570 BUKEAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 40 



^111. The Discri^ni7iative Case 



The discriminative case is that form of the noun which singles it 

 out as the performer of an action directed upon an object; i. e., it 

 designates the nominal subject in sentences containing pronominal or 

 nominal object. 



The discriminative form of pronouns and of nouns of relationship is 

 expressed by means of the prefix q- (see § 21). All other nouns express 

 the discriminative form by means of a vocalic change that varies accord- 

 ing to the quantity of the stem- vowel, and in polysyllabic stems 

 according to the quantity of the vowel of the accented syllable. The 

 following rules maybe said to apply in all cases: 



1. The discriminative form of nouns the stem- vowel of which is a 

 long -i or -M is obtained through the diphthongization of these vowels 

 into ya and"i/;a respectively (see § 7). For pureh" physiological reasons 

 a weak vowel corresponding to the quality of the diphthongized 

 vowel is inserted between the diphthong and its preceding consonant. 



Ai;?!^ person, people 7.1 Hya'q^^yun Mya'tc and people 



looked on 70.4 

 1%'tc^t cougar 13.3 Vya't&t Myatst'tsun Cougar put it 



on 13.4 

 ml'hla bad 14.7 m^ya'TcIa Uya'tc IHla'yun a bad 



person devoured him 15.2 

 hlq^ wild-cat 34.17 UyaUi'tsun Uya'q^ Wild-Cat put 



it on 11.11 

 ^^.^«?m' A'" screech-owl 86.1 tsi'klya wi'nxa^n ants psni's Ik!- 



an^wa'Tc'^ Screech-Owl feared 



that Skunk very much 86.3 

 hina'^un ants plna'st Ikfaji^vKt'Tc'^ 



Screech-Owl intended to take 



along that sick man 88.1, 2 

 ^^'UZJdZ'w^ woman 30.21 (A'l'xun qlutd^wa'ni (a) woman 



shook him 58.4 

 tExmu'nt man 30.21 im'lun tEXin'^wa'ni (the) man 



agreed with her 58.7 

 tsxayu''^^ sun, day 8.1 'mU]cwl'tutsmtsxay^wa'vA{t\i&)^\in 



had pity on me 72.14 



Somewhat irregular discriminative forms are shown by the nouns 

 t!% GRIZZLY BEAR and ql'utc WIFE, which occur as tHya^' and qa'yutc 

 respectively. 



§ 111 



