Page:Archæologia Americana—volume 2, 1836.djvu/209

 SECT. VI.] INDIAN LANGUAGES. 173 number, are, in the Iroquois languages, founded on the same prin- ciple as in the Cherokee. ' We set off, thou and I,' kiarascxa ; 1 he and I,' aiarascsa ; 'we, several of us' (nous autres) asarascsa ; 'we along with you,' esarascs-a. In the Eskimau, the dual applies not only to pronouns, but also to nouns which, in that number have a distinct inflection from the plural, viz. k : iglo, ' a house ' ; dual, igluk ; plural, iglut. In all the other languages, the inflection of nouns is the same for dual, definite, or indefinite plural. The pronouns are alone affected by the distinction, and generally only in the first per- son ; in all the three persons in the language of Chili ; in the Cherokee and Iroquois, in the manner already stated. In some languages, the distinction applies only to the nominative, and, in others, embraces also the objective case ; but the information is in that respect as yet incomplete. There is a vocative case in some at least of the Algonkin- Lenape languages, terminating, in the singular of the Delaware, in an, and of the Massachusetts in in ; in the plural Delaware in enk, " when coupled with the pronoun our." (Zeisberger, page 99). The same termination eunk is used generally for the second person plural in the Massachusetts. Woi kenaau Jerusalem wuttaunzunk, ' O ye daughters of Jerusalem.' (Du Ponceau on Eliot). The only instance of an inflection of the noun, in what may be called the direct regimen, correspond- ing in some degree with the Latin accusative, has been pointed out.* The genitive is designated in the Eskimau by an inflection of the noun ; in other languages occasionally by an abbreviated form of the possessive pronoun, generally by the relative position of the two nouns. With respect to the other oblique cases, the offices performed by inflections in the classi- cal languages, and by separable prepositions in most of those of Europe, are, in those of America, generally performed by affixed or prefixed inseparable prepositions. Delaware ; utcnij, 1 a town ' ; utenink, ' in, from, the town ' ; menuppeqiic, ' the lake ' ; awossenuppeque, ' over the lake.' In the Eskimau, there are but five such prepositions ; mik, ' with, through ' ; mit, 'from ' ; mut, e to ' ; me, ' in, upon ' ; kut, ' around.' They are more numerous in other languages ; f and it might be inferred, from the general are supplied, will be adverted to in the conjugations. f In the Onondago, Zeisberger gives fourteen inseparable affixed prepositions, meaning, in, on, at, to, under, along, through, &c. ; but some may be added in the separable form.
 * 1) The objective cases of the pronouns, or the manner in which they