126 BUEEAXJ OF AMEEICAlSr ETHNOLOGY [bdll. 40 



pared with wd^giwi'^n i brought it to him (future waga'n: 

 wagawi'n) suggests that the signification of the -w- in transi- 

 tive verbs is to indicate the indirect object, at least for the 

 third person. It is, however, almost certainly accidental that 

 waPgiwi'^n stands by the side of wd'^ga'sbi^n with -s- to indicate 

 the indirect object. That -w- is not the morphologic equivalent 

 of -s- is evidenced by the fact that it stands also by the side 

 of the transitive connective consonant -x- (cf. dl-sgdlawi'^n: 

 al-sgala' xbi^n i turn my head to look at you) . It must be 

 confessed that after all no very distinct signification can be 

 attached to either the intransitive or transitive -w-. 

 12. Constant -a. A number of verbs whose stem (includiag 

 petrified suffix) ends in two consonants add to this stem 

 an -a that appears in all their forms, even though the con- 

 sonant combination is one that may stand in a final position 

 (cf. footnote, § 10). No reason can be assigned for the reten- 

 tion of the -a in all forms, except the ruling analogy of the 

 aorist; in this tense-mode the -a is in all probability directly 

 due to the consonant-cluster, as the aorist verb-forms to be 

 presently given differ in this very respect from the aorist forms 

 of other stems ending in two consonants (e. g., non-aorist 

 s'u'^mfa- BOIL \vith constant -a-, though ending in a finally 

 permissible consonant-cluster, because of aorist ts\'umu^mfa-; 

 contrast non-aorist s'omd- boil without -a- because of aorist 

 s'omod-). The following are examples of verbs of the char- 

 acter described : 



Aorist Non-aorist 



swaddfga, he followed him 75.3 swa'fga. follow him! 



mats.'dsga, he always put it 132.9 inasgsb" put it ! 104.5 



ts-lumumfsi he boils it 30.2 s-umfa. boil it! 



dd°^-miniJc'dsb lie taught him. dd^'-minVa. teach him! (con- 



trast wd'^Mmf talk to him! 

 with aorist -liimid-) 



If the verb is instrumental in vocalism (see § 64), the constant a 

 is replaced by the instrumental i. Thus: 

 irTcIos'os'gi he keeps pinching him 



That this constant -a is felt to be somewhat different in character 

 from ordinary inorganic or connective -a- (as in ts'lelei'mfe* or 

 wd'^g&'sU^n) is shown by the fact that it is changed to -i- when- 



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