BOAS] HANDBOOK OF AMERICAN INDIAN LANGUAGES 925 



§ 33. Contracted Fronotninal Forms 



In many cases the verb begins with a prefix which forms con- 

 tractions with the pronominal forms here described. Contractions 

 also occur with infixed pronouns. These maj^ be grouped under 

 the following rules: 



1. Verbs in gi with preceding pronoun lose the g in the first and 

 second persons. 



ha-gi becomes Jiai 

 ra-gi becomes rai 



hai'cgis I cut in two by striking 

 rai'cgis thou cuttest in two by striking 

 gicgis he cuts in two by striking 

 Jd'ngicgis you and 1 cut in two by striking 



2. Verbs with prefixes ending in a or (f^ and followed by a pro- 

 noun beginning with h lose the pronominal aspirate. At the same 

 time two «'s that are thus brought into contact form a single 

 accented (or long ?) a, while a and I form a diphthong. When one of 

 the vowels is nasalized, the contracted form is also nasalized. 



m.a'ngas I tear with a knife 

 manga' s he tears with a knife 

 mai'ngas he tears me 

 malna'gas thou tearest me 



na''^sis I break by pressure 

 na'^si's he breaks by pressure 

 nai''^sis he breaks me bv pressure 

 nai^na'sis thou breakest me by pressure 



3. Verbs with prefixes ending in o (except h.o- and loo-) also 

 eliminate the h of the pronoun, but form no diphthongs. 



hoa'si]} I push down 

 ho' sip he pushes down 

 hoisi' p he pushes me down 



roa'gib'^ I wish 

 rogil'^' he wishes 

 roigii^ he wishes me 



-i. Words with the prefix ho- contract: 



1st person subjective ho-ha- into lua- 



1st person objective ho-hi^- into hu'^- 



Dual inclusive hi^-ho- into ho'- 



3d person plural object loa-Jio- into loo- 



1st person plural object loanga-ho into wango- 



§ 33 



