1885.] •" [Brinton. 



To forget. 



Present, I forget, atqui chita uringera. 



Perfect, I have forgotten, ochita uringea. 



These examples are sufficient to show that the Brunka con- 

 jugations are neither regular nor simple, and such is the em- 

 phatic statement of Bishop Thiol, both of it and all these allied 

 dialects. In his introduction he states that he is not yet ready 

 to offer a grammar of these tongues, though well supplied with 

 lexicographical materials, and that " their verbs are especially 

 difficult."* 



The Cabecar dialect, in which he gives several native funeral 

 poems, without translations, is apparently more complicated 

 than the Bri-Bri. The words of the songs are long and seem 

 much syncopated. 



The Tupi-Guarani Dialects. 



Several writers of the highest position have asserted that these 

 dialects, spoken over so large a portion of the territory of Brazil, 

 are neither polysynthetic nor incorporative. Thus the late Prof. 

 Charles F. Hartt in his " Notes on the Lingoa Geral or Modern 

 Tupi," expressed himself: — " Unlike the North American Indian 

 tongues, the languages of the Tupi-Guarani family are not poly- 

 synthetic in structure." f With scarcely less positiveness Pro- 

 fessor Friedrich Miiller writes : — " The objective conjugation of 

 the Tupi-Guarani does not show the incorporation usually seen 

 in American languages, but rather a mere collocation." J 



It is, I acknowledge, somewhat hazardous to venture an opin- 

 ion contrary to such excellent authorities. But I must say, that 

 while, no doubt, the Tupi in its structure differs widely from the 



* " Especial diflcultad ofrecen los verbos." Apuntes Lexfcograficos, etc. Introd. 

 p. iv. This expression is conclusive as to the incorrectness of the opinion of M. 

 Adam, and Prof. Miiller above quoted, and shows how easily even justly emi- 

 nent linguists may fall into error about tongues of which they have limited 

 means of knowledge. The proper course in such a case is evidently to be cau- 

 tious about venturing positive assertions. 



t Transactions of the American Philological Association, 1S72, p. 58. 



X Grundriss der Sprachwissenschafl, Bd. ii, p. 387. 



