Languages of the Coast of California

58 Vhiversity of California PublicaHom. [am.akoh. f™.

There appears to be a certain correspondence between s a^d
h, X, k. Thus, asanax, asanas; mitci, methe, metg; eh'inutc,
ejennutek; tanotc, tanntek/

All consonants except w appear at the beginning of words
and all except t, m, ts, and w, y, h have been found at the end
of words. It is probable that in larger vocabularies t, m, and
ts would be found occurring finally.

Vowels constitute more than one-third of the initial sounds
of words, and considerably more than two-thirds of the final
sounds. The syllable of most common type therefore consists
of a consonant followed by a vowel. There are no words com-
mencing with two consonants and none ending with two. There
are no combinations of three consonants in the middle of words.
It is clear from this that the syllables of the primary elements or
radicals of the language contain no double consonants, and that
all combinations of consonants are due to composition or deriva-
tions. Part of the occurrences of double consonants can, by
analysis, be shown to result from this cause. For instance,
am-lala, es-keli, nic-fe, hatcoh^-pa, mis-katas. Nevertheless
double consonants are not rare. K, t, x, n, m, 1, s, c, ts, tc
occur as the first sound, and k, t, p, x, f, n, m, 1, w, h as the
second element in such combinations. Accordingly all the con-
sonants but y enter into combinations.

It thus appears that the phonetics of Esselen are simple and
regular.

PRONOUNS.

The Esselen pronouns appear to be the following:

Is.

eni, ene

2 s.

nemi, name, nanme

3 s.

lal

Ip.

lee

2 p.

nometc

3p.

late

iThe same variability is found In Moquelumnan (Powers, Contr. N. A. Ethn.,
Ill, 3G2) and in tiie Diegueno of Yuman stock. S and h, x, k are also interdialec-
tically equivalent in Moquelumnan and Costanoan, and In certain Shoahonean
dialects of Southern California.

Vol. 2.] Kroeber, — Languages of the Coast of California, 59

There is uothing to show whether lal and late are pronominal
or demonstrative.

The possessive forms, which are prefixed, are:

1 s. nic-

2 s. nemic-, mic-

It is possible that m- is a possessive prefix of the second per-
son.' Parts of the body are found without afiixed possessives.

Nearly all the conjugational forms of the verb show the full
unabridged pronoun.^ De la Cuesta puts the pronoun separate
from the verb and before it/ Henshaw makes it follow the verb,
except in the third person.* It appears from this that Esselen
does not belong, as do Chumash and Salinan, to the type of lan-
guages characterized by incorporated pronominal elements.

There is only one doubtful occurrence of an objective pro-
noun. This form is identical with the possessive pronoun of the
same person, and like it is prefixed.^

The third person intransitive shows two forms, lal and lawa.®

Instead of lal, de la Cuesta gives winiki for he (aqtiel). A
similar form, aniki, is found once or twice in Henshaw's material
with demonstrative meaning/ The stem of the interrogative is
ki. Whof is usually kini,^ and where? ke-/

1 Cf. "mothor": Henshaw, matsi; Gallano, de la P^rouse,, atsla.
2 The exceptions are: ne amlala, voy a comer j ne siawalala, voy a Uorar,
3ene ama, I eaty name ama, you eat; winiki araa, he eats; but alpa nanme,
hahla tu,

^macaipa eni, / am hungry; lal macaipa, he is hungry; keya iya nemi, where
do you come from? hilapa eni, / am glad; lawa tsuxaisa, he is angry; etc.
^^mislayaya kolo, te quiero mucho, I like thee much,
^lal-macaipa he is hungry

kini-ki-lali who is that?

lawa-timaraa he is drunk

lawa-tauxaisa he is angry
lawa-lohA-yisi "j^o« have arrived"
7 aka-Ial-i-aniki that is thai
aka-lac-i-haniki he is over there

^kini a nS'me who is that fellow? {quien es ese?)

kini-a-ne{r)nii who are you?

kinl-ki-lali who is that?

kiki who is he?

kiakit na mismap what is thy name? {como te llamas?)
This ki- may be tiie smne as the -ki in winiki, aniki.

** keya iya nemmi where do you come from?

kets-pam-nini-pnk where are you going?

60 University of (Jaltjorma I'uoitcations. lam. arch, ji-th.

Fnnu the fact that unabridged forms of the independent pro-
noun are nsed in the verb conjugation, that the personal pro-
nouns can assume the case endings of nouns/ and that words
denoting parts of the body are used without possessive pronouns,
it is evident that the pronoun of Esselen is substantival rather
than syntactical.

VERBS.

The imperative seems to be formed by the stem. An optative
or imperative is expressed by tcili- .

tcili-hasla we are going to bring njood Tesla, dringj

tcili-yiikal let us go ^iyakal^ (ire you going? J

tcili-neni go away!

ha-tcili-smu hit him! fpegale)

The suffix -la may denote the future.
The negative is probably au,^

ADJECTIVES.

Adjectives appear almost always with a suffix -ki. If the
translations are correct, this suffix serves to render the adjective
attributive. This process is analogous to one in Costanoan. The
adjective precedes the noun.

oxusk, ukuski, uhusk small

ukiiski ta-pana-si small girl^ female infant

ukus ehinutc small hoy, male infant

heleki pana little white girl

alaki uyun 6 lack ( o Id) woman

putuki, yakiski large

saleki asatsa good day

saleki itsu good night

NOUNS.

Jt is impossible to determine from the limited material whether
syntactical cases, either posses-.^JT^^ or objective, existed in tlie
language.

1 See p. 61.

^au siawaxe (for an?), do not weep {no lloras); ana, no; anai, nothing.

Vol. 2.] Kroeher. —Languages of the Coast of California. 61

Of local-instrumental cases there are a few instances.

pexuisma ciefe-nu Mt-me stone-witJi!

iyo ene-manu come me-tcith!

ninenu nanme-manu I-go tJiee-with

It appears that -nu is instrumental and -manu eoinitative.
The occurrence of these case-suffixes, analogous to those found
in most Californian languages, distinguishes Esseleu quite
sharply from Chumash and Salinan. The use of these suffixes
on the pronoun shows that this part of speech had much the
morphological value of a noun.

The vocabularies give several forms that purport to be plural,
but there is nothing to show that any of the forms given are
renlly so. Such identical forms as

iya hone nemic-iya your hones

hikpa eye nemis-hikpa your eyes

may be due to real absence of a plural or to inexact translation.

There is nothing that has the appearance of being a plural suffix.
It is possible that final reduplication was iised to express a

plural.

k'a, k'ax, kaka tohaeco

aimoulas [for aimutas?] star (la Perouse)
amutatas stars (de la Cuesta)

tus-us-niya ears (de la Cuesta)

In Washo final reduplication expresses a category related to
the plural.

NUMERALS.

The Esseien numerals, as they may be reconstructed from the
various vocabularies, seem to be:

1

pek

2

xulax

3

xulep

4

xamaxus

5

pemaxala

6

pek-walanai

7

xulax-walanai

Am. Arch.

Eth. 2, 5.

62

Umverstty of Cahfomu Fmmamni, [AM: Aich. eth.

8 xulep-walanai

9 xamaxus-walanai or xamax-walanai

10 tomoila

11 pek-kelenai

12 xulax-kelenai

This system is strictly quinary. The numerals from six to
nine are formed from those for one to four by the addition of
walanai, and those from eleven to fourteen by the addition of
kelenai. Two and three show analogous forms, xulax and
xulep. Five, pe-max-ala, appears to contain the root of pek,
one, while its last element, -ala, occurs also in the formative

walanai.

KEDUPLICATION.

There are about fifteen instances of reduplication in the
Esselen vocabularies. It does not seem likely that these can all
be accidental and meaningless. Owing to the disjointed nature
of the sentences and phrases, the functions of this reduplication
are, however, not ascertainable.

amomutc

it is finished fse acahoj

eancayisi

to nm

ne amlala

I will eat fvoy a comer)

ne siawalala

I will cry fvoy a llorarj

mislayaya kolo

I like thet much

timama

dizzy

lawa-timama

he is drunk

xuxuwai

under, below, (ahajoj

suh-ul-ul-pawis

spotted tail

mamanes

fire

lelima

a dance

kaka, k'a, k'ax

tobacco

amutatas

stars

tus-us-niya

ears

koxlkoxl

fish

kalul

fish

xilaxiluk-enni

I am angry

tcololosi

running water

tsetselkamati

rattlesnake

opopabos

seal

Vol.. 2.J Kroeber. — Languages of the Coast of California,

63

DERIVATION.

A number of suffixes, both nominal and verbal, are discern-
ible, but the meaning of most remains conjeetuniL
-nex occurs on nouns:

masianex heart

katusnex mouth

aspasianax dry arroyo

anix fire

-no is also substantival:

imilano
iwano

-s is a common ending of nouns

bay f^imila, ocean)

house

tumas

tse-es

lotos

ehepas

mutckas, matekas

tcaphis

utcmas, hutcumas

mis-katas

iyampas

hoeis

tomanis

mamanes

nic-inatas

opopabos

panasis

isikis

nic-iwis

xekis

amutatas

"cZemZ," dark

nuisance, one in the way

arrow

rabbit-skin robe

coyote

birds

dog

cat (Spanish)

seeds for food

nose

night

fire

day

seal

boy

mother-in-law

friend

panther

stars

-la is found both in nouns and in verbs. In the latter case it
appears to denote a future or an optative:

tcili-has-la we tvill bring wood

es-la hasana bring ivater!

yoku-la asanax bring water!

64

rnimrsity of Calijorma iruocev

»,tOH. ETH.

iuk-ia asanax
ne am-la-la
ne siawa-la-la
absku-ia

tsila

koltala

imila

maksala

tomoila

-sa:

tohi-sa, tuxe-sa

lawa-tsuxai-sa

atsuni-ca

inin-sa

kaiyina-p-ca

-pa:

macai-pa eni
lal maeai-pa
malitax-pa
hila-pa eni
l^^-maca-pa eni
mawi-pa
hal-pa, al-pa
bumul-pa

hatcox-pa, ateh^-pa
matshai-ba
malinaiba-pa
hik-pa

give me water!
I will eat fvoy a comer)
I will cry fvoy a llorar)
look! fvetej

a Vml of hashet

Mack hw:

ocean

ground

ten

give me!

he is angry

an oath

hole

chicken (Spanish)

lam hungry

he is hungry

haven't got it, there is nothing

I am glad

''he is coming to-day''

''to sing"

talk, speak!

tell, relate

devil; you are a devil

whites fgente de razonj

a quantity, much

eye

One of the commonest suffixes is -pisi, which also appears as
-nisi, -isi, -pis. It makes substantives of verbs. Many of the
verbs given by Henshaw as in the absolute form have this suffix
and are therefore probably really nominal participles.

malpa-pic', alpapisi hablador, gossiper, talkative man

kolxala-6ic, kolhala hablador, story-teller

akix-pisi, akxi-pis get up

lawa-loho-yisi "you" have arrived

Kroeber. — Languages of the Coast of California.

65

iyux poka-nisi

come to bed

poko-nisxi

sleep

atsi-nisi

sleep (atinia, I am sleepy)

koso-nisxi

sit down

canca-yisi

mn

ake-nisi

laugh

mepe-yisi

dance (also: mep, mefpa)

Several forms in -pas are probably to be included:

tihik-pas

''dandij.fop;'' 'Ho flirt''

tenin-paic

joker

owe-pas

'^you are nice^'

The same suffix is perhaps present in the following nominal

forms:

lalihesi

old man

hiskisi

hip, huttocJc

teololosi rtmning water

iyampas seeds for food

ehepas

rabbit-skin robe

COMPOSITION.

The following instances of composition have been observed:

a si, aei

sun

as-atsa

day

xetsa

light (luz)

itsu

night

tumas

dark, devil

tomanis

night

tomanis-aci

moon

pana

child

ta-pana

daughter

pana-xuex

son

ta-pana-si

girl

ehi-pana-sis

boy

ehi-nutc

man

ta-notc

woman

sole-ta. ni(e)-eole-ta airL my daughter

bt)

University of California Publications, [am. aroi- ^th.

mak-sala, matra

mak-xalana

imi-ta

imi-la

kele

es-keli

ground, earth

salt

sky

sea

foot

sole

The formation of the words for man and woman is analogous
to that in Costanoan. Night- sun for moon is common in Ameri-
can languages. The similarity of sky and sea is curious if not
fortuitous. In other languages sky and earth are sometimes
from the same root.

While derivation takes place through suffixes, in composition
the qualifying substantival component precedes, as is customary
in American languages.

VOCABULARY.

Verbal stems appear to be mostly disyllabic.

al-pa

speak

am

eat

pok-o-n

sleep

akix, akxi

get tip

at(s)-i-n

sleep

can-ca

run

kos-o-n

sit dotvn

mepe

dance

ak-e-n

laugh

mawi

sing

macai

hungry

iyu

come

siawa

weep

tihik

flirt

neni

go, walk

tox-i

give

moho

die

es-la

bring

hila

glad

tima

dizzy

luku

drink

To facilitate comparisons the most common nouns are i

I uniform orthography.

Parts of the body

haka

hair, fur

tus-us-niya

ears

xisi, kata

head

kele

foot

iei, katus-nex

mouth

menxel

body

is-kotre fsicj

beard

masia-nex

heart

aur fsicJ

teeth

hiskisi

hip, buttock

ka, axa, hikpa

eye

iya

bone

hocis

nose

uloxe

nails