REMARKS ON THE VOCABULARIES.
BY R. G. LATHAM, M.D.
The observation which is the most necessary to the general student, as a preliminary to Mr. Wallace’s tables, is the nature of certain syllables which in the Uainambeu, Juri, Tariana, and other lists, appear at the beginning of the names of the different parts of the human body. It is certainly not by accident that in one language they all begin with eri-, in another with n-; and so on. It is equally certain that these prefixes are no part of the original word. In the Baniwa of the Rio Isanna, the term for hand is capi; the syllable nu- is a non-radical prefix. Now the non-radical prefix is (almost to a certainty) the possessive pronoun, so that nu-cabi = my head: the amalgamation of the two elements being common in the American, as well as in certain languages of the Old World. (Appendix to Macgillivray’s ‘Voyage of the Rattlesnake’—Languages of the Louisiade.) The distribution of these prefixed possessive pronouns is a better guide than the affinities of the substantives themselves: since the personal pronouns are parts of speech which languages are slow to borrow from each other.
To apply the observation to the details of the vocabularies under notice, we find that the Juri and Javita prefixes are different from each other, and different from those of the Tariana, etc. throughout,—the pronominal syllables being tch, and wa, respectively. Neither of these elements lead to anything very clear and patent in the way of affinity. On the other hand it is equally clear that in the Tariana, Isanna, Barré, and Tomo-Maroa lists the prefix (-n-) is constant, however much the roots which follow it may differ; so that the inference, in favour of the possessive pronouns (at least) being the same throughout those four tongues, is legitimate. In the Uainambeu the case is slightly different. It is only in some of the words that the prefix is -n: in others it is -eri. This however is not very material, since the two forms, in all probability, represent two persons,—nu = my, and eri = thy (or vice versâ) respectively.
Without, then, taking cognizance of the roots at all, the classification of the languages before us, according to the similarity of their pronominal prefixes, is as follows:—
a. Allied.—Uainambeu, Tariana, Isanna, Barré, Tomo-Maroa.
b. Disconnected.—Juri, Javíta.
c. Uncertain.—Lingoa Geral, Coretu, Cobeu, Tucano.
The geographical localities of these tongues coincide with the nature of their pronominal prefix, and favour (pro tanto) the notion that they all belong to one and the same class,—a class of which the value is at present wholly conjectural.
How far are the roots themselves similar? Upon the whole it may be said that where the geography and where the pronominal prefixes indicate affinity, the roots themselves do the same; though not so clearly and patently as the investigator unpractised in American philology has a tendency to expect. To go into the reasons of this would take up much time and paper. It is sufficient to state that, whether the percentage of similar words be great or small, it tallies with the similarity of the prefixes. This may be verified by noticing the distribution of such words as the following:—