190 Miscellaneous Facts and Observations. 



LANGUAGE. 



45. The Language of the Osage-Indians, who dwell 

 upon the waters of the Missouri, and within the limits 

 of the United- States, is found, by the Editor, to be a 

 dialect of the language of the Naudowessie, or Sioux, 

 Indians. This appears to be one of the mother lan- 

 guages of North- America. It abounds in monosyllaba- 

 lic and dissyllabalic words,, and may be traced, in the 

 most unequivocal manner, to some of the existing dia- 

 lects of the old world. Its relation to the Fi n n i c , both 

 of Europe and of Asia, is very striking. 



The Editor's recent inquiries have convinced him, 

 that there is much less foundation than has been sup- 

 posed for the assertion, that the number of Radical 

 languages in North- America is very great. On the 

 contrary, he is of opinion, that all the knonxin Indian dia- 

 lects, within the limits of the United- States*, may, pro- 

 ceeding upon just and cautious principles, be referred 

 to two or three general stocks ; and even these, agreeably 

 to the strict import of the word, do not seem to be ra- 

 dically different from each other. 



Editor. 



* AH that are known to him, amounting to at least one hun- 

 dred and twenty dialects, specimens of the whole of which he in- 

 tends to publish. 



