'tfilS lEdOftAWfe LAN'iStrAGS. . VWS 



genders, as a boy or girl, in the expression — " their book," we 

 "would use the masculine form. There is no distinction beween the 

 nominative and accusative forms. Reference has already been made to 

 a masculine, feminine and neuter gender. 



We shall and that the masculine amd feminine are confined entirely 

 -to mankind, and that the initial R seems to be in some way connected, 

 ;as already mentioned, with the masculine, while with the feminine K. 

 '"and Y are used, e.^. 



^-on-kwe— man. S^on-kwe-'-^woman. 



i2ih-yen~ah — my sob. ^he-yen^ah-^my daughter. 



iSax-ah — ^boy. , iffiax-ha — girl. 



We have already pointed eut the existence of two forms of the 

 feminine, confined I believe to the singular. There is one form ap- 

 plied to those whom we esteem as to a mother, and there is a general 

 form which, perhaps, may be more properly regarded as aaommon 

 ^gender, as it is the form used when speaking of the beasts of the fields 

 and applied without distinction of gender. This form is used whea 

 speaking in general terms of the female sex. 



The common gender is confined entirely to the brute creation, where 

 no masculine or feminine exists, as I stated in the formation of the 

 possessive case, whenever we are speaking of both sexes as man and 

 woman we use the masculine dual or plural form as the case may be. 



There are in nouns, contrary to what we should expect from what 

 we have seen of the pronouns, only two numbers, the singular and the 

 Iplural, there being no dual. 



The formation of the plural is quite simple and uniform, being ef- 

 fected in two ways, according as the word represents an animate or 

 inanimate being. For the former we add to the singular the termina- 

 tion o-konh, e.g. Ya-ko-sa-tens = horse, Ya ko sa i&a&^o-konh =s 

 horses, On-kweh =£ mankind On kweh-io-^^ew^. For the inanimates 

 we add o-kon-ah, e.g. : ah-sa-reh, knife ; ah-sa-reh-o-^^^-a^, knives 5 

 ^.h-dah, shoe ; ah<-dah-o-^oti-«A, shoes. 



There are a few exceptions where the animate form is applied to in^ 

 animates, and we may be able, after a more extended observation, to 

 point out the rules that govern these exceptions. 



With this brief introduction I leave this subject for some future 

 occasion, and shall close by translating one or two words whose sigsai* 

 fication may interest ytfu. 



Vol. X» n 



