December 26, 2002
Page 9
THE CONFEDERATED TRIBES LANGUAGE LESSON-
Spilyqy Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
Winter and Trapping
Continuing what we began in the "New Year" issue, we are going to look at using action words in the "past tense"-describing actions that have occurred.
Kiksht Numu Ichishkiin
(Wasq'u) ' (Paiute) (Sahaptin)
Sentenced
Let's first glance at the verb of "to sing" and how that
changes between tenses (such as the present and the
past). Included also are the present tense verions of
"to sing" from two issues ago.
Fill in the missing words in these sentences:
(1) Nu ka oodunobe.
nuka.
Ninxglalamchk
idatJqtba itqwK.
sang at the longhouse.
Kwaba anglalama
idatt'qtba itqwti.
sing at the longhouse.
Nigaxglalamchk
idatJqtba itwefi.
She sang at the
longhouse.
Nimxglalamchk
idatJqtba itqwK.
You sang at the
longhouse.
Kwaba amglalama
idatt'qtba itqwti.
You sing at the longhouse.
Nigixglalamchk
idatJqtba itqwti.
He sang at the
longhouse.
I danced at the longhouse.
(2) oona oodunobekwi'yoo nuka.
You danced at the longhouse.
(3) oodunobekwi'yoo nuka.
She danced at the longhouse.
(4)
oodunobekwi'yoo nuka.
He danced at the longhouse.
(5) Umu ka
Kwaba alaglalama Kwaba aliglalama
idatt'qtba itqwti. idatt'qtba itqwti..
She sings at the longhouse. He sings at the longhouse.
NiJglalamchk idatJqtba Ninshglalamchk
itqwti.. idatJqtba itqwti.
They sang at the We (all of us) sang at
longhouse. the longhouse.
Kwaba atglalama Kanawa anshglalama
idatt'qtba itqwti. idatt'qtba itqwti.
They sing at the longhouse. We (all of us) sing at the
longhouse.
They danced at the longhouse.
nuka.
(6)
ka
poone.
(S)he saw the longhouse.
(7) Nume
poone.
We saw the longhouse.
sing
90
tunekwuhu
mea
Nintglalamchk
idatJqtba itqwti.
We (us two) sang at the
longhouse.
Kwaba antglalama
idatt'qtba itqwti.
We (us two) sing at the
longhouse.
Setttatcet
Kiskht has a different view of time. English divides time
into three segments: before now (past tense),. now
(present tense), and after now (future tense). On the
other hand, Kiksht has four distinct tenses for the past.
We will focus on only one of those four (the remote
past), with a hint of one of the others.
Ganuya idatJqtba itqwti.
Ga- n- -u -ya idattqtba itqwti
remote past 1 distant time go longhouse
I went to the longhouse ages ago.
went to the longhouse long ago.
Nanuya idatJqtba itqwti.
Na- n- -u -ya idattqtba itqwti
near past 1 distant time go longhouse
I went to the longhouse a while ago.
went to the longhouse.
Gamuya idatJqtba itqwti.
Ga- m- u- -ya idattqtba itqwti
distant past you distant time go longhouse
You went to the longhouse ages ago.
You went to the longhouse long ago.
Galuya idattqtba itqwti.
Ga- 1- u- idattqtba itqwti
distant past she distant time go longhouse
She went to the longhouse ages ago.
She danced at the longhouse long ago.
Gayuya idatJqtyamt itqwti.
Ga- y- u- -ya itdattqtba itqwti
distant past he distant time go longhouse
He went to the longhouse ages ago.
He went to the longhouse long ago.
GaJuya idatJqtba itqwti.
Ga- 1- u- -ya idattqtba itqwti
distant past they distant time go longhouse
They went to the longhouse ages ago.
They went to the longhouse long ago.
Ganchuya idatJqtba itqwti.
Ga- nch- u- -ya idattqtba itqwti
distant past we distant time go longhouse
We went to the longhouse ages ago.
We went to the longhouse long ago.
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): 1
Nu ka oodunobekwikoo tunekwuhu.
sang at the longhouse.
U oodunobekwikoo tunekwupu.
You sang at the longhouse.
Masoo oodunobekwikoo tunekwuhu.
She sang at the longhouse.
Esoo oodunobekwikoo tunekwuhu.
He danced at the longhouse.
Umu oodunobekwi'yoona tunekwuhu.
They sang at the longhouse.
Nume oodunobekwi'yoona tunekwuhu.
We sang at the longhouse.
Now let's switch gears and look at how "go"
changes-or doesn't-when we put it into the past
tense (goes, versus went):
Nu ka oodunobekwitoo mea.
went to the longhouse.
U ka oodunobekwitoo mea.
You went to the longhouse.
Oosoo ka oodunobekwitoo me'a.
(S)he went to the longhouse.
Umu ka oodunobekwitoo meapu.
They went to the longhouse.
Nume ka oodunobekwitoo meakwe.
We went to the longhouse.
Review
From the last issue of Spilyay, re-construct these
sentences using the appropriate word beginnings
or endings (hint: you may need to use multiple
endings):
-atash Pa- -na -nam -ash I-
(1 ) Aq'inun kaatnampa.
I saw the longhouse.
(2) Aq'inusha kaatnampa.
You saw the longhouse.
(3) q'inusha kaatnampa.
She saw the longhouse.
(4) q'inushan kaatnampa.
They sing at the longhouse.
(5) Aq'inusha.
kaatnampa.
We sing at the longhouse.
1enk
sing
90
walptaiksha
winasha
Sentences
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
f nr it thrm inh-m it the nnrmal loccnncl
Walptaikshanaash kaatnampa.
Walptaiksha -na -ash kaatnam -pa
Sing past tense 1 longhouse at the
sang at the longhouse.
Walptaikshananam kaatnampa.
Walptaiksha na -nam kaatnam -pa
Sing past tense you longhouse at the
You sang at the longhouse.
Iwalptiakshana kaatnampa.
I- walptaiksha -na kaatnam -pa
(S)he sing past tense longhouse at the
(S)he sang at the longhouse.
t Pawalptiakshana kaatnampa.
Pa-7 walptaiksha -na kaatnam -pa
They sing past tense longhouse at the
They sang the longhouse.
Walptaiknatash kaatnampa.
Walptaik -na -tash kaatnam -pa
See past tense we longhouse at the
We at the the longhouse.
By now, some of these endings should start to
look pretty familiar. Try writing down the same
sentences with "go" and compare with the sen
tences below:
Winashanaash kaatnamyau.
went to the longhouse.
Winashananm kaatnamyau.
You went to the longhouse.
Iwinana kaatnamyau.
(S)he went to the longhouse.
Pawinashana kaatnamyau.
They went to the longhouse.
Winashanatash kaatnamyau.
We went to the longhouse.
Review Answers:
1 ) kwi'yoo
2) U
3) Masoo
4) Esoo
5) oodunobekwi'yoona
6) Oosoo, oodunobe
7) ka oodunobe
8) ka, me'akwe
Review Answers:
Dash
2) nanam
3) I-, -na
4) Pa-, -na
5) naatash
J