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



Phraseological construction might at first appear somewhat puzzling 

 to the student, yet it is as simple as that of our own English. To under- 

 stand it, we have only to bear in mind that in Denc^ the governed 

 word, be it direct or indirect complement, always precedes the governing. 

 As d consequence, to translate almost any English sentence, or part of sen- 

 tence, it is often sufficient to remark the order of priority observed between 

 its component parts, and then dispose the Dene words in exactly the 

 inverse order. The possessive and completive pronouns, being essentially 

 connected with the nouns, are — together with the subjective substantive — 

 alone excepted from this rule. Supposing, therefore, that we have to 

 translate this sentence: I departed only after I had well covered with 

 warm blankets my dear little children. We first read the words back- 

 wards, observing to join the possessive pronouns to the nouns they deter- 

 mine : My-children little dear blankets warm well I-had-covered-with 

 after only I-departed. Now it simply remains with us to translate word 

 after word, thus : S-csskheJikJie yaz p(Ekessvne tscet scezcel sucho ptEvait- 

 zasicEZ JiiikzviC-az za hzveshya. 



The nature and place in the sentence of the completive pronouns is 

 the only syntactic particular that might be said to offer any real diffi- 

 culty. Direct completive pronouns are incorporated in the verb, just im- 

 mediately before the personal element, while the indirect complement is 

 generally prefixed to the initial radical. Ex.: s-ra-e-nin-'ai, " he gave it to 

 me ;" yoa-rd-Ce-yt-al, " he did not give it to him." It will be remarked 

 that these verbs combine in their formative elements — ist, the personal 

 pronoun (ntn,yi)\ 2nd, the direct completive pronoun (e,yi)\ 3rd, the 

 indirect completive pronoun (s, yce), in addition to which we find also 

 incorporated therein : 4th, the negative particle {fe of the last example) 



Another feature of the Dene syntax is that these completive pronouns 

 are never expressed in connection with any but the third person singular 

 or plural, while some verbs never admit of their incorporation into their 

 elements unless they be of the plural number. Thus cescJiut, dijesni, etc., 

 may mean either " I took, I told," or " I took it, him or her, I told him 

 or her," according to the context. As a compensation, the direct com- 

 pletive pronouns find place in many a Dene verb, the English equiv^alent 

 of which is unrelated to any pronominal complement. Thus, for " God 

 made man," we must say, " God man made-him ;" " he took his pipe," 

 must be turned, his (own) pipe he-took-it." 



These few remarks will, I hope, suffice to give an idea of the Dene 

 syntax. Shall I now say a word about the idiotisms of the language ? 

 The task is rather invitino; on account of the abundance of the material 



