20 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 40 



It was said that any particular syllable, if accented, necessarily 

 receives a definite pitch-inflection. If it is furthermore pointed out 

 that distinct words and forms may differ merely in the character of 

 the accent, and that definite grammatical forms are associated with 

 definite accentual forms, it becomes evident that pitch-accent has a 

 not unimportant bearing on morphology. Examples of words differ- 

 ing only in the pitch-accent are : 



se'H black paint, writing; sel kingfisher 



la/°"p'^ leaves; (1) Zo^' he carried it on his back, (2) Za^:*' become (so 



and so) ! 

 sa'H' his discharge of wind; sat' mash it! 

 will'^ his house; will house, for instance, in daVwill on top of 



the house 

 Tie'^l song; Tiel sing it! 



Indeed, neither vowel-quantity, accent, nor the catch can be consid- 

 ered negligible factors in Takelma phonology, as shown by the 

 following : 



way a" knife 



wa/yaf°' his knife 



waya'^ he sleeps 



waydn he put him to sleep 



Tc.'wd^ya^ { = 'klwdl^a^) just grass 



It is impossible to give any simple rule for the determination of 

 the proper accent of all words. What has been ascertained in regard 

 to the accent of certain forms or types of words in large part seems 

 to be of a grammatic, not purely phonetic, character, and hence will 

 most naturally receive treatment when the forms themselves are dis- 

 cussed. Here it will suffice to give as illustrations of the morphologic 

 value of accent a few of the cases: 



(1) Perhaps the most comprehensive generalization that can be 

 made in regard to the employment of accents is that a catch requires 

 the falling pitch-accent on an immediately preceding stressed syllable, 

 as comes out most clearly in forms where the catch has been second- 

 arily removed. Some of the forms affected are: 



{a) The first person singular subject third person object aorist of 

 the transitive verb, as in: 



tlomoma'^n I kill him 

 tlomoma'Tida^ as I Idlled him 



§ 5 



