BOAS] HANDBOOK OF INDIAN LANGUAGES TAKELMA 35 



in which combination alone, as we have seen, -'^ occurs, is the 

 aspirated tenuis V followed by a voiceless labial continuant approxi- 

 mately equivalent to the wJi of English which, more nearly to the 

 sound made in blowing out a candle, s is the ordinary English s as 

 in sell; while s' is employed to represent a sibUant about midway in 

 place of articulation between s and c (= s^ in English shell), the 

 fortes ts! and ts\' corresponding, respectively, in place of articulation 

 to s and s'. The two sounds s and s' have been put together, as it 

 is hardly probable that they represent morphologically distinct 

 sounds, but seem rather to be the limits of a normal range of varia- 

 tion (both sal- WITH FOOT and s'ol-, e. g., were heard). The only 

 distinction in use that can be made out is that s occurs more fre- 

 quently before and after consonants and after ^: 



s'a's'anfe^ I shall stand 



ogu's'i he gave it to me, but ogu'sbi he gave it to you 



loH'l"" his playtliing 110.6 



llasgi'n I shall touch it 



le^psV feathers 



yols steel-head salmon 



7ia-u7iana'^s it stopped (raining) 



§ 13. Final Consonants 



By affinal" consonant will always be meant one that stands at 

 the end of a syllable, whether the syllable be the last in the word or 

 not. Such a final position ma}^ be taken only by the aspirated tenues^ 

 the voiceless spirants, the catch, the liquid (l), and the nasals, not by 

 the voiceless mediae, fortes, and semivowels (y and w) ; h occurs as 

 a final only very rarely : 



la^'Ti excrement 



lohlaJia^nJc' he always caused them to die 

 A final semivowel unites with the preceding vowel to form a diph- 

 thong : 



gayau he ate it (cf . gayawa'^n I ate it) 



gal grow! (cf. gd'^ya'H' he will grow) 

 A final voiceless media always turns into the corresponding aspirated 

 surd ; so that in the various forms of one stem a constant alternation 

 between the two manners of articulation is brought about: 



se^ha'^n I roasted it; sep' he roasted it 



xebe'^n he did it; xep'ga^ I did it 



xuduma'lda^n I whistle to him; xuduma'lt\ xvduma'lfgwa he 

 whistles to him 



tlayaga'^n I found it; V.aya^Y he found it, daVna^ since he 

 found it 



§ 13 



