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UNIVERSITY OF CALI FORNIA PUBLICATIONSIN

AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY

Vol. 4 No. 5

THE WASHO LANGUAGE OF EAST

CENTRAL CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA

BY

A. L. KROEBER

t~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BERKELEYTHE UNIVERSITY PRESS

SEPTEMBER, 1907

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONSDEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY

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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONSIN

AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGYVOL. 4 NO.

THE WASHO LANGUAGE OF EASTCENTRAL CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA*

BY

A. L. KROEBER.

CONTENTS.PAGE

Introduction ....................................... 252Phonetics ....................................... 253

Initial and Final Sounds ....................................... 255Combinations of Sounds ....................................... 255Influence of Sounds upon One Another ...................... ................. 256Summary ....................................... 256

Reduplication ....................................... 257Composition and Structure ....................................... 258

List of Grammatical Affixes ......... .............................. 260Pronoun ....................................... 264

Independent Personal Pronouns ........... ............................ 267Demonstratives ....................................... 269Interrogatives ....................................... 269Noun ....................................... 270Case-suffixes ....................................... 270Plural ....................................... 271Possessive Pronominal Affixes .......... ............................. 274Verb ....................................... 279Pronominal Incorporation ....................................... 279

Intransitive ....................................... 280Transitive ....................................... 281Reflexive ....................................... 284Imperative ....................................... 285

Instrumental Prefixes ....................................... 286Suffixes of Motion....................................... 288Tense and Mode ....................................... 289Singular and Plural ....................................... 294Verb Stems ....................................... 296* This paper may be cited as Univ. Calif. Publ. Am. Arch. Ethn., Vol. 4,

No. 5.

University of California Publications. [AM. ARCH. ETH.

PAGEAdjective . ......... ............. ...... 299

Numerals ........................................... 299Connectives .. ....... 301

Order of Words ..3.0.......1........1..... 301Texts ........ ............ 302

Notes to Texts ...........................3.. ........-. 304Specimen Phrases ............306

Vocabulary ..................3.. 308Summary .31..........................2.................... 312

INTRODUCTION.

The following information on the Washo or Washoe languagewas obtained during two visits of a few days each, devoted partlyto other purposes, at Reno, Nevada. A number of Indians, bothWashos and so-called Paiutes of Shoshonean stock, live on theoutskirts of the town and can daily be found about its streets.The information secured was from Robert Schermerhorn, a youngeducated Indian speaking good English. The time devoted toinvestigations was so short that the progress made is due to thesatisfactory interpreter and to the fact that the language does notpresent great phonetic and structural difficulties. From the ma-terial obtained a number of points are touched upon but neces-sarily left undetermined, and probably there are others which afurther study may show to be of importance. Sufficient infor-mation seems however to have been secured in the study of thelanguage to recognize with certainty some of its principal char-acteristics, sufficiently at least to compare the language morpho-logically with the neighboring lexically unrelated languages andto determine its place among them.' Like the preceding linguisticcontributions published in this series, the present paper is theproduct of the Ethnological and Archaeological Survey of Cali-fornia which the Anthropological Department of the Universityowes, together with its foundation and support, to Mrs. PhoebeA. Hearst.

The territory of the Washo was situated both in Californiaand Nevada in the vicinity of Lake Tahoe and the lower Carson

1 R. B. Dixon and A. L. Kroeber, Amer. Anthr., n. s., V. 1, 1903.

252

Kroeber.-The Washo Language.

valley, east of the Sierra Nevada. The neighbors of the Washoon the west were the Maidu and the Miwok, living on the westernslope of the Sierra. On all other sides were Shoshoneans, prob-ably all of whom belonged to a dialectic group comprising theMono and the so-called Paviotso or "Paiute" of northwesternNevada. The Washo language was definitely established as a dis-tinct family by Powell on the basis of its lexical content, andthere appears no reason to change this classification. Althoughthe Washo territory lay more largely in Nevada than in Cali-fornia, it was so restricted that the Washo present all the appear-ances of one of the numerous small linguistic families charac-teristic of California. They constitute, however, the only smallfamily, in this region, east of the Sierras, and their cultural rela-tions, whether through the force of environment or through affil-iation, have been apparently mainly with the neighboring Sho-shoneans. They are the only Indians in Nevada that do not formpart of the great Uto-Aztekan family. For this reason the firstquestion of interest in regard to their language from a compara-tive point of view, is whether in its morphological characteristics,-its lexical and genetic independence being recognized,-it re-sembles more nearly the neighboring widely spread Shoshoneandialects with which it is chiefly in territorial contact, or the manydistinct smaller families constituting a morphological group innorthern and southern Central California. This question can bebetter discussed after a consideration of the information securedupon the language, and the answer will therefore be found in theconclusion of this paper.

PHONETICS.

The vowels of Washo are u, o, a, e, i. E and o are open. Mod-ifications of a such as ii; closed e and o; 6 and u; and nasalizedvowels, do not occur. The vowels are both long and short. Attimes they are so short as to be obscure in quality. Accented orlong vowels are often heard as doubled. The Indians distinguishtwo i's in certain stems according as these stems are combinedwith varying affixes, but the dissimilarity in sound between thesei vowels is at best so slight that it is difficult to say whether a dif-

VOL. 4] 253


ference actually exists or is only heard by the interpreter becausehe is conscious of a difference in meaning.

i i Ie e Ea a Ao s 0u A U

The chief difficulty to a foreign ear in the consonants ofWasho is presented by the surd and sonant classes. There areprobably three of these classes, whose true nature and relationshave not been exactly determined. The sonants are apparentlyspoken as in English. The surds may be formed differently.The third class may consist of the surds aspirated. In recordingthe language, surds, "intermediate sonants," and aspirates, k, k,and k', were written in addition to sonants; but it seems likelythat actually these symbols represent only two sounds. In thefact that its sonants seem more nearly than its surds to resemblethe corresponding sounds of English, Washo differs from mostCalifornian and many other Indian languages, in which thesonants are usually more different from their nearest Europeanequivalents than are the surds.

Outside of the question of surds and sonants the consonantspresent no great difficulties to the English ear. There are onlythree series, represented by k, t, and p. In each of these there isfound, besides the probable surd, sonant, and aspirate, only anasal. Spirants other than s sounds do not occur. A sound re-sembling the spirant of k, found occasionally between vowels andwritten x, is probably only h, for it does not occur either initiallyor finally. Ts is treated by the language as a single sound. S attimes is a very pointed sound, dissimilar from English s. C (sh)approximates s. L is frequent, but r does not occur. A d whichapproximates r has been found in a number of words, but as itseems to occur neither initially nor finally it is doubtful whetherit represents a distinct sound. Y, w, and h require no comment.Characteristic sounds wanting in the language are spirants di-rectly related to surds or sonants, velars, lateral 1, tc, and r.

254


Frequent and characteristic sounds occurring are g, d, b, -n (ng),1, and y.

k .(k) g k' (x) nlt (t) d t' np (p) b p' mts ts'

S

c1, (r)y, w, h

INITIAL AND FINAL SOUNDS.

All the vowels occur both initially and finally. All the con-sonants have been found initially and most of them finally. Yand w appear finally as i and u. H, ts, and n have not been foundfinally, though it is probable that at least n occurs. The initialsound of syllables is usually a consonant, the final sound a vowel.The typical monosyllabic stem formula thus is consonant-vowel,less commonly consonant-vowel-consonant or vowel-consonant.

COMBINATIONS OF SOUNDS.

Combinations of sounds are not carried very far. The prin-cipal diphthongs are au and ai. There are no combinations ofconsonants either at the beginning of words or at the end ofwords, although it must be remembered in this connection thatts is a simple sound for the language. Within words practicallyany combination of two consonants can occur; but there are nocombinations of three consonants. The only exceptions to therule that any two consonants can be put in juxtaposition seem tobe that h and ts, which cannot occur finally, are not found as thefirst member of combinations; and that w and n have so far notbeen found as second members of combinations.

There is every probability that the stems and elementary syl-lables of the language contain no consonantal combinations. Thefact that no combinations at all are found either at the beginningor end of words, is overwhelming evidence to this effect. Of thedouble consonants occurring within words a considerable numbercan be actually explained as due to affixion or reduplication.

VOL. 4] 255

University of California Publications. [Am. ARCH. ETH.

INFLUENCE OF SOUNDS UPON ONE ANOTHER.

The various sounds, both vowels and consonants, influenceeach other comparatively little by coming into contact or prox-imity. There is a certain amount of vowel modification, usuallyof a to e and i to e. Thus, lak 'a, one, lek'lini, one person, lek'ek'-eni, one each. Before certain verbs the transitive pronominalprefix la- appears as le-; before initial i stems it becomes 1-: la-galami, le-glti, 1-icli. Before similar stems the intransitive andpossessive prefix 1-, originally perhaps le-, changes i- to e-; afial,l-ainal; emlu, I-emlu; but lyek, l-eyek; lbu, l-ebu; lye, l-eye-i.Dal-, prefixed to color adjectives, becomes del- before i stems:dal-yawi, dal-cocofni; but del-pllpili, del-elegi.

Contraction of vowels is uncommon. There are a few in-stances, such as laca, in me, from le, I, and -aca, inside of.

There is some duplicati-on of stems, with consequent juxtapo-sition of consonants. The mutual contact of such consonants doesnot affect either of them. Dokdoki, beat, delpllpili, blue.

In the final reduplication characteristic of the collective ordistributive noun, the final consonant is usually lost by the firstof the pair of syllables. Thus, -xat becomes -xa-xat, sa-n becomessa-sani. If the reduplicated syllable is not final but in the middleof a word, the final consonant seems to be retained in both itsoccurrences but the initial consonant is lost in the second syllableof the pair. Thus hel-el-mi from hel-mi and lek'-ek'-ein fromlak '-a.

Such cases of reduplication in the interior of polysyllabicwords make it almost certain that these words, however unan-alyzable they may otherwise seem to be, are composed of mono-syllabic elements.

An idea of the phonetic character of the language is given bythe fact that the English word quicksilver (kwiksilvEr) is pro-nounced gEi'ts 'iluwe in Washo.

SUMMARY.

The phonetic character of Washo is thus seen to be marked bya certain simplicity, regularity, and smoothness of sounds, atleast from a European standpoint, qualities which are foreign tomany American languages, though they are typical of a majority

256

OKroeber.-The Washo Language.

spoken in Central California, including Maidu, Miwok, Yuki,Pomo, Wintun, Yana, Costanoan, Esselen, and Yokuts. Outsideof the aspirates and perhaps "intermediates" and the somewhatpeculiar s, there is hardly a sound which is not readily spoken bya tongue accustomed to European pronunciations. The absenceof spirant, velar, and lateral sounds distinguishes the languagefrom most American languages. The freedom with which bothconsonants and vowels are brought into contact within the sameword without modifying one another, the very limited accumu-lation of consonants, and the fact that the elements of whichwords are built up appear never to contain any combinationseither of vowels or consonants, make the pronunciation of thelanguage at once easy and its structure transparent.

REDUPLICATION.

A number of words appear duplicated or reduplicated in theirsimplest forms. These include nearly all color adjectives, whichin addition have a prefix dal-, and a number of nouns. This ety-mological duplication of words in their absolute form must bedistinguished from the more grammatical reduplication to indi-cate iteration or distribution.

dal-tsatsami yellow, greendal-coco-ni reddel-pilpili bluedal-popoi whitede-lelegi dark redtamomo womantewlwi youthniaunia-n baby-bapa paternal grandfather-elel maternal grandfather-ca 'ea mother's sistertsi-guguc bellymemeu ribsts'ats'a chintupipiwi skunkle'lem midnight

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COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE.

Washo appears to be a language in which, as in most Americantongues, composition and derivation for grammatical purposesare developed to a considerable extent. Its study in the presentinstance has really been carried on to so limited a degree thatlittle isolation and determination of derivative and inflectionalelements was to have been expected. Such elements are howevercomparatively so prominent, and the transparent phonetic char-acter of the language so much facilitates their discernment, thata considerable number of morphological affixes have been deter-mined. It is certain that the number of these is much greaterthan for instance in Yokuts, a language the study of which hasbeen carried much further than that of Washo, and probably alsoconsiderably greater than in Yuki, an equally simple languagefrom which a still greater volume of material has been subjectedto analysis.

While composition and derivation for formative or etymolog-ical purposes have not been specially investigated in Washo, itseems that they are not particularly highly developed. It is prob-able that binary composition, as of two nouns, is of little impor-tance. That processes of word-building by derivation occur tosome extent is evident from such suffixes as the -hu which occurson the words for man, girl, and boy. The usual class of suffixesserving to derive nouns from verbs in many Californian lan-guages, is but little developed or lacking in Washo, its place beingtaken by a group of d-prefixes. Nominal affixes or stems of sub-stantival meaning used only in composition, of the type found inAlgonkin and in greater development in Selish and Kwakiutl,have not been discovered. The principal observed instances ofetymological composition or derivation follow.

258

OKroeber.-The VWasho Language.

teliw '-hucaulam-hume-hu

nauwafn-aanal

bu-melibu-aiiali

dal-yawimal-yawi

n-lciduk-nulci

t-emligulcemle-guicemle-gfic-i

d-ibeebed-ibe-luckum-ebe-yi

dapauwitgua-pauud-i

daw-ad-acaadaup-ad-acaadaup-ad-umua

dek-mel-bolewi

del-pilpilit 'awi-pilpilit 'awi

man (te-wiwi, young man)girlboy (me-lu, old man)

navel-string (" baby-live")

husband (meli, make a fire)son-in-law (anial-i, live)

black (dal-, prefix of all color adjectives)a black object, charred wood

worthlessdislike, hate

heartnoise, soundheart-beatit is beating

sun, moon, monthto-daynoondays (when preceded by a numeral)

nightnights (when preceded by a numeral)

before dayafternoon, before eveningevening

five-cent piece, said to mean small and thick

blueironknife

Composition or derivation with grammatical function havebeen noted wherever possible, and it has become certain that suchcomposition is richly developed. The following list comprises theascertained prefixes and suffixes of a grammatical or morpholog-ical nature.

VOI.. 4] 259


LIST OF GRAMMATICAL AFFIXES.

Pronominal prefixes:

1-, di- first person, subject of verb or possessivewith noun

m-, um- second person, subject of verb or possessivewith noun

mi- subject of first person with object of secondla- subject of third person with object of firstma- subject of third person with object of sec-

ondle-um- subject of second person with object of firstke- second person imperativeka- second person imperative with object of

third personde-, da- possessive of third persongi-, ge-, ga- emphatic or reflexive of third persongum-ci denotes "a person and his." Compare the

reflexive and dual suffixes.

Suffixes of pronominal stems:

-ci dual (on the numeral for two this suffix de-notes that persons are referred to)

-ei inclusive of first person (first and secondpersons)

-u plural (on numerals above three this suffixdenotes that persons are referred to)

-di formative of demonstratives from demon-strative adverbial stems

-k emphatic-kum reflexive object. (Perhaps a prefix of verbs

and nouns.)-a a frequent suffix of interrogatives

Local and instrumental case-suffixes of nouns:-a

-adi-aca

-digu-aci

adessive, terminative, inessive, general loca-tive

inessiveinessiveinessiveablative

260


-uwe ablative-awic terminative-iwi superessive-elmu subessive-dulil juxtapositive-leleu approxiimative-haka comitative-lu instrumental

Noun and verb suffixes denoting number or distribution:-kic distributive or collective on nouns and verbs-da distributive on verbs

Instrumental prefixes of verbs:dum- with the end of a long objectuga-, yugi- with a long objectde- with the hand ( ?)liwi- with the footnii- with the headle- with the teeth, by rubbingbilu- (k)- by turning ('?)u-

ugal-be--lup- instrumentality

Verbal suffixes relating to motion:-uk, -buk-ue, -bue

-giti-giliwe-c

-a-hat-am, -awam-us

-wa-aya-u

toward the speakerfrom the speaker (cf. ablative of nouns,

-uwe)up

downmotionthroughto?up?

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Modal-temporal suffixes of verbs:

-ye imperative-ce optative-es negative-i present-a aorist, narrative past-ic present participle-ac past participle-leki recent preterite, completed-aiki more distant preterite, completed-gul-aiki distant preterite, completed-alamaik indefinite perfect-hi future-aca future-desiderative-iki, -icki future-potential-gana inchoative-ue inchoative? (cf. suffix of motion from)-uc frequentative, usitative (cf. suffix of motion

toward)-du-we, du-we-we,

-du-hai conative-hai, -ihai-idufn dubitative

It will be seen, first of all, that the affixes in this list includeboth prefixes and suffixes. In this respect Washo differs radicallyfrom several Californian languages, such as Yokuts and Yuki,and probably Costanoan and Esselen, which employ only suffixes.Among the more distinctly grammatical affixes the pronominalprefixes, both those indicating a single person and those indi-cating the relation of two persons to one another as subject andobject, are conspicuous. In the fact that the pronominal elementswhen joined to other stems appear only as prefixes, Washo agreeswith probably the majority of North American languages, therebeing evidently some tendency on this continent, broadly speak-ing, for the pronominal elements, and besides these but fewclasses of affixed elements, to be prefixes rather than suffixes.Among Californian languages, in Yokuts and Yuki the pronouns

262


are neither prefixed nor suffixed, but are always independentwords; in Costanoan this is also virtually the case, although thepronouns are quite regularly preposed.

As distinguished from the prefixes consisting of pronominalstems, there are in Washo a number of suffixes added to pronounsto indicate number and other grammatical ideas. The Washonoun is subject to a large series of suffixes indicating local andinstrumental relations, but to no others. There are no affixesdenoting purely logical or grammatical cases and practically noneof number. Affixes to the verb, other than the pronominal ele-ments, comprise both prefixes and suffixes and fall quite distinctlyinto three classes: first, instrumental prefixes; second, suffixes ofmotion or direction; and third, the various modal and temporalsuffixes analogous to those found in most languages. All threeclasses are numerously developed in Washo. Instrumental pre-fixes occur in other American linguistic families, such as Siouan.1In California they are also found. They occur in Pomo, andDr. Dixon has found similar affixes in Maidu, which, it will beremembered, is territorially adjacent to Washo. Yokuts andYuki are known to lack such instrumental prefixes, and the sameis probable of a number of other Californian languages, besidesShoshonean. The Washo suffixes of motion sometimes occur inpairs, such as those denoting motion respectively toward andfrom the speaker. The exact meaning of a number remains to bedetermined. Suffixes of motion precede in their position on theverb those of the third class, the modal and temporal suffixes.

1 Athabascan (P. E. Goddard, Morphology of the Hupa Language, presentseries, Vol. III) possesses verb-prefixes denoting objects or substances, suchas mouth, fire, water, but uses them neither instrumentally nor objectively,but only with reference to motion or position: ya-, air; ye- house, basket,hollow object; no-, end; sa-, mouth; ded-, fire; te-, water. Sa- cannot beused in such compounds as "to bite with the mouth" or " to hurt themouth," but only in words like "to put into the mouth," "to shoot themouth," where motion (or position) is described by the prefix. TheseAthabascan prefixes are very similar to the corresponding prefixes of Washoand Siouan, with apparently the one difference that they can be used onlyinstrumentally in the latter languages, and only adverbially, with referenceto motion or position, in Athabascan.

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PRONOUN.

As in many if not most American languages, the part playedin Washo by the pronouns themselves, that is the independentpronominal words, is slight, being largely made up for by the all-important pronominal affixes. These affixes and the independentwords are generally more or less similar, so that the affixes maybe regarded as abbreviations of originally independent stems, orthese words as expansions of originally synthetically used word-fragments. In the objective verb, where two persons are in ques-tion, there are forms appearing to be combinations of two simplepronominal elements, but there are also forms which are not thusderivable. While, owing to the absence of complications on ac-count of number, these bi-personal transitive pronominal affix-forms are not very numerous or formidable, still, because therelation or similarity to the independent pronouns fails in thecase of certain of these double forms, Washo must be reckonedwith the pronominally incorporating languages, or those in whichthe pronominal verb affixes are so closely amalgamated with theverb stem or other component parts of the verb as not to be iden-tical with the independent unaffixed pronominal stems of thesame meaning.

The pronominal affixes of the noun and of the intransitiveverb, in the one case possessive, in the other subjective, are iden-tical and their use is exactly analogous. This is a common phe-nomenon in American languages and it does not seem necessaryto derive from it the conclusion, as has often been done, that theverbal-pronominal relation is in fact a possessive one and that theform which is the equivalent of I run means really my running.Such explanations originate from conceptions based on our ownEuropean languages, for which, if such phenomena occurred inthem, the explanations would perhaps be justifiable. In the Indo-European languages the pronouns are whole words independentof any others in the sentence, and the possessive pronouns arepossessive case-forms of these stems, even though the phoneticform and origin of these case-forms may be different from thecorresponding possessive case-forms of nouns. If therefore a

264


possessive pronoun in an Indo-European language were foundused as the subject of a verb, the explanation could perhaps notwell be other than the one in question. In American languages,however, especially those showing a considerable development ofpronominal incorporation in noun and verb, conditions are quitedifferent. Pronouns are represented in these languages not byindependent stems but by synthetic particles. Far from the pos-sessive particle used with nouns being a possessive case formationof the pronominal stem, there often, as in Washo, is absolutelyno case-expression of the possessive relation in the language, theonly means of indicating this category being in fact through theuse of the pronominal element itself. Such being the circum-stances, there is therefore first of all no real possibility of thiselement being actually possessive in form, analogously to thepossessive pronouns of Indo-European languages; and secondly,there is no reason why it should be considered so. With the pos-sessive my lacking in the language, I house, if the context or theform of the word shows house to be a noun, can only mean whatin English we call my house. There is therefore theoreticallynothing lost by the employment in these languages of the samepronominal element in the verb and noun in such ideas as I liveand my house; and this being the case, it is not surprising thatonly one form does occur. But to regard this undifferentiatedform as actually subjective, and its use with possessive functionin the noun as a crudity of the language, or as actually possessiveand its use in the verb an indication of a material conception ofverbal action as being a possessive relation, is without warrant.It can not be affirmed that Washo says either I house or my live;it uses an undifferentiated affix, which in itself is neither posses-sive nor subjective, but which has possessive force in the nounand subjective force in the verb.

An explanation similar to the one here discussed has beenapplied to a phenomenon occurring in a number of Americanlanguages, though not in Washo, namely, the similarity of thepronominal elements expressing the subject of an intransitiveverb and the object of a transitive verb. The explanation forthis circumstance has been that the intransitive, especially in thecase of verbs of mental action or experience, is really an imper-

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sonal transitive verb with the person in question as its object, sothat when the language says "me thinks " it really says "it thinksto me." But here again the incorporating American languagediffers from Indo-European in that its pronominal forms are in-herently not words but only fragments of words, which need nocase suffixes, or if they had them would lose them in composition;and second, in that there are no forms whatever to express thelogical case relations, whereas in Indo-European the pronoun,appearing as an independent word, is like the noun unable everto escape the stamp of case. In Indo-European I and my and memust always be differentiated; even if their forms become homon-ymous, the three are kept clearly apart in the consciousness of thelanguage. In the American languages in question, the three ideasof 1, my, and me are not thus inevitably differentiated, and thereis no a priori reason why they should be. If there is anything toshow that a certain pronominal element is the object of the verbwhich it accompanies, there is nothing lost in efficiency of expres-sion if this objective element is identical in form with the elementwhich is the subject of verbs or the logical possessor of a noun.There is thus no necessary reason whatever for the differentiationof the forms expressing these three categories, except in thecase where two pronominal forms occur directly in combination,namely, in the subjective and objective relations of the transitiveverb. This double relation, if position and other means of gram-matical expression fail, practically enforces at least one differen-tiation in the pronominal forms. But given this one differentia-tion, with its resultant two forms for each person, there is notheoretical reason why either of these two forms should not beused for any combination of two or three of the four categories:-possessive, intransitive subject, transitive subject, and object,-except of course the last two. As long as usage has once definitelyestablished in a language, from whatever cause, that the objectand the intransitive subject are alike in form, and the transitivesubject and possessive also alike, the expression of ideas is as clearas under any other arrangement. If this distribution of the twoor more differentiated pronominal forms among the four cate-gories of meaning expressed by pronouns, were the only one foundin all languages, there might be some reason for believing that the

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VOL.4] Kroeber.-The Washo Language. 267

transitive subject was really a possessive and the intransitive sub-ject really an object, and that instead of I see him and he looks,languages said my seeing him and it looks to him. But the factthat there are languages in which other combinations of the fourcategories are expressed by single forms, shows such an explana-tion to be untenable. When, for instance, the objective pronom-inal element is identical with the possessive' instead of the in-transitive subjective,2 when the intransitive subject is in onelanguage identical with the transitive subject," in another withthe possessive,4 in another with the objective,2 no reasoning of thekind can be sustained. The fundamental error in such explana-tions is that they apply ideas derived from the independent pro-nominal words, necessarily marked for case, in Indo-European,to the essentially synthetic pronominal elements, which are bothundifferentiated and undifferentiable for case, in many incor-porating American languages. It is undoubtedly true that whenin one language the objective element is identical in form withthe subjective and in another with the possessive, these circum-stances are not meaningless and fortuitous; and a knowledge ofthe causes of the phenomenon in each language, and of the dif-ference between them, if it can be obtained, is of the highestinterest and value. But such inquiries must be made on the basisof the specific internal evidence furnished by each language andnot by the mere direct application of principles derived from theknowledge of more familiar languages; principles which may be,and in certain cases unquestionably are, inapplicable to Americanlanguages.

INDEPENDENT PERSONAL PRONOUNS.

The Washo pronoun shows three numbers, singular, dual, andplural. The stems, contrary to what occurs in many Americanlanguages, remain the same for each person throughout all num-bers, being modified only by affixes. As is frequently the case inAmerican languages, there is no independent form for the thirdperson. In the pronominal affix-elements forms occur not only

1 At least similar in Creek.2Haida, Tlingit.a Nahuatl, Otomi, Heiltsuk.'Chumash, Costanoan.

University of Californuia Publications. [AM. ARCH. ETH.

for a reflexive but for a direct third person; but even then thethird person is often indicated by the omission of any affix, notby any positive element. The stem of the first person seems to be1-, of the second person m-. In the independent forms of the pro-noun these appear as le and mi. In the affixed forms the firstperson is represented either by 1- or di-, the second person by m-or um-, according to phonetic circumstances; the third personeither not at all or by da-, and the reflexive by gi-. When twopronouns are brought together in the verb in the transitive ob-jective conjugation, these same forms are in some cases merelyplaced together, whereas in other instances there are forms whichcannot be derived from any simple combination of the singleforms. The dual in the independent pronoun is indicated by thesuffix -cj, the plural by -u, In t-he first person, at least in the dual,the inclusive is distinguished from the exclusive by the additionof another wci. It is curious that the same suffix should thus beuwd, even to duplication in the same word, to express ideas ap-parently as distinct logically as duality and the inclusion of thesecond person with the first. It would seem from this case, asfrom others, sueh as Dakota, that there exists a tendency in lan-guage, or at least in American languages, to connect, or to fail todistinguish between, the two eategories of duality in the pronounand of the difference between inclusion and exclusion of theseeond person.

The independent personal pronouns accordingly are the fol.lowing:

Singular Dual PluralExclusive Inclusive

1. 1A leci lMcici leu2. mi mici miuThese independent personal pronouns receive the locative case

suffixes or appositions exactly like nouns. Thus: le-wi, I-on,on me.

As has been stated, the syntactical functions of the pronounare expressed normally through the synthetically used affix-forms,so that the independent pronouns occur chiefly with an emphaticforce. This being so, it is not surprising that these independentforms seem to be used alike subjectively, objectively, and posses-

268


sively. They must be regarded as standing outside the essentialstructure of the sentence except in so far as they are connectedwith it by being in apposition to the pronominal elements com-bined with the noun or verb.

The pronouns are made especially emphatic by the additionof the suffix -k.

mi-k m-iidi, you yourself told it.le-k l-eed-ac, I am the one who said it.

The essentially reflexive stem gi is frequently used with thissuffix.

gi-k iidi, he said.Even the demonstrative stems appear with this emphatic

suffix -k.le-yuli-duhai ha-k l-eedi-c-da, they want to kill me because

I said that.DEMONSTRATIVES.

The demonstratives show three stems, which are more or lesscoordinated with the three persons. The simplest forms of thesestems occur in the demonstrative adverbs. The substantival oradjectival demonstrative pronouns are built up from these ad-verbs by the addition of the suffix -di. There is no distinction inform for substantival or adjectival use: whether it is said "thisone goes" or "'this man goes, "this" is identical.

here, near me wa this, near me widithere, near you ha that, near you hadithere, distant di that, distant didi

INTERROGATIVES.

The interrogative pronouns go back to two stems, a commonerku- and a less frequent hu-. Most forms end in -a. The interro-gative particle hec, an independent word, is regularly used withall interrogative pronouns. It would seem from this that theinterrogatives without the interrogative particle may be indefinitein meaning.

who kudiii-awhat kufiate hutaii-awhere kuii-awhy huinahow many kuteciuiia

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Hunfa and kuteciu-na are the only ones of these forms thathave not sometimes been found without final -a, though all usuallyhave it.

NOUN.

There are three principal subjects to be considered in connec-tion with the Washo noun. First, while there is no trace of anysyntactical cases, there is a vigorous development of locative casesand other suffixes of more or less material as opposed to formalmeaning. Second, while a pure plural seems to be wanting, thereis some development of categories related to the plural. Third, isthe combination of the noun with the pronominal elements.

CASE-SUFFIXES.

As in so many American languages, syntactical cases arewanting in Washo, the subjective, objective, and possessive beingidentical in form. The language being an incorporating one, thatis, one in which the relations of subject and object are indicatedin the verb and the possessive relation is expressed by pronominalaffixion to the noun, this lack of formal cases is not so much felt.What would in other languages be the possessive case relation isexpressed by juxtaposition of the two nouns standing in this re-lation, the possessor showing the form indicative of the thirdperson possessive, -which, it must be remembered, is expressednot by an affix but by the absence of affixes from the stem.

The locative and 'instrumental case suffixes, postpositions, orappositions, as some would prefer to call them, are numerous, andthe following list probably does not exhaust their number. Thereis no doubt that as they are used on the noun they are actuallysuffixes and not independent postposed particles equivalent intheir employment to our prepositions. Nevertheless their unionwith the word to which they refer is not very close, as appearsfrom the fact that in the case of pronominal words a syntacticalsuffix or particle is sometimes interposed between the stem andthe "case suffix." Thus, in huniate hec lu, what with ?, the in-tervening hec is the independent interrogative particle. On the

270


other hand forms like laca, for le-aca, a're evidence of closer unionbetween stem and suffix.

-a in, to-aci from-awicl to, toward-uwe' from-adil in, within-digul in, within-aca in, within-dulill next to-leleul near, close to-iwi on

-elmu under-haka in company with-lu with, by means of, within a period of time

PLURAL.

There does not seem to be a plural in Washo which corre-sponds to that of English. Questions in sentences so framed asto bring out the plural, usually resulted in words showing one oftwo forms, the first with final reduplication, the second with thesuffix -kic. The fact that neither of these forms was used withnumeral adjectives, and that both were wanting in other caseswhere there was little doubt that the noun had a plural meaning,makes it almost certain that there is no true plural in the lan-guage. What the two forms used actually designate, is not clear.The reduplication naturally leads to the surmise of a collectiveor distributive. The suffix -kic when appended to parts of thebody seems to designate loose or acquired parts as distinguishedfrom parts of the body in their normal position in the living indi-vidual. Most nouns seem to be used with only one or the other ofthe two forms. This applies both to names of animals and inani-mate objects. Nouns denoting persons seem always to be redu-plicated instead of having the -kic form. The word moko, knee,has been found in both forms, moko-ko and moko-kic, the lattersaid to mean separate knees scattered about, or a pile of knees.

1Found once.

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University of California Pu,blications. [AM. ARCH. ETH.

Nouns found with final reduplication:dim-layaLa-ya my wivesdik-milut-lu my friendstamomoo-mo womenme 'li-lu old menme 'hu-hu boyswacii-ciu Washoes (wa'-ciu)palee-leu Paiutes, Paviotsos (paleu)tabob'oo'o whites (taboo = tabo'o?)di-gucu-cu my dogsgusu-su buffalomemdewi-wi deerhaiiakmuwe-we elkk 'ewe-we coyotesmalosa-sa-ni starsmeskitse-tsa-t arrows (meskitset)baloxa-xa-t bows (baloxat)tawii-wi knivesmokoo-ko knees

teli-li-w 'hu men (teliw 'hu)cau-au-lamhu girls (caulamhu)nauni-au-n-aii babies (iiauihii)dan--an--al houses (dafial)metuntucu old women (nentucu)

Nouns found with the suffix -kic:aiyas-kictuliici-kicpeleu-kictsali-kicmogop-kictubupiwi-kichZola-kicbasat-kicbiwi-kicdelem-kicpatalnii-kic

antelopeswolvesjackrabbitscottontail-rabbitsfoxesskunksbadgersground-squirrelstree-squirrelsgopherseagles

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Kroeber.- The Washo Language.

kagi-kic crowstek-kic stonesmayop-kic feetlayuc-kie hairsdalifn-kic arms (separated from the

body)moko-kic knees (detached)

The final reduplication is quite regular when the last syllableof the unreduplicated noun consists of a consonant followed bya vowel. When the last syllable ends in a consonant this occurs ina reduplicated form on the second of the pair of syllables, but noton the first. It can therefore be said that in words ending in aconsonant this final consonant is lost before the syllable added bythe reduplication. Certain words show reduplication of a syllablewithin the word or are somewhat irregular.

That the suffix -kic does not occur with any meaning akin tothat of a plural on nouns denoting persons, may show that thissuffix is not the exact equivalent of final reduplication. That onterms denoting parts of the body this suffix signifies, as has beenstated, that they are detached or acquired, does not seem to be dueto any inherent or primary significance of the element, but ratherto its collective or distributive denotation which is not ordinarilyapplicable to parts of the body in their living function or position.A suffix -kic occurs also on verbs with an unquestionably collec-tive or distributive meaning, though whether collective or distri-butive could not be determined on account of lack of connectedtextual material.

dik-milu-lu l-ayuc yok'am-kic-i, my-friends mny-hair pulled-out.

dik-milu-lu lek '-ek '-e-n l-ayuc yok 'am-i, my-friends one-eachmy-hair pulled-out.

dik-milu-lu pakarec 1-ecl-i, my-friends a-head-of-beef I-give.dik-milu-lu pakarec l-ecli-kic-i, each-of-my-friends a-head-of-

beef I-give.ieda mile d-anial dibikefi mlpul-kic-a, then all the-houses bones

were-full-of.dekk'cu-kic-as, many coming.

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4University of California Publications. [AM. ARCH. ETH.

POSSESSIVE PRONOMINAL AFFIXES.

The union of the possessive pronominal elements with thenoun discloses some of the most characteristic features of theWasho language. To begin with, the topic can be simplified byeliminating the dual and plural from consideration. As thereare no special pronominal forms for these numbers, the dualand plural of the possessive pronouns are expressed in two ways:either by placing before the noun, but as a separate word, the in-dependent form of the pronoun in the number required; or bysuffixing to the noun to which the pronominal element is prefixed-ci or -hu, the suffixes of duality and plurality otherwise added tothe independent pronouns. The latter method has been foundonly in the first person. The former, that of indicating the num-ber by the apposition of an independent pronoun in the dual orplural, has been found in both the first and second persons. Theplurality of the noun as distinguished from that of its modifyingpronominal element, that is to say the presence or absence of itsfinal reduplication or the suffix -kic, does not affect the prefixedpronominal elements and may also be disregarded in the presentconnection.

I-an'al my houseleci I-an-al our (d.) housem-anal thy housemiu m a-nal your housedi-tawi my knifeleci di-tawi our (d.) knifeleu di-tawi our knifeleu di-tawiwi our knivesdi-ha-na my mouthdi-ha-na-ci our two mouthsdi-ha-na-hu our mouthsl-adu my handl-adu-hu our handsmiu m-adu your hands

In their relation with the possessive pronominal elements,which are always prefixed, the nouns are divisible into two great

274


classes, those beginning with a vowel and those beginning with aconsonant. Those with initial vowel indicate the first person by1- and the second by m-. Those with initial consonant indicatethe first person by di- and the second person by um-. A differ-ence of greater importance between the two classes than this dif-ference of the prefix forms for the first and second persons, is thefact that initially vocalic words in the absolute form, that is tosay when unaccompanied by any pronominal element, show aprefix or initial element d-, whereas words beginning with a con-sonant lack this d-. If it were not that the presence of this d- inthe absolute form of the noun is conditioned so rigorously by thephonetic form of the beginning of the word, it would be difficultto avoid the conclusion that this d- had some important structuralfunction. The two initially vocalic and consonantal classes ofnouns differ also in the expression of the third person. Nounsbeginning in a vowel express pronominal possession of the thirdperson by the absence of any prefix, so that the initial d- of theabsolute form of the word,-which, as the language is firstlearned, gives the erroneous impression of being the stem form,-is lost. D-aadu is hand, aadu his hand. The second or initiallyconsonantal class of nouns, which lack the initial d- in the abso-lute form of the noun, usually but not always show a pronominalprefix in the third person. This prefix is da- or de-. Certainnouns of this initially consonantal class, however, resemble thoseof the initially vocalic class in lacking every pronominal prefix inthe third person. These nouns include not only words like dog,which differ in the absolute (suku) from the pronominal (gucu)form, but nouns like tawi, knife, and mayop, foot, which accord-ingly are alike in the absolute form and with the possessive of thethird person.

The following therefore are the two classes of formations.

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I. Initially Vocaic.Absolute Form My Thyof wordd-afial l-afial m-afiald-6mlu l-Wmlu m-emlud-ayuc l-ayuc m-ayucd-lyek l-eyek m-lyekd-ahil I-ahil m-ahild-lbu l-bu m-lbud-adu l-adu m-Adud-aliii I-aliid-emli l-emlid-aca 1-aca

l-ayuk m-ayukd-ihep l-ehep

II. Initially Consonantal.DogKnifeNose

Foot

sukutawicuyep

mayop

Knee mokoEye wigiFinger tulitsekBelly tsigfigucSonDaughterFatherMotherSister-in-lawPaternal grandfatherMan's son 's childMaternal grandfatherMan's daughter's childElder sisterElder brotherPaternal grandmotherWoman's son's childFather's brotherWife um-layaFriendTongue madutArrow meskitsatMouth hafiaThigh yowiRib m'emeuYounger brotherYounger sisterDreamMedicine muts 'uk

di-guieudi-tawidi-cuyep

um-gucuum-tawium-cuyep

di-mayop

di-mbkodi-wigidi-tulitsekdi-tsiguigucdi-niam um-fiamdi-fiama um-fnamudi-k 'oi um-k'oidi-la um-ladi-yanll um-yafiildi }bpa um-bapala-Idi- } elel-ile-di-isa

di-at 'u um-At 'udi- } ama um-ama

di-eucidi-m-laya mi-m-layadik-milu u '-miladik-madutdi-meskitsatdi-hafiadi-yowidi-m6meudi-beyudi-wits 'ukdi-hamukuyiukdi-muts 'uk u '-muts 'uk

From the fact that the great majority of nouns obtained withinitial d- in the absolute form designate parts of the body, it mightat first sight seem that this element was an indefinite pronominal

MeaningHouseFoodHairToothLegNeckHandArmHeartUrineFather-in-lawHead

Hisanal

ayuclyek

a-du

ayukihep

gucutAiwicuyep,

de-cuyepmayop,

da-niayopda-mbkode-wigide-tulitsekde-tseg&gue

da-niamuda-k 'oida-la

da-bA'pada-bapa'

da-isa

da-amade-eucida-m-laya

276


prefix analogous to affixes found in certain other American lan-guages with the meaning "someone's." That this is however notthe case appears both from the fact that words like d-ainal, house,show this initial element, and that many nouns denoting parts ofthe body, like madut, tongue, and hafna, mouth, do not take ini-tial d-.

It is possible that the initial d- is at least in origin an affixmaking nouns of verbs. There is evidence for this in words suchas d-afnal, house, d-6mlu, eat, and d-ime, water, whose stems, lack-ing the d-, are -used as verbs with the meanings respectively oflive, eat, and drink. It is true, however, that the more consider-able number of nouns denoting parts of the body which begin inthe absolute form with d- are not thus analyzable, at least in thepresent stage of knowledge of the language. On the other handthe explanation of d- as a noun-agent prefix is strengthened bythe occurrence of several forms similar to d- and with similarforce.'

tam-atki murderer (atki, kill)da-y-atki the murdered one (his murdered one?)de-yulii a dead one (yfili, die)deuh-yuilii ghost, skeletondeu-beyu chieft-4ye good walker (iye, walk)det-milei runner (muc, run)dem-giti-i biter (git-i, bite)

It is to be noted that a few words beginning with m show theprefix of the first person in the form dik- instead of di-. Thereason for this anomaly is not clear. That the k is not part of thestem is seen in their absolute form, as madut, tongue, dik-madut,my tongue.

Terms of relationship furnish the only exception to the rulethat all nouns of the first class begin with a vowel and all of thesecond with a consonant. -isa, older sister, -at'u, older brother,-ama, paternal grandmother, -euci, father's brother, and -elel-i,

1 Salinan shows a complicated and little-understood combination of theprefixed possessive pronoun with the noun, accompanied by a frequent t.-prefix of unknown value, which present at least some external similarities tothe conditions in Washo. Present series, II, 46.

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maternal grandfather, all belong to the second class in taking thepossessive prefixes di-, -um, and da-. As terms of relationship arenot used without possessive prefixes, there is no opportunity ofknowing whether or not these words would in their absolute formalso belong to the second class and lack initial d-: whether forinstance "older sister" per se would be d-isa or isa. On the otherhand two terms of relationship, -ayuk, father-in-law, and -eyec,daughter-in-law, have been found to belong to the first class, towhich one would expect their initial vowels to refer them if theywere not terms of relationship, and form possessives respectivelyby 1-, m-, and -, like other initially vocalic nouns.A curious phenomenon is displayed by certain terms of rela-

tionship which denote two persons standing in reciprocal rela-tionship to one another, such as paternal grandfather and a man'ssona's child. These are both expressed by one stem, for instance-bapa. When the older of these two reciprocal relatives is meant,the possessive of the first person is expressed by di-. When theyounger is meant, the prefix of the same person is la-, recallingthe 1- prefix of the first or initially vocalic class of nouns. Thus,di-bapa, my paternal grandfather, and la-bapa, my son's child.In the second person no such distinction was observed. In thethird person, according to the informant, there is a difference,perhaps of accent or length of vowel; but the same prefix da- isused for both significations.

The reflexive possessive of the third person, or the possessivereferring to the subject of the sentence, is not expressed by da-or by lack of a prefix, but by the prefix gik-. Thus: da-isa, his,another's, older sister; gik-isa, his own older sister; gik-beyu-haka anial-i-a, her-own-younger-brother-with she-lived; gi gik-namin ugaiami, his-own-child he strikes; da-nfamin ugaiami, her-child he-strikes; gik-isa-y-es ipu-a, not-his-own-elder-sister he-found; tabo de-isa-haka g-ipu-a, a-white-man his- (the white-man 's) -elder-sister-with he- (another person) -found.A double affix consisting of the prefix gum- and the suffix -ci

denotes "so and so and his," as in phrases like "he and hisbrother." Gum- is probably the reflexive gum or kum.

John gum-beyu-ci paleu ipu-a, John and his brother found aPaiute.

278

oKroeber.-The Washo Language.

VERB.

Nearly everything that can be said about the Washo verb iscomprised under the head of affixes. These fall of themselves intofour well-marked classes, differing both in use and in meaning.First are the pronominal elements, which are always prefixed,and for which there are transitive-objective as well as intransitiveforms. Second, also prefixed, but of etymological as well as syn-tactical function, is a class of prefixes expressing instrumentalityor explicitly limiting the nature of the dynamic action of theverb. Third, perhaps somewhat less etymological than the last,but still scarcely purely grammatical, is a class of suffixes denot-ing motion. Fourth and last is a large group of suffixes denotingtense, mode, and a numerous category of related ideas. With thediscussion of these four classes of prefixes and suffixes the exami-nation of the verb is practically exhausted. *The stem does notseem to undergo any essential changes. Reduplication is unim-portant. A distributive or collective is occasionally indicated bythe suffix -kic, which is used for the same purpose in the noun.The plural is not expressed, except for the fact that in the caseof certain verbal ideas different stems occur for the singular andplural. There is no incorporation of the noun into the verb.

I. PRONOMINAL INCORPORATION.

Pronominal incorporation in the verb must be declared toexist, since not only are the pronominal elements fully joinedinto one word with the verb stem, but they are simpler than theindependent pronominal forms- and sometimes differ from them.As in the case of possessive incorporation in the noun, the processof incorporation, in many American languages so intricate, isconsiderably simplified in Washo by the absence of any indicationof number, the singular, dual, and plural being identical.

The intransitive and transitive-objective pronominal incorpor-ations in the verb must be considered separately.

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Intransitive.

The intransitive conjugation is exactly parallel to the incor-poration of the possessive elements in the noun. There are thesame two classes of stems, those beginning with vowels and thosebeginning with consonants; and the same prefixes, respectively 1-and m- in the first class, and di- and um- in the second, denote thefirst and second persons, with absence of any prefix for the thirdperson. This parallelism between the noun with a possessive pro-nominal element, and the intransitive verb with a subjective pro-nominal element, becomes especially interesting in those cases inwhich the same stem is used for nouns and verbs of kindred mean-ing. Thus the stem anial means both to live and house, dwell ordwelling. The prefixes used being the same, my house and I liveare identical except for the fact that as a verb the stem is not usedwithout a modal-temporal suffix. L-ainal is my house and l-afial-iI live. Exactly the same relation exists in the ease of the stememlu, food or eat, and ime, water or drink.

The initial d- which forms the absolute or non-possessed formof many nouns, and which appears to indicate the object, instru-ment, or agent of the verbal action expressed by the stem, bears aclose relation to the pronominal prefixes, not through any simi-larity in the nature of its meaning, but on account of being afunctional equivalent. Not only is it prefixed exactly like thepronominal elements, but it is alternative with them, being lostwhen a possessive prefix is used and universally reappearing oncertain stems whenever the possessive or subjective prefix is lack-ing. This d- prefix has been discussed in connection with thenoun and its pronominal elements. It need only be said againhere that several similar prefixes, such as t', dam-, and det-, hav-ing agentive force and probably related to d- in origin and mean-ing, have been found. D- seems more frequently to denote theobject of action, that which is eaten, drunk, inhabited; t', dam-,and det- appear to refer to an agent.

D-emlu is food, t emlu, eater; t'lye, walker; d-a-nal, house;d-ime, water; d-aea, urine; det-miic-i, runner; dem-glt-i, biter;tam-atki, murderer, killer.

280


Mean,ing Stem I Thou He

Eat emlu 1-bmlu-yiWalk iye 1-eye-i m-iye-i (gi-)iye-iLive anlal I-afial-ii m-afial-ii anlal-iiCome ibi 1-6bi- ibi-iDrink ime I-eme-i ime-iUrinate aca 1-aea-i

Run muic dik-muic-i u '-muie-i (gik-)muic-iHungry bica 'pu di-bica 'pu-i um-biea pu-i bica 'pu-iDream gumsuia di-gumshie-Chew di-bemfikul-i um-bemuikul-i bemulkul-i

Transitive.

In the transitive conjugation, or the incorporation of bothsubject and object, the bases of the pronominal elements are vis-ible. Nevertheless these transitive pronominal forms are in mostcases not simply composites of the subjective and objective pro-nouns, but inseparable monosyllables. The only exception is thecombination of the subject of the second person and object ofthe first person, where the form is le-um, consisting of the inde-pendent pronoun le, I, me, and the pronominal prefix um- denot-ing the subject or possessive of the second person. This formoccurs also as lem. It is doubtful whether it is actually prefixed,that is, joined to the verb stem, or whether it is only preposed.

The remaining transitive pronominal elements are unques-tionably prefixes. An Pm- occurs wherever the second person isrepresented either as subject or object. When it is the subject,this -m- forms the last part of the prefix; when it is the object, itis at the beginning of the prefix. This would show that in theformation of these prefixes the subject stood nearer the stem, theobject farther from it; in other words, that the objective pronom-inal element was prefixed to the subjective prefix.

In the transitive first person the 1- or d- characteristic of itsintransitive and possessive forms always appears, except in thecombination of the first person as subject with an object of thesecond person, where the form is simply mi-, the phonetic signof the second person having evidently predominated over that ofthe first to the exclusion of the latter.

In the third person matters are somewhat different. It willbe remembered that the third person has no indication in the

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intransitive verb, and that in the possessive noun it is representedby a prefix da- occurring only in certain cases. In the transitiveconjugation, when the object is of the third person, it seems notto be expressed. The transitive form of the third person ob-jective with a subject of the first person is di-, and with a subjectof the second person um-, the same as for initially consonantalintransitive verbs. When however the subject is of the thirdperson and the object of the first or second, an -a- appears as thesign of the third person. This, combined with the elements 1- andm- characteristic of the first and second persons, forms the pre-fixes la-, he me, and ma-, he you. This -a- characterizing the sub-jective transitive third person does not occur as a separate prefix,much less as a separate word; but it is probably more than acoincidence, though possibly only the influence of analogy mayhave been operative, that the possessive prefix of the third personfound before initially consonantal nouns, da-, also contains -a-.It must of course not be supposed that the analysis which hasjust been made of the prefixes 1-a- and m-a- necessarily representstheir actual origin and development, although the order of thetwo elements in the prefix, object before subject, is the same asin the other transitive prefixes. When both subject and objectare of the third person, there is no pronominal indication or in-corporation, as is the case also in the intransitive verb of the thirdperson, and in the possessive noun when this is initially vocalic.

me thee him IntransitiveI mi- di- 1-, di-thou leum um- m-, um-he la- ma-

Examples:mi-yatki I kill youmi-galami I like youmi-ugatsap- I kick youmi-dam- I strike youdi-yatki I kill himdi-galatmi I like himdi-ugatsap- I kick himdi-dam- I strike him

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lem-yat 'kleum-galamileum-gitilem-dam-lem-i-ugatsap-

um-yatkium-galamium-gitimi-ugatsap

la-galamila-ugatsap-la-dam

ma-galami

yatkigitidam-

you kill meyou like meyou bite meyou strike meyou kick me

you kill himyou like himyou bite himyou kick him

he likes mehe kicks mehe strikes me

he likes you

he kills himhe bites himhe strikes him

There are certain phonetic modifications in the transitive verb.Before stems commencing with i, di-, I him, is not used, beingreplaced by 1-, after which the initial i of the stem is changed to e.This is analogous to the process occurring in intransitive i-verbsin the first person, such as ime, l-eme-, ibi, l-ebi-, iye, l-eye-. Be-fore transitive verbs beginning with i the prefix la-, he me, is alsochanged to 1-, and um-, you him, seems to become simply m-.Occasionally other verbs beginning either with consonants orvowels undergo similar changes. Le- and me- are common for la-and ma-, just as the possessive prefix of the third person da- isoften de-.

mi-l-ecl-iI-ecl-i1-icl-imi-l-lkil'ekiIe'm-ikil"ekim-lkilekiikilekil-Ikilekil-Ikileki

I give youI givehe gives meI saw youyou,saw meyou saw himhe saw himI saw himhe saw me

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The i- in the last two words is said to differ in quality.le-gitime-gitile-duknufc-ime-dukniuc-ile-yuli-me-yuli

he bites mehe bites youhe dislikes mehe dislikes youthey kill usthey kill ye

As has been stated, number of the subject or object is notindicated in the verb, at least not in connection with the pro-nouns. The verb forms I run and we run are alike; but to indi-cate the latter form the dual or plural independent pronoun isused in the sentence. The dual or plural forms of the pronounare thus used in apposition, as it were, to the numerically inde-terminate pronominal elements incorporated in the verb. Incertain cases, however, especially if the subject is of the thirdperson and the object of the first or second, or when both subjectand object are dual or plural, the incorporation seems to bedropped entirely and the independent pronouns alone to be used.

teliwhu di-yat 'k iweyesitabiboo di-galamitabiboo la-galamidimlayaya la-damidimlayaya di-damhimiu mi-galAmilecici cacuduwamiu leci di-cacuduwiesiJohn miu gitileki

men I-kill constantlythe-whites I-likethe-whites me-likemy-wives hit-memy-wives I-shall-hitye I-likeus-two they-fearye we-two do-not-fearJohn ye bit

Reflexive.

The reflexive is not indicated by incorporation. It is formeaby a suffix -kum, which is combined with the pronominal elementsdi-, mi-, and gi- respectively for the first, second, and thirdpersons. The resulting forms, dikum, mikum, and gikum, areperhaps independent words, as they were heard, or possibly com-pound prefixes in which the reflexive element kum intervenesbetween the subjective prefix and the verb stem. Compare thegum-ci form with terms of relationship, meaning "he and his. "

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le dikum galimi,dikum yapak-hi,leu dikum behececlaganiaa,mi hec mikum lapnapi,taboo gikum galami,

I like myselfI will cut myselfwe began to shoot at each otherdid you crush yourself ?the white man likes himself

imperative.The imperative is expressed by a prefix ge or ke, the original

force of which is not clear, but which in general phonetic char-acter, in position, and in use, is like the noun-forming prefix d-and the pronominal prefixes. This similarity is carried furtherby the fact that those verbs beginning with m which have theprefix of the first person dik- instead of di-, show an imperativein gek- instead of ge-. The resemblance of this imperative ge- tothe pronominal forms is brought out still further by the circum-stance that when it is accompanied by a pronominal object of thethird person, it becomes ga-, just as the indicative forms of thefirst and second person subject with an object of the third personare la- and ma-. In many cases a suffix or enclitic -ye is used withthe verb in the imperative; in other cases it is absent. This -yewould seem to be a particle, and probably an enclitic rather thana structural suffix.

ge-bemukulk '-eyek '-emege-gitige-gegelge-luweg-aliingek-mfic-yege-yenick'-emlu-yega-ugatsap-yeka-balile-giti-yeka-yalika-hugipusga-ugaya

chew!walk!drink!bite!sit downa!sit down! (plural)lick up!run!run! (plural)eat!kick him!shoot him!bite me!stand up!stand up! (plural)speak to him!

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la-ugaya speak to me!ka-lapnap crush it!ge-ugisu split it!

The optativp of the first person, such as let us, is indicated bythe ordinary pronominal prefix of the first person, which it willbe remembered is numerically indeterminate, with a suffix -ce.Whether this suffix is related to the pronominal sign of the dual.-ci, is not certain.

l-emlu-ce let us eatI-eye-ce let us walkI-eme-ce let us drinkdik-muic-e let us run

II. INSTRUMENTAL PREFIXES.

Verb formatives, that is to say, affixes which affect the mean-ing of the verb itself but not its relation to other parts of thesentence, occur both as prefixes and suffixes. As stated above, theprefixes and the suffixes of this kind each form a class with adifferent type of meaning. The suffixes seem all to define or re-strict the kind of motion expressed in the verb. The prefixes areinstrumental. They tell whether the action is performed with thehand, the foot, the head, by grinding, rubbing, or chewing, withthe side or with the end of a long object, and so on. Such affixesare found in other American languages and it is probably not anaccident that like the incorporated pronominal elements theyappear usually as prefixes. In the Dakota language there arefive or six such prefixes which are very freely used. Many verbs,comprising about all those expressing dynamic action, are notordinarily employed as stems, but only with one of these prefixesor with a correspondingly used causative. In California theseinstrumental verb prefixes are developed in Pomo, and accordingto the statement of Professor R. B. Dixon similar affixes occur inMaidu. Other languages, such as Yuki and Yokuts, lack thementirely. It is characteristic that both these latter languages arepurely suffixing, even their pronouns being used as independentwords.

The instrumental prefixes obtained show some variation offorms and their number has almost certainly not been exhausted.

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Kroeber.-Th e TVash o Langutage.

There is only one which is sometimes other than instrumental inmeaning. This is dum-, which seems to be used instrumentallywith the meaning: with, the end of a long object, and objectivelyas referring to a long object. Some of these instrumental prefixeshave always, and others sometimes, been found placed directlybefore the verb stem; but those denoting action with a part of thebody, such as liwi- and fii-, are sometimes followed by -lup- beforethey -are prefixed to the verb stem. This -lup- suggests the instru-mental case-suffix -lu.

dum-

uiga-, yugi-de-liwi-iii-le-

pilu-k--lup-

Examples:

dum-bamdum-p 'op 'odum-becuga-yam

yugi-dip

ugal-dabemde-dipliwi-lup-gip-us

liwi-lup-gic-uefii-dipfli-lup-gip-us

le-dip

le-gegedi-pilukw-kikeleuhaige-pilu-gep-us-haya

with the end of a long objectas object of the verb: a long onewith a long objectwith the hand ( ?)with the footwith the headwith the teeth, by grinding, by

rubbingby turning ( ?)after instrumental prefixes

wAith( ?)

hit with the end of, jabmash with the end of, as a pestlethrow something longhit with (the side or edge of)something long

crush with something longhit with the palm, slapcrush with the handraise with the footroll with the footcrush with the headraise with the headcrush with the teeth, grind with

a stonerubI turn it aroundturn (raise) it up flat!

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III. SUFFIXES OF MOTION.

The formative verb suffixes, constituting, after the pronominalelements and instrumental prefixes, the third class of verb affixes,are numerous. Some eight or ten have been determined and theirnumber is probably considerably larger. Their meanings aremuch more difficult to determine than their existence. Two ofthe most important, which show parallelism in form, denote mo-tion toward and from, especially with reference to the speaker.Another pair, also showing some analogy in form, denote motionup and down. Others also have a specific force, such as express-ing motion through a flat surface like a wall. Others, like thesuffix -c, are used on verbs of motion, but without any force thathas been determined, and are not unlikely indicative merely ofmotion as such without further definition. Still others probablyhave exact meanings but these have not been ascertained.

-uk, -buk-ue, -bue-giti-giliwe-a-hat-c

-am, -awam

-us

-wa

Examples:huc-uk-ibehec-uk-aga-ya-bukge-yeusiw-oktugic-ukge-cemic-uk

ge-yeusiw-uwe

di-liwi-lup-gic-ue-higa-ya-buege-dum-buc-uwemi le-uwe yeusiu-uwe-acai

motion toward the speakermotion from the speakermotion upmotion downmotion through a surfacefrequent on verbs of motionmotion to (?)motion up ('?)motion ( ?)

blows against usshot at usrun hither!slide to me!look here!throw it!slide away!I-foot-with-roll-thither-willrub offthrow it away endwise!to-you me-from slide-hence-will

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di-yeusiu-awam-hi I will slide to youdi-cum-ahat-hi I-throw-through-willdi-baya-hat-hi I-shoot-in-through-willge-yeusiu-giti slide down!ge-yeusiu-giliwe slide up!leye-wa-a I went homediyatkiina-wa-a we killed one morebaaci-wa-a he went inbip-os pick up, raiseu-lep-us liftgip-us liftga-hugip-us stand up, ye!

IV. TENSE AND MODE.

The fourth and last class of verbal affixes comprises all thesigns of mode and tense, using these terms in their widest sense,and, like the group of affixes expressing motion, is composed alto-gether of suffixes. When both a suffix of motion and one of tenseor mode are used on a verb, the latter takes the last place. Thisshows that Washo, like most languages, regards its mode andtense affixes as more formal and less etymological or derivativethan indications of the nature of motion. Just so the inchoativesand conative -ue, -gania, -duwe precede the pure tense suffixes -i,-a, -hi. The list of tense and mode signs determined is a long oneeven after the limited study so far given to the language, and itcan scarcely be doubted that a thorough investigation will revealmany other suffixes. The meaning of some of the endings foundis quite clear. In other cases, especially where the tenses are con-cerned, the meaning is more doubtful, especially as regards thefiner shades of difference of significance between one suffix andanother. Besides tenses, participles or dependent modes, a dubi-tative, inchoative, conative, frequentative, and potential havebeen found.

The imperative seems to be expressed primarily by a prefixge- or k'e analogous to the pronominal elements; but in manycases this is accompanied by a suffix or enelitic -ye. The optativelet us shows a suffix -ce, which may be only the pronominal suffix

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of duality -ei. The interrogative is not expressed by a suffix butby the independent interrogative particle hec. The negative isindicated by es, meaning no or not. This element is used both asan independent word and as a suffix. The simple phonetic char-acter of Washo sometimes makes it difficult to determine whethertwo or more syllables are independent words or particles, ormerely constituents of a single word; but the fact that this nega-tive particle es, which at times indubitably occurs as a separateword, is found also between the verb stem and a tense suffix, showsit to be at other times unquestionably a formative suffix.

-ye-ce-eshec (particle)-i

-a-iC-ac-leki-aiki

-gul-aiki-alamaik

-hi-aca-iki, -icki-ue-gania-Uc

imperative (sometimes)optativenegativeinterrogative'presentindefinite past, aorist, narrative tensepresent participlepast participleimmediate past (to-day) completedrecent past (yesterday, several days ago)completed

distant past, completedindefinite perfect (action completed but the

time of its ocecurrence indefinite)future, without further implicationfuture, implying volitionpotential (can, will, do)inchoativeinchoativefrequentative, usitative

-du-we-du-we-we conative-du-hai )-hai, -ihai ?-iduni dubitative, quotative

11In the totally unrelated Yurok language, spoken about the mouth of theKlamath river, hec, hae, is also the interrogative particle. In the same lan-guage pa, water, is identical with pa, water, of many Shoshonean dialects-and equally unindicative, so far as known, of contact or common origin.

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Kroeber.-The Washo Langtage.

Examples:hec:

mi hee lem dam-idi-gueu hec me-giti-ile miki hee iyemi hec um-yatkium-baloxad-i hec-ihuniate hec lumi he mi-kum lapnab-ikuteciuiia hec mi-mlayagudifi hec la-dam-i

-es-:eski-y-esmi 1-iki-es-lekil-emlu-y-ec-lekilak 'aia es iibi-ile ec di-ugatsab-ium-bali-es-icki k 'leil-adu-es-iieda wayatsim-es-agik-isa-y-eshada-y-esle-y-ec-tiwa-idi-yuli-y-es-i-iia k 'lei

dik-muc-im-iye-idi-mlaya bicapu-iwidi d-emlu aniaw-i

l-iki-es-adik-milu di-degem-adik-milu iid-aic le-ci di-lu-a

did yotu hit me?did my dog bite you?you saw me?did you kill him?have you a gun?with what?did you crush yourself ?how many your wives?who struck me?

noit is not heI did not see youI have not eatentogether not comeI did not kick himye cannot shoot usI have no handthen there was no smokenot his own elder sisternot thereI did not do itI am not dead

I am runningyou walkmy wife is hungrythis food is good

he did not see meI met my friendmy friend saidthen we two sat down

-a:

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-c, -ac:

paaleu dek'eu gic-ac leu di-mhahau-gafia-aPaiutes many coming-up, we began-to-fight.

dik-milu de-tulitsek-aMy-friend in-his-fingers

ieda di-bali-a d-emli-aThen I-shot; in-heart

le-pam-ac di-bali-aHaving-gone-there, I-shot.

ida miile deudiicThereupon all trees

siisu yaasa mukabirds also as]

-leki:mi 1-iki-lekiJohn 1-iki-leki eebeI-emlu-lekidi-gum-suuc-lekiyeusiu-wuwe-leki

-aiki:lot di-gel-uc-i-aikimi 1-ecl-aikilot John gum-suuc-aikil-emlu-y-aiki

-gul-aiki:mi I-ecil-gul-aiki

-alamaik:lak'alini dimdanial-alamaikdik-muc-alamaiki

-hi:di-mdainal-hida-le-pam-hidek-lu di-cum-ahat-hi

I-eme-himi-mutsuk-hi

bali-ic-iia iciia iciw-abeing-shot, nevertheless recovered.

di-bali-ic yuli-ac le-pam-ashooting, having-killed, I-went-there.

mukagem-ahe-asked.

igem-ic gii-saiking, they-too

ic miileThen all

gaklaac-es-adid-not-tell-him.

I saw youI saw John to-dayI was eatingI dreamedhe slid away (several hours

ago)

yesterday we ranI gave it to youyesterday John dreamedI ate (several days ago)

I gave it to you long ago

once I went huntingonce I was running

I am going huntingI am going thereI will throw through with a

rockI drink, I will drinkI will doctor you

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-aca:

John me-giti-aca-ile-yuli-y-aca-haimiw-aca-iyeusiu-wuwe-aca-i

-iki:

yatk-iki k 'eimi-yatk-iki k 'leile-ci-ei yatk-es-iki k'elepiteli miu heic-ikihelmil gua-galisi 1-ebikab-iki

John wants to bite youthey will kill meyou will be eaten upwill begin to slide off

it can be killedI am able to kill youthey cannot kill you and medo ye eat lizard?in three years I will return

-ue:

he is beginning to runI begin to urinate

-gana:

di-mhahau-gania-abehececla-gaiia-adi-bekel-gaina-a

-duwe, -duwewe, -duhai:

leem-yatek-duwe-ale-giti-duwele-yuli-duhai1-iki-duwewe-hiiki-duwewe-hil-aca-duwe-imi-giti-duwe

-hai, -ihai:

gi-l-aklaac-hai-aikigudini-a-hec m-aklaac-hai-idi-yuli-y-aca-haidi-pa-ihaimi-u-kal-depem-ihai

our battle beganbegan to shoot at each otherI began to cut it up

you tried to kill mehe tries to bite methey wish to kill meI will look for herthey are trying to see himI must urinateI will (try to) bite you

he told mewho told you?I will kill themI lost themI will slap you

muc-ue-ii-aca-ue-i

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-idu ii:

muc-iduni I think he is coming run-ning

l-iye-u-eduii iidi I guess he has gonepaleu leci icuc-idufi iidi the Paiutes are coming to

kill us, I hearac t'anu wokaya-idufi id-ac I heard someone speaking

SINGULAR AND PLURAL.

A number of Washo verbs show different stems in the singularand plural. Sometimes one of the stems seems modified from theother; in other cases they differ radically. This phenomenon isof some frequency in American languages. It has been men-tioned by Powell as occurring in Shoshonean, and Dr. Goddardhas recently shown it to exist in a very marked form in Atha-bascan. In California the Pomo linguistic family presents anumber of cases, and sporadic instances occur in other nativelanguages of the state. There is not necessarily anything radi-cally different from Indo-European conditions in such existenceof totally distinct stems for singular and plural. The phenome-non loses mauch of its strangeness when we reflect that we havenumerous verbs in English which denote only repeated or mul-tiple action. The word thrash, for instance, cannot be used of asingle striking. It is very probable that the relation between thetotally diverse singular and plural stems of apparently the samemeaning in Indian languages is to be conceived of as somewhatsimilar to the relation between our English kill and' exterminate.At least it is not impossible to understand how the relation ofmeaning between these two English verbs could under certainconditions come to be like that found in the Indian languagesbetween distinct singular and plural stems of the same meaning.One difference is that while we have verbs such as thrash andexterminate which apply only to plural action, we apparentlyhave none that are necessarily limited to a single action. Whilethe existence of such distinctly singular verbs seems to be con-trary to the spirit of the IJdo-European languages, yet it mustbe plain that their occurrence theoretically is'not more remark-

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able than the occurrence of verbs limited to plural action. Whenboth exclusively singular and exclusively plural verbs exist in alanguage, it is natural that if the meanings of two are only some-what akin, there should be a tendency to parallel and pair themuntil they actually become equivalent to merely singular andplural forms of one word. It is, however, not even certain thatthe phenomenon is actually pushed to such an extremity in In-dian languages, for we know too little about them to say positivelythat there is no difference in signification other than that of num-ber. It is very probable that in at least some Indian languagesthere is in such stems the same difference in connotation and evendenotation of the verbal action itself, that there exists betweenEnglish kill and exterminate.

The parallels just made with English furnish also an expla-nation of the striking fact that wherever in American languagessuch distinct stems for singular and plural are found, or wherethe plural is distinguished from the singular by an affixed ele-ment, as in Mutsun and other languages, the plurality of theintransitive verb is determined by the subject and that of thetransitive verb by the object. It may be true, as has been said,that the tendency of American languages is to regard the objectas more closely related to the verb than the subject; but the factthat words like our English exterminate imply, not a pluralityof subjects nor even of actions by one subject, but a plurality ofobjects affected, shows that it is not necessary to have recourse toany such wider-reaching explanation.

Singular Stem Plural StemSit gegel luweStand yal ahuLie macam mayacRun mu-c igelu-c, yenii-cRun off mo-y igalu-y, yaiia-yFall over piwe hetiFall off piti diti

The distributive or collective suffix -kic which has been dis-cussed in connection with the plural of nouns, occurs also onverbs. Instances have been previously given.

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VERB STEMS.

A curious phenomenon which has not become very clear is achange of stem in certain verbal roots according to modificationof meaning. This takes place both with and without the additionof affixes. In some cases the stem vowel changes, in others theinitial consonant. The changes whether in vowel or consonantare always to a related sound, between a and e, e and i, 1 and d,1 and n, etc. Somewhat similar are certain series of apparentlydistinct verb roots which are akin in meaning and resemble eachother in form. It thus appears that more thorough study willeither lead to a further analysis of Washo verbs than is now pos-sible, or will discover new processes of stem modification.

uga-yam to strike with a long objectdam to strike with a round objectdalik to strike with the fistdum-bam to strike with the end of a long object

lep to crushdep to crush with a round objectde-dip to crush with the handle-dip to crush with the teeth, a stone, etc.yugi-dip to crush with a long object

lap-nab to crush flat a part of the bodylep-neb to crush flat a round objectlep-leb to crush flat a long object

The number of verbs obtained is not inconsiderable, but onlyin the minority of these has the simplest stem form been deter-mined with any degree of certainty. Even in such cases the rootsseem to be frequently polysyllabic. The purely dynamic stemsshow a greater tendency to be monosyllabic than others. Of thefollowing apparent stems a number will probably ultimately befound to be derivative. It should be borne in mind that the mono-syllable muc, to run, is not a radical, as mo-y is to run off, to flee.The plurals of these words, ye-ni-c and yanfa-y, show a similar re-lation. It is clear that there are numerous formative affixes that

296


have not yet been determined. In connection with the subject ofverbal radicals, the close relation between many nouns and verbsshould not be forgotten.

Monosyllabic:paiw, eumuip-amgucyak, yap 'ksucbip, gip, u-lepdam, bamlep, dep, lal-ubec, cumgic, lel-byalbal-iidisyok-ammac-am

Apparently Polysyllabic:analgitiikiyuliyatEkyomaemluiyeipubicapuibiiwa

loseeat (transitive)run (sing.)go tonoise, soundcutdreamlift, raisestrike, hitcrush, mashthrowrollstand (sing.)shoot, killsaytakepull out, plucklie (sing.)

livebiteseekill, deadkillkilleat (intransitive)walkfindhungrycomedo

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galamhamubemukulimeugatsapmutsukdepuaca

gayam, dalik, dab-emuleceyudugis

piwe, pitiheti, ditigegelluweahumayac

igelu, yemi, yafna

damalda-nalpalalaya

hucubekeldegemicuC

mahaucacu

yeusiubasaukaiyakamalifi

aklaacpeyu

likethink, wishchewdrinkkickmake medicinestaburinatestrike, hitcarryput onsplitfall (sing.)fall (plur.)sit (sing.)sit (plur.)stand (plur.)lie (plur.)run (plur.)hearhuntsmell (transitive)to move runningto move in the aircut upmeet, come tocome to killfightfearslideskin, flayshout tocutlick uptell tobuy, pay

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ADJECTIVE.

A number of adjectives, such as d-afiau, good, t-iyeli, large,have the appearance of being derived from verb-stems by thenoun-formative d-. An-au, good, has actually once been foundwithout the initial d-, and it is not impossible that this form is tobe regarded as verbal and predicative, as contrasted with the sub-stantival and attributive form with initial d-. Other adjectives,such as tiyeli, large, and dalyawi, black, have not been observedto undergo any change whether used attributively or predica-tively, except that the predicative adjective, like the verb, occu-pies a place at the end of the sentence, whereas the attributiveadjective precedes its noun.

di-gucu tiyeli my-dog is-largetiyeli suku l-epu-i a-large dog I-foundhufn-a tiyeli hec k'eiki I wonder if he is larged-aiiau d-ime a good drinkwidi d-emlu aiiaw-i this food is good

NUMERALS.

The Washo numeral system is quinary up to ten and fromthere on regularly decimal without any discovered trace of avigesimal method of counting. Six is five one; seven, five two.Eight seems to be a plural of four. Nine is either five and fouror one less. Ten is one ten. Eleven is ten and one, twelve tenand two, and so on. Twenty is two ten, thirty three ten, and soon. Similarly, one hundred is one ten ten.

The numerals take several forms but can scarcely be said tobe provided with classifying affixes. In ordinary counting thenumerals up to five end in -ni, except one and four, which end in-a. When persons are designated, a suffix -u is added beforewhich the final -n disappears. This -u is apparently the suffixwhich is the sign of the plural in pronouns. This is the moreprobable from the fact that the word for two has -ei instead of -uand that the word for one shows neither suffix. When animals

VOL. 4] 299


or inanimate objects are spoken of, the pronominal number suf-fixes are not used and the final -n- is also absent. Only the wordfor one, which in counting lacks the final -n, uses it when an ani-mal or an object is designated. When periods of time, or meas-ures other than money, are referred to, the inanimate forms areused, while the noun to which they refer is preceded by a prefixgua- or -kum. This prefix is also used on nouns after the inter-rogative kuteci-na, how many? To express a distributive or col-lective, such as one each or three at a time, a reduplication isemployed: lek'-ek'-enf, hel-el-mi-u. As in the reduplication of thenoun, this is final, not initial, but it is the first or stem syllable,not the whole word or its last part, which is subject to the redu-plication. An appearance of reduplication in the interior of theword is thus given. When persons are designated, these redupli-cated forms take the same suffixes as the unreduplicated forms,-fi for one and -u for numbers above two. A few other formshave been found which give indication of still further modifica-tions of the numerals. Lak'alifn is once, one time. Heskil-cifi istwo only. Lak'-aia is separately, alone. Numerals are not sub-ject to any modification for designating differences in shape, asin certain languages of the North Pacific Coast.

Counting Persons Animals and Objects1 lak 'a lek 'liii lak 'afn2 heskeni heskelci heske3 helminl helmiu helME4 hawa hawau hawa5 tubaldifi tubaldu tubaldi6 tubaldE lak7 tubaldE heskefi8 hawaawa9 tubaldi ida hawa

10 lak'a mutsumi11 lak 'a muitsumi 'da lak12 lak'a muitsumi 'da heskefi20 heskE mutsumi30 helmE mutsumi

100 la' muitsum' multsumi

300


CONNECTIVES.

Connectives or introductory particles are frequently usedbetween sentences and show a much greater variety and finershades of meaning than in some Californian languages, in certainof which one or two such particles are made to do universal andmonotonous service.' The principal connectives whose meaninghas become more or less clear are the following.

Ic, th-en, appearing to indicate that the action described inthe previous sentence is completed or is not continued in the sen-tence now opening. Usually there is a change of subject.

Ac, and, contrasts with ic and indicates a continuance of theaction expressed in the previous sentence.

Icda, then, and then, is difficult to distinguish in meaningfrom ic.

Ida has about the force of thereupon. It indicates that theaction expressed in the previous sentence is over, and denotessomething of a break. Usually the same subject is kept in thesentence which it opens.

Icia is but.Ina or -nia has the meaning of because and although.Udi is after.Other particles with force evidently related to the preceding

are da, a, udic.

ORDER OF WORDS.

The order of words is fairly fixed in Washo. The verb is atthe end of the sentence. The subject, if a noun, precedes theobject. The normal order thus is subject, object, predicate. Theindependent pronouns occupy the same position as nouns. Asthe pronominal affix-elements are prefixed, their general positionas regards the verb stem thus is the same as that of independentwords. But in transitive forms the object seems to precede thesubject in the compound prefix. The attributive adjective pre-cedes the noun. When the adjective is predicate it occupies theplace of the verb at the end of the sentence. Of two nouns con-nected by a possessive pronoun, the one with the pronominalprefix precedes the one in its absolute form.

1 Cf. the interminable Yokuts ama, then.

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302 University of California Publications. [AM. ARCH. ETH.

TEXTS.

Several unsuccessful efforts were made to obtain connectedoriginal texts from the informant employed. Two brief narra-tives given in English were however successfully rendered byhim; and while they may at times depart from true Washo idiomand may not be entirely accurate translations, they are at leastapproximately correct and their internal structure shows themto be of sufficient coherence to give that invaluable safeguard andnecessary means to arriving at an understanding of a language-a context.

ni dim-dafial-alamaik i-da memdele I went hunting. Thereupon a dee:

itki-ds-a la-palal-es-a da-y-dsit did not see me, did not scent me, not

ic-da .di-bali-a d'emli-aThen I shot it. In the heart

le-pam-a di-bekel-gafia acI went up to it. I began to cut it up. Then

iid-ac paleu-dufi iid-ac ic-naspeaking, Paiute, it seemed, speaking; but

dik-milu-y-awic a' dik-milu dtoward my friend. My friend

di-bali-icshooting it,

tanusomeone

l-iki-es-aI did not see.

li-dfgem-aI met.

.auwi 1-iki-ar I saw.

huc-uwe-cthe air movingfrom me.

yuli-achaving killed,

wokayay-idufiI seemed to hear

a-di-yabu'-aI ran off

paleu le-ci"Paiutes us (dual)

icu'c-idufi iidseem to be coming I thinto murder

ic 1i iid-aThen: "Good," he said;

kik'et'6keuk'eclethey are many,

ic-na le-ci-cibut us

iid-a dik-miliusaid my friend.

i-da dik-miluThereupon my friend's

paleuPaiute

-i

Lk!

di-atuk-eiLet us kill them!"

dik-milu di-yam-ato my friend I said.

le-ci-ci k' degumbisi; we (are) brave,

ac le-ci-ci heskil-cifalwhile we two only

yatk-6s-iki k'lMe le-ci-ci c4they cannot kill (us.) Us

I ic le-ci di'-lu-'aThen we sat down

tawi 1-As-a meckitsetknife I took, arrows ha

lakafis t'ew'es ekayabikikal-acone near by being about somewhere

(though not seen)

1ei-ci-lewe are;

lei-ci-lewe are;

,acuduwA'a2they fear,"

himu-acAin the willows.

l-ecl-ocving given him.

le-ciwe

lak'a-liiAt one tilj

icnaBut


di-beyeclo7 de-wigi-a' di-bali-Ac dik-milu de-tsegiiguc-ashot at him. In his eye I hitting him, my friend in his belly

kl-sa ka-bali-oc yuli-a' dik-muw-am-ac5 mA'ac-am-a5he also hitting him, he died. I having ran up to him (lying there),

d'ihep di-basa'-ac paleu dew'es d'ek'eu-gic-as6the head I having skinned, the Paiutes near having come In numbers,

le-u di-mhahai-gania'-a leu di-kum behec-ec-la-gaina'-a'we and began to fight, we and they each began to shoot at.they other

i-da lakafa3 di-bali-a di-ukayWc1a mlu le-ciThereupon one I shot. I shouted: "You we

di-cacuduwi-esi2 leci-iial mi-u um-bali4s-icki k'leiuido not fear! But us you cannot shoot (us).

mi-u ke um-yu1i-y-aca-iki-me'le'9 1-eed-ic hamukolaYou dead will be." I said (I) they were afraid()

heskil-ci le-ci di-yatk-ic inia behe'ic-ug-a'm5rtwo we killing because. S3hooting at us thence

dik-milu-haka le-ci di-ku akmuyaphay-ac hayeda(I) together with we dodging and there (I)my friend

lakA' le-ci di-yatk-ic aw-aie ic yafia-y-a ic-daone we killed another. Then they fled and

le-ci di-k'leiciwa(ni) yania-y-a-icnaa bhawa-u le-ciwe pursued. Although they fled. four of them we

di-yatEk-ifiau'0 t'ihep di-yakam-ay-a 1-ci hawa-ukilled others. The heads we cut off we, the four

ihep dik-milu de-tulitsek'-a bali-ic-fia' ic-fnatheir heads. My friend in his fingers although being shot, never-

theless

iciw-a uidi le-ei Wbiyawa'-a uidi le-uhe became After that we two went home. After that we allwell.

di-yewikel lbc-awar-dance danced.

II.

IJwi* maduk-tsaitsaiyi gik-beyu-haka anial-i-a l11EmIoi Blue-jay her younger brother with lived. At night

deuh-yuli" libi-a umlaya beyii-a I6wi ka-dage12ghost came, wife bought, Ioi it was (1)

ic-da k-umlaya-eti'-a`8 iidi-c watli JoiThen they were married. Thereupon in the morning Ioi

* Cf. Boas, Chinook Texts, 161, and, for a Yokuts version, II, 275, of the present series.

34University of California Publications. [AM. ARCH. ETH.

miiki-ws-etiy-a"'fwas gone from there.

ic-da de-pAyuThen her younger brother

maduk-tsaitsaiyiBlue-Jay

lak'A gua-galisi iudi di-isaOne year after, "My elder sister

l-iki-du'wewe-hiI will try to see,"

gun-a"Where

t'anua person

iid-a ida milehe said. Thereupon all

iyewe-hec-igigo can

deudiie mukagem-atrees he asked:

yuli-y-udi1 ic-fnaafter he dies?" But

deudiic ga-klaac-es-athe trees did not tell him.

ic mile sisu ya-sa1Then all birds also

mukmgem-icasking,

mukagem-icki'4he could (?) ask.

ke-peyu-y-ahe paid it

gi-sai ga-klaac-es-athey too did not tell him.

le-peyu-y-ac da" Having paid me, then

ic ya-sa teekThen also stone

mi-kuw-am-hi5 icI will carry you there." Then

ac deuh-yuli itiinwa-y-a ke-giuw-am-a5and ghosts' country to it carried him

d-afial-a ic-da wayatsim-6s-a15to a village. Then smoke was not there.

ic laka t'iyeliThen one large

d-anial-a ya--sa i'pam-a i-da p'aciwa-a i-dahouse to also he went to. Thereupon he entered. Thereupon

gik-isa i'pu-a tat unhis elder he found. "(Indicatingsister surprise)

es-i di-yuli-y-es-i-na k" No, I am not dead, but

ic-da k'l,i8 i-da mile(then) (I)." Thereupon all

n-yuli-dec-iare you dead

me'i8 di-beyu(are you), my younger

brother?"

I16ei8 deek le gubi'-i(I) stone me brought,

t-afnal beyetsEksa-gana-ahouses he began to open.

ic-da mile d-anial dibikefn mipul-gic-a'Then all houses bones were full of.

lak'a(ni) deuh-yiili mic-am-a5 d&-Isa leleuone skeleton lay his older sister close by.

hufi-a mada-aca-a heci hadi-ke"What do you wish to do with (question) that (near you)

to her.

t'euh-yuiliskeleton?"

ic-daThen

ic

Then

iid-ahe said

NOTES TO TEXTS.

1 A number of compositions or enc1itic postpositions of an adverbialnature occur in these texts. They affect numeral, pronominal, and verbalstems. It will be noted that some of these: -udi, after, and -iia, but., how-ever, although, occur also as connectives or parts of them. In all instancesrepresented in the texts these adverbial elements were heard and written as

forming one word with the preceding stem, which however does not excludetheir being in reality only postpositions.

ha'lini'afor a longtime

e'awas there.

304


heskil-cini two onlyleci-fna but usbaliic-nia although shotyuliy-udi after he diesya-sa alsogi-sa they too, he also

2 It is not certain whether this word contains the conative -duwe.In two of the three occurrences of the numeral one with a reference to

a person in these texts, its final sound seemed to be -fi. In sentences ob-tained independently of the texts, this form laka-n was used of objects oranimals, and a form lek-lifi when persons were referred to.

I There seems very little doubt that the stems wiki, eye, and iki, to see,have a common origin.

6 Several instances of the use of the suffix -am occur. It seems likely, butcannot be positively determined, that this suffix expresses the idea of motiontoward.

6 In the two instances of the use of the suffix -kic appended to verb stemsin these texts, its meaning appears to be collective. This is the same suffixthat has been described on nouns.

7 The three forms of the stem behec, to shoot at, occurring in the firsttext, include a finally reduplicated form behec-ec- in the passage where repe-tition or reciprocity is expressed.

8 The forms k'lei, k'mmi or m6i, and k'Mi, occur frequently in Washo withreference to the first, second, and third person respectively. Their exactforce is not yet clear. They seem to be more than merely emphatic forms ofthe personal pronouns and apparently contain a demonstrative or verb sub-stantive.

nuci-k'lei I am worthlessnuci-k 'm6i you are worthlessnuci-k' i he is worthlesskudifi-a-hec k'6i who is this?John t'eli'hu k'ei John is a manle t'eli'hu k'li I am a manwidi tawi k'1i this is a knifedalyawi-k'm6i you are blackdalyawi-k'l i I am blackle degumbisi k'l1i I am bravedegumbisi k' i it is hardhunia t'iyeli hec k'ei-ki I wonder if he is bigcemu k1'-a he was the very onec6mu k' -i he is the one

This form is not clear and may consist of two separate words. Thesuffix -aca is usually a future desiderative but in the present case can scarcelyexpress a wish. The following suffix, -iki-, is the usual potential suffix.

10 The suffix -inaw, occurring in these two words, has not been found other-wise. If the translation is correct, its force is that of again, another, oradditionally.


1 The connection between deuh-yuli, a ghost, and yuli, the stem meaningto die, is certain.

12 The form ka-d&ge cannot be analyzed. It seems to contain the pro-nominal element ka, ke, gi of the third person, and possibly the demonstra-tive of distance or indefinite reference di.

13 The two forms here given containing the suffix -eti have not been paral-leled in the remaining material obtained. It seems not unlikely that theyamplify the verb stem by adding to it the idea of there.

14Although a potential does not seem called for in this verb by the con-text, the suffix -icki has been otherwise found with a potential meaning,though less frequently than the similar suffix -iki. Cf. um-bali-as-icki k'lei,you cannot hit us, in the first text; also gik-iidi-icke iki-duwewe-i, the-one-who-said-it they-are-looking-for, and tabo macam-icke lepui, a-white-manlying I-found.

16 The verb wayatsim-as-a, there was no smoke, is apparently formed froma noun stem wayatsim, the negative es, and the preterite -a.

16 The frequent form gi (ka, ke, etc.) does not ordinarily seem to occurin Washo except as a prefix. Its position in the sentence proves it to be anindependent word in the present instance. It has been stated that when thereis any idea of distinguishing between a reflexive third person and a thirdperson whfch is not so, as between Latin se and eum or suuS and ejus, gi- isused for the reflexive and de- for the non-reflexive. From the present textsit seems that in connected discourse gi- serves to indicate a change of sub-ject; or, when objective, to express that the person referred to by it is thesame as the one indicated by the subject of the preceding sentence. Fullermaterial is necessary to confirm this interpretation, which if correct wouldshow the Washo pronominal form gi- not to be the exact equivalent of theLatin reflexive, but to possess a force that is primarily distinctive or em-phatic. In other words, as long as the same person continues to be the sub-ject, no specific indication of the third person by this or any other elementseems to be regarded as necessary. Gi- is reserved to indicate the appear-ance in the discourse of another person; or, if this person is already suffi-ciently distinguished by the presence of the noun denoting it or by the con-text, gi- is then used for the person previously referred to, who has nowbecome affected by the second.

SPECIMEN PHRASES.

mi-l-ecil-hi I will give it to youmi-l-ecl-aiki I gave it to youmi-l-ecil-gul-aiki I gave it to you long agodi-tawi dik-milu I-edl-i I gave my friend my knifedik-milu-lu tawi I-edl-i I gave my friends (each) a knifelRmlu-y-i I am eatingl-4mlu-hi I shall eatl-6mlu-l1ki I was eatingl-6mlu-y-aiki I ate several days ago

Kroeber.-The Wash7o Language.

l-emlu-cemi-le-utikile-u l-emlut-ayucl-ayucm-ayucgi-t-ayucwidi ayuchadi ayucwidi ayucdi-cuyepdik-milu cuyepd-lyekl-eyekhadi lyeksuku lyekt 'iyeli cemudik-milu-lu helme t'aba yatkidik-milu-lu hel-el-me t'aba yatki

le-di-kum galam-itabo-bo di-galdm-itabb-bo la-galam-iwidi tabb le-duk-nfic-imi-sa me-duk-nuic-iwidi tabb gikum galdm-imi-l-lki-ac John um-giti-leki

helme gua-galis-ihelme gua-p 'auud-iheske kum-ebey-igutecifi-a kum-ebey-i hecheske kum-tsifiam l-eme-iJohn laka becu I-eel-iJohn kawaiu 1-iclilaka kum-tsifiam d-acal-aca1-aca-hil-aca-ue-ihuic '-uwehuc '-ukika-yab-ukka-yab-uedi-mdafial-hika-mdafialdik-ma-c-alamaikiyatk-iki k'Mimi-yatk-iki k'leidi-atu-hak leci di-igelhuca

let us eatI will eat youour foodhairmy hairyour hairhis hairthe hair of this one herethe hair of this one near youthe hair of that onemy nosemy friend's nosetooth, teethmy teeththis one's teethdog 's teetha large onemy friends killed three grizzly bearsmy friends killed three grizzly bears

eachI like myselfI like the whitesthe whites like methis white-man dislikes mehe dislikes you alsothis white-man likes himselfI saw you bite John (I seeing you, you

bit John)three yearsthree nightstwo dayshow many days?Itwo baskets I drinkI gave John one dollarJohn gave me a horseone basketful of urinemy urineI shall urinateI begin to urinateblows (away)blows hitherrun hither!run away!I shall go to huntgo hunt!once I was runningit can be killedI can kill youmy older brother and I were running

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laka le-ci di-yatk-iiiaw-ale-ei lek '-ek '-e le-ci di-yatk-iiaw-agik-ldi-icki iki-duwewe-i

16k I-e'd-udi dik-mo-y-iid-ac dik-muic-idik-muic-ac id-al-atdu1-aidu-'es-il-adu-idi-lep-lep-ila-lap-lub-i

we killed one morewe each killed one morethe one who said it, they are searching

for himafter I said it, I ran offhe having told me, I ranI having run, he told itmy handI have no handI have a handI mash something long so as to be flata blister

VOCABULARY.

In the brief field study given to Washo, no attention was paidto securing a vocabulary other than as a means toward phoneticand grammatical investigation. There was no intention of pre-senting the imperfect lexical material thus obtained, until it wasrealized that no vocabulary of Washo has ever been published,and that the determination of the language by Powell as consti-tuting an independent family, however correct it may be, hasnever been rendered verifiable by the general availability of theinformation used for the determination. May this be justificationfor the quality of the appended vocabulary. While no lexicalcomparisons with other languages have been made, an acquain-tance with Shoshonean and most the languages of California leadsthe author to, conviction that Powell's pronouncement is right,and that Washo is genetically unrelated to any of the neighboringlinguistic families.

Persons:

teliw 'hutam?mome 'ilunentueutewiwim&hucaulamhuniaufiani

manwomanold manold womanyoung manboygirlbaby

308


t 'anu person, Indiantabo white manwac 'iu WashopMleu Paiutemomliu medicine-mandeu-beyu chiefcleuh-yuli ghostmuckeu monster

Terms of Relationship:

-koi father-la mother-malolo parents-nam son-nam-u daughter-iiam-in child-at 'u older brother-peyu younger brother-isa older sister-wits 'uk younger sister-bapa paternal grandfather, man's son's

child-elel maternal grandfather, man's

daughter's child-ama paternal grandmother, woman's sons s

child-gu maternal grandmother, woman's

daughter 's child-euci father 's brother-ta mother 's brother-ya father 's sister-ea 'ca mother 's sister-maca man's brother's child-magu man's sister's child-cemuk woman 's brother's or sister's child-mlaya wife-bu-meli husband (meli, make a fire)-ayuk parent-in-law-bu-afiali son-in-law (afial-i, live)-eyec daughter-in-law-uladut man's brother-in-law-mac-da-la man's brother 's wife ("my brother 's

child its mother")-yafiil woman's brother 's wife, husband's

sister-nam-ifi de-euci woman's husband's brother ("child

its father's brother ")


Parts of the Body:

d-ihepd-ayuccuyepwikihainamadutd-lyektuli '-tsEktuli-pid-adud-alifid-utsumokod-a 'hilyo 'wicud-acuktsi-gfigucmemeumukucd-ibistsafiatsi-mibidipfiauwafi-aialayad-emlid-ilektsi-gald-iceud-lbuts 'ats'atsi-melpeguhuldi-bikefn

Artificial Objects:

d-aiialbalohatmeskitsEtt&wimutsukts 'ifiambecudayalimi

headhairnoseeyemouthtonguetoothfingernailhandarmelbowkneelegthighbreastbackbellyribspenisvaginaanushipnavelumbilical cord ("baby live")intestinesheartliverkidneygallneckchinbeardeyebrowbone

housebowarrowknifemedicinebasketmoney (cf. pay)earth-covered dance-house

310

VOL. 4] Kroeber.-The Washo Language.

Natural Objects:d-ime, t-ime waterdek, tek rockd-lbe sun, moon, monthebe dayfnauwa earthma 'losafl startaumahum cloudteweskim winddeudic treemak stick, woodda-pauwit nightgalis year

t'-lyu fire

Animals:

suku dog-gucu dog (with pronominal prefix)memdewi deerhaflakmuwe elkgusu buffaloayAs antelopeke'we coyotetullci wolfmade beart 'aba grizzly bearpeleu jackrabbittsali' rabbitmogop foxtupipiwi skunkhb'la badgerbasat ground squirrelbiwi tree squirreldelem gophersisu birdpatalii eaglekcgi crow

maki rattlesnakekbta frogpi'teli lizard

Adjectives and Adverbs:

mile allmila 'a everywhere (all-at)6we severaliwey6si constantlyt '1kyu many

t 'iyeli largebehetsifi small

311

Urniversity of California Publications. [Am. ARCH. ETH.

t-afnau goodnuci worthlesst 'al-yawi blackdal-pbpoi whitedal-cocofni reddel-pilpili bluedal-tsatsami green, yellow, copperdel-elegi dark red-bilata richye' yes

nobbe todaylot yesterdaywat tomorrowle 'lem midnight-sa alsocemu one, the one

Verbs have been previously given in the discussion of verb stems, and theNumerals and Pronouns will be found in the sections devoted to these partsof speech.

SUMMARY.

Washo is of a comparatively simple phonetic character whichresults in transparence of its structure. There is no evidencethat all of its radicals are monosyllabic, but it is probable thatnone contain combinations of consonants. The sounds of radicalsand affixes are very little modified by contact with other radicalsand affixes. Little composition of independent words has beendiscovered, but derivation and the expression of grammaticalideas by affixion are considerably developed. Besides suffixes,prefixes are well represented. Reduplication occurs in the verb,noun, and numeral to express repetition, distribution, or collec-tivity. This reduplication takes place at the end, not at the headof radicals. The independent personal pronouns are little usedexcept for emphasis or distinction. In such cases they are treatedlike nouns and may receive locative suffixes. The grammaticalfunctions of the pronouns are principally expressed by them inthe form of affixes. These are always prefixed. Pronominal pre-fixes of verb and noun are identical, but there are different pre-fixes for initially vocalic and initially consonantal words. Certain

312


stems, whose meaning permits, are used with the same prefix attimes as verb and at times as noun, these two different functionsbeing indicated only incidentally by such suffixes of case, tense,or other category as there may be present, and by the context.Most nouns whose initial sound is a vowel are used in their non-pronominal absolute form only with a prefixed d- or relateddental sound. Everything except the nearly complete limitationof this d- to initially vocalic stems, argues for the suppositionthat this prefix is a noun-forming affix or deriver from verbs. Inall pronominal forms this d- is lost. As the third person in suchnouns, as in certain cases in the verb, is expressed by the absenceand not by the presence of any pronominal prefix, there is in suchcases an apparent apocope to form the third person. That is tosay, his hand is in Washo shorter than hand. The union of thepronominal prefix to both noun and verb is sufficiently intimateto allow of the language being classed as an incorporating one,and this characteristic is further apparent in the objective ortransitive conjugation of the verb, in which the subjective andobjective pronominal constituents in some cases form a unit whichcannot be positively resolved into the individual subjective andobjective elements as they occur separately. But although gen-uine, the pronominal incorporation is comparatively simplethrough a complete lack of variation for number, the dual andplural of the pronominal elements being expressed either by ap-position of the independent prefixes or by the addition of theirsuffixes of number to the verb or noun stem. As is theoreticallyprobable and actually usual in incorporating languages, there areno syntactical cases in the noun. There are numerous local andinstrumental suffixes resembling cases. In certain instances theseare but loosely attached to the noun or pronoun. They differ innothing from prepositions except in being postposed or suffixed.A true plural is wanting. A distributive or collective which takesits place is expressed either by final reduplication or by a suffix.This same suffix is used also in the verb, in which, however, finalreduplication is employed to indicate repetition. Several verbsshow considerably or totally different stems for singular andplural, but the majority are as free from any expression of thiscategory as the noun. Verb stems are frequently augmented by

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Unriversity of California PulAications. [Am. ARCH. ETH.

suffixes descriptive of motion and by instrumental prefixes.There are other derivative suffixes, such as inchoatives and cona-tives, and a considerable number expressing mode and tense. Ina combination of several suffixes the more derivative precede, themore grammatical ones follow. There is no passive, and the im-perative is indicated by a quasi-pronominal form. Dependentclauses are used, but they are participial or introduced by con-junctions, that is to say non-pronominal, and not relBtive or pro-nominal. Demonstrative pronouns correspond in some measureto the three persons of the personal pronouns. They appear tobe derived from adverbial stems and not to be used as syntacticalelements. There are a number of connectives which indicate withsome precision the relation of successive sentences, especially asregards time.

On comparison with neighboring linguistic families Washoshows much morphological distinctness. In general phoneticcharacter and structural transparence it belongs to the CentralCalifornian class, which includes the Maidu, Wintun, Pomo,Yuki, Yokuts, Costanoan, and other families. But it differs fromthese languages in the important characteristics of lacking syn-tactical cases and possessing pronominal incorporation, so that itcannot be more than partially included with the Central Cali-fornian morphological type. In its possession of instrumentalprefixes Washo agrees with Pomo and Maidu of this Central type,but differs from other families of the same group, such as Yukiand Yokuts. As yet there seem to be no special resemblancesbetween Washo and any single families of the Central group.The absence of a true plural from Washo is not indicative ofmorphological affinity, for with but one or two exceptions all theCalifornian languages north of the latitude of San Franciscoappear to lack a plural, and all to the south to possess it.

The Washo reduplication to express distribution or collec-tivity recalls the languages of the North Pacific Coast, where thisfeature is frequently well-developed. It occurs as far south as

the Klamath or Lutuami of southern Oregon and northeastern-most California. In California a well-developed reduplication ofthe noun is found only among the Chumash on the coast of South-ern California. Other resemblances of Washo to the North

314


Pacific Coast languages are however lacking. It does not possessthe characteristic substantival word-forming affixes of the Selish-Kwakiutl type, nor the sex-gender of Chinuk, Kalapuya, andSelish, and differs widely in phonetic character from almost allthe languages of this region.

As the only Californian language at once east of the Sierrasand in intimate contact with Shoshoneans, the question of apossible morphological resemblance of Washo to Shoshonean isparticularly important. There is but little evidence of suchaffinity. The phonetic systems of the two families differ in im-portant points. Above all Washo does not possess the obscure uand 6 sounds of Shoshonean. These characteristic vowels occurin all the dialectic groups of the Shoshonean family except onein Southern California. They are evidently of some antiquityand possessed of a foothold in the fundamental phonetic systemof the family, for they have been impressed by the Shoshoneanson a number of contiguous but independent linguistic stocks, in-cluding practically all with which the Shoshoneans are in contactin California' and one or more in the Pueblo region. That thesesounds are however wanting among the Washo, who as regardsdegree of contact and similarity of environment and culture areprobably more closely linked with the neighboring Shoshoneansthan any of the stocks which have adopted these sounds, arguesfor the inability of Shoshonean phonetics to impress Washo.This conclusion is confirmed by the general phonetic appearanceof the two languages, which is decidedly different. Structuralaffinities are equally lacking. So far as its dialects are known,Shoshonean is without any objective incorporation of the pro-noun in the verb. It does affix subjective and possessive pro-nominal elements, but that these partake of the nature of abbre-viations of the independent personal pronouns, and are there-fore enclitics rather than essentially affixes, is shown by the factthat at least in certain dialects they can be detached from theverb stem to which they refer and added to any other part ofspeech ;2 a trait suggesting certain of the languages of the North

1 Maidu, Miwok, Yokuts, Chumash. See Vol. II of the present series,p. 329.

2 p. S. Sparkman, Am. Anthr., n. s., VII, 660, 1905.

VOL. 4] 315


Pacific Coast rather than any truly incorporating or truly non-incorporating language. Moreover the Shoshonean pronominalaffixes are usually suffixed to the verb, whereas in Washo allstrictly pronominal elements are prefixed. One of the most char-acteristic features of all Shoshonean dialects-a feature whichoccurs in far separated groups of the Uto-Aztekan family andgoes far toward establishing their affinity, the occurrence of thenoun in its absolute form with certain meaningless suffixes whichare invariably lost upon the affixion of a possessive pronominalelement-this typical process of Shoshonean is unrepresented inWasho.1 There appears to be a much smaller development ofderivative or semi-grammatical verb affixes in Shoshonean thanin Washo. So far as known the instrumental affixes of the latterlanguage are entirely wanting. As regards locative and instru-mental case-suffixes the two languages present a similar develop-ment, but this they share with numerous other languages, notablyin California, so that the force of the resemblance is weakened.Of more importance is the absence from Washo of the Shosho-nean objective case. Shoshonean also possesses a true plural,which Washo lacks. Distribution or collectivity seems to be indi-cated to some extent by reduplication at least in certain Shosho-nean dialects, and at times this process may partially replace the-usual formation of the plural; but after all such reduplication iscomparatively restricted in Shoshonean, however it may be devel-oped in other branches of the Uto-Aztekan family, and does notreplace the expression of the regular plural by means of a suffixas it does replace it in Washo. The morphological resemblancesof Shoshonean and Washo are therefore even fewer than one

1 It might seem that the loss or apocope of the initial d- from so manyWasho nouns when the possessive prefixes are added to them, resembles theShoshonean process referred to, but there are several points of difference.The lost element in Shoshonean is always a suffix, in Washo always a prefix.In Washo it therefore occupies the place taken by the pronominal prefix,whereas in Shoshonean this is usually not the case. In Shoshonean there areat least several suffixes quite distinct in form, whereas in Washo they all goback to a single sound, d or t. In Shoshonean the suffixes occur on so tospeak every noun and are quite clearly meaningless and functionless. Inmany nouns it is certain that they are not the means of deriving the nounfrom a verb stem. In Washo in many cases they do thus directly serve toturn verb stems into nouns. Finally, the Washo prefix is restricted to stemsthat are initially vocalic, whereas in Shoshonean there appears to be no suchlimitation of the prefix on phonetic grounds.

316

Kroeber. The Washo Language.

could from experience normally expect between two distinct butcontiguous American linguistic stocks.

But with no leaning toward Shoshonean, and none toward thelanguages of the North Pacific Coast, the morphological affinitiesof Washo, unless they are to be renounced altogether, must afterall be sought in California. Perhaps when information as to thestructure of Maidu and Miwok, the two Californian families indirect contact with Washo, becomes available, such affinities willbe apparent. For the present it must be admitted that detailedresemblances between Washo and the Central Californian lan-guages cannot be successfully pointed out, even though a com-parison certainly gives a general impression of fundamentallikeness. This impression probably rests mainly on the phoneticcharacter and structural clearcutness which Washo shares withthe Central Californian languages. The languages of this groupwhich are best known to the author, Yokuts and Yuki, certainlydo not show many specific morphological resemblances to Washo.But it must be remembered that these two languages are at somedistance, as distances go in the ethnology of California, fromWasho, sufficient at least to be separated from it by one or moreintervening families; and in comparing a family not with singleother families, but with an entire group of families, it is obviousthat no resemblances, except in a few points of the most funda-mental nature, can be looked for.

The degree of morphological resemblance of Washo to thesimple Californian languages therefore still awaits its determi-nation. Positive evidence of any considerable similarities in thisdirection has not yet been adduced. Significant resemblance toShoshonean or non-Californian families is clearly wanting.Everything therefore points to an unusual degree of morpholog-ical distinctness of Washo. Its lexical distinctness and lack ofgenetic relationship with any other family are obvious underpresent conditions of knowledge.

VOL. 4] 317

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