Page:Archæologia Americana—volume 2, 1836.djvu/335

 APP. NO. II.] NOTES TO TABLES OF TRANSITIONS. 299 Choctaw. ish tokche thou tiest hush tokche ye tie chit t uil okche thou art tied huch it uil okche ye are tied ch ih tokch o thou dost not tie hush ik tokch o ye do not tie ik chi t uil okch o thou art not tied ik huch it uil okch o ye are not tied In the Choctaw uil is the sign of the passive, and is inserted in the body of the verb proper tokche, between t and okche. We have another similar instance in the negative form of the Massachusetts. Wadchan um oo un, ' he does not keep.' Oo is the negative sign, and is inserted within the pronominal combination umurt. It has already been remarked that, in the passive voice of the Choc- taw, (as well as in some intransitive verbs,) the pronoun, which with us is in the nominative, is put in the objective case. The same observa- tion, for the passive at least, applies to the Muskhogee and to the Chero- kee. Yest is the nominative of the first person singular in Muskhogee, and cha is the objective case singular : ' he ties me,' cha wonni ist ; ' thou tiest me,' cha wonni yichkist. The plural objective of the same person is po. (See Table B.) In the passive voice we have : ' I am tied,' cha wonnagist ; ' we are tied,' homulgiad } ■. 'we two are tied,' hoMid, P° wonnagist In the Cherokee, a verbal termination ung is the sign of the passive, (as gussi, or xi in the Delaware); and, in the verb * to tie,' lungiha is converted into lung ung. But, besides that change, the pronoun is put in the objective case. 'They tie me,' ungqua lungiha ; ' ITc tics you,' tetsa lungiha, ' 1 am tied,' gungqua lungung; l Yc are tied,' tetsa lungung Tsiya (I), and tisa (we), arc the respective nominative cases. The reason of this use of the objective case is obvious. We put the pronoun in the nominative case, on account of its connexion with the verb substantive : but, in reality, the person is, in the passive voice, the object and not the subject of the action. But the pronouns are also used, in the objective case, in the negative form of the Choctaw verb ; and for this I cannot account. The visible correspondence of the pronominal combinations between the Delaware, the Chippewa.y, and the Massachusetts, is less evident in the signs of the tenses, voice, and negation. The preterite and future in the Chippewa.y are expressed respectively by he (or, gi) and gnh, pre- fixed, instead of being affixed to the verb proper. The sign of the passive voice in the Massachusetts is it. That of the negative form is, in the Chippeway, kaw prefixed ; in the Massachusetts, Oo inserted as above stated. Although our information respecting the Iroquois is limited, Zeisber- ger has given the conjugations of the Onondago, (one example of which will be found in the appended tables of simple conjugation,) and gen- eral rules for the formation of the tenses, and of the passive voice. There are various modifications of the inseparable pronouns. They are prefixed to the verb, and there is a distinct series for the passive, by which alone that voice is distinguished from the active.