BOAS] HANDBOOK OF AMERICAN INDIAN LANGUAGES 211 



syllables where they appear to convey a kind of onomatopoetic sense. 

 In both cases there is a little longer pause with lips closed after the 

 enunciation than is usual in English, h, which occurs in barely half 

 a dozen words, seems to be of the same nature. In the Masset dialect 

 g and x are articulated so feebly that it is best to represent them by 

 independent signs, ^ and ^; but this alteration seems to be only an 

 accompaniment of the shorter form of speech which Masset people 

 affect. In the present sketch all of the examples not marked 

 ''Masset" are taken from the Skidegate dialect. 



Among vowels we have to distinguish clearly between those proper 

 to the language and those which seem to be purely accidental, a sort 

 of by-product of speech. In the former class are u (or o), u (or o), 

 I (or e), i (or e), a, and a. The sounds in the pairs u and o, u and o, 

 i and e, i and e, are not distinguished from each other, and in each 

 case the two probably stand for a single sound, i and e pass very 

 easily into ^ and e; and the latter may be described as accidental 

 sounds, although which pair is really accidental it would be hard to 

 say. Under the accent, a is lengthened into a. Sometimes a is heard 

 instead of a (kid'lu, liiaflu) ; and sometimes the doubling of a sound 

 gives the effect of a, as in Masset qdn, equivalent to qa'Afi, Sindqd'nan, 

 which is the same as q^ea'nan. a following wa, as in wa'm, resembles 

 a; and a is heard in a few exclamations, but it is not proper to the 

 language. The semi-vowels, y and w, are etymologically related to I 

 and u, and must be considered modifications of these sounds. 



A notable feature of Haida is the doubling and juxtaposition of 

 vowels, accompanying the general vocalic character of the speech. 

 Any two vowels may thus be used together, but, although generally 

 treated as equivalent to a single vowel, they do not seem to be 

 pronounced as closely together as the vowel-sounds which compose 

 our diphthongs. Examples of this phenomenon are: 



djd'ada woman 



la V knnd'gan WAUSu'ga he told her the news, they say 



V su'us he said 

 gua towards 

 ta'olAn friends 

 gui toward 



V gea'lagAU he became 

 Inaga'i the town 



A weak i may be followed by two vowels, as in gia'ogi at the end. 



§2 



