1870.J "^^ [Biinton. 



CHAPTER V. 



§ 1. In Choctaw there is no grammatical difference between common 

 and proper, animate and inanimate, concrete and abstract nouns. They 

 have no internal changes nor inflections to denote number, gender, or case. 

 These accidents are supplied by additional words, or are left unexpressed. 



§ 3. Number. — Nouns are presumed to be in that number which is most 

 natural to them. If the number is reqviired to be specified, numerals, 

 numeral adjectives, pronouns, or verbs are subjoined. Examples: wak, a 

 cow, cows; wak achofa, one cow; wak tuklo, two cows; wak lawa, many 

 cows; wak moma, all the cows; wak vmmi, my cow or my cows; hatakvt 

 antah, a man stays; hatak vt ashah, men are staying; wak vt tihlaiah, the 

 two cows ]'un. 



§ 3. Gendek. — ^A few nouns only have names in the masculine and 

 feminine gender; as, hatak, a man; ohoyo, a woman; nakni, a male; tek, 

 a female. When gender is emphatic, these words, nakni, and tek, are sub- 

 joined; as, vUa nakni, a boy; vUa tek, a girl; issinakni, a buck; issi tek, 

 a doe. 



§ 4. Case. — All nouns take article-pronouns for specification, emphasis, 

 and case. The subjective relation of a noun to a verb is indicated by the 

 article-pronouns in the nominative case ; the objective relation by the 

 article-ijronouns in the oblique case. A noun, however, is often used by 

 itself, without the article-pronoun, and may then be either in the nomina- 

 tive or obhque case, the connective alone deciding which, though usually . 

 it is oblique. Examples: hatak vt mintih, man he comes; hatak mintiah, 

 man comes, or men come; hatak vt pisah, a man sees, or men see; hatak 

 g, pisah, man him (or men them) he sees. 



§ 5. . The nominative and oblique independent. This occurs when two 

 nouns or pronouns are in a subjective or objective relation to the same 

 verb. In this case the first is emphatic or independent; as, hatak okvto i 

 nitak vt hvshvk ak o chiyuhmi hokeh, man as for, he for him, days they, 

 grass, that which is, like they are, so it is. 



hatak achvfa hosh ushi vt in tuklo tok, 



man a certain he sons they to him two so it was. 



In these sentences, hatak okvto and hatak achvfa hosh, are in the 

 nominative case, and nitak vt and ushi vt, are also in the nominative case. 

 So in the oblique case: 



hvchishno ma, isht hvchi, mihacha he, 



you indeed, you, it shall not be judged to, or you, you shall 



not be judged. 



§ 6. The possessive or genitive sense. 



Possession may be shown by simi)le position; as, iti hishi, tree leaf, the 

 tree's leaf; hatak kvUo, man strength, the man's strength, a man of 



