no prefixes and no inflec ing no change of these simple forms at a be But it will tions. seen, glance, how very limited such an application must be in a transpositive language. Distinctions of number are founded upon a modification of the five vowel sounds.

Possessives are likewise founded upon

the basis of the vowel sounds.

There are five declensions of

the noun to mark the possessives, ending, in the possessive, in Where the nominative ends with a am, eem, im, om, um, oom.

vowel, the possessive is made by adding the letter m, as in mal-

Where mai, a woodcock, ne maimaim, my woodcock, etc. the nominative ends in a consonant, as in ah, a shell, the full nln dais-im, my shell. possessive inflection is required, making In the latter form, the consonant d is interposed between the

pronoun and noun, and sounded with the noun, in conformity Where the nominative ends in the broad, with a general rule. in lieu of the long sound of a, as in ogimau, a chief, the posses sive is aum. It is a

constant and unremitting aim in the Indian languages,

to distinguish the actor from the object ; partly by prefixes, and That the termination un is one inseparable suffixes. partly

by of these inseparable particles, and that

founds the number

its

of the third person,

office, is

while it con

to designate the

APPENDIX.

object, appears probable, from the fact that it retains its connec tion with the noun, whether the latter follow or precede the