same form—admit of a change to indicate whether the objective person be included or excluded. This principle, of which full examples will be given under the appropriate head, forms a single and anomalous instance of the use of particular plurals. And it carries its distinctions, by means of the pronouns, separable and inseparable, into the verbs and substantives, creating the necessity of double conjugations and double declensions, in the plural forms of the first person. Thus, the term for Our Father, which, in the inclusive form, is Kôsinân, is, in the exclusive, Nôsinân.
The particular plural, which is thus, by the transforming power of the language, carried from the pronoun into the texture of the verb and substantive, is not limited to any fixed number of persons or objects, but arises from the operations of the verb. The general plural is variously made. But the plural, making inflections take upon themselves an additional power or sign, by which substantives are distinguished into animate and inanimate. Without this additional power, all nouns plural, would end in the vowels a, e, i, o, u. But to mark the gender the letter g, is added to animates, and the letter n, to inanimates, making the plurals of the first class, terminate in âg, eeg, ig, ôg, ug, and of the second class in ân, een, in, ôn, un. Ten modes of forming the plural are thus provided, five of which are animate, and five inanimate plurals. A strong and clear line of distinction is thus drawn between the two classes of words, so unerring indeed, in its application, that it is only necessary to inquire how the plural is formed, to determine whether it belong to one, or the other class. The distinctions which we have endeavored to convey, will perhaps, be more clearly perceived, by adding examples of the use of each of the plurals.
Animate Plural.
| a. Ojibwâi, | a Chippewa. | Ojibwaig, | Chippewas. |
| e. Ojee, | a Fly. | Ojeeg, | Flies. |
| i. Kosénân, | Our father, (in.) | Kosenân-ig, | Our fathers, (in.) |
| o. Ahmô, | a Bee. | Ahm-ôg, | Bees. |
| u. Ais, | a Shell. | Ais-ug, | Shells. |
Inanimate Plural.
| a. Ishkôdai, | Fire. | Ishkôdain, | Fires. |
| e. Waddôp, | Alder. | Waddôp-een, | Alders. |
| i. Adetaig, | Fruit. | Adetaig-in, | Fruits. |
| o. Nôdin, | Wind. | Nôdin-ôn, | Winds. |
| u. Meen, | Berry, | Meen-un, | Berries. |
Where a noun terminates with a vowel in the singular, the addition of the g, or n, shows at once, both the plural and the gender. In other instances, as in peenai, a partridge—seebi, a river—it requires a consonant to precede the plural vowel, in conformity with a rule previously stated. Thus, peenai, is rendered peenai-wug—and seebi, seebi-wun. Where the noun singular terminates in the broad, instead of the long sound of a, as in ôgimâ, a chief ishpatinâ, a hill, the plural is ogim-ag, ishpatinân. But these are mere modifications of two of the above forms, and are by no means entitled to be considered as additional plurals.
Comparatively few substantives, are without number. The following may be enumerated.
| Missun´, | Fire wood. |
| Pinggwi, | Ashes. |
| Méjim, | Food. |
| Kôn, | Snow. |
| Mishk´wi, | Blood. |
| Ukkukkuzhas, | Coals. |
| Ussáimâ, | Tobacco. |
| Naigow, | Sand. |
| Ahioun, | Mist. |
| Kimmiwun, | Rain. |
| Ossâkumig, | Moss. |
| Unitshimin, | Peas. |
Others may be found, and indeed, a few others are known. But it is less an object, in this lecture to pursue exceptions into their minutest ramifications, than to sketch broad rules, applicable, if not to every word, to at least a majority of words in the language.
There is, however, one exception from the general use of number, so peculiar in itself, that not to point it out, would be an unpardonable remissness, in giving the outlines of a language, in which it is an object, neither to extenuate faults, nor to overrate beauties. This exception consists in the want of number in the third person of the declensions of animate nouns, and the conjugation of animate verbs. Not, that such words are destitute of number, in their simple forms, or when used under circumstances requiring no change of these simple forms—no prefixes and no inflections. But it will be seen, at a glance, how very limited such an application of words must be, in a transpositive language.
Thus mang and kâg (loon and porcupine) take the plural inflection wug, becoming mang wug and kag wug (loons and porcupines.) So, in their pronominal declension—
| My loon | Ni mang | oom | |
| Thy loon | Ki mang | oom | |
| My porcupine | Ni gâg | oom | |
| Thy porcupine | Ki gâg | oom | |
| My loons | Ni mang | oom | ug |
| Thy loons | Ki mang | oom | ug |
| My porcupines | Ni gâg | oom | ug |
| Thy porcupines | Ki gâg | oom |
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