1895-96. J THE BLACKFOOT LANGUAGE. 139 



Moyists = lodges. Oqkotokists = stones. 



Sinaksists = letters. Tcistcikvvists = days. 



Ponokamitaks = horses. Matupiks = peoples. 



There are several nouns which have no plural, as : 



Napinoan = sugar. Unikis = milk. 



The Animate Nouns form the plural by adding ks, iks or sks to the 

 singular, as : 



Ponoka = deer. Ponokaks = deer. 



Nokos = my child. Nokosiks = my children. 



Mame = a fish. Mameks = fishes. 



Inanimate Nouns form the plural by adding ts or sts to the singular, 

 as : 



Napyoyis = a house. Napyoyists = houses. 



Mataki = a potato. Matakists = potatoes. 



Oqpekin — his tooth. Oqpekists — his teeth. 



In the formation of the plural, before adding the terminations, some- 

 times a syllable is dro.pped, or there is a change or elision of one or two 

 vowels or consonants, as : 



Akio = a woman. Akeks = women. 



Napekwan = a white man. Napekweks ^^ white men. 



Matsikin = a moccasin. Matsikists = moccasins. 



CASE. 



Case is the form in which a noun is used in order to show its relation 

 to some other word in the sentence. 



There are three cases in the language, nominative, possessive and accu- 

 sative. The possessive case is formed by adding as a prefix the abbrevi- 

 ated forms of the possessive pronoun, as : 



N, ni, nit and nits for the first person. 

 K, ki, kit and kits for the second person. 

 O, ot and ots for the third person. 



Amo nitsapyoyis =^ this (is) my house. 



Oma kotas = that (is) thy horse. 



Saqkomapi otsinaksin = the boy, his book, — the boy's book. 



