572 gSammak of the klamath language. 



Besides this, syntax deals (1) with the various forms under which sen- 

 tences may be addressed to others in the simple sentence — the declarative 

 form, the negative form, the interrogative form ; (2) witli the compound 

 sentence, and its subdivision into a co-ordinate and a subordinate sentence. 



THE VERB A NOUN VERB. 



Comparative researches embracing hmguages outside the pale of the 

 Aryan and Semitic families liave disclosed the fact that they do not possess 

 a true verb, as we have, but use terms of a nominal function in its stead, 

 which may be best compared to our al)stract nouns, to nouns formed of 

 verbs, and to participles. This morphologic quality of the verb influences 

 not only the inflectional forms of this part of speech, but also the laws of 

 syntax ; and investigators of a hitherto unknown language have to consider 

 as one of their most important grammatic tasks to ascertain the origin and 

 true character of its veib. 



What makes of the Aryan and Semitic verb a true verb is the thorough 

 and intimate connection of a radix, assumed to be predicative, with certain 

 affixes representing number, tense, mode, voice, and especially with aflixes 

 representing person. This is so because, in the inflective languages, the 

 finite verb is controlled and determined in every instance by the subject of 

 the sentence (pronominal subjects appearing as personal affixes); whereas, 

 in the so-called agglutinative languages, the finite verb is partly controlled 

 by another agent than the subject. The powerful agency which has fused 

 all the above category-signs into words, and has even influenced the vocalic 

 part of the radix, is met with only in the two linguistic families above men- 

 tioned ; for agglutinative languages, which constitute the great majority of 

 all tongues, do not show in their verb the same assertive and predicative 

 power. 



That the Klamath verb is a verb of the agglutinative class will suffi- 

 ciently appear from the data c'ontained in this Grannnar. liut the question 

 how far this verb has developed in the way of approaching the standard of 

 a truly assertive verb may be considered under two aspects : ( 1 ) What are 

 the properties which assimilate it to that standard I And (2) by what pecu- 

 liarities are we compelled to class it among the verbs constituting a nominal 



