BOAS] HANDBOOK OF AMERICAN INDIAN LANGUAGES 711 



The method of differentiation is apparently that which Hes at 

 the basis of the expression of number in the pronoun; i. e., the 

 vowel-change of a to e to distinguish the plural from the dual. 

 Co-ordinate with the greater regularit}' of the northwestern dialect 

 in the independent pronoun is its greater regularity in the suf- 

 fixed form, although this form is much less used than in the north- 

 eastern. In the southern dialect suffixed forms of the pronoun 

 are not found. The lack of definite expression of number in the 

 suffixed forms of the pronoun in the dialect here presented neces- 

 sitates the use of the independent forms of the pronoun, in con- 

 nection with the verbal form, to distinguish dual from plural; as, 



mi'ntsem oJcmd'nJcano ye two will be hungry 

 minso'm okmd'inkano ye all will be hungry 



§ 29. Case 



The Maidu differs from many American languages in that it 

 lacks any development of incorporation as a means of expressing 

 syntactic relations. In common with most of the languages of 

 central California, subjective and objective as well as possessive 

 relations are expressed by regular case-endings, suffixed to the noun 

 or independent form of the pronoun, both of which stand separate 

 and independent, outside the verb. That the marking of both 

 subject and object by means of a separate case-suffix is, for pur- 

 poses of clearness, not a necessitj^, seems to have been recognized 

 by all these languages. The Maidu is among those which distin- 

 gyish by a special suffix the subjective, leaving the objective form 

 unchanged. To designate the subjective, the Maidu uses the suf- 

 fix -m. The following examples will render the use of the sub- 

 jective as used with nouns sufficiently clear: 



sil nl has vjo'Jcas I hit the dog (with a stick) (sii dog; m i) 



silm Jias nik do'lcan the dog bit me 



mai'dilm a o'kon the man is hungry 



nisd'm has mai'du V)d' ndtiankas we killed the man 



TYil Iculu'di ono'iene atso'ia thou must travel at night, she said 



i'cyokas min I am kicking you 



While all nouns and all independent pronouns, except the first 

 and second persons singular, form the subjective regularly in -m 

 (the objective being the simple stem), the two forms referred to 

 reverse the process, and are, besides, irregular. As shown in the 



§29 



