32 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY rnuLL. 40 



initially. In regard to the pronunciation of the various consonants, 

 w, s, y, h, I, m, and n do not differ nxaterially from the corresponding 

 sounds in English. 



The first two series of stops — tenuis {])'', l\ V) and media (6, d, g) — 

 do not exactly correspond to the surd and sonant stops of English or 

 French. The aspirated tenues are, as their name implies, voiceless 

 stops whose release is accompanied by an appreciable expulsion of 

 breath. The voiceless mediae are also stops without voiced articula- 

 tion; but they differ from the true tenues in the absence of aspiration 

 and in the considerably weaker stress of articulation. Inasmuch as 

 our English mediae combine sonancy with comparatively weak stress 

 of articulation, while the tenues are at the same time unvoiced and 

 pronounced with decided stress, it is apparent that a series of con- 

 sonants which, like the Takelma voiceless mediae, combine weak stress 

 with lack of voice will tend to be perceived by an American ear some- 

 times (particularly when initial) as surds, at other times (particularly 

 between vowels) as sonants. On the other hand, the aspirated tenues 

 will be regularly heard as ordinary surd-stops, so that an untrained 

 American ear is apt to combine an uncalled-for differentiation with a 

 disturbing lack of differentiation. While the Takelma tenuis and 

 media are to a large extent morphologically equivalent consonants 

 with manner of articulation determined by certain largely mechanical 

 rules of position, yet in a considerable number of cases (notably 

 as initials) they are to be rigidly kept apart etymologically. Words 

 and stems which differ only in regard to the weak or strong stress 

 and the absence or presence of aspiration of a stop, can be found 

 in great number : 



dd'^n- ear; fd°'n squirrel 



&o" now; p'o^- to blow 



ga that ; Va what 



d%^- on top ; fl^- to drift 



lo'^d- to pull out hair; p'o^d- to mix 



dd'^g- to build fire ; dd'^g- to find ; t'd^g-to cry 



gai- to eat ; ¥ai- thing, what ^ 



1 These two series of stops are not at all peculiar to Takelma. As far as could be ascertained, the same 

 division is found also in the neighboring Chasta Costa, a good example of how a fundamental method of 

 phonetic attack may be uniformly spread over an area in which far-reaching phonetic differences of detail 

 are found and morphologic traits vary widely. The same series of stops are found also in Yana, in 

 northern California. Farther to the east the two scries are apparently found, besides a series of true 

 sonant stops, in Ponca and Omaha (J. O. Dorsey's p, t, k, and d, f, j/). The Iroquois also (as could be 

 tested by an opportunity to hear Mohawk) are, as regards the manner of articulating the two series, abso- 

 lutely in accord with the Takelma. A more accurate phonetic knowledge of other languages would doubt- 

 less show a wide distribution in America of the voiceless media. 



§ 12 



