Page:Archæologia Americana—volume 2, 1836.djvu/236

 200 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. to observe that its second person singular is, in many of the Indian languages, if not the root, at least one of the most simple forms of the veil). In others the present of the indica- tive, and sometimes the infinitive, are amongst the simplest forms. In the Choctaw, takc/ic, which is the root of the verb " to tie," is equally the third person singular of the present of the indicative, the second person singular of the imperative, and the infinitive. But if the third person of the present in- dicative appears in that and several other languages in a more simple form than the two first persons of the same tense, it is only owing to the common omission of the pronoun of that third person. The infinitive seems to be less used in the In- dian languages than in those of Europe ; but they are, in general, rich in participles, present, past, and future, active and passive, and susceptible of modifications which render their use extensively applicable and of great utility. If we take the word " mood," in its most extensive sense, it will be found that their number far exceeds, in the Indian that in the European languages. By affixing, prefixing, or inserting an arbitrary particle, or rather an abbreviated noun, verb, adverb, preposition, or conjunction, the verb is made to designate the specific modification of the action. Whether that new form should be considered as a mood of the same verb, or as a derivative, is not very important. But it is a matter of regret, that our information on that most interesting view of the Indian languages, and generally respecting all that relates to derivative and compounded words, though sufficient to show the extent to which those several processes are car- ried, is too limited to enable us to exhibit the subject in a condensed and perspicuous form. The appended grammatical notices embrace the substance of what could be collected in that respect ; and reference must be had for further details, particularly concerning the Algonkin-Lenape languages, to the works of the American philologist, from whose writings extracts have been made. A very incomplete and desultory enumera- tion may convey some idea of those multiplied forms. Nouns have varied terminations indicative of resemblance, locality, analogy, fellowship ; diminutive and derogative forms, and others implying beauty or increase ; annexed inseparable prepositions, meaning, in, under, on, at, about, near, towards, through, he. And substantives coalesce with adjectives so as to express in a single word almost every qualification of which any object is susceptible.