THREE STOCK LANGUAGES IN LOWER CALIFORNIA.
On the peninsula of Lower California, there are three distinct languages with many dialects, more or less related to each other. Some of these dialects appear so remote from the parent stock that the early missionaries believed them to be independent languages, and accordingly the number of tongues on the peninsula has been variously estimated, some saying four, others six; but careful comparisons refer them all to three stock languages. These are the Cochimí, with its principal dialects, the Laymon and Ika; the Guaicuri, with the Cora, Monqui, Didiú, Liyúe, Edú, and Uchiti dialects; and lastly the Pericú. Besides the above, there were also other dialectic differences in almost every mission, such as the variations of word-endings, and other minor points.[VI'-14] In general these languages have been described as harsh and poverty-stricken. The missionaries complained of not being able to find terms with which to express many of the doctrines which they wished to inculcate; but from the grammatical notes left by Father Baegert and those of Ducrue contained in Murr's Nachrichten, as well as from the various Pater Nosters at hand, it appears that these languages are not so very poor after all. Much there may have been wanting to the zealous Fathers, many burning words and soul-stirring expressions, which would have greatly assisted their efforts, but except that there is certainly no redundancy in these languages, they offer nothing very extraordinary.[VI'-15] Following I give a few grammatical notes on the Guaicuri language. The sounds represented by the German letters, o, f, g, l, x, z, and s, excepting in tsh, do not appear. Possessive pronouns are shown in the following examples:
| My father | bedáre | My nose | minamù |
| Thy father | edáre | Thy nose | einamú |
| His father | tiáre | His nose | tinamù |
| Our father | kepedáre |
GUAICURI GRAMMAR.
Of prepositions only two are mentioned—tina, on or upon; and déve, or tipítscheû, on account of, or for (propter). There is no article, and nouns are indeclinable. The conjunction tshie is always placed after the words to be connected. Verbs have only one mood and three tenses—the present, the perfect, and the future. The present is formed by the affix re or reke; the perfect by the affix rikíri, rujére, raúpe, or raúpere; and the future by adding in like manner me, méje, or éneme. If the action of several persons is to be expressed, the syllable ku or k is prefixed to the verb, or the first syllable is changed into ku.
| SINGULAR. | PLURAL. | |
| To fight | piabakè | kupiábake |
| To remember | umutù | kumutú |
| To speak | jake | kuáke |
Some verbs have also a perfect passive participle in the form of a substantive—tschípake, to beat; tschipitschürre, a person who has been beaten. The personal pronouns are: be, I, me, to me, my; ei, thou, thee, to thee, thy; becùn, beticùn, ecûn, or eiticûn, mine, thine.
CONJUGATION OF THE VERB AMUKÍRI, TO PLAY.
| PRESENT INDICATIVE. | |||
| I play, | bè amukirire | We play, | catè amukírire |
| Thou playest, | eï amukirire | You play, | petè amukirire |
| He plays, | tutâu amukirire | They play, | tucáva amukirire |
| PERFECT. | FIRST FUTURE. | ||
| I have played, | bè amukiririkíri | I shall play, | bè amukírime |
| IMPERATIVE. | |||
| Play thou, | amukiri tei | Play you, | amukiri tu |
| OPTATIVE. | |||
| Would that I had not played, | beri amukiririkirikára | ||
| or, | beri amukirirujerára | ||