194 



TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



[Vol. I. 



Dual : il-thces, we are both strong 



il-chan, we are both pregnant. 



These and similarly constructed verbs are what I may call primary verbs. 

 Their characteristic is the pronominal consonant of their third person sing- 

 ular («, C, /,), which stands alone, unsupported by any vowel, and which dif- 

 ferentiates them from the simple, but non-primary, verbs. These, although 

 they are uncomposite in material structure, yet possess two distinct 

 radicals : one preceding, the other following, the personal element which 

 invariably occupies the penult place in all kinds of verbs. The following 

 shall serve as an illustration thereof : 



/. Conjugation. 



nd-oes-ta, I am sick 



nd-in-ta 



nd-oe-ta 



tsoe-nd-oe-ta 

 nd-oeh-ta 

 hoe-nd-oe-ta 



Dual : nd-i-ta, we are 

 both sick 



//. Conjugation. 



t-oes-koes, I am black 



t-if-koes 



t-oef-koes 



oez-t-oef-kcBs 

 t-oef-koes 

 hcfi-t-oef-koes 



t-il-koes, we are both 

 black 



///. Conjugation. 



t-oez-xwoes, I cough 



t-il-xwoes 



t-oel-xwoes 



oez-t-oel-xwoes 

 t-oef-xwoes 

 hoe-t-oel-xwoes 



t-il-xwoes, we both cough 



A noteworthy feature of the Dene dialects is that, alone among many 

 American idioms, they possess the substantive verb " to be " in its inde- 

 pendent form ; and, what is even more remarkable, that verb is, in Car- 

 rier and Chifxotin, just as regular in its conjugation as any other verb of 

 its class. However, it is used only in connection with a noun or the few 

 adjectives or adverbo-adjectives mentioned in a previous chapter. More- 

 over, elegance demands that its use be corroborated by a kind of secon- 

 dary substantive verb as in this phrase : I am a man, toene cestli hwe 

 cestoh, literally " a man I-am whereby it-is-I." Nevertheless this verb of 

 redundance (cBstoJi) may be omitted without any change of meaning re- 



*Chrt7i means "womb," and the literal translation of that verb should read : "I ivomb, thou wombest," etc. 



