1S75.] '^'^^ [Gabb. 



{are underst iod\ Why do you not make some? i IcuenTce he lie mokkur 

 icojuwo? why thou not gun round (things) make? There is no clay (or 

 material) ; mokkur wocMka ke ku, gun round (things) material no 

 more. Is your gun a good one? be mokkur boi? thou (thy) gun good? 

 Does it shoot well? Uu boif shoot well (or good)? Good morning ; he 

 sJike'na f thou art awake, or arisen (literally, straightened up). Reply; 

 je (I) shke'na. Be ratski ; thou hast arrived (salutation on a person 

 entering a house). Je ratski, I have arrived. How are you? is he Hso? 

 how thou (et-so'-si) art? I amwe]l;je Hso boi. Where did you come 



from? weiig be hete'? where thou sta't? Who went with — ? ji re ta? 



who went with? I did not see; ke je wai suna, not I {wai idiom) 



saw. I do not know ; ke je loai uplichen. This wai occurs nowhere 

 except in these two instances. What did you go for? iub be re? why 

 thou went? I went to call my people ; je re je loakipa Ikiu, I went I 

 (my) people to call. Are they coming? yepa ratski? they come (or 

 aiTive ? No ; I think they have gone away ; au; je Mtibeku ye miclio, 

 No; I think they have gone. Let us go too ; mii^lika Itekepi, let us go alike. 

 AVhere is — ? weiig — ? He has gone ahead ; ye H-katke, he has walked 

 ahead (see note on l-shku, in conjugation). Put on your clothes; 

 be sa-wi' i-u, thou clothing (cotton) put into. 



Section II. — miscellaneous notes. 



Although the tradition exists that the people of Terraba are a com- 

 paratively late emigration from the region of the Tiribis, and although 

 the tradition is sustained by the general resemblances of language, and 

 by the fact that the Brunkas (or Borucas), evidently older occupants of 

 the soil, are crowded into a corner like the Celtic tribes of Europe ; 

 yet there are marked differences between the idioms spoken in Tiribi 

 and in Terraba. The Dialects of Southern Costa Rica can be divided 

 into three groups: First, the Bri-bri and the Cabecar; second, the 

 Tiribi and Terraba ; and lastly, the Brunka. The three divisions possess 

 many roots and even entire words in common, and may well be com- 

 pared in their resemblan ;es and differences with the Latin languages. 

 The first group is strongly marked by the short « before nearly all verbs 

 and by a generally more musical sound ; while the second is harsh, in 

 consequence of the frequent repetition of sound of z. The Cabecar ^ 

 before the verb is not so persistent as in Bri-bri, but is more strongly 

 pronounced, approaching more nearly the ordinary Latin or Spanish i. 

 The terminations ung and ong are as marked as the sign of the verb, in 

 the second group, as I is in the first. The z which almost invariably 

 accompanies this termination, is rarely a part of the last syllable, but 

 is trsually sounded at the end of the penultimate, unless when abbrevi- 

 ated into zu or zo. 



A gradual process of change is clearly discernible in these languages. 

 As yet the Bri-bri and Tiribi have been but little affected. But the Cab- 

 ecar of Coen is absorbing many Bri-bri words because the people of the 

 Coen, although they use their local dialect among themselves, all speak Bri- 



