196 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VoL. I. 



European parentage, for instance, can trace to a synthetical process its 

 original formation. For what are such terms as de-ponere, re-ponere,pre- 

 ponere, ex-covi-7nunicare^ not to speak of their synonyms and derivatives in 

 the modern analytic tongues, if not synthetical compounds 1 Scholars are 

 also well aware of the role played in the formation of Greek words by 

 such prepositions as Kara, /xeru, tiTTcp, 8ta, etc. Nor should we forget the 

 original synthetic verbs dt-sta?idan, be-standan.for-standan, tinder-standan, 

 etc., of the early Anglo-Saxon, the main root of our own English. But 

 as no other linguistic group displays this propensity for word agglomera- 

 tion in such a degree and with such varied results, its claims to be 

 regarded as the special characteristic of the American languages remain 

 unimpaired. 



The Ddn^ dialects which, as we have seen, are distinctly inflective in 

 the pronominal elements of their verbs, are also thoroughly polysynthetic 

 in the formation of composite verbal terms. Indeed , it is to that pecu- 

 liarity, coupled with the multiplicity of their sense-modifying forms, that 

 we must look for the cause of the prodigious number of their verbs. It 

 were tedious, as well as unprofitable for the purpose in view, to enter into 

 the details of the several processes whereby two or more dependent or 

 independent terms are united to compose a new word. A iow representa- 

 tive examples will, I trust, suffice to give us an idea of the whole system. 

 I have in a previous chapter hinted at the existence in the Carrier dialect 

 of a comparative internally connected with the primary verbal adjectives 

 and a few other verbs of simple import. This shall serve as our first 

 illustration of synthetism as applied to the formation of the Dene com- 

 posite verbs. 



The primary verbal adjective oessid means " I am small," and its 

 third person singular is 7i-tS2il. With the help of the proper prefixes we 

 obtain : ndcEl-tsnl, he is as small ; dcel-tsul, he is as small as (with a com- 

 plement) ; nga-d(sl-tsul, he is as small as that ; pcz-ndi-ycEl-tsiil, he is as 

 small as he; CcB-ndcel-tsul, they are both as small, one as the other; su-il- 

 tstil, he is small enough ; ta-l-tsul? how small is he ? Cel-tsul ! how small 

 he is ! We must not fail to observe that the comparative prefixes have for 

 effect to change the pronominal part of these verbs from that of the first 

 to that of the third conjugation. Moreover, these and all other cognate 

 verbs are susceptible of assuming, conjointly with the above prefixes, all 

 the internal inflections assumable by a verb as verb, not counting those 

 they can be afi"ected by as primary verbal adjectives. 



For simpler, and perhaps more intelligible, examples we will look to 

 the verbs formed with the help of the particle ta, root of tatJii, " door." 

 By prefixing it to such verbs as nceshya, " I (human being) walk," we 



