362 (Jan. 4, 
Brinton,] 
“. Names of animate things which signify an accident of 
nature as “the young,” “the old,” etc., or of fortune as “the 
poor,” “the rich,” and also participial nouns form their plural 
by adding to some a, and to others y; but which termination is 
to be added must be taught by use. Examples, mama. the old 
man, mamae, old men; qahol, the youth, qahola, youths; 
aqual, the child, aquala, children; ala, the boy, alabon, boys; 
Sopoh, the girl, Xopohiy, girls; Sinom,rich, Yinoma, rich people ; 
meba, poor, mebat, poor people. 
“. Nouns ending in » or m form their plural in a; as ahtt- 
con, the owner of a cacao plantation, plural, ahticona ; ahtz- 
com, a tailor, plural, ahtzigoma. 
{. Participial nouns ending in a form their plural by adding 
y; as ahtzeola, the rower, ahtzeolay, the rowers ; ahloXola, the 
buyer, ahloSolay, the buyers; ahpitzola, he who makes works 
in feathers, ahpitzolay feather-workers. There are some adjec- 
tive nouns which have a plural form, as nim, great, plural, 
nimak ; chutim, small, plural, chutik. To express that a road 
is lofty or extended, one would say in the singular naht, large 
or extended or distant, and in the plural nahtih ; nima ya, a 
great river; chuti ya, a small river or small rivers. 
This particle he or e added to the noun forms a plural, as, 
zah he qui Su, they have white clothing. 
The Grammars of Villacafias and Torresano give some farther particu- 
lars of plural forms. The general rule is that nouns denoting inanimate 
objects have no plurals, and those denoting animate objects are pluralized 
either by the terminations @ or ¢ (= y), or by the use of words conveying 
plurality. Of the latter the most common is he or e, which is simply the 
plural demonstrative pronoun, these or those. This pronoun is also in- 
serted even when the noun has the plural termination, as Xe be he ahq’- 
aki chi cochoch, the plasterers went to their houses, It carries with it a 
specific and definite meaning, and is omitted even with animate nouns 
without plural forms when these are employed in a general sense. Torre- 
sano shows this by the following two examples: conohel he nugqahol we be 
pa caman, all my sons have gone to the village corn field ; but, inulefinitely, 
ronohel vinak we be pa camah, all the people have gone to work, 
There are also a number of nouns signifying animate objects which are 
used absolutely, without the pronominal prefixes, and which may be plu- 
ralized by prefixing the ¢, Of these are tata, tataatz, or tataixel, the father, 
not stating whose, qhol, qaolata or qaolawel, the son, not stating whose, 
