December 12, 2002
Page 9
THE CONFEDERATED TRIBES LANGUAGE LESSON
Indian New Year
One important feature of action words is the ability to communicate time (and possibly place) of an action. In the past couple of issues behave looked at
foxing action words using the "present tense'-describing actions occurring in the moment. Now let's see what happens when wetake those same act.on
3 i i . k mc tanea" rioerrihinn artinn: that nrrurred before now.
WUfUo dMU Use a iuiiii vji u ic yjaj i uv. uvwiuiiij - --
Spilyqy Tyrnoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
Ichishkiin
(Sahaptin)
Review
Kiksht
(Wasq'u)
Sentenced
Numu
(Paiute)
Review
To start with, let's contrast the present tense version
of "to see" with its past tense version. While these
may look different, they are more similar then you
might suspect. In Kiksht building actions words is
similar to making a sandwich: start with the meat and
keep adding condiments on either side of it, completing
the job with a layer of bread on the bottom and on the
top. The "meat" of Kiksht verbs are often only a few
letters. The remaining letters signify the subject,
object, number, and time of the core event. As you'll
see below, Kiksht naturally carries communicates more
detail about time than English does.
Ganugwitkel idattqt Maika gamugwitkel
itqwti. idattqt itqwK.
saw the longhouse. You saw the longhouse.
Niuqmit idatt'qt itqwti. Emduqmit idatt'qt itqwti.
see the longhouse. You see the longhouse.
Gagugwitkel idattqt Gachugwitkel idatfqt
itqwti.
itqwti.
She saw the longhouse. He saw the longhouse.
Axka duqmit idatt'qt Yaxka shduqmit idatfqt
itqwti.
She sees the longhouse.
Gatgugwitkel idatfqt
itqwti.
They saw the longhouse.
Labladiksh tduqmit
idatt'qt itqwti.
They see the longhouse.
Gantgugwitkel idattqt
itqwti.
We (us two) saw the
.Uonghoyse oinqj
itqwti.
He sees the longhouse.
Ganshgugwitkel idattqt
itqwti.
We (all of us) saw the
longhouse.
Alxaika alqduqmit idatt'qt
itqwti.
We (all of us) see the
longhouse.
Endaima intduqmit
,n;.ir.!KWM'9tjf;A.v
We (us two) see the
longhouse.
Nindwichk idattqtba itqwti.
Ni- -n- -d- -wi -chk idattqtba itqwti
distant past 1 recent dance have done
longhouse
I danced at the longhouse in the recent past.
' ' 5 danced at the longhouse.
Nimdwichk idattqtba itqwti.
Ni- -m- -d- -wi -chk idattqtba itqwti
distant past you recent dance have done
longhouse
You danced at the longhouse in the recent past.
You danced at the longhouse.
Nigadwichk idattqtba itqwti.
Nig- -a- -d- idattqtba itqwti
distant past she recent dance have done
longhouse
She danced at the longhouse in the recent past.
She danced at the longhouse.
Nigidwichk idattqtba itqwti.
Nig- -i- -d- -wi -chk itdattqtba itqwti
distant past he recent dance have done
longhouse
He danced at the longhouse in the recent past.
He danced at the longhouse.
Kanawa nitdwichk idattqtba itqwti.
Kanawa ni-1 A-1 -d- -wiAchk idattqtba itqwti
All distant past he, she, they recent dance
have done longhouse
All of them danced at the longhouse in the recent past.
They danced at the longhouse.
Kanawa ninchdwichk idattqtba itqwti.
Kanawa ni- -nch- -d--wi-chk idattqtba itqwti
All distant past we (but not you) recent
dance have done longhouse
We all, except you, danced at the longhouse In the
recent past.
We (us all) danced at the longhouse.
Nintdwichk idattqtba itqwti.
Ni- -nt- -d- -wi -chk idattqtba itqwti
distant past we (someone else and I) recent
dance have done longhouse
We, someone else and I, danced at the longhouse in the
, recent past.
We (us two) danced at the longhouse.
c
Fill in the missing words in these sentences:
(1)Nu
sing at the longhouse.
tunekwuhu.
From the last issue of Spilyay, re-construct these
sentences using the appropriate word beginnings
or endings:
atash
Pa-
-nam
-ash
(2)
oodunobekwi'yoo tunekwuhu.
You sing at the longhouse.
(3) Umu ka oodunobekwi'yoo
(S)he sing at the longhouse.
(4)
oodunobekwi'yoo tunekwuhu.
We sing at the longhouse.
(5) Nu ka oodunobewitoo
go to the longhouse.
(6) Oosoo oodunobewitoo
You go to the longhouse.
(1 ) Walptaiknxa kaatnampa.
I sing at the longhouse.
(2) Walptaiknxa kaatnampa.
You sing at the longhouse.
(3) walptaiknxa kaatnampa.
She sings at the longhouse.
(4) walptaiknxa kaatnampa.
They sing at the longhouse.
(5) Walptaiknxa.
kaatnampa.
(7) Umu ka
meaga a.
(S)he go to the longhouse.
(8) Nume . oodunobewitoo .
We go to the longhouse.
We sing at the longhouse.
Uenk
see
dance
iq'inusha
waashasha
Uenk
Sentenced
see
dance
poone
nuga
Sentenced
Take a look at the last issue of the Spilyay and
note one thing we begin to see is that time is not
communicated thought Numu words as it is in
English (or Kiksht, or Ichishkiin):
Nu ka oodunobekwi'yoo nuka.
danced at the longhouse.
U oona oodunobekwi'yoo nuka.
You danced at the longhouse.
Masoo oodunobekwi'yoo nuka.
She danced at the longhouse.
Esoo oodunobekwi'yoo nuka.
He danced at the longhouse.
Umu ka oodunobekwi'yoona nuka.
They danced at the longhouse.
Nume ka oodunobekwi'yoona nuka.
We danced at the longhouse.
Now let's switch gears and look at how "see"
changes-or doesn't-when we put it into the past
tense (saw, versus see):
Nu ka oodunobe poone.
saw the longhouse.
U ka oodunobe poone.
You saw the longhouse.
Oosoo ka oodunobe poone.
She saw the longhouse.
Oosoo ka oodunobe poone.
He saw the longhouse.
Umu ka oodunobe poone.
They saw the longhouse.
Nume ka oodunobe poone.
We saw the longhouse.
Review Answers:
1 ) oodunobekwei'yoo 5) meowkwe
2) oosoo 6) me'a
3) tunekwuhuhkwe 7) oodunobekwitoo
4) nume, ka 8) ka, me'akwe
As we've seen over the past couple of issues,
Ichishkiin uses special ending (or beginning)
sounds to represent the subject. (Such as the
ending -ash, or the beginning pa-.) Similarly,
Ichishkiin uses other ending sounds to distinguish
the "time" (or tense) of the action. English has a
similar habit with 'ed' as in 'jumped' versus 'jump'.
Once you pick up the pattern below, start looking
for it through-out the normal lessons! ; ;
Aq'inunash kaatnamna.
A- q'inu -n(a) -ash kaatnam -na
It see past tense 1 longhouse object
saw the longhouse.
Aq'inushananam kaatnamna.
A- q'inu -shana -nam kaatnam -na
It see past tense you longhouse object
You saw the longhouse.
Iq'inushana kaatnamna.
I- q'inu -shana longhouse object
(S)he see past tense longhouse object
(S)he saw the longhouse.
Paq'inushana kaatnamna.
Pa- q'inu -shana kaatnam -na
They see past tense longhouse object
They see the longhouse.
Aq'inushanatash kaatnamna.
A- q'inu -shana -tash kaatnam -na
It see past tense we longhouse object
We see the longhouse.
By now, some of these endings should start to
look pretty familiar. Try writing down the same
sentences with "danced" and compare with the
sentences below:
Waashashanaash kaatnampa.
danced at the longhouse.
WSashashananam kaatnampa.
You danced at the longhouse.
Iwashashana kaatnampa.
(S)he danced at the longhouse.
Pawashashana kaatnampa.
They danced at the longhouse.
Wdashashanatash kaatnampa.
We danced at the longhouse.
Review Answers:
Dash
2) nam
3) 1
4) Pa
5) atash