484 the odahwah indian language 



Singular. 



Masculine, The man appears. . . . Ahnine nahgoze. 



Neuter, The island appears . . Minis nahgwud. 

 Plural. 



Masculiney The men appear .... Ahninewng nahgozewug. 



Neuter, The islands appear . . Minisun nahgwudoon. 

 Let us take a verb transitive and a common gender ; I see a star, 

 Niwahhuhmah ahnung ; I see an island, Niwahbundaun minis, neuter; 

 Niwahbuhmahg ahnungwug, I see stars ; Niwahbundaunun minisun* 

 I see islands. 



I give this pipe to you,. ..... Kiminin mahbah opwahgun. 



You give this pipe to me,. . . . Kimeezh mahbah opwahgun. 



He gives this pipe to me,. . . . Niminig ahnoonduh opwahgunun. 

 In the last example not only the verb changes, but the demonstrative 

 pronoun used in the first and second persons is no longer available in 

 the third, and un is added to the end of the substantive. Sometimes 

 the n in the personal pronoun is dropped, as is shown in the above 

 examples ; other times it is preserved, and occasionally d is put be- 

 tween it and the following word beginning with a vowel ; thus, I went, 

 Nin-ge-izhah ; I go, Nind-izhah. 



The foregoing will show some of the varieties in Indian verbs, yet, 

 notwithstanding these endless variations, insertions and omissions of 

 syllables in the verbs and other words, a stranger will be surprised to 

 hear Indian children speak their language as fluently and correctly as 

 persons in grey hairs. 



In order to show that none of the Tribes speak exactly alike, the 

 following will serve as examples, how and wherein they differ : 



Odahwah. English. Ojibwa. 



Ahnine'' A man Enine. 



Nibeesh Water Nibe. 



Dokisin It is calm Onwahtin. 



The Algonquins say, Naupij for very, Odahwahs, Ahpidji. I may 

 here observe that I am informed some of the Tribes west of the 

 Rocky Mountains call the sun Kesoos, and the earth, Ke, while the 

 Odahwahs call them Kezis and Ahke. If my information is correct, 

 it would tend to show that there is similarity of words among vari- 

 ous Tribes, however distant they may be from one another. 



It is also my desire to take notice in this paper of the inaccurate 

 maimer in which Indian words are pronounced and spelled by white 



