Like most Indians, the Arawack rarely uses a noun in the abstract. An
object in his mind is always connected with some person or thing, and
this connection is signified by an affix, a suffix, or some change in
the original form of the word. To this rule there are some exceptions,
as _bahü_ a house, _siba_ a stone, _hiäru_ a woman. _Dáddikân hiäru_, I
see a woman. Such nouns are usually roots. Those derived from verbal
roots are still more rarely employed independently.
NUMBERS. The plural has no regular termination. Often the same form
serves for both numbers, as is the case in many English words. Thus,
_itime_ fish and fishes, _siba_ stone and stones, _känsiti_ a lover and
lovers. The most common plural endings are _ati_, _uti_, and _anu_,
connected to the root by a euphonic letter; as _uju_ mother, _ujunuti_
mothers, _itti_ father, _ittinati_ fathers, _kansissia_ a loved one,
_kansissiannu_ loved ones.
Of a dual there is no trace, nor does there seem to be of what is called
the American plural (exclusive or inclusive of those present). But there
is a peculiar plural form with a singular signification in the language,
which is worthy of note. An example will illustrate it; _itti_ is
father, plural _ittinati_; _wattinati_ is our father, not our fathers,
as the form would seem to signify. In other words, singular nouns used
with plural pronouns, or construed with several other nouns, take a
plural form. _Petrus Johannes mutti ujúnatu_, the mother of Peter and
John.
GENDERS. A peculiarity, which the Arawack shares with the Iroquois[3]
and other aboriginal languages of the Western continent, is that it only
has two genders, and these not the masculine and feminine, as in French,
but the masculine and neuter. Man or nothing was the motto of these
barbarians. Regarded as an index of their mental and social condition,
this is an ominous fact. It hints how utterly destitute they are of
those high, chivalric feelings, which with us centre around woman.
The termination of the masculine is _i_, of the neuter _u_, and, as I
have already observed, a permutation of the semi-vowels _l_ and _r_
takes place, the letter becoming _l_ in the masculine, _r_ in the
neuter. A slight difference in many words is noticeable when pronounced
by women or by men. The former would say _keretin_, to marry; the latter
_kerejun_. The gender also appears by more than one of these changes:
_ipillin_, great, strong, masculine; _ipirrun_, feminine and neuter.
There is no article, either definite or indefinite, and no declension of
nouns.