Is. Spelling

Suggested Reforms for Pacific Is. Spelling

FROM Hawaii, a correspondent (Mr. W.

F. Wilson, of Honolulu) sends us sug gestions for reform in connection with the spelling of name-places in the South Seas.

“I was glad to learn,” he writes, “that the educational authorities in Fiji in tended in future to adopt a sensible way of spelling Fijian words, in place of the idiotic method established by the early missionaries. There still requires a re form to be carried out in the spelling of words in other parts of the Pacific. A few suggestions which could be advan tageously adopted are: “Eastern Samoa —where the nasal sound of ‘g’ is used, then write ‘ng’ in place of simply ‘g’; for example, spell the Administrative centre Pango Pango.

“Tonga—drop the use of ‘b’. The early missionaries must have had wax in their ears—‘p’ used by the Roman Catholic priests is correct. The sound of ‘j’ in the Tongan language should be written as such.

“Tahiti —words should be spelt with ‘p’ instead of ‘b,’ e.g., Porapora in place of Borabora or Bolabola. There is no ‘b’ or T in Tahitian.

“Hawaii —use the letter V where that sound is employed; e.g., the well-known sugar plantation on Oahu Island is pro nounced ‘Eva,’ not ‘Ewa’; here again the early missionaries erred.”