Heushaw, H. \\'., eutered in Powell's lutroduc- 

 'V, *- 



I tioD. second edition, iu 1893. 



300* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.akn.17 



18. Yavapai vocabulary, Corbusier, W. H., entered in Powell's Introduction, first 



edition, in 1873-1875. 

 in. Yavapai vocabulary, Gatsobet, A. S., M.S., 1883. 



20. M'luat vocabulary, Helmsiug, .1. .S., printed blank (211 term.s), 1876. 



21. Sauta Cataliua vocabulary, Heusbaw, H. W., entered in Powell's lutroduetion, 



second edition, in 1884. 



22. Tnlkepaya vocabulary, Ten Kate, Herman, iu Gatscbet, Der Yuma-Sprach- 



stamiu, Zeitschrift fiir EtUnologie, Baud x\iii, 188G. 



23. Kiliwee vocabulary, Gabl), W. M., printed blank (211 terms), 1867. 



24. Diegueno vocabulary, Bartlett, J. R. (Los Angeles), printed blank (180 terms). 

 24a. Diegueno vocabulary, Heusbaw, H. W., entered iu Powell's Introduction, 



second edition, in 1884. 



25. Santa Isabella vocabulary, 



26. Hawi Rancberia vocabulary, J 



27. Mesa Grande vocabulary, 



General Discrssiox 



The members of a group of languages called Yumau are Sjioken in a region com- 

 prising a part of the peninsula of Lower California, the southern extreme of Cali- 

 fornia, and the western portion of Arizona. In this group of languages ethnologists 

 have hitherto included that spoken by the Seri Indians and their congeners. Hut 

 the inclusion of this language rests ai)parently upon evidence drawn from data 

 insufficient iu extent and largely imperfect and doubtful in character. In the fol- 

 lowing pages tliis evidence is examined, and the conclusion is reached that it does 

 not warrant the inclusion of the Seri tongue in the Yuman group. The same is true 

 ■with regard to the Waikuri (Guaiouri) language, which has been erroneously, it 

 would seem. Included in the Yumau stock ; for, judging from present available data, 

 it should remain independent until further research shall decide whether it con- 

 stitutes a stock in itself or belongs to some other stock. 



Moreover, it appears that the principle has been disregarded wliicb recjuires tliat, 

 in making lexic comiiarisonsto determine the fact and degree of relationship between 

 one language and another, those vocalilcs having admittedly a common linguistic 

 tradition be carefully and systematically studied before they are juxtaposed to tho.se 

 other terms whose kinship with them is still matter for ascertainment. So com- 

 parative lists have been jirepared iu accordance with this principle. 



Now, one of the most important things revealed by the study of language is tliat 

 the course of anthropic linguistic development has been from the use of polysematic 

 demonstratives, or what are called pronominative elements by Professor JIcGee, 

 toward the evolution and differentiation of parts of speech. These vocables, which 

 occur in all languages, are of jirime im))ortance in linguistic research because they 

 are chiefly ve.stigial in character. Presumptively embodying the indetinite thought- 

 clusters of the anthro])oid stage in glottic evolution, they project into the speech of 

 the present (the anthropic stage) an outline or epitome of that earlier pronomina- 

 tive plane of thought and speech development. Tl;ese pronominative elements rep- 

 resent a complex of ideas, comprising person, place, direction, number, time, mode, 

 gender, sex, and case (or relation). In the Iroquoian tongue the pnmominative 

 preBx )•«-, "he ", signifies " one person of the anthropic gender, male sex, singular 

 number, nominative case, tliere, now''. Professor McGee in The "Peginninns of 

 Mathematics," speaking of the paramount egoistic basis of the thought of primitive 

 men, well says: "They act and think in terms of a domin.int personality, always 

 reducible to the Ego, and an Ego drawn so large as to stand for person, place, 

 time, mode of action, and perhaps for raison d'etre — it is Self, Here, Now, Thus, 

 and Because." 



Now, there are in nature actions, bodies, ])ropertie8, and (lualitiesreciuiring definite 

 expression to give clearness and concision to speecli, and this need gradually led to 

 the development and use of conceptual exi)ression3 resulting in gradual restriction 



