Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/441

 AMERICAN INDIANS (LANGUAGES) 409 persons less than those in k; but strangely, the perfect in verbs of k, and all their deriva- tives, are conjugated under the paradigm w. Indicative present : Tcenonwes, I love ; senon- weg, thou lovest ; ranonwes, he loves ; kanon- weSj she loves; ienonwes, some one loves. Perfect : wakenonwehon, I have loved ; sanon- wehon, thou ; rononwehon, he ; wnonwehon, she ; iakononwehon, some one. Present : wakeriwai- en, I am busy ; sariwaien, thou ; roriwaien, he; ioriwaien, she; iakoriwaien, some one. West of Hudson bay, above the Churchill river, were the northern part of the Athabascan family, some tribes of which dwelt on the shores of the Pacific, and the main body extending south to the Dakotas, while the southern part of the family occupied the frontier between the United States and Mexico. The tribes are strangely different in character, the northern being timid, the southern fierce and bold. The chief tribes at the north were the Chipewyans, Tahculli or Carriers, Dog Rib Indians, Sussees, Tlatskanai, Umpquas, Kwalhioqua, Kenai, &c. Of the southern, the most conspicuous tribes are the Apaches, Navajoes, and Lipans. Of this family we have little to show the grammar or affinities. South of the Athabascan family, and between the Mississippi and the Rocky mountains, were the Dakota family, extending as far south as the Arkansas river, and having one tribe on Lake Michigan, the Ochungaras, called by the Algonquins Winnebagoes. The Dakota family includes the Assiniboins, the Dakotas or Sioux, lowas, Omahas, Puncahs, Missouris, Osages, Kansas, Ottoes, Arkansas, Mandans, Minnetares, and Crows. In Dakota there are separate and incorporated pronouns. There is a dual first person, we (thou and I), but there is no incorporated pronoun for the third person in either number, so that the third person singular is the simplest form of the verb. Verbs have an indicative, im- perative, and infinitive, and two tenses, an in- definite and a future. A few examples will suffice : Kashka, he binds ; yakashka, thou bindest ; wakashka, I bind ; unkashka, we two bind; kashkapi, they bind; yakashkapi, ye bind ; unkashkapi, we bind. In other cases the pronouns are introduced, as manon, he steals; mayanon, thou stealest. There are some irregular forms, as hiyu, he comes ; hidu, thou comest; hibu, I come. The pronoun ob- ject enters into the verb : kashka, he binds him, her, it ; nicashka, he binds thee ; makashka, he binds me. Case is shown by position, pos- session by the possessive at the end : wichash- tayatapi tipi tawa, chief house his, i. e., the chief's house. The plural is formed by adding pi to nouns and verbs. There is a grammar and dictionary of the Dakota by the Rev. S. R. Rigg (Washington, 1852), and an Iowa grammar by Irvin and Hamilton (1848). Adjoining this family were the Pawnees, em- bracing the Pawnees, Rickarees, Huecos, and Wichitas, roving bands long known, but as to whose language our knowledge is con- fined to vocabularies. Next to the Athabas- can family on the Pacific coast are the Kitu- nahas or Flatbows, and the large family of the Selish, embracing the Shush waps or Atnahs, Flatheads, Skitsuish or Coaurs d'Alene, Pisk- wans, Clallam, Lummi, Simiamu, Songhus, and some other tribes. Their language has been made known by the Grammatical, Linguae Selicce, a Selish or Flathead grammar, by Men- garini (New York, 1861). The Selish lacks b, d, /, r, and v ; g is guttural like the Spanish j ; ck is very hard ; it has a peculiar b, pronounced with the tongue at the palate. Nouns have no cases, but form plurals by doubling the roots, as skoi, mother, skoikoi, mothers, and in several other modes. It has absolute pronouns and copulative pronouns, the latter used in connec- tion with verbs. The verb to be exists and enters into the conjugation of indeterminate verbs. The determinate active verb is thus conjugated : les kolm, I do (something definite) ; as kolm, thou dost; es Ml m, he does; kaes kolm, we do ; es kol mp, you do ; es koolm, they do. Perfect: Icoln, I did ; kol ntgu, thou didst. The relative forms vary thus: ku ies asgam, I see thee; ko as asgam, thou seest me; ies asgam, I see him ; ko es azgams, he sees me. The Sahaptin family, bounded on the north by the Selish, comprise the Sahaptin or Nez Perces and the Wallawallas, running east to the Rocky mountains and south to the Shosho- nees. The Wallawallas comprise several tribes, the Yakamas, Palus, Klikatats, and Tairtla. The study of their language is aided by Pando.- sy's " Grammar and Dictionary of the Yakama Language " (New York, 1862). The language is remarkable for the multiplicity of its pronouns, and for a twofold conjugation of its verbs, one with the tense form unchanged for the persons preceded by the pronoun, the other with the tense form modified by a pronominal suffix, ex- cept in the third person, where it is affixed. Below them are the Wailatpu family, compris- ing the Cayuse and Molele. Beyond this fam- ily were the once numerous Chinook family, embracing a number of tribes from the mouth of the Columbia to the Grand Dalles. They have disappeared with fearful rapidity, and the fullest vocabulary is that by George Gibbs (New York, 1863). Below and above these on the coast were scattered tribes and families, whose relation to others will never perhaps be now known from the utter want of material of an extended character. The Shoshonees, an- other important family, comprise the East and West Shoshonees, on the head waters of the Missouri and Columbia ; the Bannacks, on Snake river ; the Comanches, from the head waters of the Brazos to those of the Arkansas and Mis- souri ; the Yutes and Pa Utes, in Utah terri- tory ; the Kioways, in Texas ; and several tribes in California, the Kizh of San Gabriel, the Netela of San Juan Capistrano, the Kechi of San Luis Rey, the Cahuillos, and perhaps the Moquis. The other California tribes belonged to several distinct families. Arroyo's grammar