Page:Archæologia Americana—volume 2, 1836.djvu/261

APP. NO. I.] GRAMMATICAL NOTICES. CHIPFEWAY. 225 female. There are also distinct words to designate the elder brother and the elder sister, and another which applies to all the younger brothers or sisters.

Women use different words from men in the interjections and some other instances. The word, my friend, is different when applied by a man to a man and by a woman to a woman; and is never used between man and woman. And there are different words for my cousin, when a man applies it to a woman, when a woman applies it to a man, and when either addresses a person of his or her own sex.

The language has three numbers, the singular, the indefinite plural which corresponds with ours, and a limited or exclusive plural which embraces only us, or our men, (who are present.) Both plurals have the same inflections in the nouns, and are formed by adding to the singular the termination g in the animate, and n in the inanimate gender, if the singular terminates with a vowel. Otherwise those consonants g and n must be preceded by one of the vocal sounds, ā, ee, i, ō, oo.

But distinct inflections are required for the two plurals respectively, in the first person of the personal and possessive pronouns. The manner in which the possessive pronouns are combined with nouns whether animate or inanimate will appear by the following paradigms. Ishkodai, Fire. my fire, nin dishkod-aim, thy " ki dishkod-aim, his " o dishkod-aim, our " (indef.) ki dishkod-aim-inan, our " (excl.) ni dishkod-aim-inan, your " ki dishkod-aim-iwa, their " o dishkod-aim-iwa,

Pinai, a Partridge, Pinai-wug, Partridges, my partridge, nim binaim, thy " ki bin-aim, his " o bin-aim-un, our " (indef.) ki bin-aim-inan, our " (excl.) ni bin-aim-inan, your " ki bin-aim-wa, their " o bin-aim-iwan.

Singular. (of noun) my father, nos, thy " kos, his " os-un, our " (indef.) kos-inan, our " (excl.) kos-iman, your " kos-iwa, their " os-iwan, my fathers, thy " his " our " (indef.) our " (excl.) your " their l - Plural. nos-ug, kos-ug, os-un, kos-inan-ig, nos-inan-ig, kos-iwag, os-iwan. vol. II. 29