1468 ETHKOLOGY OF THE KWAKIUTL [etu. ann. 36 



Mr. Hunt found it most difficult to WTite the combination ^x", which 

 is found in his texts generally in the form aox, because the u position 

 of the iabalized / is synchronous with the x. Since the combination 

 aox occurs also in a number of words, there is a doubt sometimes what 

 is meant. 



The vowels e and i, and o and u, are equivalent and must be con- 

 sidered each pair as the same sound, the character of which is deter- 

 mined by the accompanying consonants. On the other hand, e and d 

 are undoubtedly distinct from c and o. This distinction appears 

 clearly in a number of grammatical forms. I do not believe that the 

 distinction has been consistently made by Mr. Hunt. 



Much uncertainty prevails in regard to £ and a. Particularly in 

 the composition of we and wa I am always imcertain whether we 

 should read u or wa. Individually and dialectically there is much 

 variation in regard to the pronunciation of these sounds. Neverthe- 

 less, the two are undoubtedly distinct, but I have not been able to 

 determine in every case which is the right sound. 



In all cases where a Iabalized A- sound precedes a vowel Mr. Hunt 

 prefers tvs to u. He wTitcs, for instance, _(/w£ rather than gu. I find 

 that in my own records collected in 1900 I used both methods of 

 WTiting, apparently differing according to the individual informant. 

 In Mr. Hunt's wTitings the same is true in the case of the diphthong au, 

 for which he prefers ew as in ^UEwalak^ or ^nawalak'^ rather than 

 ^naualak^. 



Certain grammatical mannerisms appear in the texts, sometimes 

 continued over a fairly long period of time and changing from year to 

 year. In the texts which I collected myself from other informants 

 and which were published in the Columbia University Contributions 

 to Anthropology, Volume II (Kwakiutl Tales), the subject, when a 

 definite common noun without possessive pronoun, is almost always 

 introduced by -eda. Mr. Hunt uses in certain periods of his WTiting 

 almost always the form -a instead of -eda. In my text this form is 

 very rare. At still other times he uses -xa, which is the pronominal 

 element for the object and for the apposition. In many cases this 

 form is evidently wrong, while in others it may be explained and 

 accepted in the sense that the subject is conceived as an apposition. 

 I am under the impression that in the dialects north of Fort Rupert 

 this usage occurs rather frequently, although I am not certain that 

 this explains Mr. Hunt's temporary mannerism. 



From time to time other errors appear, as, for instance, the use of 

 verbal forms in -a after the conjunctional qa, which should always 

 be followed by an -e in the verbal suffix. Uncertainties regarding the 

 final vowels -a, -e, -e^, -a'ya and -d, -6, -o^we, -oHje, dye' appear in 

 almost all parts of the text. 



A few definite examples in regard to these matters are given in the 

 following lines. 



