Page:Archæologia Americana—volume 2, 1836.djvu/266

 230 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. tila and nan are used for 'this' ; in the plural aakela and nakcla ; and in the past tense seguela and neguela ; which also mean ' formerly.' Possessive pronouns are formed by adding aye to the initial letters of the singular personal pronouns nil, kil, of the first and second person ; substituting for the third « instead of negeum (probably abbreviates from sla.) In order to form the plural, take the initial for the first two persons and insert aye before the termination ; substituting also s for ncgm in the third person. Naye, ' my/ ' mine '; kaye, ' thy,' ' thine '; "'aye, ' thy,' ' thine.' Kayns, naynen, * ours '; kaysau, l yours '; saysaw, ' theirs. ' [It would seem, that there is also a second plural for the second and third person ; but I apprehend that there is some confusion in the text, and that what is called in this instance second, means double plural, that is to say, when both the pronoun and the noun are in the plural number, our children.] When the possessive pronoun is united to the noun, you must follow the same rules. n'nixkam, k'nixkamins, our God, k'nixkam, thy « k'nixkamsau, your " s'nixkam'l, his " s'nixkam&au, their " k'kixkaminaZ, our Gods, k'kenixkam&aZ, your " s'nixkamsa?, their " n'kish,t my mother, k'kigins, our mother, k'kish, thy " k'kijsau, your " yfkigel, his " sfkijsal, their " n'stch, my father, nsfxhinenj our father, k'stch, thy « ksschioau, your " sschel, his sschisau, their " neschinak,§ our fathers, ksschi&ak, your " sschisakal, their " tion is c or I ; and there is evident confusion in the use of the char- acteristic n and k, of the first and second person of the plurals. f This last example is the most correct. The characteristic n or k, in the first person plural designates the two plurals as in other Algon- kin dialects. The termination k in the last three persons (our, your, their fathers) is the plural termination of the noun. Or, koschins. § Or, kyschinak.
 * my God,
 * This is the example given, but it is not clear whether the termina-