460 APPENDIX. 



beauties. This exception consists in the want of number in the 

 third person of the declensions of animate nouns, and the conjuga- 

 tion of animate verbs. Not that such words are destitute of 

 number, in their simple forms, or when used under circumstances 

 requiring no change of these simple forms — no prefixes and no 

 inflections. But it will be seen, at a glance, how very limited 

 such an application of words must be, in a transpositive language. 

 Thus mang and Mg (loon and porcupine) take the plural inflec- 

 tion ivug^ becoming mang loug and T<:ag wug (loons and porcu- 

 pines). So, in their pronominal declension : — 



But his loon, or loons (o mang oom un), his porcupine or jior- 

 cupines (o gag oom U7i), are without number. The rule applies 

 equally to the class of words in which the pronouns are insepa- 

 rable. Thus, my father and thy father, nos and Jc6s, become my 

 fathers and thy fathers, by the numerical inflection ug, forming 

 nosug and h6sug. But 6sun, his father or fathers, is vague, and 

 does not indicate whether there be one father or twenty fathers. 

 The inflection ?m, merely denotes the olject. The rule also applies 

 equally to sentences in which the noun is governed by or governs 

 the verb. Whether we say, " I saw a bear," ningi wdbumd mnh- 

 wah, or " a bear saw me," muhiuah ningi ludhumig, the noun, itself, 

 undergoes no change, and its number is definite. But ogi wabum- 

 dn nuik-wun, " he saw bear," is indefinite, although both the verb 

 and the noun have changed their ending;s. And if the narrator 

 does not subsequently determine the number, the hearer is either 

 left in doubt, or must resolve it by a question. In fine, the whole 

 acts of the third person are thus rendered questionable. This 

 want of precision, which would seem to be fraught with so much 

 confusion, appears to be obviated in practice, b}'' the employment 

 of adjectives, by numerical inflections in the relative words of 

 the sentence, by the use of the indefinite article, paizhik, or by 

 demonstrative pronouns. Thus, p)aiz]iik muhvun ogi ivabum-dn, 



