686 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 40 



All words must end in a vowel, or in m, n, p, t, or very rarely in I. 

 The great majority end in a vowel (most commonly i) ; and of the con- 

 sonantal endings, the nasals are by far the most common. The pho- 

 netic structure of the Maidu is thus quite simple, and, owing to the 

 prevailingly vocalic character of the language and to the comparative 

 lack of consonant combinations and phonetic changes, the whole 

 structure is unusually transparent, and the component parts of any 

 word are easily recognized. 



§ 4. Laws of Euphony 



Euphonic laws require sound-changes in some instances. These 

 laws are mainly retroactive, and apply to consonants only in the 

 case of m. Where m is followed by Ic or w, the m is changed to n; as, 



amam that one (sul^j.) + -Jcansind = amankan and that one 



mom he + wete = monwete he alone, he himself 

 There appears to be more or less of a tendency toward vocalic har- 

 mony in the Maidu. It is obscure, however, and never is more than a 

 tendency, the exceptions to the rule being often very numerous. As 

 will be pointed out more fully in § 12, the Maidu possesses a number 

 of stems, which are ordinarilj^ dependent on others, as prefixes, 

 but which may in some instances stand as independent stems by 

 themselves. These semi-independent stems are all composed alike 

 of a consonant in combination with a vowel. The larger proportion 

 of them seem to be grouped in series, with variable vowel ; as, 



ha-, he-, ho-, ho-, hu- wa-, we-, wi-, wo-, wo-, wu-, etc. 



The significations of these are in most instances general, and in some 

 cases very obscure; but it is probable that in each series, the a, o, o, 

 and u prefix-stems, at least, are alike in meaning, or closely related. 

 Similar, although less complete, series of wholly independent stems 

 occur; such as, 



liaj), Jioj), Tidp, hup tas, tes, tos, tus, etc. 



and here again, in the a, o, o, and u stems there seems to be often a 

 close correspondence in meaning. Where these or other independ- 

 ent stems are combined with the prefix-stems, there seems to be a 

 tendency to similarity of vowel-sounds; the vowel of the prefix 

 being either the same as that of the stem, or of the same class; as, 

 for instance, hahap-, hoTiop-, wokbt-, yedip-, hapus-, hoyol-, etc. This 

 §4 



