364 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 40 



Contraction by weakening of vowels: 



t! Em-la' n steersman; lor tlaPiii g'i-la!n sitting stern {t!aP to sit; 



g'i-la'n stern of canoe) 

 nEgutsha'°H smart, frisky; for iiEgwa'Hs ha°s father of dog 

 stE^ma'n humpback sabiion; for stdm hdn on one side sabiion 

 lEl)e tsIaPg' kidney -fat; for IdPhE tsldPg' fat of stone (i. e., of 



kidney) 

 lEhE-6'n biceps: for JgJ'^Ije ano'n arm-stone 

 ts/uHE lH-hiHg he stands on the end of it; for Uluwd'n 

 Here belongs also the particle huE- fluid; for cik^ water: 

 hsE-gioa' luiks spring of water. 

 Following are examples of contraction by omission of prefixes: 

 t! Em-la! n steersman, for t.'a°ni g'i-la'n 

 t.'Ein-ts.'deg harpooneer, for t!aPm g'i-ts.'d'eg sitting bow 

 nE-Jcslutu'°sk looking-glass, for nE-g'ilEks-lu-nl'°sh where back- 

 ward in one looks. It seems probable that g'il- is a separable 

 part of g'ilEks- 

 t!E7n-g'd'7ii the one up river, for t.'aPui g'ig'a'nl^ is not used, 

 but is understood; also t.'Em-hau'li the one in the woods; for 

 t.'dPrii g'ilhau'li. 

 Contraction with omission of sjdlables that ai'e not known as 

 prefixes seems to occur in- — 



sig'idEtnnaJx chief tainess; for .ng'ldEtn hand g chief woman 

 ha-l!l-ta t!l'°l>En when sea-lions lie on; for ha-l.'l-dd t!l°hEn 



contains also a material change of the stem-form. 

 The name of the tribe itself is interpreted in a t^imilar manner: 

 ts/Em-sla'n,ior ts/Ein-k,na'n in the Skeena river. The latter 

 word may possibly contain the element ks- fluid. 



In the Nass river dialect the same kinds of contraction occur, but 

 examples are not numerous: 

 anik' su-lb' galtk looking-glass; for an-g\dik' s-lo-ld! galtk where 



back in one examines. 

 sig'idEmna'q chieftainess; for sig'adEin lai'naq chief woman 

 SEnt'd'g'U chief, seems to contain sEm- very; g'at person. 

 MasEmts'e'tsk'^ (a name); for md'sEmst yo-n-ts'e'etsl^ growing 

 up having a grandmother {inds to grow; -m, connective; -st [?]; 

 yd — ^''^ to have; n-ts'e'ets ^vivn&iwoih&v) 

 Xpl'yelek (a name); for irpi-haguld'q partly sea-monster. 

 In connection with this phenomenon maj^ be mentioned the use of 

 some elements as verbs and nouns in fragmentary form, — or without 

 affixes, as particles. An instance is: 

 I hana'ga to desire; saga dEni yd'°gu I desire to go. 

 §33 ' 



