644 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 40 



POSITION (Wishram Texts 184.10) and tsu (from -tcu down) in 

 ililu'stsu (water) moved down into the (hollow place). As 

 examples of diminutive forms of local prefixes may be given -JcIeI- 

 (from -gsl- directed toward) in ga-tssi'lc'.Elutk he looked at him 

 and its reflexive correlative -xeI- (from -xeI) in gasi'xElutk he looked; 

 -sk!mn- under in iniask'.Emla'datcu I threw it down under her is 

 doubtless diminutive to -gsm- next to (cf. -tcu and -s-tsu above). 



The only examples of diminutive consonantism in the pronominal 

 prefixes of verb forms occur in the case of ts (for tc, third person 

 masculine subject transitive) and s (for c, third person dual subject 

 intransitive and transitive and object transitive). Whenever the 

 object of the transitive verb (or the apparent subject, really first 

 object, of the ''half-transitive " verb) is diminutive in form, the 

 pronominal prefixes tc and c appear as ts and s; the ts by no means 

 implies the diminutive character of the transitive subject. Examples 

 are: I'lvi gatssu'x isie'nqxoq he looked at his fish-line (Wishram 

 Texts 140,28), where the incorporated pronominal dual element 

 -s- of gatssu'x refers to the diminutive dual object is-ie'-nqx6q his 

 fish-line, while the pronominal subject -ts- he agrees with the 

 object in diminutive consonantism; galksu'Mam, {-lies- always appears 

 for -sM-) THE TWO (women) came home with the (baby) (Wishram 

 Texts 2.12), the diminutive dual -s- referring to the grown-up 

 women, not to the baby; gasEugatklagwa'x gas Menaklwa'st it- 

 waves -freely -over -me -my -feathered -cloak (Wishram Texts 

 142.5), where the first ol)ject -s- of the half-transitive verb refers 

 to the diminutive dual noun s-tenak!wa'st (small) feathered 

 CLOAK. Particularly noteworthy in this connection is the idiomatic 

 use of a diminutive dual object -s- referring to an implied, unex- 

 pressed noun of diminutive significance; there need not even exist 

 such a diminutive dual noun to which reference, if desired, could be 

 explicitly made. A good example is: gaJcsi'lutk she cradled him, 

 Uterally, she put the-two-small (objects) down to him, where 

 the two small (objects) refer to an implied word for cradle, 

 though the word for cradle in actual use is a masculine ii'-lkau). 

 Similarly, verbs of jumping and somersaulting have an incorporated 

 diminutive dual object -s- referring to the two small (feet), though 

 the actual word for feet is phiral (i't-pc). Examples are: gaksu'^Eua 

 SHE jumped; gasixmi' Lgwa he turned a somersault (Wishram 

 Texts 82.18); and gats(s)altsgi'ma he laid her, belly up. The 



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