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��HAS TLINGIT A GENETIC RELATION TO ATHAPASCAN

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��dene language had the form cv, the elements always ending in a vowel, and that final conso- nants result from suffixes. There is evidence, as Sapir states, that Athapascan verb-stems have final consonants representing disappearing suf- fixes; but no good evidence is known for concluding that nouns also have been given their final consonants by this method. To be sure, the ignoring of all final consonants adds much to the ease with which equivalent forms can be found.

In the case of the verbs, Professor Boas has segregated about three hundred and fifty stems, to the greater number of which he has assigned meanings. The opportunity for comparison is not nearly so favorable in the case of verbs as in that of nouns. Phonetically, the verbal stem is part of a complex, subject to accent variations and to assimilation. In the case of Athapascan verbal stems, the presence of a series of reduced suffixes is to be suspected. These suffixes may appear as the final consonants of the apparently monosyllabic stems. The meaning of a mono- syllabic noun appears without analysis, while the meaning of a verbal stem can be determined only by the examination of several verbs con- taining it. Often even then the meaning is elusive, and difficult of precise statement. It happens, therefore, that the matching of Pro- fessor Boas' list of Tlingit verb stems with Athapascan stems of equivalent meanings is a difficult matter. It has been attempted only where the meanings of the Tlingit stems have been rather definitely given. While the complete verbs in Tlingit usually can be rendered in an Athapascan dialect by verbs of fairly equivalent meaning, it does not follow that the stems are comparable, for other elements than the stem in each case help to make up the verb.

It has been possible to match one hundred and twenty-four of the Tlingit stems with Athapascan-stems of similar meaning '. In a fair

I. See below, p. 275.

��number of these instances, the agreement in meaning is satisfactory. Of these one hundred and twenty-four compared forms, only five show sufficient phonetic similarity to require comment.

Tlingit 'a TO SIT agrees in form with -ai, -a, an Athapascan stem used almost exclusively of the position of single inanimate objects. If the Tlingit meaning could be shown to be a derived one, the correspondence might be cited as evidence of common origin.

Tlingit stem na TO DRINK, and Athapascan -nan with the same meaning, are irreproach- able, since the final n of Athapascan is ex- plainable as a suffix.

Tlingit t't), I'd, t'en, mean TO SLEEP. Athapas- can / c, fin, also has that for a secondary mean- ing. Its primary meaning relates to the posi- tion or movement of anything animate. The concept of SLEEPING, itself seems often to be connected with dreaming, the subjective view of sleep, while a reclining position is the ob- jective view. The Tlingit verb-stem is also a noun meaning SLEEP, and comparable with Athapascan bxi. In primary meaning, then, the two stems are widely separated.

Following in alphabetical order is Tlingit

/'rt TO CARRY A SOLID ELONGATED OBJECT. There

is an Athapascan stem t'an, relating to the position or movement of a long object, such as a pole. The particular Tlingit verbs given are not comparable with the Athapascan, but there seems to be a fair agreement in the meaning and the phonetic form of this stem.

One of the Tlingit stems, meaning TO SHOOT WITH A BOW AND ARROW, is fuk. Navajo has a stem t'o, which also means TO SHOOT WITH A BOW. Beaver has a stem t'ok, t'o TO SHOOT, but employed of shooting with a gun.

Tlingit has a stem set' TO TEAR, and Athapas- can one, ted with a similar meaning.

Dr. Sapir cites additional correspondences : such as Athapascan -ca, -cal, TO CATCH WITH A

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