Page:A Sketch of Mota Grammar.djvu/16

(12) subjoined construction. Nau me ilo or na me ilo, 'I saw;' but Nau we mule si ilo, 'I am going, that I may see.'

2. Ka in the second person is also used only in subjoined clauses, and in the imperative. Ko becomes iko when affixed after a consonant, in which use i is not the personal article but euphonic.

3. Ineia, neia, ni in direct construction; ni only in subjoined and imperative. Ia, a, are used only in the objective, and, affixed to the verb or preposition: Na me sike, me tataga suri, 'I sought him and looked after him.'

4. In the second person plural, kam can only be used as the subject.

5. In the third person ira and ra as ia and a in the singular. Ira and ra, when subjects in a sentence, are the article.

The pronominal affixes, giving a possessive sense with nouns, are no doubt only pronouns, in the form k, ma, na, &c. It is equally right, but not so idiomatic, to add the pronouns in the ordinary form, to say ima inau, instead of imak. In other Melanesian tongues, the pronouns in the form k, ma, na, substantially, but variously modified, are used as affixes to verbs and prepositions. In Mota there is one remnant, or representative, of this use in the word apena, 'in reference to it, about it'—the preposition ape with na.

The analogy of other languages makes it very probable that the n, which occurs in the so-called possessive case when persons are referred to, is this pronoun na. Thus, natanopane''sei iloke? natanopane Wogale'', 'Whose handwriting is this? Wogali's.' This is restricted to animate objects; thus, ni we pute ape kiki o tanun, 'he sits by the man's side;' but ape kiki ima, 'by the side of the house.' Ni we pute vawo kula o horse, 'he sits on the back of the horse;' but ni we pute ape kule