The American Indians / Their History, Condition and Prospects, from Original Notes and Manuscripts

by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft

Pron. Sing.	Place of the Noun.	Possessive inflection.	Obj. inflec. to the noun sing.	Connect. vowel.	Plu. inflec. of the pronoun.	Obj. inflec. n. plu.	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 am, 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.

Having thus indicated the mode of distinguishing the person, number, relation, and gender—or what is deemed its technical equivalent, the mutation words undergo, not to mark the distinctions of sex, but the presence or absence of vitality, I shall now advert to the inflections which the pronouns take for tense, or rather, to form the auxiliary verbs, have, had, shall, will, may, &c. A very curious and important principle, and one, which clearly demonstrates that no part of speech has escaped the transforming genius of the language. Not only are the three great modifications of time accurately marked in the verbal forms of the Chippewas, but by the inflection of the pronoun they are enabled to indicate some of the oblique tenses, and thereby to conjugate their verbs with accuracy and precision.

The particle gee added to the first, second, and third persons singular of the present tense, changes them to the perfect past, rendering I, thou, He, I did—have—or had. Thou didst,—hast—or hadst, He, or she did—have, or had. If gah, be substituted for gee, the first future tense is formed, and the perfect past added to the first future, forms the conditional future. As the eye may prove an auxiliary in the comprehension of forms, which are not familiar, the following tabular arrangement of them, is presented.

First Person, I.
Nin gee,	I did—have—had.
Nin gah,	I shall—will.
Nin gah gee,	I shall have—will have.
Second Person, Thou.
Ke gee,	Thou didst—hast—hadst.
Ke gah,	Thou shalt—wilt.
Ke gah gee,	Thou shalt have—wilt have.
Third Person, He, or She.
O gee,	He or she did—has—had.
O gah,	He or she did—has—had.
O gah gee,	He or she shall have—will have.

The present and imperfect tense of the potential mood, is formed by dau, and the perfect by gee, suffixed as in other instances.

First Person, I.
Nin dau,	I may—can, &c.
Nin dau gee,	I may have—can have, &c.
Second Person, Thou.
Ke dau,	Thou mayst—canst, &c.
Ke dau gee,	Thou mayst have—canst have, &c.
Third Person, He, or She.
O dau,	He or she may—can, &c.
O dau gee,	He or she may have—can have, &c.

In conjugating the verbs through the plural persons, the singular terms for the pronoun remain, and they are rendered plural by a retrospective action of the pronominal inflections of the verb. In this manner the pronoun-verb auxiliary, has a general application, and the necessity of double forms is avoided.

The preceding observations are confined to the formative or prefixed pronouns. The inseparable suffixed or subformative are as follows—

Yaun,	My.
Yun,	Thy.
Id, or d,	His, or hers.
Yaung,	Our. (ex.)
Yung,	Our. (in.)
Yaig,	Your.
Waud,	Their.