Page:IJAL vol 1.djvu/178

 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AMERICAN LINGUISTICS

��VOL. I

��numerous types and sub-types from a purely phonetic point of view. For our purposes of comparative study we can adapt a much sim- pler scheme of classification of types. The essential characteristics of plural and diminu- tive reduplications in Comox seem to me to be as follows. As in other Salish dialects there are two kinds of plural reduplication. In the first the stem is repeated including the con- sonant following the first vowel, for instance:

ts!ox6", CODFISH; pi., ts!o'xts!ox6'

qA'I-q!, WARRIOR; pi., qA'1-qAlq!

qex", RING FINGER; pi., qA'x u qex u

In some cases the reduplicating vowel shows a shift to an i:

sa'paxps, HORN; pi., si'psapaxps so'sin', MOUTH; pi, si'ssosin'

In the second type of plural reduplications the stem is repeated without the consonant following the vowel. In this type the vowel of the reduplicating syllable changes to * (e) apparently with rather few exceptions. 1 Such are, for instance :

a'x u, SNOW-FLAKE; a'ax", FALLING SNOW yi'p-i'x", HOLE; pi., ya'yipl'x"

In the usual form with a change to * the accent is ordinarily thrown back on the reduplicating syllable :

sa"idJA', LEAF; pi., si'sa'idJA 1 tca'yac, HAND; pi., tci'tcayac sa"yal, LAKE; pi., si'sa'yal qa"ya', WATER; pi., qe'qa'ya 1

As in other Salish dialects the diminutive is formed by repeating the stem exclusive of the consonant following the vowel. The vowel

1 1 do not think it is necessary to postulate another type of reduplication in which the vowel changes to o in the reduplicating syllable, for instance in such words as:

}a'gygt! a, HERRING; pi., lo'la'gJ'lt!''

he'gyps, CHIEF; pi., ho '"he 'gyps

(See Sapir: op. cil. p. 15)

As Dr. Sapir suggests, this peculiarity is most likely explained by the fact that g> which follows the vowel of the stem is etymologically equal to w. Thus Comox g- < w of Pentlatch.

��of the reduplicating syllable either maintains the quality of the stem-vowel or shows a shift to i (e).

so'sin', MOUTH; dim., so'ssin' sS'pAdatc, TAIL; dim., so'"sp.\datc t!a''q!at', MOUNTAIN; dim., t!a't!q!e't' xa"a, BIG CLAM; dim., xe'xA'a'* pa'xai', CREEK; dim., pj'p'xe' 1 L!a'"q!wai, FISH-GILL; dim., L!i' j L!q!wai

In those cases where the accent is thrown on the reduplicating syllable the vowel of the reduplicated syllable is frequently reduced or eliminated.

In those cases where the plural as well as the diminutive are formed by repeating the stem without the second consonant and by changing the vowel to i the two forms are ordinarily distinguished by the different position of the accent. It is thrown on the reduplicating syllable in the plural form, but remains on the reduplicated one in the dimin- utive.

tca'yac, HAND; pi., tci'tcayac; dim., tcjtca"'yac qa"ya', WATER; pi., qe'qa'ya'; dim., qeqa"ya' sa"yal, LAKE; pi., si'sa'yal; dim., sisa"yal xa"adjaic, STONE; pi., xe'xa'adjaic; dim., xexa"adje'ic

As mentioned elsewhere the plural redupli- cation is not necessarily confined in Comox to the etymological stem. The initial con- sonant of a suffix may be included in the repe- tition ; for instance in :

mA'qsin', NOSE; pi., mA'qiniAqsin'

dji'cin', FOOT; pi., dji'cdjicin'

The plural-diminutives in Comox are formed by a double process of reduplication, the first reduplicating syllable expressing the diminu- tive idea, the second that of plurality (see Sapir: op. cit. p. 34 et seq.).

Lli'kuinAs, HEART; pi. dim., Lli'Ltek'LlikuinAs

aL, LEGGING; pi. dim., e"aL'ai.

ya'xai' 1, PACK-BASKET; pi. dim., yiyi'xiyaxai' '

BELLA COOLA

From this dialect I can cite only a very few examples from the material of Dr. Boas.

�� �