658 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 40 



Tca'nauwe (1) tElala'xukc (2) o'tam^o (3) all (1) birds (2) their 



chewed thing (3) i. e., all birds eat of it 40.18 

 ta'lcE (1) d'yatc.'a (2) nixd'lax (3) then (1) his sickness (2) came 



to be on him (3) i. e., then he became sick 

 qa'da (1) itxd'^alqt (2) qtgid'xo (3) 9 how (1) shall we make (3) 

 our wailing (2) ? 

 A list of these nouns has been given on pp. 599-600. 

 It will, of course, be understood that these words, from the Chinook 

 point of view, do not form a separate class, but that they are simply 

 concrete or abstract nouns, as the case may be. They are in no way 

 different from similar constructions in English, in which the quality 

 of an object is expressed as its property. We find, therefore, also, 

 that many ordinary concrete nouns perform the functions of adjec- 

 tives. Ayd'pxEla (1) icime'wat (2), literally, the duck (2) its fat 

 (1) means the duck had (much) fat, or the fat duck. The only 

 peculiarity of Chinook in this respect is, that certain ideas which we 

 consider as qualities or activities are always considered as concrete 

 or abstract nouns. A glance at the list shows clearly that quite a 

 number of these words can not be considered as stems. Some are 

 derivatives of unchangeable words, and others are evidently com- 

 pounds. 



§ 59. Phonetic Characteristics of Nominal Stems 



On account of the intricate derivation of Chinook nouns, and our 

 unfamiliarity with the component stems, it is impossible to describe 

 the phonetic characteristics of nominal stems. The lists of nouns 

 given before (pp. 597 et seq.) contain a number of stems consisting of 

 consonants only, while most of the others are monosyllabic stems. It 

 is doubtful it the purely consonantic stems have originated entirely 

 through phonetic decay. A comparison of the Upper and Lower 

 Chinook dialects gives no decisive answer to this question. 



On the whole I am under the impression that a considerable number 

 of monosyllabic nouns, and perhaps a few of two syllables, may be 

 considered as stems. 



§60. Verbal Stems 



The onomatopoetic stems which do not readily form true verbs, 

 and the nouns used for expressing verbal ideas (so far as they are 

 not derivatives) reduce the total number of true verbal stems con- 

 siderably. These are very brief, consisting sometimes of a single 



§§59,60 



