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 The NiLviber Formation 107 adding the termination una to the singular form. As a rule, it forms the plural of words which are fairly recent, and may be due to Arabic influence. The fourth method, which at first sight resembles the broken plurals of Arabic, forms the plural by internal and sometimes by both internal and external change : it is extremely interesting, as it gives a clue to the original roots of many icords. The plurals which do not come under any of these heads must, at present, be classed together as irregular : when allied languages are better known their formation will, no doubt, be explained. An examination of these four methods wall, it is believed, show that there is, at any rate, some ground for such a classification. 1. Eeduplication. The following common words are instances of re- duplication : — gona gona-gona gonagi gonaki kwana kwana-kvvana kwanakwa kwanaki gidda gidda-gidda giddagi giddaji tufa tufafi bissa bissassa bissashi yasa yasasa yasosi waka wakaka wakoki hainya hanyaya hainyoyi kariya karairai gari garrurua (gari is some- times pro- n u n c e d garu) ja jajayi It is, with our present knowledge of Central African