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T. B.
Yahgan Grammar in A. J. Ellis’ Phonetic System. 1
begun May 22nd 1866 and completed never 2
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Preface.
This work does not pretend to be in any wise a perfect grammar of the Yahgan tongue, but is of necessity imperfect, as I am not yet fully master of the language, but what is put down I hope is accurate.
The Rev. G. P. Despard 3 was the first who began to reduce this language to writing in 1857 using A. Ellis’ 4 Phonetic System. When he left Keppel Island in June 1861 he had compiled a vocabulary English and Yahgan of upwards of two thousand words, of which previous to his departure I took a copy, having previously learnt most of these words. 5
By Mr Despard I was constituted a catechist 6 of the P. M. Society 7 in June 1861 and by him left in charge of two natives 8 Ocoko, & Camīlána his wife. 9 They had been zealously taught and most kindly treated by Mr D. (of whom they are very fond) as that he and she were much improved in mind & maners. During the Allen Gardiner’s protracted absence from June 5 1861 to January 29. 1863 I made conside- 10
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The Yahgan Phonetic Alphabet. 11
Remarks on the letters.
The order of the foregoing 38 letters is my arrangement, the order I have from the first adopted for writing the Yahgan dictionary. 12 1st are the five long vowels, 2nd the short ones. 3rd the 6 broad or open vowels. 4th the 3 additional consonants, and then the other consonants common to English in their usual order.
The natives make often so slight a difference in the following letters that I have found considerable difficulty in many words, in fixing their orthography, between a and į. d & t. ç & j. g & c. f & p. In fact, they often use one for another. I have heard them often say, jilɑ for çilɑ. tątɯ for dątɯ etc. 13
The following Yahgan sounds are strange to English. k. hl. hm. hn. hr hy, ɤω. The following English sounds are wanting in Yahgan, viz th in thigh, th
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in thy, z in pleasure 14 or s in occasion.
On the Transposition of letters.
Words begining [sic] with H lose it when any prefix is placed before them, and no word has h anywhere but at the beginning save when it precedes l m n r. thus Hąʃɯ 16 heavy Tɯ-ąʃɯ́nɑtɑ. 17 To make heavy. Hɯ́lɯ big. Tɯ́ɯlɯ́nɑtɑ. 18 To make big. Mɯ́ąʃɯ́nɑ. 19 To rest fr Hąʃɯ. 20 Words ending in hr when followed by a vowel change hr into t, thus Tώlupωtωfcíli. weak knee. 21 Words ending in ɑ when followed by y 22 drop the ɑ and the Y is changed into Į thus. Çɛs’ į́ągɯ. 23 White or pale face not Çɛsɑ yą́gɯ. 24 Words ending with a vowel drop it when the following words commence 25 with a vowel. Thus Tɯcɯsél’ icɛ́mɯ. To pour in not Tɯcɯsel icɛ́mɯ. 26 Tɯcɯselɑ icɛ́mɯ Lɯp’ ɯcwɛ́nɑ. To blow out for Lɯpɯ ɯcwɛ́nɑ. Words beginning with w when following the possessive case of either nouns or pronouns, 27 the w. is changed into ɯ and the final letter of the poss. case is lost, thus Cɛtɑ́lɑmωnç’ ɯįcɛpɑn, for Cɛtɑ́lɑmωnçi wįcɛpɑn. 28 Adjectives ending in ɑ when the following substantive begins with w the ɑ is dropped, and
Apɑ sɑ? How are you? What of you? What is your mind about it
Apɑ sɑ undɑ la sɑlɑtągɯɑn? What of you are you also going to give?
Apɑ cunjin? What of him or her? 2 How is he or she? What about him, her, it, that.
Apɑ cunjin ɯɑ? What about that man? what is he doing? where is he, how is he?
Ápɑ́cún? Wherefore? Why? Whatever for? However was it. I say!
Apɑcun! cumɯdɯɑ sɑçiʃunɑtωda? I say, or Halloo I say whatever did you turn back for?
Ápɑ́cún í! Yes indeed, or Yes I wonder however is or was it?
Ápɑcun hɑ́cωn í!? I say! what of the other? I say! what of the others? or the rest?
Ápɑ-cą́gɑ! = Cįɑcįųɑ. What a pity! Well well what a pity! What a pity it is, or it was!
Ápɑcúl s. The skin of the kelp gander used as a headdreſs by avengers of blood.
Ápɑcun-úm! Well well! I say however was it or could it have been!
Ápɑ í! I know nothing about it or them. or Why ask me how cd I know anything about it or them.
Apɑtɑt hį hɤɑn cɛɑtɑcωn or gwɛɑtɑcωn. Come do take this for me (as I cannot.)
Ápɑtɑ. v. tr. To take, take up or away, fetch, bring, get anything by pulling it up out of the ground as a girl a carrot to the cook to put into soup &c. as Cɯp’-ɑpɑtɑt hį hɯʃωn. Go dowwn & get me some celery stalks.
Ápɑwúrɑ. s. Wreaths of any birds feathers neatly bound into a band.
Notes
1. The English Phonotypic Alphabet, the phonetic alphabet of English philologist Alexander John Ellis (1814–1890), first published in 1845. It was adapted first by Rev. George Despard and used by Bridges and other missionaries to write Yahgan.
2. The word “never” was added in after the page was first written. The last date in the manuscript is February 1895 (p. 154).
3. Rev. George Pakenham Despard (1813–1881), English missionary and Bridges’ adoptive father, who had been involved in missionary work in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego since the early 1850s. Bridges accompanied him to the Falklands in 1856 and soon took over the task of learning the Yahgan language after Despard returned to England.
4. Written ‹Ellis’e›.
5. Neither the original nor Bridges’ copy have survived. Some few words and phrases collected by Despard can be found in “Fireland; or, Tierra del Fuego” in The Sunday at Home, vol. X (1863).
6. Written ‹chatechist›.
7. The Patagonian Mission Society.
8. Originally written ‹matives›, with the ‹m› modified into an ‹n›.
9. Both spelled a variety of ways, and short for Ococcowenchez (Despard 1863), Ookookkowenché, Ookckoowenshy (Chapman 2010), and Camileunakeepa (Despard 1863), Cammillenna-keepa (Chapman 2010), meaning “man born at Ococco” and “woman born at Camilana” respectively. Ococco was the first convert among the Yahgan and the principal informant for Despard and Bridges as they began learning the language. They both came to the Falklands in 1859 alongside six other Yahgans.
10. The next few pages have been removed, so that the rest of the preface is missing and only the last few letters of the phonetic alphabet are represented.
11. See here for an explanation of Bridges’ orthography and Yahgan phonology.
12. The first copy from 1865, held at the British Library.
13. The difficulty he describes in distinguishing these consonant pairs is an artifact of the fact that Yahgan does not possess a voicing distinction in its plosive series. In the introduction to his first dictionary, he similarly writes: “The natives pronounce so indistinctly the following letters, that it is very difficult to fix upon the proper letter satisfactorily. d & t. g & c. f & p. j & ç. s & ʃ. In writing this language I have been much hindered by this indistinctness of pronunciation, being often doubtful which letter was nearest, and have often substituted these letters one for another, and again recurred to the first as nearest the truth” (1865:i).