Brintoii.3 ^"^^^ [February 4, 



In commencing the study of Choctaw, those accustomed only to English 

 and cognate languages will discover many peculiarities. Some of them 

 are as foUows : 



I. The want of the verb "to he" as a declinable word. 



3. The want of personal pronouns in the third persons, singular and 

 plural, 



3. The want of a plural form in many nouns, verbs and adjectives. 



4. The iiTegnlar manner in which the plural is made. 



5. The want of a passive voice in some verbs, and its irregular forma- 

 tion. 



6. The order of words in a clause or sentence. 



7. The use of pre-positive particles, or prefixes. 



8. The u'se of post-positive particles, or suffixes. 



9. The use of fragmentary pronouns, simple and compound. 



10. The repetition of pronovms- 



II. Tlie numerous gi'ound-forms of the verbs, arising from internal 

 changes in the primary root. 



13. The negative forms of verbs^ adjectives, and fragmentary pronouns. 



13. The causative forms of verbs. 



14. The internal changes in the causative forms, 



15. The uniformity of grammatical forms and structure. 



16. Tlie extent to which the rough asjiirate h supplies the want of the 

 verb of existence. 



17. The difficulties in resolving and translating the article-pronouns. 



PART FIRST, 



ORTHOGRAPHY. 



1. THE ALPHABET. 



Consonants, vowels, diphthongs, nasals, and aspirates are used. 



Letters. Names and values. 



