416 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL. 40 



Another idiomatic expression worth while mentioning is the manner 

 in which our terms there is, they are, are expressed. The Coos 

 subject of such a sentence is either the noun qa'yis world or rrien 

 people, which are invariably preceded by the sign of possession (see 

 § 9T). 



tc!l- to be dry tcHl u qa'yis there was low tide 



(literally, dry its [condition of 

 the] world) 18.6 

 In tc!le'xE7n u qa'yis there is no 

 low tide (literally, not dry its 

 [condition of the] world) 15.8 

 ni'Jc'in wood, tree 26.25 h' Idm'Jc'in u qa'yis there were no 



trees (literally, without trees its 

 [appearance of the] world) 8.7, 8 

 nwa'waia u qa'yis there was a 

 spider (literally, with spider its 

 [condition of the] world) 30.3 

 nlo'we u qafyis there was such a 

 thing (literally, with that thing 

 [was as] its [asset the] world) 

 32.9 

 qai<A'nis kwee'ti u men they were 

 living in a small place (literally, 

 a small place [had as] their liv- 

 ing [place the] people) 50.7 

 qah'elenl'we u men they began to 

 shout (literally, began their 

 shouting [act, of the] people) 

 24.22 



tcl ti'k'ineumen they were stand- 

 ing there (literally, there [the] 

 standing [place was of] people) 



74.28 



To the same group of idiomatic expressions belong phrases like i 



(thou, he . . .) AM getting HUNGRY, I (tHOU, HE . . .) AM GETTING 



HEAVY, etc. The verb of such phrases in Coos is always the stem la 

 to go, which is preceded by the attributive complement amplified by 

 means of the modal suffix -tc (see § 36). Consequently such a phrase, 

 literally translated, means INTO A STATE OF . . . i (thou, he . . .)go. 



Iqa- to be hungry Iqatc 'Qla I am getting hungry 



ph!- to be heavy jphlttc la he is getting heavy 



§ 118 



wa'waL spider 



Id that thing 32.10 



hwee'ti many live 



h!al- to shout 



ti'k'ine many stand 



