— 1870.] 606 [Brinton. 



they sit; talahlih, he sets it up; talohlih, he sets them up; kopoU, to bite, 

 phiral, kobli; kaiichi, to sell, plural, kampila; bohli, to lay down, plural, 

 kapuUi; tifi, to pluck up, plural, tehli; malleli, to run, plural, yililepa. 

 Some verbs have this plural form only; as, ilhkolih, they move off; pehlichi, 

 he rules them; chiyah, they sit. Some have the singular number only; as, 

 issoh, he strikes once. 



Some few verbs are dual ; as, tihlaiah, they two run ; ittonachih, they 

 two go there together. 



. The inseparable pronouns determine the number of the verb in the first 

 and second persons. The third person singular and plural has no personal 

 pronoun; okla is sometimes used as a singular, dual, and plural pronoun; 

 as, anumpulit okla tok, they two spake. 



Note. — By a verb in the plural is meant plurality either in the subject 

 or object; as, wak pelichih, he or they drive cattle, and wak g, chviffichi, 

 they drive a cow. Here pelichih is in the plural number, and chufifichi in 

 the singular. 



CHAPTER IV. 



PREPOSITIONS. 



§ 1. There are few words in Choctaw that correspond to the English 

 prepositions. The article-pi-onouns to some extent supply this want. 

 Some verbs involve a preposition in their meaning; as, ona, to go to; vba, 

 to arrive at; bokyupi, to bathe in the creek; husa, to fire at. The in- 

 separable possessive pronouns i, im, in, involve a preposition, to him, for 

 him, of him, from him, against him; so also do the reciprocal possessives, 

 itti, ittim, ittin, to each other, for each other, etc. 



The preposition, to, in the infinitive is contained in the simple form of 

 the verb; takchi, to tie. The preposition of, showing the genitive or pos- 

 sessive case is understood; iti hishi, leaf of a tree. When one of the 

 nouns expresses ownership in the other, the inseparable possessive pronoun 

 is used; as, vUa i holisso, the child its book. 



§ 2. As the Choctaw is deficient in single words expressing space and 

 time, it uses in place of them prepositive particles of definite significations. 

 These are: 



1. Locatives. 



They are: a, before consonants; ai, before vowels, and before y. This 

 means the place for, in which, at which, from which, to which, where, 

 there, then; as, afoha, to rest at or in a place, a time for resting; aminti, 

 to come from; ahikia, to stand in; aianta, to stay at or in; ai impa, to eat 

 at or there; ai iUi, to die in a (room, etc.), or at (noon, night, etc.); aianuk 

 filli, to think of; aiahni, to long for; ayukfa, to rejoice at. 



