BOAS] HANDBOOK OF AMERICAN INDIAN LANGUAGES 687 



tendency is most marked in the case of the o-stems. The o-stems 

 take preferably either o or a prefix-vowels; the o-stems, either a or 

 e; the ^-sterns, either e or a; the i-stems, either e or a; and the u 

 stems are very variable. In ever}^ case, however, except in the 

 case of the o-stems, any vowel may occur in the prefix, those noted 

 l>eing merely the most frequent. In all cases, i-prefixes are 

 abuntlant, because the prefix wi- is one so important that it is used 

 with practically every stem, and appears to suffer no phonetic 

 change. In the case of other prefix-stems, whose meaning is more 

 precise, which do not occur in series, and which generally refer to 

 parts of the body as instruments in the action of the verb, no such 

 tendencies toward vocalic harmony are apparent. Traces of a 

 similar tendency toward vocalic harmony are also to be seen in the 

 use of the general verbal suffix -n. This, in the case of o and a 

 stems, has generally o for a connecting vowel; -with other stems, 

 however, it has i; as, for example, 



yok-on, ok-on, pin-in 

 In a few instances, progressive euphonic changes occur, as where 

 after a becomes ii: 



im'kupem instead of pd'kdpem 

 or in the change of p to h after n: 



ope'lcanhem instead of ope'Tcanpem 



There are also several instances of the insertion of ^ or i for euphonic 

 reasons; as, for example, 



yaiyo'tsopin instead of yayd'tsopvn 

 ie'tyollehiissin instead of teyoUehussin 

 ko'doidi instead of ko'dodi 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURE 



(§§ 5,6) 



§ 5. Composition 



Of the different grammatical processes employed in Maidu, com- 

 position is by far the most important and widely used. It will be 

 most convenientl}^ considered by dividing it into — 



(1) Nominal composition, and 



(2) Verbal composition. 



§5 



