Brinton.] '4 [Oct. 2, 



So, of " to burn :" 



Knu aum, I burned. 



Kuddu du taum, they burned.* 



A large number of such changes run through the conjugation. 

 Pimentel calls them phonetic changes, but they are certainly, in 

 some instances, true syntheses. 



All these traits of the Othomi and its related dialects serve 

 to place them unquestionably within the general plan of struc- 

 ture of American languages. 



The Bri-Bri Language. 



The late Mr. William M. Gabb, who was the first to furnish 

 any satisfactory information about it and its allied dialects in 

 Costa Rica, introduces the Bri-Bri language, spoken in the high- 

 lands of that State, by quoting the words of Alexander von 

 Humboldt to the effect that " a multiplicity of tenses character- 

 izes the rudest American languages." On this, Mr. Gabb com- 

 ments : " This certainly does not apply to the Costa Rican 

 family, which is equally remarkable for the simplicity of its in- 

 flections.f" 



This statement, offered with such confidence, has been accepted 

 and passed on without close examination b}^ several usually care- 

 ful linguists. Thus Professor Friedrich Miiller, in his brief des- 

 cription of the Bri-Bri (taken exclusively from Gabb's work), 

 inserts the observation — " The simple structure of this idiom is 

 sufficient to contradict the theories generally received about 

 American languages. "| And M. Lucien Adam has lately in- 

 stanced its verbs as notable examples of inflectional simplicity.§ 



* Pimentel, Cuadro Descrijitlvo, Tomo iii, p. 462. 



t Wm. M. Gabb, On the Indian Tribes and Languages of Costa Rica, in the Pro- 

 ceedings of the American Philosophical Society for 1875, p. 532, 



J"Dessen einfacher Ban die (lber die Amerikanischen Sprachen im Allge- 

 meinen verbreiteten Theorien zu widerlegen im Stande ist." Qrundriss der 

 Sprachwixsenschaft , ii Band, s. 318 (Wien, 1882). 



j5 Le Tacnxa a-f-il (/(■forge de toutes Pieces'! ROponse A M. Daniel G. Brinton. 

 Par Lucien Adam, p. 19 (Paris, Maisonneuve et Cie, 1885). 



