GRAMMAR OF THE YUKAGHIR LANGUAGE 101 



d^ t as in English. 



(/ like dr. 



g like g in good. 



// as in English. 



k as in English. 



t\ k' have a spirant added. They are placed at the end of a 

 word, if the following word does not commence with a vowel. 

 The same applies to /'. 



//-/ before / is pronounced soft, by pressing the tip of the 

 tongue to the front part of the palate, t and / blend into one 

 sound. 



tn are blended into one nasal sound. 



g velar g. 



c like the English sli. 



c is equal to ty ; but old men pronounce it so that it sounds 

 more like ch in chance, while with women and children it sounds 

 closer to c in the German word Ceder. This seems to be a trace 

 of the difference between the pronunciation of men and women, 

 just as it exists in the Chukchee language. At the end of the 

 word, c is pronounced by women almost like s. 



j is dy ; but old men pronounce it more like j in the word 

 joy, while women and children pronounce it like dz. If it oc- 

 curs between two vowels, one of which has a long sound, j is 

 pronounced like the French / in jour. 



X like ch in the German Bach. 



x^ like ch in the German ich, at the end of the word. 



The language bears but faint traces of an original harmony of 



sounds, which is little observed at present. It may be described 



as follows : o in the stem does not tolerate e or a\x\ the suffix. 



In the former case, e of the suffix is changed into o ; in the 



.latter, o of the stem changes into a. For example : 



Stem Suffix 



coro'ino- (man) go (locative) at present 2Xso\x%^A cord moge 1 S. §§ 



cord mo- A; jr' (Def. Nominative) at present also used f^/-^';;/^ -/<?/('' 12 



7;;y/i,'-^;- (middle) ^/^{i^'-^ (locative accompanied at pres- also used ;;/(5'V;^^-^/<''^^'-^ [ and 



ent by a possessive element. ) 32. 



