Vater has a Lord's prayer communicated by Baranoff, director of the late Russian possessions in America. It reads as follows:
THLINKEET LORD'S PRAYER.
Ais (Father) waan, (our,) wet (who) wwetu (art) tikeu;(in the clouds; ) ikukastii (honored be) itssagi (name) bae; (thine;) faa (let) atkwakut (come) ikustigi (kingdom) ibee; (thine,) atkwakut (be done) attüitugati (will) bee (thine) ikachtekin (as we) linkitani (in heaven) zu tlekw. (and on earth. ) Katuachawat (Food) uáan (our) zuikwülkinichat (needful) akech (give) uáan (us) itat; (to-day;) tamil ( absolve) uáan (us) tschaniktschak (debts) aagi zu (ours as also) uáan (we) akut (give) tugati (debtors) ajat; (ours;) ilil ( not lead) uan (us) zulkikagatii (into temptation) táat (but) anachut (deliver) uan (us) akalléelchwetach. (from the evil Spirit.) Tü. (So.[II'-28])
Next come the Tinneh, a people whose diffusion is only equaled by that of the Aryan or Semitic nations of the old world. The dialects of the Tinneh language are by no means confined within the limits of the Hyperborean division. Stretching from the northern interior of Alaska down into Sonora and Chihuahua, we have here a linguistic line of more than four thousand miles in length extending diagonally over forty-two degrees of latitude; like a great tree whose trunk is the Rocky Mountain range, whose roots encompass the deserts of Arizona and New Mexico, and whose branches touch the borders of Hudson Bay[II'-29] and of the Arctic and Pacific oceans.[II'-30] In the north, immense compact areas are covered by these dialects; towards the south the line holds its course steadily in one direction, while at the same time on either side are isolated spots, broken fragments as it were, of the Tinneh tongue, at wide distances in some cases from the central line. A reference to the classification given at the end of the preceding chapter, will show the separation of the Tinneh family into four divisions—the eastern, western, central and southern. The eastern division embraces the dialects spoken between Hudson Bay and the Mackenzie River; the western, those of the Kutchins and Kenai of interior Alaska and the Pacific Coast in the vicinity of Mount St Elias and Copper River; the central, those of the Tacullies of New Caledonia, the Umpquas of Oregon, and the Hoopahs of California; the southern, those of the Apaches of New Mexico, Arizona, and Northern Mexico.
Near the sources of a branch of the Saskatchewan River are the Sursees, who have been frequently classed with the Blackfeet, but Mackenzie had before this stated that they speak a dialect of the Tinneh.[II'-31] Umfreville who visited these people, compares their language to the cackling of hens, and says that it is very difficult for their neighbors to learn it.[II'-32]
Glance first at the dialects round Hudson Bay, and thence towards the west. The northern dialects are exceedingly difficult to pronounce, being composed largely of gutturals. Richardson compares some of the sounds to the Hottentot cluck, and Isbister calls them "harsh and guttural, difficult of enunciation and unpleasant to the ear."[II'-33] They differ mainly in accentuation and pronunciation, and it therefore does not require that philological research which is necessary with the farther outlying branches of the family to establish their connection. Richardson says that the Hare and Dog-rib dialects differ scarcely at all even in their accents; and again that the Sheep dialect is well understood by the Hare Indians. Latham affirms that the "Beaver Indian is transitional to the Slavé and Chepewyan proper." Of the Coppermine people, Franklin writes that their language is "essentially the same with those of the Chipewyans." Ross Cox says that the language of the Slowacuss and Nascud "bears a close affinity to that spoken by the Chepewyans and Beaver Indians."[II'-34]
DIALECTS OF THE TINNEH FAMILY.
From a paper in the collection of M. Du Ponceau, cited by Mr Gallatin, there appears to be in the grammar of these northern dialects a dual as well as a plural. Thus dinné, a person; dinné you, a man; dinné you keh, two men; dinné you thlang, many men. Again we have sick keh, my foot; sick keh keh, my feet. The Chepewyan declension is as follows:
My two hats, sit sackhallé keh; thy two hats, nit sackhallé keh; his two hats, bit sackhaleé keh, or noneh bid tsakhalle keh; their two hats, hoot sackhallé keh; two pieces of wood, teitchin keh; much, or many pieces of wood, teitchin thlang; my son, see azé; my two sons, see azé keh; thy two sons, nee azé keh; his two sons, bee azé keh; their two sons, hoo bee azé keh; my children, see azé keh thlang, or siskainé. Thus we see that the dual ending is keh (which also means foot), and that of the plural, thlang. Possessive pronouns are: first person, si, sit or nee; second person, nit or nee; third person, his or their, bit, bee, noot, or hoo.
CONJUGATION OF THE VERB I SPEAK, YAWS'THEE.