374 



REPORT — 1902. 



compound may be formed by simf>le juxtaposition, by agglutination, or by forma, 

 tive elements. Thus : — 



tEmkwa'i = famine, verhMim ' period ' + ' hungry.' 

 tEmkaka = flood ,, ' period ' + ' water '+' water.' 



kElEtsEl - to swear ,, ' bad ' or ' evil ' + ' mouth ' (latter abbreviated). 



kakaHyil = lame, from kakai, ' sick,' and ts'kenyil, ' foot.' 



sweEka'tl = youth, from sweEka, man, and formative particle Ml, signifying 

 Immaturity or youthfulness. 



Juksaha'wa = hunter, from aha'wa, to hunt, andluks, formative particle of agency. 

 £EtltEl = a bailer, from se'ltcut, to bail, and the instrumental particle tEl. 



PARTS OF SPEECH. 



There is very little, if anj-, formal distinction in Salish between the various parts 

 of speech. As the noun possesses no number, no cases, and no formal gender, 

 and the verb no proper conjugations, tenses, or moods, a word may stand without 

 change of form for almost any part of speech. It is the temporary function of a 

 word in a sentence that gives it its distinctive character. Thus the same word 

 may at different times and in different expressions be either a verb, noun, adjective, 

 adverb, preposition, &c. For example, the equivalent of our ' in ' in Sk-qo'mio 

 is v'i» ; thus, D'is ts lam, ' in the house.' But in the following sentence this same 

 5'is takes on the function and the imperative termination of a verb. Thus : 

 o'u-Jca tE Idm, ' go in the house.' Again, the adverbs, and particularly the adverb 

 of negation, constantly perform the functions and take on the pronominal and 

 temporal affixes of verbs. Thus : hau'-Kh min-kd'Jfot, ' I will not strike it ' ; ■verbatim, 

 not-will-I strike; hau'-it uat-ku'kut, 'we didn't strike it'; reo'hatim, not-we-we- 

 strike. In the former of these two instances the negative has absorbed the 

 temporal affix, and in the latter the personal pronoun, dropping its own final letter ; 

 liauq being the full and independent form of the negative in Sk'qo'mic. Even the 

 pronominal forms share at times the functions of other parts of speech, and 

 need a personal article to give them definiteness. This is peculiarly the case in 

 regard to the forms employed to indicate the third person. These are in many 

 instances still simple demonstratives, and employed as such in other constructions. 



There are, of course, certain compound and other terms to which these general 

 remarks do not applj-. There is also a very interesting class of nouns which differ 

 from the corresponding verb forms by the addition of the prefixed sibilant s. 

 These are apparently gorundial nouns. In Kwa'ntlEn, in particular, the gerund is 

 thus regularly formed ; and any verb may apparently be converted into a noun 

 with verb force in this way. Abstract nouns and perfect participles are formed in 

 Tcil'QC'uk by this means. In Kwa'ntlEn the ordinal numbers are regularly formed 

 from the cardinals by prefixing »■ to them. In N'tlaka'pamuQ we find much the 

 same. The following examples from the Tcil'Qc'uk will be found interesting :^ 



e'wEs, to instruct. 



mu'kwEtsEl, to kiss. 



k'au, to howl. 



hi'kEtl, to hiccough. 



e'tltEl, to eat. 



ai'tEl, to fight. 



lE'pitc, to send (something), 



u'lla, to dream. 



tam, to shout. 



kwats, to see. 



pCls, to sow. 



kwElst, to stew. 



hiis'Em, to sneeze. 



ke'EqEtsult, to slide. 



se'wEs, instruction, learning. 



smu'kwEtsEl, a kiss. 



sk'aa, a howl. 



ci'kEtl, a hiccough. 



se'tltEl, food. 



sai'tEl, a flght. 



slEpitc, thing sent. 



su'lla, the subject of the dream. 



stam, a shout. 



skwats, sight. 



sprls, seed. 



skwElst, a stew. 



s'liii'sEm, a sneeze. 



ske'EqEtsult, a slide. 



GENDER. 



Grammatical gender of a kind is found in Tcil'Qe'ak. The definite article 

 possesses distinct masculine and feminine forms. Thus : te (masc), the ; se (fem.), 

 \]\G. In a certaii} eepse the demonstratives, which are compounded with the 



