Page:Archæologia Americana—volume 2, 1836.djvu/287

 APP. NO. I.] GRAMMATICAL NOTICES. SIOUX. 251 SIOUX.— Dahcota Dialect. [Extracted from grammatical notices, communicated many years ago by General Cass to the War Department.] The plural of nouns is formed by adding the termination pee to the singular. If this ends in pee, the termination pee is add- ed to the verb or adjective. The plural of verbs appears to be formed in the same manner. Sometimes a whole sentence being in the singular number, the termination pee added to the last word, whether verb, pronoun, or adjective, makes the whole sentence plural. The comparative of adjectives is generally formed by pre- fixing kahpeiah ; and the superlative by prefixing eeoatah. Sometimes khindgah is used for the comparative : in other ca- ses the abbreviations ee and eeoo are used for the comparative ; and in the word 'great,' eeoatah is used for the comparative and kapeyah for the superlative. The preterite tense is formed by the termination kdng, the future by May or hakata ; the subjunctive by tslicsh, or konsh. (Mr. Atwater quotes a Grammar of Mr. Marsh, which I have not seen, and gives the following forms : mendooza, ' old ' ; preter- ite, mendooza kong ; future plural, oohapekata ; subjunctive, mendoohaoonkonsh ; infinitive, oohape.) The pronouns are ; I, meeah, mish, me, ma, mine, meetahwah. we, us, oangkeeah, ours, oangkecahlaherahpee. thou, neeah, nish, thee, neeahnah, thine, neetahwah. ye, you, neeah pee, yours, neetahwahpee. he, eeah, ish, him, eeah, hey, his, eetahwah. they, eeahpee, them, eeahpee, heyna, theirs, eetahwahpee. father, atay, thy father, nee atay, his father, atay hookoo. mother, eenah, my mother, nee hoong, his mother, hoonglcoo. my elder brother, tscheeing, my younger brother, meesoongkah. my elder sister, meetungkee, my younger sister, meetungkshee. my son, meetshingkshee ; thy son, neetshingkshee ; his son, thshingkshee ; my daughter, meetshoongkshee ; thy daughter, neetshoongkshee.