VERBAL DERIVATION. 459 



it in which it is not only synthetic, but polysynthetic — the inflection of the 

 noun and the derivation of verbs by prefixes and suffixes. 



The great complexity percej)tible in the derivation of verbs and verbal 

 nouns is sufficienth- apjjarent from the long lists which I have devoted to 

 prefixation and suffixation, to both kinds of reduplication, to vocalic anath- 

 esis, and other contrivances for verb-deriving. It would be useless to repeat 

 this here ; and all I can do is to give some general points of view upon the 

 synthetic powers of the language, and to refer readers to the derivation of 

 the substantive, adjective, and numeral noun, where cognate matters are 

 spoken of. 



In our Klamath Lake and Modoc texts short words are the rule and 

 polysynthetic words the exception. But the mere fact that these can occur 

 forces us to consider them, and to account for the laws presiding over their 

 formation. Prefixes aggregate only to the number of three, and suffixes to 

 the number of five, though this number of derivational suffixes may be 

 increased by inflectional suffixes. Prefixes either indicate the voice of the 

 verb, or the number or external shape of the verbal object or subject. Suf- 

 fixes are either of a material or a relational character, as pointed out on 

 page 280. Those of a material function chiefly point to location or different 

 modes of motion, and are much more numerous and polysynthetic than the 

 relational ones; their great number being largely due to the circumstance 

 that what we express analytically by certain adverbs and prepositions these 

 natives express synthetically by suffixation to the verbal base. In the in- 

 flection of verbs suffixes only, no prefixes, are employed. 



Verbal derivatives are formed from all the four species of roots dis- 

 cussed on page 2.50 sqq. — onomatopoetic, interjectional, pronominal, and 

 predicative, although the two first-named occur in very few verbs <mly. 

 In some verbs it is difficult to distinguish between the sounds forming the 

 prefix and those constituting the radix, as may be gathered from the List 

 of Prefixes, under e-, i-, yan-, yu-, ma-, and others. 



In intransitive verbs we meet initial syllables, like hu-, tush-, tin-, he-, 

 we-, klush-, kish-, lu-. Ink-, which cannot be considered as prefixes, but must 

 be taken for roots employed to distinguish number. The signification of the 

 verbs formed by these often diff"ers somewhat from that of parallel verbs 



