Grammar and Vocabulary of the Lau Language | Page 3

and denotes a part, a piece, any; it is more or less equivalent to _me'i_ in Sa'a: si doo ne the thing; gamelu ka ania si taa what are we to eat? si ere a firestick; si doo gu saea na that which I said; na may be prefixed: na si baea taa ne what words? si can not be used of the plural.
3. Ta means a certain one, every, at all, just, only, and is the same as the numeral ta one: ta may precede the article _fe_; ta fe uo every hill, ni may follow _ta_: tani aiai some, other. ta may mean only: ta ro ai only two people; ta may be used with the numerals, ta ro mwane two men; ta ro tangale penny 200 pence.
Te has practically the same meanings as _ta_: te geni sarii a maiden; te taifilia he alone; te aiai falaete one person only. Te is used of units (as ata in Sa'a), te fiu fe doo only seven things; te ai ma te ai one by one; too te ai singly. Si may follow both ta and _te_: ta si fou a certain rock, te si na doo everything; te may be used as equivalent to the conjunction and: te na Mwela and the Son.
Ke is used as _te_: ke si gula iidimani a small piece; ro kesi kurui bata two small pieces of money. Ke and si may be combined and used with _te_: e langi asia na teke si doo there is nothing at all.
4. Maae is compounded of maa eye, one, and e the construct form, and means one, a; maae is used with fera country, dangi day, rodo night, oru wind; maae fera a village, maaedangi a day, maaerodo darkness.
5. Qe is used with certain nouns: qe afe a widow, qe ia a fish, qe oru a widow; na may be prefixed: na qe ia gi the fishes.
6. Fe is used of things spherical in shape and denotes a unit: fe bread a loaf, fe bubulu a star; also fe gale bola a young pigeon, fe rade a reed; fe is used of one of a series: fe rodo a night, fe asua a day; fe is also used as a multiplicative: fe fiu ade doo taala seven cases of wrong-doing; na or ta or te may precede.
7. Gi denotes plurality and follows the noun: na mwane gi the males. It may be separated from the noun: na doo nia gi his things; gi is used with the forms of the personal pronoun plural except those ending in lu.
8. Mwai is used with nouns of relationship only: mwai asi nia his brethren, ro mwai sasina brethren.
9. In Port Adam ote seems to be employed as a regular plural article: ote mwane gi you men. But it is a question whether ote is not properly employed of females only: ote aia nia his female relations, ote sasina his sisters, ote ai you women, ote ai gi you women.
10. A is used as a personal article with the names of males, both native and foreign: a Leo, a Joe. It is used also with doo thing: a doo so and so, a doo na the person.
Ni is used as a personal article with the names of females, both native and foreign: ni Alida, ni Mary. It is used also with certain nouns which denote women, where in Sa'a nga or the personal article a is used: ni te nau my mother, ni mwaemwane a man's sister, a woman's brother, ni aia female relations, ni doo the woman, ni mwela ne that woman. Ni is not used with afe wife, nor with geni female; it is not used with the plural.
NOUNS.
1. Nouns to which possessive suffixes may be added:
Certain nouns take the suffixed pronoun denoting the possessor. These are nouns denoting:
a. Parts of the body: lima hand, limagu my hand, aba arm, abamu thy arm, maa eye, maamu thy eye.
b. Position, end, middle, top: buri behind, burigu behind me, i dalumana in the midst, isingana its end, i kamena lobo beside the lake, i fafona on top of it.
c. Certain states or doings of men: life, death, speech, custom, goings: mae to die, maela death, maelana his death, baela speech, baelagu my word.
d. The word sasi brother, sasigu my brother, my sister. The other words denoting relationship employ the personal pronoun to denote possession.
2. Formation of nouns: Nouns which have a special termination showing them to be nouns substantive are (a) verbal nouns and (b) independent nouns.
a. Verbal nouns are formed from verbs by the terminations a, fa, la, _ta_: mae to die, maea death or sickness, maela death, bae to speak, baea word, baela speech, fanga to eat, fangaa feast, food, fangala food, mae to die, maemaefa sickness, nao