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Show aware of its absence only in Patwin,/faidu, Wikchamni, and Hupa* It would be especially helpful to kxf have information on Chumash and Yokuts, the languages just to the north of the Takic languages. three aspects of the problem can be considered under the headings semantic, cultural, and historical. First, the semantic. The possession of pets is part of a larger problem on possession in general. The relationship between the noun that doe» the possessing, and (in particular) tfce noun that gets possessed is variable, but a full discussion of this topic would carry us too far afield. The most basic distinction, for the purpose at hand, is that of alienable &»d^inalienable possession. 4he distinction is probably&©~ 1.1,. Lanfflaage-s^, but it is much n x closer to the surface in some than in others. And in those languages for which the distinction is close to the surface, the "pet" phenomenon becomes closely associated with it* If the word& means only "pet", then it is x inalienably^po^sea1, as in Meres and the Takic languages. If it is extended to the most common possessed animal, such as "dog", then it is alienably possessed, as in the Yuman and Tepiman languages. And this is as it should be* An animal becomes a pet only when it is possessed or dominated by a person* **ut if the term is extended to "dog", one can concieve of an undominated, wild dog. Some languages use a classificatory system, in which classifiers carry the possessive pronominal elements. In some languages, for example Cahuilla (Seiler 1977.300-006), ®r Yavapai (Yamamoto 197?), it is well developed-, in others it is weakly developed, for example Wahso and Papago. Where-ever a classificatory system is found, the "pet" word always becomes a. part of it. In his 1941 article "Salt, ^ogs, Tobacco", Kroeber noted that dogs were not raised in much of northern California. They were imported in small numbers, where they were pampered, even buried, reflecting an attitude consistent with scarcity. Among some other nearby groups where the dog was present, |