followed by /l/ often become long vowels with /l/-deletion. /wælp/ → /wæːp/ "house" Glottalized /k/ and /q/ between vowels are often shortened to just a glottal stop. /sɒk'æɬ/ → [sɒʔæɬ] "divide, settle an estate" At the ends of words /q/ may undergo lenition to /χ/. /iːmq/ → /imχ/ "beard" A short vowel may be lengthened if the primary stress falls on it. /χæ/ → /χæː/ "male slave" /l/ and /n/ may alternate in reduplication. /c'inˀæm/ → /c'ilc'inˀæm/ "give" Long vowels may become diphthongs. /ɬoːl/ → /ɬowl/ "push through the water" (note: The existence of diphthongs is questionable. Schulenberg claims that Franz Boas "always heard the individual vowels pronounced separately." Dunn, however, seems to believe that younger speakers will realize a diphthong. There may have been a change in the pronunciation since Schulenberg's research in 1894 and Dunn's subsequent work starting in the 1968. In any event, diphthongs are rare.) Morphology Tsimshian can be classified as a polysynthetic language, although it is less so than other Native North American languages. Tense, for instance, is not marked with the verb, but always appears as a separate pre-verbal word. The verb stands out as the most important word in the sentence—much of the information can be expressed by affixing onto it. Nouns, however, do have a number of clitics that may be attached. There are multiple connectors that are suffixed or prefixed onto adjacent words which can create long strings of lexical items. Forming the plural Reduplication Tsimshian has an extensive system of reduplication, which is used in most cases to form the plural of both nouns and verbs. There is a complex set of phonological processes that affect both the vowel and the consonant in reduplication. Schulenberg records at least 12 different classes of reduplication but Dunn later condenses these to just five, depending on which part of the word is copied, and whether it is prefixed, suffixed or infixed. However, each class contains irregular forms. Distributives Besides reduplication, plurals can also be formed by adding lexical clitics. Prefixing or infixing /g̲a/ acts as a distributive. It is best translated as "each one his/her own". The words that take this prefix usually have a specific relation to an individual, such as body parts, clothing and kin. /goot/ "heart"→ /g̲agoot/ "hearts" /agwinübiip/ "great uncle" → /agwig̲anübiip/ "great uncles" Iteratives The word /gyik/ "again" may be prefixed to form some plurals, especially those referring