856 EEPOET— 1889. 



LINGUISTICS. 



I. Tlingit. 

 Obtained from Mrs. Vine, Victoria, a native of the Stik'm tribe. 



PHONETICS. 



Vowels : a, e, E, i, o, u. 



Consonants : d, t ; gy, ky ; g, k, k' ; g-, k- ; w, r, q, Q ; 

 h, H, y; n; s, c ; dz, ts ; dj, tc ; di, tl. 



The labials are absent. The difference between surds and sonants is very slight. 

 I find in my lists a great number of cases in which for the same sound both surds 

 and sonants are used promiscuously. The difference is so slight that I am inclined 

 to think the language has only surd-sonants, which we apperceive by the means of 

 our surds and sonants, and that they are for this reason considered two sounds. The 

 r is a very deep guttural, the mouth assuming at the same time the position for pro- 

 nouncing w, the lips only being a little further apart. The uvula vibrates very little, 

 and thus it happens that the sound is very much like w. In many cases, particu- 

 larly when preceding u, it is very difficult to distinguish both sounds. There seems 

 to be a dz and dj, the sonants corresponding to ts and to ; but as in all instances I 

 was just as much inclined to write the latter, I have mostly applied the latter form. 

 The hiatus is very frequent, and occurs after all consonants. No combinations of 

 consonants occur in the beginning of the word, except dl and tl, followed by a gut- 

 tural, and perhaps s followed by the same. All letters can be initial and terminal 

 sounds. I found the following terminal combinations of consonants : 



qk ks kc kts 



nk nq k-s 



sk 



ck no 



tk 



tlk tlk- 



Sonants occur very rarely at the end of words, but this may be accounted for by 

 the indefinite character of these sounds. Combinations of consonants are very rare. 

 I do not attempt to give a list, as it is in many instances doubtful whether the word 

 is really a single word or a compound. 



GRAMMATICAL NOTES. 



THE NOUN. 



The Tlingit language has no grammatical sex and no separate forms for singular 

 and plural. As Wemiaminov states that there is a plural, I have made frequent 

 attempts to find it, but my search has been in vain, and I agree with Krause, who 

 states that there is no separate form for the plural. In two or three instances I 

 found the terminal vowel of nouns repeated, the word expressing at the same time a 

 plural ; but I have reason to believe that this repetition has merely euphonic reasons, 

 as it is also found in other cases, and as the plural of the same word has frequently 

 the same form as the singular : tluo and tlo, noses. Wemiaminov mentions the 

 plural t'ek-, stones (singular fe), but I find in my collection dcq t'e, two stones. If 

 it is necessary or desirable to state expressly that the plural is meant k'toq, a number 

 of—, is placed after the noun. It seems to me probable that this is the plural re- 

 ferred to by Wemiaminov and spelled — khth. I have not found any indication of 

 the existence of cases, not even of the instrumentalis mentioned by Wemiaminov. 



Compound nouns are of very frequent occurrence, the components being placed 

 side by side : 



ca qu'wu, hair = head hair. Dchj'i nv, name of an island = far from 



?i-'ds t'aktl, ankle = leg knuckle. the coast, rock. 



.m'sa a'sc, mast = sail tree. tuo s'u.'te, thief = steal master. 



As- 'rti*- self, necklace = bone necklace. gvts re tu'tli, Gallinago Wilsoni = cloud 



ka torn', titmouse = man heart. place bird. 



