These forms cannot be said, strictly, to be without analogy in the English, in which the limited number of words terminating in ish, as saltish, blackish, furnish a correspondence in sound, with the first adjective form.
It may subserve the purposes of generalization to add, as the result of the foregoing inquiries, that substantives have a diminutive form, made in ais, ees, ôs, or âs; a derogative form, made in ish, eesh, oosh, or âsh; and a local form, made in aing, eeng, ing, or oong. By a principle of accretion, the second, or third, may be added to the first form, and the third to the second.
Example.
| Serpent, s. | Kinai´bik. |
| ——s. diminutive | ——ôns, implying Little serpent. |
| ——s. derogative | ——ish, “ Bad serpent. |
| ——s. local | ——ing, “ In (the) serpent. |
| ——s. dim. & der. | ——ônsish “ Little bad serpent. |
| ——s. dim. & lo. | ——ônsing “ In (the) little serpent. |
| ——s. dim. der. & lo. | ——ônsishing, “ In (the) little bad serpent. |
4. More attention has, perhaps, been bestowed upon these points, than their importance demanded, but in giving anything like a comprehensive sketch of the substantive, they could not be omitted; and if mentioned at all, it became necessary to pursue them through their various changes and limitations. Another reason has presented itself. In treating of an unwritten language of which others are to judge chiefly from examples, it appeared desirable that the positions advanced should be accompanied by the data upon which they respectively rest—at least, by so much of the data employed, as to enable philologists to appreciate the justice or detect the fallacy of our conclusions. To the few, who take any interest in the subject at all, minuteness will not seem tedious, and the examples will be regarded with deep interest.
As much of our time as we have already devoted to these lesser points of inquiry, it will be necessary, at this place, to point out other inflections and modifications of the substantive, to clear it from obscurities, that we may go into the discussion of the other parts of speech, unencumbered.
Of these remaining forms, none is more interesting than that, which enables the speaker by a simple inflection, to denote that the individual named has ceased to exist. This delicate mode of conveying melancholy intelligence, or alluding to the dead, is effected by placing the object in the past tense.
Aiekid-ôpun aieko Garrangula-bun.
So the deceased Garrangula spoke.
The syllable bun, in this sentence, added to the noun, and ôpun added to the verb, place both in the past tense. And although the death of the Indian orator is not mentioned, that fact would be invariably inferred.
Names which do not terminate in a vowel sound, require a vowel prefixed to the tensal inflection, rendering it ôbun, or ebun. Inanimate, as well as animate nouns take these inflections.
| Present. | Past Form. |
| Tecumseh, | Tecumsi-bun. |
| Tammany, | Tamani-bun. |
| Skenandoah, | Skenandoa-bun. |
| Nôs, (my father) | Nos-êbun. |
| Pontiac, | Pontiac-ibun. |
| Waub Ojeeg, | Waub Ojeeg-ibun. |
| Tarhe, | Tarhi-bun. |
| Mittig, (a tree) | Mittig-ôbun. |
| Akkik, (a kettle) | Akkik-ôbun. |
| Môz, (a moose) | Môz-ôbun. |