The interchange of initial k and g is constant. These letters are interchanged in the following names of ato: Am-ka′-wa or Am-ga′-wa; Lu-wa′-kan or Lu-wa′-gan; and Ung-kan′ or Ung-gan′. Other illustrations are ku′-lĭd or gu′-lĭd (itch) and ye′-ka or ye′-ga (earthquake).
The following three words illustrate both the last two interchanges: Cho′-ko or Do′-go (name of an ato); pag-pa-ga′-da or pag-pa-ka′-cha (heel); and ka-cho′ or ga-de′-o (fish).
Nouns
The nouns appear to undergo slight change to indicate gender, number, or case. To indicate sex the noun is followed by the word for woman or man—as, a′-su fa-fay′-i (female dog), or a′-su la-la′-ki (male dog). The same method is employed to indicate sex in the case of the third personal pronoun Si′-a or Si-to-di′. Si′-a la-le′-ki or Si-to-di′ la-la′-ki is used to indicate the masculine gender, and Si′-a fa-fay′-i or Si-to-di′ fa-fay′-i the feminine.
The plural form of the noun is sometimes the same as the singular. Plural number may also be expressed by use of the word ang-san (many) or am-in′ (all) in addition to the noun. It is sometimes expressed by repetition of syllables, as la-la′-ki (man), la-la-la′-ki (men); sometimes, also, by the prefix ka together with repetition of syllables, as li-fo′-o (cloud), ka-li′-fo-li-fo′-o (clouds). There seems to be no definite law in accordance with which these several plural forms are made. When in need of plurals in this study the singular form has always been used largely for simplicity.
Pronouns
The personal pronouns are:
| I | Sak-ĭn′ |
| You | Sĭk-a′ |
| He, she | Si′-a and Si-to-di′ |
| We | Cha-ta′-ko and Cha-ka′-mi |
| You | Cha-kay′-yo |
| They | Cha-i-cha and Cha-to-di′ |