Brinton.] <->-> [Oct. 2, 



tongues have been built up from significant particles (not 

 words) in the same manner. 



Some of these particles convey a peculiar turn to the whole 

 sentence, difficult to express in our tongues. Thus the element 

 ' e attached to the last syllable of a compound gives an oppositive 

 sense to the whole expression; for example, ajur, "I come" 

 simply; but if the question follows: "Who ordered you to 

 come?" the answer might be, ajure, "I come of my own accord; 

 nobody ordered me." * 



Cavalcanti observes that many of these formative elements 

 which existed in the old Tupi have now fallen out of use. f This 

 is one of several evidences of a change in structure in the lan- 

 guage, a loss of its more pliable and creative powers. 



This synthesis is also displayed in the Tupi, as in the Cree, 

 by the inseparable union of certain nouns with pronouns. The 

 latter are constantly united with terms of consanguinity and 

 generally with those of members of the body, the form of the 

 noun undergoing material modifications. Thus : 



tete, body ; cete, his body ; xerete, my body. 



tuba, father ; oguba, his father ; xerub, my father. 



mymbaba, domestic animal ; gueymba, 4iis domestic animal. 



tera, name ; guera, his name. 



Postpositions are in a similar manner sometimes merged into 

 the nouns or pronouns which they limit. Thus : tenonde, before ; 

 guenonde, before him. 



It appears to me that the substratum, the structural theory, 

 of such a tongue is decidedly polysynthetic and not agglutina- 

 tive, still less analytic. 



Let us now inquire whether there are any signs of the incor- 

 porative process in Tupi. 



We are at once struck with the peculiarity that there are two 

 special sets of pronouns used with verbals, one set subjective 



* Anchieta, Arte de Grammatica, etc., p. 75. 

 t The Brazilian Language, etc., pp. IS-!). 



