498 GRAMMAR OF THE KLAMATH LANGUAGE. 



skelxii to become dusky; &\\\{i' A^\i wild hemp, h-on\ shleds;^a; i^U'ip flint-.sfone, 

 from stapka; tchak service free, from tchaggaya. 



The substantives formed according to mode No. 4, vvhicli cannot prop- 

 erly be called derivation, owe their existence to an apocope mainly due to 

 careless pronunciation, and they have a parallel in the particles which are 

 used as verbs, page 457. In man}'- instances the form in -sh exists simul- 

 taneously with the abbreviated form. Examples are as follows : ginshka 

 slo2)e, fl'hka scraper of stone, iwala top or end, isha funeral, kinyatp'na angle, 

 corner, ndwisht remains, pala and pAlash liver, pata dry season (patash is 

 spleen, milt), sk6, skoa and sko'sh spring season, vumi and vumi'sh cache. 



DISTINCTION BETWEEN ABSTRACT AND CONCUETE NOUNS. 



All substantives are either abstract or concrete in their signitication, 

 and abstract nouns are all derived from concrete terms of verbal or nominal 

 origin. No language is devoid of abstract nouns, ])ut in the languages of 

 primitive nations there is a perceptible scarcity of them when compared 

 with their plenty in languages of mentally-developed populations. Many 

 primitive peoples prefer to express abstractions by tlie verb and adjective 

 rather than by the substantive ; in the lexical and morphological portion of 

 their grammar the tendency toward specializing prevails over that of using 

 purely abstract forms. Our intention is to speak with precision, that of the 

 Indian to speak graphically; the Indian individualizes, while we classify; he 

 often expresses by circumlocution an abstraction which we express by one 

 single term. But the power of abstraction varies greatly in degree among 

 the different tribes or nations of uncivilized races in both hemispheres. 



1. Abstract substantives. 



What is said above is well exemplified by some characteristics of the 

 Klamath language of Oregon. The idea contained in many of our more 

 abstract substantives cannot be expressed substantively, but can be expressed 

 by verbs, adjectives, or adverbs. That language j)0ssesses no terms for time, 

 hope, health, haste, friendship, justice, thanks, thankfulness, greediness, vindic- 

 tiveness, vision, feeling, intellect, sense, learning, manner. These are, however, 

 rendered with accuracy by some finite verb, or an adjective or adverb, so 



