686 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 40 



Nouns (§§ 27-55). 

 § ^7. General Remarks 



The noun appears in a number of forms and with a number of suf- 

 fixes, the interpretation of which is not eas3\ A few of these have 

 clearly purely syntactic meaning, while others appear rather as post- 

 positions w^hich are somewhat loosely connected with the noun. Some 

 elements of this group seem to form compound nouns, while I suspect 

 that others may have a verbal character. 



The forms which are clearly syntactic are — 



(1) The absolute form, which expresses the subject of the intransi- 

 tive verb, and the object of the transitive verb. 



(2) The absolute form, plural. 



(3) The subjective form, which expresses the subject of the transitive 

 verb, and the instrument with which an action is performed. In 

 several cases our indirect object appears as direct object, while our 

 direct object appears as instrument, somewhat as in the two expres- 

 sions I GIVE IT TO HIM and I BESTOW HIM w^iTH IT. In Kamchadal 

 this form is not used for the subject of the transitive verb, but the 

 locative-possessive. In Koryak sometimes the one form is used, 

 sometimes the other. 



(4) The locative possessive expresses the place where an event hap- 

 pens or where an action is performed. With terms designating living 

 beings it expresses possession. 



Suffixes which express the allative and ablative form a second group. 

 These are not so distinctively syntactic forms, but give the impression 

 of post-positions, particularlj^ since they appear sometimes in compo- 

 sition with syntactic forms of the first group. 



A third class, quite distinct from the first two in form as well as in 

 function, comprises derivations of nouns ^nd verbs which express 



WHAT BELONGS TO, WHAT PERTAINS TO, THAT WHICH HAS THE QUALITY 

 OF SOMETHING, THE POSSESSOR OF, THE MEASURE OF BEING IN A CER- 

 TAIN CONDITION. These are frequently used to express the relations 

 between two nouns or between an adjective and a noun. 



The fourth class expresses mainl}'^ various types of emphatic forms 

 of the noun. 



We shall first take up the syntactic forms. 

 §27 



