BOAS] HANDBOOK OF INDIAN LANGUAGES TAKELMA 9 



in the occurrence of relatively more complex consonantic clusters, 

 though these are of strictly limited possibilities, and hardly to be 

 considered as difficult in themselves. 



Like the languages of the latter group, Takelma possesses clear- 

 cut vowels, and abounds, besides, in long vowels and diphthongs; 

 these, together w4th a system of syllabic pitch-accent, give the Takel- 

 ma language a decidedly musical character, marred only to some 

 extent by the profusion of disturbing catches. The line of cleavage 

 between Takelma and the neighboring dialects of the Athapascan stock 

 (Upper Umpqua, Applegate Creek, Galice Creek, Chasta Costa) is thus 

 not only morphologically but also phonetically distinct, despite re- 

 semblances in the manner of articulation of some of the vowels and 

 consonants. Chasta Costa, formerly spoken on the lower course of 

 Rogue river, possesses all the voiceless Z-sounds above referred to; a 

 peculiar illusive q^!, the fortis character of which is hardly as prominent 

 as in Chinook; a voiced guttural spirant ;-, as in North German Tage; 

 the sonants or weak surds dj and z (rarely) ; a voiceless interdental 

 spirant p and its corresponding fortis tp!; and a very frequently oc- 

 curring a vowel, as in English hut. All of these are absent from 

 Takelma, which, in turn, has a complete labial series (6, p\ pi, m), 

 whereas Chasta Costa has only the nasal m Gabial stops occur appar- 

 ently only in borrowed words, hofi' cat <.pussy). The fortis Ic!, com- 

 mon in Takelma, seems in the Chasta Costa to be replaced by q!; the 

 Takelma vowel ii, found also in California, is absent from Chasta 

 Costa; r is foreign to either, though found in Galice Creek and Shasta. 

 Perhaps the greatest point of phonetic difference, however, between 

 the Takelma and Chasta Costa languages lies in the peculiar long 

 (doubled) consonants of the latter, while Takelma regularly simpli- 

 fies consonant geminations that would theoretically -appear in the 

 building of words. Not enough of the Shasta has been published to 

 enable one to form an estimate of the degree of phonetic similarity 

 that obtains between it and Takelma, but the differences can hardly 

 be as pronounced as those that have just been found to exist in the 

 case of the latter and Chasta Costa. 



This preliminary survey seemed necessary in order to show, as far 



as the scanty means at present at our disposal would allow, the 



phonetic affiliations of Takelma. Attention will now be directed to 



the sounds themselves. 



§ 2 



