PART II, CHAPTER I
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PART II.
ON THE LANGUAGE OF THE NEW ZEALANDERS.
CHAPTER I.
Introductory Remarks.
It is shown by the researches of Leyden, Humboldt, Marsden, Chamisso, Bopp, and others, that the languages which are spoken by all the islanders in the great ocean, excepting the Austral negroes, with whose languages we are not sufficiently acquainted to judge, are more or less related to each other. Such relationship has been proved between the Tagalo, Bisayo, in the Philippine Islands, the Kawi language in the island of Java, the languages of the different divisions of the Polynesians, and the Malayan language properly so called. The last has been regarded as the mother tongue, and has in its turn been shown to be connected with the Sanscrit. But although the Malayan language is most widely spread, we are scarcely justified in calling it the parent root of all the rest, the
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fertile source from which they have all originally sprung. The Malayan can, perhaps, only claim the relation of a sister dialect to the other Polynesian languages: in consequence of the commercial intercourse of the people speaking it with many other nations, with the Chinese, the Hindoos, and the Arabians, they have adopted many foreign elements into their language, which has obtained in that manner quite a mixed character. It is evident that the nations speaking these languages, which are the same as regards their root, must have been separated in very ancient times; but where their true birth-place was, and where the true cradle of their dialects is to be found, we do not as yet know.
The idioms in the languages of the islanders whom I have called the true Polynesians, and to whom the New Zealanders belong, have a closer connection with each other than the general one just mentioned; and this closer connection more than anything else proves them to be one grand subdivision of the Oceanic race. This is especially the case between the Tahitian, the Sandwich Islands, and the New Zealand languages, with which we are most intimately acquainted. Although living at such an immense distance from each other, there is certainly not more difference between their dialects than between the Dutch and the German. The language of the Friendly Islands, of which Mariner has given such an excellent account, possesses more foreign elements, as do the people them-
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INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
selves. Almost the only difference between the dialects of New Zealand and Tahiti consists in the use of softer or harder consonants; for instance, the & of New Zealand is exchanged for t, the r for l . In the Sandwich Islands, consonants at the beginning of the words are often thrown out: olelo, to speak, is korero in New Zealand, and so on. I should say, indeed, that the difference is less than between the Dutch and the German; at least, a native of Tahiti who was along with me understood the New Zealanders immediately on arriving amongst them, which is not the case with German and Dutch. The differences existing form a good instance of the influence of physical circumstances in altering a dialect to a certain degree, without any admixture from without, and this alteration has kept pace with the variations which climate and the geographical features of their respective countries have effected in the people themselves.
The Polynesian language is in its whole formation and construction by far more primitive than the Malayan and the rest of the Javano-tagalo languages. Its whole cast is ancient: it belongs to a primitive state of society. The roots are monosyllables, which, however, is also the principle of the Indo-Germanic languages, and the words are often an imitation of the natural sound or voice, especially the names of animate objects. The polysyllabic words are often formed as children form words, by reduplication of the root, and repetition often
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strengthens the root, as in Italian, and forms a superlative. The root is a sort of infinitive, and is inflexible, including indifferently the senses of noun, adjective, adverb, participle, or verb. Flexion is obtained by prefixes and affixes: thus the passive of verbs is formed by the addition of certain syllables to the root. To form abstract substantives a composition of words takes place, which thus become single words: some, however, of this kind, which are found in the vocabulary, are not compatible with the original simplicity of the New Zealand language, and seem to have been formed as the ideas of the natives began to expand by their contact with people who had modes of thinking quite different from their own, especially with the Christian missionaries. This compounding of words is, however, a remarkable feature in the language, and renders it very flexible, as the adding certain syllables to the root gives it the power of expressing various meanings. By the same licence, Greek and German have become such rich languages, as they could increase their stock of words without borrowing from any other. If the New Zealander has adopted a root from a foreign language, he does not adopt all the derived words, but forms the latter according to the genius of his own tongue. The New Zealand language is therefore capable of being further developed, and is already a decidedly rich language. It is not necessary to substitute another language for their own. If we consider over what an immense
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INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
space one language, differing only in dialect, is spoken, and what a field is opened amongst the various people for European intercourse, and for the light of Christian civilization, we should rather seek to create one Polynesian language, than to introduce another tongue entirely different in its root. Of all languages, the English is perhaps the one they are least capable of learning, and for this reason---that they have not sufficient sounds in their own language to pronounce the English words, and they want also some of the consonants. Judging from my own experience, I am of opinion that all attempts to teach the natives the English language can only end in their acquiring an unintelligible jargon.
The New Zealand language abounds in prefixes and affixes. Both must be regarded as corrupted words, the sense of which has been lost. It is well known that they are common in the more western dialects, especially in Hebrew. It appears that euphony often forms the only rule by which in certain phrases one particle is used and not the other, and it is evident that their use is sometimes quite arbitrary.
There is nothing to lead to the belief that the New Zealanders ever possessed the art of writing, nor even that more simple mode of communicating events to posterity by figures of animals and objects, which has been lately discovered to be in use amongst the most barbarous tribes of Northern America, and
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which might properly be termed picture-writing. I have, however, already observed that certain carvings represent historical, and especially genealogical facts; and the spiral lines of their tattooing, and the arabesques painted on their houses, are perhaps the remains of an ancient art of that description, although they certainly are not used for that purpose at the present time. Tui, or tuhi, means to paint or to carve; and the same word has been adopted to express writing, with which art many of the natives are now acquainted.
It may appear superfluous that I should have troubled myself to give a vocabulary and some grammatical notes on the language, as it could not be expected that I should have acquired a sufficient knowledge of the language in the short time of eighteen months. I disclaim any pretensions to the character of a linguist, as I am too well aware how perfectly a man must be acquainted with a language before he can enter into the niceties of its component parts, and of its grammatical structure; as William von Humboldt has done with the Kawi language of the island of Java, and its sister-languages the Polynesian dialects, in his book, at which I could, unfortunately, only glance after I had written my grammatical notes. What has determined me not to keep back the few observations I had made on the language, and my collection of words, is, that in the only vocabulary of the New Zealand language which has been published, that
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by Professor Lee, at Cambridge, in 1820, the style of orthography is certainly not correct. The native who was had recourse to when that dictionary was compiled must have pronounced certain sounds differently from most of his countrymen, or errors must have been committed in catching the sounds. The missionaries, whose translations were of great, help to me in compiling the dictionary, have adopted the orthography as I have given it. I also thought that my dictionary and grammar would be of service to the emigrants, as Professor Lee's work, which is meritorious in every other respect, is now out of print.
We are still very deficient in our knowledge of the Polynesian languages. No one of the missionaries has shown himself to be a good linguist; no one of them has succeeded in deciphering the native traditionary poetry, which undoubtedly would recompense the labour of the historian and ethnologist.
The importance of a more exact study of languages, as the means of understanding the mind of these nations, is not yet sufficiently acknowledged amongst those who could contribute most largely to increase our stock of knowledge. "To search into the difference of the structure of human languages, to elucidate their essential condition, to arrange their apparently infinite variety in a more simple manner, to trace the sources of that variety, as well as its influence on the thoughts, feelings, and sensations of men, to follow the intellectual development of
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mankind through all revolutions of history, led on by language, which in deep and intimate connection accompanies it, is the important and comprehensive object of general philology." 1
If a man competent to the task were to trace the Polynesian dialects from island to island, and decipher the ancient traditions, which are contained in the songs and in the mystic invocations of the priests, we should soon have a more correct idea of the connections of these languages, and of the migrations of the people themselves. But the dialects are now rapidly altering, in consequence of the more frequent intercourse with foreign nations; and the traditions in some places, as in Tahiti, the Sandwich Islands, and New Zealand, are, for the most part, already forgotten.
In consequence of the general circulation of the translation of the Scriptures, the language has also been greatly remodelled: new conceptions, new ideas, are pouring in upon these simple and interesting islanders, which importantly affect their language. Every day diminishes, therefore, the chance of recording the different dialects in their purity, as the possibility of obtaining original pieces of composition, and still more of obtaining a correct explanation of them, decreases. In New Zealand, for instance, it is only the old who can give any account of the meaning of certain songs, incantations,
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and invocations. It is, therefore, very important that the study of the Polynesian languages should be carried on by travellers amongst the people themselves, and that this should be done at as early a period as possible.
