306 GRAMMAR OF THE KLAMATH LANGUAGE. 



For tlie study of the mechanical part of suffixation the following rules 

 will prove useful: 



There are two classes of suffixes, inflectional and derivational. Most 

 suffixes belong either to one or the other of the two classes, but a few be- 

 long to both: -uga, -(')ta. 



Inflectional suffixes always stand after the suffixes of derivation, in the 

 absolute as well as in the distributive form. The former are identical in 

 both dialects with very few exceptions (Kl. -ank. Mod. -an), but among the 

 latter small dialectic diff'erences are perceptible. 



There are pronominal roots which figure as prefixes as well as inflectional 

 and derivational suffixes; while others occiu' only as suffixes or component 

 syllables of such, or belong to one class of suffixes only. Some verbal suffixes 

 also figure as nominal suffixes: -aga, -tana, -tka, etc. 



A few suffixes show a wide i-ange in their signification and use, for their 

 meaning varies according to the basis to which they are appended; cf -ala, 

 -tka, -nga. In this respect compound suffixes vary less than simple ones. 

 The purport of such compound suffixes as we observe in hulladshuitanma 

 to run cont'mualhj hack and forth can be inquired into by looking up severally 

 in the list below all the suffixes following the radix hu-: -rda (-la), -tcha, -ui, 

 -t4mna, and then combining their significations into a whole. 



Most suffixes originally wei'e of a locative import, and the few temporal 

 suffixes in the language trace their origin to some locative affix. The con- 

 crete categories of location, position, and distance are of such paramount 

 importance to the conception of rude nations as are to us those of time and 

 causality. 



The accumulation of suffixes in one word is sometimes considerable, 

 but never exceeds the limits of considerate measure (five suffixes), so that 

 the mind always remains capable of grasping the totality of some polysyn- 

 thetic form. Cf in the Dictionary such vocables as: liopelitchna, ka- 

 uloktantktamna, klutsuutkish, shuntoyakea-otkish, spungatgapele, sputi- 

 dshanuish, tpugidshapelitiimna, tcln'ltgipele. The best method of studying 

 the workings of suffixation is to compare with one another the derivatives of 

 such roots as are most productive in derivational forms by transcribing them 

 from the pages of the Dictionary. 



