W. G. Ivens

“ A positive statement carries comparison by implication: doo ne nia baita that is biggest, sai ai ne ni diena, sai ai nena ni taa na this is good, that is bad; i.e., this is better than that.
VERBS. Almost any word may be used as a verb by prefixing the verbal particles, but some words are naturally verbs as being the names of actions and not of things. There are also verbs which have special forms as such by means of a prefix or termination. Verbal particles precede the verb; they have a temporal force. ”

“ The f replaces an h in Sa'a: fera village, Sa'a hera courtyard; fuli fera village, Sa'a huli bed, huli nume site of house. The sound represented by f often approximates to v.
Both k and g are hard. The Melanesian g is not heard; as in Sa'a, it has been dropped in certain words, ia fish, but there is no noticeable break in the pronunciation. In certain other words this g is replaced by k: take, to stand. Mota sage, Sa'a ta'e. The g in Lau may replace a k in Sa'a: igera they, Sa'a ikire. A g also appears in personal pronoun plural 1, excl., where Sa'a has a break: igami we, Sa'a i'emi. ”

“ To express totality the suffixed pronoun singular third and all persons plural are added to a root afuta, formed from afu to complete, with ta noun termination: afutanafera all the land, afutana nonigu all my whole body. It is a question whether the numeral qalu eight is used like walu in Sa'a of an indefinite number, e.g., qalu fera all lands; but te si nafera seems to be the proper usage.
6. Gender: There is no grammatical gender. The words mwane male, geni female, are added when the noun does not carry a sex distinction. ”

“ The genitives have been dealt with under nouns: i is in most general use, both are used to express purpose, and ni also denotes for, belonging to: fasia muka manata ni bae uri think not to say thus, gera mou ni oli they feared to return, ka ote nia ni rosuli he is tired of obeying.
2. Compound prepositions.
Some of these are nouns used with the locative; the pronoun is suffixed as the actual object or as the anticipatory object when a noun follows: i fafo above, i fara beneath, i lao within. ”

“ The purest Lau is spoken at Sulufou, one of the artificial islets near Atta Cove. The inhabitants of Ai-lali, on the mainland of Big Malaita opposite the island Aio, are an offshoot of the Lau-speaking peoples. In Port Adam (Malau) on Little Malaita, some 12 miles north of Sa'a, there are two villages, Ramarama and Malede, inhabited by Lau-speaking peoples, and the inhabitants of these villages hold as a tradition that their forefathers migrated from Suraina, near Atta Cove, 80 miles away, along the coast to the north. ”

“ M as a prefix appears to be used in the word moi broken, (Sa'a 'o'i to break, ma'o'i broken) .
3. Comparison: Degrees of comparison are shown by the use of prepositions or adverbs, or by a simple positive statement. The prepositions used are fasi from, tasa beyond, in excess. The suffixed pronoun is used with fasi, but the possessive is used with tasa: na boso nia baita fasia na asufe a pig is larger than a rat; gera baita tasa agera these are much larger than those.
The adverbs employed are gele little, somewhat, asia very, too much: nia baita asia it is very (too) large. ”

“ These are of two forms:
a. A consonant with i: fi, li, mi, ni, ngi, si, or i by itself; e.g. tau, taufi; mae, maeli: ano, anomi; mou, mouni; sau, saungi; ada, adasi; manatat, manatai; to the verb taa to be bad, both si and li are added and the causative fa is prefixed: fataasi, fataali, to make worse. Certain verbs which are active in Lau are neuter in Sa'a: angai to lift, angaia lift it, Sa'a angainia; faodo to straighten, faodoa straighten it, Sa'a ha'aodohie; famae to kill, famaea, Sa'a ha'amaesie; famou to frighten, famoua, Sa'a ha'ama'usie. ”

“ Aia sums up, so there, well then! Oimae alas! The noun ai, person, is added to proper names to call attention, Joe ai hey, Joe!
LAU VOCABULARY A. a 1, personal article: used with the names of males, both native and foreign, a Masuraa, a Luke; is used also with doo, thing, a doo So-and-So, a doo na, the person; is seen also in ati who? In usage it corresponds to the i of Mota and Malagasy. Cf. S. a.
a 2, termination of the verbal noun: attached to verb, angi to cry, angia a cry, fanga to eat, fangaa a feast; added to compounds girigiri lifoa, gnashing of teeth. ”

“ When things and not persons are in question ni is used in place of da in plural third: lea alua i fulini go and put them in their places.
3. Of the plural forms those ending in lu denote a restriction in the number of the persons concerned.
4. These pronouns are also suffixed to the preposition fua to, used as a dative, to afuta all, and to certain other words which show a noun termination but which have no independent existence as nouns: otofa concerning, oofa approaching to, enceinte, sie, at the house of (in the vocabulary all such words are followed by a hyphen) ”

“ Ani is used as meaning in, e langi ani nau there is nothing in me, gera ote gera ani nau they will have nothing to do with me.
Fai means with: faioe with thee, qaimani fai to help, oko gaimani fainau you help me. The genitive ni may be added, lea fainia go with him; fainia moreover, and.
Sia means at, at home, and always has the suffixed pronoun. By the ordinary Melanesian idiom place at comes to be used of motion to: siagamelu chez nous, siena ere beside the fire, lea mai siegu come here to me. ”

“ The initial i is run on to the preceding vowel in pronunciation.
2. All the forms without i are used alone as the subject of the verb. Where there are three forms the second and third are generally used together as subjects: gami mi langi si saetamana we do not know; but the short forms gu, o, mi, mu, da, may be used alone as subjects: gu si saea I do not know. The forms in lu are not used as a trial number, but denote a more restricted number of persons.
3. Nia is used as meaning, there is, it is: efita fe bread nia agamolu, how many loaves have you? ”

“ The word saetana it is said, sae to say, is used as a passive: se doo saetana the thing said, si baela ne saetana uri the word which was said.
7. Auxiliary verbs: Alu to put, is used as meaning, to be, to become; talae, v. tr. to begin, means also to become; sau to make, with the possessive ana, sau ana to become.
8. Reflexive verb: The word mara with suffixed pronoun is used to denote reflexive action: nia saungia marana. It also carries the meaning self, of one's own accord: i bobongi ka manata tetea ana marana the morrow can take care of itself. ”

“ Construct form: To make a construct form the letter e is added to the first of two nouns, toloe fera hill, fuli abae ai men's handwork. When the first member ends in a the ae sometimes contracts to e, fufue ai seed, aqale mwai ten baskets, but maae rodo, a night; also when the first noun ends in o the oe is contracted to e: abole ai a log, abolo a piece. This e may be added to words which have not a distinct noun termination: naoe gula the chief place. ”

“ The ordinary personal pronouns are used as possessive in cases where the pronoun can not be suffixed: afe nau my wife, arai nia her husband.
The instrumental prefix i occurs: kamu to eat areca nut, ikamu a line spatula.
5. Plural: To show plurality gi is used, following the noun na mwane gi the men. The word oro, many, may be attached: na mwane oro gi many men, tani ai oro many people. ”

“ The forms in ai are also used intransitively: tege to fall, tegelai lost, oli to turn, olitai converted.
The genitive ni (cf. M. L., p. 532) is often omitted and is not invariably used as it is in Sa'a, since the form ai without the addition of ni is transitive: gonitai to receive, gwoutai or gwoutaini to be left alone, oalangai to apportion, fatolamai to command.
Ani appears to be used by itself as a transitive suffix: ui to throw, uiani to throw away, laga to drive, lagaani to drive away, taba to strike, tabaani to destroy; ani is used also with too to hit, tooani to understand. ”

“ It will be seen that Lau is a typical Melanesian language and has few marked peculiarities. In Sa'a there is a distinctive use of the shortened forms of the pronouns of the first and second persons, au and 'o, suffixed to verbs and prepositions as object; in Lau the same shortening is not effected and the longer forms nau, oe, are used. ”

“ It may be used before a proper name as the equivalent to a genitive: ana maaedangi nia Abiathar in the days of Abiathar. When the meaning is, there is, it is, nia is preceded by e: na liqa gera enia ada they have their holes; ma te ai enia i luma there is only one person in the house; with na demonstrative added: nia na that is it, that is so.
4. The form ni is seen in nifai what? where? It occurs in certain phrases as meaning, it is, there is: e uta ro si lio ni agamu how is it ye are of two minds? na light fuana noni ni maa the light of the body it is the eye. ”

“ While this tendency was perhaps not very great previous to the introduction of Christianity (for the village children always follow the language of the father rather than that of the mother) , the teachers in the village schools, after Christianity was introduced, necessarily used the Sa'a books and, when translations were eventually made into Lau, words and phrases of Sa'a crept in. So far as lay in the power of the present author, he has endeavored to eliminate these Sa'a elements from the present work. ”

“ The adjective gale little, is used preceding the noun to describe something young: ro fe gale bola two young pigeons. The article used with te, mother, is ni: ni te nau my mother; ta ro mwai telana nau my wife and child, ta ro mwai fungona two relations-at-law; ai person, man, is used as a vocative: mwela ai hey, you there! na ai oe your people, ai ni raoa a servant, ai tou the little one, the lesser.
PRONOUNS. The pronouns may be classified as (A) those used as the subject of a verb; (B) those suffixed to a verb or a preposition as object ”

“ Gi denotes plurality and follows the noun: na mwane gi the males. It may be separated from the noun: na doo nia gi his things; gi is used with the forms of the personal pronoun plural except those ending in lu.
8. Mwai is used with nouns of relationship only: mwai asi nia his brethren, ro mwai sasina brethren.
9. In Port Adam ote seems to be employed as a regular plural article: ote mwane gi you men. But it is a question whether ote is not properly employed of females only: ote aia nia his female relations, ote sasina his sisters, ote ai you women, ote ai gi you women. ”

“ Fe as an illative denotes, in that case, following upon; fe is also used like ha'i in Sa'a, to denote repetition or continuance or restoration: na abana e fe boeboela lau his hand was restored whole again, gera ka fe dao toona they will certainly reach him, daro fe lea lau go they went on again, da tefe bae ana tesi baela they all cried out together.
Na is used following the verb to form a preterit: nia mae na he is dead. Finality is shown by the use of sui: sui na it is all finished, nia kafi dao sui na when he shall have arrived, sui nana it is finished, sui ta thereupon, after that. ”

“ It will be seen that the one possessive in Lau does the work of the three that are used in Sa'a. A Port Adam man asking for a wife at Sa'a and saying geni ana (as has happened at times) would be asked whether he wanted to eat her—the Sa'a use being keni nana, 'ana being reserved of things to eat.
ADJECTIVES. 1. Words which are qualifying terms may also be used in the form of verbs, but some may be used without verbal particles and follow the qualified word. Mwane baita a big man, mwela tou a little child. ”

“ The verb dori (to wish) has the pronoun suffixed where in Sa'a none would be used: nia langi si doria gwou ana he would not drink (it) of it.
3. To taifili (alone) the pronouns are suffixed: te taifilia he alone, taifiligera they alone.
C. PRONOUNS SUFFIXED TO NOUNS OR TO VERBAL NOUNS USED AS PREPOSITIONS. Singular: (1) gu. (2) mu. (3) na.
Plural:
Inclusive: (1) gia, golu.
Exclusive: (1) gami, gamelu. (2) gamu, gamolu. (3) gera,
da, dalu.
Dual:
Inclusive: (1) goro.
Exclusive: (1) gamere. (2) gamoro. (3) _dar
1. ”

“ Reduplication: Verbs are reduplicated in two ways: (a) by reduplication of the first syllable: liu, liliu; bae, babae; (b) by repetition of the whole word: gwou, gwougwou. There is no difference between the various forms beyond an intensification in meaning. In the vocabulary the reduplicated form is presented under the entry of the stem.
ADVERBS. There are pure adverbs in Lau, but many words used as adverbs are truly nouns and others are verbs; adjectives may also occur in this employment. ”

“ See Sa'a and Ulawa dictionary. v., verb. v.i., verb intransitive, i.e., a verb which can not take the pronoun suffixed. v.p., verbal particle. v.tr., verb transitive, i.e., a verb which can take the pronoun suffixed. voc., vocative. M.L., Codrington's Melanesian Languages.
LAU GRAMMAR. THE ALPHABET. The vowels are a, e, i, o, u, with the Italian sounds. All of these vowels may be long or short, the long sound being represented by a doubling of the vowel. Closed syllables do not occur, and every word ends with a vowel. The vowel o in Lau frequently represents a in Sa'a: fou rock, Sa'a hau ”

“ Adverbs of manner: alafana as, like, as if; uri, uria, sae, saea, that (of quotation) ; uri, urina, thus; e uta how? gele somewhat; asia completely, too much; saumala granted that; falaete, mamaloni, only; ooni merely; talai for no reason; tefou together; afui altogether (precedes verb) ; boro, oto, otomone, tamone, bota ana, perhaps; mone gives life, ba gives force, to the narrative; ba also explains and makes the diction less abrupt; tasa, tasaana, too much; faoroa often.
PREPOSITIONS. 1. Simple prepositions. ”