The adverbial and prepositional prefixes in Blackfoot
Jbi ii> syzb The Adverbial and Prepositional Prefixes in Blackfoot. TER VERKRIJGING VAN DEN GRAAD VAN Doctor in de Nederlandsehe Letterkunde AAN DE RIJKSUNIVERSITEIT TE LEIDEN, OP GEZAG VAN DEN RECTOR-MAGNIFICUS Dr. G. KALFF, HOOGLEKRAAR IN DE FACULTEIT DER LETTEREN EN WIJSBEGKERTE, VOOR DE FACULTEIT DER LETTEREN EN WIJSBEGEERTE TE VERDEDIGEN op Donderdag 18 October 1917, des namiddags 2 uur GERARDUS JOHANNES GEERS, GEBOREN TE DELFT. y^ LEIDEN - N. V. BOEKDRUKKERIJ v/h. L. VAN NIFTERIK Hz. /e. AAN MIJNE OUDERS. Bij het verschijnen van dit proefschrift wil ik de dankbaarheid uitspreken, die ik gevoel jegens de Hoog- leeraren Blok, Uhlenbeck, Kalpf, Vogel en den oud-Hoogleeraar Verdam, voor hetgeeu zij tot mijne vorming hebben bijgedragen ; dat ik deze betuiging slechts tot de nagedachtenis van wijlen Prof. Bussemaker kan richten, smart mij. Wat ik U, Hooggeachte Promotor, Professor Uhlenbeck, verschuldigd ben, moge voor altijd tusschen U en mij blijven als een hechte band. Edel-Groot-Achtbare Heeren Curatoren der Leidsche Universiteit, op wier goedgunstige aanbeveling ik eenige jaren lang door de beschikking der Hooge Regeering een Rijksstudiebeurs heb genoten, ook U betuig ik mijne erkentelijkheid. Ten slotte mijn hartelijken dank aan coUega Deeldee. aan de H. B. S. te Schiedam, die mijn „ General Remarks" met het oog op het Engelsch wel heeft willen doorzien. STELLINGEN ■s STELLINGEN. Kroeber (Arapaho Dialects p. 92) ziet niet scherp, en dwaalt althans, voorzoover het Blackfoot betreft, als hij beweert: „it seems possible that we may ultimately be justified in speaking of Algonkin as truly „holo- phrastic" or „polysynthetic". But if so these terms will essentially be only a convenient designation for the linguistic process which allows two verbs to consolidate into a single one." II. Kroeber (Arapaho Dialects p. 91) dwaalt als hij zegt: „that in „ incorporating" languages noun and verb can be combined to form verbs, whereas in other idioms they combine only into nouns." in. Als Kroeber (Arapaho Dialects p. 92) beweert dat „the principles of Algonkin verb-formation are in some respects conspicuously difi'erent from those of Indo- European", toont hij te weinig inzicht in het oudere Indogermaansch. 4 IV. In het Blackfoot komt een parasitische spirant voor, zooals Kroeber (Arapaho Dialects p. 82) die aanneemt voor het Arapaho, Cheyenne en Yurok. V. Dr. W. Jones' opmerking over de „ stress" (Algon- quian Word-formation ; Am. Anthrop. N. S. VI p. 375), waaruit bhjkt, dat deze klemtoon die syllabe op den voorgrond brengt, die in de combinatie het meest de aandacht moet ' trekken, gaat niet op voor het Blackfoot. VI. De verbale uitgang stempelt in het Blackfoot even- tueel elk taalelement, hetzij dit al of niet samengesteld is, tot een verbaalvorm, VII. H. Gering's vertaling -van Atlakvi|)a 32, 4 (holkve hvTlbe|)jar) „beim Schlafgemach" is te verwerpen. VIII. Bij de etymologic van „sprokkelmaand^^ dient men aan oud-germaansche vruchtbaarheidsgebruiken te denken. Noch de verklaring van J. Grimm (Deutsche Mythologie p. 749), noch die van Weinhold (Deutsche Monatsnamen p. 57), Bilfinger (Zeitschr. f. D. Wortf. V p. 264) en Ehris- mann (P. Br. B. XX p. 64) voldoen. / 5 IX. D. durcMrennen moet in semantisch verband gebracht worden met oostvl. inhranden. De verklaring van den titel van Vondels Geusevesper is te zoeken in den toon en de bedoeling der Roomsch- Katholieke Vesper. XI. Het taalgebruik van sommige primitieve volken en dat van moderne (realistische en impressionistische) woordkunstenaars vertoonen opmerkelijke punten van overeenkomst, die nog te weinig bestudeerd zijn. xn. De door Prof. Kalff terecht gelaakte gewoonte van Huyghens (Studien p. 364) : een sneldicht met een rijm als b.v. wonderhoeck te besluitexi met een vers op onder- broeck, is te verklaren uit het betrekkelijk argelooze van dien tijd, die nog niet de uit zelf-analyse geboren schaamte over een dergelijken lust tot onkiesche taal kende. XIII. In Schrijnen's opmerking (Nederl. Volkskunde I p. 288) naar aanleiding van het volksrijmpje : „Een bloem buiten den tijd Is een bruid of een Hjk". „Ook hier de verwantschap van dood en huwelijk als het telkens wederkeerend refrein" moet huwelijk ver- vangen worden door concepiie. XIV. Ten onrechte eischt J. de Meester (de Gids, Nov. 1916 p. 373 — 377) sprookjesachtigheid bij de opvoering van een Indisch drama als de Mrcchakatika. Even onjuist is zijn qualificatie „kinderlijk" voor dit stuk. XV. Oldenberg's geringschatting voor het Hindoedrama, speciaal voor de karakters daarin (Literatur des alten Indien p. 262 — 275) is te eenzijdig Westersch. XVI. Kinclus vs. 460—464: Hier vormaels brachtmen altoes dien wive, die haren man verloes, enen hoet van wilgen groene geloeft. De dichter maakt hier gebruik van de omstandigheid, dat de wilg het symbool was van onvruchtbaarheid en kuischheid. XVII. Ten onrechte vertaalt v. d. Bosch (Zwolsche Her- drukken, Granida vs. 311): „(het Hof) jaecht de lusten voor, u zijn se toeghe- [smeten, het w.w. voorjaghen door : wegjagen. Beter is : najagen. 7' XVIII. Bij de verklaring van 't ndl. heunhaas dient men althans te denken aan „bastardierte Lehniibersetzung" (cf. Mauthner, Die Sprache p. 58) van gr. (3ixvxv<}-oi;. XIX. Dr. E. C. God§e Molsbergen (N. R. C. 16 Sept. 1916 Ochtend) kan niet bewijzen, dat Plaatje (Native Life in South Africa, before and since the European War and the Boer Rebellion) zijn stam- en landgenooten misleidt, als hij spreekt van de wreedheid der Boeren tegenover de oude bevolking. XX. Dr. Jac. V. Ginneken in zijn brochure ^Als ons moe- dertaalonderwijs nog ooit gezond wil worden" (p. 18) verwaarloost bij zijn overwaardeering van het „moeder- taalonderwijs" vooral de paedagogische waarde van dat in de Geschiedenis. 1 PART I. General remarks. With reference to the title of this monograph I first of all wish to declare candidly, that it has been chosen from the standpoint of modern Indo-European langu- ages, i. e. that I have in view those prefixes which agree most with our prepositions (praeverbia) and adverbs, and that for the moment I will not and dare not decide, whether these Indo-European grammatical categories re- present as many logical categories in Blackfoot, in short, that I am not sure, whether these grammatical distinc- tions ought to be made in Blackfoot. Cf. F. Misteli, Typen des Sprachbaus, p. 16 *). *) „Im Siamesischen (sieh hinterind. Abschn. 3 fin.) nimmt die den prapositionalen Begriff enthaltende Verbal wurzel ofters die zweite Stelle ein: au ma „herbeibringen", lihin ma „heraufsteigen", khau ma „her- einkommen", aber : pai ma „gehen, kommen, besuchen" (ma „kommen her, herbei" ; khin „steigen, auf" ; khau lat. „intrare" und „intra") ; pen khin „aufleben", luk khin „sich erheben" ; khau pai „hineingehen" ; ein klarer prapositioneller oder adverbialer Begriff existiert auch hier nicht, weil man nicht genau weiss, welche Verbal wurzel die andere bestimmt und ob nicht vielmehr beide gleichwertige Bestandteile der Verbindung sind," 1 I have not tried to register all the prefixes which might be called prepositional or adverbial, confining my- self to only the most obvious of them, and leaving aside all more or less dubious matter, as also the prefixes of a markedly nominal and adjectival character. In Blackfoot, in Algonkin in general, and in other North American languages the prefixes to be dealt with have already often drawn the attention of students of language. Still, an extensive and I hope a sound treat- ment of this matter in Blackfoot may not prove super- fluous, may even deepen our insight into the structure of Algonkin. But I emphatically declare that I draw conclusions only as far as Blackfoot is concerned, and that I do not wish to follow the example of Jones*) and Michelson **) who both talk of „Algonquian" word- formation, etc., whereas they only deal with material from Fox, one of the dialects of the so-called Central- Algonkin. In this respect Kroeber ***), whose publica- tion on Arapaho dialects has been of great service to me, expresses himself much more guardedly, or perhaps I had better, say much more scientifically. One passage, surely, from this article of Kroeber's I might have placed as a motto above my treatise scil. : „In short the undetermined and, in the writer's mind, fundamental problem of Arapaho, Fox, and Algonkin in general is, whether these languages say „he enter- looks", „he enters-lookingly'', or „enteringly he looks." *) W. Jones, Some Principles of Algonquian Word-formation. Ameri- can Anthropologist, N(ew) S(eries) VI (1906) p. 369 sqq. **) W. Jones and T, Michelson, Algonquian (Fox) in Handbook of American Indian Languages I. ***) A, L, Kroeber, Arapaho Dialects (Un. of California Publications, etc. Vol. XII. No. 3, June 28, 1916). And indeed this question is also for Blackfoot of the greatest importance and the solution of the problem which I think I have found, and which is suggested by the material handled in Part II. I will try to work out in the next pages. The fact that Kroeber and the present author look upon this problem as the basis of the study of Algonkin, tallies with the inference already drawn by Powell : „Thus it is that the study of an Indian language is, to a large extent, the study of its verbs" (Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethnol. I, p. 11). By the side of these words of one of the earlier Americanists, which by their generality sound almost classical, I will, with special reference to Blackfoot, quote the words of one of the latest in this branch of science, namely Uhlenbeck (Some General Aspects of Blackfoot Morphology *) p. 33) : „When treat- ing the nouns and other parts of speech, we have seen already how marked a predilection Blackfoot has for verbal constructions, and the knowledge of kindred lan- guages has prepared us to meet also in this dialect with a complicate verbal system absorbing and incorporating all kinds of elements." So Uhlenbeck calls Blackfoot holophrastic or polysynthetic (see : Conjunctief-achtige Modi van het Blackfoot. Versl. Meded. der Kon. Akad. van Wetensch. Afd. Lettk. 4e Reeks. Deel XII. Amster- dam 1913 p. 244.) Also Jones, Michelson and Kroeber use these terms when speaking about Algonquian dialects which they seem to take for representatives of Algonkin in general. As Blackfoot is therefore also included in their inferences ') Verhandelingen der Kon. Akad. v. Wetensohappen Amsterdam. Afd. Letterk. N. R. Deel XIV. No. 5. Juni 1914, we must of necessity examine their opinions on this point more closely. That Jones is thinking ofholophrasis, becomes evident from these words : „Some of the dialects, like the Ojibwa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi, are disinte- grating. The breaking up is not uniform throughout a dialect ; it is faster in the regions where civilized in- fluences predominate or play a controlling force, while the purer forms are maintained in the places where ideas of the old-time life and associations have a chance to live and survive" (Algonquian Word-formation. Amer. Anthr. N. S. VI. p. 370) and from p. 384 of the same article : „It would perhaps be more correct to use the term sentence instead of ivord ; because the combined effect of all the elements in a combination is really that of a sentence or an approach to something more like a sentence." Expressed in this general way no objection can be raised to the opinion of Jones, as concerns Black- foot. But let us now consider what he thinks of the essential point of holophrasis or polysynthesis, in other words, what his idea of the composition of verbal forms really is. In his treatise on Fox (Handbook of American Indian Languages I) edited and in some places enlarged by Michelson, we read : ,,The principal process used for grammatical purposes is composition of stems. The stems are almost throughout of such character that they require intimate correlation with other stems, which is brought about by a complete coalescence of the group of com- ponent elements. These form a firm word-unit. Except- ing a number of particles, the word unit in Algonquian is so clearly defined that there can be no doubt as to the limits of sentence and word." (A modern linguist not forgetting that language itself is something living would probably have worded that first sentence somewhat differently). Then we read (op. cit. p. 759) : „Most of the elements that enter into composition are so nearly of the same order, that we can not properly speak of prefixes or suffixes", and a little farther: „The extended use of composition of verbal stems is particularly cha- racteristic of the Algonquian languages. These stems follow one another in definite order. A certain diffe- rentiation of the ideas expressed by initial stems and by those following them, which may be designated as secondary stems, may be observed, although it seems difficult to define these groups of ideas with exactness." And then we get, notwithstanding this „difficulty", a somewhat vague philosophizing about these two groups, the latter of which is once more divided into two classes — to clear up the „ difficulty", probably ! Let us consider what, according to Jones and Michel- son, is to be stated about these stems. A. The so-called „initial stems'': 1^. they are capable at times of standing alone, with the function of adverbs. 2®. an initial stem can enter into composition with only a formative and express an independent statement, though not always with a sharply defined meaning. 3^. many „initiai stems'' occur in combination with each other, sometimes followed by so-called secondary stems, sometimes not. N.B. Amongst the 123 „initial stems" which Michel- son adds to the examples of Jones, only a few stand in „initial" position. B. The „secondary stems" : 1^. they never occur alone. 2^. they are rarely found in conjunction with only a formative. 6 3^. they sometimes occupy the first place, even in a nominal form like tci'mani canoe (Handbook, p. 793). 4*^. some of them are frequent in nominal forms (ib. p. 794), and look more like „ incorporated" nouns than like verbal stems. 5^. according to Jones the so-called „secondary stems of the second order" show a general similarity with „initial stems" in the ideas they express. 6^. Michelson remarks (ibid. p. 802) : „that at present there is no reason why the so-called second class of the second order should not be relegated to oblivion and the entire body merged with the stems of the first class of the second order. The proposed division of stems of the first class of the second order into two subdivisions strikes me as sound in principle ; but too few secondary stems have been thus far pointed out to make the division feasible at present." I will not follow Michelson in his use of subjective, uncritical expressions and say that the whole concep- tion of Jones and himself „ strikes" me as forced and doctrinary. Without, for the present, pronouncing my private opinion on this head, which would in any case necessitate a thorough study of the Fox material, I leave it to the reader to weigh and compare the state- ments made sub A and B. Only I should like to draw the reader's attention to the fact that according to Michelson himself the stems of the second order prac- tically form one whole ; — that some noun-incorpora- tions proper should be left out of consideration ; — further, that amongst these „ secondary stems" there are a number which in meaning strongly resemble initial stems; — that, moreover, initial and secondary stems have some common characteristics after all; cf. Kroeber's remark, cited on p. 11. Only one more statement of Jones I should like to insert here (Algonquian Word-formation, p. 402) : „The components seem to stand toward each other in the position of qualifiers, the sense of one qualifying the sense of another with an efifect of direct- ing the meaning toward a particular direction. But whatever be the influence at work, the result is a spe- cialization of meaning, not only of the single member in the group but of all the members as they stand together with reference to one another. The stems seem charged with a latent meaning which becomes evident only when they appear in certain relations; out of those relations they stand like empty symbols. In his „Arapaho Dialects," p. 90sqq. Kroeber expa- tiates on the Arapaho verb and that of Algonkin in general, following Jones-Michelson. Kroeber starts from „the more conservative premises of prefix, stem, and suffix.' His main conclusions are as follows: 1^. „ Word-forming prefixes, in turn, are often difficult to separate from independent words. Thus, tas-i- and tcan-i- mean „on" and „ under" in verbs ; but provided with the locative suffix -i-hi' they are adverbs which stand alone. Just so xou-wu-hu', „straight", and xanou, „immediately", are employed, in the forms xou- and 8 xanou-, as prefixes to verbs. Verbs themselves, like tcasis, „to begin", and S-a»ku-h, „to follow", are used as pre- fixes to other verbs" (p. 90). 2^. „It is true that even when these elements are themselves verbs they are not used merely with the personal suffixes, but that second elements such as -hi-, -ni-, -ku-, -xa-, -h- are added to them. Now these added elements, which are frequent on indubitable verb stems, have all been listed as suffixes. But the possibility is by no means precluded that these ,, suffixes" whose signifi- cance usually is of the vaguest and most general, are themselves the real stem of the verb ; in which case the preceding element, which is so much more specific in meaning as usually to carry the principal idea conveyed by the complete word, would after all be a prefix of the adverbial or prepositional type familiar from so many other languages" (p. 90). 3^. „That Arapaho, like Shoshonean and some other American languages, possesses true compound verbs — verbs functioning as such and composed of two verbs — is thus probable" (p. 91). 4^. „In short, it would seem that the Arapaho verb is frequently, perhaps normally, compounded of elements which themselves either are, or can become, verbal in force" (p. 91). 5^. „In fine, the Algonkin verb, so far as Arapaho is representative of it, can not in any ofF-hand manner be broken up into the usual elements of „ prefix", „stem", and a suffix" ; and any attempt to apply such a procedure leads quickly to contradictions and inconsistencies that reveal the arbitrariness of the method" (p. 92). More politely than truthfully Kroeber continues : „The late Dr. William Jones reached exactly the same con- elusion as regards the Fox dialect" (p. 92\ For Jones, it is true, says : „Most of the elements that enter into composition are so nearly of the same order, that we can not properly speak of prefixes or suffixes" (Hand- book p. 759), but as we have seen, instead of those old categories he uses the new names „initial stems", „secon- dary stems of the first order", ,, secondary stems of the second order'', and ,, secondary co-ordinative stems", to which he wishes to give a fixed place in the word-com- pound, which is the very characteristic of prefixes and suffixes. Still greater is Kroeber's deviation from the truth when he says : „That the principles of Algonkin verb formation are in some respects conspicuously difi"erent from those of Indo-European Dr. Jones has made very clear ; and a realization of this fact is the first requisite to a true understanding of Algonkin structure" (p. 92). This mistake may perhaps be due to Kroeber's warm sympathy with and admiration of Jones, whose true merits are, however, great enough to enable him to dispense with that erroneously ascribed to him here. Uhlenbeck (Internationales Archiv f. Ethnographic, Bnd. XXIV 1916, p. 37), when reviewing this pamphlet of Kroeber's, has already referred to this passage and has made the following remarks on this head : 1^. „What do we know, after all, about Indo-European verb-structure ? .... As I take it, the Indo-European verb-formation is just as enigmatic as the Algonquian verb-structure." 2^. „that the students in that field [scil. of American Indian linguistics! have some more or less erroneous ideas about Indo-European, and that for that reason they had better leave the Old World languages alone, when 10 discussing the fundamental traits of the aboriginal langu- ages of America". 3^. ,,we can expect more light to be thrown on Indo- European or Semitic by a thorough study of phenomena of relatively „primitive" languages than vice-versa". This is surely sufficient to put Kroeber's implicitely pronounced assertion on Indo-European simply aside, but we might even make a positive attack on his con- tention that „the principles of Algonkin verb-formation are in some respects conspicuously different from those of Indo-European" by pointing to such works as : P. Persson, Wurzelerweiterung und Wurzelvariation 1891 and P. Persson, Indogermanische Wortforschungen 1912. See, moreover, some articles and notes of R. M. Meyer (Indo- germanische Forschungen XII, p. 46), K. Brugmann (I. F. XII, p. 150), Johansson (Beitrage zur Geschichte der Deutschen Sprache und Literatur XV, p. 227 and Zeitschrift f. Deutsche Philologie 31, p. 296) and others, all of which point to the fact that there are undoubt- edly Indogermanists who admit the possibility of poly- synthetic verbal structure or at least of the composition of verbal stems in Indo-European and are fain to show some traces of this phenomenon. In conclusion Kroeber contends: „there seem to be only three possible descriptions of the Algonkin verb that have a usable meaning" (p. 93) scil. : „The first interpretation is that of the verb as the result of a process of composition similar to that of noun composition, but extended in Algonkin also to verbs. This essentially is the conclusion of Dr. Jones; and it is also the inference of the present writer. But it cannot be too clearly recognized that even if this explanation is in substance the correct one we do not 11 yet really know anything as to the rules and condi- tions and limitations of this verb-compounding. The second interpretation of the Algonkin verb is that of a stem followed by a greater or less number of suffixes. In this case the ^initial" stem of Dr. Jones would be the only true stem, his „secondary stems" the suffixes. In support of this explanation is the fact that the initial elements of verbs come nearest to having the power of forming words by themselves, in both Arapaho and Fox ; and the statement of Dr. Jones (Am. Anthr. N. S. VI, p. 401) that on the whole initial stems more definitely perform the function of verbs. If this view is correct, the type of Arapaho verb-building would be somewhat analogous to that of Eskimo. The third possible interpretation is also that of a verb stem with afiixes, the word-forming ones, however, being chiefly or wholly prefixes, the stem coming last, except for grammatical endings. In favour of this last view is the fact that practically all the „ secondary stems of the second order" given by Dr. Jones are naturally translated by words which in most other languages are verbs, whereas substantially all his cited „initial stems" and ^secondary stems of the first order" can actually be rendered, without much distor- tion as adverbs, nouns, auxiliary verbs, or modal par- ticles. It is not certain how far Dr. Jones's examples of each class are fully representative of that class, his list obviously aiming at well translated instances rather than at fullness; but it is clear that his own presenta- tion of evidence leaves the interpretation of the „secon dary stems of the second order" as being true verb stems defined by prefixes, in a position where it cannot be summarily dismissed." 12 In special reference to Dr. Jones's sketch of Fox revised and enlarged by Dr. Michelson for the „Handbook", Kroeber gives his view on the Fox verb. He says (p. 95): ,,The secondary stems of the first order are clearly not the principal stems of the verb- complexes. The ^initial stems" may be verbs. If they are, the „secon- dary stems of the second order" are either suffixes or other verbs compounded with the ^initial stems". That they are suffixes does not seem likely from the charac- ter of the examples given. If their number is substan- tially limited to those quoted, their suffix nature might be conceived of; but if their number is indefinitely large they cannot well be anything but true verb stems. The evidence of quantity, then, becomes as decisive on this point as that of quality; and this evidence must be awaited with interest from Dr. Michelson or some other authority competent to carry on Dr. Jones's analysis. Meanwhile the strong probability is that if the „ initial stems" are truly verbal in nature, the normal Fox verb is a compound binary verb. [T^'hy „binary" ? or, in other words, what has become of the poor ^secondary stems of the first order'^ ?] If, on the other hand, the „initial stems" are essentially adverbial, prepositional, or modal in qua- lity, they deserve only to be ranked as prefixes, even if some of them may have reached this condition by the way of once having been subsidiary verbs; and in that case Fox, and with it no doubt Algonkin in general, possesses verbs that are built up around a kernel of a normal verbal stem or root, as in most languages, and these stems or roots are the „ secondary stems of the second order". In my opinion we have now given sufficient space to Kroeber which, to be sure, he fully deserves on ac- 13 count of his careful and critical way of reasoning, and we now know his view. So we had better summarize at once what we have to find fault with in his con- clusions and what inferences may be drawn on this head by an investigation of the Blackfoot material. On p. 3 we already quoted Uhlenbeck when he deals with the „ marked predilection of Blackfoot for verbal constructions". The words, e.g., which have an indepen- dent form in - u a are verbal : they have the function of a 3 prs. sg. (Uhlenbeck, Some General Aspects, p. 9 and 16) ; nomina loci with prefixed it- and ending in - 0 p i, and nomina instrumenti with prefix i x t - and ending in - o p i are 1 prs. plur. inclusive ; many per- sonal names are verbal forms e. g. : suyeniki Kills-in- water etc. sub sui- Part II; an adjective used attributively is generally an inseparable verbal prefix (loc. cit. p. 18) ; used predicatively it is an intransitive verb. The majo- rity of pronouns are often verbalized; the independent cardinals (animate and inanimate) occur with verbal endings just like difi'erent other series of numerals (e. g. to count days and nights, or one's age, the ordinalia). Pure verbal forms (and with these I mean those forms which, looked upon from the point of view of modern English, we should call verbal) possess, moreover, an almost unlimited capacity to absorb all sorts of ele- ments. Local and instrumental case-suffixes and post- positions, e. g., do not exist in Blackfoot, but the langu- age incorporates local and instrumental prefixes into the verb. Also noun-incorporation plays a rather import- ant part (loc. cit. p. 58 — 59). With special regard to the compositional power of the Blackfoot verb, we may, starting like Kroeber from „the more conservative pre- mises of prefix, stem, and suffix", state the following: 14 1^. Prefixes have sometimes arisen because a verbal root was very often used as the first part of a com- pound (cf. Uhlenbeck, Some General Aspects, p. 59, who also mentions some suffixes of similar origin). See in Part He. g. : amat-, mat-, omat-, aumatap-, kot(s)-, djskak-, apam-, tap-, u%s-, etc. Also compare the results of Kroeber, p. 8 sub 2. 2*^. Many prefixes also occur as independent adverbs, although they have always a suffix - o % t s fi) , - a Ai t s (i), - i s t s (i), in this function, e. g. : akim6%ts, ako^ts, amlto%ts, anauko%ts, ap^mo;tts, ap^t6;^tsik' sp6%ts, namists, ksisto^tsi, etc. (cf. the similar results of Kroe- ber, p. 7 sub 1). 3^. Many prefixes may acquire verbal force (cf. p. 8 sub 4, where Kroeber draws the same conclusion) ; exam- ples are to be found Part II passim. 4^. The elements referred to sub 3® may be turned into verbal forms by means of a verbal ending, occasionally preceded by a verbalizing suffix or incorporated noun. 5*^. Probably this verbalizing suffix does not even deserve that name and may also turn out to be a com- positional element with a very vague general meaning. Cf. the notes of Kroeber on suffixes (loc. cit. p. 105 — 106): „What at first appears to be the stem preceding this suffix is in most cases an element which itself is normally a prefix. Whether the „ prefix" tcabi- or the „suffix" -xa is the true verbal „stem" remains to be determined as in so many other cases". As such apparent suffixes seem, e. g., to occur- ap (i) -, ixk-(-o%k-), -ixp-(-o%p-), -i x t-(-o % t-), though they also occur as so-called prefixes, sometimes even as independent verbs, e. g. : ixto ; see Part II a p -, i x k -, i x p -, 1 X t -. 15 6°. At first sight the last element to which the verbal ending is joined, looks very much like the verbal stem proper; but that they are by no means always original verbs and that, indeed, the verbal ending as such turns the whole combination into a verbal form is proved by forms like: isksa%kuspiniu she had earth on her cheeks nbt. 73, 16 (cf. ksa^kum earth; motstsipina cheek) -iu is verbal ending). ki matopiu and he had also an arrow nbt. 46, 1 (mat- again, also; cf. ^pssi arrow). iiksimiko the snow was deep nbt. 120, 8 (ik(s)- very] imi- deep\ koni, rarely used for koniskuyi snow). aiksistsmikinau then she had done skimming (lit.; then she had completed the leghones-soup) nbt. 11, 16 (ai- see Part II; ksist- done, Part II; nitsinikin^ni my soup of the leghones'). 7^. It surely follows from the Blackfoot material in Part II, that in every form every element has its „psy- chologically fixed place", but this place may be quite difi'erent in another combination and depends entirely on the order in which the elements of thought rise be- fore the speaker's mind, owing to their greater or lesser importance or to the association of ideas. Thus the element, which in one case heads the compound and might be called a prefix, has in another combination changed places with what in the first case might have been called stem or even sufiix. 8^. Besides, owing to their vagueness, some elements may occur more than once in one complex e. g. : ai-, i t (s) -, i X t -. As we see (especially sub 1^, 2^, 3*^, 5^) there is indeed a remarkably great similarity between the facts in Ara- 16 paho and Blackfoot and also between Fox and Black- foot, as became evident from the careful examination by Kroeber and ourselves of Dr. Jones's results. And if the present author draws a conclusion from these facts, which does somewhat dififer from that of Jones and Kroeber, this is mainly due to some of the other cha- racteristics, noted about Blackfoot verb-structure (sub 6^, 7^, 8^). For on account of these, there can be no question in Blackfoot of the even for Fox very doctrinary stem- classification of Jones, the weak points of which are brought forward by the characteristics noted on p. 5-6. Nor should I like to say with Kroeber (see above p. 12) that „the verbs are built up around a kernel of a normal verbal stem or root", nor speak of „compound binary verbs". And for this very reason I cannot agree with Kroeber when he says about holophrasis and poly- synthesis: „ these terms will essentially be only a con- venient designation for the linguistic process which allows two verbs to consolidate into a single one." The less because we may get a quite different con- ception of holophrasis, as it is found in Blackfoot and perhaps in Algonkin in general, if we consider what Jespersen (A Modern English Grammar II Syntax I. p. 6) says on the verb in modern English, scil. that it is especially sentence-building. As we stated already, any word or group of words may be a verb in such languages; or, what is equally true, any word there can be sentence-building. So, we can not, as a rule, find a kernel (the verb) and other parts, but the whole sentence is a verb, cf. Jones's statement quoted on p. 4. E. g. : aukanaiksistsipuyisi when they all stood in a circle nbt. 73, 13; it^paisauakstsitsikiop then we began 17 to put 0)1 other moccasins nbt. 29, 2; aitamauksoyiau they ate the raw entrails, being happy nbt. 166, 1 ; tam- anistsipitotsau%kyapiksiuaie then he suddenly threw up his head out of the water right in front nbt. 79, 33. But we must not lose sight of the fact that, supposing the present view, nowadays taken by grammarians of modern European languages, — starting from the sen- tence as being a unit, and the expression of one thought or feeling — to be the right one, the difference with Blackfoot c. s. is not great. It is really only a gradual difference, in so far that the unit of sentence in such „primitive" languages as the Algonquian is much stronger (in consequence of which, e. g., incorporated nouns are frequently as it were only represented by an index), and on the other hand it is more capricious and un- systematical and consequently more difficult, because the order of words, which in a language such as mo- dern English has even made inflexion of forms super- fluous, is much less fixed. Interesting on this point is also the following remark of Jespersen: „Very often such a verb form [in the old Arian (Indogermanic) langu- ages, as well as in some languages belonging to other groups] was sufficient in itself to express a whole com- posite thought ; what could not be incorporated into the verb form, stood more or less isolated, outside the sen- tence proper, in what may be called extraposition. In course of time, the tendenz has been to strip the verbal idea or root idea of these accessory notions ; but though in a form like must there are no longer any indications of person, number, tense, or mood, most other verb forms still retain some or all of these accessory ideas..." (O. Jespersen. op. c. 1. 44). Another student of Indo-European linguistics, therefore, who accepts for the ancient Indo- 18 European, as well as for some other languages a liolo- phrasis differing somewhat from that meant by Kroeber. The more reason for me, not to consider myself bound down to the three interpretations of the Algonkin verb proposed by Kroeber, although he remarks in a somewhat prophetic tone : „ until the science of language is revolu- tionized by entirely new methods of thinking about it, there seem to be only three possible descriptions of the Algonkin verb that have a usable meaning" (see above, p. 10). And I will make bold to propose a fourth inter- pretation which I consider documented and explained in the material dealt with in Part II: „The Blackfoot verb and, — seeing the apparent agree- ment with the facts given by Jones and Kroeber — the Algonkin verb in general, is a compound of various elements (verbal, adverbial, nominal, etc.) characterized as a verbal form by means of a verbal ending". PART II. List of prefixes. ai-, au-. Monophthongizations of a i - (scil. a -, a-) are frequent immediately before -s- and perhaps also before -a- (cf. s a i -) e. g. : ixtastuyimiu (;the people) ivintered with nbt. 8, 11. aa%kai}n he ivas on his way home nbt. 77, 9. aa%kyapipiksiu [tlie ivar-party) ran home nbt. 18, 2. In many other cases we have to do with a prothetic i - and not with a rest of a i - (as it seemed a moment to the present author) e. g. : iska%k6sii they .stretched their hands hack (i. e. they went hack to help) nbt. 24, 9. isksa%kuspiniu she had earth on her cheek nbt. 73, 16. istuisoiau it was ivinter, when they went on the raid nbt. 23, 13. iskunata;iikumiks those that shot hard nbt, 12, 14. isikiztoiiksistsikuyi Monday nbt. 231, 1. isikotuyiks Black-tails nbt. 7, 20. As far as I can see, a i -, a u - is the only prefix that is also used as an infix in the strict sense of the word, e. g. : 20 kaiixtsipiniki Spotted-kills (woman's name). paiota Fly(ing) (woman's name). kaiiskstakip^Kpaukau he had had a heaver-dream nbt. 84, 10. amaie paiiskiua over there is somebody corralling nbt. 120, 19. kaiisto%s!nai he stuck himself nbt. 21, 21 (cf. ibidem: ixtsiksisto^sinai he stuck himself with). paiiskiua {tlie people) ivas corralling obt. 18, 1. anno%k kaiokuixk this night obt. 13, 11. kaikitoto%paipiinai maiaii slie just jumped to her robe nbt. 138, 17. kauko^tokiaiks they had only their ears left nbt. 18, 1. aikauko%t;i;skunixkiuaie lie just shot with it nbt. 183, 12. The prefix a i -, a u - (just like i t -) may be found more than once in the same form ; e.g.: aitsauaipa;skaii oto^kemaiks Jiis wives were the only ones that did not dance nbt. 73, 1. ki aiaianikapimatsiuaie and he had him for a single man ivith him nbt. 84, 8. itauauakoau we ivould chase nbt. 1, 22. aiaiakapotsiu then he began to pack his meat (on a horse) nbt. 2, 8. Syntactical. 1^. ai-, au- has a durative force (in contrast to it- that expresses perfectivity as well as „being defined as to place or time or circumstances"). So ai-, au- is frequent in forms of the temporal conjunctive, and of the indicative used as such, to express the unlimited space of time, out of which one special moment is pointed at by a form with it-. Examples : aipjxskaii they were dancing nbt. 72, 1. 21 autusi in spring (when it is spring) nbt. 76, 23. In other words we can say that with a i -, a u - the situation of things is summarized, and that with it- forms the narrative proceeds. E. g. : aipixtsiu she was far away nbt. 125, 26. aupoka%kaiimiuaie she went home with her nbt. 124, 12. auk^naiokaiau ; oma kipitakeu itsipiiau all of them slept; that old ivoman got up nbt. 128, 17. 2^. a i -, a u - is also iterative and then it may be rendered by the EngHsh verb „to use". E. g. : kailsto%sinai he stuck himself ('scil. the father of each married man who was Jcilled) nbt. 21, 21. auanit say every time obt. 2, 2. aip^skasi . . . auaksipuyiau when they danced . . . they stood in a circle nbt. 72, 4. itauakimau then (the people) chased the buffalo nbt. 3, 6. auaua%kisixk they ivere shaking their heads (^= danc- ing) nbt. 85, 4. <jsnni nitainausinai that way he used to dress nbt, 73, 34. aist<xmsatapiksixp otokoauaists then they would throw out their kidneys nbt. 1, 29. asotsimani itaismakiauaists they made marks on the parfleches (N.B. it- is local) nbt. 2, 19. itauamiaupiu = {the people) began to get on their horses nbt. 3, 6. aini- cf. sub in- below ; down. aip(i)st8ik- a little; scarcely; cf. sub ipistsik-. aist(8)-, ast(s)- (cf. ai-, sai-) close, near to. 22 1*^. frequent as independent verbal stem, i. e. only followed by a verbalizing suffix : aistslsi ivhen they are close by nbt. 77, 3. aiikaistsiu {the time) is getting very near nbt. 85, 24. aistslsi when it is close to the time {that . . .) nbt. 77, 6. itstsixki aistoyi if some one comes nbt. 175, 19. 2^. combined with the verbal stem -a;t;k-, -o%k- „to go, to come". E. g. : aisto%kima moyists he got near the lodges nbt. 81, 5. ma%kaisto%koyis that he might get closer to him nbt. 80, 6. otaisto%kokoaiauaie when she came near them nbt. 110, 6. otsitsiikaistokokoaiauaie she was very close to them nbt. 110, 12*). aisto%kimiau omim otapimanoai they came near their lodge nbt. 24, 7. aiisto^koyiu oml unnasini she got near the men nbt. 168, 28. aiista;^^kixk when we were near to nbt. 7, 2. aisto^kim he got near it nbt. 79, 32. akomataisto^kixp lue shall get close there nbt. 26, 27. 3*^. combined with various prefixes: a%kaistsaipisko%toaiiks let us charge on them close (i. e. when they are close by) nbt. 17, 7. matsito%kanauaistoma%kaii they all ran again to him nbt. 208, 9. 4^. aistsikai-Pekaniua the Peigan tribe of not long ago (lit.; near-old) nbt. 203, 9. *) - a i s 1 0 k- stands for - a i s t o ;<; k. Examples of such inconstant aspiration are numerous. 23 1*^. al£(s)- nearly, about to, soon ; cf. a u t ;ij m - a k - almost^ about to. 1^. seldom as independent verbal stem : nitaiak I shall; cf. nito^kot 1 com. 2^. as a prefix with the meaning nearly^ soon : aksikoko it was nearly night obt. 58, 1. itaksinetsiu he was nearly drowned obt. 64, 20. aksimiu he was about to drink obt. 64, 10. itakotoyiuaie he was nearly taking it nbt. 158, 22. tautjxmakotoau / am nearly taking it nbt. 158, 24. akanetoyiau tJiey were going to separate nbt. 2, 30. akapinako towards morning nbt. 27, 8. 3". nearly as a tense-prefix of the future: akamistutsop we shall move up nbt. 1, 15. akopakiop ive shall move nbt. 1, 18. akitakauop ice shall 7nake a circle {to chase the buf- falo) nbt. 3, 1. nitaksip^sk / shall dance nbt. 78, 8. matako%totakixp 1 will not take from them nbt. 78, 2. nitaksam I shall hunt obt. 7, 9. kitakauato;^pinan we shall eat you obt. 8, 26. 4^. The next future seems to be expressed by the combination a i - a k - ; e. g. : ann6%k aiaksikokuixk now this coming night nbt. 119, 6. aiaksistuyiu it ivill be cold obt. 13, 16. anno^kaie nitukska aiaksip^iskau now it is {only) one {night more) they will dance obt. 21, 30. kitaiako^kot 1 shall give it to you obt. 59, 8. 5^. In connection with the adverbial meaning of a k (s) - about to, almost, the sense of a future in 24 the past is rather intelligible. These forms often have nearly the same value as those with iterative a i - (cf. ai- sub 20): akanistsiuaie he tvould tell her nbt. 1, 33. otsitaka%kaiixp ivlien he ivas to go home nbt. 77, 26. autosaie akitanistsiuaie ivheii she came back, he would say to her nbt. 2, 1. atakskunakinai he ivas going to shoot again obt. 30, 28. akst;t;m>5Jsikomoauaie it tvould be broken for him nbt. 2, 3. akitomonimaie he tvould roll {the marrotv) in (the manifold) nbt. 2, 5. akitaip;ikstsimaie he tvould burst it by chewing it nbt. 2, 6. akautsim they tvould take it nbt. 3, 9. ais7.moyixk ataksamiixk after a long while he was going to hunt obt. 23, 6. N.B. omi einiua tuksk^xmi auka;\;;tsenikiop tve shall kill one of the buffalo nbt. 165, 32. 2'^. ak(8)- round. For different forms see : u % s o k -, u % s 0 % k -. P. as an independent verbal stem, only followed by a verbalizing suffix : t(;imitap.xksiniinai then it circled around to nbt. 156, 25. 2''. as a prefix in nominal forms : akokatsists the circle-camp nbt. 18, 12. Perhaps also in : amoi aka%k6 itoto he came to a round hill nbt. 198, 1, although this form may be regarded as verbal like : itakitsoaskuyiu the Round-forest nbt. 14, 25. 3*^. as a verbal prefix ; 25 akak^uhop we shall go in a circle after buffalo nbt. 90, 23. aitakopiiau ilieTj sat in a circle nbt. 45, 22. auaksipuyiau they stood in a circle nbt. 72, 4. itauaksipuyimiauaie theij were all standing around them nbt. 41, 11. N.B. aukanaiksistsipuyisi when they all stood in a circle nbt. 73, 13. It is doubtful whether „in a circle" is expressed here by ak- (c. q. to be found in auk-) or by - k s i s t - (cf. 1^ k s i s t - sub 3"). ak(ai)-, ak(au)-, (i)kai- ; cf i k -. These prefixes are to be divided in two rather dif- ferent semantic groups with the meanings much, many and already. A similar expansion of use and sense is to be noted by the prefix a m a i - (omai-, umai-, imai-) which besides replaces a k a i - already after a negative, e.g. sauumai-, matomai-; cf. amai- and Uhlenbeck, Some General Aspects p. 49. Especially for this reason I did not hesitate to identify a k a i - much with a k a i - old, already. So we have the following meanings: 1^. many, much, plenty of. a) as an element of nominal forms or as an indefinite pronoun, animate and inanimate (when used predi- catively this is verbalized): akditapisko many people together (= town). akaitapi many people nbt 121, 1. ikakauoyi auaua%sists there is plenty of food nhi 76,19. ski'miks akaiimi 7na7iy mares nbt. 224, 14. matakauoa istuyists it was not many years nbt. 224, 16. Kyaiakaiimmi Many-hears (name of a Blood-Indian man). 26 akail'mmixki they were many obt. 3, n®. 11. itakaiimi notasiuaniks then were many our horses nbt. 224, 17. akauoyi many {were) nbt. 224, 38. h) as an independent adverb ending in - o % t s ; sometimes used in a verbal form: ak6%tsi apito%so%tsi very far north obt. 5, 1. aka %tsiaie otoka'ni far do-wu was her hair nbt. 137, 6. c) as a prefix of verbal forms: itakautotau he made plenty of fire {a big fire) nbt. 176, 8. nimataikautsipa / do not often swim. 2^. old, already. On account of the latter meaning we might call akai- a prefix of the perfect tense („ein perfektisches Praefix", as German philologists would say), just like k s i s t - (N.B. they are often found together). a) with substantives former, ancient: ikai-Pek<xniua the ancient Peigan tribe obt. 5, 1 ; nbt. 1, 1; nbt. 51, 6. (xkai-tapiua the ancient people obt. 57, 1. b) as a verbal prefix already: akauksikinakiminai slie had already turned into bones obt. 25, 12. ^kaitautsiksistopin {the people) was already sitting nbt. 199, 11. nikaumotsaiau I have killed {all those) obt. 48, 1. kikato%ko;^kemi you have got another ivife obt. 38, 19. «kato%ko%keminai he has got another ivife obt. 38, 16. ^kainim omik apauk he had seen there a flint-knife obt. 47, 18. kikau%koi you have got something to eat obt. 37, 3. Ikaumatapakimiu she was already hammering nbt. 11, 21. 27 nikainitau I have killed him obt. 46, 25. i^^kaumitaiiasiu lie had turned into a dog obt. 11, 6. ikaitaiksistsauyiau they had already done eating obt. 3, nO. 10. iaikainauasiu he has become a chief obt. 53, 28. ^kainim he had seen it obt. 46, 13. ^kaiokau he has fallen asleep obt. 22, 16. ij^kainii they ivere dead already obt. 46, 9. okainokai he was already seen by him obt. 20, 8. nikainitiinaii we have killed her obt. 28, 16. kikaip;K%tsan you have said wrong obt. 54, 27. aikaistapaipyapsapinai he kept looking about farther away nbt. 143, 9. ^kais^ismomato it is already a long time that she started obt. 39, 23. clksiisixnio it is already a long time obt. 26, 22. kaiiksipixtsiau they went already very far off nbt. 130, 1. mi'nists ^kaitsii the berries are ripe already nbt. 4, 13. kikaisksinok he already knows you nbt. 120, 20. ikaitsistapu he was going away already nbt. 73, 24. ^kauoma%ksimiau they had already got big obt. 25, 13. c) From the meaning mentioned sub b may be also derived the use of this prefix with the value of still which is found to be in some cases the best suitable translation for the combination ok-anist- (cf . m a- n 1 s t - sub 8°). The single variant ok- occurs : okai- nokai he was already seen by him obt. 20, 8. Here follow the places where okanist- has been met with : okanistaiixtsixpiaiks they were still there obt. 64, 14. okanistsitaixtsixp fhey were still there nbt. 198, 17. 28 ki okanistaia%kitspiaie and it was still smoking obt. 19, 15. okauistauamotsiixpi they still invite each other nbt. 54, 8. okanistaixtsixpi tliey (inan.) are still there nbt. 54, 19. 