Dictionary Entries explained

The organisation of this version of the Muna dictionary is stem-based. That means that the Muna headwords (entries) are stems, not roots. A root is the smallest or simplest part of the word, whereas a stem may have various affixes. For example, the word nofokalada 'he made them go', is based on the stem fokala 'make go', the root of which is kala 'go'.

In order to find a word in the dictionary, most of the prefixes and affixes need to be stripped off to find the stem (especially subject prefixes and object suffixes, but also the infix -um-). But stems containing the prefixes fe-, fo-, ka- and po-, for example, can be found as headwords.

Consider the following examples:

Muna word meaning search under meaning root
noalaemo  he/she has taken it ala take ala
akumala I will go kala go kala
defoada they lend foada lend ada
dopowise they face each other powise face each other wise

Compounds and phrases are also listed as separate entries.