198 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. I. 



given above will result in the detection of two radicals : a primary root, 

 which is always the final syllable of the verbal stem, and contains the key 

 to the main signification of the compound, — and a secondary radical, 

 which precedes the personal element, and alters the sense of the primary 

 root. Thus the j/a oi ta-7icBsli-ya indicates that a human being is walking 

 on two feet, and the prefixed particle ta furthermore denotes that such 

 locomotion takes place from the outside to the inside of a habitation. 



Now if, in lieu of experiencing with a permanent initial particle, we 

 should retain instead an immutable desinential radical, we might succes- 

 sively prefix thereto various initial radicals, whereby new words with nevv 

 meanings would be formed. Tzaih, for instance, is the desinential root of 

 such objective verbs as have for complement anything of a granulous 

 nature. We shall prefix thereto the particle the, whereby— with the incor- 

 poration of the pronominal s — we obtain the-stzaih, (I take out (of the 

 house gran, obj.), which may be further modified into ha-sizaih, I extract 

 (gran, obj.) from ; kcE-stzaih, I put (do.) on ; pe-stzaih^ I put (do.) in (a 

 recipient) ; Jnve-stzaiJi, I take (do.) away ; hzvosa-stzaih, I bring (do.) to 

 myself; 7tencB-stzaih, I lay (do.) on the ground; na-stzaih, I drop (do., do.) ; 

 nintJia-stzaiJi^ I put (do.) in the wrong place, that is, I lose, etc. 



From which we conclude the existence in Dene of two chief syn- 

 thetical processes, viz., one whereby the verbal stem is changed while the 

 initial prefix remains invariable, and the other which retains the verbal 

 stem unaltered, while it prefixes to it divers modificative particles. 



On the other hand, a primary radical may be modified by many a se- 

 condary radical, or formative particles performing the office of radicals. 

 Instead of ta-ncssJiya, for instance, we might say ta-na-ncssqa^ I walk 

 in again ; ta-na-Jnue'-ncEsqa^ I only begin to walk in again, etc. 



Nor should a student, desirous of seeing in all its expansion the won- 

 derful power of composition peculiar to the languages under review, 

 stop at the examination of compounds resulting from the prefixing to 

 a verbal stem of merely one or two sense- modifying particles. To give 

 him an idea of what it can lead to, I shall introduce him to the verb 

 Ce-k(B-na-Jnve'-sh(En-d(E-tJi(2-7icEZ-krok, which is a simple word, meaning: " I 

 usually re-commence to walk to and fro on all fours while singing." Shall 

 we analyse it ? Let us try. [e is a prefix expressive of reciprocity, 

 which, when in connection with a verb of locomotion, indicates that the 

 movement is executed between two certain points without giving promi- 

 nence to either ; kcB denotes direction towards those points ; na is the 



* Qa is the equivalent of ya, such as inflected by the iterative particle na. 



