pronouns which are also complicated. The interrogative pronoun serving many purposes is wai (Maori and Hawaiian) ; vai (Tahiti) ; hai (Tongan) ; and ai for the other dialects, used only for living things and for inani mate objects, aha (Maori, Hawaiian, Nukuhiva) ; ha (Tongan); as (Rarotongan), and a in the other tongues. There is no rela
tive pronoun in any of the languages—either it remains unex pressed or a circumlocution is employed with the personal or demonstrative pronoun.
The Polynesian verb, like the noun and adjective, undergoes no change in form, and all moods and tenses are indicated by participles prefixed to the root form of the verb. The verb has no special form to distinguish it from other parts of speech and, indeed, many adjectives are used as verbs without change.
The passive voice is constructed from the active by the use of the participle prefix ia (hia, lia, kia, kina, mia, etc.); the causa Live is similarly produced by the prefix fa'a (whaka, ha'a, aka, etc.). A desiderative is formed by the prefix fia (fie, hia), and one verbal suffix exists whereby a reciprocal form is made (-aki, -faki, -laki, -taki, -raki).
The present indicative is shown by the participle e or te, the future by a, and the preterite by na. The moods are few and vary greatly between the languages, the most common being ia (kia, ke) for the conjunctive : a, ka, kite, pea, poo, ahiri, ina, etc., for the conditional and fan (Tonga only) for the potential. The particle ana, a'a makes the participle.
The word for "five" (lima) is the general word for "hand" in Polynesia, the word for "ten" is borrowed from Malay puloh. The identity between the words of the languages is rarely so close as it is with the numerals and a few terms of relationship, The ordinal numbers are formed by placing the definite article before the cardinals, e.g., Tahiti, o te rima (lit. "the five") "fifth"; Samoan, o le inn, "the second," etc.
Vocabulary.—The Polynesian tongues are rich in terms of relationship, in names of natural objects, fish, birds, plants, flowers and phenomena of nature, all the winds and zephyrs, all kinds of clouds, waves, streams, hills, shores and so on having special names. There is a shortage of abstract terms, metaphor is common, a concrete noun doing double duty. Maori and Samoan, however, in the philosophical chants (see POLYNESIAN LITERATURE) have developed a definitely abstract vocabulary. There is a decided lack of direct, forceful words and in transla tion from European languages it is difficult to turn decisive phrases into Polynesian equivalents. The vocabularies suffice for all ordinary purposes and a little ingenuity often turns an Eng lish phrase into a telling South Seas equivalent.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.-The Journal of the Polynesian Society (Wellington, N.Z.), a quarterly publication in which many excellent sketches of the grammar of Polynesian languages have appeared is most important. For early researches into Polynesian speech see Wilhelm von Humboldt. Ober die Kawi-Sprache etc. (1836-39) ; Lorrin Andrews, A Grammar of the Hawaiian Language (Honolulu, 1854) ; Friedrich Muller, Grund riss der Sprachwissenschaft, ii., part 2 (1882). The dictionary par excellence is Edward Tregear's Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dic tionary (Wellington, N.Z. rodak) wherein is to be found the most complete bibliography of Polynesian linguistic works. See also Meillet and Cohen, Les Langues du Monde (1924), pp.