120 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 40 



§ 36. Pronominal Prefixes, Sixth. Position 



Next in order are the sounds which indicate the person and number 

 of the subject. These are sometimes changed and sometimes disap- 

 pear, because of phonetic influences. 



First Person 



For tenses other than the definite, the sign of the first person sin- 

 gular is w or -uw^ which is in all cases appended to the preceding syl- 

 lable. This sound is related to the initial sound of the independent 

 pronoun of the first person singular, hwe^ and is no doubt derived 

 from it. In the definite tenses this form does not occur, but -e is 

 found instead. The first person plural has d- for its sign. The remain- 

 der of the syllable of which this is the initial is completed from the 

 sound which follows it. 



Second Person 



In the singular the form is -;7 or -in. The former is found when 

 there is a sound preceding with which it can join, and the latter when 

 no sound precedes, or when, for some reason, it can not unite with it. 

 The sign seems to be dropped before l and I following in the same 

 syllable, of which there are many cases. It is reasonable to suppose 

 that this sign is connected with the independent pronoun of the sec- 

 ond person singular, nin. In nearly all cases, in the second person 

 plural o' is found as the vowel of the inflected syllable. This o is 

 strongl}^ aspirated. The cases in which o' is not found seem to be due 

 to contraction, which always results in an aspirated vowel. An o of 

 similar quality and with an aspiration occurs in the pronoun for the 

 second person plural, nohin. 



§ 37. Third Modal Prefixes, Seventh Position 



Certain prefixes are found in many verbs immediately preceding the 

 root, and suggest transitiveness or intransitiveness in the verb, or in 

 some way point out the relation between the subject, predicate, and 

 object. As the second modal prefixes are required in most cases by 

 the adverbial prefix which precedes them, so these are necessitated by 

 certain roots which follow them. When, however, a root is found with 

 dift'erent prefixes preceding it, their force becomes apparent. Com- 

 pare tcittetaL HE STEPPED ALONG with tciUeLtaL he kicked some- 

 thing ALONG. The absence of a modal prefix in the first is connected 



§§36,37 



