THE MOHAWK LANGUAGE. 9 



exists in all of the dialects of the Six Nations. We shall frequently 

 meet with compound words in which the characters of the original 

 elements are so entii'ely changed, or so little left of them, that it will 

 require the utmost caution to keep clear of error. It may be better, 

 when such cases occur, not to attempt an analysis, rather than incur 

 the risk of misleading in the matter. 



As an examjile of this tendency to run words together, as well as 

 showing how the jDOSsessive of nouns is formed, we have : — 



My apple = Ah-kw%-hih, which is evidently a compound of the 

 pronoun My = Ah~kwa-wenh and Apple = Ka-hih, but instead of 

 iising the full form Ah-hwa-ioenh + Ka-hih, we have the last syllable 

 of the pronoun and the first of the noun elided, and we get Ah-ktoa-hih. 



So in the second and third persons we have Thy apple = Sci-hih, 

 from S'a-wenh + Ka-hih. 



Thy apple - = Sa-hih from Sa-wenh + Ka-hih. 

 His apple —Ra-o-hih " Ra-o-wenh + Ka-hih. 



Her apple =Ah-Ico-hih " Ah-ko-wenh + Ka-hih. 



Her or its apple = A -o-hih ' ' A -o-ioenh + Ka-hih. 



Dual. Plural. 



Our apple Un-kya-hih. " Unkwa-hih. 



Your apple Ja-hih. Se-wa-hih. 



Male — Their apple Ra-o-na-hih. Male — E,a-o-na-hili. 



Neuter or female — Their apple A-o-na-hih. Female or N. — A-o-na-hih. 



The rule which may be deduced from the above, with reference to 

 the formation of the possessive case of nouns, I think will be found 

 general. In many cases, however, we shall find that the final syllable 

 of the pronominal part of a compound word, or rather of the 

 possessive, is modified, doubtless for the sake of euphony, and accord- 

 ing to certain general rules. 



Take any number of words, as 'How = Ah-en-oiah, Arrow — Ka-yen- 

 kwi-reh, Tommahawk = Ah-do-kenh, Knife = Ah-sorveh, Shoes = Ah-dah, 

 and form their possessive cases, and we shall, I think, find that the 

 same general rule applies to all, e.g. : — 



My bow Ah-kwa-en-nah. 



Thy bow Sa-en-nah. 



His bow Ea-o-en-nah. 



Her bow Ah-ko-en-nah. 



Her or its bow A-o-en-nah. 



In this example we find that precisely the same rule applies as in 

 the first instance given, and we need go no further than the singular. 



