[From the: American Anthropologist for January, 1892.] NOTES ON THE CHEMAKUM LANGUAGE FRANZ BOAS. When George Gibbs wrote on the tribes of western Washington (Cont. to N. Am. Eth., vol i, p. 177), the Chemakum still num- bered 90 souls. When I visted Puget Sound in the summer of 1890 I learned of only three individuals who spoke the language—one woman, living near Port Townsend, and one man and his sister, who live at Port Gamble. As the Indians of Puget Sound are very restless in summer I had great difficulty in finding any of these indi- viduals. After a protracted search I succeeded in meeting “Louise,” who lives at Port Gamble, where she makes a living as a washer- woman. Although she speaks Chemakum occasionally with her brother, she uses mostly Clallam in conversing with the other In- dians of the village, and the Chinook jargon in her intercourse with the whites. She has, therefore, undoubtedly forgotten part of her language. She stated that neither she nor her brother and the woman living near Port Townsend speak Chemakum fluently and properly. Besides, she was somewhat addicted to the use of liquor, and as she herself and the white man with whom she lived indulged alternately in their libations, the conditions for the collections of good lin- guistic material were not very favorable. Still, I was able to collect about 1,250 words, grammatical forms, and sentences, which were all corroborated by repeated questioning. From this material the following notes have been derived: According to Gibbs the original country of the Chemakum, who call themselves Aqoqulo,* embraced Port Townsend, Port Ludlow, and Port Gamble. According to the uniform testimony of Louise, a few Clallam and a Puyallup, they were restricted to the peninsula between Hood canal and Port Townsend. Phonetics.—The vowels are not quite as variable and indistinct as in the neighboring Salishan dialects, but still obscure vowels are * 5[=deep guttural k. e — e m flower. t5 = dento-alveolar t. q = ch as in Scotch “ loch.” 1‘ = explosive posterior 1. ! following a letter indicates more than ordinary strength of articula- tion. 38 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [VoJ. V. very frequent. Diphthongs are rare. I am sure only of the occur- rence of ai and au. The following consonants are found in my list of words: h. k, 3[, q. y. n; t; s, c, t$. ts, tc. m, p. 1, 1‘. The following sounds begin words: a, a, e, e, e, I, o. u is not found in my list as an initial sound. All consonants with the exception of y and t? are found as initial sounds. Combinations of consonants in the beginning of words are very rare. I found only the following examples : striking; sptco'o, berry basket. The following terminal consonants and combinations of conso- nants are found in my collection : k, q. n; t; s. ts, tc. m, p. 1, 1‘. 2[t ks 2[1‘ , It y[s tsl‘ nt ns tst tct The Article.—It seems that nouns have two genders, masculine and feminine, which have separate articles. qo he'na, my father. ko he'na, my mother, qo o'tltets, thy house. ko he'elotsets, thy canoe, qo ha'maa, the tree. The plural article is the same for both genders: ho tsitsqa'll‘e, my cousins. In interrogative sentences other articles are used—qa for mascu- line, tea for feminine, qa for plural. qa he'nSets ?—Where is thy father ? 3[o'o5i tea he'neets ?—Where is thy mother ? >[o'o5i qa tetc’ukbas?—Where is my arrow? >[o'o3i tea he'elo^ubes?—Where is my canoe? 3[o'o5[ qa ?—Where is my axe ? 3[o'o5i tea jpie'les’ets?—Where is thy knife? ate’es qa ha'acettets?—What have you bought ? qa o't!Pe?—Where are my houses? qa tsilo'lej[l£es?—Where are my canoes? Jan. 1892.] NOTES ON THE CHEMAKUM LANGUAGE. 39 The Noun.—It appears from the examples given above that the noun has two genders. It is of interest to note that pronominal gender, by means of which male and female are distinguished, is found in all Salishan dialects spoken west of the Cascade range and on the coast of British Columbia, while real gender occurs in all dialects of the Chinook. The plural is, more properly speaking, a collective, but is fre- quently used in a way similar to our plural, namely, when the col- lective and plural ideas nearly coincide. The difference between the two is, however, brought out clearly in the following instance: e'sa-i (i) tc’aTai (2) tca'qul* (3)—many (1) stones are (2) on the beach (3). 1‘e'sai tc’a'tc’al'a—a heap of stones. The collective is formed in a variety of ways : (1) By the prefix is with the first vowel of the stem: Singular. Collective, ha'maa tsa'hamaa tree, tsu'qot tsitsu'qot lake, a'maas tsaa'maas grandparent. canoe. (2) By reduplication: hau'atska hahaua'tska deer, que'ltem qaque'ltem European (borrowed from >[u'eles jjujjue'les knife. [Clallam). te'el‘laas teteel'a'as husband. (3) By diaeresis: tca'atcis’is tcaatca'is’is my mother’s sister. (4) By amplification of the stem according to unknown rules; frequently with the infix is : koo'tlis my wife, qa'aqaas qat5‘eqaas my sister’s husband. taqo'ohpiT tatsqo'olqub axe. et5 ’e'qaa oot!‘o'qqaa house. (5) From distinct stems : ko'la dead. 40 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST”. [Vol. V. A few nominal suffixes (nouns as used in compounds) form plurals : -atcet, plural: -ts’a'it, blanket; peca'tcet, white blanket; tlakuats'a'it, two blankets. -te'ia, plural: -ta, day; kuete'ia, one day; me'esta, four days, -qtsel, plural: -aqal, person in canoe. Numerals. Counting. Persons. Canoes. Fathoms, 1*1 1 kue'l‘ koa'l‘ kue'eko ke'l'olo kue'ens kue'qtsel 2 1‘a'kua 1‘a'wuqas 1‘a'kuaku 1‘a'kuelo 1‘a'kuans l‘a'waqaqal 3 qoa'le qoa'btso qoa'laku qole'lo qoala'ns qoa'letsaqal 4 me'es me'es me'esko me'esa'lo me'esens mee'saqal 5 tca'aa tca'aa tca'aaku tca'aans 6 tse'l'as tse'bas tse'basku tse'l'asens 7 tsiqo'olkoant tslqo'olkoantko tsiqo'olqoantens 8 ql’oa'yekoant ql’oa'yekoantko 9 kue'l'tsqal kue'tsqalko 10 tcl’e'taa tcl’eta'aku 11 tcl’e'taa qsl kue'l‘ 20 koa'Patstci 30 qoala'koanlo 40 me'eskoanlo, (etc., up to) 100 tcl’e'tkoanlo The numerals seven, eight, and ten mean the first, second, and fourth fingers, respectively. Nine is derived from one, meaning, probably, ten less one; twenty is one man, thus indicating the vigesimal origin of the numerical system. It appears from the above list that numerals may be compounded with any of the innu- merable nominal suffixes. kue'eselo, once. 1‘a'kuaselo, twice. Personal Pronouns. la'al‘, I. tse'ia, thou. o'etco, he. ma'al‘, we. tse'ial‘, you. ? they. Possessive Pronouns. ta'elaai—it is mine. heele'ets’e—it is thine. ma'al'ooi—it is ours, (heele'ets’ai o'otco—that is his.) heeleesti'tce—it is yours, (heeleets’ai o'ukso—that is hers.) heeleetca'as—it is theirs. Jan. 1892.] NOTES ON THE CHEMAKUM LANGUAGE. -es, my. -ets, thy. -qes, his. -tcuks, her. -tguq, our. -stetc, your, -tcaas, their. For instance : taqo'lqubes—my axe. he'neetcuks—her father. he'net5uq—our father. Intransitive Verb. Singular. Plural, ist person, -la, -le -ma 2d “ -ets -etsal‘ 3d “ masc., -teq, -e j _a_ 3d “ fem., -uks j For instance :—from kuetsa'at, sick : kuetsa'atela—I am sick, kuetsa'atae—they are sick. Tenses are formed by a series of affixes, which are placed follow- ing the stem of the verb and preceding the pronominal suffix. There are a great many of these suffixes, but I am sure of the meaning of the following only : -kue, future; -tsl, perfect; -lem, imperfect (see following page, transitive verb). —I shall drink. takuil‘tse'la(i) kue'tsaatais (2)—yesterday I have been (1) sick (2). Interrogative: kuetsa'atabe—am I sick? kuetsa'atatts—art thou sick? kuetsa'atatetsF—are you sick? kuetsa'at’e—is he sick ? kuetsa'at’ae—are they sick ? Negative: Singular. ist person, kua'alqa kuetsa'alTe. 2d “ kua'alqa kuetsa'abtets! 3d “ masc., kua'alqa kuetsa'abtetca'as. 3d “ fem., kua'alqa kuetsa'abte'etcuks. Plural. ist person, kua'alqa kuetsa'al‘te't5uip 2d “ kua'alqa kuetsa'abtestetc. 3d “ kua'alqa kuetsa'abtetca'as. It appears that the endings of the negative coincide closely with the possessive pronouns, while those of the indicative agree with the personal pronoun. 42 THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. [Vol. V. Transitive Verb. I have only an imperfect record of the forms of the transitive verb with incorporated pronominal object. The most striking peculiar- ity of these forms is the separation of pronominal subject and object by the temporal character. In the following table = signifies the stem of the verb, — the temporal character: me. thee. him. her. I ==q—la = —lae = —layuks thou=l—tsa = —tsaae = —tsayuks he =e—la =e—tsa we =q—ma = —mae = —mayuks us. you. them. I =q—la'al‘ol‘ = —layae thou=lao—tsa = —tsaeyae he = e —ma =e—tsa{al’ol‘ we =q—ma'aFoF = —ma'yae For instance :—aeltse'squkue'la, I feed thee, tepatelaole'mtsa, thou hast vanquished us. aeltsesqukue'ma, we feed thee. Suffixes which are used for forming derivations are placed in the same position in which the temporal characters are found. For in- stance, with -tl’atl, which forms the desiderative :—-ta>[ukselot!a't- lema, he wants to strike us (from taq-, to strike). The reflexive is formed by the suffix -itqa :—qoatstlatcitqala, I wash my hands (qoats-, washing; -t!atc, hand ; -itqa, reflexive; -la, I). When the verb is accompanied by an adverb, the latter is inflected, while the verb remains unchanged. A frequentative is formed by amplification of the verbal stem. Formation of Words. A great number of nouns are found in two forms, independent and dependent, the latter being used for the formation of com- pounds. When numerals, adjectives, verbs, or other nouns are con- nected with such nouns, the dependent form must be used. It seems that all these dependent forms are suffixed. For instance: -spa, fire; kue'espa, one fire; ma'ttcaspa, a great fire; la'uspeela, to pour water into fire. Jan. 1892.] NOTES ON THE CHEMAKUM LANGUAGE. 43 It seems that in many cases there is no traceable connection be- tween the dependent and independent forms of the noun. Independent. In compounds. back ->[!enuk I warm my back. belly -e'tce scar on belly, breast tametsa'ml'it -tsaml‘o tl'etstsa'mbot, half fathom, viz., middle of breast. blanket pe'ests’atc -atcet dog-hair blan- ket. canoe he'lolai[l‘ -ko me'esko, four canoes. day sing, -te'ia l‘akuata, two days. plur. -ta dollar -tce'slt 1‘akuatce'slt, two dollars, domestic animal -ans kutsa'patans, bitch, mare. (dog and horse) ear sisl‘alt t!‘a deaf. face -l‘o,-l kuaql'o, scar on face; qoats- litqala, I wash my face. finger -koanu finger-ring. fire ne'ia -spa ma'ttcaspa, a great fire, foot laakut -anqo koolanqo, lame, hand t’atct -t’atc >[!’aut’atct, bracelet, head qa'net bald. -t!’et to'ptl’et, head-ring -}t== “ tied around head.” house ot!l‘e -te'tco aleutetco'ola, I build a house. language -tjjulo Bostontyu'lo, English. mind -eqatc IMoome'qatc, courageous = strong-minded. moon ts!etsu'>[l‘a -tl’ebo'a kua'jpl’el'o'a, half moon, mouth o[!o mouth bleeds, neck -5[os pa'atei[os, collar bone, nose semo'set -os perforation of nose. point -tl'ejjoa Icut off point. river -atsit ma/ttcatsit, large river, trail mo'>[lunt -1‘emet kueebe'met, one trail, tree hamaa -teat kue'etcat, one tree. -pat maple ;=“paddle tree.” [Vol. V. water tsfo'ua , -sena ‘tcitc’e'sgnaala, I jump into water. to look -al‘se ts’elSkoa'l'se, looking up. made with -tcil‘ chips, “ made with axe.” instrument -opil* whetstone ;=“ in- strument for sharpening.” THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST.