Brinton.] ^^^ [March 4, 



manner will be incorrect. Those ' ' continual exception^' ' will still remain 

 obscure. We are so inveterately accustomed to the declensions of the 

 Aryan tongvies, and to case-endings, that we think every language must 

 have them. Such is not the case. None of the Chahta-Muskokee tongues 

 have anything of the kind. They express the relations of words in a sen- 

 tence by a complicated but strictly regular system of particles or elemen- 

 tary sounds, each sound, when combined, retaining its original significance, 

 which are called " post-positive particles" or "article-pronouns." These 

 are divided into two classes, the definite and the distinctive, and are sub- 

 ject to numerous changes. They can be used with all parts of speech, and 

 supply the place of case-endings, and modal terminations. The Muskokee 

 terminal series t, it, et, vt, corresponds to the Choctaw at, vt, et ; the ob- 

 jective and relative forms are the Choctaw nasals a and o ; and the pos- 

 sessive fonn is the same in both tongues ; e. g. Choc. Chan in chuka, John 

 his house. There is stiU wanting an analysis of the Muskokee article- 

 pronoun, and no grammar of the language can be drawn up correctly till 

 this is done. 



Adjectives. On the comparison of adjectives Mr. Bu^ckner says (p. 68) : 

 " The comparative degree is formed by prefixing sin to the positive, 

 and the superlative is formed by prefixing ri to the comparative, as 

 cvmpe, sweet; sincvmpe, sweeter; risincvmpe, sweetest." In fact, both 

 these latter are in the comparative degree ; sin is the particle es, govern- 

 ing a pronoun in the relative, and the expression should read es en cvmpe, 

 sweeter than it ; the r or er prefixed to the es, simply expresses a stronger 

 comparison, as er es en cvmpe, stiU better than it. The superlative is 

 formed not by a prefix, but by the suffix mahat, in the nominative, and 

 mahan in the oblique cases, as cvmpe mahat, sweetest. 



Mr. Buckner's rule for the plural of adjectives is : " Adjectives of two 

 syllables form their plural by inserting the contracted fonn of the first syl- 

 lable between the two syllables of the singular," as tvphe, wide, pi. tvp- 

 tvhe. This rule is very incomplete. There are in Musokee two classes 

 of adjectives, the first closing the root with a single consonant, the second 

 with a double consonant, or with two consonants. The first form their 

 plural by adding vke to the root, as here, good, pi. hervke, cate, red, 

 pi. catvke, lane, pi. lanvke. The second class form their plural by inserting 

 the first two letters of the root between the two closing consonants, as hvlwe, 

 pi. holhvwe, Ivwke, pi. Ivwlvke, svfke, pi. svfsvke, lowvcke, pi. lowvc- 

 loke. Many of this class transpose the consonants, apparently for the sake of 

 euphony ; as kocukne, pi. kocuncoke, cvfekne, pi. cvfencvke. Some of 

 them also form their plural as those of the first-class; as yekce, pi. yekcvke, 

 afvcke, pi. afvckvke. Some in both classes insert ho before the terminal con- 

 sonant; as hiye, pi. hihoye, holwvke, pi. holwvhoke; cvpvkke, pi. cvpvkhoke. 

 Lekwe, rotten, has two plurals, one, lekhowe, applied to animal matter, 

 the other, leklewe, to vegetable matter. 



There is also a dual of adjectives, which Buckner does not mention. It 

 is not frequently used ; cvfekne, pi. cvfencvke, dual cvfencvkvke ; yekce, 

 strong, pi. yekcvke, dual, yekcvkvke. These occur only in the second 

 person. 



