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Untitled - Smithsonian Institution

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oIbkechts] the SWIMMEK MANUSCRIPT 5<br />

fectly provides for the representation of the former; the latter are<br />

disregarded completely. In the written documents they are there-<br />

fore left to the reader to discover, as in W.'s text here; or else they<br />

are represented by various very clever but inadequate, and especially<br />

quite uncoordinated, devices, as in Ay.'s text, where the stop follow-<br />

ing the t is indicated by writing the -d(o)- syllable for it.<br />

(7) The -ti- phonem, which is so common in Cherokee, has no<br />

specific symbol. It is usually represented by the complex: -(d)a-l(i)-,<br />

as by Ay.; more rarely by: -(d)a-l(a)-, the symbols used in this instance<br />

by W. (W. line 16). In lines 17 and 19, however, W. conforms<br />

to the general usage.<br />

(8) The word as written by Ay. is the nearest approach to the<br />

spoken language; it is, however, commonly written as in W.'s version.<br />

It appears from the foregoing notes that, as I said, the few and<br />

slight differences that can be found are mainly phonetic. These are<br />

not of a nature to invite skepticism as to the accuracy of the texts.<br />

Moreover, since writing them, it has been possible, by further re-<br />

search, to discover additional texts and to obtain from other medicine<br />

men copies of separate formulas. Some of these are identical with<br />

those in the Ay. manuscript. They must be either later copies or<br />

earlier predecessors, if not the actual originals, from which some of<br />

the Ay. formulas were copied.<br />

Comparing two versions wherever this was possible has again proved<br />

that the method used in reconstituting the texts is flawless.<br />

In order not to commit Mr. Mooney's name, and to take my own<br />

responsibility, I have thought it advisable to make a definite statement<br />

as to what part of this paper is Mooney's and how much of it<br />

is my work.<br />

As has already been clearly stated, the credit for the discovery of<br />

the manuscript and for the first work on it is Mooney's. I am also<br />

very much indebted to his former publications on the Cherokee tribe<br />

and to many items of interest found in his manuscript notes. Wher-<br />

ever I have made use of this material this has been expUcitly stated.<br />

Mooney transliterated and translated the formulas (free transla-<br />

tions) and wrote explanatory comments, some of them quite lengthy,<br />

to accompany them. It should be borne in mind that this work was<br />

done by Mooney about 40 years ago, at a time when methods for<br />

studying the native languages and the phonetic notations to record<br />

them had not attained the same degree of perfection they now boast<br />

of. That is the reason why it has been deemed expedient to take<br />

down the texts anew, as has already been explained in detail.<br />

I have, moreover, considered that the value of the texts would be<br />

considerably enhanced by an interlinear translation, which I have consequently<br />

added. The accurate analysis and the grammatical work<br />

necessary to obtain the data for these interlinear translations have in

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