Entry record from de Josselin de Jong (1947): Ili'uun Erai
ma
• a particle of very vague meaning, which apparently may be used or omitted at will.
tjua(ma) aimorinlight a fire
eha eha nohi (ma) niene(n)each makes his own
hia ( ma) loicarry a boat (travel in a boat)
aomahutu paputi ge la olima ma tandjaI'll tie this piece of white cloth to your hand as a token (mark)
Note: In some cases it is translated with Mal. akan, e.g. when it seems to introduce the patiens, but in that case too it is left out quite as often as nor without any perceptible difference of meaning. In other cases it may be rendered by: as, serving as. Also in lusi (ma), krapa (ma), nai (ma), natja (ma), noro (ma), ratan (ma). Occasionally la is used instead of ma, as in noro la ni 'with him'; natja la ito iliralan 'according to the (number of) people in the village'. This la may be a dialectic variant as it occurs in a text from Esulit only