The course of lectures, of which the following are part, were delivered before the St. Mary’s committee of the Algic Society. Two of them only have been published. They are here continued from the article “Indian Languages,” at page 202 of the “Narrative of the Discovery of the actual Source of the Mississippi, in Itasca Lake,” published by the Harpers, in 1834. The family of languages selected as the topic of inquiry, is the Algonquin. All the examples employed are drawn from that particular type of it which is called Chippewa, in our transactions with them, but which they uniformly pronounce themselves, Od-jib-wa. These terms are employed as perfect synonyms. The phrase “Odjibwa-Algonquin,” wherever it occurs, is intended to link, in the mind of the inquirer, the species and the genus (if we may borrow a term from natural history) of the language, but is not fraught with, or intended to convey, any additional idea. The three terms relate to one and the same people.
LECTURE III.
Observations on the Adjective—Its distinction into two classes denoted by the presence or absence of vitality—Examples of the animates and inanimates—Mode of their conversion into substantives—How pronouns are applied to these derivatives, and the manner of forming compound terms from adjective bases, to describe the various natural phenomena—The application of these principles in common conversation, and in the description of natural and artificial objects—Adjectives always preserve the distinction of number—Numerals—Arithmetical capacity of the language—The unit exists in duplicate.
1. It has been remarked that the distinction of words into animates and inanimates, is a principle intimately interwoven throughout the structure of the language. It is, in fact, so deeply imprinted upon its grammatical forms, and is so perpetually recurring, that it may be looked upon, not only as forming a striking peculiarity of the language, but as constituting the fundamental principle of its structure, from which all other rules have derived their limits, and to which they have been made to conform. No class of words appears to have escaped its impress. Whatever concords other laws impose, they all agree, and are made subservient in the establishment of this.
It might appear to be a useless distinction in the adjective, when the substantive is thus marked; but it will be recollected that it is in the plural of the substantive only, that the distinction is marked. And we shall presently have occasion to show, that redundancy of forms, are, to considerable extent, obviated in practice.
For the origin of the principle itself, we need look only to nature, which endows animate bodies with animate properties and qualities, and vice versa. But it is due to the tribes who speak this language, to have invented one set of adjective symbols to express the ideas peculiarly appropriate to the former, and another set applicable, exclusively, to the latter; and to have given the words good and bad, black and white, great and small, handsome and ugly, such modifications as are practically competent to indicate the general nature of the objects referred to, whether provided with, or destitute of the vital principle. And not only so, but by the figurative use of these forms, to exalt inanimate masses into the class of living beings, or to strip the latter of the properties of life—a principle of much importance to their public speakers.
This distinction is shown in the following examples, in which it will be observed, that the inflection izzi, generally denotes the personal, and au, un, or wud, the impersonal forms.
| Adj: | Inanimate. | Adj: | Animate. | |
| Bad | Monaud | ud | Monaud | izzi. |
| Ugly | Gushkoonaug | wud | Gushkoonaug | oozzi. |
| Beautiful | Bishegaindaug | wud | Bishegaindaug | oozzi. |
| Strong | Söng | un | Söng | izzi. |
| Soft | Nök | un | Nök | izzi. |
| Hard | Mushkow | au | Mushkow | izzi. |
| Smooth | Shoiskw | au | Shoiskw | oozzi. |
| Black | Mukkuddäw | au | Mukkuddäw | izzi. |
| White | Waubishk | au | Waubishk | izzi. |
| Yellow | Ozahw | au | Ozahw | izzi. |
| Red | Miskw | au | Miskw | izzi. |
| Blue | Ozhahwushkw | au | Ozhahwushkw | izzi. |
| Sour | Sheew | un | Sheew | izzi. |
| Sweet | Weeshkob | un | Weeshkob | izzi. |
| Light | Naung | un | Naung | izzi. |
It is not, however, in all cases, by mere modifications of the adjective that these distinctions are expressed. Words totally different in sound, and evidently derived from radically different roots, are, in some few instances, employed, as in the following examples:
| Adj: Inanimate. | Adj: Animate. | |
| Good | Onisheshin | Minno. |
| Bad | Monaudud | Mudjee. |
| Large | Mitshau | Mindiddo. |
| Small | Pungee | Uggaushi. |
| Old | Geekau | Gitizzi. |