BOAS] HANDBOOK OF INDIAN LANGUAGES — COOS 313 



The only exception to this rule occurs in cases where the diphthong 

 is contracted with the following* vowel (see § 9). 



pEnLo'wai whale 30.10 pEnLo'wayEtc a whale with 88.30 



ucc ttla'qai they two are living he'laq Ie ind ttla'qayetc he came 



24. 1 to the people (who) lived (there) 



36.12, 13 

 t/^cVta^ flint point ntl^ct'ta^we Ie unt'laq flint points 



have the arrows 62.27 

 Lo^- to eat Lowa'was food 22.14 



xwt'lux^ head 30.14 xlHs xwt'luxwitc she hit him over 



the head 66.5, 6 

 h^ perhaps + ^s we two hwts let us two 26.15 



§ 9. CONTRACTION 

 In Coos the contraction of two vowels immediately following each 

 other is so uncertain that it is diflacult to formulate any rule that 

 would cover all irregularities. The main difficulty lies in the fact 

 that contraction of vowels, and hiatus, seem constantly to interfere 

 with each other. The following rules may be said to apply in all 

 cases: 



(1) Two vowels belonging to the w-series are contracted into a long u. 

 xtcl'tcu + uL xtci'tcuL how would (it be) 5.2 

 ytlcu + uL yi'kuL perhaps it would (be) 17.7 



(2) Two long ^-vowels are contracted into a long l, 



ha,'k!Hl + -lye tl hafh/Hl'ye they were drawn up 



30.1 

 henl + -lye he'nlye a while 42.17 {he'nlhen 



many times 88.1) 



(3) Long e or l are contracted with a following a into long a or e. 



-enl-^r-dya -andya (see § 50) 



'phpaJwisent he is making a pLpdwtsa'ndya he is making a hat 



hat out of it 



-ne^ + -dwas -ne^was (see § 59) 



(4) Vowels of very short quantities are usually contracted with the 

 following vowels of longer quantities, regardless of quality. The 

 qualit}'^ of the longer vowel predominates in such amalgamations. In 

 the process of contraction, an h preceding the second vowel disappears. 



c^ + hanL canL a particle denoting certain 



expectation (see § 90) 

 tst + hanL tsariL only then shall . . . 78.15 



§ 9 



