MASON, TEPECANO, A PIMAN LANGUAGE OF MEXICO 323 



when similar they are distinguished by their syntactical elements 

 rather than by etymological ones. Thus 



6c corn-field anituYr'c 1 am sowing corn 



ni'ok speech amicupnio'k they also speak 



hak toasted corn anituhak I am toasting corn 



'in 



The Xocn 



As with most Sonoran languages, the noun plays a role secondary 

 to the verb in native syntax. The latter expresses the main idea 

 of the sentence while the other parts of speech, including the noun, 

 serve to qualify and amplify the meaning given. The Tepecano 

 noun usually stands independently in the sentence and is seldom 

 incorporated in the verbal complex. In either case it consists of a 

 stem which may be qualified by the suffixation of a few etymo- 

 logical elements and may either stand alone or be further modified 

 in meaning by the addition of syntactical elements. 



NOMINAL STEM COMPOSITION 



Composition of stems is not a typical process of Tepecano but 

 is occasionally found. Some examples are 



bin-vak- adobe house, "dirt-house" 



a't-vak- back of house, "buttocks-house" rulatas de jacal 



to'n-vo beard, "mouth-hair" 



ho'-vo eyebrow (?), "?-hair" 



Similar etymologies may be suggested for many other words, as 



to-vau sky, "blue-house" 



hu'n-vak sugar cane, "corn-house" 



hun-ta'ha'k ears of corn 



vo-so-o rat, "hair-wolf" 



Similarly, many words referring to water begin with the syllable 

 "/. a very common Sonoran root denoting water. These are pro- 

 bably petrified examples of former stem composition. 



