592 REPORT — 1892. 



Vninflected Form. 



Indefinite form : pa' tike, (U.K.); pddlhc'iidm (L.K.). 

 Singular : Nominative, jiu'tlM. 



Objective and oblique cases, ^;«.'^Z7ic. 

 Dual : Nominative, Wsne pWtllie. 



Objective, &c., a'sne pWtlke. 

 Plural : Nominative, jJ^'tlM. 

 Objective, &.C., 2M'tlM. 



All nouns may be treated in this waj% and then the form for singular and plural 

 remains the same. 



There exists also a declension which is as follows : — 



Indefinite form : jnl'tllu ; j>a(llke'7Mm. 

 Singular : Nominative, pd'tlke. 



Objective, &c., pWtlMs. 

 Dual : Nominative, pd'tlh'M'stik. 



Objective, &c., pd'ilkekistili(e)s. 

 Collective : Nominative, jju'tUieM'ntik. 



Objective, &c., j)d'tnieMntili{e)s. 

 Plural : Nominative, pd'tlMnVntik. 



Objective, &c., pd'tHuinintik^e^s. 

 Distributive : Nominative, pu'tlltiilta'ntih. 



Objective, &c., i}d'tl'ksl{ii'ntiU{e)s. 



The Kootenay seems to possess, therefore, a case-inflection in -s or -es, a plural 

 in •ni'ntik, a collective in -Id ntik, a dual in -Jd'stik, a distributive in -M'ntik. The 

 following examples will serve as illustrations : — 



D'2>Qane dqkinmi'tuhs shi'iikuts, the coyote sees the river. 



o'pwine iid'Hyu yd'tvos n-u'vs, he sees the fox down in the water. 



ipi'tlns ne'ls na'aanl-s, he kills (him) the caribou. 



Mna'ofi sld'nMts nutlQu'nc M'qhens, the coyote goes along, carrying the wolf. 



o'pQam ni'tltsiJis sM'sl, he sees the buffalo bull coming. j 



Mna'Qe d'qldtlnv'hus, nu'pQCvne tlM'mvs ni'lixi d'mdk.t, a star is going along, [and] ■ 



sees a little child eating dirt. 

 dqhina' woks ItWvsa'kd'ne ku'tsutu, the chipmunk sits on the willows. 

 ta'aas Mntld'tlte sld'nMits tld'utlds, the coyote struck the grizzly bear. 

 nd'naldsQd,' vine ne tlhl'muld'stek, these two children go away. 

 nu'p(iane yv' lul k'ci'psi tlhl'mrininte'kes, lie sees many children. 

 M'ndM'sakd'tlhl nipi'kdni' ntik ? where are you gone, spirits? 

 tinaofflmrie yu'ndk'd'psi tlM' muni' ntik, many children enter. 



Combined with the possessive pronouns, nouns are declined as follows : — 



k'dti'to, my father (father of man). kdti'tond.'tla, our father. 



tito'nis, thy father. titvni'sketl, your father. 



tito'is, his father. titui'sU, their father. 



When declined with the possessive pronouns, some nouns sometimes lose one or 

 more of their prefixes, thus : — 



dqkltld'ndin, house. 

 hlkftlu, my house. 

 d'qkitld'sM, his house. 



The word for ' horse ' presents some peculiarities. The Upper Kootenay form is 

 KdtlaQo,' Etltsin, the Lower Kootenay g-itlkWtlaQd'Edltsin, the latter being the more 

 primitive. The etymology is apparently ' elk-dog,' ' elk ' in Upper Kootenay being 

 gitnid'tle, and in Lower Kootenay gi'dllid'dle. In declension, however, the word for 

 ' elk ' drops out entirely, and w,e have only Quntltsiii (dog) left. This does not always 

 occur, however. 



horse, Kd'tland,' Etltsin.. 



our horse, hlQdBtUsinruVtla. 



your horse, Qd' stltsinnV skitl. 



