BOAS] HANDBOOK OF INDIAN LANGUAGES COOS 417 



A very peculiar expression, thouoii by no means confined to Coos 

 alone, is the manner of forming sentences that have dual subjects. 

 Such sentences present two possibilities. Either both subjects are 

 actually expressed, or only one is indicated while the other is under- 

 stood. 



1. In sentences where one subject is understood, duality of subject 

 is indicated in Coos by using the verb in its dual form, followed imme- 

 diately by the (expressed) subject. 



yixd'wexEtc ux wu'txe Jidl to'mih into the house they two returned 

 (the whale and) that old man 30.15, 16 



tso d'yu tci ux la, Ie umd'catc now, surely, there they two went 

 (he and) the grandmother 66.19 



yi'xen qal%7m'ye tsi I'nta ux la Id hii^'mis one morning just hunt- 

 ing they two went (he and) his wife 110.26 



d'yu tci uxla Ie tek'itsi' ndtc surely, there they two went (she and) 

 the granddaughter 80.15, 16 



2. If both subjects are expressed, it will be found that, in addition 

 to the dual form of the verb, the dual pronoun is placed before either 

 one or both subjects. 



hi'nt hariL ux tila'qai Ie u'mdc ux pkdJc' there shall they two live 

 (namely) the grandmother (and the) grandfather 68.28 



wdndj La ux kivee'ntyeni tE ux tsn'na ux md'qaL thus only they 

 two are known, that Thunder (and) Crow 19.10, 11 



In a few instances a similar treatment has been found in sentences 

 with plural subjects. 



yixd'wExetc U la Ie dd'mil into the house they went (the two 



women and) the man 128.7 

 tsi U huwe'ltse?7i Ie hu^'mis just they got readj^ (he and) the (two) 



women 130.17, 18 



The last idiomatic formation worth mentioning here is the manner 

 of expressing comparison of adjectives in accordance with the three 

 degrees, — the positive, the comparative, and the superlative. 



A comparative statement in the positive degree is expressed by means 

 of a whole sentence in which the adjective is treated as a noun appear- 

 ing with the nominal suffixes -es, -tEs (see § 57), or -lye, -dye (see 

 p. 376), and is placed between the subject and object with which it is 

 compared. The sentence is invariably introduced by means of the 

 conjunction his also (see § 110); and its comparative character is 

 3045°— Bull. 40, pt. 2—12 27 § 118 



