Page:Archæologia Americana—volume 2, 1836.djvu/329

 APP. NO. II.] NOTES TO TABLES OF TRANSITIONS. 293 It must be recollected that every syllable in Cherokee ends in a vocal or nasal sound. This last is, in the tables, &c, represented by the let- ters ung, from analogy to the English words long, clung, &c. Thus the forms teg-esta, its-ungya, &c, are pronounced te-ge-sta, i.tsung-ya, &c. It will not escape notice, that the pronouns in the singular number of the simple conjugation differ from those used in the transitions, and that, in the simple conjugation, that of the first and that of the third person are the same. We have in the simple conjugation, ' I,' ga ; ' thou,' ha; ' he,' ga ; in the transitions, 'I — him,' tsiya; 'thou — him,' ihya; i he — him,' ga. It has appeared to me most natural to suppose that, in the transitions, (with the exception of that from the third to the third person,) the sin- gular of the third person, he and him, was implied and not expressed : but this is only a conjecture, and requires further investigation. There are other forms of the same verb, in which the pronouns he, him, are expressed, and vary, according as the person is present, or absent, or in order to express some modification of the action : Ga -lung i ha, ' he is tying him, or it, is the form as set down in the table. But, Taw-lung i ha, ' he is tying him ' ; if the person tying hears the speaker. Ka-lung i ha, ' he is tying it ' ; if the person tying hears. Tu-lung i ha, ' he is tying him ' ; if the person tied hears. Tegalsiya-lung i ha, ' I am tying them ' (viz. each separately,) in the form set down in the table. But, Gatsiya-lung i ha, ' I am tying them,' viz. both together. This last instance seems contrary to analogy, since the te prefixed does uniformly designate the plural of the objective case ; and it is here used when each person is tied separately, and omitted when they are tied together. Again: there are two past tenses (at least), and one future, in the Cherokee. The forms are respectively, independent of the'pronouns : lung lung gi, and lung tsa, for the two past tenses ; and for the future, ta — lungli, in which ta {taw, tay, tung) is prefixed, and lungli affixed to the pro- nouns. And they are in other respects generally conjugated as the present: tsiya-lung lung gi, I have tied him ; ta-tsiya-lungli, I will tie him ; getsa-lung lung gi, they have tied thee ; ta-getsa-lungli, they will tie thee. But they differ in the transition from the third to the third person. Omitting the final verbal form, we have, viz. He — him He — them They — him They — them Present. I Preterite. ga — I. u — I. te ga — /. te u na — I. ana — I. gungwa — I. Future. ta — ga — I. taw — taga — I. ta — gungwa — I. ta — gungwana — I. te ana — I. te gungwa- This shows, not only the difficulty of pronouncing definitively re- specting the omission of the third person, but also that, notwithstanding the uniformity of the transition forms of the present of the Indicative,