440 ETHNOLOGY. 



as well as " ewaciij ; " " y?/krn)pi," as well as " yrdvOiipi," is used to express 

 are, (of the verb " to hcP) We have also double forms of words, differ- 

 ing only in the vowel they contain, such as kpo, kpe, {lasting, durable, 

 &c. ;) kt«, kte, {to Icill ;) spa, spe, &g. 



Sometimes, however, the ditFerence of a vowel occasions also some 

 slight modification in the meaning; for instance, onataka and inataka, 

 both implying the same idea, only the former being the verb, the latter 

 the noun; wowiuihar), aive ; wawinihai), aicfiCl ; oskopa, arch; and 

 askopa, arched, &ii. 



In the Dakota language, we must add, it is of the highest importance 

 that the philologist should, when comparing words with different 

 vowels, be exceedingly careful not to see in them always merely double 

 forms of one and the same expression. For, in this language it often 

 happens that syllables which differ only in their vowels are neverthe- 

 less sometimes of an essentially different origin, and may denote ideas 

 wholly heterogeneous, and thus enter as parts into compounds in all 

 else similar to each other. Thus, for instance, wada s'a means a beggar ; 

 woda s'a means the same. Nevertheless, they are different compounds, 

 the former meaning simplj^ one who aslsfor something, icho hcgs, while 

 the first syllable of the latter, namely, wo, is an entirely different word 

 from ^c«, and means ybofZ; so that woda s'a alludes to begging food, beg- 

 ging for something to eat. Equal caution is necessary when comparing 

 words like the following, which in their constituent parts are by no 

 means identical, viz: yawaste and yjtwaste, both meaning to bless. 

 They have both the word 2caite, good, in common ; but y«-waste means 

 literally to call good, and yw-waste to male good. The same is the case 

 with yrttaijin and y«taqin, which means to disclose; y«onihai] and y«o- 

 nihai), to glorify ; yaliepa and yidiepa, to imbibe, and a great many others. 



We close these remarks with a few words on the harmonious character 

 of this language. Vowels undergo changes not only for the purpose of 

 expressing various modifications of the original meaning, but also for 

 mere euphonic reasons. Tliere is, in fact, a gri'ater tendency in the Da- 

 kota language to bring about a constantly harmonious, smooth, graceful, 

 and easy flow of speech than in almost anj' other of the known Indian 

 tongue. Thus, we frequenth" find the vowel a, for the sake of euphony, 

 changed to e; and for the same reason, any possible hiatus carefully 

 avoided by elisions, while semi-vowels are frequently inserted where 

 two vowels would otherwise come into immediate contact with each 

 other and impair the harmoniousness of the sound. Contractions 

 are also used for the same i)urpose, and the accent or stress of voice 

 moves, according to certain laws, from one syllable to the other in the 

 inflectional changes which a word undergoes, whereby the language 

 becomes often very pleasing and majestic. Indeed, if a comparison 

 were allowed of the widely-dilfereut but far more flexible and varied 

 Chippewa, and our more slowly-moving, grave, and manly Dakota lan- 

 guage, we would venture to compare, as far as euphony and sonorous- 



