210 



TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



[Vol. I. 



To enable the reader to judge for himself, and, at the same time, to give 

 him an opportunity of appreciating the latent forces which are acting 

 upon the language of our Indians, I shall lay before him lists of the Car- 

 rier words that have undergone any variation during the present century.* 

 They are of two kinds : there are those the vocalic or transmutable ele- 

 ments of whicfli have been corrupted into their present form, and those 

 that have been replaced by entirely new words. To the first class belong 

 the followinsf : — 



Old ivords (loo years ago). 



tif, crane 



thif, berry-basket (bark) 



foeNn, dog 



oefthoeNn, bow 



toene-thoeNn, old man 



choentsoeNn, pine (Pinus resinosa) 



ninloeNn, it flows 



t03taNn, duck 



taltaNn, torch 



nzoNn (he is) good 



Nezv words. 



tef 



thef 



fi 



cefthi' 



tcene-thi 



chcentsi 



niiili 



toetai 



taltai 



nzu 



and their derivatives, together with a few other terms of similar 

 desinence. 



That changes in an American language are not restricted to the 

 inflexible syllables of a word will be shown by the following terms, most 

 of which are still understood, even by children, but have grown 

 obsolete : — 



Old zvords. 



ul'en, lynx 



tsoNntzif, ice breaker 



ni-yutse (he barks inland), coyote 



jifaih-pa-tsa, red fox 



soes-ejoef, brown or cross bear 



ken-tsi, species of red willow 



New words. 



washi 

 oete (horn) 



choen-thoe-fi (wood-dog) 

 nanko3z ta?lkcen 

 sees toelkoen 

 ken toelkoen 



Of these words, the first {ivashi) is evidently a loan word borrowed 

 from the language of the Carriers' neighbors, the Skeena Kitiksons, who 



* I base my computation of time upon the age of my informants. One of them, who died two 

 years ago, was close to loo years old, since he had clear recollection of the advent in this country 

 ot the first white men in 1793. 



