ON THE ETHNOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 379 



the presence of the object, so the indefinite article compounded with the locative 

 adverb sd marks its absence. This is a very simple and happy device, and the 

 several functions of these two articles are extremely interesting. 



(It will be observed that I have written two forms for ' father ' and ' mother ' in 

 the first person in the examples above, viz., tat and tsl, mother, mEi/i and niEl, 

 father. Of these the former correspond to our familiar nursery terms ' mama ' and 

 ' papa' ; the latter are more formal, and correspond to our ' mother ' and ' father,') 



Possessive Pronoun with Verbum Suhstantivum. 



tla or kla 1 swii lii'lEm. it is my house, 

 tla or kla E swii ,, „ thy „ 



„ ,, swils ,, „ his or her house. 



„ „ sEii'tl or swiitcit lii'lEm, „ our house. 



,, ,, swa'ElEp „ „ your „ 



„ „ swiis „ ,, their „ 



To these forms may be added the adverbial particles expressive of ' nearness ' or 

 ' distance,' as the object is near to or distant from the speaker. Thus : — tK B la, 

 * this,' ' near ' ; ti-: d, or ts h Id or IS ti or tE la ti, ' that,' ' distant ' ; tE Id tld'la, ' that,' 

 ' very distant.' 



If the person claiming the object is not quite sure whether it is his or not, in 

 answer to the question : ' Whose is this ? ' he would reply tla tv'wa 'I- swii. Sec, ' I 

 fancy it's my,' &c. 



It is permissible to use tla with any of the possessive forms ; it is not confined to 

 the 'I S7va form only, as given here. 



Substantive Possessive Pronoun. 



These forms are apparently the same as the emphatic forms of the possessive 

 pronoun. Thus : — 



'1 swii, mine, sEa'tl or swiitcit, ours. 



E swii, thine, swaElEp, yours. 



swas (tEsii' or sEsii'), his or hers, swils (yEsii'), theirs. 



In like manner with the other forms, they can be compounded with the definite 

 article, thus : — tsl sred, ice. Sec. If the object spoken of is invisible or absent, then 

 the particles kwa or kw'sii,' are added. Thus: 'Z srvd kma; 'I swa Jcw'sd', Sec. 



Substantive Possessive Pronoun with Veritim Substantivum. 



tla or kla 'I snd, it or that is mine ; tla or Ida ssd'tl or swdtcit, it or that is ours. 

 „ „ E swii „ thine ; „ swii'ElEp „ yours. 



„ ,, swiis (tEsii) (sEsJi'), it or that is his or hers ; tla or kla swiis (yEsti) it or 

 that is theirs. 



Possession or ownership is also marked in Tcil'Qe'uk at times, thus : — 



skwomai't(;il, I have or own a dog ; skwomai'-tcit, we have or own a dog. 

 skwomai'-tcuq, thou hast or ownest a dog ; skwomai'tcap, you have or own a dog. 

 skwomai'-s, he has or owns a dog ; skwomai'-s (yEsii), they have or own a dog. 



A prepositional form is also used of the third person when the owner's name is 

 given; thus: tE skwomai' tla John, it's John's dog, or the dog of or belonging to 

 John. 



Interrogative Pronouns. 



who 1 wiit 1 or tla-wiit ? wat tcfiq 1 who are you 1 



tla-wiit kw'set tE sweyil ? who made the daylight ? 



whose 1 to-wiit ? towat tEsa' ? whose is that ? towiit yasuk tE e la ? whose hat 

 is this 1 



what 1 stam ? what is that ? stam sa' 1 what do you want ? stam kwa stle ? 



which 1 tE lE'tsa ? or ElE'tsa ? which is yours ? ElE'tsa kwa swa ? This last 

 term, tE or alEtsa, is the numeral ' one ' with the definite article or the interrogative 

 vowel B added to it. 



