boas] handbook of INDIAN LANGUAGES TAKELMA 43 



Ic- consonants is labialized, the resulting Ic- sound preserves the labial 

 affection. Examples of consonant simplification are: 



mo'feV my son-in-law (= mo'f- + -deV) 



laVwoV he gave him to eat ( = lag- + -¥w6V) 



dekliya'Vi^ if it goes on (= dekHya'g- + -¥i^) 



ll^gwa'n I shall fetch them home ( = ll^g- + -gwan) ; cf . aorist 



ligigwa'^n 

 dV'hila'li Iweme^n I make him glad (= liila'V'^ glad + Tc'.eme^n I 



make him) 



A good example of three A;-sounds simplifying to one is : 

 gindVwi^ if he comes (= ginag-¥'^-¥i^) 



The interrogative element di never unites with the -f of a second 

 person singular aorist, but each dental preserves its individuality, a 

 light i being inserted to keep the two apart : 



xemela't'ldi do you wish to eat ? ( = xemelaY + di) 



The operation of various phonetic processes of simplification often 

 brings about a considerable number of homonymous forms. One 

 example will serve for many. From the verb-stem sd^g- shoot are 

 derived : 



1. Imperative sd¥ shoot it! 



2. Potential sd¥ he can, might shoot it 



3. Participle sd¥ shooting ( = *sd¥f) 



4. Inferential sdV so he shot it { = *sdg-¥) 



The corresponding forms of the stem yana- go will bring home the 

 fact that we are here really dealing with morphologically distinct 

 formations : 



1. yana" go! 



2. yana'^ he would have gone 



3. yanaY going 



4. yana^¥ so he went 



Another simphfication of consonant groups may be mentioned 

 here. When standing immediately after a stop, an organic, etymo- 

 logically significant Ti loses its individuality as such and unites with a 

 preceding media or aspirated tenuis to form an aspirated tenuis, 

 with a preceding fortis to form an aspirated tenuis preceded by a 

 glottal catch (in the latter case the fortis, being a syllabic final, 

 cannot preserve its original form). Thus, for the ¥ series, g or ¥ +h 

 becomes ¥, Tc! (or ^¥) +h becomes ^¥; gw or ¥'^ +h becomes ¥w, 

 Tc!w (or ^¥^) +71 becomes ^¥w. Under suitable conditions of accent 



§ 19 



