It has been remarked somewhere, that a people’s homes are the surest indications of the degree of civilization they have attained.  It is certainly true, that deportment has much to do with the polish of language.  The disposition, temperament, and morals of a people who have no written language go far toward giving their language its leading characteristics.  The Grebo people are a well-made, quick, and commanding-looking people.  In their intercourse with one another, however, they are unpolished, of sudden temper, and revengeful disposition.[90] Their language is consequently monosyllabic.  A great proportion of Grebo words are of the character indicated.  A few verbs will illustrate. Kba, carry; la, kill; ya, bring; mu, go; wa, walk; ni, do; and so on.  This is true of objects, or nouns. Ge, farm; bro, earth; w[)e]nh, sun; tu, tree; gi, leopard; na, fire; yi, eye; bo, leg; lu, head; nu, rain; kai, house.  The Grebo people seem to have no idea of syllabication.  They do not punctuate; but, speaking with the rapidity with which they move, run their words together until a whole sentence might be taken for one word.  If any thing has angered a Grebo he will say, “E ya mu kra wudi;” being interpreted, “It has raised a great bone in my throat.”  But he says it so quickly that he pronounces it in this manner, yamukroure.  There are phrases in this language that are beyond the ability of a foreigner to pronounce.  It has no contractions, and often changes the first and second person of the personal pronoun, and the first and second person plural, by lowering or pitching the voice.  The orthography remains the same, though the significations of those words are radically different.

The Mpongwe language is largely polysyllabic.  It is burdened with personal pronouns, and its adjectives have numerous changes in addition to their degrees of comparison.  We find no inflections to suggest case or gender.  The adjective mpolo, which means “large,” carries seven or eight forms.  While it is impossible to tell whether a noun is masculine, feminine, or neuter, they use one adjective for all four declensions, changing its form to suit each.

The following form of declensions will serve to impart a clearer idea of the arbitrary changes in the use of the adjective: 

First Declension. (Singular, nyare mpolu, a large cow. 
(Plural, inyare impolu, large cows.

Second Declension. (Singular, egara evolu, a large chest. 
(Plural, gara volu, large chests.

Third Declension. (Singular, idambe ivolu, a large sheep. 
(Plural, idambe ampolu, large sheep.

Fourth Declension. (Singular, omamba ompolu, a large snake. 
(Plural, imamba impolu, large snakes.[91]

We presume it would be a difficult task for a Mpongwe to explain the arbitrary law by which such changes are made.  And yet he is as uniform and strict in his obedience to this law as if it were written out in an Mpongwe grammar, and taught in every village.