CLAUSE COMBINING IN NOOTKA 267
tion is a kind of compounding. Anderson (1985a:53-54) also makes this distinc
tion, referring to Northern Wakashan Kwakw'ala (= Kwakiutl). The lexical suf
fixes of Nootka, of which several types must be distinguished (including these suf
fixal verbs), do not themselves involve productive incorporation. But certainly
these patterns hark back to ancient compounds. Swadesh (1948) isolates a late
layer of lexical suffixes that can be equated with stems. See Mithun 1984b:887-889
for a sampling of Nootka types (where (172) and (178) illustrate the suffixal
verbs); but note that there is not just an "etymological relationship" between
and suffix -nak "have"; rather the former contains this suffix (basic form
-nakw) added to the referential stem 2u- (the variable-length vowel of the suffix
is short in a third or later syllable).
- In the text sample considered below, for main clauses in narrative passages, the
types SV and SVO together make up only 2.3% of the occurrences, so that 97.7%
of the clauses are verb-initial. In order of declining frequency the proportions are:
V 42.6%, VS 31.2%, VO 18.0%, VSO 3.6%, VOS 0.7%, and other verb-initial
1.6%. Clauses with two or more arguments (VSO, VOS, and others) make up
only 5.6% of the occurrences. In quotations one finds in main clauses: V 78.8%,
VO 12.1%, VS 8.1%, and other verb-initial 1.0%. Rose (1981:ii, 192, 194) also
describes (Kyuquot) Nootka as VSO, and she gives (179-182) comparable statis
tics, showing an even smaller proportion of clauses with more than one adjunct,
along with discussion. Similarly,Whistler (1985:234): "the preferred Nootka order
of arguments is subject-object, but ... that is not an ironclad rule." On the other
hand, Sapir (1924:83, η. 4) states: "verb, object, subject — this is the most com
mon Nootka order." In the text he is analyzing there are several occurrences of
VOS clauses near the beginning, but overall the VSO type slightly predominates:
the proportions are respectively 6.2% and 8.0% of main clauses in narrative. The
proportion of clauses with two arguments is much higher in this text: 18.6%.
- Nootka would belong to Greenberg's (1963:87) and Hawkins's (1983:283) Type 2,
which is characterized by verb-initial word order, prepositions rather than post
positions, and possessed-possessor and adjective-noun orders. In the same type,
in Hawkins's Expanded Sample, with specifically VSO word order, are found
Northern Wakashan Kwakiutl and Chimakuan Quileute, which borders Nootkan
Makah on the south. The other included northwest coast language, Coast Salish
Squamish, has less specific verb-initial word order. This type constitutes an excep
tion to Greenberg's (1963:67, 89) statistical generalization (Universal 17): "With
overwhelmingly more than chance frequency, languages with dominant order
VSO have the adjective after the noun." The reasons for this exception hinge on
the fact that these word-order studies have defined their parts of speech, in par
ticular adjective, notionally rather than on distributional grounds for the indi
vidual languages. Adjectives in Nootka are a subtype of verb, so the language is
merely being consistently verb-initial when they come before their nouns. (Much
the same point is made by Rose 1981:194). Similarly for the other stigmata of this
type. The prepositions are also a subclass of verb. Even the possessed nouns (with
third person ending -uk-2i) are nominalized possessive predications. Likewise for
another Nootka phrasal pattern: numeral-noun.
