74 



INDIANS- -(LANGUAGES OF AMERICAN.) 



made eight conjugations: the first ends in in, as 

 achpin (to be there, in a particular place) : the second, 

 in a, as rida (\ go): the third, in elendam, and indi 

 cates a disposition of mind, as wulelendam (to be 

 ) : the fourth . in men, as n'pendamen (I hear; : the 

 in an, as ahoalan (to love) : the sixth, in e or 

 uw, as n'dellowe (I say): the seventh, in in, as miltin 

 (to give) ; it has no simple, active, or passive voice 

 and is only conjugated through the personal forms or 

 transitions : the eighth, in ton, as peton (to bring); il 

 has the simple active, but not the passive fonn, anc 

 has the personal indicative and subjunctive transitions 

 Their conjugations are as regular as those of any 

 language that we know. (m) Tenses, The writers 

 on Indian grammar have usually made three tenses 

 present, past, and future ; but, as Mr Heckewelder 

 observes to Mr Du Ponceau, " You will be much 

 mistaken, if you believe that there are no other 

 modes of expressing actions and passions in the ver- 

 bal form, as connected with the idea of time." This 

 will be presently exemplified in some Indian verbs. 

 The present and preterite require no particular illus- 

 tration ; but the future admits of a modification 

 which, to those who are conversant with the Euro- 

 pean languages only, is very remarkable. We take 

 Mr Heckewelder's exemplification, abridged : 



INDICATIVE PRESENT. 



Positive Form. 



N'dahoaliinprn. we love one anothei 

 K 'dahoaUihbimo, you love one another 

 Ahoaltowak, they love one another. 



Negative Farm. 



Malta n'dahoaltlwuneen, we do not love one another 

 Malta k'dahoaltiwihhimo, ye do not love one another 

 Malta ahoaltiwlwak, they do not love one another. 



It is to be observed, that, in this negative form, 

 matta (or atta) is an adverb, which signifies no or not, 

 and is always prefixed ; but it is not that alone 

 which indicates the negative sense of the verb. It is 

 lso pointed out by wu or wi, which is interwoven 

 throughout the whole conjugation ; the vowel which 

 immediately precedes being sometimes changed for 

 the sake of sound, as from aholt&wak (they love each 

 other) is formed ahoaltiwiwak (they do not love each 

 other). The reader will now readily understand the 

 remarkable modification of the future tense above 

 spoken of, which is a concordance in tense of the 

 adverb with the verb. The future tense of the above 

 negative example is 



MattaUh n'dahoaltiwuneen, we shall or will not love each other 

 Mattauh k'dahoaltiwihhimo, you shall or will not love each other 

 Mattatih ahoaltiwiwak, they shall or will not love each other. 



Now, the termination atsh or tsh, in the verbs, indi- 

 cates the future tense; but, by a peculiarity in these 

 languages, it is sometimes attached to the verb, as in 

 ktahoaliwitsh (thou shalt or wilt not love me), and 

 sometimes to the adverb, as in the examples last 

 above given, and to other parts of speech accom- 

 panying the verb. So they say, mattatsh rCdawi, or 

 matta n'dawitsh (I shall not not go). Mr Hecke- 

 welder observes, that, in deciding which form to use, 

 the ear is the best guide. The same thing is noticed 

 by doctor Edwards, in the Mohegan dialect. In the 

 Massachusetts language, the future was expressed 

 by a word signifying futurity, added to the indica- 

 tive mood; as mos, pish (shall or will). In addition 

 to these three tenses, we find by Mr Zeisberger's 

 Grammar, that in the Delaware, the subjunctive 

 mood has only a pluperfect in the active and passive 

 voices, but not otherwise. (n) Moods. These have 

 generally been made conformable to the correspond- 

 ing divisions in our own language indicative, im- 

 perative, subjunctive, infinitive, with the participial 

 form. In the Delaware, Mr Zeisberger has also 

 given what he (or his translator) calls the local-rela- 



tive mood; as, indicative, n'da (I go) ; local relative, 

 eyaya (where or whither I go). Eliot, in the Mas- 

 sachusetts language, makes five moods indicative, 

 imperative, optative, subjunctive, or suppositive, and 

 indefinite, or infinitive. We conclude the subject of 

 the Indian verb with an example of a conjugation, 

 from the Delaware, by which the preceding observa- 

 tions will be more fully illustrated ; adding only the 

 just remark made by Eliot more than a century and 

 a half ago that " the manner of formation of the 

 nouns and verbs have such a latitude of use, that 

 there needeth little other syntaxis in the language." 

 After this example from the Delaware, we shall give 

 some parts of a conjugation from the Cherokee lan- 

 guage, which belongs to an entirely different stock, 

 and has some peculiarities still more extraordinary 

 than those already given from other languages. Our 

 limits will not allow us to insert a whole conjugation 

 of the verb, in its various modifications of the inani- 

 mate, animate, affirmative, negative, and other forms. 

 We shall therefore only give so much as will exhibit 

 the personal forms or transitions, which have been 

 above spoken of. 



AHOALAN, to love, 



PERSONAL FORMS (OR TRANSITIONS) POSITIVE. 



FIRST TRANSITION. 



INDICATIVE MOOD 



Present, 



K'dahoatell, I love thee 

 N'dahoala. I love him 



K'dahoalennep, I loved thee 

 N'dahoalap, I loved him 



K'dahonlelltsh, I shall 

 thee 



K'dahoalohbummo, I love you 

 N'dahoalawak, I love them. 



Preterite. 



IK'dahoalohhummoap, I loved Ton 

 N'dahoalapaiinik, 1 loved tnem. 



Future. 



love 



N'dahoalauchtsh, I shall or will love 



them. 



SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD. 

 Present. 



K'dahoalohhuramotsh, 1 shall or will 



love you 

 N'dahoalawaktsh, I shall or will lov 



Ahoalanne, If or when I love thee 

 Ahoalachte, if or when I love him 



IAhoaleque, If or when I love you 

 Ahoalach tile, if or when I love them 



Preterite. 



Ahoalannup, if or when I loved thee 

 Aboalacbtup, if or when I loved him 



Ahoalekup, If or when I loved you 

 Ahoalachtup, if or when I loved 



Pluperfect. 



Ahoalanpanne, if or when I had loved 



thee 

 Ahoalachtuppanne, if or when I had 



Ahoalekpanne, if or when I bad loved 

 Aboalatpanne, If or when I bad loved 



Future. 



Ahoalanhetsh, it or when I shall or 



will love thee 

 Ahoalachtctsh, If or when I shall or 



will love him 



Ahoalequetsh, If or when I shall or 



will love you 

 Ahoalachtitetsh, if or when I shall 



or will love them. 



SECOND TRANSITION. 



INDICATIVE MOOD. 



Present. 



K'dahoall, thou lovest me 

 K'dahoala, thou lovest him 



K'dahoalinep, thou didst love me 

 K'daboalap, thou didst love him 



I K'dohoalineen, thou lovest n 

 I K-daboalawak, thou lovest them. 



Preterite. 



K'dahoallhhenap, thou didst love us 

 K'dahoalapannik, thou didst love 

 them. 



Future. 



R'dahoalltsh, thou shalt or wilt love 



K'dahoalauchtsh, thou shalt < 

 love him 



K dahoalihhenatsb, thou shall or wilt 



R-dahoalawakUb, thou shalt or wilt 

 love them. 



IMPERATIVE MOOD. 



Ahoalil, love thou me I Ahoalineen, love thou at, 



SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD. 

 Present. 



Ahoallyanne, If or when thou lovest 



me " 



K'dahoalaune, if o* when thou lovest 



Ahoaliyenke, If or when thou lores! 



K'dahoalaebte, if or when thou lovect 

 them. 



