28 BUEEAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 40 



The first form was, for some reason or other, often heard, perhaps 

 misheard, as s'i^ul%. 



§ 10. INORGANIC a 



It frequently happens in the formation of words that a vowel 

 present in some other form of the stem v/ill drop out, or, more accu- 

 rately expressed, has never been inserted. Consonant-combinations 

 sometimes then result which are either quite impossible in Takelma 

 phonetics, or at any rate are limited in their occurrence to certain 

 grammatical forms, so that the introduction of an " inorganic " -a-, 

 serving to limber up the consonant-eluster, as it were, becomes neces- 

 sary. Ordinarily this -cv- is inserted after the first consonant; in 

 certain cases, after the two consonants forming the cluster. The 

 theoretical future of gini'Vde^ i go somewheee should be, for 

 example, "^ginVde^; but, instead of this somewhat difficult form, 

 we really get gina'Yde^. That the -a'- is here really inorganic, and 

 not a characteristic of the future stem, as was at first believed, is 

 clearly shown by the imperative gi'nV (all imperatives are formed 

 from the future stem) . Similarly : 



Icliya'Vde^ I shall go, come; aorist, Jc.'iyi'Vde^ 



dlxikla'ThiV ( = theoretical *alxi]c!U¥) he kept looking at him; 



aorist first person alxikliThi^n I keep looking at him 

 Ic.'ema'n make it! ( = theoretical "^Jclemn); cf. Iclemna'n I shall 



make it 

 iaiHye^wa'n drive out sickness!; aorist, -yewen he drove out 



sickness 

 sgela'uVe^ I shall shout (=theoretic *'sgelwfe^); aorist second 



person, sgelewaY you shouted 



As an example of an inorganic -a- following a consonantic cluster 

 may be given: 



wisma'fe^ I shall move (stem wism-) ; aorist, wifs'Iimfe^ I moved* 

 The exact nature of the processes involved in the various forms given 

 will be better understood when stem-formation is discussed. Here 



iSuch. an -o may stand as an absolute final; e. g., 'ba-imasga> start in singing! (stem masg-), aorist 

 third person, -mats.Wk'. The form masga^ well illustrates the inherent difficulty of delimiting the range of 

 a phonetic law without comparative or older historical material to aid in determining what is due to regular 

 phonetic development, and what is fonned on the analogy of other forms. The final cluster -si:' does occur 

 in Takelma; e. g., dink.'a^slc' (long object) lay stretched out; so that a phonetic irregularity must exist in 

 one of the two forms. E ither we should have '*ma^sk' , or else '^di7ik.'asa^k' or *dink.'asga'- is to be expected. 

 On closer examination it is found that the -fc' in forms like dink.Wsk' is a grammatical element added on to 

 the future stem dink.'as-; whereas in masga^ the -g- belongs in all probability to the stem, and is no added 

 sufhx; at least is not felt as such. It seems evident, then, that the quasi-mechanical juxtaposition of 

 granunatieal elements does not entirely follow the same phonetic lines as organic sound-complexes. 



§ 10 



