Brinton.] d44: [March 20 



III. 



The NOTio>r of Being is present in the Verbal form only 



IN IDEA. 



In this case the verb consists only of the stem, and the person, tense, 

 and mode signs. The former are originally pronouns, the latter parti- 

 cles. Before they are worn down by use to mere affixes, the three fol- 

 lowing cases may arise : 



1. That all three of these elements are equally separable and loosely 

 connected. 



2. That one of the two, the person or the tense and mode signs, 

 obtains a closer connection with the stem, and becomes formal, while 

 the other remains loosely attached. 



3. That both these ai-e incorporated witli the stem, and the whole 

 approaches a true grammatical form, although it does not fully repre- 

 sent it. 



Case 1st. 



The only language I can instance here is that of the Omaguas, as I 

 know no other with such a decided absence of all true grammatical 

 forms in the verb. The independent pronouns, the stem words of the 

 verbs, and the particles of tense and mode are merely placed together 

 without any change, without internal connection, and apparently with- 

 out fixed order ; usu, to go ; 1st pers. sing. pres. ta usu; 2d pers. sing, 

 perf. avi ene usu [ene is the pronoun, avi the sign of the perfect). Sub- 

 junctive, 1st pers. sing. pres. ta usumia; 2d pers. sing. perf. avi epe 

 usu mia. 



Sometimes, when a misunderstanding is not feared, the verbal stem is 

 employed without these qualifying particles, and cannot then be dis- 

 tinguished from a noun. Paolo amai amano. The last word means 

 " to die," but grammatically the sentence can as well be rendered, 

 "Paul only die " {i. e. has died), as " Paul only dead." 



It is true that the suffix ta changes nouns to verbs : zhiru, clothes, 

 zMru-ta, to clothe ; but it also changes verbs to nouns, yasai, to cover, 

 yasai-ta, a cover. This may be explained by the theory that this suffix 

 conveys the idea to make, which is taken sometimes actively, sometimes 

 passively. 



According to the above, the Omagua conjugation falls in the class 

 where an attributive is united to a pronoun and the verb is omitted ; 

 only that here definite tense syllables appear, and this brmgs the con- 

 struction nearer to the idea of a conjugation. 



Case 2d. 



1. The Maipure, Abipone, Mbaya and Mocobi languages place only 

 the personal sign in Intimate connection with the verb, and allow the 

 tense and mode signs to be loosely attached. They have therefore but 

 one type of personal forms to be applied in every tense and mode by 



