BOAS] HANDBOOK OF INDIAN LANGUAGES TAKELMA 19 



k'we- de' - i ye- we' - i - da- 



The pronunciation of the diphthongs is now easily understood 

 A shortened diphthong (aH, a'^^) sounds to an American ear like an 

 indivisible entity, very much like ai and au in high and how; a 

 diphthong with falling pitch {a'x) is naturally apt to be heard as two 

 distinct vowels, so that one is easily led to write naga'-ida^ instead of 

 naga'ida^ when he said; a diphthong with rising pitch {ai) is heard 

 either as a pure diphthong or as two distinct vowels, according to 

 the speed of utterance or the accidents of perception. All these 

 interpretations, however, are merely matters of perception by an 

 American ear and have in themselves no objective value. It would 

 be quite misleading, for instance, to treat Takehna diphthongs as 

 " pure" and " impure," no regard being had to pitch, for such a classi- 

 fication is merely a secondary consequence of the accentual phenomena 

 we have just considered. 



One other point in regard to the diphthongs should be noted. It 

 is important to cUstinguish between organic diphthongs, in which each 

 element of the diphthong has a distinct radical or etjinologica] value, 

 and secondary diphthongs, arising from an i, u, I, m, or n with pre- 

 fixed inorganic a. The secondary diphthongs {ai, au, al, am, an), 

 being etymologically single vowels or semivowels, are always unitonal 

 in character; they can have the raised, not the rising accent. Con- 

 trast the inorganic au of 



hiWu¥ {=*'bilw''¥, ^ not %ilsiu¥) he jumped; cf. hilwa'^s jumper 

 with the organic au of 



gayo^u he ate it; cf. gayawa'^n I ate it 

 Contrast similarly the inorganic an of 



IcIemiCiiV (=*^.'emnVt'', not *)tr/€man^-') he made it; cf. Jc.'emjia'^s 

 maker 



with the organic am of 



dasmay Sim he smiled ; cf . dasmayama'^n I smiled 

 Phonetically such secondary diphthongs are hardly different from 

 shortened organic diphthongs; etymologically and, in consequence, 

 in morphologic treatment, the Une of difference is sharply drawn. 



J Noii'^xistent or theoretically reconstructed forms are indicated by a prefixed asterisk. 



§5 



