I’m currently working from the bible of the Fijian language reference book, Fijian Grammar by G B Milner. Published originally in 1956 I can make inference from the tattered, yellow pages with a spine held together by duct tape that this brown book could well be a first edition. According to the University of South Pacific course website, this book is still the recommended read for learning Fijian, and it’s no wonder why; Milner has explained the Fijian language in such a way as to remain colloquial in tone, but still respectful.
I came across the section on the Fijan Genitive today, otherwise known as “Their custom the Fijians” section.
The best way I learn language is to understand how a sentence is constructed and then memorise words to fit into certain parts, that way I can start communicating with people from day one – I believe a much more motivating and enjoyable way of learning a language.
Unfortunately Milner doesn’t go too in-depth on sentence construction, other than the above genitive, so I’ve expanded what a typical sentence would look like below.
For a transitive sentence (a sentence where the subject is ‘doing’ something)
particle-pronoun/tense/verb-suffix/particle/subject/preposition/particle/location
For an intransitive sentence (a sentence where the subject is not doing anything, used for stating something about the subject)
particle/pronoun/tense/verb/preposition/location
As you can see, and as Milner explained in his sentence “Their custom the Fijians”, the Fijian sentence starts with a pronoun as a teaser before announcing in more detail who we are talking about, or the subject of the sentence:
Their custom the Fijians
Instead of the English genitive:
The Fijian custom
Which completely ignores the pronoun altogether.
I have added a dash to certain parts of the sentence (e.g. the particle-pronoun) to indicate that the particle is connected to the pronoun, however the particle may change depending on the sentence and so although they are both connected, they can be interchangeable.
The same occurs with the suffix on the verb, which always occurs in transitive sentences and is the equivalent of adding “ing” to the verb.
