Page:Archæologia Americana—volume 2, 1836.djvu/286

250 make no distinction. The verbs give, take, carry, bring, and a few others, mark several distinctions in the form of the object, as solid, (in shape) long, flexible, liquid, thick (as mud), &c.

17 — 26. Cases of nouns are not distinguished by inflections of the nouns themselves. All such offices are performed by the verbs; except the relation of possession, which is denoted by possessive pronouns, except in the cases noted in the answer to the second grammatical query.

63 — 71. See answer to grammatical query 11 — 63, 65, 66. The verb ge-taw-ha, and thence we-taw-ha, wa-ne-taw-ha, is formed from the verb ge-ha (considered as a verb of place), in the same manner as the forms derived from other verbs, denoting that the action is performed in different places, as we say in English, here and there. See derived verbs under query 7, 71. I should have no hesitancy in regard to the correctness of this translation of the clause in Ex. iv 3, were it not for the allusion to it in the last clause, "I am hath sent me;" where the verb ge-ha, 'I exist,' must be used instead of na- qua-sti, 'I am such,' 'I am that.'

72—100. (See query 5, Ans.)

77 — 79. No distinction is here seen between the verb governing a person and that governing a thing, except in the length of the first syllable. It is not so with the greater number of verbs. A-ska-ya-tsi-ga-lung-i-ha, 'I am tying a man'; nung-ya ga-lung-i-ha, 'I am tying a stone.' Tsi-yung-ni-ha, 'I am striking him'; nung-ya gung-ni-ha, 'I am striking a stone.' 78. The use or omission of the final syllable, ha, and, in the past tense, of the final, gi, depends on the verb's closing a sentence or preceding another word; though in familiar conversation it is often omitted in both cases.

80 — 81. The form wi-tsi-kaw-wa-ti-ha, in distinction from tsi-gaw-wa-ti-ha, denotes that the object seen is at a distance. In ordinary cases the prefixing of the syllable wi, or simply of the letter w, if the word begins with a vowel, denotes that the action is performed at a distance from the speaker.

82 — 95. In numbers 91 — 93, it will be seen that a different verb is used. The verb u-lu-tsung-gi indicates the arrival at the place of speaking, and the verb ta-yu-law-sung-gi the leaving a distant place in a direction towards the speaker. The latter would be used in all the cases from 82 to 95, if the place, from which the person spoken of comes, be in the mind of the speaker, but the verb u-lu-tsung-gi cannot be used in numbers 93 — 95.