AS A TEST OF MENTAL CAPACITY. 83 



phrases correspondiug to the " man sagt " aud " on dil " of those languages. {Dètiè aseVni, 

 on me Va dil ; déni zeli, on imite). It even becomes, ou occasions, an indefinite article (but 

 generally in an abbreviated form), when referring to human beings or to parts of the 

 human body, as with et'a, father, denet'a, a father (lit., some one's father) ; inla, hand, 

 denivia, a hand (i.e., some one's hand). The working of the combined powers of deduc- 

 tion, abstraction, and generalization has rarely been exhibited in any language more 

 strikingly than in the formation and use of this word. 



It is, however, as might be expected, in the Tinueh verb that the capabilities of the 

 language in the way of expression are most fully shown. In many other American 

 languages, as is well known, the verb possesses an immense variety of minutely expres- 

 sive forms, which, when these languages were first studied, awakened much wonder and 

 admiration. Later on, when the physiological and "brutal" view of anthropology over- 

 powered for a time its philological and intellectual aspect, a period ol depreciation set in. 

 Even the always candid and usually careful Darwin was so far influenced by the 

 arguments of his ill-informed followers that he allowed himself to speak slightingly of 

 " the extremely complex and regular construction of many barbarous languages," as a 

 sign of immaturity and imperfection. If extreme complexity in language is a mark of 

 low organization, the Greek of Plato and the Arabic of Avicenua must take a very 

 humble rank. On the other hand, if irregularity of grammar gives a claim to admira- 

 tion, then the most complex ol American languages, the Iroquois, Algonkin and Tinneh, 

 may fairly rank beside those exceedingly irregular tongues, the Homeric Greek and the 

 Vedaic Sanscrit. — both of which, it might be added, should, in reference to the condition 

 of the people who spoke them, be classed as " barbarous languages," — so little did 

 Darwin, or rather his authorities, with all their classical attainments, know of the first 

 principles of modern philological science. To find a perfectly regular language we must 

 look, not to barbarous tribes or civilized nations, but to the inventors of Yolapiik and 

 other artificial creations of the sort. 



It will not be necessary to dwell on the points in which the forms of the Tinneh 

 A'^erb resemble more especially those common to it with others of the highly organized 

 American languages — the numerous conjugations, the pronominal transitions from subject 

 to object, and the like. But certain special facts must be noticed which will show its 

 claim to be ranked in the intellectual scale on the same level with the most notable 

 linguistic families of the old world. It possesses and constantly employs the substantive 

 verb in various forms. The root of the principal form is li, of which the present tense, 

 with the personal pronoun prefixed, is as follows : — 



Singular. Diul. Plural. 



cdi, I am. idli, we two are- yaiiW, we are. 



nenli, tliou art. ali, ye two are. ymU'i, ye are. 



enli, he is. kenli, they two are. k'eyonli, they are. 



Examples — dènè ?ienli, thou art a man (homo es) : uya enli, he is ashamed ; nezun esli, I 

 am good. In Tinneh, however, as in other American languages, the use of the indepen- 

 dent substantive verb with adjectives can be avoided by incorporating the two in one 

 word, and using, instead of neziin esli, nezun nenli, nezun enli, the abridged forms, nessun, 

 ninzun, nezun, for I am good, thou art good, he is good. 



