MASON, TEPECANO, A PIMAN LANGUAGE OF MEXICO 355 



Glossary of Verbal Stems 



A list of Tepecano verbal stems in the present and preterit forms 

 is given below in phonetic order. These compose the total of stems 

 collected during the field work. They are here given to illustrate 

 the types of stems and the rules of preterit formation, to serve as 

 a vocabulary for the specimen texts to follow and the accompanying 

 syntactical examples and, possibly most important of all, as an aid 

 to the comparison and elucidation of other Sonoran languages. 



Too much reliance, however, should not be placed on detailed 

 accuracy. In the first place many of the stems, particularly the 

 preterit forms, were received in answer to a request for these forms 

 and can not be above suspicion. Second, the custom of using 

 the present stem to represent the applicative in the past tense tends 

 to obscure the determination of the true stem. Third, as has 

 been stated, the principal mark of identification of defective verbs 

 is that they possess no preterit form of stem, being invariable. 

 But certain normal stems, such as those ending in -«, are likewise 

 invariable, and other cases of non-variation may be due to error. 

 When to this is added the natural auditory lapses of perception, 

 the possibilities of error or confusion become considerable. Such 

 can be best corrected by a comparison with the verb stems of 

 kindred lansmao-es. 



Each stem is numbered from one to five according to which of 

 the five rules governs the formation of its preterit form (p. 354). 

 Defective verbs are denoted by D. Forms of dubious accuracy are 

 queried and doubtful elements of a stem parenthesized. 



Tepecano Verbal Stems 

 Present Preterit Type Meaning 



ao, ai a-i 2,3 overtake, settle 



a'a-n aa [ write 



an a 1 wash, cleanse 



a-g :i I converse, advise, think 



a-r(')gi(d) a '*(')gi U% form, become, grow 



iawa iawa 2 pour, fell, convey 



iapuc ? ? hold 



