READ
BEFORE THE PHILOLOGICAL SOCIETY,
JANUARY 25TH 1850.
This notice, being communicated by myself, and making part of the
subject illustrated by both the papers that precede and the papers that
follow, is here inserted.
The Digothe, or Loucheux, is the language of the North American Indians
of the lower part of the river Mackenzie, a locality round which
languages belonging to three different classes are spoken--the Eskimo,
the Athabaskan, and the Koluch (Kolosh) of Russian America.
To which of these classes the Loucheux belongs, has hitherto been
unascertained. It is learned with equal ease by both the Eskimo and
Athabascan interpreters; at the same time an interpreter is necessary.
The following short vocabulary, however, shows that its more probable
affinities are in another direction, _i. e._ with the languages of
Russian America, especially with the Kenay of Cook's Inlet; with which,
whilst the pronouns agree, the remaining words differ no more than
is usual with lists equally imperfect, even in languages where the
connexion is undoubted.