syllable, though only in a restricted number of words, and that instead of the accent length and brevity of the syllables receive closer attention. Such idioms we may call quantitating languages, for their system of prosody does not seem to differ much from those of the classical languages.
No plausible cause can as yet be assigned for the frequent, perhaps universal, interchangeability of b with p, d with t and n, g with k, x and the lingual k, m with b and v (w), hh with k, x; but as there is nothing fortuitous in nature or in language, a latent cause must exist for this peculiarity. No preceding or following sound seems to have any influence on this alternating process, and the vowels alternate in quite similar manner.
From these general characteristics, to which many others could be added, we pass over to those peculiarities which are more or less specific to the languages of the Pacific Slope. It is not possible to state any absolute, but only some relative and gradual differences between these Western tongues and those of the East, of which we give the following:
The generic difference of animate, inanimate, and neuter nouns, is of little influence on the grammatical forms of the Pacific languages. A so-called plural form of the transitive and intransitive verb exists in Selish dialects, in Klamath, Mutsun, San Antonio (probably also in Santa Barbara), and in the Shóshoni dialects of Kauvuya and Gaitchin. Duplication of the entire root, or of a portion of it is extensively observed in the formation of frequentative and other derivative verbs, of augmentative and diminutive nouns, of adjectives (especially when designating colors), etc., in the Selish and Sahaptin dialects, in Cayuse Yukon, Klamath, Pit River, Chokoyem, Cop-éh, Cushna, Santa Barbara, Pima, and is very frequent in the native idioms of the Mexican States. The root or, in its stead, the initial syllable, is redoubled regularly, or frequently, for the purpose of forming a (distributive) plural of nouns and verbs in Selish dialects, in Klamath, Kizh, Santa Barbara, and in the Mexican languages of the Pimas, Opatas (including Heve), Tarahumaras, Tepeguanas, and Aztecs.
A definite article "the," or a particle corresponding to it in many respects, is appended to the noun, and imparts the idea of actuality to the verb in Sahaptin, Klamath, Kizh, Gaitchin, Kauvuya, Mohave. In San Antonio this article is placed before the noun. The practice of appending various "classifiers" or determinatives to the cardinal numerals, to point out the different qualities of the objects counted, seems to be general in the Pacific tongues, for it can be traced in the Selish proper,
