1885.] '^** [Brinton. 



this case and that of the present, each tense has its definite sign, 

 inserted between the stem and the personal sign, yet there are, besides 

 these, various particles expressing past time, wiiich can accompany the 

 usual tense form, so that there is a double sign of time, one in the 

 word itself and one loosely attached to it. 



The languages of the Mbayas, Abipones, Mocobis and Lules are 

 closely allied both in words and in some grammatical forms. It is all 

 the more extraordinary, therefore, to find the last-mentioned pursuing 

 a method in the structure of its verb which is almost totally opposed to 

 that in the other three tongues. 



Case 3d. 



The languages of this class approach in their conjugations those of 

 the more cultivated tongues, in which each verbal inflection has a fixed 

 and independent form. Both the person, the tense and the mode signs 

 are united to the stem, in such a manner that none of the three can be 

 said to be either less or more loosely attached than the others. 



All tlie conjugations about to be discussed lack, however, that fixity 

 of form which grammatically satisfies the mind. 



The elements are placed definitely and regularly one by the other, 

 but are not incorporated into each other, and are therefore readily 

 recognizable. 



They are found, moreover, outside of the verb elsewliere in the lan- 

 guage either without any change or with slight differences of sound; 

 the personal signs as pronouns, the other affixes as particles. 



The composition of the verb is separable, and may receive into itself 

 other parts of speech. 



No American language is free from these drawbacks to perfection of 

 form in the conjugations. In some all tliree are found; in most the 

 first and last. In really grammatically developed tongues, as in the 

 Sanscrit, Greek, Latin and German, none of these imperfections exists. 

 The verb includes in itself no part of its object, the affixes modifying 

 the stem have lost all independent life, and the analysis of the formal 

 elements becomes a difficult philological task, which often fails and 

 only rarely can be fully proved. 



I shall discriminate in regard to the conjugations about to be consid- 

 ered that which is an approach toward a fixed form from the inten- 

 tional separation of tlie form to insert a governed word. 



1. Approach toward a Fixed Form. 



In the Mixteca language, tlie personal sign is the unchanged posses- 

 sive pronoun. If the verb is governed by a noun in the third person, 

 the possessive is dropped. It is left to the speaker to choose whether 

 he designates the person, either by prefixing the personal pronoun or 

 suffixing the possessive. The tense signs are prefixed syllables, but the 



