256 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 40 



a first or second personal relation is brought about by the use of 

 appropriate forms of the copula ei- be. They agree with the noun 

 and pronoun in being frequently followed by the distinctly denomi- 

 native exclusive suffix -fa (see § 98) and in the fact that, when 

 forming part of a descriptive noun, they may take the personal end- 

 ings peculiar to the noun : 



ts'!ixi-maha'ife¥ dog-big-my ( = my horse) 

 As adjectives pure and simple, however, they are never found with 

 the possessive suffixes peculiar to the noun; e. g., no such form as 

 *7naha'ife¥ alone ever occurs. It thus appears that the adjective 

 occupies a position midway between the noun and the verb, yet with 

 characteristics peculiar to itself. The most marked syntactic feature 

 of the adjective is that, luilike a qualifying noim, it always follows 

 the modified noun, even when incorporated with it (see § 93) . Ex- 

 amples are: 



wa-iwi'^ du girl pretty 55.7; 124.5 

 yap! a daldi" person wild 22.14 



sgi'sida-sga'xif Coyote sharp-snouted 86.3, 20; 88.1, 11 

 p'im xu'm yele^x debil'^ salmon dry burden-basket full ( = burden- 

 basket full of dry salmon) 75.10 



Rarely does it happen that the adjective precedes, in which case 

 it is to be predicatively understood : 



gwa'la yap!a^ many (were) the people 180.16 (but ya'pla gwala" 

 people many 194.10) 



Even when predicatively used, however, the adjective regularly fol- 

 lows the noun it qualifies. Other denominating words or phrases 

 than adjectives are now and then used to predicate a statement or 

 command : 



yu'Jclalx (1) wa'Vi^ (2), ga (3) ga^al (4) deligia'lfi (5) gwds (6) [as 

 they were] without (2) teeth (1), for (4) that (3) [reason] they 

 brought them as food (5) intestines (6) 130.22 



masi'^ (1) al-na/^na'^n (2) naga-ida'^ (3) [do] you in your turn (1) 

 [dive], since you said (3) '' I can get close to him " (2) 61.9 



§ 107. Adjectival Prefixes 



Probably all the body-part prefixes and also a number of the 

 purely local elements are found as prefixes in the adjective. The 

 material at hand is not large enough to enable one to follow out the 

 prefixes of th© adjective as satisfactorily as those of the verb; but 



^ 107 



