academy of Sciences] MORPHOLOGY AND SYNTAX 155 



pat'q'kal by pushing outside, adverbial. Freely translated: He pushed out his tail from the hole 

 he had ordered them to make 39.6 

 he'c'el 'ec'u'k'%pi hq'tqhqs | wo\spe wq 'oya'te k\ wic'a'tfkicagapikte'. The first three words are the 

 subject: thus we do if; wo'u^spe a lesson, object; 'oya'te k\ second object, indirect object indicated 

 by ki in verb; wic'a' ukicagapikte, verb: we shall make (or have made) for them; wic'a refers to 

 people if we do thus we shall have made a lesson for the people 231.16 



The nominal subject is often in initial position when the subject of the subordinate verb and 

 of the finite verb are the same; when they are different the subject follows the subordinate 

 clause. 



mat'o' ki 'i'sikc'i 'ina p'ek'iye-wac'i t'ima'hel hiyu' tk'a's, we' -hoksfla t'iyo'p-'ik'i'yela no! z\ the bear, in a 

 bad-minded way trying to make him go out into the tent came (contrary to expectation) Blood- 

 Clot- Boy near the door stood. Up to tk'a's contrary to fact) the bear is subject. Then it changes 

 and Blood-Clot-Boy becomes subject 115.9 



On account of the lack of a third person personal pronoun distinguishing subject and object 

 sentences with a single nominal element, subject or object, as well as those without nominal ele- 

 ments are ambiguous, mat'o' wq Jcte'' may mean "he killed a bear" or "a bear killed him." The 

 difficulty is generally overcome by a quasi-passive construction mat'o' kte'pi; they bear-killed. 

 The noun and verb are not compounded as in wqb.li'k'uwa he eagle-hunted, and c'apk'u'wa 

 he beaver-hunted, both occupations requiring special skill and training. When subject and 

 object are nouns the meaning is clear because the subject stands first, the object second, the 

 verb at the end. 



In subordinate clauses the same difficidties arise: g.lihu-'ni kihq wi'yuskikte' when he gets 

 back he will be glad, is ambiguous as to who will be glad, t'ak'o'laku ki g.li' kihq wi'yuskikte' the 

 one who is his friend when he comes back he will be glad, is also ambiguous, but t'ak'o'laku g.li' 

 kihq wi'yuskikte' expresses that the person who expects his friend will be glad. The opposite 

 would be expressed adverbially t'ak'o'laku ki wi'yuskiyq g.li'kte' the one who is Ids friend being 

 happy he will come back. 



With the conjunctions c'qke', tk'a's, k'e'yas, yesq', ye's, kaye's, k'ohq' the expression is ambig- 

 uous, nq implies the same subject in subordinate and principal clauses, t'o'ka ki ana'tq nq kte'' 

 the enemy charged him and killed him; wqya'ki nq nap'e' he saw him and ran away. 



There are many devices by means of which ambiguity may be avoided. For instance, 

 mat'o' ki wqya'ka hq'tqhqs 'iya' hpayikte when the bear sees him it will attack him, is clear because 

 'iya'hpaya to fall upon someone, is used for an attack by animals; t'akpe'yikte he will attack him, 

 because used for an attack by man, woidd indicate that the bear is object. 



Adverbs and adverbial phrases are placed preceding the verb. If a single adverb is to be 

 strongly emphasized it takes initial position. 



wak'q'-wasle'ya Lak'o'ta ki wic'a' k'izapi' supremely well the Dakota fought with them 



This occurs frequently with adverbs of time and space. 



'ec'q'l 'ukce'k'iha wq 'iyo'pteya 'iya'ya just at that moment a magpie went past 88.11; — m.ni-ma'hel 

 'e'tywq yii'k'q' he'c'iya 'ukce'k'iha k'u he' yqka' into the water he looked, and then there (of all 

 places) the magpie was 74.1; — lehq'l . . . Lak'o'ta ki wo' eye wq eya'pi now-a-days the Dakota 

 say a saying 79.4; — hetq'hq nake's wic'o'ic'age ki 'a'wicak'eya hiyu' from there on at last the growth 

 (increase) of people really came 5.9 



In the last case the connection with the preceding is equally important in determining the 

 position of the demonstrative adverb. The demonstrative he' is constantly used to summarize 

 preceding clauses. In an analogous way the adverbial demonstratives refer back to the preceding 

 sentences or clauses and in such cases stand always at the beginning of the sentence. 



hetq'hq ya'hq yyfk'q hehq'l pteh\cicila wq ka'l yqka'hq from there he was going, and then (a small bird) 

 yonder was 82.8; — he'c'enahcis zica' ki sq'p'a ya' 'oki'hisni instantly the squirrel farther going could 

 not 77.14;- — he'c'el 'iyu'ha 'ig.lu sol-wic'ayela in that manner all she caused the little ones to elimi- 

 nate themselves 81.11; — 'ot'ii'we wq t'q'ka ka'l hq sk'e''. yii'k'q' he'l wic'a' sa- it' qVq ki . . . '%" 

 a large town stood there. And then there the chief . . . lived 145.8 



