PART II - ACCIDENCE

Summary

8. All languages cannot be arranged on exactly the same system, and, in the Somali Language, the arrangement and definitions which are applicable to the grammar of well-known tongues, such as English or Arabic, will not altogether hold good.

Somali is undoubtedly a simple and elementary language, in which the only true and fundamental parts of speech are

Substantive, Verb, Adjective, Particle,

and it is by various combinations or forms of these that the other generally recognised parts of speech are formed.

9. A Substantive is a word describing, or referring to, something which exists, or some object of thought, either material or immaterial.

A Verb is a word expressing thought, being, action, or the suffering of action, and affirms or predicates something of some person or thing.

These two parts of speech are complementary and essential one to the other, and in any form of speech both these elements must necessarily occur, unless it is tacitly agreed, to save unnecessary verbiage, that one or the other may be obviously understood from the context, and may be omitted from actual expression.

An Adjective is a word which describes or qualifies the object or thought represented by a substantive, according to any known idea of quality, such as colour, size, nature, etc.

A Particle is a word which has no meaning in itself and can only occur in conjunction with other parts of speech.