GRAMMAR OF THE VUKAGHIR LANGUAGE 103 



nil' inofiiii (c. dat.). Trisyllables, when accented on the second 

 syllable, usually retain the accent on the same syllable, coro' mo 

 (**man "), coro' inogi (poss. suf.) ; but in some cases the accent 

 is transferred to the first syllable, kude'de (" to kill "), ku' dcdelle 

 ("having killed"). 



The verbal prefixes always take the principal accent : 

 n-e'-kiidcde (" kill each other "), o' t-kudede (" would kill "). 



THE PARTS OF SPEECH. 



The Noun. 



§ I. Case- Suffixes. — Relations between objects are expressed 

 by means of suffixes only. I distinguish between case-suffixes 

 and other post-positions (see § 123) also serving to indicate re- 

 lations between objects, for the reason that the case-suffixes 

 have already lost their distinct sense, and, with the exception 

 of the casus comitativus suffix (see § 123), they cannot consti- 

 tute a basis for other word formations. 



§ 2. Case-suffixes are joined to the following classes of nouns : 



§3. (i) To nouns proper, that is, to such words as indicate 

 only objects. 



§4. (2) To verbal nouns. As will be seen below, a con- 

 siderable part of verbal, that is, predicative, forms, may be used 

 as nouns (see § § 80, '^2, 112, 113), and form any element of the 

 sentence. Only when used as a modifier does the verbal noun 

 remain unchanged (see § 80). In all other cases the case-suf- 

 fixes are joined to it just as to nouns proper. 



§ 5- (3) To personal pronouns, absolute possessive pronouns, 

 and other pronouns used as substantives (see §§ 54, 55, 56, 57). 

 Sometimes case-suffixes are joined to pronouns used as adjec- 

 tives (see § 56). 



§ 6. (4) Most post-positions that are joined to nouns as case- 

 suffixes and substitute prepositions (see § 124). 



§7. Possessive Siffixes. — The possessive suffixes found in 

 the Ural-Altaic as well as in the Eskimo dialects (in which the 

 same possessive suffixes are joined to noun and verbal bases) 

 are in the Yukaghir language altogether absent in verbs and in 



