534 BUKEAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 40 



HIM, NIGHT COMES UPON HIM, etc. By adding to -l! the subjective 

 pronouns for the first and second persons (see § 24), the same expres- 

 sions with these persons as objects are obtained* This suffix always 

 follows the tense signs, and immediately precedes the pronominal 

 suffixes. 



qaH night, darkness 38.21 Hxiin stlrrik qO-'xtuxh! us two 



(excl.) there night will overtake 

 94.18 

 tcfh't^l wind tdl'VlL! a storm overtook him 



tsxayd' day breaks 50.3 tsxayO-'hla^x (when) day came 



upon them two 48.9 

 Izlap- low tide 36.18 TcIa'ptuxL! low tide will overtake 



(them) 36.18 

 ^l'Z^^ snow 76.10 wa'ltHuxLUn snow will overtake 



me 

 hi'n^lcU it rains hi' rflcHt^ l ! anx rain pours down 



upon them 



It is not inconceivable that this suffix may represent an abbreviation 

 of the stem x/a'"* place, world, universe (see § 133), which the 

 Siuslaw always employs whenever he wants to express a natural phe- 

 nomenon. 



tsxaya^' hla'"'^ day breaks 60.3 



hi'n^'k.'ya i.V"*' it rains 78.1 



Tc/uwina^' L!a!°'^ (there was) ice all over 76.11 



qa^'xixyax tE L!al°'^ it got dark 34.4 



PLURAL FORMATIONS (§§ 78-80) 

 § 78. Introductory 



The idea of plurality in verbal expressions may refer either to the 

 subject or object of the action. In most American Indian languages 

 that have developed such a category, and that indicate it by means of 

 some grammatical device, plurality of subject is exhibited in intransi- 

 tive verbs, while plurality of object is found in transitive verbs. 

 Such plurality does not necessaril}^ coincide with our definition of this 

 term. It may, and as a matter of fact it does, in the majority of cases, 

 denote what we commonly call distribution or collectivity. Thus the 

 Siuslaw idea of plurality is of a purely collective character, and seems 

 to have been confined to the subject of intransitive verbs only. Even 

 the contrivance so frequently employed by other American Indian 

 languages, of differentiating singularity and plurality of objects by 



§ 78 



