Download Dec 4, 2001

Tanacross Language Class
December 4, 2001
Phrases
Sheen xunÂ_e•e•$
Is it summer$
K&a; sheen xu;uÂ_ee:; y. Xey xunÂ_ee• .•
It&s not summer. It&s winter.
Nah&o;g Âa•;&a• xunchaagh xne;ek&etth.
It&s really cold outside.
Nate;dh‰hdlih.
I&m cold.
Nah&o;g elih xunÂ_ee• $•
Is it cold outside$
A•a,• nah&o;g xne;ek&etth. Nate;dh‰hdlih.
Yes, it&s cold out. I&m cold.
Ts&inkeey iin e;Â natse;edlih
I&m cold with those kids.
Tuu neltenh.
The water is frozen.
Tuu thuu s_h‰_ i ne;ltenh.
The water in the pipes is frozen.
Shax chox t&ogh t&eey elih xunÂ_ee• .•
The big house is really cold.
ch&et&aa&eek
undershirt
ch&et&aathetÂ
long johns
Dadins_u•u•.
You sound good, speak well.
Nde;e de; n™itindaaÂ$
When are you returning$
N™i&iteghindaaÂ.
You&ll get up again.
Nuh&e;Â shehÂa=ad& iin gha xuhheey,
e[y ts&‰•& t&eey Dihtha[ad xt&een iin aande=g&
dadegdiix.
I&m talking with you about my relatives,
and in the process learning to speak the
Mansfield people&s language.
Koth tishiÂ_aak.
I have a cold
Ts&iik natdet-t_h_eg ni&iiÂ_aak$
Did the sickness that&s spreading around get you$
Wuda[a&ihdaak.
I keep dodging it.
E{y ts&iik da[a&ihdaak.
I keep dodging that sickness.
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Ishndah deh dendeey iin ehts&iik ch‰h.
People are also sick at my workplace.
K&ahda•a•da•a• ndla[an na;ghi•hts&iik.
Yesterday lots of people were sick.
Sht_he_ e; g& k&edaxdelne;•&.
My throat stumbled.
Words for cold
There are different ways of referring to cold depending on whether you are referring to an animate
object (person, animal, etc.) or an inanimate object (water, weather, etc.). The two basic words are
ne;ek&etth
elih
inaminate is cold
animate is cold
We can modify each of these words depending on the situation. For example, an x- prefix is added
to refer to weather being cold, thus xne;ek&etth. But the basic distinction between the two roots
remains. English doesn’t make this distinction. For example, consider the following English
sentence
The house is cold.
This could mean either, the house itself is cold, as in the temperature of the house is cold, or it could
mean that the house feels is cold for people. There is an obvious correlation here, but there is
nevertheless a distinction. Tanacross recognizes this distinction as follows:
Shax xne;ek&etth.
Shax elih xunÂ_ee• .•
The house is cold (in temperature).
The house is cold (for people).
Referring to Relatives and People
Recall the use of iin to refer to people.
dendeey iin
shna•a• iin
shehÂa=ad& iin
Fairbanks dendeey iin
ndla[an iin
people
my parents
my relatives
Fairbanks people
lots of people
Fairbanks dendeey iin tah nts&e; t&‰ndiix$
What do you do among the Fairbanks
people$
I work at TCC and live with my parents.
TCC xuus_‰& deh ishdah ts&‰•& shna•a• iin e;Â
dhihdah.
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Ntsu•u• nts&e; uus_‰&$
Shta;& wuna•a• Geraldine mighins_‰&.
Shna•a• wuna•a• Vivian miis_‰&.
ADVANCED STUFF
xu&iht&een
xu&int&een
xuht&een
xaxunt&een
What is you grandma&s name$
My father&s mother was named Geraldine.
My mother&s mother is named Vivian.
I&m married
you&re married
he&s married
they are married
The iterative prefix naWe have already seen many examples of the so-called iterative prefix na-. This prefix attaches near
the left side of the verb and has the meaning ‘back’ or ‘again’ or ‘repeat’. (Note that this prefix is
different than the distributive prefix na;- which we discussed earlier.) The iterative occurs in many
common words, such as nantneg&‰i ‘I will see you again’. This word is composed of na- iterative
plus n- ‘you’ plus t- future plus eg- ‘I’. The other n- (to the right of t-) together with -‰i means ‘to
see (future)’. Now, one this is odd about this word. We know that the usual way of referring to ‘I’ in
the verb for ‘to see’ is ek-, as in
nek-&e•h
nnek-&e•h
I see it
I see you
Recall that ek- is the h-classifier form of the first person singular subject ‘I’. When we say ‘see again’
this form is replaced with the l-classifier form of the verb, which for the first person singular subject
‘I’ is eg-. This explains the change from ek- to eg- in the following examples.
ntnek-&‰iÂ
nantneg&‰iÂ
I will see you
I will see you again
The iterative prefix changes Ø -classifier to d-classifier and changes h-classifier to l-classifier (this
phenomenon is known as ‘classifier voicing’.) An example of a change from Ø-classifier to dclassifier is given below. Here the d-classifier form of the third person singular subject ‘he’ is simply
t-.
aameeÂ
he&s swimming
na&atmeeÂ
he&s swimming back
Now hold on, there’s still more. The iterative prefix can contract with preceding prefixes to form a
single prefix with a long vowel. This rule of contraction can be written formally as:
CV + na ---> CVV
where C is any consonant and V is any vowel. For example,
n‰ + na ----> n™i
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Note here that the high tone on n‰- changes to a falling tone.
Now when the verb stem begins with an h-, the situation is slightly more complicated. In these
verbs the D-classifier is deleted and instead changes the initial h- to d-.
aahaaÂ
na&aadaaÂ
he&s walking
he&s walking back
Now, how do we know whether na- means ‘back’ or ‘again’? Well, it depends on the context. In
general, with verbs that have an inherent sense of direction, the meaning of the iterative is ‘back’, as
in ‘returning’. In verbs which have no inherent sense of direction the meaning is ‘again’, as in ‘to do
something again’. Both meanings can occur with the same verb stem. For example, both of the
following words have the same verb stem -haaÂ. Here this comes out at daa because of the
presence of the na- prefix. Actually, here the na- prefix has contracted with the preceding n‰prefix. Whew. Got it so far?
N™itindaaÂ.
N™i&iteghindaaÂ.
You will come back.
You will get up again.
Okay. The first one above has a sense of direction, meaning ‘go to a point’. So the iterative form has
the meaning ‘go back to a point’, thus ‘come back’. Now the second of these combines the prefix
n‰- with i- to get a meaning ‘rise up vertically’. So the iterative form of this verb has the meaning
‘rise up vertically again’ or simply ‘get up again’.
Keep an eye out for na-. Natnil&‰iÂ. You’ll see it again.
More future forms with weather verbs
When we want to ask how the weather will be in the future, we not only use the future form of verb,
but we also use the iterative prefix na-, in this case meaning ‘again’. The use of the na- prefix
changes Ø-classifier to at t-.
Nde;e de;& na;xnat-t_h_eÂ$
Nde;e de;& na;xnatgo;n& $
De•y[ de;& na;xnatgo;n&.
K&ahda•ad
• e;& na;xnatk&etth.
When will it be hot again$
When will it be warm again$
It wil be warm again in the spring.
Tomorrow it will get cold again.
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