GRAMMAR OF THE YUKAGHIR LANGUAGE 139 



The difference in the conjugation of transitive and intransitive 

 verbs which we have in the Yukaghir language is a feature com- 

 mon to almost all American languages. The same may be said 

 of the capacity of bases of transitive verbs to change into 

 intransitive by means of suffixes and vice versa. 



Suffixes of purely verbal forms are different from case-suf- 

 fixes, and they cannot be brought in connection with personal 

 pronouns. 



A necessary element of plurality is constituted by the sound 

 / ; while that of futurity by /. In the Chukchee and Eskimo 

 languages / constitutes the element of plurality, and in the 

 Koryak language it forms the element of the dual number. 



Adjectives, being verbal forms, do not undergo any inflections. 



There is no difference between animate and inanimate objects, 

 as is the case in some Indian dialects. 



The feature known as *' polysynthesis " in American dialects, 

 and which consists of a combination of two or more uninflected 

 bases in one word, in which one of the bases expresses the 

 principal idea, and is put at the end of the word, while the other 

 bases figure as secondary definitive ideas, is also to be met with 

 in the Yukaghir language. For instance : 



Met til' de-ffi' e-mo' dol^ - koi -cii'oleji piindiit^^ 

 I he self sitting boy tale shall tell. 



That is, I shall tell a tale of a boy who was sitting (living) all 

 alone. 



In the expression : 



tu' de-eji' e-?no' dot' -koi-cu' okji 



we have an actual synthesis. Without being inflected, all sec- 

 ondary bases are combined into one conception with the prin- 

 cipal base hi' oleji-tale 



Or : Ye' lokim- no'ineye- bon -kii' deciye eoro' mo-not^ kude'ye^ 



Four with legs something killing man -being have become. 



^ See Yukaghir Materials, etc., Tale 12, p. 25. 

 2 Ibid., Tale 25, p. 169. 



