I love languages with duals! For those unfortunate enough to lack grammatical education, the distinction between dual and plural in relevant contexts is that the dual indicates exactly two items (with the possibility of innate pairedness, such as eyes) whereas the plural indicates more than two. One the memorable uses of the dual in Homeric Greek is the reference in the Iliad to "the two sons of Atreus" (Agamemnon and Menelaos).
I realize that the book I am using (The Hawaiian Language, by Judd, which I bought many years ago as a visiting keiki on Kaua'i) is somewhat deficient in the okina and macron department, but I'm planning a paper using Kaua'i legends and figure I'd better get used to those very deficiencies characteristic of some older source material. Besides, this grammar fits neatly in my pack.
So far, there are only four other grammar points. the first is the distinction in the first person, both dual and plural numbers, between inclusive and exclusive forms. The easiest way for you, dear reader, to understand this distinction is reminiscing on some occasion when a misunderstanding of "we" led to the awkward clarification that the addressee was not accompanying the speaker on his task. If you and your friend spoke a language (such as Hawaiian!) which distinguished between inclusive and exclusive uses, you would not have encountered this problem. If you had used an inclusive we, your friend would have basked in the assurance of your affections because he was coming with you; if you had used an exclusive we, your friend would have understand how callous and self-centered you were in departing without him.
The next two points are the forms for the verb. The verb comes first in Hawaiian (and Welsh and Klingon) and the surrounding words determine the tense, although I lack sufficient linguistic prowess to determine whether this analysis is too dependent on Western grammatical paradigms. The indicative present in Hawaiian consists of ke verb nei subject-pronoun and i verb subject-pronoun Thus ke holo nei au means I run, ke holo nei lakou means they all run; i holo oe means you ran and i holo olua means you two ran. I suspect that the nei in the ke holo nei construction is actually the adverb nei, meaning the present time or place used adverbally, limiting the particle ke, which appears to have many particular uses, all of them verbal.
The placement of the subject pronoun (au, lakou, oe, olua) after the verb may seem strange to speakers of most European languages, but it ought not to cause distress. At some date in the distant past, the endings of the familiar Latin conjugations must have been more substantial separate pronouns which followed the verb.Over time, the pronouns eroded to the conjugations I know and love.
The placement of the subject pronoun (au, lakou, oe, olua) after the verb may seem strange to speakers of most European languages, but it ought not to cause distress. At some date in the distant past, the endings of the familiar Latin conjugations must have been more substantial separate pronouns which followed the verb.Over time, the pronouns eroded to the conjugations I know and love.
Now for the data (otherwise known as the chapter exercise):
Chapter 4
1. Ke ai nei oia. He eats.
2. Ke holo nei lakou. They all run.
3. Ke noho nei oukou. You all sit.
4. I hana oe. You did.
5. I olelo laua. They two spoke.
6. Ke imi nei au. I search.
7. I lohe makou. We all heard.
8. Ke haule nei oia. He falls.
9. I kali olua. You two waited,
10. Ke hoopaa nei au. I hold fast.
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