WISHRAM TEXT^ 



By Edward Sapir 

 Coyote and ItcIe'xyan 

 Aga^ kwo'pt' gayu'ya* isklu'lya'^ wi'tlax." Nri'2wit^ gayu'yani;' 



Now then he went Coyote again. Straightway he arrived 



going; 



galixE'ltcmacf isklu'lya gwa'nisim^'' qtulatla'niElqt" idE'lxam^^ 



he heard Coyote always they (indef.) are always the people 



swallowing them down 



1 A connected English translation of this text will be found in Sapir's Wishram Texts, Publications of 

 the American Ethnological Society, ii,.41, 43. The Indian text as here given has been very slightly normal- 

 ized from its form as there published (pp. 40, 42). 



» Used partly with weak temporal force, partly as mere connective in narrative. It is frequently prac- 

 tically untranslatal)le into English. 



3 kwopt, THEN, AT THAT TIME, is regularly used with preceding aga to mark new step in narrative. It 

 can be analyzed into demonstrative stem kwo- (or kiva-) that (= Chinook go there) and local suffix 

 -pt UP TO (so and so) fab. Neither of these elements occurs freely, kicd- is not used to form demon- 

 strative pronoiuis, only occurring stereotyped in several adverbs; besides kwopt we have kwo'ba there 

 (note 39), and ktvd'dau and (note 46). -pt also hardly seems to occur except stereotyped in adverbs; 

 cf. dapt as far as this (related to da'ba, this-in=here, as kwopt is to kwo'bc), and yaxpt, as far as 

 THAT YONDER, from ya'xi off yonder). See also note 56. 



< ga- (gal- before vowels) = tense prefix denoting remote past, regularly used in myth narrative. - y-= 

 3d per. masc. subj. intr., referring to isklu'lya. before consonants it would appear as -i-, while gal- would 

 then appear as tense prefix {ga-y- = gal-i-: see notes 9, 28, 32, 47). -«- = directive prefix AWAY from 

 SPEAKER, -ya = verb stem to go. 



6 i- = masc. noun prefix with which -y- in gayu'ya is in agreement, -sklu'lya = noim stem coyote, 

 apparently not capable of analysis; perhaps loan-word from Klickitat spi'lya. Chinook has another stem, 

 -t.'d'lapas. 



6 Composed of wi't.'a again and deictic particle -x: cf. da'uya (note 54) and da'uyax this, wi'tla 

 is most plausibly explained as stereotyped adverb from wi-, masc. noun prefix (originally independent 

 masc. pronoun? See notes 19 and 33), and -t!a, emphatic particle added to pronouns, too, also (see note 

 21). According to this analysis wi't!a{x) was originally formed from *wi as ya'xt.'a(i) HE too from ya-x- 

 HE. Originally it must have meant that (masc.) too, but was later generalized in meaning. 



' Rhetorically lengthened form of nu'it immediately, right away. When thus lengthened to nd'wit, 

 it seems to imply direct, unswerving motion without interference of other action; it may then be rendered 

 as straight on or on and on. 



8 As in note 4, except that instead of verb stem -ya we have its shorter form -y. -i- (as in yu'it he goes; 



cf. also note 61). To this is suffixed verb suffix -am arrive while — ing, go (or come) to do . Several 



verb stems have two forms,— one in -a, and one without this -a (e. g., -pa and -p to go out; cf. galu'pa 

 SHE WENT out with atpx SHE comes out). 



9 gal- = tense prefix ga- before vowels, -i- = 3d per. masc. obj. before reflexive element (reflexive verbs 

 have, morphologically speaking, no subject). -xEl- = indirect reflexive composed of reflexive element -i- 

 and local verb prefix -I- to, into, -tcmaq = verb stem to hear. galixE'ltcmaq means literally to him- 

 self heard, to hear some one is expressed by -x-tcmaq with prefixed transitive subject and object 

 pronominal elements. 



"> Adverb not capable of analysis. 



n q- = indefinite transitive subj. -t- = 3d per. pi. obj. tr., referring to idE'lxam. -u- =directive prefix 

 (very many verbs have this "directive" -u- even when no definite idea of direction away from speaker 

 seems to be implied), -lat. 'am Elq- is exampleof rarely occurring compound verbs, -iof .'a- is "diminutive" 

 form of verb stem -lada- to throw down, away (in this case its meaning seems to correspond somewhat 

 more closely to that of its Chinook cognate -Lata to pull back); -mElq- is best explained as verb stem 

 -mEq- (or -mq-) to vomit with infixed -I- of frequentative or continuative significance (that -I- is not really 

 part of stem is shovsn by form itciulat.'a'maq he swallowed him down); pull back + vomit may 

 be construed as meaning vomit backward, draw to one's self and swallow, -t = tense suffix of 

 present time. Observe peculiar sequence of tense, he, heard . . . they^ sir /itioir them down. Verbs 

 that are dependent on other verbs, chiefly of saying or perception, are always present in tense, no matter 

 what tense is logically implied; cf. below gatcigE'lkEl . . . iki'ax (note 43) he saw it .. . it is. 



44877— Bull. 40, pt 1—10 43 673 



