BOAS] 



HANDBOOK OF INDIAN LANGUAGES TAKELMA 



199 



form of the demonstrative pronoun lid'^ga that one; it is used also 

 with persons other than the third : 



yana'fe^ Tiaga" I should have gone in that event 



§ 72. USES OF POTENTIAL AND INFERENTIAL 



The potential and inferential modes differ from the aorist in the 

 negative particle with which they may be combined. An indicative 

 non-future statement, such as is expressed by the aorist, is negatived, 

 without change of the verb-form, by means of the negative adverb 



ydnfe^ I went; a'nl^ ydnfe^ I did not go 



An imperative or future form, however, can not be directly negatived, 

 but must be expressed by the potential and inferential respectively, 

 the non-aoristic negative adverb wede being prefixed. Thus we have: 



Negative future: 



yana'^t' he will go 

 yanada'^ you will go 

 yana't'e'^ I shall go 

 domzbin I shall kill you 



178.15 

 do^ina'nV he will kill him 



wede yana^V he will not go 

 wede yana'ldeiV you will not go 

 wede yana'Fa^ I shall not go 

 wede domxhiga^ I shall not kill 



you (cf. 178.15) 

 wede (1) ne'V (2) yap.'a (3) 



gama'xdi (4) do^m¥ (5) no 

 (1) one (2) will slay (5) a 

 person (3) who is no shaman 

 (4) 146.16 



wede yanaY do not go ! 

 wede yanaY p' do not go! (156.9) 

 wede do^maY do not kill him! 

 wede ga na^naY do not do that ! 



The particle wede is used with the inferential and potential, not 

 only to form the negative future and imperative, but in all cases in 

 which these modes are negatived, e. g., wede do^ma'^n i should not 

 HAVE KILLED HIM, I WOULD NOT KILL HIM. There is thus uo morpho- 

 logic distinction between a prohibitive do not go ! and a second person 

 subject negative apodosis of a contrary-to-fact condition, you would 

 NOT HAVE gone. It is probably not a mere accident that the negative 

 particle wede is phonetically identical with the verb-stem wede- take 

 AWAY. This plausible etymology of wede suggests that the origin of 



§ 72 



Negative imperative: 

 yana^ go! (sing.) 

 yana^nj)' go! (pi.) 

 do^m kill him! 

 ga na^na^ do that ! 



