884 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 40 



The sounds s and / are almost the only consonants found closing a 

 syllable in which no contraction is known to have taken place, although 

 it seems significant that both these sounds result from supposed 

 contraction of syllables. 



The placing of the accent is said sometimes to constitute the only 

 difference between words, but it is possible that other vocalic modifi- 

 cations, not hitherto observed, may be involved. 



§ 4. Phonetic Changes 



In this section we give a summary of the phonetic changes occurring 

 in Teton, Ponca, and Winnebago. 



TETON 



1. After a nasalized vowel or the syllable nl there is a strong tend- 

 ency for the following vowel to be nasalized; and this tendency is 

 particularly marked in the causative auxiliary ya, as in the following 

 cases : 



'ki'^'yal' to fly 



toha'^'hu'^ni'ya^ as long as 



icitehciP-' ya'^ far apart 



ta^'ya^ well 



waci^'ya'^pi' they trusted to him 



niya"^' he cures him (literally, causes him to live) 



wiyuski^' ya"^ in a holy manner 



Upa'^ya'^'pi they caused it to be softened with water 



teu^'ya^jp'i we caiised him to die 



. J« TO GO sometimes changes similarly, as — 



xi'^yaP''2jl we go. 



2. After o, u, o'^, it^, the semivocalic y is apt to change to v\ espe- 

 cially in the imperative forms, as — 



u'^ci, u wo be coming, O grandmother! 



ta^yoT"' eca'ncPwe well have you done 



Here maj^ belong forms like — 



nd^'wa"^ he swims 

 lowa^*2^i they sing 



3. The final a of most verbs is changed into ^« when followed by 

 w,6» AND, or Vta (the future particle). 



ceya'-ii^pi'^' na you roast and— (instead of ceya'-iL^pa' no) 

 ya'^'lxl'^ na he sat and— (instead of ya'^'ka na) 

 §4 



