The derogative form is given to these generic substantives by introducing ish, or simply sh, in place of the d, and changing the latter to kid, making the terminations in ai, aishkid, in â, âshkid, in e, eeshkid, in i, ishkid, and in oo, ooshkid. Thus, naindowainjeegaid, a hunter, is changed to naindowainjeegaishkid, a bad or unprofitable hunter. Naibâd, a sleeper, is changed to naibâshkid, a sluggard. Jossakeed, a juggler, to jossakeeshkid, a vicious juggler. Wâsinnid, an eater, to wâssinishkid, a gormandizer. Kâgidood, a speaker, kâgidooshkid, a babbler. And in these cases the plural is added to the last educed form, making kâgidooshkidjig, babblers, &c.

The word nittâ, on the contrary, prefixed to these expressions, renders them complimentary. For instance, nittâ naigumood, is a fine singer, nittâ kâgidood, a ready speaker, &c.

Flexible as the substantive has been shown to be, there are other forms of combination that have not been adverted to—forms, by which it is made to coalesce with the verb, the adjective, and the preposition, producing a numerous class of compound expressions. But it is deemed most proper to defer the discussion of these forms to their several appropriate heads.

Enough has been exhibited to demonstrate its prominent grammatical rules. It is not only apparent that the substantive possesses number, and gender, but it also undergoes peculiar modifications to express locality and diminution, to denote adjective qualities and to indicate tense. It exhibits some curious traits connected with the mode of denoting the masculine and feminine. It is modified to express person and to distinguish living from inanimate masses. It is rendered possessive by a peculiar inflection, and provides particles, under the shape either of prefixes or suffixes, separable or inseparable, by which the actor is distinguished from the object—and all this, without changing its proper substantive character, without putting on the aspect of a pseudo adjective, or a pseudo verb. Its changes to produce compounds, are, however, its most interesting, its most characteristic trait. Syllable is heaped upon syllable, word upon word, and derivative upon derivative, until its vocabulary is crowded with long and pompous phrases, most formidable to the eye.

So completely transpositive do the words appear, that like chessmen on a board, their elementary syllables can be changed at the will of the player, to form new combinations to meet new contingencies, so long as they are changed in accordance with certain general principles and conventional rules; in the application of which, however, much depends upon the will or the skill of the player. What is most surprising—all these changes and combinations, all these qualifications of the object, and distinctions of the person, the time, and the place, do not supersede the use of adjectives, and pronouns, and verbs, and other parts of speech woven into the texture of the noun, in their elementary and disjunctive forms.

2. A vocabulary of words and phrases in the Chippewa language.

A.

B.