feOAs] HANDBOOK OF AMERICAN INDIAN LANGUAGES 645 



most transparent example of the use of an incorporated diminu- 

 tive dual object to refer to an unexpressed but existing noun is 

 afforded by certain verbs of looking, in which the -s- has reference to 

 is-qxu's THE TWO EYES. A frequently occurring example of such a 

 verb is gatssi'k'.Elutk he looked at him, literally, he put the two 

 SMALL (eyes) down TOWARD HIM, the -tc- and -gsl- appearing in their 

 diminutive forms -ts- and -Jc.'eI- to agree with the object -s-; gasixim- 

 Tc'.na'-uk'^atsk he looked around is another such verb. 



As a rule, it will have been observed, a verb form tends to be con- 

 sistently diminutive or non-diminutive in its consonantism. It is 

 at least possible, however, to limit the application of the diminutive 

 idea to some specific element of the action by ''diminutivizing " only 

 some corresponding element of the verb form. An example already 

 published elsewhere will again do service here. The normal word for 

 I struck HIM with IT is inigE'ltcim. If the verb stem -tcim appears, 

 with diminutive consonantism, as -tsim, it implies that the person 

 struck is small; if the verbal prefix -gsl-, which implies in this case 

 intent to hit, is pronounced -I-.'eI- the implication is that the missile 

 used is a small one. Hence we have four forms: inigE'ltcim i hit 

 B.IM WITH IT ;inigE'ltsim I hit him (a child perhaps) with it; inik'.E'l- 

 tcim I hit him with it (something small), and inilc ! E'ltsim I 

 hit him (a child) with it (something small). To be sure, such 

 examples are very uncommon and the one just given is perhaps 

 little more than a linguistic tour de force. Nevertheless, it shows 

 very clearly how thoroughly alive is the feeling for the significance of 

 consonantal play. 



§ 54. DhtiiJiutive and Auffftteiitative Con sonant i sin in 

 ChinooU and Kathlainet 



So far as I am able to discover, the diminutive and augmentative 

 consonantism of the p and t stops does not occur in Chinook; per- 

 haps because the strengthening of these consonants in case of the 

 dropping of a following velar counteracted this tendency. When 

 the word tIaLe'ma creeks has a fortis t! on account of the dropping 

 of q in the stem -qeL, the same strengthening can not very well denote 

 at the same time diminution. 



There are, however, indications that the changes from c to s and 

 the corresponding affricatives occurred, although the significance of 



.^54 



