49 



and verbs with their flexions, and in fact these may be said to 

 constitute the whole language. 



The FLEXION COMPLETES THE PROCESS BY WHICH THE 

 LANGUAGE IS CAPABLE OF EXPRESSING A COMPARAT1VLY LARGE 

 COMPOUND OF IDEAS IN A FEW WORDS. In general it com- 

 prises: 



(1) The number: singular, dual and plural. Plural can be 

 used instead of dual. 



(2) For verbs the person. 



(3) As to nouns the relation, and as to verbs the object 

 of the action is indicated by additions which have been termed 

 SUFFIXES. 



(4) As to nouns whether they are object or subject in the 

 sentence (objective and subjective, the latter comprising the 

 genitive). 



(5) As to nouns what in other languages is expressed by 

 prepositions, answering the questions: where, whence, what way, 

 whither and how, by forms or cases which may be called : Lo- 

 calis , Ablative, Vialis, Terminalis and Modalis. Their endings 

 are called appositions. 



(6) For verbs 7 moods: indicative, interrogative, optative 

 (imperative), conjunctive, subjunctive and participle. 



But flexion neither comprises sex nor tense. For the latter 

 affixes can be used. 



NOCfiS AND THEIR FLEXION. 



Of THE CASES, THE OBJECTIVE indicates the object of a trans- 

 itive verb (accusative) as well as the subject of an intransitive verb. 

 In the objective singular, which is to be considered the primitive form, 

 all nouns end in a vowel or in 3, k or t. Those which end in t, 

 when inflected take an auxiliary i or a. THE SUBJECTIVE indicates 

 as well the subject to a transitive verb, as our usual genitive when 

 referring to possession. 



xi. 4 



