Image provided by: The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs; Warm Springs, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 17, 2002)
Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon October 17, 2002 Page 11 ' THE CONFEDERATED TRIBES LANGUAGE LESSON Learner's Corner good place to start a study (or a review, for those who already speak) of Ichishkiin, Numu, or Kiksht is with the concept of a subject (the one "doing" an action) and of an object (the one "recieving" the action). As an example, the English action words to throw and 'to follow both require a subject and an object. (One must follow another one or thing, similarly, one must throw something.) In this issue, we will start with some small sentences covering a few vocabulary words and, in particular, illustrations of how each language identifies a subject and an object. While on the topic of subjectsobjects, let's take a quick look at how English does this, then I invite you to compare this to Ichishkiin, Numu, and Kiksht. In English, subject and object status is identified by the order in which the words appear. For example, in "Bob sees Fred", we know that Bob is the one who is seeing and not Fred. Bob is the subject (the "doer") and Fred the object ("reciever"). By reversing Fred and Bob, as in "Fred sees Bob", we change the basic meaning of who is doing the action. Let's see what happens in Ichishkiin, Numu and Kiksht! Kiksht (Wasq'u) Numu (Paiute) TVoncU I Naika You Maika You Home Itqwti Home School Skul School Work Anxamgapx Work Lunch Sitkumsan itxtem Lunch Dinner Chushdix itxtem... psViC5 S?)ne to see 4. to follow to eat fV: ; v gl-kl -wa Mam I: f to see ijto follow a I to eat tuka Sentences Settt&tcei- f Ayamwaya. I will follow you. Hvianwat. You will follbw me. , Nu i u nakwi 1 kemma. ; you follow behind 1 ,h I am following vyou. v.. ' ...r ' Enxelmax chushdix itxtem,v v I am eating dinner. V ' i "X,. Demxjlax itxtem sitkumsanbet. ''-X You are;eating1unchv " 1 ( . m - r' Aj;.- ,7 Uo, nugalL rnakwi)' kemma a;i Sari' follow J&hjnct 'tfi ou are-roliowingfne i X iJ iH .M JMr yongo tuka. Ichishkiin (Sahaptin) Nu -ash, -mash, U You -nam Nobe Home Nisha Schoodu School - , Sapsikw'atpama Woiku Work Kutkut Tabetuka Ltnc? Shapsh nYdngo tuka 1 j Dinner Tkwatat , , . ; . Vcdt .. - poone to see q'fnusha nakwi to follow twanasha to eat tkwatasha Setttekceb V I Twanashamash. Twana sha mash Follow -ing" l-you - I am following you. .wIitip' xiPatwanashanam.w '' , -- w v . Pa twana sha nam (I) follow -ing you Bob tuqn Bob sees vongo lirlfr-a'ir ' vi J'T), 1 am eainginner. . ... . it Fred. , Wmky .. .,f-VNl W ', llUi '. f Sarah ikagelkel Rose. Sarah sees Rose. U.. . tabe tukar You lunch eat You are eating lunch. You are following me. Tkwatashaash. Tkwata sha ash Eat (dinner) -ing I I am eating dinner. Yamuqmit. I see you. In Kiksht, complex words are formed by beginning with the verb root and adding markers before or after the root. These markers relate information about who the subjects and objects are as well as when the action will take place. We can see this in the first example of "Ayamwaya". The verb (root) of this sentence is wa (to follow). The m tells us that the object of this sentence is "you" (as in, someone to follow you). On the ouside of mwa are markers that tell us this event will happen in the future and, at the front of the word, who the subject of the sentence is (I will follow you). I Language Classes: I Wasco: Mondays from 3:30 to 5 PM in Language Trailer. Paiute: Wednesdays from 3:30 to 5 PM in the Language Trailer. Sahaptin: Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:30 to 5 PM in the Language L Trailer. Paiute: Tuesdays from 5 to 8 PM. Held at Cheryl Lohman's Home. (For info, call Pat Miller at 553-3575.) Bob ka Fred poone. Bob obj Fred sees Bob sees Fred. Sarah ka Rose poone. Sarah obj Rose sees Sarah sees Rose. Nu ume poone. you see I see you. In Numu, the ka has many many uses. In these cases, the ka tells us that the thing immediately following it is not the subject of the sentence. (In other words, the thing following ka is the object of the sentence.) So, in the sentence "Bob ka Fred poone", we know that Bob (not Fred) is seeing because ka comes before Fred. Sahaptin: Thursdays from 5 to 8 PM. Held in the Simnasho Area. (For info, call Suzie Slockish at 553-2201.) Tkwcitashanam. Tkwata sha nam Eat (dinner) -ing you You are eating lunch. Bob iq'inusha Fredna. Bob i q'inu sha Fred na Bob ( s)he see -ing Fred obj. Bob sees Fred. Sarah iq'inusha Rosena. Sarah i q'inu sha Rose na Sarah ( s)he see -ing Rose obj Sarah sees Rose. Q'fnushamash. Q'inu sha mash See -ing l-you I see you. (Each sentence is broken down in this format: Ichishkiin is broken into its grammatical parts, which are then assigned English translations on the following line, which is again followed by "normal" English. The marker of obj means that the word of which it is a part is the object of the sentence. As in "Rosena", na indicates that Rose is the object in the sentence.) Home Base Classes:
