Page:A dictionary of the language of Mota.djvu/25

Rh There is no Ordinal in the first place; moai is first; hundredth is melnolanai.

In numbers above tens and hundreds the Ordinal goes with the numei or avaviu which comes last; sanavul rua o numei varuei, twenty-second; melnol vagarua o avaviu varuei, two hundred and second; melnol vatuwale o avaviu sanavul rua o numei varuei hundred and twenty-second.

3. Multiplicatives are formed with the Causative vaga, va: vagatuwale, vatuwale once, vagasanavul ten times.

4. Descriptive Prefixes precede Numerals when certain objects are counted; pul 9, sage 4, sogo 3, tur or tira 2, taqa 3, tal 5, sorako, pepe 3, rowo 4, raka 3; for the meaning of which see the Dictionary.

The word visa, how many? so many, is treated as a Numeral; ni visa, vaga visa, pul visa.

XIII. .

The language tends to divide into two dialects, the one resembling the language of Motalava, the other that of Meralava. In the ring of settlements which lies between the cliffs and peak of Mota the division is most clearly marked between Maligo and Veverau. To the Veverau people the speech of Maligo sounds 'thin,' as that of Motalava; to the Maligo people that of Veverau sounds 'thick,' as that of Meralava. The two dialects, which are confused in the language in literary use, are distinguished in the Dictionary by V. and M. The use of i and u, g and w, respectively, is characteristic. In Veverau g at the end of a word is sounded i, mantai for mantag; and thus the transitive suffix g of Verbs becomes i, a cause of some confusion, as rusai for rusag, sokoi for sokog. There is also a certain difference in Vocabulary; from which the Maligo people call the Veverau people, and those who speak like them, ira we nao; and these call the others ira we tak.

XIV. .

Those who are connected by marriage cannot use words or parts of words which are the names or parts of names of those so connected with them. There are therefore certain words which take the place of those which in most common usage have to be avoided. To use these words is to vava viro, galiga or un; in the Dictionary they are marked as 'un words.'