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Oceania Publications, University of Sydney Notes on Windesi Grammar Author(s): H. K. J. Cowan Source: Oceania, Vol. 26, No. 1 (Sep., 1955), pp. 42-58 Published by: Wiley on behalf of Oceania Publications, University of Sydney Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40329004 . Accessed: 07/06/2014 22:11 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Wiley and Oceania Publications, University of Sydney are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Oceania. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 192.246.229.127 on Sat, 7 Jun 2014 22:11:01 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions NOTES ON WINDESI GRAMMAR By Dr. H. K. J. Cowan I. Introduction (1) Literature It is a remarkable fact that, although the Windesi language was studied by the missionary J. A. van Balen as early as the 'eighties and a collection of folk-tale texts with a vocabulary and translation was already published by him in 1915, no grammatical description of any kind has ever appeared in print. And even the present notes are based not on renewed personal investigations in the field, but on those same texts, together with some more recent manuscript and other material as mentioned hereafter. Nevertheless it is hoped that they will be useful as they will make it easier to get acquainted with the main structuralf eatureso f the language than texts alone can do. The literature on which these notes are based thus consists of : (a) J. A. van Balen's folk-tale texts already mentioned (Bijdr. Kon. InsL, The Hague, Vol. 70, 1915). This publication is an excellent piece of work and needs only little correction as is shown by the more recent literature cited below. (b) A manuscript vocabulary, containing about 1,800 words, with several short sentences as examples, compiled by the Rev. J. Eigendaal, of which a typewrittenc opy was given to me by the author at Manokwari in April 1947. (c) Manuscript vocabularies of some dialects, compiled in 1948 by order of the Administration by local civil servants, in the possession of the Bureau of " Native Affairsa t Hollandia, and referredt o in my Voorlopige Resultaten " van een Ambtelijk Taalonderzoek in Nieuw-Guinea (ed. Kon. Inst, voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenk., The Hague, 1953). (d) A small hymn-book in Windesi, printed by the Protestant Mission for use in native church services (Miei, 1941). There has also been a small reading-book for native schools, containing biblical stories (ed. 191 1, 2nd ed., Amsterdam 1915) also by van Balen, but I have not been able to obtain a copy of it here at Hollandia. (2) Area and Relations The Windesil anguagei s one of a groupo f dialects,s ometimesc alled Windesi- Wandamen,w hiche xtendsa long the shores( exceptt he southernmospto int) of the WandamenB ay northwardt o Sjari, inland across the narrown eck of New Guinea formedb y the Idora isthmus,a nd even a certaind istancew estwarda long both the northerna nd the southerns hores of the Bintuni Bay (MacCluerG ulf), including This content downloaded from 192.246.229.127 on Sat, 7 Jun 2014 22:11:01 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions NOTES ON WINDESI GRAMMAR 43 the Steenkool( Bintuni) districto n the northerns hore and Wamesa in the Babo district,o n the southerns hore.1 The language belongst o the Austronesianf amily,b ut its exact positioni n it cannot be definedy et. It shows several Melanesianc haracteristicss,u ch as the survivali n some relationshipt ermsa nd some names of parts of the body only of the old Austronesianp ossessives uffixefso rt he 2nd and 3rd persons ingular; the use " " in some otherc ases of auxiliary possessiven ouns takings uch possessives uffixes and placed beforet he object of the possession; certaine lementsi n the vocabulary, " " e.g. a(n)tu(n), (his) child" (Mel. natu) ; tama(ni), (his) father" (Mel. *tama); etc. Some characteristicasr e even typical of New Guinea mainlandM elanesian, " " such as the direct genitive-constructionw hichi s in the Papuan, not in the usual Austronesianor der; the commonu se of possessivep ronounsp laced beforet he noun even in the case of names of partso f the body and relationshipte rms; the quinary numerals ystem; the indicationo f two noun-classes( humans and non-humans) in the plural; and perhapsa fewo thers. But as in island Melanesiant he general word-orderin the sentencei s the usual Austronesiana nd prepositionsn, ot post- positionsa s in many Melanesianl anguageso f New Guinea, are in use. The nearestr elationso f the language,a s fara s can be judged at present,a re the Biak-Numfoarn d Waropenl anguages,b oth also of the GeelvinkB ay area.2 II. The Phonemes (3) Vowels The vowel systemi s : a e o i u Althougha distinctionb etweena and a:, e and e: and 0 and 0: (or perhaps rathera : a ; z . e ; o : 0) is givenb y van Balen and Eigendaal (a:, e: and 0: being representedb y aa, ee and 00 at least in closed syllables),i t does not appear to be " " " " phonemic. Both writeb usar, white,g rey,"b ut basa:v, rise ; muan, man/' " " " " but mamar: i, dark ; separ, separate," but sampa:r, armlet,"e tc. But they " " " " do not always agree; whereasb oth have la:r, tread on ; ra:r, goods ; pa:t, " " " " " wrap up ; diain, fish ; etc., Eigendaal has a:p, call," as againstv an Balen " " " ap ; but ban, breako pen ; tabat, cross (adj.), transverse,a"s againstv an Balen " " ba:n,t aba:t,e tc. The hymn-bookon lyu ses a, e.g. sasar, light (v. B., Eig. sasa:r) ; 1 The languagem ap appendedb y Dr. G. J. Held to his " Grammaticva an hetW aropensch" (Ed. Kon. Batav. Genootsch.,1 942) is, thereforei,n accuratea s to" the northwardan d north- westwarde xpansiono f the language. See the m" ap on p. 49 of my VoorlopigeR esultatenv an een AmbtelijkT aalonderzoekin Nieuw-Guinea (Ed. Kon. Inst. v. Taal-, Land- en Volkenk., The Hague, 1953). Taal 2" F o(Trh the eHB aigaku-eN, 1u9m05f)o,lr a" n Nguufagoeos,r esec ah.oFe. a Fb.e lJe. n F e. nv aVne Hratseslleilnt,g" e "Sn p (rNauakfokruf nosldtke -rtN alue"fs b)o yor tshceh e sfaomores acuhWt hooor(r Bdiejdnrb.o Keok" n (.T Ihnest H.,aT ghuee H, 1a9g4u7e),. 1 9F0o8r) ,Wa nadr oJp. L"e n. t ahnedr Fei .s J D.r F.. Gv.a nJ H. Hasesldel'st ,e xNceolelem"n -t Grammaral readym entionedin thep recedingn otea nd his Woordenlijsvta n het Waropensch (Ed. Kon. Batav. Genootsch.,1 942). This content downloaded from 192.246.229.127 on Sat, 7 Jun 2014 22:11:01 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 44 NOTES ON WINDESI GRAMMAR i( " natar, sparkle,t winkle (v. B. nata:r,E ig. notar). I have foundn o examplest o prove the phonemicv alue of the distinction. Phonemicv alue does seem to followf or the distinctionb etweeno and o: and " " e and e: froms uch fewa pparento ppositionsa s Eig. ser, alight (of birds); se:r, " " " " " " " see (=sera) ; v. B. re, eye : re:, landward (=are) ; bo, row (verb); " " paddle, oar : bo:, fruit,h eart." But Eigendaal writesb oth the last two words " bo and the humn-booko nly uses e and o, e.g. aten (v. B., Eig. ate:n), beautiful, " " " " " good ; som (Eig. so:m), worship ; sajor (v. B., Eig. sajo:r), see, look ; etc. There is, thereforei,n my opinion little doubt that such apparent oppositionsa s ser: se:r and bo : bo: are reallyh omonymsju st as ba, pa, wa etc. have moret han one meaning. A vowel 9 (renderedb y p) is givenb y van Bullen. This, however,i s littlem ore il thana supportingor linkingv owelw ithoutp honemicv alue,e .g. rurdo r rur, gather" ; " " " " " " otdo r ot, travela long ; sensajor(d,) theyl ook, see ; inar{d)pesi, a widow ; " " Ansusdpasiato r Ansusipasiat( forA nsus-pasiat), those of Ansus ; etc. (4) Consonants The consonantsa re : p b w m Ids n j k Both van Balen and Eigendaal list some ratherf eww ordsw ith a consonantb (probablya bilabial v) writtenw ith an underlinedb by the lattera nd with bw by " " the formere,. g. bisar, old woman." But van Balen says s.v. bwabwa, under," that this word is also pronouncedw ith b or w by differenstp eakersa nd Eigendaal " gives babinw ithn ormalb forv an Balen' s bwabwin, woman," and mentionsw ea, " " " " only," as well as bea, id.", and wara, hand," as well as bara-baba, insideo f " the hand ; etc. It is unknowni n the hymn-book. I think,t hereforet,h at this consonanti s a non-distinctivvea riant. There is in any case no proofi n the one " " available example that could be taken as an opposition,v iz. Eig. bea, only : ' " bea, much," because this may reallyb e an oppositionb etweenw ea, only," and " bea, much." That b and w are phonemic,h owever,i s shown by more than one " " " " example, e.g. ba, (1) open the mouth ; (2) negative particle; (3) north : " " " " " " " wa, canoe ; bar, descend ; war, root (of tree or plant) ; bat, parents " " " of the bride(groom;) carryo n the back ; wai, cord, rope ; etc. " " A consonant/ is given in one or two words only, e.g. fas, rice ; sarfer, " fishingc ord," and these are loanwordsf romt he Biak-Numforla nguage. Etymo- logicallyt he / of Biak-Numfori s representedb y p, e.g. tatopan,< <tale"=Biak kakofen. van Balen and Eigendaal list some wordsw ithd j, nj and sj, but it is probable that thesea re reallyc ombinationsw ithj and not distinctp honemes. Thus we find " " (his) mother writtens injani by van Balen and siniani by Eigendaal ; also " " " saredjeu( v. B.)=saredieu (Eig.), only,b ut ; bedjor( v. B.)=bedior (Eig.), resist, This content downloaded from 192.246.229.127 on Sat, 7 Jun 2014 22:11:01 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions NOTES ON WINDESI GRAMMAR 45 " prevent ; and the spelling ni, di is the regularo ne in the hymn-book. Still it shouldb e noted that nj or ni may also be a palatalizationo f nfa t least if siniani " can be connectedw ith Austron.i na, mother/' " " As fors j oppositionw iths i seemst o followf romE ig. sjawa, stickt o, clingt o : " " siawa, somethingd ead," but Eig. has sanewesien, wish, yearn; gladness," as againstv . B. sa newe sj en,a nd the hymn-bookal waysu ses si excepti n the word Sjen, " Lord God," probably because this has become accepted orthographyin this particularc ase. I take it, thereforet, hat sjawa and siawa just mentioneda re " " homonyms. Compare also v. B. swa=sua, creep into ; beruswa=berusua, " aside." As regardsd ialecticald ifferencesit, can be said that the Wandamen dialect frequentlyd rops finaln and t, notablyi n the personalp ronouns,e .g. dia (Wan.)= " " " " dian (Win.), fish ; sia (Wan.)= siat (Win.), they (hum.) ; se- (Wan.)=sm- (Win.),p ron.p refix3 rd p. pl. hum.,a nd similarlyin the otherp ronouns. (5) Accent van Balen states in the introductiont o his texts that no fixedr ules for the accent can be given, but that some words have differenmt eaningsa ccordingt o " " " differenatc cents, e.g. 'sasi, sea ; sa'si, dung." Anothere xample fromh is " " " vocabularyi s 'babar, clapping of wings ; ba'bar, put on a loin-cloth." The accept appears,t hereforet,o have phonemicf unctiona,t least partly. III. Substantives and Articles. Adjectives (6) GeneralR emarkso n the Substantive Substantivesc an be eithert hoset hata re nounsi n themselveos r wordsb elonging to other word-classeso r even short constructionst hat are substantivized. The formerin cludes ome wordst hat are apparentlyd eriveda lthought his is not realized " and therei s no questiono f a regularp rocesso f derivatione, .g. dian, fish,"p robably " " relatedt o an, eat (dian is also the conjugatedf ormo f the 3rd p. sg.)3; pimuna, " " " pig»"p robablyf romp i, (some)thing,a"n d mun, strike,s lay, kill,h unt." Words of other classes treated as substantivesm ay be demonstrativeasn d possessiveso, r adjectivesa nd even verbalf orms. These are substantivizedb y taking " " the article and/ort he suffixf or number, E.g. baba-pai, the old, elder one ; " " " munranja nesi, eat these (fromja na, this," and plural suffix;) bemaso-pasiat, " " " those that stayed behind (fromm aso, stay," with participialp refixb e- and " " " witht hea rticle); bebom-pai, thed ead one,t heo ne whod ied (fromb orn, die ") ; " " " " nie-pasiat, those of his, his people ; menne-pasiat, your people (the last two " " examplesf romp ossessivest hat are really conjugated formss, ee §12) ; etc. 3 For the relationb etween" eat " and " fish,"c f. Malay makan," " eat," and ikan, " fish," wtcrfha. mincshuistn eip evimve, e"sr t cboa; tbtcehh fe soi onr"mm treetadhnin isni at"g i s= vii esm" a cinla atprcwi h, a" fy ies aahst" f)W i;s ihnc" fd (.. pt dhii =ae n "s" i. msoAimllaserout ahsnaign, eg i,enb"au ttth, "ee si Nps eaocpniaalnyll u dy"si aefldies cahst"o af; Waropen,w herea no, eat," is the transitivea nd anado eat fish,"t he i"n transitivvee "r b (see pHaetlhd, " G inr. t,p h.e 1 W03an). daSmimeinld airallyefc otr( Wmeindads ,Wr anin) dif,d cioamn pifa croemdw pitarher daw, "it ghoa .n", eat," is ria, road, This content downloaded from 192.246.229.127 on Sat, 7 Jun 2014 22:11:01 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 46 NOTES ON WINDESI GRAMMAR The substantivei tselfd oes not formallyd istinguishg endero r class. But the fact,t o be discussedh ereaftert,h at the 3rd p. pl. pronoun,w hichi s also used as a suffixin dicatingt he pluraln umbero f nouns,h as two differenfto rmso, ne forh uman beingsa nd one forn on-humant hings,p ointst o a certainc lassificationof nouns in thisl anguage. This is also the case in the Biak-Numfoarn d the Waropenl anguages. A systemo f noun-classificationth, ougha differenotn e fromt hat just mentioned, also underliest he varietyo f methodsf ori ndicatingt he possessives( see §12)' (7) The Articles There are two articles,t he definitea nd the indefinitea,l thought he use of the two is not the same as in English. The definitea rticlei s pai, whichi s itselfp robablya compoundo f pa and an older articleo r demonstrativeel ement- i, oftenf ounda dded to nouns withl ittleo r " " " " no changeo f meaning,e .g. baba, big : babai, elderb rothero r sister (=baba- " " pai) ; amor or amori, kangaroo ; etc. It is also sometimesa dded to the old Austronesianp ossessives uffixews heret hese are still in use (see §12). When the plural or dual suffixis added to the articlet his -i is dropped,w hichi s significant as the suffixf orn umberi s none but the pronouno f the 3rd p. pl. or dual, and this element- i musts omehowb e relatedt o the3 rdp . sg. pronouni . Examples : dian-paiy " " " " " " the or a definitef ish ; nu-pai, the island ; antnm-pai, the child ; kokori- " " pai siri, one (definite,d istinct) cock ; sawa -p ai Serapasamai, or Sawa " " Serapasamai, O, husband Serapasamai! (vocative! ) ; etc. " " The indefinitaer ticlei s pesi, e.g. baba-pesi, a big one ; babin Windesi-pesi, " " " " a (certain)W indesiw oman ; muan-pes,i a certainm an ; aniose-pesie sa ba, " " not one singlev illage ; etc. The indefinitaer ticlei s also used in the plurala nd " " " " dual, e.g. aniose-pesi, some villages ; pimuna-pes,x pigs ; babin-pesi-sanut " " " two women ; etc.,b ut sometimeps esasi is found,e .g. dini-pesasi, somen ights." If an attributeo r demonstrativfe ollowst he noun, the articlei s added tó the " " formere, .g. antitm-babin-,p ai the femalec hild, daughter ; babin Windesi-pesi, 11 a Windesi woman." (8) Inflexiono f Substantives.N umber The noun does not change forc ase, althought he constructionisn dicatingt he " " genitivec ase (possession)d eserves pecial attentiona nd will, thereforeb,e dealt with in the next section. Substantivesd o, however,s hown umberm orphologicallayn d, as has been said, in doing so they distinguisht wo classes of nouns, viz. one denotingh uman beings and one denotingn on-humant hings. The plurala nd dual are indicatedb y suffixes that are identicalw itht he thirdp ersonp lural and dual pronounsr espectivelyv,i z. plurals i forn on-humant hingsa nd siat forh umanb eings; dual sanu forb othc lasses, " " " " " " e.g. aniosi, houses ; diansi, fishes ; rarwosiat, brotherss,i sters ; Windesi- " " " " pasiat, the Windesi-people (with article); re-pasanu, the two eyes (with " " art.) ; babin-pesi-sanu, two women (with indef. art.) ; etc. However, from This content downloaded from 192.246.229.127 on Sat, 7 Jun 2014 22:11:01 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions NOTES ON WINDESI GRAMMAR 47 somef ewe xamplesi t woulds eemt hat the distinctionis not alwayss trictlyo bserved, " " " e.g. siniontusi, men ; siniontu-pa,s i the men/' If a possessives uffixf ollowst he noun- whichi s onlyt he case fors ome relation- ship termsa nd some names of parts of the body- the suffixf orn umberf ollowsi t, " " " " e.g. nionisiat, the (lit.h iso r her)p arents-in-law ; biniempisanu, hist wow ives ; etc. It willh ave been noticedt hat the same is the case if the noun takes the article; the final- i of the articlei n the singulari s thens ubstitutedb y the suffixf orn umber; " " " " " e.g. dian-pasi, thef ishes ; anio-pasi, the houses ; rarwo-pasiat, theb rothers, " " " sisters ; bisar-pasan,u the two old women ; etc. van Balen has wrongly retainedt he -i in the plurala nd dual as well,t hus : dian-paisi,r arwo-paisiat. If an attributeo r demonstrativef ollowst he noun, the suffixf or numberi s " " added to the formere, .g. wa baba-pasi, the big canoes ; antum-babin-pasiat, " " " " the femalec hildrend, aughters ; dia n nesi, thesef ishes ; antum-babin-pasanu, " the two daughters/' (9) GenitiveC onstruction.P ossessiveR elation The genitiveo r possessiver elationb etweent wo nouns is in Windesii ndicated " by differenmt eans. Firstlyt he word nie, his, her,i ts," may be placed between " thep ossessor( firsta)n d thet hingp ossessed( after)e, .g. Indoliin iea nio-pai, Indoki's " " " house ; sawa ni nie ato-bora-pai, her husband's arrow-bundle ; tawai-pai " " nie ran-pai, thes nake'sp ath,t rack (witht woa rticles); dian nie aten-pais anewai- " " pasi, the fish'sl iver (and) intestines ; etc. Secondlym erej uxtapositioni n the order of English book-caseh, ill-top,e tc., is in use, possiblyw here the relationi s " " feltt o be particularlycl ose,e .g. ato-bora, arrow-bundle ; Sipurui ramat orau-pai, " " " " the sandyb each of Sipurui'ss ea-side ; Inuri ru-pai, Inuri'sh ead ; Kuri-pai " " " " babai, the Kuri's elder brother ; Kawerai rarwo-babin} Kawerai's sister ; " " Ramerai madiawi nie pandotu, the drum of K.'s youngerb rother ; etc. But sometimesw e also find the normal Austronesiano rder, e.g. anio Marani-pasiat, " " " " the house of the Maranis ; rawa-tawai-pai, the snake's skin (rawa=" skin" ). This,h owevera, ppearst o be exceptional,a lthoughs ome moree xamplesa re foundi n the hymn-book. Relationshipt ermsa nd nameso fp artso ft heb odyt hatt ake theo ld Austronesian possessives uffixeesn teri ntot he constructionw itht he 3rd persons g. suffixad ded to " themi f theyf ormt he object of the possession,e .g. babin-pait amanis iniani, the " " " woman's father( and) mother ; awini tamani, (my or our) mother'sf ather ; " " " siniamut amanij au, your mother'sf ather( am) I ; dian-pai nie aten-pai, the " fish'sl iver ; etc. (10) Adjectives " " The typeo fw ordsh erec lassedu ndert he head adjectives could in a way also be dealt withi n the chaptero n the Verb,b ecause whenu sed predicativelyth eya re " " " conjugated like verbs." For Windesi as for other Austronesianl anguages " " classificationo f word-classes and particularlyo f the types of words described This content downloaded from 192.246.229.127 on Sat, 7 Jun 2014 22:11:01 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 48 NOTES ON WINDESI GRAMMAR here by Westerns tandards,i s always a more or less thornyp roblem. Thus even " " " " adverbs can sometimesb e conjugated/' e.g. tuntaneP , how shall we be ?, " " what will happen to us ?, what about us ?" (lit. : we-how,"f romt ane, how ")• When used as an attributet he adjective is placed aftert he noun to whichi t " " " referse,. g. kankanib aba, a big eagle." The eagle is big wouldb e kankanib ieba " (or biba),w itht he3 rdp . sg. infix. Similarly: dieump i wurat os teten, He nourishes " " all thingsu ntil they are good (froma ten, good," and the 3rd p. pl. non-hum, prefix;) etc. We have already pointed out that adjectives can be substantivizedb y the article. IV. Pronouns (11) Personal Pronouns The personalp ronounsa re the only ones to be treatedh ere,t ogetherw itht heir inflectedfo rms( " possessivep ronouns" ), because theys howf eatureso f grammatical " " importancew, hilet he other pronouns have littlem oret han lexical interest. The personalp ronounso ccuri n two serieso f forms: the cardinalf ormsa nd the formsu sed as subjectp refixeisn conjugationa nd in certainc ases also as possessives. In the 2nd and 3rd persons g. thesep refixeasr e replacedb y infixesif t he stemb egins with a consonant. When followingt he verb as object, the cardinal formsa re commonlyu sed,b uts ometimesso closelya ttachedt o thev erba s almostt o be suffixes, " e.g. amannewi, we-own-i;t (it is) ours." Threen umbersc an be distinguishe:d singular,d ual and plural. As a remnant of an obsolete3 rd persont rial may perhapsb e regardedt he apparentlyc onjugated " formo ft hen umeral three,"s entoru(s ee §14). In thet hirdp ersonp lurald istinction is made betweenh umanb eingso n the one and animalsa nd inanimatet hingso n the otherh and, thus introducinga systemo f classificationof nouns (see §6). The followingt able shows the two series of pronouns( the formsw ithoutt he finalc onsonantsb etweenb racketsa re the Wandamend ialectf orms; in the combina- tionn d, however,t he n of the prefixf ormsi s retainedi n this dialect also) : Cardinal Forms. Prefix( Infix) Forms. 1 p. sg. . . . . jau ; ja (Wan.) i-, j- (beforev owels) 2 p. sg. . . . . au bu-, -u- (afteri nit. cons.) 3 p. sg. . . i di-, -i- (afteri nit. cons.) 1 p. du. in. . . . . nan(d)u tu(n)~ 1 p. du. ex. . . . . amu(n) amu(n)- 2 p. du. . . . . man(d)u tnu(n)- 3 p. du. . . . . san(d)u su(n)- 1 p. pl. in. . . . . tata(t) ta(n)- 1 p. pl. ex. . . . . ama(t) ama(n)- 2 p. pl. . . . . mia(t) me(n)- 3 p. pl. hum. . . . . sia(t) se{n)- 3 p. pl. non-hum. . . si si- This content downloaded from 192.246.229.127 on Sat, 7 Jun 2014 22:11:01 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions NOTES ON WINDESI GRAMMAR 49 " " (12) InflectedF orms. PossessiveP ronouns The usual methodo f formingth e genitivef orms( " possessives" ) of the personal " " " pronounsi s derivedf romt he word ne, possess/' conjugated fort he different " persons. From a Westernp ointo f view this constructionth us reallym eans (that which)I , you,e tc. possess; (thatw hichi s) mine,y ours,e tc." Comparef ori nstance " the sentencej au isasera miatp a, ineni ine au pena, I have looked fory ou, then " " " " " " I've got you/' E.g. ine, my ; nue, your ; nie, his, her, its ; munne, " " " " you-both's ; senne, their ; etc. These formsa re the adjunct formsa nd are " " placed beforet he noun indicatingt he object possessed,e .g. ine terai , my body ; " " " " nie terai -pai, his body (witha rticle); ine aibo, my heart ; nie madiawi-pa,i " " " " his youngerb rother (witha rt.) ; ine mararia, my boy (in the sense of son, " " " " child); tunnea nio, our (dual incl.) house ; sennea nio-pasi, their( pl.) houses etc. The absolutef ormsa re constructedin the same way, but -wii s added, whichi s probablyt he3 rdp . sg. pronouna s objectl inkedt o thev erbb y an intermediatwe ,e .g. nuewi," yours"; niewi," his,h ers,i ts" ; amannewii ma, "he is ours" (see also §11). For some relationshipte rms( ofa near nature? ) the old Austronesianp ossessive suffixeasr e stilli n use, but apparentlyo nlyf ort he seconda nd thirdp ersons ingular and even thesea re evidentlyb ecomingo bsolete; the 3rd p. sg. oftenh as littlem ore value than that of an article,a nd sometimest he commonp ossessivei s placed before the noun in addition. The relationshipcso ncerneda re the parents,t he parents-in- law, the childreng, randparentsg, randchildrenw, ifea nd husbanda nd possiblyo ne " " " or two others. E.g. tamamu,t amamui, your father ; taman,t amani, his, her " " " " " father ; siniani and nie siniani, his, her mother ; a{n)tumu, your child ; " " " " " tapuni, his, her grandfather ; sawan(i), her husband ; biniemu, your " " " " " wife ; biniempi, his wife (irregulafro rm? ) ; babani, his (the) elderb rother ; " " " " nionisiat, his parents-in-law ; diromu, your sister-in-law ; etc. For the " firstp ersons g. eithern o indicationi s found as in sawa , (my) husband," or an " " entirelyd ifferenwt ord is used as jai, (my) father,"a nd awini, (my) mother," whicha re onlyu sed by the childw hens peakingt o or about its parents. In the dual and pluralp ersonst hep ersonalp ronouni n its prefixf ormi s prefixedto theser elation- ship termsw itht he 3rd p. sg. suffixa dded to them,a similarp rocedure,t herefore, " " as that used whent heye nteri nto the genitive-constructionw ith anothern oun (§9). In this case the morphologicarl ule of initial consonantsi n the category singular/dual/pluirna lf orcef ort he conjugationo f the verb (see §15 and §16) is also " " observed; e.g. tantapuni, our (incl.) grandfather ; sunrantum-babin-pasiat, " " " their (dual) daughters (froma ntu-, child" ) ; etc. Some data point to a similart reatmento f names of certain (inseparable? ) partso ft heb odya s thatj ust describedf orn earr elationshipte rms. But them aterial is limiteda nd oftenc ontradictoryan, d thes ystemi s apparentlyb reakingd own. We have alreadym entioneds uch examples,t aken fromt he folk-talet exts,a s ine, nie " " " " terai , my, his body ; ine aibo, my heart ; to whichw e here may add : nie " " " ru-pai, his head (witha rt.) ; nie ai-pasiy his legs." No exampleso f suffixetso parts of the body are available in these texts except one that is not quite certain: " " (dian nie) attn-pai, (the fish's)h is (?) liver (cf. Austron.h atay? ). But for the D This content downloaded from 192.246.229.127 on Sat, 7 Jun 2014 22:11:01 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 50 NOTES ON WINDESI GRAMMAR " " " plural formsw e have sensanem-pasi, their bellies (froms ane, belly" ), and " " ll sunbarami-pasi, their (dual) hands (fromw ara , bara, hand "), constructions, thereforet,h ata re similart o thosef orn earr elationshipte rmsi n the plural. And the hymn-bookdo es givee xampleso fn ameso fp artso ft he bodyw iths uffixepdo ssessives " " " " in the singulare, .g. aemu, yourf oot,l eg ; waramit, yourh and ; also Sanotnu, " Thy Name/' And thisi s in accordancew itha list of pronounsi n the Wandamen " " dialectg ivenb y ProfessorH eld on p. 50 of his Grammaticav an het Waropensch and cited by him froma manuscripto f the Rev. I. S. Kijne. This list gives the " " followingf ormso f the possessivesc ombinedw ith the word for mouth : 1 p. s. (sore-pat)2, p. s. soremi3, p. s. (soreni),1 p. p. in. tansoremi1, p. p. ex. amansorem, i 2 p. p. mensorem3i ,p . p. sensorem;i dual formsa re notg iven. The 2ndp .s. apparently has the finalu of the suffixa ssimilatedt o the demonstrativ-ei . But it is curious to see the ending- mir eappeari n the pluralf ormsw hereo ne woulde xpectt he ending oft he3 rdp . s. -n(i) as in tantapungi ivena bove. But thee nding- mii s in accordance with sunbarami-pasai nd possibly also with sensanem-pasiin the folk-talet exts, althoughi n the lattere xample as in sunrantum-babin-pasaiablo ve the -n may be assimilatedt o the followingco nsonant. This pointc alls forf urtheirn vestigation. A furthemr ethod,w hicha greesw itht he usual systemi n the Melanesiani sland languagese ast of New Guinea for words not indicatingr elationshipo r parts of a whole,b ut of whichI have only founde xamples for the 2nd p. sg., is the use of " " auxiliary possessiven ouns with the old possessives uffixeasd ded to them,t his " " formationb eing placed beforet he noun, e.g. Nomu Sasar, Thy Light ; Nomu " " " " " " Anio, Thy House ; Nomu Kabo, Thy Word ; nomu Sjen, your Lord ; " " " " nomut atar, yourt respasses ; nemub abai, youre lderb rother ; memua matane, " thisy ouro rphan-child/' The last two examples,t hosew ithm emu,a re takenf rom the folk-talet exts; the others,w ith nomu,f romt he hymn-book. It cannot be decided in what sort of cases this methodi s used nor when the constructionw ith no- and when that with me- is wanted. We findN omu Anio, but we have alreadym entionedt he equally possiblec onstructionn ue anio. Babai, " elderb rother/o' ccurso nce withm emu,b ut also once witht he 3rd p. sg. suffix-n i. " " But youngerb rother takes nue beforei t (nue madiawi-pai). Similarlya matane " " onlyo ccurso nce withm emub, ut child normallyt akest he suffixes. The material is, of course,t oo limitedf or conclusions. But for the principlei nvolvedc ompare the usage in the Mota language (Banks Is., northo f theN ew Hebrides)a nd in Fidji. In Mota an auxiliaryp ossessiven oun no- (Fiji id.) is used for generalp ossession, another,m a- (Fiji me-),f ord rink,a third,m mo-f, or action or abstraction,a nd a " " fourthg, a- (Fiji ke-),f or foodstuffse,t c. Thus in Mota my banana is no-k 0 vetali f it is simplyo wned,a nd ga-k 0 vetali f it is spokeno f as my food (0 beingt he " article). Similarlym mo-k0 nomtupis my thought,"e tc. It is even possiblet hat Windesi no- is formallyt he same as Mota and Fiji no-.4) 4 Dr. A. Capellp ointst o the Austroncsiainn definit(eh )anu," wha"t 'si ts name,"a nd its use in theB are'el anguageo fC elebesf ore mphaticp os"s essives: anw.kup ale, myh and,"f ore mphasis insteado f the normalp ale-fm. And he adds : This, then,r epres"e nttsh e origino f the M.N. possessiveb asedo n na, no,c ertainlyin idea,a nd possiblya lso in word (" The LinguistiPc osition of South-EasternP apua," Sydney,1 943, p. 232). This content downloaded from 192.246.229.127 on Sat, 7 Jun 2014 22:11:01 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions