HINTS AND EXPLANATIONS. 67 
particles will compensate the student for all the pains it may cost him, for in it he will 
be brought very near the ultimate roots of the language. 
To the former class—characteristic particles—belong all the grammatical ma- 
chinery for energizing and individualizing the activity of the verb, making it intensive, 
frequentative, causative, possessive, reciprocal, dubitative, simulative, representative, 
etc.—for designating the manner of acting or of being, and sometimes the instrument 
or agency by which the act is performed. 
The nature and office of these characteristics may be shown by a few examples 
from the Massachusetts-Algonkin, the Sioux-Dakota, and the Choctaw ;* but of their 
number and variety in any language no adequate conception can be had without study 
of the language itself. 
In the Massachusetts (as written by Eliot) -whk or mhk interposed between the 
root and the formative denotes continued and progressive action—“to go on” doing: 
pet-aii, “he puts (or is put) into” petuHK-aii, “he goes into”; assa-maii, ‘he gives food 
to,” assaUHK-amaii (contracted to so6HKamaii, El.), “he keeps on giving food to,” con- 
tinues to feed (e. g., a domestic animal); amd-eu, “he absents himself, departs”; 
amavHKk-au, “he drives away” (goes-after him-going) ; wek-eau, ‘* he houses himself, pro- 
vides a dwelling place”; wekuHK-au, “he builds or constructs a dwelling place,” goes 
on housing himself. 
When the action is performed with the hand the characteristic is -nn before the 
formative: kenwNNum, ‘he carries it in his hand”; tohqunnum, “he holds it fast with his 
hand” [comp. Cree tékwdnum, “he holds it with his hand,” tdkwdarum “he holds it in 
his mouth”|. If the action is performed by cutting or with a knife, -ss takes the place of 
-mn: sohqu-i, “it is in small pieces,” “ broken fine” ; sohqunnum, “he breaks or pulls it 
to pieces with his hand”; sohqussum, “he cuts it in small pieces.” The act of tying or 
making fast by a cord or thong is denoted by -pi or -pin after the root: kishpINNum, “he 
ties it firmly with his hand” (the characteristic is double here); assepINNum, “he ties 
them together”; togkupinNau, “he holds him fast by bonds,” ete. Sudden, violent, or 
disastrous action is denoted by the insertion of -sh; petaii, “he puts (or goes) into,” 
becomes petsHaii, “he falls into,” (e. g., a pit or a snare); pohqui, “it parts asunder”; 
poksHeau, “it breaks, by violence or suddenly”; togkun, ‘“‘it strikes”; togkusHin, ‘it 
strikes with violence, ete. 
In the Dakota group, the instrumentive or modal characteristic is prefixed to the 
verb: ba- shows that the action is done by cutting or sawing : bo-, that it is done by shoot- 
ing (lit. by blowing) or by some missile; ya-, that it is performed with the mouth; pa-, that 
itisdoneby pushing, drawing, pressing, or rubbing with the hand, e. g.: BAksa, “to cut oft” ; 
BAmda, ‘to cut in slices”; BApta, “‘ to cut off a piece”; BApako, “ to cut or saw crooked ” 
(from pako, ‘ crooked”); bohdho, “ to loosen by shooting” (from hohd, “ loose”); Boi!- 
yowaza, ‘to make an echo by shooting” (from yat/wowaza, ‘‘to make an echo”); YAcho- 
cho, “to chew fine” (from chocho “ soft”) ; YAhého, ‘to make loose, with the mouth (from 
hoho, “ loose”) ; PAdopa, “to push into the mud” (from dépa, ‘to mire”); PAbu, “to 
make a noise with drumming with the fingers” (from bu, “to make a noise”) ; PAhmtyan,. 
‘to make round like a ball, with the hands” (from hmi-yan’, round”), ete. 
* The Massachusetts forms are taken from Eliot’s version of the Bible, the Dakota from the Rev. 
S. R. Riggs’s excellent grammar and dictionary of that language (Washington, 1852), and the Choc- 
taw from the Rey. C. Byington’s Choctaw Grammar (edited by Dr. D. G. Brinton, Philadelphia, 1870). 
