The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-05-15

CHANGING Of CO.
MANCHE LANGUAGE
Names of Dead Never Used and
New Words Must Be
Invented.
BASIC FORM UNCHANGED
coMANCHES AND SHOSHoNES
OF THE SAME TRIBE.
BASIC FORM UNCHANGED

New York. May 14.-According to the
oetinitions usually advanced by lin
gusts and philOlogists generally, a
I'VE language is one which is chang
ing, while dead language is one
whose form is fixed and unchangeable
'Oh the basis Of that definition the Ian
Suage OF the Comanche Indians must be
one of the ''1ivest" on earth. for IT
change so rapidly that Comanche who
Had Deen away from the reservation
Tor ten years would have great diff
Guilty in understanding the language as
1t Is spoken today.
This condition of affairs is due to
the fact that when a chief or any prom
lnent man Of the tribe dies his name is
never spoken again by the members of
the tribe All of the Coma nches obtain
their names from objects of everyday
association; this means that the words
which were used in the dead chiefs
name are dropped forever from the
Comanche vocabulary. For example, If
a chief named Black Wolf were to die
II would be necessary to invent new
words for wolf" and black" to take
the place of those formerly used
This makes it necessary for q white
man who has dealings with the In
dams and attempts to speak their Ian
guage TO keep close tab on the mortu-
airy record, as 1t would be the gravest
breach of etiquette for him to speak
the name of any deceased member of
the tribe. In speaking to relatives he
may refer to such a one as your
father" or your brother" but never by
name.
Believe in Future State.
While this custom is used in a way
to indicate that the dead man has
passed out of existence completely, at
the same time there is belief among
the Comanches in an existence after
death and a great anxiety In regard to
Of ha III 0f do
parted. In many cases the traders who
know the Indian character have traded
on their superstition in this respect to
secure the collection of debts which an
Indian may have owed at the time of
his death by representing to his chill
dren that their fathers spirit is not
resting comfortably because of that I'M
paid debt. If the representation can
be put forward in q convincing way it
nearly always succeeds in getting the
money.
While the Comanche vocabulary is
subject to great and continuing
changes, as cited above, the basic form
of the language remains practically the
same and has for hundreds of years.
1t was through the similarity of the
languages that the discovery was made
that the COmanches and the ShOsh ones
Of the far northwest are really the
same tribe. 4 young Shoshone who
was in attendance at Carlisle noticed
Iut great between many Ol
the words used by Comanche students |
there and those in his own language, |
and during his vacation visited the |
ComancheS to investigate the matter
II was found that the COmanches |
had a tradition that in one of their |
wars with hostile tribes, long before |
the advent of the white man. a de- |
tachment of the tribe had been cut off |
and driven north into the mountains, 1
while the main body of the tribe had |
drifted south to their present location
The members of the band thus cut off |
were referred to as the lost Conan
ches'' and were really supposed TO have /
been annihilated by their enemies. but /
a comparison of the traditions of the /
two tribes and the similarity between |
their customs and language showed al |
most conclusively that the Shoshones |
Physical MarveIs-
The Comanches of the older days |
were probably the most perfect speci- /
anywhere in the southwest. standing |
over six feet in height and weighing |
from $50 TO 800 pounds, but close OBJ
servers claim that the tribe is degener-
Rting physically. due in considerable
measure to the intermarriage with
Mexicans. who are usually of much in
Terror physique In fact, IL is claimed
that there are only very few Conan
rhes of absolutely pure blood to be
'ound among the present membership
Of the tribe.
In spite Of their bloodthirsty record |
in the past they are usually of a kind
and gentle disposition. especially in the
treatment of the members of their own
families. 4 Comanche father would /
never think Of striking child, but in
spite of the lack of corporal punish
ment the children are usually pretty