Volume 1

Handbook of American Indian languages / by Franz Boas ; with illustrative sketches by Roland B. Dixon ... [and others].

Franz Boas

Date:: 1911-

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Handbook of American Indian languages / by Franz Boas ; with illustrative sketches by Roland B. Dixon ... [and others]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

117/1088 page 105

$presence of this syllable, together with a certain form of the root, constitutes a customary tense or mode. By the use of na- an iterative force is given to the verb, express- ing the fact that the act is done a second time or that it is undone. § 16. Time Time is expressed by means of suffixes, a change of root, inde- pendent adverbs, and temporal clauses. For past time -lum may be suffixed to a noun or verb. A house in ruins is called xonianeen HOUSE USED TO BE. HaWtual acts which have ceased are expressed by the same suffix, as auiMinneen I used to do it. A single definite act completed in time already past is diti'erentiated from such acts in present time by a change in the form and length of the root, and a change of the accent: for example, tdnni'nya he has just arrived tcinninyai' he arrived some time ago The future is expressed by the suffixes -te and -teL. The former seems to be employed of the more remote future. These are gen- erally employed only with verbs, but are sometimes found with nouns and adverbs: for example, haiyate here will be the place. § 17. Mode Closely connected with the time of the act is the degree of cer- tainty with which it is asserted. For past acts, suffixes which indi- cate the source of the authority for the statement are often employed. That which is perceived by the sense of hearing has -tsu or -tse^ suffixed; the former for the past, and the latter for the present. \Vhen the transaction is in sight, -e is suffixed. Things which are conjectured from circumstantial evidence, as the building of a fire from the remains of one, have -xdlan added to the verb: Leyanillai they built a fire Lexjanillaxdlan they must have built a fire [here are the ashes] Future acts which are contingent on human will or outward cir- cumstance are I’endered by the suffix -de^. When the future is expressed with an absolute negative force, the impossibility of its being brought to pass being implied, a special form of the verb with an auxiliary verb prefixed is used. §§ 16, 17$