Root Reducibility in Polynesian 9781463222208

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Root Reducibility in Polynesian

A n a l e c t a Gorgiana

387 Series Editor George Anton Kiraz

Analecta Gorgiana is a collection of long essays and

short

monographs which are consistently cited by modern scholars but previously difficult to find because of their original appearance in obscure publications. Carefully selected by a team of scholars based on their relevance to modern scholarship, these essays can now be fully utili2ed by scholars and proudly owned by libraries.

Root Reducibility in Polyne

William Churchill

1 gorgias press 2009

Gorgias Press LLC, 180 Centennial Ave., Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA www.gorgiaspress.com Copyright © 2009 by Gorgias Press LLC Originally published in All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise without the prior written permission of Gorgias Press LLC. 2009

1

ISBN 978-1-60724-636-7

ISSN 1935-6854

Extract from The ^American Journal of Philology 27 (1906)

Printed in the LTnited States of America

AMERICAN

JOURNAL VOL. X X V I I , 4.

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PHILOLOGY WHOLE NO. 108.

I . — R O O T R E D U C T I B I L I T Y IN P O L Y N E S I A N . T h e value of a careful study of the languages of the Polynesian, or Sawaiori, family has almost entirely avoided the attention of philologists. For the more part the leaders of the science have been content to work the rich Indo-European and Semitic veins, and thereby have they overlooked the possibility of equal wealth of results to be obtained by the prosecution of investigation with the same degree of care into some of the families of human speech not included in the two types so thoroughly studied. S o far as concerns the Malayo-Polynesian the attitude of philological science seems to be concisely summed up in Whitney's words, here cited from memory: " Its philologic position has been established by Humboldt's ' U e b e r die Kawi-Sprache', and its internal barrenness has been disclosed by Fr. Mueller's Polynesian grammar in the Novara work." Despite the weight of this authority the question is so far from settled and disposed of by those two works that of the mere handful of earnest workers in the Polynesian field the most of us incline to consider it better to divorce the Malay from such intimate association with the Sawaiori as the term Malayo-Polynesian implies. While as to the second member of Whitney's dictum, we look upon Mueller's grammar as a curious misconception of those languages upon a note book acquaintance with which he compiled it. If the aim of the years of investigation in the field and of the added years of painful research in the study were merely to produce a grammar and a dictionary of even the most highly developed of the Polynesian tongues the most enthusiastic student would have to confess such a result futile in its inutility. Such a dictionary of the Samoan, to cite a concrete instance which 25

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I h a v e now a d v a n c e d t o w a r d c o m p l e t i o n , w o u l d a m o u n t t o n o m o r e than the r e c o r d of the s p e e c h of an obscure a n d civilly u n i m p o r t a n t p e o p l e at present resting at a b o u t the 40,000 m a r k on census rolls. T o the S a m o a n s t h e m s e l v e s the w o r k w o u l d e v e r r e m a i n closed. T o the white m e n b r o u g h t into association with them, p r o b a b l y n e v e r to e x c e e d a few h u n d r e d at a n y o n e time, such a w o r k w o u l d be useless; their needs can easily b e s u p p l i e d b y a j a r g o n of a few h u n d r e d v o c a b l e s easily acquired a n d l o o s e l y used, the refinement of p h i l o l o g i c a l a p p a r a t u s w o u l d be w a s t e d u n d e r the normal c o n d i t i o n s of island life. Y e t that such a r e c o r d o f island s p e e c h can offer matter of far m o r e than m e r e l y curious interest to the student of the g r o w t h of h u m a n s p e e c h it is the p u r p o s e of this p a p e r to point out in s o m e b r o a d and g e n e r a l measure, c a l l i n g attention to the possibilities of a field hitherto n e g l e c t e d , l e a v i n g the p r o o f for m o r e detailed consideration. It is not entirely t h r o u g h accident that I h a v e c h o s e n t h e S a m o a n as the v e h i c l e of researches into the p h i l o s o p h y of P o l y nesian s p e e c h . T h e r e was an initial hesitation as to w h i c h o f several t o n g u e s e q u a l l y familiar to pursue, and it was o n l y after m a t u r e deliberation that m y c h o i c e fell u p o n the S a m o a n as o f f e r i n g the best m e d i u m for the presentation of the most v a l u a b l e results. T h i s a c c o r d s e q u a l l y with facts d e v e l o p e d b y e t h n o g r a p h e r s o f this island region, facts w h i c h should be s k e t c h e d in a brief p r e l i m i n a r y statement. O m i t t i n g reference to the difficult p r o b l e m o f the starting point o f the migration w h i c h in successive streams p e o p l e d the Pacific w e are a m p l y justified in r e g a r d i n g it as established that the P o l y n e s i a n s m a k e their a p p e a r a n c e in the g r e a t o c e a n at t h e eastern v e r g e o f the M a l a y seas, that their v o y a g e s s w e p t d o w n the chain o f islands w h i c h parallel the A u s t r a l i a n coast and left at intervals s o m e P o l y n e s i a n i n c l u s i o n s 1 in Melanesian c o m munities, w h i c h y e t r e m a i n as interesting l a n d m a r k s , a n d that a definite g e n e r a l settlement of the early w a v e of migration was m a d e in the islands of the central Pacific b e t w e e n the parallels 1 " T h e s e P o l y n e s i a n outliers are to be found in U e a , one of the L o y a l t y I s l a n d s ; in F u t u n a , a small island of the N e w H e b r i d e s ; in F a t e , S a n d w i c h I s l a n d ; in some of the islets of the Sheppard group, and notably in the settlement of M a e in T h r e e H i l l s ; in T i k o p i a , north of the B a n k s ' Islands, and in several of the S w a l l o w group near Santa Cruz ; in R e n n e l l and B e l l o n a , south of the Solomon islands, and in O n g t o n g J a v a , near Y s a b e l . " — C o d rington's " M e l a n e s i a n L a n g u a g e s , page 7."

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o f 1 3 0 a n d i i ° south of the line a n d within a few h u n d r e d miles either w a y of the meridian o f 180°. N e x t , a n d after s u c h i n t e r v a l as t o allow the first settlements to b e c o m e well established, 1 a s e c o n d w a v e o f m i g r a t i o n f o l l o w e d the s a m e c o u r s e a n d caused, first, wars in the earlier settlements in central P o l y n e s i a , and, later, the historic a g e o f the g r e a t v o y a g e s . In these v o y a g e s the c a n o e fleets p u s h e d out to the eastward, to R a r o t o n g a , t h e C o o k , the G a m b i e r , the H e r v e y g r o u p s , to Tahiti, to the archip e l a g o of the P a u m o t u , to r e m o t e T e P i t o te H e n u a , e v e r e a s t w a r d until land upon the trackless sea failed their d a r i n g k e e l s not c o u r a g e their stout hearts. T h e n to the north s w e p t the stream, to the M a r q u e s a s a n d to the p e o p l i n g o f H a w a i i . T o the s o u t h steered y e t o t h e r fleets to c o l o n i z e N e w Z e a l a n d . M a g n i f i c e n t d e e d s these w e r e o f seacraft, w o r t h y to be s t u d i e d m o r e c l o s e l y in P e r c y S m i t h ' s " H a w a i k i " . 2 F o r the present p u r p o s e t h e y are mentioned to s h o w that S a m o a with its n e x t n e i g h b o r s was the clearing h o u s e , the point of distribution, the p a l m , as it were, from w h i c h stretch these fingers b r a v e l y g r a s p i n g out into the u n k n o w n , c l u t c h i n g a n d k e e p i n g and h o l d i n g t h e Pacific for a s i n g l e h o m o g e n e o u s race. T h i s r e g i o n o f first settlement a n d later h i v e o f s w a r m i n g w e shall find it a c o n v e nience to distinguish b y a n a m e . N u c l e a r P o l y n e s i a will s e r v e , for it c o m m i t s us to n o theories, it s i m p l y sets forth in brief statement the fact that at s o m e time there b e g a n t o be, as t h e r e still remains, a P o l y n e s i a n p o p u l a t i o n of the islands o f F i j i , R o t u m a , U v e a , F u t u n a , T o n g a , N i u e a n d S a m o a with the inclusion o f a f e w m o r e i m m e d i a t e l y a d j a c e n t islands. In this N u c l e a r P o l y n e s i a T o n g a represents in g r e a t l i k e l i h o o d the resting f o l k o f the s e c o n d w a v e of m i g r a t i o n , S a m o a the s u r v i v o r s o f the first migration, a n d the o u t l y i n g islands the resultant o f the t w o 1 T h i s conclusion develops naturally out of the e v i d e n t idea of the S a m o a n s that t h e y w e r e autochthons. O n l y in such a v i e w can w e orient the v a l u a b l e " S o l o o le V a " w h i c h is in the author's M S S collection of " S a m o a 0 le V a v a u " , and m a y be found in an interesting version in the Journal of the P o l y n e s i a n S o c i e t y , vol. vi, p a g e i g . It is a magnificent creation story, rude with the massive inexorability of the L u c r e t i a n E p i c u r e a n i s m . 2 T h i s interesting account of the P o l y n e s i a n periplus of this k e e n student of e t h n o l o g y first appeared in the Journals of the P o l y n e s i a n S o c i e t y and then in a book with the title " H a w a i k i : T h e W h e n c e of the M a o r i " , 1898, and later in a second edition w i t h the title " H a w a i k i : T h e original H o m e of the M a o r i " , 1904. T h e second edition is g r e a t l y enlarged and practically a n e w b o o k , to such an extent i n d e e d that it b y no means retires the earlier edition.

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forces, e a c h island offering a p r e t t y p r o b l e m of its own w h i c h it is not within the p r o v i n c e of s u c h a p a p e r as this to introduce. F e w i n d e e d are the t o n g u e s of u n c u l t u r e d m a n w h i c h h a v e b e e n h e a r d o v e r so w i d e a dispersion as this o f the P o l y n e s i a n s . If w e b e willing to a c c e d e t o the old classification of the m a k e r s of philological s y s t e m s and use the term M a l a y o - P o l y n e s i a n w e m a y point out u p o n the m a p s such a dissemination of a s i n g l e s p e e c h as no o t h e r l a n g u a g e family c o u l d s h o w until the fleets o f h i g h l y a d v a n c e d culture c o n q u e r e d the o r b of the w o r l d for I n d o - G e r m a n i c s p e e c h . P i c t u r e to y o u r s e l f the confines of this o n e speech. M a d a g a s c a r , a l m o s t b e a c h e d o n A f r i c a , m a r k s its western limit; T e P i t o te H e n u a , p o s s i b l y m o r e g e n e r a l l y familiar u n d e r its m a p n a m e of E a s t e r Island, stands as its eastern l a n d m a r k far out o v e r against the S o u t h A m e r i c a n c o a s t ; t o the s o u t h it r e a c h e s d o w n into the winter chill o f the southern tip of N e w Z e a l a n d ; to the n o r t h it has b r a v e d in H a w a i i the fires of P e l e a n d t h e H i i a k a , h e r sisters; it has s o u g h t out the loneliness of G u a m a n d has d e v e l o p e d into m o r e than one l a n g u a g e in the P h i l i p p i n e s . O f all t o n g u e s the P o l y n e s i a n p r o p e r has u n d e r g o n e t h e least m o d i f i c a t i o n f r o m outside influences; in fact, t h o s e of us w h o incline t o cut l o o s e f r o m the M a l a y a n association n u m b e r but s o m e 150 M a l a y r o o t s as t h e s o l e contamination of the P o l y nesian. O n the other h a n d no o t h e r family of l a n g u a g e s h a s m a d e s u c h slight contributions t o the l a n g u a g e s of m a j o r culture. O u r E n g l i s h , g r e e d i e s t o f all in a b s o r b i n g new w o r d s f r o m w h a t e v e r source, o w e s to the P o l y n e s i a n n o m o r e than the t w o v o c a b l e s " tabu " and " t a t t o o " . E v e n so insignificant a r a c e as the C a r i b s , w h o f a d e d b e f o r e the E u r o p e a n s l i k e a frost-blighted flower, h a v e g i v e n us as m u c h or m o r e . T h e l a n g u a g e s of this f a m i l y are of o n e structure, of a c o m m o n v o c a b u l a r y . Y e t t h e y h a v e b e e n s o w i d e l y s e p a r a t e d that there h a s b e e n for centuries no relation of intercourse and e a c h has d e v e l o p e d for itself. T h e y are individual l a n g u a g e s , not m e r e dialects. T h e M a o r i , t h e S a m o a n , the H a w a i i a n are as far apart as a r e the E n g l i s h , t h e D u t c h a n d t h e H i g h G e r m a n , as are F r e n c h , S p a n i s h a n d Italian. A f t e r full consideration of the objects of this r e s e a r c h into the P o l y n e s i a n f a m i l y it has been d e t e r m i n e d that the S a m o a n will best serve to d e v e l o p t h e underl y i n g p r i n c i p l e s o f this interesting s p e e c h . W e must defer the b r o a d e r q u e s t i o n s of the relationship of the P o l y n e s i a n t y p e of l a n g u a g e with the l a n g u a g e s s p o k e n b y Melanesian p e o p l e of a clearly distinct ethnic s t o c k ; a n d of a k i n s h i p w h i c h m a y

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subsist between Polynesian and Melanesian tongues on the one hand (if indeed they are to be grasped within one array of fingers) and those specifically classed as Malayan on the other. For an appreciation of what linguistic research among the Polynesian tongues is expected to offer for the service of philology we Should note the ultimate attainment of that science. The benefit, it should be said, has passed the stage of expectation; in a steadily lengthening chain it has been brought to the proof in my Polynesian studies, to which this paper is in some sort an introduction and a partial syllabus. From the "Cratylus" to Leibnitz the study of speech, ever a fascinating pursuit, was nothing more than a web of wildly spun fancies, a composition of superficial resemblances, a diversion destitute of all logical method for the good and very sufficient reason that deduction was impossible in the absence of the data from which to deduce. In one and twenty centuries, half the epoch of Napoleon's measure of the Pyramids, not one advance was made. More languages had come into the theatre of wisdom, yet a science of language remained unborn. The races of the earth who spoke outside the narrow range of a handful of the languages of major culture still remained the finpPapot, the men whose speech to the cultivated ear was but the uncomprehended ba-ba. The puerilities of the great Saxon are the unaltered absurdities of the Attic philosopher. It was not until the European discovery of the Sanskrit ^that philology became at all possible. The ultimate triumph of philological analysis through comparison has been to reduce language to a collection of roots. Out of such roots develop the parts of speech, the models of declension, the canons of syntax. In all speech growth, to the highest nicety of inflection and synthesis, to the most flexible facility of our tongues in the analytic type, the underlying security is this root, that which through all the ages carries the vital principle with which this rudimentary combination of sounds comes to us out of the darkness of the period of selective differentiation. In all the families of speech which have yet been subjected to scientific method of analysis the root is found the ultimate expression, a thing irreducible, whether it be the frequently vocalized root of Aryan speech or the crystal trigrammaton of the consonantal Semitic. The work of analysis of Polynesian speech has now progressed to a point where we are warranted in the announcement that the

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Samoan, as typical of its family in the highest and last degree, opens to the investigator of speech phenomena a plain and simple path in the direction of the next great advance. This is to consist in the reduction of the hitherto irreducible, the analysis of the root, the discovery of that which, in permissible continuation of a metaphor already accepted, we may not unfitly call the seed. The next step toward the principia of human speech—what a step it is! It brings us to the verge of that stage in evolution where the discriminative modulation of the cry had but just become reason ing speech in development of the reflexes of sound formation. Before proof can be brought to bear on this important point of ultimate analysis it would be advisable to posit more or less familiarity with Polynesian speech. In the discussion of philological problems it is a permissible assumption that the interested reader is familiar with the methods and results of the linguistic investigation of the Indo-European tongues. Thus, in the matter of principle and illustration, the development of a new idea may proceed smoothly and the writer may not improperly count on leading his readers pari passu to the conclusions which are his and their common goal. Since, however, the Polynesian is really new material for philological research, since its tongues are quite unfamiliar to any but a most limited circle of investigators, it will be found not inadvisable to present a cursory conspectus of the Samoan in its broader aspects. The phonology of the language is of the simplest and is represented on the accepted scheme as follows: vowels sonant

surd sonant surd sonant surd sonant surd

ng

y

—,1

semi-vowels nasal aspiration

w

n

m

s

-

—

I

—

—

palatal

}

?}

spirants mutes

t lingual

sibilants

labial

As the true palatal g is entirely missing the character has been adapted to express the nasal ng (as in singer). The characters

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y and w are not employed in the Roman alphabet as adapted to the Samoan, their proper sounds, however, being present. The true k had disappeared from Samoan at some period anterior to its discovery by the first missionaries; a wave of repugnance to that sound which to the westward of Nuclear Polynesia seems rarely to be felt, but which becomes more and more marked as we follow the line of migration toward the eastern confines of the region, and particularly characterizes the speech of Tahiti and Hawaii. In Samoan the absent k functions in a manner that entails no little difficulty to the student in his first essay at the spoken language. The k has vanished, yet there has been no coalescing over the gap; it has left a hole in the word. To express that absence of sound an inverted comma (') has been erected into the position of an alphabetic character. It has no sound in itself, it imports no sound to the word or to the succeeding vowel. If the speech organs are placed in the position to produce the rough breathing, and then, without vocalizing in this position, the voice passes to the next letter the value of the catch, for so this character with some propriety has been named, will be represented just in proportion as the vocalization of the spiritus asper position is absent. For example, this gives us the Samoan fa'a in a position midway between the Fijian vaka, the Maori whaka on the one and purer hand, and on the other and weakened side the faa of Tahiti, the haa and hoo of Hawaii, which has still further degenerated into ha and ho} 1 A list of the faka forms in the insular tract is interesting as showing how uniformly the strength of the word subsists in its vowel elements and that the dialectic variations appear in the flux of the consonants. T h i s accords very well with other evidence that in Polynesian the permanent value lies in the vocalic seed and that from it roots are produced through the modulation of the several consonants, these being a later evolution and therefore less permanently established.

Samoa Hawaii Rarotonga Mangareva Futuna Nguna Fiji Fate Espiritu Santo Maewo Ulawa Fagani

fa'a haa, ha, hoo, ho aka aka faka vaka, faka vaka baka vaga vaga haa faga

Tahiti Tonga Marquesas Paumotu Uvea Rotuma N e w Britain Sesake Oba Mota Wa«o Sa'a

haa, faa faka haka, haa faka, haka faka a, faka wara vaka vaga vaga haa haa

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Within the century which is our sole historical period for these oceanic tongues we have been able to trace the backward surge of the rejected k. In regions as remote as Hawaii and Samoa the k once discarded has swept back into speech with irresistible momentum, but it has not fallen back into its proper place. Instead it has seized upon the lingual t and has dragged it backward to the palatal of the same g r o u p of mutes. In Hawaii at the time of its discovery this phonetic change had been but partly accomplished, as one may recognize from such forms as Tereeoboo (Kalaniopuu) and Tahy-terree (Kahekili) found in Captain King's narrative of Cook's death; yet at the time when the missionaries reduced the language to writing the k transformation was well-nigh complete. In Samoa the change has come to pass entirely in the period since the introduction of the alphabet. T h e missionaries fulminate against the kappation, but the c h a r g e has been as complete as in Hawaii except that the t has kept its place in the written word. On the lips of men the lingual t is now heard only in the most formal address to chiefs of rank and from the Samoan pulpit. A similar, yet a completely double, change is at the same time in progress between the lingual and the palatal of the nasal group. T h e n is passing into the ng and the latter in turn is moving forward in the mouth to become n. Thus, such a word as finagalo (fi-na-nga-lo) is more commonly spoken figanalo (fi-nga-na-lo). Measured by the standards set u p by the men who first fitted the alphabet to express Samoan speech these things are all corruptions. A broader view denies the authority of the accident of what chanced to be custom at the time of the first reduction to writing and sees in these progressive phonetic changes a flux and reflux which is more than dialectic variation, which represents a great idiosyncratic movement in Polynesian speech as a whole. T o the cumulative strength of a double consonant no Polynesian tongue has yet advanced, the nasalized ng and the aspirated semi-vowel of the Maori wh being only in form double. In the Fijian area, where we are on the border line of Polynesia, we find strongly nasalized consonants in b (nib), d (nd),g {ng) and q (ngg), and westward along the Melanesian stem double consonants are not uncommon. In like manner the Samoan has scarcely crystallized into diphthongs. Under proper incidence of the tonic accent two vowels

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may unite into the production of an apparent diphthong. Y e t that such an association is purely temporary, existing only so long as that which caused it in the beginning remains active, is to be seen in the prompt dissolution of the seeming diphthong when for any reason the incidence of the tonic accent is shifted. T h u s , in the frequent name Tuisamau the normal paroxytone gives us Tuisamáu, from -máu it is but a slight and indolent elision to -mau, equivalent to the English diphthong ow. S o long as one is speaking about the man Tuisamau the sound of Tuisamow is g o o d Samoan. L e t one address the man, however, using the vocative e, which invariably attracts the accent; at once the diphthong dissolves and we say Tuisamaú e. T h e syllable in the present stage of Polynesian speech (disregarding here the enticing problems of Rotumá with double consonants and closed syllables) is otherwise invariably open, its scheme comprises no more than an unsupported vowel or a consonant introducing a vowel. T h e closed syllable survives only as a memory in certain composition forms, which, without this explanation as survivals, introduce a jumble of uncoordinate and inexplicable elements of modulation. Deferring the proof of this point in the present inquiry it suffices to note that in Samoan anterior to the historical period closed syllables were permissible. T h e structure of the Samoan period is illustrated in the following : 'ava e ! 'ava taumanu!'ava!

K a v a ! fragrant k a v a ! kava!

se 'ava 'ea lend maifea?

That kava, whence comes it?

'o le 'ava lena mai le Alofia'ana. 'o le 'ava 'ula lena lé'i 'e te folasia ma maia, 'a e fagufagu ai Tagatea

That kava's from the Alofia'ana. That ruddy kava, Shout it not forth nor chew it, But with it waken Tangatea

'o loo tofa, i te'ite'i a'e ia,'ua to le paga.

who's sleeping Start him up, trouble's afoot!

T h e interesting syntax of the speech is well illustrated in this extract, and when time serves it will abundantly repay close analysis. In the present inquiry we are to concern ourselves with words, not their arrangement to make continuous sense but their form and construction as words. In the foregoing passage we count 44 words, listed according to their shape in the following table :

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378 e (2) se '0 (2) le (4) mai 'e te ma Ka ai 0 1 'ua to 19

' ava (6) 'ea lend (3) 'ula le'i loo tofd a'e ia fagà

17

taumanu maifea maia

3

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folasia fagufagu Tagatea tc'ite'i

4

Alojia'ana

1

Here we find 19 monosyllables, including the temporary diphthongs ai and mai and 'ua ('wa). The dissyllables number 17, in which are counted 6 repetitions of the word 'ava. Of the 3 trisyllables we note the word maifea, and as its former half lies in the verse thesis there is no way of discrimination as to whether the ai is functioning as dipththong or as two vowels, and the same holds in regard of the au in taumanu. Of words of four syllables we find 4, of which 2 are reduplicated dissyllables. And beyond this we have a word of six syllables, Alofia'ana, a compound of two trisyllables. Such is about the normal proportion of the language. Our investigations into the syntax of the Samoan supply us with a parallel set of figures. The type of speech is far too early to fall into classification under the classical parts of speech. Our Samoan words fall into but three classes. These are, the attributive, the demonstrative and the paradeictic. The attributives are the appellations of specific things, reducible at the outset to expressions of acts and qualities. Out of this class through discriminative selection is to arise the later development of the noun, the verb, the adjective and the adverb, and in this class are certainly included ab initio many of the exclamations which endure extra-grammatically to the period of the highest speech development. The demonstratives are the first vague indicia of speech which supplement tone and the pointing finger to designate time, place, number and motion, and to circumscribe the identity of individuals not already made clear by attribution; out of this class are to develop the pronoun and a small but important class of adverbs, according as the demonstrative leans

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toward the nominal or toward the verbal signification still consociated in the attributive vocable. T h e third class, the paradeictic, I find it advisable to propose for a small class of the most rudimentary words, w h i c h are neither to be classed as attributive nor to be properly g r o u p e d as demonstrative; their function is to indicate that a relation exists between two words with which they are placed, and in their fuller use to designate of what sort is that relation; this class is to produce the later preposition, the conjunction and much of the family of the particle. T h e class is but provisionally proposed, it may in the end find its proper place in the demonstrative. T h e next tabulation of our specimen extract is based upon the frequency of these three elementary word-classes, as follows : Attributive.

'ava (6) taumanu Alofia'ana 'ula folasia maia fagufagu Tagatea tofa te'ite'i to paga 17

Demonstrative.

Paradeictic.

se 'ta lend (3) maifea •0 (2) le( 4) 'e te ai a'e ia

i(2) mai ma 'a 0 loo i le'i 'ua

17

10

In our specimen text we find 17 attributives, including the two words folasia and maia, which in a former p a p e r 1 have been shown to be attributives c o m p o u n d e d of an attributive, a paradeictic and a demonstrative. O f these 17 but 1 is a monosyllable, 9 are dissyllables, and 6 of the 7 remaining polysyllables resolve into dissyllables at a glance. In r e c k o n i n g the 17 demonstratives in the same passage we find 14 simple and 3 occurrences of the same compound demonstrative lend. O f the 17 instances 5 are dissyllabic, 10 monosyllabic, and 1 (at) m a y be a d d e d to either list as it m a y be held to b e d i p h t h o n g or two vowels, for convenience w e cast it up with the monosyllables. T h e trisyllabic maifea resolves into a paradeictic monosyllable and a demonstrative dissyllable. 1 " Principles of Samoan Word Composition", Journal of the Polynesian Society, xiv, 36.

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A count of the 10 paradeictic words shows 7 undeniably monosyllabic, 2 undoubtedly dissyllabic, 1 {mai) in doubt by reason of the diphthong. This brief excursion into the arithmetic of the passage will be found indicative in the question of where the Samoan falls among the classes of systematic philology. The sum of the arithmetic is this : 38.6$ are attributive, 38.6$ demonstrative, 22.8$ paradeictic; of the attributives 5.9fo (2.3$ of the whole number of words) a r e of o n e s y l l a b l e , 5 3 $ (20fo) a r e d i s s y l l a b l e s , and 3 5 ^ ( 1 4 f o )

reduce to dissyllables; of the demonstratives 65f> (25$) are monosyllables, 29$ ( 1 1 f ) are dissyllables; of the paradeictics 80$ (25$) are monosyllables, 2of (4.5$) dissyllables; for the whole passage without discrimination of the class of words 45.4$ are words of one syllable, 36.3$ of two, 6.8f of three, 8.8$ of four, 2.3fo more than four. The slightest familiarity with the Samoan will show that it is many degrees more primitive than the analytic type of language. It is only indirectly and with an utter absence of detail that I am aware that even one effort has been made to establish any of the Polynesian tongues in the inflected class. The only basis upon which a student of the Maori can rest such a reported claim must be in the so-called passive verb, of which folasia and moia in the foregoing kava hymn are examples. It is simpler to regard these forms as compounds of the three classes of words, phrases in the act of cohesion. Between the agglutinative and the monosyllabic types of speech our Samoan must lie. The systematists have commonly assigned the Malayo-Polynesian language to the agglutinative class. With the Malayan we need not here concern ourselves, it has its own students and they may be trusted to look after their own. But in the assignment of the Polynesian to the agglutinative class one of the postulates of the whole system of classification has been not only disregarded but actually traversed. " Monosyllabism and agglutination", says André Lefèvre, 1 " h a v e in common the inalterability of the root or full syllable, and the alteration in the sense of the subordinate or empty syllable ; to agglutination alone belongs the change in the form of the subordinate root." Over against this positive statement set these others : Subordinate roots in Samoan have scarcely at all any tendency to become empty; in form and meaning the subordinate roots are yet unal1

" Race and Language " , 87.

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tered. No, Samoan is far more readily comprehended as a language of monosyllabic or isolating type, showing, however, an expectation of the next more advanced type, the agglutinative, in that it is strongly featured by a sort of cohesion of original monosyllables to produce a type of dissyllabic speech. Against our showing of figures set the following statement of Whitney 1 relative to the Polynesian: " T h e roots, if we may call them so, the most ultimate elements accessible to our analysis, are prevailingly dissyllabic." Return once again to the arithmetic of our kava hymn. Its monosyllables 45.4$, its dissyllables 36.3$, its polysyllables will repay investigation. Three of them resolve into cohesions of dissyllable with dissyllable, one to a cohesion of trisyllable with trisyllable (it would be tedious to indicate its further reducibility), two to cohesion of monosyllable with dissyllable, one to a dissyllable with a monosyllable, and yet another to the compaction of three monosyllables. Our polysyllables, then, yield us 7 monosyllables, 9 dissyllables, and 2 trisyllables which may again be reduced to a monosyllable and a dissyllable apiece, giving us 9 monosyllables and 11 dissyllables. Distributing these on the former record (19 monosyllables, 17 dissyllables) we find in the passage 28 monosyllables and 6 dissyllables, or 82.3$ and 17.7$ respectively. Thus it is seen that more than three-quarters of the language is yet monosyllabic on the face of it, even though the idiosyncratic fondness for the technic of reduplication gives the tongue as dissyllabic a tone as the glug-glug of water from the pierced cocoanut. In the former paper, in approaching this topic along the lines proper to the consideration of Samoan word composition, it was shown how easy it is to undo this cohesion of the root monosyllables which are found in the dissyllabic word stems. Here let us assume that such has been done in all cases, as has been done with the greatest facility in most of the cases which have passed under review, and that we have before us the monosyllabic roots of Samoan speech and none other than monosyllables. It is to this point that this discussion, necessarily multis ambagibus, has been directed. It is at this point of reduction to roots, and all monosyllables at that, a point to which our Polynesian leads us more simply than the researches in the tangle of Indo-European linguistics, 1

" Life and Growth of Language ", 243.

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that I hope to show that which I feel to my own satisfaction I am accomplishing in these prolonged Polynesian studies, namely out of the mass of roots to pick the yet more primitive element, the seed of language. It has been shown, only tentatively and approximately, of course, in the present stage of our studies, that as we proceed in the clearing away of the polysyllables of Samoan speech we find some 525 dissyllables and 45 monosyllables which are recognizable as raw material out of which the vocabulary is formed. It should be plain at a moment's glance of the thought that just in proportion as we reduce the polyphase character of the words of the vocabulary by so much do we increase the content of each residual formative element, stem or root as the case may be. S o much the more must this obtain when we venture on so ultimate a dissection of our simplest roots to such individual life cells as may properly be designated seeds of speech. Let us observe this feature of the widening of the content from a highly specialized form as we dissect it down to its seed in a meaning well nigh protoplasmic in its simplicity. In the word tanumia we have a form that, in the vain effort to parse Samoan through the grammars of English, French and German together with the truly marvelous assistance of the Hebrew, has been described as passive voice, middle voice or deponent. By a more natural method, that of the true grammar of the monosyllabic speech as deduced from uniformity of usage in this group of forms, it becomes simple and most easy of explanation. Then we find no difficulty in accounting for the fact of observation that tanumia may mean " t o b u r y " when used in one way and just as certainly may mean " to be buried " when used in another. Of one thing we may be sure, the confusion as to voice exists only in our minds and arises out of the faultiness of our method of statement. T o the Samoan there is no confusion whatever. He knows perfectly well whether the tanumia of any given locution means " t o be buried" or " t o b u r y " . There is no room for error, his intelligence is keen and it cannot have escaped him that between the two usages there is the same degree of distinction as between the here and the hereafter, and that the man who has been interred when his sole intent was to convey the idea of burying his fellow is placed in an impossible situation as regards coming back to explain his error. Survival of the fittest may be relied upon to prevent the permanent establishment of such rhetorical solecisms.

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W e explain tanumia as a word phrase held together by cohesion of the attributive ianum, the paradeictic i and the demonstrative a. Its sense is this: tanum i a

is a spreading over having reference to that one

In a former paper we have seen that TANUM is visible as the earlier stem of the existing vocable tanu which has resulted from the repugnance of the present Polynesian to the closed syllable. This dissyllabic stem breaks apart into two monosyllabic roots, TA and NUM. T h e latter is found in a line of composite forms from which we may deduce its elemental signification " to spread one thing over another to cover i t " , and with particular reference to the thing which is covered in contradistinction to the stem UFIT which particularizes the covering agent. T h e root TA through its long series of known combinations carries a strongly featured sense of action that is peripheral, centrifugal, and there seems to be at least a suspicion of the further connotation that the action is exerted downward. W h e n these two roots are placed in sequence we find that the action of NUM is regarded as following upon and completing that o f T A , and the compound signifies " t o be the making of a movement away from the agent, and generally downward, as a result of which some object is covered out ot sight by some material spread over it." L o o k i n g only at the form of these two roots it will be seen that they differ. S o with others which inspection of the language will show but which may not be presented here without too much delay. Suffice it to record the following scheme of root forms as deducible from the materials under examination: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Simple vowel Consonant—vowel Vowel—consonant Consonant—vowel—consonant

4/E (to hoot at) y T O (to plant) Y'UT (to bite) yNUM (to cover)

eina toina utia numia

These are the possible combinations of elements which may form roots of monosyllabic speech in a plane anterior to the acquisition of the double consonant. T y p e s 1 and 2 are those which occur in Samoan of the present, but 3 and 4, the two closed types, are just below the surface and may be easily derived as existing in Protosamoan. N o w let us prosecute the investigation of the root TA, manifestly an elemental type of root, only one degree less primitive

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than the unmodified vowel as root, yet that single difference characterizing the enormous distance which separates human speech from the animal cry, the modulation of the vowel of the open throat through the consonant which is formed by the agency of some one or more of the buccal organs which lie at the service of the third frontal convolution of the brain to give man that possession of articulate speech to which the highest apes have not attained. W e observe that TA is of the second type of monosyllabic root, a combination of the vowel a with the prior placed consonant t. It is plain that the same vowel a is susceptible of combination in the same way with every other consonant which the Samoans have acquired the art to use. From this we deduce the following diagram of the possibilities of the whole of this second type for the vowel a : ya na fa

la ma 'a

wa sa ta

nga va pa

In the present early stage of the inquiry it is necessary to postpone consideration of one factor that will at once present itself, namely that the character a does not so completely as any of the consonantal symbols represent a vocal unit. W e have in the Samoan at least three sounds represented by this one character; the long a is the a of the English word father and the Samoan manu " to rise above " ; the short a is the a. of the English mat, Samoan manu " animal"; there is yet a more obscure sound, like that of u in the English but, Samoan mate (mucke) " d e a d " . In working over the texts it is impossible in the absence of diacritical punctuation to differentiate these several sounds, that can be done only when one has an ear as well as tongue trained to the speech. In these notes the aim has been to cling to one of the a sounds as distinct from the other two. From the preceding table we may cancel, at least for the present, the ya and wa, for in current Samoan they appear only in the less simple forms of kya ('ia) and kwa Qua). The ten persisting forms of our diagram remain to us as occurring first in their simplest or root form and secondarily in a large series of cohesions with other roots. Proceed, now, to an inspection of these forms. In this reduction we are proceeding from the particularized meaning of the composite form to a simple form with which we

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are to find associated a less specialized sense, in fact, a nebula of meaning in which it is not going to be easy to select the one feature which to the early Polynesian intelligence seemed the common factor. Yet, difficult though it may be to segregate this root sense, we cannot fail to recognize that each of these simple roots is quivering with a value of signification which is vital even unto the most remote use of the root in all the composite forms into which it enters. Because the Polynesian has not yet been the subject of general philological study its illustrations would be all unfamiliar. Furthermore, we are dealing with tongues lacking a recorded past, they are practically on a single speech plane and lack the contrast of perspective. Therefore it is necessary, at least to be preferred, to illustrate this factor of the intense and persisting vitality of the root sense by citing an example from the Indo-European family; both as more familiar and as presenting an extended record. At the ultimate reduction to Sanskrit roots we find the root QRU. It means to hear, it speedily develops into the added meaning of to be worth the hearing, thence it comes to stand for a thing famous. From it we have kXCco " to tear ", K\vros " renowned " our own " loud ",