BOAS] HANDBOOK OF AMERICAN INDIAN LANGUAGES 843 



indicate the transitive character of the- verb. The animate -m- 

 immediately precedes an animate, pronominal element. When 

 the object is animate, it comes before the form that represents 

 an objective relation; but when the object is inanimate, then 

 it stands preceding the sign that represents the animate sub- 

 ject. The intervocalic t stands in front of the vowel that rep- 

 resents the inanimate object. (See examples in § 21.) 

 The consonant t often has a whispered continuant before articu- 

 lation {'t). With one form or the other, the consonant has 

 an inanimate use which is peculiar to itself alone. It often 

 conveys the idea of work; of the display of energ}^; of activity 

 which implies the use of some agency, but without expressing 

 any particular form of instrumentality. This use of the inter- 

 vocalic consonant involves a difference in the form of the 

 objective pronominal sign. In the examples that were just 

 cited, the sign of the objective inanimate pronoun was a 

 or A. With this other use of t or H, the inanimate sign of the 

 objective pronoun is o or o. 

 'po'ni'to'w^ he no longer works at it; he no longer makes it (poni- 



nesA^nAgVt" I had a hard time with it; I had trouble making it 



hf 7in\ tv. 



There is one group of causal particles which have a common func- 

 tion of reference to instrumentality in general. They are 7i, 

 Jiw, and w. Comparing the use of one of these with that 

 of t or H brings out clearly the difference between causal par- 

 ticles with the instrumental sense limited and ^ or '^ that has 

 the instrumental function unlimited. With Ji, for example, 

 the emphasis is rather upon the connection of the action of 

 the verb and the means taken to act upon the object. On the 

 other hand, with ^ or '^ the connection is closer between the 

 action of the verb and the object of the verb. The idea of 

 instrumentality is so vague as to be left wholly to inference. 



l~A'ska\iA^mw'^ he accomplished the work (by the help of some 



kind of agency) (kAsk- [§ 16]; -attiw^ [§ 28]') 

 IcA'slci'to^w^ he accomplished the work 

 apyatohwatd he then fetched it 266.15 (pijd-t-d-[ll 16, S, 19]; 



-ate' [§ 29]) 



§37 



