452 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 40 



§ iO. Vocalic Hiatus 



In cases where contraction has not taken place, two vowels occur- 

 ring in immediate succession are separated by means of an inserted h 

 or hy means of the accent. No definite rules could be found that 

 would show under what circumstances either of these processes may 

 be employed. Separation of two vowels by means of an inserted h 

 occurs more regularly than separation by means of accent. 



Ai'l^.^a (dentalia shells) + -a"?i't hlq/aha^'ni consisting of dentalia 



shells 70.6 

 Lxau' {^o\Q)-\--lnE Lxa^'hmE with a spear (in his 



hand) 64.11 

 rriEkll' (mother-in-law) + -Uin mEhlV hltin my mother-in-law 

 Ifl'a} (salmon) -f -anx Wla^'anx xaya^' salmon thej^ catch 



82.13, 14 

 Li'u (he came) + -un Liu'un he arrived 16. 3 



^11. Vocalic Ha rtnony 



The tendency towards vocalic euphony is so inconsistent in Siuslaw, 

 that one is almost tempted to deny the presence of such a process. 

 The two examples I have been able to find are extremely unsatisfac- 

 tory and do not permit the formulation of an}^ clearly defined rules. 



ha^'mut {Q\\)-\--Eml hahnutu'ml of all 



qa'xun high up, above 34.21 ga^'xun on top 32.19 



§ 12 » Effects of Accent 



Besides the frequent tendenc}' to lengthen the vowel of the syllable 

 on which it falls, or to lend to it a clear quality, the loss of accent 

 shortens or obscures the quantity of the stem-vowel as soon as it is 

 shifted to one of the suffixed syllables. This law appears with such 

 regular frequency as to make it a characteristic trait of Siuslaw 

 phonology. 



While examples covering the whole vocalic system could not be 

 obtained, the following rules seem to prevail: 



(1) The «-, i', and u- vowels of the stem, when they lose their 

 accent, are changed into open i (written here i) or obscure vowels 

 whenever they precede or follow non-labialized consonants. 



(2) These vowels are changed — for the sake of harmonization — into 

 short u whenever they appear before or after labialized consonants 

 or w. 



§§ 10-12 . s 



