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: