1889-90.] THK T>kiit LANGUAGES. 203 



nominal crement, or the particle ^m, prefixed to the modificative .syllable 

 tia. Moreover, wdced has frequently for effect to transform verbs of the 

 second into verbs of the third conjugation. TintJii signifies " thou art 

 valuable," and tiftht, " thou makest him valuable," i.e., thou treatest him 

 with consideration. Hence, oadced-iltht, " thou makest thyself important," 

 in other words, " thou art proud." In like manner, by prefixing Jce to 

 nahwo&znmk, " I narrate," we get yim-ftakwceznmk, " I narrate about myself," 

 that is to say, " I make my confession " This form is susceptible of a 

 few irregularities. 



The particle na characterizes the iterative form. It is prefixed to, or 

 inserted in, the body of the verb, according to the composition of the 

 latter. When the verb is formed of several radicals, modificative parti- 

 cles or completive pronouns, its place is generally immediately after the 

 initial root and before any complement or formative syllables. Either 

 the radical or the conjugation of the verb is liable to be thereby modi- 

 fied, verbs of the second conjugation being ordinarily given the pronomi- 

 nal elements of the third, and such desinential roots as ja, yaC, -aih, 'af, 

 'as, zcen, etc., being converted respectively into ta, taC, taiJi, taC, tas, tzcen, 

 etc. I must remark, in this connection, that such verbs as express an 

 action which, to the Indian mind, is essentially reiterated, take the itera- 

 tive form, even when in their normal state, as na-skas, " I sharpen "; the- 

 na-dces-tli, " I pray." Divested of the characteristic of iteration, na-skas 

 is reduced to oss-kas, which should be translated, " I sharpen for the first 

 time a new instrument," while the-dces-tli refers either to a passing suppli- 

 cation, as in a moment of distress, or to the first prayer of the child. 



As for the initiative and the terminative forms, they are obtained by 

 the prefixing or infixing of the particle hzve' for the former and ?ie- for the 

 latter. These affixes are generally incompatible with the present tense. 

 They have for effect to prefix an n to the personal elements of the verbs 

 which lack it while under their regular form, and hzve' furthermore 

 changes the pronominal inflection this, characteristic of the proximate 

 future, into 7ithas, the other persons of that tense being also proportion- 

 ately altered. So, from mten^ " I work," we get for the initiative hwe-- 

 noasten, " I begin to work," and for the terminative ne'no&sten, " I have 

 stopped working," while to translate " I will presently commence to 

 work," we will have to say : hive-nthastiC, instead of Jnve'-thistiC. Both 

 forms are, as far as I know, proper to the Carrier dialect. 



By plural I mean a certain form whereby a verb is made to refer 

 to an act exercised repeatedly or in connection with several objects, 

 without, however, having the exact signification or the material 



