PREPOSITIONS. 59 



pronoun, the adverb ' sni ;' as, mde sni, (I-go not) I did not go ; he (5ar) sni, {that 

 wood not) that is not wood. 



2. An emphatic negation is sometimes indicated by ' ka6a,' which however is 

 seldom used except in contradicting what has been previously said ; as, yao kada, 

 thou didst 7iot hit it, 



3. A negative used interrogatively often implies permission ; as, iyadu 6ni to, (dost 

 thou not take it ?) may signify, thou mayest take it. 



§ 183. 1. In Dakota, two negatives make an affirmative ; as, wanida, there is 

 none ; wanide sni, {there-is-none not) i. e. there is some. 



2. When two negative verbs are connected by a conjunction, the first may be 

 without the sign of negation ; as, kakipe (^a iyotaq taqka sni, (he-surpassed and 

 more great not) he neither surpassed nor was the greatest. 



Signs of Interrogation. 



§ 184. 1. ' He ' is the conmion interrogative particle, and is placed at the end of 

 the sentence ; as, widayada he, dost thou believe ? 



2. When the person spoken to is at a distance, ' hwo,' compounded of ' he ' and 

 ' wo,' is used ; as, toki da hwo, whither art thou going ? This last is not used by 

 females. 



3. Sometimes ' ka ' is employed instead of ' he,' as the sign of interrogation ; as, 

 he taku hogaq ka, what kind offish is that ? 



4. Sometimes, however, the interrogation is distinguished only by the tone of 

 voice. Unlike the English, the voice falls at the close of all interrogative sentences. 



CHAPTER VI. 



PREPOSITIONS. 



§ 185. Prepositions are placed after the nouns which they govern. 



a. Some are written as separate words (§ 89) ; as, maka kii) akan, on the earth ; 

 tipi idahda, by the house ; doqka^ke ekta, at the garrisoti. In this case plurality of 

 the noun is expressed by ' wida ' incorporated into the preposition ; as, tataijka kiq 

 widikiyedar), (ox the them-near-to) near to the oxen ; Dakota ewidataqhaq, from the 

 Dakotas. 



b. Other prepositions are suffixed to nouns (§ 91); as, tiqtata, on the prairie; 

 magata, at the field ; daijyata, at the woods. 



c. And others are prefixed to the following verb (§ 92) ; as, amani, to walk on; 

 idekiya, to pray for. 



2. a. Pronouns governed by a preposition are sometimes prefixed to it, in which 

 case those prepositions which have ' i ' for their initial letter cause an elision of the 

 last vowel of the pronoun ; as, ikiyedaq, near to, mikiyedaq, near to me; itehai), far 

 from, nitehax), far from thee. If the pronoun is plural, the plural termination is 

 attached to the preposition ; as, urjketaqhaqpi, from us. 



b. Sometimes the pronoun is inserted in the preposition, if the latter consists of 

 more than two syllables ; as, enitaghaq,yro»i thee. 



