Academy of Sciences] MORPHOLOGY AND SYNTAX 111 



No. 2] 



Doubtful statements ending in se'ce, huse\ nac'e'ce have no glottal stop. It is also absent in 

 the future kte «ktaye) that does not imply the certainty of the future action. 



§ 150. OPTATIVE 



tokH (or t'lity) — ni expresses probability of fulfilment of wish. In Santee ny,we' is used 

 instead of ni. 



tok'i he'c'etu ni' I wish it were so! — t'uki t'e'hq-wani ni' would that I live long! — t'uki wani'yetu mao- 

 tasnihqni mafa'ni' would that ere I had not too many years, I die! — tok'i mat'a' ni' — tok'i 

 mi's 'eya' wish that I might die! — Would that I too! (imitation of the calls of certain birds to each 

 other) 

 'esa' — sni, expresses improbability of fulfilment (S. esta') 



'esa' le'-'qpeHu k\ wa'map'i sni\ oh, if I would fare well today! — 'esa' le'-b.loke'tu ki wawi'c'age sni! oh, 

 if things would grow this summer! — 'esa hi' nq wana' nih%' 'aki'sni ke'ye' sni! oh, if he would come 

 and say that your mother is well now! — 'ehq'ni 'esa' he'c'am% sni! oh, if I had done that first! 

 'esa' alone means "even" 35.2; "at least" 20.7 

 When the optative expresses a wish that cannot be fulfilled k'es is used. 



ka V ki he 'ate' V k'es oh! if the one coming yonder had been my father; compare the hypothetical 

 statement ka V ki he 'ate' V yn'k'q's m.ni'kta tk'a" if that one coming had been my father I should 

 have gone (see p. 112) 



§ 151. INTERROGATIVE 



he used by both sexes in formal speech. 



so (Yankton se) used by both sexes in conversation ; changes terminal a of verbs that admit of 

 change to e 



huwo' used by men; — huwo a rhetorical question. 

 huwe used by women as a rhetorical question. 



to'k'esk'e c'iye' 'oho'walasni 'iye'c'el wae'c'am-qkta he how can I do what will disgrace my elder brother? 

 181.4 



to'k'a he what is the matter? 8.4 



ta'ku yac'i' he what do you want? 



hena' ta'ku c'a yak'i' huwo' what are those you carry on your back? 20.4 



hu.hu.he', tok'e misu'lcala le' 'e'la so, oh, is it my little brother? 25.3 



ta'ku to'k'anu. so what are you doing? 



to'k'a c'a heya huwo why does he say that? (soliloquy, 176.8) 



mic'i'ksi to'kel k'a huwo what does my son mean? 176.13 



to'k'esk'e le 'oma'yani huwo' how (does it happen that) you travel this way? (expecting an answer) 241.2 



§ 152. IMPERATIVE 



The imperative is expressed by postpositional particles which differ according to the sex of 



the speaker. 



Woman speaking Man speaking 



Command na (often omitted) 



, sing, yo'.wo' : plur. vo> 

 Permission sing, ye we , plur. pe } 



Mild request (please) sing, ye' plur. pi ye' 



(Santee mi ye') 



All these are accented, except na. When na is omitted the terminal syllable of the verb 

 is accented. It seems probable that the plurals po and pe' have originated by contraction from 

 pi-yo' and pi-ye' . The ye' remains unchanged in the form for a mild request while the permissive 

 ye' w. sp. and yo' m. sp. change to we' and wo after u, %, o. 



