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TH E CHEMAWA AMERICAN
LANGUAGES OF THE AMERICAN IN D IA NS
It appears to be quite a common popular supposition
that the American Indians all had one common lan
guage. This is entirely wrong; in reality there are
about 1,000 languages spoken by the Indians of both
American continents and about 500 of these are spo
ken north of Mexico, according to an article in the Sci
entific American.
All the family and tribal languages of the Indians
may be classified into groups, the article goes on to
say, so that the philologist is not obliged to learn
each language; all that is necessary is to study the
basic principles of the speech of a linguistic group
then, by familiarizing himself with certain rules and
exceptions, he can comprehend a large part of the
speech of the several branches of the group. By keep
ing in mind the law evolved by Grimm, the compiler
of the well-known fairy tales, namely, that certain
consonants correspond in all related languages, the
scientist is able to recognize the same word despite its
disguises.
An Indian of one tribe does not give a word a
pronunciation different from that given by other tribes
in order to disguise his speech but for reason that he
is unable to pronounce certain sounds. For example,
the Sioux call themselves by a name which means
“ allies;” this is pronounced “ Dakota” by the In
dians of the eastern or Santee division, “ Nakota” by
those of the middle or Yankton division and “ Lakota”
by the western or Teton division.
Besides these and numerous other variations, the
eccentricities in speech of the individual, of the family
proper and of the camp-group, corresponding to the
difference in the English language spoken by people
in the different sections of the United States, have to
be taken into consideration by the philologist and
care must be taken to eliminate the local and colloquial
accents because the speech of the Indians is not a
written language with a grammar and a dictionary,
except such as have been compiled by the white man
after a study of their language.
WHY WOMEN CAN OUTTALK MEN
A woman can talk longer than a man because she
uses less force in speaking than the man does, the
New York Sun tells us. A German professor proved
by actual and very delicate measurements that the
barytone singer uses far more energy than the tenor
and that the bass singer uses more force than either.
The range of voices differs greatly, so the percentage
varies to the same extent, but as a general result it
was proved that the tenor uses only from one-seventh
to one-sixteenth of the lung power of the barytone or
bass. The difference between the force used by the
contralto and the soprano is also marked , and the
contralto who sings in very deep tones uses at least
10 times the force of the thrilling soprano.
The explanation is so simple that it is surprising
that the investigation was not made long ago. It has
long been known that the tenor or soprano brings
the vocal cords close together and keeps the edges
only vibrating by the emission of air. The bass or
contralto leaves the space between the cords wider
open and has to vibrate very much more of the mem
branes, so that a considerably larger amount of air is
required and much more force is expended.
Persons with high, squeaky voices often seem to be
very loquacious, and the reason is now plain—they
can talk with far less effort than those who take a
deeper tone and have to use more air to utter their
words.
Here lies the real explanation of the ease with which
a women can outtalk a man. She has the advantage
of using from one-seventh to one-sixteenth less lung
power, and even though her lungs may be smaller,
the difference is never so great as that between the
amount of air required.
NEGRO NAMES
The Southern negroes often have strikingly odd
and peculiar names, remarks A. L. Hunt, Miami, Fla.,
in a letter to the Pathfinder. The girls are frequently
named after some beautiful flower, some grand per
sonage or even some notable event. For example a
girl born in 1876 was named “ Philadelphia Centen
nial Johnson.” The boys in many cases are named
after presidents or other prominent men. This ac
counts for the preponderance of the Washingtons,
Jeffersons, Lincolns, Jacksons, etc.
On one occasion, Mr. Hunt relates, a man was
traveling through a mountainous section of Ten
nessee when, in passing a negro cabin, he overheard
a negro mother scolding her children in this fashion:
“ Look here, yo’ George Washington, John Adams,
Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, git
off dat floah, and shet dat doah and mind yo’ tend
Queen Elizabeth.”
APPARENTLY ANOTHER METHUSELAH
In early Biblical times it was common for men to
live for several centuries, according to records in
the book of Genesis, but in modern times comparatively
few live beyond the proverbial three score and 10
years. It is therefore very surprising to read the in
scription on a tombstone which stands in a German
town, Pa., burial ground, over the grave of one John
Adam, the age of the deceased 969 years!
The records show that his age was actually only 69
years. It appears that in cutting the inscription on the
monument the stonecutter cut the “9 ” first and then
found that not enough room for the “ 6” remained.
In order to correct the error he filled the “ 9” with
cement and then respaced his figures. As the years
passed the winds, rains, frost, etc., gradually ate
away the cement until the original“ 9 ” was revealed
as plainly as the other figures.