324 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 40 



In some cases the nouns take, instead of the suffix -eHc, the adver- 

 bial prefix n- (see § 21). 



ha'lhmt hs Jclci hdx nJcIwt'nts he took the rope off his neck 98.23 

 (literally, he took off the rope his from on neck) 



§ 23. Discrifninative x- 



The prefix x- occurs very often with the subject of transitive verbs, 

 and denotes the performer of the action. (For x- preceded by the 

 article or pronoun, see § 21.) 



JcaPs to' Tuts Kex di'lol almost hit it the young man 20.20, 21 

 Jcwt'la^ ha^'Hs lExm%tGL'tstndtc ice made the father-in-law 26.27,28 

 xyi'xe^ da'mU la^ ha'lqait one man to him came 15.5 

 in hwaafnlya Iex wt'nqas hu^'m%lc not knew it the Spider-Old- 

 Woman 58.9, 10 



X- is always prefixed to the subject of the sentence when the 

 sentence contains both subject and object, or when the person 

 spoken to may be in doubt as to which noun is the subject of the 

 sentence. 



hu^mtstso'^'wat Iex di'lol Ie yu'xwd hu^mq/h'evaairTiQdi the young 



man the two women 26.14 

 k'Uo'wU JiE imx'l'lis Iex hu^'mis saw the food the woman 64.16, 17 

 k'ilo'ioU Iex da! mil Ie xd'nis saw the husband the sick (man) 



128.11, 12 

 sqa'ts hdl hu^'mik' Iex swal seized that old woman grizzly bear 



102.21, 22 



x- is never omitted as a prefix when the subject of the sentence 

 is an animal, an inanimate object, or any part of speech other than a 

 noun. 



xcx'iml nJo'ilo'wUu the bear saw me (but cx'tml i^k'tld'wU I saw 



the bear) 

 xya'las yaptt'tsa Idpt'ltk'is maggots ate up his anus 40.6, 7 

 aFa'nak' he'Hta hExx'owd'yas sticking out is (the) tongue the snake 



42.1, 2 

 xqaine'Es kd^s tsxau'ioat cold (weather) nearly killed him 32.7 

 xwit nto'Mtsu some one hit me 

 nl Icwad'nlya xwU I don't know who (it is) 

 id'niEx x'l/o'wU Lopi'tetc alone (they) got into (the) basket 



34.19, 20 

 xlala^ lo^Hd'ya that is the one (who) watched it 94.6 



§ 23 



