73 



1885.] *° [Brinton. 



tion and linguistic decay, has at length come to simulate a lan- 

 guage of juxtaposition."* 



Some other peculiarities of the language, though not directly 

 bearing on the question, point in the same direction. A certain 

 class of compound verbs are said by Neve to have a possessive 

 declension. Thus, of the two words puengui, he draws, and hid, 

 breath, is formed the verb huehid, which is conjugated by using 

 the verb in the indefinite third person and inserting the posses- 

 si ves ma, ni, na, my, thy, his ; thus, 



ybuemahia, I breathe. 



ybuenihia, thou breathest. 



ybaenahia, he breathes.f 

 Literally this would be " it-is-drawing, my-breath," etc. 



In the Mazahua dialects there is a remarkable change in the 

 objective conjugations (transitions) where the whole form of the 

 verb appears to alter. In this language ti = I ; ki or khe = thou. 



I give, ti une. 



I give thee, ti clakke. 



He will give us, ti yakme.% 



The last example is not fully explained hy my authorities ; but 

 it shows the verbal change. 



Something like this occurs in the Pame dialects. They re- 

 veal a manifest indifference to the integrity of the theme, charac- 

 teristic of polysynthetic languages. Thus, our only authority 

 on the Pame, Father Juan Guadalupe Soriano, gives the pret- 

 erit forms of the verb " to aid :" 



Ku pait, I aided. 



Ki gait, thou aidedest. 



Ku mail, he aided. 



*"L'Othomi nous a tout l'air d'une langue primitivement incorporante, et 

 qui, parvenu au dernier degr6 d'usure et d61abrement, a flni par prendre lea 

 allures d'un dialecte a juxtaposition." Melanges de Philologie et de Paliographie 

 Amiricaine. Par le Conite de Uharencey, p. 80 (Paris, 1883). 



t Neve, Reglas etc., pp. 159, 160. 



% Pimentel, Cuadro Bescriptivo, Tom. iii, p. 424. 



PROC AMER PHILOS. SOC. XXIII. 121. J. PRINTED OCTOBER 16, 1885. 



