Page:Archæologia Americana—volume 2, 1836.djvu/258

 2£3 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [lNTROD. Delawares,' ■ we who are here together.' The other is more general and indefinite. In verhs the prefixed n from niluna indi- cates the particular, Jc from kiluna the general plural in the first person. Mr. Du Ponceau.) There are various demonstrative and relative pronouns ; who, what, this, that, all, some, every, &c. ; auwen, 'who?' auweni, ' who is he ? ' auwenik, ( who are they ? ' Adverbs. — The author enumerates about three hundred, and a great many verbs derived from thirty-one different adverbs. Prepositions, both separable and inseparable, are also numerous; and they are frequently combined with verbs. Conjunctions and interjections are also enumerated. Conditional conjunctions are, in the conjunctive mode, com- pounded with the verb ; as, ane, anv/p, anpanne, i when,' ' if,' ' as,' &ic. Verbs. — There is a great variety of verbs in this language. To exhibit all their compound forms would be an endless task. Every part of speech may be compounded with the verb in many ways. The verbs to have and to be do not exist in the Delaware lan- guage, either as auxiliaries or in our abstract substantive sense. The idea of possession in a verbal form combined with the thing possessed may be expressed. Thus n'damochol, ' I have a canoe ' ; wHamochol, i he has a canoe.' And the idea con- veyed by the substantive verb is also expressed by various combinations ; as, m' n'damochol, l it is my canoe ' ; nekama w 'damochol, l it is his canoe.' The idea of the verb to be is also combined with adjectives and adverbs. Wulisso, ' good ' ; nulilissi, l l am good'; kuli- lissi ' ; ' thou art good ' ; wulilissu, l he is good,' &c. There are eight conjugations, the termination of the infinitive of which respectively is, in, an, elendam, (indicative of the dis- position of the mind,) men, an, en, in, (conjugated only through the personal forms, or transitions,) and ton, which has no passive form. [The great bulk of Zeisberger's Grammar consists of the numerous paradigms he has given of the several conjugations. They amount to not less than twenty-three, of which five are of transitive verbs and include those compound personal forms, called transitions. Those of the first person of one of the plu- rals are however omitted, and it appears that that given is of the particular and not of the indefinite, which corresponds with ours. And although the author has clearly laid out the distinc-