Brinton.] "^'* [March 4, 



aiy under the patronage of the Domestic and Indian mission board of the 

 Southern Baptist Convention. Assisted by his interpreter, G. Herrod, 

 superintendent of pubhc instruction, mecco Creek nation, etc. Pubhshed 

 by tlie Domestic and Indian mission board of the Southern Baptist Con- 

 vention, Marion, Alabama, 1860, 8 vo. pp. 139. 



Messrs. Bixckner and Herrod also published a translation of the Gospel 

 of John, and Mrs. Robertson, a translation of a tract on the Sabbath. The 

 Laws of the Nation and various other w^orks have likew^ise appeared. The Na- 

 tion, I may here state, numbers about 14,000 souls, and about one-half of 

 the male population can read, so it is of considerable imiaortance that the 

 structure of the language be ascertained. 



II. The Alphabet. 



The need of a uniform alphabet for American tongues is nowhere more 

 vividly shown than in Muskokee. More than one-half of the limited ht- 

 erature I have above mentioned is unintelligible to educated natives on ac- 

 count of the discordant alphabets used. Not less than five different ones 

 have been devised. That now generally adopted and certainly best adapt- 

 ed for practical utility to the Nation, is based upon the Enghsh sounds of 

 the letters. It was agreed to by many interpreters and chiefs at the Old 

 Agency, in 1853, and has been introduced in all printed works since, ex- 

 cept those of Messrs. Buckner and Herrod. It contains thirteen conso- 

 nants, and six vowels. The vowel sound of a in fate, the sound th, and the 

 consonants b, c, d, g, j, r, q, v, x, and z, are wanting, although in the 

 Hitchitee dialects the b occurs. The remaining consonants are given their 

 English values, and the letters r and c are introduced to represent sounds 

 not in our tongue. The r is an aspirated 1, slightly guttural, quite simi- 

 lar to the Welsh 11. The c is pronounced tch, soft, as in wretch. The w 

 is always surd, as in we, weak. The vowels are : 



a the Italian or Spanish a. 



e as in me. 



i as in pine. 



o as in note. 



u as in wood, or rule. 



V represents the neutral vowel, and is really a short. No accents are 

 used, although both accents and signs of quantity should be employed to 

 express the language correctly. No nasals are provided for, although very 

 soft nasals do occur, and are rei^resented in Mr. Fleming's alphabet by 

 diacritical marks, and in that of Mr. Buckner by the Spanish n following 

 the vowel. 



The absence of sonant letters and of decided nasals is the chief differ- 

 ence between this and the Choctaw alphabet, and explains much of the 

 apparent diversity between the two tongues. Thus the Choctaw sinti, 

 snake, becomes in Muskokee ceto, the sonant being changed to its surd, 

 and the nasal dropped ; Cli. shakba, arm, shortens the first vowel to v, and 

 pel-mutes the labial, becoming Mus. svkpa; and again Ch. iubi becomes 

 Mus. hufi, thiffh. 



