BOAS] HANDBOOK OF INDIAN LANGUAGES — CHUKCHEE 659 



§ 10. Intervocalic Elision 



(1) Interv^ocalic w, y, {i), and g are either much weakened or drop 

 out altogether. This happens particularly when the vowels preceding 

 and following these sounds are alike. After an elision, the two vowels 

 are often assimilated. 



ne'ekik<new-ekik daughter 

 gaala'len < gagala'lm he has passed by 

 gaalhiLen<.gaya'lhjLe)i he has moved away 

 muwa' qea^Tc <riiuwa' qega^lc let me sit down! 

 ya'ilhin and ya'gilhin foot 



miti'nmuut<mit-i-tmu-git we killed thee 10.12 

 pe'gtu-vJrgirgm <.pe' gti-voii! rgirgin runner-noise 32.10 

 H7ne'erki7i<icime'tirkin thou creakest 



(2) i + y followed by a vowel, and ?/ + / preceded by e and /, form 

 neutral i (see § 2, p. 644). The preceding / is assimilated by this 

 neutral i. 



ge'izm < ge'yiLin given 

 tio'lhin<tiyo'lhin vein 



o •' o 



qia'lhni and qiya'lhin heel 

 gei'lqciLin < ge-yi'lqdLvn he slept 

 mi'ilhit<m,i'yilhit I will give thee 



I 11. JPhonetic Influences "between Words 



The changes described in § § 6-10 occur not only in word composi- 

 tion, but also between the end and beginning of words that form parts 

 of a syntactic unit. 



gmnni'n eivkwewJcwala' e^ < gumni'n e'wJcwew gala'e^ my left-hand 



driving-reindeer passed by 

 ya^'ran wu'ri naivMnai'jpu-me'reKya^'rat mu'ri we grew too 



angry {ya^'rat too much; rrin'ri we; an'nenai'puXx) become 



angry) 

 Eiine'n' urn dHqe'm nito'e^<,dHqe'p fiito'eF a nail went out {Enne'n' 



one; d^lqe'p nail; nto^ -nitg to go out; -i^ 3d per. sing.) 

 nj''mni7nij'-a'lhitya^t<ni'mnimit ya'lhityd^t the neighboring 



camp moved away 



Sometimes h or t is inserted between two vowels — one terminal, the 



next initial — that come together in a sentence. 



tele'g-m^'td-n-i'irhin gradually dying he is 



Such insertions, as well as the assimilation of sounds belonging to 



different words, are used with a great deal of freedom. 



§ § 10, 11 



