1885.] " • [Brinton. 



have been authoritatively declared to be exceptions to the general 

 rule? of American grammar, as being devoid of the incorporative 

 and polysynthetic character. 



The Othomi.* 



As I have said, the Othomi was the stumbling block of Mr. 

 Duponceau and led him to abandon his theory of polys} r nthesis 

 as a characteristic of American tongues. Although in his earlier 

 "writings he expressly names it as one of the illustrations sup- 

 porting his theory, later in life the information he derived from 

 Senor Emmanuel Naxera led him to regard it as an isolating and 

 monosyllabic language, quite on a par with the Chinese. He ex- 

 pressed this change of view in the frankest manner, and since 

 that time writers have spoken of the Othomi as a marked excep- 

 tion in structure to the general rules of synthesis in American 

 tongues. This continues to be the case even in the latest writ- 

 ings, as, for instance, in the recently published Anthropologic du 

 Mexique, of Dr. Hamy.f 



Let us examine the grounds of this opinion. 



The Othomis are an ancient and extended family who from 

 the remotest traditional epochs occupied the central valleys and 

 mountains of Mexico north of the Aztecs and Tezcucans. Their 



*The original authorities I have consulted on the Othomi are : 



Sec/las de Orthographia, Diccionario, y Arte del Idioma Othomi. By Luis de Neve 

 y Molina (Mexico, 1767). 



De Lingha Othomitorum Disserlalio. By Emmanuel Naxera (Philadelphia, 

 1835). 



Cateiesmo en Lengua Otomi. By Francisco Perez (Mexico, 1831). 



fHe speaks of the Othomi in these terms:—" Une langue aux allures toutes 

 spficiales, fondamentalement distincte de toutes les langues qui se parlent au- 

 jourd' hui sur le continent amfiricain." Mission Scientiflque au 3fezigue, Pt. i. 

 Anthropologic, p. 32 (Paris, 1884). This is the precise opinion, strongly ex- 

 pressed, that it is my object to controvert. Many other writers have maintained 

 it. Thus Count Piccolomini in the Prolegomena to his version of Neve's Othomi 

 Grammar says: "La loro lingua che con nessuna altradel mondoconosciuto ha 

 la menoma analogia, e semplice. * * * La formazione dei loro verbi, no mi • 

 ed altri derivati ha molta semplecita,'' etc. Grammalica delta Lingua Otomi. p. 

 3 (Roma, 1811). This writer also offers an illustration of how imperfectly Du- 

 ponceau's theory of polysyntbesis has been understood. Not only does Picco- 

 lomini deny it for the Otomi, but he denies that it is anything more than merely 

 running several words together with some phonetic syncopation. See the Anno- 

 talioni at the close of his Othomi Grammar. 



