Ebook: Grammar and Vocabulary of the Samoan Language

Publisher: KEGAN PAUL,TRENCH,TRUBNER&Co.,Ltd.
Publication date: 1918
Number of pages: 170The Samoan is a branch of the Malay-Polynesian language, which is spread over the whole island world of the Pacific Ocean from Madagascar to South America, and is to be found (with its various dialects) in the Melanesian, Malayan, and Polynesian groups of islands. It is one of the numerous Polynesian tongues which are in use over the eastern and south-eastern area of Malay-Polynesia, extending, roughly, from New Zealand to the Hawaiian Islands.
From the standpoint of grammar the Polynesian
languages cannot be regarded as strong, and few letters of the alphabet are utilized. D and B are never used ; H, R, and K are of rare occurrence, and then only in words that have been introduced. All words have a vowel termination, and their etymological forms are constructed by the employment of particles attached to the roots, thereby forming agglutinative or polysynthetic words, the particles being sometimes strung one after the other throughout an entire sentence. For example : fa'a, to cause, and 'i^ma, quite, all fa^a'uma, to finish, terminate ; fia, to be willing ; inUy to drink ; fiainu, to be thirsty ; fa'a, to induce ; o'o, to go ; fa'ao'o, to lead, and so on.