758 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 40 



The change of the pronominal ending into an o or u occurs in a 

 similar manner before n\ a suffix sign of the inanimate plural : 



u'wdnA^gw^ hole; uwafnAgo^n^ holes 

 ma' 'fca'^w' box; ma' 'fca'^oW boxes 

 me'Hegw'^ tree; me'Hego'n^ trees 



A ^-sound stands before the terminal wa of some animate nouns. 

 To shift an o into the place of the w is 2^. device for creating a dimin- , 

 utive : 



m^"^w^ bear; iua'^Tco^ cub 

 A'cAskw'^ muskrat ; A'cAskb^^ a little muskrat 

 ce'gagvf^ skunk; ce'gdgo^^ should be the proper diminutive, but 

 it happens to be the word for onion, while kitten skunk 

 is cegd' goha'"' , a sort of double diminutive. 



The substitution of o or u for w occurs with great frequency : 

 pd'gwdw^ it is shallow ; pd'gone^g^ the place of shallow water (the 



name for St Louis) 

 n%c\\i''TiwdWA''g^ two women; mcd"l:wdwd^w"^ he has two wives 

 me'ckw'' blood; me' ckvisi\\°' he is red 

 wl' 'pegy^m^'w^ it is blue; wipe'gusi^w'^ he is blue 



§ 13. GRAMMATICAL PROCESSES 



The principal process used for grammatical purposes is compo- 

 sition of stems. The stems are almost tliroughout of sUch character 

 that they rec{uire intimate correlation with other stems, which is 

 brought about by a complete coalescence of the group of component 

 elements. These form a firm word-unit. Excepting a number of 

 particles, the word-unit in Algonquian is so clearly defined that there 

 can be no doubt as to the limits of sentence and word. Phonetic 

 influences between the component elements are not marked. 



The unit of composition is always the stem, and the word, even in 

 its simplest form, possesses always a number of formative elements 

 which disappear in new compositions. Examples of this process are 

 the following: 



pe'ndmu'w"- he imitated the turkey-call (from jycndwa-muwa) 

 ma'^liwdrau'w"' he imitated the cry of the wolf (from mahwdwa.- 



muwd) 

 Mutu'gimd'mipe''n°' thou wilt be our chief {ugimdw^ chief) 

 TiAtund'hwdtu^g'' he may have sought for him (independent 

 mode nAtu'nahwdw^ he seeks for him) 

 §13 



