OF THE SYNTAX.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
Before we proceed to the consideration of the Syntax of Maori, it will
be necessary 1st. to explain some terms which we shall be obliged to
employ, and 2ndly, to make a few remarks on the general features of
Maori sentences. Some further remarks on this subject, we shall
reserve till we come to treat on the verbs.
The _subject_ of a proposition is that concerning which anything is
affirmed or denied. The _predicate_ is that which is so affirmed or
denied of the subject. Thus, in the following sentence, Kua mate a
Hone, _John has died_, _Hone_ is the subject, and _mate_ is the
predicate.
NOTE.--We can scarcely recognize the verbal particles as copulas. We
believe that their exclusive use is, to denote time.
Propositions, or sentences, we divided (page 37) into _simple_ and
_compound_. Another division is here necessary; viz., into _complex_
and _incomplex_. An _incomplex proposition_ is that whose subject and
predicate are simple terms; e. g., He hoiho tenei, _this is a horse_.
A complex proposition is that which contains some qualifying, or
otherwise modifying, term in connexion with either _subject_ or
_predicate_; e. g., I mate a Hone _ki reira_. _Ki reira_, here,
qualifies the predicate _mate_. He tokomaha nga Pakeha i Akarana,
_many are the foreigners in Auckland_. Nga Pakeha i Akarana is the
_subject_, and tokomaha the _predicate_.
He aroha no te Atua i ora ai tatou. This placed in due order, is "I
ora ai tatou, he aroha no te Atua," _we having been saved was a love
of God_. Here, _I ora ai tatou_ is the subject.
Ko tou utu tena mo to hanganga i te whare? _Is that your payment for
your having built the house?_ Here, we conceive, _ko tou utu mo to
hanganga i te whare_ is the _subject_, and _tena_ the _predicate_.
In examining the nature of Maori propositions, the student will soon
notice that they are characterized by a remarkable _brevity_ and
_abruptness_, as well as by the frequent occurrence of ellipses. As a
New Zealander is generally unequal to a train of consecutive thought,
so also is his language inadequate to exhibit with accuracy the
various processes of the civilized intellect, such as comparing,
abstracting, &c., or indeed any ideas beyond the simple and
monotonous details of his daily life. It is, if we may so speak, an
animated sketching, intended for general effect, the more delicate
lines being but faintly touched.
The student has already seen that Maori is defective in particles of
_illation_, _comparison_, and _copulation_. The want of a verb
substantive, which is so useful as a _copula_ in other languages,
will often, where accuracy is desired, cause both clumsiness and
obscurity of construction.
The process by which a New Zealander constructs his sentences, is very
similar to that of a child who is just beginning to speak. For
example: if the latter wishes to express, "Is that a horse?" "Give me
some bread," he will, most probably, say "a horse that?" "me bread."
He has the ideas of _himself_ and _bread_, and, by pronouncing the one
in immediate succession after the other, attempts to convey the idea
of their mutual connexion. So also will Maori, when it wishes to
express the dependence of two or more ideas on each other, place them
in close connexion, as distinct existences, and leave the hearer to
deduce their intended relations. From hence it may, _a priori_, be
collected. 1st. That Maori inclines to the _substantive form_. 2ndly,
That it will have a peculiar tendency to the _indicative mode of
statement_. 3rdly. That it delights in short sentences. 4thly. That it
will often, in consequence of the frequent occurrence of ellipses,
present constructions which will appear _strange_ to the student of
only polished languages, and even occasionally seem to defy analysis.
5thly, That the clauses of the sentence, will, like its words, be
often thrown together without any connecting particles, and that we
shall often notice in their construction a frequent occurrence of
_epanorthosis_.
On some of these heads we shall have to remark hereafter. The
last-mentioned feature is, however, of such importance in the
investigation of some of the difficult points of Maori, that we must
beg the student's leave to bring it here prominently before his
notice.
_Epanorthosis_ is a figure of frequent occurrence in all languages,
but particularly in those of the East. It is "the qualifying a former
clause by the addition of another"[32] e. g., Ka tae te hohoro o ta
tatou kai, _te pau_! what great haste our food has made; (I mean) _the
being consumed_. Here _te pau_, is a clause qualifying the preceding;
e rua tahi enei, _he roa kau_, there are two here, _nothing but long_;
ringihia mai, _kia nohinohi_, pour me out some, _let it be little_,
(i. e., pour me out a little); e rite tahi ana ia kia koe, _te ahua_,
he is like you, (I mean,) _the countenance_; no reira a Ngatihau i
tino mau ai, _te karakia ai_, that was the cause why Ngatihau were
quite established, (I mean,) _the not adopting Christianity_. I riri
au kia ia, _kihai nei i whakaaro_, I was angry with him, (I mean,) _he
did not exercise thought in that matter_. Ko te tangata tenei, nana
nga kakano, this is the man, _his are the seeds_; (i. e., _this is the
person whose are_, &c.) He aha tau e mea, what is yours (actively) (I
mean,) _are doing_? i. e., _what are you doing?_ Haere ana Hone, me
tana hoiho. Ka puta pea tena ki raro, _e tihore ana_. So John started
and his horse. He has perhaps reached to the northward, (I mean,)
_is peeling_, (i. e., going along at a peeling, or rapid rate).
6thly. The student may be prepared to find the defect of the verb
substantive supplied in various ways in Maori--by the article, the
pronoun, the preposition, the adverb, and the verbal particles.
Instances of ellipsis he will find in almost every page--ellipsis of
the verb, of the noun, of the pronoun, &c., and, particularly, in our
illustration of the preposition _ki_.
As distinctions between gender, number, case, and person, are very
rare in Maori, and as, moreover, a main business of syntax consists
in the adjusting of their several claims, we may hope that our work
here will be neither complicated, nor extended.
[32] "Est sui ipsius quasi revocatio, qua id, quod dictum est, e
vestigio corrigitur."--Glass. edit Dathe, page 1350.