ON THE NORTH-WESTERN TRIBES OF CANADA. 587 



2. THE TS'ETS'A'UT. 



Uufortunately my informant Levi, the only one from whom I was able to obtain 

 grammatical information, was exceedingly difficult to manage, and I did not succeed 

 in making him understand that I desired to have Ts'Ets'a ut sentences and accurate 

 translations. For this reason my material is very unsatisfactory, and does not 

 permit an accurate description of the structure of the language. Besides this the 

 Tinneh phonetics are difficult, and Levi could not be induced to speak slowly, which 

 circumstance made the work still more difficult. I give on the following pages a 

 few remarks on the grammar, which will show what position the dialect takes among 

 other Tinneh dialects. 



THE NOUN. 



The noun has no gender. I did not find any indication of the existence of 

 separate forms for dual and plural, although these occur in Loucheus, Hare, and 

 Chippewayan. Cases do not exist. 



Compound nouns are of frequent occurrence. They are formed by means of 

 juxtaposition. Possession is often expressed by this means. 



dirt, hvutVefd' ( = sand-mud). 



bear meat, fii tsqa. hoof of goat, ahva' aba', 



female salmon, UeM' ch'.d'. top of tree, ts'u tld. 



NUMERALS. 



8. tqatqatlie'e. 



9 etlitla'Hodunee'e, etliad'unee'S. 



10. tldky'ada'. 



11. tloky'ada' etlie'e. 

 20. tleid'e tloky'ade'. 

 30. tqade tloky'ade'. 



THE PRONOUN. 



Peesoxal Pronoun. 



we, daao'd. 



ye, daQo'ne. 



they, ? 

 Possessive Pronoun. 



our, da. 



your, da. 



their, ma. 



Before words beginning with h, es becomes iq. For instance : 



my house, ?q khu. , 



THE VERB. 



The verb is exceedingly difficult to understand, and the meagre material which I 

 obtained from Levi is insufficient for a clear understanding of the subject. There 

 are a number of classes of verbs, as will be seen by the following examples : — 



to sing (Petitot, 2nd class). 



I sing, isdjV. we sing, dau'dji. 



thou singest, tndji'. ye sing, daadjV . 



he sings, mdji' . they sing, ? 



to be ashamed {Petitot, 5th class). 

 I am ashamed, vca' . we are ashamed, da' una. 



thou art ashamed, viina' . ye are ashamed, da'ana, 



he is ashamed, uHa'{ha). they are ashamed, ? 



to be afraid. 



I am afraid, nesdjH'. we are afraid, da'nidje. 



thou art afraid, ncndjc', ye are afraid, danndjB. 



he is afraid, ncdjF.'. they are afraid, danedjc'. 



