190 THE MOHAWK LANGUAGE. 



noticed the peculiarity in the Oneida, in the substitution of / where 

 r is lised in the remaining dialects ; in fact this seems to be its princi- 

 pal difference from the Mohawk. The initial R, and Y or R seem to 

 have some connection with the gender, as, for instance, On-kwe for 

 mankind, in contradistinction from Kar-yoh = beast, is changed into 

 man by simply prefixing R, and into woman by simply prefixing Y. 

 So we have Ex-ha = child, Rax-ha = a boy, and Kax-ha =t a girl. 



Before subjecting a verb through its various forms it may help us 

 to understand some of the changes which it undergoes, by first look- 

 ing at the pronouns and nouns. 



Singular. Dual and Plural. 



She, or it — A-on-ha. They — 0-non-ha. 



Hers, or its — A-o-wenh. Theirs — A-o-na-wenh. 



There is another form for she and hers applied to those for whom 

 we entertain love, respect, or esteem, viz : she = ah-ka-on-ha, hers = 

 ah-ko-wenh, in which we have introduced the h we have already men- 

 tioned, as having some connection with the feminine gender. There 

 is but one form for the nominative and accusative cases. But the 

 chief peculiarity is the existence of a dual element ; as, however, we 

 shall see this more clearly when we come to consider the verbs, it may 

 perhaps be better to proceed to an examination of the verbs before 

 saying anything of this peculiarity of the language. 



We shall find great difiiculty in our process of analyzing and tracing 

 the words, from the great tendency to agglutination which exists in 

 all of the dialects of the Six Nations. We shall frequently meet with 

 compound words, in which the character of the original elements are 



