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Rapid advance of spring--Troops commence a stockade--Principles
of the Chippewa tongue--Idea of a new language containing the native
principles of syntax, with a monosyllabic method--Indian standard of
value--Archaeological evidences in growing trees--Mount
Vernon--Signs of spring in the appearance of birds--Expedition to
St. Peter's--Lake Superior open--A peculiarity in the orthography of
Jefferson--True sounds of the consonants--Philology--Advent of the
arrival of a vessel.--Editors and editorials--Arrival from Fort
William--A hope fled--Sudden completion of the spring, and ushering
in of summer--Odjibwa language, and transmission of Inquiries.
1823. April 12th. Spring is gradually advancing. The deepened roar
of the rapids indicates an increased volume of water. The state of
the ice is so bad this day that no persons have ventured to cross
the river. Yesterday, they still crossed. The bare ground begins to
show itself in spots; but the body of snow is still deep in the
woods.
14th. The T. migratorius or robin made its appearance. The
Indians have a pretty tale of the origin of this bird and its
fondness for domestic scenes.
16th. Gray duck appeared in the rapids.
17th. Large portions of the ground are now laid bare by the sun.
18th. A friend at New York, about to sail for Europe, writes me
under this date: "I expect to sail for St. Petersburgh. I shall take
with me some of our choicest specimens, in return for which I hope
to procure something new and interesting. The truth is, we know very
little of the mineralogy of Russia, and hence such specimens as can
be procured will almost necessarily prove interesting."
"The Lyceum is about to publish its proceedings. The members are
increasing in numbers and activity. It has been recently agreed that
there shall be at least one paper read at every meeting; this will
ensure attention, and much increase the interest of the meetings. I
hope you may, before long, be able to add your personal attendance."
"I feel it my duty to inform you that the minerals intrusted to my
care are situated in every respect as when left by you; they are, of
course, entirely dependent upon any order you may give concerning
them. I do not think it necessary that you should make any
immediate provision for them, or that there is any cause for
uneasiness on their account.1"
19th. The troops began to set up the pickets of a stockade or
fort, to which the name of "Brady" is given, in allusion to Col.
Hugh Brady, U.S.A. The first canoe crossed the river to-day,
although the ice still lines each shore of the river for several
hundred yards in width.
20th. S. My sister Maria writes to me: "I fancy, by the
description you have given of your residence and society at the
Sault, that you have enjoyed yourself, and seen as much of the
refinements of civilized life as you would have done in many places
less remote. Who have you at the Sault that writes such pretty
poetry? The piece I refer to is signed Alexina2,
and is a death-song of an Indian woman at the grave of her murdered
husband."
22d. One of the principal objections to be urged against the
Indian languages, considered as media of communication, is their
cumbrousness. There is certainly a great deal of verbiage and
tautology about them. The paucity of terms leads not only to the use
of figures and metaphors, but is the cause of circumlocution. This
day we had a snow storm.
The Chippewa is, in its structure, what is denominated by Mr. Du
Ponceau "polysynthetic." It seems the farthest removed possible from
the monosyllabic class of languages. I have thought that, if some of
its grammatical principles could be applied to monosyllables, a new
language of great brevity, terseness, regularity, and poetic
expressiveness, might be formed. It would be necessary to restore to
its alphabet the consonants f, l, and r, and v. Its primitive
pronouns might be retained, with simple inflections, instead of
compound, for plural. It would be necessary to invent a pronoun for
she, as there is, apparently, nothing of this kind in the
language. The pronouns might take the following form:--
Ni, I. Nid, We. Niwin, Myself. Niwind, Ourselves.
Ki, Thou. Kid, Ye or you. Kiwin, Thyself. Kiwind,
Yourselves.
Wi, He. Wid, They. Masculine. Wiwin, Yourselves. (Mas.) Wiwind.
Si, She. Sid, They. Feminine. Siwin, Yourselves. (Fem.) Siwind.
DECLENSION OF PRONOUNS.
Ni, Nin, Nee--I, Mine, Me. Nid, Nida, Nidim--We, Us, Ours.
Ki, Kin, Kee--Thou, Thine, Thee. Kid, Kida, Kidim--Ye, You,
Yours.
Wi, Win, Wee--Him, His, His. Wid, Wida, Widim--They,
Their, Theirs. (Mas.)
Si, Sin, See--Her, Hers, Hers. Sid, Sida, Sidim--They, Their,
Theirs. (Fem.)
The full meaning of the present class of verbs and substantives of
the language could be advantageously transferred to the first, or
second, or third syllable of the words, converting them into
monosyllables. The plural might be uniformly made in d, following
a vowel, and if a word terminate in a consonant, then in ad. So
the class of plural terminations would be ad, ed, id, od, ud.
Many generic nouns would require to be invented, and could easily be
drawn from existing roots. In the orthography of these, the initial
consonant of the corresponding English word might serve as an index,
Thus, from the word aindum, mind, might be derived,
Ain, Mind. Sain, Sorrow.
Tain, Thought. Jain, Joy, &c.
Main, Meditation.
So from taibwawin, truth, might be drawn taib, truth--faib,
faith--raib, religion--vaib, virtue. A principle of
euphony, or affinity of syllabication, might be applied in the
abbreviation of a few of this class of generic words: as Eo,
God, from monedo.
THE ORDINARY NOUNS WOULD RUN THUS:--
In, Man. Ind, Men.
Ee, Woman. Eed, Women.
Ab, Child. Abad, Children.
Kwi, Boy. Kwid, Boys.
Kwa, Girl. Kwad, Girls.
Os, Father. Osad, Fathers.
Gai, Mother. Gaid, Mothers.
All the existing monosyllables of the language would be retained,
but subjected to new laws of construction and concordance. Thus the
plural of Koan, snow, would be koanad; of ais, shell,
aisad;
moaz, moas, moazad, &c. Variety in the production of sounds, and of
proper cadences in composition, might dictate retention of a certain
class of the dissyllables--as ossin a stone, opin a
potato, akki earth, mejim food, assub a net, aubo
a liquid, mittig a tree, &c., the plurals of which would be
assinad, opinad, akkid,
mejimad, assubad, aubad, mittigad. Every substantive would have a
diminutive form in is, and an augmentative in chi, the
vowel of the latter to be dropped where a vowel begins the word.
Thus, chab, a grandchild; chigai, a grandmother. Inis,
a little man; osis,
a little father, &c.
Adjectives would come under the same rules of abbreviation as nouns
and verbs. They would be deprived of their present accidents of
number and gender.
Min, Good. Koona, Ugly.
Mon, Bad. Soan, Strong.
Bish, Handsome.
The colors, seasons, cardinal points, &c., would consist of the
first syllable of the present words.
The demonstrative pronouns, this, that, there, those, would take
the following forms: Mau, this; aho, that. By adding the common
plural, the terms for these and those would be produced:
Maud, these; ahod, those.
The prepositions would fall naturally under the rule of abbreviation
applied to nouns, &c. Chi, by; peen, in; kish,
if, &c.; li, of; ra, to; vi, is; af, at.
Ieau is the verb to be. The auxiliary verbs, have, shall,
will, &c., taken from the tensal particles, are ge, gu, gei, go,
ga.
Pa may stand for the definite article, being the first
syllable of pazhik; and a comma for the indefinite article.
Ie is matter. Ishi, heaven.
EXAMPLES.
Ni sa Eo--I love God. Eo vi min--The Lord is good. Nin os ge pa
min in--My father was a good man. Ishiod (Isheod)--The heavens.
Thus a new language might be formed.
24th. The standard of value with the Indians is various. At this
place, a beaver skin is the standard of computation in accounts.
When an Indian has made a purchase, he inquires, not how many
dollars, but how many beaver skins he owes. Farther south, where racoon skins are plenty,
they become the standard. Some years ago,
desertion became so frequent at Chicago and other posts, that the
commanding officer offered the customary reward to the Indians of
the post, if they would secure the deserters. Five persons went in
pursuit, and brought in the men, for which they received a
certificate for the amount. They then divided the sum into five
equal shares, and subdivided each share into its value in racoon
skins. It was not until this division was completed, and the number
of skins ascertained, that they could, by any fixed standard of
comparison, determine the reward which each had received.
1: Notwithstanding, the collection of specimens
referred to was afterwards most sadly dealt with, and pillaged of
its choicest specimens.
2: Mrs. Thompson.
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materials that may imply negative stereotypes reflecting the culture or language
of a particular period or place. These items are presented as part of the
historical record and should not be interpreted to mean that the WebMasters in
any way endorse the stereotypes implied.
Personal Memoirs of a Residence of Thirty Years with the
Indian Tribes on the American Frontiers, 1851
Thirty
Years with the Indians |
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