BOAS] HANDBOOK OF INDIAN LANGUAGES CHUKCHEE 735 



§ 62. Structure of the latransitive Verb 



1. The pronominal prefixes of the intransitive verb are confined to 

 the first person, singular and plural: t- for the singular, rat- for the 

 plural. The m of the plural ma}^ perhaps be related to the same ele- 

 ment in rnuri we, while the t of singular and plural may be the same. 

 The element mt- conveys the idea of plurality of the first person with 

 such energy, that, in Koryak at least, the sufiix -wv/Jt, which repeats 

 the same idea, may be omitted; the same omission occurs rarely in 

 Chukchee. 



2. The temporal and modal elements enter into close relation with 

 the pronominal prefixes. Most of these follow the ordinary phonetic 

 laws. Thus 



t-\-rt becomes trt- 

 mt-^-re becomes m.irre- 

 7nt+ ^ becomes min{iY- 



The last of these is not quite regular, since mit{iY would also seem 

 to be possible. The forms of the exhortative can not be explained by 

 phonetic laws. Here we find that the expected 



t + n becomes m 

 mt + n becomes mm 

 In the subjunctive (^), when the verb begins with a vowel, the aux- 

 iliary vowel disappears, and the glottal stop follows the initial vowel 

 of the stem. This occurs both in Chukchee and Kor3^ak: 

 tu^wi'd^Tc (stem uwi) I should cook 



3. The verbal themes may be simple or compound. The former 

 undergo peculiar phonetic changes according to their position, the forms 

 in initial position differing from those found in medial position. 

 This subject has been discussed in § 7 and § 12. A number of forma- 

 tions, however, are irregular, and not due to the action of phonetic 

 laws. 



qdmi-plitku eating finishing (stem qdmi, from qamitva) 

 tara'nga^t they built a house (from teilci to make, yara house) 

 Icin7ni'rlci7i he kills children (kminiti timrrkin) 

 Icuwi^'rkin he has dead children (kminin, vi^rlcin) 



The vocalic elements of prefixes, personal and modal, are modified 



by the vowels of the stem (see § 3) . 



The terminal phonetic character of the stem also influences the 



temporal, modal, and the pronominal sufiixes (see § 72), 



§62 



