Page:Archæologia Americana—volume 2, 1836.djvu/283

 APP. NO. I.] GRAMMATICAL NOTICES. CHEROKEE. 247 Ga-lung-sta-ni-taiV'ha, I am tying here and there with it. Ga-lung-sta-ni-taw-U-hi-ha, I am coming to tie here and there with it. Ga-lung-sta-ni-taw-le-ga, I am going to tie here and there with it. Ga~lung-sti-sa-ni-taw-ha, I am tying over again here and there with it. Ga-lung~sti-sa-ni-taw-li-hi-ha, I am coming to tie over again here and there with it. Ga-lung-sti-sa-ni-taw-le-ga, I am going to tie over again here and there with it. G a-lung-aw-hung-sJca, I am finishing tying. Ga-lung-aw-ni-hi-ha, I am coming to finish tying. Ga-lung-aw-ne-ga, I am going to finish tying. Ga-lung-aw-ni-si-ha, am finishing tying over again. And so on through all the above forms. 8. Is there much irregularity in the same dialect, in the con- jugations, verbal forms, or transitions, and in the various species of inflections ? Ans. There are a few and but few irregular words. In gen- eral, the language is very regular in its inflections. Yet the va- riety is so great as to render the task of acquiring a knowledge of them extremely difficult. 9. Are adverbs and other words indeclinable in the Euro- pean languages, declinable in the Indian dialect ? Ans. Not in the Cherokee language. 10. Do women use, in any case, and if any, in which, differ- ent words or inflections from men ? Ans. Men use ung-gi-ni-li,' my elder brother' ; ung-gi-nung- tli, 1 my younger brother'; ung-gi-taw, ' my sister ': women use ung-gi-taw, l my brother ' ; ung-gi-lung, ' my sister ' : ung-gi- wi-nung, ' my nephew,' is used by women only. 11. Does the substantive verb to be exist in the Indian lan- guages in a distinct form, and not as a compound ? Ans. The verb Ge-ha signifies ' I live ' or ' I exist.' Its pri- mary signification appears to be ' I exist,' inasmuch as it is appli- cable to inanimate objects, and simply affirms their existence. It is not used as an auxiliary, nor in connexion with attributes, like the English I am, the Latin sum, the Greek ifp, and as amatus sum, c I was loved,' homo sum, ' I am a man,' bonus sum, ' I am good/ &c. The Cherokee verb like the English I exist, ex-