The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1855-02-02
American Geographical and Statistical So

This Society held its usual weekly meeting last even.
ing, in its In the New York Unversits Or Hawks
in the chair There full attendance OF members.
After the minutes OF the last meeting read and
routine business transacted tie members dourn
ed to the lecture room where guests waiting TO
hear the paper Of the evening By Dr. Hawks
the aborigional languages this continent.
Before commencing his lecture DR.. HAWKS said that
the injustice done American nsvigators by the British
Admiralty in not presenting ''Grnnels Land their
charts had been noticed by the Society and duly repre-
sented He Or. H. happy TO say now that on the
Admiralty chart received by he last mail Grinnes Land
and other places discovered by navgatcrs laid
down precisely claimed by the people Of tbs country
applause
DR.. Hawks then proceeded 70 read the paper OF the
the ming the aboriginal languages Of this coun
try, Of which the following Is a brief analysis
Our knowledge Of the aboriginal languages is derived
from the Spanish and lta missonare- Of he Church
OF Rome. These languages are exceedingly pumerous
but tae internal and grammatical structure Is similar
IN all Tbs number Of radical languages n North Ame
ica few though the dialects are many The former
may be reduced 10 four viz the Esquim.ux the I,o.
quos, the Delaware and the Flordian Few things are
more remarkable than the similarity Of .he gramm atca
America. We find thattney all rich IA words aud
their structure tells IL rehectiv-yabi,s than She
rude dioms OF most other languages They pould seem
to Indicate fall from higher civilization. Ir Hawks
then proceeded TO show that TIE American languages
were related 10 the Asiac, quoting Humboldt sup
port OF this position who discovered ttA. Of
thve American languages the roots Of hundred add
seventy three words the those OF some Of
the Asatc tongues Examinrg tue peculiar features Of
these languages lie noticed the vast amour. OF com
pound words which they contained. nstanciug amaag
Others, one with twenty syliabss, which 4 would
take bold man 70 pronounce and boljer
still to spell The next peculiar feature
in their grammatical construction was tue scarci.
~ OF generic terms. In pats o. speech, as for
ample, in the noun there singular Ard too p,Gra.
called plural with singular ano dcube plural iG
being double plural. Some languages have dual
precisely like the Greek this Ia the Ia .he Chero
ket These languages have not the masculine, femi-
nine and ne 1ter gsDders their aitirction Il .he AIt
animals trees, stars and other oojeets peraonided
among the Indians while the nsnrate Wer. herbs ane
smaller shrubs, 80 that size have had scmeth M
TO DO with H. Tbs adJectyes numerous but the
verb, curious enough Is taken 10 supply It's piac. The
verb presests the most striking feature m all the Lam
suases for there scarcely any word which cannot be
changed ipso verb. Verbs too like nours are ani.
mate or inanimae. The verb s positive negative re-
Elective or reciprocal so taa: most snphatea.ly The
principal feature IN the Indian languages IL the verb
ing these Languages from them ns student couA ana
out the stock from whence the lndiAas sprung He no
ticed In conclusion the similarity Il the Axrrauin the
Indian language ot North America to the Narvar I'm.
language Of Kossgth) and aeeounts6 'or il n - hypo
thesis that the Msgyars aud he IodAns Arneres wse
Of common origin, coming In ages FROG North.rs
Asia. This he said illustrated the utility on
something ~ the languages OF tais country From tte
testimony OF language could be csariy shown rba.
large portioE CT he lndaa ticueb no, ALI cxme
from HcftherE and Eistern Asia to America
At the conclusion of the lecture toe usua thsnks of
the meeting were unanimously voted u DR. Havks fyr
bis able and Instructive paper
The Society then adjourns. 10 Tiursisy next.