AMERICAN LANGUAGES. 69 



commenced with the names of persons and things, where, to some extent, it is 

 common to all languages, and have been gradually extended to other parts of 

 speech, in which its chief peculiarity consists. 



Another feature of American languages, pronounced by Mr. Gallatin to be the 

 most remarkable one, may, possibly, be attributed to the absence of the substantive 

 verb to he, as an auxiliary. It is a controverted question, whether a true sub- 

 stantive verb — that is to say, one that conveys the abstract idea of existence — can 

 be found in the American languages. But it is certain that, where we use the 

 verb to be in connection with an attribute or a noun, that verb is omitted by the 

 Indians, and the attribute or noun is converted into an intransitive verb. Instead 

 of saying, I am cold, I am a man, the Indians say, "I cold," "I man," and the 

 nouns "cold" and "man" become intransitive verbs, and are conjugated through all 

 the persons, tenses, and moods, like other verbs; number and person being ex- 

 pressed by variations of the pronoun, while other distinctions are produced by 

 inflexions of the word itself. 



Nearly all parts of speech are, in like manner, convertible into verbs; and very 

 nice varieties of action are indicated by the insertion of particles having the effect 

 of adverbs, but having no separate existence as such. Thus, an action may be in 

 contemplation, or on the point of execution ; it may be done well or ill, quickly 

 or otherwise, jointly, rarely, repeatedly, habitually, &c. ; or doubt, denial, and 

 various degrees of assertion, may be expressed — whether it rains hard, by showers, 

 steadily, &c. — whether you see near, or far off, &c. &c. 



By the joint means of agglomeration, and the use of particles and inflections, it 

 will be seen that very delicate shades of meaning may be attained; but they are 

 applicable only to the case in hand, and the expression cannot be made to serve a 

 general or abstract purpose. 



In some dialects, a form of plural has been noticed, that distinguishes between a 

 particular number and an indefinite number of objects, and by some writers this 

 has been termed " the American plural." 



Extreme precision is, indeed, a general characteristic of American languages; 

 and yet the masculine and feminine genders are not always clearly distinguished. 

 The distinction made by most of the northern Indians is whether the object is 

 animate or inanimate; and this is indicated with great care. A remarkable pecu- 

 liarity, however, in relation to sex, may be mentioned, as a feature said to be com- 

 mon to all the American nations. While the terms for younger brother and 

 younger sister are identical (except among the Iroquois), in expressing the various 

 degrees and modifications of kindred, such as elder or younger brother or sister, 

 paternal or maternal uncle or aunt, &c, the women use different words from the 

 men; a habit that seems to be confined to that subject, or analogous ones. 



We shall venture to specify no more peculiarities. It is only in its bearings 

 upon ethnological questions that the philosophy of language has any connection 

 with our purpose. Mr. Bancroft has undertaken to explain the characteristic 

 features of the American languages in the third volume of his history. His 

 description is at once elaborate and felicitously graphic. If not universally appli- 



