BOAS] HANDBOOK OP INDIAN LANGUAGES — SIUSLAWAN 485 



relations are indicated by means of independent words, as a rule pos- 

 sessive pronouns; but in Siuslaw these relations are relegated to the 

 verb, and consequently we find them conveyed by means of certain 

 suffixes that are added to stems denoting verbal ideas. 



The possessive relations that may exist between object and subject 

 of a sentence are of a threefold nature. The object may form an 

 inseparable part of the subject (I wash mt face); the object may be 

 separably'- connected with the subject (I lose my knife); or the ob- 

 ject may stand in a possessive relation to another object (I lose his 

 knife). Siuslaw distinguishes clearly between these three types of 

 relationship, and expresses each of them by means of a distinct suffix. 



§ S3. Suffix Indicating that the Object Forms an Inseparable Part of 

 the Subject -itx (-a^tx), -tx 



This suffix indicates that the object of the sentence is inseparably 

 connected with the subject. Hence all stems expressing an action 

 performed by the speaker upon any part of his own body (and even 

 upon his name) occur with these suffixes. Now and then they will 

 be found added to stems denoting actions that do not necessarily 

 involve an integral part of the subject as its recipient. All such 

 formations must be looked upon as ungrammatical ; that is to say, as 

 due either to analogy or to an unintentional mistake on the part of 

 the informant.^ 



The verbal ideas which are expressed in this manner need not 

 always be transitive in our sense of the word. They may, and as a 

 matter of fact they do, denote conditions and states in which an inte 

 gral part of the subject may find itself. Such expressions are possi- 

 ble, because to the mind of the Siuslaw they conve}^ transitive ideas. 

 Thus the sentence I am sorry expresses, according to our interpre- 

 tation, an intransitive idea. The Siuslaw treats it as a transitive 

 sentence, and expresses it by saying I make my mind sick. In 

 the same manner Siuslaw conceives of our expressions my hair 

 BURNED, his CHILD DIED, IT IS COLD, ctc, as trausitivc sentences, 

 and renders them by (1) burned my hair, (he) caused his child 



TO DIE, THE earth MAKES ITS BODY COLD, etc. 



No specific reason can be given for the occurrence of the parallel 

 forms -Ux and -tx^ nor has any distinction been detected in the use of 



I My informant made such mistakes rather frequently, but corrected them promptly whenever her 

 attention was called to them. 



§ 33 



