Ha[n]-he'-pi | no[n]'-pa | mi'-ye | ti-ya'-ta | wa-gle'-kta.
(1) | (2) | (3) | (5) | (4)
nights | two | I | my home | am going to.
It will be noticed that the gesture No. 4, "am going to," was made
before the gesture No. 5, "my home," although the Dakota words
pronounced were in the reverse order, showing a difference in the
syntax of the gestures and of the oral speech in this instance. The
other gestures, 1, 2, and 3, had been made deliberately, the Dakota
word translating each being in obvious connection with the several
gestures, but the two final words were pronounced rapidly together as
if they could not in the mind of the gesturer be applied separately to
the reversed order of the signs for them.
* * * * *
The same authority obtained the above sentence in Ponka and Pani,
together with the following signs for it, from individuals of those
tribes. Those signs agreed between each other, but differed from the
Dakota, as will be observed, in the signs _to my house_, as signifying
_to my home_.
(1) Touch the breast with the tips of the extended fingers--_I_. This
precedes the signs for Nos. 2, 3, 4, and 5, which correspond to Nos.
1, 2, 3, and 4 of the Dakota; then follows: (6) place the tips of the
extended fingers of the flat hands together, leaving the wrists about
six inches apart--_lodge_, (7) and conclude by placing the clinched
fists nearly at arm's length before the body, the right several inches
above the left, then throw them toward the ground--about six or eight
inches--the fists retaining their relative positions--_my_, _mine_.