THE MOHAWK LANGUAGE. 



SO entirely changed, or so little left of them, that it will require the 

 utmost caution to keep clear of error. It may he better, where sucb 

 cases occur, not to attempt an analysis, rather than incur the risk of 

 misleading in the matter. 



As an example of their tendency to run words together, as well as 

 showing how the possessive of nouns are formed, we have — my apple 

 =: ah-kwa-hih which is evidently a compound of the pronoun my = 

 ah-kwa-wenh and apple = ka-hih, but instead of using the full fornix 

 ah-Jiwa-wenh + ka hiJh we have the last syllable of the pronoun, and 

 the first of the noun elided, and we get ah-kvja-hih. So in the 2]ad 

 and 3rd persons we have 



Siugular, 



Thy apple = Sa-hih from 

 His apple = Ra-o-hih " 

 C Her apple = Ah-ko-hih " 

 ( Her or its apple =^-o-AzA " 



Dual. 



Our apple, Un-kya-hih. 

 Your " Ja-hih. 

 Male, Their " Ra-o-na-hih. 

 Neuter or "I 

 female, J 



Their 



A-o-ua-hih, 



8a-wenh + Ka-hih, 

 Ra-o-wenh + Ka hih, 

 Ah-ko-ivenh -f Ka-hih. 

 A-o-wenh + Ka-hih. 



Plural. 



Un-kwa-hib, 

 Se-wa-hih. 

 Male, Ra-o-na-hih 

 Female or 

 neuter. 



JA-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 posses- 

 sive, is modified, doubtless for the sake of euphony and according to 

 certain general rules. 



Take any number of words, as bow = Ah-en-nah, arrow = Ka-yen- 

 kwi-reh, Tommahawk = Ah-do-kenh, Knife = Ah-sa-reh, 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, 

 Thy " . 

 His " 

 Her " 

 Her or its 



Ah-kwa-en-nah. 



Sa-en-nah. 



Ra-o-en-nah, 



Ah-ko-en-nah. 



A-o-ea-nah. 



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



