BOAS] HANDBOOK OF INDIAN LANGUAGES GHUKCHEE 679 



Examples: 

 H'.s^e/iA: at the house Tce'sta^ik to the house (stem Hs^ 



house) 

 sunk in the wood sonic to the wood (stem siin) 



tm' ink bv them txa'anTcE to them (stem itx) 



TcS'iy^'^nk ill the trough kg'px'gnk to the trough (stem 



TcSpx') 

 ki'x'enk in the river ke'x'ayik to the river (stem k%x') 



kuke' -hiimnin he cooked it koka jo-humnen he began to cook 



^it° 



The obscure vowels /, £, a, w, are neutral, as are also ^, a, <?. In 

 this respect Kamchadal differs from Chukchee, in which dialect 

 vowels that are hard or weak never appear as neutral. 



In Kamchadal the initial vowels of suffixes, and auxiliary vowels, 

 are also subject to the ablaut, their form being determined by the 

 vocalic character of the stem, which is generally monosyllabic. 

 Thus a system develops which is somewhat similar to the vocalic 

 harmony of the Ural Altaic languages. 



kifstenk at the house ke'stank to the house (stem kist) 



ko'Txank at the lake kE'px'Mk at the trough 



(stem kdrx) kQ'j)x'07ik to the trough (stem kEpx) 



tisiinulo' tijk I always live in the woods {ti I; sun wood; li auxiliary 

 vowel; lo to live; t always; -jk I) 



§ 23, Other JPhonetic JProcesses 



Consonantic Clusters.— \n Kamchadal consonantic clusters are of 

 frequent occurrence. I have found, for instance, ktxt, txcj^ txcjh^ 

 txctx^ ntx<y}h^ k/lkfi. 



Sometimes auxiliary vowels are inserted, or some of the consonants 

 have a decided vocalic resonance, but more often the clusters are free 

 from vocalic elements. The peculiar consonantic character of pro- 

 nunciation may be observed also among the Russianized Kamchadal; 

 and the natives are taunted by the Russian Creoles, and even in the 

 intercourse of various villages, on account of this peculiarity of their 

 speech. Nevertheless not all consonantic clusters are admissible. 



7/ changes to ni. 



ko'lol (absolute form), kolo' nV <kolol-r (instrumental), snow 

 elhein (absolute form), inl <il-l (instrumental), ear (pi. i^l) 



§23 



