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§ 156. The bringing of two words together in the Dakota language answers all the purposes of such a copula as our substantive verb; as, Wakantaŋka waśte, (God good) God is good; wi kiŋ kata, (sun the hot) the sun is hot; de miye, (this I) this is I; hena inyan, (those stones) those are stones; Danikota (Dakota-thou) thou art a Dakota.

§ 157. From these examples it appears that there is no real necessity for such a connecting link between words; and accordingly we do not find any verb in the Dakota language which simply predicates being. The Dakotas cannot say abstractly, I am, thou art, he is; but they can express all the modes and places of existence.

PARTICIPLES.

Active.

§ 158. 1. Active participles follow the nouns and precede the verbs with which they are used; as, mazakaŋ hduha yahi, (gun having thou-come) thou hast come having thy gun.

2. The objective pronouns are used with and governed by active participles, in the same way as by verbs; as, mayuha yukaŋpi, (me-having they-remain) they still retain me; niyuha yapi kta, (thee-having they-go will) they will take thee along.

3. Active participles are used to denote prolonged or continued action; as, kiksuya uŋ, he is remembering; Wakaŋtaŋka ćekiya uŋ, he is in the habit of praying to God; iahan ićuŋhan, whilst he was speaking.

4. A few participles are used with the verbs from which they are derived; as, manihan mani (walking walks) that is, he walks and does not ride; naźiŋhaŋ naźiŋ, (standing he stands) he gets up and stands.

5. Two verbs together may be used as participles without a conjunction; as, ćeya patuś inazin, (weeping stooping stands) he stands stooping and weeping.

Passive.

§ 159. 1. A verb used as a passive participle follows the noun to which it relates; as, takinća kiŋ opi, the deer is shot.

2. Passive participles are used to make what may be called the passive form of the verb; as, ktepi, killed, niktepi kta, thou wilt be killed.

3. They are sometimes used independently as nouns ; as, ktepi kiŋ, the slain.

CHAPTER III.

NOUNS.

Position of Nouns.

§ 160. The place of the noun, whether subject or object, is before the verb; as, wamnaheza ićaga, corn grows; mini waćin, (water I-want) I want water.

Occasionally the subject comes after the verb; as, eya Wakantanka, said God.

§ 161. When two nouns are used together, one the subject and the other the object of the same verb, the subject is usually placed first (§ 67); as, tatanka peźi yutapi, (oxen grass eat) oxen eat grass; Dakota Padani kiŋ wićaktepi (Dakota Pawnee the them-killed) the Dakotas killed the Pawnees.

§ 162. Of two nouns in composition or combination the noun sustaining the relation of possessor always precedes the name of the thing possessed. See § 68.

Number.

§ 163. The principle on which the plural termination is employed is that of placing it as near the end of the sentence as possible. The order in a Dakota sentence is, first the noun, next the adjective, and lastly the verb. Hence, if a noun or pronoun is used alone or has no word following it in the phrase, it may take the plural ending; if an adjective follows, it is attached to the adjective; and if a verb is used, it is attached to the verb.

1. When nouns are used to convey a plural idea, without qualificatives or predicates, they have the plural termination; as, ninapepi, thy hands; hena Dakotapi, those are Dakotas.

2. When a noun which represents an animate object is to be made plural, and is followed by a qualificative or predicate, the sign of the plural is joined, not to the noun, but to the qualificative or predicate; as, wićaśta waśtepi, good men; kośka kin hipi, the young men have arrived; wićaśta waśte kin hipi, the good men have arrived.

§ 164. The plural of nouns representing animate objects in the objective case, whether they are governed by active verbs or prepositions, is designated by 'wića' following, which is prefixed to or inserted in the governing word; as, tahinća wićaktepi, (deer them-they-kill) they kill deer; Dakota ewićatanhan, (Dakota themfrom) he is from the Dakotas.

CHAPTER IV.

ADJECTIVES.

Position.

§ 165. When the adjective is used simply as a qualifying term, it is placed immediately after its noun; as, wićaśta waste, good man; baŋ śića, bad wood.

The adjective ikće, common, is placed before the noun which it qualifies, but its derivative ikćeka comes after; as, ikće hanpa and haŋpikćeka, common moccasins; ikće wićasta, a common man, an Indian. The numeral adjectives, when used with ćan, a day, are placed before; as, nonpa ćan, two days, etc.

§ 166. When the adjective forms the predicate of a proposition, it is placed after the article, and after the demonstrative pronoun, if either or both are used; as, wićaśta kin waste, the man is good; wićaśta kiŋ he waste, that man is good; taku ećanon kiŋ he śića, that which thou didst is bad.

Number.

§ 167. Adjectives, whether qualificative or predicative, indicate the number of the nouns or pronouns to which they belong; as, inyan sapa waŋ, a black stone; inyan sapsapa, black stones: tatanka kiŋ waś'aka, the ox is strong; tataŋka kiŋ waś'akapi, the oxen are strong.

2. Adjectives do not take the plural form when that can be pointed out by the verb of which the noun is either the subject or object (see §§ 163, 164); as, wićaśta waste he kagapi, (man good that they-made) good men made that; Wakantanka wićaśta waste nom wićakaga, (Great-Spirit men good two themmade) God made two good men.

3. As the numeral adjectives after waŋźi, denote plurality by virtue of their meaning, they may be used either with or without the plural termination; as, wićaśta yamni, or wićaśta yamnipi, three men.

NUMERAL ADJECTIVES.

§ 168. 1. Numeral adjectives used distributively take the reduplicated form; as, yamni, three, yamnimni, three and three, yamn:mni ićupi, they each took three, or they took three of each.

2. Numeral adjectives are used alone, to express the number of times an event occurs; as, yamni yahi, thou camest three times. When a succession of acts is spoken of, the word 'akihde' is often used; as, topa akihde yakutepi, you shot four times successively.

§ 169. To supply the want of words like place and ways in English, the adverbial termination'kiya' is added to the numeral; as, nonpakiya yakonpi, they are in two different places; he topakiya oyakapi, that is told in four different ways.

§ 170. The Dakotas use the term haŋke, one half; but when a thing is divided into more than two aliquot parts, they have no names for them; that is, they have no expressions corresponding to one third, one fourth, one fifth, etc. By those who have made some progress in arithmetic, this want is supplied by the use of 'oŋśpa' and the ordinal numbers; as, onśpa iyamni, (piece third) one third; onśpa itopa, (piece fourth) one fourth.

PRONOMINAL ADJECTIVES.

§ 171. Owasin and iyuħpa, all, sakim and napin, both, apa and hunk, some or a part, tonana and wanistiŋna, few, a small quantity, uŋma, the other, one of two, ota, many, much, and some others, are sometimes used as adjectives qualifying nouns, and sometimes stand in the place of nouns.

§ 172. 1. As the adjective ‘ota,' many, much, conveys a plural idea, its reduplicated form onota' or 'odota,' is not used when speaking of inanimate objects, except when different quantities or parcels are referred to; as, ota awahdi, I have brought home many or much; odota awahdi, I have brought home much of different kinds.

2. When 'ota' relates to animate objects, it may have the plural termination, but is generally used without it. When it relates to the human species, and no noun precedes, it has 'wića' prefixed; as, wićota hipi, many persons came, or a multitude of persons came.

3. When 'ota' relates to a number of different companies of persons, it has what may be called a double plural form, made by prefixing 'wića' and by reduplication; as, wićokćota ahi, companies of persons have arrived.

Repetition and Omission of Adjectives.

§ 173. 1. When the same thing is predicated of two or more nouns connected by conjunctions, the adjective is commonly repeated with each noun; as, śuktaŋka kin waste ka caŋpahmihma kiŋ waśte, the horse is good, and the waggon is good.

2. But sometimes a single adjective is made to apply to all the nouns by using a pronominal adjective or demonstrative pronoun; as, śuktaŋka kiŋ ka ćaŋpahmhma kin napin waste, the horse and the waggon are both good; wićaśta ka winohiŋća kiŋ hena waśteste, man and woman, they are beautiful; Hepan ka Hepi ka Hake, hena iyukpa hanskapi, Hepan, and Hepi, and Hake, they are all tall.

3. When two nouns are connected by the conjunction 'ko' or 'koya,' also, the adjective is only used once; as, suktaŋka ćaŋpahmihma ko śića, (horse waggon also bad) the horse and the waggon also are bad.

CHAPTER V.

ADVERBS.

§ 174. Adverbs are used to qualify verbs, participles, adjectives, and other adverbs; and some of them may, in particular cases, be used with nouns and pronouns; as, iwaśtedaŋ mani, he walks slowly; śićaya hduha uŋ, he is keeping it badly; nina waśte, very good; kitaŋna taŋyaŋ, tolerably well; he caŋ śni, (that wood not) that is not wood; tonitaŋhan he, (whence-thou) whence art thou?

Position.

§ 175. 1. Adverbs are commonly placed before the words which they qualify; as, taŋyaŋ wauŋ, I am well; śićaya ohanyanpi, they do badly; nina waste, very good.

2. a. The adverbs 'hiŋća' and śni' follow the words which they qualify; as, waste hinća, very good; ećoŋ kte hiŋća, he wishes very much to do it; ećoŋpi śni, they did not do it.

b. The adverbs of time, 'kiŋhan,''ća' or 'eća,' 'ķehan,' and 'boh,' are placed after the words to which they relate; as, yahi kiŋhan, when thou comest; waŋyaka eća, when he sees it.

3. a. Interrogative adverbs commonly stand at the beginning of the clause or sentence; as, tokeća wowapi dawa śni he, why dost thou not read?

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b. But to,' a contracted form of tokeća,' and 'he,' the common sign of interrogation, stand at the end; as, duhe śni to, why dost thou not have it? yahi he, hast thou arrived?

§ 176. Interrogative adverbs and others often prefix or insert personal pronouns ; as, nitonakapi he, how many are there of you? tonitaŋhan he, whence art thou? hemataŋhan, I am from that place.

Reduplication.

§ 177. 1. Most adverbs may make a plural form by doubling a syllable, in which case they may refer either to the subject or the object of the verb, and are used with verbs both in the singular and plural number; as, taŋyaŋ ećoŋ, he does it well; taŋtaŋyaŋ ećoŋ, he has done several things well; tantaŋyaŋ ećoŋpi, they have done well.

2. If the verb relates to the united action of individuals, the adverb is not reduplicated; but if the individuals are viewed as acting independently, the reduplicated form must be used; as, suktanka kiŋ tketkeya kinpi, the horses carry each a heavy load.

3. The reduplicated form of the adverb is used when reference is had to different times, places, distances, etc.; as, wićaśta kiŋ tehaŋ ni, the man lived long; wićaśta kin tehaŋhan nipi eće, men live long; ećadan wahi, I came soon; ećaćadaŋ wahi, I come frequently; he hanskaya baksa wo, cut that long; hena hanskaskaya baksa wo, cut those long; aśkadan euntipi, we encamped at a short distance; aśkaśkadaŋ euntipi, we encamped at short distances.

Use of Certain Adverbs.

§ 178. 1. In general propositions, 'eća' or 'ća,' when, is used with 'eće' or 'će' at the end of the clause or sentence; as, waniyetu ća wapa će, when it is winter it

snows.

2. The particle 'će,' in most cases however, indicates the close of a direct quotation of the words of oneself or of another; as, dećen ećanon kiŋhan yani kta će, Wakaŋtanka eya će, if thou dost thus, thou shalt live, God said.

§ 179. In reply to questions which have the negative form, assent to the negative proposition contained in the question is expressed by han, yes, and dissent by hiya, no; as, yahi kte śni he; haŋ, wahi kte śni, thou wilt not come, wilt thou? yes, I will not come; yahi kte śni he; hiya, wahi kta, thou wilt not come, wilt thou? no, I will come. If the question be put affirmatively, the answer is the same as in English.

§ 180. 'Tohan' and 'kiŋhaŋ' are often used together with the same verb, in which case 'tohan' precedes the verb and 'kiŋhan' follows it; as, tohan yahi kinhaŋ mde kta, when thou comest I will go.

§ 181. When 'itokam' is used in reference to time, it is often preceded by the adverb of negation; as, yahi śni itokam, (thou-comest not before) before thou comest.

Negative.

§ 182. 1. Negation is expressed by placing after the verb, adjective, noun, or

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