VOWELS

The vowels seldom interchange in Samoan words, although there are a few examples of such transfer, e.g., tonini, to guess a riddle, tonana; soma, red native cloth, sema; taunu‘u, to arrive, tunu‘u.

The vowel-changes between Samoan and Maori are much more frequent. In the following instances the related Maori words are given in brackets:—Aluga, a soft pillow (urunga); anahea, when? of past time (inahea); lepa, a pond, to be stagnant (repo); anapo, last night, (inapo); ‘emo, to wink the eye (kimo); ogoogo, the stinging nettle (ongaonga); tafolà, a whale, (tohora); tagamimi, the bladder (tongamimi); tipa, to jump as a stone on the water when playing “ducks and drakes” (tipi); tupito, last, at the end (topito.)