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Biloxi language
Extinct Siouan language of Southern US From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Biloxi is an extinct Siouan language, formerly spoken by the Native American Biloxi tribe in present-day Mississippi, Louisiana, and southeastern Texas.
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History

The Biloxi tribe first encountered Europeans in 1699, along the Pascagoula River.[2] By the mid-18th century, they had settled in central Louisiana. Some Biloxi were also noted in Texas in the early 19th century.[3]
By the early 19th century, their numbers had already begun to dwindle. By 1934, the last native speaker, Emma Jackson, was in her eighties.[4] Morris Swadesh and Mary Haas spoke with her in 1934 and confirmed that Jackson knew the language.[5]
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Classification
Biloxi is an Ohio Valley, or Southeastern, Siouan language. It is related to Ofo and Tutelo.
Phonology
Summarize
Perspective
Multiple possible inventories have been suggested. This article follows that of Einaudi (1976).
Vowels
Along with contrastive nasalization, Biloxi also has phonemic vowel length.
Notes
- A. ^ May be either open-mid or close-mid.
- B. ^ Biloxi may have a phonetic schwa, but Dorsey-Swanton (1912) and Haas (1968) are consistent in marking it.[clarification needed]
Dorsey & Swanton (1912) postulated phonemic vowel length, which Haas and Swadesh verified in speaking with Emma Jackson in 1934. Their findings appeared in Haas (1968).
Also, there may still be some uncertainty about whether certain words contain /ą/ or /an/.
Consonants
Notes
Biloxi may also have a phonemic aspiration distinction for some segments.[6]
Phonotactics
Syllable structure is (C)(C)(C)V(C) or (C)V(C)(C). However, three-consonant clusters are rare.
Most words end in a vowel. The others usually end in /k/ or /x/ as a result of deletion: tox from toho "he fell."
Few consonant clusters end syllables. Most exceptions are caused by vowel deletion: tohoxk from tohoxka "horse."
The following consonant clusters are observed:[8]
Geminates do not occur. /n/ sonorants and probably /d/ occur only as the second elements of clusters. /h/ and /m/ are never the second element. Fricatives do not co-occur.
There are a few three-consonant clusters, all of the form C+s+stop or C+x+glide and some with alternate forms:
- pst
- pstuki~pastuki 'she sews'
- psd
- psdehi~psudehi 'knife' (also spdehi)
- tsp
- atspąhi 'it adheres' (hadespapahi?)
- tsk
- kutska~kudeska 'fly'
- ątska 'infant'
- kst
- aksteke 'he is stingy'
- nsk
- apadenska 'butterfly'
- pxw
- pxwe~pxe 'he punches'
- txy
- akutxyi 'letter'
- kxw
- xoxo kxwehe 'he sits on a swing'
- įkxwe 'always'
- kxy
- pukxyi 'loop'
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Grammar
Summarize
Perspective
Morphophonemics
There are many verb roots and two mode markers with the morphophonemically-conditioned alternation e~a~i (underlying E):
- de 'go'
- ande, yuke 'be'
- ye 'cause'
- e 'say'
- te (optative mode marker)
- dande (potential mode marker)
The alternation depends on the following morpheme:
Nouns and verbs whose stems end in -Vhi or -Vhį change to -Vx before the plural marker -tu:
- anahį + tu becomes anaxtu 'their hair'
That may occur with duti 'to eat' also:
- duti + tu becomes dutitu~duxtu 'they eat'
The rule may optionally also apply in compounds and across word boundaries if the next element starts with CV:
- asąhi + nǫpa becomes asąx nǫpa 'both arms'
Nouns that end in -di and can undergo pluralization change to -x: adi + tu becomes axtu 'their father'.
Verbs whose stems end in -Vki, -Vpi, or -si optionally lose their -i before the plural marker:
- pastuki + tu becomes pastuktu 'they sew'
- duhapi + tu becomes duhaptu 'they pulled it off her head'
- dusi + tu > dustu 'they grabbed'
||k(i)|| > x/___k occurs optionally across morpheme or word boundaries.
- ay + nk + kiduwe becomes yąk + kiduwe > yąxkiduwe 'you untie me'
- mąki ką becomes mąx ką 'when it was reclining'
- but yąk + kinitą + xti becomes yąkinitą xti 'it is too large for me'
The rule may cause the previous vowel to denasalize.
- ay + nk + kica daha becomes yąk + kica daha becomes yaxkica daha 'you have not forgotten us'
- mąki kide > max kide 'he sat until'
Verbs whose stems end in -ti or -hi may optionally change to -x before the negative mode marker ni:
- kohi + ni becomes kox ni 'they were unwilling'
Stems ending in -si optionally become -s.
- nk + Ø + kidusi + ni becomes axkidusi + ni becomes axkidus ni 'I did not take it from him'
The dative marker ki becomes kiy before a vowel.
- ki + E + tu becomes kiyetu 'they said to him'
(However, Einaudi cites one counterexample, ki + į becomes kiį 'they were drinking it for him', perhaps with a glottal stop inserted.)
The following rule is optional in compounds and across word boundaries and obligatory everywhere else:
V1V1 > V1
V1V2 > V2
- ku + ay + ǫni + ni becomes kayǫ ni 'you do not make it'
- tątǫ + ahi > tątahi 'panther skin'
However, there are a few words with two adjacent vowels: naǫ 'day', hauti 'be sick', etc.
Two morphophonemically identical syllables may not appear contiguously, but the former is dropped.
- ku + ku ni becomes ku ni 'she does not give'
Einaudi finds one counterexample, kite + te becomes kite te 'she wanted to hit him'.
C1C1 > C1
- ca ha + ay + ye becomes ca hay + ye becomes ca haye 'you kill'
The following rule optionally applies to compounds:
XV#CY > XCY
- cake + pocka becomes cakpocka 'hand + round' = 'fist'
That may lead to otherwise-disallowed clusters, including geminates:
- ayapi + pa + są becomes ayappasa 'eagle + head + white' = 'bald eagle'
- ndesi + xidi becomes ndesxidi 'snake + chief' = 'rattlesnake'
The following rule applies to compounds:
Vn#C > V̨#C
- dani + hudi becomes dan + hudi becomes dąhudi 'eight'
The following rules are conditioned by person markers on nouns and verbs:
Stems beginning with h and some beginning with y undergo the following (obligatory for h-stems but optional for Y-stems): Y, h becomes ∅ or nk, ay
- nk + yehǫ + ni becomes nkehǫni 'I know'
- nk + hu + di becomes nkudi 'I come from'
However, that does not apply for y-initial (rather than Y-initial) stems:
- nk + yaǫni becomes nkyaǫni 'I sing'
The following rule applies before roots and the dative marker ki: nk becomes xk
- nk + ku becomes xku 'I come back hither', nk + ki + ku becomes xkiku 'I gave him'
nk becomes ǫn (optionally m or p)
- nk + nąki becomes ǫnąki 'I sit'
- nk + pxitu becomes ǫpxitu 'we cheat'
nk becomes n (optional except before p and for m unless it was covered by the previous rule)
- nk + yą ni becomes nyą ni 'I hate him'
- but nk + sįto becomes nksįto 'I am a boy'
nk becomes nk followed by a vowel
- nk + ǫ becomes nkǫ 'I make'
Optionally, ay becomes aya~ya followed by k or x
- ay + kide becomes yakide 'you go home'
- ay + kitupe becomes ayakitupe 'you carry on your shoulder'
ay becomes i followed by a consonant
- ay + duti + tu becomes ay + duxtu becomes iduxtu 'you (plural) eat'
ay becomes ay~y~iy followed by a vowel
- ay + įsihi + xti becomes ayįsihi xti 'you fear greatly'
- ay + ande hi ni becomes yanda hi ni 'you shall be so'
- ay + e becomes iye 'you say'
The use of different allomorphs in free variation is attested for some verbs.
The next four rules combine personal affixes and so apply only to verbs:
nk + ay becomes į followed by a consonant
- nk + ay + naxte becomes įnaxte 'I kick you'
nk + ay becomes ny followed by a vowel
- nk + ay + įdahi becomes nyįdahi 'I seek you'
nk + ∅ becomes axk
- nk + Ø + kte becomes axkte 'I hit him'
||ay + nk|| > /yąk/ (which may undergo further changes as described above)
- ay + nk + dusi becomes yandusi 'you take me'
The subjunctive mode marker xo undergoes the following rule:
xo becomes xyo after i or į
- ǫ nani xyo 'she must have done it'
The habitual mode marker xa optionally undergoes the following rule:
xa becomes xya after a vowel
- ande xa becomes ande xya 'she is always so'
- but nkaduti te xa becomes nkaduti te xa 'I am still hungry'
The auxiliary ande' undergoes the following rule:
ande becomes antk
- nkande kąca becomes nkant kąca 'I was, but'
Morphology
The three word classes in Biloxi are verbs, substantives (nouns and pronouns), and particles. Only the first two take affixes.
Verbs are always marked for person and number and may also take dative, reciprocal, reflexive, and/or instrumental markers as well as mode markers, the object specifier, and auxiliaries. They are at or immediately before the end of clauses.
All nominal affixes may also be used with verbs, but nouns use a subset of the verbal affixes. They may not use dative, reciprocal, reflexive, or instrumental markers, or mode markers, or auxiliaries.
Particles serve many functions, including noun phrase marking and acting as adverbials.
Inflection
Nouns
Nouns may be inflectable or, as most are, non-inflectable.
The former group inflects for person and number. It contains names of body parts and kin terms, which must inflect, and a few other personal possessions, with optional inflection. The person markers are nk- for the first person, ay- for the second person, and Ø- for the third person.
They may be pluralized with the marker -tu. The noun's number itself is not marked explicitly.
Examples of inflected nouns are below:
- dodi 'throat'
- ndodi 'my throat'
- idodi 'your throat'
- doxtu 'their throats'
- adi 'father'
- iyadi 'your father'
- nkaxtu 'our father'
Here are examples of optionally-inflected nouns:
- ti~ati 'house'
- nkti/nkati 'my house'
- doxpe 'shirt'
- idoxpe 'your shirt'
Personal pronouns are formed by inflecting the root indi for person and number. (It may also have been done once by the demonstratives he and de.) Pronouns are always optional and emphasized. Singular pronouns may occur as the subject or the object, but the plurals are always subjects (see -daha).
nkindi 'I' | nkįxtu 'we' |
ayindi 'you' | ayįxtu 'you all' |
indi[d] 'he, she, it' | įxtu[e] 'they' |
Notes
- D. ^ In free variation with ind and int before h
- E. ^ In free variation with įxt before h
Biloxi has two common demonstratives: de 'this' and he 'that'. They may be marked for plurality as denani and henani, but that is very rare since they are used if plurality is unmarked elsewhere, and it is marked on the verb in noun phrases with classificatory verbs:
- ąya atąhį amą de 'these running men'
Verbs
Verbs inflect for person (1st, 2nd, 3rd), number (singular vs. plural), and mode (many possibilities, including some less understood mode markers).
Morphemes within verbs have the following order:
Notes
- F. ^ Very occasionally an enclitic will proceed -tu, e.g. supi xti tu 'they are very black'.
Verbs may either be classificatory or normal. Classificatory verbs specify the subject's position (sitting, standing, etc.) and differ from normal verbs in that the first person is not inflected for person.
Inflection for person and number is identical to inflected nouns:
- nk- 1st person
- ay- 2nd person
- Ø- 3rd person
- -tu pluralizes referent of prefix (not used for inanimate subjects)
Because of the rules determining the surface manifestations of some combinations of person markers, 2nd person on 1st and 3rd person on 1st forms are identical, e.g. yaxtedi 'you hit me, he hit me'. Also, 2nd person subj., 2nd person on 3rd, and 3rd person on 2nd are identical, e.g. idǫhi' 'you see, you see him, they see you'.
-tu marks animate plurality (except with some motion verbs).
- įkcatu ni 'we have not forgotten you'
- nkyehǫtu ni 'we did not know'
However, -tu is not used:
- In the presence of the plural auxiliary yuke 'are':
- dǫhi yuke 'they were looking at it'
- When the sentence has already been marked as plural:
- aditu ką, hidedi nedi 'they climbed up, and were falling continually'
- If it is followed by a plural motion verb:
- dą kahi hą 'they took it and were returning'
Some (but not all) verbs of motion mark plurality with the prefix a- inserted directly before the root:
- de 'he goes'
- nkade 'we go', ayade 'you (pl.) go', ade 'they go'
- kide 'he goes homeward'
- xkade 'we go homeward'
But there are counterexamples (even ones derived from the same roots):
- kade 'he goes thither'
- xkadetu 'we go thither', ikadetu 'you (pl.) go thither'
daha marks plural objects when they are not specified elsewhere. It comes after -tu and before all mode markers.
Examples:
- de ya daha 'he sent them'
- yacǫ daha ǫni 'she named them (in the past)'
There are two examples of daha being reduced to ha:
- įkte ha dande 'I will kick you pl.'
- nyiku ha dande 'I will give it to you pl.'
a- may be added to some verb roots to mark an unspecified indefinite object:
- ki 'carry on back'
- nkaki 'I carried something on my back'
- da 'gather'
- nkada 'I gather things'
Mode markers
There are many mode markers in Biloxi. Some are common and well understood, while others are infrequent and have elusive meanings.
Notes:
Derivation
Nouns
Nouns may be derived either through nominalizing verbs or by compounding.
Verbs are nominalized via the prefix a-:
- sǫ 'sharp at all ends'
- asǫ 'briar'
- duti 'eat'
- aduti 'food'
Compound nouns may be formed by combining two nouns or a noun and a verb. (Some morphophonemic rules are involved, see above.)
noun + noun:
- cindi + aho becomes cindaho 'hip + bone' = 'hip bone'
- peti + ti becomes petiti 'fire + house' = 'fireplace'
noun + verb:
- sǫpxi + ǫni becomes sǫpxǫni 'flour + make' = 'wheat'
- ąyadi + ade becomes ąyadiade 'people + talk' = 'language'
Pronouns
For the personal pronoun indi, see above. įkowa may be used as a reflexive pronoun. It is possible that both of these, and perhaps the reflexive pronoun -įxki- (see below) are derived from a root in.
Interrogatives
A number of interrogatives come from the prefix ca- (with vowel elision following morphophonemic rules):
- cak~caką 'where?'
- cane 'where (stands)?'
- canaska 'how long?'
- cehedą 'how high, tall, deep?'
- cidike 'which, how, why?'
- cina~cinani 'how many'
Some are derived from pronouns:
- kawa 'something, anything'
- kawak 'what?'
- cina 'a few, many'
- cinani 'how many?'
Verbs
Verbal derivation may occur by root derivation (reduplication and compounding) or stem derivation (thematic prefixes, dative markers, reciprocals, reflexives, and instrumentals).
Reduplication
Reduplication, common in Biloxi, is used for intensification or distributiveness. Usually, the first CVC of the root is reduplicated, but sometimes it is only the first CV:
- cakcake 'he hung up a lot'
- cake 'hang up on a nail or post'
- tixtixye '(his heart) was beating'
- tix 'beat'
- xoxoki 'he broke it here and there'
- xoki 'break'
- ǫnacpicpi 'my feet are slipping'
- cpi 'slip'
Compounding
Verbal compounds may be noun + verb or verb + verb.
It seems that most noun-verb compounds are formed by using the verb ǫ 'do, make':
- ką + k + ǫ becomes kąkǫ 'string + make' = 'trap'
- cikide + ǫ becomes cidikǫ 'which = do' = 'which to do (how)'
- ta + o becomes tao 'deer + shoot' = 'shoot deer'
Examples of verb-verb compounds:
- hane + o haneotu 'they find and shoot'
- kte + ǫ įkteǫni 'with + hit + do' = 'to hit with'
Some of the above compounds end up having adjacent vowels, since syncope in compounds is optional.
Thematic prefixes
Thematic prefixes come after person markers and before dative markers and instrumentals.
Dative, reciprocal, and reflexive markers
The dative marker ki- (kiy- before vowels) is used after thematic prefixes.
- kiyetu 'they said to him'
- kidǫhi ye daha 'he showed it to them'
It is peculiar in that it may be used if someone else's body parts are the direct object (the "dative of possession").
- kiduxtą 'they pulled his [tail]'
- kidǫhi '[they] saw his [shadow]'
- kidǫhi 'she looked at her [head]'
It appears as kik- before ǫ 'do, make' and gives it a benefactive gloss (kikǫ daha 'he made for them'). (It should not be mistaken for kiki-.)
The reduplicated kiki- marks reciprocity. The plural marker -tu is then optional.
- kikiyohǫ 'they were calling to one another'
- kikidǫhi 'they were looking at one another'
įxki- (or ixki-, perhaps because of the denasalizing morphophonemic rule above) marks reflexives. It normally comes immediately after person markers, but in some third-person cases, ki- may come before it:
- įxkiyadu ye ande 'he was wrapping it around himself'
- kixkidicatu 'they wash themselves'
Instrumental prefixes
Instrumentals serve to mark how the event was carried out and immediately precede the root.
Notes:
Adverbs
Adverbs may be derived from connectives, pronouns, verbs, and particles via a number of affixes:
Connectives
There are various instances of derived connectives:
- e- 'and (?), the aforesaid (?)'
- ehą e + hą 'and then'
- eką e + ką 'and then'
- eke e + ke (?) 'and so'
- eke 'so' (probably derived itself, see above)
- ekedi eke + di 'that is why'
- ekehą eke + hą 'and then'
- ekeką eke + ką 'and then'
- ekeko eke + ko 'well'
- ekeǫnidi eke + ǫni + di 'therefore'
Numerals
Derived numbers contain predictable vowel syncope (see above).
Notes
11-19 are derived via the formula 'X sitting on Y' ('Y Xaxehe').
20-99 are derived via the formula 'X sitting on Y Zs' ('Z Y Xaxehe')
Notes
- P. ^ shows up twice as kįkįke
Ordinal numerals (1st, 2nd, 3rd) are not attested. To express 'once', 'twice', 'three times', etc.', use the verb de 'to go' before cardinal numbers:
- de sǫsa 'once'
- de nǫpa 'twice'
- de dani 'three times'
- de topa 'four times'
- de ksani 'five times'
To form multiplicatives, use akipta 'to double' before cardinal numbers:
- akipta nǫpa 'twofold'
- akipta dani 'threefold'
- akipta topa 'fourfold'
- akipta ohi 'tenfold'
- akipta tsipa 'one hundredfold'
Syntax
Biloxi is a left-branching SOV language.
Its lexical categories include interjections (I), adverbials (A), subjects (S), objects (O), verbs (V), and connectives (C).
The three types of phrases are:
- interjectory phrases: I with pauses before and after it
- tenaxi 'Oh friend!'
- postpositional phrase: pp N (yą)/(de) (see below)
- doxpe itka 'inside a coat'
- noun phrase: any S or O (see below)
- ayek ita 'your corn'
There are dependent and independent clauses as well as major and minor sentences. (see below)
Interjections
Interjections may be:
Interjectory particles
- aci 'oh no!'
- he he 'hello!'
- nu: 'help!'
- ux 'pshaw!'
Animal cries
- a: a: 'caw'
- pes pes 'cry of the tiny frog'
- taǫ 'cry of the squealer duck'
- tį 'cry of the sapsucker'
Vocatives
Vocatives are almost always unmarked:
- kǫkǫ 'Oh grandmother!'
- kǫni 'Oh mother!'
- cidikuna 'Oh Cidikuna!'
There are only three exceptions:
- tata 'Oh father!' (suppletive – the regular stem meaning 'father' is adi)
- nyąxohi 'Oh wife!' (literally 'my old lady')
- nyąįcya 'Oh husband!' (literally 'my old man')
Adverbials
Adverbials most often appear directly before the verb, but they may also act as subjects and objects. They may not follow verbs or precede connectives in sentence-initial position.
Adverbials may be:
Adverbial particles
Some particles:
- tohanak 'yesterday'
- emą 'right there'
- eyą 'there'
- kiya 'again'
- yąxa 'almost'
(Also, see "adverbs", above.)
Usage examples:
- skakanadi ewitexti eyąhį yuhi 'the Ancient of Opossums thought he would reach there very early in the morning'
- ekeką kiya dedi 'and then he went again'
- ndao ku di 'come back here!' (male to female)
- tohanak wahu 'yesterday it snowed'
Postpositional phrases
(For vowel elision, see above.)
Notes
- Q. ^ may have a base form yaski
- R. ^ less occurrences than kuya~okaya
- S. ^ eu here, an unexpected diphthong, is shortened ewa 'there'
Almost all of the above allow following de or yą. de has the expected meaning 'here' or 'this', while yą may be glossed 'the' or 'yonder'.
Prepositions are sometimes used without modifying a noun, becoming adverbial:
- sąhį yą kiya nkǫ 'I do it again on the other side'
- itka yą ustki 'to stand a tall object on something'
- kuya kedi 'to dig under, undermine'
Some interrogatives
Notes
Subjects and objects
Subjects and objects are formed almost identically, except that the nominal particle ką may only be used after objects.
A subject or object must include a simple noun, and may optionally also include a verb, nominal particle, and/or demonstrative pronoun, in that order.
If the noun is a personal pronoun, it may only (optionally) be followed by either a demonstrative pronoun or a nominal particle, but not both. Other pronouns (e.g. de 'this') may not be followed by anything.
Examples
noun-verb
- ąya xohi 'the old woman'
noun-nominal particle
- ąya di 'the person'
noun-demonstrative pronoun
- ąya de 'these people'
noun-verb-nominal particle
- ąya xohi yą 'the old woman'
noun-verb-demonstrative pronoun
- ąya nǫpa amąkide 'these two men'
noun-nominal particle-demonstrative pronoun
- ǫti yą he 'the bear, too'
noun-verb-nominal particle-demonstrative pronoun
- ąya sahi yą he 'the Indian, too'
Possession in subjects and objects is expressed by the possessor followed by the possessed, followed by nominal particles.
- ąya anahį ką 'people's hair' (obj.)
- ąya tik 'the man's house'
Two subjects may be juxtaposed with reciprocal verbs:
- cetkana ǫti kitenaxtu xa 'the rabbit and the bear were friends to one another'
Additives may be expressed by juxtaposition followed by the nominal particle yą, but this is not used often due to ambiguity (it might be interpreted as a possessive phrase):
- tohoxk wak yą ndǫhǫ 'I saw a horse and a cow'
- ąyato ąxti yą hamaki 'a man and a woman were coming'
Alternatives are expressed with juxtaposition followed by the particle ha (otherwise a nominal particle):
- sįto sąki ha hanǫ 'is that a boy or a girl?'
- tohoxk waka ha hanǫ 'is that a horse or a cow?'
Nominal particles
Biloxi has many nominal particles, and for the most part their function is unclear.
A non-exhaustive list:
- yą
- di
- yandi
- ką
- -k
- yąką
- ko
- Ø
For the most part it's unclear what conditions the use of a particular np (or ∅), but the following can be said:
- ką, -k, yąk, yąką are only used with objects
- yandi almost always is used with human nouns
- ko is used when the noun is a pronoun, when the main verb is stative, or when there is an interrogative present.
Verbs
Simple verbs (not causatives or expanded verbs, see below) must contain a person marker, root, and number marker, and optionally the following:
Prefixes:
- thematic prefixes
- reciprocals, dative markers, reflexives
- instrumental markers
Suffixes:
- mode markers
- object markers
Auxiliary constructions
Biloxi contains a defective auxiliary verb (h)ande/yuke (ande is used in singular, yuke for plural). By itself, it may mean 'to be' or 'to stay', but with another verb, it lends durativity. The plural marker -tu is not used with yuke since the defective form itself already serves to mark number.
When the auxiliary construction is used, both the main verb and the auxiliary are inflected.
Examples:
- de ande 'he was departing'
- iduti yayuke 'you (pl.) are eating'
Generally, to express the negative, the stem is negated, rather than the auxiliary:[v]
- kox ni yuke di 'they were unwilling'
- kukuhi ni yuke 'they could not raise (it)'
Note V (^ ): But see Einaudi 1976, p. 154, where atamini wa kande ni 'he is not always working' and nkatamini wa nkande ni 'I am not always working' occur, perhaps to avoid ambiguity due to the rule ni + ni becomes ni
Classificatory verbs
Biloxi contains five classificatory verbs, which indicate duration and position of the subject: (See above for morphophonemic explanation of mąki becoming max.)
- nąki 'sitting'
- kak ayǫk yąhi inąki wo 'what have you suffered that causes you to sit and cry?'
- pa kidǫhi nąki 'she sat looking at her head'
- mąki 'reclining', 'in a horizontal position'
- įdahi ye daha max 'he continually sent for them'
- naxe ąki 'he listened (reclining)'
- plural form: mąxtu~amąki
- dǫhi amąx ką 'while they were looking at him'
- akikahį mąktu 'they were telling news to one another'
- ne 'upright'
- ta duxke ne ką 'he stood slaying the deer'
- kawak iye inedi wo 'what were you saying as you stood?'
- plural form: ne
- ade ne di 'they were moving'
- hine 'walking'
- ąya ni hine ayehǫ ni 'do you know the walking man?'
- tohoxkk ni hine ko toxka xe 'the walking horse is gray' (fem.)
- ande 'running'
- mani ande yą 'the (running) wild turkey'
- ąya tąhį yande ayehǫ ni 'do you know the running man?'
They may be used alone as verbs (kuhik mąx ką 'when it was lying high') but often reinforce synonymous roots:
- xe nąki 'she is sitting (sitting)'
- tox mąki 'he was lying (lying)'
- sįhįx ne 'it was standing (standing)'
- ąya ni hine ayehǫ ni 'do you know the walking (walking) man?'
- ąya tąhį yande ayehǫ ni 'do you know the running (running) man?'
They are used mostly with animates.
Classificatory verbs are only inflected for second person when used as auxiliaries.
hamaki~amaki is used as the plural form for all five classificatory verbs (even optionally for mąki and ne, which have their own plural forms mąxtu~amąki and ne):
- ąksiyǫ yamaki wo 'are you all making arrows?'
- ca hanke te nkamaki na 'we wish to kill them' (masc.)
- ąya nǫpa ci hamaki nkehǫ ni 'I know the two reclining men'
- ąya nǫpa ni hamaki nkehǫ ni 'I know the two walking men'
- ąya xaxaxa hamaki ayehǫ ni 'do you know all the standing men?'
Notes
Causatives
The causative verb ye comes after (uninflected) stems to form a causative construction. In first and second person, ha (sometimes h if followed by a vowel, see 3.1 above) is inserted between the stem and ye.
Examples:
- axehe hanke nąki na 'I have stuck it in (as I sit)' (masc.)
- ca hiyetu 'you kill them all'
- te ye 'he killed her'
Expanded verbs
Serial verb constructions occur with two or three verbs in sequence. All are of the same person and number, but only the final stem has suffixes:
- nkǫ įkte xo 'I do it, I will hit you if...'
- hane dusi duxke 'he found her, took her, and skinned her'
Connectives
Connectives may be coordinating or subordinating:
Coordinating
Subordinating
All subordinating connectives end the clause. ką is the most common by far and may be related to its nominal particle counterpart.
Clauses
Clauses may end with no more than one clause final connective. Subordinating connectives are used to create dependent clauses.
In clauses, the following order generally holds:
(Connective) (Subject) (Object) (Adverb) Verb (Connective)
There are occasional examples of subjects and/or objects occurring after the verb, always with animates. The object rarely precedes the subject, possibly for emphasis.
Direct objects always precede indirect objects: ąya xi yandi ąxti yą int ką ku "the chief gave him the woman".
Full sentences always end in independent clauses. Embedded sentences are not usually marked, but the hortatory marker hi can be used if the embedded action has not yet occurred, and ni can be used if the action was not performed. wo (or wi) is used for mistaken ideas.[11]
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See also
References
External links
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