Robert Henry Codrington

“ 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. ”

“ Where the radical ends with a consonant the affix k, ma, na, &c., is assisted with a vowel, i or u, according to dialect: nāqatuk or naqatik, 'my head;' naqetegina, 'its beginning.'
A great number of words are indifferently used as verbs or substantives; but there is, as above mentioned, a common use of a termination marking a word as a noun. Besides this there is a form of verbal substantive, the verb with, generally, the termination va: mule 'to go;' muleva, 'a going;' tape, 'to love;' tapeva, 'love,' i. e. loving. ”

“ This power of i with a noun is simple, conveying what a capital letter does in English: i Vat, 'the Rock;' i Vavae, 'the Word;' i Nun, 'the True One.'
It is probably a consequence of native names having always a significance with them, that, whether interrogatively or demonstratively, the personal article used with the word for 'thing' means a person. Thus, gene, 'a thing;' o gene iloke, 'this thing;' i gene iloke, 'this person.' O sava? 'what?' I sava? 'who?' The feminine is iro. Ro is prefixed to native female names, not to foreign ones, and can be used without i as well as with ”

“ It may be observed that a noun only takes the pronominal affix when used in its primary sense; when it has a secondary use it cannot be so used. Thus panei is not only 'a hand' or 'arm,' but 'an armlet;' and it is not possible to say napanek, 'my armlet,' but nok o panei.
Number.—There is no mark of number in the noun; the addition of n̈an̈ makes a plural.
IV. ADJECTIVES.
The qualification of a substantive is most commonly effected in Mota by a verb, not by an adjective, e. g. o tanun we tatas, 'a bad man'=a man (who) is bad. ”

“ If the radical ends in a vowel, i is affixed, and sometimes e; e.g. sasa-i, 'a name;' vava-e, 'a word;' tuqe-i 'a garden;' roro-i, 'a report.'
b. If the radical ends in a consonant the termination iu or ui (according to dialect) is affixed; e.g. tol-iu, 'an egg;' qat-ui, 'head;' qeteg-iu, 'beginning.'
This termination, as above stated, is an addition to the radical word; and it drops when, in what corresponds to the inflection of a possessive case, the pronoun is affixed, thus na-sasa-k, 'my name;' na-tuqe-ma, 'your garden.' It also drops in composition with another word ”

“ So a glass is round about a lamp, waliog goro o pul.
In very many cases goro will be translated "over," but always with the notion of motion and of action, not of mere superposition. To put on clothes is saru goro natarapema mun o siopa, to clothe over your body with a garment; and the garment, te toga goro natarapema, covers over your body, as protection, or concealment, or decoration. In the same way to paint over a surface is to lamas goro. If anything be hung over the fire, with an express view to some action on or from the fire, the preposition will be goro ”

“ In this way a verb with we in Mota commonly stands in place of an adjective. Again, if two verbs are closely connected in a phrase which conveys something of a compound action, and not two successive stages in the action, if me or te mark the time as past or future for the first verb, the second will have we. Thus, "The Apostles bore witness," Ira Sala me gaganag we tira; "Ye shall bear witness," Kamiu te gaganag we tira. ”

“ 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. ”

“ These words then apply as apparent personal pronouns to the class of Mota nouns which do not take the pronominal affix. Thus, nok a gasal, 'my knife;' moma or mom vavae, 'your word;' nona or non a togara, 'his behaviour;' and so on throughout the persons.
If anok, amok, is used, it generally follows the noun, nok and mok never do: o gasal anok, o vavae amoma.
Mok, amok, namok, are used in the sense of "my doing" in such a way as to represent something like a passive participle. "The word spoken by the Prophet," o vavae amon o Prophet me vava, i. e. ”

“ It should be noted that this is a common characteristic of all Melanesian tongues to mark tense and mood ; in some others, but not in Mota, number and person, by particles coming before the Verb. In nothing is the variable character of the Melanesian speech more conspicuous than in the variation in the several dialects of these particles, with the universal employment of them. ”

“ Then follows the further sense of "after" as applied to that which is the object of action. Thus, to look after, to take care of, is ilo-goro; to go after a thing, to fetch it, is mule-goro.
8. Nia is peculiar in its use, inasmuch as it never comes before, but always follows the noun to which it is applied: "This is the pen I wrote the letter with," Iloke o qat raverave na me rave o letas ti nia, corresponding exactly to the English. This position is invariable; and it also occurs after the verb ris, to turn, to change:" the water that turned into wine, o pei me ris wine nia ”

“ Ni is a verbal form, sometimes prefixed also to tuwale. The verbal particles (hereafter to be mentioned) are freely applied to all the cardinals, taking the place of ni in 2, 3 and 4. All the cardinals, used as adjectives, come after the noun: One man, O tanun tuwale; Ten men, o tanun san̈avul. San̈avul, ten, used as a substantive, comes first, followed by other cardinals used as adjectives: san̈avul tol, 'tens three'=30. San̈avul, 'ten,' melnol, '100,' tar, '1000,' as substantives take, the two latter require, multiplicatives: san̈avul vagatol, 'ten three times'=30 ”

“ From Mota."—Iloke we raule ma avea? nan o Mota ma. Nan is used at the end of a sentence without a substantive after it, referring back to a substantive that has gone before. "That is his own place that he has gone away from."—Ilone navanuana ni me toa veta nan.
7. Goro is the most difficult of the prepositions. There is always the notion of motion in it, and of motion over against. If a rail simply stands against a fence with nothing against which it bears up, the preposition is ape, but if it stands as a prop, it would be goro. If a man stands before another, with no reference to motion ”

“ It is also used with the interrogative 'who?' isei? It has also the power, not only of showing a word to be the name of a person, not of a thing, but of personifying the notion conveyed by a noun or a verb. ”

“ Intensification.—The force of the word is magnified, the notion is more forcibly expressed: putpute, 'to sit closely down, to squat;' siksike, 'to seek earnestly.' This form of reduplication is that which most naturally applies to adjectives, substantives and adverbs: manmantagai 'very small;' Gate panpanei! ”

“ Si na me ge tamaine, na me mate. So very often me is used with regard to the future, and in a strongly future sense; what is still in fact future being viewed as so certain, as to be spoken of as past. ”

“ Though the first close syllable is taken (a consonant being taken from the next syllable very often to close it as putpute, from pu te) , yet when no consonant is at hand for the purpose, or only r, two syllables are taken, or made by adding e. Thus, liwoa, 'great,' liwoliwoa; purei, 'unskilled,' purepurei. ”

“ O gene me mule ma a Mota—came hither at Mota, the locality of its coming.
2. I a preposition of motion to. This is of motion completed. Ni me mule i taun, "He has gone to town and has arrived."
3. Ape gives the sense of place with relation to something else, by, alongside of, against; and thence in reference, or regard to, concerning, because of. Ipe with the sense of motion is used, but very rarely. "He is standing by the fence," Ni we tira ape geara. "The plank leans against the house," O irav we pesinag apeima.—"What for? Why?" ”