Dictionary and Grammar of the Language of Sa A and Ulawa, Solomon Islands (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1918 Excerpt: ... excess of vowel sounds. Closed syllables do not exist and every word ends with a vowel. In Sa'a the vowel a in certain words changes to e when i or u or the verbal particle ko precedes it; the vowel following this a is always either t or u, this a is marked in the grammar and in the dictionary by the employment of the dieresis, a. In many words where the difference between the Sa'a and Ulawa forms consists only of the change of this I to e the Sa'a form is the only one recorded. This change of vowel is known to the people of Ulawa, but they are not so careful about its observance as are the people of Sa'a; in certain words they change a to e where there is no preceding i or u, thus max hither, Sa'a po'o mdi on this side, Ulawa po'o mei. The change of vowel may be made in Ulawa at the beginning of a word, but the genius of the language is to refuse to make it at the end of the word; U. hdnua village, i henua in the village, S. i henue, but in Ulawa the addition of the demonstrative ni causes the final a to change to e, i henueni in that village. The suffixed pronouns du of the first singular and a of the third singular change in Sa'a to eu and e respectively after i or u, but Ulawa does not observe this rule. In some words where Sa'a changes final e to a Ulawa keeps to e; nike mother, S. nikana his mother, U. nikena. The diphthongs are ae, ai, ao, au, ei, ou, as in sae, mai, hao, rau, met, kou, pronounced respectively as in the English words eye, iron, hour, how, hey, oh. The consonants are h; k; d, t; p, q; w; 1, r; s; m, mw, n, ng. The k is hard and there is no g; where the Melanesian g occurs in other languages, there is a decided break in the pronunciation of the cognate word in Sa'a and Ulawa; e. g., Mota iga fish, Sa'a i'e, Ulawa i'a. Note.--This gram...