This paper is an attempt to describe the phonological structure of SpokenManchu in Sinkiang (新彊), which is still spoken by about 80, 000 peoplenamed the Sibe (錫伯).
Our informant had lived in and around Hui Yüan (恵遠) from birth till16 (1908-24). According to his information, Spoken Manchu has severaldialects. Our study has revealed that two of them overlap each other inhis speech. The one is the eighth banner dialect which is his father's andgrandmother's language and forms the basis of his one, the other being thesixth banner dialect which is his mother's and moreover, the standard languagetaught at school. The difference between the two is mostly in phonology.They differ, among others, in the sibilant phonemes and some characteristicsin vowel harmony.
In the paper we have marked with (8), (6) or (6, 8) denoting that thecorresponding form is the eighth banner's one, the sixth banner's one orthe sixth and eighth banners' one, respectively.
The contents of the paper are as follows: 0. Introduction; 0.1 On theinformant; 0.2 On the transcription; 1. Phonemes; 1.1 Consonants; 1.1.1Plosives; 1.1.1.1 Tense and lax; 1.1.1.2. Diffuse and compact; Grave andacute; 1.1.1.3 Examples of plosives; 1.1.2 Affricates ; 1.1.3 Fricatives;1.1.4 Nasals; 1.1.4.1 /N/; 1.1.5 Lateral; 1.1.6 Rolled; 1.1.7 Semi-vowel/y/; 1.1.8 Glottal; 1.2 Vowels; 1.2.1 /a/; 1.2.2 /o/; 1.2.3 /e/; 1.2.4 /u/;1.2.5 /i/; 1.2.5.1 /iu/; 1.2.7 /a/; 2. Shapes of words; 2.1 Morae; 2.2Syllables; 2.3 Vowel harmony; 2.3.1 Unit of vowel harmony; 3. Prosodeme; 4. The reason why we assume the phoneme /u/, /i/ or /e/ where there seems to be no corresponding vowel.

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Though numerous references have so far been made to the song of bird, no systematic treatment ever appeared with a view to incorporating it intothe theory of ‘phylogenesis’ of human language.
The author stresses, in this article, the significance of this kind of approachin elucidating the structural relationship between human languageand vocal communication in bird. In this connexion, he pays special attentionto the habit of sound learning commonly possessed by man and bird.
After presenting a sketchy review of vocal behaviour in Ayes, of whichthree types are to be distinguished, namely, 1) call-note, 2) song par excellenceincluding love and territory song and 3) joy song, he tries to showthe configurational nature of stimuli birds react to in the visual as well asin the auditory field.
For example, gallinaceous birds usually react to flying birds of prey bygiving alarm call. Tests using models of flying birds showed that ‘as longas a model had a short-neck, the experimental birds would show alarm.’Further experiments revealed that ‘it is not the shape as such that actedas a sign stimulus, but shape in relation to direction of movement.’ Suchstrict dependence of an innate reaction on a certain set of sign stimulimakes us postulate, in the mind of animals, the Innate Releasing Mechanismwhich is, to use the metaphor of Konrad Lorenz, the appropriate key-hole matched to the shape of a key.
When this concept of ‘key’ is applied to the interspecific reactions, theset of essential stimuli above explained is just what we now call a (social) releaser.
The author then introduces the idea of ‘reaction chain’ which consistsof ‘a chain of separate reactions each of which is dependent on a specialset of sign stimuli.’ And each of these stands in a special causal relationto the preceding one. Thus the reaction chain can be looked upon as ahighly specialized combination of releasers. Here he points out that sincereleasers used in reaction chain do elicit appropriate responses only whenused in a definite order peculiar to each species of animals, we mightrecognize here a sort of ‘syntax’ existing between these signs (i.e.releasers). In other words, these signs do not behave as signs unless theyare put in a structural order.
Descriptions of mating behaviour in bird abound in the so-called ‘rituals’performed by male and female. These precoital rituals, in whichsong also plays an important role, are nothing but the sort of syntacticcombination of signs just referred to.
As compared with song proper just analysed, call-note, which seemsabout the only vocal activity most students in this field take into consideration, presents quite a different picture. In the author's opinion, a callnote is a vocal sign used empractically, to use the terminology of KarlBuhler. It is employed, as it were, in the capacity of diakritikon andrequires no specific structural context of its own. On the other hand, closer examination of joy song reveals that vocal behaviour in general is, by its very nature, apt to free itself from strict dependence on the situationalconditions. This tendency observed in bird, together with the capacityto learn diverse sounds, is, the author maintains, perhaps countedupon as one of the prerequisites needed for the emancipation of sign from‘concrete things’.
From these considerations, the author concludes that semiotic analysisof bird song discloses striking similarity obtaining between vocal communicationin bird and human language, and thus helps us to open a new perspective in the theory of signs.

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A verb consists of a stem alone or of a stem and one or two personalaffixes. There are two kinds of personal affixes:(1) subjective and (2) objective. A verb with one or two personal affixes, which the author calls‘the personal form of the verb, ’ may be followed by a suffix-pa whichindicates “more than one separate actions”.
The structure of the personal stem of the verb which has as many affixesas possible, is as follows:
1. when the verb is transitivesubj. pers. pref.+obj. pers. pref.+pers. stem+-pa
2. when the verb is intransitiveA. subj. pers. pref.+pers. stem+-paB. pers. stem+subj. pers. suff.-pa
A personal stem may consist of a base alone or of a base and one ormore affixes. Its structure can be illustrated as follows: The lines under the chart denote the way in which these morphemes areaffixed to the base or to the stem.
Although the five kinds of affixes (I, II, III, IV, V, VI) do not seem to bemutually exclusive, no verb has been found to contain in itself all of them.
Among these affixes, 'e-, ko, 'i- yay-, 'u-, the causative suffix and -yarare so productive that they can be affixed to almost any stem to form anew stem. The others are more or less limited in occurrence.
The affixes shown in the chart, except for the singular suffix and theintransitive suffix, which occur only with a bound stem, i.e. the stem whichcannot be a personal stem by itself, are those which influence in some wayor other the syntactical function of the verb.
There are also several other affixes, which, however, do not influence the syntactical function of the verb.

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Both within and without Indo-European family of speech, so called perfecttense, which indicates perfection or result of an action, is often expressedwith the combinations of verbs meaning“be”, “have”, “do”, etc. andnominal elements.
Modern Greek verbal system, also, has similar compound forms for perfecttense or rather aspect. Laying aside other modal and temporal variations, the fundamental (i. e. indicative present) forms of perfect (representedby a verb δενω, 1st person singular) are as follows:
I.IIA.εχωδεθεe εχωδεμεvoB.εχωδεθηεeμαe δεμεvos
Mr. Seiler, the author of L'aspect et le temps dans le verbe neo-grecconcludes there are three oppositions in these forms, namely
(1) resultative (II): non- resultative (I)
(2). active (IA): medio-passive (IB)
(3) resultative possessive (IIA): resultative essive (IIB)
It is dubious, however, if such rigorous distinctions always exist in (1) and (2). The meaning of oppositions is often obscured or neglected.Some grammarians say that no difference is found between I and II, andsome others say that selection is made according to dialects or individuals.But in so far as two or more different forms coexist, some nuance of meaning, which Mr. Seiler emphasises, may be felt.

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