298 BUREAU OP AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY [kull. 40 



used for forming the plural is one of the striking characteristics of the 

 Tsimshian language. 



It has been mentioned before that most forms of the transitive verb 

 are treated differentl}^ from intransitive verbs. While the subject of 

 these forms of the transitive verb precedes the verb, that of the intran- 

 sitive verb, which is identical with the object of the transitive verb and 

 with the possessive pronoun, follows the verb. This relation is obscured 

 b\^ a peculiar use of intransitive constructions that seem to have gained 

 a wider application, and by the use of the transitive pronoun in some 

 forms of the intransitive verb. The independent personal pronoun, 

 both in its absolute case (subject and object) and in its oblique case, is 

 derived from the intransitive pronoun. 



All oblique syntactic relations of noun and verb are expressed by a 

 single preposition, «, which also serves frequently to introduce subor- 

 dinate clauses which are nominalized by means of particles. 



DISCUSSION OF GRAMMAR (§§7-67) 



Proclitic Particles (§§7-16) 



§ 7. General Remarks 



The Tsimshian language possesses a very large number of particles 

 which quality the verb or noun that follows them, each particle modi- 

 fying the whole following complex, which consists of particles and a 

 verbal or nominal stem. All these particles are closely connected 

 with the following stem, which carries the accent. Nevertheless they 

 retain their phonetic independence. When the terminal sound of the 

 particle is a consonant, and the first sound of the following stem 

 is a vowel, there always remains a hiatus between the two. Lack 

 of cohesion is also shown in the formation of the plural. In a very 

 few cases onl}^ is the stem with its particles treated as a unit. Usually 

 the particles remain unmodified, while the stem takes its peculiar 

 plural form; as though no particles were present. There are very few 

 exceptions to this rule. 



The freedom of use of these particles is very great, and the ideas 

 expressed by them are quite varied. There is not even a rigid dis- 

 tinction between adverbial and adnominal particles, and for this reason 

 a satisfactory grouping is very difficult. Neither is the order of the 

 particles sufficientl}^ definitely fixed to afford a satisfactory basis for 

 their classification, 



§T 



