TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS.
adj., adjective. adv., adverb. art., article. def., definite. demons., demonstrative. excl., exclusive (of personal pronouns, excluding the person addressed). exclam., exclamation. genit., genitive. gu, marks a noun as taking the suffixed pronouns gu, mu, na. incl., inclusive (of personal pronouns, including the person addressed). interj., interjection. interr., interrogative. metath., metathesis. n., noun. na, marks a noun as taking the suffixed pronoun in the third singular only. neg., negative. neut., neuter. obj., object. part., particle. partic., participle. pers., person, personal. pl., plural. poss., possessive. pr., pronoun. pref., prefix. prep., preposition. S, Sa'a language. See Sa'a and Ulawa dictionary. sing., singular. sub., subject. suff., suffix, suffixed. term., termination. tr., transitive. U, Ulawa language. 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; finau hook, Sa'a hinou; loulou quick, Sa'a lauleu. Where in Sa'a a changes to e in certain words after a preceding i or u, no such change is made in Lau in the same words: ia fish, Sa'a i'e; ua still, Sa'a ue; i asi at sea, Sa'a i 'esi.
The diphthongs are ae, ai, ao, eu, ei, ou, as in sae, mai, rao, dau, mei, fou, pronounced, respectively, as in the English words eye, iron, hour, how, hey, oh.
The consonants are f, k, g; d, t; b; q, gw; l, r; s; m; mw; n, ng.
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. A g may also replace an h in Sa'a: luga to loose, Sa'a luhe.
There is no preface of n in the sound of d.