I9I4-] PASSAMAQUODDY LANGUAGE OF MAINE. 103 



4. The possessive suffix -m contains the same demonstrative ele- 

 ment as the -m of neg'm, 'lie, she, it': nt-ads'm, k't-ads'm, 'my, thy 

 horse,' etc. 



5. The diminutive -sis is very common : t'm'htk'nsis, ' Httle axe ' ; 

 pilskwesis, ' girl ' {pil, ' young ' + skwe, ' w^oman ' -f sis) , etc. 



6. Here must be noted also the movable future -ch, which may be 

 affixed indifferently to nouns or to verbs : k'nimiol-ch, ' I shall see 

 you,' but wikwdm-ch nimi'ton, ' I shall see the house.' There is 

 another more vivid future expressed by li, 'go,' preceding the verb: 

 k't'li-nimiol, 'I shall (am going to) see thee.' 



7. Finally in this connection, similar to the -ch is the movable 

 conditional particle -p, as nt'liap'np sdmakzvan' k skatnchi piskononok, 

 'we (excl.) should go upon the water, if there were no fog'; here 

 with the verb, but tahalo-p ke'kw-yali kwilwatakiv, 'as if they were 

 seeking something' (ke'kzv). Sometimes this appears doubled: 

 nil'p-lo nt-etiim-niszvincn' p , ' I should take it along.' 



So far as I am aware there is no interrogative state such as 

 occurs in Ojibwe. As in all Algonquin dialects, the genitive relation 

 is expressed often by means of simple apposition: aut nimcskzi/k, 

 'road {aut) of the spirits'; otenesis zv'li-p'maus'zvin'zi/'k, 'a village 

 (otenesis) of good people'; often, however, by the locative -k; 

 sipsis'k skzvu't'k, 'birds of (in) fire' {skzvu't'k). Sometimes the 

 genitive is indicated by the possessive relation : zi/skinosis zi/ni- 

 chdlkzju'l, ' the lad his uncle '. 



As shown above, the dative is expressed by means of the verb 

 and obviative substantive, if the verb is in the third person. 



THE VERB. 



The imperative is the simplest form of the verbal root, as is the 

 case in most languages ; thus : kzvaskzv, ' run thou ' ; kzvaskzifhikw, 

 ' run ye ' ; kzvaskwech, ' let him run.' 



The present tense is the main tense of the Passamaquoddy verb, 

 as from it the future, conditional and past are formed by means of 

 suffixes. In fact, it may be truly said that the present is the only 

 real tense of the language. The present is often used for the past 

 in vivid narrative. The following example of the present of the 



