Handbook On Ellice
p. 38 · Read in the full issue
Islands Language
A HANDBOOK on the language of the Ellice Islands has recently been re ceived from the Sydney publishers, Webbsdale, Shoosmith Pty., Ltd. It is written by D. G. Kennedy of the Western Pacific High Commission staff who, with the rank of Major, gave such notable service in the Solomons during the war, and was decorated..
Mr. Kennedy later supervised the re moval of the Ocean Islanders to their new home at Rabi Island, Fiji Group, and was for some time District Officer on the is land.
The handbook on the Ellice Dialect has been written primarily for the guidance of Government officers who wish to ac quire a working knowledge of the tongue.
Ellice is a branch of Polynesian, with Samoan affinities, but Ellice itself varies throughout the group. Kennedy’s hand book deals with the Vaitupu dialect, which had been the medium of Govern ment and missionary secondary education in the Group for many years. The text is simply arranged and the student should have no difficulty in assimilating the contents of the small volume. This should give him at least the rudiments of the language.
The cost of the book is 5/-; it is obtain able from the offices of the Western Pac ific High Commission, Suva, Fiji.