longer accustomed to: at the same time it must be confessed that there are a few other objects which are more familiar, but of which, also, by an unaccountable lapse of memory, the Tonga is forgotten; among these we may mention the rainbow, the word for which Mr. Mariner has in vain endeavoured to recover: but these are imperfections to which all human endeavours are liable. If it be asked, what is the use to us of a grammar and dictionary of the language of an uncivilized people, with whom cultivated nations have so little concern, the answer is, that as the structure of their speech forms part of the history of the human mind, it may be found in some degree interesting to the philologist, and still more so to the philosopher. A GRAMMAR OF THE TONGA LANGUAGE. A LANGUAGE which is only spoken by a nation ignorant of every principle of grammatical construction, and possessing not the least knowledge, nor the most remote idea, either in theory or practice, of the art of writing, cannot be supposed to be richly endowed with variety of words, choice of expression, or clear and accurate definitions, except of those ideas which are in common use. The rules by which it is spoken, and which can have no other security or foundation but in the constant habit of those who speak it, are nevertheless sufficiently well established; and if we could but readily and for a time emancipate our minds from a sense of the nicer grammatical distinctions in our own languages, it is presumed that the Tonga dialect, and perhaps others of the same class, would be found very simple and easy to be attained, but as it is, the wide differences of our own habits of speech will give it the appearance of a language replete with idioms, and abounding in circumlocutions. The orthography of this language we have settled according to the following rules: first, in respect to the vowels, VOL. II. A A A is always pronounced as in the English words, tar, car, papa; or in the French article la, except when two consonants follow, when its sound is much less open, approaching very near to the a, in man, can, began. E, like the English a, in ray, say, day, or the French accented é in accablé, ordonné; except where a double consonant follows, or tch, then it is sounded as in men, ten, den. I, like the English e, in see, we, be, or i, as it is pronounced in most European languages. O, as the long English o, in mole, roll, dole; but short before a double consonant. U, like the sound of the English word you; or ew in few. in mein, sein; but somewhat more short and sudden, perhaps rather like the English y in ally, apply: the same sound, when long, is expressed by the following diphthong: Al, like the long English i, in dine, mine, whine. It is a true diphthong, generated from the coalition of a and i, as above defined: the first being heavy, the second light. AW, as in law, saw, paw. OW, as in how, allow, now. When the w is preceded by a or o, it must be joined in sound with it, not with any vowel or aspirate that may follow; as, fa'wha is to be pronounced fa'w-ha, not faw-wha; for in point of fact the w is not in such instances a separate letter, it only serves to give a peculiar sound, as above defined, to the a or the o. OY, as in the English words toy, coy, &c. OO, like the Italian or Spanish u, or like oo in tool, cool, &c., unless one of them be marked thus, ö, in which case they are pronounced distinctly: when oo is accented the accent is uniformly upon the latter, thus, oo: when three, o's come together, the two which are not marked thus, ö, constitute the diphthong; or if the first of the three is accented thus, o'oo, the two latter are the diphthong. As to the consonants, the following only need be particularly mentioned. B is sounded between the b and p, but it has more the sound of the b. C, before a and o, partakes in like manner of a little of the sound of the hard g. It never occurs before e and i. To express the sound of the soft c, the letter s is always used. D: the sound of this letter is scarcely known in the Tonga language: there is indeed a sound approaching to it, but it is only the careless conversational way of pronouncing the t. G: this letter is always hard, as in game, gill (of a fish), begin, &c. Wherever the sound of the soft g occurs, j is always used to express it. CH, is always sounded as in the English words choose, change, chair, &c. ER: the r is never pronounced strongly when it follows e it is scarcely sounded, giving merely a power to the e similar to what it has in the French words le, me, te. NG, as in the words among, song, wrong. GN: here the g is not sounded strongly, but somewhat more so than in the word gnomon. The accent upon the heavy syllable is always marked upon its vowel. The Tonga language may be divided, like most others, into eight or nine parts of speech, and if nicer distinctions could aid in rendering the subject more clear, two or three might be added: but we apprehend that the usual number will be found quite as many as will suffice for our purpose; and as these are not always properly defined, the noun, adjective, verb, and participle, being often one and the same word, distinguished only by the general sense of the phrase, and sometimes scarcely by that, we might be disposed to lessen rather than to increase the quantity. In respect to those parts of speech which might be superadded, they consist of a peculiar particle used before the article, noun, adjective, and pronoun, according to certain rules, signs of the plural number, signs of the tenses of verbs, and two or three others, whose uses cannot be explained in a few words: of these we shall treat under the different parts of speech to which they are generally attached, or to which they seem most referable. The following, then, are nine divisions of speech, which we shall adopt in the present investigation, and of which we shall discourse in this order: Article, Noun, Adjective, Pronoun, Verb, Adverb, Conjunction, Preposition, Interjection. THE ARTICLE. We find in this language a very frequent use of these three particles, viz. he, co, and coë: on a strict investigation, however, we find that only the first, he, can properly be called an Article, being chiefly used before nouns, and is sometimes useful in distinguishing them from verbs, though it is occasionally used before what in our languages would be called the participle of the present tense, by which it is converted into a sort of noun: whereas the particle co is used not only before nouns, but also proper names, to mark certain significations more distinctly; besides which, it is frequently prefixed to pronouns. As to the particle coë, it is only a coalition of the two former, he and co, the aspirate being dropped. Upon these considerations we venture to state, that there is but one ARTICLE in the Tonga language, viz. he: but as the particles co and colë seem to have a strong relation to it, we shall treat of them under the same head. The article he has no distinction either of gender or number; it may be used, we believe, before all nouns, though there are some occasions where it must be dispensed with, |