Summary Narrative of an Exploratory Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi River, in 1820 / Resumed and Completed, by the Discovery of its Origin in Itasca Lake, in 1832

by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft

In the following phrases, the modified forms, or the signs only, of the pronouns are used:

N'debaindaun,	I own it.
Ke debaindaun,	Thou ownst it.
O debaindaun,	He or she owns it.
N'debaindaum-in,	We own it. (ex.)
Ke debaindaum-in,	We own it. (in.)
Ke debaindaun-ewau,	Ye own it.
O debaindaun-ewau,	They own it.

These examples are cited as exhibiting the manner in which the prefixed and preformative pronouns are employed, both in their full and contracted forms. To denote possession, nouns specifying the things possessed are required; and, what would not be anticipated had not full examples of this species of declension been given in another place, the purposes of distinction are not affected by a simple change of the pronoun, as I to mine, &c., but by a subformative inflection of the noun, which is thus made to have a reflective operation upon the pronoun speaker. It is believed that sufficient examples of this rule, in all the modifications of inflection, have been given under the head of the substantive. But as the substantives employed to elicit these modifications were exclusively specific in their meaning, it, may be proper here, in further illustration of an important principle, to present a generic substantive under their compound forms.

I have selected for this purpose one of the primitives. IE-AU´, is the abstract term for matter. It is in the animate form. Its inanimate correspondent is IE-EE´. These are two important roots. And they are found in combination, in a very great number of derivative words. It will be sufficient here, to show their connection with the pronoun, in the production of a class of terms in very general use.

Animate Forms.
Possessive.
SINGULAR.		PLURAL.
Nin dyë aum,	Mine.	Nin dyë auminaun,	Ours. (ex.)
		Ke dyë auminaun,	Ours. (in.)
Ke dyë aum,	Thine.	Ke dyë aumewau,	Yours.
Objective.
O dyë aum-un,	His or Hers.	O dyë aumewaun,	Theirs.
Inanimate Forms.
Possessive.
SINGULAR.		PLURAL.
Nin dyë eem,	Mine.	Nin dyë eeminaun,	Ours. (ex.)
		Ke dyë eeminaun,	Ours. (in.)
Ke dyë eem,	Thine.	Ke dyë eemewau,	Yours.
Objective.
O dyë eem.	His or Hers.	O dyë eemewau,	Theirs. (pos. in.)

In these forms the noun is singular throughout. To render it plural, as well as the pronoun, the appropriate general plurals ug and un, or ig and in, must be superadded. But it must be borne in mind, in making these additions, "that the plural inflection to inanimate nouns (which have no objective case), forms the objective case to animate, which have no number in the third person." (p. 461.) The particle un, therefore, which is the appropriate plural for the inanimate nouns in these examples, is only the objective mark of the animate.

The plural of I, is naun, the plural of thou and he, wau. But as these inflections would not coalesce smoothly with the possessive inflections, the connective vowels i and e are prefixed, making the plural of I, inaun, and of thou, &c., ewau.

If we strike from these declensions the root IE, leaving its animate and inanimate forms AU and EE, and adding the plural of the noun, we shall then, taking the animate declension as an instance, have the following formula of the pronominal declensions:

Pronoun singular.	Place of the noun.	Possessive inflection.	Objective inflection to the noun singular.	Connective vowel.	Plural inflection of the pronoun.	Objective inflection, noun plural.	Plural of the noun.
Ne		aum		i	naun		ig
Ke		aum		e	wau		g
O		aum	un
O		aum		e	wau	n

To render this formula of general use, six variations (five in addition to the above) of the possessive inflection are required, corresponding to the six classes of substantives, whereby aum would be changed to _äm_, eem, im, _öm_, and oom, conformably to the examples heretofore given in treating of the substantive. The objective inflection would also be sometimes changed to een, and sometimes to oan.