Page:Archæologia Americana—volume 2, 1836.djvu/253

 APP. NO. I.] GRAMMATICAL NOTICES. —MASSACHUSETTS. 217 The third person singular is affixed with such syllables as these, wut, wun, um, oo, &c, having respect to euphony ; and sometimes the third person, especially of verbs, hath no affix. These pronouns, neen and ken, when they are affixed, are contracted into ne and ke, and varied in the vowel according to euphony, with the word it is affixed unto ; as noo, koo, &c. Of Nouns. The variation of nouns is not by male and female ; but according to the kind, as they signify either a living creature or a thing which is not a living creature. In the animate form, the nouns make their plural in og ; and in the inanimate, in ash. The way of affixing nouns with the pronouns is by using the noun in all the three persons, both singular and plural. Examples. Menutcheg, a hand. Singular. Nunnutcheg, my hand, Kenutcheg, thy hand, Wunnutcheg, his hand, Singular. Nunnutcheganash, my hands, Kenutchegash, thy hands, Wunnutchegash, his hands, Plural. Nunnufcheganun, our hand, Kenutcheganoo, your hand, Wunnutcheganoo, their hand. Plural. Nunnutcheganunnonut, our hands, Kenulchcganoowout, your hands, Wunnutcheganoowut, their hands. Singular. Neek, my house, Keek, thy house, Week, his house, Singular. Neekit, in my house, Keekit, in thy house, Weekit, in his house, Plural. Neekun, our house, Keekou, your house, Weekou, their house. Plural. Neekunonut, in our house, Keekuwout, in your house, Weekuwout, in his house. Diminutive nouns are formed by adding, with a due euphony, es or enes to the primitive noun. Nouns used in the possessive rank, are affixed with the pronoun, by adding the syllable turn, oom, or um, according to euphony. Num-Manittoom, ' my God.' (The author does not explain in which cases the syllable oom, &c. is added, as in this last instance, or in which it is omitted, as in the preceding examples.) vol. ii. 28