276 BUREAU or American ethnology [bull. 40 



§ 39. Plural Stems 



By substitution of one stem for another, plurality is sometimes 

 indicated in the verb itself; but a close examination shows that this 

 phenomenon is not as common as at first appears. A large number 

 of plural stems of this kind prove to be nothing more than adjectives 

 with the plural suffix -dAla or -da, and still others really have the same 

 stem in the singular and plural; but the Haida mind requires some 

 additional affix in one number to satisfy its conception fully. In the 

 other cases there seems to be an alteration in idea from the Haida 

 point of view, such as would impel in all languages the choice of a 

 different verb. The only verbs which show conspicuous changes in 

 stem in the plural are the following four: 



In the first three cases the plurality refers to the subject; in the 

 last case, to the object. 



The plural of adjectives expressing shape and size is expressed by 

 the syllables -dAla and -da. These may be plural equivalents of the 

 stem dju. 



tJa'gao Jc.'A'mdAla fine snow {TcA'radju a small or fine object) 



qe'gu yu'dAla big buckets (yu'An big) 



^a xA'dAla small children (xA'tdju small thing) (Masset) 



-da is sometimes used instead of the preceding. 



yuA'nda big things {yu'An big) 

 dji'nda long things {djin long) 



(39 



