52 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bdll. 40 



MORPHOLOGY (§§ 25-114) 

 § 25. Introductory 



Takelma conforms to the supposedly typical morphology of Amer- 

 ican languages in that it is thoroughly incorporating, both as regards 

 the pronominal, and, though somewhat less evidently, the nominal 

 object. If by " polysynthetic " is merely meant the introduction into 

 the verb-complex of ideas generally expressed by independent ele- 

 ments (adverbs or the like), then Takelma is also polysynthetic, yet 

 only moderately so as compared with such extreme examples of the 

 type as Eskimo or Kwakiutl. The degree of intimacy with which 

 the pronominal objective elements on the one hand, and the nominal 

 objective and polysynthetic (instrumental and local) elements on the 

 other, are combined with the internal verb-structure is decidedly 

 different. The former combine as suffixes to form an indissoluble 

 part, as it were, of the verb-form, the subjective elements of the 

 transitive verb, though in themselves absolutely without independent 

 existence, being secondarily attached to the stem already provided 

 with its pronominal object. The latter vary in degree of independ- 

 ence ; they are strung along as prefixes to the verb, but form no integral 

 part of its structure, and may, as far as granunatical coherence is 

 concerned, fall away entirely. 



The polysynthetic character of the Takelma verb (and by discuss- 

 ing the verb we touch, as so frequently in America, upon the most vital 

 element of the sentence) seems, then, a comparatively accidental, 

 superimposed feature. To use the term "polysynthetic" as a catch- 

 word for the peculiar character of Takelma, as of many another 

 American language, hardly hits the core of the matter. On the other 

 hand, the term ''incorporation," though generally of more value as a 

 classificatory label than "polysynthesis," conveys information rather 

 as to the treatment of a special, if important, set of concepts, than 

 as to the general character of the process of form-building. 



If we study the manner in which the stem unites in Takelma with 

 derivative and grammatical elements to form the word, and the vocalic 

 and consonantic changes that the stem itself undergoes for gram- 

 matical purposes, we shall hardly be able to find a tangible difference 



§ 25 



