NOTES ON THE GRAMMAR OF THE NEZ PERCES LANGUAGE. 



J5Y REV. GEORGE AIXSUE. 



The language spoken by the Nez Perces tribe of Indians is expressed 

 by twenty-five elementary sounds, viz : Eight vowel, four diphthongal, 

 and thirteen consonantal. These are written by twenty-five characters 



and combinations, as follows: 



Alphabet of the Kez Perces language. 



A, a, 



as in 



all. 



hama, 



A, a. 



(( 



man, 



watu, 



E, e, 

 E,e, 





prey, 

 met, 



tsekin, 

 keh, 



I,i, 



u 



marine. 



im, 



0,0, 



u 



note 



tota, 



U,u, 



u 



full, 



bu, 



U, 11, 



u 



tub, 



kid a. 



W,w, 



u 



wine, 



wah. 



Y,y, 



u 



yow, 



yoh. 







DIPHTHONGS. 



Ai, ai, 



u 



aisle. 



aishiu, 



Au, au, 



u 



mound, 



bautnin, 



m, ei, 

 Oi, oi, 



ii 



icanting, 

 voice. 



peleipele*, 

 liloinin, 







CONSONANTS. 



H, b, 



u 



home. 



bama. 



K,k, 



(I 



king, 



kaua. 



L,], 



li 



low. 



lawit, 



M, m, 



a 



mate. 



matu, 



N,n,' 



li 



not, 



nib, 



P,P, 



S, s, 



u 

 a 



pear, 

 sun, 



paua, 

 silu. 



T, t. 



u 



time. 



tats. 



Sh, sh, 



if, /i, guttural. 



a 



shine. 



ipsush, 



K, k, guttural. 









amed 



awe, 



('. 



«h. 



a 



aye, 



u 



eh. 



a 



ee. 



i: 



owe. 



a 



00. 



a 



wh. 



a 



we. 



u 



ye. 



u 



eye. 



ii 



ou. 



u 



e\. 



u 



oi. 



u 



he. 



u 



ke. 



u 



le. 



a 



me. 



li 



ne. 



u 



pe. 



u 



see. 



u 



te. 



(( 



she. 



The language contains eight parts of speech, viz : Nouns, pronouns, 

 adjectives, verbs, adverbs, conjuuctious, prepositions, and interjections. 



