178 APPENDIX. 



upon the inflections aim, eem, im, 6m, oom, and am respectively, and 

 the meaning of him, and of course he, her, his, hers, they, theirs, (as 

 there is no declension of the pronoun, and no number to the third per- 

 son) upon the objective particle un, \vc shall then translate the above 

 expression, o bizhik-eemum, his bison's hisn. If we reject this mean- 

 ing, as I think we should, the sentence would read, His bison — him — a 

 mere tautology. ■ 



It is true, it may be remarked, that the noun possessed, has a corres- 

 ponding termination, or pronominal correspondence, with the pronoun 

 possessor, also a final termination indicative of its being the ohject on 

 which the verb exerts its influence — a mode of expression, which, so far 

 as relates to the possessive, would be deemed superfluous, in modern 

 languages ; but may have some analogy in the Latin accusatives am, 

 um, em. 



It is a constant and unremitting aim in the Indian languages to dis- 

 tinguish the actor from the object, partly by prefixes, and partly by in- 

 separable suffixes. That the termination un, is one of these insepara- 

 ble particles, and that its office, while it confounds the number, is to 

 designate the object, appears probable from the fact, that it retains its 

 connexion with the noun, whether the latter follow or precede the verb, 

 or whatever its position in the sentence may be. 



Thus we can, without any perplexity in the meaning say, Wainiitti- 

 gozhiwug ogi sagidn Pontiac-un, Frenchmen they did love Pontiac him. 

 Or to reverse it, Pontiac-un Waimittigozhiwug ogi sagidn, Pontiac, he did 

 Frenchmen he loved. The termination un in both instances, clearly de- 

 termines the object beloved. So in the following instance, Sagunoshug 

 ogi sagidn Tecumseh-un, Englishmen, they did love Tecumseh, or Te- 

 cumseh-un Sagunoshug oji sagidn, Tecumseh, he did Englishmen he 

 loved. 



In tracing the operation of this rule, through the doublings of the lan- 

 guage, it is necessary to dietinguish every modification of sound, wheth- 

 er it is accompanied, or not accompanied by a modification of the sense. 

 The particle un, which thus marks the third person and persons, is some- 

 times pronounced wuii, and sometimes yun, as the harmony of the word 

 to which it is suffixed, may require. But not the slightest change is 

 thereby made in its meaning. 



Wabojeeg ogi meegan-an nadowaisi-wun. 



Wabojeeg fought his enemies. L. W. he did fight them, his enemy, 

 or enemies. 



