Page:A Sketch of Mota Grammar.djvu/24

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many adverbs have no visible connection with other forms, whatever their real origin may be. These latter are probably the adverbs of place and time rather than of manner. The foremost of these in conspicuous use are ma and at, conveying the idea of 'hitherward' and 'outward,' used continually to indicate direction of motion or of thought: thus, 'give,' le ma, le at, according as the giving is to be to or away from the speaker;—something that has always been here, me toga ran ma iake.

Place and time are generally conceived as the same; but there are special adverbs of time, as an̈aisa, 'hereafter;' anan̈aisa, 'heretofore;' an̈aisa? 'when?' anan̈aisa? 'when?' in past time; 'qarig or a qarig, 'to-day,' in present or future time; anaqarig, 'to-day,' in past; ananora, 'yesterday,' also nanora; arisa, 'the day after to-morrow;' anarisa, 'the day before yesterday.' In these there is evidently the local preposition a with a substantive. This is equally plain in avea, ivea, where, whither.

The particles ne and ke convey the idea in place or time of 'there,' and 'here,' and appear in the pronouns ike, ine, iloke, ilone, and these are adverbial particles: ilokenake, 'now;' iake, 'here;' iane, 'there;'[1]nake and nane being used to give definiteness of thought as well as of position.

The adverbs 'above,' 'below,' &c. are expressed by avunana, alalan̈ana, i.e. above it, below it, impersonally.

Adverbs of Number are the multiplicatives already mentioned—'once,' 'twice,' vaga or va-tuwale, vagarua, &c.

The notion of place occurs in one instance at least where manner is signified, in asking how? tama avea?

  1. ia is itself an adverb, though never occurring alone—aia = a, 'at,' and ia: The other world, o marama iloneia; that is ilone, 'that;' ia, 'there.'