(518 GRAMMAR OF THE KLAMATH LANGUAGE. 



formed, or not performed, accoi'dlng to somebody's arbitrary choice. All 

 this we express by the so-called auxiliary verbs I can, I could, I may, I 

 might, I hope, I expect, may he, and by the particles perhaps, possibly, proha- 

 hly, likely. The Klamath language possesses none of these verbs, nor any 

 particles corresponding exactly to the English particles mentioned. Nev- 

 ertheless all the above ideas can be expressed with accuracy in Klamath, 

 either by verbs diflPering somewhat in their function, or by the particle ak, 

 which, combined with other particles, appears as ak a, aka, aka, ka, kam 

 (for ak am), Avak ak; their connection with the conditional mode in -t, 

 whenever it occurs, also expresses possibility. Ak is nothing else but the 

 enclitic particle ak, which means only, but, just, and also appears as dimin- 

 utive suffix; but here it appears in a somewhat different function. The 

 conditional mode is sufficient to express possibility and potentiality by itself 

 alone, without any particle. 



A. — Potentiality. Whenever I can is used in the potential sense of / 

 am. able in body or mind — I have the faculty to perform a thing — it is ex- 

 pressed by the conditional mode, by ak, ka, or by the verbal indefinite. 

 In the latter case, "I can ride", "I can make arrows", becomes wholly 

 equivalent to "I am a rider", "I am an arrow-maker"; and when the sen- 

 tence is negatived ka-i is added to it. The ak may be dropped if the verb 

 stands in the conditional mode. 



pi ak shuint he, she can sing; he, she is able to sing. 



pi ak ka-i shuint he, she cannot, is unable to sing. 



i'lk a nu ka-i pevvat / cannot sivim. 



kci-i tika nii kokant kd'shtat I cannot climb the pine tree. 



ktl-i nii'sli shiugat tata he can never kill me (under these conditions), 



96, 22. Cf 129, 7. 

 pil mAklaks hiik shla't sku'ks only dead Indians can see spirits, 129, 2. 

 tarn i sli%esxenish ^i? ca« you roivf lit. "are you a rower"? 

 ni iiAnukash shla'sh ki I can see every ivhere, 22, 17. 



Whenever the ability of performing an act is negatived, there are two 

 verbs in Klamath expressing what we render by / cannot: ke'shga (or 

 ke'shka, a derivative of ka-i not) and tchana. Both of these take their 



