459

complement, and tense in one dialect and for a different
subject, complement, and tense in another dialect (see
8-3.22 for examples).

In some dialects, in some tenses, person/tense
suffixes involving Ip and 4p have fallen together or are
in process of doing so, but this does not appear to be
a very widespread phenomenon (see 8-2.1).

The most complex and variable person/tense suf-
fixes in all tenses are 1+2, 342, and 2>1. The 3+3
suffixes are almost invariable except that D-1, D-2,
and RIK have complex allomorphs.

In contrast to the variety of their shapes,
the morphophonemics of verbal inflectional suffixes
are remarkably uniform across dialects. The only dif-
ferences noted so far are in the 1+3 Simple suffix,
which keeps its final vowel before succeeding suffixes
in Calacoa but loses it in other dialects; and in the
morphophonemics of the 2+3 I suffix, which in some dia-
Tects vary according to whether the verb is used in the

affirmative or the negative.
6-5.2 Dialectal patterning

Certain dialect groups emerge on the basis of
phonological, morphophonemic, and morphological varia-
tion in the verb system, especially in verbal inflec-
tional suffixes. As in the case of the noun system,

there is considerable isoglossic overlapping.