BOAS] HANDBOOK OF INDIAN LANGUAGES TAKELMA 59 



-Jc.'am (i. e., -^gam) may be conceived of as undergoing partial meta- 

 thesis to -%mg. 



Other rarer reduplications or stem-amplifications occur, and will be 

 treated in speaking of aorist formations and frequentatives. 



§ 31. Vowel-Ablaut 



Vowel-ablaut consists of the palatalization of non-palatal stem- 

 vowels in certain forms. Only o and a (with corresponding long 

 vowels and diphthongs) are affected; they become respectively 

 ii (u) and e. In sharp contradistinction to the i- umlaut of an 

 original a to i, this ablaut affects only the radical portion of the 

 word, and thus serves as a further criterion to identify the stem. 

 Thus we have we^ga'si he brought it to me (from stem wa/^g-, 

 as shown also by wa^g-iwi'^n i brought it to him), but wege'sinV 

 HE WILL BRING IT TO ME (from stem waga-, as shown also by waga- 

 wi'n I'll bring it to him), both i- umlaut and stem-ablaut serving 

 in these cases to help analyze out the stems. Vowel-ablaut occurs 

 in the following cases: 



1. Whenever the object of the transitive verb or subject of the 

 passive is the first person singular: 



mele'xi he told it to me 172.17, but mala'xbi^n I told it to you 



(162.6) 

 nege's'i he said to me 186.22, but naga'sam he said to us (178.12) 

 dUmxina^ I shall be slain (192.11), but domxbina^ you will be slain 



(178.15) 

 gel-luhuigwa' si he avenges me, but -lohoigwa'^n I avenge him (148. 3) 



Not infrequently vowel-ablaut in such cases is directly responsible for 

 the existence of homonyms, as in yeweyagwa' si he talks about me 

 (from yaway-talk) , and yeweyagwa' si he returns with me (from 

 yewei-Tetwm). 



2. With the passive participial endings -a¥^, -iV^: 



wase^gW"" wherewith it is shot (from sd^'g- shoot) 

 TYie'xaY^ having father (from ina'xa his father) 

 wa^-i^duxiV'^deY my gathered ones (=1 have been gathering 



them) (from do'^x- gather) 

 dal^^wa-yu'tliV^ mixed with (from fot!- mix) 178.5 



3. In some verbs that have the peculiar intransitive-forming suffix 

 -X-, by no means in all: 



geyewa'lxde^ I eat (136.15) (cf. gayawa'^n I eat it 30,11) 

 le^ha^nx he carries 178.6 (stem ld°'h-) 



§ 31 



