522 GRAMMAR OF THE KLAMATH LANGUAGE. 



nanka pupashpushli maklaks, nankatoks ka-i some Indians look darker 

 than others : -Vit. "some dusky Indians, some not." 



hut a lu'sluuiksh ati'ni, nanuken'sh hak nalsli wini'^i this man is the tallest 

 of us ; lit. "this man is tall, all of us just he surpasses." 



When an adjective is enhanced by our very, quite, strongly, exceedingly, 

 this gradation is rendered in Klamath by nui, m\\ prefixed, or by toks, ka, 

 ka-a, ga-a, ka-a pi-efixed or suffixed, sometimes proclitic and enclitic; taks, 

 toks refers to something mentioned previously. 



mu nkiUitko very rash, strong. 



ka-4 k6-idshi very had or mischievous, loathsome. 



ga atini very tall. 



tidshi toksh, tfdshi ka-f'i very good, quite good. 



ka-a kitchkani, mu kc'tchkani very small or young. 



Outside of these syntactic means of gradation the language knows of 

 some particles producing the same effect; but their use is rather limited, 

 and this seems to show that their function is not exactly the same. 



For the minuitive no particle exists, but comparatives may be expressed 

 by suffixing the enclitic ak only, hut to the adjective. It becomes so closely 

 fused to it tiiat even case-suffixes are placed after it. The signification only, 

 just, nothing hut enables this particle to express also the enhancive particles 

 very, quite, greatly: 



kitchkani small, kitchkiiniak very small, ka-i kitchkani not so very small, 



not so small. 

 shkaini strong, shkainiak stronger, very strong ; obj. case shkainiaksh. 



To express a superlative, one of the vowels of the adjective is protracted 

 to a length which is thought to meet the case in question. Mu'ni is large, 

 mri-uni pretty large, mu-uni very large, and mu-u-u-uni colossal; tumi many, 

 tumi-i-i a large numher of. This very effective granuiiatit- featui'e is ob- 

 served in the majority of American languages. 



In the Modoc dialect, -ptchi, -tchi when appended to some adjectives 

 effects gradation : tidshi good, dear ; tidshitchi pretty good, or the dearest; atini 

 tall; atiuitchi {or -tcha) A tchaki that buy is very tall. 



