108 JOCHELSON 



§ 21. It is to be observed that the third person, as a rule, 

 plays a peculiar part in this language. To point out one of 

 these peculiarities : the transitive verb to give is expressed by- 

 one word (kei, " to give ") when the indirect object is in the first 

 or second person, and by an entirely different word {ta' di, "to 

 give ") if the object is in the third person ; for instance : 



1. Met^ te'tin e'ye kei I thee a bow gave. 



2. Tet^ me' till e'ye ke'ijnik^ Thou me a bow gavest. 



3. Eci'e me' tin e'yele ke'im Father me a bow gave. 



4. Tu'del^ te'tin e'yele keim He you a bow gave. 



and 



1. Met^ tu' din e'ye ta'di I him a bow gave. 



2. Tet^ tu' dill e'ye tadi'mik^ Thou him a bow gavest. 



3. Tiidel^ tu' din e'yele la' dim He him a bow gave. 



4. Alit ani'Je met eci'e nin e'yele Our chief to my father a bow 



ta' dim gave. 



§ 2 2. In the same manner, it is only to express ownership of 

 a third person that the object has a possessive element, which 

 is expressed by gi in the nominative ; gi^ ge, or dege in the ac- 

 cusative ; and de in all other oblique cases. The possessive 

 element is placed between the base and the case-suffix (see 



§12). 



nu' mo-nin 



To the house ; 



nu'mo-denin 



To his house. 



numo'-ge 



In the house : 



nu' mo-dege 



In his house. 



§ 23. It is very likely that de is an abbreviation of the posses- 

 sive pronoun tii' de (see § 55) '* his." 



§ 24. The element de indicates that an object in the oblique 

 case belongs either to the subject if it is in the third person, to 

 the direct object if it is in the third person, or to some third 

 person ; for instance : 



1. Met eci'e nu' mo-de-get u'koc My father of his house came 



out. 



2. Tet' mit ani'Je nu' mo-dege Thou our chief in his house me 



me'tul^ nugte'mik^ wilt find, /. e., thou wilt find 



me in our chiefs house. 



