Page:A Sketch of Mota Grammar.djvu/23

(19) from;' siwo nan, 'up from;' kalo nan, where we should say 'off.'

4. Adverb with goro where we should say 'across,' 'against,' 'about;' wolowolo goro, tatu goro (meeting), waliog goro.

5. Add to these, Complex Prepositions as they may be called, because though no part is a preposition the whole word has the use and form of one, as raveaglue, 'through.'

6. Also words in other use adverbs and verbs, as the case may be, but serving as prepositions: leas, 'instead of;' tataga, 'according to;' peten̈, 'close to.'

In both compound and complex prepositions one of the members of the composition has the transitive force, whether a preposition as alalan̈e, or an adverb as waliog, and the two parts are grammatically distinct. It is as reasonable and convenient, however, to write and treat them as one word, as the English words 'around,' 'among,' &c.

It should be remarked that whereas when a thing is spoken of, some of these compound prepositions, as avune, alalan̈e, may be called prepositions, as 'above,' 'below,' in English; yet when a person is spoken of, the compound word cannot be taken for a preposition, but its composition from a preposition and a substantive is too conspicuous to be mistaken. For example: It fell on a stone, me masu avune vat; but, A stone fell on me, o vat me masu avunak. In both cases a is the preposition, and vune or vunak an inflected vunai; but one may call avune a preposition, but could not possibly think avunak, avunama, avunana such.

There is little to be said of these parts of speech, which in most cases are naturally only verbs or nouns, substantive or adjective, used adverbially, and in Mota without any modification of form. It naturally also is the case that 2