languages, impossible to trace the laws which govern the change of letters, and therefore the above attempt to follow the process of reduplication has no scientific support. Speaking generally, the tendency is to soften the harsher sounds, the principle of least effort.
2. Adding "ayi" to the Singular.
| dorina | dorina-ayi dorinai | |
| aboki | aboki-ayi abokai | |
| alura | alura-ayi | alurai |
| giwa | giwa-ayi | giwayi |
| birri | birri-ayi | birrayi |
| barao | barayi |
The termination of these words is, in reality, formed in the same way. The usual rule in Hausa is that the accent shall be on the penultimate, and we find it so in giwdyi, etc. But in dorina the accent is on the i, in ahohi on the o, and in alura on the u. The reason is that these three words being com- pounds the accent still remains in its old place, with a consequent shortening of the a in ayi.
| dorina | doki'n rua |
| aboki | a ba koi (Songhai) |
| alura | al ibra (Arabic) |
3. The third Method, by adding "una" to the Singular.
| sanda | sanduna |
| tulu | tuluna |
| riga | riguna |
| daki | dakuna |
| surdi | surduna |
