The Languages of the Coast of California North of San Francisco

1911] Kroeber: Languages North of San Francisco. 279

PHONETICS.

The phonetics are of the simple Californian type. The vowels
are a; i, e, o, u, all open; and o, it, the quality of which is indis-
tinct, and which might be written o, u. Surd and sonant stops
are difficult to distinguish, at least as much so as in Costanoan
and more than in Yokuts or Pomo. The surd stops are rather
forcibly articulated. There are interdental or dental and alveolar
t and d ; the former occur in debe, cut, tolokocu, three, damman,
south; the latter apparently in tuiiia, jump, and doklo, strike.
While the existence of two series of dentals is common in Cali-
fornian languages, the difference between them is usually greater
than in this language, the posterior series being formed more
nearly palatally than in Miwok. Dr. Barrett distinguishes three
t's — t, tj T — but in many cases appears to have written t for t
where interdental t occurs. The two positions of the dentals have
not been distinguished orthographically in these notes. K is
formed rather far back. X, spirant of k, is usually heard more
nearly like h and is probably the same sound ; h, the nasal of k,
occurs, but not initially. There is 1 but no r. Glottal stops occur
but are not prominent. Consonants are frequently lengthened or
doubled; n, m, c, k, have been observed thus: kanni, I.

kg n

t. d. c j

t d s z n

P b

w, y, h, 1, ', te, dj

No w^ords begin or end in two consonants. Juxtapositions of
consonants are rare also in words, and in most cases are visibly
due to composition, derivation, or affixion.

The stress accent of w^ords does not tend so strongly as in some
languages to rest on the penult, but may be found on any
syllable between the first and the last. The numerals to sixteen
illustrate: lu"ti, odi'ko, tolo'kocu, oyi"sa, ma'coka, te'mmoko,
ke'nnekakw, ka'winta, wo"e, na'a'tca, lu^sagena, o'diksagena,
tol6"teaku, kolo'kakw, yu^ali, o'yodo. It seems that long vowels
and vowels followed by a glottal stop or doubled consonant
generally bear the accent, which is well marked.