Page:Archæologia Americana—volume 2, 1836.djvu/280

 244 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. 5. Besides pronominal combinations and the inflections de- pending on number, person, tense, and mood; of what other in- flections are verbs susceptible ? Ans. Several ; but I am not able to enumerate or define them. In the first place, those depending on number, person, mode, and tense are almost innumerable. Some specimens may be seen in recent and current numbers of the Cherokee Phoenix (Dec. 1829.) The forms of the verb denote the number and person, both of the subject and object of the verb. They also denote whether the object be animate or inanimate ; whether or not the person spoken of, whether as agent or object, is expected to hear what is said ; and in regard to the dual and plural numbers, whether the action terminates upon the several objects collec- tively, as it were one object, or upon each individual separately considered. The relations expressed by relative pronouns, are in Cherokee expressed by inflections of the verb. Circumstan- ces expressed in English and other languages by prepositions, are in Cherokee expressed by forms of the verb. Several re- lations of place and motion are so expressed. Examples. Ga-lung-i-ha, I am tying it. Tsi-ya-lung-i-ha, J am tying him. Ka-lung-i-ha, I am tying him, (implying an intention that he shall hear.) Ga-tsi-ya-lung-i-ha, I am tying them (those persons) to- gether. Te-ga-tsi-ya-lung-i-ha, I am tying them, each separately. Ga-lung-i-ha, he is tying it, or him. Taw-lung-i-ha, he is tying him, (meaning that the person tying shall hear.) Ka-lung-i-ha, he is tying it, (meaning that the person tying shall hear.) Tu-lung-i-ha, he is tying him, (meaning that the person tied shall hear.) A-qua-lung-i-ha, he is tying me. Tsa-lung-i-ha, he is tying thee, fyc. Ga-lung-i-he-sti, I shall be tying it. Wi-ga-lung-i-he-sti, I shall be tying (a distant object.) Ni-ga-lung-i-he-sti, 1 shall by that time be tying it. Wi-ni-ga-lung-i-he-sti, J shall by that time be tying (a dis- tant object.)