Grammar and Lexicon of Okuna

Author: Matt Pearson

MS Date: 11-19-2013

FL Date: 12-01-2013

FL Number: FL-00001B-00

Citation: Pearson, Matt. 2013. «Grammar and Lexicon of
Okuna.» FL-00001B-00, Fiat Lingua, . Web. 01 Dec. 2013.

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Contents

1 Introduction

2 An Overview of Okuna

2.1 The language and its speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.2 Phonology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.3 Word classes
2.4 Morphology and inﬂectional categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.5 Constituent order and clause structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3 Phonology

3.1
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.2 Phoneme inventory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.2.1 Consonants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.2.2 Vowels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.3 Syllable structure and phonotactics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.4 Stress assignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.5 Common phonological processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.5.1 Consonant cluster simpliﬁcation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.5.2 Place and continuancy assimilation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.5.3 Vowel hiatus resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4 Case and Argument Structure

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.1
4.2 Noun case morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.3 The core cases
4.3.1 Nominative and ergative case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.3.2 Dative case and the delimiter role
4.4 Verb classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.4.1 Class I verbs
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.4.2 Class II verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.4.3 Class III verbs
4.5 The oblique cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.5.1 Locative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.5.2 Allative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.5.3 Ablative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.5.4
4.6 The unmarked form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.6.1 Unmarked nouns within the noun phrase
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.6.2 Unmarked noun phrases as non-arguments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.6.3 Pseudo-incorporated arguments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Instrumental

4
4
4
5
5
8

11
11
11
11
13
14
14
16
16
16
17

19
19
19
21
22
24
28
30
33
39
46
47
49
52
54
58
58
59
61

CONTENTS

4.6.4 Other unmarked noun phrases with Class III verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.6.5 Unmarked noun phrases with Class I verbs
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.6.6 Fixed expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

5 Pronouns

5.1
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.2 The personal pronouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.3 Full pronouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.3.1 Case marking on full pronouns
5.3.2 Demonstrative constructions and spatial deixis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.3.3 Realis versus irrealis dative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.4 Clitic pronouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.4.1 Clitic clusters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.4.2 Clitic versus non-clitic pronouns
5.5 Omission of pronouns
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.6 Universal quantiﬁers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

65
66
69

71
71
72
73
74
74
79
82
84
88
91
93

6 The Noun Phrase

96
96
6.1
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
96
6.2 Expressing number features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.3 Expressing deﬁniteness and speciﬁcity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
99
6.4 Compounding and modiﬁcation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
6.5 Relational nouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
6.6 Possessive constructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
6.6.1 Case marking the possessor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
6.6.2 Expressing possession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
6.7 Correlatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Indeﬁnite/interrogative correlatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
6.7.1
6.7.2 Demonstrative correlatives
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
6.7.3 Remarks on the functions of correlatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
6.8.1 Mass noun quantiﬁers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
6.8.2 Count noun quantiﬁers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
6.8.3 Remarks on the functions of certain quantiﬁers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
6.8.4 Numerals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
6.8.5 Other postnominal modiﬁers
6.9 Word order within the noun phrase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

6.8 Quantiﬁers and related elements

7 Verb Morphology

138
7.1
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
7.2 Number agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
7.3 Negation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
7.4 Tense, aspect, and mood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Sample conjugations and irregular forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
7.4.1
7.4.2
Imperfect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
7.4.3 Progressive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
7.4.4 Perfect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
7.4.5 Perfective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
7.4.6 Conditional
7.5 Aspectual derivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
7.5.1 Resultative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

CONTENTS

7.5.2 Active . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
7.5.3 Telic and atelic inchoative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
7.5.4 Durative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
7.5.5 Completive and incompletive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
7.6 Relative marking and the comparative construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
7.7 Expressing modality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
7.7.1 Modal suxes
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
7.7.2 Modal verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

8 Minor Word Classes

191
8.1
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
8.2 Sentence particles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
8.2.1 Focus particles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
8.2.2 Force and evidential particles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
8.3 Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
8.3.1 Coordinators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
8.3.2 Discourse markers
8.4 Adverbial elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
8.4.1 Manner adverbs
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
8.4.2 Aspectual adverbials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
8.4.3 Adverbials formed from quantiﬁers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
8.4.4 Other temporal adverbials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
8.4.5 Other degree adverbials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

9 Clause Structure

9.3 Special clause types

222
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
9.1
9.2 Word order within the clause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
9.2.1 Word order and topicality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
9.2.2 Preposed constituents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
9.2.3 Postposed constituents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
9.3.1 Copular sentences
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
9.3.2 Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Imperatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
9.3.3
9.3.4 Direct quotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
9.4.1 Decreasing valence: Equivalents of the passive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
9.4.2
Increasing valence: Causative constructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
9.4.3 The reﬂexive construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
9.4.4 Reciprocal clauses

9.4 Valence

10 Nominalization and Complex Clauses

259
10.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
10.2 The dependent form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
10.2.1 Dependent clauses as arguments
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
10.2.2 Dependent clauses as complements of relational nouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
10.2.3 Dependent clauses as complements of aun and alh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
10.2.4 Restructuring: Bare dependent complements of verbs
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
10.3.1 Indicative participles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
10.3.2 Subjunctive participles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

10.3 Participial clauses

CONTENTS

10.4 The converb construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
10.5 Gerunds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
10.6 Participant nominals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
10.6.1 Participant nominal inﬂection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
10.6.2 Actor nominals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
10.6.3 Theme nominals
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
10.6.4 Delimiter nominals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
10.6.5 Circumstantial nominals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

11 Derivation and the Lexicon

311
11.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
11.2 Noun derivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
11.2.1 Diminutive and augmentative marking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
11.2.2 Collective nouns
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
11.2.3 Other noun derivational morphology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
11.3 Verb derivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
11.3.1 Deriving verbs from nouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
11.3.2 Deriving verbs from verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
11.4 Special lexical classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
11.4.1 Kinship terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
11.4.2 Colour terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
11.4.3 Motion verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
11.5 Common expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

12 Sample Texts

334
12.1 The North Wind and the Sun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334

13 Okuna-to-English Dictionary

336

Chapter 1

Introduction

This book provides a detailed grammatical description of an invented language called Okuna (formerly
known as Tokana). This language was constructed for personal amusement and ediﬁcation. It is intended as
a purely personal artistic and intellectual exercise, though my hope is that others—those few who appreciate
the Secret Vice—will ﬁnd the results interesting and entertaining. My goal is to construct the outlines of a
naturalistic grammar, one which is linguistically plausible, internally consistent, and original in its details.
Though not based on any single existing language, Okuna is meant to look and feel ‘realistic’, with all the
complexities and (seemingly) arbitrary features which naturally-evolving human languages have. Note that
Okuna is an ongoing project, with no ﬁxed endpoint. It has changed substantially over the seventeen or
more years that I have worked on it, and will no doubt continue to change as long as I remain interested in
it. The description given here is thus not the ﬁnal word on Okuna, but merely represents the state of the
language as it exists now.

It is important to note that this grammar is not intended as a textbook or teach-yourself guide, but as
an attempt to lay out the structure of Okuna (for posterity, as it were) in as comprehensive a fashion as
possible. Hence the material is organized thematically rather than as a series of lessons. Likewise, I have
not shied away from using technical terms in cases where I felt this would make the description more precise
(to those unfamiliar with these terms, I apologise in advance). That said, I do not present a formal analysis
of the language, but have tried to keep my treatment as descriptive as possible.

The discussion is divided into eleven chapters. Chapter 1 gives a very brief typological overview of the
language. Chapter 2 deals with phonology. Chapter 3 covers the basics of argument structure, focusing on
the rather complex case system. Chapter 4 discusses pronouns and morphologically related elements, while
chapter 5 gives additional information on noun phrase structure. Chapters 6 deals with verb morphology.
Chapter 7 discusses minor word classes not covered in the previous chapters, including sentential particles,
conjunctions, and adverbs. Chapter 8 deals with word order in basic clauses, along with the formation of
questions, commands, and other ‘marked’ sentence types. Chapter 9 discusses subordination, nominalization,
and complex sentence structures. Finally, chapter 10 covers miscellaneous topics pertaining to vocabulary,
and chapter 11 gives sample texts. An extensive glossary is appended to the grammar.

Okuna words and morphemes appear in italics, with glosses set o↵ by single quotes, e.g., kotu ‘house’.

Example sentences are normally presented in the following three-line format:

(1.1) Lakiak`a

sihkunoi
river.dat

elohka
yesterday

estyit
reach.pv.pl

hunter.nom
‘The hunters reached the river yesterday’

The ﬁrst line of the example gives the Okuna phrase or sentence, while the second line gives word-by-word
glosses. If a word is morphologically complex, each morpheme is glossed separately (grammatical morphemes
are labelled with abbreviations in small caps, morpheme breaks are indicated using periods, and a colon

CHAPTER 1.

INTRODUCTION

is used to link two or more units of meaning expressed by a single morpheme). Finally, the third line gives
a free English translation of the phrase or sentence set o↵ by single quotes.

To make the example sentences as readable as possible, I have opted not to divide the Okuna words
into their component morphemes. Where necessary, I include remarks on the internal structure of certain
words in the text accompanying the example. Where the notation X > Y is used in discussions of morpho-
phonology, X represents the underlying form of a word (with the morphemes separated by periods), while Y
gives the form of the word as it is pronounced following any phonological transformations—e.g., m.siehp.o
> ntsiehpo ‘doesn’t write’ illustrates the change whereby, when the negative preﬁx m- attaches to a verb
stem beginning with s, the resulting consonant sequence becomes nts through a process of assimilation.

References to example numbers appear in parentheses, while cross-references to sections and subsections

are marked with the symbol

. Below is a list of the abbreviations used in the examples:

1s
12/13
2(s/p)
3a(s/p)
3i(s/p)
abl
act
ainc
all
anzr
cnzr
comp
cond
cpl
cv
dat
dep
dist
dnzr
dpl
dur
emph
epl
erg
foc
ger
icpl

1st person singular
1st person plural inclusive/exclusive
2nd person (singular/plural)
3rd person animate (singular/plural)
3rd person inanimate (singular/plural)
ablative case
active aspect
atelic inchoative
allative case
actor nominalizer
circumstantial nominalizer
comparative
conditional mood
completive aspect
converb
(irrealis) dative case
dependent form
distal
delimiter nominalizer
dative plural
durative aspect
emphatic particle
ergative plural
ergative case
focus particle
gerund
incompletive aspect

imp
inst
int
ipv
loc
med
neg
nom
npl
pf
pl
pot
prox
prg
pst
pt
pv
qu
quot
rdat
recip
rel
res
sbj
sg
tinc
tnzr

imperative
instrumental case
interrogative (mood)
imperfective aspect
locative case
medial
negative particle/inﬂection
nominative case
nominative plural
perfect aspect
plural (topic)
potential aspect
proximal
progressive aspect
past tense
participle
perfective aspect
question particle
quotative particle
realis dative case
reciprocal
relative marker
resultative aspect
subjunctive mood
singular
telic inchoative
theme nominalizer

Chapter 2

An Overview of Okuna

2.1 The language and its speakers

Okuna belongs to the Northern branch of the Kman-Tok family of languages. It is spoken as a ﬁrst language
by approximately ﬁve thousand people inhabiting two dozen settlements in the Okuna Watershed, including
the towns of Tenmotlai, Uiluma, and Kemotlasi. There are three distinct dialects of Okuna: an Interior
dialect spoken in and around the three towns, plus Northern and Southern coastal dialects. However, the
di↵erences among these dialects are quite small, mostly conﬁned to details of pronunciation and vocabulary.
Here I focus on the Interior dialect, which has the largest number of speakers.

Speakers of Okuna generally refer to themselves as Ehkantlukampa ‘People of the First Raven’, or as
Mohkiampa ‘People of the Five Hearths’. However, in dealings with outsiders they tend to identify themselves
as Okuna, using the name of the region they inhabit as a tribal designation, and also adding it before their
clan names as a kind of surname. They have no name for their language, referring to it simply as isane sul
‘our language’. Here I use Okuna both for the language and for those who speak it.

The Okuna live primarily by ﬁshing, hunting, and gathering wild plants, berries, and shellﬁsh. They also
grow maize, beans, and other crops in small garden plots, and raise goats for milk and wool, and kauen (an
introduced turkeyfowl domesticate) for meat and eggs. Okuna towns and villages consist of between half a
dozen and three dozen widely spaced houses built of cedar. Political structure is based on clan membership.
The Okuna are matrilocal, and reckon kinship bilineally, with each individual belonging to two exogamous
clans, one matrilineal and the other patrilineal. The patrilineal clans, or otana, have a largely ceremonial
function; while the matrilineal clans, or mok ‘hearths’, are responsible for allocating economic resources
and duties, and for hosting potlaches (see
11.4.1 for more on Okuna kinship). Each of the ﬁve mok elects
representatives to a council of elders, responsible for settling disputes between clans, as well as negotiating
trade relations with other peoples. The Okuna are active members of the Coastal Exchange, a vast trade
network extending from Marngalaks in the north all the way to Tibu´e in the south. Their major exports are
wool, timber, and wood products.

The remainder of this chapter gives a selective overview of Okuna grammar, focussing on the typologically

distinctive features of the language.

2.2 Phonology

Okuna has a fairly simple phonology. The phoneme inventory consists of eighteen basic sounds, twelve
consonants and six vowels. Syllables are maximally CVC (or CCVC word-initially, with strict limits on
permissible CC clusters). Stress assignment is based on moraic trochees. Major phonological processes
include vowel hiatus resolution (with vowel sequences converted to diphthongs), as well as nasal assimilation,
continuancy assimilation, and degemination to resolve illicit consonant clusters.

CHAPTER 2. AN OVERVIEW OF OKUNA

2.3 Word classes

The major lexical classes in Okuna are noun and verb. These categories are easily distinguished on morpho-
syntactic grounds, and there are very few stems in the language which can function either as a noun or as
a verb (though there are a number of productive means for deriving noun stems from verb stems). Okuna
does not have a distinct class of adjectives. States and properties are instead expressed by verbs, or in a few
cases (such as colour terms) by nouns. When used attributively, a stative verb is nominalized (e.g., pata ‘be
tall’ > pate ‘tall one, person/thing which is tall’) and then concatenated with the noun it modiﬁes to form
a compound-like structure (pate palahta ‘tall tree’).

Nouns belong to one of two genders, animate and inanimate. Without exception, gender is semantically
determined: nouns denoting people and (living) animals are treated as animate, while all other nouns are
inanimate. Animacy is reﬂected primarily in the choice of third person pronouns (e.g., ne pata ‘he/she is
tall’ versus hi pata ‘it is tall’). In addition, demonstratives and certain quantiﬁers, which follow the noun,
agree with the noun in gender. Compare animate pyi ‘child’ with inanimate palahta ‘tree’:

pyi nan
pyi mi`o
pyi nket

‘that child’
‘which child?’
‘every child’

palahta tan
palahta m`a
palahta eket

‘that tree’
‘which tree?’
‘every tree’

The Okuna pronoun system distinguishes three persons and two numbers, with an inclusive/exclusive dis-
tinction in the ﬁrst person plural (kim ‘we [includes addressee]’ versus sat ‘we [excludes addressee]’). Oblique
pronouns each have a single form, while non-oblique pronouns (those used to express subject and object re-
lations) have both clitic forms and full forms, where the full forms are used mostly for emphasis, and as
demonstratives. Clitic pronouns express person but not number, except in the ﬁrst person, while full and
oblique pronouns have singular and plural forms for all persons.

There is no class of adpositions in Okuna. Spatio-temporal and other relations, which in other languages
are expressed using adpositions, are generally expressed in Okuna by means of case endings: e.g., kotu
‘house’ + locative -na > kotuna ‘in the house’. To express certain relations the case ending will attach to
an abstract relational noun (such as kuma ‘front’) which in turn heads a compound-like structure: e.g., kotu
kumana ‘in front of the house’ (lit. ‘at the house front’). In addition, Okuna has a large number of motion
verbs which encode the path or direction of motion: e.g., lhyua ‘enter, go into’, tlisa ‘go across/over’, kloha
‘go through’. These can combine with verbs expressing manner of motion to form more complex predicates:
e.g., iante lhyua ‘jump into’ (lit. ‘enter by jumping’).

Closed classes in Okuna include conjunctions, quantiﬁers, aspectual and temporal adverbs, preverbal
particles functioning as focus/predicate operators (with meanings like ‘also’, ‘only’, and ‘not’), and postverbal
particles for expressing clause-type, emphasis, and evidentiality.

2.4 Morphology and inﬂectional categories

Okuna has a good deal of inﬂectional morphology, especially on verbs. Preﬁxes, suxes, and clitics all occur,
with some suxes having inﬁxed allomorphs (e.g., totsat ‘table’ plus the dative case marker -i > totsait ‘to
the table’). Some clitics precede their hosts while others follow their hosts. Compounding is also extremely
common. Ablaut occurs on a handful of verb stems to express the resultative aspect (e.g., lima ‘open’ >
luma ‘be open’). Noun incorporation also occurs residually as a derivational strategy (e.g., him ‘interior’ +
eka ‘be empty’ > himeka ‘be hollow’; ksas ‘salt’ + patla ‘cover’ > ksapatla ‘cover with salt’).

Noun inﬂection is rather simple, being conﬁned to the marking of case roles (see below). Nouns do not
for example, palahta may mean ‘tree’ or ‘trees’, depending on the context.
inﬂect for number in Okuna:
However, non-clitic pronouns do distinguish singular from plural (e.g., tan ‘it/that’ versus tin ‘they/those’).
These pronouns also function as demonstratives, in which case they follow the noun and express the number
of the noun phrase as a whole (palahta tan ‘that tree’, palahta tin ‘those trees’).

Okuna expresses grammatical relations with a combination of head marking and dependent marking.
Noun phrases inﬂect for case, which is indicated by a sux (or inﬁx) on the rightmost element in the noun

2.4. MORPHOLOGY AND INFLECTIONAL CATEGORIES

phrase (typically, but not always, the noun itself). In addition, verbs are marked for the number (singular
versus plural) of their subjects and objects.

There are seven case roles: nominative (nom), dative (dat), ergative (erg), locative (loc), ablative
(abl), allative (all), and instrumental (inst). Their distribution follows a complex pattern, where the
choice of case marking is determined largely by the semantic role of the argument. For example, noun
phrases expressing the initiator of the action (agents, actors) normally appear in the ergative case, while
noun phrases denoting participants associated with the endpoint or culmination of the action (patients,
goals, and experiencers) take the dative case, and other ‘core’ arguments of the verb take the nominative.
The following sentences illustrate the system, showing that the cases do not align in a straightforward way
with categories like ‘subject’ and ‘object’ in English:

(2.1) Pyie

etskanyi
arrive.pv

child.nom
‘The child arrived’

(2.2) Pyima

muelhyi
sleep.pv

child.erg
‘The child slept’

(2.3) Ihama

kahoi
ﬁsh.dat

iasyi
eat.pv

woman.erg
‘The woman ate the ﬁsh’

(2.4) Ihama

moihai
girl.dat

kihune
letter.nom

lastyi
send.pv

woman.erg
‘The woman sent the letter to the girl’

(2.5) Moihai
girl.dat
‘The girl received the letter’

kihune
letter.nom

moityi
receive.pv

(2.6) Moihai
girl.dat
‘The girl saw the boy’

mikale
boy.nom

kilyi
see.pv

In addition to semantic roles, case marking can be a↵ected by the aspect and modality of the verb. For
example, the eventive verb toka ‘ﬁx’ normally assigns dative case to its patient argument, as shown in the
ﬁrst example below. However, when the verb is inﬂected for resultative aspect (toika ‘be ﬁxed, be in a ﬁxed
state’) that argument instead appears in the locative case, as shown in the second example:

(2.7) Sakialma

mutoi
Sakial.erg
fence.dat
‘Sakial ﬁxed the fence’

tokyi
ﬁx.pv

(2.8) Mutuna

takan
now

itoika
prg.ﬁx:res.ipv

fence.loc
‘The fence is now ﬁxed’

Likewise when the verb tala ‘read’ inﬂects for desiderative modality (taluha ‘want to read’), the actor, which
normally takes ergative marking, instead appears in the locative case:

(2.9) Pyima

halma
book

atai
that:dat

itala
prg.read.ipv

child.erg
‘The child is reading that book’

(2.10) Pyina

halma
book

atai
that:dat

taluha
read.want.ipv

child.loc
‘The child wants to read that book’

CHAPTER 2. AN OVERVIEW OF OKUNA

An unusual property of Okuna is that dative case marking on pronouns and demonstratives comes in two
variants: irrealis dative and realis dative (the latter abbreviated rdat). As noted above, dative case is
typically used to mark the patient or goal of a telic event—that is, an event which has an inherent endpoint.
Realis dative forms are used when the goal has been reached or realized, or when the patient has been fully
a↵ected by the action, at the time when the sentence is uttered; while irrealis dative forms occur elsewhere.
The choice between realis and irrealis is inﬂuenced by various factors, such as the tense and aspect of the
verb. For instance, irrealis dative is required in imperfective sentences, while realis dative tends to be used
in perfective sentences. Compare:

(2.11) Pyima

halma
book

atai
that:dat

itala
prg.read.ipv

child.erg
‘The child is reading that book’

(2.12) Pyima

halma
child.erg
book
‘The child read that book’

utai
that:rdat

talyi
read.pv

Verb inﬂection in Okuna is quite complex. Verbs take various combinations of preﬁxes and suxes to mark
tense, aspect, mood, and negation, and to form various kinds of dependent clauses. The following examples,
featuring the verb stem host- ‘dance’, give a sense of what this morphology looks like:

hosta
hostanka
ihosta
ihostike
uhostanka
uhost`a
ihoste
uhostai
hostyi

nkosto
nkostunka
mehosto
mehostoike
mohostunka

‘dances, will dance’
‘used to dance’
‘is dancing’
‘would be dancing’
‘had danced’
‘that (one) has danced’ mohost`o
mehostu
‘while dancing’
mohostau
‘if (one) had danced’
nkostou
‘danced’

‘doesn’t dance, won’t dance’
‘didn’t used to dance’
‘is not dancing’
‘would not be dancing’
‘hadn’t danced’
‘that (one) has not danced’
‘without dancing’
‘unless (one) had danced’
‘didn’t dance’

Verbs also take suxes to mark the number (singular versus plural) of their nominative, dative, and ergative
arguments. This is illustrated by the examples below, featuring the ergative subject kalma and the dative
object kauein. The verb carries the sux -t when the ergative argument is plural, and -ma when the
dative argument is plural. These suxes co-occur when both arguments are plural. Notice that plurality is
indicated solely by the morphology on the verb, while the nouns themselves remain unchanged.

(2.13) Kalma

kauein
turkey:dat

itaha
prg.kill.ipv

man.erg
‘The man is killing the turkey’

(2.14) Kalma

kauein
man.erg
turkey:dat
‘The men are killing the turkey’

itahat
prg.kill.ipv.pl

(2.15) Kalma

kauein
man.erg
turkey:dat
‘The man is killing the turkeys’

itahama
prg.kill.ipv.dpl

2.5. CONSTITUENT ORDER AND CLAUSE STRUCTURE

(2.16) Kalma

kauein
man.erg
turkey:dat
‘The men are killing the turkeys’

itahamat
prg.kill.ipv.dpl.pl

In addition to the inﬂectional categories mentioned above, verbs also take suxes to derive reciprocal
forms (e.g., etsampa ‘talk’, etsampauot ‘talk with each other’), and can include suxes expressing modal-
ity/intensionality, causation, and event type (e.g., kila ‘see’, kiluha ‘want to see’, kilihpa ‘intend to see’,
kiluhka ‘manage to see’, kilota ‘see repeatedly’). Finally, verbs denoting scalar properties take preﬁxes and
suxes to express equative, comparative, and superlative degrees (e.g., pata ‘be tall’, apata ‘be so/as tall’,
apatohta ‘be taller/tallest’, apatima ‘grow, get taller’).

With all of these inﬂectional categories, verbs in Okuna can be quite complex. An extreme example is
the verb in (2.17). Here the stem tal- ‘read’ carries the negative preﬁx m-, the perfect aspect preﬁx o-, the
incompletive sux -ilm ‘try/attempt to’, the inchoative sux -et ‘begin to’, the negative past imperfective
sux -unka, and the agreement suxes -ma and -t, indicating that the dative and ergative arguments are
both plural.

(2.17) Sa

halma
book

atat
those:dat

eima
still

motalilmetunkamat
neg.pf.read.try.begin.ipv:pst:neg.dpl.pl

1exerg
‘We had not yet begun to try reading those books’

2.5 Constituent order and clause structure

Noun phrases in Okuna are head-ﬁnal. Possessors and modiﬁers precede the head noun: e.g., kotu ‘house’,
im`e kotu ‘my house’, im`e sane kotu ‘my red house’. Relative clauses, which take the form of nominalizations,
also precede the noun they modify. In the example below, kauein utahaka iha ‘woman who had killed the
turkey’ consists of the head noun iha ‘woman’ combined with the agentive nominal modiﬁer kauein utahaka,
literally ‘one who has/had killed the turkey’:

(2.18) Mo

kauein
turkey.dat

utahaka
pf.kill.dep.anzr

1srdat
‘I saw the woman who had killed the turkey’

ih`a
woman.nom

kilyi
see.pv

Only a handful of elements, such as quantiﬁers and demonstratives, follow the head noun: e.g., kotu hen
‘two houses’, kotu emot ‘all the houses’, kotu tan ‘that house’.

In relation-denoting expressions, the element expressing the relation follows its complement. In this sense,
Okuna patterns as a ‘postpositional’ rather than ‘prepositional’ language. However, relational elements in
Okuna do not belong to a separate category of postpositions, but are instead a type of noun. Notice that in
the example below, the relational element epam ‘top’ takes the locative case ending -na, with totsat epam
being a type of noun-noun compound (‘top of table’ or ‘table top’).

(2.19) totsat
table
‘on top of the table’

epamna
top.loc

Relational nouns also follow their complement when the complement is a clause, as in (2.20). Here talhkou
‘because’ (consisting of the noun talhko ‘cause/reason’ plus the ablative case ending -u) combines with a
preceding embedded clause.
Inasmuch as the subordinator follows the subordinate clause, Okuna again
patterns as a typical head-ﬁnal language.

(2.20) ma

elohka
yesterday

halmai
book.dat

atala
pv.read.dep

1serg
‘because I read the book yesterday’
more lit. ‘from the cause of me having read the book yesterday’

talhkou
cause.abl

CHAPTER 2. AN OVERVIEW OF OKUNA

At the clause level, constituent order is somewhat freer than within noun phrases, although there is a
deﬁnite preference for verb-ﬁnal (‘SOV’) order. The prototypical clause consists of a verb preceded by one
or more case-marked pronouns or noun phrases. The order of these noun phrases is determined primarily
by the discourse context in which the clause is uttered (see below). In this respect, Okuna behaves as a
scrambling language similar to Japanese. This is illustrated by the examples below, showing that when a
verb takes an agent noun phrase (marked with ergative case) and a patient noun phrase (marked with dative
case), the two arguments may occur in either order:

(2.21) Sakialma

mutoi
fence.dat

itoka
prg.repair.ipv

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial is repairing the fence’

(2.22) Mutoi

Sakialma
Sakial.erg

itoka
prg.repair.ipv

fence.dat
‘Sakial is repairing the fence’
or ‘The fence is being repaired by Sakial’

In sentences with more than one noun phrase, the order of the noun phrases depends largely on their discourse
prominence, with the most topical noun phrase occurring at the left edge of the clause. The topic is the
noun phrase which identiﬁes the individual that the clause is about, and is normally interpreted as deﬁnite or
speciﬁc. Of the sentences above, (2.21) might be used to attribute some action to Sakial, while (2.22) would
be used to assert a property of the fence. For instance, the former sentence might be given in response to
the question ‘What is Sakial doing?’, while the latter would be more appropriate in answer to the question
‘What is happening to the fence?’. (Notice that I give a passive construction as a possible translation for
the latter sentence. This is merely a way of indicating that the patient is more topical than the agent; (2.22)
does not actually have the structure of a passive.)

In addition to the most topical noun phrase coming at the beginning of the clause, there is a tendency for
the most focal noun phrase to immediately precede the verb, where a noun phrase is focal if it expresses
foregrounded (new or contrastive) information. Consider the examples below, which di↵er in the order of
the dative-marked indirect object and the nominative-marked direct object. In (2.23) the direct object is
In
more focal; the sentence might be used in answer to the question ‘What did you put in the chest?’.
(2.24), by contrast, the indirect object is more focal; this sentence might be used in answer to the question
‘Where did you put the book?’. In the former context, the existence and relevance of the chest has already
been established, while the book represents salient new information; in the latter context, it is the chest
which represents new information while the book is presupposed. (If both the book and the chest are new
information, either order is acceptable.)

(2.23) Ma

kohoit
chest.dat

halm`a
1serg
book.nom
‘I put the book in the chest’

(2.24) Ma

halm`a
book.nom

kohoit
1serg
chest.dat
‘I put the book in the chest’

elhyi
put:in.pv

Pronouns tend to pick out highly topical referents. Hence, if a clause contains one or more pronominal
arguments and one or more full noun phrase arguments, the pronoun(s) will almost always precede the full
noun phrase(s). This is illustrated in (2.23) and (2.24) above, where the ﬁrst person singular ergative pronoun
ma comes at the beginning of the sentence. Nominative, dative, and ergative pronouns all have special clitic
forms, which must be clause-initial, and ma is an example of such a clitic. Additional examples of clitic
pronouns are given below: na is the clitic form of the third person animate ergative pronoun (non-clitic form
in`a), while ti is the clitic form of the third person inanimate dative pronoun (non-clitic form atai ). These
sentences show the pronominal argument preceding the non-pronominal argument regardless of which one is
the subject and which is the object.

2.5. CONSTITUENT ORDER AND CLAUSE STRUCTURE

(2.25) Na

3aerg

mutoi
fence.dat

itoka
prg.repair.ipv

‘S/he is repairing the fence’

(2.26) Ti

Sakialma
Sakial.erg

3idat
‘Sakial is repairing it’

itoka
prg.repair.ipv

When a clause includes two pronominal arguments, both can take the form of clitics in certain cases. When
two clitics co-occur as arguments of the same verb, they combine to form a single phonological word, or
clitic cluster, which appears at the left edge of the clause. The sentences below each begin with a clitic
cluster:

(2.27) Ima

3inom.1serg

kohoit
chest.dat

elhyi
insert.pv.epl

‘I put it in the chest’ (lit. ‘It+I in:chest inserted’)

(2.28) Uma

3irdat.1serg

halm`a
book.nom

elhyi
insert.pv.epl

‘I put the book there / in it’ (lit. ‘To:it+I book inserted’)

(2.29) Intso

3aerg.13rdat

sliahte
story

ukiyima
tell.pv.dpl

‘S/he told us a story’ (lit. ‘S/he+us story told’)

Many clitics change their form when occurring as the ﬁrst element in a cluster. In (2.27) above, for example,
the third person inanimate nominative clitic hi becomes i- when it combines with the ﬁrst person exclusive
ergative clitic ma to give ima. Likewise, in (2.29) the third person animate ergative clitic na becomes in-
when combining with the ﬁrst person realis dative clitic so to give intso. The order of the clitics in a cluster
is ﬁxed by a person hierarchy, which requires that third person clitics precede ﬁrst and second person clitics.
Although verb-ﬁnal (SOV) order is normal in Okuna, various elements optionally follow the verb. In
particular, embedded clauses, which are formed from main clauses by nominalizing the verb, normally
occur to the right of the verb that selects them. This is illustrated below, where pyie elohfoi nioktat`a ‘the
children(’s) returning tomorrow’ is a nominalized clause (marked for nominative case) which functions as
the direct object of etsa ‘say/tell’:

(2.30) Ma

ihai
woman.dat

etsyi
tell.pv

pyie
child.nom

elohfoi
tomorrow

nioktat`a
return.dep.pl.nom

1serg
‘I told the woman that the children were returning tomorrow’

Chapter 3

Phonology

3.1 Introduction

3.3 and
3.4
This chapter gives an overview of Okuna phonology. In
deal with syllable structure, phonotactic constraints, and stress assignment. Finally in
3.5 I summarize
the major morpho-phonological processes in the language, which include vowel hiatus resolution, nasal
assimilation, and continuancy assimilation.

3.2 I present the phoneme inventory.

Okuna is normally written in a syllabary called ilo. In this grammar it will be represented in the Latin
alphabet using the following letters: a, e, f, h, i, k, l, m, n, o, p, s, t, u, y. Three digraphs are used: lh, tl,
and ts. The letter y represents a central or back unrounded vowel, pronounced [@] in unstressed syllables,
and ranging from [1] to [7] to [2] in stressed syllables, depending on dialect. The digraphs lh and tl represent
voiceless postalveolar lateral sounds, and may be roughly transcribed [ìﬂ] and [t
ìﬂ] in IPA (see below for
¯
description). All other letters have essentially their IPA values, subject to the allophony discussed below.

3.2 Phoneme inventory

Okuna distinguishes the following eighteen sounds.

3.2.1 Consonants

There are twelve consonant phonemes, with the following places and manners of articulation. Notice that
voicing is not contrastive in Okuna.

bilabial

palatal
labio-
dental alveolar (lateral)

dental/

velar glottal

plosive
affricate
fricative
nasal
approximant

t
ts
s
n
l

tl
lh

A condensed chart, which groups consonants into phonologically salient categories, is given below. A basic
division of consonants into obstruents and sonorants is justiﬁed on both phonetic and phonotactic grounds.
Sonorants are always voiced while obstruents are usually voiceless.
In addition, sonorants are the only
consonants which may occur as geminates (konomme ‘with a hammer’, sanna ‘in the blood’, nalla ‘greet’);
whereas when two identical obstruents come together at a morpheme boundary, the ﬁrst one becomes h, as
3.5.1. The division of obstruents into a non-continuant and a continuant series is also justiﬁed
discussed in

3.2. PHONEME INVENTORY

on phonotactic grounds. Non-continuants are the only obstruents that are allowed to follow a nasal: any
continuant obstruent that comes to follow a nasal changes into the closest corresponding non-continuant (m
+ f becomes mp, n + lh becomes ntl, etc.), as discussed in

3.5.2.

labial

velar/
plain grooved lateral glottal

coronal

obstruent non-continuant
continuant

sonorant

p
f
m

release
ts
s

release
tl
lh
l

k
h

Obstruents

The obstruent series consists of three plosives (bilabial p, dental t, and velar k ), two a↵ricates (alveolar ts and
postalveolar tl ), and four fricatives (labiodental f, alveolar s, postalveolar lh, and glottal h). The a↵ricates
ts and tl are counted as single segments on distributional grounds, in that they occur freely at the end of a
word (mots ‘frog’, hetl ‘piece’) or adjacent to another consonant (etskana ‘arrive’, luhtsa ‘smell’, atlpa ‘play
music’, hentla ‘half’). Okuna does not permit consonant clusters word-ﬁnally, and allows sequences of at
most two consonants word-medially.

By far the most exotic sounds in Okuna are the lateral fricative lh and the corresponding lateral a↵ricate
tl, which may be transcribed roughly as [ìﬂ] and [t
ìﬂ], respectively. Note that lh is made without any contact
¯
between the tongue body/tip and the roof of the mouth (in this respect it di↵ers from the voiceless lateral
sound of Welsh). The primary articulatory di↵erence between lh and the alveolar fricative s is that s is
made with the central portion of the tongue depressed (or ‘grooved’), as in English, while lh is made with
the central portion of the tongue raised and the sides of the tongue lowered. Also, the narrowest point of
constriction in the mouth is somewhat further back for lh than for s. The a↵ricate tl has the same place
of articulation as lh, but starts with a period of complete closure before opening into a fricative. (For some
speakers, there is almost no frication when tl is released, making it closer to a plosive sound than an a↵ricate.)
Fricatives and a↵ricates are always voiceless. The plosives are always unaspirated, and are generally
voiceless as well. However, in the Southern and Interior dialects, the non-coronal plosives p and k become
voiced after a word-initial sonorant consonant, between a sonorant consonant and an unstressed vowel, or
between two vowels where the second vowel is unstressed:

malka
nketu
mpehkai
kiotampa
lhonko
naka
otupa

[«malga]
[«NgEtu]
]
[mbEh»kai
“
[ki
O»tamba]
“
[«ìﬂONgO]
[«naga]
[O»tuba]

‘wolf’
‘crab’
‘ﬁrst’
‘hurry’
‘loud noise’
‘stone’
‘decide’

The coronal obstruents are noticeably palatalized when followed by an i -glide, though not when followed by
a non-glide i vowel. Compare:

tiku
sila

[«tigu]
[«sila]

‘spear, harpoon’
‘be clear’

tiame
siem

amE]
[«ci
“
Em]
[«Ci
“

‘grandmother’
‘sky’

In the Northern dialect, the glottal fricative h is optionally deleted word-internally before an unstressed
vowel: e.g., teha ‘stay’, which most speakers pronounce [«tEha], is pronounced [«tEa] by many Northern
speakers.

Sonorants

The sonorant consonants consist of two nasals (m, n) and one lateral liquid (l ). The sonorants are always
voiced, and this voicing often carries over to a following p or k, as discussed above. The sonorant m is

CHAPTER 3. PHONOLOGY

bilabial, while n and l are generally dental or alveolar. However, n assimilates in place of articulation to a
following obstruent. In addition, n is optionally realized as velar word-ﬁnally, especially after a non-front
vowel or before a word beginning with a velar consonant.

ntlyuo
ntioko
tunku
kian

O]
[«n
ìﬂ7u
t
¯
¯
“
[«ñci
OgO]
“
[«tuNgu]
aN]
[«ki
an] or [«ki
“
“

‘not enter’
‘not die’
‘pain’
‘ﬁve’

As with the coronal obstruents, the coronal sonorants n and l are palatalized before an i -glide, though not
before a non-glide i :

nilu
lima

[«nilu]
[«lima]

‘net’
‘open’

nial
lioke

[«ñi
al]
“
OgE]
[«Li
“

‘blade’
‘mark, symbol’

3.2.2 Vowels

Okuna has six vowel phonemes:

front

non-front
unround round

high

low

i
e

u
o

y
a

In all positions, the high vowels i and u, and the low vowel a, are pronounced as in the IPA (except that i
and u are realized as glides when adjacent to another vowel, as discussed below). The mid vowels e and o
may be tense or lax: e is tense before an i glide and lax in all other positions, while o is tense before an u
glide and lax in other positions. Compare:

tene
tenei
teneu
teneia

[«tEnE]
[tE»nei
]
“
]
[tE»nEu
“
a]
[tE»nei
“

‘hill’
‘hill.dat’
‘hill.abl’
‘hill.all’

kopo
kopoi
kopou
kopoua

[«kObO]
[kO»pOi
]
“
]
[kO»pou
“
a]
[kO»pou
“

‘pot’
‘pot.dat’
‘pot.abl’
‘pot.all’

In stressed syllables, y is pronounced as a high central unrounded vowel, or as a mid back unrounded vowel
(tense or lax), depending on the dialect. For example, hyna ‘move’ is pronounced [«h7na] by Inland speakers,
[«h1na] by Northern coastal speakers, and either [«h7na] or [«h2na] by Southern coastal speakers.
In all
varieties, y centralizes to schwa in unstressed syllables (e.g., tynan [t@»naN] ‘dew’).

Vowel length is not contrastive in Okuna. There are pairs of monosyllabic stems which appear to show a
length contrast—e.g., the vowel in s`u ‘rain’ is longer than the vowel in su ‘or’. However, the contrast here
is primarily one of stress rather than length: s`u is always stressed, whereas su never is (cf.

3.4 below).

] and [u
The high vowels i and u are non-syllabic, pronounced as [i
“
“

] (phonetically: [j] and [w], respectively),
when adjacent to a non-high vowel. In sequences of two high vowels (iu, ui ), the ﬁrst vowel is non-syllabic.
This results in seven falling diphthongs (ai, ei, oi, yi ; au, eu, ou), ten rising diphthongs (ia, ie, io, iu, iy;
ua, ue, ui, uo, uy), and fourteen triphthongs (iai, iei, ioi, iyi, iau, ieu, iou; uai, uei, uoi, uyi, uau, ueu, uou).
Note that even when i and u are pronounced as glides, they are treated as vowels by the morphology. For
example, when the negative marker is preﬁxed to a verb, it takes the form ma- before a sonorant consonant
(e.g., mutla ‘understand’, mamutlo ‘doesn’t understand’), and m- before a vowel (e.g., eta ‘go’, meto ‘doesn’t
go’). When the negative marker attaches to a verb beginning with a glide, the m- form is used (uihta ‘sit
down’, muihto ‘doesn’t sit down’).

Note ﬁnally that a glottal stop is never inserted before a word-initial vowel; when two vowels occur
adjacent to one another at a word boundary, they are pronounced with a smooth transition: e.g., me ita
‘I am going’ is pronounced [mE»ita] (not *[mE»Pita]). When a word ending in a vowel comes before a word
beginning with the same vowel, and the latter is unstressed, there is a tendency for the two vowels to coalesce
phonetically into a single long vowel: e.g., me etskana ‘I arrive’ is normally pronounced [mE:ts»kana].

3.3. SYLLABLE STRUCTURE AND PHONOTACTICS

3.3 Syllable structure and phonotactics

Except word-initially, the following syllable types are possible: V, CV, VC, CVC, where C represents a
single consonant and V represents a simple vowel, diphthong, or triphthong. Division of words into syllables
is straightforward: A single intervocalic consonant is always syllabiﬁed with the following vowel (kila ‘see’
is syllabiﬁed as ki.la). When two consonants occur together word-internally, the syllable boundary goes
between them (mokta ‘go home’ is mok.ta, atlpa ‘make music’ is atl.pa). When a high vowel occurs between
two non-high vowels, it is syllabiﬁed with the following vowel, producing a rising diphthong in the second
syllable rather than a falling diphthong in the ﬁrst syllable (e.g., paua ‘wash’ is pa.ua, not *pau.a).

Word-initially, a syllable may begin with a consonant cluster. By far the most common initial clusters
consist of a non-continuant obstruent preceded by a homorganic nasal: mp, nt, nts, ntl, nk. A handful of
uninﬂected stems begin with a nasal-obstruent cluster (e.g., mpyka ‘bump against’, nketu ‘crab’). In most
cases, however, these clusters result from adding the negative preﬁx m- to an obstruent-initial stem, with
place and continuancy assimilation (e.g., m- ‘neg’ + pat- ‘be tall’ + -o ‘neg’ > mpato ‘not be tall’; m-
‘neg’ + lhyu- ‘enter’ + -o ‘neg’ > ntlyuo ‘not enter’).

Besides the nasal-obstruent clusters, six other initial clusters are found in a handful of words: kl (kloha
‘go through’), ks (ksohe ‘darkness’), sk (skoha ‘steal’), st (stoka ‘destroy’), sl (sliahte ‘story’), and ps
(occurs only in the onomatopoetic psyta ‘spit out’).

Beyond these general constraints on syllable structure, the following phonotactic patterns may be noted:

1. Geminate sonorant consonants are possible word-internally (ikimme ‘with us’, inna ‘eye’, nalla
‘greet’), but geminate obstruents are disallowed, due to a historical and synchronic change whereby
the ﬁrst of a pair of identical obstruents becomes h (e.g., t + t > ht).

2. The fricatives h and f have restricted distributions. The latter never occurs in the coda of a syllable,
due to a historical change where f merged with h in this position. In addition, although syllable-ﬁnal h
is allowed word-internally, it never occurs at the end of a word. This is also due to a historical change,
following f > h merger, whereby h was lost word-ﬁnally (e.g., *ipalah > ipal`a ‘herb’). In addition, h
never occurs after a consonant (recall that the sequence lh represents a single sound), or before l, lh,
or itself. All other h + C combinations are permitted, and some are common.

3. The vowel y is less common than the other ﬁve vowels. It occurs most often as part of the diphthong
yi (generally pronounced [7i
]), and never appears at the end of a word. Note that there is no
] or [2i
“
“
diphthong yu, due to a historical change whereby *yu merged with ou. Synchronically, the sequence
yu only appears when y and u are separated by a syllable boundary, as in lhyua ‘enter’.

4. The rising diphthongs iu and ui are found in noun and verb roots, but never occur across a morpheme

boundary due to the vowel hiatus rules discussed in

3.5.3 below.

5. The a↵ricate tl rarely occurs syllable-ﬁnally. When tl is syllable ﬁnal but stem-internal, the following
syllable always begins with a non-coronal plosive or nasal (e.g., atlpa ‘make music’, nitlka ‘sting’).

6. Consonant clusters consisting of two fricatives are limited. The combinations hf and hs are not
uncommon (e.g., muohfa ‘be heavy/dense’, tuhsa ‘winter’). But other fricative clusters are rare or
non-existent. Moreover, fricatives never occur after a sonorant, due to a rule which changes the
fricative into the corresponding a↵ricate or stop (n + f > mp, n + s > nts, n + lh > ntl, etc.).

3.4 Stress assignment

Okuna words are parsed into moraic trochees, where coda consonants and glides count as moraic. Primary
and secondary stress are assigned from the right edge of the word, and stress clashes within a word are not
permitted. This translates into the following rules:

CHAPTER 3. PHONOLOGY

1. For words of more than one syllable, the ﬁnal syllable receives primary stress if it ends in a consonant
(kamal ‘knife’) or a falling diphthong (huiloi ‘window’); otherwise the penultimate syllable receives
primary stress. Monosyllabic words are stressed if they end in a consonant (nalh ‘arm’) or falling
diphthong (lai ‘light’); otherwise they are unstressed and form a prosodic unit with an adjacent stress-
bearing word, generally the following one.1

2. For words of four or more syllables, and for three-syllable words ending in a stressed syllable, secondary

stress is assigned right-to-left to every other syllable preceding the one with primary stress.

Examples of primary and secondary stress assignment are given below:

tene
mosie
hakui
minap
totsat
ulau
elohka
etskana
elohfoi
ksohnomats
ihtaupatam
teiektakunme

[«tE.nE]
E]
[«mO.Ci
“
[«ha.gu
i]
“
[mi.»nap]
[tO.»tsat]
[u.»lau
]
“
[E.»lOh.ka]
[Ets.»ka.na]
[E.lOh.»fOi
]
“
[ksOh.nO.»mats]
[ih.tau
.ba.»tam]
“
Ek.ta.»kun.mE]
[te.i
“

‘hill’
‘shoulders’
‘bristle’
‘marrow’
‘table’
‘scrotum’
‘yesterday’
‘arrive’
‘tomorrow’
‘dusk, twilight’
‘sixteen’
‘forty-nine.inst’

The only apparent exceptions to the above rules consist of a handful of stems and common inﬂectional forms
which end in a non-glide vowel but nevertheless have primary stress on the ﬁnal syllable. In the orthography
used here, these are marked by placing a diacritic over the ﬁnal vowel:

nap`e
ipal`a

[na.»pE]
[i.ba.»la]

‘daughter’
‘herb, medicinal plant’

The use of this diacritic is crucial, since a change in how a word is stressed often signals the di↵erence
between one inﬂectional form and another. For example, ‘woman’ is iha in the unmarked form (with stress
on the ﬁrst syllable) and ih`a in the nominative case (with stress on the last syllable). Note that the same
diacritic is also placed over monosyllabic stress-bearing words ending in a non-glide vowel, such as n`a ‘water’.
These words are pronounced with a slightly longer vowel than their unstressed counterparts (e.g., s`u ‘rain’
has a longer vowel than su ‘or’).

Final stressed vowels have two sources in the phonology:

1. In some inﬂected forms, two adjacent vowels fuse to become a single stressed vowel. For example, when
the nominative ending -e is added to the stem iha ‘woman’, the ending fuses with the ﬁnal stem vowel
to give ih`a (see

3.5.3).

2. Although syllables in Okuna may normally end in the glottal fricative h (e.g., the ﬁrst syllable in ahte
‘father’), there is a rule which deletes h word-ﬁnally (cf.
3.3). However, words with a deleted ﬁnal h
behave as if they still ended in a consonant, insofar as primary stress falls on the ﬁnal syllable. This is
the case with s`u ‘rain’ and nap`e ‘daughter’, for instance, whose stems are suh- and napeh-, respectively.
(Because h only deletes in word-ﬁnal position, it is preserved when a case ending attaches to the stem:
e.g., suhna ‘rain.loc’, napehme ‘daughter.inst’).

For the most part, word-level stress is insensitive to morphological structure: primary and secondary stress
are assigned to fully inﬂected stems, after all axes have been added to the stem. Note the stress shift in
the following forms (and its e↵ect on the pronunciation of k, which is routinely voiced before an unstressed
vowel, as noted above):

1Unstressed particles for marking force and evidentiality, discussed in

immediately follow the verb and form a prosodic unit with the verb.

8.2.2, are an exception to this: these particles

3.5. COMMON PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSES

muka
mukat
mukanka
mukankat

[«mu.ga]
[mu.»kat]
[mu.»kaN.ga]
[mu.gaN.»kat]

‘close’
‘close.pl’
‘close.ipv:pst’
‘close.ipv:pst.pl’

There is one important exceptions to this, however. The question marker -n, which is the contracted form
of ne used after a vowel, does not a↵ect the stress of the verb to which it attaches. Instead, the verb is
stressed as though the -n were not present (I assume that -n is actually an enclitic rather than a true sux).
Compare the stress placement in the following examples:

na hosta
na hostat
na h`ostan
na hostat ne

[na.»hOs.ta]
[na.hOs.»tat]
[na.»hOs.taN]
[na.hOs.»tat.nE]

‘s/he dances’
‘they dance’
‘does s/he dance?’
‘do they dance?’

Notice that when -n attaches to a verb with penultimate stress, penultimate stress is retained even though
the verb now ends in a consonant. In such cases the penultimate vowel is marked with a diacritic to show
that stress is falling on a syllable other than the expected one, in the same way that idiosyncratic ﬁnal stress
is marked by a diacritic in words like nap`e.

3.5 Common phonological processes

The following are some commonly attested phonological rules. The application of these rules in particular
cases is discussed in the sections dealing with noun and verb morphology.

3.5.1 Consonant cluster simpliﬁcation

Although geminate sonorant consonants (mm, nn, ll ) are permitted, geminate obstruents are disallowed.
When two identical obstruents come together at a word-internal morpheme boundary, the ﬁrst one loses
its closure and becomes h, creating an hC cluster. This rule is attested in compounds (e.g., mok ‘hearth,
maternal lineage’ + kilu ‘grandchild’ > mohkilu ‘maternal grandchild’). It also applies productively when
a verb stem ending in t takes the inchoative sux -t (e.g., pat.t.a > pahta ‘make/become tall’); and when
the ordinal sux -ka attaches to a number term ending in k (teiek.ka > teiehka ‘ninth’, tolok.ka > tolohka
‘ten-thousandth’).

Similarly, sequences consisting of f followed by a consonant, or p followed by a plosive consonant, are
disallowed. When such sequences are created, the labial consonant loses its place features and becomes h,
again creating an hC cluster. This rule applies in compounds (e.g., minap ‘bone marrow’ + kan ‘worth’ >
minahkan ‘esteem, high regard’); and when the inchoative sux -t is added to a verb stem ending in p or f
(elif.t.a > elihta ‘become beautiful, beautify’; koip.t.a > koihta ‘get to know’).

When the sux -t is added to a stem ending in the a↵ricate tl, the tl becomes the corresponding fricative

lh (mutl.t.a > mulhta ‘realize, come to understand’).

Lastly, word-ﬁnal lh is optionally pronounced as h when followed by a word beginning with l, tl, s, or ts,
especially in rapid speech (this change is not indicated in the spelling). For example, the phrase olh tlotsaka
ìﬂOtsaga].
‘that kind’ is normally pronounced [Oh t
¯

3.5.2 Place and continuancy assimilation

When a morpheme ending in a nasal N (either m or n) is followed by a morpheme beginning with an
obstruent, the nasal assimilates to the place of articulation of the obstruent. In addition, if the obstruent is
a continuant it will change into the closest corresponding non-continuant. The outputs of this rule are listed
below:

CHAPTER 3. PHONOLOGY

N + p > mp
N + t
> nt
N + ts > nts
N + tl > ntl
> nk
N + k

N + f

> mp

N + s
> nts
N + lh > ntl
N + h > nk

This rule applies when the negative preﬁx m- attaches to a stem beginning with an obstruent: e.g., m.pat.o
> mpato ‘isn’t tall’; m.fon.o > mpono ‘doesn’t praise’; m.sas.o > ntsaso ‘doesn’t meet’; m.lhil.o > ntlilo
‘doesn’t pull’; m.hakatl.o > nkakatlo ‘doesn’t laugh’. The rule also applies when a verb stem ending in a
nasal combines with the causative/inchoative sux -t, or when a numeral word ending in a nasal combines
with the sux -ka (which forms ordinal numbers) or -tla (which forms fractions): e.g., lhum.t.a > lhunta
‘become/make dim’; tam.ka > tanka ‘tenth’, tam.tla > tantla ‘one tenth’.

Nasals fail to assimilate before another sonorant: e.g., kalon.me > kalonme ‘with the young man’.

3.5.3 Vowel hiatus resolution

Sequences of two syllabic (non-glide) vowels are not permitted. Moreover, the sequences ii and uu are not
permitted, and the sequences iu and ui are allowed only within a stem. When one of these impermissible
vowel sequences is created through axation, regular rules apply to produce an acceptable sequence of
non-high vowels and glides.

The following rules apply when a preﬁx ending a vowel attaches to a stem beginning with a vowel:

1. When a preﬁx ending in a attaches to a stem beginning with a, the two vowels fuse into a single vowel.

Example: a.ati.a > atia ‘when (it) got closer’.

2. When a preﬁx ending in a high vowel (i or u) attaches to a stem beginning with a non-glide vowel, the
preﬁx vowel is pronounced as a glide. Examples: i.alh.a > ialha ‘is allowed’, i.yt.a > iyta ‘is true’,
u.euolht.a > ueuolhta ‘has gone there’. If the stem-initial vowel is also high, then that vowel lowers
to become the corresponding mid vowel (i becomes e, and u becomes o). Examples: i.ikl.a > iekla
‘is scratching’, i.usl.a > iosla ‘is about to end’; u.ipam.a > uepama ‘has prepared’, u.ukti.i > uoktie
‘having given’.

3. When a preﬁx ending in a high vowel attaches to a stem beginning with a glide, the preﬁx vowel itself
lowers to become the corresponding mid vowel. Examples: i.ias.a > eiasa ‘is eating’, i.uoht.a > euohta
‘is sitting’; u.iahkip.a > oiahkipa ‘has struck’, u.uant.a > ouanta ‘has thrown’.

4. When a preﬁx ending in a non-high vowel (a, e, o, y) is attached to a stem beginning with a non-glide
vowel, a glide is inserted between the two vowels. If at least one of the vowels is rounded, then an u-glide
is inserted; otherwise an i -glide is inserted. Examples: a.elif.oht.a > aielifohta ‘be more beautiful’,
a.ynt.im.a > aiyntima ‘get narrower’; e.otl.i > euotli ‘to come apart’, a.oit.oht.a > auoitohta ‘be more
important’. If the initial vowel of the stem is high, then the inserted glide causes it to lower. Examples:
a.ikl.a > aiekla ‘when (s/he) scratched’, a.ipam.a > aiepama ‘when (s/he) prepared’, ta.iht`a > taieht`a
‘sixty’; e.ukti.i > euoktie ‘to give’, a.uti.oht.a > auotiohta ‘be closer’.

The following rules apply when a sux beginning with a vowel attaches to a stem ending in a vowel, or
when the inﬁx -i- (which marks dative case on nouns and resultative aspect on verbs: see
7.5.1,
respectively) is inserted immediately after the ﬁnal vowel in a stem:

4.2 and

1. When the nominative sux -e attaches to a stem ending in a non-high vowel, the two vowels fuse into
a single vowel. This vowel attracts word-level stress, and has the quality of the original stem vowel.
Examples: malka.e > malk`a ‘wolf.nom’, ike.e > ik`e ‘dog.nom’, talo.e > tal`o ‘chieftain.nom’. In all
other cases of vowel hiatus, the following rules of vowel lowering and glide formation apply.

3.5. COMMON PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSES

2. When a sux beginning with a high vowel attaches to a stem ending in a glide, the sux vowel lowers.
Examples: pyi.i > pyie ‘to the child’, m.taki.unka > ntakionka ‘has not broken’, u.pau.i.ma > upauema
‘having washed (pl)’, piau.u > piauo ‘from the top’, m.o.tsoku.u > motsokuo ‘without having met
before’. Likewise, the inﬁx -i- undergoes lowering when it is inserted after a glide. Examples: kaiha
‘kill, murder’ + -i- > kaieha ‘be killed, murdered’; euta ‘clean’ + -i- > eueta ‘be clean(ed)’.

3. If a sux beginning with a high vowel attaches to a stem ending in a vowel, the sux vowel is
pronounced as a glide; if the stem-ﬁnal vowel is also high, that vowel changes into the corresponding
mid vowel. Examples: tomla.i > tomlai ‘to the mountain’, lhati.i > lhatei ‘to the children’, kilu.i
> kiloi ‘to the grandchild’; tlasi.u > tlaseu ‘from the bend in the river’, kotu.u > kotou ‘from the
house’. These same rules also apply when the inﬁx -i- is inserted after a non-glide vowel. Examples:
uhin + -i- > uhein ‘to a song’; muk.a ‘close’ + -i- > moika ‘be closed’.

4. When a sux beginning with a non-high vowel is added to a vowel-ﬁnal stem, a glide is inserted in
between them (except in cases where the vowel fusion rule in (1) above takes precedence). An u-glide
is inserted if at least one of the vowels is rounded; otherwise an i -glide is inserted. If the stem-ﬁnal
vowel is high, glide insertion causes it to lower. Examples: iase.a > iaseia ‘for food’, lhati.a > lhateia
‘for the children’; talo.a > taloua ‘for the chieftain’, sihkunu.a > sihkunoua ‘towards the river’.

Chapter 4

Case and Argument Structure

4.1 Introduction

Okuna is a case-marking language, where grammatical roles (subject, object, etc.) are encoded primarily by
morphology on pronouns and noun phrases. In this chapter I discuss the Okuna case system in detail. This
system is complicated by the existence of di↵erent verb classes which show distinct case marking patterns,
and by the ways in which case marking interacts with aspect, negation, and other factors.

Noun phrases may appear in their unmarked form, or inﬂected for one of the following seven case roles:
nominative (nom), dative (dat), ergative (erg), locative (loc), allative (all), ablative (abl), or instru-
mental (inst). The nominative, dative, and ergative may be classiﬁed as the core cases, while the locative,
allative, ablative, and instrumental are the oblique cases. This division into core and oblique cases is
justiﬁed on distributional grounds. In particular, noun phrases in the core cases agree in number with the
verb (see
7.2), whereas oblique noun phrases do not. Moreover, pronouns have special clitic forms for the
core cases, but not for the oblique cases (see chapter 5).

I begin by reviewing the morphology for marking case on nouns in

dealt with in the next chapter).
the functions of the core cases, while
with the functions of the oblique cases. Finally, in
unmarked for case.

I then turn to the functions of the various case roles.

§
4.4 gives examples of the various verb classes in Okuna.

4.2 (case marking on pronouns is
4.3 I review
4.5 deals
4.6 I discuss the distribution of noun phrases which are

4.2 Noun case morphology

A noun phrase may occur in its bare form, or in combination with one of seven case markers. The basic
forms of the case markers are given in the following table:

nominative (nom)
dative (dat)
ergative (erg)
locative (loc)
allative (all)
ablative (abl)
instrumental (inst)

-e
-i
-ma
-na
-a
-u
-me

The case marker attaches to the ﬁnal word in the noun phrase. Since Okuna is a head-ﬁnal language,
the ﬁnal word in the noun phrase will usually be the noun itself. However, demonstratives and quantiﬁers
(including numerals) follow the noun, so when a noun phrase contains one of these, it is the quantiﬁer or
demonstrative which carries the case marker while the noun itself remains unmarked. When the noun phrase

4.2. NOUN CASE MORPHOLOGY

includes both a quantiﬁer and a demonstrative, the demonstrative follows the quantiﬁer and takes the case
marker. Compare the following noun phrases, illustrating the position of the locative case marker -na:

kotuna
kulhe kotuna
kulhe kotu henna
kulhe kotu itena
kulhe kotu hen itena

(house.loc)
(green house.loc)
(green house two.loc)
(green house these:loc)
(green house two these:loc)

‘in the house’
‘in the green house’
‘in (the) two green houses’
‘in these green houses’
‘in these two green houses’

In addition, when two or more noun phrases are combined into a larger noun phrase using a conjunction such
as ka ‘and’ (see
8.3.1), only the rightmost conjunct is marked for case. Consider the following example, in
which the instrumental case marker -me attaches to no ame ‘his mother’, while Sakial is unmarked:

(4.1) Sakial
Sakial
‘with Sakial and his mother’

no
3ardat

ka
and

ameme
mother.inst

There is an added complication involving the nominative case ending -e: this ending attaches to the noun
phrase only when the noun itself is the ﬁnal element. If a noun phrase in the nominative case role ends in a
numeral, quantiﬁer, or related element, the -e ending is not used (making the nominative form homophonous
with the unmarked form). For example, kamal ‘knife’ is kamalme in the instrumental and kamale in the
nominative; by contrast, kamal hen ‘two knives’ takes the form kamal henme in the instrumental, but simply
kamal hen (with no ending) in the nominative.

The fact that they attach to the noun phrase as a whole suggests that the case markers are clitics.
Phonologically, however, they behave in a way that is more characteristic of true suxes than of clitics. For
example, they can cause stress to shift rightward (e.g., k´otu ‘house’ versus kot´una ‘in the house’), and, in the
case of the dative, the ending can actually be inﬁxed within the word it attaches to. In order to side-step
the question of whether they should be treated as axes or clitics, I will refer to these morphemes simply
as case endings.

All nouns inﬂect using the same set of case endings. However, there is a good deal of phonologically-
conditioned allomorphy: the vowel-initial case endings all vary in form depending on the ﬁnal sound(s) of the
stem they attach to, and adding these endings to a noun can also cause changes to the stem. The attested
patterns are explained and illustrated below.

Consonant-ﬁnal stems

1. When the stem ends in a consonant preceded by a glide, the case endings given in the table above are
added without any changes. This is illustrated in the table below with the declension for the noun
koin ‘person’.

2. When the stem ends in a consonant other than h, and that consonant is preceded by a syllabic (non-
glide) vowel, the dative case is marked by inﬁxing an i -glide before the ﬁnal consonant. All other case
endings are as expected. This is illustrated below for tlukan ‘raven’. When the vowel preceding the
3.5.3
inﬁxed glide is high, that vowel lowers in accordance with the vowel lowering rule discussed in
(i > e, u > o). This pattern is illustrated for his ‘star’ and kihul ‘islet’.

3. Stems whose ﬁnal consonant is h inﬂect the same way as above, except that the h disappears in the
unmarked form and after the inﬁxed -i of the dative. This is due to a regular phonological rule which
3.3). Because the h is dropped, the noun ends in a stressed vowel in the
deletes word-ﬁnal h (see
unmarked form and a diphthong in the dative. This is illustrated below for napeh- (nap`e) ‘daughter’
and suh- (s`u) ‘rain’.

CHAPTER 4. CASE AND ARGUMENT STRUCTURE

koin
nom koine
dat
koini
erg koinma
koinna
loc
koina
all
koinu
abl
koinme
inst

tlukan
tlukane
tlukain
tlukanma
tlukanna
tlukana
tlukanu
tlukanme

his
hise
heis
hisma
hisna
hisa
hisu
hisme

kihul
kihule
kihoil
kihulma
kihulna
kihula
kihulu
kihulme

nap`e
napehe
napei
napehma
napehna
napeha
napehu
napehme

s`u
suhe
soi
suhma
suhna
suha
suhu
suhme

Vowel-ﬁnal stems

1. When the stem ends in a glide vowel, the dative ending -i lowers to become -e (making the dative
and nominative forms homophonous). Likewise, the ablative ending -u lowers to become -o. All other
endings remain unchanged. This is illustrated in the table below for pyi ‘child’.

2. When the stem ends in the vowel a, that vowel merges with the nominative ending -e to form a single
stressed a vowel, while a u-glide is inserted before the allative ending -a. These changes are illustrated
below in the declension for malka ‘wolf’.

3. When the noun stem ends in e, the stem-ﬁnal vowel fuses with the nominative ending -e to form a
single stressed e vowel, and an i -glide is inserted before the allative ending -a. This is shown for
ilme ‘moon’. These same changes happen when the noun stem ends in (non-glide) i, and in addition,
stem-ﬁnal i lowers to e before a glide and in the nominative. This is illustrated for lhati ‘children’.

4. Finally, when the noun stem ends in o, that vowel fuses with the nominative ending -e to form a
stressed o vowel, while an u-glide is inserted before allative -a, as shown for talo ‘chieftain’. These
same changes occur for nouns ending in (non-glide) u, such as uosu ‘smooth round stone’, but in
addition the stem-ﬁnal u lowers to become o before a glide and in the nominative.

malka
malk`a
malkai

pyi
nom pyie
pyie
dat
erg pyima malkama
pyina malkana
loc
malkaua
pyia
all
malkau
pyio
abl
pyime malkame
inst

ilme
ilm`e
ilmei
ilmema
ilmena
ilmeia
ilmeu
ilmeme

lhati
lhat`e
lhatei
lhatima
lhatina
lhateia
lhateu
lhatime

talo
tal`o
taloi
taloma
talona
taloua
talou
talome

uosu
uos`o
uosoi
uosuma
uosuna
uosoua
uosou
uosume

Pronouns and certain other elements (such as the quantiﬁers -mot ‘all’ and -ket ‘every’) inﬂect for case
according to a di↵erent pattern, as discussed in chapter 5. The functions of the cases are reviewed below in
4.3 and

4.5.

4.3 The core cases

The three core cases are nominative, ergative, and dative. (Pronouns distinguish two forms for the dative,
realis and irrealis; however, I postpone discussion of this distinction until
5.3.3.) The distribution of these
cases is somewhat complex. Okuna exhibits a typologically unusual active case marking system, where core
case roles do not map in a straightforward way onto familiar grammatical relations like subject and object.
Instead, case is determined in large part by the event structure of the predicate. From the perspective of an
English speaker, Okuna case marking can seem idiosyncratic, which is why the glossary accompanying this
grammar lists case assignment information for many verbs.

Most verbs in Okuna can be assigned to one of three classes according to the maximum number and kind
of core arguments they take. For simplicity I refer to these simply as Class I, Class II, and Class III. A

4.3. THE CORE CASES

detailed discussion of these classes, with examples of each, is given in
overview of the core case roles.
in

4.3.2 I consider the functions of the dative case in some detail.

4.4 below. I begin with a preliminary
§
4.3.1 summarizes the functions of the nominative and ergative cases, while

4.3.1 Nominative and ergative case

Ergative (erg) case is marked by adding the ending -ma to the ﬁnal word in the noun phrase. To mark the
nominative (nom), the ending -e is typically attached to the noun if it is the ﬁnal element in the noun phrase;
otherwise the nominative is unmarked (e.g., quantiﬁers and correlatives are unmarked in the nominative; see
6.7 and
6.8). Note that nominative marking is subject to a high degree of allomorphy, as summarized in
§
4.2 above. This section gives an overview of the functions of the nominative and ergative cases. For more
§
extensive discussion and illustration of nominative and ergative case assignment with respect to the di↵erent
verb classes, see

4.4.

Ergative case is used to mark noun phrases that denote actors. The actor is that participant in the
event (if any) who initiates or carries out the action denoted by the verb, often causing a change in some
other participant. When a clause denotes an open-ended activity, the individual(s) engaged in that activity
may be referred to by a noun phrase in the ergative case, as in (4.2) and (4.3). When a clause denotes an
activity resulting in a change of state or location, an ergative noun phrase is used to indicate the individual
(if any) who is responsible for bringing about the change, as in (4.4) and (4.5).

(4.2) Lhatima

yhmana
outside.loc

ilaliat
prg.play.ipv.pl

children.erg
‘The children are playing outside’

(4.3) Sakialma

halma
book

itala
prg.read.ipv

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial is reading a book’

(4.4) Ihama

woman.erg

hut`a
basket.nom

kotoi
house.dat

lhyuyiat
enter.pv.npl.pl

‘The women took/brought the baskets into the house’

(4.5) Ikei

sisliankama
dog.dat
rattlesnake.erg
‘The dog was bitten by a rattlesnake’

kilhtyi
bite.pv

The actor is typically an animate participant who acts consciously and deliberately to bring about the event
denoted by the verb. However, this is not a necessary property of actors. In the examples below, ergative
case marks an inanimate noun as the initiator of the action:

(4.6) Kas

ahoma
sun.erg

is`e
snow.nom

ikista
prg.melt.ipv

already
‘The sun is already melting the snow’

(4.7) Sukuma

emot
wind.erg
all.nom
‘The wind blew all those trees over’

palahta
tree

olh
dist

lhope
blow.cv

tiausyia
fall.pv.npl

(4.8) Mo

1srdat

somoityi
hear:news.pv

ne
3anom

hintsypalma
pneumonia.erg

atiok`a
pv.die.dep.nom

‘I heard that he died of pneumonia’ (more lit. ‘that pneumonia caused him to die’)

CHAPTER 4. CASE AND ARGUMENT STRUCTURE

Nominative case is assigned to noun phrases which bear the theme role. Such noun phrases typically denote
a participant that occupies a location or position, or undergoes a change of location or position, whether
spontaneously or as the result of being manipulated by an actor. Examples of nominative marking on themes
are given below:

(4.9) Kamale

totsatna
knife.nom
table.loc
‘The knife is lying on the table’

itima
prg.lie.ipv

(4.10) Kamale

epamu
totsat
knife.nom
top.abl
table
‘The knife fell o↵ the table’

tiausyi
fall.pv

(4.11) Ma

kihune
letter.nom

kohoit
1serg
chest.dat
‘I put the letters in the chest’

elhyia
put:in.pv.npl

(4.12) Ikema

sekite
rat.nom

kiompyi
chase.pv

dog.erg
‘The dog chased the rat’

(4.13) Ihama

woman.erg

kamale
knife.nom

ikpa
prg.hold/carry.ipv

‘The woman is holding/carrying a knife’

(4.14) Hitole

door.nom

mukyi
close.pv

‘The door (was) closed’

(4.15) Sakialma

hitole
door.nom
Sakial.erg
‘Sakial closed the door’

mukyi
close.pv

When the clause expresses a state or property, the nominative-marked theme argument denotes the entity to
which that state or property is attributed, as in (4.16) and (4.17). In addition, with certain verbs expressing
entry into a state, the noun phrase which names the individual that enters into that state is marked with
nominative case, as in (4.18)–(4.20).

(4.16) Sakiale

teusu
very

pata
tall.pv

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial is very tall’

(4.17) Mule

ihalhka
prg.dry.ipv

cloth.nom
‘The cloth is dry’

(4.18) Mule

cloth.nom

halhketyi
dry.tinc.pv

‘The cloth dried (out)’

(4.19) Ma

1serg

mule
cloth.nom

halhketyi
dry.tinc.pv

‘I dried (out) the cloth’

4.3. THE CORE CASES

kale
(4.20) Luhme
old:one
man.nom
‘The old man died’

tiokyi
die.pv

Nominative case also marks the subject of a non-verbal predicate, as in the examples below (as discussed
in
9.3.1, Okuna predicates need not include an overt copular verb). In (4.21) and (4.22), the nominative-
marked noun phrase is the subject of a predicate nominal, unmarked for case. In (4.23), the nominative
noun phrase is the subject of a relational predicate in the locative case (cf.

6.5):

(4.21) Mule

sane
red:one

cloth.nom
‘The cloth is red’

(4.22) Sakiale

no
Sakial.nom
3ardat
‘Sakial is her father’

ahte
father

(4.23) Tenmotlai
Tenmotlai
‘The town of Tenmotlai is north of here’

tiesate
town.nom

ekau
here:abl

heutna
north.loc

4.3.2 Dative case and the delimiter role

On regular noun phrases, dative case is typically marked by adding the ending -i to the ﬁnal element in the
noun phrase. As discussed in
4.2, this ending often inﬁxes before the ﬁnal consonant in the noun stem:
e.g., totsat ‘table’ + -i > totsait. Pronouns and related elements distinguish two forms of the dative, called
realis and irrealis. The di↵erence between realis dative and irrealis dative is discussed in

5.3.3.

Dative case is typically assigned to a noun phrase which denotes the delimiter of a telic event. A
telic event is any event which reaches a natural (non-arbitrary) culmination point, beyond which it cannot
continue. For example, the sentence ‘The girl ate the ﬁsh’ denotes a telic event, since the action described
by this sentence necessarily ends once the ﬁsh has been completely consumed. Compare this with ‘The girl
ate ﬁsh’, which denotes an atelic or open-ended event: since no particular quantity of ﬁsh is speciﬁed, the
action of eating does not culminate and can go on indeﬁnitely. Likewise, ‘The boy pushed the cart’ is atelic,
since the event lacks a natural endpoint: in principle the boy could go on pushing the cart indeﬁnitely. By
contrast, ‘The boy pushed the cart into the ditch’ is telic, since the event necessarily ends once the cart is
in the ditch.1

In clauses denoting telic events, the dative-marked delimiter argument is that noun phrase in the sentence
(if any) which identiﬁes or is associated with the culmination point of the event. The exact role which the
delimiter noun phrase plays depends on the type of event. For example, with events of motion, where
an object undergoes a change of location from one place to another, the verb can take a dative argument
expressing the goal to which the object moves—provided the event necessarily ends once that goal is
reached. Examples are given below. In (4.26), for instance, the dropping event ends as soon as the stone is
in the hole; hence the hole can be thought of as delimiting the event.

(4.24) Sa

tiesait
town.dat

etyit
go.pv.pl

13nom
‘We went to the town’

(4.25) Ma

kamale
knife.nom

totsait
1serg
table.dat
‘I put the knife on the table’

teunyi
put.pv

1The boy might continue to push the cart after that point, but he can no longer be described as pushing the cart into the

ditch once it is actually in the ditch.

CHAPTER 4. CASE AND ARGUMENT STRUCTURE

tiausyi
(4.26) Mikalma
boy.erg
drop.pv
‘The boy dropped the stone into the hole’

nak`a
stone.nom

otoi
hole.dat

Like the goal in a motion event, the recipient functions as the delimiter in an event of transmission. The
recipient is that individual who, as a result of the transmission event, comes to possess an object or (as in
the case of verbs like etsa ‘tell’) a piece of information.

(4.27) Motlai

kytu
present

moityi
receive.pv

Motla.dat
‘Motla received a present’

(4.28) Ma

halm`a
book.nom
1serg
‘I gave the books to Sakial’

Sakiail
Sakial.dat

uktiyia
give.pv.npl

(4.29) Ko

2erg

suhpai
brother.dat

etsyin
tell.pv.qu

sati
dinner

ituos`a?
prg.ready.dep.nom

‘Have you told (your) brother that it’s time for dinner?’

With certain perception verbs such as kila ‘see/show’ and ola ‘hear’, the experiencer participant counts as
the delimiter. To account for this, we might conceive of perception events as involving the transmission of
a sensation, which ends/culminates once the sensation has ‘reached’ the perceiver.

(4.30) Eleim

lhonko
loud:noise

olyi
hear.pv

Elim.dat
‘Elim heard a loud noise’

(4.31) Motlai

kietame
picture.nom

kilyi
see.pv

Motla.dat
‘Motla saw the picture’

(4.32) Elimma

Elim.erg

Motlai
Motla.dat

kietame
picture.nom

kilyi
see.pv

‘Elim showed Motla the picture’ (more lit. ‘caused Motla to see the picture’)

Verbs like kahta ‘hit’, patla ‘cover’, and peha ‘kiss’ describe events where an actor manipulates an object or
a part of his/her body, bringing it into physical contact with some other entity. The latter entity is typically
expressed by a noun phrase in the dative case:

(4.33) Ma

Sakiail
Sakial.dat

kahtyi
hit.pv

1serg
‘I hit Sakial’

(4.34) Ma

totsait
table.dat

mul
cloth

patlyi
cover.pv

1serg
‘I covered the table with a cloth’

(4.35) Elimma

Elim.erg

kohmei
romantic:partner.dat

ipeha
prg.kiss.ipv

‘Elim is kissing (his) partner’

4.3. THE CORE CASES

In all of the above examples, the dative-marked delimiter can be said to indicate the endpoint of a (literal
or ﬁgurative) motion event. With other verbs expressing telic events, the delimiter argument denotes an
entity whose condition is thought of as ‘measuring out’ (i.e., identifying the degree of completion of) the
event. Consider, for example, events where one of the participants, the patient, undergoes a gradual change
culminating in an end state. Verbs expressing events of this sort include iasa ‘eat’, siehpa ‘write’, and tiespa
‘build’. With such verbs, the delimiter is the noun phrase which names the patient of the action, since the
event necessarily ends once the patient has been completely a↵ected (i.e., completely created, destroyed,
consumed, or otherwise altered) by the action:

(4.36) Ounama
bear.erg
‘The bear ate the ﬁsh’

kahoi
ﬁsh.dat

iasyi
eat.pv

(4.37) Kalma

kihoin
letter.dat

siehpyi
write.pv

man.erg
‘The man wrote the letter’

(4.38) Sukakama

kotoi
house.dat

tiespyit
build.pv.pl

worker.erg
‘The workers built a house’

In the examples above, the eating event ends as soon as the ﬁsh has been thoroughly consumed, the writing
event ends once the letter is ﬁnished, and the building event ends when the house is complete. It is in this
sense that the patient argument identiﬁes the culmination point of the event. In each case, the progress of
the event may be tracked by observing incremental changes in the state of the patient.

A clause denoting an atelic activity (containing a Class II verb) may be coverted into one denoting a
telic activity by adding a delimiting measure phrase in the dative case. This measure phrase expresses the
duration of the action, the distance traversed by an object in motion, or some other quantity which can be
used to assign an endpoint or ‘upper limit’ to the event. When used in this sense, the dative phrase is often
followed by the particle sik`a, meaning roughly ‘all the way’ or ‘until’:

(4.39) Na

luom
hour

hein
3aerg
two.dat
‘She slept for two hours’

muelhyi
sleep.pv

(4.40) Sukakama

nak`a
stone.nom

katlam
cubit

kiain
ﬁve.dat

tlynkyit
push.pv.pl

worker.erg
‘The workers pushed the stone ﬁve cubits’ (and then stopped)

(4.41) Sa

huta
basket

huoie
13erg
twelve.dat
‘We gathered twelve baskets of blackberries’

ipoi
blackberry

sik`a
until

titiyit
gather.pv.pl

Consider example (4.39). Although sleeping is an open-ended activity, sleeping for two hours is not: once
the two-hour mark is reached, it is no longer possible to continue sleeping for two hours. It is in this sense
that the measure phrase luom hen ‘two hours’ delimits the event, and thus appears in the dative case. To
make sense of (4.41), we might translate this sentence more literally as ‘We gathered blackberries until (we
reached a total of) twelve baskets’.

Notice, incidentally, that even though these measure phrases are plural and appear in one of the core
cases, they do not trigger plural marking on the verb (see
7.2 on number agreement). Although absence of
agreement is the usual rule, it is possible for a measure phrase to optionally trigger dative plural agreement
when it is interpreted as deﬁnite. Compare (4.41) with (4.42) below, where huta huoie ‘twelve baskets’ is
replaced with the deﬁnite noun phrase olh huta huoi utat ‘those twelve baskets’, and the verb carries the
dative plural sux -ma in agreement with this argument.

CHAPTER 4. CASE AND ARGUMENT STRUCTURE

(4.42) Sa

olh
dist

huta
basket

huoi
13erg
twelve
‘We gathered those twelve baskets of blackberries’
or ‘We gathered blackberries until we ﬁlled those twelve baskets’

utat
those:rdat

ipoi
blackberry

titiyimat
gather.pv.dpl.pl

A noun phrase or dependent clause may also function as a dative-marked delimiter if it indicates an event
which marks the temporal ‘cut-o↵ point’ for the event denoted by the clause, or the state resulting from an
activity denoted by the clause. Here, dative case is equivalent to ‘up to’ or ‘until’ in English. As above, the
dative phrase is often followed by the particle sik`a.

(4.43) Na

kahpahoi
3aerg
sunset.dat
‘They hunted until sunset’

lakiyit
hunt.pv.pl

(4.44) Kim

kauotat
be:here.dur.ipv.pl

lhat`e
12nom
children.nom
‘We will stay here until the children return’

nioktatai
return.dep.pl.dat

sik`a
until

(4.45) Inan

3aloc

ekonampyi
hungry.act.pv

atiokai
pv.die.dep.dat

‘He was starved to death’ (lit. ‘He was made hungry until [he] died’)

Note that when a resultative expression of this sort occurs in the same clause as a patient argument,
the resultative ‘usurps’ the role of delimiter from the patient, forcing the latter into the nominative case.
Consider the examples below. In (4.46) the patient tsike ‘ﬂy’ takes dative marking; whereas in (4.47) this
ending appears on the dependent verb atioka ‘that [it] died’, and tsike is marked for nominative case instead.
This illustrates a general principle of case assignment in Okuna, namely that a telic clause can have no more
than one delimiter, and hence no more than one dative-marked noun phrase.

(4.46) Usoitma

tsikei
ﬂy.dat

nitlkyi
sting.pv

spider.erg
‘The spider stung the ﬂy’

(4.47) Usoitma

nan
3anom
spider.erg
‘The spider stung the ﬂy until it died’

nitlkyi
sting.pv

tsik`e
ﬂy.nom

atiokai
pv.die.dep.dat

Compare also the following examples.
In (4.48) and (4.49), the event of writing ends once the letter is
ﬁnished; hence kihun ‘letter’ is the delimiter, and takes the dative case. Example (4.49) also includes a
non-case-marked noun phrase, es luom ‘an hour’, which measures the amount of time from the beginning
of the event to the endpoint. In (4.50), the temporal measure phrase itself delimits the event: that is, the
event is over once one hour has elapsed, not once the letter is ﬁnished. Since the measure phrase identiﬁes
the endpoint, it appears in the dative case, while kihun, no longer construed as a delimiter, is treated as the
theme argument and takes the nominative instead.

(4.48) Sakialma

kihoin
Sakial.erg
letter.dat
‘Sakial wrote the letter’

siehpyi
write.pv

(4.49) Sakialma

luom
kihoin
Sakial.erg
hour
letter.dat
‘Sakial wrote the letter in an hour’

es
one

siehpyi
write.pv

4.4. VERB CLASSES

(4.50) Sakialma

luoim
Sakial.erg
hour.dat
‘Sakial worked on the letter for an hour’

kihune
letter.nom

es
one

siehpyi
write.pv

A minor exception to the restriction against multiple delimiters comes from iterative clauses, which are formed
by suxing the durative aspectual marker -ot to an eventive verb stem (e.g., tlynka ‘push’ > tlynkota ‘push
repeatedly’; see
7.5.4). As the following examples show, iterative clauses are able to take two dative phrases,
typically a goal or patient plus a measure phrase. This is because iteratives have a complex event structure:
they consist of a ‘macro-event’ composed of more-or-less identical ‘micro-events’, where the macro-event and
micro-events may each be delimited separately.
In (4.54), the goal lahi ‘ditch’ delimits the micro-events
(each individual pushing event ends once the stone is in the ditch), while the measure phrase luom hen ‘two
hours’ delimits the macro-event (the activity of repeatedly pushing concludes once two hours have elapsed).

(4.51) Mikalma
boy.erg
‘The boy pushed the stone’

nak`a
stone.nom

tlynkyi
push.pv

tlynkyi
(4.52) Mikalma
boy.erg
push.pv
‘The boy pushed the stone into the ditch’

nak`a
stone.nom

lahei
ditch.dat

(4.53) Mikalma
boy.erg
‘The boy pushed the stone repeatedly into the ditch’

tlynkotyi
push.dur.pv

nak`a
stone.nom

lahei
ditch.dat

(4.54) Mikalma
boy.erg
‘The boy pushed the stone repeatedly into the ditch for two hours’

tlynkotyi
push.dur.pv

nak`a
stone.nom

lahei
ditch.dat

hein
two.dat

luom
hour

4.4 Verb classes

All verbs in Okuna may be assigned to one of three classes according to the number of core arguments which
they take and how those arguments are marked for case. I will refer to these simply as Class I, Class II,
and Class III:

1. Class I verbs take a single core argument (the theme) marked with nominative case. Verbs in this

class tend to express states and relations.

2. Class II verbs take up to two core arguments: a nominative noun phrase (the theme) and an ergative
noun phrase (the actor). Verbs in this class tend to express atelic (open-ended) events carried out by
the actor, or telic events involving the (near-)instantaneous entry of the theme into a state.

3. Class III verbs take up to three core arguments: a nominative noun phrase (the theme), an ergative
noun phrase (the actor), and a dative noun phrase (the delimiter). Verbs in this class express telic
events which culminate in a non-arbitrary endpoint, where that endpoint is identiﬁed by, or associated
with, the delimiter argument.

Crucially, class membership is based on the maximum number of core arguments which a verb can take. A
verb may appear with fewer than the maximum number of core arguments, since (as discussed in
9.4.1)
arguments are freely omitted from the clause if they lack a referent, or if the referent is unknown or unim-
portant. For example, a large number of Class II and Class III verbs may occur either with or without
an ergative-marked actor. When the actor is not expressed, the sentence may denote a spontaneous event,
which comes about without being initiated by an external participant; or it may denote an event initiated

CHAPTER 4. CASE AND ARGUMENT STRUCTURE

by a participant whose identity is unknown or unimportant to the context. In the latter case, the sentence
may usually be translated using a passive construction. Consider the following examples, featuring the Class
II verb muka ‘close’ and the Class III verb uihta ‘sit/set down’:

(4.55) Ihama

hitole
door.nom

mukyi
close.pv

woman.erg
‘The woman closed the door’

(4.56) Hitole

mukyi
close.pv

door.nom
‘The door (was) closed’

(4.57) Ihama

uihtyi
sit:down.pv
woman.erg
‘The woman set/sat the child down in the chair’

pyie
child.nom

keuli
chair.dat

(4.58) Pyie

keuli
chair.dat

uihtyi
sit:down.pv

child.nom
‘The child sat down in the chair’ or ‘The child was set down on the chair’

A small number of verbs commonly appear without any core arguments at all. These include verbs which
express emotions or physical sensations internal to one’s body—e.g., kesta ‘be happy’, ekona ‘be hungry’,
muelhona ‘be drowsy, feel like sleeping’. Verbs of this type typically occur with a single noun phrase in the
locative case, denoting the individual who experiences the emotion or sensation:

(4.59) Iman
1sloc
‘I was happy’

kestanka
happy.ipv:pst

(4.60) Sakialna

teusu
very

iekona
prg.hungry.ipv

Sakial.loc
‘Sakial is very hungry’

However, these verbs can nevertheless be assigned to Class I, since they occasionally take a nominative-
marked theme argument denoting the object or occasion which inspires the emotion in question. Notice that
in (4.63), the nominative argument is the postposed dependent clause ku uket`a (lit. ‘you having come here’).

iekona
(4.61) Iman
1sloc
prg.hungry.ipv
‘I’m hungry for your food’ (i.e., your food is the source of my hunger)

sat`e
food.nom

ikou
2abl

(4.62) Mehkanen

nkestunka
occasion
neg.happy.ipv:pst:neg
‘That occasion was not a happy one’ (i.e., not a source of happiness)

tan
that:nom

iahok
at:all

(4.63) Iman
1sloc
‘I’m happy that you came’ (more lit. ‘You having come is a source of happiness in me’)

uket`a
pf.come:here.dep.nom

kesta
happy.ipv

ku
2nom

Likewise, verbs denoting the emission of bodily substances (e.g., salhka ‘bleed’, hiunuka ‘cry, weep, shed
tears’) typically appear with just a noun phrase in the ablative case, denoting the individual from whose
body the substance is emitted, as in (4.64). However, these verbs occasionally take a core argument in the
ergative case, denoting an individual who intentionally initiates the action, as in (4.65), showing that they
belong to Class II:

4.4. VERB CLASSES

(4.64) Sakialu

Sakial.abl

isalhka
prg.bleed.ipv

‘Sakial is bleeding’ (i.e., shedding blood)

(4.65) Sakialma

Sakial.erg

tsan
self

isalhka
prg.bleed.ipv

‘Sakial is bleeding himself’ (i.e., releasing his blood)

In the following subsections I consider the three verb classes in detail, providing examples of each and
illustrating their argument structures. I focus my discussion on how the core case roles (nominative, dative,
ergative) are mapped to participant roles according to the kind of event that the verb denotes. However, I
also comment on the oblique roles (see

4.5) which certain types of verbs routinely occur with.

4.4.1 Class I verbs

A large number of verbs in Okuna take at most a single core argument, always in the nominative case. This
argument may be identiﬁed with the semantic role theme. For expository purposes, Class I verbs may be
divided into various semantic subclasses.

Stative verbs

Class I includes the majority of verbs denoting states or properties. With verbs of this type, the nominative
argument indicates the individual to which the state or property is attributed. Stative Class I verbs include:

ﬁha
hakta
kiha
kiota
laina
liuna
mila
muha
ohtla
oita
pata
toha

‘be young’
‘be tired’
‘be small’
‘be fast, be quick’
‘shine, be bright’
‘be old’
‘be beautiful, be pretty’
‘suce, be enough’
‘resemble, be similar’
‘be important, matter’
‘be tall’
‘be big’

Examples of sentences featuring Class I stative verbs:

(4.66) Pyie

ﬁha
young.ipv

child.nom
‘The child is young’

(4.67) Olh
dist
‘Those mountains are very tall’

tin
those:nom

tomla
mountain

teusu
very

patat
tall.ipv.pl

(4.68) Elime

ihaktanka
Elim.nom
prg.tired.ipv:pst
‘Elim seems to have been tired this morning’

kotsimna
morning.loc

le
it:seems

Some stative verbs may occur without an overt nominative argument when predicated of general conditions,
as when expressing the state of the weather:

CHAPTER 4. CASE AND ARGUMENT STRUCTURE

(4.69) Teusu

inuha
very
prg.cold.ipv
‘It’s very cold today’

hial`o
today

Positional and experiencer verbs

Class I also includes a number of verbs which, in addition to a nominative core argument, routinely take an
argument in one of the oblique cases (locative, allative, ablative, instrumental). Verbs denoting the position,
posture/stance, or orientation of an object belong to this class, for instance. These include:

kanta
kumuta
sailha
suna
teha
tima
toilha
uohta

‘stand, be vertical/upright’
‘face, be oriented (towards)’
‘lie, be lying/horizontal’
‘hang’
‘stay, remain (behind)’
‘lie (on the ground); be located/situated’
‘stand’
‘sit, be seated’

With verbs of this type, nominative case is assigned to the argument whose position/posture/orientation is
being speciﬁed. The place where the nominative argument is located may be speciﬁed by a noun phrase in
the locative case. With verbs such as kumuta, an object, location, or direction towards which the nominative
argument is oriented is indicated by a noun phrase in the allative case. Examples:

(4.70) Sakiale

keulna
chair.loc

euohta
prg.sit:res.ipv

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial is sitting on a chair’

(4.71) Ntse
neg
‘There isn’t much ice (lying) on the ground outside’

itimo
prg.lie.ipv:neg

mian
much:nom

yhmana
outside.loc

kise
ice

(4.72) Pal`o

sihkunu
river

utena
near.loc

tima
lie.ipv

village.nom
‘The village lies near a river’

kumutat
(4.73) Kotu
house
face.ipv.pl
‘The houses all face (towards) the river’

sihkunoua
river.all

emot
all:nom

A number of Class I verbs, such as those listed below, denote mental states or processes. For verbs of this
type, the nominative argument indicates the theme or subject matter of the mental state/process, while the
experiencer argument appears in the locative or allative case. Of the verbs listed below, henka, huata, and
ohka take allative case-marked experiencers, while the remainder all take locative case-marked experiencers.

ampa
falha
henka
huata
iona
koipa
ksafa
mutla
niokona
ohka

‘think, have the opinion that’
‘wish (for), hope (for)’
‘like, enjoy’
‘like, appreciate’
‘know [a fact]’
‘know [a person or thing], be acquainted with’
‘hope (for), want’
‘understand’
‘remember, recall’
‘love; be dear, cherished’

4.4. VERB CLASSES

okfa
opa

‘want, desire, wish (for)’
‘think, believe, speculate’

Examples:

(4.74) Me

Sakiala
Sakial.all

huata
like.ipv

1snom
‘Sakial likes me’

(4.75) Isena
13loc
‘We know Sakial’

Sakiale
Sakial.nom

koipa
know.ipv

(4.76) Nesap

tan
that:nom

mamutlo
neg.understand.ipv:neg

iman
1sloc

question
‘I don’t understand that question’

Verbs of possession

Finally, verbs that express relations of possession or inclusion belong to Class I. The principal verbs in this
sub-class are efa ‘have, own, possess’, iala ‘have, be responsible for’, and yla ‘have, contain, include, be
equipped with’. These verbs express distinct types of relations. Efa expresses alienable possession—that is,
ownership of personal property which may be transferred from one individual to another. With this verb
the nominative argument denotes the thing being possessed, while the possessor noun phrase appears in the
instrumental case:

(4.77) Motlame

halma
book
Motla.inst
‘Motla has/owns many books’

ante
many:nom

efa
have.ipv

Iala denotes possession by virtue of familial relationship, birthright, custom, or stewardship. It is generally
used when the possessee is a person, domestic animal, cultivatable land, hunting or ﬁshing rights, or other
entity or property to which the possessor can be said to have a social obligation or responsibility. Iala can
also be used for possession of physical features or abstract attributes such as age, wisdom, etc. With iala,
the possessor appears in the ablative case, while the possessee is again in the nominative.

(4.78) Sakialu

lihpa
sister

hen
two:nom

iala
have.ipv

Sakial.abl
‘Sakial has two sisters’

(4.79) In`o

ulhmo
year

takun
forty:nom

iala
have.ipv

3aabl
‘He is forty years old’ (lit. ‘He has forty years’)

Finally, yla expresses a part-whole relation, and is commonly used when the possessee is a part of the body.
With this verb, the noun phrase expressing the whole takes the nominative case while the noun phrase
expressing the part appears in the instrumental:

(4.80) Kotu
house
‘This house has three rooms’

tan
this:nom

halu
room

ehteme
three.inst

yla
have.ipv

(4.81) Ik`e

atak
limb

kunme
four.inst

yla
have.ipv

dog.nom
‘Dogs have four legs’

(4.82) Ne

lohne
brown

inieme
eyes.inst

3anom
‘She has brown eyes’

CHAPTER 4. CASE AND ARGUMENT STRUCTURE

yla
have.ipv

7.2 on plural agree-
Verbs of possession do not usually agree with their plural nominative arguments (see
ment). The possessee triggers agreement only if it is deﬁnite and functions as the topic of the clause.
Compare the following examples. In (4.84), the nominative argument ke halma emot ‘all these books’ is
the topic, and the verb carries the plural sux -t; whereas in (4.83), the nominative argument halma ante
‘many books’ is an indeﬁnite non-topic (expressing new information), and the plural sux is absent. As
these examples show, efa is translated as ‘have’ when the possessor is the topic, and as ‘belong to’ when the
possessee is the topic.

(4.83) Motlame

halma
book

ante
many:nom

efa
have.ipv

Motla.inst
‘Motla has many books’

(4.84) Ke

halma
book

emot
all:nom

Motlame
Motla.inst

efat
have.ipv.pl

med
‘These books all belong to Motla’

4.4.2 Class II verbs

Verbs belonging to Class II take a maximum of two core arguments, an actor marked with ergative case and
a theme marked with nominative case. Dative-marked delimiter arguments do not occur with verbs of this
class, except under the special circumstances discussed in
4.3.2. Class II verbs are typically atelic—that is,
they denote open-ended events, which lack an inherent endpoint and can in principle continue indeﬁnitely.
However, a handful of Class II verbs denote telic events (usually involving a change of state or location) for
which no delimiter can be speciﬁed.

Atelic activity verbs

Most Class II verbs denote atelic activities or processes. Informally, atelic Class II verbs may be further
divided into two subclasses: those which are generally used ‘transitively’, taking both an actor and a theme,
and those which are generally used ‘intransitively’, taking just an actor argument. This transitive-intransitive
distinction is largely a matter of semantics, depending on whether the verb names an activity that is normally
understood to involve two participants or just a single participant. An example of an ‘intransitive’ Class II
verb is hosta ‘dance’, illustrated in (4.85) below; while ksona ‘look at’ in (4.86) is an example of a ‘transitive’
Class II verb.

(4.85) Lhatima

ihostat
prg.dance.ipv.pl

children.erg
‘The children are dancing’

(4.86) Ikema

pil`a
bird.nom

iksonaua
prg.look:at.ipv.npl

dog.erg
‘The dog is looking at the/some birds’

The distinction between verbs like hosta and verbs like ksona is not absolute, however. In principle, any Class
II verb may be used either transitively or intransitively. Compare the following pairs of examples, illustrating
the Class II verbs uhna ‘sing’, kiompa ‘run, chase, move quickly’, and atlpa ‘play, perform music’. In the
ﬁrst sentence of each pair, the verb takes just an actor argument, while in the second sentence it takes both
an actor and a theme argument. When the theme argument is absent, the actor is understood to be acting
upon him/herself, and/or upon some unspeciﬁed object, depending on the meaning of the verb.

4.4. VERB CLASSES

(4.87) Sakialma

iohna
prg.sing.ipv

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial is singing’

(4.88) Sakialma

elife
beautiful.tnzr

uhine
song.nom

iohna
prg.sing.ipv

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial is singing a beautiful song’

(4.89) Lakiakama
hunter.erg
‘The hunters ran’

kiompyit
run.pv.pl

(4.90) Lakiakama
hunter.erg

hastine
deer.nom

kiompyit
run.pv.pl

‘The hunters chased the deer’ (i.e., made the deer run)

(4.91) Na

3aerg

lempekme
lempek.inst

iatlpanka
prg.play.ipv:pst

‘He was playing the lempek’ [a stringed instrument]

(4.92) Na

huiome
music.nom

lempekme
lempek.inst

iatlpanka
prg.play.ipv:pst

3aerg
‘He was playing the music on the lempek’

Examples of Class II activity verbs which routinely take a nominative argument are listed below:

ekpa
heulhta
ksona
kuola
loita
mina
nakpa
nyipa
teula
titia
tiyisa
tlynka
tsula
uila
untsapa

‘carry, hold, bring/take, wear’
‘pull, drag’
‘look at’
‘meet [by arrangement], rendezvous with’
‘watch, observe, look at’
‘think [a thought]’
‘carry/hold in one’s hands’
‘use, make use of’
‘listen to’
‘collect, gather’
‘lift, pick up’
‘push’
‘see, visit, spend time with’
‘love, cherish’
‘wonder (about), ask oneself’

For Class II verbs used transitively, the ergative argument denotes the participant who carries out the action,
while the nominative argument denotes the participant being manipulated, or towards which the action is
directed. Examples:

(4.93) Ihama

woman.erg

kop`o
pot.nom

ikpa
prg.carry/hold.ipv

‘The woman is carrying/holding a pot’

(4.94) Sakialma

lhat`e
children.nom

iloitanka
prg.watch.ipv:pst

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial was watching the children’

CHAPTER 4. CASE AND ARGUMENT STRUCTURE

(4.95) Sa

Motl`a
13erg
Motla.nom
‘We visited Motla’

tsulyit
visit.pv.pl

(4.96) Motlama

Motla.erg

otanaimite
children.nom

uilaua
love.ipv.npl

‘Motla loves (his) children’

In (4.97), the
In some cases the nominative-marked argument will take the form of a dependent clause.
theme role is ﬁlled by the dependent clause lhatima ilaliata ‘(that) the children (are/were) playing’ ; while
in (4.98) the aun clause acts as the theme argument of untsapa:

(4.97) Sakialma

iloitanka
prg.watch.ipv:pst

lhatima
children.erg

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial was watching the children playing’

ilaliat`a
prg.play.dep.pl.nom

(4.98) Ma

untsapa
wonder.ipv

Elimma
uta
already
Elim.erg
1serg
‘I wonder if Elim has ﬁnished reading the book yet’

halmai
book.dat

tale
read.cv

uosla
pf.ﬁnish.dep

aun
if

The following Class II activity verbs regularly appear with just an ergative-marked actor argument:

atlpa
ekpiha
hosta
koma
muelha
peuta
tsuhpa
uhna

‘play, perform [music]’
‘search, look around’
‘dance’
‘speak, understand, know [a language]’
‘sleep’
‘wait’
‘live, dwell, reside’
‘sing’

Sample sentences containing these verbs are given below. Notice that in addition to an actor core argument,
many of these verbs regularly take an oblique noun phrase denoting some other conventional participant in
the event. For example, tsuhpa ‘live, reside’ takes a locative noun phrase to express the location where the
actor resides; koma ‘speak, understand, know’ takes an instrumental phrase denoting the language or means
of communication; while ekpiha ‘search, look around’ and peuta ‘wait’ may take an allative noun phrase to
denote the objective or goal (in which case they are translated ‘look for’ and ‘wait for’, respectively).

(4.99) Kimima

imuelha
prg.sleep.ipv

baby.erg
‘The baby is sleeping’

(4.100) Elimma

Tenmotlaina
Tenmotlai.loc

Elim.erg
‘Elim lives in Tenmotlai’

tsuhpa
live.ipv

(4.101) Na

Okuna
Okuna

sulme
language.inst
3aerg
‘She doesn’t speak any Okuna’

nkomo
neg.speak.ipv:neg

iahok
at:all

(4.102) Ma

im`e
1sall

kamala
knife.all

ikpihanka
prg.search.ipv:pst

1serg
‘I was looking for my knife’

4.4. VERB CLASSES

nem
(4.103) Kima
12erg
imp
‘Let’s wait for Motla before we go’

Motlaua
Motla.all

peutat
wait.pl

nkilhata
leave.dep.pl

kamna
before.loc

Verbs denoting the production of sound (many of them onomatopoetic) typically belong to the single-
argument subclass of Class II. Examples include:

aila
hakatla
laka
miauha
myhuna
niuka
syma
tsana
tseuika
ytypa

‘cry, bawl, wail’
‘laugh’
‘bark, bay’
‘mew, meow’
‘purr’
‘grunt, snort’
‘mutter, mumble, murmur’
‘make a noise, make a sound’
‘stir, make a soft sound’
‘rumble, rattle’

With verbs of this type, the entity that produces the sound is expressed by an argument in the ergative case:

(4.104) Ikema

laka
dog.erg
bark.ipv
‘Dogs bark and cats meow’

le
but

miuama
cat.erg

miauha
meow.ipv

Class II also includes a large number of verbs denoting bodily functions and the emission of bodily substances,
along with other activities usually performed on or with a part of one’s body. These verbs include:

ahinka
haukia
hehta
hektuta
hisa
hiunuka
imla
ksiama
misalhka
salhka
siehka
tsinuka
uahka
utsaska

‘breathe out, exhale, sigh’
‘cough’
‘move, stir, change position’
‘hiccough’
‘cry, weep’
‘cry, weep, shed tears’
‘smile’
‘sneeze’
‘menstruate’
‘bleed, shed blood’
‘shit, defecate’
‘ejaculate; release seeds’
‘piss, urinate’
‘sweat, perspire’

Note that with verbs denoting bodily emissions, the participant from whose body the substance is emitted
can be expressed by a noun phrase in the ablative case rather than the ergative case. The choice depends
largely on whether the event is viewed as being under the control of the individual or not. Compare the
sentences below, for example: (4.105) would be used if the child acted deliberately or by exerting him/herself,
while (4.106) would be used if the event is thought of as being beyond the child’s control:

(4.105) Pyima

hiunukyi
weep.pv

child.erg
‘The child cried/wept’

(4.106) Pyio

hiunukyi
weep.pv

child.abl
‘The child shed tears (involuntarily)’

CHAPTER 4. CASE AND ARGUMENT STRUCTURE

Note that verbs formed by adding the active aspectual sux -amp to a stative stem all belong to Class II.
Compare the following sentences, where the Class I verb sita ‘be quiet’ denotes a property or propensity,
while its Class II counterpart sitampa ‘act quietly’ denotes an activity (see

7.5.2 for more on -amp):

(4.107) Sakiale

isita
prg.quiet.ipv

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial is quiet (now)’

(4.108) Sakialma

isitampa
prg.quiet.act.ipv

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial is being quiet’ or ‘Sakial is doing things quietly’

Manner-of-motion verbs

An important group of atelic Class II verbs are those which express manner of motion (see
include:

11.4.3). These

hiela
ianta
kaklala
kiompa
lhopa
mimilha
paka
piyla
puita
salia
sihpa
talha
tupa
uasta
yisa

‘take, travel in, ride in (a vehicle)’
‘jump, leap’
‘scurry, scamper, move quickly on small legs’
‘run, chase, move quickly’
‘ﬂow; blow’ [ﬂuid, wind]
‘move in a serpentine fashion’
‘step, take a step’
‘slither, crawl on one’s belly’
‘ride’
‘wave, ﬂap, ﬂutter; gesticulate’
‘swim’
‘climb’ [a sloping surface]
‘walk, go on foot’
‘ﬂy’
‘climb’ [a sheer/vertical surface]

For example:

(4.109) Kahuma
ﬁsh.erg
‘Fish swim, and birds ﬂy’

sihpa,
swim.ipv

le
while

pilama
bird.erg

uasta
ﬂy.ipv

(4.110) Ikema

palahtame
tree.inst

myiso
neg.climb.ipv:neg

dog.erg
‘Dogs don’t climb trees’

With manner of motion verbs, the ergative argument denotes the individual who brings about the motion
event. When that individual also undergoes the motion event, typically there is no nominative argument
present. However, when the actor induces motion in a particular part of his/her body, or in some separate
object, the latter may be expressed as a noun phrase in the nominative or unmarked form. Compare:

(4.111) Na

saliyi
wave.pv
3aerg
‘He waved/gesticulated’

(4.112) Na

temie
hands

saliyi
wave.pv

3aerg
‘He waved his hands (around)’

4.4. VERB CLASSES

(4.113) Na

kiompyi
run.pv

3aerg
‘She ran’

(4.114) Na

kihunme
letter.inst

inie
eyes

kiompyi
run.pv

3aerg
‘She ran her eyes quickly over the letter’

(4.115) Na

sihafauta
downstream.all

hielyit
go:by:vehicle.pv.pl

3aerg
‘They paddled/boated downstream’

(4.116) Na

puole
canoe.nom

sihafauta
downstream.all

3aerg
‘They paddled/propelled the canoe downstream’

hielyit
go:by:vehicle.pv.pl

Manner-of-motion verbs often occur as converbs modifying another motion verb (see
11.4.3). In
such cases, the modiﬁed verb determines the verb class (usually Class III) for the construction as a whole.
Compare the examples below. The verb ianta ‘jump’ belongs to Class II; whereas iante lhyua ‘jump into’
(lit. ‘enter jumping’) patterns with Class III, since lhyua ‘enter’ is a Class III verb. Hence, Sakial takes the
ergative case in (4.117), but the nominative case in (4.118). Notice also that ot`u ‘hole’ denotes a location
in the ﬁrst sentence, and is marked with locative case; whereas in the second sentence it functions as a goal
(delimiter), and is thus marked with dative case. (Compare the latter sentence with Sakiale otoi lhyuyi
‘Sakial went into the hole’, where the manner of motion is left unspeciﬁed.)

10.4 and

(4.117) Sakialma

otuhna
hole.loc

iantyi
jump.pv

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial jumped (around) in the hole’

(4.118) Sakiale

otoi
hole.dat

iante
jump.cv

lhyuyi
enter.pv

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial jumped into the hole’ (lit. ‘entered the hole [by] jumping’)

Compare also the sentences below. These show that whereas uasta ‘ﬂy’ is a Class II verb, and encodes the
participant in motion as an actor argument; uaste suha ‘ﬂy out of, exit by ﬂying’ is assigned to Class III,
and encodes the participant in motion as a theme. This is why pila ‘bird’ is marked with ergative case in
the ﬁrst example and nominative case in the second example:

(4.119) Mo

kilyi
see.pv

pilama
bird.erg

euast`a
prg.ﬂy.dep.nom

1srdat
‘I saw a bird ﬂying (around)’

(4.120) Mo

kilyi
see.pv

pil`a
bird.nom

palahtau
tree.abl

uaste
ﬂy.cv

suh`a
go:out.dep.nom

1srdat
‘I saw a bird ﬂying out of the tree’

Change of state verbs

A handful of Class II verbs are telic, and denote an event whereby the theme (marked with nominative case)
comes to be in a new state or location. These verbs include:

atia
lima
lyua
muka

‘approach, get closer; bring/take closer’
‘open; begin, start; ignite’
‘wake up; awaken’
‘close, shut; ﬁnish; extinguish’

CHAPTER 4. CASE AND ARGUMENT STRUCTURE

otla
peta
tioka
uata
usla

‘come/take apart, separate’
‘take, get, grasp/grab’
‘die; kill, cause to die’
‘stop, break o↵, interrupt’
‘end, conclude’

Examples of these verbs are given below. Notice that they can occur either with or without an overt ergative
argument. When the ergative argument is present, the clause denotes an event whereby an actor brings
about a change in the theme. The ergative argument is left out when the identity of the actor is unknown
or unimportant to the context, or when the clause denotes a spontaneous change in the state or location of
the theme.

(4.121) Huiloie

limyia
open.pv.npl

window.nom
‘The windows (were) opened’

(4.122) Motlama

huiloie
window.nom

limyia
open.pv.npl

Motla.erg
‘Motla opened the windows’

(4.123) Sakiale

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial died’

tiokyi
die.pv

(4.124) Sakiale

hintsypalma
pneumonia.erg

tiokyi
die.pv

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial died of pneumonia’ or ‘Sakial was killed by pneumonia’

Stative Class I verbs may be converted into telic Class II verbs by adding the inchoative aspectual sux
-(e)t (discussed in

7.5.3). Compare:

(4.125) Mule

itasla
prg.wet.ipv

cloth.nom
‘The cloth is wet’

(4.126) Mule

tasletyi
wet.tinc.pv

cloth.nom
‘The cloth got wet’

(4.127) Sakialma

mule
cloth.nom

tasletyi
wet.tinc.pv

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial wetted the cloth’ or ‘Sakial got the cloth wet’

4.4.3 Class III verbs

4.3
The majority of telic verbs in Okuna (that is, verbs denoting events which have an inherent endpoint; cf.
above) are capable in principle of taking up to three core arguments, an actor, a theme, and a delimiter, and
thus belong to Class III. The actor is marked with ergative case, the delimiter (typically a goal, recipient,
or patient) is marked with dative case, and the theme is marked with nominative case:

(4.128) Motlama

ias`e
ikei
Motla.erg
food.nom
dog.dat
‘Motla gave the food to the dog’

uktiyi
give.pv

In order to explain how the core arguments of Class III verbs are interpreted, it is useful to divide these
verbs into particular subgroups based on their semantics.

4.4. VERB CLASSES

Change-of-location verbs

Class III includes a large number of verbs expressing a change of location, or the transference of an object
from one person or place to another. These include:

elha
esta
eta
etskana
hista
lasta
lhyua
milhta
nata
niokta
nkilha
nufa
suha
teuna
tifa
uktia

‘put in, insert’
‘reach, get to; manage to’
‘go, come, move; bring, take’
‘arrive, appear; bring’
‘lead, take, escort’
‘send’
‘enter, go in; bring/take in’
‘turn; become’
‘hand, pass’
‘return, go/come back; bring/take back’
‘leave, go away, disappear; take away, remove’
‘take out, remove (from inside), extract’
‘go/come out, exit, leave; bring/take out’
‘put, place, lay’
‘remove, take o↵’
‘give’

For verbs of this type, the ergative argument encodes the agent of transmission (if any), while the dative
argument encodes the goal or endpoint of transmission, and the nominative argument encodes the object
undergoing motion or being transmitted. Examples:

(4.129) Ne

Elima
Elim.all

kotoi
3anom
house.dat
‘She is going to Elim’s house’

ita
prg.go.ipv

(4.130) Ih`a

sihkunoi
river.dat

estyit
reach.pv.pl

woman.nom
‘The women reached the river’

(4.131) Na

tsokoimpai
stranger.dat

kyt`o
gift.nom
3aerg
‘They will give a gift to the strangers’

es
one

(4.132) Sakialma

kop`o
pot.nom
Sakial.erg
‘Sakial placed the pots on the table’

totsat
table

epaim
top.dat

uktiamat
give.ipv.dpl.pl

teunyia
put.pv.npl

Most change-of-location verbs can be used to describe either an event of spontaneous motion, where the
moving object propels itself, or an event of directed motion, where the moving object is propelled or conveyed
by an external agent or force. For example, lhyua can be used to mean ‘enter, go in’, where the motion is
self-directed, or ‘move/bring/take in’, where the motion is caused by an external agent. In the latter case,
an ergative argument is added to the clause to express the causer of the motion event. (Change-of-location
verbs are discussed further in

11.4.3.)

(4.133) Sakiale

kotoi
house.dat

lhyuyi
enter.pv

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial went into the house’

CHAPTER 4. CASE AND ARGUMENT STRUCTURE

(4.134) Elimma

Elim.erg

keule
chair.nom

kotoi
house.dat

lhyuyi
enter.pv

‘Elim took/brought the chair into the house’

With the verbs nufa ‘take out, extract, remove [from inside something]’ and tifa ‘take o↵, strip, remove [from
the outside of something]’, the dative argument expresses the source from which something is removed, rather
than the goal:

(4.135) Na

kahoi
ﬁsh.dat

nek
3aerg
scale
‘They removed all the scales from the ﬁsh’

emot
all:nom

tifyimat
remove.pv.dpl.pl

(4.136) Ma

kopoi
pot.dat

nahe
water.nom

tiause
pour.cv

1serg
‘I will pour the water out of the pot’

nufa
take:out.ipv

Many change-of-location verbs can also be used metaphorically to describe non-motion events. For example,
like its English counterpart, uktia ‘give’ can denote a change of possession, without implying any actual
change of location. Another example is milhta ‘turn’: in addition to its literal meaning, milhta can be used
in the sense of ‘become’ or ‘be transformed (into)’, where the dative noun phrase expresses the end state of
the transformation, as shown below. Milhta also occurs in a handful of expressions with a dependent verb in
10.2.1), where it means ‘begin to’ or ‘enter into [a state]’: e.g., muelha ‘sleep’ > muelhai
the dative case (cf.
milhta ‘go to sleep’; isuta ‘be alive’ > isutai milhta ‘come to life’; okla ‘hide’ > oklai milhta ‘go into hiding’.

(4.137) Lyihpiylak`a

caterpillar.nom

sileip
butterﬂy.dat

umilhta
pf.turn.ipv

‘The caterpillar (has) turned into a butterﬂy’

(4.138) Me

sati
dinner

kihisna
right:after.loc

1snom
‘I went to sleep right after dinner’

muelhai
sleep.dep.dat

milhtyi
turn.pv

The verb esta ‘reach, make it (to)’ can also be used with a dative dependent clause, in which case it means
‘succeed, manage to’:

(4.139) Me

1snom

niloi
net.dat

namuohtai
repair.dep.dat

estyi
reach.pv

‘I succeeded in ﬁxing the net’ (lit. ‘I reached [the] ﬁxing [of] the net’)

Verbs of communication—e.g., etsa ‘say, tell’; nesapa ‘ask’; tafa ‘show, demonstrate, teach’; ukia ‘tell, recite,
perform’—might also be regarded as metaphorical change-of-location verbs. Here the nominative argument,
which may be a noun phrase or a dependent clause, expresses the information being transmitted, while the
dative argument identiﬁes the recipient of the information:

(4.140) Luhme
old:one
‘The old man told the children the story’

lhatei
children.dat

kalma
man.erg

sliaht`e
story.nom

ukiyi
tell.pv

(4.141) Inmo

3aerg.1srdat

etsyi
tell.pv

na
3aerg

ahtei
father.dat

kihune
letter.nom

ulast`a
pf.send.dep.nom

‘He told me that he had sent the letter to (his) father’

4.4. VERB CLASSES

Change-of-state verbs

Another large group of Class III verbs are those which denote an agentive change-of-state event—that is,
an event involving an agent and a patient, where the agent creates, destroys, consumes, or otherwise brings
about a (typically incremental) change of state in the patient, and where the event necessarily ends once the
patient has been completely created, destroyed/consumed, or otherwise changed. Examples of verbs of this
type include:

hana
iasa
kahta
kaiha
lihka
lohka
mupatla
patla
pusuka
sepa
siehpa
stoka
taha
takia
tieka
tiespa
toka
tsitspa
uosta

‘cut (into), make an incision in’
‘eat’
‘hit, strike’
‘kill, murder’
‘cut [into pieces], sever’
‘bring about, cause to happen’
‘clothe, drape, dress’
‘cover’
‘make, create’
‘drink; inhale’
‘write’
‘destroy’
‘kill [an animal for food]’
‘break, snap (in half)’ [something long and thin]
‘chop, cut up’
‘build, construct, put together’
‘ﬁx, repair, mend’
‘break, shatter, smash’ [something brittle]
‘shape, give shape to, create, make’

With change-of-state verbs, the ergative argument denotes the agent of the event (if any) and the dative
argument denotes the patient, where the latter ‘measures out’ (or identiﬁes the endpoint for) the event:

(4.142) Ounama
bear.erg
‘The bear is eating the/some ﬁsh’

eiasama
prg.eat.ipv.dpl

kahoi
ﬁsh.dat

(4.143) Mikalma
boy.erg
‘The boy broke a/the pot’

kopoi
pot.dat

tsitspyi
break.pv

The ergative and dative noun phrases are both optional, in keeping with the general optionality of arguments
in Okuna. The dative argument may be omitted if the clause describes a general activity and the patient is
either unknown or unimportant. Likewise, the ergative argument may be omitted if the agent is unknown
or unimportant. Compare the sentences below with (4.142) above.

eiasa
(4.144) Ounama
bear.erg
prg.eat.ipv
‘The bear is eating (something)’

(4.145) Kahoi

eiasat
ﬁsh.dat
prg.eat.ipv.pl
‘The ﬁsh are being eaten’

The actor argument is also omitted when the clause describes a spontaneous event, one where the change of
state in the patient is not (conceived of as being) initiated by any agent:

(4.146) Kopoi

tsitspyi
break.pv

pot.dat
‘The pot broke’ or ‘The pot got broken’

CHAPTER 4. CASE AND ARGUMENT STRUCTURE

In addition to an actor and a delimiter, change-of-state verbs sometimes take a nominative-marked theme
argument as well, which is why they are assigned to Class III. The theme argument has a number of
semantic functions. Most commonly it indicates an instrument—that is, an object which is manipulated by
the agent in order to bring about a change of state in the patient, as illustrated below. Note that instruments
4.6.3,
typically appear in the instrumental case, or as unmarked noun phrases (as discussed in
respectively). Nominative marking typically implies that the instrument undergoes a change of location,
literally or ﬁguratively transferring force from the agent to the patient, and may itself be a↵ected by the
action as a result of coming into contact with the patient.

4.5.4 and

(4.147) Ihama

woman.erg

lotsain
wood.dat

kamale
knife.nom

hanyi
cut.pv

‘The woman cut (into) the wood with the knife’
or ‘The woman used the knife to make an incision in the wood’

(4.148) Na

palahtai
tree.dat

nak`a
rock.nom

kahtyi
hit.pv

3aerg
‘He hit the tree with the rock’

(4.149) Elimma

totsait
table.dat

es
one

sane
red

Elim.erg
‘Elim covered the table with a red cloth’

mule
cloth.nom

patlyi
cover.pv

The examples below also include a nominative-marked theme, but here the ergative-marked actor is omitted:

(4.150) Nak`a

rock.nom

palahtai
tree.dat

kahtyi
hit.pv

‘The rock hit the tree’ (e.g., after being thrown)

(4.151) Totsait

es
one

sane
red

mule
cloth.nom

patlyi
cover.pv

table.dat
‘The table was covered with a red cloth’

In some cases, the performer of the action may be expressed either as an actor or as a theme. The choice
between these options is determined by whether that participant is acting volitionally or not, and by whether
that participant is directly a↵ected by the action. Compare the examples below, both corresponding to ‘The
man hit the tree’ in English. In (4.152), where kal ‘man’ is an ergative-marked actor, the sentence describes
an event where the man brings some instrument or part of his body into forceful contact with the tree; in
(4.153), where kal in a nominative-marked theme, the sentence describes an event where the man’s body
comes into forceful contact with the tree.

(4.152) Kalma

man.erg

palahtai
tree.dat

kahtyi
hit.pv

‘The man hit the tree’ (i.e., used something to strike the tree)

(4.153) Kale

man.nom

palahtai
tree.dat

kahtyi
hit.pv

‘The man hit the tree’ (i.e., collided with the tree)

4.4. VERB CLASSES

With verbs of creation or material transformation, the nominative argument may express the substance
being transformed, while the dative argument denotes the object or material being created, as illustrated
below (the ablative case can also be used to mark the substance from which something is made, as discussed
in

4.5.3):

(4.154) Kalma

sut`e
clay.nom

kopoi
pot.dat

euosta
prg.shape.ipv

man.erg
‘The man is shaping the clay into a pot’

(4.155) Kalma

man.erg

kopoi
pot.dat

sut`e
clay.nom

euosta
prg.shape.ipv

‘The man is making/fashioning the pot out of (the) clay’

(4.156) Motlama

sofoi
tsimoke
Motla.erg
ﬂour.dat
corn.nom
‘Motla ground the corn into ﬂour’

tlulyi
grind.pv

Experiencer/recipient verbs

The last major subclass of the Class III verbs consists of verbs of perception, along with other verbs which
express events whereby an individual receives an object, sensation, experience, or idea from some external
source. These verbs include:

etskopa
kila
luhtsa
mahtla
mehka
moita
naklana
ola
sasa
sefa
tlelha
tsokua
tsuhka
uota

‘realize, come to understand’
‘see, notice; show’
‘smell’
‘taste’
‘happen, transpire, come/bring about; happen to, a↵ect; cause’
‘get, receive, acquire, attain’
‘happen/a↵ect inadvertently, be unexpected’
‘hear’
‘ﬁnd, run across, happen upon, meet (by accident)’
‘feel [with one’s ﬁngers/skin]’
‘ﬁnd, locate’
‘meet [for the ﬁrst time], encounter, become acquainted with’
‘happen badly, go wrong; befall, a↵ect negatively; cause [something bad]’
‘feel, perceive, sense’

With these verbs, the nominative argument denotes the object/idea/sensation/etc. being received, while the
dative expresses the receiver or experiencer:

(4.157) Mo

utsape
1srdat
pf.become:lost.tnzr
‘I’ve found the book that had been lost’

halm`a
book.nom

tlelhyi
ﬁnd.pv

(4.158) Kaloin

es
one

lhonk`o
loud:noise.nom

olyi
hear.pv

boy.dat
‘The boy heard a loud noise’

(4.159) Sakiail

efose
problem.nom

etskopyi
realize.pv

Sakial.dat
‘Sakial realized the problem’

CHAPTER 4. CASE AND ARGUMENT STRUCTURE

(4.160) Kuo

m`a
2rdat
what:nom
‘What happened to you?’

um`ehkan?
pf.happen.ipv.qu

Like ‘get’ in English, moita can mean either ‘acquire, receive [an object or property]’ or ‘have the opportunity
to’. In the latter case the theme argument is a clause headed by a verb in the dependent form (e.g., halmai
talut`a ‘reading the book’; cf.

10.2):

(4.161) Moihai
girl.dat
‘The girl got a pair of shoes’

tlok
shoe

moityi
get.pv

§
tsani`e
pair.nom

(4.162) Si

mamoitout
neg.get.pv:neg.pl

13dat
‘We didn’t get to read the book’

halmai
book.dat

talit`a
read.dep:sbj.pl.nom

Other experiencer/recipient verbs can also take dependent clauses as their nominative arguments, including
mehka ‘happen’, naklana ‘happen unexpectedly’, and tsuhka ‘befall, happen/a↵ect badly’, as well as percep-
tion verbs such as kila ‘see’. Examples are given below. Notice that in this construction, mehka and tsuhka
can be translated using ‘have’ in English, while naklana corresponds roughly to ‘come to be’ or ‘ﬁnd oneself
[in a given situation]’.

(4.163) Motlai

utsuhka
pf.befall.ipv

kotoi
house.dat

kiosp`a
burn.dep.nom

Motla.dat
‘Motla had his house burn down’
more lit. ‘(It) happened to Motla that (his) house burned down’

(4.164) Elime

ulyue,
pf.wake:up.pt

naklanyi
Elim.nom
unexpected.pv
‘When Elim woke up, he found himself lying in bed’
more lit. ‘Elim having woken up, (it) happened to him unexpectedly that (he) was lying in bed’

isailh`a
prg.lie.dep.nom

tsulna
bed.loc

no
3ardat

(4.165) Mo

kilyi
see.pv

Sakialma
Sakial.erg

halma
book

1srdat
‘I saw (that) Sakial (was) reading a book’

ital`a
prg.read.dep.nom

As the examples above illustrate, experiencer/recipient verbs typically denote spontaneous actions, and
appear without an ergative-marked actor argument. When an actor is present it denotes an agent or stimulus
that causes the dative participant to receive the object/idea/sensation/etc. Compare the following examples.
These show that kila, normally translated as ‘see’, corresponds to ‘show’ (i.e., cause to see) when it selects
an ergative argument.

(4.166) Pyie

kyuaitanene
child.dat
carving.nom
‘The child saw/noticed the carving’

kilyi
see.pv

(4.167) Elimma

kyuaitanene
Elim.erg
carving.nom
‘Elim showed the child the carving’

pyie
child.dat

kilyi
see.pv

Additional examples are given below. Here tsuhka means either ‘happen to [someone]’ or ‘cause [something]
to happen to [someone]’, depending on the presence or absence of an actor; while etskopa means either ‘occur
to [someone]’ or ‘cause [something] to occur to [someone]’. (Note that in the second pair, the nominative role
10.2.3 for discussion
is ﬁlled by the free relative construction kima m`a esukita aun ‘what we should do’; see
of this construction.)

4.5. THE OBLIQUE CASES

(4.168) Mo

tiaumilhe
accident.nom

tsuhkyi
happen.pv

1srdat
‘I had an accident’ (lit. ‘An accident happened to me’)

(4.169) Mo

Elimma
Elim.erg

tiaumilhe
accident.nom

tsuhkyi
happen.pv

1srdat
‘Elim caused me to have an accident’

(4.170) Mo

etskopyi
realize.pv

kima
12erg

m`a
what

sukita
do.dep:sbj.pl

aun
if

1srdat
‘It occurred to me what we should do’ or ‘I realized what we should do’

(4.171) Mehkanen
umai
1srdat
experience
‘That experience made me realize what we should do’

etskopyi
realize.pv

it`a
that:erg

kima
12erg

m`a
what

sukita
do.dep:sbj.pl

aun
if

Note that not all verbs of perception belong to Class III. Consider the following pairs, where the verb on the
left belongs to Class III while its counterpart on the right belongs to Class II:

kila
ola
luhtsa
mahtla
sefa

‘see’
‘hear’
‘smell’
‘taste’
‘feel’

ksona
teula
teluhtsa
temahtla
lala

‘look at’
‘listen to’
‘smell, sni↵’
‘taste, try, sample’
‘feel, touch’

As noted above, the Class III perception verbs assign dative case to the noun phrase denoting the perceiver.
By contrast, Class II perception verbs take an ergative noun phrase to denote the perceiver. Both types
assign nominative case to the object or event being perceived. Compare:

(4.172) Motlai

mo
1srdat

lohane
voice.nom

Motla.dat
‘Motla heard my voice’

(4.173) Motlama

mo
1srdat

lohane
voice.nom

Motla.erg
‘Motla listened to my voice’

olyi
hear.pv

teulyi
listen:to.pv

As the glosses in the above table indicate, the Class III perception verbs denote spontaneous (non-agentive)
events, while their Class II counterparts denote directed (agentive) events. This distinction is not always
easy to render in English. For example, both mahtla and temahtla translate English ‘taste’, but mahtla is
used to mean ‘detect the ﬂavour of’ while temahtla means ‘take a taste of’ or ‘sample the ﬂavour of’. The
following example illustrates the contrast between these two verbs (note the dative versus ergative case forms
of the ﬁrst person clitic in the two clauses):

(4.174) Ma

mase
soup.erg

ksas
salt
1serg
‘I tasted the soup, but I didn’t/couldn’t taste (the) salt in it’

temahtlyi
taste.pv

itan
3isloc

mi
1sdat

ntse
neg

le
but

mahtlou
taste.pv:neg

4.5 The oblique cases

There are four oblique cases in Okuna: locative, allative, ablative, and instrumental. Each case has a number
of di↵erent functions, as discussed in the following subsections. (Here I focus on how the oblique cases are
used at the sentence level to mark dependents of the verb; for their use in marking the possessor in a noun
phrase, see the discussion in

6.6.1.)

4.5.1 Locative

CHAPTER 4. CASE AND ARGUMENT STRUCTURE

The locative (loc) case is marked by attaching the sux -na to the ﬁnal word in the noun phrase. As the
name of this case indicates, noun phrases in the locative typically indicate the spatial or temporal location
of an object or event. Noun phrases in the locative case often correspond to prepositional phrases with ‘at’,
‘in’, ‘on’, etc., in English:

(4.175) Sakialma

Tenmotlaina
Tenmotlai.loc

tsuhpa
live.ipv

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial lives in Tenmotlai’

(4.176) Mikalma
boy.erg
‘The boy is carrying a pot in his hands’

temiena
hands.loc

ikpa
prg.carry.ipv

kopo
pot

(4.177) Se

tuhsana
13nom
winter.loc
‘We will return in the winter’

nioktat
return.ipv.pl

(4.178) Puniakakai

sihkununa
river.loc

sasyit
meet.pv.pl

traveller.dat
‘The travellers met at the river’

To express ﬁner spatio-temporal distinctions—e.g., to distinguish ‘at’ from ‘in’ from ‘on’ in cases of potential
ambiguity—the locative case may be used in combination with a relational noun such as him ‘interior’ or
epam ‘top, horizontal surface’ (see

6.5). Compare the following sets of sentences:

(4.179) Moih`a

totsatna
girl.nom
table.loc
‘The girl is sitting at the table’

§
euohta
prg.sit.ipv

(4.180) Moih`a

girl.nom

totsat
table

epamna
top.loc

euohta
prg.sit.ipv

‘The girl is sitting on (top of) the table’

(4.181) Halm`a

book.nom

kohotna
chest.loc

hit
be:ipv.pl

‘The books are in/at/by the chest’

(4.182) Halm`a

book.nom

kohot
chest

himna
interior.loc

hit
be:ipv.pl

‘The books are in(side) the chest’

(4.183) Halm`a

book.nom

kohot
chest

utena
near.loc

hit
be:ipv.pl

‘The books are by/beside/near the chest’

With verbs of motion, locative case may be used for noun phrases denoting the means of transportation:

(4.184) Kim

puolna
13nom
boat.loc
‘We will go there by boat’

euolhtat
go:there.ipv.pl

4.5. THE OBLIQUE CASES

Animate noun phrases in the locative case frequently occur with verbs denoting an emotional state, or a
sensation internal to one’s body. Such verbs include kesta ‘be happy’, ohiyna ‘be sad’, hotsma ‘be angry’,
muelhona ‘be drowsy, feel like sleeping’, and tunkona ‘hurt, ache, be in pain’. With verbs of this type, the
locative noun phrase indicates the individual who experiences the feeling or sensation. Similarly, verbs of
cognition—e.g., iona ‘know (a fact)’, koipa ‘know (a person/thing), be familiar with’, mutla ‘understand’,
and niokona ‘remember’, and verbs formed with the modal sux -ihp ‘intend to’—take a locative noun
phrase to denote the individual possessing the knowledge, memory, intention, etc. Examples:

(4.185) Ihana

ihotsma
prg.angry.ipv

woman.loc
‘The woman is angry’

(4.186) Ik`o

utsaie
pf.say.tnzr.nom

mamutlo
neg.understand.ipv:neg

iman
1sloc

2serg
‘I don’t understand what you were saying’

(4.187) Ne

Sakialna
Sakial.loc

k`oipin?
know.ipv:int.qu

3anom
‘Does Sakial know her?’

(4.188) Elimna

Elim.loc
‘Elim knows that the travellers will return to the village tomorrow’

puniakak`a
traveller.nom

paloi
village.dat

elohfoi
tomorrow

iona
know.ipv

nioktat`a
return.dep.pl.nom

(4.189) Inena
3aploc
‘They intend to paint the house tomorrow’

kotoi
house.dat

elohfoi
tomorrow

nepatlihpa
paint.intend.ipv

In a somewhat related function, when a verb is marked with the modal sux -yip ‘can, able (to)’, the noun
phrase denoting the individual who possesses the ability is marked with locative case. Likewise, when the
verb carries the modal sux -uh ‘want to’, the individual possessing the desire is expressed by a noun phrase
in the locative case. When the locative noun phrase is coreferential with one of the core arguments in the
clause, especially the ergative argument, the latter is normally omitted. (For more on modal suxes, see
7.7.1.) Compare:

§
(4.190) Motlama

halmai
book.dat

itala
prg.read.ipv

Motla.erg
‘Motla is reading the book’

(4.191) Motlana

halmai
book.dat

talyipa
read.able.ipv

Motla.loc
‘Motla can read the book’
more lit. ‘In Motla is the ability to read the book’

(4.192) Motlana

halmai
book.dat

taluha
read.want.ipv

Motla.loc
‘Motla wants to read the book’
more lit. ‘In Motla is the desire to read the book’

(4.193) Motlana

Elimma
Motla.loc
Elim.erg
‘Motla wants Elim to read the book’

halmai
book.dat

taluha
read.want.ipv

CHAPTER 4. CASE AND ARGUMENT STRUCTURE

When a stative Class I verb is derived from a telic Class III verb using inﬁxal resultative aspect morphology
(e.g., siehpa ‘write’ > sieihpa ‘be written/complete’; takia ‘break’ > takeia ‘be broken’), the argument which
was the delimiter of the Class III verb (marked with dative case) appears instead in the locative. Compare
these pairs of sentences:

(4.194) Motlama

kihoin
Motla.erg
letter.dat
‘Motla wrote the letter’

siehpyi
write.pv

(4.195) Kihunna
letter.loc
‘The letter is (already) written’

isieihpa
prg.write:res.ipv

(4.196) Pyie

takiyi
nalh
child.dat
break.pv
arm
‘The child broke her arm’

(4.197) Pyina

nalh
child.loc
arm
‘The child has a broken arm’

itakeia
prg.break:res.ipv

To make sense of the case marking in (4.196) and (4.197) above, we might render the former more literally
as ‘The child received an arm-breaking’, or ‘An event of arm-breaking came to the child’, while the latter
could be paraphrased as ‘A state of being arm-broken is in the child’.

Finally, locative case marking may be added to a clause headed by a verb in the dependent form (cf.
10.2). The interpretation of a locative-marked clause depends on whether the clause is in the indicative
§
or subjunctive mood. An indicative dependent clause in the locative expresses the time at which the event
denoted by the main clause takes place, and is equivalent to an English subordinate clause with ‘when’,
‘while’, ‘as’. A subjunctive dependent clause in the locative expresses a condition, and is equivalent to an
10.3.2.)
‘if/when(ever)’ clause. (For other ways of forming temporal and conditional clauses, see

10.2.3 and

(4.198) Ne

ma
1serg

imuelhana
3anom
prg.sleep.dep.loc
‘They left while I was sleeping’ (lit. ‘at my sleeping’)

nkilhyit
leave.pv.pl

(4.199) Sa

akut
2pdat

aleut
help

uktiamat
give.ipv.dpl.pl

lyihpina
possible.dep:sbj.loc

13erg
‘We will help you (pl) if possible’

4.5.2 Allative

Allative case (glossed all in the examples) is usually expressed by attaching the ending -a to the ﬁnal word
in the noun phrase. In its spatial function, the allative case marks noun phrases which indicate the direction
in which an individual is headed, or the object or location towards which something is oriented or aimed. In
this usage allative case is roughly equivalent to English ‘to’ or ‘towards’:

(4.200) Ne

heuta
north.all

etyit
go.pv.pl

3anom
‘They went (towards the) north’

(4.201) Ne

ekliona
left.all
3anom
‘She turned (to the) left’

milhtyi
turn.pv

4.5. THE OBLIQUE CASES

(4.202) Palu

village

itan
this:loc

kotu
house

emot
3i:all:nom

sihkunoua
river.all

kumutat
face.ipv.pl

‘All the houses in this village face (towards) the river’

The function of the allative is similar to that of the dative, in that both cases can indicate a goal of motion.
However, the two cases are not synonymous. Compare the following sentences: In (4.203), where kotu ‘house’
is marked with the dative case, it is understood that the children reached the house. In (4.204), where kotu is
in the allative case, the house identiﬁes the direction in which the children went; they may not have actually
reached the house, or even intended to do so.

(4.203) Lhat`e

kotoi
house.dat

etyit
go.pv.pl

children.nom
‘The children went to the house’

(4.204) Lhat`e

kotoua
children.nom
house.all
‘The children went towards the house’

etyit
go.pv.pl

The allative case also expresses various abstract relations. For example, it is used to indicate the beneﬁciary,
purpose, or objective of an event. In this function, the allative corresponds closely to English ‘for’, as shown
below:

(4.205) Amema

pyia
child.all

homai
bread.dat

ipusuka
prg.make.ipv

mother.erg
‘The mother is making bread for the child’

(4.206) Amema

esimoitatsa
naming:ceremony.all

homai
bread.dat

ipusuka
prg.make.ipv

mother.erg
‘The mother is making bread for the naming ceremony’

(4.207) Kale

man.nom

kahoua
ﬁsh.all

sihityit
go:to:river.pv.pl

‘The men went to the river for ﬁsh’ (i.e., to get ﬁsh)

(4.208) Houna
owl.all
‘Eyes for the owl, legs for the rabbit’2

hesa
rabbit.all

inie,
eyes

atak
leg

In a clause which attributes a state or property to some entity, an allative noun phrase can indicate the
individual who is the source of the attribution, or with respect to whom the state or property holds:

(4.209) Mase

tsuo
too

iakaila
prg.rel.hot.ipv

Sakiala
Sakial.all

soup.nom
‘The soup is too hot for Sakial’ or ‘Sakial ﬁnds the soup too hot’

(4.210) Pyi

in`a
that:erg

lhinta
clever.ipv

im`e
1sall

child
‘I consider that child clever’ or ‘In my opinion, that child is clever’
lit. ‘For me, that child is clever’

2An Okuna proverb, meaning roughly ‘Each according to his abilities’ or ‘Everyone has his/her own talents’.

CHAPTER 4. CASE AND ARGUMENT STRUCTURE

Note that this is how ‘like’ or ‘love’ are expressed in Okuna: an allative-marked noun phrase combines with
a verb such as ohka ‘be dear, beloved’, huata ‘be appreciated, agreeable’, or henka ‘be enjoyable’, with the
object of a↵ection expressed by a noun phrase in the nominative:3

(4.211) Im`e

Sakiale
Sakial.nom

ohka
dear.ipv

1sall
‘I love Sakial’ (lit. ‘Sakial is dear to me’)

(4.212) Me

Sakiala
Sakial.all

huata
agreeable.ipv

1snom
‘Sakial likes me’ (lit. ‘I am agreeable to/for Sakial’)

(4.213) Sakiala

nkenko
neg.enjoyable.ipv:neg
Sakial.all
‘Sakial doesn’t like ﬁsh’ (lit. ‘For Sakial, ﬁsh is not enjoyable at all’)

kah`o
ﬁsh.nom

iahok
at:all

Similarly, perceptual states like ‘see’ and ‘hear’ may be expressed by adding an allative-marked noun phrase
to a clause containing the stative verbs kula ‘be visible, be in sight’, ula ‘be audible’, etc.; here the allative
noun phrase encodes the experiencer (see

7.5.1 for more discussion of perception verbs):

(4.214) Im`e

palaht`a
tree.nom

kulat
visible.ipv.pl

1sall
‘I (can) see the trees from here’ (lit. ‘To/for me, the trees are visible from here’)

§
ekau
here.abl

(4.215) Isane
13all
‘We heard a loud noise’ or ‘We could hear a loud noise’

iolanka
prg.audible.ipv:pst

lhonko
loud:noise

With verbs of thinking, saying, writing, etc., allative case indicates the subject matter, and corresponds to
‘about, concerning’ in English. Note also the verb ohtla ‘resemble, be like’, which takes an allative-marked
noun phrase to express the object with which a comparison is being made. This verb can combine with
‘resemble in appearance’),
various unmarked nouns expressing properties: e.g., akiel ohtla ‘look like’ (lit.
amahtle ohtla ‘taste like’ (lit. ‘resemble in ﬂavour’). With ohtla, the individual bearing the resemblance is
expressed by a noun phrase in the nominative case.

(4.216) Luihama

Ehkaiona
Ehkaion.all

sliahte
story

iokianka
prg.tell.ipv:pst

old:woman.erg
‘An old woman was telling a story about Ehkaion’

(4.217) Ma

lyihpe
possible.tnzr

iosok
solution

tosepyia
several.all

umikyitsa
pf.think:about.ipv

1serg
‘I’ve thought of several possible solutions’

(4.218) Sakiale

ameia
mother.all

ohtla
resemble.ipv

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial resembles his mother’ or ‘Sakial is like his mother’

(4.219) Sakiale

ameia
mother.all

akiel
appearance

ohtla
resemble.ipv

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial looks like his mother’

Finally, in noun phrases, alienable possessors (which precede the possessed noun) are usually marked with
allative case: e.g., Sakiala halma ‘Sakial’s book’, mo ameia kotu ‘my mother’s house’.

3The Class II verb uila ‘love, cherish’ patterns di↵erently, in that the individual who experiences the emotion is encoded by

a noun phrase in the ergative case: e.g., Ma Sakiale uila ‘I love Sakial’.

4.5. THE OBLIQUE CASES

4.5.3 Ablative

Ablative case (glossed abl) is usually marked by adding the ending -u to the right edge of the noun phrase.
The ablative case is typically used with verbs of motion to indicate the source or starting point of movement.
In this function, ablative noun phrases correspond to English prepositional phrases with ‘from’, ‘out of’, ‘o↵
of’, etc. Ablative case is also used with noun phrases denoting time periods to indicate the beginning point
of some event or state of a↵airs, in which case it corresponds to English ‘since’.

(4.220) Se

laisne
just

Uilumau
Uiluma.abl

uketat
pf.come:here.ipv.pl

13nom
‘We have just arrived here from Uiluma’

(4.221) Moih`a

girl.nom

halou
room.abl

suhyi
go:out.pv

‘The girl came/went out of the room’

(4.222) Me

tuhsau
winter.abl

ikauota
prg.be:here.dur.ipv
1snom
‘I have been staying here since the winter’

When used to express a source or beginning point, the ablative noun phrase is sometimes followed by the
emphatic element su (glossed ‘even’). Ablative case combined with su corresponds roughly to English ‘ever
since’ or ‘all the way from’: e.g., sihkunou su ‘all the way from the river’, tuhsau su ‘ever since the winter’.
This element is especially common in the construction X su Y sik`a, meaning ‘from X (all the way) to Y’ or
‘between X and Y’, with X a noun phrase in the ablative and Y a noun phrase in the dative:

(4.223) Sihkunu

river

tan
this:nom

tomlau
mountain.abl

su
even

moini
ocean.dat

sik`a
until

lhopa
ﬂow.ipv

‘This river ﬂows from the mountains (all the way) to the ocean’

(4.224) Hostakama
paluna,
kotoi
house.dat
village.loc
dancer.erg
‘The dancers wandered around the village, going from house to house’

tatanyit
wander.pv.pl

kotou
house.abl

su
even

sik`a
until

itit
prg.go.pt.pl

Besides expressing a source or beginning point with verbs of motion, ablative noun phrases are used with
verbs of creation to indicate the material from which something is made:

(4.225) Okuna
Okuna

koinma
person.erg

lotsanu
wood.abl

kotu
house

tiespat
build.ipv.pl

‘The Okuna build (their) houses out of wood’

In quantiﬁed noun phrases, the ablative case marks the superset in a partitive relation. Likewise, in noun
phrases containing a measure noun, the substance being measured out is usually marked as ablative. In
these uses, ablative case corresponds to the preposition ‘of’ in English. Similarly, verbs like tsatsa ‘be full’,
eka ‘be empty’, paitla ‘be covered (with)’, and tsihfa ‘be bare, lack’ can take partitive complements in the
ablative.

(4.226) mikalu

ehte
three

boy.abl
‘three of the boys’

(4.227) meunu

es
one
milk.abl
‘a cup of milk’

nauot
cup

(4.228) Kop`o

meunu
milk.abl

itsatsa
prg.full.ipv

jug.nom
‘The jug is full of milk’

CHAPTER 4. CASE AND ARGUMENT STRUCTURE

(4.229) Kop`o

jug.nom

meunu
milk.abl

ieka
prg.empty.ipv

‘The jug has no milk in it’ (lit. ‘The jug is empty of milk’)

(4.230) Kim`e

baby.nom

eima
still

luanu
hair.abl

tsihfa
bare.ipv

‘The baby doesn’t have any hair yet’ (lit. ‘The baby is still bare of hair’)

Ablative case is also used in various constructions to indicate a reference point or object of comparison. For
instance, ablative case can be used to mark the possessor in a kinship or other social relationship—i.e., the
individual with respect to whom the relationship holds: e.g., Sakialu ame ‘Sakial’s mother’, im`o es kuna
‘a friend of mine’. In addition, ablative case can be used to mark a spatial reference—that is, an object or
location with respect to which a positional or directional relationship is established. Here, as in partitive
constructions, ablative case typically corresponds to English ‘of’:

(4.231) Na

lokau
forest.abl

heutna
3aerg
north.loc
‘They live north of the forest’

tsuhpat
live.ipv.pl

In equative and comparative constructions, ablative case is used to marked the standard of comparison
(expressed in English with ‘as’ or ‘than’). The verb sukuma ‘be di↵erent’ also takes an ablative noun phrase
to indicate the standard of comparison.

(4.232) Kot`o

palahtau
house.nom
tree.abl
‘The house is as tall as the tree’

apata
rel.tall.ipv

(4.233) Kot`o

palahtau
house.nom
tree.abl
‘The house is taller than the tree’

apatohta
rel.tall.comp.ipv

(4.234) Sakiale

Sakial.nom

ahteu
father.abl

akiel
appearance

sukuma
di↵erent.ipv

‘Sakial doesn’t look like his father’ (lit. ‘di↵ers [in] appearance from [his] father’)

The ablative case is also used with the verb iala ‘have’. When iala takes a noun phrase complement
(in the nominative case or the unmarked form), as in (4.235), it expresses non-transferable possession or
responsibility (e.g., possession of kin, land, animals, hunting and ﬁshing rights, personal attributes, and
other people or resources for which one has a social obligation). When iala takes a dependent subjunctive
clause complement, as in (4.236), it means ‘know how to’. In sentences with iala, an ablative noun phrase
expresses the individual possessing knowledge or responsibility.

(4.235) Elimu

lihpa
sister

hen
two:nom

iala
have.ipv

Elim.abl
‘Elim has two sisters’

(4.236) Elimu

sihpi
swim.dep:sbj

Elim.abl
‘Elim knows how to swim’

iala
have.ipv

4.5. THE OBLIQUE CASES

Finally, nominalized clauses headed by a verb in the dependent form can take ablative case marking, as
illustrated below. Like ‘since’ clauses in English, dependent clauses in the ablative can express either the
reason or the beginning point of an event, according to context.

(4.237) Olh
dist
‘Those mountains have been standing since the world began’

kantat
stand.ipv.pl

iome
world.nom

tin
those:nom

tomla
mountain

alimau
pv.begin.dep.abl

(4.238) Elimma

pyie
child.dat

meun
milk

uktiyi
give.pv

inan
3asloc

halhkonau
thirsty.dep.abl

Elim.erg
‘Elim gave the child some milk because she was thirsty’

4.5.4 Instrumental

Instrumental (inst) case is marked by adding the ending -me to the rightmost element in the noun phrase.
As its name indicates, the instrumental case is used when the noun phrase expresses the instrument or means
by which an action is carried out:

(4.239) Mikalma
boy.erg

kopoi
pot.dat

konomme
hammer.inst

tsitspyi
smash.pv

‘The boy smashed the pot with a/the hammer’

(4.240) Ma

kahu
ﬁsh

mais
1snom
soup:dat
‘I am eating the ﬁsh soup with a spoon’

tausme
spoon.inst

eiasa
prg.eat.ipv

4.4.3, the instrument can also be expressed by a noun phrase in the nominative (if the clause
As discussed in
does not already contain a nominative case-marked theme argument), or by an unmarked noun phrase if the
instrument is non-referential. Hence, (4.239) can be paraphrased as below, with ‘hammer’ in the nominative
or unmarked form:

(4.241) Mikalma
boy.erg

kopoi
pot.dat

konome
hammer.nom

tsitspyi
smash.pv

‘The boy smashed the pot with a/the hammer’

(4.242) Mikalma
boy.erg

kopoi
pot.dat

konom
hammer

tsitspyi
smash.pv

‘The boy smashed the pot with a hammer’ (more lit. ‘hammer-smashed the pot’)

However, in order for these alternative constructions to be available, the instrument must be construed as the
immediate causer of the event. In example (4.239) the boy manipulates the hammer, and it is the hammer
which actually brings about the change of state (the sentence thus entails ‘The hammer smashed the pot’).
Compare this with (4.240), where the spoon plays a more peripheral role (the spoon is not eating the soup,
but merely enabling the boy to eat the soup). Since the spoon does not cause the eating event, (4.240)
cannot be paraphrased with taus ‘spoon’ in the nominative or unmarked form: the instrumental is the only
option here.

A noun phrase in the instrumental can also express the manner in which an action is carried out, as
illustrated below. Notice that in (4.244) and (4.245) the instrumental ending attaches to a dependent verb
or clause. In (4.244) instrumental case is added to the dependent form of the stative verb usuta ‘be slow’:
usutame (lit. ‘by/with being slow’) is functionally equivalent to a manner adverb in English. In (4.245) the
instrumental-marked clause expresses an event, and corresponds roughly to a participial clause with ‘by’ or
‘by means of’.

CHAPTER 4. CASE AND ARGUMENT STRUCTURE

(4.243) Na

tan
3isnom

muoheme
3aerg
whole.inst
‘He pushed on it with all (his) might’

hostats
power

tlynkyi
push:on.pv

(4.244) Na

usutame
slow.dep.inst

inie
3aerg
eyes
‘She slowly opened her eyes’

limyi
open.pv

(4.245) Elimma

tafyi
Elim.nom
show.pv
‘Elim demonstrated his strength by lifting that rock’

nasats
strength

tan
that:nom

naka
rock

olh
dist

tiyisame
lift.dep.inst

With verbs of communication such as koma ‘speak/understand/know’, siehpa ‘write’, etc., a noun phrase
which denotes the language or other means of communication being used appears in the instrumental case:

(4.246) Okuna
Okuna
‘Do (you) speak Okuna?’

sulme
language.inst

k`omin?
speak.ipv:int.qu

Like English ‘with’, the instrumental case can also be used to express a comitative (accompaniment) relation:

(4.247) Sakial
Sakial
‘Do (you) want to come with Sakial and me?’

af`uhin?
come:along.want.ipv:int.qu

imem
1sinst

ka
and

(4.248) Me

lihpame
sister.inst

sihityi
1snom
go:to:river.pv
‘I went down to the river with (my) sister to catch ﬁsh’

kahunieia
catch:ﬁsh.dep:sbj.all

The instrumental case is also used with the copula he to indicate immediate possession—that is, possession
of something in one’s immediate control. The possessive verbs efa ‘have, own’ and yla ‘have, include, be
In clauses with efa, which expresses transferable
endowed with’ also take an instrumental noun phrase.
possession (e.g., ownership of personal property), the instrumental case marks the possessor, while the
In clauses with yla, which expresses possession of a body part or
possessee is in the nominative case.
physical attribute, the case roles are reversed:
instrumental case marks the possessee while the possessor
appears in the nominative.

(4.249) Sakialme

es
one

halma
book

he
be:ipv

Sakial.inst
‘Sakial has a book (with him)’ (lit. ‘There is a book with Sakial’)

(4.250) Sakialme

ante
Sakial.inst
many
‘Sakial owns many books’

halma
book

(4.251) Elime

kulhe
green

inieme
eyes.inst

Elim.nom
‘Elim has green eyes’

efa
possess.ipv

yla
have.ipv

The instrumental case can also encode a spatial or temporal relation. In combination with motion verbs
such as hepa ‘go along’, hyla ‘pass by’, kloha ‘go through’, tlisa ‘cross, go over’, etc., a noun phrase in the
instrumental indicates the path traversed by the entity in motion, or some object which lies along or near
that path. When used in this way, instrumental noun phrases correspond to English prepositional phrases
with ‘by (way of)’, ‘across’, ‘through’, ‘along’, ‘over’, ‘via’, etc., depending on the noun and the type of
motion involved.

4.5. THE OBLIQUE CASES

(4.252) Me

1snom

kuma
front

hitolme
door.inst

lhyuyi
enter.pv

‘I came in (through) the front door’

(4.253) Kalma

losake
wood.nom

sihilalme
riverbank.inst

paloi
village.dat

man.erg
‘The men are taking the ﬁrewood back to the village along the riverbank’

ekpe
carry.cv

inioktat
prg.return.ipv.pl

(4.254) Pyie

child.nom

siyhume
ﬁeld.inst

kiompe
run.cv

itlise,
prg.cross.pt

ne
3anom

tiausyi
fall:down.pv

‘As the child was running across the ﬁeld, s/he fell down’

(4.255) Es
one

hastine
deer.nom

mutume
fence.inst

iante
jump.cv

tlisyi
go:over.pv

‘A deer jumped (over) the fence’

(4.256) Pil`a

palahta
tree
bird.nom
‘The bird ﬂew over the tree’

ypiahme
above.inst

uaste
ﬂy.cv

tlisyi
go:over.pv

In example (4.256), the noun phrase palahta ypi`a means ‘area above the tree’. The fact that this noun phrase
is marked with instrumental case indicates that the ﬂight path of the bird included this area, but neither
began nor ended there.

When added to a noun phrase denoting a temporal measurement, instrumental case indicates a span of
time, and corresponds roughly to ‘during’, ‘for’, or ‘over the course of’ in English, as in (4.257). Dative case
4.3.2). The di↵erence between these
can also be used to form temporal ‘for’ expressions, as in (4.258) (see
sentences is quite subtle: (4.258) implies that we slept at Sakial’s house for exactly three nights—i.e., only
three nights passed between the beginning of the event and the end. (4.257), by contrast, does not have
this implication: it is possible that the event began earlier or ended later, but for some reason the speaker
is choosing to focus on three particular nights.

(4.257) Sa

Sakiala
Sakial.all

13erg
‘We slept at Sakial’s house over the course of three nights’

kotuna
house.loc

hun
night

ehteme
three.inst

muelhyit
sleep.pv.pl

(4.258) Sa

Sakiala
Sakial.all

kotuna
house.loc

hun
night

ehtei
three.dat

muelhyit
sleep.pv.pl

13erg
‘We slept at Sakial’s house for three nights’

An instrumental noun phrase can also be used to indicate a measure of distance or other dimension, or to
express the degree/extent to which an entity possesses a scalar property. In comparative constructions, such
as (4.261), the instrumental case is used with measure phrases to indicate the degree of di↵erence between
the objects being compared.

(4.259) Kot`o

huoime
katlam
house.nom
twelve.inst
cubit
‘The house is twelve cubits tall’

apata
rel.tall.ipv

(4.260) Sa

l`o
day

puniakatsme
13erg
journey.inst
‘We live a day’s journey from here’

ehtsan
one

ekau
here.abl

tsuhpat
live.ipv.pl

CHAPTER 4. CASE AND ARGUMENT STRUCTURE

(4.261) Mo

1srdat

suhp`a
brother.nom

ulhmo
year

henme
two.inst

aﬁhohta
rel.young.comp.ipv

im`o
1sabl

‘My brother is two years younger than me’ (lit. ‘younger than me by/with two years’)

Note the following constructions, where the adverbials ihka ‘before now, earlier, ago’, efoi ‘after now, later’,
tahka ‘before then, earlier, previously’, and tahoi ‘after then, later, subsequently’ select a temporal measure
phrase in the instrumental case. In (4.262) below, a temporal measure phrase in the instrumental modiﬁes
a ‘before’ clause.

ulhmo henme ihka
ulhmo henme efoi

‘two years ago’
‘in two years, two years from now’

l`o tosepyime tahka
l`o tosepyime tahoi

‘several days earlier, several days before (that)’
‘several days later, several days after (that)’

(4.262) Hi

mehkyi
happen.pv

mo
1srdat

am`e
mother.nom

tiokau
die.dep.abl

l`o
day

henme
two.inst

kamna
before.nom

3inom
‘It happened two days before my mother died’

A number of adverbial expressions are formed using the instrumental case, including:

ela henme
haklame
kaiehteme
kunahatsme
lohanme
nakapme
pakotame
tupuatsme

(each:time two.inst)
(go:straight.dep.inst)
(threesome.inst)
(friendship.inst)
(voice.inst)
(accident.inst)
(take:steps.dep.inst)
(pulse.inst)

‘two by two, two at a time’
‘straight, directly, as the crow ﬂies’
‘three times, threefold, by a factor of three’
‘as a friend, in friendship’
‘aloud, out loud’
‘by accident’
‘step by step, incrementally’
‘momentarily, for just a moment’

Finally, one way of forming a conditional clause in Okuna—equivalent to an ‘if’ clause or ‘unless’ clause in
English—is to attach the instrumental case ending to a clause headed by a verb in the dependent subjunctive
form (see

10.2). (Other ways of forming conditional clauses are discussed in

10.2.3 and

10.3.2.)

§
(4.263) Ma

aleut
help

uktia
give.ipv

tiuhime
needed.dep:sbj.inst

1serg

‘I’ll lend a hand if needed/necessary’

(4.264) Pyie

ntse
neg

tehefoi
soon

child.nom
‘If the children don’t get here soon, I’ll have to go look for them’
or ‘Unless the children get here soon…’

ketoitame,
come.dep:sbj:neg.pl.inst

ma
1serg

inane
3apall

ekpihi
seek.dep:sbj

tiuha
must.ipv

While the comitative relation (‘with’) is consistently expressed using instrumental case, Okuna has various
ways to express a privative relation (‘without’). First, instrumental case may be added to a negated noun
phrase of the form ntse X m`a or ntse X mi`o ‘no X, not any X’: e.g., ntse kamal mahme ‘without a knife’ (lit.
‘not with any knife’ or ‘with no knife’). Alternatively, ‘without’ may be expressed using a negated participial
clause, or a negated dependent clause marked for instrumental case. Finally, the verb eka ‘be empty’ or
tsihfa ‘be bare’ may be used, together with a noun phrase in the unmarked or ablative form, to convey the
sense of English ‘lack, be without’. Examples:

(4.265) Pyie

child.nom

ketyi
come.pv

am`e
mother.nom

miafu
neg.prg.accompany.neg:pt

‘The child came without her mother’ (lit. ‘[her] mother not accompanying [her]’)

4.6. THE UNMARKED FORM

(4.266) Na

3aerg

itatananka
prg.go:around.ipv:pst

ntse
neg

tlok
shoe

ikpu
prg.wear.neg:pt

‘He was walking around without shoes (on)’ (lit. ‘not wearing shoes’)

(4.267) Im`e

1sall

ntse
neg

taus
spoon

nyipume
use.dep:neg.inst

iasoksanka
eat.must.ipv:pst

‘I had to eat without a spoon’ (lit. ‘by not using a spoon’)

(4.268) ntse
neg
‘a house without children’ or ‘a house where there aren’t any children’

hunen
be:neg.cnzr

kotu
house

pyi
child

(4.269) luan
hair

tsihfe
bare.tnzr

kimi
baby

‘a baby without hair’ (lit. ‘a baby bare [of] hair’)

4.6 The unmarked form

Having reviewed the functions of the various cases in previous sections, I now turn to those situations where
a noun or noun phrase fails to take any case marking and occurs instead in its unsuxed or ‘bare’ form. I
refer to this as the unmarked form.

4.6.1 Unmarked nouns within the noun phrase

4.2, case endings attach to the ﬁnal element in a noun phrase; hence the noun itself
As mentioned in
will be unmarked for case if some other element within the noun phrase follows it. Such elements include
demonstratives and quantiﬁers, along with a handful of other modiﬁers discussed in
6.9 (e.g.,
mpehkai ‘the ﬁrst one’, ufatl ‘the wrong one’). Consider the placement of the locative case ending -na in the
following noun phrases:

6.8.5 and

halmana
es halmana
halma ehtsanna
ke halma itena
halma ikina
halma mpehkaina
halma ufatlna

‘in a/the book’
‘in a book’
‘in (just) one book’
‘in these books’
‘in every book’
‘in the ﬁrst book’
‘in the wrong book’

Likewise, in noun compounds, discussed in
§
right edge of the noun phrase), while the modifying noun appears in the unmarked form:

6.4, the head noun is marked for case (provided it comes at the

(4.270) ilme

laina
light.loc

moon
‘in the moonlight’

When a noun phrase consists of two or more smaller noun phrases conjoined with ka ‘and’, husu ‘and also’,
8.3.1), it is the rightmost conjunct which carries the case ending, while previous
or ohkina ‘as well as’ (see
conjuncts are unmarked for case:

Elimme
(4.271) Sakial
Sakial
Elim.inst
‘with Sakial and Elim’

ka
and

(4.272) mo

nap`e
daughter

husu
and:also

1srdat
‘for my daughter and her friends’

no
3ardat

CHAPTER 4. CASE AND ARGUMENT STRUCTURE

kunaua
friend.all

In certain contexts, a noun phrase will lack case marking altogether. For instance, noun phrases are unmarked
for case when they function as (part of) the predicate of a clause. In addition, a noun phrase may be unmarked
for case when it is non-referential—i.e., when it does not pick out a particular entity or set of entities, but
functions more like a modiﬁer or pseudo-argument. I review the distribution of unmarked noun phrases in
the following subsections.

4.6.2 Unmarked noun phrases as non-arguments

If a noun phrase does not function as an argument or other dependent of a verb, and thus is not assigned a
case role, it will appear in the unmarked form. For example, noun phrases occur without case marking when
they act as predicates. This is illustrated in (4.273) below, where mo ahte ‘my father’ is a predicate nominal
rather than an argument (note the absence of a copula here; see
9.3.1 for more on copular sentences). The
unmarked form also occurs in existential and possessive constructions, where the verb he ‘be, exist’ takes
an unmarked noun phrase as its complement. This is illustrated in (4.274) and (4.275), where es kamal ‘a
knife’ is in the unmarked form.

(4.273) Sakiale

mo
1srdat
Sakial.nom
‘Sakial is my father’

ahte
father

(4.274) Totsatna
table.loc
‘There is a knife on the table’

kamal
knife

es
one

he
exist:ipv

(4.275) Sakialme

Sakial.inst

es
one

kamal
knife

he
be:ipv

‘Sakial has a knife’ (lit. ‘There is a knife with Sakial’)

Likewise the noun phrase is typically unmarked in presentational sentences, where it denotes an entity
whose existence or presence is being asserted or denied. Compare the examples below, where im`e kamal ‘my
knife’ is in the nominative case in the ﬁrst sentence and in the unmarked form in the second sentence. (4.276)
is a normal predicational sentence, with a nominative argument bearing the theme role. This sentence would
be used if the knife were already a topic of discussion and the speaker were reporting on its location. Example
(4.277), by contrast, is a presentational sentence, used to draw the listener’s attention to the presence of the
knife.

(4.276) Im`e

kamale
1sall
knife.nom
‘My knife is here’

its`a
prg.be:here.ipv

(4.277) Im`e

kamal
knife

its`a
prg.be:here.ipv

1sall
‘Here’s my knife’ or ‘This is my knife’

The examples below show the same contrast, this time with the locational verb euolha ‘be (over) there’
and the motion verb keta ‘come here’. Note that in (4.279) the fact that the sentence is presentational is
further indicated by the focus particle te. In (4.281), the particle iam marks the sentence as expressing new
information which the speaker has just become aware of.

4.6. THE UNMARKED FORM

(4.278) Hastine

ieuolha
prg.be:there.ipv

deer.nom
‘The deer is over there’

(4.279) Te

es
one

hastin
deer

ieuolha
prg.be:there.ipv

foc
‘Over there is a deer’ or ‘There’s a deer over there’

(4.280) Sakiale

iketa
prg.come:here.ipv

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial is coming here’

(4.281) Sakial
Sakial
‘Look, here comes Sakial’

iketa
prg.come:here.ipv

iam
it:turns:out

Finally, compare the examples below, showing two di↵erent ways of asking a ‘where’ question. The ﬁrst
construction, where im`e kamal is marked for nominative case, would be used if the speaker’s knife were
already the topic of discussion (‘Speaking of my knife, where is it?’). The second construction, with im`e
kamal unmarked for case and immediately preceding the copula, would be used if this speaker is mentioning
his/her knife for the ﬁrst time.

(4.282) Im`e

kamale
knife.nom

1sall
‘Where is my knife?’

miena
where.loc

hin?
be:ipv.qu

(4.283) Miena

im`e
1sall

kamal
knife

hin?
be:ipv.qu

where.loc
‘Where’s my knife?’

A noun phrase will also appear in the unmarked form when it functions as a contrastive or switch-reference
topic, followed by the element aunme (see
In the example below the unmarked noun
§
kahu ‘ﬁsh’ establishes the general domain of objects under consideration, while kono ‘salmon’, marked for
nominative case, functions as the argument of predication in the sentence.

10.2.3).

9.2.2,

(4.284) Kahu

aunme,
if.inst

kon`o
salmon.nom

ahenkohta
rel.enjoyable.comp.ipv

im`e
1sall

ﬁsh
‘As for ﬁsh, I like salmon best’ (lit. ‘If ﬁsh, [then] salmon is most enjoyable to me’)

Finally, proper names, kinship terms, and other noun phrases are unmarked for case when used in addressing
an individual—that is, as vocatives. Such noun phrases are optionally preceded by the quotative particle ia
(glossed quot), especially when used to attract the attention of the person being addressed:

(4.285) Ia

Sakial,
Sakial

aktape
help.cv

eskuke
please

quot
‘Sakial, please help (me)’

Proper names are also unmarked for case when they precede another noun phrase to which they stand in
apposition. For instance, Tenmotlai, Okuna, and Sakial are all unmarked in the following examples:

tima
(4.286) Tenmotlai
lie.ipv
Tenmotlai
‘The town of Tenmotlai lies on the shore of the Okuna river’

tiesate
town.nom

ilalna
shore.loc

sihkunu
river

Okuna
Okuna

kasuhp`a
(4.287) Sakial
Sakial
cousin.nom
‘My cousin Sakial is coming to visit tomorrow’

itskana
prg.arrive.ipv

mo
1srdat

tsuleia
visit.dep:sbj.all

elohfoi
tomorrow

CHAPTER 4. CASE AND ARGUMENT STRUCTURE

4.6.3 Pseudo-incorporated arguments

We say that a noun phrase is non-referential (or non-individuated) if its function is to identify some
general class of entities rather than any speciﬁc entity or group of entities. In Okuna, if a core argument of
a verb is non-referential, it will often be unmarked for case.

Compare the examples below. In (4.288) and (4.289), the patient argument halma ‘book’ delimits the
event denoted by the verb, and is expressed by a noun phrase in the dative case. This noun phrase is
interpreted as indeﬁnite in (4.289) due to the presence of es ‘one’, while in (4.288) it can be construed as
either deﬁnite or indeﬁnite, depending on the context in which the sentence occurs. In both sentences, the
speaker has a particular book in mind. Contrast these sentences with (4.290), where halma appears without
any case marking: here, its function is to represent a type of object, and not to pick out any speciﬁc book
(see below for more discussion of this).

(4.288) Na

3aerg

halmai
book.dat

itala
prg.read.ipv

‘He is reading a/the book’

(4.289) Na

3aerg

es
one

halmai
book.dat

itala
prg.read.ipv

‘He is reading a (certain) book’

(4.290) Na

halma
book

itala
3aerg
prg.read.ipv
‘He is reading a book’ or ‘He is reading books’

Unlike case-marked arguments, which can occupy various positions in the clause, unmarked arguments
must immediately precede the verb which selects them, suggesting that they have undergone pseudo-
incorporation into the verb. In (4.290) above, for example, halma itala behaves as a kind of syntactic
unit, suggesting a literal translation along the lines of ‘He is book-reading’. As evidence for this adjacency
requirement, note that adverbials like eima ‘still’ can come between the verb and its object if the latter is
case-marked, but must precede the object if it is unmarked for case:

(4.291) Na

halmai
3aerg
book.dat
‘He is still reading the book’

eima
still

itala
prg.read.ipv

(4.292) Na

3aerg

eima
still

halma
book

itala
prg.read.ipv

‘He is still reading a book’ (‘He is still book-reading’)

Note also the examples below, where the clause has been negated. As discussed in
7.3, the negative scope
marker tends to attach to the right edge of the verb as a preﬁx: m(a)-. However, when the verb is preceded
by an unmarked noun phrase, which must be adjacent to the verb, the negative scope marker is blocked
from attaching to the verb and instead surfaces in its free form, ntse, preceding the unmarked noun phrase.

(4.293) Na

halmai
3aerg
book.dat
‘He isn’t reading the book’

metalo
neg.prg.read.ipv:neg

(4.294) Na

3aerg

ntse
neg

halma
book

italo
prg.read.ipv:neg

‘He isn’t reading (any) books’

4.6. THE UNMARKED FORM

4.3.2, dative case marks the delimiter of a telic action—e.g., the patient in a cumulative
As discussed in
change-of-state event. Non-referential patients, however, fail to act as delimiters, and so dative case marking
is unavailable. Consider the following examples. (4.295) denotes a particular event of eating: a speciﬁc
portion of meat is being referred to, and the eating event culminates once it has been completely consumed.
Hence, maka ‘meat’ delimits the eating event and appears in the dative case (whether makai is deﬁnite or
indeﬁnite, whether it means ‘the meat’ or ‘some meat’, must be determined from the context). (4.296), by
contrast, refers to the general activity of meat-eating; while (4.297) expresses the characteristic of being a
meat-eater, the propensity of a particular dog (or dogs in general) to eat meat. In neither of these sentences
does the speaker have a particular portion of meat in mind. Generic activities and properties are inherently
open-ended: they have no natural endpoint, and hence cannot be delimited by the patient. This is why in
these sentences maka appears in the unmarked form rather than the dative.

(4.295) Ikema

makai
meat.dat

eiasanka
prg.eat.ipv:pst

dog.erg
‘The dog was eating the/some meat’

(4.296) Ikema

maka
meat

eiasanka
prg.eat.ipv:pst

dog.erg
‘The dog was eating meat’ (i.e., was engaged in meat-eating)

(4.297) Ikema

maka
meat

iasa
eat.ipv

dog.erg
‘The dog eats meat’ or ‘Dogs eat meat’

The examples below show a similar contrast. The sentence in (4.298) denotes a telic event, and kahu ‘ﬁsh’
(marked for dative case) is understood to be referential. The speaker implies the existence of some ﬁnite
(though not necessarily identiﬁable) quantity of ﬁsh, such that the event necessarily ends once all of the ﬁsh
have been caught. By contrast, (4.299) denotes an atelic activity. Here, kahu, unmarked for case, indicates
the type of thing being caught: no particular quantity of ﬁsh is implied, meaning that the activity can go on
indeﬁnitely. Finally, (4.300) attributes a general property to Sakial, and is likewise atelic, with kahu again
in its bare form.

(4.298) Sakialma

kahoi
ﬁsh.dat

palyima
catch.pv.dpl

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial caught the/some ﬁsh’

(4.299) Sakialma

kahu
ﬁsh

palyi
catch.pv

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial caught ﬁsh’ or ‘Sakial went ﬁshing’

(4.300) Sakialma

kahu
ﬁsh

pala
catch.ipv

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial catches ﬁsh’ (‘Sakial is a ﬁsherman’)

Notice that kahoi triggers the dative plural agreement sux -ma on the verb in the ﬁrst sentence, whereas
its unmarked counterpart in the other two sentences does not trigger plural agreement, even though the
context makes it clear that more than one ﬁsh is likely being caught. Unmarked noun phrases never trigger
number agreement.

When a non-referential patient argument appears in the unmarked form, this ‘frees up’ the dative case,
which can then appear on another constituent to delimit the event. For instance, a dative phrase expressing
a measure can be added to a clause containing an unmarked patient, as illustrated below. In (4.301), where
ueho ‘wine’ takes dative marking, the event is delimited by the wine: some speciﬁc quantity of wine is
implied, which deﬁnes the endpoint for the drinking event. In (4.302) the patient appears in the unmarked

CHAPTER 4. CASE AND ARGUMENT STRUCTURE

form and hence does not delimit: the sentence refers to wine-drinking as a general activity. In (4.303) the
patient is again unmarked, but this time the event is delimited by the measure phrase es nauot ‘one cup’:
the wine-drinking activity ends once one cup worth of wine has been consumed.

(4.301) Ma

uehoi
wine.dat

sepyi
drink.pv

1serg
‘I drank (up) the/some wine’

(4.302) Ma

ueho
wine

sepyi
drink.pv

1serg
‘I drank wine’

(4.303) Ma

es
one

nauoit
cup.dat

ueho
wine

sepyi
drink.pv

1serg
‘I drank a cup of wine’ (lit. ‘I wine-drank [to] one cup’)

Unmarked noun phrases appear in many weather predicates. These generally take the form of a motion verb
(belonging to Class II or Class III) used in combination with the unmarked theme argument denoting the
relevant meteorological phenomenon. Examples:

aho ilaina
esie ikahpa
ilme ilaina
ise ikahpa
ise itima
kise itima
mohi ikahpa
mohisiem ilaina
muohfe s`u ikahpa
pahiem ilaina
s`u ikahpa
suku ilhopa

‘it’s sunny’
‘it’s misty/sprinkling’
‘the moon is out’
‘it’s snowing’
‘there’s snow on the ground’
‘it’s icy, there’s ice on the ground’
‘it’s foggy’
‘it’s (partly) cloudy’
‘it’s raining hard, it’s pouring’
‘it’s overcast’
‘it’s raining’
‘it’s windy’

(lit. ‘sun is shining’)
(lit. ‘mist is falling’)
(lit. ‘moon is shining’)
(lit. ‘snow is falling’)
(lit. ‘snow is lying’)
(lit. ‘ice is lying’)
(lit. ‘cloud is falling’)
(lit. ‘cloudy sky is shining’)
(lit. ‘thick rain is falling’)
(lit. ‘overcast sky is shining’)
(lit. ‘rain is falling’)
(lit. ‘wind is ﬂowing’)

Other examples:

(4.304) Elohka

ise
snow

ukahpoksa
pf.descend.must.ipv

yesterday
‘It must have snowed yesterday’

(4.305) Tehefoi

ikelha
mohi
prg.lift.ipv
cloud
presently
‘The fog is going to lift soon’

(4.306) Tosuku

ha
in:fact
great:wind
‘It’s very windy outside’ (lit. ‘A great wind is blowing outside’)

ilhopa
prg.blow.ipv

yhmana
outside.loc

In the examples above, the unmarked (pseudo-incorporated) noun phrase expresses the patient or theme of
an action, and as such, replaces a noun phrase in the dative or nominative case. This is the most common
role for unmarked arguments. However, it is also possible for the unmarked noun phrase to express a non-
referential actor. Consider the examples below. In (4.307) Elima ike ‘Elim’s dog’ functions as the delimiter,
marked with dative case, while in (4.308) it functions as an experiencer argument marked with locative
case. In both sentences, the unmarked noun phrase lianka ‘snake’ is interpreted as a non-referential actor,
indicating the type of entity which initiates or triggers the event (if the speaker had a particular snake in
mind, lianka would have been marked with ergative case):

4.6. THE UNMARKED FORM

(4.307) Elima

ikei
dog.dat

lianka
snake

unitlka
pf.bite.ipv

Elim.all
‘Elim’s dog was bitten by a snake’ (‘Elim’s dog was snake-bitten’)

(4.308) Elima

ikena
dog.loc

lianka
snake

huetlampa
afraid.act.ipv

Elim.all
‘Elim’s dog is frightened of snakes’ (lit. ‘made afraid by snakes’)

Additional examples are given below, in which the unmarked nouns (ipaimanen ‘medicine’, suku ‘wind’,
tohauat ‘ﬁre’) specify the kinds of substance responsible for bringing about the event. Here it is perhaps
unclear whether the unmarked noun should be characterized as an actor or an instrument.

(4.309) Sakiale

hualtyi
healthy.tinc.pv
Sakial.nom
‘Sakial was cured by/with medicine’ (‘Sakial was medicine-cured’)

ipaimanen
medicine

(4.310) Palaht`a

suku
wind

tiausyi
fall.pv

tree.nom
‘The tree fell over in the wind’ (‘The tree was wind-felled’)

ustoka
(4.311) Kotu
house
pf.destroy.ipv
‘That house was destroyed in/by a ﬁre’ (‘That house was ﬁre-destroyed’)

utai
that:rdat

tohauat
ﬁre

Note ﬁnally that a core argument will sometimes appear without any case marking when it refers to an
entity that is incidental to the discourse, even if the speaker has a speciﬁc referent in mind. In the sentence
below, for example, the unmarked argument hitol may be referring to a particular door, identiﬁable by both
the speaker and the addressee. However, this door plays only a peripheral role in the events being narrated:
it is the act of door-opening, rather than the identity of the door being opened, which is important here.

(4.312) Ihama

umupatle
pf.dress.pt

hitol
door

limyi
open.pv

yhmai
outside.dat

suhyi
go:out.pv

woman.erg
‘The woman having dressed, (she) opened the door (and) went outside’

Similarly, in the following example, aho ‘sun’ is semantically deﬁnite, and would thus (as the theme argument
of kahpa ‘go down’) be expected to appear in the nominative case. However, it appears in the unmarked
form instead. This is because the sun is only acting as an incidental ‘character’ in the narrative: the setting
of the sun is a background event, serving merely to establish the time of the hunters’ return.

(4.313) Uta

aho
sun

ukahpanka
pf.descend.ipv:pst

lakiakamite
hunting:party.nom

already
‘The sun had already set when the hunting party returned to the village’

paloi
village.dat

anioktit
pv.return.pt.pl

When the clause denotes an event where an agent manipulates a part of his/her own body, the body part
term normally occurs in the unmarked form. This is illustrated below. Notice also that, unlike in English,
the body part term does not take a possessive pronoun; sentence (4.314), for example, is literally ‘Elim closed
eyes’ (or ‘Elim eye-closed’).

(4.314) Elimma

inie
eyes

mukyi
close.pv

Elim.erg
‘Elim closed his eyes’

(4.315) Ma

nalh
arm

kelhyi
raise.pv

1serg
‘I raised my arm’

CHAPTER 4. CASE AND ARGUMENT STRUCTURE

In the following examples, the case-marked noun takes the dative rather than the ergative, and denotes
an individual undergoing a change of state. The unmarked noun here denotes the particular part of the
individual’s body a↵ected by the event.

(4.316) Sakiail

nalh
arm

takiyi
break.pv

Sakial.dat
‘Sakial broke his arm’ or ‘Sakial got his arm broken’

(4.317) Sakiail

tem
hand

hanyi
cut.pv

Sakial.dat
‘Sakial cut his hand’ or ‘Sakial got a cut on his hand’

The absence of case marking in these constructions suggests that the body part is not treated as an individual
‘participant’ in the event, but is instead conceptualized as a component of the action (arm-lifting, hand-
cutting, etc.). Normally the body part term will appear in the dative or nominative case only if the agent
is manipulating a part of somebody else’s body. Compare Elimma inie mukyi ‘Elim closed (his own) eyes’
with the following example, where inie ‘eyes’ receives nominative marking:

(4.318) Elimma

kalna
tioike
Elim.erg
man.loc
dead.tnzr
‘Elim closed the dead man’s eyes’

ini`e
eyes.nom

mukyi
close.pv

4.6.4 Other unmarked noun phrases with Class III verbs

In the examples discussed in the previous section, the unmarked noun phrase replaces a case-marked subject
or object. It is also possible for an unmarked noun phrase to co-occur with an overt subject and object,
especially with Class III verbs expressing a change of state (see
4.4.3). This extra noun phrase has a number
of functions. Most commonly, it indicates the kind of instrument—a tool, body part, or other object—used
by the agent to bring about a change of state in the patient:

(4.319) Mikalma
boy.erg
‘The boy smashed the pot with a hammer’

tsitspyi
smash.pv

konom
hammer

kopoi
pot.dat

(4.320) Ihama

tahyima
woman.erg
kill.pv.dpl
‘The woman killed the ﬁsh with a harpoon’ or ‘The woman harpooned the ﬁsh’

tiku
harpoon

kahoi
ﬁsh.dat

(4.321) Elimma

totsait
table.dat

sane
red

mul
cloth

patlyi
cover.pv

Elim.erg
‘Elim covered the table with a red cloth’

(4.322) Inmo

3aerg.1srdat

moikenaua
ﬁst

kahtotyi
hit.dur.pv

‘He punched me’ or ‘He hit me with (his) ﬁsts’

Like other unmarked arguments, unmarked instruments are inherently non-speciﬁc or lacking in discourse
salience. For instance, (4.319), featuring the unmarked instrument konom ‘hammer’, would be used only if
the speaker doesn’t know (or considers it irrelevant) which particular hammer was used to smash the pot, and
wishes merely to convey that a hammer is the type of object used. If the instrument were deﬁnite/speciﬁc, and
of continuing relevance to the conversation, konom would instead appear in the instrumental or nominative
case (see

4.5.4).

4.4.3,

4.6. THE UNMARKED FORM

With Class III verbs of creation or physical transformation, an unmarked noun phrase may be added to
express the material being transformed, while the delimiter argument (if present) represents the object or
substance being created, as illustrated below (the ablative case can also be used to mark the material from
which something is made, as discussed in

4.5.3):

(4.323) Ihama

kopoi
pot.dat

sute
clay

woman.erg
‘The woman is shaping a pot out of clay’

§
euosta
prg.shape.ipv

(4.324) Na

kotoi
house.dat

lotsan
wood

3aerg
‘They built the house out of wood’

utiespat
pf.build.ipv.pl

Finally, Class III verbs can take an unmarked noun phrase denoting the amount of time required for the
endpoint to be reached—that is, the amount of time necessary to completely create, destroy, or change the
state of the patient (this construction is somewhat rare; normally the temporal measure phrase will appear
in the instrumental case):

(4.325) Na

kotoi
house.dat

utiespat
3aerg
pf.build.ipv.pl
‘They built the house in four months’ or ‘They took four months to build the house’

ilme
month

kun
four

4.6.5 Unmarked noun phrases with Class I verbs

As discussed in
4.4.1, stative verbs belonging to Class I take a nominative (theme) argument referring to
the individual who possesses the property or attribute denoted by the verb. Sometimes these verbs also
take an unmarked noun phrase, which names a component or aspect of the theme with respect to which
the property or attribute holds. To illustrate this, consider ﬁrst the sentences below, containing the Class
I verb henka ‘be enjoyable’, predicated of the nominative-marked theme iase ‘the food’, with an optional
experiencer argument in the allative case (see

4.5.2):

4.4.1,

(4.326) Ias`e

henka
enjoyable.ipv

food.nom
‘The food is enjoyable’

(4.327) Ias`e

food.nom

henka
enjoyable.ipv

im`e
1sall

‘I like the food’ (lit. ‘The food is enjoyable to me’)

If one wishes to specify the particular aspect of the food which is enjoyable, an unmarked noun phrase
denoting an abstract property may be added to the sentence:

(4.328) Ias`e

food.nom

amahtle
ﬂavor

henka
enjoyable.ipv

‘The food is delicious’ (lit. ‘The food is enjoyable [in] ﬂavour’)

(4.329) Ias`e

food.nom

aluhtse
aroma

henka
enjoyable.ipv

‘The food smells good’ (lit. ‘The food is enjoyable [in] aroma’)

(4.330) Ias`e

food.nom

akiel
appearance

henka
enjoyable.ipv

‘The food looks good’ (lit. ‘The food is enjoyable [in] appearance’)

CHAPTER 4. CASE AND ARGUMENT STRUCTURE

Adding an experiencer to these sentences, we get the following: (4.331) is literally ‘the food is enjoyable [in]
ﬂavour to me’, and likewise for the other examples.

(4.331) Ias`e

amahtle
ﬂavour

henka
enjoyable.ipv

im`e
1sall

food.nom
‘I like the taste of the food’

(4.332) Ias`e

aluhtse
aroma

henka
enjoyable.ipv

im`e
1sall

food.nom
‘The food smells good to me’ or ‘I like the smell of the food’

(4.333) Ias`e

akiel
appearance

henka
enjoyable.ipv

im`e
1sall

food.nom
‘The food looks good to me’ or ‘I like the look of the food’

Note also the following examples, which show the same structure but with di↵erent stative verbs:

(4.334) Ohu`e

fruit.nom

amahtle
ﬂavour

seima
sweet.ipv

‘The fruit tastes sweet’ (lit. ‘is sweet [in] ﬂavour’)

(4.335) Elime

Elim.nom

akiel
appearance

ihakta
prg.tired.ipv

hial`o
today

‘Elim is looking tired today’ (lit. ‘Elim is tired [in] appearance today’)

(4.336) Sakialna

Sakial.loc

aule
sound

ikesta
prg.happy.ipv

‘Sakial sounds happy’ (lit. ‘Sakial is happy [in] sound’)

The verbs ohtla ‘resemble, be similar’ and sukuma ‘di↵er, be di↵erent’ commonly take an unmarked noun
phrase denoting the quality with respect to which the resemblance holds or fails to hold: e.g., akiel ohtla
‘look like’ (lit.
‘resemble [in] appearance’), amahtle ohtla ‘taste like’ (‘resemble [in] ﬂavour’), aule sukuma
‘sound di↵erent’ (‘di↵er [in] sound’) and so on. The individual who bears the resemblance or di↵erence is
expressed by a noun phrase in the nominative, while the standard of comparison is expressed by a noun
phrase in the allative (for ohtla) or the ablative (for sukuma):

(4.337) Sakiale

ahteia
father.all

akiel
appearance

ohtla
resemble.ipv

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial looks like his father’

(4.338) Sakiale

ahteia
father.all

aule
sound

ohtla
resemble.ipv

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial sounds like his father’

(4.339) Sakiale

akiel
ahteu
Sakial.nom
appearance
father.abl
‘Sakial looks di↵erent from his father’

sukuma
di↵erent.ipv

The verbs eka ‘be empty’, tsatsa ‘be full’, paitla ‘be covered’, and tsihfa ‘be bare, free’ may combine with an
unmarked noun phrase expressing the type of entity or substance (e.g., n`a ‘water’, aki ‘ﬂea’) with respect
to which the property holds:

4.6. THE UNMARKED FORM

Nauote n`a itsatsa
Nauote n`a ieka

‘The cup is full of water’
‘The cup is empty of water / has no water in it’

Ik`e aki ipaitla
Ik`e aki itsihfa

‘The dog is covered with ﬂeas’
‘The dog is free of ﬂeas / has no ﬂeas’

Consider also the construction illustrated below. Here the unmarked noun denotes a body part while the
nominative argument identiﬁes the possessor of the body part (we may think of the ﬁrst sentence as meaning
something like ‘Elim is long with respect to [his] legs’). The third example includes the resultative Class I
7.5.1). The fourth example shows
verb takeia ‘be broken’, which takes a locative case-marked patient (see
the Class I verb nuha ‘be cold’, which here takes a locative case-marked experiencer, denoting the individual
who feels cold, and an unmarked body part noun denoting the locus of the cold feeling.

(4.340) Elime

kalial
legs

liakna
long.ipv

Elim.nom
‘Elim has long legs’ or ‘Elim is long-legged’

(4.341) No

aht`e
father.nom

nalhal
arms
3ardat
‘His father has strong arms’

nasa
strong.ipv

(4.342) Sakialna

kus
foot

itakeia
prg.break:res.ipv

Sakial.loc
‘Sakial has a broken foot’

(4.343) Iman
1sloc
‘My hands are/feel cold’ or ‘I have cold hands’

inuha
prg.cold.ipv

temie
hands

Finally, when the stative verb carries the relative preﬁx a- (see
7.6), the class of objects denoted by the
unmarked noun phrase provides a standard against which the theme is compared: e.g., toha ‘be big’; atoha
‘be so/as big, have a certain size’; kotu atoha ‘be as big as a house, be the size of a house’; atohohta ‘be
bigger (than)’; kotu atohohta ‘be bigger than a house’. Additional examples are given below. Note that in
the third and fourth examples, the unmarked noun phrase combines with a predicate formed by attaching
the relative preﬁx a- to a perception verb in the resultative aspect (
7.5.1). Predicates formed in this way
(equivalent to English ‘look/appear’, ‘sound’, ‘taste’, ‘smell’, etc.) denote the possession of a property which
can be perceived through the senses, with the unmarked noun phrase expresses the substance or entity which
is the source of that property.

(4.344) Ne

hani
fox

alhinta
rel.clever.ipv

3anom
‘She’s as clever as a fox’

(4.345) Tonaka

tan
that:nom

koin
person

apatohta
rel.tall.comp.ipv

rock
‘That rock is taller than a person’

(4.346) Mase

ksas
salt

amaihtla
rel.taste:res.ipv

soup.nom
‘The soup tastes of salt’ or ‘The soup tastes salty’

(4.347) Hal`o

ialoihtsanka
prg.rel.smell:res.ipv:pst
room.nom
‘The room smelled of ﬂowers’ or ‘The room had the smell of ﬂowers’

esip
ﬂower

CHAPTER 4. CASE AND ARGUMENT STRUCTURE

As in other cases, the unmarked noun phrase in this construction is interpreted as non-referential. When a
particular entity is being presented as the standard of comparison, the noun phrase referring to that entity
must be marked with ablative case: e.g., kotou atohohta ‘bigger than the house’.

4.6.6 Fixed expressions

A large number of idioms and other ﬁxed expressions in Okuna take the form of a verb preceded by a pseudo-
incorporated unmarked noun. Some of these are listed below. English equivalents for these expressions are
given ﬁrst, followed by a literal translation in parentheses.

ahim tsimuka
aleut uktia
ampe alhta
efos ekpa
efos suka
eihte etsa
eske untsuka
euti tika
fasoun ekpa
hauk elha
iase tsatsta
itlas kyitsa
inie kelha
inie kloha
inie lhinta
inie peuta
kan ekpa
kanu etsa
kaume suka
keﬁs etsa
kihaule hehta
ksetli uanta
kuhinie eta
kuma kahpa
lai iahkipa
lhan ekpa
lhan laha
lhes uktia
lhonko hana
lohan tunka
luan tsihfa
masi`o ekpa
mehu ekpa
mehu skala
muohsot etsa
nalei muohfa
naua taula
niokaule hana
nolal peuta
ope alhta
pahti muohfeta
silh teuna

‘gasp’
‘help, assist’
‘change one’s mind/opinion’
‘have a problem’
‘make trouble, cause problems’
‘be right, say the correct thing’
‘be well-behaved, obedient’
‘lay an egg’
‘be proud’
‘smoke [meat/ﬁsh]’
‘eat one’s ﬁll’
‘take note of, remark/comment on’
‘look up at’
‘look through’
‘be alert, watchful, on guard’
‘watch for, keep an eye out for’
‘have worth, be worthy’
‘lie, tell lies’
‘make war’
‘threaten’
‘make a quiet noise’
‘gamble’
‘scowl, grimace’
‘face down’
‘blind (temporarily)’
‘be resolved, determined’
‘give up’
‘sharpen, hone’
‘be loud, make a lot of noise’
‘speak on behalf of, represent’
‘be bald’
‘be sad, sorrowful’
‘be ashamed’
‘forgive’
‘apologize’
‘be brightly coloured’
‘cup one’s hands’
‘echo, resound’
‘listen for’
‘change one’s mind’
‘blush’
‘touch, put one’s ﬁnger(s) on’

(‘quickly close breath’)
(‘give help’)
(‘invert opinion’)
(‘hold/carry problem’)
(‘do problem’)
(‘say right’)
(‘enact request’)
(‘release/emit egg’)
(‘hold/carry pride’)
(‘put smoke in’)
(‘ﬁll [with] food’)
(‘say observation about’)
(‘raise eyes’)
(‘put eyes through’)
(‘be clever-eyed’)
(‘wait [with] eyes’)
(‘hold/carry worth’)
(‘say lie(s)’)
(‘do war’)
(‘say threat’)
(‘move small noise’)
(‘cast dice’)
(‘put dirty look’)
(‘descend face’)
(‘strike [with] light’)
(‘hold/carry will’)
(‘release will’)
(‘give blade’)
(‘cut noise’)
(‘act [with] voice’)
(‘be bare [of] head hair’)
(‘hold/carry sorrow’)
(‘hold/carry shame’)
(‘remove shame’)
(‘say apology’)
(‘be dense-coloured’)
(‘bend up palm’)
(‘cut echo’)
(‘wait [with] ears’)
(‘invert belief’)
(‘thicken [in] complexion’)
(‘put ﬁnger’)

4.6. THE UNMARKED FORM

s`o hota
sot esta
sot teuna
statl teuna
suk imla
tsimu ekpa
ufatl opa
ufatl suka
ulhmo moita
uske etsa
yte etsa

‘tie (up)’
‘get through to, make understand’
‘claim, make a claim on’
‘set a trap’
‘grin’
‘be compassionate’
‘be wrong, get it wrong’
‘make a mistake, do the wrong thing’
‘get a year older’
‘deceive, lie, mislead’
‘tell the truth’

(‘attach rope’)
(‘reach [with] words’)
(‘put word(s)’)
(‘put trap’)
(‘smile [with] teeth’)
(‘hold/carry compassion’)
(‘believe wrong’)
(‘do wrong’)
(‘acquire year’)
(‘say deception’)
(‘say truth’)

Chapter 5

Pronouns

5.1 Introduction

In this chapter I discuss pronouns and morphologically related elements. As in English, a pronoun may be
used in place of a full noun phrase when the referent of that noun phrase is known or can be determined
from context. Compare the examples below, where the third person singular inanimate pronoun it`e ‘towards
it/that’ in (5.2) plays the same grammatical role as the full noun phrase kulhe kotoua ‘towards the green
house’ in (5.1). Like full noun phrases, pronouns inﬂect for case: e.g., it`e in the example below is the allative
case form of the pronoun.

(5.1) Elime

kulhe
green

kotoua
house.all

ita
prg.go.ipv

Elim.nom
‘Elim is going towards the green house’

(5.2) Elime

ita
it`e
prg.go.ipv
3isall
Elim.nom
‘Elim is going towards it/that’

Pronouns in Okuna have both full forms and clitic forms. For example, in the nominative case, the second
person pronoun ‘you’ has the clitic form ku and the full form koi (in the singular). The clitic forms are
normally used when the pronoun identiﬁes the topic of the clause, while the full forms are used elsewhere,
such as when the pronoun is being contrastively focussed. Compare:

(5.3) Ku

ohka
love.ipv

2nom
‘Sakial loves you’

Sakiala
Sakial.all

(5.4) Koi

ohka
love.ipv

Sakiala
Sakial.all

2snom
‘Sakial loves you’ or ‘You’re the one that Sakial loves’

5.2 by introducing the featural distinctions marked on pronouns in Okuna, including
I begin the discussion in
person, number, animacy, and inclusive versus exclusive. In
5.3 I present the case declensions for the full
pronouns, and discuss their use as demonstratives. I also discuss the two forms of the dative case, realis
and irrealis, which are distinguished only on pronouns and related elements. Then in
5.4 I turn to
§
5.5 deals with
clitics and clitic clusters, and compare the distribution of clitics with that of full pronouns.
§
situations in which a pronominal argument may be omitted from the clause. Finally, in
5.6 I discuss the
universal quantiﬁers, equivalent to ‘every’ and ‘all’, which pattern with the full pronouns both in terms of
their distribution and in terms of how they inﬂect for case.

5.2. THE PERSONAL PRONOUNS

5.2 The personal pronouns

Pronouns in Okuna encode the person and animacy of their referents. In addition, full pronouns (as opposed
to clitics, see
5.4) make a number distinction between singular and plural. There are a total of nine personal
pronouns, given in the table below. The abbreviations used in this grammar for the personal pronouns are
shown in parentheses after their glosses. Note that, like noun phrases, pronouns inﬂect for case. Here I list
the nominative pronouns, which may be regarded as the default forms (the full case paradigms are given in
5.3.1 below).

1st person (exclusive) man
1st person inclusive
2nd person
3rd person animate
3rd person inanimate

koi
nan
tan

singular

‘I/me’

‘you’
‘he/him, she/her’
‘it, that’

plural

(1s)

(2s)
(3as)
(3is)

sat
‘we/us’
kim ‘we/us’
kut
nin
tin

‘you’
‘they/them’
‘they/them, those’

(13)
(12)
(2p)
(3ap)
(3ip)

Notice that there are two ﬁrst person plural pronouns: the ﬁrst person exclusive pronoun sat refers to a
group which includes the speaker but not the addressee, while the ﬁrst person inclusive pronoun kim picks
out to a group which includes both the speaker and the addressee.

Sat itat
Kim itat

‘We are going’
‘We are going’

(I and others, but not you)
(you and I, and possibly others)

Unlike in English, no gender distinction is made in the third person: nan may be translated by ‘he/him’ or
‘she/her’, according to context. However, Okuna does have separate third person pronouns (both singular and
plural) for animate and inanimate referents. Animacy in Okuna is semantically based rather than lexically
based, meaning that the choice of pronoun is determined straightforwardly by the perceived animacy of
the referent. The third person animate (3a) pronouns are used to refer to people and animals, as well as
spirits and personiﬁed objects or forces; while the third person inanimate (3i) pronouns are used for all
other referents, including plants, non-living entities, tools and other artifacts, places, events, and abstract
concepts or ideas.

Some entities can be referenced by either an animate or an inanimate pronoun, depending on the context.
For example, kahu ‘ﬁsh’ is treated as animate when referring to a living animal, and as inanimate when
in (5.5) kahu combines with the
referring to an item of food. This is illustrated in the examples below:
animate pronoun nin (used here as a demonstrative, equivalent to ‘those’: see
5.3.2) while in (5.6) it
combines with the inanimate pronoun tin. (Note that humans and animals not considered as food are always
classiﬁed as animate, even when the referent is not currently alive.)

(5.5) Kahu

nin
3apnom

iante
ﬁsh
jump.cv
‘Those ﬁsh are jumping out of the water’

ifuiat
prg.emerge:from:water.ipv.pl

(5.6) Kahu

tin
3ipnom

halhkahainna
drying:rack.loc

ﬁsh
‘Those ﬁsh are hanging on the drying rack’

isunat
prg.hang:res.ipv.pl

The animate-inanimate distinction manifests itself in other ways in Okuna grammar besides the choice of
pronoun. For example, certain quantiﬁers have separate animate and inanimate forms: e.g., iha nemot ‘all
the women’ versus kotu emot ‘all the houses’. These are discussed in

5.6 below.

In addition, there are certain pairs of stative verbs which express essentially the same meaning, but di↵er
in that one of the verbs usually takes an animate argument while its counterpart requires an inanimate
argument. Some of these are listed below:1

1Fiha and liuna can actually be used with either animate or inanimate referents. However, hafa and nakluha are used
exclusively with inanimate referents. Hafa means ‘new’ in the sense of ‘fresh, newly created’, while nakluha means ‘old’ in the
sense of ‘used, worn (out)’.

CHAPTER 5. PRONOUNS

animate

inanimate

ﬁha
liuna
mila
sailha
titoilha
toilha
uohta

hafa
nakluha
elifa
tima
tikanta
kanta
tima

‘be new, young’
‘be old’
‘be beautiful, handsome’
‘lie, be prone/horizontal’
‘be short’ (opposite of tall)
‘stand, be upright/vertical’
‘sit, be sitting/seated’

Examples:

Iha nan mila
Palahta tan elifa

‘That woman is beautiful’
‘That tree is beautiful’

Iha nan titoilha
Palahta tan tikanta

‘That woman is short’
‘That tree is short’

(5.7) Yhkun`a

tsulna
guest.nom
bed.loc
‘The guest was lying on the bed’

isailhanka
prg.lie:res.ipv.pst

(5.8) Halm`a

tsulna
book.nom
bed.loc
‘The book was lying on the bed’

itimanka
prg.lie.ipv.pst

As mentioned above, pronouns have both full forms and clitic forms. I begin by discussing full pronouns in
5.3 before turning to clitic pronouns in

5.4.

5.3 Full pronouns

Full pronouns are so called because they tend to be phonologically ‘heavier’ than clitic pronouns. For
example, full pronouns may receive independent stress and are treated as separate prosodic words, rather
than combining into clitic clusters or forming part of a stress group with the following word. Also, full
pronouns have essentially the same distribution as non-pronominal noun phrases, whereas clitics have a
5.4.
much more restricted distribution, as discussed in

In addition to functioning as noun phrase arguments by themselves, full pronouns in the third person
can combine with a preceding noun (and its modiﬁers, if any) to form a complex noun phrase. Here the
pronoun functions much like a demonstrative determiner, equivalent to English ‘this/that’ or ‘these/those’.
Note that when the pronoun is used as a demonstrative, it must agree in animacy with the noun: nan and
nin are used with nouns denoting human beings, (living) animals, and personiﬁed forces; while tan and tin
are used with inanimate and abstract nouns. In addition to marking the animacy of the noun phrase, the
pronoun indicates whether the noun phrase is singular or plural (the noun itself does not inﬂect for number).

moiha nan
moiha nin

‘this/that girl’
‘these/those girls’

kotu tan
kotu tin

‘this/that house’
‘these/those houses’

ike nan
ike nin

‘this/that dog’
‘these/those dogs’

uhin tan
uhin tin

‘this/that song’
‘these/those songs’

The use of pronouns as demonstratives is discussed further in
on full pronouns, which is morphologically quite di↵erent from case inﬂection on nouns.

5.3.2. First, however, I discuss case inﬂection

5.3. FULL PRONOUNS

5.3.1 Case marking on full pronouns

The declensions for the full pronouns are given in the following table (the columns are labeled with the
abbreviations given in the table in
5.2 above). Notice that dative pronouns make a morphological distinction
not found on nouns, between irrealis dative (dat) and realis dative (rdat) forms. This distinction
is discussed in
5.3.3 below. Notice also that the case morphology on pronouns is quite di↵erent from that
found on nouns: the ergative and oblique pronouns all incorporate the preﬁx i-, while the dative pronouns
include the preﬁx a- in the irrealis and u- in the realis. In addition, the case endings tend to fuse with the
pronominal root, and many of the endings are di↵erent from those found on nouns.

nom man
amai
dat
umai
rdat
im`a
erg
iman
loc
im`e
all
im`o
abl
imem
inst
13
nom sat
dat
rdat
erg
loc
all
abl
inst

asat
usat
isat
isena
isane
iseu
isime

2s
koi
akoi
ukoi
ik`o
ikun
ikoi
ikou
ikom
2p
kut
akut
ukut
ikut
ikuna
ikune
ikunu
ikume

12
kim
akime
ukime
ikima
ikimna
ikime
ikimu
ikimme

3is
tan
atai
utai
it`a
itan
it`e
it`o

3as
nan
anai
unai
in`a
inan
in`e
in`o
inem item
3ap
nin
anat
unat
inat
inena
inane
ineu
inime

3ip
tin
atat
utat
itat
itena
itane
iteu
itime

The functions of the di↵erent case forms are the same for pronouns as for nouns (see
4.5 for discussion).
The only signiﬁcant di↵erence is that pronouns lack a bare (non-case-marked) form. In contexts where a
noun phrase would appear without any case marking (see
4.6), the nominative form of the pronoun is used.
For example, pronouns take the nominative form when the are preposed in the contrastive topic construction
(discussed in

9.2.2). Compare:

4.3–

§
aunme,
if.inst

(5.9) Elim
Elim
‘As for Elim, I’ve never met him’

nami
3anom.1sdat

ntsemi
never

utsokuo
pf.meet.ipv:neg

(5.10) Nan

aunme,
if.inst

3asnom
‘As for him, I’ve never met him’ or ‘As for that one…’

nami
3anom.1sdat

ntsemi
never

utsokuo
pf.meet.ipv:neg

5.4.2 below, where their distribution is compared with that of clitic pronouns.
For more on full pronouns, see
In the following section, I discuss the use of full pronouns as demonstrative-like elements, and introduce the
related issue of spatial deixis (i.e., the expression of spatial relations with reference to the discourse context).

5.3.2 Demonstrative constructions and spatial deixis

As mentioned above, full pronouns can combine with a preceding noun (and its modiﬁers) to form a noun
phrase. When used in this way, the pronouns are roughly equivalent to the English demonstratives ‘this/that’
and ‘these/those’. I will thus refer to them as demonstratives when they carry this function, and gloss

CHAPTER 5. PRONOUNS

them using English demonstratives in the example sentences, even though they are formally indistinguishable
from full pronouns used without a preceding noun.

The demonstrative comes at the right edge of the noun phrase, following the noun itself as well as any
postnominal dependents (e.g., quantiﬁers such as ehte ‘three’). As shown below, the demonstrative agrees
with the noun in animacy, and expresses the number (singular versus plural) of the noun phrase as a whole.
Notice that the noun itself is not marked for number.

nan
tan

nin
tin

‘she/he; this/that one’
‘it; this/that one’

mikal nan
naka tan

‘this/that boy’
‘this/that rock’

‘they; these/those’
‘they; these/those’

mikal ehte nin
naka ehte tin

‘these/those three boys’
‘these/those three rocks’

Although third person pronouns are the ones most commonly used as demonstratives, ﬁrst and second person
pronouns also combine with a preceding noun or quantiﬁer in certain cases:

lhati kut
‘you children’
ispaka kim ‘we students’
ehte kim

‘we three, the three of us’

Because it comes at the end of the noun phrase, the demonstrative carries the case marking for the noun
phrase as a whole, while the preceding noun occurs in the unmarked form—e.g., ‘this/that dog’ is ike nan in
the nominative, ike anai in the irrealis dative, ike inem in the instrumental, and so on, with the form of the
noun being invariant. The following examples show ‘that dog’ and ‘those dogs’ in the ergative and allative
case roles, respectively:

(5.11) No

ike
dog

in`a
that:erg

ehenna
twice

3ardat
‘He’s been bitten twice by that dog’

ukilhta
pf.bite

(5.12) Ma

ike
dog

inane
those:all

1serg
‘I’m looking for those dogs’

ikpiha
prg.look:for.ipv

Noun phrases containing demonstratives may be used anaphorically, to refer back to a referent introduced
earlier in the discourse. For instance, ike nan may mean ‘that dog’ in sense of ‘the dog which we were just
talking about’. Noun phrases with demonstratives can also be used presentationally, to identify or call
attention to a particular entity. When used presentationally, the noun phrase normally occurs adjacent to
the verb, with contrastive stress on the demonstrative, and may be preceded by the identiﬁcational focus
particle te:

(5.13) Ma

1serg

te
foc

itan
that:loc

tsuhpa
live.ipv

‘That’s where I live’ (lit. ‘I live in that’)

(5.14) Ma

1serg

te
foc

kotu
house

itan
that:loc

tsuhpa
live.ipv

‘That’s the house that I live in’ (lit. ‘I live in that house’)

Finally, noun phrases containing a demonstrative can have deictic force. That is, a demonstrative can be
used when the noun phrase picks out a referent which had not been previously mentioned in the discourse,
but which is identiﬁable to the speaker and hearer based on the context in which the sentence is uttered.
The following sentence, for example, might be used when pointing to a ﬂock of birds ﬂying overhead, in a
situation where the birds had not been discussed earlier:

5.3. FULL PRONOUNS

nin
(5.15) Pila
bird
those:nom
‘Look at those birds!’

ksonaua
look:at.ipv.npl

na!
imp

Unlike their English counterparts, demonstratives in Okuna do not distinguish relative distance from the
speaker. For instance, palahta tin can be translated either ‘these trees’ or ‘those trees’, depending on context.
If one wishes to specify relative distance, one of three spatial deictic particles, tsi, ke, or olh, may be added
to the noun phrase containing the demonstrative:

1. The proximal particle tsi (glossed prox in the examples) is used for objects which are perceived to be

close to the speaker, but not the addressee.

2. The medial particle ke (med) is used for objects perceived to be close to the addressee but not the

speaker, and for objects which are in the immediate domain of both speaker and addressee.

3. The distal particle olh (dist) is used for objects which are distant from both speaker and addressee.

The proximal, medial, and distal particles combine with a demonstrative, and can be used whether the
demonstrative appears by itself or is part of a larger noun phrase:

tsi nan
ke nan
olh nan

‘this one’
‘this/that one’
‘that one (over there)’

(near me but not you)
(near us, or near you)
(not near us)

tsi palahta tin
ke palahta tin
olh palahta tin

‘these trees (over here)’
‘these/those trees’
‘those trees (over there)’

(near me but not you)
(near us, or near you)
(not near us)

These particles can also combine with other demonstrative elements capable of being used deictically, such
as tlante ‘this/that many’ and tlotsaka ‘this/that kind (of)’, discussed in
6.7.2—e.g., tsi halma tlante ‘this
many books’ (pointing to a stack of books close to the speaker); olh tlotsaka kotu ‘that kind of house’
(pointing to a house far from speaker and addressee). In addition, the deictic particles can combine with
the universal quantiﬁers discussed in
5.6, which are mutually exclusive with the demonstratives—e.g., ke
halma emot ‘all these books’, olh halma emot ‘all those books’; ke pyi nket ‘each of these children’, olh pyi
nket ‘each of those children’.

As the examples above illustrate, the deictic particle comes before the demonstrative and the preceding
noun, if any. More precisely, the particle precedes the noun and any simple non-case-marked modiﬁers (such
as luhme ‘old one’), and follows oblique case-marked modiﬁers and relative clauses:

(5.16) tenena

olh
dist

kotu
house
hill.loc
‘in that old house on the hill’

luhme
old

itan
that:loc

(5.17) isat

pyimitme
children.inst

tsuhpaninen
live.epl.cnzr

13erg
‘in this house where we live with our children’

ke
med

kotu
house

itan
that:loc

Although the primary function of the deictic particles is to locate an object in space relative to the speaker
and hearer, they can also be used metaphorically to identify points in the discourse. For instance, the distal
particle is occasionally used when referring back to something mentioned earlier in the discourse: e.g., olh
ike nan ‘that dog’ (like ike nan, with no deictic particle) can refer to a previously-mentioned dog, as well as
to a dog visible in the distance at the moment of speaking. Likewise, the proximal particle can be used when
introducing a new entity or topic of discussion (cf. ‘this’ or ‘the following’ in English), and the medial particle
can be used to refer to something just mentioned by the addressee, or to a current topic of discussion:

CHAPTER 5. PRONOUNS

(5.18) Mo

1srdat

tsi
prox

sliahte
story

tan
this:nom

laisne
just

olyi
hear.pv

‘I just heard this story/the following story’ or ‘Here’s a story I just heard’

(5.19) Ke

med

nesap
question

tan
that:nom

soniokti
answer.dep:sbj

teusu
very

koluma
dicult.ipv

‘That question (of yours) is very dicult to answer’
or ‘That’s a very dicult question to answer’ (e.g., in response to a question just asked)

This three-way spatial distinction is also found with other elements. For instance, Okuna has three spatial
deictic adverbials which are clearly related to the particles discussed above: proximal etsi ‘here, over here’
(near me), medial eka ‘here/there’ (near you/us), and distal euolh ‘there, over there, yonder’ (not near us).
These adverbials pattern morphologically as nouns, inﬂecting for case (somewhat irregularly in the case of
etsi and eka):

nom etsi
etsei
dat
etsin
loc
etseia
all
etseu
abl
etsim ekam euolhme
inst

euolh
euoilh
euolhna
euolha
euolhu

eka
ekai
ekan
ekaua
ekau

Spatial deictic adverbials occur most often in one of the four oblique cases. They have no ergative forms,
and the dative forms are rarely used (see below). The nominative forms are only used in combination with
a relational noun, which carries the dative or oblique case ending (see
6.5): e.g., eka himna ‘in here’, euolh
ihfona ‘back/behind there’, eka ka euolh kufuna ‘between here and there’. Examples of sentences with deictic
adverbials:

(5.20) Ma

ekan
here:loc

1serg
‘I used to live here’

tsuhpanka
live.ipv:pst

(5.21) Ne

euolhu
over:there.abl

3anom
‘They came from over there’

etskanyit
arrive.pv.pl

(5.22) Kotu
house
‘The houses all face this way’

etseia
here.all

emot
all:nom

kumutat
face.pv.pl

When inﬂected for ablative case, the deictic adverbials may indicate a location which lies at a speciﬁed
distance from some other location relative to the speaker and/or addressee. In this function they are always
accompanied by a measure phrase in the instrumental case, indicating the degree of distance:

(5.23) Sa

l`o
day

puniakatsme
13erg
journey.inst
‘We live a day’s journey from here’

ehtsan
one

ekau
here.abl

tsuhpat
live.ipv.pl

In addition to the deictic adverbials, Okuna also has four sets of deictic verbs expressing motion and position,
listed below. Like the adverbials, these verbs are derived from the deictic particles, and express the same
three-way spatial distinction. (Note that ts`a and k`a have irregular conjugations, given in
7.4.1 for main
clauses,

10.2 for dependent clauses, and

10.3 for participial clauses.)

5.3. FULL PRONOUNS

ts`a
k`a
euolha

tsita
keta
euolhta

tseuta
kauta
olhuta

‘be over here; here is…’ [near me]
‘be (t)here; (t)here is…’ [near you/us]
‘be over there; there is…’ [away from us]

‘come over here (to where I am)’
‘come here (to where we are); go there (to where you are)’
‘go over there (away from us), go away’

‘go away from here/me’
‘go away from here/us, go away from there/you’
‘go/come away from over there (not near us)’

tsimpa
kampa
olhempa

‘go this way, pass by here’ [near me]
‘go this/that way, pass by (t)here’ [near you/us]
‘go that way, pass by there’ [away from us]

The verbs in the ﬁrst set belong to Class I (cf.
4.4.1). They may be used either to specify the location of some
already-mentioned entity, or to introduce a new entity into the discourse in a presentational construction. In
the former function they take a noun phrase argument in the nominative, while in the latter function they
combine with an unmarked noun phrase:

(5.24) Tiesate

euolha
be:there.ipv
town.nom
‘The town is over there’

(5.25) Kietam
picture

its`a
prg.be:here.ipv

‘Here/this is a picture’

(5.26) Halma

sepyi
some

ik`a
prg.be:here.ipv

book
‘Here are some books’ or ‘There are some books here’

The remaining verbs all belong to Class III (see
4.4.3). The verbs in the second set convey motion ter-
minating at a deictically determined point, and are used much more frequently to express this notion than
a deictic adverbial in the dative. Often the deictic motion verbs are modiﬁed by a converb expressing the
manner of motion (see

11.4.3 for discussion):

10.4 and

(5.27) Ne

ketyit
come:here.pv.pl

3anom
‘They came here’

(5.28) Ne

3anom

tupe
walk.cv

ketyit
come:here.pv.pl

‘They walked here’ (lit. ‘They came here by walking’)

(5.29) Na

3aerg

halm`a
book.nom

laste
send.cv

ketyiat
come:here.pv.npl.pl

‘They sent the books here’ (lit. ‘made the books come here by sending’)

(5.30) Ne

3anom

kiompe
run.cv

olhempyit
go:that:way.pv.pl

‘They ran that way’ (lit. ‘They went via there by running’)

CHAPTER 5. PRONOUNS

5.3.3 Realis versus irrealis dative

When a pronoun is marked for dative case, it may appear in one of two forms, called the realis dative and
irrealis dative. For instance, the ﬁrst person singular dative pronoun is amai in the irrealis and umai in
the realis, as illustrated below. Throughout this grammar, the realis dative forms are glossed rdat in the
examples, while the irrealis dative forms are glossed simply dat (the latter abbreviation is also used for the
dative case ending on nouns, which fail to make a realis/irrealis distinction).

(5.31) Ku

amai
1sdat

kila
see.ipv

2nom
‘I (will) see you’

(5.32) Ku

umai
1srdat

kilyi
see.pv

2nom
‘I saw you’

Both full and clitic pronouns make a distinction between realis and irrealis dative, as do other elements which
pattern morphologically with pronouns. In this section, I will illustrate the distinction using full pronouns
functioning as demonstratives (cf.

5.3.2).

As discussed in

4.3.2, dative case marks the delimiter of a telic event—that is, the noun phrase which
identiﬁes the goal of a motion event, or the patient of a change-of-state event when that patient ‘measures
out’ the progress towards the endpoint of the event. When the delimiter is a pronoun, the realis dative is
used when the event is viewed as complete(d), meaning that the endpoint is fully realized or attained at the
point in time when the sentence is uttered. When the event is not viewed as complete(d), the irrealis dative
is used. If the delimiter denotes a patient, using the realis dative indicates that that patient is viewed as
having been completely a↵ected by the action. If the delimiter denotes a goal or measurement, using the
realis dative indicates that the goal/measurement is viewed as having been reached.

7.3–

The choice between realis and irrealis dative marking is sensitive to the aspect and polarity of the clause
(see
7.5). For instance, a dative pronoun will always appear in the irrealis form when the verb is in
the imperfect or progressive aspect (regardless of tense), or in the conditional mood. The following examples
illustrate this:

atai
(5.33) Nilu
net
that:dat
‘Fix that net!’

toka
ﬁx.ipv

na
imp

(5.34) Ma

nilu
1serg
net
‘I (will) ﬁx that net’

atai
that:dat

(5.35) Ma

nilu
1serg
net
‘I am ﬁxing that net’

atai
that:dat

toka
ﬁx.ipv

itoka
prg.ﬁx.ipv

(5.36) Ma

atai
nilu
1serg
that:dat
net
‘I was ﬁxing that net’

itokanka
prg.ﬁx.ipv:pst

(5.37) Ma

nilu
1serg
net
‘I would ﬁx that net’

atai
that:dat

tokike
ﬁx.cond

Note also the examples below, where the verb takes one of the modal suxes (see
is again in the irrealis dative:

7.7.1) and the delimiter

5.3. FULL PRONOUNS

nilu
(5.38) Iman
1sloc
net
‘I can ﬁx that net’

atai
that:dat

tokyipa
ﬁx.able.ipv

(5.39) Iman
1sloc
‘I intended to ﬁx that net’

atai
that:dat

nilu
net

tokihpanka
ﬁx.intend.ipv:pst

On the other hand, when the verb appears in the perfect (indicative) aspect, or the perfective aspect, the
realis dative form is generally required. In the examples below, realis dative utai is used in place of irrealis
dative atai :

(5.40) Ma

nilu
net

utai
that:rdat

1serg
‘I have ﬁxed that net’

(5.41) Ma

nilu
net

utai
that:rdat

1serg
‘I ﬁxed that net’

utoka
pf.ﬁx.ipv

tokyi
ﬁx.pv

Although this is the basic pattern, there are certain conditions under which a dative pronoun will take the
irrealis form even when the verb is in the perfect or perfective aspect. For example, the irrealis dative is
required when the verb takes the incompletive sux -ilm (
7.5.3),
§
regardless of the aspect of the verb. This is because incompletive and telic inchoative verbs focus attention
on the beginning point of the event, and a clause containing such a verb does not entail that the delimiter
is completely a↵ected.

7.5.5) or the telic inchoative sux -(e)t (
§

(5.42) Ma

nilu
net

atai
that:dat

tokilmyi
ﬁx.icpl.pv

1serg
‘I attempted to ﬁx that net’ or ‘I set out to ﬁx that net’

(5.43) Ma

nilu
net

atai
that:dat

toktyi
ﬁx.tinc.pv

1serg
‘I started ﬁxing that net’

In addition, the irrealis form is usually required if the clause is negated—again, regardless of the aspect of
the verb. The one exception to this is when the negative marker ntse takes narrow scope over a contrastively
focused constituent and the dative pronoun is outside that scopal domain (see
7.3 on scope of negation).
Consider the examples below. The sentence in (5.44), with ordinary sentential negation, entails that the nets
did not get repaired—i.e., the endpoint of the event was not reached—and so nilu ‘net’ combines with the
irrealis dative pronoun even though the verb is in the perfective. The same applies to (5.45), where negation
takes narrow scope over the noun phrase containing the dative pronoun. Compare these with (5.46). In
this example, negation scopes over the ergative noun phrase: the sentence entails that the nets were indeed
repaired, just not by the women. Here it is understood that the endpoint of the event has been reached, and
so a realis dative pronoun is used.

(5.44) Ihama

nilu
net

atat
those:dat

ntokoumat
neg.ﬁx.pv:neg.dpl.pl

woman.erg
‘The women didn’t ﬁx those nets’

(5.45) Ihama

woman.erg

ntse
neg

nilu
net

atat
those:dat

tokoumat
ﬁx.pv:neg.dpl.pl

‘It isn’t those nets that the women ﬁxed (but something else)’

CHAPTER 5. PRONOUNS

ihama
(5.46) Nilu
net
woman.erg
‘It wasn’t (the) women who ﬁxed those nets (but someone else)’

tokounit
ﬁx.pv:neg.epl.pl

utat
those:rdat

ntse
neg

Moreover, there are many Class III change-of-state verbs for which realis and irrealis dative can both occur in
perfect and perfective clauses, depending on whether or not the patient is viewed as having been completely
a↵ected by the action. Consider the sentences below, where the verb kiospa ‘burn’ occurs in the perfective.
When the verb is used in the sense of ‘burn up’, the patient ‘that cloth’ appears in the realis dative, since
the burning event necessarily ends once the cloth has been completely consumed. On the other hand, when
kiospa is used in the sense of ‘make/receive a burn’, ‘that cloth’ appears in the irrealis dative: here the cloth
is merely damaged by the ﬁre, not destroyed by it.

(5.47) Mul
utai
that:rdat
cloth
‘That cloth burned up’

kiospyi
burn.pv

kiospyi
(5.48) Mul
burn.pv
cloth
‘That cloth (got) burned’

atai
that:dat

Similarly, there are two ways to express ‘The girl read that book’, depending on the aspectual interpretation
of the clause. The patient ‘that book’ appears in the realis dative if the girl read the book through from
beginning to end, such that the reading event culminated once the book had been completely ‘consumed’.
By contrast, ‘that book’ appears in the irrealis dative if the girl merely read a portion of the book, with no
intention of ﬁnishing it.

(5.49) Moihama

halma
book

utai
that:rdat

talyi
read.pv

girl.erg
‘The girl read that book (through)’

(5.50) Moihama

halma
book

atai
that:dat

talyi
read.pv

girl.erg
‘The girl read (some of) that book’

Outside of main clauses, irrealis dative marking occurs in subjunctive dependent and participial clauses
10.3.2), embedded yes/no questions
(
§
(
10.2.4). Irrealis dative is required even when the subjunctive verb
§
is marked for perfect aspect.

10.2,
9.3.2), and restructuring complements (
§

10.3). These include counterfactual conditionals (
§

10.2.3,

(5.51) Itiuha

prg.necessary.ipv
‘It is necessary for Sakial to ﬁx that net’

Sakialma
Sakial.erg

nilu
net

atai
that:dat

tok`e
ﬁx.dep:sbj.nom

(5.52) Sakialma

Sakial.nom
‘If Sakial had ﬁxed that net, we would have been able to go ﬁshing’

atai
that:dat

utokai,
pf.ﬁx.pt:sbj

kima
12erg

ukahuniyipikit
pf.ﬁsh.able.cond.pl

nilu
net

(5.53) Ma

untsapa
wonder.ipv

Sakialma
Sakial.erg

nilu
net

1serg
‘I wonder if Sakial has ﬁxed that net yet’

atai
that:dat

uta
already

utoki
pf.ﬁx.dep:sbj

aun
if

(5.54) Sakiala

atai
nilu
that:dat
net
Sakial.all
‘Sakial should ﬁx that net’

toki
ﬁx.dep:sbj

lehua
should.ipv

5.4. CLITIC PRONOUNS

(5.55) Sakialma

nilu
net

atai
that:dat

kas
by:now

utoki
pf.ﬁx.dep:sbj

toupa
must.ipv

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial must have ﬁxed that net by now’

In order for realis
Realis dative, by contrast, may occur in indicative dependent and participial clauses.
dative to be possible here, the event denoted by the nominalized clause must have already been completed,
with the endpoint having been reached during, or prior to, the time frame established by the main clause.
Examples are given below:

nilu
(5.56) Iman
1sloc
net
‘I know that Sakial ﬁxed that net’

Sakialma
Sakial.erg

iona
know.ipv

utai
that:rdat

utok`a
pf.ﬁx.dep.nom

(5.57) Mo

1srdat

kilyi
see.pv

Sakialma
Sakial.erg

nilu
net

utai
that:rdat

utok`a
pf.ﬁx.dep.nom

‘I saw that Sakial (had) ﬁxed that net’

(5.58) Mo

kilyi
1srdat
see.pv
‘I saw Sakial ﬁx that net’

Sakialma
Sakial.erg

nilu
net

utai
that:rdat

tok`a
ﬁx.dep.nom

Note that in (5.58), the speaker must have witnessed the entire ﬁxing event from beginning to end. To
express a situation where the speaker saw some subpart of the ﬁxing event, not necessarily including the
endpoint, the dependent verb takes progressive aspect inﬂection, with ‘that net’ in the irrealis dative (Mo
kilyi Sakialma nilu atai itok`a ‘I saw Sakial ﬁxing that net’).

5.4 Clitic pronouns

Nominative, irrealis dative, realis dative, and ergative pronouns each have two distinct forms, a full form
and a clitic form. The clitic forms are so called because they occupy a ﬁxed position in the clause, and
are phonologically ‘lighter’ than their full counterparts (for instance, monosyllabic clitics lack inherent stress
and generally form a prosodic unit with the following word). The clitic forms are listed in the table below:

nom dat

mi
si

1s me
se
13
kim kime
12
ku
2
ne
3a
hi
3i

kue
ni
ti

rdat
mo
so
kimo
kuo
no
to

erg
ma
sa
kima
ko
na
ta

As this table shows, clitics, unlike full pronouns, do not make a number distinction, but only a person
distinction. The third person animate nominative clitic ne, for example, is used regardless of whether the
referent is singular (‘he/she’) or plural (‘they’). To determine if ne has a singular or plural referent, one
must look at the form of the verb: when ne has a plural referent, the verb carries the appropriate plural
agreement sux, and when ne has a singular referent, the plural agreement sux is absent. Likewise for
7.2 for more on plural agreement.2
the second person clitic ku and the third person inanimate clitic hi. See

2Notice that in the ﬁrst person there are separate singular, exclusive, and inclusive clitics. Here the presence or absence
of plural agreement on the verb redundantly marks the number of the ﬁrst person referent. However, I regard the distinction
between these clitics as being fundamentally one of person rather than number: the ﬁrst person exclusive is basically a combi-
nation of ﬁrst and third person (speaker plus others), while the ﬁrst person inclusive is a combination of ﬁrst and second person
(speaker plus addressee, and possibly others).

CHAPTER 5. PRONOUNS

The following paradigms illustrate the clitic pronouns. The ﬁrst paradigm shows the nominative clitics in
combination with the verb toha ‘be big’, while the second paradigm shows the ergative clitics in combination
with the verb muelha ‘sleep’:

me toha

‘I am big’

ku toha
ne toha
hi toha

‘you (sg) are big’
‘s/he is big’
‘it is big’

se tohat
kim tohat
ku tohat
ne tohat
hi tohat

‘we are big’ [exclusive]
‘we are big’ [inclusive]
‘you (pl) are big’
‘they are big’ [animate]
‘they are big’ [inanimate]

ma muelha

‘I sleep’

ko muelha
na muelha
ta muelha

‘you sleep’
‘s/he sleeps’
‘it sleeps’

sa muelhat
kima muelhat
ko muelhat
na muelhat
ta muelhat

‘we sleep’ [exclusive]
‘we sleep’ [inclusive]
‘you (pl) sleep’
‘they sleep’ [animate]
‘they sleep’ [inanimate]

The clitic form is typically used when the pronoun functions as the topic of a clause. Clitic pronouns occur
9.2.2
in a ﬁxed position, at the left edge of the clausal nucleus, following any preposed constituents (see
for discussion). In the ﬁrst example below, the ﬁrst person singular realis dative clitic mo is sentence-initial.
In the second example, a preposed temporal adverbial, elohka ‘yesterday’, precedes the clitic.

(5.59) Mo

Sakialma
Sakial.erg
1srdat
‘Sakial showed me the picture’

kietame
picture.nom

tafyi
show.pv

(5.60) Elohka

mo
1srdat

Sakialma
Sakial.erg

kietame
picture.nom

tafyi
show.pv

yesterday
‘Yesterday, Sakial showed me the picture’

For certain pronoun combinations, a clause may contain two clitics, which merge to form a single phonological
unit called a clitic cluster. Clitic clusters occur in the same position as single clitics, at the left edge of
the clausal nucleus. In the example below, the third person animate ergative clitic combines with the ﬁrst
person singular realis dative clitic. Notice that the ergative clitic takes a di↵erent form when it occurs as
the ﬁrst element in a cluster: in- instead of na. The full set of clitic clusters is given in

5.4.1.

(5.61) Inmo

3aerg.1srdat

kietame
picture.nom

tafyi
show.pv

‘He showed me the picture’ (lit. ‘he+me picture showed’)

Within the clausal nucleus, full noun phrases and other dependents always occur in between the clitic (cluster)
and the verb. Hence, when a verb takes two arguments, one of which is a clitic and the other a non-clitic,
the clitic will always precede the non-clitic, regardless of the semantic roles they play in the clause. Compare
the examples below:

(5.62) Ma

Sakiail
Sakial.dat

kahtyi
hit.pv

1serg
‘I hit Sakial’

(5.63) Mo

1srdat

Sakialma
Sakial.erg

kahtyi
hit.pv

‘Sakial hit me’ (or ‘I was hit by Sakial’)

In these sentences, the order of the clitic and the non-clitic arguments is ﬁxed. To determine who hit whom,
one must look at the case marking. In (5.62), the clitic denotes the agent and takes the ergative form, while

5.4. CLITIC PRONOUNS

the non-clitic denotes the patient and appears in the dative. In (5.63) the semantic roles are reversed, and
so the realis dative clitic is used while the non-clitic appears in the ergative.

Since pronouns tend to be highly topical, and since topic pronouns generally take the form of clitics, it is
usual for pronominal arguments to precede full noun phrases. Within a clause, a pronoun can follow a noun
phrase only if the pronoun is a non-topic, typically a contrastively focussed element. In that case, however,
the full form of the pronoun must be used rather than the clitic form (e.g., ergative im`a instead of ma, and
realis dative umai instead of mo):

(5.64) Sakiail

kahtyi
Sakial.dat
hit.pv
‘I’m the one who hit Sakial’

im`a
1serg

(5.65) Sakialma

Sakial.erg

umai
1srdat

kahtyi
hit.pv

‘Sakial hit me’ (not somebody else)

A clitic pronoun may follow a full noun phrase only if the latter is preposed out of the clausal nucleus
9.2.2). But in that case the noun phrase itself will generally be
and functions as a contrastive topic (see
coindexed by a resumptive clitic, with the two clitics forming a cluster. Compare the following sentences:
In (5.66) the subject Sakial is inside the clausal nucleus (and takes the ergative case ending -ma), and so
it must follow the ﬁrst person clitic.
In (5.67) Sakial (unmarked for case) is a preposed topic, and thus
precedes the ﬁrst person clitic. But in the latter case, Sakial licenses the resumptive clitic in-, which forms
a cluster with the ﬁrst person clitic.

(5.66) Mo

1srdat

Sakialma
Sakial.erg

kahtyi
hit.pv

‘Sakial hit me’ (or ‘I was hit by Sakial’)

(5.67) Sakial
Sakial
‘As for Sakial, he hit me’

aunme,
if.inst

inmo
3aerg.1srdat

kahtyi
hit.pv

Note ﬁnally that, besides marking topicalized arguments of clauses, realis dative clitics can occur within a
noun phrase to mark the possessor relation. Examples are given below. A pronominal possessor can take the
6.6 for more discussion).
form of a realis dative clitic only in cases of body part and kinship possession (see

mo temie
so temie
kimo temie
kuo temie
no temie

‘my hands’
‘our hands’
‘our hands’
‘your hands’
‘his/her/their hands’

mo ahte
so ahte
kimo ahte
kuo ahte
no ahte

‘my father’
‘our father(s)’
‘our father(s)’
‘your father(s)’
‘his/her father, their father(s)’

5.4.1 Clitic clusters

Certain combinations of pronominal arguments can take the form of a pair of clitics, which combine together
into a single phonological word called a clitic cluster. Like single clitics, clitic clusters always occur at the left
edge of the clausal nucleus, preceding all elements in the sentence except preposed constituents. Examples
of clitic clusters are given in the sentences below. As these examples show, the ﬁrst clitic has a distinct form
when it occurs in a cluster. For instance, the third person inanimate nominative clitic is hi in isolation but
i- in clusters: e.g., ima and ikue in the examples below. (In certain cases the second clitic also changes its
form; for instance, the ﬁrst person inclusive dative clitic kime takes the form -kme when combined with i-.)

CHAPTER 5. PRONOUNS

(5.68) Ima

3inom.1serg

ikpa
prg.carry.ipv

‘I’m carrying it’ (lit. ‘it+I am.carrying’)

(5.69) Use

3irdat.13nom

elohka
yesterday

etyia
go.pv.npl

‘We went there yesterday’ or ‘We went to it yesterday’ (lit. ‘to.it+we yesterday went’)

(5.70) Ikue

3inom.2sdat

totsat
table

lulna
under.loc

tlelha
ﬁnd.ipv

‘You’ll ﬁnd it under the table’ (lit. ‘it+you table under ﬁnd’)

(5.71) Inkimo

3aerg.12rdat

halm`a
book.nom

uktiyimat
give.pv.dpl.pl

‘They gave us the book(s)’ (lit. ‘they+us book gave’)

Only a subset of logically possible pronoun combinations can be expressed as a clitic cluster. Clusters are
subject to the following constraints: (1) at most two clitics may combine to form a cluster; (2) the ﬁrst clitic
in the cluster must express a third person argument; and (3) the second clitic in the cluster must express a
ﬁrst or second person argument. Hence, only the person/animacy combinations listed below are permissible
in clitic clusters. In all other cases where a clause contains two or more pronominal arguments, at most one
of those arguments may take the form of a clitic while the remaining pronouns must be in their full forms
(see below for examples and discussion).

3a+1s
3a+13
3a+12
3a+2

3i+1s
3i+13
3i+12
3i+2

The following table gives the full inventory of clitic clusters. These are grouped into columns according to
the person/animacy of the clitics, and into rows according to their respective case roles (e.g., the cluster
nami consists of the third person animate nominative clitic combined with the ﬁrst person singular dative
clitic, and thus appears in the column marked ‘3a+1s’ and the row marked ‘nom-dat’).

3a+1s
nami
nom-dat
namo
nom-rdat
nima
nom-erg
anme
dat-nom
dat-erg
anma
rdat-nom unme
unma
rdat-erg
inme
erg-nom
inmi
erg-dat
inmo
erg-rdat

3a+13
ntsi
ntso
ntsa
antse
antsa
untse
untsa
intse
intsi
intso

3a+12
nkime
nkimo
nkima
ankim
ankima
unkim
unkima
inkim
inkime
inkimo

3a+2
nkue
nkuo
nko
anu
ano
unu
uno
inu
inue
inuo

3i+1s
imi
imo
ima
ame
ama
ume
uma
eme
emi
emo

3i+13
isi
iso
isa
ase
asa
use
usa
ese
esi
eso

3i+12
ikme
ikmo
ikma
akme
akma
ukme
ukma
ekme
ekme
ekmo

3i+2
ikue
ikuo
iko
aku
ako
uku
uko
eku
ekue
ekuo

By way of illustration, the clusters from the nom-dat and dat-nom series are shown in the following
paradigm, in combination with the Class III verb kila ‘see’, in the imperfective. Here the nominative clitic
denotes the theme of the event, while the dative clitic denotes the experiencer. Recall that plurality is
marked by axes on the verb (see
7.2 for discussion): when the ﬁrst clitic in the cluster denotes a plural
referent, the sux -t is added to the verb; when the second clitic denotes a dative plural referent, the sux
-ma is added; and when the second clitic denotes a nominative plural referent, the sux -ua is added.

5.4. CLITIC PRONOUNS

nami kila
ntsi kilama
nkime kilama
nkue kila
nkue kilama

‘I see him/her’
‘we (excl) see him/her’
‘we (incl) see him/her’
‘you (sg) see him/her’
‘you (pl) see him/her’

nami kilat
ntsi kilamat
nkime kilamat
nkue kilat
nkue kilamat

‘I see them’
‘we (excl) see them’
‘we (incl) see them’
‘you (sg) see them’
‘you (pl) see them’

imi kila
isi kilama
ikme kilama

‘I see it’
‘we (excl) see it’
‘we (incl) see it’

imi kilat
isi kilamat
ikme kilamat

‘I see them’
‘we (excl) see them’
‘we (incl) see them’

ikue kila
ikue kilama

‘you (sg) see it’
‘you (pl) see it’

ikue kilat
ikue kilamat

‘you (sg) see them’
‘you (pl) see them’

anme kila
antse kilaua
ankim kilaua
anu kila
anu kilaua

ame kila
ase kilaua
akme kilaua
aku kila
aku kilaua

‘s/he sees me’
‘s/he sees us (excl)’
‘s/he sees us (incl)’
‘s/he sees you (sg)’
‘s/he sees you (pl)’

‘it sees me’
‘it sees us (excl)’
‘it sees us (incl)’
‘it sees you (sg)’
‘it sees you (pl)’

anme kilat
antse kilauat
ankim kilauat
anu kilat
anu kilauat

ame kilat
ase kilauat
akme kilauat
aku kilat
aku kilauat

‘they see me’
‘they see us (excl)’
‘they see us (incl)’
‘they see you (sg)’
‘they see you (pl)’

As further illustration, the clusters from the erg-rdat and rdat-erg series are given below in combination
with the Class III verb kahta ‘hit’ (in the perfective aspect). When a erg-rdat cluster is used, the ﬁrst
clitic represents the actor while the second clitic represents the patient; and when a rdat-erg cluster is
used, the ﬁrst clitic represents the patient and the second clitic represents the actor. As above, plurality is
marked on the verb: when the ﬁrst clitic denotes a plural referent, the sux -t is added; when the second
clitic denotes a plural referent, the sux -ma is added if the second clitic is dative, while -ne/-ni is added
if the second clitic is ergative.

inmo kahtyi
intso kahtyima
inkimo kahtyima
inuo kahtyi
inuo kahtyima

‘s/he hit me’
‘s/he hit us (excl)’
‘s/he hit us (incl)’
‘s/he hit you (sg)’
‘s/he hit you (pl)’

emo kahtyi
eso kahtyima
ekmo kahtyima
ekuo kahtyi
ekuo kahtyima

‘it hit me’
‘it hit us (excl)’
‘it hit us (incl)’
‘it hit you (sg)’
‘it hit you (pl)’

inmo kahtyit
intso kahtyimat
inkimo kahtyimat
inuo kahtyit
inuo kahtyimat

emo kahtyit
eso kahtyimat
ekmo kahtyimat
ekuo kahtyit
ekuo kahtyimat

unma kahtyi
untsa kahtyine
unkima kahtyine
uno kahtyi
uno kahtyine

‘I hit him/her’
‘we (excl) hit him/her’
‘we (incl) hit him/her’
‘you (sg) hit him/her’
‘you (pl) hit him/her’

unma kahtyit
untsa kahtyinit
unkima kahtyinit
uno kahtyit
uno kahtyinit

uma kahtyi
usa kahtyine
ukma kahtyine

‘I hit it’
‘we (excl) hit it’
‘we (incl) hit it’

uma kahtyit
use kahtyinit
ukma kahtyinit

‘they hit me’
‘they hit us (excl)’
‘they hit us (incl)’
‘they hit you (sg)’
‘they hit you (pl)’

‘I hit them’
‘we (excl) hit them’
‘we (incl) hit them’
‘you (sg) hit them’
‘you (pl) hit them’

‘I hit them’
‘we (excl) hit them’
‘we (incl) hit them’

CHAPTER 5. PRONOUNS

uko kahtyi
uko kahtyine

‘you (sg) hit it’
‘you (pl) hit it’

uko kahtyit
uko kahtyinit

‘you (sg) hit them’
‘you (pl) hit them’

What about pronoun combinations for which there is no clitic cluster? To begin with, certain clusters are
ruled out simply because the relevant pronouns are prohibited from co-occurring as arguments of the same
verb. For example, a verb cannot take two pronominal arguments if they are both ﬁrst person, or both
second person (‘I hit me’, ‘I hit us’, ‘you hit you’, etc.). Moreover, a ﬁrst person inclusive argument may
not co-occur with a second person argument (‘you hit us [including you]’). Instead, these meanings must be
expressed in other ways. To express reﬂexive relations, for example, a single pronoun is used in combination
9.4.3):
with the reﬂexive nominal element tsan ‘self’ (see

ma tsan kahtyi
ko tsan kahtyi
na tsan kahtyi

‘I hit myself’
‘you hit yourself’
‘s/he hit him/herself’

sa tsan kahtyit
ko tsan kahtyit
na tsan kahtyit

‘we hit ourselves’
‘you hit yourselves’
‘they hit themselves’

In other cases where no clitic cluster exists, the relevant pronoun combination may be expressed, but only
by using full pronouns instead of (or in combination with) clitic pronouns. For example, consider the verb
tiyisa ‘pick up’, which selects an actor argument and a theme argument. ‘I picked it up’ may be expressed
using a clitic cluster, because one of the verb’s arguments is ﬁrst person while the other is third person.
This is shown in (5.72) below, where the cluster ima consists of the 3inom clitic i- (hi outside of clusters)
combined with the 1serg clitic ma. However, a clitic cluster may be used to express ‘I picked it up’ only if
the third person argument ‘it’ is the topic of the clause. If instead the ﬁrst person argument is the topic,
then the third person argument must take the form of a full pronoun, as in (5.73).

(5.72) Ima

3inom.1serg

tiyisyi
pick:up.pv

‘I picked it up’ (or ‘It was picked up by me’)

(5.73) Ma

1serg

tan
3isnom

tiyisyi
pick:up.pv

‘I picked it/that up’

If we wish to express ‘she picked it up’, we cannot use a clitic cluster at all, regardless of which argument
is the topic, since in this case the actor and theme are both third person. In order to convey this meaning,
either the theme (‘it’) or the actor (‘she’) must take the form a full pronoun:

(5.74) Na

3aerg

tan
3isnom

tiyisyi
pick:up.pv

‘She picked it/that up’

(5.75) Hi

3inom

in`a
3aserg

tiyisyi
pick:up.pv

‘She picked it up’ or ‘It was picked up by her / by that one’

The choice between these two ways of saying ‘she picked it up’ depends on which of the arguments is construed
as the topic of the clause. The clitic pronoun functions as the topic while the full pronoun functions as a
non-topic (or less-topical) argument. In practice, full pronouns tend to be used to refer back to participants
recently introduced by a noun phrase, while clitics tend to be used for participants introduced earlier in the
discourse. Compare the following examples:

(5.76) Moih`a

lhyuyi;
enter.pv

no
3ardat

halm`a
book.nom

laisne
just

girl.nom
‘The girl came in; as soon as she saw the book, she picked it up’

ukile,
pf.see.pt

na
3aerg

tan
3isnom

tiyisyi
pick:up.pv

5.4. CLITIC PRONOUNS

(5.77) Halm`a

temai
book.nom
then
‘The book had been lost, but then the girl found it and she picked it up’

utsupanka,
pf.lost.ipv:pst

moihai
girl.dat

tlelhyi
ﬁnd.pv

hi
3inom

le
but

hi
3inom

in`a
3aserg

tiyisyi
pick:up.pv

In these examples two participants are being discussed, the girl and the book. In (5.76), the girl is introduced
in the ﬁrst clause, and subsequent clauses provide additional information about the girl by describing her
actions. Here the girl is a more topical participant than the book, and so na tan tiyisyi (with the clitic
na referring to the girl) is used to translate ‘she picked it up’. In (5.77), on the other hand, the book is
introduced ﬁrst, and subsequent clauses describe what happened to it. Here the book is the more topical
participant, so in this case hi in`a tiyisyi (with the clitic hi referring to the book) is the preferred way of
saying ‘she picked it up’. Notice that in each example, the full pronoun refers back to the newly introduced
participant, while the clitic pronoun refers to the same participant as the topic of the previous clause.

Another situation in which a full pronoun is required is illustrated below. Recall that at most two clitic
pronouns can combine to form a cluster. Thus, if a verb has three pronominal core arguments, at least
one of those arguments must take the form of a full pronoun. In the following examples, two of the verb’s
arguments take the form of clitics, which combine to form a cluster, while the third argument is expressed
using a full pronoun:

(5.78) Iko

3inom.2erg

umai
1srdat

uta
already

uktiyine
give.pv.epl

‘You (pl) already gave it to me’ (lit. ‘It+you to.me already gave’)

(5.79) Intso

3aerg.13rdat

tan
3isnom

uta
already

uktiyimat
give.pv.dpl.pl

‘They already gave it/that to us’ (lit. ‘They+us it/that already gave’)

(5.80) Me

1snom

ihka
before

sihkunoi
river.dat

ute,
pf.go.pt

ama
3idat.1serg

kut
2pnom

histaua
lead.ipv.npl

‘(Since) I’ve been to the river before, I will lead you there’ (lit. ‘… to.it+I you will.lead’)

5.4.2 Clitic versus non-clitic pronouns

In the oblique cases the pronouns have only full forms, whereas in the core cases (nominative, realis and
irrealis dative, ergative) the full forms alternate with clitic forms, as discussed above. All else being equal,
the clitic forms are generally preferred for core arguments. However, in
5.4.1 I noted that full pronouns are
used when a sentence contains two or more pronouns as core arguments but a clitic cluster is disallowed.
Other situations where a full pronoun is required in place of (or in combination with) a clitic pronoun are
summarized below.

As in other languages, clitics and clitic clusters in Okuna cannot receive sentence-level stress. Hence the
full forms must be used when the pronoun is being emphasized. Compare the examples below. In (5.81)
the ﬁrst person pronoun functions as the topic of the clause, and appears in the clitic form. In (5.82), by
contrast, the pronominal argument is being focused in a contrastive construction. Since focused noun phrases
represent new information, they cannot be topics; hence the full form of the pronoun is required.

(5.81) Me

Sakialma
Sakial.erg

uila
love.ipv

1snom
‘Sakial loves me’

(5.82) Sakialma

tiefu
Sakial.erg
only
‘Sakial only loves me, not Elim’

man
1snom

uila,
love.ipv

ntse
neg

Elime
Elim.nom

CHAPTER 5. PRONOUNS

The full form is also required when the pronoun is dislocated from the main clause and functions as a
‘switch-reference’ topic—that is, a topic which is being newly (re)introduced into the discourse. Compare
the sentences below. Note that the switch-reference topic pronoun appears in the nominative case (the
default form for pronouns), and is ‘doubled’ by a resumptive clitic which agrees with it in person/animacy.

(5.83) Ma

imuelhanka
prg.sleep.ipv:pst

pyie
child.nom

1serg
‘I was asleep when the children got home’

amoktit
pv.come:home.pt.pl

(5.84) Man

aunme,
if.inst

ma
1serg

imuelhanka
prg.sleep.ipv:pst

pyie
child.nom

amoktit
pv.come:home.pt.npl

1snom
‘As for me, I was asleep when the children got home’

Similarly, full pronouns are used in place of clitics in clauses where the verb has been deleted by virtue of
being recoverable from context, as in the contrastive constructions below (notice that the case of the pronoun
matches the case of the noun phrase in the earlier clause that it is being contrasted with). Likewise, the
full form is used when the pronoun appears as an utterance by itself—e.g., in answer to the question Kopoi
miohma tsitspyin? ‘Who broke the pot?’, one can answer simply Im`a ‘I (did)’.

(5.85) Na

Motlei
Motla.dat

kytu
present

uktiyit,
give.pv

3aerg
‘They gave presents to Motla, not to me’

ntse
neg

amai
1sdat

(5.86) Kopoi

Motlama
pot.dat
Motla.erg
‘It wasn’t Motla who broke the pot, but me’

tsitspou,
break.pv:neg

ntse
neg

le
but

tluosna
instead

im`a
1serg

In addition, clitic pronouns cannot be coordinated, so full pronouns are required in coordinated noun phrases,
as in the following examples. In (5.87) and (5.88), ‘Sakial and I’ functions as the ergative argument of the
clause; while in (5.89), ‘you and me’ carries instrumental case marking. As these examples show, when a
pronoun is coordinated with a non-pronominal noun phrase, the pronoun occurs second and carries the case
marking for the expression as a whole, while the non-pronominal appears in its unmarked form. When two
pronouns are coordinated, the second one again carries the case marking, while the ﬁrst one appears in
the nominative (e.g., koi in (5.89)), which is the default form for pronouns. Notice that coordinated noun
phrases trigger plural agreement on the verb.

im`a
(5.87) Sakial
Sakial
1serg
‘Sakial and I visited our daughter’

so
13rdat

ka
and

napehe
daughter.nom

tsulyit
visit.pv.pl

(5.88) Ne

Sakial
3anom
Sakial
‘Sakial and I visited her’

ka
and

im`a
1serg

tsulyine
visit.pv.epl

(5.89) Sakialna

ka
Sakial.loc
and
‘Sakial would like to speak with you and me’

koi
2snom

imem
1sinst

etsampuhike
speak.want.cond

In the examples below, a coordinated noun phrase is dislocated: it functions as a preposed switch-reference
topic in the ﬁrst sentence and as a postposed argument (added as an afterthought) in the second sentence.
Here, all conjoined pronouns take the nominative form, while full noun phrases again occur in their unmarked
form. Notice how the coordinated noun phrase is doubled by a ﬁrst person exclusive resumptive clitic in the
ﬁrst example, and by a ﬁrst person inclusive resumptive clitic in the second example.

5.4. CLITIC PRONOUNS

aunme,
(5.90) Sakial
Sakial
if.inst
‘(As for) Sakial and I, we will visit our daughter’

man
1snom

sa
13erg

napehe
daughter.nom

ka
and

tsulat
visit.ipv.pl

(5.91) Nkima

tsuli
3anom.12erg
visit.dep:sbj
‘We should visit her tomorrow morning, you and I’

elohfoi
tomorrow

kotsim
morning

lehuane,
should.ipv.epl

koi
2snom

ka
and

man
1snom

In complex sentences, the full form of a third person pronoun is sometimes used to emphasize that its referent
is distinct from the topic of the preceding clause. Compare the examples below. Like its English counterpart,
(5.92) is ambiguous: the embedded clitic na could refer to Sakial, or it could refer to some other individual
not mentioned in the sentence (the ﬁrst reading being the preferred one). By contrast, (5.93), where na has
been replaced by the full form in`a, strongly favours the reading where Sakial believes that somebody other
than himself will succeed.

(5.92) Sakialna

opa
Sakial.loc
believe.ipv
‘Sakial believes that he will succeed’

na
3aerg

oke
going:to

est`a
succeed.dep.nom

(5.93) Sakialna

oke
Sakial.loc
going:to
‘Sakial believes that he/she will succeed’ or ‘… that that person will succeed’

est`a
succeed.dep.nom

opa
believe.ipv

in`a
3aserg

The examples below show a similar contrast, but with the pronouns appearing inside a larger noun phrase
to mark the possessor. In the ﬁrst sentence, where the possessive pronoun takes the form of a (realis dative)
clitic, it is understood that Sakial believes that his own father will kill the goat; while in the second sentence,
where the possessor is a full pronoun (in the ablative case), it is understood that Sakial believes that the
father of some other individual, not mentioned in the sentence, will kill the goat.

(5.94) Sakialna

opa
believe.ipv

no
3ardat

ahtema
father.erg

tiakoi
goat.dat

oke
going:to

tah`a
kill.dep.nom

Sakial.loc
‘Sakial believes that his (own) father will kill the goat’

(5.95) Sakialna

opa
believe.ipv

in`o
3asabl

ahtema
father.erg

tiakoi
goat.dat

oke
going:to

tah`a
kill.dep.nom

Sakial.loc
‘Sakial believes that his/her father will kill the goat’
or ‘Sakial believes that that person’s father will kill the goat’

Finally, note that clitic pronouns may not occur as arguments of a participant nominal (see
10.6 for dis-
cussion). This is because clitics and clitic clusters must appear in the topic position of the clause, and
participant nominal phrases lack such a position. Compare the examples below. The ﬁrst example is a main
clause in which the ﬁrst person singular actor is expressed by the ergative clitic ma. The second is a noun
phrase consisting of the participant nominal phrase im`a aiasal ‘(thing) which I ate; (thing) eaten by me’,
which modiﬁes the head noun homa ‘bread’. In the latter case the actor must take the form of the non-clitic
pronoun form im`a, even when it is not interpreted as contrastively focused.

(5.96) Ma

homai
bread.dat

iasyi
eat.pv

1serg
‘I ate the bread’

(5.97) im`a

aiasal
pv.eat.dep.dnzr

homa
bread

1serg
‘the bread that I ate’ or ‘the bread eaten by me’

CHAPTER 5. PRONOUNS

5.5 Omission of pronouns

Pronouns in Okuna always have speciﬁc referents: there are no pronoun forms corresponding to English
‘one’ or impersonal ‘you’. To express an indeterminate or generic referent, the pronoun is simply omitted.
Compare the following pairs of sentences:

(5.98) Me

Tenmotlaie
Tenmotlai.dat

1snom
‘How do I get to Tenmotlai?’

mieme
where.inst

et`ıkin?
go.cond.qu

(5.99) Tenmotlaie

mieme
where.inst

et`ıkin?
go.cond.qu

Tenmotlai.dat
‘How does one get to Tenmotlai?’

lianka
iona
(5.100) Isena
13loc
snake
know.ipv
‘We know very well that Sakial is afraid of snakes’

Sakialna
Sakial.loc

teusu
very:much

huetl`a
fear.dep.nom

(5.101) Teusu

iona
know.ipv

Sakialna
Sakial.loc

lianka
snake

huetl`a
fear.dep.nom

very:much
‘One knows very well that Sakial is afraid of snakes’ or ‘It is well known that…’

In complex sentences, it is also possible to omit a third person clitic pronoun if it refers back to the topic of
the immediately preceding clause. For example, the sentences below are both grammatical under a reading
where Sakial said that he himself would ﬁx the roof.

(5.102) Sakialma

satlai
Sakial.erg
roof.dat
‘Sakial said that he would ﬁx the roof’

na
3aerg

etsyi
say.pv

tok`a
ﬁx.dep.nom

(5.103) Sakialma

Sakial.erg

etsyi
say.pv

satlai
roof.dat

tok`a
ﬁx.dep.nom

‘Sakial said that (he) would ﬁx the roof’

Sentence (5.103), where ne has been omitted, can also construed to mean ‘Sakial said that someone would
ﬁx the roof’ or ‘Sakial said that the roof would be ﬁxed’, where the identity of the one doing the ﬁxing is
simply left unspeciﬁed. The correct interpretation must be inferred from the context. To make the latter
meaning explicit, however, an indeﬁnite actor may be added to the embedded clause:

(5.104) Sakialma

Sakial.erg

etsyi
say.pv

satlai
roof.dat

miohma
someone.erg

tok`a
ﬁx.dep.nom

‘Sakial said that someone (or other) would ﬁx the roof’

Note that although a clitic pronoun may be left out under coreference with the topic of a preceding clause,
the number agreement on the verb may not be omitted. Consider the sentences below.
In (5.105), the
embedded verb toka ‘ﬁx’ carries plural inﬂection, in agreement with the clitic na, which bears the actor role
and refers back to the plural noun phrase Sakial ka Elimma in the previous clause. In (5.105), the verb
retains its plural inﬂection even though na has been omitted:

(5.105) Sakial
Sakial
‘Sakial and Elim said that they would ﬁx the roof’

Elimma
Elim.erg

etsyit
say.pv.pl

na
3aerg

satlai
roof.dat

ka
and

tokat`a
ﬁx.dep.pl.nom

5.5. OMISSION OF PRONOUNS

(5.106) Sakial
Sakial

ka
and

Elimma
Elim.erg

etsyit
say.pv.pl

satlai
roof.dat

tokat`a
ﬁx.dep.pl.nom

‘Sakial and Elim said that (they) would ﬁx the roof’

First and second person pronouns (both clitic and non-clitic) can also be left out when the fact that the
speaker or addressee is being referred to can be inferred from context. For example, whereas English speakers
would say ‘I don’t know’ in answer to a question, Okuna speakers will normally just say Miono (lit.
‘not
know’), rather than including the ﬁrst person pronoun: Iman miono. Likewise, when asked Kuo m`a tsuhkyin?
‘What happened to you?’, an Okuna speaker might answer Sakialma kahtyi (lit. ‘was hit by Sakial’), rather
than Mo Sakialma kahtyi (‘I was hit by Sakial’). The ﬁrst person topic can be omitted here since the context
provided by the question makes it clear that the speaker is talking about him/herself being hit.

One particularly common pattern is for second person clitics to be omitted in questions and commands:

(5.107) Huiloie

muke
close.cv

eskukeua
please.npl

window.nom
‘Please close the windows’

(5.108) M`a

what

is`ukan?
prg.do.ipv.qu

‘What are you doing?’ (lit. ‘What doing?’)

As in other situations where a pronominal topic is dropped, the verb retains its plural agreement. As the
examples below show, a second person plural topic will trigger the plural agreement sux -t on the verb
even when the pronoun itself is omitted:

(5.109) Huiloie

window.nom

muke
close.cv

eskukeuat
please.npl.pl

‘Please close the windows’ (said to more than one person)

(5.110) M`a

what

isukat
prg.do.ipv.pl

ne?
qu

‘What are you (pl) doing?’

Omitting ﬁrst and second person pronouns is always optional. The following sentences with overt pronouns
are also grammatical:

(5.111) Ko

huiloie
2erg
window.nom
‘Please close the windows’

muke
close.cv

eskukeua
please.npl

(5.112) Ko

2erg

m`a
what

isukat
prg.do.ipv.pl

ne?
qu

‘What are you (pl) doing?’

Finally, in cases of inalienable possession (e.g., body part possession or kinship relations), the noun phrase
headed by the body part or kin term may include a pronoun denoting the possessor (which typically takes
the form of a realis dative clitic). However, this pronoun is typically omitted when it corefers with the topic
of the clause. Compare the following pairs of sentences:

mo
(5.113) Mikalma
boy.erg
1srdat
‘The boy spoke to my mother’

ameme
mother.inst

etsampyi
speak.act.pv

CHAPTER 5. PRONOUNS

(5.114) Mikalma
boy.erg

ameme
mother.inst

etsampyi
speak.act.pv

‘The boy spoke to his (own) mother’ (lit. ‘The boy spoke to the mother’)

mo
(5.115) Mikalma
boy.erg
1srdat
‘The boy touched my arm’

nalhe
arm.nom

lalyi
touch.pv

(5.116) Mikalma
boy.erg

nalh
arm

lalyi
touch.pv

‘The boy touched his (own) arm’

5.6 Universal quantiﬁers

In this section I discuss the universal quantiﬁers, which resemble (non-clitic) personal pronouns with regard
to how they inﬂect for case. Universal quantiﬁers are used to form noun phrases expressing the totality of
some contextually determined set of entities. There are two sets of universal quantiﬁers: the collective
quantiﬁers, built from the root -mot, are usually translated ‘all’; while the distributive quantiﬁers, built
from the root -ket, correspond to ‘each’ or ‘every’.

The universal quantiﬁers do not inﬂect for case like regular nouns (or other quantiﬁers), but are instead
morphologically related to the plural pronouns. Also like pronouns, they express the person and animacy
features of the noun phrase. The di↵erent person/animacy forms are given below (in the nominative case):

13
12
2
3a
3i

samot
kimot
kumot
nemot
emot

‘all of us’
‘all of us’
‘all of you’
‘all of them; all of the…’
‘all of them; all of the…’

saket
kiket
kuket
nket
eket

‘each of us’
‘each of us’
‘each of you’
‘each of them; each of the…’
‘each of them; each of the…’

[exclusive]
[inclusive]

[animate]
[inanimate]

These elements can occur as quantiﬁer phrases by themselves, or they may be preceded by a quantiﬁed noun
or noun phrase in the unmarked form. When a third person quantiﬁer takes a quantiﬁed noun, the two must
agree in animacy. Examples:

emot
nket
ispaka nket
mo suhpa nket
ispaka samot
palahta eket
sane kotu emot

‘all, everything; all of them/those’
‘everyone; each person; each of them’
‘each/every student, each of the students’
‘each of my brothers’
‘all of us students’
‘each/every tree, each of the trees’
‘all (of) the red houses’

The universal quantiﬁers are always the ﬁnal element in the noun phrase. They occupy the same position as
5.3.2, and are in fact mutually exclusive with them. Like the demonstratives,
the demonstratives discussed in
the universal quantiﬁers can co-occur with the deictic particles mentioned in
5.3.2. These particles precede
the quantiﬁed noun, if any: e.g., tsi emot ‘all of these (things)’, ke halma eket ‘each of these books’, olh
palahta emot ‘all of those trees (over there)’.

As the rightmost element in the noun phrase, it is the universal quantiﬁer which carries the case marking
for that phrase (cf.
4.2). The following tables give the case declensions for the collective and distributive
quantiﬁers. Notice that, like pronouns, the universal quantiﬁers distinguish two forms of the dative, realis
and irrealis (see

5.3.3).

5.6. UNIVERSAL QUANTIFIERS

nom samot
asmot
dat
usmot
rdat
erg ismot
loc
all
abl
inst

ismuna
ismone
ismou
ismume

nom saket
asket
dat
usket
rdat
erg isket
loc
all
abl
inst

iskina
iskene
iskeu
iskyime

12
kimot
akimot
ukimot
ikimot
ikimuna
ikimone
ikimou
ikimume

12
kiket
akiket
ukiket
ikiket
ikikina
ikikene
ikikeu
ikikyime

2
kumot
akumot
ukumot
ikumot
ikumuna
ikumone
ikumou
ikumume

2
kuket
akuket
ukuket
ikuket
ikukina
ikukene
ikukeu
ikukyime

3a
nemot
anmot
unmot
inmot
inmuna
inmone
inmou
inmume

3a
nket
anket
unket
inket
inkina
inkene
inkeu
inkyime

3i
emot
amot
umot
imot
imuna
imone
imou
imume

3i
eket
aket
uket
iket
ikina
ikene
ikeu
ikyime

Phrases headed by the universal quantiﬁers are grammatically plural. As the following examples show, they
trigger plural agreement on the verb when functioning as core arguments (nominative, dative, or ergative):

(5.117) Nemot

etskanyit
arrive.pv.pl

3a:all:nom
‘They all arrived’ or ‘All of them arrived’

(5.118) Na

olh
dist

halma
3aerg
book
‘She has read each of those books’

uket
3i:each:rdat

utalama
pf.read.ipv.dpl

The collective quantiﬁers (with -mot) tend to be used when the noun phrase refers to a group of individuals
taken together as a unit; otherwise, the distributive quantiﬁers (with -ket) are used. For example, Iha
nemot etskanyit ‘All the women arrived’ strongly implies that the women arrived together, at the same
time, whereas Iha nket etskanyit ‘Each woman arrived’ tends to imply that the women arrived separately.
Consider also the following examples: (5.119) entails that Sakial saw the houses all at once, that they all
came into view at more or less the same time; whereas (5.120) could be used if Sakial saw the houses one
by one, each in a di↵erent place and at a di↵erent time.

(5.119) Sakiail

kotu
house

emot
3i:all:nom

kilyia
see.pv.npl

Sakial.dat
‘Sakial saw all the houses’

(5.120) Sakiail

kotu
house

eket
3i:each:nom

kilyia
see.pv.npl

Sakial.dat
‘Sakial saw each house’ or ‘Sakial saw each of the houses’

The di↵erence between the distributive and collective forms is brought out when the universal quantiﬁer
scopes over another quantiﬁed noun phrase. Compare:

(5.121) Olh
dist

kotu
house

ikina
3i:each:loc

koin
person

ihtahma
six.erg

tsuhpane
live.ipv.epl

‘Each of those houses has six people living in it’ (i.e., there are six people in each house)

CHAPTER 5. PRONOUNS

(5.122) Olh
dist

kotu
house

imuna
3i:each:loc

koin
person

ihtahma
six.erg

tsuhpane
live.ipv.epl

‘In all those houses there are six people living’ (i.e., there are a total of six people)

The distributive quantiﬁers are sometimes accompanied by the particle la ‘in turn, apiece, separately, in-
dividually’. This particle precedes the verb, or a numeral within the scope of the quantiﬁer, and further
emphasizes the distributivity of the event. Likewise, the collective quantiﬁers may co-occur with the particle
kele ‘together, a total of’.

(5.123) Pyi

nket
3a:each:nom

la
in:turn

etskanyit
arrive.pv.pl

child
‘The children each arrived in turn’

(5.124) Pyi

nemot
3a:all:nom

kele
together

etskanyit
arrive.pv.pl

child
‘The children all arrived together’

(5.125) Pyi

child

inket
3a:each:erg

halma
book

la
apiece

kiain
ﬁve.dat

utalamat
pf.read.dpl.pl

‘The children each read ﬁve books’ or ‘The children read ﬁve books each/apiece’

(5.126) Pyi

child

inmot
3a:all:erg

halma
book

kele
all:together

kiain
ﬁve.dat

utalamat
pf.read.dpl.pl

‘The children read ﬁve books all together’ or ‘The children (together) read a total of ﬁve books’

Note that Okuna does not have a dual quantiﬁer equivalent to English ‘both’. Instead, a universal quantiﬁer is
used in combination with hen ‘two’ (e.g., hen kimot ‘both of us, the two of us together’). Alternatively, ‘both’
may be expressed with the emphatic word tsanie (lit. ‘couple, pair’), but only for objects which naturally go
together as a pair, such as body parts (e.g., kus tsanie ‘both feet, both of one’s feet’). Additional examples:

(5.127) Iha

woman

hen
two

nemot
3a:all:nom

afyit
take:part.pv.pl

‘Both (of the) women took part’ (lit. ‘All two women…’)

(5.128) Na

kop`o
pot.nom

tem
3aerg
hand
‘He had to use both hands to lift the pot’
more lit. ‘For him to lift the pot, a pair of hands needed to be used’

nyipoksanka
use.must.ipv:pst

tiyiseia
lift.dep:sbj.all

tsanie
pair

Besides the forms listed above, the element -mot occurs in the modiﬁer tsakamot ‘all kinds (of)’ (e.g.,
tsakamot iase ‘all kinds of food’). The -ket and -mot elements also form the basis for the adverbials listed
below: those formed with e- quantify over separate events or situations, while those formed with ka- quantify
over iterations of a single event.

ekina
emuna

‘each time, in every case, on every occasion’
‘always, in all cases, on all occasions’

kakyime
kamume

‘each time, at each repetition’
‘invariably, consistently, with every repetition’

Adverbials formed with e- can combine with a noun denoting the period of time being quantiﬁed over: e.g.,
kotsim ekina ‘every morning’, kotsim emuna ‘always in the morning’.

Chapter 6

The Noun Phrase

6.1 Introduction

In chapter 4 I discussed the structure and distribution of noun phrases with regard to case marking and
argument structure, while in chapter 5 I considered a particular subclass of noun phrases, namely pronouns.
In this chapter, turn to other aspects of the structure of noun phrases.

6.2 and

I begin in

these features are associated with noun phrases in many languages. Then in
noun compounds.
which correspond in certain respects to prepositions and postpositions in other languages. In
possession is marked in noun phrases.
elements called correlatives. Quantiﬁcation is discussed further in
of word order within noun phrases.

6.3 by considering how number and deﬁniteness are expressed in Okuna, since
6.4 I discuss the formation of
6.5 deals with a special class of compounds, headed by so-called relational nouns,
6.6 I show how
6.7 deals with a particular class of quantiﬁcational and demonstrative
6.9 I give an overview

6.8. Finally, in

6.2 Expressing number features

As noted elsewhere, nouns in Okuna do not inﬂect for singular or plural: pyi means either ‘child’ or ‘children’,
and kotu means either ‘house’ or ‘houses’, depending on the situation in which it is used. Nevertheless, there
are various grammatical means whereby the number features of a noun are expressed indirectly. I review
some of these below.

In some cases the noun will co-occur with some other element in the noun phrase which speciﬁes its
number, such as a quantiﬁer: e.g., es kotu ‘a house, one house’, kotu ehte ‘three houses’, kotu emot ‘all the
houses’. Also, as discussed in
5.3.2, a noun may be followed by a third person pronoun which agrees with
it in gender (animate vs. inanimate) and functions much like a demonstrative determiner. Since (non-clitic)
pronouns have distinct singular and plural forms, the choice of pronoun will specify whether the noun phrase
as a whole is singular or plural, even though the noun itself is not marked for number. Number marking also
appears on a handful of other modiﬁers, discussed in
6.8.5, when they occur at the right edge of the noun
§
phrase; these include the words for ‘other’ or ‘else’ (singular iap, plural iahte) and ‘speciﬁc’ or ‘particular’
(singular koipe, plural koihte):

ike nan
ike nin

‘that dog’
‘those dogs’

kotu itan
kotu itena

‘in that house’
‘in those houses’

kotu iap
es kotu iap
es kotu koipe

‘the other house’
‘another house’
‘a particular house’

kotu iahte
kotu mian iahte
kotu koihte

‘(the) other houses’
‘some other houses’
‘particular houses’

100

CHAPTER 6. THE NOUN PHRASE

When the noun phrase does not contain one of these number-specifying elements, and appears in one of the
oblique cases (locative, allative, ablative, instrumental) or is unmarked for case, its number must usually be
inferred from context. Consider the nouns halma and kamala in the following examples:

(6.1) Ma

halma
book

itala
1serg
prg.read.ipv
‘I am reading a book’ or ‘I am reading books’

(6.2) Ma

1serg

kamala
knife.all

ikpiha
prg.look:for.ipv

‘I am looking for a knife’ or ‘I am looking for (some) knives’

If it is necessary to disambiguate number in these contexts, a quantiﬁer such as es ‘one’, miante ‘a number
of’, ante ‘many’, or sepyi ‘some, a few’ may be added to an oblique noun phrase, as shown below (this
cannot be done with unmarked noun phrases, which express non-referential or unquantiﬁed arguments):

(6.3) Ma

es
one

kamala
knife.all

ikpiha
prg.look:for.ipv

1serg
‘I am looking for a knife’

(6.4) Ma

kamal
knife

sepyia
some.all

ikpiha
prg.look:for.ipv

1serg
‘I am looking for some knives’

When a noun phrase functions as a core argument of a verb (nominative, dative, or ergative), whether it is
singular or plural can usually be determined by looking at the form of the verb. If the argument is singular
the verb is unmarked, and if it is plural the verb carries the appropriate plural agreement sux. This is
illustrated below, where the nominative plural sux -a in (6.6) indicates that kot`o has a plural referent,
while the absence of an agreement sux indicates that kot`o is singular. Plural agreement is discussed in
detail in

7.2.

§
(6.5) Mo

1srdat

kot`o
house.nom

kilyi
see.pv

‘I saw a/the house’

(6.6) Mo

1srdat

kot`o
house.nom

kilyia
see.pv.npl

‘I saw (the) houses’

Although plurality is not marked on nouns in Okuna, there is morphology for forming collective nouns,
used to refer to a collection of similar individuals taken together. Most collective nouns are formed by
adding the sux -mit, discussed in
11.2.2 (e.g., iha ‘woman’ > ihamit ‘group of women’). There are
also two underived collective nouns: ten`u ‘group of people’ and lhati ‘group of children’ (notice these are
morphologically unrelated to the corresponding non-collective nouns, koin ‘person, human being’ and pyi
‘child’, which can be interpreted as either singular or plural). Note that, although collective nouns are not
genuine plurals, collective nouns referring to people, such as ten`u and lhati, take the plural form of the
demonstrative: e.g., koin nan ‘that person’ versus ten`u nin ‘those people, that group of people’. Human-
denoting collective nouns also trigger plural agreement on verbs. Compare:

(6.7) Pyie

etskanyi
arrive.pv

child.nom
‘The child arrived’

6.2. EXPRESSING NUMBER FEATURES

101

(6.8) Pyie

etskanyit
arrive.pv.pl

child.nom
‘The children arrived’

(6.9) Lhat`e

children.nom

etskanyit
arrive.pv.pl

‘The children arrived (together)’ or ‘The group of children arrived’

A limited number of nouns (mostly denoting body parts) also have dual collective forms, used to indicate
a pair of objects taken together. These dual forms, listed below, are characterized by the endings -(i)al and
-ie. The latter ending also occurs on the nouns mosie ‘shoulders, upper back’ and kamie ‘parents, mother
and father’, which lack a corresponding non-dual form.

ahkame
hunka
inna
kala
kus
monen
nalh
nol
sial
tem
tsan

‘sibling’
‘lung’
‘eye’
‘leg’
‘foot’
‘wing; ﬁn’
‘arm’
‘ear’
‘breast’
‘hand’
‘body, object’

ahkamie
hunkie
inie
kalial
kustial
monie
nalhal
nolal
sialie
temie
tsanie

‘pair of twins’
‘pair of lungs’
‘pair of eyes’
‘pair of legs’
‘pair of feet’
‘pair of wings/ﬁns’
‘pair of arms’
‘pair of ears’
‘pair of breasts’
‘pair of hands’
‘pair, couple, twosome’

Dual collective nouns trigger singular agreement when referring to a single pair of objects, and plural agree-
ment when referring to more than one pair: e.g., tlok tsanie tan ‘that pair of shoes’ versus tlok tsanie tin
‘those pairs of shoes’. (The exceptions to this rule are the animate nouns ahkamie and kamie, which trigger
plural agreement whether they refer to one set of twins/parents, or more than one.) Compare the examples
below, showing that no inie triggers singular agreement on the verb when it refers to the eyes of a single
individual (‘his/her eyes’), and plural agreement when it refers to the eyes of two or more individuals (‘their
eyes’).

(6.10) Ma

1serg

no
3ardat

ini`e
eyes.nom

ksonyi
look:at.pv

‘I looked into his/her eyes’

(6.11) Ma

no
3ardat
1serg
‘I looked into their eyes’

ini`e
eyes.nom

ksonyia
look:at.pv.npl

The dual collective form tsanie is generally used in combination with a preceding noun. Normally it cor-
responds to English ‘pair’ or ‘couple’, as in tlok tsanie ‘a pair of shoes’. However, when it is used with a
non-dual noun which has a dual collective counterpart (i.e., one of the nouns from the ﬁrst column in the
table above), it has the sense of English ‘both’: e.g., tem tsanie ‘both hands’, kus tsanie ‘both feet’.

A ﬁnal note on number: In English, generic expressions typically take the form of a bare plural.
In
Okuna, by contrast, generics are grammatically singular. This is shown in the example below by the fact
that the generic noun phrase ike ‘dog’ fails to trigger agreement on the verb (the singular form iasa is used
instead of the plural form iasat).

(6.12) Ikema

maka
dog.erg
meat
‘Dogs eat meat’

iasa
eat.ipv

102

CHAPTER 6. THE NOUN PHRASE

6.3 Expressing deﬁniteness and speciﬁcity

There are no deﬁnite or indeﬁnite articles in Okuna, or any other obligatory means for marking the deﬁnite-
ness or speciﬁcity of a noun phrase: tohmi kotu may mean ‘a big house’ or ‘the big house’ (or ‘big houses’,
or ‘the big houses’), depending on context. Nevertheless, as with singular versus plural, the deﬁniteness of
the noun phrase is often indicated in other ways. For example, certain elements may occur within the noun
phrase which force a deﬁnite or indeﬁnite interpretation—e.g., a noun phrase ending in a demonstrative (cf.
5.6) will always be deﬁnite, while a noun phrase containing the numeral
5.3.2) or a universal quantiﬁer (
§
§
es ‘one’ is necessarily indeﬁnite. Compare:

kotu
es kotu
kotu tan
kotu eket

‘a house, houses, the house(s)’
‘a house, one house’
‘this/that house’
‘every house’

[deﬁnite or indeﬁnite]
[indeﬁnite only]
[deﬁnite only]
[deﬁnite only]

In addition, the deﬁniteness/speciﬁcity of a noun phrase is often reﬂected through word order and case
marking. Noun phrases interpreted as indeﬁnite tend to be adjacent to the verb, while those interpreted
4.6, a noun phrase denoting the
as deﬁnite can scramble away from the verb. Moreover, as discussed in
patient or theme of an event is normally marked for case only if it is referential; otherwise it appears in the
unmarked form.

For instance, compare the examples below with regard to the interpretation of the noun iase ‘food’.
In (6.13) iase is marked for nominative case and is not adjacent to the verb. Here it is likely to refer to
some previously-mentioned quantity of food, identiﬁable by the addressee.
In (6.14) iase is again case-
marked, but occurs in immediate preverbal position. The most likely interpretation here is that it refers to
a speciﬁc quantity of food which has not been mentioned previously, but likely to be salient in the following
discourse. Finally, in (6.15) iase appears without any case marking. Here, either the speaker does not have
any particular food in mind, or the identity of the food is not important in the given context.

(6.13) Na

3aerg

ias`e
food.nom

ikei
dog.dat

uktiyi
give.pv

‘She gave the food to a/the dog’

(6.14) Na

ikei
dog.dat

ias`e
3aerg
food.nom
‘She gave the dog some food’

uktiyi
give.pv

(6.15) Na

ikei
dog.dat

iase
food

uktiyi
give.pv

3aerg
‘She gave the dog food’ or ‘She fed the dog’

Finally, note that even if an argument refers to a speciﬁc, known or identiﬁable entity, it will sometimes be
coded as non-speciﬁc—i.e., it will fail to trigger agreement or take case marking when functioning as a core
argument. For example, when an agent acts on a part of his/her own body, the body part term will normally
4.6 for
appear as an unmarked noun phrase, even though a particular body part is being referred to (see
discussion):

(6.16) Sakialma

Sakial.erg

inie
eyes

mukyi
close.pv

‘Sakial closed his eyes’ (lit. ‘Sakial closed eyes’)

In addition, a participant which is incidental to the discourse will often be encoded by an unmarked noun
phrase even if that participant is readily identiﬁable.
In the example below, aho ‘sun’ is semantically
deﬁnite/speciﬁc (the sun is a unique entity, known to both the speaker and the addressee) but nevertheless

6.4. COMPOUNDING AND MODIFICATION

103

grammatically non-speciﬁc (it functions as a core argument but does not take case marking). This is because
the entity named by the noun plays only a peripheral role in the event being described: the setting of the
sun provides a reference time for the action, but the sun, as an entity, is not otherwise important to the
narrative.

(6.17) Uta

aho
sun

ikahpanka
prg.go:down.ipv:pst

se
13nom

paloi
village.dat

already
‘The sun was already setting by the time we returned to the village’

anioktit
pv.return.pt.pl

6.4 Compounding and modiﬁcation

Okuna has productive noun compounding. Subject to semantic appropriateness, any two or more nouns may
be concatenated to form a single complex noun. As in English, compounds in Okuna are head-ﬁnal: the
modifying noun precedes the noun it modiﬁes. Examples: ilme lai ‘moonlight’ (< ilme ‘moon’ + lai ‘light’); tilas huiloi ‘glass window’, huiloi tilas ‘window glass, windowpane’ (< tilas ‘glass’ + huiloi ‘window’). Notice that the elements of the compound are written as separate words, indicating that they behave independently 3.4). Compounds can contain more than two nouns as of one another with regard to stress assignment ( § well: (6.18) tuhsa winter ‘winter hearth song’ mohkauat hearth:ﬁre uhin song When a noun compound is inﬂected for case, the case ending appears on the head, while the modifying noun occurs in the unmarked form: (6.19) ilme laina light.loc moon ‘in the moonlight’ Compounding is one of the principal means of modifying a noun in Okuna, which lacks a morpho-syntactically distinct class of adjectives. States and properties are instead expressed using verbs (e.g., pata ‘be tall’, eka ‘be empty’). Such verbs may be converted into nouns, which can then enter into compounds as modiﬁers of other nouns. For example, the verb pata ‘be tall’ can be converted into the noun pate, meaning ‘tall one’ or ‘thing which is tall’. This nominal can then be placed in front of another noun to modify it: e.g., pate kotu ‘tall house’. For more discussion on the formation of nouns from verbs, and the use of deverbal nouns to modify other nouns, see 10.6 on participant nominalization. A handful of elements routinely occur as the modiﬁer in a noun compound. These include colour terms such as sane ‘red, red thing’ (sane esip ‘red ﬂower’); as well as modiﬁers formed with tsaka ‘kind, type, sort’—e.g., mitsaka ‘what kind of, some kind of’, tlotsaka ‘that kind of, such a’, antsaka ‘many kinds of, various’, and tsakamot ‘all kinds of’: § mitsaka tlama tlotsaka tlama antsaka tlama tsakamot tlama ‘what kind of animal?’, ‘some kind of animal’ ‘that kind of animal, such an animal, an animal like that’ ‘various animals, many kinds of animals’ ‘all kinds of animals, animals of every sort’ Compounds involving relational nouns are discussed in the following section. 6.5 Relational nouns In English, spatial and temporal relationships between objects or events are generally encoded by preposi- 11.4.3), or by tions. In Okuna, these same relationships are expressed by case endings, by motion verbs ( § 104 CHAPTER 6. THE NOUN PHRASE one or both of these in combination with a class of elements called relational nouns. Relational nouns indicate a location, direction, or position, and combine with a preceding noun or noun phrase (the comple- ment) to form a kind of compound. Relational nouns normally inﬂect for dative case or one of the oblique cases. For example, equivalents of English ‘in(to) the room’, ‘out of the room’, and ‘through the room’ may all be conveyed by the expression halu him, literally ‘room interior’, with the relational noun him ‘interior’ carrying the appropriate case ending: halu heim halu himna halu himu halu himme (room interior.dat) (room interior.loc) (room interior.abl) (room interior.inst) ‘into the room’ ‘in the room’ ‘out of the room, from inside the room’ ‘through the room’ Concerning the last form: as discussed in 4.5.4, instrumental case is used to mark noun phrases denoting an object or location which lies along a path. Hence halu himme might be translated more literally as ‘via the inside of the room’ or ‘by way of the room’s interior’. § Compare also the following four sentences, featuring the relational expression im`e kotu lul ‘under my house’ in various case forms. Here the relational noun is lul ‘underside, space beneath’, which takes im`e kotu ‘my house’ as its complement. (6.20) Ikema im`e 1sall kotu house lulna under.loc imuelha prg.sleep.ipv dog.erg ‘The dog is sleeping under my house’ (lit. ‘at my house underside’) (6.21) Ik`e etyi dog.nom go.pv ‘The dog went under my house’ [and stayed there] (lit. ‘to my house underside’) loil under.dat im`e 1sall kotu house (6.22) Ik`e im`e 1sall kotu house lulme under.inst klohyi go:through.pv dog.nom ‘The dog went under my house’ [and came out the other side] (lit. ‘through my house underside’) (6.23) Ik`e im`e 1sall kotu house lulu under.abl sehtyi emerge.pv dog.nom ‘The dog came out from under my house’ (lit. ‘from my house underside’) In the examples above, the complement (e.g., halu, im`e kotu) appears in the unmarked form. This is the usual pattern, although it is also possible for the complement to be marked for ablative case. Ablative case marking is required when the complement does not have an unmarked case form—i.e., when it is a pronoun, a noun phrase ending in a pronoun used as a demonstrative (see 5.3.2), or a noun phrase ending in a universal quantiﬁer ( § 5.6). § halou himna halu imou himna halu it`o himna it`o himna (room.abl interior.loc) (room all.abl interior.loc) (room that:abl interior.loc) (it:abl interior.loc) ‘inside (of) the room’ ‘inside all the rooms’ ‘inside that room’ ‘inside it/that, in there’ Some common relational nouns are listed below: ampio elhko epam heku hilul him himpi`a ihfo ‘area around/surrounding, perimeter’ ‘purpose, beneﬁt’ ‘horizontal surface, top’ [non-permeable] ‘cause, account’ ‘bottom [of an enclosed space], ﬂoor, bed’ ‘inside, interior; indoors’ ‘top [of an enclosed space], ceiling, roof’ ‘other side, area behind/obscured by’ 6.5. RELATIONAL NOUNS 105 iontsu is kam kasu kufu kuma kumuten kus kutsmu lama lul minap mok nyhui ohpe pahai palul piau talhko tiumen us uslaut ute yhma ynal ypi`a ‘centre, middle, midst’ ‘time/place after, time/place following’ ‘time/place before, time/place preceding’ ‘side, vertical or sloping surface; area beside’ ‘area between/among, midst’ ‘front, area in front’ ‘opposite side, area facing, area across (from)’ ‘foot, base, bottom’ ‘back, area behind’ ‘area far away, (at a) distance’ ‘area below/under’ ‘deep interior, centre, midst [of an enclosed space]’ ‘middle, centre, heart’ ‘horizontal surface’ [permeable, as of a body of water] ‘cause, reason’ ‘area beyond’ ‘underside, bottom [exterior]’ ‘top, summit, pinnacle, zenith, highest point’ ‘cause, reason’ ‘bottom, depths, nadir, lowest point’ ‘place, seat, stead’ ‘edge, boundary, horizon, starting or ending point’ ‘area nearby/close, vicinity, immediate environs’ ‘outside, exterior; outdoors’ ‘area in front of, this side of’ ‘area above/over’ Some relational nouns also have non-relational meanings. For instance, mok means ‘hearth’ (or ‘family’), while other nouns denote parts of the body: e.g., kuma ‘face’, kus ‘foot’, kutsmu ‘back, spine’, minap ‘bone marrow’. Whether these nouns are being used literally or as relational terms can usually be inferred from the form of the complement. When a body part noun takes a pronominal possessor, the latter normally takes the form of a realis dative clitic; by contrast, the pronominal complement of a relational noun must be in the ablative case (cf. mo kumana ‘on my face’ versus im`o kumana ‘in front of me’). When a body part noun takes a non-pronominal possessor, the possessor appears in the locative case, whereas non-pronominal complements of relational nouns are normally unmarked for case (Sakialna kutsmuna ‘on Sakial’s back/spine’ versus Sakial kutsmuna ‘behind Sakial’). Additional examples of noun phrases containing relational nouns are given below (note also the expression nyhui lulna ‘under water, under the surface’, where the relational noun lul ‘area underneath’ takes another relational noun nyhui ‘surface [of a body of water]’ as its complement): ikimu kumana im`o kasuna kotu kutsmou kotu yhmau loka minapa mo huan himpiahna moin tiumenna mok lamana olh tonaka it`o utena palu iontsuna tokunu nyhuina tokunu nyhueia ‘in front of us’ ‘next to me, at my side’ ‘from behind the house’ ‘from outside the house’ ‘towards the heart of the forest’ ‘on the roof of my mouth’ ‘in the depths of the ocean’ ‘far from home’ ‘near that boulder’ ‘in the middle of the village’ ‘on the surface of the lake’ ‘towards the surface of the lake’ 106 CHAPTER 6. THE NOUN PHRASE Relational nouns are further illustrated in the following sentences: (6.24) Halma book tin those:nom totsat table epamna top.loc itimat prg.lie.ipv.pl ‘Those books are lying on (top of) the table’ (6.25) Mo kilyi see.pv es one hanima fox.erg palahta tree 1srdat ‘I saw a fox sleeping at the foot of the tree’ kusna foot.loc imuelh`a prg.sleep.dep.nom (6.26) Palu ampiona around.loc siyhu village ﬁeld ‘There are many ﬁelds surrounding the village’ he be:ipv ante many tene (6.27) Isane 13all hill ‘Our village lies between the hills and the river’ pal`o village.nom sihkunu river ka and kufuna between.loc tima lie.ipv (6.28) Ne loka forest pahaie beyond.dat 3anom ‘They rode beyond the forest’ puite ride.cv etyit go.pv.pl (6.29) Pil`a bird.nom palahta tree ypiahme above.inst uaste ﬂy.cv tlisyi traverse.pv ‘The bird ﬂew over the tree’ (lit. ‘via the area above the tree’) Note that in addition to expressing a relation of spatial inclusion, him ‘interior’ can take a complement denoting a period of time to express a relation of temporal inclusion (‘while, during’): e.g., tuhsa himna ‘during the winter’. When denoting a temporal relation, him can also take as its complement a dependent clause denoting an event (see 10.2 on dependent verbs): § (6.30) Sakialma Sakial.erg imuelha prg.sleep.dep himna inside.loc ‘while Sakial is/was sleeping’ Although most relational nouns express spatial or temporal relations, a few express more abstract relations. The noun elhko ‘purpose, beneﬁt’ can take allative case marking to express ‘for the beneﬁt/purpose of’. Both ohpe and talhko, meaning ‘cause’ or ‘reason’, take ablative case inﬂection to express ‘because of, on account of’. Heku takes locative case to express ‘given’ or ‘on account of’. Finally, us ‘place, seat, stead’ inﬂects for locative case to express ‘instead of’. (6.31) Na 3aerg tiefu only im`o 1sabl elhkoua beneﬁt.all sukyi do.pv ‘He did (it) just for me’ (lit. ‘only for my beneﬁt’) (6.32) Me mokna home.loc muohfe heavy.tnzr 1snom ‘I stayed home on account of the heavy rain’ s`u rain hekuna account.loc tehyi stay.pv (6.33) Ikimme 12inst ‘Sakial will be coming with us instead of Elim’ iafa prg.come:along.ipv Sakiale Sakial.nom Elim Elim usna stead.loc 6.5. RELATIONAL NOUNS 107 Note also pahai ‘area beyond’, which, when inﬂected for locative case, can either express a spatial relation (e.g., tomla pahaina ‘beyond the mountains’) or be used in a more abstract sense, equivalent to ‘besides, apart from, other than, except for’: ntsemi`o (6.34) Sakial Sakial nobody:nom ‘Nobody except Sakial came along’ pahaina beyond.loc afou come:along.pv:neg (6.35) Sakial Sakial pahaina beyond.loc las only hen two:nom afyia come:along.pv.npl ‘Besides Sakial, only two (people) came along’ Elhkoua, ohpeu, talhkou, hekuna, usna, and pahaina can also take dependent clause complements ( 10.2). Elhkoua and usna take subjunctive dependent clauses as their complements, while ohpeu, talhkou, and hekuna normally take indicative complements. Pahaina can take either an indicative or a subjunctive complement. Note that in combination with a dependent clause complement, hekuna expresses a presupposed event: this event can provide a temporal reference point for some other event, in which case hekuna is equivalent to ‘when’. Alternatively, a hekuna clause can express the cause or rationale for another event, in which case hekuna corresponds to ‘since, given that, inasmuch as, on account of the fact that’. § (6.36) imi tlelhi ﬁnd.dep:sbj elhkoua purpose.all 3inom.1sdat ‘in order for me to ﬁnd it’ (6.37) me hial`o today suke work.cv tsuo too 1snom ‘because I’m too sick to work today’ amouta rel.sick.dep talhkou cause.abl (6.38) s`u ikahpa prg.fall.dep hekuna account.loc rain ‘on account of the fact that it’s raining’ or ‘when it’s raining’ (6.39) satlai toki ﬁx.dep:sbj usna stead.loc roof.dat ‘instead of ﬁxing the roof’ (6.40) Sakialma satlai roof.dat toki ﬁx.dep:sbj usna, stead.loc na 3aerg lakiyi hunt.pv Sakial.erg ‘Instead of ﬁxing the roof, Sakial went hunting’ more lit. ‘Instead of Sakial ﬁxing the roof, he went hunting’ (6.41) Sakialma pahaina, Sakial.erg beyond.loc ‘Besides ﬁxing the roof, Sakial went hunting’ satlai roof.dat toka ﬁx.dep na 3aerg lakiyi hunt.pv Also included among the relational nouns are the terms for the cardinal directions, and sets of terms denoting directions relative to some deictic reference point (viz., the speaker, or some prominent topographical feature near the speaker):1 1Notice that the Okuna recognize six cardinal directions, rather than the four familiar from our compass. The English equivalents given for iseut, kotsimot, kosetot, and sukuot are only approximate. 108 CHAPTER 6. THE NOUN PHRASE heut iseut kotsimot ahopiaut kosetot sukuot sihafaut sihkasout sihitaut usihot ilalot uelalot ‘north’ ‘northeast’ ‘east / southeast’ ‘south’ ‘west / southwest’ ‘northwest’ (lit. ‘snow direction’) (lit. ‘morning direction’) (lit. ‘sun zenith direction’) (lit. ‘evening direction’) (lit. ‘wind direction’) eklion etlen ‘left’ ‘right’ ‘upstream’ ‘downstream’ ‘towards the river’ ‘away from the river’ ‘towards the shore’ ‘away from shore’ Examples: (6.42) Sa tiesatu town.abl heuta north.all 13erg ‘We travelled north from the village’ puniakyit travel.pv.pl (6.43) Na tene hill ekau 3aerg here.abl ‘They live to the west of the hills (and) upstream from here’ sihkasoutna upstream.loc kosetotna west.loc tsuhpat live.ipv.pl To indicate spatio-temporal proximity or immediacy (corresponding to English ‘right, just, directly, imme- diately’), the diminutive preﬁx ki- (or kih- before a vowel) may be added to the relational noun: iseu kihypiahna kotu kikasuna hitol kiheklionna tuhsa kikamna na uslata kihisna ‘right above us’ ‘right next to the house’ ‘just to the left of the door’ ‘immediately before winter’ ‘just after they ﬁnish(ed)’ Likewise, to indicate spatio-temporal distance, the relational noun may carry the augmentative preﬁx to- (toh- before a vowel): iseu tohypiahna ekau tolamana tuhsa tokamna ne nkilha tohisna ‘far above us’ ‘very far away from here’ ‘long before winter’ ‘long after she left’ Note ﬁnally that relational nouns sometimes occur alone, without a noun phrase complement. For instance, himna and yhmana may be used by themselves to mean ‘inside, indoors’ and ‘outside, outdoors’, respectively. Without a complement, kufuna ‘between/among’ has the sense of ‘all over the place’ or ‘here and there’: (6.44) Kufuna toilhe stand:res.tnzr koin person ante many ikanka prg.be:here.ipv:pst among.loc ‘There were a lot of people here standing all around’ The following ﬁxed expressions feature repetition of a relational noun, with the second copy marked for case: heku hekuna kasu kasoua kasu kasume kufu kufuna kuma kumana ‘from time to time, now and then’ ‘from side to side’ ‘side by side, abreast, in tandem, next to one another’ ‘all around, here and there’ ‘face to face, facing one another’ 6.5. RELATIONAL NOUNS 109 (6.45) Ne kasu side kasume side.inst itoilhankat prg.stand:res.ipv:pst.pl 3anom ‘They were standing side by side’ Notes on certain relational noun contrasts In order to express physical contact with a surface, di↵erent relational nouns are used depending on the nature of the surface: kasu is used for vertical and sloping surfaces, while epam is used for (solid) horizontal surfaces, and nyhui for the surface of a body of water. These nouns appear in the locative case to denote a location (‘on’), dative case to denote an endpoint (‘onto’), and ablative case to denote a source or starting point (‘o↵ of’). Compare: totsat epamna totsat epaim totsat epamu ‘on (top of) the table’ ‘onto the table’ ‘o↵ (of) the table’ malo kasuna malo kasoi malo kasou satla kasuna satla kasoi satla kasou ‘on the wall’ ‘onto the wall’ ‘o↵ (of) the wall’ ‘on the roof’ ‘onto the roof’ ‘o↵ (of) the roof’ tokunu nyhuina tokunu nyhuei tokunu nyhueu ‘on (the surface of) the lake’ ‘onto (the surface of) the lake’ ‘o↵ of (the surface of) the lake’ Kasu can also have the sense of English ‘beside’ or ‘next to’, especially when used with a complement noun that does not denote a vertical or sloping surface. Alternatively, ‘beside’ or ‘next to’ can be expressed with the relational noun ute (literally ‘near(by)’). moiha kasuna moiha utena palahta kasuna ‘beside the girl, next to the girl’ ‘next to the girl’ or ‘near the girl’ ‘on (the side of) the tree’ or ‘beside the tree’ There are two pairs of relational nouns which correspond to English ‘top’ and ‘bottom’. The nouns epam ‘top’ and palul ‘bottom, underside’ are used to refer to the exterior surfaces of an object, while himpi`a ‘top, ceiling’ and hilul ‘bottom, ﬂoor’ refer to the inside surfaces of an object or areas of an enclosed space (such as a room or cave). Note the following contrast: akot lulna akot palulna akot hilulna ‘under the box’ ‘on the bottom/underside of the box’ ‘in/at the bottom of the box’ The noun piau ‘tip, summit’ can also used for ‘top’ when the complement refers to a vertically-oriented object that ends in a point, such as a tree or mountain: e.g., palahta piauna ‘at the top of the tree’. In addition, there are three pairs of relational nouns which correspond to English ‘before’ and ‘after’, or ‘in front (of)’ and ‘behind’, each with a slightly di↵erent sense. First, the terms kuma and kutsmu are used when the complement is an object with an inherent front and back, such as a person or a house: kumana indicates a position facing towards the front of the object, and kutsmuna indicates a position at the back of the object: e.g., talo kumana ‘in front of the chief, before the chief, in the chief’s presence’, versus talo kutsmuna ‘behind the chief, in back of the chief’. The terms kam and is may also be used of an object that has an identiﬁable front and back: kamna indicates a position in front of and facing away from the object, while isna indicates a position behind (and usually facing in the same direction as) the object, as when two or more objects are arranged in a 110 CHAPTER 6. THE NOUN PHRASE line, all facing the same direction: e.g., iha kamna ‘in front of [and facing away from] the woman’, iha isna ‘behind/after the woman’. More often, kamna and isna are used of objects, time periods, or events occurring in a sequence to indicate relative positions in that sequence: e.g., halai kamna ‘before the summer’, halai isna ‘after the summer’. Additional examples are given below (note the use of kamna and isna with dependent clauses denoting events; cf. 10.2): § (6.46) Kale im`o man.nom 1sabl ‘The man arrived before me’ kamna before.loc (6.47) Kale etskanyi man.nom arrive.pv ‘The man arrived before I left’ me 1snom etskanyi arrive.pv ankilha pv.leave.dep kamna before.loc (6.48) Kale etskanyi arrive.pv me 1snom laisne just man.nom ‘The man arrived just after I had left’ unkilha pf.leave.dep isna after.loc Lastly, the terms ynal and ihfo are used of objects, such as trees and rocks, which do not have an identiﬁable front and back: ynalna means ‘before, in front of’ in the sense of ‘on the same side as’ (occluding), while ihfona means ‘behind’ in the sense of ‘on the other side of’ (occluded by): e.g., tonaka ynalna ‘in front of the boulder’, tonaka ihfona ‘behind the boulder’. (6.49) Ne olh dist palahta tree iteu those:abl ihfou behind.abl sehtyi emerge.pv 3anom ‘She came out from behind those trees’ 6.6 Possessive constructions A noun phrase denoting some entity can contain within it a smaller noun phrase which identiﬁes the possessor of that entity. I will refer to this smaller noun phrase as a possessive noun phrase. As in most head-ﬁnal languages, the possessive noun phrase precedes the possessed noun: e.g., suhpa ‘brother’, mo suhpa ‘my brother’, Sakialu suhpa ‘Sakial’s brother’. In 6.6.1 I discuss how the possessive noun phrase is case-marked, while 6.6.2 includes some remarks on the distribution of possessive pronouns. § § 6.6.1 Case marking the possessor In certain situations, a possessive pronoun may take the form of a realis dative clitic (see 5.4). Elsewhere, possessive noun phrases are marked with one of the oblique cases (locative, allative, ablative, or instrumental), according to the type of possession relation involved. § Realis dative clitics are used to express inalienable possession. In particular, they are used when the possessed noun denotes a part of the body (kuma ‘face’, kala ‘leg’, tsanmok ‘heart’, etc.), an inherent aspect or characteristic of the possessor (esian ‘name’, hasu ‘life’, alioin ‘age’, etc.), or a kinship or other a personal relationship (ahte ‘father’, pyi ‘child’, lihpa ‘sister’, kuna ‘friend’, ahkunan ‘companion, comrade’, etc.). Sample paradigms are given below. As discussed in 5.4, clitic pronouns distinguish person but not number; hence the second and third person clitic possessors may be interpreted as singular (e.g., ‘his/her’) or plural (e.g., ‘their’), depending on context. § mo inie so inie kimo inie kuo inie no inie ‘my eyes’ ‘our (excl) eyes’ ‘our (incl) eyes’ ‘your eyes’ ‘his/her/their eyes’ mo ame so ame kimo ame kuo ame no ame ‘my mother’ ‘our (excl) mother(s)’ ‘our (incl) mother(s)’ ‘your mother(s)’ ‘his/her mother; their mothers’ 6.6. POSSESSIVE CONSTRUCTIONS 111 When the possessor takes the form of a stressed (non-clitic) pronoun or a non-pronominal noun phrase, it appears in one of the oblique cases, where the choice of case depends on the nature of the relationship between the possessor and the possessed noun. When the possessed noun is a kinship term or other term denoting a personal relationship, the possessive noun phrase appears in the ablative case: im`o ame iseu es ahkunan Sakialu hotu (1sabl mother) (12abl one companion) (Sakial.abl maternal:uncle) ‘my mother’ (as opposed to someone else’s) ‘a companion of ours’ ‘Sakial’s maternal uncle’ Ablative case is also used when the possessee is a depictive noun like kietam ‘picture’ and the possessive noun phrase denotes the individual or object being depicted. In addition, ablative case is used when the possessed noun names a scalar property (e.g., atoihe ‘size’, alhoit ‘weight’, akuiset ‘length of time, duration’, etc.) and the possessive noun phrase denotes the object possessing that property. talou kietam kotou atoihe hynukialu akuiset (chief.abl picture) (house.abl size) (play.abl duration) ‘the picture of the chief’ ‘the size of the house’ ‘the duration of the play’ Ablative case may also be used when the possessive noun phrase denotes the creator of the object expressed by the possessed noun, or the initiator of the action expressed by the possessed noun, as illustrated below. Note that Sakialu sliahte speciﬁcally denotes a story invented or told by Sakial; to refer to a story about Sakial or otherwise associated with him, the allative case would be used in place of the ablative (Sakiala sliahte). Likewise, ihau kytu refers to a gift given by the woman; allative case would be used if the woman was the (intended) recipient of the gift (ihaua kytu). Elimu suklut lhateu aleut Sakialu sliahte ihau kytu (Elim.abl work) (children.abl help) (Sakial.abl story) (woman.abl gift) ‘Elim’s work’ ‘the help of/from the children’ ‘Sakial’s story’ ‘the woman’s gift’ Finally, the possessor takes the ablative case in partitive constructions—that is, when the ‘possessed’ noun is a quantiﬁer or an expression denoting a subpart of an individual, a subset of a set of individuals, or a portion or measurement of some substance: it`o (6.50) Amai that:abl 1sdat ‘Please bring me a cup of that wine’ nauot cup ueho wine es one hite bring:here.cv eskuke please (6.51) Mo 1srdat kunau friend.abl ante many afyia come:along.pv.npl ‘Many of my friends joined (me)’ In the case of body part possession, as well as for other instances where the possessed noun represents an inseparable subpart or an inherent property or characteristic, a stressed pronoun or noun phrase possessor appears in the locative case. Sakialna inie Sakialna es kala Motlana hasou muohe ihana esian (Sakial.loc eyes) (Sakial.loc one leg) (Motla.loc life.abl whole) (woman.loc name) ‘Sakial’s eyes’ ‘one of Sakial’s legs’ ‘Motla’s entire life’ ‘the woman’s name’ Similarly, locative case is used to express part-whole relations with an inanimate possessor. The possessive noun phrase also takes the locative when it denotes an experiencer and the possessed noun expresses an emotion or mental state: 112 CHAPTER 6. THE NOUN PHRASE paluna kotu kotuna satla Sakialna hotsem (Sakial.loc anger) (village.loc house) (house.loc roof) ‘the houses of/in the village’ ‘the roof of the house’ ‘Sakial’s anger’ When the possessed noun denotes an object being carried by the possessor, or otherwise accompanying the possessor or in his/her immediate control, the instrumental case may be used, e.g., ihame halma (woman.inst book) ‘the woman’s book’. This may be used to refer to the book which the woman has with her, whether or not it belongs to her. For all types of possession not covered above, the possessive noun phrase appears in the allative case. This is the case typically used when the possessed noun denotes (transferable) personal property, a domestic animal, or some other entity with which the possessor is associated. Examples: in`e iase mikala ike Elima palu (3asall food) (boy.all dog) (Elim.all village) ‘his/her food’ ‘the boy’s dog’ ‘Elim’s village’ (6.52) Se Sakiala Sakial.all 13nom ‘We went to Sakial’s house’ kotoi house.dat etyit go.pv.pl 6.6.2 Expressing possession The overt marking of inalienable possession is not as pervasive in Okuna as it is in English. In particular, a realis dative clitic possessor is often omitted from the noun phrase in situations where the corresponding English sentence would require an overt possessor. Examples of this are given below. Recall that a realis dative clitic may be used to mark the possessor in a kinship relation. However, the possessor may be left out when its referent can be inferred from context, especially when it corefers with the topic of the clause in which the kinship term occurs. Consider the sentences in (6.53) and (6.54) below: In (6.53), where ahte ‘father’ takes the ablative pronominal possessor in`o, it is understood that Elim is visiting the father of some individual not mentioned in the sentence; whereas in (6.54), where the possessor is expressed by a realis dative clitic, it is understood that Elim is visiting his own father. In the latter case, it is more common to simply leave out the pronoun, yielding the sentence in (6.55) (literally ‘Elim is visiting the father’). (6.53) Elimma Elim.erg in`o 3aabl aht`e father.nom itsula prg.visit.ipv ‘Elim is visiting his/her father’ (6.54) Elimma Elim.erg no 3ardat aht`e father.nom itsula prg.visit.ipv ‘Elim is visiting his (own) father’ (6.55) Elimma Elim.erg aht`e father.nom itsula prg.visit.ipv ‘Elim is visiting his (own) father’ Overt clitic possessors are even less common when the possessed noun is a body part. Okuna seems to favour constructions in which the possessor of the body part is implicit, or realized externally to the noun phrase that contains the body part term. For example, to express an event whereby an agent manipulates a part of his or her own body, the body part term will generally appear as an unmarked argument of the verb, interpreted either as a patient or as an instrument (see 4.6.4). As shown below, this unmarked argument does not include a possessor, it being understood that the body part belongs to the participant carrying out the action: (6.56) might be more literally translated ‘Motla opened eyes’ (or ‘Motla eye-opened’); likewise § 6.7. CORRELATIVES 113 (6.57) is literally ‘The children touched ﬁngers to the tree bark’ (or ‘The children ﬁnger-touched the tree bark’). (6.56) Motlama inie eyes limyi open.pv Motla.erg ‘Motla opened his eyes’ (6.57) Lhatima palahta tree sem`o skin.nom silh ﬁnger lalyit touch.pv.pl children.erg ‘The children touched the bark of the tree with their ﬁngers’ If an overt possessive pronoun is included with the body part term, it is normally understood that the actor is manipulating someone else’s body, not his/her own. Compare the following sentences: in the ﬁrst example it is understood that Sakial lifted his own arm, while in the second example he lifted the arm of someone else not mentioned in the sentence.2 (6.58) Sakialma nalh arm kelhyi lift.pv Sakial.erg ‘Sakial lifted his arm’ (6.59) Sakialma Sakial.erg inan 3asloc nalhe arm.nom tiyisyi lift.pv ‘Sakial lifted his/her arm’ A similar construction is used when attributing a property to a part of someone’s body. In the examples below, a stative verb takes an unmarked noun phrase denoting the body part and a nominative, dative, or locative noun phrase denoting the possessor of the body part. (6.60) Sakiale kalial legs liakna long.ipv Sakial.nom ‘Sakial has long legs’ or ‘Sakial is long-legged’ (6.61) Sakiail nalh arm takiyi break.pv Sakial.dat ‘Sakial’s arm got broken’ or ‘Sakial broke his arm’ (6.62) Sakialna nalh arm itakeia prg.break:res.ipv Sakial.loc ‘Sakial’s arm is broken’ or ‘Sakial has a broken arm’ (6.63) Iman 1sloc temie hands inuha prg.cold.ipv ‘My hands are cold’ (more lit. ‘I feel hands-cold’) 6.7 Correlatives Okuna has two parallel sets of pronominal and adverbial elements which I refer to as correlatives. The ﬁrst set of correlatives function either as interrogative operators (equivalent to ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘where’, ‘how much’, etc.) or as indeﬁnite quantiﬁers (‘someone’, ‘something’, ‘somewhere’, ‘some amount of’, etc.). They can also combine with the negative marker ntse to function as negative quantiﬁers (‘no-one’, ‘nothing’, 2Note also that a di↵erent verb is used for ‘lift’ in the two examples: kelha (lit. ‘go up, ascend’) is generally used when an entity raises all or part of itself under its own power, while tiyisa is used otherwise. 114 CHAPTER 6. THE NOUN PHRASE ‘nowhere’, ‘no amount of’, etc.). The second set of correlatives act as demonstratives (‘there’, ‘then’, ‘that amount of’, etc.), and are also used in forming exclamatives (‘such a’, ‘so much’, etc.). The correlatives are so called because they occur in corresponding pairs in correlative constructions 10.2.3 for discussion). In the example below, for instance, the indeﬁnite/interrogative correlative mi`e (see ‘where, somewhere’ is paired with the demonstrative correlative ti`e ‘there’: § (6.64) Ku miei where.dat eti go.dep:sbj aunme, if.inst tiei there.dat husu also man 1snom eta go.ipv 2nom ‘Wherever you go, I will go too’ or ‘If you go somewhere, I will go there too’ I present the correlatives and discuss their basic distribution in remarks on the functions of particular correlative elements. § 6.7.1 and § 6.7.2, while § 6.7.3 includes some 6.7.1 Indeﬁnite/interrogative correlatives The indeﬁnite/interrogative correlatives are listed below, along with their closest English equivalents. Notice that these elements all contain the formative mi- (or ma-). m`a mi`o mi`e mitsaka emalh mian miante interrogative ‘what, which’ ‘who, which’ ‘where’ ‘what kind of’ ‘when, what time’ ‘how much’ ‘how many’ indefinite ‘some, something’ [inanimate] ‘some, someone’ [animate] ‘somewhere’ ‘some kind of’ ‘sometime, some point’ ‘some, a certain amount (of)’ ‘some, a certain number (of)’ emi emihka emifoi ymiohpa milhkoua mitunke emiantena kamianteme miai, miampi emiampi lau miampi ‘when, at what time’ ‘when’ [in the past] ‘when’ [in the future] ‘why, how come, for what reason’ ‘why, what for, for what purpose’ ‘how, in what way’ ‘how often’ ‘how many times’ ‘how, to what degree’ ‘(for) how long’ ‘how far, to what extent’ ‘sometime, at some point, ever’ ‘at some point, ever’ [in the past] ‘at some point, ever’ [in the future] ‘for some reason’ ‘for some purpose’ ‘somehow, in some way’ ‘in certain cases/situations’ ‘a certain number of times’ [in succession] ‘somehow; somewhat, to some degree’ ‘for a certain length of time’ ‘a certain amount, some way, to some extent’ I have presented the correlatives in two sets. Those in the ﬁrst set are nouns which inﬂect for case, while those in the second set (some of them derived from nouns in the ﬁrst group through the addition of case endings and other axes) are adverbials, and thus do not carry (additional) case inﬂection. The declensions for m`a, mi`o, and mi`e, which are slightly irregular, are given below. As this table shows, the stems for these nouns are mah-, mioh- and mie-, respectively. They inﬂect like regular nouns, except that they do not take the ending -e in the nominative (mi`e, since it refers to a place, never occurs in the ergative, and rarely appears in the nominative): mi`e miei mi`o mioi nom m`a dat mai erg mahma miohma — loc mahna miohna miena mieia all maha mieu abl mahu inst mahme miohme mieme mioha miohu 6.7. CORRELATIVES 115 The correlatives listed above have two major functions: as indeﬁnite quantiﬁers in statements and commands, and as interrogative operators in questions. I discuss these functions in turn. Correlatives as indeﬁnites In statements and commands, the correlatives listed above act as indeﬁnite quantiﬁers and quantiﬁcational adverbs. They can usually be translated using English expressions containing ‘some’ or ‘(a) certain’. To emphasize a singular indeﬁnite reading, the correlative is sometimes preceded by the numeral es ‘one’: e.g., es mi`o ‘someone’, es halma m`a ‘some book, a certain book’. Example sentences: (6.65) Sakiail m`a something:nom tlelhyi ﬁnd.pv Sakial.dat ‘Sakial found something’ (6.66) Na es one mai halma 3aerg some.dat book ‘She is reading a certain book’ (6.67) Im`e talake 1sall coin.nom ‘Someone stole my money’ miohma someone.erg itala prg.read.ipv uskohat pf.steal.ipv.pl (6.68) Iha nin those:nom miei woman somewhere.dat ‘Those women are going somewhere’ itat prg.go.ipv.pl (6.69) Ne emifoi sometime:fut nkilha leave.ipv 3anom ‘She will leave at some point’ Indeﬁnite correlatives can also occur in negated clauses, appearing between the negative marker ntse and the verb. The combination of ntse plus an indeﬁnite correlative often corresponds to English ‘no’ or ‘not much (many, etc.)’: e.g., ntse halma m`a ‘no book(s)’, ntse pyi mi`o ‘no child(ren)’, ntse kuna miante ‘not many friends’, ntse ueho mian ‘not much wine’. In other cases, an indeﬁnite correlative in the scope of negation is most naturally translated using an expression with ‘any’ or ‘(very) much (many, etc.)’: (6.70) Im`e ntse neg pyi child mi`o some:nom ikulo prg.see:res.ipv:neg 1sall ‘I don’t see any children’ (6.71) Im`o 1sabl ntse neg kuna friend miante many:nom ialo have.ipv:neg ‘I don’t have (very) many friends’ (6.72) Me Tenmotlaie Tenmotlai.dat ntse neg emiantena often eto go.ipv:neg iahok at:all 1snom ‘I don’t often go to Tenmotlai’ or ‘It’s not often that I go to Tenmotlai’ When ntse immediately precedes certain indeﬁnite correlatives, the two fuse into a single word, equivalent to a negative or other downwardly entailing quantiﬁer in English. These negated correlatives are listed below: 116 CHAPTER 6. THE NOUN PHRASE ntsam`a ntsemi`o ntsemi`e ntsamalh ntsemi ntsemihka ntsemifoi ntsymiohpa ntsemilhkoua ntsemitunke ntsemiai ‘none, not any, nothing’ [inanimate] ‘none, not any, no-one’ [animate] ‘nowhere’ ‘no time, no point, never’ ‘never, at no time’ ‘never (before)’ [in the past] ‘never (again)’ [in the future] ‘for no reason’ (‘there’s no reason why...’) ‘for no purpose, to no avail’ (‘there’s no purpose for...’) ‘nohow, in no way’ (‘there’s no way to...’) ‘not so, not very; nohow’ Negated correlatives tend to occupy the focus position in the clause, immediately preceding the verb (and any unmarked noun phrases in the clause). Like ntse, a negated correlative triggers negative inﬂection on the verb (see 7.4). Examples: 7.3, § (6.73) Ntsemi`o § etskanou arrive.pv:neg no-one:nom ‘No-one showed up’ (6.74) Na ntsam`a nothing:nom etsou say.pv:neg 3aerg ‘She didn’t say anything’ or ‘She said nothing’ (6.75) Im`e halm`a book.nom ntsemiena nowhere.loc itleilho prg.ﬁnd:res.ipv:neg 1sall ‘My book is nowhere to be found’ (lit. ‘My book is found nowhere’) (6.76) Na ntsemi 3aerg never ‘He never eats meat’ maka meat iaso eat.ipv:neg (6.77) Ti ntsemitunke in:no:way tokyipo ﬁx.able.ipv:neg 3idat ‘There’s no way to ﬁx it’ (lit. ‘It is in no way ﬁxable’) (6.78) Ti ntsemilhkoua for:no:purpose tokoike ﬁx.cond:neg 3idat ‘There’s no point in ﬁxing it’ (lit. ‘For no purpose would it be ﬁxed’) To express ‘little or no’, ‘few if any’, etc., a negated correlative is preceded by tiuse (literally ‘maybe’): (6.79) Ikimme 12inst ‘There’s little or nothing for us to eat’ ntsam`a nothing:nom tiuse maybe iasoike eat.cond:neg (6.80) Ne tiuse maybe tuohisne 3anom late ‘She rarely if ever arrives late’ ntsemi never etskano arrive.ipv:neg When a negated correlative takes another indeﬁnite correlative in its scope, the latter is usually translated using ‘any’ rather than ‘some’. When the indeﬁnite correlative occurs in a yes/no question, both translations are possible. Compare how m`a is translated in the following examples ((6.84) can also be interpreted to mean ‘What did Sakial say?’, depending on the context in which the question is uttered; see below for discussion): 6.7. CORRELATIVES 117 (6.81) Sakialma m`a something:nom etsyi say.pv Sakial.erg ‘Sakial said something’ (6.82) Sakialma ntsemi never m`a something:nom utso pf.say.ipv:neg Sakial.erg ‘Sakial never said anything’ (6.83) Ntsemiohma nobody.erg ‘Nobody said anything’ m`a something:nom etsou say.pv:neg (6.84) Sakialma Sakial.erg m`a something:nom etsyin? say.pv.qu ‘Did Sakial say something/anything?’ To express so-called free choice ‘any’—i.e., ‘any’ in the sense of ‘it doesn’t matter what’—the indeﬁnite correlative is preceded by the adverbial ela ‘in each/any case, anyhow, anyway’. The verb is typically in the conditional mood. (6.85) Ma ela anyhow m`a something:nom sukike do.cond ikoi 2sall 1serg ‘I would do anything for you’ (6.86) Efos tan that:nom ela anyhow problem ‘Anyone could solve that problem’ miohna someone.loc lahyipike solve.able.cond Correlatives as interrogatives In questions, indeﬁnite correlatives normally function as interrogative operators, corresponding to wh- expressions in English (‘who’, ‘what’, ‘where’, etc.). As discussed in 9.3.2, main clause questions are formed by placing the particle ne immediately after the verb (ne contracts to -n and attaches to the verb when the latter ends in a vowel; however, attaching -n does not a↵ect stress placement on the verb). Unlike wh-expressions in English, the interrogative correlatives do not move to the front of the clause, but instead appear in the same positions as the corresponding indeﬁnite phrases. Consider the following examples: § (6.87) Sakiail m`a what:nom Sakial.dat ‘What did Sakial ﬁnd?’ tlelhyin? ﬁnd.pv.qu (6.88) Na 3aerg halma book mai what.dat it`alan? prg.read.ipv.qu ‘Which book(s) is she reading?’ (6.89) Im`e talake 1sall coin.nom ‘Who stole my money?’ miohma who.erg uskohat pf.steal.ipv.pl ne? qu (6.90) Iha nin those:nom miei woman where.dat ‘Where are those women going?’ itat prg.go.ipv.pl ne? qu 118 (6.91) Ne emifoi when:fut nk`ılhan? leave.ipv.qu 3anom ‘When will she leave?’ CHAPTER 6. THE NOUN PHRASE When interpreted as interrogative operators, correlatives almost always appear in the focus position in the clause, preceding the verb but following any deﬁnite (non-contrastive) noun phrases (see 8.2.1 for more on constituent focus). Usually the interrogative comes immediately before the verb, unless the verb is preceded by a non-case-marked noun phrase, in which case the interrogative precedes that noun phrase. Compare the word order in the following examples. In (6.92) the theme argument kytu ‘present’ is marked for nominative case and interpreted as deﬁnite, and the interrogative delimiter mioi ‘to whom?’ follows it. In (6.93) kytu is indeﬁnite and non-referential, occurring in the bare form, and mioi precedes it. 9.2.1 and § § (6.92) Na kyt`o present.nom mioi who.dat 3aerg ‘Who did she give the present to?’ uktiyin? give.pv.qu (6.93) Na mioi who.dat kytu present uktiyin? give.pv.qu 3aerg ‘Who did she give presents to?’ Note that questions containing correlatives are potentially ambiguous, at least in writing. A sentence like (6.89) could be construed as a constituent question with the correlative functioning as a wh-element (‘Who stole my money?’), or as a yes/no question with the correlative interpreted as an indeﬁnite quantiﬁer (‘Did someone steal my money?’). Note that the postverbal particle does not distinguish these interpretations: the presence of ne merely indicates that the sentence is a question, without specifying whether it is a yes/no question or a constituent question. However, in speech these two interpretations are distinguished through intonation, with regard to the pitch following the ﬁnal stressed syllable in the sentence: yes/no questions end with a level or slightly rising pitch, while constituent questions end in a falling pitch. Moreover, the correct interpretation can usually be inferred from context: ‘Who stole my money?’ presupposes that the speaker’s money was stolen, while ‘Did someone steal my money?’ does not. Hence, if (6.89) is uttered in a context where it is already known (or can reasonably be inferred) that the speaker’s money was deﬁnitely stolen, then the addressee will know that the speaker is asking for the identity of the thief, and will interpret the sentence as a constituent question. The indeﬁnite/interrogative correlatives also occur in indirect (i.e, embedded) questions. As discussed in 9.3.2, indirect questions are formed using the clause-ﬁnal particle aun (usually glossed ‘if’), preceded by a § verb in the dependent form ( § im`e 1sall uskohata pf.steal.dep.pl untsapa wonder.ipv talake coin.nom miohma who.erg (6.94) Ma aun if 10.2): 1serg ‘I wonder who stole my money’ Consider also the following pairs of examples, where the second example in each pair contains an indirect question corresponding to the direct question in the ﬁrst example: (6.95) Elime mieu where.abl ehk`anan? originate.ipv.qu Elim.nom ‘Where does Elim come from?’ (6.96) Unma Elime 3ardat.1serg Elim.nom ‘I asked them where Elim comes from’ nesapyit ask.pv.pl mieu where.abl ehkana originate.dep aun if 6.7. CORRELATIVES 119 (6.97) Na im`o 1sabl ymiohpa 3aerg why ‘Why has he refused my help?’ aleute help.nom ukys`ulhtan? pf.refuse.ipv.qu (6.98) Iman 1sloc ‘I don’t know why he refused my help’ miono neg.know.ipv:neg na 3aerg im`o 1sabl aleute help.nom ymiohpa why ukysulhta pf.refuse.dep aun if Unlike direct questions, indirect questions are never ambiguous between a constituent question reading and a yes/no question reading. In indirect constituent questions, the verb appears in the dependent indicative form, while in indirect yes/no questions, it appears in the dependent subjunctive. (Dependent indicative clauses presuppose the event that they refer to, while dependent subjunctive clauses do not.) This contrast is illustrated by the following pair of examples: (6.99) Ma untsapa wonder.ipv im`e 1sall talake coin.nom miohma who.erg uskohata pf.steal.dep.pl aun if 1serg ‘I wonder who stole my money’ (6.100) Ma 1serg untsapa wonder.ipv im`e 1sall talake coin.nom miohma who.erg uskohita pf.steal.dep:sbj.pl aun if ‘I wonder if/whether someone stole my money’ 6.7.2 Demonstrative correlatives Many of the indeﬁnite/interrogative correlatives discussed above have a demonstrative counterpart. These are listed in the table below, and glossed with their closest English equivalents. The correlatives in the ﬁrst group are nouns, which inﬂect for case, while those in the second group are non-inﬂecting adverbial elements. Notice that most of the demonstrative correlatives begin with the formative ta- or tl(o)-. ti`e (tie-) tlotsaka talh tlan tlante tlohpa tlotunke etlantena katlanteme tlai, tlampi etlampi lau tlampi demonstrative exclamative ‘there, that place’ (‘that’s where...’) ‘that kind of, of that sort; like that’ ‘then, at that time’ (‘that’s when...’) ‘that much’ (‘that’s how much...’) ‘that many’ (‘that’s how many...’) ‘so/how much’ ‘so/how many’ ‘therefore, for that reason’ (‘that’s why...’) ‘thus, in that way’ (‘that’s how...’) ‘that often’ (‘that’s how often...’) ‘that many times’ ‘thus, that much, to that degree’ (‘that’s how...’) ‘(for) that long’ (‘that’s how long...’) ‘that far, to that extent’ (‘that’s how far...’) ‘so/how often’ ‘so many times’ [in succession] ‘so, such; how’ ‘for so long’ ‘so/how far, such a long way’ These elements can function either deictically or anaphorically. That is, they indicate a place, time, reason, manner, etc., which was either referred to earlier in the discourse, or which is identiﬁable from the discourse context. Consider the following sample dialogue: (6.101) Ku 2nom Tenmotlaie Tenmotlai.dat `utin? pf.go.ipv:int.qu ‘Have you (ever) been to Tenmotlai?’ 120 (6.102) Hi`o, ma 1serg tiena there.loc yes ‘Yes, in fact I used to live there’ tsuhpanka live.ipv:pst CHAPTER 6. THE NOUN PHRASE ha in:fact In the second sentence, ti`e ‘there’ refers back to the place mentioned in the previous sentence. Additional examples are given below. Note that when the demonstrative correlative is (part of) a focused phrase, it serves to draw attention to a particular referent. Sentences with focused demonstrative correlatives are usually translated as ‘That’s where...’, ‘That’s when...’, ‘That’s how...’, etc. (6.103) Iase food ‘Do you really want to eat that much food?’ iasuhi eat.want.ipv:int tlain that:much.dat kalh? emph:qu (6.104) Sakiale tlai that:much apata rel.tall.ipv Sakial.nom ‘Sakial is that tall’ or ‘That’s how tall Sakial is’ (6.105) Ku tlohpa 2nom for:that:reason ‘That’s why I love you so much’ tlampi to:that:extent auohka rel.loved.ipv im`e 1sall When used deictically, the demonstrative correlatives can combine with the particles tsi, ke and olh, as appropriate, in order to indicate discourse status and/or relative distance from the speaker and addressee (see 5.3.2 for discussion of these particles): § tsi tlotsaka koin ke tlotsaka koin olh tlotsaka koin ‘this kind of person, a person like this’ ‘this/that kind of person, a person like this/that’ ‘that kind of person, a person like that’ [near me] [near you/us] [away from us] tsi iase tlan ke iase tlan olh iase tlan ‘this much food’ ‘this/that much food’ ‘that much food’ [newly mentioned] [under discussion] [mentioned earlier] Demonstrative correlatives can also be preceded by the emphatic reﬂexive element tsan. The resulting expressions are variously translated ‘that very...’, ‘the/that same...’, or ‘just that...’. E.g.: tsan tlai tsan tlotunke tsan tlohpa tsan tlotsaka koin ‘just so, just as’ ‘in just that way, in that very way’ ‘for that very reason, for just that reason’ ‘just that kind of person, the same kind of person’. Demonstrative correlatives commonly occur in appositive relatives. Appositive relatives take the form of a participial clause ( 10.3) introduced by the coordinator ka, and are used to provide additional information about a previously mentioned referent or event: § (6.106) Me Uilumai Uiluma.dat etyi, go.pv ka and tiena there.loc ahtema father.erg kas so:far ulhmo year 1snom ‘I went to Uiluma, where my father have been living for many years’ more lit. ‘I went to Uiluma, and there (my) father (have been) living for many years’ antei many.dat tsuhpe live.pt (6.107) Sakiale Sakial.nom lamuta ﬁnally uhualta, pf.well.tinc.ipv ka and tlohpa for:that:reason tulats kindness han much uoite feel.pt iman 1sloc ‘Sakial has ﬁnally recovered, for which (reason) I’m very grateful’ 6.7. CORRELATIVES 121 Finally, demonstrative correlatives can have exclamatory force, in which case they are often translated using ‘so’ or ‘how’. Exclamatory clauses typically include the particle hok, which immediately follows the verb: (6.108) Tomla mountain tin those:nom tlai that:much apatat rel.tall.ipv.pl hok! excl ‘Those mountains are so tall!’ or ‘(Look) how tall those mountains are!’ (6.109) Koin tlante that:many ik`a prg.be:here.ipv hok! excl person ‘There are so many people here!’ or ‘Look how many people are here!’ 6.7.3 Remarks on the functions of correlatives The correlatives m`a ‘what’ and mi`o ‘who’ function as indeﬁnite/interrogative counterparts to the third person pronouns. Like the personal pronouns, they can occur as noun phrases by themselves, or as determiners within a larger noun phrase, in which case they follow the head noun. When combined with a noun, m`a and mi`o are equivalent to English ‘which’ or ‘some’ (or, in combination with the negative particle ntse, ‘no’ or ‘not any’). M`a is used with inanimate nouns: e.g., halma m`a ‘which book(s)?’, ntse halma m`a ‘no book(s)’. Mi`o is used with animate nouns: e.g., pyi mi`o ‘which child(ren)?’, ntse pyi mi`o ‘no child(ren)’; ike mi`o ‘which dog(s)?’, ntse ike mi`o ‘no dog(s)’. Correlative time adverbials (equivalent to ‘when/sometime’, ‘never’, and ‘then’) make a threefold tense distinction: Emihka, ntsemihka, and tahka indicate times in the past; and emifoi, ntsemifoi, and tahoi indicate times in the future; while emi, ntsemi, and tai are neutral as to tense. Compare the sentences below. Note that the use of the tense-marked forms is optional: it is always grammatical to substitute the neutral forms, e.g., using emi in place of emihka or emifoi. (6.110) Emi when i`asan? eat.ipv.qu ‘When do/will you eat?’ (6.111) Emifoi i`asan? eat.ipv.qu when:fut ‘When will you eat?’ (6.112) Emihka iasyin? when:pst eat.pv.qu ‘When did you eat?’ Besides emi, there is another word for ‘when/sometime’, namely emalh. Note that emalh patterns as a noun, and thus inﬂects for case, while emi is an adverbial and has an invariant form. Normally emalh will appear with the locative case ending -na: e.g., Emalhna iasyin? ‘When did you eat?’. However, it can also inﬂect for dative, ablative, or instrumental case, or appear in the unmarked form in combination with a case-marked relational noun such as kamna ‘before’, as shown below. The same holds for the negative correlative ntsemalh ‘never’ and the demonstrative correlative talh ‘then’. emailh sik`a emalhu su emalh kamna ‘until when?, for how long?’ ‘since when?, for how long?’ ‘before when?’ The correlatives mitsaka ‘what kind, some kind’ (ntse mitsaka ‘no kind’) and tlotsaka ‘that kind’ almost always occur in combination with a noun denoting the kind in question. The correlative precedes the noun: e.g., tlotsaka palahta ‘that kind of tree, a tree like that, such a tree’. Additional examples: 122 (6.113) Mitsaka iase food h`enkan? enjoyable.ipv.qu what:kind ‘What kind of food do you like?’ CHAPTER 6. THE NOUN PHRASE (6.114) Im`e tlotsaka that:kind iase food henka enjoyable.ipv 1sall ‘I like that kind of food’ or ‘That’s the kind of food I like’ The indeﬁnite correlatives mitunke, miai, and miampi, when used as interrogatives, all translate English ‘how’. Mitunke means ‘how’ in the sense of ‘in what way, in what manner, by what means’. By contrast, miai and miampi (which can be used more or less interchangeably) mean ‘how’ in the sense of ‘how much’ or ‘to what degree/extent’. (6.115) Efos tan that:nom mitunke how problem ‘How did (you) solve that problem?’ ul`ahan? pf.solve.ipv.qu (6.116) Kot`o miai how ap`atan? rel.tall.ipv.qu house.nom ‘How tall is the house?’ When ‘how’ has the sense of ‘by what route’, it is translated using mi`e ‘where’ in the instrumental case, as in (6.117). In addition, emalh ‘when’ inﬂected for instrumental case can denote ‘how’ in the sense of ‘under what circumstances’, as in (6.118). The latter can also be used to mean ‘for how long’ (referring to an approximate duration) or ‘during what period of time’, as in (6.119). (6.117) Tiesat auotiohtaie town rel.near.comp.tnzr.dat ‘How would one get to the nearest town?’ mieme where.inst et`ıkin? go.cond.qu (6.118) Hen two ‘How did you two meet for the ﬁrst time?’ tsokuyiot ﬁrst:meet.recip.pv.pl emalhme when.inst kuo 2rdat ne? qu (6.119) Ne emalhme when.inst Tenmotlaina Tenmotlai.loc 3anom ‘How long did she stay in Tenmotlai?’ tehyin? stay.pv.qu Paralleling the distinction between mitunke and miai/miampi, the negative correlative ntsemitunke means ‘there’s no way’, while ntsemiai and ntse miampi mean ‘not so’ or ‘not at all’. Likewise, demonstrative tlotunke mean ‘that’s how’ in the sense of ‘thus, in that way’, while tlai and tlampi mean ‘that much’, ‘so’, or ‘to that degree/extent’: (6.120) Efos tan that:nom ntsemitunke in:no:way problem ‘There’s no way to solve that problem’ lahyipo solve.able.ipv:neg (6.121) Ma efos problem tan that:nom tlotunke in:that:way lahyi solve.pv 1serg ‘That’s how I solved that problem’ (6.122) Kot`o ntsemiai not:so apato rel.tall.ipv:neg house.nom ‘The house isn’t so tall’ 6.8. QUANTIFIERS AND RELATED ELEMENTS 123 (6.123) Kot`o house.nom tlai that/so apata rel.tall.ipv ‘The house is that/so tall’ or ‘That’s how tall the house is’ Miai, ntsemiai, and tlai are also be used with the verb taksa ‘be called’ to ask about or refer to a name: (6.124) Miai how ‘What is your name?’ or ‘What are you called?’ t`aksan? be:called.ipv.qu (6.125) Me tlai that/so ntakso neg.be:called.ipv:neg iahok at:all 1snom ‘That’s not what I’m called’ or ‘That’s not my name’ Tlai can also be used to mean ‘like, as’, when it appears in a participial clause introduced by ka (see 8.3.1, 10.3). If the verb in the participial clause is the same as the verb in the main clause, the latter is sometimes § omitted, as in the second example below. § (6.126) Sakiale im`e 1sall ohka beloved.ipv ka and tlai thus tsan own im`o 1sabl tiene son.nom ohke beloved.pt Sakial.nom ‘I love Sakial as I love my own son’ more lit. ‘Sakial is beloved to me, and my own son being beloved to that degree’ (6.127) Sakiale im`e Sakial.nom 1sall ‘I love Sakial like my own son’ ohka beloved.ipv ka and tlai thus tsan own im`o 1sabl tiene son.nom Finally, there are two correlatives equivalent to English ‘why’: ymiohpa and milhkoua. The di↵erence between them is subtle, and they can often be used interchangeably. Roughly, ymiohpa focuses on the cause of an event, and has the sense of ‘for what reason’ (or ‘how come’); whereas milhkoua focuses on the intended e↵ect of an event, and has the sense of ‘for what purpose’ (or ‘what for’, or ‘to what end’). Compare the sentences below, both of which can be used to translate the sentence ‘Why did Elim smash the pot?’. The ﬁrst asks what may have led Elim to smash the pot, while the latter asks what motivation Elim may have had for carrying out the action or what he hoped to accomplish. (6.128) Elimma ymiohpa for:what:reason kopoi pot.dat Elim.erg ‘How come Elim smashed the pot?’ (6.129) Elimma milhkoua for:what:purpose kopoi pot.dat Elim.erg ‘What did Elim smash the pot for?’ tsitspyin? smash.pv.qu tsitspyin? smash.pv.qu 6.8 Quantiﬁers and related elements In this section I discuss quantiﬁers and formally related elements. A quantiﬁcational phrase consists of a quantiﬁer, usually preceded by a noun or noun phrase which expresses the domain of quantiﬁcation. This is illustrated in (6.130), where the quantiﬁcational phrase luhme iha tosepyi ‘several old women’ consists of the quantiﬁer tosepyi ‘several’ and the quantiﬁed noun phrase luhme iha ‘old woman’. Notice that the quantiﬁer follows the quantiﬁed noun phrase, rather than preceding as it does in English. A quantiﬁcational phrase can also consist of a quantiﬁer by itself with the domain of quantiﬁcation implicit, as in (6.131). 124 CHAPTER 6. THE NOUN PHRASE tosepyi (6.130) Luhme old:one several:nom ‘Several old women came here’ iha woman ketyia come:here.pv.npl (6.131) Tosepyi ketyia come:here.pv.npl several:nom ‘Several (of them) came here’ Morphologically and syntactically, quantiﬁers pattern as nouns in Okuna, in that they inﬂect for case and can function (alone, or within a larger quantiﬁcational phrase) as an argument of a verb. Recall that case inﬂection occurs at the right edge of the phrase in Okuna (cf. 4.2). Therefore, since the quantiﬁer comes after the quantiﬁed noun, it is normally the quantiﬁer that will bear the case ending, if any, while the quantiﬁed noun (phrase) occurs in its unmarked form. However, if the quantiﬁer is in turn followed by a demonstrative, it is the demonstrative that carries the case marking while the quantiﬁer remains unmarked. Note the position of the instrumental ending -me in the examples below: § luhme ihame luhme iha tosepyime luhme iha tosepyi inime ‘with (the) old woman/women’ ‘with several old women’ ‘with these several old women’ Importantly, when a quantiﬁcational phrase is in the nominative case role, as in (6.130) and (6.131) above, the quantiﬁer appears in its unmarked form: the case ending -e, which attaches to regular nouns in the nominative, does not occur on quantiﬁers or other postnominal modiﬁers. § Quantiﬁcational phrases almost always precede the verb (i.e., they rarely if ever undergo postposition; cf. 9.2.3). Moreover, Okuna is a language in which word order directly reﬂects quantiﬁer scope: when a clause contains two quantiﬁcational phrases, the ﬁrst quantiﬁcational phrase takes scope over the second one. Compare the sentences below. In (6.132), pyi inket scopes over halma hein, and the meaning is ‘For every child, there exist two (possibly di↵erent) books that that child read’. In (6.133), the relative scope of the quantiﬁers is reversed, and the meaning is ‘There exist two (speciﬁc) books which every child read’. (6.132) Pyi inket every:erg halma book child ‘Every child read two books’ hein two.dat talyimat read.pv.dpl.pl (6.133) Halma hein two.dat pyi child inket every:erg talyinit read.pv.epl.pl book ‘Two books were read by every child’ As in many languages, Okuna has separate quantiﬁers for mass nouns like n`a ‘water’ and count nouns like halma ‘book’: e.g., n`a sipe ‘some water’ vs. halma sepyi ‘some books’; n`a tsomo ‘most of the water’ vs. 6.8.1 and count noun quantiﬁers in halma tsomote ‘most of the books’. I discuss mass noun quantiﬁers in 6.8.4. 6.8.2, with additional remarks on the usage of certain quantiﬁers in § Finally, in § 6.8.5 I discuss other postnominal elements which share formal properties with quantiﬁers. § 6.8.3. Numerals are treated in § Note that there is a special class of quantiﬁcational elements not considered in this section, namely the universal quantiﬁers (equivalent to ‘each’, ‘every’, and ‘all’). These inﬂect di↵erently from the other quantiﬁers, patterning more like pronouns than nouns, and are thus discussed in chapter 5 ( 5.6). See also § chapter 8 ( § 8.4.3), where I discuss various types of adverbs formed from quantiﬁer stems. § 6.8.1 Mass noun quantiﬁers Mass noun quantiﬁers quantify over nouns denoting masses or substances which cannot be divided non- arbitrarily into countable units. These include n`a ‘water’, hos ‘sand’, ahim ‘air, breath’, etc. The basic mass noun quantiﬁers are given below. Note that some of these are derived from verbs (e.g., muhe < muha ‘suce, be adequate’; muohe < muoha ‘be whole/complete’; tehe < teha ‘stay, remain behind’). 6.8. QUANTIFIERS AND RELATED ELEMENTS 125 han ife mian muhe muohe ohe sipe tehe tlan tsomo tsuon tsyin tuhe ‘much, a lot (of)’ ‘as much, an equal amount (of)’ ‘how much?; some, a certain amount (of)’ ‘enough, a sucient amount (of)’ ‘all, the whole (thing)’ ‘more; the most’ ‘some, a bit (of)’ ‘the rest (of), what remains (of)’ ‘so much; that much’ ‘most (of)’ ‘too much’ ‘not enough, too little’ ‘less, not as much’ Some mass noun quantiﬁers can combine with the diminutive preﬁx ki(h)- or the augmentative preﬁx to(h)- to express ﬁner distinctions: kihohe kisipe kituhe tohan tohohe tomuhe tosipe totuhe ‘a bit more, slightly more’ ‘very little, just a little, a tiny bit (of)’ ‘a bit less, somewhat less’ ‘quite a lot, a great deal (of)’ ‘much more, a lot more’ ‘plenty (of), more than enough’ ‘a fair bit, quite a bit (of)’ ‘much less, a lot less, not nearly as much’ Examples of mass noun phrases containing quantiﬁers include: hos han ise tsuon n`a sipe iase tomuhe ueho mian ‘a lot of sand’ ‘too much snow’ ‘some water, a little water’ ‘plenty of food, more than enough food’ ‘how much wine?; some wine’ As these examples show, the quantiﬁed noun phrase normally appears in its unmarked form. However, it can also appear in the ablative case (marked with the ending -u) when the domain of quantiﬁcation is deﬁnite. The result is a kind of partitive construction (note that the quantiﬁers muohe ‘all’ and tehe ‘the rest’ require this construction). Compare the examples below with those above: hosu han iseu tsuon nahu sipe iaseu tomuhe uehou mian ‘a lot of the sand’ ‘too much of the snow’ ‘some of the water’ ‘plenty of the food, more than enough of the food’ ‘how much of the wine?; some of the wine’ uehou tehe ueho it`o muohe ‘the rest of the wine’ ‘all of that wine’ Mass noun quantiﬁers can also take a count noun phrase in the ablative, in which case they indicate a portion of the (singular) object denoted by that noun phrase. In combination with a count noun, muohe is equivalent to English ‘the whole’, while sipe means ‘part of’ (similarly for quantiﬁers formed from sipe): 126 CHAPTER 6. THE NOUN PHRASE kotou tsomo lohu han lohu tehe sliahteu muohe sliahteu sipe sliahteu kisipe ‘most of the house’ ‘much of the day’ ‘the rest of the day’ ‘all of the story; the whole story’ ‘some of the story; part of the story’ ‘a small part of the story’ When marked with ablative case, the quantiﬁed noun phrase may scramble away from the quantiﬁer, in which case the two no longer form a constituent. This is shown by the fact that the ablative noun phrase and the quantiﬁer can be separated by intervening material: e.g., the ergative argument Sakialma in the example below. (Note that when the quantiﬁed noun phrase is unmarked for case, it cannot scramble away from the quantiﬁer.) (6.134) Ueho wine it`o that:abl Sakialma Sakial.erg tsuoin too:much.dat sepyi drink.pv ‘Sakial drank too much of that wine’ (lit. ‘Of that wine, Sakial drank too much’) 6.8.2 Count noun quantiﬁers Count noun quantiﬁers are those which quantify over nouns denoting discrete countable entities, as opposed to masses or substances. Apart from the universal quantiﬁers discussed in 5.6, the major count noun quantiﬁers are listed below in their basic forms. Numerals such as hen ‘two’, which also quantify over count nouns, are considered in 6.8.4. Notice that most of the count noun quantiﬁers listed here are transparently related to the corresponding mass noun quantiﬁers, but end in the sux -te (see below). § § anihte anohte ante miante muhte sepyi tehte tlante tsomote tsuonte tsyinte tuhte ‘as many, equally many’ ‘more; the most, the greatest number of’ ‘many, a lot of’ ‘how many?; some, a certain number of’ ‘enough, suciently many’ ‘some, a few’ ‘the rest (of), the remaining’ ‘so many; that many’ ‘most, the majority of’ ‘too many’ ‘not enough, too few’ ‘fewer, not as many’ Like their mass noun counterparts, many count noun quantiﬁers can combine with the diminutive preﬁx ki(h)- and/or the augmentative preﬁx to(h)- to express ﬁner distinctions: kihanohte kisepyi kituhte tohanohte tohante tomuhte tosepyi totuhte ‘a few more’ ‘a very few’ ‘somewhat fewer’ ‘many more, a lot more’ ‘very many, a great many, numerous’ ‘plenty of, more than enough’ ‘several, a number of’ ‘a lot fewer, not nearly as many’ Examples of quantiﬁcational phrases containing these elements are given below. Like other quantiﬁers, they follow the noun or noun phrase (if any) that they quantify over, and carry the case marking for the phrase as a whole (unless they are in turn followed by a demonstrative). 6.8. QUANTIFIERS AND RELATED ELEMENTS 127 efos ante iha miante koin tohante kopo sepyi nesap muhte ‘many problems’ ‘how many women?’ ‘a great many people’ ‘some pots, a few pots’ ‘enough questions’ Normally the quantiﬁed noun occurs in its unmarked form, as in the examples above. However, when the quantiﬁed noun phrase is deﬁnite, the quantiﬁed noun may appear in the ablative case (suxed with -u), resulting in a partitive interpretation: efosu ante ihau miante koin ineu tohante im`e kopou sepyi ineu nesapu muhte ‘many of the problems’ ‘how many of the women?’ ‘a great many of those people’ ‘some of my pots’ ‘enough of their questions’ When marked with ablative case, the quantiﬁed noun phrase need not form a constituent with the quantiﬁer, but can scramble away from it. This is shown in the example below by the fact that the quantiﬁed noun phrase is separated from the quantiﬁer by another noun phrase (viz., the ergative argument Sakialma): (6.135) Halma iteu those:abl Sakialma Sakial.erg antei many.dat utala pf.read.ipv book ‘Sakial has read many of those books’ (lit. ‘Of those books, Sakial has read many’) To form expressions indicating an upper limit, count noun quantiﬁers combine with the particle hulne ‘at most, no more/later than, up to’. Likewise, to express a lower limit, fene ‘at least, no fewer than, no sooner/earlier than’ is used. These particles come immediately before the quantiﬁer and after the quantiﬁed noun phrase (if any). Other particles which can appear in the same position include laisne ‘exactly’, lhua ‘about, approximately’, and lhi ‘almost, nearly’.3 halma fene anihte halma lhua anihte halma hulne sepyi ‘at least as many books’ ‘about as many books’ ‘no more than a few books’ Finally, note an unusual complication in the formation of quantiﬁer phrases. I mentioned above that most of the count noun quantiﬁers end in -te, which seems to be a marker of plurality (see 6.8.5 below). It appears that there is a restriction on the expression of plurality, such that a quantiﬁer containing -te may not precede another element in the same noun phrase which also expresses plurality, namely a plural demonstrative ( 6.8.5). In order to avoid such cases, a mass noun § quantiﬁer is used where the corresponding count noun quantiﬁer might be expected—e.g., han ‘much’ is used in place of ante ‘many’, tsomo ‘most’ in place of tsomote, etc. Compare the following: 5.3.2) or other postnominal element like iahte ‘others’ ( § § halma ante halma han tin halma han iahte ‘many books’ ‘those many books’ ‘many other books’ halma miante halma mian iahte ‘how many books?’ ‘how many other books?’ ntse halma miante ntse halma mian iahte ‘not many books’ ‘not many other books’ This rule does not apply to sepyi ‘some, a few’, or other quantiﬁers formed from it, which remain unchanged when a demonstrative or other plural element follows: e.g., halma sepyi tin ‘those few books’, halma tosepyi iahte ‘several other books, another several books’. 3These same particles can also be used with adverbials formed from count noun quantiﬁers, discussed in kasepyime ‘no more than a few times’, lhi ianihtena ‘nearly as often’. 8.4.3: e.g., hulne § 128 CHAPTER 6. THE NOUN PHRASE 6.8.3 Remarks on the functions of certain quantiﬁers The count noun quantiﬁer miante does double duty both as an interrogative element, equivalent to ‘how many’, and as an indeﬁnite plural marker, equivalent to ‘some’ or ‘a number of’. The interrogative inter- pretation is signaled by the presence of the question particle ne (or aun in embedded clauses). Miante can also occur in the scope of the negative particle ntse, in which case it is translated ‘many’—e.g., ntse halma miante ‘not many books’. (Notice from the examples below that miante can fail to trigger plural agreement on the verb in negative and interrogative contexts.) Tlante is the demonstrative counterpart of miante, and has deictic or anaphoric force, equivalent to ‘this/that many’ (or ‘that’s how many...’). Tlante can also be used in exclamations, meaning ‘so many’. (6.136) Halma book miantei how:many.dat ut`alan? pf.read.ipv.qu ‘How many books have (you) read?’ (6.137) Ma 1serg elohka yesterday halma book miantei how:many.dat talyima read.pv.dpl ‘Yesterday I read a (certain) number of books’ (6.138) Ma 1serg ntse neg halma book miantei how:many.dat talou read.pv:neg ‘I didn’t read (very) many books’ (6.139) Ma elohka yesterday halma book tlantei that:many.dat talyima read.pv.dpl 1serg ‘That’s how many books I read yesterday’ or ‘I read so many books yesterday!’ Parallel to miante, the indeﬁnite mass noun quantiﬁer mian usually means ‘how much’ when it occurs in questions, and ‘some’ or ‘a certain amount’ in non-questions. In the scope of negation, mian may be translated ‘much’ (ntse iase mian ‘not much food’). The deﬁnite/demonstrative counterpart of mian is tlan, meaning ‘that much’, ‘that’s how much’ or ‘so much’. (6.140) Iase food mian how:much ketyit bring:here.pv.pl ne? qu ‘How much food did you (pl) bring?’ (6.141) Na iase food mian how:much ketyit bring:here.pv.pl 3aerg ‘They brought some food’ (6.142) Na ntse neg mian 3aerg how:much ‘They didn’t bring much food’ iase food ketout bring:here.pv:neg.pl (6.143) Na iase food ketyit 3aerg bring:here.pv.pl ‘That’s how much food they brought’ or ‘They brought so much food!’ tlan that:much Quantiﬁed phrases containing the equative quantiﬁers ife ‘as much’ and anihte ‘as many’, or the comparative quantiﬁers ohe ‘more’, anohte ‘more’, tuhe ‘less’, and tuhte ‘fewer’ are often accompanied by a participant nominal in the ablative case which expresses the standard of comparison. (On participant nominalization, see 10.6.) § 6.8. QUANTIFIERS AND RELATED ELEMENTS 129 (6.144) Ma 1serg akut 2pdat ikune 2pall moituhaio get.want.tnzr.abl halma book anihte as:many uktiama give.ipv.dpl ‘I’ll give you as many books as you want’ (lit. ‘... as what you want to get’) (6.145) Imem 1sinst ekpyipaio carry.able.tnzr.abl halma book anohte more he be:ipv ‘I have more books than (I) can carry’ (lit. ‘With me are more books than [what is] carryable’) (6.146) Na 3aerg ueho wine ifei as:much.dat sepyit drink.pv.pl ikima 12erg asepanilu pv.drink.epl.dnzr.abl ‘They drank as much wine as we did’ (lit. ‘... as what had been drunk by us’) Alternatively, the standard of comparison can be expressed using a clause headed by aun ‘if/whether’ preceded by a verb in the dependent form (see 10.2), and containing the quantiﬁer mian ‘how much’ or miante ‘how many’, depending on whether a mass noun or count noun is being quantiﬁed. Since it marks the standard of comparison, the correlative clause inﬂects for ablative case: i.e., aun carries the ablative ending -u. The following examples are equivalent to those above. Notice that the verb ‘drink’ is omitted from the correlative clause in the third example, and aun replaced by tiaun (including the verb would also be acceptable: ikima miain asepata aunu, lit. ‘as how much we drank’). § (6.147) Ma 1serg akut 2pdat halma book anihte as:many uktiama give.ipv.dpl ikune 2pall miante how:many moituha get.want.dep aunu if.abl ‘I’ll give you as many books as you want’ (lit. ‘... as how many you want to get’) (6.148) Imem 1sinst halma book anohte more he be:ipv miante how:many ekpyipa carry.able.dep aunu if.abl ‘I have more books than I can carry’ (lit. ‘... than how many [one] can carry’) (6.149) Na 3aerg ueho wine ifei as:much.dat sepyit drink.pv.pl ikima 12erg miain how:much.dat tiaunu if:so.abl ‘They drank as much wine as we did’ (lit. ‘... as how much we [drank]’) 6.8.4 Numerals 6.8.2, the count noun quantiﬁers include numerals such as hen ‘two’ In addition to the elements discussed in and ehte ‘three’. Like other quantiﬁers, numerals can occur by themselves as noun phrases (6.150), or they can co-occur with a preceding noun expressing the domain of quantiﬁcation (6.151): § (6.150) Mo 1srdat ehte three:nom kilyi see.pv ‘I saw three (of them)’ (6.151) Mo kotu house ehte three:nom kilyi see.pv 1srdat ‘I saw three houses’ Like other quantiﬁers, numerals follow the noun they quantify over. This means that the numeral carries the case marking for the noun phrase, unless it is in turn followed by a demonstrative or one of the elements discussed in 6.8.5, in which case the latter carries case marking and the numeral appears in its unmarked form. Also as with other quantiﬁers, the unmarked form of the numeral is used when the noun phrase is in the nominative case role; numerals do not take the nominative case ending (-e) found on regular nouns. § 130 CHAPTER 6. THE NOUN PHRASE kotu ehte kotu ehtei kotu ehtena kotu ehte itena kotu ehte mpehisna (house three) (house three.dat) (house three.loc) (house three those.loc) (house three next.loc) ‘(the) three houses’ ‘to (the) three houses’ ‘in (the) three houses’ ‘in those three houses’ ‘in the next three houses’ In the examples above, the quantiﬁed noun (kotu ‘house’) appears in the unmarked form. The quantiﬁed noun can also appear in the ablative case, in which case the noun phrase receives a partitive interpretation: e.g., kotou ehte ‘three of the houses’, kotu iteu ehte ‘three of these houses’. The one numeral word which doesn’t follow the normal pattern is es ‘one’. This element precedes the noun it quantiﬁes (es kotu ‘one house, a house’), and consequently never gets marked for case. In complex noun phrases, es precedes all the elements in a noun compound (including adjective-like stative nouns such as luhme ‘old one’) but follows relative clauses, as well as possessors and other case-marked noun phrases acting as modiﬁers: (6.152) Sakialu es one kuna friend Sakial.abl ‘a friend of Sakial’s’ paluna (6.153) isane 13all village.loc ‘an old house in our village’ es one luhme old:one kotu house Alternatively, ‘one’ may be expressed using the ‘strong’ form ehtsan, which di↵ers from es in its distribution. Whereas es precedes the noun, ehtsan follows the noun, like other numerals. In addition, es can only be used if the noun phrase is interpreted as indeﬁnite, and often corresponds most closely to the English indeﬁnite article ‘a/an’. By contrast, ehtsan can be used whether the noun phrase is deﬁnite or indeﬁnite, and is more emphatic, reminiscent of English ‘a single’. Note also that es can never be used in the partitive construction; instead, ehtsan is required. es kotu kotu ehtsan kotou ehtsan ‘one house, a house’ ‘(the) one house; a single house’ ‘one of the houses’ Finally, whereas es must combine with a noun, ehtsan is used when the numeral functions as a noun phrase by itself: (6.154) Mo 1srdat ehtsan one:nom kilyi see.pv ‘I saw (just) one’ The Okuna count according to a base-ten system, but with special terms for eleven and twelve, and for 110 (‘eleventy’) and 120 (‘twelfty’). The basic number terms are given in the ﬁrst column of the following table. Each of the units from one to twelve has a corresponding tens form, listed in the second column. The forms in the third column are discussed below. 6.8. QUANTIFIERS AND RELATED ELEMENTS 131 basic terms es, ehtsan hen ehte kun kian iht`a (ihtah-) kelu ni`o (nioh-) teiek tam elhu huoi kiunma tolok ‘one’ ‘two’ ‘three’ ‘four’ ‘ﬁve’ ‘six’ ‘seven’ ‘eight’ ‘nine’ ‘ten’ ‘eleven’ ‘twelve’ ‘hundred’ ‘ten thousand’ tens tam tahen tauehte takun takian taieht`a takelu tani`o tateiek kiunma tauelhu tahuoi ‘ten’ ‘twenty’ ‘thirty’ ‘forty’ ‘ﬁfty’ ‘sixty’ ‘seventy’ ‘eighty’ ‘ninety’ ‘hundred’ ‘eleventy’ (110) ‘twelfty’ (120) combining forms es- hen- ehten- kun- kian- ihtaun- kelun- nioh- teiek- ‘plus one’ ‘plus two’ ‘plus three’ ‘plus four’ ‘plus ﬁve’ ‘plus six’ ‘plus seven’ ‘plus eight’ ‘plus nine’ Iht`a ‘six’ takes the form ihtah- when suxed with a case ending, but ihtau- when suxed with other elements, such as the ordinal ending -ka (ihtauka ‘sixth’). Note also that vowel-initial terms change their form when a vowel-ﬁnal preﬁx is attached, in accordance with the hiatus rules discussed in 3.5.3: e.g., ka.elhu.me >
kaielhume ‘eleven times’, ka.ihtah.me > kaiehtahme ‘six times’.

The numbers from 13 to 19, listed below, are formed by combining the elements from the units column
above with the ending -patam. Notice that in the case of 16, the ihtau- form is used; while the terms for 14
and 15 show nasal assimilation to the following consonant:

‘thirteen’
‘fourteen’

ehtepatam
kumpatam
kiampatam ‘ﬁfteen’
ihtaupatam ‘sixteen’
kelupatam
niohpatam ‘eighteen’
teiekpatam ‘nineteen’

‘seventeen’

Terms for the numbers from 21 through 29, 31 through 39, etc., up to 129, are formed by taking the terms
from the tens column in the table above and preﬁxing them with the ‘combining forms’ of the units, listed in
the third column. Notice that this is the opposite of the order found in English: e.g., estahen ‘twenty-one’
is literally ‘one-twenty’. Examples are given below:

estahen
hentahen
ehtentahen
kuntahen
kiantahen
ihtauntahen
keluntahen
niohtahen
teiektahen

‘twenty-one’
‘twenty-two’
‘twenty-three’
‘twenty-four’
‘twenty-ﬁve’
‘twenty-six’
‘twenty-seven’
‘twenty-eight’
‘twenty-nine’

keluntakian
niohtaieht`a
teiektateiek

‘ﬁfty-seven’
‘sixty-eight’
‘ninety-nine’

estauehte
hentauehte
ehtentauehte
kuntauehte

‘thirty-one’
‘thirty-two’
‘thirty-three
‘thirty-four’

ihtauntakun
keluntakun
niohtakun
teiektakun

‘forty-six
‘forty-seven’
‘forty-eight’
‘forty-nine’

eskiunma
ehtenkiunma
estauelhu

‘one hundred and one’
‘one hundred and three’
‘one hundred and eleven’ (lit. ‘eleventy-one’)

132

CHAPTER 6. THE NOUN PHRASE

ihtauntauelhu
niohtahuoi
teiektahuoi

‘one hundred and sixteen’ (lit. ‘eleventy-six’)
‘one hundred and twenty-eight’ (lit. ‘twelfty-eight’)
‘one hundred and twenty-nine’ (lit. ‘twelfty-nine’)

Multiples of 100 are expressed by taking kiunma ‘hundred’ or tolok ‘ten thousand’ and quantifying them
with a following numeral. Note that there is no word for ‘thousand’: the Okuna count by tens of hundreds
instead. Examples:

kiunma hen
kiunma ehte
kiunma tam
kiunma takun
kiunma estakun
kiunma niohtahuoi

‘two hundred’
‘three hundred’
‘one thousand’ (lit. ‘ten hundreds’)
‘four thousand’ (lit. ‘forty hundreds’)
‘forty-one hundred’
‘twelve thousand eight hundred’ (lit. ‘twelfty-eight hundreds’)

tolok hen
tolok tani`o
tolok kuntani`o
tolok kiunma
tolok ihtauntauelhu

‘twenty thousand’ (lit. ‘two ten-thousands’)
‘eight hundred thousand’ (lit. ‘eighty ten-thousands’)
‘eight hundred and forty thousand’ (lit. ‘84 ten-thousands’)
‘one million’ (lit. ‘one hundred ten-thousands’)
‘1,160,000’ (lit. ‘eleventy-six ten-thousands’)

To form complex numerals from the terms above, tens, hundreds, and ten-thousands may be combined.
In such
All but the last term in a complex numeral is suxed with the instrumental case marker -me.
constructions, tens precede hundreds and hundreds precede ten-thousands, the opposite of the order in
English. Examples:

(6.155) kuntakunme

kiunma
hundred

four.forty.inst
‘one hundred (and) forty-four’

taniohme
eighty.inst

(6.156) kiunma
hundred
‘eighteen thousand’ [18,000]
lit. ‘ten thousand with eighty hundreds’

tolok
ten:thousand

ihtaupatamme
sixteen.inst

(6.157) kiunma
hundred
‘twenty-one thousand six hundred’ [21,600]
lit. ‘two ten-thousands with sixteen hundreds’

tolok
ten:thousand

hen
two

(6.158) estaiehtahme
one.sixty.inst
‘one hundred seventy-two thousand, ﬁve hundred and sixty-one’ [172,561]
lit. ‘seventeen ten-thousands with twenty-ﬁve hundreds with sixty-one’

kiantahenme
ﬁve.twenty.inst

tolok
ten:thousand

kelupatam
seventeen

kiunma
hundred

As with simple numerals, complex numerals follow the quantiﬁed noun, and host the case ending when noun
phrase-ﬁnal. This case ending attaches to the ﬁnal element in the numeral.

ehte
(6.159) Es
three
one
‘There are three hundred and sixty-ﬁve days in a year’

kiantaiehtahme
ﬁve.sixty.inst

ulhmona
year.loc

kiunma
hundred

l`o
day

he
be:ipv

(6.160) Na

kahu
ﬁsh

kiunmai
tauehteme
hundred.dat
thirty.inst
3aerg
‘They speared a hundred and thirty ﬁsh’

tiku
harpoon

tahyit
kill.pv.pl

6.8. QUANTIFIERS AND RELATED ELEMENTS

133

Phrases containing numerals can include one of a number of particles, which immediately precede the numeral
and follow the noun being quantiﬁed (if any). The particles lhua ‘about, around’ and lhi ‘almost, nearly’ are
used to express an approximate number, while laisne ‘exactly’ expresses a precise number. Fene ‘at least, no
fewer than’ and hulne ‘at most, no more than’ combine with numerals to indicate a lower limit and an upper
limit, respectively; while eima ‘still, more’ combines with numerals to express an additional amount. Finally,
la ‘each, apiece’ and kele ‘all together, a total of’ are often found in distributive and collective constructions,
respectively (see

5.6).

koin lhua huoi
koin lhi huoi
koin laisne huoi
koin fene huoi
koin hulne huoi
koin eima huoi
koin la huoi
koin kele huoi

‘about twelve people’
‘almost twelve people’
‘exactly twelve people’
‘at least twelve people’
‘at most twelve people’
‘twelve more people’
‘twelve people each/apiece’
‘twelve people all together, a total of twelve people’

Two form expressions meaning ‘N at a time’ or ‘N by N’, one of two constructions may be used. In the
ﬁrst construction the numeral is repeated, with the two copies linked by the particle la and the second copy
taking the instrumental case ending: e.g., hen la henme ‘two by two, two at a time’; kun la kunme ‘four by
four, four at a time, in fours’. In the second construction, the particle ela ‘each time, any time’ combines
with a numeral in the instrumental case: e.g., ela henme ‘two by two, two at a time’, etc. Only the latter
construction is used with the numeral ehtsan: ela ehtsanme ‘one by one, one at a time’.

(6.161) Lhat`e

ela
each:time

henme
two:inst

nkilhyit
leave.pv.pl

children.nom
‘The children left two at a time’

Various constructions may be used to indicate a numerical range. To express an exact range, two numbers
are juxtaposed, with the ﬁrst number (representing the lower limit of the range) preceded by fene and the
second number (representing the upper limit) preceded by hulne. To express an approximate range, the
numbers are conjoined using su ‘or; from’, with lhua optionally preceding the ﬁrst number. More commonly,
su is absent and lhua is placed between the two numbers.

kahu fene tahen hulne kiantahen
kahu (lhua) tahen su kiantahen
koin tahen lhua kiantahen

‘between twenty and twenty-ﬁve ﬁsh’
‘(about) twenty or twenty-ﬁve ﬁsh’
‘twenty to twenty-ﬁve ﬁsh’

Ordinal numbers

The cardinal numbers combine with the sux -ka to form ordinal numbers, with nasal assimilation as
necessary: e.g., tam.ka > tanka ‘tenth’, kiampatam.ka > kiampatanka ‘ﬁfteenth’. Note also the changes in
teiek.ka > teiehka ‘ninth’ and tolok.ka > tolohka ‘ten-thousandth’, due to the degemination rule discussed
in

3.5.1. Examples of ordinal numbers:

henka
ehteka
kunka
kianka
ihtauka
keluka

‘second’
‘third’
‘fourth’
‘ﬁfth’
‘sixth’
‘seventh’

niohka
teiehka
elhuka
tahenka
kiunmaka
tolohka

‘eighth’
‘ninth’
‘eleventh’
‘twentieth’
‘hundredth’
‘ten-thousandth’

Ordinals are formed from complex numerals in the same way: e.g., estahenka ‘twenty-ﬁrst’, ihtauntakunka
‘forty-sixth’. When ordinals are formed from compound numerals, -ka attaches just to the ﬁnal element:
e.g., kiunma henka ‘two hundredth’, keluntahenme kiunmaka ‘one hundred and twenty-seventh’.

134

CHAPTER 6. THE NOUN PHRASE

Note that es/ehtsan ‘one’ has the irregular ordinal form mpehkai ‘ﬁrst’. This forms a class with three
other words denoting positions in a sequence, all characterized by the preﬁx mpe-. The other elements are
listed below. Like numerals, they follow the noun and appear in their unsuxed form when the noun phrase
is nominative (rather than taking the case ending -e).

mpehis
mpekam
mpekunte

‘the next (one)’
‘the last, previous, preceding (one)’
‘the last, ﬁnal (one)’

The correlatives mianka ‘which’ (lit. ‘the how many-th’) and tlanka ‘that’ (lit. ‘the so many-th’) also occur,
and may be used to ask about and identify members of a sequence. Like cardinal numerals, ordinal numerals
and related elements follow the noun they modify:

koin mpehkai
koin henka
koin huoika
koin hentakeluka
koin takunme kiunmaka
koin mpekunte
lolhampeu l`o miankana
l`o ihtaunkana
l`o tlankana

‘the ﬁrst person’
‘the second person’
‘the twelfth person’
‘the seventy-second person’
‘the hundred and fortieth person’
‘the last person’
‘on which day of the week?’
‘on the sixth day’
‘on that day’

Fractions

Terms denoting speciﬁc fractions of a whole are formed by adding the sux -tla, with nasal assimilation as
appropriate: e.g., tam.tla > tantla ‘(one) tenth’, kiampatam.tla > kiampatantla ‘(one) ﬁfteenth’. Additional
examples:

hentla
ehtetla
kuntla
kiantla
ihtautla
kelutla

‘(one) half’
‘(one) third’
‘(one) fourth, quarter’
‘(one) ﬁfth’
‘(one) sixth’
‘(one) seventh’

niohtla
teiektla
elhutla
tahentla
kiunmatla
toloktla

‘(one) eighth’
‘(one) ninth’
‘(one) eleventh’
‘(one) twentieth’
‘(one) hundredth, percent’
‘(one) ten-thousandth’

Like the ordinal sux -ka, -tla attaches only to the ﬁnal element in complex numbers: e.g., kiantahentla
‘one twenty-ﬁfth’, niohtauelhutla ‘one 108th’, takunme kiunmatla ‘one 140th’.

Terms for fractions can in turn be combined with a following cardinal numeral to yield expressions like
ehtetla hen ‘two thirds’, kuntla ehte ‘three quarters’, kiunmatla taieht`a ‘sixty percent’, etc. Fractions occur
with a noun phrase in the ablative, as in homau hentla ‘half a loaf of bread’, kitsou ehtetla hen ‘two thirds of
an onion’, lhateu kiunmatla taieht`a ‘sixty percent of the children’. Note also expressions like the following,
in which a fraction takes instrumental case marking to express an incremental amount:

(6.162) Kop`o

hentlame
jug.nom
half.inst
‘The jug is half full’

iatsatsa
prg.rel.full.ipv

(6.163) Kop`o

ehteme
kuntla
jug.nom
three.inst
quarter
‘The jug is three quarters full’

iatsatsa
prg.rel.full.ipv

6.8. QUANTIFIERS AND RELATED ELEMENTS

135

N-tuples

Numerals can also take the preﬁx ka- (with glide insertion and vowel lowering as necessary) to form collective
nouns. A collective noun formed from a numeral N refers to a group of N entities, or to an object or concept
divisible into N parts. Examples:

kahen
kaiehte
kakun
kakian
kaieht`a

‘couple, pair, duo, twosome; double, twice, twofold’
‘threesome, trio, triplet, group of three; triple, three parts, threefold’
‘quadruple, foursome, quartet, group of four; four parts, fourfold’
‘quintuple, group of ﬁve; ﬁve parts, ﬁvefold’
‘sextuple, group of six; six parts, sixfold’

A numeral preﬁxed with ka- often takes the instrumental ending -me and acts as a verb modiﬁer. When
modifying an eventive verb, the instrumental form quantiﬁes the number of times (in a row) that the event
occurs. When used with stative verbs, especially in comparative constructions, it expresses a proportion or
number of multiples, and is equivalent to ‘N-fold’, ‘by a factor of N’.

(6.164) Inmo

3anom.1srdat

kaiehteme
triple.inst

kahtyi
hit.pv

‘He hit me three times (in a row)’

palahta
tree

(6.165) Olh
dist
‘That tree over there is twice as tall as my house’
more lit. ‘That tree over there is taller than my house by a factor of two’

kahenme
double.inst

kotou
house.abl

tan
that:nom

apatohta
rel.tall.comp.ipv

im`e
1sall

Numerals with ka- also appear in the dative case, functioning as delimiting measure phrases. Here they
indicate the proportional di↵erence between the initial state and the ﬁnal state:

(6.166) Hi

3inom

kaiehtei
triple.dat

atohimyi
rel.big.ainc.pv

‘It became three times as large (as before)’ or ‘It tripled in size’
more lit. ‘It grew to triple (its original size)’

These forms, along with other adverbial elements formed from numerals, are discussed further in

8.4.3.

6.8.5 Other postnominal modiﬁers

In
6.8.2 I noted that most count noun quantiﬁers end in the sux -te, which appears to mark plurality.
This sux also occurs on the elements listed below, making these the only other elements in the noun phrase
(apart from pronouns and demonstratives) to mark a distinction between singular and plural. For want of
a better name for these elements, I will refer to them as pseudo-quantifiers. Noun phrases containing a
pseudo-quantiﬁer tend to be deﬁnite, and tend to function to pick out a unique member or subset of some
larger set or sequence of individuals.4

singular plural

eupe
iap
koipe
tsan

euhte
iahte
koihte
tsante

‘the only one(s), the sole one(s)’
‘other one(s), else’
‘(the) speciﬁc one(s), (the) particular one(s)’
‘oneself; the same one(s), the very one(s)’ (emphatic)

4Note that koipe can also precede the noun, but with a di↵erent meaning: ‘known, familiar’ (e.g., es koipe hepalau ‘a familiar
path’). Likewise, eupe can precede the noun, with the meaning ‘lone, by oneself’ (e.g., es eupe puniakaka ‘a lone traveler’). As
prenominal modiﬁers, koipe and eupe do not inﬂect for number, so the forms koihte and euhte only occur as pseudo-quantiﬁers.

136

CHAPTER 6. THE NOUN PHRASE

Like quantiﬁers, pseudo-quantiﬁers can occur as noun phrases on their own, or can follow a noun, often
combined with a participant nominal (
10.6) or other modiﬁer. The forms in the ﬁrst column are used when
the noun phrase is singular, while those in the second column are used when the noun phrase is plural (except
under the conditions noted below). Examples include:

koin iap
koin iahte

‘the other person’
‘the other people’

ma elohka atsal koin eupe
ma elohka atsal koin euhte

‘the only person I spoke to yesterday’
‘the only people I spoke to yesterday’

Besides quantiﬁers and pseudo-quantiﬁers, the following modiﬁers can also follow the noun. Noun phrases
containing these modiﬁers share the property that they pick out a unique individual or set of individuals.

ahkene
eihte
kaupihe
mpehis
mpehkai
mpekam
mpekunte
ufatl

‘the main/chief one(s), the principal/primary one(s)’
‘the right one(s), the correct one(s)’
‘the next one(s), the following one(s)’
‘the next one(s), the following one(s)’
‘the ﬁrst one(s)’
‘the last one(s), the previous/preceding one(s)’
‘the last one(s), the ﬁnal one(s)’
‘the wrong one(s)’

Unlike the pseudo-quantiﬁers, these modiﬁers do not have distinct singular and plural forms. Normally a
noun phrase containing one of these modiﬁers has a singular interpretation. To force a plural interpretation,
the modiﬁer is preceded by a numeral or quantiﬁer, as shown below. Simple plurality is usually expressed
by the quantiﬁer mian (lit. ‘some number/amount’):

nioksot eihte
nioksot mian eihte

‘the right answer’
‘the right answers’

eun ufatl
eun mian ufatlna

‘the wrong place’
‘in the wrong places’

l`o mpehisme
l`o mian mpehisme
l`o ehte mpehisme
l`o tosepyi mpehisme

‘during the following day’
‘during the following (few) days’
‘during the following three days’
‘during the following several days’

In general, when a pseudo-quantiﬁer or other postnominal modiﬁer co-occurs with a non-universal quantiﬁer,
the latter precedes (e.g., halma sepyi iahte ‘another few books’, halma ehte iahte ‘three other books’). As
6.8.2, count noun quantiﬁers ending in -te are not used before a pseudo-quantiﬁer; instead the
noted in
corresponding mass noun quantiﬁer (
6.8.1) is used, and -te appears on the pseudo-quantiﬁer if it is the ﬁnal
element in the noun phrase. Compare the following examples, where han is used in place of ante ‘many’ and
tsomo is used in place of tsomote ‘most’:

halma ante
halma han iahte

‘many books’
‘many other books’

halma tsomote
halma tsomo iahte

‘most of the books’
‘most of the other books’

5.3.2) or a
A pseudo-quantiﬁer or other postnominal modiﬁer can in turn be followed by a demonstrative (
§
universal quantiﬁer (
5.6), in which case it is the demonstrative or universal quantiﬁer which carries the case
§
marking for the noun phrase. In addition, the singular form of the pseudo-quantiﬁer is used even when the
noun phrase is plural, since the number marker -te can only appear on the ﬁnal element in the noun phrase.
Compare the following examples, where the noun phrase inﬂects for locative case:

6.8. QUANTIFIERS AND RELATED ELEMENTS

137

l`o mpehisme
l`o mpehis item
l`o mpehis itime
l`o mpehis ikyime

‘during the following day’
‘during that following day’
‘during those following days’
‘during each following day, during every other day’

halma iapna
halma iahtena
halma iap itan
halma iap itena
halma ehte iap itena
halma han iap itena
halma iap imuna
halma iap ikina

‘in the other book’
‘in the other books’
‘in that other book’
‘in those other books’
‘in those three other books’
‘in those many other books’
‘in all the other books’
‘in every other book’

Notes on the use of certain modiﬁers

Kaupihe and mpehis can be used more-or-less interchangeably to mean ‘next, following’. However, mpehis
is preferred for things that occur in a temporal sequence (e.g., l`o mpehis ‘the next day’), while kaupihe is
generally used for objects that lie along a path of movement (e.g., palu kaupihe ‘the next village [that one
comes to]’).

The pseudo-quantiﬁer iap (plural iahte) is equivalent to English ‘other’, or ‘else’ when used in combination
with an indeﬁnite/interrogative correlative. Examples are given below. Notice that ‘another’ is expressed
by combining iap with the indeﬁnite numeral es ‘one, a(n)’.5

halma iap
es iap
es halma iap
m`a iap
ntsemi`o iap
ntse halma m`a iap

‘the other book’
‘another (one)’
‘another book’
‘something else; what else?’
‘no-one else’
‘no other book’

halma iahte
halma hen iahte
m`a iahte
ntse halma m`a iahte
halma iap eket

‘(the) other books’
‘two other books, two more books’
‘some other things; what else? (pl)’
‘no other books’
‘every other book’

The pseudo-quantiﬁer koipe (plural koihte) emphasizes that the noun phrase in which it occurs has a speciﬁc
intended referent.
It tends to co-occur with es or an indeﬁnite/interrogative correlative when the noun
phrase is indeﬁnite, and with a demonstrative when the noun phrase is deﬁnite.

es halma koipe
halma koihte
halma mian koihte
mi`o koipe
mi`o koihte
halma koipe tan
halma koipe tin

‘a certain book, a speciﬁc book’
‘certain books’
‘a certain number of books’
‘a certain someone, someone in particular’
‘certain individuals’
‘that particular book’
‘those particular books’

Finally, the pseudo-quantiﬁer tsan functions as an emphatic modiﬁer. It usually corresponds to English ‘the
same’, or a juxtaposed reﬂexive. In combination with a following demonstrative, tsan may be translated
‘that very’ or ‘that’s the same…’ (see

9.4.3 for more on the uses of tsan):

5Note that halma iap eket means ‘every other book’ in the sense of ‘every book not previously considered’ or ‘every additional
book’. To refer to alternating members in a sequence of books, Okuna speakers would say halma mpehis eket ‘every next book’
or halma henka eket ‘every second book’ (likewise halma ehteka eket ‘every third book’, and so on).

138

CHAPTER 6. THE NOUN PHRASE

Sakial tsan
talo tsan
talo tsante
tsan nin
kotu tsan itan
kotu tsan itena

‘Sakial himself’
‘the chief him/herself, the same chief’
‘the chiefs themselves, the same chiefs’
‘they themselves, those same ones’
‘in that very house, in that same house’
‘in those very houses, in those same houses’

(6.167) Me

talo
chief

tsanma
self.erg

tsulyi
visit.pv

1snom
‘The chief himself visited me’

(6.168) Me

koin
person

tsulyi
1snom
visit.pv
‘I was visited by that very (same) person’

in`a
that:erg

tsan
self

(6.169) Koin

tsan
self

tsulyi
in`a
person
visit.pv
that:erg
‘That’s the same person who visited me’

man
1snom

6.9 Word order within the noun phrase

A noun phrase is a phrase headed by a noun (N). Noun phrases can be replaced by a pronoun, and act
as arguments or modiﬁers of verbs, though a noun phrase can also modify another noun or function as a
predicate. A noun phrase consists minimally of a noun or noun compound (cf.
6.4), usually suxed with a
case ending. Noun phrases can also include dependents of various types: demonstratives, numerals and other
quantiﬁers, deictic particles, and possessors, along with other case-marked nominal arguments and modiﬁers
(often formed from clauses and corresponding to relative clauses in English).

The following template summarizes the relative order of elments within the noun phrase. Parentheses
indicate optional elements, while an asterisk (*) indicates that multiple elements of the same type can occur
together.

(NP-CM*/PN*) (PT) N (Q) (DEF) (DEM) -CM

4.2). The DEM slot
Here, N stands for a noun or noun compound, and CM stands for a case marker (see
5.3.2), or by one of the universal quantiﬁers or words
may be ﬁlled by a pronoun used as a demonstrative (
§
5.6). The Q slot is occupied by
meaning ‘other’, which pattern morphologically with the demonstratives (
quantiﬁers other than those which occur in the DEM slot, including numerals (see
6.8). The indeﬁnite
correlatives m`a and mi`o, when used to mean ‘some/any’ or ‘which’, may occur in either the DEM slot or
the Q slot. As the template shows, both types of dependents follow the head noun, with elements from the
DEM class following elements from the Q class when both are present.

Case markers attach phonologically to the ﬁnal element in the noun phrase, whatever that element may
be. Consider the examples below, showing the placement of the locative case ending -na relative to the head
noun, the numeral ehte ‘three’, the third person plural inanimate demonstrative, the correlative m`a, and the
universal quantiﬁer -mot ‘all’ (elements in the DEM class combine with case endings in a slightly irregular
fashion; complete paradigms are given in

5.3.1 and

5.6):

kotuna
kotu ehtena
kotu itena
kotu mahna
kotu imuna
kotu ehte itena
kotu ehte mahna
kotu ehte imuna

§
‘in the house(s)’
‘in (the) three houses’
‘in those houses’
‘in which house(s)?’, ‘in some/any house(s)’
‘in all the/those houses’
‘in those three houses’
‘in which three houses?’, ‘in any three houses’
‘in all three houses’

(N-CM)
(N Q-CM)
(N DEM-CM)
(N DEM-CM)
(N DEM-CM)
(N Q DEM-CM)
(N Q DEM-CM)
(N Q DEM-CM)

6.9. WORD ORDER WITHIN THE NOUN PHRASE

139

The abbreviation DEF stands for definite modifier. This is a cover term for a set of elements which form
noun phrases that pick out a unique individual (or plurality of individuals) from a set. Deﬁnite modiﬁers
include the pseudo-quantiﬁers and other post-nominal modiﬁers discussed in
6.8.5, as well as the ordinal
numerals, formed from the cardinal numerals using the sux -ka (e.g., ehte ‘three’ > ehteka ‘third’). In
addition, superlatives such as etohohte ‘the biggest (one)’ optionally appear in the DEF slot (they can also
precede the noun). Examples:

kotu ehtekana
kotu eihtena
kotu eupena
kotu tsanna
kotu etohohtena
kotu sepyi mpehkaina
kotu ehteka ikina
kotu koipe itena
kotu tsan itena
kotu ehte iap itena

‘in the third house’
‘in the right house’
‘in the only house’
‘in the house itself’
‘in the biggest house’
‘in the ﬁrst few houses’
‘in every third house’
‘in those particular houses’
‘in those very houses’
‘in those other three houses’

(N DEF-CM)
(N DEF-CM)
(N DEF-CM)
(N DEF-CM)
(N DEF-CM)
(N Q DEF-CM)
(N DEF DEM-CM)
(N DEF DEM-CM)
(N DEF DEM-CM)
(N Q DEF DEM-CM)

Turning to elements which precede the noun: In the template above, PT stands for deictic particle. The
deictic particles are proximal tsi (for objects near speaker), medial ke (for objects near addressee, or speaker
and addressee together), and distal olh (for objects not near the speaker or addressee). The particle precedes
5.3.2,
the noun (or noun compound), and generally follows other pre-nominal modiﬁers. As discussed in
deictic particles obligatorily co-occur with a demonstrative, which expresses the number and animacy of the
noun phrase. Another element which occurs in the same position as the deictic particles is the numeral es
‘one’, which behaves di↵erently in this respect from all the other numerals (including the nearly synonymous
6.8.4).
ehtsan ‘one’, which occurs in the Q position; cf.

es kotuna
tsi kotu itan
ke kotu itan
olh kotu itan

‘in a/one house’
‘in this house (near me)’
‘in this/that house (near you/us)’
‘in that house (over there)’

(PT N-CM)
(PT N DEM-CM)
(PT N DEM-CM)
(PT N DEM-CM)

(6.170) tenena

es
one

kulhe
green

kotuna
house.loc

hill.loc
‘in a green house on the hill’

(6.171) tenena

hill.loc

olh
dist

kulhe
green

kotu
house

itena
those:loc

‘in those green houses (over there) on the hill’

NP-CM refers to case-marked noun phrases, which can occur as modiﬁers within a larger noun phrase. The
locative noun phrase tenena ‘on the hill’ fulﬁlls this function in (6.170) and (6.171) above. Oblique noun
phrases expressing the possessor relation (cf.

6.6) also ﬁll the NP-CM slot in the noun phrase template:

(6.172) Sakiala

kotuna
house.loc

Sakial.all
‘in Sakial’s house’

(6.173) Sakiala

Sakial.all

es
one

kotuna
house.loc

‘in a house of Sakial’s’ / ‘in one of Sakial’s houses’

140

CHAPTER 6. THE NOUN PHRASE

(6.174) Sakiala

kotu
olh
Sakial.all
house
dist
‘in that green house of Sakial’s’

kulhe
green

itan
that:loc

Finally, PN in the noun phrase template stands for a participant nominal used to modify another noun. A
participant nominal is a clause which has been converted into an individual-denoting expression by adding
nominalizing morphology to the verb (see
10.6 for discussion). When used to modify the head noun in a
noun phrase, analogous to a relative clause in English, the participant nominal precedes the noun. In the
following examples, ihama mikail akile (‘thing shown to the boy by the woman’) and Sakialma tsuhpanen
(‘time/place/circumstances associated with Sakial’s living’) are participant nominals modifying the head
noun kotu ‘house’. (Note that participant nominal modiﬁers—at least those longer than a single word—
almost never co-occur with case-marked modiﬁers, which is why PN and NP-CM are treated as competing
for the same slot in the noun phrase template.)

(6.175) ihama

mikail
boy.dat

akile
pv.see.tnzr

kotuna
house.loc

woman.erg
‘in the house that the woman showed to the boy’

(6.176) Sakialma

tsuhpanen
Sakial.erg
live.dep.cnzr
‘in that green house where Sakial lives’

olh
dist

kulhe
green

kotu
house

itan
that:loc

Word order within the noun phrase is generally ﬁxed. The only dependents which seem to have a variable
position are single-word participant nominals like pate ‘tall one’. These can occupy the PN slot in the
template, in which case they will precede a deictic particle such as ke, or they can be treated as the ﬁrst
element in a noun compound, in which case they will follow the deictic particle:

(6.177) pate

ke
med

kotu
house

tall.tnzr
‘in this tall house’

(6.178) ke

pate
tall.tnzr

med
‘in this tall house’

kotu
house

itan
that:loc

This ﬂexibility is possible only if the participant nominal consists of a single word.
If the participant
nominal is complex, it must occupy the PN slot. Hence, if pate ‘tall one’ is replaced by the multi-word
modiﬁer palahtau epatohte ‘thing (which is) taller than a tree’, the latter must precede the deictic particle:

(6.179) palahtau
tree.abl

apatohte
rel.tall.comp.tnzr

ke
med

kotu
house

itan
that:loc

‘in this house (which is) taller than a tree’

Chapter 7

Verb Morphology

7.1 Introduction

4.4) I discussed the classiﬁcation of verbs according to their argument structure.

In chapter 4 (
In this
§
chapter I discuss the rather complex morphology found on verbs in Okuna. As noted in chapter 2, verbs
inﬂect for tense, aspect, and mood, and also mark negation, as well as agreeing in number (singular versus
plural) with their subjects and objects. Verbs also take morphology for expressing modality, and those
denoting scalar properties inﬂect for equative and comparative/superlative degree.

7.2 I discuss number agreement, while in

§
overview of tense, aspect, and mood morphology. In
for deriving verbs of one class from verbs of other classes.
formation of comparative constructions. Finally, in
expressing modality.

7.3 I consider how negation is marked.

7.4 gives an
7.5 I discuss various inﬁxes and suxes which are used
7.6 deals with the expression of degree and the
7.7 I discuss modal inﬂection, along with other ways of

Note that verbs in Okuna are generally cited with the ending -a, which marks the non-past imperfect
aspect in main clauses (cf.
10.2). To derive
the stem for most verbs, the ending -a is simply removed. For instance, the verb ‘sleep’, usually cited as
muelha, has the stem muelh-; while the verb ‘wash’, usually cited as paua, has the stem pau-. As these
examples show, verb stems in Okuna may end in a consonant or a glide.

7.4.2), as well as the indicative mood in dependent clauses (cf.

7.2 Number agreement

Verbs agree in number (singular versus plural) with their core arguments—that is, with noun phrases that
are selected by the verb and appear in the nominative, dative, or ergative case. When a verb has one or
more core arguments that are plural, this fact is registered by means of suxes, which attach to the verb
following any inﬂection for tense, aspect, mood, and polarity (see
7.3). For example, the verb eta ‘go’
normally takes the sux -t when its nominative argument is plural: e.g., me eta ‘I go’, versus se etat ‘we
go’. The agreement sux is often the only indication that the argument in question is plural, since nouns,
as well as (second and third person) clitic pronouns, do not themselves express number. Compare:

ku eta
ku etat

ne eta
ne etat

‘you (sg) go’
‘you (pl) go’

‘s/he goes’
‘they go’

pyie eta
pyie etat

‘the child goes’
‘the children go’

hi eta
hi etat

‘it goes’
‘they go’

(7.1) Tsokoimp`a

elohka
yesterday

etskanyi
arrive.pv

stranger.nom
‘The stranger arrived yesterday’

141

142

(7.2) Tsokoimp`a

elohka
yesterday

etskanyit
arrive.pv.pl

stranger.nom
‘The strangers arrived yesterday’

CHAPTER 7. VERB MORPHOLOGY

4.6) do not agree in number with the verb, and so their number
Noun phrases that are unmarked for case (
§
must usually be inferred from context (since unmarked noun phrases are normally interpreted as non-
referential, number is usually irrelevant in any case). Oblique case-marked noun phrases likewise do not
agree with the verb. Consider the examples below, where the unmarked noun phrase halma and the allative
case-marked noun phrase kamala are vague or ambiguous as to number. When it is important to the context
to specify whether an oblique or unmarked noun phrase has a singular or plural referent, one must resort to
other means to express number besides verb agreement (see

6.2).

(7.3) Ma

1serg

halma
book

italanka
prg.read.ipv:pst

‘I was reading a book’ or ‘I was reading books’ (more lit. ‘I was book-reading’)

(7.4) Ma

1serg

kamala
knife.all

ikpihanka
prg.look:for.ipv:pst

‘I was looking for a/the knife’ or ‘I was looking for (the) knives’

Di↵erent agreement suxes are used depending on the topicality and case role of the noun phrase being
agreed with. There are ﬁve agreement suxes, listed in the following table. The reciprocal sux is discussed
in

9.4.4, while the other suxes are discussed and illustrated below.

plural topic
nominative plural
dative plural
ergative plural
reciprocal

(pl)
(npl)
(dpl)
(epl)
(recip)

-t/-ta
-ua/-a
-ma
-ne/-ni
-uo/-o

Except for the dative plural marker, each sux has two forms. For plural topics, the form of the sux is
grammatically determined: -t appears on verbs in main clauses and in participial clauses (
10.3), while -ta is
§
used for verbs in the dependent form (
10.2). For the other suxes, the form is phonologically conditioned.
The nominative plural and reciprocal suxes take the forms -a and -o after a glide, and -ua and -uo
elsewhere. This is illustrated below for nominative plural agreement: in (7.5) the agreement sux follows
the imperfective sux -a, while in (7.6) it follows the perfective sux -yi, which ends in a glide.

(7.5) Elimma

pyie
child.nom

itsulaua
prg.visit.ipv.npl

Elim.erg
‘Elim is visiting the children’

(7.6) Elimma

pyie
child.nom

tsulyia
visit.pv.npl

Elim.erg
‘Elim visited the children’

The ergative plural sux takes the form -ni when followed by another sux beginning with a consonant
(typically the plural topic marker -t, but also the enclitic question marker -n), and -ne elsewhere. Compare
the following examples, where -ne/-ni marks agreement with pyima ‘the children’, while -t in (7.9) marks
agreement with Elim ka Sakiale:

(7.7) Elime

pyima
Elim.nom
child.erg
‘Elim was visited by the children’

tsulyine
visit.pv.epl

7.2. NUMBER AGREEMENT

143

(7.8) Elime

pyima
Elim.nom
child.erg
‘Was Elim visited by the children?’

tsul`yinin?
visit.pv.epl.qu

(7.9) Elim
Elim
‘Elim and Sakial were visited by the children’

Sakiale
Sakial.nom

pyima
child.erg

tsulyinit
visit.pv.epl.pl

ka
and

A verb can take up to two plural agreement suxes. When two suxes are present, the second sux must
be the plural topic marker -t, while the ﬁrst sux is either the nominative, dative, or ergative agreement
marker, or the reciprocal marker. The verbs in the following sentences illustrate the permissible two-sux
combinations (for non-reciprocal verbs):

(7.10) Lhatima

pil`a
children.erg
bird.nom
‘The children are looking at the birds’

iksonauat
prg.look:at.ipv.npl.pl

(7.11) Ikema

dog.erg

sekeit
rat.dat

tahyimat
kill.pv.dpl.pl

‘The dogs killed the/some rats’

(7.12) Sekeit

rat.nom

ikema
dog.erg

tahyinit
kill.pv.epl.pl

‘The rats were killed by (the) dogs’

The rules governing the use of the agreement suxes are as follows:

1. If the clause contains a topic in one of the core cases (

4.3), and if that topic has a plural referent, then
the verb is marked with the sux -t. The topic is typically the ﬁrst noun phrase or clitic pronoun in
the clause, is interpreted as deﬁnite, and identiﬁes the participant about which the rest of the clause
is predicated (see

9.2.1 for more on the topic role).

2. If the clause contains a plural non-topic noun phrase marked with one of the core cases, then one of
the other agreement suxes in the above table is added to the verb. The choice of sux depends on
the case role of the non-topic noun phrase: if it is nominative, the verb takes -(u)a; if it is dative, the
verb takes -ma; and if it is ergative, the verb takes -ne/-ni.

3. If the clause contains multiple non-topic noun phrases with core case marking, only one of which has a
plural referent, then the verb will agree with that noun phrase (choice of agreement sux is as in (2)
above).

4. If the clause contains two or more non-topic noun phrases with plural referents, the verb can agree
with at most one of them. In such cases, speakers have an option as to which noun phrase will trigger
agreement, though animacy and deﬁniteness are important factors. If one of the noun phrases is deﬁnite
and the other is indeﬁnite, the verb will tend to agree with the deﬁnite one. If both noun phrases are
(in)deﬁnite but one of them has an animate referent and the other an inanimate referent, the verb will
generally agree with the animate one.

These rules are illustrated by the examples below. The ﬁrst set of examples involves verbs taking a single
argument. In (7.13) a plural ergative argument functions as the topic, while in (7.14) the same argument
acts as a non-topic. (In the latter case, as the glosses indicate, pyima is interpreted contrastively, or taken to
be introducing a previously unmentioned referent into the discourse.) The second pair of sentences feature
a verb taking a nominative argument, which acts as the topic in (7.15) and as a non-topic in (7.16).

144

CHAPTER 7. VERB MORPHOLOGY

(7.13) Pyima

imuelhat
child.erg
prg.sleep.ipv.pl
‘The children are sleeping on the bed’

tsulna
bed.loc

(7.14) Tsulna

pyima
child.erg

imuelhane
prg.sleep.ipv.epl

bed.loc
‘There are some children sleeping on the bed’
or ‘It’s (the) children who are sleeping on the bed’

(7.15) Yhkun`a

etskanyit
arrive.pv.pl

guest.nom
‘The guests arrived’

(7.16) Yhkuna

sepyi
some:nom

etskanyia
arrive.pv.npl

guest
‘Some guests arrived’ or ‘There arrived some guests’

The examples below feature a verb taking an ergative argument and a nominative argument, and show the
various possible agreement options. In the sentences in (7.17) the ergative argument is the topic, while in
the sentences in (7.18) it is the nominative argument which functions as the topic:

(7.17) Kalma

palaht`a
tree.nom

take
cut.cv

itiausa
prg.fell.ipv

man.erg
‘The man is cutting down a/the tree’

Kalma palaht`a take itiausat
Kalma palaht`a take itiausaua
Kalma palaht`a take itiausauat

‘The men are cutting down a/the tree’
‘The man is cutting down some/the trees’
‘The men are cutting down some/the trees’

(7.18) Palaht`a

itiausa
prg.fell.ipv
tree.nom
‘The tree is being cut down by a/the man’

kalma
man.erg

take
cut.cv

Palaht`a kalma take itiausat
Palaht`a kalma take itiausane
Palaht`a kalma take itiausanit

‘The trees are being cut down by a/the man’
‘The tree is being cut down by some/the men’
‘The trees are being cut down by some/the men’

Additional examples of plural marking:

(7.19) Elimu

pyima
Elim.abl
child.erg
‘Elim’s children are well-behaved’

hantampat
proper.act.ipv.pl

(7.20) Motlama

amot
all:dat
Motla.erg
‘Motla hasn’t read all the books yet’

ntsuta
not:yet

halma
book

utaloma
pf.read.ipv:neg.dpl

(7.21) Sa

kahu
ﬁsh
13erg
‘We ate (some) ﬁsh’

iasyit
eat.pv.pl

(7.22) No

tsokoimp`a
stranger.nom

tulona
road.loc
3ardat
‘They met the strangers on the road to Tenmotlai’

Tenmotlaia
Tenmotlai.all

sasyiat
meet.pv.npl.pl

7.2. NUMBER AGREEMENT

145

(7.23) Amema

mother.erg

pyie
child.nom

sihkunoi
river.dat

histyia
take.pv.npl

‘The mother took (her) children to the river(s)’

(7.24) Sa

13erg

ispakai
student.dat

hafe
new.tnzr

halm`a
book.nom

tafyimat
show.pv.dpl.pl

‘We showed the/some new book(s) to the students’

In (7.24) the nominative argument hafe halma ‘new book(s)’ is ambiguous between a singular and a plural
interpretation, as the translation shows. This is because the slot on the verb devoted to non-topic agreement
has been ﬁlled by the dative plural sux -ma, preventing the nominative argument from triggering agreement
on the verb. Likewise the dative argument sihkunoi ‘river(s)’ in (7.23) is ambiguous between a singular and
a plural reading (although the former is more pragmatically plausible) because the verb is already agreeing
in plurality with the nominative argument. Notice that in both cases, it is the animate argument which
triggers agreement while the inanimate argument is blocked from agreeing.

Normally a verb will show plural agreement with a core argument only if that argument is overtly present
5.5. For example, topicalized second
in the clause. However, there are certain exceptions to this, discussed in
person pronouns are often omitted in questions and imperatives. These missing pronouns nevertheless trigger
agreement when plural, causing the appropriate sux to appear on the verb. Consider the examples below.
In the second pair of examples, Mekule eutaua would be used when addressing a single individual, while
Mekule eutauat would be used when addressing two or more individuals.

(7.25) Okuna
Okuna

sulme
language.inst

k`omin?
speak.ipv:int.qu

‘Do you (sg) speak Okuna?’

(7.26) Okuna
Okuna

sulme
language.inst

komit
speak.ipv:int.pl

ne?
qu

‘Do you (pl) speak Okuna?’

(7.27) Mekule

eutaua
clean.ipv.npl

dish.nom
‘Clean the dishes!’

(7.28) Mekule

eutauat
clean.ipv.npl.pl

dish.nom
‘Clean the dishes!’

In both cases the topic of the participial clause (‘looking at me’) is
Consider also the examples below.
omitted under coreference with the topic of the main clause (see
10.3). Nevertheless, the participle agrees
with this missing topic when it has a plural referent, just as the main clause verb agrees with the antecedent
of the missing topic:

(7.29) Sakiale

euolhna
there.loc

itoilhanka
prg.stand:res.ipv:pst

man
1snom

iksone
prg.look:at.pt

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial stood there looking at me’

(7.30) Sakial
Sakial
‘Sakial and Elim stood there looking at me’

Elime
Elim.nom

euolhna
there.loc

ka
and

itoilhankat
prg.stand:res.ipv:pst.pl

man
1snom

iksonit
prg.look:at.pt.pl

146

7.3 Negation

CHAPTER 7. VERB MORPHOLOGY

Negation in Okuna is marked by a combination of morphemes. All negative sentences contain the negative
particle ntse (glossed neg in the examples), or some element incorporating this particle: e.g., ntsemi ‘never’,
ntsilas ‘not only’, etc. These elements occur immediately before the portion of the clause that is being
negated (see below). In addition, negation is marked on the verb: every verb carries a sux which expresses
some combination of tense/aspect/mood features (perfective, non-past imperfective, past imperfective, or
7.4 below.
conditional) and polarity (positive versus negative). A complete list of these suxes is given in
This two-part negation construction is illustrated using the pairs of examples below. In the ﬁrst pair of
sentences, the verb is marked for perfective aspect. In (7.31) the verb takes the sux -yi, while in (7.32) the
sux changes to -ou. In the second pair of sentences the verb is marked for imperfective aspect (non-past
tense). Here, the sux is -a in the positive sentence and -o in its counterpart with negation.

(7.31) Elohka

s`u
rain

kahpyi
fall.pv

yesterday
‘It rained yesterday’

(7.32) Elohka

ntse
neg

s`u
rain

kahpou
fall.pv:neg

yesterday
‘It didn’t rain yesterday’

(7.33) Lhatima

children.nom

halmai
book.dat

italamat
prg.read.ipv.dpl.pl

‘The children are reading (the) books’

(7.34) Lhatima

children.nom

ntse
neg

halmai
book.dat

italomat
prg.read.ipv:neg.dpl.pl

‘The children are not reading (the) books’

Quite often the negative particle ntse will immediately precede the verb, in which case it attaches to the
verb as a preﬁx. In its preﬁxal form, the negative particle is underlying m-, but regular phonological changes
a↵ect its surface realization as follows:

1. If the stem begins with a vowel, the negative preﬁx surfaces as m-: e.g., afa ‘accompany’, mafo ‘not

accompany’; iona ‘know’, miono ‘not know’.

2. If the stem begins with a sonorant or a consonant cluster, the negative preﬁx takes the form ma-: e.g.,
lima ‘open’, malimo ‘not open’; mutla ‘understand’, mamutlo ‘not understand’; nyipa ‘use’, manyipo
‘not use’; ksiama ‘sneeze’, maksiamo ‘not sneeze’; stoka ‘destroy’, mastoko ‘not destroy’.

3. Finally, if the stem begins with a single obstruent consonant, the negative preﬁx takes the form of
a nasal which agrees in place of articulation with the obstruent. If the obstruent is a continuant, it
changes into the closest corresponding non-continuant: e.g., fona ‘praise’, mpono ‘not praise’; huata
‘like’, nkuato ‘not like’; kahta ‘hit’, nkahto ‘not hit’; lhyua ‘enter’, ntlyuo ‘not enter’; pata ‘be tall’,
mpato ‘not be tall’; siehpa ‘write’, ntsiehpo ‘not write’; tlelha ‘ﬁnd’, ntlelho ‘not ﬁnd’; tolha ‘stand
up’, ntolho ‘not stand up’; tsupa ‘be lost’, ntsupo ‘not be lost’.

The following example sentences include verbs to which the negative particle has been preﬁxed:

(7.35) Yhmana

manuho
neg.cold.ipv:neg

hial`o
today

outside.loc
‘It’s not cold out today’

7.3. NEGATION

147

miasuhunka
(7.36) Ounana
bear.loc
neg.eat.want.ipv:pst:neg
‘The bear didn’t want to eat the ﬁsh, it seems’

kahoi
ﬁsh.dat

le
it:seems

Note that when m- immediately precedes the progressive aspect preﬁx i-, the latter lowers to become e-,
unless it is followed by a non-glide vowel. The perfect aspect preﬁx u- lowers to become o- under the same
conditions. Compare:

siehpa
isiehpa
usiehpa

‘writes, will write’
‘is writing’
‘has written’

ntsiehpo
mesiehpo
mosiehpo

‘doesn’t write, won’t write’
‘isn’t writing’
‘hasn’t written’

When some other constituent besides the verb is in the scope of negation, that constituent appears between
the negative particle and the verb, with the particle occurring in its unbound form ntse rather than as
a preﬁx. For instance, when some dependent of the verb is focused in the scope of negation, it follows
ntse. This is illustrated in (7.37), where Elimma is being contrasted with another participant. Ntse also
precedes unmarked noun phrases, which must be immediately adjacent to the verb, as discussed in
4.6. An
example is given in (7.38), where the noun maka, interpreted as a generic or non-referential object, intervenes
between negation and the verb. Finally, (7.39) gives an example where the negative particle and the verb
are separated by an adverbial and a dative noun phrase, both interpreted within the scope of negation.

(7.37) Kohui
berry
‘It’s not Elim who ate all the berries, but Sakial’

iasout,
eat.pv:neg.pl

Elimma
Elim.erg

umot
all.rdat

ntse
neg

tluosna
but

Sakialma
Sakial.erg

(7.38) Elimma

maka
meat
Elim.erg
‘Elim doesn’t eat meat’

ntse
neg

iaso
eat.ipv:neg

(7.39) Ne

ntse
neg

emiantena
how:often
3anom
‘They don’t go to Tenmotlai very often’

Tenmotlaie
Tenmotlai.dat

etot
go.ipv:neg.pl

The following examples provide minimal pairs illustrating the e↵ect of word order on the interpretation of
negative sentences. In (7.40) the negative marker attaches to the verb, whereas in (7.41) it precedes kihoin
‘letter’. Although the two sentences are translated in more or less the same way, they di↵er semantically.
The ﬁrst sentence would tend to receive a focus-neutral interpretation, paraphrasable as ‘It is not the case
that the student is writing a letter’. In the second example a portion of the sentence following ntse is being
focused. There are two possibilities: If the focus is on kihoin, then the meaning of the sentence is ‘It’s not
a letter that the student is writing (but something else)’; here we say that negation scopes over kihoin.
Alternatively, the whole phrase kihoin isiehpo can act as the focus and scope for negation, in which case the
meaning is ‘It’s not writing a letter that the student is engaged in (but some other activity)’.

(7.40) Ispakama

kihoin
letter.dat

mesiehpo
neg.prg.write.ipv:neg

student.erg
‘The student is not writing a letter’

(7.41) Ispakama

ntse
neg

kihoin
letter.dat

isiehpo
prg.write.ipv:neg

student.erg
‘The student is not writing a letter’

Consider also the pair of examples below. In (7.42) the quantiﬁcational phrase tsokoimpa miante ‘a number
of strangers’ follows the negative marker ntse, and is interpretated inside the scope of negation, yielding
the reading ‘It is not the case that Elim met a number of strangers’. In (7.43) the quantiﬁcational phrase

148

CHAPTER 7. VERB MORPHOLOGY

precedes the negative marker (here realized as the preﬁx n-), and is thus outside the scope of negation. This
results in a subtly di↵erent interpretation, roughly paraphrasable as ‘A number of strangers are such that
Elim didn’t meet them’.

(7.42) Eleim

miante
Elim.dat
many:nom
‘Elim didn’t meet very many strangers’

tsokoimpa
stranger

ntse
neg

tsokuou
meet.pv:neg

(7.43) Eleim

miante
Elim.dat
many:nom
‘There are a number of strangers who Elim didn’t meet’

ntsokuou
neg.meet.pv:neg

tsokoimpa
stranger

A ﬁnal pair of examples illustrating the scope of negation is given below. Notice how the placement of the
negative marker is reﬂected in the English translations.

(7.44) Inkime

ntse
neg

oite
important.tnzr

m`a
something

utso
pf.say.ipv:neg

3aerg:12dat
‘She hasn’t told us anything of importance’

(7.45) Inkime

oite
important.tnzr

m`a
something

motso
neg.pf.say.ipv:neg

3aerg:12dat
‘There’s something important that she hasn’t told us’

Attachment of the negative marker to other word classes

Besides appearing on the verb, the negative marker also attaches to certain preverbal elements. Examples
8.2.1); and the aspectual elements
include the focus operators ntsilas ‘not only’ and ntsohkina ‘not even’ (see
ntseima ‘no longer’, ntsuta ‘not yet’, and ntsoke ‘not going to’ (
8.4.2). Various negative quantiﬁers and
§
quantiﬁcational adverbials can also be formed by adding the negative particle to a correlative element. These
include the following (see

6.7.1 for a complete list):

ntsam`a
ntsemi`o
ntsemi`e
ntsemi

‘none, nothing, not any’ [inanimate]
‘none, no-one, not any’ [animate]
‘nowhere’
‘never’

Note that when one of these elements combines with a noun, the negative element ‘detaches’ from the
correlative and precedes the noun as ntse. Compare:

ntsam`a
ntsemi`o

‘nothing’
‘no-one’

ntse iase m`a
ntse pyi mi`o

‘no food’
‘no children’

Negative operators, quantiﬁers, and adverbials all precede the verb, to the left of any noun phrases inside
the scope of negation and to the right of noun phrases which are outside the scope of negation. As with
ntse, the verb is suxed with the negative form of the appropriate tense/aspect/mood sux. Examples:

(7.46) Ma

ntsam`a
nothing

etsou
say.pv:neg

1serg
‘I said nothing’ or ‘I didn’t say anything’

(7.47) Ntsemiohma
nobody.erg
‘Nobody said anything’

m`a
something

etsou
say.pv:neg

7.3. NEGATION

149

(7.48) Ma

ntse
neg

talak
money

m`a
some

ikpunka
prg.carry.ipv:pst:neg

1serg
‘I was not carrying any money’

(7.49) Im`e

1sall

halm`a
book.nom

ntsemiena
nowhere.loc

itleilho
prg.ﬁnd:res.ipv:neg

‘My book is nowhere to be found’ (lit. ‘My book is found nowhere’)

(7.50) Ne

3anom

ntsemi
never

Tenmotlaie
Tenmotlai.dat

uto
pf.go.ipv:neg

‘She has never been/gone to Tenmotlai’

Other particles indicating polarity

In negative clauses the verb is sometimes followed by the emphatic particle iahok, which highlights the
negation (see
8.2.2). Negative imperatives (prohibitives) feature the particle iak, while emphatic negative
questions may be marked with the particle iakin. Examples include:

(7.51) It`e

mekesto
3iall
neg.prg.happy.ipv:neg
‘I’m not at all happy about this’

iahok
neg:emph

iman
1sloc

(7.52) Ku

mankilho
neg.leave.ipv:neg

iak
neg:imp

2nom
‘Don’t leave!’

(7.53) Sakiale

motsokuo
neg.pf.meet.ipv:neg

iakin?
neg:emph:qu

Sakial.nom
‘Haven’t you ever met Sakial before?’ or ‘Have you really never met Sakial?’

Note ﬁnally that ntse and m- alternate with two other preverbal negative particles, namely ntsu and ntsune.
The former expresses negated coordination, and appears in a construction where it is repeated before each
conjunct (ntsu … ntsu … is equivalent to English ‘neither … nor …’). Note that only the second conjunct
is marked for case, while the ﬁrst conjunct appears in the unmarked form. Notice also that in the example
below the verb takes the negative form of the tense/aspect sux, but does not carry plural agreement with
the ergative argument (ntsu Sakial ntsu im`a).

(7.54) Halma

atai
that:dat

ntsu
nor
book
‘Neither Sakial nor I have read that book yet’

ntsu
neither

Sakial
Sakial

eima
still

im`a
1serg

utalo
pf.read.ipv:neg

Ntsune is used in place of ntse or m- to put emphatic focus on the negation, as when the speaker wishes to
contradict a previous assertion or implication. For example, (7.55) below would be used to make a simple
statement, while (7.56) would be used if the speaker wishes to disagree with an earlier claim that the water
was hot. The positive counterpart of ntsune is hi`o, which may be used to contradict a previous negative
statement, as in (7.57). (Note the presence of the emphatic particle ha, used when the sentence conveys
information which the speaker believes will be unexpected or surprising to the addressee; see

8.2.2.)

(7.55) Nahe

mekailo
neg.prg.hot.ipv:neg

water.nom
‘The water isn’t hot’

150

(7.56) Nahe

ntsune
neg

ikailo
prg.hot.ipv:neg

water.nom
‘No, in fact the water is not hot’

CHAPTER 7. VERB MORPHOLOGY

ha
in:fact

(7.57) Nahe

hi`o
pos

ikaila
prg.hot.ipv

water.nom
‘On the contrary, the water is hot’

ha
in:fact

The particles hi`o and ntsune can also be used as utterances by themselves, equivalent to English ‘yes’
and ‘no’: Hi`o is used to answer a yes/no question in the armative, to signal agreement with a previous
positive assertion or implication, or to contradict a previous negative assertion or implication. Ntsune is
used to answer a yes/no question in the negative, to signal agreement with a previous negative assertion or
implication, or to contradict a positive assertion or implication.

Hi`o and ntsune can also stand in for a predicate phrase which has been elided. Hi`o (like English
‘do/does/did’) replaces a positive predicate, while ntsune (like ‘don’t/doesn’t/didn’t’) replaces a negative
predicate:

(7.58) Sakiale

sihkunoi
river.dat

etyi,
go.pv

le
but

Elime
Elim.nom

ntsune
neg

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial went to the river, but Elim didn’t’

(7.59) Sakiale

sihkunoi
river.dat

metou,
neg.go.pv:neg

le
but

Elime
Elim.nom

hi`o
pos

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial didn’t go to the river, but Elim did’

These particles are not used in the so-called stripping construction, where two clauses containing contrasting
focused noun phrases are conjoined with one another, and everything except the focused phrase is omitted
from the second conjunct (see
In this construction, if the second conjunct is
negated, the focused phrase is preceded by the regular negative particle ntse, just as it is when the ﬁrst
conjunct is negated:

8.2.1 for more examples).

(7.60) Ias`e

ketyi,
Sakialma
food.nom
bring:here.pv
Sakial.erg
‘It’s Sakial who brought the food, not Elim’

te
foc

ntse
neg

Elimma
Elim.erg

(7.61) Ias`e

ketou,
Sakialma
food.nom
bring:here.pv:neg
Sakial.erg
‘It’s not Sakial who brought the food, but Elim’

ntse
neg

tluosna
instead

Elimma
Elim.erg

7.4 Tense, aspect, and mood

In addition to number agreement (
7.2), verbs in Okuna inﬂect for tense, aspect, mood, and polarity. The
§
type of inﬂection di↵ers for verbs in main clauses versus verbs in dependent clauses. In this section I focus
10.2.
on main clause verbs. For discussion of aspect, mood, and polarity inﬂection in dependent clauses, see
Tense, aspect, mood, and polarity are marked on the verb by a combination of suxes and preﬁxes. I

brieﬂy consider these in turn before presenting some sample verb conjugations in

7.4.1.

Suxal morphology

Verbs in main clauses mark the following features by means of suxation:

7.4. TENSE, ASPECT, AND MOOD

151

1. Two mood categories are distinguished. The indicative mood is used when the clause denotes an
actual or possible state of a↵airs, while the conditional mood is used when it denotes a contingent
or hypothetical state of a↵airs. E.g., ma uhna ‘I sing, I will sing’ (indicative), versus ma uhnike ‘I
would sing’ (conditional).

2. For verbs in the indicative mood, a two-way tense distinction is made: non-past tense is used for
states and events which overlap or follow the moment of speaking, and for generic or ‘timeless’ states
and events; while past tense is used for states and events which precede the moment of speaking. E.g.,
ma uhna ‘I sing, I will sing, I habitually sing’ (non-past), versus ma uhnyi ‘I sang’ (past).

3. A two-way aspect distinction is made in the past tense: perfective aspect is used for single events
when viewed as complete(d); while imperfective aspect is used for ongoing, habitual, or otherwise
unbounded states of a↵airs. E.g., ma uhnyi ‘I sang’ (perfective), versus ma uhnanka ‘I used to sing’
(imperfective). Note that conditional and non-past indicative verbs always pattern as imperfective.

4. Finally, for each combination of tense, aspect, and mood features, a di↵erent ending is used depending
on the polarity of the clause: one set of endings is used on verbs in positive clauses, while another
set is used for verbs in negative clauses. E.g., ma hoti uhna ‘I always sing’, versus ma ntsemi uhno
‘I never sing’. As noted below, certain tense/aspect/mood endings also have separate interrogative
forms used in yes/no questions. E.g., ko uhna ‘you sing’, versus ko `uhnin? ‘do you sing?’

The table below gives the tense, aspect, mood, and polarity endings found in main clauses. The abbreviations
7.4.2–
used in the glosses are given in parentheses after each sux, while their functions are discussed in
7.4.6.

non-past imperfective
past imperfective
(past) perfective
conditional

positive
(ipv)
(ipv:pst)
(pv)
(cond)

-a
-anka
-yi
-ike

negative

-o
-unka
-ou
-oike

(ipv:neg)
(ipv:pst:neg)
(pv:neg)
(cond:neg)

The non-past imperfective (positive) ending -a, and the past imperfective endings -anka and -unka all have
alternative forms where the ﬁnal a is replaced by i. These i -ﬁnal forms, listed in the table below, are referred
to as the interrogative forms (abbreviated int in the glosses).

non-past imperfective (pos)
past imperfective (pos)
past imperfective (neg)

non-interrogative
(ipv)
-a
(ipv:pst)
-anka
(ipv:pst:neg)
-unka

interrogative
(ipv:int)
(ipv:pst:int)
(ipv:pst:neg:int)

-i
-anki
-unki

The interrogative forms are used when the verb occurs in a yes/no question, usually in combination with the
question marker ne (-n after a vowel; see
9.3.2 for discussion). For suxes which do not have alternative
interrogative forms (i.e., the non-past imperfective negative sux -o, as well as the perfective and conditional
suxes), the verb takes the same form in yes/no questions as it does in other contexts. Compare the following
examples featuring the verb root uhn- ‘sing’, with interrogative/non-interrogative alternations shown in
boldface:

na uhna
na muhno
na uhnanka
na muhnunka
na uhnyi
na muhnou

‘she sings’
‘she doesn’t sing’
‘she used to sing’
‘she didn’t used to sing’
‘she sang’
‘she didn’t sing’

na `uhnin?
na m`uhnon?
na uhn`ankin?
na muhn`unkin?
na uhnyin?
na muhnoun?

‘does she sing?’
‘doesn’t she sing?’
‘did she used to sing?’
‘didn’t she used to sing?’
‘did she sing?’
‘didn’t she sing?’

152

CHAPTER 7. VERB MORPHOLOGY

The tense/aspect/mood/polarity suxes are subject to the usual phonological alternations. When the past
imperfective negative sux -unka is added to a stem ending in a glide, the u lowers to o in accordance with
the rules of vowel hiatus summarized in
3.5.3: e.g, laki- ‘hunt’ + -unka > lakionka. Likewise, when the
interrogative sux -i or the conditional sux -ike is added to a glide-ﬁnal stem, the i lowers to e: e.g., taki-
‘break’ + -i > takie; tsoku- ‘meet’ + -ike > tsokueke.

The tense/aspect/mood/polarity sux immediately precedes any number agreement suxes attached to
the verb (cf.
7.2). For reference, the following table presents all of the permissible combinations of these
suxes found on main clause verbs. These are grouped into rows according to tense/aspect/mood/polarity,
and into columns according to number agreement.

ipv
ipv:neg
ipv:int
ipv:pst
ipv:pst:neg
ipv:pst:int
ipv:pst:neg:int
pv
pv:neg
cond
cond:neg

sg
-a
-o
-i
-anka
-unka
-anki
-unki
-yi
-ou
-ike
-oike

pl
-at
-ot
-it
-ankat
-unkat
-ankit
-unkit
-yit
-out
-ikit
-oikit

npl
-aua
-oua
-eua
-ankaua
-unkaua
-ankeua
-unkeua
-yia
-oua
-ikeua
-oikeua

npl+pl
-auat
-ouat
-euat
-ankauat
-unkauat
-ankeuat
-unkeuat
-yiat
-ouat
-ikeuat
-oikeuat

dpl
-ama
-oma
-ima
-ankama
-unkama
-ankima
-unkima
-yima
-ouma
-ikima
-oikima

dpl+pl
-amat
-omat
-imat
-ankamat
-unkamat
-ankimat
-unkimat
-yimat
-oumat
-ikimat
-oikimat

epl
-ane
-one
-ine
-ankane
-unkane
-ankine
-unkine
-yine
-oune
-ikine
-oikine

epl+pl
-anit
-onit
-init
-ankanit
-unkanit
-ankinit
-unkinit
-yinit
-ounit
-ikinit
-oikinit

Notice that when the interrogative suxes -i, -anki, and -unki are followed by a vowel, the ﬁnal i lowers to
e before a number agreement sux beginning with a glide (e.g., -anki + -ua > -ankeua). In addition, the
conditional suxes -ike and -oike become -iki and -oiki, respectively, when followed by a number agreement
sux beginning with a consonant. The conditional suxes also have raising of ﬁnal e to i before the bound
question marker -n (discussed in

9.3.2):

na uhnike
na muhnoike

‘she would sing’
‘she wouldn’t sing’

na uhn`ıkin?
na muhn`oikin?

‘would she sing?’
‘wouldn’t she sing?’

Preﬁxal morphology

Besides the suxes discussed above, verbs in the past and non-past imperfective, as well as the conditional,
may take one of two preﬁxes to mark a further set of aspectual distinctions. The preﬁx i- or e- marks the
progressive (prg) aspect, while the preﬁx u- or o- marks the perfect (pf) aspect. When an imperfective
or conditional verb does not carry one of these preﬁxes, it is said to be in the imperfect aspect. Roughly
speaking, the progressive is used for states of a↵airs viewed as current or ongoing; the perfect for states and
events viewed ‘after the fact’; and the imperfect for generic, habitual, and future states of a↵airs (for details,
see the discussion in

7.4.6 below):

imperfect

7.4.2–
§
ma hosta
ma hostanka
ma hostile

‘I dance; I will dance’
‘I used to dance’
‘I would dance’

progressive ma ihosta

ma ihostanka
ma ihostike

‘I am dancing, I have been dancing’
‘I was dancing, I had been dancing’
‘I would be dancing’

perfect

ma uhosta
ma uhostanka
ma uhostike

‘I have danced’
‘I had danced’
‘I would have danced’

7.4. TENSE, ASPECT, AND MOOD

153

The progressive and perfect preﬁxes each have two allomorphs, whose distribution is governed by both
phonological and morphological factors. The e- and o- variants are used when the preﬁx attaches to a stem
beginning with a glide vowel (such as iona ‘know’ or uohta ‘sit’), in accordance with the vowel hiatus rules
discussed in
3.5.3. In addition, e- and o- are used when the preﬁx attaches to a stem beginning with a
7.3). The i-
consonant, just in case the preﬁx is in turn preceded by the bound negative marker m- (see
and u- variants appear elsewhere. Compare the following partial paradigms for kahta ‘hit’, aktapa ‘help’,
and iasa ‘eat’:

pos

neg

imperfect
progressive
perfect

kahta
ikahta
ukahta

nkahto
mekahto
mokahto

‘hits, will hit’
‘is hitting’
‘has hit’

imperfect
progressive
perfect

maktapo
aktapa
iaktapa miaktapo
uaktapa muaktapo

‘helps, will help’
‘is helping’
‘has helped’

imperfect
progressive
perfect

iasa
eiasa
oiasa

miaso
meiaso
moiaso

‘eats, will eat’
‘is eating’
‘has eaten’

In addition, when the aspectual preﬁxes are added to a stem beginning with a non-glide high vowel, that
3.5.3).
vowel lowers to become the corresponding mid vowel (again due to the vowel hiatus rules discussed in
For instance, adding i- to ikla ‘scratch’ yields iekla ‘is scratching’ (negative mieklo ‘is not scratching’), while
adding u- gives uekla ‘has scratched’ (mueklo ‘has not scratched’). Likewise, adding i- and u- to uhna ‘sing’
yields iohna ‘is singing’ (miohno ‘is not singing’) and uohna ‘has sung’ (muohno ‘has not sung’), respectively.
A small number of verb stems, all of which begin with e when unpreﬁxed, show irregularities in their
preﬁxed aspect forms. For these verbs, the initial e is dropped replaced with i in the progressive and u in
the perfect, or e in the progressive and o in the perfect when the negative preﬁx m- is added.

ekp-
esk-
est-
et-
ets-
etskan-
etskast-
etskop-

‘carry, bring/take, hold’
‘ask, request’
‘reach, succeed’
‘go, come’
‘say, tell’
‘arrive, appear’
‘summon, call, produce’
‘realize’

This irregularity is illustrated below with the partial paradigms for eta and etskana:

imperfect
progressive
perfect

pos

eta
ita
uta

neg

meto
meto
moto

‘goes, will go’
‘is going’
‘has gone’

imperfect
progressive
perfect

etskana metskano
itskana metskano
utskana motskano

‘arrives, will arrive’
‘is arriving’
‘has arrived’

That these eight verbs are genuinely irregular is shown by the fact that all other verbs whose stems begin
with e form the progressive and perfect aspects according to the normal rules for vowel-initial verbs: e.g.,
eka ‘be empty’, progressive ieka ‘is empty’, perfect ueka ‘has been empty’.

154

CHAPTER 7. VERB MORPHOLOGY

7.4.1 Sample conjugations and irregular forms

In the discussion which follows, I will use abbreviated names for certain tense-aspect combinations. These
are noted in the following table:

tense

non-past
non-past
non-past
past
past
past
past

aspect
(suffixal)
imperfective
imperfective
imperfective
imperfective
imperfective
imperfective
perfective

aspect
(prefixal)
imperfect
progressive
perfect
imperfect
progressive
perfect

abbreviated
name
imperfect
progressive
perfect
past imperfect
past progressive
past perfect
perfective

The paradigms below illustrate the permissible preﬁx and sux combinations for expressing tense, aspect,
and mood distinctions in main clauses, using the verbs siehpa ‘write’ (with the consonant-ﬁnal stem siehp-)
and paua ‘wash’ (with the glide-ﬁnal stem pau-). The positive forms are given in the second column and their
negative counterparts in the third column, while the fourth column gives approximate English equivalents
for each tense/aspect/mood form. Note that the negative forms are shown with the bound negative particle
m- attached (see
7.3; note that m- + siehp- becomes ntsiehp- due to the regular assimilation rules discussed
in

3.5.2). For reasons of space, the interrogative forms are not included in these tables.

imperfect
progressive
perfect
past imperfect
past progressive
past perfect
imperfect conditional
progressive conditional
perfect conditional
perfective

neg
pos
ntsiehpo
siehpa
mesiehpo
isiehpa
mosiehpo
usiehpa
siehpanka
ntsiehpunka
isiehpanka mesiehpunka
usiehpanka mosiehpunka
siehpike
isiehpike
usiehpike
siehpyi

ntsiehpoike
mesiehpoike
mosiehpoike
ntsiehpou

‘write(s), will write’
‘is writing, has been writing’
‘wrote, has written’
‘wrote, would write, used to write’
‘was writing, had been writing’
‘had written’
‘would write’
‘would be writing’
‘would have written’
‘wrote’

pos
neg
paua
mpauo
ipaua
mepauo
upaua
mopauo
mpauonke
pauanka
ipauanka mepauonke
upauanka mopauonke
paueke
ipaueke
upaueke
pauyi

mpauoike
mepauoike
mopauoike
mpauou

‘wash(es), will wash’
‘is washing, has been washing’
‘washed, has washed’
‘washed, would wash, used to wash’
‘was washing, had been washing’
‘had washed’
‘would wash’
‘would be washing’
‘would have washed’
‘washed’

Apart from the eight e-initial verbs listed in the above discussion of preﬁxal aspect morphology, only three
verbs show irregularities in their conjugations: the copula he, and the deictic verbs ts`a ‘be over here’ (near
me) and k`a ‘be here’ (near us) or ‘be there’ (near you). The functions of the copula are explained in
9.3.1,
5.3.2.
while the deictic verbs are discussed brieﬂy in

The paradigm for he is given below. Notice that he is not only highly irregular but also morphologically
‘deﬁcient’, in that it fails to inﬂect for the full range of tense and aspect distinctions: there are no progressive

7.4. TENSE, ASPECT, AND MOOD

155

forms, and, since he is a stative verb, there are no perfective forms either. (The negative forms are given
here without the bound negative marker m-, since this element never attaches directly to the copula, but
9.3.1.)
always precedes the complement of the copula; cf.

imperfect
perfect
past imperfect
past perfect
imperfect conditional
perfect conditional

pos
he
heu
nka
heunka
heike
heuke

neg
ho
hou
hunka
hounka
hoike
heuoike

‘is/am/are, will be’
‘has been’
‘was/were’
‘had been’
‘would be’
‘would have been’

Note that this verb has separate interrogative forms only in the past imperfect and past perfect, where the
ﬁnal a is replaced with i (nki, hunki, heunki, hounki ). As with regular verbs, the ﬁnal e of the conditional
forms becomes i before a consonant-initial sux or the bound question particle -n (e.g., heike + -t > heikit;
heuoike + -n > heu`oikin).

The paradigms for ts`a and k`a are given below (like the copula, these verbs are stative and therefore lack
perfective forms). The slight irregularities found in these paradigms can be attributed to the fact that these
are the only two verbs in the language whose stems end in a non-glide vowel: tla- and ka-, respectively.

imperfect
progressive
perfect
past imperfect
past progressive
past perfect
imperfect conditional
progressive conditional
perfect conditional

neg
ntsau
metsau
motsau
ntsaunka

pos
ts`a
its`a
uts`a
tsanka
itsanka metsaunka
utsanka motsaunka
ntsauoike
tsaike
itsaike
metsauoike
utsaike motsauoike

neg
nkau
mekau
mokau
nkaunka

pos
k`a
ik`a
uk`a
kanka
ikanka mekaunka
ukanka mokaunka
nkauoike
kaike
ikaike
mekauoike
ukaike mokauoike

‘is here, will be here’
‘is here, has been here’
‘was here, has been here’
‘was here, used to be here’
‘was here, had been here’
‘had been here’
‘would be here’
‘would be here’
‘would have been here’

‘is there, will be there’
‘is there, has been there’
‘was there, has been there’
‘was there, used to be there’
‘was there, had been there’
‘had been there’
‘would be there’
‘would be there’
‘would have been there’

Like the copula, k`a and ts`a have separate interrogative forms only in the past imperfective, where the ﬁnal
a is replaced with i (e.g., kanka > kanki ). Also, as expected, the ﬁnal e of the conditional forms raises to
become i before a consonant-initial plural agreement sux or the bound question marker -n (e.g., ntsauoike
+ -t > ntsauoikit). Finally, note that the diacritic which indicates a stressed ﬁnal vowel (see
3.4) is omitted
when a plural agreement sux or -n is added to the forms in question, since the addition of the sux creates
words which conform to the regular stress rules (e.g., ts`a + -t > tsat; ik`a + -n > ikan).

The functions of the di↵erent tense, aspect, and mood forms are discussed and illustrated in the following
7.4.3 with the past and non-past progressive,
7.4.5 I discuss the perfective and illustrate the di↵erences
§
7.4.6 I discuss the conditional mood.

subsections:
and
between the perfective and the perfect, while in

7.4.2 deals with the past and non-past imperfect,

7.4.4 with the past and non-past perfect. In

156

7.4.2 Imperfect

CHAPTER 7. VERB MORPHOLOGY

As noted above, the non-past imperfective is marked on the verb by the sux -a in positive clauses, and -o in
negative clauses (these suxes are glossed ipv and ipv:neg, respectively). The past imperfective is marked
by the sux -anka in positive clauses, and -unka in negative clauses (glossed ipv:pst and ipv:pst:neg,
respectively). When these suxes are used without the progressive or perfect aspectual preﬁx, the verb is
said to be in the imperfect aspect.

The non-past imperfect tends to be used in contexts where English would use the simple present tense,
while the past imperfect corresponds to the simple past. With Class I verbs denoting an inherent or non-
transitory property predicated of some individual (or group of individuals), the non-past imperfect form is
used when the individual holds the property at the time when the sentence is uttered. The past imperfect
is used when the individual held the property at some point in the past, but perhaps no longer does so.

(7.62) Mo

tiaht`e
grandfather.nom

1srdat
‘My grandfather is tall’

pata
tall.ipv

(7.63) Mo

tiaht`e
1srdat
grandfather.nom
‘My grandfather was tall’

patanka
tall.ipv:pst

(7.64) Pal`o

sihkunu
river

utena
near.loc

tima
lie.ipv

village.nom
‘The village lies near a river’

(7.65) Sakiale

ameia
mother.all

akiel
appearance

ohtlanka
resemble.ipv:pst

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial looked like his mother’

Class I verbs also take the imperfect in generic sentences—that is, when the property in question is predicated
of an entire class of entities rather than a particular individual or group of individuals. The non-past imperfect
is used when the clause expresses a generalization that holds at the present moment, while the past imperfect
is used for generalizations that applied at some point in the past (but may or may not apply at the present
moment).

(7.66) Kotiem`e

inie
eyes

ampiohna
around.loc

kote
black

pekme
patch.inst

yla
have.ipv

raccoon.nom
‘Raccoons have black patches around their eyes’

(7.67) Palu

itan
that:loc

koinma
person.erg

es
one

sul
language

village
‘People in that village used to speak a di↵erent language’

iapme
other.inst

komankat
speak.ipv:pst.pl

Similarly with Class II and Class III verbs denoting events, the imperfect form is used in generic and
habitual clauses. To express current generalizations or habitual actions (those overlapping with the moment
of speaking), the non-past imperfect is used; while the past imperfect is used for habitual actions which are
no longer being carried out and generalizations which no longer hold.

(7.68) Kitoleuma

kepehots
acorn

iasa
eat.ipv

squirrel.erg
‘Squirrels eat acorns’

(7.69) Sakialma

kahu
ﬁsh

pala
catch.ipv

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial catches ﬁsh’ or ‘Sakial is a ﬁsherman’

7.4. TENSE, ASPECT, AND MOOD

157

(7.70) Sakialma

ekan
here:loc

tsuhpa
live.ipv

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial lives here’

(7.71) Sakialma

ekan
here:loc

tsuhpanka
live.ipv:pst

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial lived here’ or ‘Sakial used to live here’

(7.72) Sa

kotsim
morning

ekina
13erg
every:time
‘We go swimming in the river every morning’

sihkununa
river.loc

sihpat
swim.ipv.pl

(7.73) Halai

summer

iolhmohka,
last:year

sa
13erg

kotsim
morning

ekina
every:time

sihkununa
river.loc

sihpankat
swim.ipv:pst.pl

‘Last summer, we went / would go swimming in the river every morning’

The non-past imperfect is also used to express a future event:

(7.74) Ma

1serg

losaka
ﬁrewood.all

eta
go.ipv

‘I’ll go get (some) ﬁrewood’

(7.75) Ikimme
12inst
‘Sakial is coming with us’

Sakiale
Sakial.nom

afa
come:along.ipv

It is usually possible to determine from context whether a verb in the non-past imperfect is referring to
a generic/habitual event or a future event. When necessary, these senses can be distinguished by adding
an adverbial or other temporal modiﬁer to the sentence. For example, modiﬁers like hoti ‘always’, kyfalu
‘usually, as a rule’, ela ‘in each case’, or kotsim ekina ‘every morning’ bring out the generic or habitual
interpretation (cf. example (7.72) above). To emphasize a future tense reading, an expression like elohfoi
‘tomorrow’, l`o henme efoi ‘in two days’, hatlam ‘soon’, laisne ‘just’, or oke ‘in the future, by and by’ may be
added to the clause. Verbs modiﬁed by oke are usually translated using the ‘be going to’ construction, while
laisne expresses immediate future when used in combination with the non-past imperfect and corresponds
to ‘be (just) about to’.

(7.76) Ma

elohfoi
koi
1serg
tomorrow
2nom
‘I’ll meet you tomorrow’

kuola
meet.ipv

(7.77) Sakialma

oke
Sakial.erg
going:to
‘Sakial is going to write a letter’

kihoin
letter.dat

siehpa
write.ipv

(7.78) Se

laisne
just

ilaltat
go:to:shore.ipv.pl

13nom
‘We’re just about to go down to the shore’

Just as the non-past imperfect form can be used to express a future event, the past imperfect form can be
used to express a ‘future-in-the-past’ event—that is, an event which, at a certain point in time in the past,
had not yet happened but was expected to happen (cf. English ‘would leave, was going to leave, was about
to leave’). To specify the future-in-the-past reading, the verb is normally accompanied by an adverbial such
as oke or laisne.

158

CHAPTER 7. VERB MORPHOLOGY

(7.79) Sakialma

kihoin
Sakial.erg
letter.dat
‘Sakial was going to write a letter’

oke
going:to

siehpanka
write.ipv:pst

(7.80) Lhat`e

children.nom

laisne
just

sihkunoua
river.all

nkilhankat
leave.ipv:pst.pl

unma
3ardat.1serg

ahatit
pv.call.pt.pl

‘The children were just about to leave for the river when I called them (back)’

Finally, clauses in the non-past imperfect is used to express commands, wishes, or suggestions. Here the non-
past imperfect is often used in combination with the postverbal imperative/optative marker na (expressing
a command or wish) or nem (expressing a suggestion). In commands, the second person subject may be
omitted (see

9.3.3 for more discussion of imperative sentences):

§
temie
(7.81) (Ko)
2erg
hands
‘Wash your hands!’

paua
wash.ipv

(7.82) Tiakoi

uktiama
goat.dat
give.ipv.dpl
‘Go feed the goats!’ or ‘The goats should be fed’

iase
food

na
imp

ikpihanene
(7.83) Kue
2dat
prg.seek.dep.cnzr.nom
‘May you ﬁnd what you’re looking for’

tlelha
ﬁnd.ipv

na
imp

(7.84) Kihoin

siehpa
nem
why:not
write.ipv
letter.dat
‘Why don’t you write a letter?’

(7.85) Kimot

elohfoi
tomorrow
12:all:nom
‘Let’s all go to Tenmotlai tomorrow’

Tenmotlaie
Tenmotlai.dat

etat
go.ipv.pl

nem
why:not

7.4.3 Progressive

The verb carries progressive inﬂection when it denotes a state or event which is being viewed as ongoing
with respect to the present moment, or with respect to some other contextually-relevant past or future event.
As noted above, progressive aspect is marked by adding the preﬁx i- to the verb, in combination with an
imperfective sux expressing tense and polarity (recall that i- becomes e- when preceded by the negative
marker m- and/or followed by a glide):

itala
metalo

‘is reading, has been reading’
‘isn’t reading, hasn’t been reading’

(non-past progressive)
(non-past progressive negative)

italanka
metalunka

‘was reading, had been reading’
‘wasn’t reading, hadn’t been reading’

(past progressive)
(past progressive negative)

When a Class I verb appears in the non-past progressive, it denotes a state of a↵airs which holds at the
moment of speaking. Here, the non-past progressive is normally translated using the simple present tense in
English (‘is happy’) except when the verb denotes a position or posture, in which case it may correspond to
the English present progressive (‘is sitting’). Likewise, the past progressive denotes a state of a↵airs which
held at some point prior to the moment of speaking, and corresponds to the English simple past or past
progressive (‘was tired’, ‘was sitting’).

7.4. TENSE, ASPECT, AND MOOD

159

(7.86) Pyina

ikesta
prg.happy.ipv

child.loc
‘The child is happy’

(7.87) Elime

totsatna
table.loc

euohta
prg.sit.ipv

Elim.nom
‘Elim is sitting at the table’

(7.88) Sakiale

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial is tired’

ihakta
prg.tired.ipv

(7.89) Sakiale

teusu
Sakial.nom
very
‘Sakial was very tired yesterday’

ihaktanka
prg.tired.ipv:pst

elohka
yesterday

(7.90) Kale

euolhna
over:there.loc
man.nom
‘The men were standing over there’

itoilhankat
prg.stand:res.ipv:pst.pl

For the most part, the progressive is used only with Class I verbs denoting states which are transitory,
and not thought of as inherent or necessary properties of the individual in question (e.g., kesta ‘be happy’,
mouta ‘be sick’). Verbs expressing permanent or integral characteristics of an individual (e.g., pata ‘be tall’)
almost always appear in the imperfect instead of the progressive. Many Class I verbs can describe either a
permanent state or a transitory state, depending on the context or the choice of theme argument. For such
verbs, the choice between the progressive and the imperfect correlates with this di↵erence in interpretation.
Compare the following pairs of sentences:

(7.91) Sakiale

Sakial.nom

imouta
prg.sick.ipv

‘Sakial is sick’ (now)

(7.92) Sakiale

Sakial.nom

mouta
sick.ipv

‘Sakial is sickly/inﬁrm’ (i.e., has a chronic condition)

(7.93) Sakiale

Sakial.nom

imuntanka
prg.drunk.ipv:pst

‘Sakial was drunk’ (at a certain point in time)

(7.94) Sakiale

Sakial.nom

muntanka
drunk.ipv:pst

‘Sakial was (habitually) drunk’ or ‘Sakial was a drunkard’

(7.95) Halm`a

book.nom

totsat
table

epamna
top.loc

itima
prg.lie.ipv

‘The book is lying on the table’ (transitory location)

(7.96) Palu

village

tan
that:nom

loka
forest

pahaina
beyond.loc

tima
lie.ipv

‘That village lies beyond the forest’ (permanent location)

160

CHAPTER 7. VERB MORPHOLOGY

Occasionally a verb denoting an inherent property will appear in the progressive rather than the imperfect.
In such cases the progressive serves to emphasize that the individual in question possesses the property now,
but did not do so in the past:

(7.97) Me

ihka
earlier

mitianka,
weak.ipv:pst

le
but

1snom
‘I used to be weak, but now I’m strong’

takan
now

inasa
prg.strong.ipv

A similar semantic contrast is illustrated by the following sentences, featuring the stative Class II verb tsuhpa
‘live, reside’. In (7.98), with the verb is in the non-past imperfect, the speaker is describing his/her living
situation in neutral terms. When the verb is instead in the non-past progressive, as in (7.99), it is implied
that the speaker’s current living situation is a new (or newly relevant) development:

(7.98) Ma

kahamame
aunt.inst

1serg
‘I live with my aunt’

tsuhpa
live.ipv

(7.99) Ma

kahamame
aunt.inst

itsuhpa
1serg
prg.live.ipv
‘I am (now) living with my aunt’
or ‘I have been living with my aunt’

When an eventive Class II or Class III verb inﬂects for the progressive, the clause is understood to denote
a particular event which is ongoing (overlaps with) some contextually-relevant point in time. The non-past
progressive is normally used for an event which is ongoing at the moment of speaking, and corresponds
closely to the present progressive in English (‘is eating’). The past progressive is used when the event was
ongoing at some time in the past, and corresponds to the English past progressive (‘was eating’).

(7.100) Elimma

homa
bread

eiasa
prg.eat.ipv

Elim.nom
‘Elim is eating bread’

(7.101) Elimma

eiasanka
Elim.nom
prg.eat.ipv
‘Elim was eating bread when I entered the room’

me
1snom

haloi
room.dat

homa
bread

alhyue
pv.enter.pf

The progressive is also used when the clause expresses a state of a↵airs which began in the past and has
persisted up to the present moment. When used in this way, the non-past progressive often corresponds to
the English present perfect or present perfect progressive (‘has been tired’, ‘has been sitting’); while the past
progressive corresponds to the past perfect or past perfect progressive (‘had been tired’, ‘had been sitting’).
The clause often includes a temporal measure phrase, which appears in the dative case and is preceded by
kas ‘so far, as of now/then, already’ (e.g., kas luom hein ‘for two hours’):

(7.102) Sakiale

lem
emuohpi
whole:time
day
Sakial.nom
‘Sakial has been tired all day’

ihakta
prg.tired.ipv

(7.103) Ne

tsulna
bed.loc

kas
so:far
3anom
‘She has been lying on the bed for two hours’

hein
two.dat

luom
hour

isailha
prg.lie.pv

(7.104) Ne

tsulna
bed.loc

kas
so:far

luom
hour

hein
two.dat

isailhanka
prg.lie.pv:pst

me
1snom

haloi
room.dat

alhyue
pv.enter.pt

3anom
‘She had been lying on the bed for two hours when I entered the room’

7.4. TENSE, ASPECT, AND MOOD

161

Note also the following example. As in (7.104) above, the main clause, with its verb in the past progressive,
establishes a temporal context for the event denoted by the perfective participial clause. Here, however, the
past progressive verb is instead translated using the simple past (‘was young’):

(7.105) Motl`a

eima
still

teusu
very

iﬁhanka
prg.young.ipv:pst

no
3ardat

am`e
mother.nom

atioke
pv.die.pt

Motla.nom
‘Motla was still very young when his mother died’

Combining progressive marking with an adverbial indicating futurity (such as oke ‘going to’, hatlam ‘soon’),
or a dependent clause headed by hulne hekuna ‘by the time (that)’, yields a future progressive interpretation
(‘will be sleeping’):

(7.106) Pyima

hatlam
soon

imuelhat
prg.sleep.ipv.pl

child.erg
‘The children will soon be sleeping’

(7.107) Se

nioktata
return.dep.pl

hulne
at:the:latest

hekuna,
when.loc

13nom
‘By the time we get back, the children will be sleeping’

pyima
child.erg

imuelhat
prg.sleep.ipv.pl

The progressive can also express an event in the immediate future, much as in English. However, using
the progressive to indicate futurity is less common in Okuna than it is in English: more often the non-past
imperfect is used (
7.4.2). The progressive with future meaning occurs mostly with verbs such as nkilha
§
‘leave’, which express punctual events (i.e., events viewed as being instantaneous):

(7.108) Motl`a

inkilha
prg.leave.ipv
Motla.nom
‘Motla is leaving tomorrow’ or ‘Motla will be leaving tomorrow’

elohfoi
tomorrow

(7.109) Motl`a

haloi
room.dat
Motla.nom
‘Motla was about to leave when I entered the room’

inkilhanka
prg.leave.ipv:pst

me
1snom

alhyue
pv.enter.pt

7.4.4 Perfect

Perfect aspect is marked by the adding the preﬁx u- to the verb (o- after the negative preﬁx m- or before a
glide), in combination with an imperfective sux indicating the tense and polarity of the clause:

usiehpa
mosiehpo

‘has written, will have written’
‘hasn’t written, won’t have written’

(non-past perfect)
(non-past perfect negative)

usiehpanka
mosiehpunka

‘had written’
‘hadn’t written’

(past perfect)
(past perfect negative)

Use of the perfect aspect indicates that the event or state denoted by the verb properly precedes some other
discourse-salient point in time. For the non-past imperfect, this point in time is normally the moment when
the sentence is uttered. Verbs in the non-past perfect are usually translated using the present perfect (‘has
read’) in English:

(7.110) Na

halma
book

utai
that:rdat

ehenna
twice

utala
pf.read.ipv

3aerg
‘She has read that book twice’

162

CHAPTER 7. VERB MORPHOLOGY

The non-past perfect is similar to the perfective, and sometimes they can be used interchangeably without
signiﬁcantly altering the meaning of the sentence. However, the two forms are not identical. The perfective
identiﬁes a particular event and asserts that that event is complete(d); whereas the non-past perfect indicates
that a given type of event occurred at one or more times in the past, or that a given state of a↵airs was in
e↵ect at some point prior to the present moment. Compare:

(7.111) Ik`e

kankilhyi
run:away.pv

dog.nom
‘The dog ran away (then)’

(7.112) Ik`e

ukankilha
pf.run:away.ipv

dog.nom
‘The dog ran away (at some point or other)’
or ‘The dog has run away’

The ﬁrst sentence talks about a speciﬁc event of the dog running away, while the second sentence asserts
the existence one or more events involving the dog running away. For more on the di↵erence between the
non-past perfect and the perfective, see the discussion in

7.4.5 below.

When accompanied by an element expressing futurity, such as oke ‘be going to’ or hulne elohfoi ‘by
tomorrow, no later than tomorrow’, the non-past perfect can be used where English requires the future
perfect (‘will have ﬁnished’):

(7.113) Hulne

ielmefoi,
next:month

na
3aerg

hafe
new.tnzr

kotoi
house.dat

tiespe
build.cv

at:the:latest
‘By next month, they will have ﬁnished building the new house’

uoslat
pf.ﬁnish.ipv.pl

The past perfect in Okuna is essentially equivalent to the past perfect in English: both forms are used when
the event or state is already over with respect to some contextually-determined time in the past.

(7.114) Lhatima

uta
already

umuelhtankat
pf.sleep.tinc.ipv:pst.pl

me
1snom

alontsein
campsite.dat

aniokte
pv.return.pt

children.erg
‘The children had already gone to sleep by the time I returned to the campsite’

7.4.5 Perfective

The perfective is marked by adding the sux -yi to the verb in positive clauses, and -ou in negative clauses:
e.g., siehpyi ‘wrote’, ntsiehpou ‘did not write’ (in the examples, -yi and -ou are glossed pv and pv:neg,
respectively). Only verbs denoting events—that is, verbs belonging to Class II or Class III—have perfective
forms; stative verbs appear only in the imperfective and the conditional. Note also that perfective marking
is not compatible with the progressive or perfect aspects (marked by i- and u-, respectively). Hence, verbs
in the perfective never carry an aspectual preﬁx.

The perfective form is used when the clause denotes a single complete event, viewed in its entirety, which
precedes the moment of speaking. The perfective corresponds fairly closely to the simple past form in English
(‘wrote’). However, when denoting a recently completed event, it can also be translated using the English
present perfect (‘has written’), especially when the clause contains an adverbial such as laisne ‘just’ or uta
‘already’.

(7.115) Elimma

kihoin
letter.dat
Elim.erg
‘Elim wrote the letter’

siehpyi
write.pv

(7.116) Elimma

kihoin
letter.dat

laisne
just

siehpyi
write.pv

Elim.erg
‘Elim just wrote the letter’ or ‘Elim has just written the letter’

7.4. TENSE, ASPECT, AND MOOD

163

(7.117) Elimma

kihoin
letter.dat

uta
already

siehpyi
write.pv

Elim.erg
‘Elim already wrote the letter’ or ‘Elim has already written the letter’

In narratives, a sentence may consist of two or more juxtaposed clauses with verbs in the perfective form,
denoting two or more events which happened in succession. As illustrated below, the order of the clauses
reﬂects the order in which the events happened. Note the absence of a direct equivalent for ‘and’ or ‘and
then’ in these examples.

(7.118) Ih`a

woman.nom

etyit
come.pv.pl

inmo
3aerg.1srdat

keﬁhusot
news

etsyit
tell.pv.pl

‘The women came (and) told me the news’

(7.119) Elimma

Elim.erg

kihoin
letter.dat

siehpyi
write.pv

sa
13erg

sati
meal

iasyit
eat.pv.pl

‘Elim wrote the letter, (and then) we ate dinner’

Perfective versus non-past perfect

As discussed in
7.4.4, the non-past perfect form is normally used when the event or state denoted by the verb
properly precedes the moment when the sentence is uttered. However, it is not (completely) interchangeable
with the perfective. The contrast between these two forms is illustrated by the pair of sentences below. Both
assert that Elim ate whale meat at some point prior to the moment of speaking. When uttering (7.120),
with the verb in the perfective, the speaker is referring to a particular occasion when Elim ate whale meat
(even if it is not known when that event took place). When uttering (7.121), with the verb in the non-past
perfect, the speaker does not have a particular occasion in mind. Instead, the sentence simply asserts that
the event has already happened at least once: eating whale meat is part of Elim’s experience of the world.

(7.120) Elimma

Elim.erg

unto
whale

makai
meat.dat

iasyi
eat.pv

‘Elim ate (some) whale meat’

(7.121) Elimma

Elim.erg

unto
whale

makai
meat.dat

oiasa
pf.eat.ipv

‘Elim has eaten whale meat (before)’

While the perfective always picks out a particular episode—a speciﬁc event or sequence of events—the non-
past perfect can refer to a series of unrelated episodes spread out over time. Compare the examples below.
The ﬁrst implies that there was one ﬁre which destroyed all the houses, while the second is compatible with
a situation where di↵erent houses were destroyed by di↵erent ﬁres at di↵erent times.

(7.122) Tiesat

itan
this:loc

kotu
house

antei
many.dat

tohauat
ﬁre

town
‘Many houses in this town were destroyed in a ﬁre’

stokyima
destroy.pv.dpl

(7.123) Tiesat

town

itan
this:loc

kotu
house

antei
many.dat

tohauat
ﬁre

ustokama
pf.destroy.ipv.dpl

‘Many houses in this town have been destroyed by ﬁre(s)’

Because the non-past perfect can describe multiple past events or situations spread over a period of time,
this is the form that is generally used with adverbials that quantify over events, such as iehtena ‘three times,
on three (separate) occasions, in three cases’:

164

(7.124) Ma

Elime
Elim.nom

iehtena
three:times.loc

1serg
‘I (have) visited Elim three times’

CHAPTER 7. VERB MORPHOLOGY

utsula
pf.visit.ipv

The non-past perfect emphasizes that an event is being viewed ‘after the fact’, from the vantage point of the
present moment. Thus, the non-past perfect form is preferred over the perfective when the mere fact that
an event happened—that it has come to pass—is what the speaker is choosing to focus on. For example,
(7.125) asserts that the house has the property of having been built by Sakial’s grandfather; exactly when the
house was built, or under what circumstances, is not as important as the identity of the builder. Likewise,
the non-past perfect is often used to present new and potentially surprising information, especially about
a recent development, as in (7.126). Note that in this sentence, the postverbal particle iam indicates that
the sentence represents unexpected or recently-learned information, which has not yet been fully assimilated
into the speaker’s consciousness.

(7.125) Olh
dist
‘Sakial’s grandfather (is the one who) built that house over there’

miahtema
grandfather.erg

Sakialu
Sakial.abl

utai
that:rdat

utiespa
pf.build.ipv

kotu
house

(7.126) Sakialu

miaht`e
grandfather.nom

laisne
just

Sakial.abl
‘Sakial’s grandfather (has) just died’

utioka
pf.die.ipv

iam
it:turns:out

The use of the non-past perfect to emphasize that an event has come to pass is especially evident when the
verb is negated. (7.127) below indicates that the event did not take place at the designated time (but may
have occurred at some other time), while (7.128) indicates that the event has so far failed to occur.

(7.127) Sakiale

elohka
yesterday

metskanou
neg.arrive.pv:neg

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial didn’t arrive yesterday’

(7.128) Sakiale

eima
still

motskano
neg.pf.arrive.ipv:neg

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial hasn’t arrived yet’

7.4.6 Conditional

The conditional mood is marked on main clause verbs by the sux -ike (or -iki before a consonant) in positive
clauses, and -oike (or -oiki before a consonant) in negative clauses. The conditional is generally used where
English uses the modal ‘would’. Like ‘would’, it indicates that the clause represents a hypothetical (potential
or counterfactual) state of a↵airs, especially one which is contingent on some other state of a↵airs. As with
the past and non-past imperfective, verbs in the conditional can occur in the imperfect aspect (with no
preﬁx), the progressive aspect (with preﬁx i-/e-), or the perfect aspect (with preﬁx u-/o-). E.g.:

talike
italike
utalike

‘would read’
‘would be / have been reading’ metaloike
motaloike
‘would have read’

ntaloike

‘would not read’
‘would not be / have been reading’
‘would not have read’

The conditional form occurs most often in the apodosis of a conditional sentence (i.e., the ‘then’ clause in
an ‘if-then’ construction), when that clause expresses a hypothetical consequence. The imperfective can also
be used in this context, where the choice depends on the speaker’s assessment of how likely it is that the
event in the conditional clause will come about. Compare:

(7.129) Ikoi

aleut
help

tiuhi
need.dep:sbj

aunme,
if.inst

2sall
‘If you need help, I will give (it) to you’

kue
2dat

im`a
1serg

uktia
give.ipv

7.4. TENSE, ASPECT, AND MOOD

165

(7.130) Ikoi

aleut
help

kue
tiuhi
2sall
2dat
need.dep:sbj
‘If you needed help, I would give (it) to you’

aunme,
if.inst

im`a
1serg

uktieke
give.cond

The progressive and perfect conditional are used mostly in counterfactual sentences, describing a state or
event which might have come about, but failed to do so:

(7.131) Ku

tsipi
a:little

ihka
earlier

uketuhkai,
pf.come:here.cpl.pt:sbj

kima
12erg

kas
by:now

2nom
‘If you had managed to get here a little earlier, we would be eating dinner by now’

sati
meal

eiasikit
prg.eat.cond.pl

(7.132) Hial`o
today
‘If it hadn’t been raining today, I would have picked berries’

ukahpau,
pf.fall.pt:sbj:neg

ma
1serg

kohui
berry

ntse
neg

s`u
rain

utitieke
pf.gather.cond

(7.133) Oionai

ikuna
2ploc

ihalhkon`a,
prg.hungry.dep.nom

ma
1serg

ntse
neg

pf.know.pt:sbj
‘If (I) had known that you were hungry, I wouldn’t have eaten the rest of the food’

iase
food

tehei
rest.dat

oiasoike
pf.eat.cond:neg

In questions, use of the conditional mood can signal a polite request. Here the conditional has a ‘softening’
e↵ect, making the request less direct:

(7.134) Af`ıkin

come:with.cond.qu
‘Would/could (you) come with me?’

imem?
1sinst

(7.135) Mi

ueho
wine

moit`ıkin?
1sdat
receive.cond.qu
‘May I have some more wine?’ (lit. ‘Would I receive some more wine?’)

mian
some

iap
more

The conditional also has a softening e↵ect when used in combination with the desiderative mood sux -uh
‘want to’ (
§

7.7.1) to express the equivalent of English ‘would like’. Compare:

(7.136) Iman
1sloc
‘I want to go to Kemotlasi’

Kemotlasei
Kemotlasi.dat

etuha
go.want.ipv

Kemotlasei
(7.137) Iman
1sloc
Kemotlasi.dat
‘I would like to go to Kemotlasi’

etuhike
go.want.cond

When used in combination with the imperative particle na (in positive clauses) or iak (in negative clauses),
the conditional form expresses a wished-for event, especially if that event failed to occur, or is unlikely to
occur in the future. This construction is more or less equivalent to English ‘if only’ or ‘would that’:

(7.138) Inme

ihka
earlier

uteulikit
pf.listen.cond.pl

na
imp

3aerg.1snom
‘If only they’d listened to me earlier’ or ‘Would that they had listened to me earlier’

Finally, the conditional is used in the construction illustrated below. Here it corresponds roughly to English
‘be’ plus an inﬁnitive clause.

(7.139) Ntsam`a
nothing
‘There is nothing else to do’ (lit. ‘Nothing else would be done’)

sukoike
do.cond:neg

iap
other

166

(7.140) It`e

tohan
very:much

kyitsike
say:about.cond

3iall
‘There is a great deal to say about that’

CHAPTER 7. VERB MORPHOLOGY

A noun phrase in the instrumental case may be added, creating a construction equivalent to English ‘have’
plus an inﬁnitive clause:

(7.141) Imem
1sinst

suklut
task

tlante
so:many:nom

uslikeua
ﬁnish.cond.npl

‘I have so many tasks to ﬁnish’ (lit. ‘With me, so many tasks would be done’)

(7.142) Sakialme

Sakial.inst

eima
still

halma
book

ehtei
three.dat

talikima
read.cond.dpl

‘Sakial still has three books (left) to read’

sukoike
(7.143) Ikimme
12inst
do.cond:neg
‘We have nothing else to do’ or ‘There is nothing else for us to do’

ntsam`a
nothing

iap
other

7.5 Aspectual derivation

Section
7.4 dealt with grammatical aspect, which relates to how an event is viewed (as ongoing, com-
pleted, etc.). Okuna also has extensive morphology for expressing lexical aspect—that is, the type of
event which the clause denotes. Various suxes and inﬁxes can be attached to a verb stem to derive a new
4.4). For example,
verb expressing a di↵erent type of event, often belonging to a di↵erent verb class (see
the sux -t can be added to the Class I verb stem toh- ‘be big’, which denotes a state, to derive the Class
II eventive verb tohta ‘become big’, which denotes a change of state.

The following table lists the suxes and inﬁxes used in aspectual derivation. For each ax, I indicate
the class of the derived verb, as well as the verb class(es) that the ax applies to. These axes are discussed
and illustrated in the following subsections.

resultative (res)
active (act)
atelic inchoative (ainc)
telic inchoative (tinc)
durative (dur)
incompletive (icpl)
completive (cpl)

-i- (-u-) Class I < Class II, III -amp -im -t, -et -ot -ilm -uhk Class II < Class I, (III) Class II < Class I Class III < Class I, II, III Class II, III < Class I, II, III Class III < Class III Class III < Class III The axes listed here precede the suxes used to mark tense, aspect, mood, and polarity, discussed in 7.4. Note that these axes are not mutually exclusive with one another, but can be stacked as appropriate. For example, starting with the stative verb stem epata ‘be (so) tall’, we can derive the atelic inchoative verb epatima ‘get taller’, while adding the telic inchoative sux to this verb in turn yields epatinta ‘begin to get taller’. Additional examples include: halhka ‘be dry’ > halhketa ‘(make/become) dry’ > halhkeita ‘be dried’;
tioka ‘die’ > tioika ‘be dead’ > tioikampa ‘play dead’ > tioikampilma ‘attempt to play dead’; patla ‘cover’
> paitla ‘be covered’ > paitlota ‘keep covered’ > paitlotuhka ‘manage to keep covered’.

Note that the copular verb he (
§

9.3.1) takes the form hi- when it combines with aspectual derivation
suxes. Likewise the deictic verbs ts`a ‘be over here (near me)’ and k`a ‘be here/there (near us/you)’ take
the stem forms tsa- and ka-, respectively, with insertion of a u-glide before a non-front vowel in accordance
with the vowel hiatus rules summarized in
3.5.3. These are all non-scalar verbs belonging to Class I, and
thus combine with the active, telic inchoative, and durative suxes only:

7.5. ASPECTUAL DERIVATION

167

act
tinc
dur

hiampa
hita
hiota

tsauampa
tsata
tsauota

kauampa
kata
kauota

7.5.1 Resultative

4.4.2) or Class III (

Resultative aspect is marked by vowel inﬁxation or ablaut. Resultative aspect morphology is added to a
telic verb stem belonging to Class II (
4.4.3) to derive a stative verb belonging to Class
§
4.4.1). I will refer to these derived Class I verbs as resultatives (glossed res in the examples). Recall
I (
that a telic verb denotes an event which culminates in a change of state or a change of location/position.
The corresponding verb in the resultative aspect expresses the state or location/position resulting from that
change event. For example, from the change-of-state verb tioka ‘die’ we can derive the resultative verb tioika
‘be dead’, and from the change-of-position verb tolha ‘stand up’ can be formed the resultative verb toilha
‘stand, be standing, be upright’.

Resultative aspect is typically marked by inserting the inﬁx -i- after the ﬁnal vowel of the stem, with
concomitant vowel lowering and epenthesis where appropriate. Most resultative verbs are formed according
to the following rules:

1. For verb stems ending in a glide preceded by a vowel, insert ei after the stem: e.g., paua ‘wash’ >

paueia ‘be washed/clean’.

2. For verb stems ending in a glide preceded by a consonant, insert i after the stem and convert the glide
to the corresponding mid vowel, in accordance with the rules of vowel hiatus resolution (
3.5.3): e.g.,
takia ‘break’ > takeia ‘be broken’; tsokua ‘meet (for the ﬁrst time)’ > tsokoia ‘be known/introduced’.

3. For verb stems ending in a consonant or consonant cluster preceded by a falling diphthong, insert e

after the diphthong: e.g., kaiha ‘kill’ > kaieha ‘be murdered/dead’.

4. In all other cases, insert i before the ﬁnal consonant or consonant cluster of the verb stem: tioka ‘die’
> tioika ‘be dead’. If the inserted i is preceded by a high vowel, that high vowel becomes a mid vowel,
as in (2) above: tsitspa ‘smash, shatter’ > tseitspa ‘be smashed, in pieces’; muka ‘close’ > moika ‘be
closed/shut’.

Additional examples of resultative verb formation include:

hana
mehka
mokta
muohta
mupatla
salha
tlisa
usla

haina
meihka
moikta

‘cut’
‘happen, come to be’
‘go home’
‘complete, make whole’ muoihta
mupaitla
‘put on [clothes]’
sailha
‘lie down’
tleisa
‘cross, traverse’
oisla
‘end, ﬁnish’

‘be cut, wounded’
‘be, exist’
‘be at home’
‘be complete(d)’
‘wear, be clothed (in)’
‘lie, be lying down’
‘lie across, span’
‘be over, ﬁnished, done’

The following twelve verbs form their resultative stems irregularly. For verbs of this class, the stressed vowel
in the stem is replaced by u (or o when adjacent to a glide).

atia
etskana
kila
kumita
lhyua
lima
lyua

‘approach, come near(er)’
‘arrive’
‘be seen, come into view’
‘come before, approach’
‘enter’
‘open’
‘wake up, awaken’

utia
etskuna
kula
kumuta
lhoua
luma
loua

‘be near(by)’
‘be present’
‘be seen, visible, in view’
‘face, be oriented towards’
‘be inside’
‘be open’
‘be awake’

168

CHAPTER 7. VERB MORPHOLOGY

nkilha
ola
sena
tsapa
uihta

‘leave, go away’
‘be heard’
‘hang (up)’
‘get lost, go astray’
‘sit down’

nkulha
ula
suna
tsupa
uohta

‘be gone, absent, away’
‘be audible, in earshot’
‘hang, be hanging’
‘be lost’
‘sit, be seated’

Adding resultative aspect morphology reduces the number of core arguments the verb can take. The sentence
in (7.144) features the Class II verb lima ‘open’, while (7.145) and (7.146) illustrate its resultative counterpart
luma ‘be open’. Notice that in the resultative clauses the actor argument (Elim) is suppressed. This is
because resultatives, being stative Class I predicates, cannot take ergative arguments.

(7.144) Elimma

huiloie
window.nom

Elim.erg
‘Elim opened the window’

limyi
open.pv

(7.145) Huiloie

iluma
prg.open:res.ipv

window.nom
‘The window is open’

(7.146) Huiloie

ilumanka
prg.open:res.ipv:pst

window.nom
‘The window was open’

Adding resultative morphology can also a↵ect how the verb’s arguments are marked for case. Compare the
sentences below. Example (7.147) contains the Class III verb tsitspa ‘smash, shatter’, which selects a patient
argument in the dative case. As shown in (7.148), when this verb is inﬂected for resultative aspect, that
4.3.2, dative case is associated with
same argument instead appears in the locative case. As discussed in
the endpoint—typically patient or goal—of a telic predicate. Because resultative verbs express the state or
location resulting from an action rather than the action itself, they pattern as atelic. This blocks dative
case from being assigned, and arguments which are normally assigned the dative take the locative instead
(or sometimes the allative; see below).

(7.147) Elimma

nauoit
cup.dat

tsitspyi
smash.pv

Elim.erg
‘Elim smashed the cup’

(7.148) Nauotna
cup.loc
‘The cup is smashed’ or ‘The cup is in pieces’

tseitspa
smash:res.ipv

Another example of how resultative aspect a↵ects case assignment is given below. With the Class III verb
tlelha ‘ﬁnd’, the noun phrase denoting the ﬁnder bears the delimiter role, and is marked with dative case. This
is shown in (7.149). However, when tlelha is converted into the resultative verb tleilha ‘be found/located’,
which lacks a delimiter, this same argument appears instead in the allative case (7.150):

(7.149) Eleim

kamale
Elim.dat
knife.nom
‘Elim found the knife’

tlelhyi
ﬁnd.pv

(7.150) Elima

kamale
Elim.all
knife.nom
‘Elim knows where the knife is’

itleilha
prg.ﬁnd:res.pv

7.5. ASPECTUAL DERIVATION

169

Since resultative verbs do not take ergative (actor) arguments, and tend to place the focus of attention on
the undergoer of an action, it is often appropriate to translate them using an adjectival passive construction
in English. Compare the following pairs of examples:

(7.151) Mo

kala
leg

takiyi
1srdat
break.pv
‘I broke my leg’ or ‘I got a broken leg’

(7.152) Iman
1sloc
‘My leg is broken’ or ‘I have a broken leg’

itakeia
prg.break:res.ipv

kala
leg

(7.153) Sa

kotoi
house.dat

itiespat
prg.build.ipv.pl

13nom
‘We are building a house’

(7.154) Kotuna

takan
now

itieispa
prg.build:res.ipv

house.loc
‘The house is now built/ﬁnished’

The resultative cannot really be considered a passive form, however—or at least, its syntactic and semantic
properties are not fully comparable with those of the English passive. For one thing, resultative clauses are
inherently stative. Thus, (7.154) above cannot be used to describe an ongoing activity (‘The house is now
being built’), but can only mean that the house is in a built state. To form the closest equivalent of an
eventive passive, the actor argument is simply omitted from the clause, without any change to the form or
class membership of the verb (cf.

9.4.1):

(7.155) Kotoi

takan
house.dat
now
‘The house is now being built’

§
itiespa
prg.build.ipv.pl

Furthermore, whereas the English passive construction can only be used with transitive verbs, the resultative
in Okuna is fully compatible with predicates taking just a single core argument. Compare, for example:

(7.156) Sakiale

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial died’

tiokyi
die.pv

(7.157) Sakiale

tioika
die:res.ipv

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial is dead’

(7.158) Sakiale

laisne
just

etskanyi
arrive.pv

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial just arrived’

(7.159) Sakiale

takan
now

itskuna
prg.arrive:res.pv

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial is now here/present’

As the last example above shows, resultative aspect marking can be used to convert a dynamic motion verb,
such as etskana ‘arrive’, into a static verb denoting a location, such as etskuna ‘be present’. Additional
pairs of sentences illustrating this dynamic–static contrast are given below. As (7.165) and (7.167) show,
the resultative verb does not necessarily denote the literal result of a change-of-location event.
Instead,
resultative morphology can simply indicate that no movement is involved—that the verb denotes a spatial
relation between two (sets of) objects.

170

(7.160) Puniakak`a

palou
village.abl

nkilhyit
leave.pv.pl

traveler.nom
‘The travelers left the village’

CHAPTER 7. VERB MORPHOLOGY

(7.161) Puniakak`a

palou
traveler.nom
village.abl
‘The travelers are gone from the village’

inkulhat
prg.leave:res.ipv.pl

(7.162) Mikale

boy.nom

keuli
chair.dat

uihtyi
sit:down.pv

‘The boy sat (down) on the chair’

(7.163) Mikale

keulna
boy.nom
chair.loc
‘The boy is sitting on the chair’

euohta
prg.sit:down:res.ipv

(7.164) Lhat`e

Sakiail
Sakial.dat

ampiotyit
surround.pv.pl

children.nom
‘The children surrounded Sakial’

(7.165) Isane
13all
‘Our village is surrounded by forests’

paluna
village.loc

loka
forest

ampioita
surround:res.ipv

(7.166) Oun`a

bear.nom

sihkunume
river.inst

sihafautme
downstream.inst

ekau
here.abl

tlisyi
cross.pv

‘The bear crossed [i.e., went across] the river downstream from here’

(7.167) Pakone

bridge.nom

sihkunume
river.inst

sihafautme
downstream.inst

ekau
here.abl

tleisa
cross:res.ipv

‘The bridge crosses [i.e., spans] the river downstream from here’

Consider also the formation of resultative stems from verbs of perception and cognition, such as those listed
below. The non-resultative (Class III) forms of are given in the ﬁrst column, with their resultative (Class I)
counterparts in the second column:

etskoipa
etskopa
kula
kila
ula
ola
luhtsa
loihtsa
mahtla maihtla
sefa
uota

seifa
uoita

‘realize’
‘see’
‘hear’
‘smell’
‘taste’
‘feel (with one’s ﬁngers/skin)’
‘feel, sense, perceive’

In their non-resultative forms these verbs denote punctual events, while in the resultative they denote states.
For example, kila means ‘see’ in the sense of ‘begin to see’ or ‘catch sight of’ (or, when used intransitively,
‘appear, come into view’), while kula means ‘see’ in the sense of ‘be able to see, have within view’ (or, used
intransitively, ‘be visible, be in view’). Likewise, uota means ‘notice, become aware of’ while uoita means
‘be aware of’.

As the following examples show, the noun phrase expressing the experiencer (the one who sees, hears,
feels, etc.) appears in the dative case when the verb is non-resultative. With resultative verbs of perception,
the experiencer appears in either the allative case or the locative case. The locative case is used when the
experience is completely internal to the self, lacking a direct external stimulus; otherwise the allative case

7.5. ASPECTUAL DERIVATION

171

is used. Hence, kula, ula, loihtsa, maihtla, and seifa all take their experiencers in the allative case, while
etskoipa takes its experiencer in the locative case. Uoita takes a locative experiencer when denoting an
internal sensation (the experiencing of a thought or emotion, or a physical sensation internal to one’s body),
and an allative experiencer when denoting the awareness of something external to oneself:

(7.168) Ule

kilyi
see.pv

island.nom
‘The island appeared’ or ‘The island came into view’

(7.169) Puniakakameit

traveling:party.dat
‘The travellers saw [caught sight of] the island’

ule
island.nom

kilyit
see.pv.pl

(7.170) Ule

ikula
prg.see:res.ipv

island.nom
‘The island is visible’ or ‘The island is in view’

(7.171) Ule

puniakakamita
traveling:party.all

island.nom
‘The island is visible to the travellers’

ikula
prg.see:res.ipv

(7.172) Puniakakamita

traveling:party.all
‘The travellers (can) see the island’

ule
island.nom

ikula
prg.see:res.ipv

(7.173) Mo

tynna
head.loc

iahki
sharp:blow
1srdat
‘I felt a sudden sharp pain in my head’

tunku
pain

uotyi
feel.pv

tunku
tyn
(7.174) Iman
pain
head
1sloc
‘I have a headache’

euoita
prg.feel:res.ipv

(7.175) Im`e

euoitanka
prg.feel:res.ipv:pst

Sakiale
Sakial.nom
1sall
‘I had the feeling that Sakial was approaching’ or ‘I was aware that…’

iati`a
prg.approach.dep.nom

Verbs of perception in the resultative form can also take a dependent subjunctive clause, marked for nomina-
tive case, as their theme argument (see
10.2.1). The resulting expressions are equivalent to ‘It looks/appears
as though…’, ‘It sounds as though…’, ‘It feels as though…’, etc.:

(7.176) Kula

pyina
see:res.ipv
child.loc
‘It looks as though the child is happy’

ikest`e
prg.happy.dep:sbj.nom

(7.177) Ulanka

hear:res.ipv:pst
‘It sounded as though the baby was asleep’

kimima
baby.erg

imuelh`e
prg.sleep.dep:sbj.nom

7.6) and form the head of a restructuring
Alternatively, the perception verb can take the relative preﬁx a- (see
predicate (see
10.2.4); here the perception verb combines with a preceding verb (phrase) in the dependent
subjunctive which is unmarked for case. The result is a complex expression meaning ‘look X’, ‘sound X’,
‘feel X’, etc., where X is the quality or activity expressed by the dependent subjunctive verb—e.g., kesti
akula ‘look happy’, seimi amaihtla ‘taste sweet’, etc.:

172

(7.178) Pyina

kesti
happy.dep:sbj

child.loc
‘The child looks happy’

CHAPTER 7. VERB MORPHOLOGY

iakula
prg.rel.see:res.ipv

(7.179) Kimima

iauolanka
baby.erg
prg.res.hear:res.ipv:pst
‘The baby sounded asleep’ or ‘The baby sounded as though s/he were sleeping’

muelhi
sleep.dep:sbj

(7.180) Sat`e

tsuo
food.nom
too
‘The food tastes too sweet’

aseimi
rel.sweet.dep:sbj

amaihtla
rel.taste:res.ipv

A noun phrase in the allative case may be added to the above constructions to indicate the individual who
experiences the state of a↵airs in question, or from whose point of view the assessment is being made:

(7.181) Im`e

kula
see:res.ipv

pyina
child.loc

ikest`e
prg.happy.dep:sbj.nom

1sall
‘It looks to me as though the child is happy’

(7.182) Pyina

kesti
happy.dep:sbj

child.loc
‘The child looks happy to me’

iakula
prg.rel.see:res.ipv

im`e
1sall

7.5.2 Active

The active aspectual sux -amp (glossed act in the examples) is added to a verb stem to form an atelic
4.4.2). Most commonly, -amp is added to
eventive verb. Verbs formed with -amp all belong to Class II (
§
a stative Class I verb stem denoting some property X, and the result is an eventive verb meaning roughly
‘act/behave in an X manner’ or ‘exhibit signs of being X’. Examples are listed below. Notice that certain
verbs derived with -amp have a somewhat idiosyncratic meaning.

ehkana
elia
eupa
futla
hanta
huata
iksa
kiota
koluma
kuha
liunta
muha
nasa
stula
sutlka

‘come from, originate’
‘be at ease’
‘be alone’
‘be unpleasant, disagreeable’
‘be appropriate, suitable’
‘be pleasant, appealing’
‘be serious’
‘be quick’
‘be dicult, cumbersome’
‘be hard, ﬁrm’
‘be slack, loose’
‘be enough, suce’
‘be strong’
‘be strange, odd’
‘be spoiled, rotten’

ehkanampa
eliampa
eupampa
futlampa
hantampa
huatampa
iksampa
kiotampa
kolumampa
kuhampa
liuntampa
muhampa
nasampa
stulampa
sutlkampa

‘be original, act in a distinctive way’
‘be graceful, move gracefully’
‘keep to oneself, stay away from others’
‘be rude, behave badly’
‘be polite, well-behaved, act appropriately’
‘be friendly, likeable’
‘be serious, act in earnest’
‘hurry, rush, do [something] quickly’
‘be clumsy, act clumsily’
‘be rough, careless, brutal’
‘be lenient, indulgent’
‘do enough; satisfy, satiate’
‘exert oneself, use one’s strength’
‘act strangely, behave in an odd manner’
‘be vicious, act in a vile manner’

Compare the following examples, showing the conversion of a stative Class I verb into an eventive Class II
verb. Note the di↵erence in noun inﬂection: munta takes a nominative argument, while muntampa takes an
ergative argument.

(7.183) Elime

imunta
prg.drunk.ipv

Elim.nom
‘Elim is drunk’

7.5. ASPECTUAL DERIVATION

173

(7.184) Elimma

imuntampa
prg.drunk.act.ipv

Elim.erg
‘Elim is acting drunk’ or ‘Elim is behaving as though he’s drunk’

10.4). Sentences that show this pattern
Verbs formed with -amp often appear with a modifying converb (see
can sometimes be rendered in English by using a manner adverb to translate the -amp verb (e.g., ‘quickly’
in the ﬁrst example below):

(7.185) Lhatima

homai
bread.dat

iase
eat.cv

kiotampyit
quick.act.pv.pl

children.erg
‘The children ate the bread quickly’ or ‘The children were quick to eat the bread’
lit. ‘The children acted quickly [by] eating the bread’

(7.186) Na

nak`a
rock.nom

tiyise
lift.cv

nasampyi
strong.act.pv

3aerg
‘He exerted himself by lifting the rock’

The sux -amp often combines with Class I verbs denoting physical sensations or emotional states. When
added to a verb of this type, -amp forms an atelic causative verb taking an actor argument (marked with
ergative case) in addition to its experiencer argument (marked with the locative or allative case). Here the
actor argument denotes an entity that (consciously or unconsciously) triggers, or tends to trigger, an emotion
or sensation in the experiencer.

ekona
hotsma
huetla
katama
kesta
ohiyna
sonka

‘be hungry’
‘be angry’
‘be afraid, fear’
‘be intimidating’
‘be happy’
‘be sad’
‘be surprising’

ekonampa
hotsmampa
huetlampa
katamampa
kestampa
ohiynampa
sonkampa

‘be appetizing, palatable; make hungry’
‘anger, be aggravating to’
‘frighten, be frightening to’
‘intimidate’
‘please, be pleasing to, make happy’
‘sadden, depress’
‘surprise, amaze, astound’

Compare the following:

(7.187) Iman
1sloc
‘I am happy’

ikesta
prg.happy.ipv

(7.188) Mo

iman
kunama
1srdat
1sloc
friend.erg
‘My friends make me happy’

kestampat
happy.act.ipv.pl

(7.189) Sakialna

iekona
prg.hungry.ipv

Sakial.loc
‘Sakial is hungry’

(7.190) Sati
food
‘The smell of that food made Sakial hungry’

Sakialna
Sakial.loc

it`a
that:erg

aluhtse
smell

ekonampyi
hungry.act.pv

Although it normally combines with Class I stative verb stems, there are a handful of Class III stems which
also combine with -amp to form Class II verbs:

174

CHAPTER 7. VERB MORPHOLOGY

etsa
kahta
kyitsa
lasta
nesapa
teuna

‘say, tell’
‘hit, strike’
‘say [s.th.] about, mention’
‘send’
‘ask’
‘put (down), place’

etsampa
kahtampa
kyitsampa
lastampa
nesapampa
teunampa

‘speak, talk, have a conversation’
‘ﬁght, have a ﬁght’
‘talk about, discuss’
‘send out, send away’
‘interrogate, ask questions (of)’
‘put in place; hand out, distribute’

When the verb stem denotes a telic event, adding -amp forms a verb which expresses a more open-ended
activity, or one with a variable or unspeciﬁed endpoint. For example, in the ﬁrst sentence below (with uktia
‘give’), the event ends once each of the strangers in question has received a gift; whereas in the second sentence
(with uktiampa ‘give out, distribute’), no speciﬁc recipients are mentioned, and the event of gift-giving could
in principle go on indeﬁnitely.

(7.191) Taloma

tsokoimpai
chief.erg
stranger.dat
‘The chief gave gifts to the strangers’

kytu
gift

uktiyima
give.pv.dpl

(7.192) Taloma

kytu
chief.erg
gift
‘The chief gave out gifts’

uktiampyi
give.act.pv

Note that eventive verbs formed with -amp, being atelic, cannot take delimiter arguments or appear with
4.3.2). Where the verb
noun phrases marked for dative case (except under the circumstances discussed in
from which it is derived would take a dative noun phrase, the -amp verb may take a noun phrase in the
instrumental or locative case. Compare:

(7.193) Ma

keﬁhusote
news.nom

lhatei
1serg
children.dat
‘I told the news to the children’

etsyima
say.pv.dpl

(7.194) Ma

1serg

lhatime
children.inst

etsampyi
say.act.pv

‘I spoke to/with the children’

(7.195) Unma

3ardat.1serg
‘I hit him’

kahtyi
hit.pv

(7.196) Ma

inem
3asinst

kahtampyi
hit.act.pv

1serg
‘I fought with him’

(7.197) Sa

13erg

kahtampyiot
hit.act.pv.recip.pl

‘We fought (each other)’

7.5.3 Telic and atelic inchoative

The atelic inchoative sux -im and the telic inchoative sux -(e)t (glossed ainc and tinc, respectively)
are used to derive Class II and Class III verbs expressing a change of state or the initiation of an action. I
discuss these forms in turn.

Atelic inchoative verbs express an incremental and often gradual increase in the presence of some
property. As the name indicates, these verbs denote open-ended events, with no ﬁxed endpoint. Atelic

7.5. ASPECTUAL DERIVATION

175

inchoative verbs thus belong to Class II (
§
the stem, combined with the relative preﬁx a- discussed in
‘be weak’ > amitiema ‘weaken’). The following examples illustrate the formation of the atelic inchoative:

4.4.2). The atelic inchoative is marked by adding the sux -im to
7.6 (-im becomes -em after a glide: e.g., mitia

kaila
koipa
lhuma
liakna
liuna
muohfa
nuha
toha

‘be hot’
‘be known/familiar’
‘be dim, faded, misty’
‘be long’
‘be old’
‘be thick/dense’
‘be cold’
‘be big’

akailima
akoipima
alhumima
aliaknima
aliunima
amuohﬁma
anuhima
atohima

‘heat, make/get hotter’
‘make/become more familiar, get better known’
‘fade, pale, grow dimmer’
‘lengthen, grow in length, make/get longer’
‘age, get older’
‘thicken, make/get thicker’
‘cool down, make/get colder’
‘grow, increase in size, make/get bigger’

The atelic inchoative sux combines with Class I verb stems. Compare the following:

(7.198) Im`e

1sall

Sakiale
Sakial.nom

koipa
known.ipv

‘I know Sakial’ (lit. ‘Sakial is known to me’)

(7.199) Im`e

Sakiale
1sall
Sakial.nom
‘I got to know Sakial better’

akoipimyi
rel.known.ainc.pv

Atelic inchoative verbs, like other Class II verbs, can be used either ‘intransitively’ (with a theme argument
alone) or ‘transitively’ (with both an actor and a theme argument). In the former case the verb denotes a
more-or-less spontaneous action, and may be translated ‘get X-er’, where X is the state expressed by the
stem; in the latter case the verb denotes an externally-caused action, and may be translated ‘make X-er’.
Compare:

(7.200) Mase

muohfa
thick.ipv

soup.nom
‘The soup is thick’

(7.201) Mase

iamuohﬁma
prg.rel.thick.ainc.ipv

soup.nom
‘The soup is thickening’ or ‘The soup is getting thicker’

(7.202) Ma

mase
soup.nom

iamuohﬁma
prg.rel.thick.ainc.ipv

1serg
‘I’m thickening the soup’ or ‘I’m making the soup thicker’

Compare also:

(7.203) Hal`o

ihuina
prg.bright.ipv

room.nom
‘The room is bright’

(7.204) Hal`o

ahuinimyi
rel.bright.ainc.pv

room.nom
‘The room got brighter’

(7.205) Hal`o

mohkauatma
hearth:ﬁre.erg

ahuinimyi
rel.bright.ainc.pv

room.nom
‘The hearth ﬁre brightened the room’ (i.e., made the room brighter)

176

CHAPTER 7. VERB MORPHOLOGY

To express telic inchoative aspect, the sux -et is added to verb stems ending in two consonants, while
-t is added to stems ending in a single consonant or a glide. If the stem ends in p, f, or t, that consonant
changes to h before the -t sux, in accordance with regular phonological rules (see
3.5.1). Likewise, if the
stem ends in tl, that consonant changes to lh before -t. Finally, if the stem ends in m, it assimilates to n
before the -t sux (cf.

3.5.2). Examples showing the formation of telic inchoative verbs are given below:

elifa
eua
hotsma
kisa
koipa
lehma
liuna
mutla
okla
pata
tama
tlana
tsatsa
tsihfa
tuosa

§
‘be beautiful’
‘be clean’
‘be angry’
‘be frozen’
‘be known/familiar’
‘be calm’
‘be old’
‘understand’
‘be hidden’
‘be tall’
‘be great, powerful’
‘be straight’
‘be full’
‘be bare’
‘be ripe, ready’

elihta
euta
hotsmeta
kista
koihta
lehmeta
liunta
mulhta
okleta
pahta
tanta
tlanta
tsatsta
tsihfeta
tuosta

‘beautify, make/become beautiful’
‘clean (up), make/become clean’
‘anger, make/become angry’
‘freeze’
‘get to know, become familiar with’
‘calm down, make/become calm’
‘get old’
‘realize, come to understand’
‘hide’
‘make/become tall’
‘empower, make/become great’
‘straighten’
‘ﬁll, make/become full’
‘clear (o↵), get rid of, make/become bare’
‘ripen; prepare, make/get ready’

As these examples show, the telic inchoative sux is usually added to a stative verb belonging to Class I,
and derives an eventive verb expressing the entry into a state (whether spontaneous or externally caused).
Compare the pairs of sentences below:

(7.206) Ihana

ihotsma
prg.angry.ipv

woman.loc
‘The woman is angry’

(7.207) Motlama

ihana
woman.loc

hotsmetyi
angry.tinc.pv

Motla.erg
‘Motla angered the woman with his constant talking’

na
3aerg

tahoti
constantly

etsampame
say.act.dep.inst

(7.208) Me

intuma
blind.ipv

1snom
‘I am blind’

(7.209) Me

tupuatsme
moment.inst

lai
light

iahki
ﬂash

1snom
‘I was momentarily blinded by a ﬂash of light’

intuntyi
blind.tinc.pv

Verbs in the telic inchoative aspect all belong to Class III (
4.4.3). They express events which are conceptu-
§
alized as having a ﬁxed endpoint: a participant enters into, or is brought into, a particular state, and once
that state is achieved the event is over. As shown in (7.209) above, telic inchoative verbs may also take
an extra argument (unmarked for case) to express the type of instrument or means by which the change
of state is brought about. Consider the following examples, comparing the telic inchoative verb halhketa
‘make/become dry’ with the stative verb from which it is derived, halhka ‘be dry’. Notice that when an
overt actor argument is present, halhketa receives a causative interpretation (‘make dry’); and when no actor
is present, it expresses a spontaneous change of state (‘become dry’).

(7.210) Mupatl`e

halhkat
dry.ipv.pl

clothes.nom
‘The clothes are dry’

7.5. ASPECTUAL DERIVATION

177

(7.211) Mupatl`e

enkit
breeze

ihalhketat
prg.dry.tinc.ipv.pl

clothes.nom
‘The clothes are drying in the breeze’

(7.212) Ihama

mupatl`e
clothes.nom

enkit
breeze

ihalhketauat
prg.dry.tinc.ipv.npl.pl

woman.erg
‘The women are drying the clothes in the breeze’

Note also the following examples, comparing stative tsatsa ‘be full’ and telic inchoative tsatsta ‘ﬁll’:

(7.213) Nauote

n`a
water

itsatsa
prg.full.ipv

cup.nom
‘The cup is full of water’

(7.214) Nauote

n`a
cup.nom
water
‘The cup ﬁlled with water’

tsatstyi
full.tinc.pv

(7.215) Na

nauote
cup.nom

n`a
water

tsatstyi
full.tinc.pv

3aerg
‘She ﬁlled the cup with water’

As with other Class III verbs, telic inchoative verbs can in turn combine with resultative morphology to form
7.5.1). In this case, the actor argument is
Class I verbs expressing the state resulting from an action (see
suppressed. Compare the sentences below with those in (7.212) and (7.215) above.

(7.216) Mupatl`e

ihalhkeita
prg.dry.tinc:res.ipv

clothes.nom
‘The clothes are dried’ (i.e., no longer wet)

(7.217) Nauote

n`a
water
cup.nom
‘The cup is ﬁlled with water’

itsaitsta
full:res.tinc.ipv

Telic inchoative aspect can also combine with Class I verbs of cognition. Observe the following examples,
comparing telic inchoative ionta ‘ﬁnd out; let (someone) know’ with stative iona ‘be known’ (both verbs
assign locative case to the experiencer argument).

(7.218) Elimna

iona
know.ipv

ma
1serg

iaf`a
prg.take:part.dep.nom

Elim.loc
‘Elim knows that I am taking part’

(7.219) Elimna

iontyi
know.tinc.pv

ma
1serg

iaf`a
prg.take:part.dep.nom

Elim.loc
‘Elim found out that I was taking part’

(7.220) Ma

Elimna
Elim.loc

iontyi
know.tinc.pv

1serg
‘I let Elim know that I was taking part’

ma
1serg

iaf`a
prg.take:part.dep.nom

Consider also the examples below, where telic inchoative morphology is added to the stative verb niokona to
derive the eventive verb niokonta. Both may be translated as ‘remember’ or ‘recall’; however, niokona has
the sense of ‘have in one’s memory’, while niokonta means ‘come to have in one’s memory, bring to mind’
(the latter can also be translated ‘remind’ if an actor argument is included). Both verbs take experiencer
arguments in the locative case. A similar meaning contrast is found with suhona ‘forget, have no memory
of’ versus suhonta ‘forget, lose one’s memory of’ (or, when an actor is included ‘cause to forget’).

178

CHAPTER 7. VERB MORPHOLOGY

(7.221) Elimna

nioksote
Elim.loc
answer.nom
‘Does Elim remember the answer?’

niok`onin?
remember.ipv:int.qu

(7.222) Elimna

nioksote
answer.nom

sukane
sudden.cv

niokontyi
remember.tinc.pv

Elim.loc
‘Elim suddenly remembered/recalled the answer’

(7.223) Ma

Elimna
Elim.loc

nioksote
1snom
answer.nom
‘I reminded Elim of the answer’

niokontyi
remember.tinc.pv

Although the telic inchoative sux combines most often with stative Class I verbs, it can also be freely added
to eventive verbs belonging to Class II or III. In the latter case, the result is a Class III verb expressing the
initiation of an event, corresponding to English ‘begin to X’ or ‘start X-ing’.

hosta
mehka
muelha
puniaka

‘dance’
hosteta
‘happen’ mehketa
muelhta
‘sleep’
puniakta
‘travel’

‘begin to dance, start dancing’
‘begin to happen, start’
‘fall asleep, begin to sleep’
‘begin to travel, set out on a journey’

(7.224) Laisne

s`u
rain
just:now
‘It’s just started to rain’

kahpetyi
fall.tinc.pv

When the telic inchoative sux is added to a Class III verb, and the clause includes a delimiter argument
marked with dative case, the irrealis dative form must be used, never the realis dative, regardless of the
tense/aspect of the clause. Compare the following:

(7.225) Ihama

halma
book

utai
that:rdat

talyi
read.pv

woman.erg
‘The woman read that book’

(7.226) Ihama

halma
book

atai
that:dat

taltyi
read.tinc.pv

woman.erg
‘The woman began to read that book’

7.5.4 Durative

Durative aspect is marked by adding the sux -ot (glossed dur) to the verb stem. This sux can be added
to any verb stem, but with slight di↵erences in interpretation depending on the class of that stem. When
added to a Class I stem denoting a state, -ot forms a Class II verb expressing the perpetuation of that state,
and is roughly equivalent to English ‘stay’ or ‘remain’:

huala
isuta
k`a
kesta
nkulha
uohta

‘be healthy’
‘be alive’
‘be here’
‘be happy’
‘be gone, away’
‘be seated’

hualota
isutota
kauota
kestota
nkulhota
uohtota

‘stay/keep healthy’
‘stay/keep alive, go on living’
‘stay (here), keep here’
‘stay/keep happy’
‘stay away, avoid, keep away’
‘stay/keep seated’

The entity which remains in the state is encoded as a theme argument (marked with nominative case). If
there is an agent who acts to perpetuate the state, that agent is encoded as an actor argument (marked with
ergative case). When an actor argument is present, -ot corresponds to English ‘keep’. Compare:

7.5. ASPECTUAL DERIVATION

179

(7.227) Ne

isuta
alive.ipv

3anom
‘He is alive’

(7.228) Ne

isutota
alive.dur.ipv

3anom
‘He is staying alive’ or ‘He has survived’

(7.229) Ntsa

iesutotane
prg.alive.dur.ipv.epl

3anom.13erg
‘We are keeping him alive’

Compare also the following, examples, where the durative sux is added to a Class I verb derived from a
Class II stem by adding resultative aspect morphology:

(7.230) Hitole

ilumanka
prg.open:res.ipv:pst

door.nom
‘The door was open’

(7.231) Hitole

lumotyi
open:res.dur.pv

door.nom
‘The door remained open’

(7.232) Ma

hitole
door.nom

lumotyi
open:res.dur.pv

1serg
‘I kept the door open’

When the durative sux attaches to a Class II stem denoting an unbounded activity, it forms another Class
II stem expressing the perpetuation of that activity. Here -ot is roughly equivalent to ‘keep’, ‘continue’, or
‘go on’: e.g., hosta ‘dance’ > hostota ‘continue to dance, keep dancing’; muelha ‘sleep’ > muelhota ‘stay
asleep, go on sleeping’.

Finally, when the durative sux is added to a Class II or Class III stem denoting a telic or punctual
event, it expresses the iteration or repetition of that event: e.g., tiausa ‘fall down’ > tiausota ‘keep falling
down, fall down over and over’. Another example:

(7.233) Na

ikei
dog.dat
3aerg
‘He hit the dog repeatedly’

kahtotyi
hit.dur.pv

Note that iterative verbs are somewhat unusual in that they can take more than one delimiter, and can thus
assign dative case to more than one argument. See

4.3.2 for discussion.

7.5.5 Completive and incompletive

The completive (cpl) and incompletive (icpl) aspect suxes combine with an eventive (Class II or III) verb
stem to form another eventive stem. The incompletive sux is -ilm (or -elm after a glide). Added to a
stem, this sux indicates that the event denoted by the stem has (so far) failed to come about, despite the
intentions of the actor. It is roughly equivalent to English ‘try/attempt’ or ‘set out to’:

esta
ksona
peta
tatsa
tiyisa
tlelha

‘reach’
‘look at’
‘take, grab’
‘shoot, hit with a projectile’
‘lift’
‘ﬁnd, discover’

estilma
ksonilma
petilma
tatsilma
tiyisilma
tlelhilma

‘try to reach, aim for, set out for’
‘try to see, look (out) for’
‘grab at, try to take’
‘shoot at, try to shoot’
‘attempt to lift’
‘set out to ﬁnd, search/hunt for’

180

CHAPTER 7. VERB MORPHOLOGY

Compare the following examples:

(7.234) Na

hastein
deer.dat

3aerg
‘He killed the deer’

tahyi
kill.pv

(7.235) Na

hastein
deer.dat

utahilma
pf.kill.icpl.ipv

3aerg
‘He has set out to kill the deer’ or ‘He is trying to kill the deer’

(7.236) Na

3aerg

hastein
deer.dat

tahilmyi
kill.icpl.pv

‘He tried to kill the deer’ (but didn’t manage to do so)

Note that when the incompletive sux is added to the verb, the delimiter (see
4.3.2) must appear in the
irrealis dative, regardless of the tense/aspect or polarity of the verb, and never in the realis dative. In this
respect, the incompletive patterns like the telic inchoative, discussed in

7.5.3.

(7.237) Na

hastin
deer

anai
3aerg
that:dat
‘He tried to kill that deer’

tahilmyi
kill.icpl.pv

Note that the incompletive sux -ilm translates English ‘try’ only when the attempt did not succeed, or has
not yet succeeded at the time when the sentence is uttered. To express ‘try’ without commitment as to the
success of the attempt, the verb nika may be used, in combination with a dependent subjunctive clause (or
a noun phrase complement, when nika is used in the sense of ‘try out’ or ‘sample’):

(7.238) Kima
12erg
‘Let’s try to get all the way to the top of the mountain’

nikat
try.ipv.pl

tomla
mountain

ypiai
top.dat

sik`a
all:the:way

nem
imp

estit`a
reach.dep:sbj.pl.nom

(7.239) Ias`e

food.nom

unikit
pf.try.ipv:int.pl

ne?
qu

‘Have you (pl) tried the food?’

The completive aspect is marked by adding the sux -uhk to the stem: e.g., kahta ‘hit’ > kahtuhka ‘manage
to hit’ (the sux takes the form -ohk when the verb stem ends in a glide: e.g., takia ‘break’ > takiohka
‘manage to break’). Like the incompletive marker, the completive marker combines with an eventive verb
stem to derive another eventive verb. Adding -uhk to the verb indicates that the agent succeeded in bringing
about the event denoted by the stem, perhaps with some e↵ort and/or contrary to expectations. It is roughly
equivalent to English ‘manage to’ or ‘get’. Compare:

(7.240) Mo

kamale
knife.nom

tlelhyi
ﬁnd.pv

1srdat
‘I found the knife’

(7.241) Mo

kamale
knife.nom
1srdat
‘I managed to ﬁnd the knife’

tlelhuhkyi
ﬁnd.cpl.pv

(7.242) Sakialma

hitole
door.nom

limyi
open.pv

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial opened the door’

7.6. RELATIVE MARKING AND THE COMPARATIVE CONSTRUCTION

181

(7.243) Sakialma

hitole
door.nom

limuhkyi
open.cpl.pv

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial got the door open’

(7.244) Kauen
turkey
‘A raccoon entered the turkey coop’

kotiem`e
raccoon.nom

kikotoi
shed.dat

es
one

(7.245) Kauen
turkey
‘A raccoon got into the turkey coop’

kotiem`e
raccoon.nom

kikotoi
shed.dat

es
one

lhyuyi
enter.pv

lhyuohkyi
enter.cpl.pv

7.6 Relative marking and the comparative construction

Class I stative verbs sometimes take the preﬁx a-, which I will refer to as the relative marker (glossed
rel in the examples). Verbs which carry this preﬁx are referred as relative verbs. Note that when a- is
preﬁxed to a stem beginning with a non-glide vowel, the rules of glide insertion and high vowel lowering
discussed in
3.5.3 apply: e.g., ynta ‘narrow’ > aiynta, utia ‘nearby’ > auotia. This preﬁx immediately
precedes the verb root, following the aspectual preﬁxes (
§

7.4), as well as the negative preﬁx m(a)- (
§

The relative preﬁx combines with verbs which denote a property which can be possessed to a greater or
lesser degree. When the verb appears in the relative form, it indicates that the individual of which the verb
is predicated is located somewhere along the scale associated with that property. The contrast between the
non-relative and relative forms is illustrated by the pair of examples below. Sentence (7.246) means ‘That
young man is tall’—in other words, he is of greater-than-average height according to some contextually-
determined standard. By contrast, (7.247) literally means something like ‘The young man is of a certain
height’ or ‘The young man possesses a certain degree of tallness’.

7.3).

(7.246) Kalon

nan
that:nom

pata
tall.ipv

young:man
‘That young man is tall’

(7.247) Kalon

young:man

nan
that:nom

apata
rel.tall.ipv

‘That young man is so/as tall’

A verb preﬁxed with the relative marker rarely appears by itself; instead, it almost always co-occurs with
some sort of modiﬁer expressing a degree or standard of comparison. For example, it can by modiﬁed by a
noun phrase expressing the entity or class of entities in comparison to which the theme is being evaluated.
In this case, the relative form has an equative function (expressed in English using ‘as’). When the noun
phrase denotes a general class of objects, it usually appears in the unmarked form, as in (7.248). When the
noun phrase denotes a speciﬁc individual or set of individuals, it appears in the ablative case, as in (7.249):

(7.248) Kalon

nan
that:nom

kas
already

esiankats
adulthood

koin
person

apata
rel.tall.ipv

young:man
‘That young man is already as tall as an adult’ or ‘… already the height of an adult’

(7.249) Kalon

nan
young:man
that:nom
‘That young man is as tall as Sakial’

Sakialu
Sakial.abl

apata
rel.tall.ipv

182

CHAPTER 7. VERB MORPHOLOGY

To add emphasis, the relative verb is optionally preceded by the degree marker ihpi ‘as much, just as much,
equally’, as in (7.250). Note also the construction shown in (7.251), where the nominative argument denotes
two or more individuals who are equal with respect to the property expressed by the relative verb; here ihpi
is in turn preceded by kele ‘together’, which adds a collective or reciprocal meaning.

(7.250) Kalon

nan
that:nom

Sakialu
Sakial.abl

young:man
‘That young man is just as tall as Sakial’

ihpi
equally

apata
rel.tall.ipv

(7.251) Sakial
Sakial
‘Sakial and Elim are equally tall’ or ‘Sakial and Elim are the same height’

apatat
rel.tall.ipv.pl

Elime
Elim.nom

kele
together

ihpi
equally

ka
and

A stative verb also takes the relative preﬁx when it is modiﬁed by a noun phrase in the instrumental case
expressing a measurement on the scale denoted by the verb, as in the following example (a katlam is a unit
of measure equivalent to about 55 centimeters):

(7.252) Kalon

nan
that:nom

katlam
katlam

lhua
about

ehteme
three.inst

apata
rel.tall.ipv

young:man
‘That young man is about three katlams tall’

Note that kuista ‘be long, last a long time, endure’, when preﬁxed with the relative marker and accompanied
by a measure phrase, corresponds to English ‘last’ or ‘take’, as illustrated below. Similarly: liakna ‘be long’
> aliakna ‘measure (a certain length)’, lhuta ‘be heavy’ > alhuta ‘weigh (a certain amount)’, lama ‘be far
away’ > alama ‘be (a certain distance) away’. In each case the measurement is expressed by a noun phrase
in the instrumental case.

(7.253) Sukiame

luom
hour

tosepyime
several.inst

iakuistanka
prg.rel.long.ipv:pst

rainstorm.nom
‘The rainstorm lasted (for) several hours’

(7.254) Satlai

tok`e
ﬁx.dep:sbj.nom

l`o
day

henme
two.inst

akuista
rel.long.ipv

roof.dat
‘It will take two days to ﬁx the roof’ (more lit. ‘To ﬁx the roof will be two days long’)

In the examples below, the relative verb is modiﬁed by (a phrase headed by) a converb, which takes the sux
-e (cf.
10.4). In this construction, the converb phrase expresses an event or type of event which identiﬁes
the extent to which—or the respect in which—the property denoted by the relative verb holds. Here the
relative verb may be translated ‘so X (that…)’ or ‘X enough (to…)’:

(7.255) Sakiale

lakie
hunt.cv

aliuna
rel.old.ipv

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial is old enough to hunt’

(7.256) Suhime

kule
see:res.cv

ianuhanka
prg.rel.cold.ipv:pst

exhalation
‘It was cold enough to see your breath’

Relative verbs can also be modiﬁed by a dependent clause (
examples below:

10.2) marked for instrumental case, as in the

(7.257) Ne

anasa
rel.strong.ipv

na
3aerg

olh
dist

naka
rock

3anom
‘He is so strong that he managed to lift that rock’

tan
that:nom

atiyisuhkame
pv.lift.cpl.dep.inst

7.6. RELATIVE MARKING AND THE COMPARATIVE CONSTRUCTION

183

(7.258) Moih`a

apata
rel.tall.ipv

mutume
fence.inst

inie
eyes

tlisime
go:over.dep:sbj.inst

girl.nom
‘The girl is tall enough to see over the fence’
lit. ‘The girl is so tall that (she) would (be able to) move her eyes/vision over the fence’

Relative verbs can also be modiﬁed by an adverbial expressing the degree to which the property holds. A
8.4.5.
partial list of these is given below. Additional degree adverbials are listed and discussed in

8.4.3 and

hampi
ihpi
miai, miampi
mu, muhpi
ntse miampi
tlai, tlampi
tsipi
tsuo, tsuompi
tsyi, tsyimpi

‘a lot, very, considerably’
‘equally, as, just as’
‘how (much); somewhat, to a certain degree’
‘enough, suciently’
‘not very, not so, not that (much)’
‘so, that, (by) that much’
‘a little, a bit, somewhat, to some degree’
‘too’
‘not … enough, insuciently’

Examples are given below, showing that the degree adverbial immediately precedes the relative verb:

(7.259) Kamale

knife.nom

miampi
how:much

ak`ılhan?
rel.sharp.ipv.qu

‘How sharp is the knife?’ (lit. ‘The knife is sharp by how much?’)

(7.260) Kamale

ntse
knife.nom
neg
‘The knife is not very sharp’

miampi
much

akilho
rel.sharp.ipv:neg

Kamale mu akilha
Kamale tsuo akilha
Kamale tsyi akilha
Kamale tlampi akilha

‘The knife is sharp enough’
‘The knife is too sharp’
‘The knife is not sharp enough’
‘The knife is so sharp’ or ‘That’s how sharp the knife is’

The relative marker also appears on a handful of non-scalar verbs referring to one of the physical senses.
7.5.1),
When the relative marker is preﬁxed to a verb of perception inﬂected for the resultative aspect (see
the resulting predicate expresses the possession of a property which is detectable by the sense in question.
Compare the following sets of verbs:

kila
luhtsa
mahtla
ola
sefa
uota

‘see’
‘smell’
‘taste’
‘hear’
‘feel, touch’
‘feel, perceive’

akula
aloihtsa
amaihtla
auola
aseifa
auoita

‘look, appear, have the look/appearance of’
‘smell, have the smell/odour of’
‘taste, have the taste/ﬂavour of’
‘sound, have the sound of’
‘feel, have the feel/texture of’
‘feel, seem, appear, give the sensation of’

These verbs in turn combine with a bare noun phrase complement (
in the dependent subjunctive (
§
entity or substance which bears that property:

4.6.5) or a bare verb (phrase) complement
10.2.4). This complement expresses the property in question, or a kind of

(7.261) Mase

ksas
salt

amaihtla
rel.taste:res.ipv

soup.nom
‘The soup tastes salty’ or ‘The soup tastes of salt’

184

(7.262) Tilase

nuhi
cold.dep:sbj

iaseifanka
prg.rel.feel:res.ipv:pst

glass.nom
‘The glass felt cold (to the touch)’

CHAPTER 7. VERB MORPHOLOGY

Finally, the relative marker is required when the verb takes the atelic inchoative sux -im, discussed in
7.5.3 (e.g., toha ‘be big’ > atohima ‘grow, get bigger’; liuna ‘be old’ > aliunima ‘get older, age’), and also
§
in the comparative construction, discussed in the subsection below.

The comparative construction

In comparative constructions, the sux -oht (glossed comp for comparative) is added to the relative stem
of a stative verb: e.g., pata ‘be tall’ > apatohta ‘be taller/tallest’; oita ‘be important’ > auoitohta ‘be
more/most important’. Note that the verb iena ‘be good’ has an irregular comparative form: aniohta ‘be
better/best’.

As the glosses indicate, the -oht form can express either a comparative degree (‘taller’) or a superlative
degree (‘tallest’). The intended meaning can usually be inferred from context, though if necessary a universal
quantiﬁer in the ablative case (e.g., imou ‘of all’ [inanimate], inmou ‘of all’ [animate]) can be added to the
sentence to make the superlative reading explicit:

(7.263) Olh
dist
‘That house over there is the biggest in the village’ (lit. ‘bigger than all’)

atohohta
rel.big.comp.ipv

paluna
village.loc

tan
that:nom

imou
3i:all:abl

kotu
house

Also, when the -oht form is nominalized and functions as the modiﬁer of another noun (cf.
10.6), it optionally
follows the noun when used to express the superlative degree. For instance, kotu atohohte means ‘the biggest
house’, whereas atohohte kotu can mean either ‘the biggest house’ or ‘a/the bigger house’, depending on
context. Another example of a noun followed by a superlative modiﬁer is given in the following sentence:

(7.264) Tiesat

auotiohtaio
rel.nearby.comp.tnzr.dat

town
‘How do you get to the nearest town?’

mieme
where.inst

`etan?
go.ipv.qu

When a relative verb with -oht expresses the comparative, the standard of comparison (marked by ‘than’
in English) usually appears in the ablative case. Alternatively, an unmarked noun phrase may be used
if the standard of comparison is a general class of entities rather than a particular individual or group of
individuals.

(7.265) Sakiale

mo
1srdat

ahteu
father.abl

aliunohta
rel.old.comp.ipv

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial is older than my father’

(7.266) Tonaka

tan
that:nom

kotu
house

rock
‘That rock is bigger than a house’

atohohta
rel.big.comp.ipv

To express the degree of di↵erence between the entities being compared, the comparative verb may be
modiﬁed by a degree adverbial (e.g., hampi apatohta ‘a lot taller’, kitsipi apatohta ‘slightly taller’) or by a
measure phrase in the instrumental case, as illustrated below. In addition, the comparative verb may be
modiﬁed by the aspectual adverbial eima ‘still, yet’, used in the sense of English ‘even’: eima apatohta ‘even
taller’.

(7.267) Sakiale

mo
1srdat

ahteu
father.abl

ulhmo
year

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial is two years older than my father’

henme
two.inst

aliunohta
rel.old.comp.ipv

7.6. RELATIVE MARKING AND THE COMPARATIVE CONSTRUCTION

185

When two events or states are being compared, rather than two individuals, the standard of comparison
may be expressed by a correlative clause headed by aun (cf.
10.2.3), where aun is marked for ablative case.
When the verb in the main clause is the same as the verb in the correlative clause, the latter is often omitted
and aun is replaced by tiaun.

(7.268) Ma

akiotohte
rel.fast.comp.cv

kiompyi
run.pv

Elimma
Elim.erg

miampi
how:much

akiompa
pv.run.dep

aunu
if.abl

1serg
‘I ran faster than Elim ran’ (lit. ‘… faster than how (much) Elim ran’)

(7.269) Ma

akiotohte
1snom
rel.fast.comp.cv
‘I ran faster than Elim did’

kiompyi
run.pv

Elimma
Elim.erg

miampi
how:much

tiaunu
if:so.abl

(7.270) Ma

hial`o
today

kiompyi
1snom
run.pv
‘I ran faster today than (I did) yesterday’

akiotohte
rel.fast.comp.cv

miampi
how:much

elohka
yesterday

tiaunu
if:so.abl

To express ‘preferred’ or ‘favourite’ in Okuna, the comparative ending may be added to an evaluative verb
such as henka ‘be enjoyable’ or huata ‘be liked/appreciated’, or to the modal verb okfa ‘be wanted’—e.g.,
im`e ahenkohte iase ‘my favourite food’ (lit. ‘the food most enjoyable to me’). Note that auokfohta (literally
‘more/most wanted’) can also take a subordinate clause complement, in which case it is equivalent to English
‘(would) rather’ or ‘prefer’. Alternatively, ‘rather/prefer’ can be expressed by attaching the comparative
7.7.1—e.g., muelha ‘sleep’ > muelhuha
sux to a verb stem formed with the modal sux -uh, discussed in
‘want to sleep’ > muelhuhohta ‘prefer to sleep, would rather sleep’ (lit.
‘more/most want to sleep’). Note
that verbs formed with -uh plus -oht do not carry the relative preﬁx.

(7.271) Im`e

nkilhuhohta
leave.want.comp.ipv

1sall
‘I would rather leave’ or ‘I (would) prefer to leave’

(7.272) Ku

nkilhuhohta
leave.want.comp.ipv

im`e
1sall

2nom
‘I would rather you left’ or ‘I (would) prefer for you to leave’

(7.273) Im`e

auokfohta
rel.want.comp.ipv

ku
2nom

eima
still

1sall
‘I would prefer it if you (did) not leave yet’

mankilhoie
neg.leave.dep:sbj:neg.nom

The construction equivalent to ‘the X-er … the X-er’ (e.g., ‘the bigger they come, the harder they fall’) is
illustrated below. Here two clauses are combined, each containing a comparative or atelic inchoative verb,
or a comparative quantiﬁer or degree word (e.g., anohte ‘more’, ohpi ‘more so, to a greater degree’). The
second clause also includes the demonstrative adverbial tlai ‘thus, so, that much, to that extent’. The verb
in the ﬁrst clause takes the form of a participle (
10.3): an indicative participle if the sentence describes an
actual or generic state of a↵airs, and a subjunctive participle if it describes a hypothetical state of a↵airs.

(7.274) Koine

aliunime,
rel.old.ainc.pt

ohe
person.nom
more:nom
‘The older a person gets, the more (s/he) knows’
lit. ‘When a person gets older, to that extent more is known (by him/her)’

iona
known.ipv

tlai
thus

akiotohte
rel.fast.comp.cv

(7.275) Kima
12erg
‘The faster we work, the sooner we will ﬁnish’
lit. ‘If we work more quickly, to that extent (we) will ﬁnish sooner’

sukait,
work.pt:sbj.pl

ohpi
more:so

tehefoi
soon

tlai
thus

uslat
ﬁnish.ipv.pl

186

CHAPTER 7. VERB MORPHOLOGY

Note ﬁnally that, although the sux -oht is mostly used in combination with the relative preﬁx to form
comparatives, it can also combine to a limited degree with non-stative verbs. When used with a non-
stative verb, -oht expresses an event whereby one individual (or group of individuals) surpasses another in
performing the activity or exhibiting the trait denoted by the root:

kahta
kapua
kiompa
lhaha
lhinta
tsahompa

‘hit’
‘be skillful, be good at’
‘run, chase’
‘reach, stretch’
‘be clever’
‘wrestle’

kahtohta
kapuohta
kiompohta
lhahohta
lhintohta
tsahompohta

‘out-hit, defeat (in a ﬁght)’
‘outperform, be better at’
‘outrun, run faster than, beat (in a race)’
‘overreach, reach past/beyond’
‘outsmart, outwit, be cleverer than’
‘out-wrestle, defeat in a wrestling match’

In a clause headed by an eventive verb with -oht, the participant being surpassed is expressed by a noun
phrase in the ablative case:

(7.276) Motlama

suhpau
brother.abl

kiompohtyi
run.comp.pv

Motla.erg
‘Motla outran his brother’

7.7 Expressing modality

Modality involves the expression of possibility, necessity, and other notions related to hypothetical or possible
worlds (ability, volition, intention, etc.). Modality is expressed in two di↵erent ways in Okuna: by adding
a modal sux to the verb stem, or by using a separate modal verb which selects a verb or a clause in the
dependent subjunctive form. I discuss these options in turn.

7.7.1 Modal suxes

One of four suxes can be added to a verb stem to express modality. These suxes, listed in the following
7.4).
table, are added directly to the verb stem, preceding any tense/aspect/mood/polarity inﬂection (see
When added to a stem ending in a glide, the initial high vowels of the desiderative and purposive suxes
undergo lowering, in accordance with the vowel hiatus rules in
3.5.3: e.g., takia ‘break’, taki.ihp.a > takiehpa
‘intend to break’, taki.uh.a > takioha ‘want to break’.

debitive
desiderative
purposive
potential

(‘must, have to, need to’)
(‘want to’)
(‘should, mean to, intend to’)
(‘can, may, might, be able to’)

-oks
-uh
-ihp
-yip

The copular verb he (
9.3.1) takes the form hi- when it combines with these suxes. Likewise the deictic
§
verbs ts`a ‘be over here (near me)’ and k`a ‘be here/there (near us/you)’ take the stem forms tsa- and ka-,
respectively, with insertion of a glide in accordance with the vowel hiatus rules.

hioksa
hioha
hiehpa
hiyipa

‘must be’
‘want to be’
‘intend to be’
‘can be’

tsauoksa
tsauoha
tsaiehpa
tsaiyipa

‘must be here’
‘want to be here’
‘intend to be here’
‘can be here’

kauoksa
kauoha
kaiehpa
kaiyipa

‘must be here/there’
‘want to be here/there’
‘intend to be here/there’
‘can be here/there’

When a modal sux is added to the verb, that verb is treated as a (derived) stative for purposes of
tense/aspect marking (
7.4). Verbs inﬂected for modality cannot take perfective aspect, but can appear
§
in the non-past imperfective, past imperfective, or conditional. Below I give a partial tense/aspect/mood
paradigm for siehp- ‘write’ + debitive -oks, with approximate English translations for each form:

7.7. EXPRESSING MODALITY

187

siehpoksa
isiehpoksa
usiehpoksa

‘must write, has to write, needs to write’
‘must be writing, must have been writing’
‘must have written’

siehpoksanka
isiehpoksanka
usiehpoksanka

‘had to write, needed to write’
‘had to be writing, had to have been writing’
‘had to have written’

siehpoksike
isiehpoksike
usiehpoksike

‘would have to write, would need to write’
‘would have to be writing, would have to have been writing’
‘would have to have written’

Note also that when a verb inﬂected for modality is negated (
the modal sux. Compare the following:

7.3), the negation is understood to scope over

iman siehpyipa
iman siehpihpa
iman siehpuha
iman siehpoksa

‘I can write’
‘I intend to write’
‘I want to write’
‘I must write’

iman ntsiehpyipo
iman ntsiehpihpo
iman ntsiehpuho
iman ntsiehpokso

‘I can’t write’
‘I don’t intend to write’
‘I don’t want to write’
‘I don’t have to write’

To express propositions like ‘I might not write’, ‘I must not write’, or ‘I should not write’, where the modal
scopes over negation, a separate modal verb must be used in place of a modal sux (see next section).

The meanings of the di↵erent modal forms are discussed and illustrated below.

Potential modality

The potential modal sux -yip (glossed ‘able’ in the examples) can express the possibility that the event
denoted by the verb will come to pass, or has come to pass. When expressing possibility, the potential form
usually corresponds to ‘may’ or ‘might’ in English:

(7.277) Ise

snow

kahpyipa
fall.able.ipv

‘It may/might snow’

(7.278) Ise

snow

ikahpyipa
prg.fall.able.ipv

‘It may/might be snowing’

(7.279) Ise

snow

ukahpyipa
pf.fall.able.ipv

‘It may/might have snowed’

The potential sux can also express ability, in which case it is roughly equivalent to English ‘can, be able
to’, or the sux ‘-able’:

(7.280) Halmai

talyipa
read.able.ipv

book.dat
‘The book is readable’ or ‘The book can be read’

When the clause includes a noun phrase denoting the individual who possesses the ability to perform the
action, that noun phrase appears in the locative case. The locative-marked noun phrase almost always
replaces one of the verb’s core arguments—typically the ergative argument, if the verb takes one, otherwise
the nominative argument. Compare the following:

CHAPTER 7. VERB MORPHOLOGY

188

(7.281) Moihama

halmai
book.dat

tala
read.ipv

girl.erg
‘The girl will read the book’

(7.282) Moihama

girl.erg

halmai
book.dat

talyipa
read.able.ipv

‘The girl may/might read the book’
or ‘It is possible that the girl will read the book’

(7.283) Moihana

halmai
book.dat

talyipa
read.able.ipv

girl.loc
‘The girl can read the book’ or ‘The girl is able to read the book’

(7.284) Sakiale

Sakial.nom

nkilhyipa
leave.able.ipv

‘Sakial may/might leave’

(7.285) Sakialna

nkilhyipa
leave.able.ipv

Sakial.loc
‘Sakial can leave’ or ‘Sakial is able to leave’

Finally, a verb in the potential modality can express permission (‘may, be allowed to’). The individual who
has permission to perform the action may be represented by a noun phrase in the allative case. Like the
locative noun phrase in the examples above, this allative noun phrase normally replaces one of the verb’s
core arguments.

(7.286) Moihaua

halmai
book.dat

talyipa
read.able.ipv

girl.all
‘The girl may read the book’ or ‘The girl is allowed to read the book’

(7.287) Sakiala

nkilhyipa
leave.able.ipv

Sakial.all
‘Sakial may leave’ or ‘Sakial is allowed to leave’

Debitive modality

The debitive modal sux -oks (glossed ‘must’) expresses necessity. In certain cases this sux is used when
the clause expresses the realization or supposition that the event in question will come about, or has come
about. Here it usually corresponds to English ‘must’ or ‘be sure to’:

(7.288) Ise

kahpoksa
fall.must.ipv

snow
‘It must snow’ or ‘It’s sure to snow’

(7.289) Ise

ikahpoksa
prg.fall.must.ipv

snow
‘It must be snowing’

(7.290) Ise

ukahpoksa
snow
pf.fall.must.ipv
‘It must have snowed’

The debitive sux can also express obligation, in which case it can be translated ‘must, have to, need to’:

7.7. EXPRESSING MODALITY

189

(7.291) Halmai

taloksa
read.must.ipv

book.dat
‘The book needs to be read’

(7.292) Moihama

halmai
book.dat

taloksa
read.must.ipv

girl.erg
‘The girl must / has to read the book’

A noun phrase in either the locative case or the allative case may be added to the clause to indicate the
individual who possesses the obligation. As with the potential form, this noun phrase almost always replaces
one of the verb’s core arguments. The di↵erence between locative and allative marking is somewhat subtle:
roughly speaking, locative case is used when the sense of obligation originates within the individual, while
allative case is used when the individual is compelled by someone else. Compare the examples below: (7.293)
implies that Sakial feels an inner compulsion to read the book, whereas with (7.294) the usual sense is that
the requirement to read the book has been imposed on Sakial by someone else.

(7.293) Sakialna

halmai
book.dat

taloksa
read.must.ipv

Sakial.loc
‘Sakial must read the book’ (i.e., has the urge to read)

(7.294) Sakiala

halmai
book.dat

taloksa
read.must.ipv

Sakial.all
‘Sakial must read the book’ (i.e., is required to read)

By contrast, in (7.292) above, there is no sense that any particular individual is being compelled to bring
about the reading event. To capture this, (7.292) may be translated ‘It is necessary for the girl to read the
book’ or ‘The girl is certain to read the book’.

Purposive and desiderative modality

The purposive sux -ihp (glossed ‘intend’) is added to the verb stem when the clause denotes the state of
a↵airs where it is intended or considered desirable that the event named by the verb stem come about. It is
sometimes equivalent to ‘should’ or ‘be meant to, be supposed to’:

(7.295) Halmai

talihpa
read.intend.ipv

book.dat
‘The book is (meant) to be read’

(7.296) Moihama

halmai
book.dat

talihpa
read.intend.ipv

girl.erg
‘The girl is supposed to read the book’ or ‘The girl should read the book’

A verb in the purposive form can combine with a noun phrase in the locative case, referring to the individual
who possesses the intention that the action come about. When this individual is also one of the participants
in the intended event, the locative noun phrase will replace the core argument that denotes that participant
(usually the ergative argument, or the nominative argument if the verb lacks an ergative argument):

(7.297) Sakialna

Sakial.loc
‘Sakial intends that the girl (should) read the book’

halmai
book.dat

talihpa
read.intend.ipv

moihama
girl.erg

(7.298) Sakialna

halmai
book.dat
Sakial.loc
‘Sakial intends to read the book’

talihpa
read.intend.ipv

190

CHAPTER 7. VERB MORPHOLOGY

The desiderative sux -uh (glossed ‘want’) works essentially the same way as the purposive sux. It is added
to the verb to indicate that the event in question is desired by some individual, and usually corresponds to
English ‘want to’. The individual possessing the desire may be expressed by a noun phrase in the locative,
which can replace one of the verb’s core arguments.

(7.299) Halmai

taluha
book.dat
read.want.ipv
‘It is desired that the book be read’

(7.300) Moihama

halmai
book.dat

taluha
read.want.ipv

girl.erg
‘It is desired that the girl read the book’

(7.301) Sakialna

moihama
girl.erg

halmai
book.dat

taluha
read.want.ipv

Sakial.loc
‘Sakial wants the girl to read the book’

(7.302) Sakialna

halmai
book.dat

taluha
read.want.ipv

Sakial.loc
‘Sakial wants to read the book’

Note that a verb with the desiderative sux can in turn take the comparative/superlative sux -oht (cf.
7.6). The resulting forms are equivalent English expressions with ‘rather’ or ‘prefer’: e.g., nkilha ‘leave’ >
§
nkilhuha ‘want to leave’ > nkilhuhohta ‘prefer to leave, would rather leave’ (lit. ‘more/most want to leave’).

(7.303) Te

foc

halma
book

atai
that:dat

taluhohta
read.want.comp.ipv

iman
1sloc

‘I (would) prefer to read that book’

Generally with verbs in the purposive or desiderative form, the locative noun phrase replaces a coreferential
core argument only if that argument represents the most ‘active’ or ‘agentive’ participant in the event.
Otherwise, the locative noun phrase and the coreferential core argument are both realized in the clause.
Compare the examples in (7.304) and (7.305): in the former sentence, the participant possessing the desire
is the same individual as the (ergative) actor participant, while in the latter sentence it’s the same individual
as the (nominative) theme. (7.306) and (7.307) show a parallel contrast:

(7.304) Iman
1sloc
‘I wanted to praise the chief’

tal`o
chief.nom

fonuhanka
praise.want.ipv:pst

(7.305) Iman
1sloc
‘I wanted the chief to praise me’ or ‘I wanted to be praised by the chief’

fonuhanka
praise.want.ipv:pst

taloma
chief.erg

me
1snom

tal`o
(7.306) Iman
1sloc
chief.nom
‘I intend to praise the chief’

fonihpa
praise.intend.ipv

fonihpa
(7.307) Iman
1sloc
praise.intend.ipv
‘I intend for the chief to praise me’ or ‘I intend to be praised by the chief’

taloma
chief.erg

me
1snom

7.7. EXPRESSING MODALITY

7.7.2 Modal verbs

191

In addition to the modal suxes, Okuna has a number of Class I stative verbs for expressing notions of
possibility, necessity, desirability, etc. The most common modal verbs are listed below. For each verb, the
most literal meaning is given ﬁrst, followed by typical English translation equivalents in parentheses.

alha
aniohta
etaupa
ksafa
kuia
lehua
lyihpa
okfa
otsena
tima
tiuha
toupa

‘be allowed, permissible’ (‘can, may’)
‘be better, preferable’ (‘it would be better/best if…’)
‘be predicted’ (‘be supposed to’)
‘be desired, wished for’
‘be certain, deﬁnite’
‘be advisable’ (‘should, ought to’)
‘be possible’ (‘can, may, might’)
‘be desired/desirable’ (‘want’)
‘be likely, probable’
‘be likely, common’ (‘tend to; be liable to’)
‘be necessary, needed’ (‘need, must’)
‘be presumable, apparent’ (‘must’)

As members of Class I, modal verbs select a single core argument, marked for nominative case. In addition,
most modal verbs can take a noun phrase in the locative or allative case. For ksafa and okfa, a locative
noun phrase indicates the individual who wishes or hopes for the object or event denoted by the nominative
argument. With verbs such as lyihpa and tiuha, an allative noun phrase indicates the individual with respect
to whom the object/event denoted by the nominative argument is possible or necessary.

(7.308) Iman
1sloc
‘I want some food’ (lit. ‘In me, some food is desired’)

iokfa
prg.desired.ipv

mian
some:nom

iase
food

(7.309) Im`e

ikou
2sabl

aleute
help.nom

itiuha
prg.necessary.ipv

1sall
‘I need your help’ (lit. ‘Your help is necessary to/for me’)

In the examples above, the nominative argument is a regular noun phrase. The nominative argument can
also take the form of a clause in the dependent subjunctive form (
§

10.2), denoting a hypothetical event:

(7.310) Lehua

atai
advisable.ipv
this:dat
‘This book should be read’ or ‘It is advisable that this book be read’

tal`e
read.dep:sbj.nom

halma
book

ke
med

kotseim
(7.311) Aniohta
best.ipv
morning.dat
‘It would be best if you stayed here until morning’

ku
2nom

sik`a
until

kauot`e
be:here.dur.dep:sbj.nom

(7.312) Alha

ne
3anom

ikimme
12inst

aﬁt`a
accompany.dep:sbj.pl.nom

allowed.ipv
‘It is permissible for them to come with us’

(7.313) Lyihpa

kime
12dat

elohfoi
tomorrow

saseuot`a
meet.dep:sbj.recip.pl.nom

possible.ipv
‘It’s possible that we will meet tomorrow’

(7.314) Elimna

okfa
desired.ipv

otanaina
child.loc

kest`e
happy.dep:sbj.nom

Elim.loc
‘Elim wants (his) children to be happy’

192

CHAPTER 7. VERB MORPHOLOGY

10.2.4). In this construc-
Alternatively, the modal verb and its complement may undergo restructuring (see
tion, the dependent subjunctive verb appears without an case marking and immediately precedes the modal
verb, the two forming a complex predicate. Any arguments selected by the dependent subjunctive verb be-
have as part of the main clause, and when they trigger plural agreement or reciprocal marking (
9.4.4),
§
the agreement and reciprocal suxes attach to the modal verb rather than the verb it selects. Compare the
sentences above with their restructured counterparts below:

7.2,

(7.315) Ke

halma
book

atai
this:dat

tali
read.dep:sbj

lehua
advisable.ipv

med
‘This book should be read’

(7.316) Ku

kotseim
morning.dat

sik`a
until

2nom
‘You had best stay here until morning’

kauoti
be:here.dur.dep:sbj

aniohta
best.ipv

(7.317) Ne

ikimme
12inst

aﬁ
accompany.dep:sbj

alhat
allowed.ipv.pl

3anom
‘They may come with us’ or ‘They are allowed to come with us’

(7.318) Kime
12dat

elohfoi
tomorrow

sasi
meet.dep:sbj

lyihpauot
possible.ipv.recip.pl

‘We may/might/could meet tomorrow’

(7.319) Elimna

Elim.loc

otanaina
child.loc

kesti
happy.dep:sbj

okfa
desired.ipv

‘Elim wants (his) children to be happy’

Note that either the dependent subjunctive verb, or the sentence as a whole, can be negated. In the former
case, the modal verb scopes over negation, while in the latter case, negation scopes over the modal. The
following pairs of sentences illustrate the contrast between these two possibilities:

(7.320) Pyie

child.nom

ntse
neg

nkilhoi
leave.dep:sbj:neg

alhot
allowed.ipv:neg.pl

‘The children may not leave’ (i.e., it is not permitted that the children leave)

(7.321) Pyie

child.nom

mankilhoi
neg.leave.dep:sbj:neg

alhat
allowed.ipv.pl

‘The children don’t have to leave’ (i.e., it is permitted that the children not leave)

(7.322) Pyie

child.nom

ntse
neg

nkilhoi
leave.dep:sbj:neg

tiuhot
necessary.ipv:neg.pl

‘The children don’t have to leave’ (i.e., it is not necessary that the children leave)

(7.323) Pyie

child.nom

mankilhoi
neg.leave.dep:sbj:neg

tiuhat
necessary.ipv.pl

‘The children must not leave’ (i.e., it is necessary that the children not leave)

The verbs tiuha and toupa are easily confused, since both verbs overlap in meaning with the debitive sux
-oks, and both may be translated as ‘must’ or ‘have to’ in English. Tiuha expresses the necessity that a
situation come about, while toupa expresses the realization or supposition that a situation has or will come
about. This contrast is illustrated below:

7.7. EXPRESSING MODALITY

193

(7.324) Ikime
12all

ahotsine
corn.nom

nalhi
plant.dep:sbj

tiuha
necessary.ipv

‘We must / have to plant the corn’

(7.325) Motl`a

Motla.nom

imouti
prg.sick.dep:sbj

toupa
must.ipv

hial`o,
today

elh
and

tlohpa
for:that:reason

mekau
neg.prg.be:here.ipv:neg

‘Motla must be sick today, and that’s why (he)’s not here’

Note also the following examples, which illustrate tima used as a modal verb. Notice that the interpretation
of this construction depends on the aspect in which tima occurs: when it occurs in progressive aspect, the
sentence indicates the strong likelihood that the event denoted by the subjunctive verb will come about,
given the current situation; when it occurs in the imperfect, the sentence expresses the general tendency
for the event denoted by the subjunctive verb to come about. (In non-modal contexts, tima means ‘lie, be
located’.)

(7.326) Kalone

ehkamne
early

lyue
wake:up.dep:sbj

boy.nom
‘The boys tend to wake up early’

(7.327) Kalone

lyue
boy.nom
wake:up.dep:sbj
‘The boys are liable to wake up early’

ehkamne
early

timat
tend.ipv.pl

itimat
prg.tend.ipv.pl

Chapter 8

Minor Word Classes

8.1 Introduction

Nouns and verbs (discussed in chapters 4, 6, and 7) constitute the open lexical classes of Okuna—i.e.,
the lexical classes to which new members may be added, either through coinage or by borrowing from another
language. There are also several closed classes of words whose members perform various grammatical
functions. Some of these classes (e.g., pronouns, quantiﬁcational adverbs) were introduced in earlier chapters.
8.2 deals with sentential particles, which mark operator
The remaining classes are discussed here. Section
functions related to focus or clause type.
8.3 gives an overview of coordinators and the conjoining of phrases
and clauses. Finally,
8.4 deals with adverbials (predicate modiﬁers) for expressing manner, degree, temporal
quantiﬁcation, and aspect.

8.2 Sentence particles

Sentence particles are non-inﬂecting function words which occupy a ﬁxed position in the clause. I group these
particles into two classes based on the position they occupy.
8.2.1 deals with focus particles, which express
concepts like ‘even’, ‘only’, and ‘not’.
8.2.2 deals with force and evidential particles. Force particles provide
information about the function of the clause (i.e., whether it constitutes a question, command, exclamation,
etc.), while evidential particles indicate something about the epistemological status of the sentence (i.e.,
whether it represents common knowledge, hearsay, speculation, etc.). Focus particles always precede the
verb, and take scope over some portion of the clausal nucleus (
9.2.1); while force and evidential particles
occur at the right edge of the clausal nucleus, immediately following the verb.

8.2.1 Focus particles

Okuna has a number of particles which precede a constituent (a noun phrase or predicate) to indicate
that that constituent is being contrastively focused—that is, foregrounded in the sentence and implicitly or
explicitly contrasted with other potential discourse referents. One such focus particle is te, illustrated in
(8.2) below.

(8.1) Ma

hotume
uncle.inst
1serg
‘I was talking to my uncle’

itsampanka
prg.say.act.ipv:pst

(8.2) Ma

1serg

te
foc

hotume
uncle.inst

itsampanka
prg.say.act.ipv:pst

‘I was talking to my uncle’ (not to anyone else)

194

8.2. SENTENCE PARTICLES

195

9.2.1), following the topic and preceding the verb and
Focus particles occur within the clausal nucleus (
§
any noun phrases unmarked for case (see
4.6.3). Case-marked noun phrases in the clause either precede
or follow the focus particle, depending on their scope, as discussed below. The major focus particles and
particle combinations are listed here (on the negative particles ntse and ntsune, see

7.3 for discussion):

ekane
hi`o
husu
husu ntse
las
ntse, ntsune
ntsilas
ntsohkina
ohkina
te
tiefu
tiefu ntse
usahke

‘just, speciﬁcally, in particular; exactly, precisely’
‘indeed, actually, in fact’
‘also, even’
‘not even’
‘only, merely, just’
‘not’
‘not only’
‘neither, not even’
‘also, even’
‘just, only, actually’
‘only, solely, just; except’
‘only not, just not; except’
‘especially, in particular’

Focus particles are interpreted as operators which take scope over the verb, verb phrase, or noun phrase to
their immediate right. Compare the following sentences, where the di↵erence in word order correlates with
a di↵erence in scope for the particle tiefu:

(8.3) Moihama

kahoi
girl.erg
ﬁsh.dat
‘The girl only cooked the ﬁsh’

tiefu
only

ipamyima
cook.pv.dpl

(8.4) Moihama

tiefu
only

kahoi
ﬁsh.dat

ipamyima
cook.pv.dpl

girl.erg
‘The girl only cooked (the) fish’

(8.5) Kahoi

tiefu
only

moihama
girl.erg

ipamyit
cook.pv.pl

ﬁsh.dat
‘Only the girl cooked the ﬁsh’
or ‘The ﬁsh were cooked by the girl alone’

(8.6) Tiefu

moihama
girl.erg

kahoi
only
ﬁsh.dat
‘It’s only (the case) that the girl cooked the ﬁsh’

ipamyima
cook.pv.dpl

In (8.3) tiefu scopes over the verb ipamyima ‘cooked’, and sets up an implicit contrast between the cooking
action and other possible actions which the girl might have performed on the ﬁsh (such as eating them). In
(8.4) the particle scopes over either kahoi ‘ﬁsh’ or kahoi ipamyima ‘cooked the ﬁsh’: this sentence asserts
that the ﬁsh are the only things that the girl cooked, or that cooking the ﬁsh is the only thing that the girl
did. In (8.5) tiefu scopes over moihama ‘the girl’, or moihama ipamyit ‘cooked by the girl’; this sentence
means that the girl is the only one who cooked the ﬁsh, or that being cooked by the girl is the only thing
that happened to the ﬁsh. Finally, in (8.6), tiefu scopes over the entire sentence, and the meaning is that
the girl cooking the ﬁsh is the only thing that happened.

The scopal domain of the focus particle extends rightward only as far as the verb. Hence in the sentences

below, the postposed noun kahoi is outside the scope of tiefu.

(8.7) Moihama

kahoi
ﬁsh.dat
girl.erg
‘The girl only cooked (them), the ﬁsh’

ipamyima
cook.pv.dpl

tiefu
only

196

CHAPTER 8. MINOR WORD CLASSES

(8.8) Tiefu

only

moihama
girl.erg

ipamyima
cook.pv.dpl

kahoi
ﬁsh.dat

‘Only the girl cooked (them), the ﬁsh’

The interaction between word order and scope is further illustrated by the sentences below, containing the
particle husu. Notice that husu can be translated as ‘also’ or ‘even’, depending on the context (likewise for
ohkina when it is used as a focus particle):

(8.9) Sakialma

Sakial.erg

Elime
Elim.nom

husu
also

fonyi
praise.pv

‘Sakial also praised Elim’ (besides doing other things to/for him)

(8.10) Sakialma

Sakial.nom

husu
also

Elime
Elim.nom

fonyi
praise.pv

‘Sakial also/even praised Elim’ (in addition to praising other people)
or ‘Sakial also praised Elim’ (in addition to doing other things)

(8.11) Elime

Elim.nom

husu
also

Sakialma
Sakial.erg

fonyi
praise.pv

‘Even Sakial praised Elim’ (he wasn’t just praised by other people)
or ‘Elim was also praised by Sakial’ (besides having other things happen to him)

The particles te and hi`o have an emphatic sense, indicating that what follows is new or unexpected infor-
mation. The particle te also has a identiﬁcational function, and is often used when the speaker wishes to
point out or draw attention to a particular referent. Sentences with te are often appropriately translated
into English using a cleft or pseudo-cleft construction. Compare the following:

(8.12) Ma

halm`a
book.nom

kohoit
1serg
chest.dat
‘I put the books in the chest’

elhyia
put:in.pv.npl

(8.13) Ma

halm`a
book.nom

kohoit
1serg
chest.dat
‘The chest is where I put the books’

te
foc

elhyia
put:in.pv.npl

(8.14) Ma

te
foc

halma
book

tin
those:nom

elhyia
put:in.pv.npl

1serg
‘It’s those books that I put in the chest’
or ‘Those are the books that I put in the chest’

kohoit
chest.dat

Te is also found as an optional element in a presentational sentences, where the speaker is drawing the
listener’s attention to the entity denoted by the focused noun phrase (which typically functions as a theme
argument and appears without any case marking):

(8.15) Te

es
one

halma
book

its`a
prg.be:here.ipv

foc
‘Here’s a book’ or ‘There’s a book over here’

(8.16) Te

Sakial
foc
Sakial
‘Here comes Sakial’

iketa
prg.come:here.ipv

Other examples of sentences with focus particles are given below:

8.2. SENTENCE PARTICLES

197

(8.17) Ne

las
just

pyi
child

3anom
‘He’s just a child’

(8.18) Kahu

aunme,
if.inst

Sakiala
Sakial.all

usahke
especially

kono
salmon

henka
like.ipv

ﬁsh
‘When it comes to ﬁsh, Sakial especially likes salmon’

(8.19) Tonaka

tan
that:nom

husu
even

ntse
neg

koin
person

anasohtaina
rel.strong.comp.tnzr.loc

tiyisyipoike
lift.able.cond:neg

rock
‘Not even the strongest person could lift that rock’

Focus particles often occur in conjoined clauses, where a focused phrase in the second clause bears a relation
of comparison, contrast, augmentation, etc., to a focused phrase in the ﬁrst clause. Typically all non-focused
material is omitted from the second clause, leaving just the particle and the focused phrase:

(8.20) Elima

tsakamot
all:kinds

koine
person.nom

huata,
like.ipv

usahke
especially

pyie
child.nom

Elim.all
‘Elim likes all kinds of people, especially children’

usahke
(8.21) Hynukiale
especially
play.nom
‘Everyone enjoyed the play, especially the children’

henkanka,
enjoy.ipv:pst

inmone
everyone:all

pyia
child.all

As these examples show, the focused noun phrase in the second clause must carry the same case marking as
the corresponding focused noun phrase in the ﬁrst clause. In (8.20) the children are set apart as a special
subset of the people who Elim likes. Here, pyi ‘children’ appears in the nominative case because tsakamot
koin ‘all kinds of people’ takes the nominative. In (8.21) the children are set apart as a special subset of the
people who enjoyed the play. Since inmone ‘everybody’ is in the allative case (assigned to the experiencer
participant of the verb henka ‘be enjoyable’), pyi takes the allative case as well.

Additional examples of this construction are given below:

(8.22) Halma

utai
that:rdat

Sakialma
Sakial.erg

utala,
pf.read.ipv

book
‘Sakial has read that book, and so have I’

husu
also

im`a
1serg

(8.23) Halma

book

utai
that:rdat

inket
everyone.erg

utalane,
pf.read.ipv.epl

ohkina
also

im`a
1serg

‘Everyone has read that book, even/including me’

(8.24) Ntsilas

tluosna
not:only
rather
‘It’s not just Elim who got drunk, but also Motla’

muntetou,
drunk.tinc.pv:neg

Elime
Elim.nom

husu
also

Motl`a
Motla.nom

(8.25) Sa

husu
also

tsulyit,
Elime
13erg
visit.pv.pl
Elim.nom
‘We also visited Elim, not just Sakial’

ntsilas
not:only

Sakiale
Sakial.nom

(8.26) Se

husu
also

Elimma
Elim.erg

tsulyit,
visit.pv.pl

ntsilas
not:only

Sakialma
Sakial.nom

13nom
‘Even Elim visited us, not just Sakial’ or ‘We were also visited by Elim, not just by Sakial’

198

CHAPTER 8. MINOR WORD CLASSES

Note ﬁnally that tiefu and tiefu ntse can be used to express exclusion, equivalent to English ‘except’ or ‘but’.
Tiefu is used after a negative quantiﬁer, as in (8.27) and (8.28), while tiefu ntse is used after a universal
quantiﬁer, as in (8.29) and (8.30):

(8.27) Elima

ntsemi`o
nobody:nom

huato,
like.ipv:neg

tiefu
only

man
1snom

Elim.all
‘Elim doesn’t like anybody except me’ (lit. ‘Elim likes nobody, only me’)

(8.28) Elime

ntsemioha
nobody.all

huato,
like.ipv:neg

tiefu
only

im`e
1sall

Elim.nom
‘Nobody likes Elim except me’

(8.29) Elima

nket
everyone:nom

huataua,
like.ipv.npl

tiefu
only

ntse
neg

man
1snom

Elim.all
‘Elim likes everyone except me’ (lit. ‘Elim likes everyone, only not me’)

(8.30) Elime

inkene
everyone.all

huata,
like.ipv

Elim.nom
‘Everyone likes Elim except me’

tiefu
only

ntse
neg

im`e
1sall

8.2.2 Force and evidential particles

Okuna has a number of particles which immediately follow the verb. Some of these particles express em-
phasis, or indicate the type of speech act which the utterance represents (statement, question, command,
exclamation, etc.). Others encode evidential features—that is, they indicate the speaker’s source of infor-
mation, or the degree of certainty with which s/he is making an assertion. The particles and their functions
are listed below and discussed in the following subsections.

ha
hok
iahok
iak
iakin
iam
kalh
la
le
lin
lo
mi
mo
mun
na
ne, -n
nem
pi
tat
tli

unexpected information (‘in fact, as it happens’)
emphatic, exclamative
emphatic negative (‘at all’)
emphatic imperative (prohibitive)
emphatic negative question
surprise, unassimilated information (‘it turns out that…’)
emphatic question
reassurance (‘don’t worry’)
conjecture, speculation (‘I think, apparently, it seems so’)
question, request to speculate (‘do you suppose?’)
uncertainty, request for conﬁrmation (‘right?, is it so?’)
regret (‘unfortunately, I’m afraid’)
subjective judgement, personal opinion (‘I think so, in my opinion’)
question, request for judgement/opinion (‘in your opinion…?’)
imperative/optative
question
suggestion (‘let’s, how about, why not…’)
uncertainty, possibility (‘maybe, perhaps’)
common knowledge (‘of course, after all, as you know’)
hearsay, secondhand information (‘apparently, so they say’)

Particles marking clause type and emphasis

Perhaps the most common postverbal particle is ne (glossed qu in the examples), which indicates that the
sentence is a question. Both yes/no questions and content questions are marked with ne. As shown in (8.32)

8.2. SENTENCE PARTICLES

199

and (8.33) below, ne contracts to -n and attaches to the verb when the latter ends in a vowel; however, -n
is not treated as part of the verb for purposes of stress assignment (note the diacritic on it`alin, indicating
that stress falls on the penultimate syllable of the word, despite the presence of a ﬁnal consonant).

(8.31) Elim
Elim
‘Did Elim and Motla manage to ﬁnd the dog?’

Motlai
Motla.dat

ik`e
dog.nom

ka
and

utlelhuhkit
pf.ﬁnd.cpl.ipv:int.pl

ne?
qu

(8.32) Moihama

halmai
book.dat

it`alin?
prg.read.ipv:int.qu

girl.erg
‘Is the girl reading the book?’

(8.33) Moihama

halma
book

mai
what.dat

talyin?
read.pv.qu

girl.erg
‘Which book did the girl read?’

To mark emphasis, the particle hok is often used. This particle acts is a sort of verbal exclamation point,
indicating heightened emotional involvement on the part of the speaker. It frequently occurs in exclamatory
statements such as (8.35):

(8.34) Hi

manakpyipo
neg.carry.able.ipv:neg
3inom
‘I can’t lift it; (it’s) too heavy!’

iman,
1sloc

tsuo
too

alhuta
rel.heavy.ipv

hok!
excl

(8.35) Ne

tlai
so

amila
3anom
rel.handsome.ipv
‘How handsome he is!’ or ‘He’s so handsome!’

hok!
excl

The particles la and mi are also used to express emphasis, but unlike hok they have a ‘softening’ e↵ect: la
is often added to a sentence when the speaker wishes to comfort, reassure, or placate the addressee; while
mi is used to express speaker regret in reporting an unfortunate event.

(8.36) Moito

neg.matter.ipv:neg
‘Don’t worry, it doesn’t matter’

la
emph

(8.37) Nkuetlo

ikun,
2sloc

mutlihpo
neg.harm.intend.ipv:neg

la
emph

iman
1sloc

neg.afraid.ipv:neg
‘Don’t be afraid, I won’t harm (you)’

(8.38) Sakiale

mafo
neg.go:along.ipv:neg

mi
emph

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial won’t be coming with us, I’m afraid’

ikimme
12inst

The counterpart of hok used in negative clauses is iahok. In some cases this particle corresponds to English
‘at all’ or ‘ever’:

(8.39) Ntsemi`o

iolhunka
prg.be:there.ipv:pst:neg

iahok
emph:neg

nobody:nom
‘There wasn’t anybody there’

(8.40) Inmi

ntsemi
never

kanu
lie

utso
pf.say.ipv:neg

iahok
emph:neg

3aerg.1sdat
‘He’s never (ever) lied to me’

200

CHAPTER 8. MINOR WORD CLASSES

nkuio
(8.41) Iman
1sloc
neg.certain.ipv:neg
‘I’m not at all sure I know what to do’

iahok
emph:neg

ion`a
know.dep.nom

m`a
what

suki
do.dep:sbj

aun
if

The particle kalh marks a sentence as an emphatic question. It can be used in place of ne to indicate surprise,
disbelief, frustration, disgust, or other strong emotion. To form emphatic negative questions, iakin is used
in place of kalh.

(8.42) Mikail

te
foc

oun`a
bear.nom

kilyit
see.pv.pl

boy.dat
‘Did the boys really see a bear by the sweat lodge?’

kalh
emph:qu

hamohimok
sweat:lodge

utena?
near.loc

(8.43) M`a

laisne
just

mehkyi
happen.pv

kalh?
emph:qu

what:nom
‘What on earth just happened?’

(8.44) Ymiohpa
why
‘Why on earth won’t you tell (me) the truth?’

etsoike
say.cond:neg

yte
truth

ntse
neg

iakin?
emph:neg:qu

(8.45) Ko

inem
3asinst

metsampo
neg.speak.act.ipv:neg

iakin?
neg:emph:qu

2erg
‘Won’t you even talk to him?’

Note that ne, kalh, and iakin occur only in main clause questions; embedded (indirect) questions are formed
with the element aun ‘if, whether’, discussed in
10.2.3. Two other question particles, lin and mun, are
discussed below. For more on the structure of questions, see

9.3.2.

Finally, the particles na, nem, and iak occur in imperative and optative clauses. Na expresses a strong
desire on the part of the speaker that an action be performed or that an event (be permitted to) come about.
In negative imperatives (prohibitives), iak is used in place of na. Nem is somewhat less emphatic than na,
and may be used when the speaker is suggesting a course of action; it can correspond to English ‘let’s’, ‘how
about’, or ‘why not’, depending on context. (For more on imperative sentences, see

9.3.3.)

(8.46) Ko

hitole
2erg
door.nom
‘Close the door!’

muka
close.ipv

na
imp

(8.47) Ma

akoi
2sdat

aleut
help

1serg
‘Let me help you!’

uktia
give.ipv

na
imp

(8.48) Atai

miaso
neg.eat.ipv:neg

iak
neg:imp

that:dat
‘Don’t eat that!’

(8.49) Kim

Kemotlasei
Kemotlasi.dat

etat
12nom
go.ipv.pl
‘Let’s go to Kemotlasi’ or ‘Why don’t we go to Kemotlasi?’

nem
emph

In the examples above, the imperative/optative particle follows a verb in the imperfect form. When na or iak
is used with a verb in the conditional form, as in the example below, the sentence expresses a counterfactual
wish. This construction corresponds roughly to English ‘if only’ or ‘would that…’:

(8.50) Inme

ihka
earlier

uteulikit
pf.listen.cond.pl

na
imp

3aerg.1snom
‘If only they’d listened to me earlier’ or ‘Would that they had listened to me earlier’

8.2. SENTENCE PARTICLES

Particles marking evidentiality

201

In addition to emphasis or clause type, a post-verbal particle may encode evidential distinctions, expressing
the source of information or degree of certainty behind the speaker’s assertion.

The particles pi and lo express a low degree of certainty: pi is equivalent to ‘maybe’ or ‘perhaps’, while
lo is used where an English speaker might use a tag question (e.g., ‘… doesn’t it?’). In the case of lo, the
speaker is not entirely certain if the proposition is true and is looking to the addressee for conﬁrmation or
denial. Pi, on the other hand, marks the proposition as pure speculation: the speaker cannot vouch for the
truth of the sentence, and does not expect the addressee to be able to do so either.1

(8.51) Elohfoi

ise
snow

kahpa
fall.ipv

pi
maybe

tomorrow
‘Perhaps it will snow tomorrow’

(8.52) Mutoi

tokoksa
repair.must.ipv

lo
do:you:think

fence.dat
‘The fence needs to be repaired, doesn’t it?’

The particle tli also expresses uncertainty, but indicates that the proposition is hearsay, something which
the speaker learned secondhand but cannot vouch for:

(8.53) In`e

tiakoi
goat.dat

ukaiha
pf.kill.ipv
3aall
‘His goat was killed by a wolf, they say’

malkama
wolf.erg

tli
they:say

Other evidential particles indicate something about the speaker’s attitude towards the truth of what s/he
is asserting. For example, tat marks the utterance as common knowledge, something which is well accepted
or self-evident. By using tat (roughly equivalent to ‘of course’, ‘after all’, ‘as you know’, etc.), the speaker
asserts that s/he believes the proposition to be true, and expects the addressee to agree:

(8.54) Mutoi

tokoksa
repair.must.ipv

tat
of:course

fence.dat
‘As you know, the fence needs to be repaired’

The particle ha is also used when the speaker wishes to emphasize that what s/he is saying is true. However,
it di↵ers from nin in that the speaker does not expect the addressee to recognize the truth of the proposition.
Instead, ha is used when the speaker is imparting new, perhaps unexpected or surprising information, making
it similar in function to English ‘actually’, ‘in fact’ or ‘it so happens that…’. Consider the following exchange:

(8.55) Tenmotlaie

`utin?
pf.go.ipv:int.qu

Tenmotlai.dat
‘Have you ever been to Tenmotlai?’

(8.56) Hi`o,

ma
1snom

itan
3iloc

yes
‘Yes, in fact I live there!’

tsuhpa
live.ipv

ha
in:fact

The particle iam is similar to ha in that it can signal new or surprising information. It is generally used to
express a sudden realization, or when the speaker is acknowledging or reporting on something that s/he just
learned about. It is roughly equivalent to English ‘it turns out that…’ or ‘I now see/realize that…’:

1There is also a preverbal particle meaning ‘maybe, perhaps’, namely tiuse. This particle may be used in place of pi, or the

two can co-occur: e.g., Tiuse elohfoi ise kahpa pi ‘Perhaps it will snow tomorrow’.

202

(8.57) Ko

eima
still

isuka
prg.do.ipv

2erg
‘You’re still working, I see’

CHAPTER 8. MINOR WORD CLASSES

iam
just:learned

(8.58) Sakialu

am`e
mother.nom

utioka
pf.die.ipv

Sakial.abl
‘(I just learned that) Sakial’s mother died’

iam
just:learned

The particles mo and le correspond roughly to English ‘I think’: mo is used when the speaker is expressing
a subjective judgement or personal opinion, while le indicates conjecture.2 The latter is used instead of pi
‘maybe’ when the speaker believes that the proposition is true, but lacks sucient evidence to be sure.

(8.59) Sakiale

teusu
very

mila
handsome.ipv

mo
I:think

Sakial.nom
‘(I think that) Sakial is very handsome’

(8.60) Iha

nemot
3a:all:nom

usihitat
pf.go:to:river.ipv.pl

woman
‘The women have all gone down to the river, I think’

le
I:think

Mo and le each have a counterpart used to form questions, namely mun and lin, respectively. With these
particles, the point of view shifts from the speaker to the addressee. Mun is used in questions which ask for
the addressee’s opinion or judgement, while lin is used in questions which invite the addressee to speculate.
The latter particle may be used in place of ne when the speaker does not expect the addressee to be able to
provide a deﬁnitive answer. Like the other question particles (ne, kalh, and iakin), mun and lin occur both
in yes/no questions and in content questions:

(8.61) Sakiale

mili
handsome.ipv:int

mun?
in:your:opinion

Sakial.nom
‘Do you think that Sakial is handsome?’

(8.62) Kima

m`a
what:nom

suki
do.dep:sbj

12:erg
‘What do you think we should do?’

lehuat
should.ipv.pl

mun?
in:your:opinion

(8.63) Oke

s`u
rain

kahpi
fall.ipv:int

going:to
‘Do you think it’s going to rain?’

lin?
do:you:think

(8.64) Ni

m`a
what:nom

mehka
happen.ipv

3adat
‘What will happen to him, do you suppose?’

lin?
do:you:suppose

Finally, note that the evidential particles can be used to qualify the focus particles hi`o ‘yes/really’ and ntsune
‘no/not’, when the latter are used as utterances to answer a question in the armative or negative:

hi`o le
hi`o mo
hi`o mun?
hi`o pi
hi`o tat
hi`o tli

‘I believe so’
‘yes, in my opinion’
‘do you agree/think (so)?’
‘maybe so’
‘of course!’
‘yes, apparently so’

ntsune le
ntsune mo
ntsune mun?
ntsune pi
ntsune tat
ntsune tli

‘I don’t believe so’
‘no, in my opinion’
‘don’t you think (so)?’
‘maybe not’
‘of course not!’
‘no, apparently not’

2Parallel to this distinction, Okuna has two verbs meaning ‘think, believe’: ampa means ‘think’ in the sense of ‘be of the
opinion (that)’, while opa means ‘think’ in the sense of ‘suppose, conjecture’. (Yet another verb, mina, means ‘think’ in the
sense of ‘use one’s brain’ or ’contemplate/experience an idea’.)

8.3. COORDINATION

8.3 Coordination

203

Like all languages, Okuna provides various means for combining two or more constituents into a single larger
constituent of the same type. In
8.3.1 I illustrate the function words used in coordinating noun phrases and
8.3.2 I brieﬂy discuss particles used to express various kinds of discourse relations between
clauses, while in
two clauses (temporal succession, cause and e↵ect, etc.).

8.3.1 Coordinators

Noun phrases and clauses can be linked using a coordinator, which precedes and forms a unit with the second
conjunct (and in some cases the ﬁrst conjunct as well). Okuna has the following coordinators:

elh
husu
ka
le
lo
ntsu
ntsohkina
ohkina
su
tena
tlafa

‘and, and then; so, and so’
‘and also, as well as, along with’
‘and; as, such that’
‘but’
‘or’
‘nor’
‘nor’
‘and, as well as, in addition to’
‘or’
‘and’
‘for, as, because’

Coordinators expressing simple conjunction

The coordinators elh, ka, husu, ohkina, and tena all express simple conjunction, and usually correspond to
English ‘and’. However, they di↵er somewhat in their distribution. I discuss these elements in turn.

Ka, ohkina, and husu are used exclusively for coordinating two nouns or noun phrases to form a larger
noun phrase: e.g., Sakial ka Elim ‘Sakial and Elim’, kal ohkina iha ‘the man and the woman’, halma husu
kitam ‘books and papers’. Note that when noun phrases conjoined with these coordinators are marked for
case, the case ending attaches only to the second conjunct, while the ﬁrst conjunct appears in its unmarked
form (or in the nominative case if no unmarked form exists, as with pronouns): e.g., Sakial ka Elimme ‘with
Sakial and Elim’, kal ohkina ihau ‘from the man and the woman’.

Although ka, ohkina, and husu all mean ‘and’, compound noun phrases formed with ka tend to have a
collective interpretation, whereas those formed with ohkina and husu tend to have a distributive interpre-
tation. The distributive reading is especially pronounced with ohkina, which has the sense of English ‘as
well as, in addition to’. For example, (8.65) below implies that Sakial and Elim are going to town together,
while (8.66) does not have that implication, and (8.67) strongly implies that they are going separately. (As
these examples show, noun phrases formed through coordination are grammatically plural, and trigger plural
agreement on the verb where appropriate: see

7.2.)

(8.65) Sakial
Sakial
‘Sakial and Elim are going to town (together)’

Elime
Elim.nom

tiesait
town.dat

ka
and

§
itat
prg.go.ipv.pl

(8.66) Sakial
Sakial
‘Sakial and Elim are (each) going to town’

Elime
Elim.nom

tiesait
town.dat

husu
and:also

itat
prg.go.ipv.pl

tiesait
(8.67) Sakial
town.dat
Sakial
‘Sakial, as well as Elim, is going to town’

Elime
Elim.nom

ohkina
as:well:as

itat
prg.go.ipv.pl

204

CHAPTER 8. MINOR WORD CLASSES

8.2.1),
In the case of husu and ohkina (which also function as focus particles meaning ‘also’ or ‘even’; see
the second conjunct may be postposed to the right of the verb, especially when it represents an afterthought.
Here the two noun phrases are separately marked for case, and the verb takes singular agreement when the
ﬁrst conjunct is singular.

(8.68) Sakiale

tiesait
town.dat

ita,
prg.go.ipv

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial is going to town, and so is Elim’

husu
and:also

(8.69) Sakiale

tiesait
town.dat

ita,
prg.go.ipv

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial is going to town, as well as Elim’

ohkina
as:well:as

Elime
Elim.nom

(8.70) Nemot

tiesait
everyone:nom
town.dat
‘Everyone is going to town, including Elim’

itat,
prg.go.ipv

ohkina
as:well:as

Elime
Elim.nom

In the examples above, only two noun phrases are conjoined to form a larger noun phrase. When conjoining
three or more noun phrases, a coordinator appears between each noun phrase. The ﬁnal two noun phrases
may be conjoined with ka, husu, or ohkina, but only ka is used between noun phrases earlier in the sequence.
As above, case endings appear only on the ﬁnal noun phrase.

(8.71) Sakial
Sakial
‘Sakial, Motla, and Elim are going to town (together)’

Elime
Elim.nom

tiesait
town.dat

Motla
Motla

ka
and

itat
prg.go.ipv.pl

(8.72) Sakial
Sakial
‘Sakial, Motla, and also Elim are going to town’

Elime
Elim.nom

husu
and:also

Motla
Motla

ka
and

tiesait
town.dat

itat
prg.go.ipv.pl

Ka has another function besides conjoining noun phrases. As the examples below show, it can introduce
10.3) which provides additional information about an individual mentioned in the
a participial clause (
previous clause. In English a non-restrictive (appositive) relative clause is usually used for this purpose.

(8.73) Ma

Elimme
Elim.inst

1serg
‘I was just talking to Elim, who I met (for the ﬁrst time) last year’
more lit. ‘I was just talking to Elim, and I having met him last year’

itsampanka,
prg.say.act.ipv:pst

ka
and

namo
3anom.1srdat

laisne
just

iolhmohka
last:year

atsokue
pv.meet.pt

(8.74) Ma

Tenmotlaie
Tenmotlai.dat

ulhmo
ka
year
and
1snom
‘I went to Tenmotlai, where my mother has been living for many years’
more lit. ‘I went to Tenmotlai, and in it (my) mother living for many years’

amema
mother.erg

itan
3iloc

etyi,
go.pv

kas
so:far

antei
many.dat

itsuhpe
prg.live.pt

The examples below are similar, except that here the participial clause introduced by ka comments on or
provides supplementary information about the entire propositional content of the main clause, instead of
some entity mentioned in that clause:

(8.75) Elimma

Elim.erg
‘Elim is a good worker, as I’ve said before’ (lit. ‘and I having said thus before’)

suka,
work.ipv

ka
and

ma
1serg

tlai
thus

ihka
before

utse
pf.say.pt

kapue
skillful.cv

(8.76) Motl`a

ka
and
Motla.nom
‘Motla is still sick, which is a problem’ (lit. ‘and that being a problem’)

imouta,
prg.sick.ipv

tan
that:nom

efos
problem

hi
is.pt

eima
still

8.3. COORDINATION

205

Participial clauses of the latter type may also be fronted. However, when the clause is fronted, ka is omitted:

(8.77) Ma

tlai
thus

Elimma
1serg
Elim.erg
‘As I’ve said before, Elim is a good worker’

utse,
pf.say.pt

ihka
before

kapue
skillful.cv

suka
work.ipv

(8.78) Efos

problem

tsai,
be:here.pt

Motl`a
Motla.nom

eima
still

imouta
prg.sick.ipv

‘The problem is that Motla is still sick’ (lit. ‘Here being a problem, Motla is still sick’)

The coordinator elh also means ‘and’. However, it never conjoins nouns or noun phrases, but is instead used
to conjoin verbs, verb phrases, and entire clauses. Elh typically expresses a relation of temporal succession
(‘and then’) or cause and e↵ect (‘so, and so, thus’) between the events denoted by the conjoined clauses. It
is often followed by a discourse particle such as temai ‘then, consequently’, teuk ‘thus, therefore’, tlohpa ‘for
that reason’, etc.

(8.79) Puniakakamite

traveling:party.nom

kotsimna
morning.loc

etskanyit,
arrive.pv.pl

elh
and

kosetna
evening.loc

inane
3apall

tosati
feast

mehkyi
happen.pv

‘The traveling party arrived in the morning, and (then) in the evening a feast was held for them’

(8.80) Mo

1srdat

suhp`a
brother.nom

imouta
prg.sick.ipv

hial`o,
today

elh
and

teuk
thus

mafyipo
neg.go:with.able.ipv:neg

ikimme
12inst

‘My brother is sick today, so (he) can’t go with us’

7.4.2,

When reporting a sequence of events, especially with clauses containing verbs in the imperfect or perfective
aspect (see
7.4.5), elh is optional. Temporal succession may be indicated simply by juxtaposing two
or more clauses, with the order of the clauses reﬂecting the order in which the events occur. Juxtaposition
is common in narratives, especially when describing events which are closely related to one another (e.g.,
because they happen in quick succession, or involve the same individual(s)).

(8.81) Sakiale

na
Sakial.nom
3aerg
‘Sakial got up, dressed, and went out to get ﬁrewood’

tolhyi
get:up.pv

mupatlyi
dress.pv

ne
3aabs

losaka
ﬁrewood.all

suhyi
go:out.pv

(8.82) Me

1snom

eta
go.ipv

ma
1serg

it`e
3isall

ekpiha
search.ipv

‘I’ll go and look for it’ (lit. ‘I’ll go, I’ll look for it’)

Finally, simple conjunction can be expressed using the coordinator tena. This element can combine con-
stituents of any category, including nouns or noun phrases (Sakial tena Elim ‘Sakial and Elim’), adverbials
(elohfoi tena hial`o ‘yesterday and today’), and clauses. When tena combines nouns or noun phrases, both
conjuncts are marked for case: e.g., Sakialme tena Elimme ‘with Sakial and Elim’. When tena combines
clauses or parts of clauses, the events denoted by those clauses are understood to happen simultaneously.
When the events happen in succession, elh is used instead of tena, or the clauses are simply juxtaposed with
no coordinator between them, as noted above. Compare:

(8.83) Lhatima

children.erg

hostyit
dance.pv.pl

tena
and

uhnyit
sing.pv.pl

‘The children danced and sang’ (at the same time)

(8.84) Lhatima

hostyit
dance.pv.pl

(elh)
and

children.erg
‘The children danced and then sang’

uhnyit
sing.pv.pl

206

CHAPTER 8. MINOR WORD CLASSES

To express ‘both X and Y’, tena may be repeated before each conjunct:

tena Sakial tena Elim
Lhatima tena hostyit tena uhnyit

‘both Sakial and Elim’
‘The children both danced and sang’

However, to express ‘both X and Y’ where X and Y are noun phrases, it is more common to conjoin them
with ka, husu, or ohkina, as discussed above, and then combine the result with a universal quantiﬁer, which
follows the conjoined noun phrases and carries the case marking for the whole expression (see

5.6):

(8.85) Sakial
Sakial
‘Both Sakial and Elim are going to Uiluma’ (lit. ‘Sakial and Elim all are going…’)

itat
prg.go.pv.pl

Uilumai
Uiluma.dat

nemot
3a:all:nom

Elim
Elim

ka
and

Other coordinators

Disjunction (‘or’) is normally expressed using the coordinator su, as in the example below. Notice that when
two noun phrases are coordinated using su, both are marked for case; and if the noun phrases both have
singular referents, then the conjoined phrase takes singular agreement, much as in English.

(8.86) Mi

Elimma
Elim.erg

su
or

1sdat
‘Elim or Sakial will help me’

Sakialma
Sakial.erg

aleut
help

uktia
give.ipv

To form the equivalent of ‘either X or Y’, su may be repeated before both conjuncts, or the particle ela can
be placed before the ﬁrst conjunct: e.g., su Elim su Sakial ‘either Elim or Sakial’, ela hial`o su elohfoi ‘either
today or tomorrow’.

Disjunction can also be expressed using the coordinator lo. Lo is used in direct and indirect yes/no ques-
9.3.2) when o↵ering a choice between two or more mutually incompatible alternatives, as illustrated
tions (
§
below. When two clauses are conjoined with lo, the question particle ne/-n (or aun in indirect questions)
appears only after the second conjunct.

(8.87) Sateia

kahu
meal.all
ﬁsh
‘Do you want to have meat or ﬁsh for dinner?’

ias`uhin?
eat.want.ipv:int.qu

maka
meat

lo
or

(8.88) Motl`a

ikauotanka
prg.be:here.dur.ipv:pst

lo
or

Motla.nom
‘Did Motla stay here, or did (he) go with the others?’

iahteme
others.inst

afyin?
go:along.pv.qu

Like tena and su, lo may also be repeated before both conjuncts:

(8.89) Sateia

lo
meal.all
or
‘Do you want to have meat or ﬁsh for dinner?’

ias`uhin?
eat.want.ipv:int.qu

maka
meat

kahu
ﬁsh

lo
or

(8.90) Ma

untsapyi
wonder.pv

lo
ne
1snom
or
3anom
‘I wondered if he had woken up or if he was still sleeping’

ulyue
pf.wake:up.dep:sbj

lo
or

na
3aerg

eima
still

imuelhi
prg.sleep.dep:sbj

aun
if

Lo (usually repeated) also occurs in concessive clauses, formed with alhme ‘although, despite, even if’, to
indicate that it makes no di↵erence which of two or more alternatives is chosen:

(8.91) ku

lo
or

tehi
stay.dep:sbj

lo
or

nkilhi
leave.dep:sbj

alhme
though.inst

2nom
‘(regardless of) whether you stay or go…’

8.3. COORDINATION

207

To express ‘neither X nor Y’, the coordinator ntsu is used, repeated before both conjuncts: e.g., ntsu Elim
ntsu Sakial ‘neither Elim nor Sakial’. (When coordinating two noun phrases, ntsohkina may be used in
place of the second ntsu: e.g., ntsu Elim ntsohkina Sakial.) As the examples below show, ntsu replaces
the negative marker ntse or m(a)-, and triggers negative inﬂection on the following verb(s) (see
7.3 and
7.4). As the second example shows, when two singular noun phrases are combined with ntsu, the verb takes
§
singular agreement.

(8.92) It`e

iman
1sloc

ntsu
nor

kestunka
happy.ipv:pst:neg

ntsu
nor

ohiynunka
sad.ipv:pst:neg

3iall
‘I was neither happy nor sad about it’

(8.93) Eima

ntsu
nor

Elime
Elim.nom

ntsu
nor

Sakiale
Sakial.nom

utskano
pf.arrive.ipv:neg

still
‘Neither Elim nor Sakial has arrived yet’

The coordinator tlafa ‘for, since, because’ introduces a clause expressing the cause or reason for the event
expressed by the preceding clause (as discussed in
10.2.2, ‘because’ can also be expressed by
the relational nouns talhkou and ohpeu, or by an dependent clause inﬂected for ablative case):

10.2.1 and

(8.94) Mo

suhpana
brother.loc

mafyipo
neg.come:along.able.ipv:neg

ikimme,
12inst

tlafa
since

imouta
prg.sick.ipv

1srdat
‘My brother can’t come with us, since (he) is sick’

Finally, the conjunction le is equivalent to English ‘but’ or ‘yet’. It is also found in contrastive constructions,
where English tends to use ‘and, while, whereas’.

(8.95) Na

nilou
net.abl

ehtsain
one.dat

muohtuhkyi,
ﬁx.cpl.pv

le
but

iapna
other.loc

eima
still

3aerg
‘He managed to ﬁx one of the nets, but there’s still a hole in the other one’

ot`u
hole

he
be:ipv

(8.96) Ikema

le
dog.erg
while
‘Dogs eat meat, while bears usually eat ﬁsh and berries’

ounama
bear.erg

kyfalu
as:a:rule

iasa,
eat.ipv

maka
meat

kahu
ﬁsh

ka
and

ipoi
berry

iasa
eat.ipv

When denying one alternative and arming another (‘not X but Y’), le is often accompanied by the discourse
marker tluosna ‘rather, instead’. Alternatively, tluosna can occur by itself in this function.

(8.97) Niloi

Sakialma
Sakial.erg

umuohto,
pf.ﬁx.ipv:neg

(le)
but

net.dat
‘It wasn’t Sakial who ﬁxed the net, but Elim’

ntse
neg

tluosna
instead

Elimma
Elim.erg

8.3.2 Discourse markers

The following expressions typically occur at the left edge of a clause, either immediately before or after the
topic, and are often preceded by one of the coordinators discussed in
8.3.1. The function of these expressions
is to help indicate the relationships between sentences in a discourse. Some discourse markers indicate the
temporal ordering of the event denoted by the clause in which they occur and a previous or following clause.
Others indicate the presence or absence of a logical relation between the clause in which they occur and a
previous clause.

anin
halime
halle
heku tsanna
hisne
kai, kaine
kam, kamne

‘even so, still, nevertheless, anyway, in any case’
‘on the contrary, rather’
‘yet, however’
‘simultaneously, at the same time’
‘then, next, after that’
‘ﬁrst, ﬁrst of all, at ﬁrst’
‘ﬁrst, previously, prior to that, beforehand’

208

CHAPTER 8. MINOR WORD CLASSES

kunne
ntsune alhme
ntsune aunme
tatalhkou
taualhme
tehempi
temai
teuk
tiaunme
tielhkoua
tluosna

‘lastly, ﬁnally’
‘nevertheless, even if not; although that’s not the case’
‘if not, otherwise’
‘thus, therefore, for that reason, because of that’
‘still, anyway, even (if) so, despite that, nevertheless, regardless’
‘also, besides, moreover, in addition; either’
‘then; in that case; thus, consequently’
‘thus, therefore, hence’
‘if so, in that case; given that’
‘thus, for that purpose, in order to do so’
‘rather, instead’

Note that kai and kaine can be used interchangeably; likewise for kam and kamne.

Below are some examples of sentences containing these discourse markers. As (8.99) and (8.100) show,

the discourse marker can either precede or follow a clitic or clitic cluster.

hi
(8.98) Kai
3inom
ﬁrst
‘First take the bread out of the oven, then let it cool down’

nufa,
take:out.ipv

hom`a
bread.nom

sonau
oven.abl

temai
then

anuhimi
rel.cold.ainc.dep:sbj

nana
let.ipv

(8.99) Eima

ise
snow

ikahpa,
prg.fall.ipv

le
but

me
1snom

anin
nevertheless

yhmai
outside.dat

suha
go:out.ipv

still
‘It’s still snowing, but I’m going out anyway’

(8.100) Eima

still

ise
snow

me
le
1snom
but
‘It’s still snowing, but even if it weren’t, I would stay inside’

ikahpa,
prg.fall.ipv

ntsune
not

alhme
even:if

himna
inside.loc

tehike
stay.cond

Temai is often found in in the main clause of a sentence containing a conditional clause, while anin is used
in combination with a concessive clause. (Conditional clauses are normally headed by aunme ‘if, when’ or a
10.3.2.)
subjunctive participle, while concessive clauses are headed by alhme ‘though, even if’; see

10.2.3,

(8.101) Ku

2nom

imem
1sinst

aﬁ
come:along.dep:sbj

aunme,
if.inst

temai
then

ehkamne
early

lyuoksa
wake:up.must.ipv

‘If you (want to) come with me, then you’ll have to wake up early’

(8.102) Ma

halmai
book.dat

utala
1serg
pf.read.dep
‘Even though I’ve read the book twice, (I) still don’t understand it’

ehenna
twice

alhme,
though

hi
3inom

anin
still

mamutlo
neg.understand.ipv:neg

As the examples below show, tluosna ‘instead, rather’, often preceded by the coordinator le, expresses ‘but’
in ‘not X but Y’ constructions:

(8.103) Mo

suhp`a
brother.nom

maliunohto
neg.rel.old.comp.ipv:neg

im`o,
1sall

1srdat
‘My brother isn’t older than me, but (rather) younger’

tluosna
instead

aﬁhohta
rel.young.comp.ipv

(8.104) Satlai

Sakialma
roof.dat
Sakial.erg
‘It’s not Sakial who ﬁxed the roof, but Elim’

utokou,
pf.ﬁx.pv:neg

ntse
neg

le
but

tluosna
instead

Elimma
Elim.erg

Although discourse markers are normally associated with the left edge of the clause, immediately preceding
or following the topic, they can occur closer to the verb in a position associated with focused elements (see
9.2.1). In the example below, for instance, the discourse particle temai is focused, as shown by the fact
§
that it immediately precedes the verb and follows the focus particle tiefu:

8.4. ADVERBIAL ELEMENTS

209

(8.105) Mi

ik`o
2serg

aleut
help

1sdat
‘I will succeed only if you help me’ (lit. ‘If you help me, only then will I succeed’)

uktiai,
give.pt:sbj

ma
1serg

tiefu
only

temai
then

namuohta
succeed.ipv

8.4 Adverbial elements

In addition to focus particles, force and evidential particles, coordinators, and discourse markers, Okuna has
a small number of lexical items for expressing the manner in which an action is carried out, and a larger
number for picking out particular points in time (e.g, ‘now’, ‘tomorrow’, ‘last year’), quantifying over times
(e.g., ‘sometimes’, ‘always’, ‘never’), quantifying over degrees (e.g., ‘too’, ‘very’, ‘a little’), or expressing
aspectual information (‘still’, ‘again’, ‘already’). Since these elements do not usually inﬂect for case, I treat
them as adverbials rather than nouns.

I begin this section with a brief discussion of manner adverbials in
8.4.1, and turn to aspectual adverbials
8.4.2. The remaining sections deal with temporal and degree adverbials. A large number of these are
8.4.4,

8.4.3. Additional temporal adverbials are listed in

in
derived from quantiﬁers, and are presented in
and additional degree adverbials in

8.4.5.

8.4.1 Manner adverbs

English has a large (indeed, open-ended) class of adverbs for expressing manner: ‘quickly’, ‘slowly’, ‘clumsily’,
In fact, there are only three such elements in
etc. Okuna, by contrast, has almost no manner adverbs.
common usage, listed below. Notice that all three are formed with the sux -pi, which also combines with
quantiﬁers to form degree words and adverbials of temporal duration, as discussed in

8.4.3.

eliampi
kolumpi
tiahpi

‘easily, smoothly, gracefully’
‘with diculty’
‘easily, with ease, in a simple manner’

These elements precede the verb that they modify:

(8.106) Na

nak`a
rock.nom

kolumpi
3aerg
with:diculty
‘He lifted the rock with diculty’

tiyisyi
lift.pv

Apart from these three elements, modiﬁcation to express manner is normally done using stative verbs.
10.4). Occasionally, the stative
Typically the stative verb will occur as a converb modiﬁer, as in (8.107) (cf.
verb will appear in the dependent indicative form, inﬂected for instrumental case, as in (8.108) (cf.
10.2.1).
(In fact, the sux -pi is probably an archaic variant of the instrumental case marker, which now survives
only on a handful of elements.)

(8.107) Sakialma

kiote
be:quick.cv

itupa
prg.walk.ipv

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial is walking quickly’ (lit. ‘walking [by] being quick’)

(8.108) Sakialma

kiotame
be:quick.dep.inst

itupa
prg.walk.ipv

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial is walking quickly’ (lit. ‘walking with/while being quick’)

8.4.2 Aspectual adverbials

Aspectual adverbials indicate properties of the event denoted by the predicate, or its temporal relationship to
other events, by expressing features such as continuation, completion, repetition, etc. Aspectual adverbials
9.2.1). The
always occur within the clausal nucleus, preceding the verb and following the topic, if any (see
most commonly used adverbials are listed below, followed by discussion and examples of their function.

210

CHAPTER 8. MINOR WORD CLASSES

eima
heiku
kas
kyfalu
laisne
niok
ntseima
ntsoke
ntsuta
oke
taheiku
uta

‘still; again’
‘again, once more’
‘as of now, by now, so far; already’
‘generally, as a rule’ (‘be wont to…, used to…’)
‘just, just now, barely’ (‘about to…’)
‘again, once more, back’
‘not any more, no longer’
(‘not going to…’)
‘not yet’
‘by and by’ (‘going to…’)
‘yet again, once again’
‘already, yet’

The adverb oke combines with a verb in the imperfective aspect to express futurity: it marks that the event
in question follows the present moment, or some other contextually determined reference point. As shown
below, it can occur with a verb in the non-past imperfective or the past imperfective. In the latter case,
it corresponds to English ‘was going to’. In negative sentences, the negative marker ntse fuses with oke to
form ntsoke, which triggers negative tense/aspect/mood marking on the verb.

(8.109) Oke

s`u
rain

kahpa
fall.dep.nom

going:to
‘Do you think it’s going to rain?’

lin?
do:you:suppose

(8.110) Na

kihoin
3aerg
letter.dat
‘She will write the letter’

oke
going:to

siehpa
write.ipv

(8.111) Na

kihoin
letter.dat

3aerg
‘She was going write the letter before I stopped her’

oke
going:to

siehpanka
write.ipv:pst

nima
3anom.1serg

uata
stop.dep

kamna
before.loc

(8.112) Na

kihoin
letter.dat

ntsoke
not:going:to

siehpo
write.ipv:neg

3aerg
‘She is not going to write the letter’

Note that marking futurity with oke is optional: as discussed in
7.4.2, a verb in the imperfect form can
express a future event even in the absence of this element. Moreover, oke does not occur in combination with
other modiﬁers expressing futurity, such as elohfoi ‘tomorrow’, hatlam ‘soon’, or l`o henme efoi ‘in two days’.
Adding oke to a clause already containing such a modiﬁer would be considered redundant. This shows that
oke is an adverbial element and not a true tense marker, since tense markers freely co-occur with modiﬁers
that further specify the time of the event relative to the moment of speaking.

The adverbial kyfalu ‘generally, as a rule’ also combines with a verb in the imperfective, and indicates
that the clause denotes a tendency or habitual action. When used with the past imperfective, it is often
translated ‘used to’:

(8.113) Inmi

kyfalu
generally

iantena
often

aleut
help

uktiankat
give.ipv:pst.pl

3aerg.1sdat
‘They used to help me often’

There are two adverbials equivalent to English ‘already’, kas and uta. Kas is used of an event which began
in the past and continues up to the present moment (or some other temporal reference point). It can also be
translated ‘now/then’, ‘by now/then’, ‘so far’, etc., depending on context. As the examples below illustrate,
when kas is used the verb generally appears in the progressive aspect:

8.4. ADVERBIAL ELEMENTS

211

(8.114) Kimima

kas
baby.erg
already
‘The baby is already sleeping’
or ‘The baby is sleeping now / will be sleeping by now’

imuelha
prg.sleep.ipv

(8.115) Kimima

baby.erg
‘The baby was already sleeping when I got home’

imuelhanka
prg.sleep.ipv:pst

me
1snom

kas
already

amokte
pv.come:home.pt

Kas commonly appears in combination with a temporal measure phrase marked with instrumental or dative
case. Notice that in this construction the clause is usually translated using the perfect progressive (‘has/had
been sleeping’).

(8.116) Kimima

kas
already

luom
hour

hein
two.dat

imuelha
prg.sleep.ipv

baby.erg
‘The baby has been sleeping for two hours (now)’

(8.117) Kimima

kas
already

luom
hour

hein
two.dat

imuelhanka
prg.sleep.ipv:pst

me
1snom

amokte
pv.come:home.pt

baby.erg
‘The baby had (already) been sleeping for two hours when I got home’

The other counterpart to ‘already’, uta, is typically used of a completed event. Both kas and uta indicate
that the state or event in question is being viewed after the fact; they di↵er in that kas takes the beginning
point of an ongoing event or state as its frame of reference, while uta takes the whole event as its frame of
reference. Compare:

(8.118) Na

kihoin
letter.dat

kas
already

isiehpa
prg.write.ipv

3aerg
‘She is already writing the letter’ or ‘She has been writing the letter’

(8.119) Na

kihoin
letter.dat

uta
already

siehpyi
write.pv

3aerg
‘She has already written the letter’

Consider also the following pair of sentences, where the choice of adverbial determines how the past perfect
verb usiehpanka is interpreted (‘had been writing’ versus ‘had written’):

(8.120) Na

kihune
letter.nom

kas
already

es
one

luoim
hour.dat

usiehpanka
pf.write.ipv:pst

me
1snom

atskane
pv.arrive.pt

3aerg
‘She had already been writing the letter for an hour when I arrived’

(8.121) Na

kihoin
letter.dat

3aerg
‘She had already written the letter when I arrived’

uta
already

usiehpanka
pf.write.ipv:pst

me
1snom

atskane
pv.arrive.pt

In questions, uta and kas usually correspond to English ‘yet’:

(8.122) Na

kihoin
letter.dat

kas
already

isi`ehpin?
prg.write.ipv:int.qu

3aerg
‘Is she writing the letter yet?’

(8.123) Na

kihoin
letter.dat

uta
already

siehpyin?
write.pv.qu

3aerg
‘Has she written the letter yet?’

212

CHAPTER 8. MINOR WORD CLASSES

Another common aspectual adverbial is eima, equivalent to English ‘still’:

(8.124) Kimima

eima
baby.erg
still
‘The baby is still sleeping’

imuelha
prg.sleep.ipv

Eima is also used as a emphatic element with verbs expressing equative or comparative degree (
7.6),
comparable to English ‘just’ or ‘even’: e.g., etoha ‘be as big (as)’, eima etoha ‘be just as big (as)’; etohohta
‘be bigger (than)’, eima etohohta ‘be even bigger (than)’. In addition, eima can occur before a quantiﬁer in
the sense of ‘more’: e.g., koin hen ‘two people’, koin eima hen ‘two more people’; koin ante ‘many people’,
koin eima ante ‘many more people’.

Like oke, eima and uta undergo fusion with the negative particle ntse, forming ntseima ‘no longer, not
any more’ and ntsuta ‘not yet’, respectively. Both ntseima and ntsuta require negative tense/aspect/mood
‘Not yet’ can also be expressed by eima followed by the negative marker
inﬂection on the following verb.
ntse (or m-).

(8.125) Kimima

ntseima
no:longer

imuelho
prg.sleep.ipv:neg

baby.erg
‘The baby is no longer asleep’ or ‘The baby isn’t sleeping anymore’

(8.126) Na

kihoin
letter.dat

ntsuta
not:yet

3aerg
‘She hasn’t written the letter yet’

siehpou
write.pv:neg

(8.127) Na

kihoin
letter.dat

ntsiehpou
neg.write.pv:neg
3aerg
‘She hasn’t written the letter yet’ or ‘She still hasn’t written the letter’

eima
still

Note that there are two adverbials equivalent to English ‘again, once more’, namely heiku and niok. These
adverbials are not synonymous: heiku expresses the repetition of an event, while niok indicates the return
to a prior state of a↵airs (the latter is clearly related to the verbs niokta ‘return, go/come back’, niokona
‘remember’, etc.). Hence heiku is used with Class II and Class III verbs (denoting events), while niok tends
to be used with Class I verbs (denoting states). When it is used with a Class II/III verb, as in (8.130) below,
niok indicates that the action in question continues or reverses a previous action (i.e., when we say that
Motla left again, we don’t mean that he repeated the act of leaving, but rather that his leaving returned
things to the way they were before he arrived):

(8.128) Mo

Motlama
Motla.erg
1srdat
‘Motla hit me again’

heiku
again

kahtyi
hit.pv

(8.129) Mo

1srdat

tiene
son.nom

niok
again

imouta
prg.sick.ipv

‘My son is sick again’ (i.e., back to being sick)

(8.130) Motl`a

etskanyi
arrive.pv

hisne
then

niok
again

kankilhyi
leave:suddenly.pv

Motla.nom
‘Motla arrived, and then suddenly left again’

Finally, note the adverbial laisne, which indicates close proximity to the present moment. When combined
with a verb in the perfect or the perfective, laisne translates as ‘just’ or ‘barely’. When combined with a
verb in the progressive, laisne expresses immediate futurity, and is equivalent to ‘(just) about to’:

8.4. ADVERBIAL ELEMENTS

213

(8.131) Na

suklute
work.nom

laisne
just

3aerg
‘They (have) just ﬁnished the work’

uslyit
ﬁnish.pv.pl

(8.132) Na

suklute
work.nom

laisne
just

uoslat
pf.ﬁnish.ipv:pst.pl

me
1snom

atskane
pv.arrive.pt

3aerg
‘They had just/barely ﬁnished the work when I arrived’

(8.133) Na

suklute
work.nom

laisne
just

ioslat
prg.ﬁnish.ipv.pl

3aerg
‘They are just ﬁnishing the work’ or ‘The are (just) about to ﬁnish the work’

English ‘as soon as’ may be expressed by adding laisne to a perfect participial clause:

(8.134) Me

laisne
just

umokte,
pf.go:home.pt

s`u
rain

kahpetyi
fall.tinc.pv

1snom
‘As soon as I got home, it began to rain’ (more lit. ‘I having just gotten home…’)

8.4.3 Adverbials formed from quantiﬁers

A common way of forming adverbials is by adding axes to the quantiﬁers discussed in sections
5.6 and
6.8. For example, there are two types of adverbials derived from count noun quantiﬁers. Adverbials of
§
the ﬁrst type are formed by adding the preﬁx e- (or i- before a vowel) and the locative sux -na. These
adverbials quantify over the occasions on which a particular event happens, or the situations in which a
particular state of a↵airs holds:

ekihanohtena
ekina
ekisepyina
ekituhtena
emiantena
emuhtena
emuna
esepyina
etehtena
etlantena
etohanohtena
etohantena
etomuhtena
etosepyina
etotuhtena
etsomotena
etsuontena
etsyintena
etuhtena
ianihtena
ianohtena
iantena

‘a bit more often’
‘every time, in each case’
‘rarely, very occasionally, every now and then’
‘a bit less often’
‘how often; sometimes, on some occasions, in certain cases’
‘often enough’
‘always, in all cases’
‘sometimes, occasionally, now and then; in some cases’
‘on the remaining occasions’
‘that often; so often’
‘a lot more often’
‘very often, frequently; in a great many cases’
‘plenty of times, more than often enough’
‘on several occasions, in several cases’
‘a lot less often’
‘mostly, usually, for the most part, in most cases’
‘too often’
‘not often enough, too seldom’
‘not as often, less often’
‘as often, as frequently, equally often’
‘more (often)’
‘often, frequently, in many cases’

Some of these can combine with negation:

ntse emiantena
ntse etsuontena
ntse ianohtena

‘not often, seldom’
‘not too often’
‘no more often’

214

CHAPTER 8. MINOR WORD CLASSES

When quantifying over time periods, an adverbial of this type may be immediately preceded by a noun
denoting the relevant unit of time, such as l`o ‘day’ (i.e., 24-hour period), lem ‘day(time)’, koset ‘evening’,
hun ‘night’, ilme ‘month’ (lit. ‘moon’), ulhmo ‘year’. This noun is unmarked for case.

l`o ekina
ulhmo ekina
hun esepyina
lem esepyina
ntse koset emiantena

‘every day’
‘every year’
‘some nights’
‘sometimes during the day’
‘rarely in the evening’

Quantiﬁcational adverbials of the second type are formed by adding the preﬁx ka- to the quantiﬁer (k-
before a vowel), and suxing the instrumental case ending -me or the dative ending -i (subject to the usual
allomorphy discussed in

4.2):

inst

kakihanohteme
kakisepyime
kakituhteme
kamianteme
kamuhteme
kanihteme
kanohteme
kanteme
kasepyime
katehteme
katlanteme
katohanohteme
katohanteme
katomuhteme
katosepyime
katotuhteme
katsomoteme
katsuonteme
katsyinteme
katuhteme

§
dat

kakihanohtei
kakisepyie
kakituhtei
kamiantei
kamuhtei
kanihtei
kanohtei
kantei
kasepyie
katehtei
katlantei
katohanohtei
katohantei
katomuhtei
katosepyie
katotuhtei
katsomotei
katsuontei
katsyintei
katuhtei

‘somewhat more times; somewhat more’
‘a very few times’
‘somewhat fewer times; somewhat less (so)’
‘how many times; a number of times’
‘enough times; enough’
‘as many times’
‘more times; more, more so’
‘many times, repeatedly, a lot’
‘a few times’
‘the remaining times’
‘that many times; so many times’
‘many more times; a lot more’
‘a great many times, over and over again’
‘more than enough (times)’
‘several times’
‘a lot fewer times; a lot less’
‘most times’
‘too many times’
‘not enough times, too few times’
‘fewer times, not as many times; less, less so’

Certain of these adverbials combine with the negative element ntse:

inst

dat

ntse kamianteme
ntse kanihteme
ntse kanohteme
ntse katsuonteme

ntse kamiantei
ntse kanihtei
ntse kanohtei
ntse katsuontei

‘not many times’
‘not as many times; less, less so’
‘no more, not any more (times)’
‘not too many times’

The e/i- adverbs quantify over occasions or instances where a situation holds, especially when dispersed over
time or across di↵erent sets of individuals or possible worlds. By contrast, the instrumental ka- adverbs are
used to quantify repetitions of a (single) event, especially when those repetitions occur in quick succession.
For example, both iantena and kanteme (from ante ‘many’) can be translated ‘many times’. However, iantena
has the sense of ‘often, on a number of occasions, in many cases, in many instances’; whereas kanteme means
‘many times in a row, repeatedly’. The instrumental ka- forms can also be used in comparative constructions,
in which case they mean ‘X times’ in the sense of ‘by a factor of X’:

(8.135) Palaht`a

tree.nom

kotou
house.abl

kanteme
many:times.inst

apatohta
rel.tall.comp.ipv

8.4. ADVERBIAL ELEMENTS

215

‘The tree is many times taller than the house’

When the ka- forms are marked with dative case, they again mean ‘X times’ in the sense of ‘by a factor of X’.
These forms occur in sentences expressing a change of state, where they are used to quantify the proportion
of change between the initial state and the ﬁnal state:

(8.136) Hi

3inom

katosepyie
several:times.dat

atohimyi
rel.big.ainc.pv

‘It became several times bigger (than before)’

Mass noun quantiﬁers also act as the base for a series of adverbial elements, listed below. These adverbials
express a degree or extent, and are formed by combining the quantiﬁer with the sux -pi (with certain
irregularities, e.g.: sipe > tsipi ).

hampi
ihpi
kihohpi
kitsipi
kituhpi
miampi
muhpi
muohpi
ohpi
tlampi
tohampi
tohohpi
tomuhpi
totsipi
totuhpi
tsipi
tsomopi
tsuompi
tsyimpi
tuhpi

‘a lot, much, very, greatly’
‘as (much), equally, to the same degree’
‘a bit more, to a somewhat greater degree’
‘slightly, just a bit’
‘a bit less, somewhat less’
‘how (much); somewhat, to a certain degree’
‘enough, suciently’
‘fully, completely, entirely, wholly’
‘more, to a greater degree’
‘so (much); that (much)’
‘extremely, exceedingly’
‘a lot more, much more, to a much greater degree’
‘more than enough’
‘fairly, rather’
‘much less, not nearly as much’
‘a bit, somewhat, partially’
‘almost (entirely); mostly, for the most part’
‘too (much)’
‘too little, not enough, insuciently’
‘not as much, less, to a lesser degree’

Degree adverbials with -pi generally modify a stative verb, which carries the relative preﬁx a-, discussed in
7.6. Consider the following examples with toha ‘be big’:

Hi hampi atoha
Hi ihpi atoha
Hi tsipi atoha
Hi tlampi atoha
Hi ntse miampi atoho
Hi tsyimpi atoha
Hi miampi at`ohan?

‘It’s very big’
‘It’s equally big’ or ‘It’s as big (as…)’
‘It’s a bit big’
‘It’s so big’ or ‘It’s that big / That’s how big it is’
‘It’s not very big’ or ‘It’s not (all) that big’
‘It’s not big enough’
‘How big is it?’

Many of these degree adverbials can also be used to modify agentive Class II and Class III verbs. In this
context they express the amount of force, e↵ort, intensity, or concentration with which the action denoted
by the verb is carried out:

(8.137) Na

maloi
wall.dat

hampi
much

moikenaua
ﬁst

3aerg
‘He hit the wall hard with his ﬁst’

kahtyi
hit.pv

216

(8.138) Me

ihama
woman.erg

tohampi
a:great:deal

loityi
look.pv

1snom
‘The woman stared at me intensely’

CHAPTER 8. MINOR WORD CLASSES

(8.139) Na

sohe
rope.nom

eima
still

ohpi
more:so

tlynkyi
pull.pv

3aerg
‘She pulled even harder on the rope’

Certain degree words can also be used to modify scalar adverbials such as tehefoi ‘soon’, ehkamne ‘early’,
and ehisne ‘late’: e.g., ihpi tehefoi ‘just as soon’, ohpi tehefoi ‘sooner’, ntse muhpi tehefoi ‘not soon enough’.
For more on degree adverbials, see

8.4.5.

Mass noun quantiﬁers suxed with -pi can in turn take the preﬁx e- (i- before a vowel) to form adverbials

expressing temporal duration. These include:

ehampi
ekitsipi
emiampi
emuhpi
emuohpi
etehpi
etlampi
etohampi
etomuhpi
etotsipi
etsipi
etsomopi
etsuompi
etsyimpi
etuhpi
iehpi
iohpi

‘for a long time; for some time’
‘for a very short time, (just) brieﬂy’
‘for how long; for a certain length of time’
‘for long enough’
‘for the whole time’
‘for the rest of the time, for the remaining time’
‘for so long; for that long’
‘for a very long time’
‘for more than enough time, for plenty of time’
‘for a fairly long time, for some time’
‘for a (little) while’
‘for most of the time; mostly’
‘for too long’
‘not for long enough’
‘not for as long’
‘for as long’
‘for longer’

Examples:

(8.140) Na

3aerg

etsipi
a:while

muelhyi
sleep.pv

‘She slept for a (little) while’

(8.141) Palu

village

itan
this:loc

kas
so:far

emiampi
how:long

its`uhpan?
prg.live.ipv.qu

‘How long have (you) been living in this village?’

(8.142) Ma

palu
village

itan
that:loc
1serg
‘I didn’t live in that village for very long’

emiampi
so:long

ntse
neg

tsuhpou
live.pv:neg

These temporal adverbials can combine with ihka ‘before now’, efoi ‘after now’, tahka ‘before then’, and
tahoi ‘after then’ to indicate approximate points in time relative to some reference time:

ehampi ihka
etsipi efoi
ntse emiampi tahka
emuohpi tahoi

‘a long time ago’
‘for a while; in a while, a while from now’
‘not long before (that)’
‘for the whole time after that; ever after’

8.4. ADVERBIAL ELEMENTS

217

Adverbials of temporal duration formed with -pi may also be preceded by a noun denoting a period of time
(l`o ‘day’, kotsim ‘morning’, ilme ‘month’, ulhmo ‘year’, etc.). Notice that the temporal noun occurs in the
unmarked form.

l`o emuohpi
kotsim emuohpi
lem etsipi
ulhmo etsomopi

‘all day (long), (for) the whole day’
‘all morning, (for) the whole morning’
‘(for) part of the day’
‘(for) most of the year’

In addition to the preﬁx e/i-, adverbials formed with -pi can combine with the noun lau ‘way, path’ to
express an amount or degree of distance:

lau hampi
lau ihpi
lau kihohpi
lau kitsipi
lau miampi
lau muhpi
lau muohpi
lau ohpi
lau tehpi
lau tlampi
lau tohampi
lau tohohpi
lau tomuhpi
lau totsipi
lau tsipi
lau tsomopi
lau tsuompi
lau tsyimpi
lau tuhpi

‘far, a long way; to a great extent’
‘as far; equally, to as great an extent, to the same point/degree’
‘a bit farther; to a somewhat greater extent’
‘a very short way, not far; barely, hardly’
‘how far, to what degree; to some extent, to a certain point/extent’
‘far enough; enough’
‘all the way; completely, entirely, wholly’
‘farther; more, to a greater extent’
‘the rest of the way’
‘so far, so (much); that far, to that point/extent’
‘very far, a very long way; to a very great extent’
‘a lot farther; to a much greater extent’
‘more than far enough; more than enough’
‘rather far; to a fairly great extent’
‘not far; partly, partially, part way’
‘most of the way; almost (completely)’
‘too far; too (much)’
‘not far enough; not enough, insuciently’
‘not as far, less far; less, not as much’

When combined with stative verbs (preﬁxed with the relative marker a-; cf.
incremental degree:

7.6) these expressions indicate

Kop`o lau tsipi iatsatsa
Kop`o lau tsomopi iatsatsa
Kop`o lau muohpi iatsatsa
Kop`o lau tuhpi iatsatsa
Kop`o lau miampi iats`atsan?

‘The jug is partially full / part way full’
‘The jug is almost full / close to full’
‘The jug is completely full’
‘The jug is not as full (as…)’
‘How (close to) full is the jug?’

When used with location verbs, these lau adverbials quantify the distance separating one point in space from
another (8.143). When used with motion verbs and other telic predicates, they express how much distance
is traversed, as in (8.144) and (8.145), or how close one comes to reaching the endpoint, as in (8.146).

(8.143) Na

lau
way

hampi
ekau
here.abl
much
3aerg
‘She lives a long way from here’

tsuhpa
live.ipv

(8.144) Sa

moini
ocean.dat

lau
way

muohpi
entirely

13erg
‘We travelled all the way to the ocean’

puniakyit
travel.pv.pl

(8.145) Ne

eima
still

ntse
neg
3anom
‘They haven’t gotten very far yet’

miampi
how:much

lau
way

ustot
pf.reach.ipv:neg.pl

218

CHAPTER 8. MINOR WORD CLASSES

(8.146) Na

3aerg

makai
meat.dat

lau
way

muohpi
entirely

iasyi
eat.pv

‘He ate up all the meat’ (lit. ‘He ate the meat all the way’)

In place of lau muohpi, the emphatic particles sik`a ‘up to, as far as, until’ (following a dative noun phrase)
and su ‘ever since, all the way from’ (following an ablative noun phrase) are often used. When the dative
noun phrase denotes the goal of a motion event, sik`a emphasizes that the entity in motion has traversed the
entire distance to that goal (but no further). Likewise, the emphatic particle su ‘ever since, all the way from’
may be used to emphasize that an entity in motion has traversed the entire distance from a source, where
the source is expressed by a noun phrase in the ablative case. With verbs expressing telic actions, where
the dative noun phrase denotes a patient undergoing an incremental change of state, sik`a may be used to
indicate that that patient has been completely a↵ected. Compare:

(8.147) Ne

3anom

lokai
forest.dat

sik`a
until

etyi
go.pv

‘She went all the way to the forest / as far as the forest’

(8.148) Ne

lokau
forest.abl

su
ever:since

3anom
‘She came all the way from the forest’

ketyi
come:here.pv

(8.149) Na

3aerg

makai
meat.dat

sik`a
until

iasyi
eat.pv

‘He ate up the meat’ (lit. ‘He ate until the meat [was ﬁnished]’)

Adverbials formed from numerals

Certain types of adverbial expressions can also be formed productively from numerals (see
6.8.4). Temporal
adverbials meaning ‘(for) the N-th time’ may be formed by preﬁxing an ordinal numeral with e- (i- before a
non-glide vowel) and suxing the appropriate oblique case ending, usually the locative ending -na. Examples
include: ehenkana ‘for the second time’, iehtaukana ‘for the sixth time’, etankana ‘for the tenth time’,
iehtentakunkana ‘for the forty-third time’, etakianme kiunmakana ‘for the hundred and ﬁftieth time’. Related
forms include empehkaina ‘ﬁrst, for the ﬁrst time’, empehisna ‘next, the next time’, empekamna ‘previously,
most recently, (the) last (time)’, empekunna ‘ﬁnally, for the last time, in the end’.

(8.150) Unma

laisne
just

hial`o
today

empehkaina
ﬁrst:time.loc

etsyi
speak.pv

3ardat.1serg
‘I just spoke to her for the ﬁrst time today’

(8.151) Niok`onin

kimo
12rdat

empekamna
previous:time.loc

sasauota
meet.dep.recip.pl

aun?
when

remember.ipv:int.qu
‘Do you remember the last time we met?’ or ‘… when we last met?’
more lit. ‘Do you remember when we met (at) the previous time?’

Two types of temporal/proportional adverbials, meaning ‘N times’, may also be formed from the numerals:
Those in the ﬁrst column take the preﬁx e- or i-, while those in the second column take the preﬁx ka-. Notice
that the forms meaning ‘once’ are both irregular.

8.4. ADVERBIAL ELEMENTS

219

esalh
ehen
iehte
ekun
ekian
ieht`a
ekelu
eni`o
eteiek
etam
ielhu
ehuoi
ekiunma
etolok

ekas
kahen
kaiehte
kakun
kakian
kaieht`a
kakelu
kani`o
kateiek
katam
kaielhu
kahuoi
kakiunma
katolok

‘once’
‘twice’
‘three times’
‘four times’
‘ﬁve times’
‘six times’
‘seven times’
‘eight times’
‘nine times’
‘ten times’
‘eleven times’
‘twelve times’
‘a hundred times’
‘ten thousand times’

The forms in the ﬁrst column are used when quantifying over separate occasions or situations, and take the
locative case ending -na. The forms in the second column are used to count iterations of a single action,
especially when the iterations follow each other in quick succession; these forms take the instrumental ending
-me. The semantic di↵erence between the e- and ka- forms is signiﬁcant: e.g., while ehenna means ‘twice’
in the sense of ‘on two (separate) occasions’ or ‘in two cases/situations/instances’, kahenme means ‘twice’
in the sense of ‘twice in a row’. An example of this contrast is given below:

(8.152) Me

Tenmotlaie
Tenmotlai.dat

tiefu
only

ekunna
four:times.loc

uta
pf.go.ipv

1snom
‘I have been to Tenmotlai only four times’

(8.153) Inmo

kahen
twice

lhua
about

kaiehteme
three:times.inst

ukahtoksa
pf.hit.must.ipv

3anom.1srdat
‘He must have hit me two or three times (in a row)’

The ka- forms are also used in comparative constructions to express a proportion, in which case they mean
‘N times’ in the sense of ‘N-fold’ or ‘by a factor of N’:

palahta
tree

(8.154) Olh
dist
‘That tree over there is twice as tall as my house’
more lit. ‘That tree over there is taller than my house by two times’

kahenme
twice.inst

kotou
house.abl

tan
that:nom

im`e
1sall

apatohta
rel.tall.comp.ipv

Finally, the ka- forms can take the dative ending in place of the instrumental. The dative variants also mean
‘by a factor of N’, but are used in sentences expressing a change of state, where the adverbial indicates the
proportional di↵erence between the initial state and the ﬁnal state:

(8.155) Hi

kaiehtei
three:times.dat

atohimyi
3inom
rel.big.ainc.pv
‘It became three times as large (as before)’
more lit. ‘It grew to three times (its original size)’

8.4.4 Other temporal adverbials

Some of the more common temporal adverbs (apart from those discussed in
8.4.3) are listed below. Notice
that many of these feature the preﬁx e/i- and/or the sux -ne. Temporal adverbials generally pick out one
or more periods in time, often relative to the moment of speaking (e.g., elohka ‘yesterday’) or to some other
contextually salient time (e.g., ehkamne ‘early’); while others quantify over times, cases, or situations (e.g.,
hoti ‘always’).

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CHAPTER 8. MINOR WORD CLASSES

efoi
ehisne
ehkamne
ela
elohfoi
elohka
empiolhna
hapa
hatlam
hial`o
hielme
hiolhmo
hoti
ielmefoi
ielmehka
ihka
iolhmofoi
iolhmohka
kanulne
lamuta
mulhe
sifoi
sihka
tahka
tahoi
tahoti
takan
tehefoi
tehihka
tuohisne
tuohkamne

‘later, in the future, from/after now, in…’
‘late’
‘early’
‘in each case, in any case, anyhow, anyway’
‘tomorrow’
‘yesterday’
‘nowadays, these days, currently’
‘often, regularly, periodically, all the time’
‘soon, in a while, before long’
‘today’
‘this month’
‘this year’
‘always, ever, all the time’
‘next month’
‘last month’
‘earlier, in the past, before now, ago’
‘next year’
‘last year’
‘at ﬁrst, initially, at the beginning’
‘at last, ﬁnally, in the end’
‘always, constantly, the whole time’
‘now, starting now, from now on, as of now’
‘up to now, (only) until now’
‘before, before that/then, earlier, previously’
‘after(wards), after that, thereafter, later’
‘constantly, incessantly, all the time’
‘now, at this time’
‘soon, shortly, presently, in a little while’
‘recently, lately, not long ago’
‘late, too late, after the appropriate time’
‘early, too early, too soon, before the appropriate time’

Compound temporal expressions can be formed from hial`o ‘today’, elohka ‘yesterday’, and elohfoi ‘tomorrow’,
by adding a noun referring to the time of day. Ekina ‘every time’ and emuohpi ‘the whole time’ can also be
combined with temporal nouns. The noun precedes the adverb and is unmarked for case, as the following
examples show.3

kotsim hial`o
lem hial`o
koset hial`o
hun hial`o

‘this morning’
‘today during the day’
‘this evening’
‘tonight’

l`o ekina
kotsim ekina
hun ekina
ilme ekina

‘every day’
‘every morning’
‘every night’
‘every month’

kotsim elohka
lem elohka
koset elohka
hun elohka

‘yesterday morning’
‘yesterday during the day’
‘yesterday evening’
‘last night’

l`o emuohpi
koset emuohpi
hun emuohpi
ulhmo emuohpi

‘all day’
‘all evening’
‘all night’
‘all year’

kotsim elohfoi
lem elohfoi
koset elohfoi
hun elohfoi

‘tomorrow morning, in the morning’
‘tomorrow during the day’
‘tomorrow evening’
‘tomorrow night’

3Note that lem ‘day, daylight’ refers to the period from dawn to dusk, and is the opposite of hun ‘night’, whereas l`o ‘day’

denotes the entire period from dawn to dawn.

8.4. ADVERBIAL ELEMENTS

221

Similarly, the names for the seasons can combine with hiolhmo ‘this year’, iolhmohka ‘last year’, and iolhmofoi
‘next year’: e.g., tuhsa hiolhmo ‘this (past) winter, winter of this year’, ihmet iolhmohka ‘spring of last year’,
halai iolhmofoi ‘summer of next year’.4 Ekina and emuohpi can also be used with the names of the seasons:
e.g., tiaulyip ekina ‘every autumn’, tuhsa emuohpi ‘all winter (long)’.

Note that hial`o, elohka, hiolhmo, ielmefoi, etc., and expressions formed from them, can be modiﬁed by
fene ‘at the earliest, no sooner than, not before’ or hulne ‘at the latest, no later than’, to indicate a temporal
boundary or cut-o↵ point. Fene and hulne immediately precede the temporal adverb; if the expression
includes a temporal noun (kotsim, tuhsa, etc.), the temporal noun precedes fene/hulne. Examples:

fene elohfoi
hulne elohfoi
kotsim hulne elohfoi
tuhsa fene hiolhmo

‘tomorrow at the earliest, not before tomorrow’
‘tomorrow at the latest, no later than tomorrow, by tomorrow’
‘(by) tomorrow evening at the latest’
‘no earlier than this (coming) winter’

(8.156) Sakiale

hulne
at:the:latest

elohfoi
tomorrow

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial should have returned by tomorrow’

uniokta
pf.return.ipv

pi
perhaps

Note also that ihka, tahka, efoi, and tahoi may be preceded by a quantiﬁed noun phrase in the instrumental
case, or by a quantiﬁcational adverb of duration (e.g., ehampi ‘for a long time’, etsipi ‘for a little while’).
These quantiﬁcational modiﬁers measure the amount of time elapsing between the time in question and the
reference time. Examples are given below. Note that ihka picks out a time prior to the moment of speaking,
while efoi picks out a time after the moment of speaking. By contrast, tahka and tahoi pick out times
relative to some previously mentioned time.

l`o kelume ihka
l`o kelume efoi
ilme ihtahme tahka
ilme ihtahme tahoi

‘seven days ago’
‘seven days from now, in seven days’
‘six months earlier, six months before (then/that)’
‘six months later, in/after six months, six months after that’

etohampi ihka
ekitsipi efoi
ulhmo emuohpi tahka
ulhmo emuohpi tahoi

‘a long time ago’
‘in a short while, very soon’
‘for a whole year before then/that’
‘for a whole year after that’

The placement of temporal adverbs within the clause is quite free. They can be clause-initial, clause-ﬁnal,
or appear between the verb and any of its noun phrase dependents, unless the latter is unmarked for case,
since unmarked noun phrases must be adjacent to the verb (see
4.6). For instance, the following sentence
variants are all possible, and mean more or less the same thing. Notice that the only place where elohka
cannot occur is between kytu and uktiyi.

(8.157) Elohka

Sakialma
Sakial.erg

ihai
woman.dat

kytu
gift

yesterday
‘Yesterday Sakial gave a present to the woman’

uktiyi
give.pv

Sakialma elohka ihai kytu uktiyi
Sakialma ihai elohka kytu uktiyi
Sakialma ihai kytu uktiyi elohka

When a temporal adverbial precedes the verb, it must also precede any degree adverbials (
8.4.5)
§
that modify the same verb, as illustrated below: reversing the order of hial`o and teusu renders this sentence
ungrammatical (though hial`o can also be placed before iman, or after euoita).

8.4.3,

4The Okuna new year is on the winter solstice. Hence an expression like halai hiolhmo (lit. ‘summer this year’) means ‘next

summer, this coming summer’ if uttered in the winter or spring, and ‘this past summer’ if uttered in the fall.

222

CHAPTER 8. MINOR WORD CLASSES

(8.158) Iman
1sloc
‘I’m feeling very tired today’

teusu
very

hial`o
today

hakti
tired.dep:sbj

iauoita
prg.rel.feel:res.ipv

Note that temporal adverbials cannot inﬂect for case. However, they can combine with the relational noun
heku ‘time, when’: e.g., elohfoi heku ‘tomorrow, the time tomorrow, when (it is) tomorrow’. Heku, being a
nominal element, heads a noun phrase and is capable of taking case endings. Note the following examples:

(8.159) Ma

elohfoi
tomorrow

iase
food
1serg
‘I brought some food for tomorrow’

hekoua
time.all

ekpyi
bring.pv

(8.160) Ne

ielmehka
last:month

su
ever:since
3anom
‘She has been sick ever since last month’

hekou
time.abl

imouta
prg.sick.ipv

(8.161) Iman
1sloc
‘I intend to stay with my family until spring of next year’

mokna
hearth.loc

iolhmofoi
next:year

hekoi
time.dat

ihmet
spring

sik`a
until

tehihpa
stay.intend.ipv

Remarks on the meanings of certain temporal adverbials

There are two adverbials in Okuna which translate English ‘always’: mulhe and hoti. These are essentially
equivalent in meaning, except that mulhe is used only with stative verbs belonging to Class I (
4.4.1), whereas
§
4.4.3):
hoti tends to be used with eventive verbs belonging to Class II and Class III (
§

4.4.2,

(8.162) Sakialna

mulhe
always

kestanka
happy.ipv:pst

Sakial.loc
‘Sakial was always happy’

(8.163) Isane
13all
‘Our cat is always trying to catch mice’

miuama
cat.erg

hoti
always

osek
mouse

palilma
catch.icpl.ipv

A number of temporal adverbs refer to the moment of speaking, among them takan ‘now’, empiolhna ‘nowa-
days’, sihka ‘just now, up until now’, and sifoi ‘starting now, from now on’ (the aspectual adverbial kas,
discussed in
8.4.2, can also be used to translate ‘now’ under certain circumstances). Of these, takan is
the most neutral, meaning simply ‘at this time’. Sihka is used of an event which began in the past and
terminates at (or just before) the present moment, while sifoi is used of an event which is just beginning.
Sifoi is similar in meaning to takan (or kas), but indicates explicitly that the state of a↵airs in question did
not hold in the past.

(8.164) Ihka

s`u
rain

kahpyi,
fall.pv

le
but

takan
now

earlier
‘It rained earlier, but now it’s sunny’

aho
sun

ilaina
prg.shine.ipv

(8.165) Kimima

sihka
until:now

imuelhanka
prg.sleep.ipv:pst

baby.erg
‘The baby was just sleeping’ (but has now woken up)

(8.166) Kimima

sifoi
starting:now

imuelha
prg.sleep.ipv

baby.erg
‘The baby is now sleeping’ (but was not earlier)
or ‘The baby has now begun to sleep’

8.4. ADVERBIAL ELEMENTS

223

Note ﬁnally that the adverbial ela ‘in any case, in any situation, anyhow’ is often used in combination
with imperfect marking on the verb to express a generic event or property. Also, when ela precedes a
6.7.1), it indicates that that phrase has a ‘free choice’ reading
phrase containing an indeﬁnite correlative (
§
(equivalent to a stressed ‘any’ form in English).
In this latter construction the verb is generally in the
conditional form.

(8.167) Kotiemima

tunkuma
raccoon.erg
be:active.ipv
‘Raccoons are active at night’ (more lit. ‘In any situation, the raccoon is active at night’)

ela
in:any:case

hunna
night.loc

(8.168) Na

ela
in:any:case

miohme
someone.inst

etsampike
talk.act.cond

3aerg
‘He would talk to (just) anyone’
more lit. ‘In any situation, he would talk to someone’

(8.169) Tan

ela
that:nom
in:any:case
‘Anyone could understand that’
more lit. ‘In any situation, someone would understand that’

mutlike
understand.cond

miohna
someone.loc

(8.170) Motlana

ela
in:any:case

sasei
Motla.loc
encounter.tnzr:sbj
‘Motla can solve any problem he encounters’
more lit. ‘In any situation, Motla could solve some problem that (he) would encounter’

lahyipike
solve.able.cond

mai
some.dat

efos
problem

8.4.5 Other degree adverbials

Degree adverbials combine with stative verbs belonging to Class I, and express the (subjective) degree or
extent to which the property denoted by the verb holds. A large number of degree adverbials are derived
by adding the sux -pi to mass noun quantiﬁers: e.g., han ‘much, a lot’ > hampi ‘very, to a great degree’;
8.4.3 above.
tsomo ‘most’ > tsomopi ‘mostly, for the most part’. These forms are listed and discussed in
Other degree adverbials are given below.

Degree adverbials can be divided into two subclasses. Forms in the ﬁrst subclass are related to quantiﬁ-
cational adverbials with -pi listed in
8.4.3, and may be used interchangeably with them. These are listed
below, with the -pi variants given in parentheses. Elements in this subclass require that the following verb
carry the relative preﬁx a-, discussed in

7.6.

miai
mu
tlai
tsuo
tsyi

(miampi )
(muhpi )
(tlampi )
(tsuompi )
(tsyimpi )

‘how (much); somewhat, to a certain degree’
‘enough, suciently’
‘so, that, (by) that much’
‘too’
‘not … enough, insuciently’

Adverbials in the second subclass, listed below, are not derived from (or related to) quantiﬁers. A verb
modiﬁed by one of these elements does not carry the relative preﬁx a-.

atsafe
ienapi
kipehi
pehi
teusu
tohi
totohi
uteupi
ytapi

‘very, truly, terribly, horribly’
‘very, well, to a good degree’
‘slightly, barely, just’
‘a little, a bit, somewhat’
‘very, a lot, quite; really, truly, certainly’
‘extremely, exceedingly; especially’
‘extraordinarily, immensely’
‘almost, nearly’ (uteupi ntse ‘hardly, barely’)
‘truly, really’

224

CHAPTER 8. MINOR WORD CLASSES

Normally a degree adverbial will immediately precede the verb it modiﬁes, regardless of which subclass it
belongs to:

(8.171) Kamale

miai
how

ak`ılhan?
rel.sharp.ipv.qu

knife.nom
‘How sharp is the knife?’

(8.172) Kamale

tohi
extremely

kilha
sharp.ipv

knife.nom
‘The knife is extremely sharp’

(8.173) Kamale

ntse
neg
knife.nom
‘The knife is not very sharp’

miai
much

akilho
rel.sharp.ipv:neg

Additional examples:

Kamale mu akilha
Kamale tsuo akilha
Kamale tsyi akilha
Kamale tlai akilha

‘The knife is sharp enough’
‘The knife is too sharp’
‘The knife is not sharp enough’
‘The knife is so sharp’ or ‘That’s how sharp the knife is’

10.4), or a clause
A verb modiﬁed by a degree word such as mu, tsuo, or tsyi can select a converb (cf.
§
headed by a subjunctive dependent verb inﬂected for allative case (cf.
10.2.1), equivalent to an inﬁnitival
clause in English. In the former case, the converb immediately precedes the degree word; in the latter case,
the clause is usually postposed to the end of the sentence (see

9.2.3).

(8.174) Toml`a

kule
see:res.cv

tsuo
too

alamankat
rel.far.ipv:pst.pl

mountain.nom
‘The mountains were too far away to see’

(8.175) Toml`a

tsuo
too

alamankat
rel.far.ipv:pst.pl

isane
13all

kuleia
see:res.dep:sbj.all

mountain.nom
‘The mountains were too far away for us to see’

Note that the intensifying degree particles teusu and ytapi, like English ‘really’ or ‘truly’, can be used both
to assert the truth of some proposition, and to indicate that a property holds to a great degree. Ienapi and
atsafe also function as intensiﬁers, where ienapi tends to be used with verbs that have a positive connotation:
e.g., ienapi kesta ‘very happy’, ienapi huala ‘very healthy’. By contrast, atsafe is used with verbs that have
a negative connotation: e.g., atsafe lulha ‘very bad’, atsafe mouta ‘very sick’. (Note that the choice between
ienapi and atsafe depends on the speaker’s subjective assessment of the situation. For example, while
‘Sakial is very happy’ would normally be expressed as Sakialna ienapi ikesta, if for some reason the speaker
disapproved of Sakial’s happiness or considered it unfortunate, Sakialna atsafe ikesta could be used.)

Chapter 9

Clause Structure

9.1 Introduction

This chapter deals broadly with the constituent structure of simple sentences—that is, sentences which do
not involve the embedding of one clause within another (clausal embedding and related phenomena are dealt
with in chapter 10).

9.2 I give an overview of word order within the clause. Clauses consist minimally of a clausal nucleus
(usually headed by the verb), and can also include preposed and postposed constituents. Each of these is
9.3 I consider the formation of special types of clauses, including copular clauses,
dealt with in turn. In
questions, and commands. Finally, in
9.4 I deal with issues related to the number of noun phrase arguments
in a clause, including the formation of causative, reﬂexive, and reciprocal constructions.

9.2 Word order within the clause

6.9), the relative order of noun phrases and
Although word order within noun phrases is fairly ﬁxed (see
other constituents within the clause is quite free, especially in clauses which can stand on their own as
complete utterances. Consider a sentence such as (9.1), consisting of a transitive verb along with its ergative
and dative arguments:

(9.1) Moihama

halmai
book.dat

itala
prg.read.ipv

girl.erg
‘The girl is reading the book’

Although the most common order is the one shown above, where the ergative argument precedes the dative
argument and the verb occurs at the end of the sentence, other orders are also acceptable. In the case of
the three-word sentence in (9.1), all six logically possible orders are allowed. The sentences below are all
grammatical, and all describe the same event.

Moihama halmai itala
Moihama itala halmai
Halmai moihama itala
Halmai itala moihama
Itala moihama halmai
Itala halmai moihama

In part, this ﬂexibility reﬂects the fact that word order does not play a role in distinguishing grammatical
relations like subject and object, which are instead encoded by case inﬂection on the noun phrases. This is
not to say that order is unimportant, however. As the discussion in the following sections makes clear, the

225

226

CHAPTER 9. CLAUSE STRUCTURE

placement of noun phrases relative to the verb, and to each other, can determine how they are interpreted
with regard to pragmatic features like topic and focus, old versus new information, et cetera.

9.2.1 I give an overview of the factors that dictate word order in basic clauses.

preposed (left-dislocated) constituents, such as contrastive topics; while
constituents to a position following the verb.

9.2.2 deals with
§
9.2.3 deals with the postposing of

9.2.1 Word order and topicality

An Okuna sentence consists minimally of a clausal nucleus, comprised of a verb preceded by zero or more
dependent constituents (noun phrases denoting arguments of the verb, adverbials and other modiﬁers, focus
particles, etc.). The clausal nucleus is sometimes preceded by a preposed constituent, often separated from
the clausal nucleus by a pause. Constituents can also follow the verb under certain circumstances, in which
9.2.3,
case they are said to be postposed. I discuss preposed and postposed constituents in
respectively. In this section I summarize the rules governing constituent order within the clausal nucleus.

9.2.2 and

Within the clausal nucleus, the order of certain elements is ﬁxed. By deﬁnition, the verb is always the
ﬁnal element in the clausal nucleus. Moreover, as discussed in detail in
5.4, if the clause includes a clitic
pronoun or clitic cluster, the latter will occur at the left edge of the clausal nucleus, preceding all of the
other (non-preposed) constituents. This is illustrated by the examples below, which di↵er with regard to
which of the verb’s arguments (ergative, nominative, or dative) is encoded by a clitic pronoun. In each case
the clitic must come ﬁrst in the clause.

(9.2) Na

halm`a
book.nom

totsait
table.dat

3aerg
‘S/he put the book on the table’

teunyi
put.pv

(9.3) Hi

Motlama
3inom
Motla.erg
‘Motla put it on the table’

totsait
table.dat

teunyi
put.pv

(9.4) To

Motlama
Motla.erg

halm`a
book.nom

teunyi
put.pv

3irdat
‘Motla put the book there’ (lit. ‘on it’)

5.4.1), which obligatorily precedes the full noun phrase.

In the following sentences, the clause contains two clitic arguments. These combine to form a clitic cluster
(
§
(9.5) Ima

totsait
table.dat

teunyi
put.pv

3inom.1serg
‘I put it on the table’

(9.6) Uma

halm`a
book.nom

teunyi
put.pv

3irdat.1serg
‘I put the book there’

In addition, when the clause contains a noun phrase which is unmarked for case and functions as a non-
referential argument of the verb (see
4.6.3), that noun phrase immediately precedes the verb. Compare
the sentences below, containing noun phrases denoting a theme (ahotsin ‘corn’) and an instrument (natui
‘pestle’). When both the theme and instrument are marked for case (nominative and instrumental, respec-
tively), they can occur in either order (9.7)–(9.8). However, if one of the noun phrases appears in its ‘bare’
form, the other noun phrase obligatorily precedes it within the clausal nucleus (9.9)–(9.10).

(9.7) Ma

natuime
pestle.inst

tlulyi
pound.pv
1serg
‘I ground the/some corn with a/the pestle’

ahotsine
corn.nom

9.2. WORD ORDER WITHIN THE CLAUSE

227

(9.8) Ma

ahotsine
corn.nom

tlulyi
1serg
pound.pv
‘I ground the/some corn with a/the pestle’

natuime
pestle.inst

(9.9) Ma

natuime
pestle.inst

ahotsin
corn

1serg
‘I ground corn with a/the pestle’

tlulyi
pound.pv

(9.10) Ma

ahotsine
corn.nom

natui
pestle

tlulyi
pound.pv

1serg
‘I ground the/some corn with a pestle’

Apart from these restrictions on the placement of clitics and unmarked noun phrases, constituents within
the clausal nucleus are ordered according to their degree of ‘topicality’ (or ‘aboutness’), with more topical
elements preceding less topical elements. Typically the clausal nucleus can be thought of as having a bipartite
structure, where the ﬁrst constituent identiﬁes a particular discourse-salient referent, while the rest of the
clausal nucleus predicates something about that referent. We can refer to this ﬁrst element as the topic
of the clause. If the clause contains a clitic pronoun, the clitic is the topic; otherwise, the topic can be a
full noun phrase, interpreted as deﬁnite or generic (in clitic clusters, the ﬁrst clitic is understood to be the
topic). When the clause contains multiple noun phrases capable of functioning as topics, the choice of topic
will depend on the discourse context within which the clause is uttered, as well as the ‘communicative point
of view’ from which the speaker chooses to present the situation. Consider the following pair of examples,
which di↵er only in the order of the ergative and dative noun phrases:

(9.11) Mo

miahtema
grandfather.erg

olh
dist

1srdat
‘My grandfather build that house over there’

kotu
house

utai
that:rdat

(9.12) Olh
dist
‘My grandfather build that house over there’

utai
that:rdat

mo
1srdat

kotu
house

miahtema
grandfather.erg

utiespa
pf.build.ipv

These sentences have the same propositional content—that is, they describe the same event. The di↵erence
between them is one of ‘aboutness’. The order in (9.11) is preferred if the speaker is presenting information
about his/her grandfather, while (9.12) is the preferred order if the speaker is presenting information about
the house. A sentence like (9.11) would typically be used in a context where the speaker’s grandfather was
under discussion, as in the following dialogue:

Speaker A:
Speaker B:

“What did your grandfather do?”
“Well, for one thing, my grandfather built that house.”

A sentence like (9.12) would be used if the house were the topic of discussion, as in this situation:

Speaker A:
Speaker B:

“What can you tell me about that house over there?”
“Well, for one thing, my grandfather built that house.”

As noted in
9.4.1 below, varying the order of noun phrases to reﬂect relative topicality can achieve e↵ects
similar to those of active–passive alternations in other languages (Okuna does not have a passive construction
per se). Compare the sentences below, where the ﬁrst asserts something about the agent (the hunter) while
the second asserts something about the patient (the deer). It is natural to translate the second sentence
with an English passive, reﬂecting the fact that the patient is more topical than the agent.

(9.13) Lakiakama
hunter.erg
‘The hunter killed the deer’

hastein
deer.dat

tahyi
kill.pv

228

CHAPTER 9. CLAUSE STRUCTURE

(9.14) Hastein

lakiakama
deer.dat
hunter.erg
‘The deer was killed by the hunter’

tahyi
kill.pv

7.2, topic noun phrases are distinguished from non-topic noun phrases not only by the fact
As discussed in
that they appear at the left edge of the clausal nucleus, but by how they trigger number agreement on the
verb. When a topic noun phrase is marked for nominative, dative, or ergative case and is interpreted as
plural, the verb carries the plural topic sux -t. Core arguments other than the topic trigger di↵erent plural
agreement morphology: e.g., the sux -ne, which marks a non-topic ergative argument as plural. Compare:

(9.15) Lakiakama
hunter.erg
‘The hunters killed the deer’

hastein
deer.dat

tahyit
kill.pv.pl

(9.16) Hastein

lakiakama
hunter.erg

tahyine
kill.pv.epl

deer.dat
‘The deer was killed by the hunters’

Word order and topic choice can a↵ect the interpretation of missing arguments (see
5.5). All else being
equal, when a sentence consists of two conjoined clauses with a noun phrase omitted from the second clause,
the omitted argument is interpreted as coreferring with the topic the ﬁrst clause. The following pair of
sentences illustrates this:

(9.17) Mikalma
boy.erg

ikei
dog.dat

kahtyi
hit.pv

kiompe
run.cv

nkilhyi
go:away.pv

‘The boy hit the dog, and then ran away’ (i.e, the boy ran away)

(9.18) Ikei

dog.dat

mikalma
boy.erg

kahtyi
hit.pv

kiompe
run.cv

nkilhyi
go:away.pv

‘The boy hit the dog, and then it ran away’ (i.e, the dog ran away)
or ‘The dog was hit by the boy, and then ran away’

Just as highly topical noun phrases tend to occur at the left edge of the clausal nucleus, highly focal noun
phrases—that is, noun phrases which are interpreted contrastively, and/or provide important or salient new
information about the event—tend to occur at the right edge of the clausal nucleus, immediately preceding
the verb (or the unmarked noun phrase, if any). For instance, compare the sentences below:

(9.19) Sakialma

tausi
spoon.dat

kamalme
knife.inst

kyuatyi
carve.pv

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial carved the spoon with a knife’

(9.20) Sakialma

kamalme
knife.inst

tausi
spoon.dat

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial carved a spoon with the knife’

kyuatyi
carve.pv

(9.21) Tausi

kamalme
knife.inst

Sakialma
Sakial.erg

spoon.dat
‘Sakial carved the spoon with the knife’

kyuatyi
carve.pv

The order in (9.19) would be preferred in a context where it is understood that Sakial carved the spoon, and
the fact that this activity was carried out with a knife is the most salient piece of new information. On the
other hand, if it is presupposed that Sakial carved something (or did something) with a knife, and the new
information is that he carved the spoon, the order in (9.20) would be used. Finally, the order in (9.21) is

9.2. WORD ORDER WITHIN THE CLAUSE

229

appropriate if it is presupposed that the spoon was carved (or that something happened to the spoon), and
the identity of the carver is what’s being focused on. In each case, the main stress in the sentence falls on
the stressed syllable of the argument immediately preceding the verb.

Other possible orders are shown below, with approximate English translations. In each of the sentences
in (9.19)–(9.24), the most topical noun phrase comes ﬁrst, while the most focal noun phrase immediately
precedes the verb.1

(9.22) Tausi

Sakialma
Sakial.erg

kamalme
knife.inst

kyuatyi
carve.pv

spoon.dat
‘The spoon was carved by Sakial with a knife’

(9.23) Kamalme
knife.inst
‘The knife was used by Sakial to carve a spoon’

Sakialma
Sakial.erg

tausi
spoon.dat

kyuatyi
carve.pv

(9.24) Kamalme
knife.inst
‘The knife was used by Sakial to carve the spoon’

Sakialma
Sakial.erg

tausi
spoon.dat

kyuatyi
carve.pv

In content questions (see
9.3.2), the interrogative element stands in for the focused constituent. Hence, inter-
rogative words normally come immediately before the verb (or before an unmarked noun phrase dependent,
if any). Compare the content questions below with the sentences in (9.19)–(9.21) above.

(9.25) Sakialma

tausi
spoon.dat

mahme
what.inst

kyuatyin?
carve.pv.qu

Sakial.erg
‘What did Sakial carve the spoon with?’

(9.26) Sakialma

kamalme
knife.inst

mai
what.dat

Sakial.erg
‘What did Sakial carve with the knife?’

kyuatyin?
carve.pv.qu

(9.27) Tausi

kamalme
knife.inst

miohma
who.erg

spoon.dat
‘Who carved the spoon with the knife?’

kyuatyin?
carve.pv.qu

Besides topic and focus, preverbal word order also reﬂects semantic scope: quantiﬁers and operators take
scope over the portion of the clausal nucleus to their right, up to (and sometimes including) the verb itself.
Word order can thus have a noticeable e↵ect on the interpretation of sentences with scope-bearing elements.
For example, as mentioned in
6.8, when a clause contains two quantiﬁcational phrases preceding the verb,
the ﬁrst quantiﬁcational phrase takes scope over the second one. Compare the sentences below. In (9.28), pyi
unket scopes over kietam hen: the meaning is that every child was shown two (possibly di↵erent) pictures. In
(9.29), where the relative scope of the quantiﬁers is reversed, it is understood that there are two (particular)
pictures which I showed to every child.

(9.28) Ma

pyi
child

kietam
1serg
picture
‘I showed every child two pictures’

unket
every:rdat

hen
two:nom

tafyima
show.pv.dpl

1Note that in each of these sentences, tausi can be interpreted as either deﬁnite (‘the spoon’) or indeﬁnite (‘a spoon’),
depending on whether the spoon is already familiar to the addressee at the point in the discourse when the sentence is
uttered—and likewise for kamalme (‘with a knife’ versus ‘with the knife’). My translations of these sentences are approximate,
and reﬂect the generalization that noun phrases expressing new information tend to be indeﬁnite.

230

CHAPTER 9. CLAUSE STRUCTURE

(9.29) Ma

1serg

kietam
picture

hen
two:nom

pyi
child

unket
every:rdat

tafyima
show.pv.dpl

‘I showed two (particular) pictures to every child’

The same principle applies to scope-bearing adverbials. Compare (9.30) and (9.31), which di↵er in the
relative order of the temporal modiﬁer ehenna ‘twice’ and the manner modiﬁer nakapme ‘accidentally, by
chance’. In (9.30), ehenna scopes over nakapme, and the sentence may be paraphrased ‘On two occasions, I
accidentally hit him’ (I may have hit him deliberately on other occasions). In (9.31), nakapme scopes over
ehenna, and the sentence may be paraphrased ‘It was an accident that I hit him on two occasions’ (I may
have intended to hit him only once).

(9.30) Unma

ehenna
twice

nakapme
chance.inst

ukahta
pf.hit.ipv

3ardat.1serg
‘Twice, I hit him accidentally’

(9.31) Unma

nakapme
3ardat.1serg
chance.inst
‘I accidentally hit him twice’

ehenna
twice

ukahta
pf.hit.ipv

As a ﬁnal example of the relationship between word order and scope, consider the sentences below. As
discussed in
8.2.1, focus particles like tiefu ‘only’ scope over the portion of the clausal nucleus to their right,
up to (and perhaps including) the verb. In (9.32) tiefu scopes over the verb itlulanka ‘was grinding’, and
the sentence means that grinding is the only thing the girl was doing to the corn. In (9.33) tiefu scopes over
either ahotsine ‘corn’ or ahotsine itlulanka ‘was grinding the corn’. This sentence asserts that the corn is
the only thing that the girl was grinding, or that grinding the corn is the only thing that the girl was doing.
Finally, in (9.34) tiefu scopes over moihama ‘the girl’, or moihama itlulanka ‘the girl was grinding’. This
sentence means that the girl is the only one who was grinding the corn, or that being ground by the girl is
the only thing that was happening to the corn.

(9.32) Moihama

ahotsine
corn.nom

tiefu
only

itlulanka
prg.pound.ipv:pst

girl.erg
‘The girl was only grinding the corn’

(9.33) Moihama

tiefu
only

ahotsine
corn.nom

itlulanka
prg.pound.ipv:pst

girl.erg
‘The girl was only grinding the corn’

(9.34) Ahotsine
corn.nom
‘Only the girl was grinding the corn’
or ‘The corn was only being ground by the girl’

itlulanka
prg.pound.ipv:pst

moihama
girl.erg

tiefu
only

In rare cases, the verb may be preceded by two or more noun phrases which fail to di↵er from one another
in relative topicality, focus, or scope—e.g., when the clause contains no scope-bearing elements, and is being
used to present a situation ‘out of the blue’ (e.g, in response to the question ‘What happened?’). In clauses
of this type, which we might refer to as pragmatically neutral, the relative order of noun phrases is
essentially free. However, there is a tendency for ergative noun phrases to come at the beginning of the
clause, for noun phrases with human referents to precede those with non-human referents, and for noun
phrases interpreted as deﬁnite to precede those interpreted as indeﬁnite.

9.2. WORD ORDER WITHIN THE CLAUSE

231

9.2.2 Preposed constituents

10.5,

10.2,

10.6).

Certain types of phrases properly precede the clausal nucleus, occurring at the left edge of the sentence. Such
phrases are said to be preposed. Note that preposed constituents are conﬁned to main clauses: preposing
10.3), or in nominalized clauses such as gerunds
is not allowed in dependent and participial clauses (
and participant nominals (
§

One class of constituents which can be preposed includes temporal adverbials (e.g., elohka ‘yesterday’,
halai ekina ‘every summer’) and oblique case-marked noun phrases (e.g., muohfe kahpise ohpeu ‘because of
the heavy snowfall’), when these elements are used to set the scene or establish the general context (time,
place, reason, etc.) for the situation or event described in the clausal nucleus. Examples are given below.
That the constituents in question are preposed is shown by the fact that they come before the (boldfaced)
clitic pronouns: clitics always occur at the left edge of the clausal nucleus, and are thus normally sentence-
initial (
9.2.1). Note that when the preposed constituent is internally complex, as in (9.37), it generally
forms its own prosodic unit, and is separated from the clausal nucleus by a short pause, indicated here by a
comma.

5.4,

(9.35) Elohka

Sakialme
ma
Sakial.inst
1serg
yesterday
‘Yesterday I spoke with Sakial’

etsampyi
tell.act.pv

(9.36) Halai

ekina
every:time

sa
13erg

kahame
aunt

ka
and

tus`o
uncle.nom

tsulauat
visit.ipv.npl.pl

Kemotlasina
Kemotlasi.loc

summer
‘Every summer we visit our aunt and uncle in Kemotlasi’

(9.37) Muohfe

ohpeu,
heavy.tnzr
cause.abl
‘Because of the heavy snowfall, they decided to stay home’

otupyit
decide.pv.pl

kahpise
snowfall

na
3aerg

mokna
home.loc

tehat`a
stay.dep.pl.nom

Constituents may be preposed only if they provide background or contextualizing information. If the adver-
bial or oblique noun phrase constitutes a focal part of what is being asserted, and especially if it is being used
contrastively, it must appear within the clausal nucleus. For example, (9.35) above would not be appropriate
as an answer to the question in (9.38), which is speciﬁcally asking for the time of the event; instead, the order
in (9.39) is required, with elohka coming immediately before the verb, in the position normally associated
with focused constituents. Likewise (9.41), but not (9.37), is an acceptable response to the question in (9.40).

(9.38) Ko

Sakialme
Sakial.inst

emi
when

2erg
‘When did you speak with Sakial?’

etsampyin?
tell.act.pv.qu

(9.39) Ma

Sakialme
Sakial.inst

elohka
yesterday

etsampyi
tell.act.pv

1serg
‘I spoke with Sakial yesterday’

(9.40) Na

ymiohpa
why

ne
qu
3aerg
‘Why did they decide to stay home?’

otupyit
decide.pv.pl

mokna
home.loc

tehat`a?
stay.dep.pl.nom

(9.41) Na

muohfe
heavy.tnzr

kahpise
snowfall

ohpeu
cause.abl

otupyit
decide.pv.pl

mokna
home.loc

3aerg
‘They decided to stay home because of the heavy snowfall’
or ‘It’s because of the heavy snowfall that they decided to stay home’

tehat`a
stay.dep.pl.nom

In the example below, the oblique case-marked pronoun it`e is preposed, preceding the clitic ma. The preposed
pronoun functions here much like a topic, referring back to an entity mentioned in the previous clause:

232

CHAPTER 9. CLAUSE STRUCTURE

(9.42) Im`e

1sall

kamale
knife.nom

itsupa:
prg.missing.ipv

it`e
3iall

ma
1serg

eun
place

imuna
all.loc

ukpiha
pf.search.ipv

‘My knife is missing: I’ve looked for it everywhere’ (lit. ‘for it, I’ve searched everywhere’)

In addition to noun phrases and adverbials, certain kinds of subordinate clauses are commonly preposed.
10.3) and dependent clauses marked with oblique case or used in com-
These include participial clauses (
§
bination with a relational noun (
10.2.2). Like preposed adverbials, preposed subordinate clauses
10.2.1,
§
introduce background information—speciﬁcally, they identify an (actual or hypothetical) situation that pro-
vides the temporal context, purpose, rationale, etc., for the situation named by the main clause. Conditional
clauses headed by aunme ‘if’ and concessive clauses headed by alhme ‘though’—whose function is to iden-
tify a situation which is (or is not) required in order for the situation named by the main clause to come
about—are also typically preposed. Examples are given below (as above, the left edge of the clausal nucleus
is indicated by the boldfaced clitic pronoun).

(9.43) Sakohmima
spouse.erg

losak
ﬁrewood

itake,
prg.chop.pt

ma
1serg

mekule
dish.nom

pauyia
wash.pv.npl

‘While (my) husband chopped ﬁrewood, I washed the dishes’

(9.44) Homa
bread
‘In order to make bread, you must ﬁrst grind the corn into ﬂour’

pusuki
make.dep:sbj

elhkoua,
purpose.all

kamne
beforehand

ko
2erg

ahotsine
corn.nom

sofoi
ﬂour.dat

tluloksa
pound.must.ipv

(9.45) Ikun
2loc

im`o
1sabl

aleute
help.nom

okﬁ
want.dep:sbj

aunme,
if.inst

ko
2erg

eski
request.dep:sbj

tiuha
necessary.ipv

‘If you want my help, you’ll have to ask (for it)’

A ﬁnal class of preposed constituents are contrastive topics, consisting of a noun phrase (unmarked for
case) followed by aunme. The function of a contrastive topic is to introduce a new subject of discussion into
the discourse, or reintroduce a subject from earlier in the discourse. Contrastive topics typically correspond
to English expressions of the form ‘as for X’, ‘as far as X is concerned’, ‘with respect to X’, etc. Note that
the clausal nucleus typically contains a resumptive clitic or oblique pronoun which encodes the participant
referred to by the contrastive topic.

(9.46) Sakial
Sakial
‘As for Sakial, I haven’t met him yet’

nami
3anom.1sdat

aunme,
if.inst

ntsuta
not:yet

utsokuo
pf.meet.ipv:neg

As shown in (9.45) above, aunme is also used to form conditional clauses, where it corresponds to English
‘if’ or ‘when(ever)’. It is possible that contrastive topics should be analyzed as a special kind of conditional
clause, in which everything except a focused constituent has been elided—e.g., Sakial aunme might be
thought of as meaning ‘if/when (it’s) Sakial (that we’re talking about)’.

9.2.3 Postposed constituents

Noun phrases, dependent clauses, and adverbials which follow the verb are said to be postposed. In the ﬁrst
example below, the temporal adverb elohfoi ‘tomorrow’ has been postposed, while in the second example,
the nominative noun phrase Elimu lihpa ‘Elim’s sister’ has been postposed:

(9.47) Sa

lakiat
hunt.ipv.pl

elohfoi
13erg
tomorrow
‘We’re going hunting tomorrow’

9.2. WORD ORDER WITHIN THE CLAUSE

233

(9.48) Ntsuta
not:yet
‘(She) hasn’t returned yet, Elim’s sister’

uniokto
pf.return.ipv:neg

Elimu
Elim.abl

lihp`a
sister.nom

Postposed noun phrases normally denote individuals whose existence and relevance to the discourse is pre-
supposed. For instance, (9.48) above is appropriate only in a context where Elim’s sister has already been
established as one of the individuals under discussion. Like preposed constituents, postposed constituents are
associated with background information. Thus a noun phrase (especially one marked with oblique case) will
often be postposed when it conveys information which is supplementary or tangential to the main assertion
of the sentence. Compare the following sentences, which di↵er in the placement of the locative noun phrase:

(9.49) Lhatima

sihilalna
riverbank.loc

ilaliat
prg.play.ipv.pl

children.erg
‘The children are playing by the river’

(9.50) Lhatima

ilaliat
prg.play.ipv.pl

sihilalna
riverbank.loc

children.erg
‘The children are playing by the river’

These sentences are roughly equivalent in meaning, but di↵er in the informational status of the locative noun
phrase. In (9.49), where sihilalna is immediately preverbal, greater focus is placed on the location of the
event. Here the fact that the children are by the river is judged by the speaker to be signiﬁcant—indeed,
it may constitute the only new piece of information in the utterance, as when (9.49) is used in answer to
the question ‘Where are the children playing?’. In (9.50), on the other hand, where sihilalna is postposed,
the location of the action is somewhat de-emphasized. This sentence might be used if the location of the
event were already known to the addressee—e.g., in answer to the question ‘What are the children doing by
the river?’. Alternatively, the speaker might be presenting the location of the event as new but incidental
information, perhaps an afterthought.

Note that ﬁrst and second person oblique pronouns are frequently postposed, at least in main clauses.
This may be because ﬁrst and second person pronouns refer to participants in the discourse, who are often
backgrounded since their relevance to the discourse is taken for granted. For the most part, these pronouns
precede the verb only if they are topicalized or focused. Compare the following:

(9.51) Sakiale

Sakial.erg
‘I like Sakial’

huata
like.ipv

im`e
1sall

(9.52) Im`e

Sakiale
Sakial.erg

huata
like.ipv

1sall
‘I like Sakial’ or ‘As for me, I like Sakial’

(9.53) Sakiale

im`e
Sakial.erg
1sall
‘I’m the one who likes Sakial’

huata
like.ipv

The order in (9.51), with the oblique experiencer im`e following the verb, is pragmatically neutral, and would
be used when uttering the proposition out of the blue. In (9.52), im`e occurs at the beginning of the clause
and is likely to be interpreted as a topic. This sentence would be appropriate in a context where the speaker
is already under discussion—e.g., it might be uttered in answer to the question ‘Who do you like?’. Finally,
in (9.53), where im`e immediately precedes the verb, the pronoun is likely to be interpreted as focused (cf.
9.2.1 above). This last sentence might be used in answer to the question ‘Who likes Sakial?’.

Even if it does not represent backgrounded or peripheral information, a constituent will often be postposed
if it is prosodically ‘heavy’—i.e., long and internally complex. Complement clauses, for instance, are often

234

CHAPTER 9. CLAUSE STRUCTURE

postposed, as in (9.55) below. Here the embedded question pyie elohfoi nioktuta aun ‘if the children will
return tomorrow’ appears to the right of the verb iona ‘know’, which selects the clause as its theme argument.
Compare this sentence with (9.54), where the theme argument, consisting of a single word (the noun nioksot
‘answer’), most naturally precedes the verb.

(9.54) Elimna

nioksote
answer.nom

i`onin?
know.ipv:int.qu

Elim.loc
‘Does Elim know the answer?’

(9.55) Elimna

i`onin
know.ipv:int.qu

pyie
child.nom

elohfoi
tomorrow

Elim.loc
‘Does Elim know if the children will return tomorrow?’

nioktita
return.dep:sbj.pl

aun?
if

In fact, dependent clauses normally precede the verb only under special circumstances, such as when the
clause is topicalized, or contains within it a constituent which is topicalized or focused. Compare the examples
below: (9.56), where the dependent clause is postposed, represents the most neutral order. In (9.57), the
dependent clause is topicalized, and so precedes the verb. Likewise in (9.58), the dependent clause contains a
clitic pronoun (ne) which refers back to the preposed topic of the clause (the latter marked with aunme; see
10.2.3). Finally, in (9.59), the dependent clause is fronted because it contains a focused constituent—
9.2.2,
§
speciﬁcally, the interrogative element emi ‘when’, which scopes over the entire sentence, turning it into a
content question (see
9.3.2). (Notice that in the sentences where the dependent clause precedes the
verb, the noun phrase Elimna has been postposed. With verbs of thinking or saying, there is a tendency
for the dependent clause complement to occur on the opposite side of the verb from its other arguments,
perhaps so as to make sentences with dependent clauses easier to process.)

6.7.1,

(9.56) Elimna

opa
think.ipv

pyie
child.nom

elohfoi
tomorrow

nioktat`a
return.dep.pl.nom

Elim.loc
‘Elim thinks that the children will return tomorrow’

(9.57) Pyie

nioktat`a
return.dep.pl.nom
child.nom
‘That the children will return tomorrow, Elim deﬁnitely thinks (so)’

elohfoi
tomorrow

opa
think.ipv

ytapi
truly

Elimna
Elim.loc

(9.58) Pyi

aunme,
if.inst

ne
3anom

elohfoi
tomorrow

nioktat`a
return.dep.pl.nom

opa
think.ipv

child
‘As for the children, Elim thinks that they will return tomorrow’

Elimna
Elim.loc

(9.59) Pyie

`opan
child.nom
think.ipv.qu
‘When does Elim think that the children will return?’

nioktat`a
return.dep.pl.nom

emi
when

Elimna?
Elim.loc

9.3 Special clause types

Having reviewed word order in basic clauses, I consider certain clause types and special constructions that
9.3.1 I introduce the copula he and discuss di↵erent types of copular
require additional discussion.
clauses. The remaining subsections provide an overview of various speech act types: in
9.3.2 I discuss the
9.3.4 with direct versus indirect quotation.
formation of questions, while

9.3.3 deals with imperatives, and

9.3.1 Copular sentences

When a noun phrase forms the main predicate of a clause, it can combine with the copula he, corresponding
to ‘be’ in English. The copula immediately follows the predicate noun phrase, which may be unmarked for
case (

4.6), or marked for one of the oblique cases (

4.5):

9.3. SPECIAL CLAUSE TYPES

235

(9.60) Sakiale

mo
Sakial.nom
1srdat
‘Sakial is my brother’

suhpa
brother

he
be:ipv

(9.61) Halm`a

totsatna
table.loc

he
be:ipv

book.nom
‘The book is on the table’

The Okuna copula has a much more limited distribution than its English counterpart. In English, ‘be’ is
used to form predicates not just from noun phrases (‘Sakial is a doctor’), but also from adjective phrases
(‘Sakial is tall’). In Okuna, however, ‘adjectives’ pattern as a subclass of verbs, and form predicates without
the need for a copula: e.g., Sakiale pata ‘Sakial is tall’.

The copula he inﬂects for tense/aspect/mood and polarity (
§
7.5 and

7.2), and can
7.7.1, as well as the non-ﬁnite and
combine with the aspectual and modal suxes discussed in
nominalizing morphology discussed in chapter 10. In this respect it behaves as a verb (speciﬁcally, a Class
I verb; cf.
4.4.1). However, he has an irregular conjugation, and only makes certain aspectual distinctions:
perfective and progressive forms do not occur. Below is the complete tense/aspect/mood/polarity and
agreement paradigm for the copula, as it occurs in main clauses. Note that, as a Class I verb, he can take
at most one plural agreement sux, either the topic plural marker -t (pl) or the nominative plural marker
-ua (npl).

7.4) and number agreement (
§

imperfect
perfect
past imperfect
past perfect
imperfect conditional
perfect conditional

sg
he
heu
nka
heunka
heike
heuke

positive
pl
hit
heut
nkat
heunkat
heikit
heukit

npl
heua
heua
nkaua
heunkaua
heikeua
heukeua

sg
ho
hou
hunka
hounka
hoike
heuoike

negative
pl
hot
hout
hunkat
hounkat
hoikit
heuoikit

npl
houa
houa
hunkaua
hounkaua
hoikeua
heuoikeua

Notice the vowel alternation whereby he becomes hi- when the agreement sux -t is attached. He also
becomes hi- when it combines with the question marker -n:

(9.62) Halm`a

totsatna
table.loc

hin?
be:ipv.qu

book.nom
‘Is the book is on the table?’

In addition, the copula takes the form hi- when it combines with an aspectual or modal sux (with lowering
of the sux vowel when the latter is high), e.g.:

-ihp
-ot
-t
-uh
-yip

hiehpa
hiota
hita
hioha
hiyipa

‘intend to be’
‘continue to be’
‘begin to be, become’
‘want to be’
‘able to be’

The copula also has an irregular conjugation in dependent clauses (
§
The dependent and participial forms of the copula are given in the following tables:

10.2), and in participial clauses (
§

10.3).

imperfect

sg
ha
hu
hi
hoi

pl
hata
huta
hita
hoita

npl
haua
houa
heua
hoia

sg
heua
heuo
heue
heuoi

perfect
pl
heuata
heuota
heueta
heuoita

npl
heuaua
heuoua
heueua
heuoia

dep
dep:neg
dep:sbj
dep:sbj:neg

236

CHAPTER 9. CLAUSE STRUCTURE

imperfect

sg
hi
hu
hai
hau

pl
hit
hut
hait
haut

npl
heia
houa
haia
haua

sg
heue
heuo
heuai
heuau

perfect
pl
heuet
heuot
heuait
heuaut

npl
heueia
heuoua
heuaia
heuaua

pt
pt:neg
pt:sbj
pt:sbj:neg

The copula appears in three types of predication structures. In the ﬁrst type, the copula combines with a bare
noun phrase—i.e., a noun phrase which does not take any case marking—to form a predicate denoting an
individual or class of individuals. This predicate in turn takes a nominative case-marked theme noun phrase
as its argument, which may (but need not) function as the topic of the clause. Examples of this construction
are given below. (Concerning (9.64), note that colour words pattern as nouns in Okuna—hemak is literally
‘grey one’ or ‘thing which is grey’—and thus require the copula in order to form predicates.)

(9.63) Koin

nin
person
those:nom
‘Those people are our friends’

so
13rdat

kuna
friend

hit
be:ipv.pl

(9.64) Sieme

hemak
moheu
sky.nom
grey:one
cloud.abl
‘The sky was grey with clouds’

nka
be:ipv:pst

When the copular predicate is negated, the predicate noun phrase is preceded by the negative marker ntse
(or some other particle incorporating negation, such as ntsilas ‘not only’, ntseima ‘no longer’, ntsemi ‘never’,
etc.), and the negative form of the copula is used:

(9.65) Koin

nin
those:nom

ntse
neg

person
‘Those people are not our friends’

so
13rdat

kuna
friend

hot
be:ipv:neg.pl

(9.66) Tehefoi

sieme
sky.nom

ntseima
no:longer

moheu
cloud.abl

presently
‘After a while the sky was no longer grey with clouds’

hemak
grey:one

hunka
be:ipv:pst:neg

In non-past tense main clauses the copula is very often omitted, leaving just the noun phrase, unless the
copula is required to carry number agreement or host one of the modal and aspectual suxes discussed in
7.7.1. Compare the examples below. Here, he and ho are optional, and typically left out, while
7.5 and
§
their past tense and plural counterparts are not.

(9.67) Sakiale

mo
Sakial.nom
1srdat
‘Sakial is my friend’

kuna
friend

(he)
be:ipv

(9.68) Sakiale

ntse
neg

mo
1srdat

kuna
friend

(ho)
be:ipv

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial is not my friend’

(9.69) Sakiale

mo
1srdat

kuna
friend

nka
be:ipv:pst

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial was my friend’

mo
(9.70) Sakial
1srdat
Sakial
‘Sakial and Elim are my friends’

Elime
Elim.nom

ka
and

kuna
friend

hit
be:ipv.pl

9.3. SPECIAL CLAUSE TYPES

237

The copula is also overt in the following examples, where it is needed to host the modal sux -uh and the
telic inchoative sux -t, respectively:

(9.71) Sakialna

mo
1srdat

kuna
friend

hioha
be.want.ipv

Sakial.loc
‘Sakial wants to be my friend’

(9.72) Sakiale

Sakial.nom

mo
1srdat

kuna
friend

hityi
be.tinc.pv

‘Sakial became my friend’ (lit. ‘began to be my friend’)

An important condition on copula deletion is that the predicate containing the copula must denote an
inherent attribute of the theme, one which is integral to the theme and/or resistant to change.
If the
predicate instead denotes a non-integral property of the theme, the copula is never omitted, even when it is
not needed to host any verb suxes. Compare the examples below. Being grey is a more-or-less permanent
property of the dog’s coat, but a transitory property of the sky: hence the copula is normally omitted in
(9.73) but remains overt in (9.74).

(9.73) Ikena

luane
coat.nom

hemak
grey:one

(he)
be:ipv

dog.loc
‘The dog’s coat is grey’

(9.74) Sieme

hemak
sky.nom
grey:one
‘The sky is grey this morning’

he
be:ipv

kotsim
morning

hial`o
today

When the copula is omitted, questions are formed by adding the particle ne to the end of the sentence:

(9.75) Ku

2nom

mi`o
who

ne?
qu

‘Who are you (sg)?’

(9.76) Sakiale

kuo
2rdat

kuna
friend

ne?
qu

Sakial.nom
‘Is Sakial your friend?’

Besides combining with an unmarked noun phrase to form a predicate, the copula can combine with a
noun phrase marked for one of the oblique cases, as shown below. Here the predicate identiﬁes the location,
possessor, beneﬁciary, etc., of the nominative-marked theme argument. Note that the copula is never omitted
when the predicate noun phrase is in one of the oblique cases.

(9.77) Nil`o

sane
red

hutana
basket.loc

he
be:ipv

net.nom
‘The net is in the red basket’

(9.78) Kamale

knife.nom

Sakialme
Sakial.inst

hin?
be:ipv.qu

‘Does Sakial have the knife?’ (lit. ‘Is the knife with Sakial?’)

(9.79) Halma

tan
that:nom

ntse
neg

ikoi
2sall

ho
be:ipv:neg

book
‘That book is not for you’ or ‘That book is not yours’

238

CHAPTER 9. CLAUSE STRUCTURE

Finally, the copula is used to form existential clauses, where it corresponds to English ‘there is…’. Here
the copula combines with an unmarked noun phrase (denoting the entity whose existence is being asserted)
preceded by a noun phrase in the locative case (denoting the location). This same construction can also
be used to express a possession relation, but with an instrumental noun phrase (denoting the possessor) in
place of the locative noun phrase. The copula may not be omitted in this construction.

(9.80) Totsatna
table.loc
‘There is a book on the table’

halma
book

he
be:ipv

es
one

(9.81) Totsatna
table.loc
‘There are no books on the table’

halma
book

ho
be:ipv:neg

ntse
neg

(9.82) Sakialme

es
one

halma
book

nka
be:ipv:pst

Sakial.inst
‘Sakial had a book’ (lit. ‘There was a book with Sakial’)

9.3.2 Questions

Questions can be divided into four broad classes along two dimensions: yes/no questions versus content
questions (also known as wh questions), and direct questions versus indirect questions. In a direct
yes/no question, such as ‘Are the children playing?’, the speaker presents a complete proposition and solicits
conﬁrmation or denial from the addressee.
In a direct content question, such as ‘Who is playing?’, the
speaker presents an incomplete proposition and asks for the addressee to complete it. Indirect yes/no and
content questions function as the complements of predicates with meanings like ‘ask’ and ‘wonder’ (e.g., ‘I
wonder if/whether the children are playing’, ‘I wonder who is playing’). In this section I summarize how
these di↵erent types of questions are formed in Okuna.

Direct yes/no questions

To form a direct yes/no question, the unstressed particle ne (glossed qu) is usually added to a main clause.
This particle immediately follows the verb. (Other question particles can be used in place of ne under certain
circumstances; these are discussed in
8.2.2.) As the examples below show, the word order in a direct yes/no
question is the same as in the corresponding statement. Note that direct yes/no questions are pronounced
with a high pitch on the syllable bearing sentence-level stress, followed by a drop to a mid-level or slightly
rising pitch extending to the end of the sentence (statements, by contrast, end in a falling pitch contour).

(9.83) Lhatima

hakatlyit
laugh.pv.pl

children.erg
‘The children laughed’

(9.84) Lhatima

hakatlyit
laugh.pv.pl

ne?
qu

children.erg
‘Did the children laugh?’

When ne comes after a verb ending in a vowel, it undergoes contraction with the verb and surfaces as the
bound element -n. This is illustrated in (9.86) and (9.88) below. In addition, certain tense/aspect/mood
endings take di↵erent forms, glossed int(errogative), when they occur in a yes/no question. The non-past
imperfective ending -a becomes -i, as shown in (9.88); while the past imperfective endings -anka and -unka
become -anki and -unki, respectively (all other endings, including perfective -yi, remain the same in yes/no
questions). Note that attaching -n to the verb does not a↵ect stress assignment (see
if the verb is
stressed on the penultimate syllable without -n, then penultimate stress is retained when -n is added. In
such cases, the stressed vowel is marked with a diacritic, as shown in (9.88).

3.4):

9.3. SPECIAL CLAUSE TYPES

239

(9.85) Moihama

elohka
yesterday

kihoin
letter.dat

girl.erg
‘The girl wrote the letter yesterday’

siehpyi
write.pv

(9.86) Moihama

elohka
yesterday

kihoin
letter.dat

girl.erg
‘Did the girl write the letter yesterday?’

siehpyin?
write.pv.qu

(9.87) Sakialma

hutai
basket.dat

itapa
prg.weave.ipv

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial is weaving a basket’

(9.88) Sakialma

hutai
basket.dat

it`apin?
prg.weave.ipv:int.qu

Sakial.erg
‘Is Sakial weaving a basket?’

As in non-questions, word order in questions is sensitive to discourse structure. If a particular constituent
in the clause is the focus of the questioning, that constituent will generally appear immediately before
the verb, following constituents denoting information which the speaker takes for granted. Compare the
examples below, which di↵er in the order of elements preceding the verb: (9.89) might be used if the speaker
presupposes that Elim sent the letter, and wants to know whether it happened yesterday as opposed to some
other day; (9.90) might be used if the speaker presupposes that Elim sent something yesterday, and wants
to know if it was the letter; and (9.91) might be used if the speaker presupposes that someone sent the letter
yesterday, and wants to know if it was Elim.

(9.89) Elimma

kihune
letter.nom

elohka
yesterday

lastyin?
send.pv.qu

Elim.erg
‘Did Elim send the letter yesterday?’

(9.90) Elimma

elohka
yesterday

kihune
letter.nom

Elim.erg
‘Did Elim send the letter yesterday?’

lastyin?
send.pv.qu

(9.91) Kihune

elohka
yesterday

Elimma
Elim.erg

lastyin?
send.pv.qu

letter.nom
‘Was it Elim who sent the letter yesterday?’

Direct content questions

Direct content questions are formed in the same way as direct yes/no questions, using the question particle
ne (or -n). Here, however, the preverbal focus position is occupied by an indeﬁnite correlative such as m`a
‘what’, mi`o ‘who’, or emi ‘when’ (cf.
6.7.1), or by a larger noun phrase containing an indeﬁnite correlative.
Okuna content questions di↵er in this respect from their English counterparts, where the wh-phrase normally
moves to the front of the sentence. Compare the yes/no questions in (9.89)–(9.91) above with the related
content questions below:

(9.92) Elimma

kihune
letter.nom
Elim.erg
‘When did Elim send the letter?’

emi
when

lastyin?
send.pv.qu

(9.93) Elimma

m`a
elohka
what:nom
yesterday
Elim.erg
‘What did Elim send yesterday?’

lastyin?
send.pv.qu

240

CHAPTER 9. CLAUSE STRUCTURE

(9.94) Kihune

miohma
letter.nom
who.erg
‘Who sent the letter yesterday?’

elohka
yesterday

lastyin?
send.pv.qu

Note that because indeﬁnite correlatives can be used either as interrogatives (‘who’) or as simple indeﬁnite
quantiﬁers (‘someone/anyone’), the above sentences are potentially ambiguous between a content question
reading and a yes/no question reading. For example, given the proper context, (9.94) can mean ‘Did someone
send the letter yesterday?’. In actual practice, these readings can usually be distinguished by intonation:
when (9.94) is a yes/no question, lastyin is pronounced with a level or slightly rising pitch on the second
syllable; and when it is a content question, lastyin is pronounced with a falling pitch on the second syllable.
In other cases, a content question and the corresponding yes/no question are distinguished not only by
intonation, but by the inﬂectional form of the verb. As noted above, and in
7.4, when the verb takes one
of the imperfective endings -a, -anka, or -unka, the ﬁnal a changes to i in yes/no questions, but remains a
in content questions. Compare:

(9.95) Motlama

miohme
who.inst

itsamp`ankan?
prg.talk.ipv:pst.qu

Motla.erg
‘Who was Motla talking to?’ (content question)

(9.96) Motlama

miohme
who.inst

itsamp`ankin?
prg.talk.ipv:pst.qu

Motla.erg
‘Was Motla talking to someone/anyone?’ (yes/no question)

Additional examples of content questions are given below. In these examples the indeﬁnite correlative is
part of a larger interrogative phrase: yhkuna mi`o ‘which guest(s)’, mekul miante ‘how many bowls’, mioha
kotu ‘whose house’, and huta m`a ‘which basket’.

(9.97) Kima
12erg
‘Which guest(s) are we still waiting for?’

mioha
which.all

yhkuna
guest

eima
still

ipeutat
prg.wait.ipv.pl

ne?
qu

(9.98) Na

mekul
bowl

miante
how:many:nom

ketyit
bring:here.pv.pl

ne?
qu

3aerg
‘How many bowls did they bring?’

(9.99) Mioha

kot`o
house.nom

eu`olhan?
be:over:there.ipv.qu

who.all
‘Whose house is over there?’

(9.100) Ma

kepehotse
acorn.nom

huta
basket

mai
what.dat

elhihp`auan?
put:in.intended.ipv.npl.qu

1serg
‘Which basket am I supposed to put the acorns in?’

When the indeﬁnite correlative is embedded inside a dependent clause (see
10.2.1), that dependent clause
precedes the verb in the main clause. This is in contrast to the usual order, where dependent clauses are
postposed to the end of the sentence (

9.2.3). Compare the examples below:

(9.101) Sakialna

§
Elimma
Elim.erg
Sakial.loc
‘Sakial thinks that Elim gave the knife to (his) daughter’

kamale
knife.nom

opa
think.ipv

napei
daughter.dat

auokti`a
pv.give.dep.nom

(9.102) Elimma

kamale
knife.nom

mioi
who.dat

auokti`a
pv.give.dep.nom

`opan
think.ipv.qu

Elim.erg
‘Who does Sakial think that Elim gave the knife to?’

Sakialna?
Sakial.loc

9.3. SPECIAL CLAUSE TYPES

241

Note that when the addressee is the topic of a yes/no or content question, the second person clitic pronoun
may be omitted. However, if the topic has a plural referent and would trigger plural agreement, the verb
carries the appropriate agreement marking (
§

7.2) even when the pronoun is dropped, as shown in (9.105).

(9.103) Kihune

letter.nom

elohka
yesterday

lastyin?
send.pv.qu

‘Did you (sg) send the letter yesterday?’

(9.104) Paloi

village.dat

emi
when

ni`oktan?
return.ipv.qu

‘When will you (sg) return to the village?’

(9.105) Paloi

village.dat

emi
when

nioktat
return.ipv.pl

ne?
qu

‘When will you (pl) return to the village?’

Indirect questions

10.2),
Indirect questions in Okuna take the form of a clause headed by a verb in the dependent form (
§
followed by the element aun (here glossed ‘if’; see
10.2.3). To form an indirect yes/no question, the verb
takes the dependent subjunctive form. Here aun corresponds to ‘if’ or ‘whether’ in English. Verbs which
select indirect questions as complements include nesapa ‘ask’, untsapa ‘wonder’, and iona ‘know’. As the
following examples show, the indirect question is normally postposed to the right of the selecting verb.

(9.106) Ma

1serg

untsapa
wonder.ipv

elohfoi
tomorrow

s`u
rain

kahpi
fall.dep:sbj

aun
if

‘I wonder if/whether it will rain tomorrow’

(9.107) Ma

1serg

Sakiail
Sakial.dat

nesapyi
ask.pv

Motlama
Motla.erg

kihoin
letter.dat

uta
already

usiehpi
pf.write.dep:sbj

aun
if

‘I asked Sakial if/whether Motla had written the letter yet’

Aun may also form indirect content questions by combining with a dependent clause containing an indeﬁnite
correlative, as illustrated below. Notice that in indirect content questions, aun does not correspond directly
to any element in the English translation. When the content question refers to an actual event or state of
a↵airs, the verb is in the dependent indicative form rather than the dependent subjunctive:

(9.108) Ma

untsapa
wonder.ipv

Motlama
Motla.erg
1serg
‘I wonder what Motla is writing’

mai
what.dat

isiehpa
prg.write.dep

aun
if

(9.109) Ma

Sakiail
Sakial.dat

nesapyi
ask.pv

Motlama
Motla.erg

kihoin
letter.dat

emi
when

asiehpa
pv.write.dep

aun
if

1serg
‘I asked Sakial when Motla wrote the letter’

Additional examples are given below. Sentence (9.110) shows a direct yes/no question which in turn contains
an indirect content question. In (9.112), the verb in the indirect question is negated, and appears in the
negative form of the dependent indicative, marked with the sux -i.

(9.110) Inkuo

3aerg.2rdat

etsyit
say.pv.pl

ne
qu

ih`a
woman.nom

miei
where.dat

ita
prg.go.dep

aun?
if

‘Did they tell you where the woman is/was going?’

242

CHAPTER 9. CLAUSE STRUCTURE

inat
(9.111) Iman
1sloc
those:erg
‘I don’t know why those children are crying’

miono
neg.know.ipv:neg

kimi
child

ymiohpa
why

ihisata
prg.cry.dep.pl

aun
if

(9.112) Na

nesapyit
ask.pv.pl

ma
3aerg
1serg
‘They asked why I hadn’t ﬁxed the fence yet’

ymiohpa
why

mutoi
fence.dat

ntsuta
not:yet

utoku
pf.repair.dep:neg

aun
if

When the indirect content question refers to a hypothetical event or state of a↵airs, the verb appears in
the dependent subjunctive, as in (9.113). (This sentence is actually ambiguous: because the verb is in the
dependent subjunctive, it is also possible to interpret it as an indirect yes/no question with the correlative
m`a functioning as an indeﬁnite element: ‘It’s not clear if there’s anything to be done’.)

(9.113) Ntsilo

neg.clear.ipv:neg

m`a
what

suki
do.dep:sbj

aun
if

‘It’s not clear what to do’ or ‘It’s not clear what one would/should do’

Note that indirect questions pattern like noun phrases, insofar as aun can take a case ending. In the examples
below, for instance, aun takes the allative case ending -a. The form auna, meaning roughly ‘about’ or ‘about
whether’, is used with verbs of thinking and saying to indicate a question which is being debated:

(9.114) Sa

ikyitsampauot
prg.talk:about.act.ipv.recip.pl

13erg
‘We’re talking about whether to go hunting tomorrow’

elohfoi
tomorrow

lakieta
hunt.dep:sbj.pl

auna
if.all

(9.115) Na

sokastyiot
argue.pv.recip.pl

ineu
3apabl

mi`o
who

3aerg
‘They argued about which of them was stronger’

anasohta
rel.strong.comp.dep

auna
if.all

Finally, note the demonstrative element tiaun ‘if so, if that’. This element forms indirect questions from
which everything except a focused constituent has been elided. Often the focused constituent is an indeﬁnite
correlative, as in (9.117)–(9.119), in which case tiaun forms what is called a sluicing construction.

(9.116) Na

3aerg

etsyi
say.pv

no
3ardat

mi`o
who:nom

utsoku`a;
pf.meet.dep.nom

miono
neg.know.ipv:neg

Elime
Elim.nom

tiaun
if:that

‘She said that she just met someone; (I) don’t know if (it was) Elim’

(9.117) Sakiail

Sakial.dat

laisne
just

mi`o
who:nom

utsokua,
pf.meet.ipv

le
but

miono
neg.know.ipv:neg

mi`o
who:nom

tiaun
if:that

‘Sakial just met someone, but (I) don’t know who’

(9.118) Im`e

1sall

halm`a
book.nom

laisne
just

uskoha,
pf.steal.ipv

le
but

miono
neg.know.ipv:neg

miohma
who.erg

tiaun
if:that

‘My book was just stolen, but (I) don’t know by whom’ or ‘… but I don’t know who did it’

(9.119) Sakialna

iohiyna
prg.sad.ipv

le,
it:seems,

le
but

miono
neg.know.ipv:neg

ymiohpa
why

tiaun
if:that

Sakial.loc
‘Sakial seems to be sad, but I don’t know why’

9.3. SPECIAL CLAUSE TYPES

9.3.3 Imperatives

243

Imperative sentences, which express commands or wishes, are formed with the verb in the non-past imperfect
form, discussed in
7.4.2. Examples of positive and negative imperatives are given below. Since the non-past
imperfect is also used to express future tense, we might paraphrase these examples more literally as ‘You
will wash your hands’ and ‘You will not touch the pot’.

(9.120) Ko

2erg

temie
hands

paua!
wash.ipv

‘Wash (your) hands!’

(9.121) Ko

2erg

pankotoi
cooking:pot.dat

ntse
neg

silh
ﬁnger

teuno,
put.ipv:neg

eima
still

ikaila
prg.hot.ipv

ha!
in:fact

‘Don’t touch the pot, (it’s) still hot!’

Notice that both of these examples, the imperative clause includes an overt second person clitic pronoun.
As in English, the second person argument of an imperative clause can be omitted, as in (9.122) below.
However, omission of this argument is less common in Okuna than it is in English. In particular, the second
person argument is typically overt when it is part of a clitic cluster, as in (9.123), and necessarily overt when
it is being focussed, as in (9.124). In the latter case it takes the form of a full (non-clitic) pronoun.

(9.122) Temie
hands

paua!
wash.ipv

‘Wash (your) hands!’

(9.123) Iko

amai
1sdat
3inom.2erg
‘You give it to me!’

uktia!
give.ipv

(9.124) Hi

3inom

ik`o
2serg

suka!
do.ipv

‘You do it!’ (or ‘It’s you who must do it!’)

Note that even when the second person pronoun is omitted in an imperative, it still triggers number agreement
as necessary. When the second person argument is plural, the verb carries the appropriate agreement sux
even when the pronoun is left out. For instance, the examples above would all be used when addressing a
single individual, whereas (9.125) and (9.126) below would be used when addressing two or more individuals.
Here the verb takes the plural topic agreement sux -t regardless of whether ko is included as an overt topic
or not.

(9.125) Ko

2erg

temie
hands

pauat!
wash.ipv.pl

‘You wash (your (pl)) hands!’

(9.126) Temie
hands

pauat!
wash.ipv.pl

‘Wash (your (pl)) hands!’

Imperative sentences are often marked as such by adding the emphatic particle na or nem after the verb. Na
(glossed imp) is used when the speaker is issuing a command or expressing a strong wish that a particular
event come about, while nem is used when the speaker is suggesting a possible course of action. The contrast
is illustrated below:

244

(9.127) Losak

anohte
more

teunaua
put.ipv.npl

ﬁrewood
‘Put more wood on the ﬁre!’

CHAPTER 9. CLAUSE STRUCTURE

na
imp

hauait
ﬁre.dat

(9.128) Losak

ﬁrewood

anohte
more

teunaua
put.ipv.npl

nem
why:not

hauait
ﬁre.dat

‘Why don’t (you) put more wood on the ﬁre?’

The particle iak occurs in place of na in negative commands:

(9.129) Ku

mankilho
neg.leave.ipv:neg

iak
neg:imp

2nom
‘Don’t leave!’

Imperatives formed with na, iak, or nem are regarded as informal, and sound rather brusque when addressed
to someone with whom one is unfamiliar, or to whom one is expected to show respect or deference. To express
a polite command or request, the verb-like element eskuke ‘please’ is used in place of an emphatic particle.2
Eskuke immediately follows the main verb, which appears in the converb form (suxed with -e). When the
main verb takes one or more plural core arguments, the number agreement suxes attach not to the verb
itself, but to eskuke (which takes the form eskuki- before a consonant: e.g., eskuke + -ma ‘dpl’ > eskukima).

(9.130) Temie
hands

paue
wash.cv

eskuke
please

‘Please wash (your) hands’

(9.131) Temie
hands

paue
wash.cv

eskukit
please.pl

‘Please wash (your (pl)) hands’

(9.132) Huiloie

window.nom

lime
open.cv

eskukeua
please.npl

‘Please open the windows’ (addressed to one person)

(9.133) Huiloie

window.nom

lime
open.cv

eskukeuat
please.npl.pl

‘Please open the windows’ (addressed to two or more people)

To form polite prohibitives, eskuke combines with a verb in the negative participial form, suxed with -u:

(9.134) Pankotoi

ntse
neg

silh
ﬁnger

teunu
put.pt:neg

eskuke
please

cooking:pot.dat
‘Please don’t touch the pot’

(9.135) Huiloie

malimu
neg.open.pt:neg

eskukeuat
please.npl.pl

window.nom
‘Please don’t the windows’

Note that imperatives in Okuna can have a ﬁrst person or third person topic in place of a second person
topic, in which case it is more or less obligatory that the clause include some overt imperative marking
(either a particle or a form of eskuke). Imperatives with ﬁrst or third person topics are usually translated
with a construction involving ‘let’ or ‘may (it be that)’:

2Eskuke may have originated as a reduced form of eske ukia ‘may (you) perform a request’, or eske uktia ‘may (you) grant

a request’ (eske ‘request’).

9.3. SPECIAL CLAUSE TYPES

245

(9.136) Kim

etat
go.ipv.pl

na!
imp

12nom
‘Let’s go!’

(9.137) Inkue

aleut
help

uktiat
give.ipv.pl

na!
imp

3aerg.2dat
‘Let them help you!’ or ‘May it be that they’ll help you!’

(9.138) Kimima

ntse
baby.erg
neg
‘Don’t let the baby touch the pot!’

pankotoi
cooking:pot.dat

silh
ﬁnger

teuno
put.ipv:neg

iak!
neg:imp

(9.139) Me

takan
now

nkilhe
1snom
leave.cv
‘Please let me leave now’

eskuke
please

9.3.4 Direct quotation

With verbs of saying such as etsa ‘say, tell’, the propositional content of the saying event (i.e., what is said)
is usually expressed by a dependent clause, functioning as the nominative case-marked argument of the verb
(cf.
10.2.1). Likewise verbs such as nesapa ‘ask’ can take a dependent clause headed by aun ‘if, whether’
§
9.3.2,
(cf.
§

10.2.3) to express the content of the question.

(9.140) Sakialma

aleut
etsyi
Sakial.erg
help
say.pv
‘Sakial said that he needed help’

in`e
3aall

itiuh`a
prg.need.dep.nom

(9.141) Sakialma

Sakial.erg

nesapyi
ask.pv

ikimna
12loc

elohfoi
tomorrow

ahotsin
corn

nalhihpi
plant.intend.dep:sbj

aun
if

‘Sakial asked if we intend(ed) to plant corn tomorrow’

In the examples above, the person uttering the sentence is reporting the content of what Sakial said or asked
(indirect quotation), rather than Sakial’s exact words (direct quotation). To express direct quotation, the
construction illustrated below is used. Here the direct quotation, which takes the form of a main clause,
follows the verb of asking or saying and is introduced by the quotative particle ia (glossed quot):

(9.142) Sakialma

ia,
Sakial.erg
quot
‘Sakial said, “I need help”’

etsyi
say.pv

Im`e
1sall

aleut
help

itiuha
prg.need.ipv

(9.143) Sakialma

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial asked, “Do you intend to plant corn tomorrow?”’

ia,
quot

Ikuna
2ploc

elohfoi
tomorrow

ahotsin
corn

nesapyi
ask.pv

nalh`ıhpin?
plant.intend.ipv:int.qu

In informal speech and writing, the verb of saying or asking may be omitted in this construction, leaving
just the quotative particle preceded by a noun phrase in the ergative case giving the identity of the speaker.

(9.144) Sakialma

Sakial.erg

ia,
quot

Im`e
1sall

aleut
help

itiuha
prg.need.ipv

“‘I need help”, (said) Sakial’

The quotative particle need not be used with a complete sentence, but can also precede any word or phrase
to indicate that it is being cited or quoted rather than used to refer:

246

(9.145) Ma

ia
quot

1serg
‘I said yes’

hi`o
yes

etsyi
say.pv

CHAPTER 9. CLAUSE STRUCTURE

This particle is also used to introduce a proper name in one of the two appositive constructions found in
Okuna. In appositives a proper name (such as Elim) is juxtaposed with a descriptive noun phrase (such as
mo suhpa ‘my brother’) which picks out the same individual. In Okuna the proper name can either precede
or follow the descriptive noun phrase. When the name precedes, there is no special marking: e.g., Elim
mo suhpa ‘my brother Elim’ (lit. ‘Elim my brother’). When the name follows the descriptive noun phrase,
it is introduced by the quotative particle ia: e.g., mo suhpa ia Elim ‘my brother Elim’. Note that in the
former construction, any case marking appears on the ﬁnal word of the descriptive noun phrase; while in
the latter construction the case marker is repeated on both the descriptive noun phrase and the name. For
example, ‘with my brother Elim’ is Elim mo suhpame (with the instrumental ending -me attaching to mo
suhpa) or mo suhpame ia Elimme (with -me attaching to both mo suhpa and Elim). Further examples of
the appositive ia construction include:

(9.146) Mo

kasuhp`a
cousin.nom

ia
quot

Elime
Elim.nom

itskana
prg.arrive.ipv

1srdat
‘My cousin Elim is coming to visit tomorrow’

tsuleia
visit.dep:sbj.all

elohfoi
tomorrow

(9.147) Euolhna

over:there.loc

es
one

koinma
person.erg

ia
quot

Elimma
Elim.erg

tsuhpa
live.ipv

‘Over there lives a man (named) Elim’

(9.148) Takisma

ia
quot

Tenmotlaima
Tenmotlai.erg

minta
meaning

m`a
what

`ekpan?
carry.ipv.qu

name.erg
‘What does the name ‘Tenmotlai’ mean?’
lit. ‘What meaning does the name ‘Tenmotlai’ carry?’

9.4 Valence

In this section I discuss clause structure with respect to alternations in valence—that is, in the number
9.4.1 I discuss valence reduction and counterparts to the English
of overt core arguments in a clause. In
9.4.4 I discuss reﬂexive
passive construction. In
and reciprocal clauses, respectively.

9.4.2 I discuss causative constructions. And in

9.4.3 and

9.4.1 Decreasing valence: Equivalents of the passive

The passive construction in English and other languages fulﬁlls various functions. It enables the patient
noun phrase to be ‘foregrounded’ (made more salient), and the agent noun phrase to be ‘backgrounded’, or
even be omitted from the clause if its referent is unknown or unimportant. In some cases, passivization may
also express stativity, emphasizing the complete(d)ness of the action.

Okuna does not have a passive construction, so the pragmatic e↵ects of passivization must be achieved
in other ways. For example, foregrounding of the patient and backgrounding of the agent may be achieved
simply by making the patient into the topic of the clause (so long as it is deﬁnite), in which case it will
precede the agent noun phrase. Compare the following examples. In (9.149) the agent is the topic, while in
(9.150) the patient is the topic. The former sentence would be used in a discourse context where the hunter
is being discussed, while the latter would be used if the deer were the focus of attention. To highlight the
fact that the patient is more ‘topical’ than the agent in (9.150), we may choose to translate this sentence
using an English passive construction, even though it di↵ers from (9.149) only in word order.

9.4. VALENCE

247

(9.149) Lakiakama
hunter.erg
‘The hunter killed the deer’

hastein
deer.dat

tahyi
kill.pv

(9.150) Hastein

lakiakama
deer.dat
hunter.erg
‘The deer was killed by the hunter’

tahyi
kill.pv

Suppression of the agent is achieved simply by dropping the ergative-marked noun phrase from the sentence,
as in (9.151). No special passive morphology is required here. That the deer is the patient of the action is
shown by the fact that hastin takes dative case marking (if the deer had been doing the killing, rather than
being killed, it would have appeared in the ergative case: hastinma).

(9.151) Hastein

tahyi
kill.pv

deer.dat
‘The deer was killed’ or ‘Someone killed the deer’

Below are additional examples illustrating the optionality of ergative arguments. Notice that when the
ergative argument is absent, the sentence is often ambiguous between a passive-like interpretation, where
the action has an implicit agent (‘The door was closed’), and a middle-like interpretation, where there is no
agent at all and the event is viewed as spontaneous (‘The door closed’).

(9.152) Mikalma
boy.erg
‘The boy closed the door’

hitole
door.nom

mukyi
close.pv

(9.153) Hitole

mikalma
boy.erg
door.nom
‘The door was closed by the boy’

mukyi
close.pv

(9.154) Hitole

mukyi
close.pv

door.nom
‘The door (was) closed’

(9.155) Hauatma

kiospyi
lotsain
burn.pv
wood.dat
ﬁre.erg
‘The ﬁre burned up the wood’

(9.156) Lotsain

hauatma
wood.dat
ﬁre.erg
‘The wood burned up in the ﬁre’

kiospyi
burn.pv

(9.157) Lotsain

kiospyi
burn.pv

wood.dat
‘The wood (was) burned up’

Suppression of the ergative argument is just a special case of a more general pattern in Okuna. In principle,
any core argument can be omitted from a clause if its referent is unknown or unimportant to the discourse.
Consider the pairs of sentences below, for example. In the second sentence of each pair, the non-ergative
argument is left out, yielding the equivalent of an absolute or antipassive construction in other languages.
Again, note that the form of the verb does not change when an argument is omitted.

(9.158) Na

kot`o
house.nom
3aerg
‘They are cleaning the house’

ieutat
prg.clean.tinc.ipv.pl

248

(9.159) Na

ieutat
prg.clean.tinc.ipv.pl

3aerg
‘They are cleaning’

(9.160) Motlaua

ikema
dog.erg

pyie
child.dat

Motla.all
‘Motla’s dog bit the child’

CHAPTER 9. CLAUSE STRUCTURE

kilhtyi
bite.pv

(9.161) Motlaua

ikema
dog.erg

kilhtyi
bite.pv

Motla.all
‘Motla’s dog bit (someone or other)’

It is even possible, in the appropriate context, to omit all core arguments from the clause, leaving just the
verb. For example, coming across a patch of scorched earth in a forest clearing, one might remark:

(9.162) Ekan

kiospyi
burn.pv

le
apparently

here:loc
‘Someone must have burned something here’
or ‘Something must have burned here’

Perhaps the closest structural equivalent to a passive is the resultative (res) construction discussed in
7.5.1.
As the examples below illustrate, resultative morphology is added to a Class II or III verb denoting an action
to derive a Class I verb expressing the state resulting from that action. In the process, the verb’s ergative
argument (if any) is suppressed, while the dative argument (if any) loses its status as a delimiter and appears
instead in the locative or allative case:

(9.163) Kalma

kotoi
house.dat
man.erg
‘The men are building the house’

itiespat
prg.build.ipv.pl

(9.164) Kotuna

tieispa
build:res.ipv

house.loc
‘The house is built/ﬁnished’

However, even the resultative construction is not fully comparable to the English passive. See
some discussion on this point.

7.5.1 for

9.4.2 Increasing valence: Causative constructions

A causative construction is any construction in which an external actor participant directly or indirectly
brings about an event: e.g., ‘Sakial made Elim write the letter’ is a causative proposition, where ‘Sakial’
is the external actor (or causer) who brings about the writing event—in this case by compelling a more
immediate actor (‘Elim’, the causee) to carry out the action. Below I discuss some of the ways of expressing
causation in Okuna.

Monoclausal causatives

To begin with, any Class III verb which normally describes a spontaneous or self-directed action may be
‘causativized’ simply by adding an actor argument—a noun phrase marked with ergative case—without
the need for any special causative marking. The participant denoted by the actor argument is usually
understood to be acting directly on the participant denoted by the theme/delimiter argument—that is,
physically manipulating it so as to cause it to undergo a change of state or location. Compare the following
examples, featuring the Class III verb uihta. Although this verb normally expresses a self-directed action
(‘sit down’), it can also express an externally-caused action (‘set down’) when an actor argument is included
in the clause:

9.4. VALENCE

249

(9.165) Pyie

tsoil
child.nom
bed.dat
‘The child sat down on the bed’

uihtyi
sit:down.pv

(9.166) Amema

pyie
child.nom

tsoil
bed.dat

uihtyi
sit:down.pv

mother.erg
‘The mother set the child down on the bed’

Compare also the following examples, featuring the Class III verb tiausa ‘fall/drop’:

(9.167) Palaht`a

tiausyi
fall.pv

tree.nom
‘The tree fell’

(9.168) Kalma

palaht`a
tree.nom

tiausyit
fall.pv.pl

man.erg
‘The men felled the tree’

Certain Class II verbs show a somewhat di↵erent valence alternation. These include kiompa, illustrated
below, which means ‘run, move quickly’ when used intransitively and ‘chase’ (i.e., cause to move quickly)
when used transitively. Here, however, the transitive variant is formed by adding a nominative-marked theme
argument denoting a causee, rather than an ergative-marked actor argument denoting a causer.

(9.169) Ikema

ikiompa
prg.run.ipv

dog.erg
‘The dog is running’

(9.170) Ikema

sekite
rat.nom

ikiompa
prg.run.ipv

dog.erg
‘The dog is chasing a rat’

Class I verbs, which are generally stative, cannot take an actor argument at all. However, a Class I verb
can be converted into a Class II verb by adding the atelic inchoative sux -im or the telic inchoative sux
-(e)t (e.g., nuha ‘be cold’ > enuhima ‘make/get colder, cool down’, nuhta ‘make/get cold’; cf.
7.5.3). These
derived verbs are capable of taking an ergative-marked actor argument, as in (9.173), in which case they
denote an externally-caused change of state.

(9.171) Mupatl`e

ihalhkat
prg.dry.ipv.pl

clothes.nom
‘The clothes are dry’

(9.172) Mupatl`e

halhketyit
dry.tinc.pv.pl

clothes.nom
‘The clothes became dry’ or ‘The clothes dried’

(9.173) Na

3aerg

mupatl`e
clothes.nom

halhketyia
dry.tinc.pv.npl

‘He dried the clothes’ (i.e., caused the clothes to become dry)

Class I verbs denoting an emotion or physical sensation, such as ohiyna ‘be sad’, can be converted into Class
II verbs using the active sux -amp (
7.5.2). Like verbs derived with -im or -(e)t, these are capable of
§
taking an actor argument denoting the causer of the emotion/sensation.

250

(9.174) Motlana

iohyina
prg.sad.ipv

Motla.loc
‘Motla is sad’

CHAPTER 9. CLAUSE STRUCTURE

(9.175) Sliahte

it`a
that:erg

Motlana
Motla.loc

ohyinampa
sad.act.ipv

story
‘That story saddens Motla’ or ‘That story makes Motla sad’

For verbs denoting an emotion or sensation, the -im and -(e)t causatives tend to imply that the actor is
doing something (consciously or unconsciously) to bring about an emotional reaction in the experiencer,
whereas the -amp causative is used when some characteristic of the actor triggers the emotion, without the
actor necessarily having to do anything. For example, ‘X saddens Y, X makes Y sad’ can be expressed using
ohiynta, euohiynima, or ohiynampa, depending on the intended sense: ohiynta means ‘X does something to
make Y sad’ and euohiynima means ‘X does something to increase Y’s level of sadness’, whereas ohyinampa
has the sense of ‘X inspires sadness in Y’.

Biclausal causatives

A verb cannot have more than one actor argument, and hence a verb cannot take more than one noun phrase
marked for ergative case. Consider clauses headed by a Class II or III verb and containing an ergative actor,
such as (9.176) and (9.177) :

(9.176) Kimima

ailyi
cry.pv

baby.erg
‘The baby cried’

(9.177) Sakialma

kihoin
Sakial.erg
letter.dat
‘Sakial wrote the letter’

siehpyi
write.pv

Sentences like these cannot be causativized simply by adding another ergative noun phrase to express the
causer. Suppose we wanted to form a sentence meaning ‘A loud noise caused the baby to cry’: we could
not do this by adding the ergative noun phrase lhonkoma ‘noise’ to (9.176). *Lhonkoma kimima ailyi is no
more grammatical in Okuna than ‘The noise cried the baby’ is in English: aila ‘cry’ cannot combine directly
with a causer because its actor argument function has already been ﬁlled by kimi ‘baby’. The mono-clausal
causative construction is unavailable for such verbs.

In order to express an externally-caused action, the Class II/III verb is placed in the dependent indicative
form, and the clause containing that verb (marked for nominative case) is selected as the theme argument
of a causative verb such as lohka, which takes the causer as its ergative argument. This construction, which
I will refer to as the biclausal causative construction, is illustrated in (9.178) and (9.179):

(9.178) Lhonkoma

loud:noise.erg

lohkyi
cause.pv

kimima
baby.erg

ail`a
cry.dep.nom

‘A loud noise made the baby cry’ (more lit. ‘caused the baby[’s] crying’)

(9.179) Ma

lohkyi
cause.pv

Sakialma
Sakial.erg

kihoin
letter.dat

siehp`a
write.dep.nom

1serg
‘I made Sakial write the letter’

The biclausal causative construction is available quite generally for expressing external causation of an event.
In cases where one has the option of using the biclausal causative construction or simply adding an ergative
argument to a clause which does not already have one, the choice between the two depends on how directly
the causer is acting on the causee. Consider the examples below, featuring the verb nkilha ‘leave, go away’.

9.4. VALENCE

251

Both the mono-clausal causative in (9.181) and the biclausal causative in (9.182) describe a situation where
Sakial caused the child to leave. In (9.181), however, it is understood that Sakial acted directly on the child
to bring about the event, by carrying or leading the child away. In (9.182), by contrast, it is more likely that
Sakial acted indirectly—e.g., ordering or persuading the child to leave, tricking the child into leaving, etc.

(9.180) Pyie

nkilhyi
leave.pv

child.nom
‘The child went away’

(9.181) Sakialma

nkilhyi
Sakial.erg
leave.pv
‘Sakial took/led the child away’

pyie
child.nom

(9.182) Sakialma

lohkyi
cause.pv

pyie
child.nom

nkilh`a
leave.dep.nom

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial made the child leave’ or ‘Sakial got the child to leave’

Note that if the noun phrase denoting the causee is in the nominative or dative case, as in (9.182) above, the
verb denoting the caused event may also appear in the converb form, immediately preceding the causative
verb (see
10.4 on the converb construction). Hence, (9.183) below is acceptable as an alternative to (9.182).
Crucially, this converb construction is not available for causatives like (9.178) or (9.179), where the causee
is in the ergative case.

(9.183) Sakialma

pyie
child.nom

nkilhe
leave.cv

lohkyi
cause.pv

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial made the child leave’ or ‘Sakial got the child to leave’

In the examples of the biclausal construction seen so far, the causee functions as an argument of the dependent
verb.
It is also possible for the causee to function as the dative-marked delimiter argument of lohka, as
illustrated by the examples below (causative verbs like lohka belong to Class III). When the causee is an
argument of the causative verb, its function within the dependent clause is usually expressed by a missing
argument.

(9.184) Ma

Sakiail
Sakial.dat

lohkyi
cause.pv

1serg
‘I made Sakial write the letter’

kihoin
letter.dat

siehp`a
write.dep.nom

(9.185) Sakialma

pyie
child.dat

lohkyima
cause.pv.dpl

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial made the children leave’

(9.186) Kimei

lhonkoma
loud:noise.erg

lohkyi
cause.pv

baby.dat
‘A loud noise made the baby cry’

nkilhat`a
leave.dep.pl.nom

ail`a
cry.dep.nom

(9.187) No

nkilhe
3ardat
leave.cv
‘They were made to leave’

lohkyit
cause.pv.pl

Lohka is a semantically neutral causative verb, roughly equivalent to ‘make’ or ‘cause’ in English. Other
causative verbs which can occur in the biclausal construction discussed above include teuohka and somita:
teuohka is similar to lohka, but connotes a degree of coercion on the part of the causer, making it closer to
English ‘force’ or ‘compel’; while somita is used when the causer verbally inﬂuences the causee to act, and
thus corresponds to ‘persuade’ or ‘convince’ (the latter requires a dependent subjunctive complement when
used as a causative verb).

252

(9.188) Ma

Sakiail
Sakial.dat

teuohkyi
force.pv

1serg
‘I forced Sakial to write the letter’

kihoin
letter.dat

CHAPTER 9. CLAUSE STRUCTURE

siehp`a
write.dep.nom

(9.189) Ma

Sakiail
Sakial.dat

somityi
convince.pv

1serg
‘I convinced Sakial to write the letter’

kihoin
letter.dat

siehp`e
write.dep:sbj.nom

Another pair of verbs which occur in causative constructions are mehka and tsuhka. These verbs take a
nominative argument denoting an event and an optional dative argument denoting the experiencer of that
event. Normally they are used as equivalents of English ‘happen/occur’ or ‘take place’, as in the examples
below. Note that mehka is neutral, while tsuhka is used when the event which happens is unfortunate or
unpleasant, and can sometimes be translated ‘go wrong’.

(9.190) Esimoitatse

naming:ceremony.nom
‘The naming ceremony will take place tomorrow’

elohfoi
tomorrow

mehka
happen.ipv

(9.191) Kuo

2rdat

m`a
what:nom

mehkyin?
happen.pv.qu

‘What happened to you?’ (neutral)

(9.192) Kuo

2rdat

m`a
what:nom

tsuhkyin?
happen:badly.pv.qu

‘What happened to you?’ (negative) or ‘What’s wrong?’

(9.193) Mo

1srdat

tsuhkyi
happen:badly.pv

naua
palm

han`a
cut.dep.nom

‘I happened to cut my hand’ (lit. ‘[My] hand being cut happened to me’)

Mehka and tsuhka can take an actor argument as well as a theme and a delimiter, in which case they
function as causative verbs. Mehka, when used in place of lohka, usually emphasizes that the causer is acting
indirectly and/or unintentionally to bring about the event, and corresponds roughly to English ‘have’:

(9.194) Ma

1serg

Sakiail
Sakial.dat

mehkyi
happen.pv

kihoin
letter.dat

siehp`a
write.dep.nom

‘I had Sakial write the letter’ (more lit. ‘I made writing the letter happen to Sakial’)

(9.195) Me

Elimma
Elim.erg

nehtyi,
startle.pv

elh
and

mo
1srdat

it`a
that:erg

tsuhkyi
happen:badly.pv

naua
palm

han`a
cut.dep.nom

1snom
‘Elim startled me, and that’s what caused me to cut my hand’

Note ﬁnally that the theme argument of a causative verb need not be a dependent clause, but can be a
regular noun phrase or pronoun denoting an action, event, or oce:

(9.196) Ko

Sakiail
Sakial.dat

ymiohpa
why

2erg
‘Why did you make Sakial do that?’

tan
that:nom

lohkyin?
cause.pv.qu

(9.197) Sa

Sakiail
13erg
Sakial.dat
‘We made Sakial our chief’

talo
chief

lohkyit
make.pv.pl

9.4. VALENCE

9.4.3 The reﬂexive construction

253

Reﬂexive clauses are formed using the noun tsan, glossed ‘self’ in the examples below. Tsan normally occurs
immediately before the verb, replacing one of the verb’s arguments:

(9.198) Mikalma
boy.erg
‘The boy hit the dog’

ikei
dog.dat

kahtyi
hit.pv

(9.199) Mikalma
boy.erg
‘The boy hit himself’

tsan
self

kahtyi
hit.pv

Tsan is the functional counterpart of a reﬂexive pronoun (‘myself’, ‘yourself’, ‘themselves’, etc.). Unlike the
English reﬂexive pronouns, however, tsan takes the same form regardless of the person and number of its
antecedent:

ma tsan kahtyi
ko tsan kahtyi
na tsan kahtyi

‘I hit myself’
‘you hit yourself’
‘s/he hit him/herself’

sa tsan kahtyit
ko tsan kahtyit
na tsan kahtyit

‘we hit ourselves’
‘you hit yourselves’
‘they hit themselves’

4.6). Being unmarked, tsan does
When used as a reﬂexive element, tsan is normally unmarked for case (see
7.2), even when its antecedent is plural. Compare the examples
not trigger number agreement on the verb (
§
below: In the ﬁrst sentence, the dative-marked topic argument (‘women’) and the nominative argument
(‘children’) are both plural, and so the verb carries both the plural topic sux -t and the nominative plural
sux -ua. In the second sentence, however, tsan stands in for the nominative argument; here, -ua is absent
and the verb carries only plural topic agreement:

(9.200) Ihai

pyie
child.nom

kilauat
see.ipv.npl.pl

woman.dat
‘The women see the children’

(9.201) Ihai

tsan
self

kilat
see.ipv.pl

woman.nom
‘The women see themselves’

The reﬂexive construction is actually a variant of the body part construction discussed in
4.6.3. When a
clause denotes an event where the actor acts on a part of his/her own body, the noun which denotes the
body part appears in its ‘bare’ form, unmarked for case and without a possessive pronoun, as with temie
‘hands’ in (9.202) below. Tsan patterns with body part terms in this respect (9.203). In fact, tsan can be
used to mean ‘body’, so an alternate translation for (9.203) would be ‘The children washed (their) bodies’.3

(9.202) Pyima

temie
hands

pauyit
wash.pv.pl

child.erg
‘The children washed their hands’

(9.203) Pyima

tsan
self

pauyit
wash.pv.pl

child.erg
‘The children washed themselves’

The distribution and function of tsan depend on the class to which the verb belongs. I consider the various
possibilities below.

3Tsan also means ‘thing, object, entity’. To express ‘body’, the more usual word is koitsan (for the body of a person) or

lino (for the body of an animal, vessel, etc.).

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CHAPTER 9. CLAUSE STRUCTURE

Reﬂexive clauses with Class I verbs

Verbs belonging to Class I may take tsan as an argument if they express a relationship between an experiencer
(marked for one of the oblique cases) and a theme argument (marked for nominative case). When a verb of
this type is reﬂexivized, tsan replaces the nominative noun phrase, while the oblique noun phrase names the
individual who bears the relationship to him/herself. Compare:

(9.204) Elima

Elim.all

Sakiale
Sakial.nom

huata
like.ipv

‘Elim likes Sakial’ (lit. ‘To Elim, Sakial is liked’)

(9.205) Elima

tsan
self

huata
like.ipv

Elim.all
‘Elim likes himself’

Reﬂexivization of Class II verbs

Class II verbs can take up to two core arguments, one marked with ergative case and the other with
nominative. When tsan is used with a Class II verb, it usually replaces the nominative noun phrase, and
the clause denotes an event whereby the actor carries out an action on him/herself or stands in a particular
relation to him/herself. Compare:

(9.206) Moihama

mikale
girl.erg
boy.nom
‘The girl is looking at the boy’

iksona
prg.look:at.ipv

(9.207) Moihama
girl.nom
‘The girl is looking at herself in the mirror’

iksona
prg.look:at.ipv

ailotna
mirror.loc

tsan
self

Tsan can, in principle, appear with any Class II verb. This includes verbs like muelha ‘sleep’, tupa ‘walk’,
and ekpiha ‘search’, which normally do not take a nominative argument because they denote events involving
only one (core) participant. It is not always easy to articulate the function of tsan when used with such
verbs. Roughly speaking, the reﬂexive serves to emphasize that the actor is involving him/herself fully in
the action, or performing the action for his/her own beneﬁt:

(9.208) Sakialma

Sakial.erg

tsan
self

muelhyi
sleep.pv

‘Sakial got himself some sleep’ (lit. ‘Sakial slept his body’)

(9.209) Sakialma

Sakial.erg

tsan
self

ihosta
prg.dance.ipv

‘Sakial is dancing vigorously’ (lit. ‘Sakial is dancing his body’)

(9.210) Sakialma

kamala
knife.all

tsan
self

ikpiha
prg.search.ipv

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial is looking for a knife for himself’ or ‘… a knife that he can use’

Occasionally the ergative argument is replaced by tsan while the nominative argument remains. This con-
struction may be used to emphasize that the event happened spontaneously, without any external cause.
Compare the sentences below: (9.211) is a regular transitive clause, with muka ‘close’ taking an ergative
argument and a nominative argument. In (9.212)–(9.213) only the nominative argument is present. (9.212)
is ambiguous between an agentive reading, where the event is caused by an implicit agent or force separate

9.4. VALENCE

255

from the undergoer, and a non-agentive reading, where the event happens spontaneously.4 When tsan is
included, as in (9.213), only the non-agentive reading is possible. In this usage, tsan has a similar sense to
English ‘by itself’, ‘on its own’, ‘of its own accord’, etc.

(9.211) Ihama

hitole
door.nom

mukyi
close.pv

woman.erg
‘The woman closed the door’

(9.212) Hitole

door.nom

mukyi
close.pv

‘The door (was) closed’

(9.213) Hitole

door.nom

tsan
self

mukyi
close.pv

‘The door closed (by itself)’

Consider also the examples below, featuring the verb tiausa. This verb means ‘drop’ [transitive] when used
to describe an agentive action, and ‘fall’ or ‘drop’ [intransitive] when it describes a non-agentive action:

(9.214) Kitoleuma

kepehotse
acorn.nom

palahtau
tree.abl

tiausyi
fall/drop.pv

squirrel.erg
‘The squirrel dropped an acorn from the tree’

(9.215) Kepehotse
acorn.nom

palahtau
tree.abl

tiausyi
fall/drop.pv

‘An acorn fell/dropped from the tree’ or ‘An acorn was dropped from the tree’

(9.216) Kepehotse
acorn.dat

palahtau
tree.abl

tsan
self

tiausyi
fall/drop.pv

‘An acorn fell/dropped from the tree’

Reﬂexivization of Class III verbs

Class III verbs are those which can take up to three core arguments (ergative, dative, and nominative).
With Class III verbs expressing the transmission of an object, image, idea, etc., from one individual to
another, tsan typically replaces the nominative argument. Here, either the ergative or the dative argument
can be interpreted as the antecedent in the reﬂexive relation, depending on which one functions as the topic.
Compare the following:

(9.217) Sakialma

pyie
Eleim
Sakial.erg
child.nom
Elim.dat
‘Sakial showed the child to Elim’

kilyi
show.pv

(9.218) Sakialma

Eleim
Elim.dat

tsan
self

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial showed himself to Elim’

kilyi
show.pv

(9.219) Eleim

Sakialma
Elim.dat
Sakial.erg
‘Elim was shown himself by Sakial’

tsan
self

kilyi
show.pv

4To indicate unambiguously that the event has an agent, an ergative noun phrase must be included in the clause. When
the identity of the actor is unknown, an indeﬁnite element such as mi`o ‘someone’ may be used: e.g., Hitole miohma mukyi
‘Someone closed the door’ or ‘The door was closed by someone’.

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CHAPTER 9. CLAUSE STRUCTURE

With verbs denoting an action whereby an agent (in the ergative case) brings about a change of state in a
patient (in the dative case), tsan normally stands in for the dative argument, with the ergative argument
acting as its antecedent. Compare:

(9.220) Ihama

kail
man.dat

kahtyi
hit.pv

woman.erg
‘The woman hit the man’

(9.221) Ihama

tsan
self

kahtyi
hit.pv

woman.erg
‘The woman hit herself’

(9.222) Pyima

totsait
table.dat

mulme
cloth.inst

patlyi
cover.pv

child.erg
‘The child covered the table with a cloth’

(9.223) Pyima

patlyi
cover.pv
child.erg
‘The child covered herself with a cloth’

mulme
cloth.inst

tsan
self

However, it is also possible for tsan to replace the ergative argument, with the dative argument acting as the
antecedent. In this construction, the speaker indicates that the dative-marked undergoer (rather than some
other individual) is ultimately responsible for the action coming about. Compare the following sentences,
for example: (9.224) is a regular transitive clause with actor and undergoer both expressed overtly and the
undergoer functioning as the topic of the clause. In (9.225) and (9.226) the actor is unspeciﬁed, causing the
ergative noun phrase to be omitted. These sentences di↵er in that (9.226) implies that the dog played a
crucial role in its own death, whereas (9.225) carries no such implication.

(9.224) Elima

ikei
dog.dat

sisliankama
rattlesnake.erg

Elim.all
‘Elim’s dog was killed by a rattlesnake’

kaihyi
kill.pv

(9.225) Elima

ikei
dog.dat

kaihyi
kill.pv

Elim.all
‘Elim’s dog was killed’

(9.226) Elima

ikei
dog.dat

mitunke
somehow

Elim.all
‘Elim’s dog got itself killed somehow’

tsan
self

kaihyi
kill.pv

Compare also the examples below. In (9.227), where Sakial is in the ergative case, it is implied that Sakial
is performing a deliberate action on himself. Here, the focus is on Sakial as the initiator of the action. In
(9.228) Sakial is in the dative case, and the focus is on Sakial as the undergoer of the action. In the latter
sentence, the presence of tsan signals that, although Sakial did not intend the event to happen, his actions
are nonetheless responsible for bringing it about.

(9.227) Sakialma

Sakial.erg

tsan
self

kahtyi
hit.pv

‘Sakial (deliberately) hit himself’

(9.228) Sakiail

Sakial.dat

tsan
self

kahtyi
hit.pv

‘Sakial (accidentally) hit himself’ or ‘Sakial got himself hit’

9.4. VALENCE

257

Occasionally a Class III change-of-state verb will take tsan in addition to an overt ergative argument and an
overt dative argument, as in the examples below. Here, the presence of the reﬂexive element speciﬁes that
the actor is exerting him/herself, or acting for his/her own beneﬁt. In other words, tsan emphasizes that
the individual performing the action is also a↵ected by the action. Verbs of ingestion such as iasa ‘eat’ and
sepa ‘drink’ often appear with tsan, since the action has an e↵ect not only on the substance being ingested,
but also on the person doing the ingesting.

(9.229) Ihama

satei
meal.dat

tsan
self

iepamat
prg.prepare.ipv.pl

woman.erg
‘The women are preparing themselves a meal’

(9.230) Na

homai
bread.dat

tsan
self

3aerg
‘He ate (himself) some bread’

iasyi
eat.pv

Although it normally appears in its unmarked form, tsan occasionally takes core case marking, especially
when it is being used contrastively. Note the example below, where tsan, marked with the ergative case
ending -ma, is contrasted with the ergative argument inmot ‘everyone’.

(9.231) Sakiale

inmot
everyone:erg

ufonane,
pf.praise.ipv.epl

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial was praised by everyone, including himself’

ohkina
including

tsanma
self.erg

Tsan can also appear in one of the oblique cases, used when an oblique argument is coreferential with a
core argument in the same clause. In the following examples, tsan appears in the allative case, taking the
ergative argument as its antecedent. In the ﬁrst sentence, tsan expresses the topic or subject matter of the
event denoted by kyitsa ‘talk about, discuss’, while in the second sentence it functions as a possessor. Used
as a possessor, tsan corresponds to ‘(one’s) own’ in English (e.g., tsana kotu ‘one’s own house’, tsanu pyimit
‘one’s own children’).

(9.232) Sakialma

tsana
self.all
Sakial.erg
‘Sakial was talking about himself’

ikyitsanka
prg.talk:about.ipv:pst

(9.233) Sakialma

tsana
self.all
Sakial.erg
‘Why would Sakial have burned down his own house?’

kotoi
house.dat

ymiohpa
why

ukiosp`ıkin?
pf.burn.cond.qu

In addition to occurring as a noun phrase by itself, tsan can also appear as an emphatic modiﬁer within a
larger noun phrase, as illustrated below. Emphatic tsan follows a noun (e.g., talo tsan ‘the chief himself’)
but precedes a pronoun, which takes the non-clitic form (e.g., tsan nin ‘they themselves’).

tsanma
(9.234) Hynukiale
play.nom
self.erg
‘The chief himself will perform (in) the play’

ukia
perform.ipv

talo
chief

Used as a noun modiﬁer, tsan often has the sense of English ‘the same’.5 In combination with a following
demonstrative, tsan may be translated ‘that very’ (or, in a larger sentence, ‘that’s the same…’):

(9.235) Sa

mekul
bowl

tsanu
self.abl

sepat
drink.ipv.pl

13erg
‘We drink from the same bowl’

5Another way of expressing ‘the same’ is with kelefe or keliale preceding the noun. Both kelefe and keliale mean ‘shared
one’, but the former is used of objects that can be possessed (e.g., Sa kelefe kotuna tsuhpat ‘We live in the same house’), while
the latter is used of people, animals, and attributes (e.g., Ne keliale amema upaksonat ‘They were raised by the same mother’).

258

CHAPTER 9. CLAUSE STRUCTURE

(9.236) Mo

koin
person

nan
1srdat
that:nom
‘I met that very person’ or ‘That’s the same person I met’

sasyi
meet.pv

tsan
self

(9.237) Kuo

es
one

koine
2rdat
person.nom
‘I met the same person that you met’
lit. ‘You having met a person, that same one I also (met)’

usase,
pf.meet.pt

nan
that:nom

tsan
self

husu
also

umai
1srdat

A pronoun modiﬁed by tsan can be used as a sort of long-distance reﬂexive, explicitly marking a coreference
relation between an argument of an embedded clause and an argument of a higher clause. This is illustrated
below. The ﬁrst sentence, like its English counterpart, is ambiguous: the embedded pronoun na may refer
to Sakial, or to some other individual not named in the sentence. On the other hand, when na is replaced
by tsan in`a, as in the second sentence, the only interpretation is that Sakial said that he, Sakial, would write
the letter.

(9.238) Sakialma

Sakial.erg

etsyi
say.pv

na
3aerg

kihoin
letter.dat

siehp`e
write.dep:sbj.nom

‘Sakial said that s/he would write the letter’

(9.239) Sakialma

etsyi
say.pv

tsan
self

in`a
3aserg

kihoin
letter.dat

siehp`e
write.dep:sbj.nom

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial said that he himself would write the letter’

9.4.4 Reciprocal clauses

Reciprocal (‘each other’) clauses are formed by suxing the reciprocal morpheme -(u)o (glossed recip) to
the verb. This morpheme takes the form -o after a glide and -uo elsewhere, as illustrated below. In (9.240)
the reciprocal sux follows the imperfective sux -a, while in (9.241) it follows the perfective sux -yi,
which ends in a glide:

(9.240) Pyie

kilauot
see.ipv.recip.pl

child.dat
‘The children will see each other’

(9.241) Pyie

kilyiot
see:res.pv.recip.pl

child.dat
‘The children saw each other’

The reciprocal marker occupies the same sux slot as the nominative, dative, and ergative plural agreement
suxes (see

7.2), and is thus mutually exclusive with them. Compare:

§
(9.242) Kalma

pyie
child.nom
man.erg
‘The men are looking at the child’

iksonat
prg.look:at.ipv.pl

(9.243) Kalma

pyie
child.nom

iksonauat
prg.look:at.ipv.npl.pl

man.erg
‘The men are looking at the children’

(9.244) Kalma

iksonauot
prg.look:at.ipv.recip.pl
man.erg
‘The men are looking at each other’

9.4. VALENCE

259

The examples above show that when the antecedent of the reciprocal is the topic of the clause, and appears
in one of the core cases (nominative, dative, ergative), the verb takes the plural topic sux -t in addition to
-(u)o. Compare these examples with (9.245) below: in the latter case, -t is absent because kalma ‘the men’
is not the topic of the clause, but is instead interpreted contrastively or as providing new information.

(9.245) Kalma

iksonauo
prg.look:at.ipv.recip.pl

man.erg
‘There are some men looking at each other’
or ‘It’s the men who are looking at each other’

A reciprocal-marked verb is sometimes augmented by the collective particle kele ‘all, together’, or the
distributive particle la ‘each, in turn’. Adding kele emphasizes that the participants are acting on each
other simultaneously, while adding la emphasizes that they are acting separately or in succession. For
example, (9.246) would be used if the men hit each other at the same time, while (9.247) would be used if
A hit B ﬁrst, after which B hit A:

(9.246) Kalma

man.erg

kele
together

kahtyiot
hit.pv.recip.pl

‘The men hit each other’ or ‘The men fought / came to blows’

(9.247) Kalma

man.erg

la
each

kahtyiot
hit.pv.recip.pl

‘The men each hit the other (in turn)’

Adding reciprocal morphology to the verb usually reduces its valence, with the reciprocal marker ‘standing
in for’ one of the core arguments in the clause. With Class I verbs, reciprocal morphology replaces the
nominative (theme) argument, and the antecedent for the reciprocal is a noun phrase in one of the oblique
cases (typically denoting an experiencer):

(9.248) Isane
13all
‘We recognized Sakial’

Sakiale
Sakial.nom

niokoihtyi
recognize.tinc.pv

(9.249) Isane
13all
‘We recognized each other’

niokoihtyio
recognize.tinc.pv.recip

With Class II verbs, the nominative argument is again suppressed while the ergative argument functions as
the antecedent for the reciprocal:

(9.250) Me

lhatima
children.erg

1snom
‘The children visited me’

tsulyine
visit.pv.epl

(9.251) Lhatima

tsulyiot
children.erg
visit.pv.recip.pl
‘The children visited each other’

With Class III verbs, either the nominative or the dative argument is usually suppressed, with one of the
other core arguments acting as antecedent (typically the one functioning as the topic).
In (9.253), for
example, reciprocal morphology replaces a nominative argument with a dative topic as antecedent, while in
(9.255) it replaces a dative argument with an ergative topic as antecedent.

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CHAPTER 9. CLAUSE STRUCTURE

(9.252) No

es
one

tsokoimp`a
3ardat
stranger.nom
‘They met a stranger on the road to Uiluma’

sasyit
meet.pv.pl

Uilumaua
Uiluma.all

tulona
road.loc

(9.253) No

3ardat

Uilumaua
Uiluma.all

tulona
road.loc

sasyiot
meet.pv.recip.pl

‘They met (each other) on the road to Uiluma’

(9.254) Na

Sakiail
3aerg
Sakial.dat
‘They gave gifts to Sakial’

kytu
gift

uktiyit
give.pv.pl

(9.255) Na

kytu
gift

uktiyiot
give.pv.recip.pl

3aerg
‘They gave each other gifts’

Occasionally the reciprocal sux is added to a Class II or Class III verb without replacing any of its core
arguments. Here the presence of reciprocal morphology may indicate that two or more individuals are acting
for one another’s beneﬁt:

(9.256) Ihama

iase
food

ititiankauot
prg.gather.ipv:pst.recip.pl

woman.erg
‘The women were gathering each other food’

Compare also the examples below, where reciprocal marking alternates with an instrumental noun phrase:

(9.257) Sa

Sakialme
Sakial.inst

isokastankat
prg.argue.ipv:pst.pl

13erg
‘We were arguing with Sakial about that’

it`e
that:all

(9.258) Sa

13erg

isokastankauot
prg.argue.ipv:pst.recip.pl

it`e
that:all

‘We were arguing (with each other) about that’

efosa
(9.259) Elim
Elim
problem.all
‘Elim and I talked over the problem with our friends’

kuname
friend.inst

so
13rdat

im`a
1serg

ka
and

kyitsampyit
mention.act.pv.pl

(9.260) Elim
Elim
‘Elim and I discussed the problem’ or ‘… talked with one another about the problem’

kyitsampyiot
mention.act.pv.recip.pl

efosa
problem.all

im`a
1serg

ka
and

Note that reciprocal marking is optional in (9.258) and (9.260). For example, Elim ka im`a efosa kyitsampyit
is also an acceptable way to say ‘Elim and I discussed the problem’. The presence of the reciprocal sux
in (9.260) serves to emphasize that Elim and the speaker both participated actively in the discussion (and
implies that nobody else participated). In other cases, however, reciprocal marking is not optional: Note that
there are several verbs in English which describe reciprocal actions when used intransitively (e.g., ‘meet’,
‘ﬁght’). Their Okuna counterparts, however, must take the reciprocal sux in such cases:

(9.261) So

13rdat

laisne
just

utsokuauot
pf.meet.ipv.recip.pl

‘We just met (each other)’

9.4. VALENCE

261

Reciprocal clauses with la iap and la iahte

When a core argument bears a reciprocal relation to an argument in a more peripheral function (e.g., verb
modiﬁer, possessor), the latter may be expressed using the noun phrase la iap (lit.
‘each the other’) or la
iahte (lit. ‘each the others’) inﬂected for oblique case, rather than by adding reciprocal morphology to the
verb. Often the antecedent noun phrase contains a distributive universal quantiﬁer meaning ‘each’ (see
5.6).
Examples are given below. The form la iap is used in contexts where two individuals stand in a relation to
one another, while la iahte is used when more than two individuals each stand in a relation to the others.

(9.262) Na

la
each

iapa
3aerg
other:all
‘They were talking about each other’

ikyitsankat
prg.mention.ipv:pst.pl

(9.263) Ne

la
each

kotuna
3anom
house.loc
‘They stayed at each other’s houses’

iapa
other:all

tehyit
stay.pv.pl

(9.264) Lhati

nket
3a:each:nom

la
each

iahteu
others:abl

amema
mother.erg

fonyinit
praise.pv.epl.pl

children
‘The children were praised by each other’s mothers’ or ‘… each praised by the others’ mothers’
more lit. ‘Each child was praised in turn by the others’ mothers’

La iap and la iahte can also appear as core arguments, together with reciprocal marking on the verb, when
it is necessary to place special emphasis on the reciprocal nature of the event. Compare the examples below,
where (9.265) is focus-neutral, while (9.266) features narrow focus on the delimiter participant. In the latter
case, the dative noun phrase la iaip is included in order to give the focus particle tiefu something to take
scope over. (If la iaip were omitted from (9.266), giving Pyima tiefu kahtyiot, the sentence would mean that
hitting each other is the only thing that the children did.)

(9.265) Pyima

kahtyiot
hit.pv.recip.pl

child.erg
‘The children hit each other’

(9.266) Pyima

child.erg

tiefu
only

la
each

iaip
other.dat

kahtyiot
hit.pv.recip.pl

‘The children only hit each other’ (not anyone else)

Chapter 10

Nominalization and Complex Clauses

10.1 Introduction

In this chapter I discuss various ways of forming complex sentences by embedding one clause inside another.
In Okuna, as in many head-ﬁnal languages, subordinate clauses are not marked by a separate class of function
words—e.g., there are no complementizers comparable to English ‘that’. Instead, subordinate clauses are
formed by adding special morphology to the verb.

For example, compare the main clause in (10.1) with its subordinate clause counterparts in (10.2)–
(10.4). In (10.2) the verb stem ital- ‘be reading’ carries the nominalizing sux -a, which marks the so-called
dependent (dep) form. The dependent clause, which patterns like a noun phrase, inﬂects for nominative
case and is selected as the complement of the verb iona ‘know’. Here the dependent clause functions as a
theme argument, denoting the proposition known by Sakial. In (10.3) and (10.4) the verb appears in two of
its participle (pt) forms, marked by the suxes -e (for the indicative mood) and -ai (for the subjunctive
mood). Indicative participles form adverbial clauses which provide a temporal context for the event in the
main clause, while subjunctive participles form conditional (‘if’) clauses.

(10.1) Pyima

halmai
child.erg
book.dat
‘The child was reading the book’

italanka
prg.read.ipv:pst

(10.2) Sakialna

halmai
Sakial.loc
book.dat
‘Sakial knew that the child was reading the book’

ionanka
know.ipv:pst

pyima
child.erg

ital`a
prg.read.dep.nom

(10.3) Pyima

sati
child.erg
meal
‘While the child was reading the book, her mother made dinner’

itale,
prg.read.pt

amema
mother.erg

halmai
book.dat

no
3ardat

ipamyi
prepare.pv

(10.4) Pyima

italai,
child.erg
prg.read.pt:sbj
‘If the child is reading the book, her mother will be pleased’

halmai
book.dat

amena
mother.loc

no
3ardat

kestampa
happy.act.ipv

10.3. The
The dependent form and its uses are discussed in
§
remaining sections of this chapter deal with other kinds of verb inﬂection for deriving subordinate verbs
and clauses. In
10.4 I discuss the formation of converbs, which modify another verb by specifying the
means or manner in which the event denoted by the verb is carried out (e.g., from tlynk- ‘push’ we can
form the converb tlynke ‘by pushing’, which can then combine with the main verb lima ‘open’ to form the
compound predicate tlynke lima ‘open by pushing, push open’). Nominalized verbs denoting types of events,

10.2, while participles are discussed in

262

10.2. THE DEPENDENT FORM

263

10.5. Finally

10.6 deals with participant nominals, nominalized verbs
called gerunds, are discussed in
referring to individuals involved in actions or states (people, objects, places, times, etc.). These include
agentive nouns, formed by adding the sux -ka to the dependent form of the verb (e.g., muelha ‘sleep’ >
muelhaka ‘sleeper, one who sleeps’). Participant nominals play a crucial role in Okuna grammar, since they
constitute the main class of noun modiﬁers, functioning much as adjectives and relative clauses do in English
(e.g., muelhaka pyi ‘sleeping child’ or ‘child who sleeps’).

10.2 The dependent form

There are various types of subordinate clauses in Okuna which are characterized by the appearance of
special aspect/mood/polarity inﬂection on the verb, largely distinct from the inﬂection found on verbs
7.4 for discussion). Verbs which carry this special inﬂection are said to be in the
in main clauses (see
dependent form (abbreviated dep in the examples). Clauses headed by a verb in the dependent form are
called dependent clauses. Example (10.5) below gives an ordinary main clause, which can stand on its
own as a complete sentence, while (10.6) gives its dependent counterpart. Notice that these clauses di↵er
solely in the form of the verb: palyiat versus apalauata.

(10.5) Lhatima

kah`o
ﬁsh.nom

palyiat
catch.pv.npl.pl

children.erg
‘The children caught the ﬁsh’

(10.6) lhatima

children.erg

kah`o
ﬁsh.nom

apalauata
pv.catch.dep.npl.pl

‘(the fact that) the children caught the ﬁsh’
or ‘(the event where) the children caught the ﬁsh’

Verbs in the dependent form behave just like verbs in main clauses, in that they can combine with arguments
and modiﬁers and assign case in the same way as main clause verbs. However, dependent clauses as a whole
behave like noun phrases, in that they can inﬂect for case and act as arguments of a verb. They can also
combine with certain types of nouns to form adverbial clauses denoting time, reason, manner, etc. Before
discussing these functions, I give an overview of dependent verb morphology.

Suxal morphology

Verbs in the dependent form are characterized by special inﬂectional suxes, used in place of the suxes
found on main clause verbs for marking tense, aspect, mood, and polarity. Like verbs in main clauses,
dependent verbs inﬂect for polarity, with separate suxes for positive and negative clauses (the latter being
7.3). In addition, dependent verbs inﬂect for mood, making a two-way
those that contain negation: see
distinction between indicative and subjunctive (the di↵erences between these two moods are discussed
later in this section). The following table gives the dependent verb suxes. For each sux, the abbreviation
used in the example sentences is given in parentheses.

dependent indicative
dependent subjunctive

positive
(dep)
(dep:sbj)

-a
-i

negative
(dep:neg)
(dep:sbj:neg)

-u
-oi

3.5.3, the suxes -i and -u undergo lowering (becoming
In accordance with the vowel hiatus rules given in
-e and -o, respectively) when immediately preceded or followed by a glide: e.g., tsoku.i > tsokue ‘meet.sbj’,
m.tsoku.u > ntsokuo ‘meet.dep:neg’.

In most constructions involving dependent verbs, the verb agrees in number (singular versus plural) with
its nominative, dative, and ergative arguments, if any (see
7.2 for more on number agreement). Number
agreement inﬂection on dependent verbs is the same as on main clause verbs, except that the plural topic

264

CHAPTER 10. NOMINALIZATION AND COMPLEX CLAUSES

marker has a slightly di↵erent form: on main clause verbs plural topic agreement is marked by the sux
-t, whereas for dependent verbs the sux is -ta. For reference, the following table lists all of the possible
combinations of dependent endings with agreement marking.

sg
-a
-u
-i

dep
dep:neg
dep:sbj
dep:sbj:neg -oi

pl
-ata
-uta
-ita
-oita

npl
-aua
-oua
-eua
-oia

npl+pl dpl
-auata
-ouata
-euata
-oiata

-ama
-uma
-ima
-oima

dpl+pl
-amata
-umata
-imata
-oimata

epl
-ane
-une
-ine
-oine

epl+pl
-anita
-unita
-inita
-oinita

In addition, verbs in the dependent form can take the reciprocal sux -(u)o (see
in combination with the plural topic marker -ta:

9.4.4), either by itself or

recip recip+pl
-auo
dep
-ouo
dep:neg
dep:sbj
-euo
dep:sbj:neg -oio

-auota
-ouota
-euota
-oiota

Preﬁxal morphology

Verbs in the dependent form also take preﬁxes to mark aspect, and can host the bound negative marker
7.3). Like verbs in main clauses, dependent verbs inﬂect for one of four aspects: imperfect,
m(a)- (see
progressive (prg), perfect (pf), and perfective (pv) (see
7.4 for discussion of the meanings of these
terms). However, unlike verbs in main clauses, all four aspects are marked by preﬁxes. The following table
gives the mood/aspect preﬁxes, both separately and in combination with the negative marker m(a)-:

imperfect
progressive (prg)
perfect (pf)
perfective (pv)

pos neg
— m(a)-
i-
u-
a-

me-
mo-
ma-

To illustrate these preﬁxes in combination with the dependent suxes discussed above, the complete set of
dependent forms for ma tupa ‘I walk’ is given below. I also include rough English equivalents for each form:

ma tupa
ma itupa
ma utupa
ma atupa

‘(that) I walk, (that) I will walk’
‘(that) I am/was walking, (that) I have/had been walking’
‘(that) I have/had walked’
‘(that) I walked, (that) I had walked’

ma ntupu
ma metupu
ma motupu
ma matupu

‘(that) I don’t/won’t walk’
‘(that) I am/was not walking, (that) I have/had not been walking’
‘(that) I have/had not walked’
‘(that) I didn’t/hadn’t walked’

ma tupi
ma itupi
ma utupi
ma atupi

‘(that) I would walk, for me to walk’
‘(that) I would be walking, (that) I would have been walking, for me to be walking’
‘(that) I would have walked (at some point), for me to have walked’
‘(that) I would have walked (then)’

ma ntupoi
ma metupoi
ma motupoi
ma matupoi

‘(that) I wouldn’t walk, for me not to walk’
‘(that) I wouldn’t be walking, (that) I wouldn’t have been walking’
‘(that) I wouldn’t (ever) have walked, for me not to have walked’
‘(that) I wouldn’t have walked (then)’

10.2. THE DEPENDENT FORM

265

The progressive, perfect, and negative preﬁxes are the same as those found on main clause verbs, and show
the same allomorphy discussed in
7.4. The perfective preﬁx a-, which occurs only on dependent
verbs, exhibits the following allomorphy, in accordance with the vowel hiatus rules summarized in

7.3 and

3.5.3:

1. When a- attaches to a stem beginning with a, the two vowels fuse into a single vowel: e.g., a- + atia

‘approach’ > atia.

2. When a- attaches to a stem beginning with a non-glide vowel, a glide is inserted between the preﬁx and
the stem. When one or both of the vowels is rounded, a u glide is inserted between them; otherwise an
i glide is inserted: e.g., a- + otsa ‘dig’ > auotsa; a- + elila ‘hug, embrace’ > aielila; a- + ylha ‘defeat’
> miaiylha.

3. When a glide is inserted between a- and a stem beginning with a high vowel, that vowel undergoes

lowering (i > e, u > o): e.g., a- + imla ‘smile’ > aiemla; a- + uktia ‘give’ > auoktia.

The following eight verbs constitute an exception to the above rules:

ekpa
eska
esta
eta
etsa
etskana
etskasta
etskopa

‘carry, bring/take, hold’
‘ask, request’
‘reach, succeed’
‘go, come’
‘say, tell’
‘arrive, appear’
‘summon, call, produce’
‘realize’

For these verbs, the initial e of the stem is dropped (except in the imperfect indicative) and replaced with
the appropriate aspectual preﬁx. This is illustrated by the following partial paradigm for ekpa:

ma ekpa
ma ikpa
ma ukpa
ma akpa

‘(that) I carry, (that) I will carry’
‘(that) I am/was carrying, (that) I have/had been carrying’
‘(that) I have/had carried’
‘(that) I carried, (that) I had carried’

ma mekpu
ma mekpu
ma mokpu
ma makpu

‘(that) I don’t/won’t carry’
‘(that) I am/was not carrying, (that) I have/had not been carrying’
‘(that) I have/had not carried’
‘(that) I didn’t/hadn’t carried’

The dependent forms for the copula he (
9.3.1), which has a highly irregular conjugation, are listed below.
§
Note that this verb makes only a two-way aspectual distinction, between imperfect and perfect, and can host
the agreement suxes -ta (plural topic) and -(u)a (nominative plural).

imperfect

sg
ha
hu
hi
hoi

pl
hata
huta
hita
hoita

npl
haua
houa
heua
hoia

sg
heua
heuo
heue
heuoi

perfect
pl
heuata
heuota
heueta
heuoita

npl
heuaua
heuoua
heueua
heuoia

dep
dep:neg
dep:sbj
dep:sbj:neg

The deictic verbs ts`a ‘be here (near me)’ and k`a ‘be here’ (near us) or ‘be there (near you)’ (
5.3.2) also
§
have somewhat irregular dependent forms. The table below lists the dependent forms for ts`a and k`a in the
imperfect aspect; to express the progressive and perfect aspects, the appropriate preﬁxes are added to these
forms (being stative verbs, ts`a and k`a do not take the perfective aspect preﬁx a-).

266

CHAPTER 10. NOMINALIZATION AND COMPLEX CLAUSES

dep
dep:neg
dep:sbj
dep:sbj:neg

sg
tsaua
tsauo
tsaie
tsauoi

pl
tsauata
tsauota
tsaieta
tsauoita

npl
tsauaua
tsauoua
tsaieua
tsauoia

sg
kaua
kauo
kaie
kauoi

pl
kauata
kauota
kaieta
kauoita

npl
kauaua
kauoua
kaieua
kauoia

Although they inﬂect for aspect and mood, dependent verbs are not marked for tense. No morphological
distinction is made between past and non-past (except indirectly: verbs in the perfective aspect receive a
past tense interpretation by default). Consequently, the time of the event denoted by a dependent clause
must usually be inferred from the context in which that clause appears. Typically, the tense of a dependent
clause is calculated relative to the tense of the main clause in which it appears. Compare the examples
below, where the dependent clause Sakialma losak itaka ‘(that) Sakial is/was chopping ﬁrewood’ combines
with the relational noun himna ‘while’ (lit. ‘inside’) to form a temporal modiﬁer:

(10.7) Sakialma

sati
Sakial.erg
meal
‘While Sakial is chopping ﬁrewood, I’ll begin preparing dinner’

itaka
prg.cut.dep

himna,
inside.loc

losak
ﬁrewood

ma
1serg

(10.8) Sakialma

sati
Sakial.erg
meal
‘While Sakial was chopping ﬁrewood, I began preparing dinner’

itaka
prg.cut.dep

himna,
inside.loc

losak
ﬁrewood

ma
1serg

ipanta
prepare.tinc.ipv

ipantyi
prepare.tinc.pv

In (10.7) the dependent clause is translated using the present tense (‘is chopping’) because it combines with
a main clause in the non-past imperfect; whereas in (10.8) it combines with a main clause in the perfective
and receives a past tense translation (‘was chopping’). However, the form of the dependent verb is the same
in both sentences. Progressive aspect marking on taka indicates that the time of the chopping event overlaps
with the time of the event denoted by the main clause, but without specifying whether the chopping event
occurs in the past, present, or future.

The various uses of the dependent form are discussed below.

10.2.1 I discuss case marking on
dependent verbs and the use of dependent clauses as arguments of verbs and modiﬁers of main clauses.
10.2.2 I discuss dependent clauses as complements of relational nouns (such as himna in (10.7) and
In
10.2.3 I discuss the elements aun and alh, which also combine with dependent clause
(10.8) above). In
complements. Finally,
10.2.4 deals with verbs which can select a dependent subjunctive verb (without case
marking) as their complement to form complex predicates.

Note that dependent verb inﬂection also provides the stems from which gerunds and most participant
10.6, respectively.

nominals are constructed. Gerunds and participant nominals are discussed in

10.5 and

10.2.1 Dependent clauses as arguments

Verbs in the dependent form behave syntactically like nouns, insofar as they can inﬂect for case. Case endings
attach to the end of the dependent verb, following the dependent sux and any number agreement suxes
which come after it.

Dependent verbs inﬂect like regular nouns, according to the rules summarized in

4.2. Some sample case
paradigms, featuring dependent verbs formed from the stem kaht- ‘hit’, are given in the table below. The ﬁrst
four columns show the paradigms for singular verbs in the dependent indicative (positive and negative) and
the dependent subjunctive (positive and negative), respectively. The ﬁfth column gives the case paradigm
for kahtuta (kaht- ‘hit’ + -u ‘del:neg’ + the plural topic agreement sux -ta). Finally, the sixth column
gives the case paradigm for kahtane (kaht- + -a ‘dep’ + the ergative plural agreement sux -ne, which
becomes -ni when followed by a consonant).

10.2. THE DEPENDENT FORM

267

kahta
(dep)
nom kaht`a
kahtai
dat
kahtana
loc
kahtaua
all
kahtau
abl
kahtame
inst

kahtu
(dep:neg)
kaht`o
kahtoi
kahtuna
kahtoua
kahtou
kahtume

kahti
(dep:sbj)
kaht`e
kahtei
kahtina
kahteia
kahteu
kahtime

kahtoi
(dep:sbj:neg)
kahtoie
kahtoie
kahtoina
kahtoia
kahtoio
kahtoime

kahtuta
(dep:sbj.pl)
kahtut`a
kahtutai
kahtutana
kahtutaua
kahtutau
kahtutame

kahtane
(dep.epl)
kahtan`e
kahtanei
kahtanina
kahtaneia
kahtaneu
kahtanime

Note that dependent clauses never appear in the actor function, and hence dependent verbs never take
the ergative case ending -ma. (In addition, some of the forms which do occur are quite rare; for example,
dependent indicative verbs rarely appear in the allative case, while dependent subjunctive verbs rarely appear
in the ablative.) The functions of the di↵erent case forms are summarized and illustrated below.

Dependent clauses in the nominative

Dependent clauses appear most often in the nominative case. A dependent clause is marked for nominative
case when it acts as the (theme) argument of a higher predicate in place of a regular noun phrase. For
example, compare the following sentences, featuring the Class I verb oukuta ‘be troubling’, which takes a
nominative argument denoting the object or source of the troubling feeling. In (10.9) the nominative role
is ﬁlled by the noun keﬁhusot ‘news’, while in (10.10) the same role is ﬁlled by the dependent clause Elime
eima imouta ‘(the fact) that Elim is still sick’, denoting a proposition and referring to a particular state of
a↵airs.

(10.9) Keﬁhusote
news.nom
‘The news troubles me’

oukuta
troubling.ipv

im`e
1sall

(10.10) Elime

eima
still

imout`a
prg.sick.dep.nom

oukuta
troubling.ipv

im`e
1sall

Elim.nom
‘(The fact) that Elim is still sick troubles me’ or ‘It troubles me that Elim is still sick’

Typically dependent clauses in the nominative function as complements of verbs like iona ‘know’, etsa
‘say, tell’, opa ‘believe’, tiyla ‘seem, appear’, etc. Like noun phrase complements, a dependent clause may
precede the verb that selects it. This is especially common when the dependent clause is being topicalized
or contrastively focused, as in (10.11):

(10.11) Pyima

ital`a
child.erg
prg.read.dep.nom
‘(The fact) that the child is reading the book (is what) I know’

halmai
book.dat

iona
know.ipv

iman
1sloc

Much more frequently, the dependent clause is postposed, and follows the verb that selects it (cf.
Examples of sentences with postposed dependent clauses include:

9.2.3).

(10.12) Iman
1sloc
‘I know that the child is reading the book’

halmai
book.dat

pyima
child.erg

iona
know.ipv

ital`a
prg.read.dep.nom

(10.13) Tiyla

pyima
child.erg

halmai
book.dat

ital`a
prg.read.dep.nom

appear.ipv
‘It appears that the child is reading the book’

(10.14) Ma

Sakiail
Sakial.dat

etsyi
tell.pv

pyima
child.erg

halmai
book.dat

metal`o
neg.prg.read.dep:neg.nom

1serg
‘I told Sakial that the child was not reading the book’

268

CHAPTER 10. NOMINALIZATION AND COMPLEX CLAUSES

As shown below, postposition of dependent clauses can be iterated. That is, a postposed dependent clause
complement may itself contain an postposed dependent clause complement.

(10.15) Ma

etsyi
say.pv

Motlana
Motla.loc

ion`a
know.dep.nom

pyima
child.erg

halmai
book.dat

ital`a
prg.read.dep.nom

1serg
‘I said that Motla knows that the child is reading the book’

In all of the examples above, the complement clause is in the indicative mood. Complement clauses can
also be formed from dependent verbs in the subjunctive mood. The subjunctive is used when the event
or situation referred to by the dependent clause is hypothetical (possible, counterfactual, contingent, etc.)
rather than actual or expected. Many verbs regularly select a subjunctive dependent clause complement.
These include modal verbs (expressing possibility, necessity, desirability, etc.) such as okfa ‘wish, want’,
tiuha ‘be needed, necessary’, and so on. Other verbs which take a subjunctive complement include eska ‘ask,
request’ and sohompa ‘order’, where the complement denotes a wished-for event. Examples:

(10.16) Itiuha

Elime
Elim.nom

elohfoi
tomorrow

nkilh`e
leave.dep:sbj

prg.needed.ipv
‘It is necessary that Elim leave tomorrow’ or ‘It is necessary for Elim to leave tomorrow’

(10.17) Itiuha

prg.needed.ipv

elohfoi
tomorrow

nkilh`e
leave.dep:sbj

‘It is necessary to leave tomorrow’ or ‘It is necessary that (one) leave tomorrow’

(10.18) Iman
1sloc

okfa
want.ipv

Elime
Elim.nom

elohfoi
tomorrow

nkilh`e
leave.dep:sbj

‘I wish that Elim (would) leave tomorrow’ or ‘I want Elim to leave tomorrow’

(10.19) Ma

1serg

Eleim
Elim.dat

eskyi
ask.pv

ne
3anom

elohfoi
tomorrow

nkilh`e
leave.dep:sbj

‘I asked Elim to leave tomorrow’ (more lit. ‘I asked Elim that he should leave tomorrow’)

(10.20) Aniohta
best.ipv
‘It would be best if Elim left tomorrow’

Elime
Elim.nom

elohfoi
tomorrow

nkilh`e
leave.dep:sbj

As these examples show, clauses in the dependent subjunctive correspond closely to embedded subjunctive
or conditional clauses in English (‘that Elim leave’, ‘that Elim would leave’). Often they are most naturally
translated using an inﬁnitive construction (‘to leave’, ‘for Elim to leave’). In a few cases, as with aniohta
‘be best’, a subjunctive dependent clause corresponds to a conditional clause (‘if Elim left’).

Certain verbs can select either an indicative or a subjunctive dependent clause. For example, the depen-
dent clause complement of etsa ‘say, tell’ is in the indicative when it denotes a reported event, and in the
subjunctive to express an indirect command:

(10.21) Ma

1serg

Sakiail
Sakial.dat

etsyi
say.pv

kimima
baby.erg

ihis`a
prg.cry.dep

‘I told Sakial that the baby is/was crying’

(10.22) Ma

1serg

Sakiail
Sakial.dat

etsyi
say.pv

losak
ﬁrewood

titi`e
gather.dep:sbj

‘I told Sakial to gather ﬁrewood’ or ‘… that (he) should gather ﬁrewood’

10.2. THE DEPENDENT FORM

269

Consider also the following minimal pair, showing that the verb uota ‘feel, sense, perceive’ can take either an
indicative or a subjunctive complement. As the translations of these sentences show, the indicative is used
when the clause denotes an actual perceived event, while the subjunctive is used when it denotes a non-actual
or possible event (note that the ﬁrst sentence entails that somebody did in fact touch the speaker’s arm,
while the second sentence does not):

(10.23) Mo

uotyi
feel.pv

1srdat
‘I felt someone touch my arm’ or ‘I felt that someone was touching my arm’

nailh
arm.dat

miohma
someone.erg

silh
ﬁnger

iteun`a
prg.put.dep

mo
1srdat

(10.24) Mo

uotyi
feel.pv

mo
1srdat

nailh
arm.dat

miohma
someone.erg

silh
ﬁnger

iteun`e
prg.put.dep:sbj

1srdat
‘I felt as though someone were touching my arm’

Recall that, in addition to distinguishing indicative and subjunctive mood, verbs in the dependent form
inﬂect for aspect (imperfect, progressive, perfect, or perfective). When a dependent clause in the nominative
case is selected by a higher verb, the choice of aspect depends on whether the state of a↵airs denoted by
the dependent clause temporally precedes, follows, or overlaps with the state of a↵airs denoted by the main
clause. For instance, if the progressive aspect is used, this indicates that the state of a↵airs denoted by the
dependent clause overlaps with the state of a↵airs denoted by the main clause. This is true regardless of the
tense/aspect of the main clause verb. Compare the following:

(10.25) Sakialna

iona
know.ipv

Elime
Elim.nom

imout`a
prg.sick.dep.nom

Sakial.loc
‘Sakial knows that Elim is sick’

(10.26) Sakialna

ionanka
know.ipv:pst

Elime
Elim.nom

Sakial.loc
‘Sakial knew that Elim was sick’

imout`a
prg.sick.dep.nom

These sentences are identical except for the tense of the main verb ‘know’: iona (non-past) versus ionanka
(past). In both sentences, the time at which Sakial knows Elim to be sick overlaps with the time at which
Elim is sick. Because of the di↵erence in the tense of the main clause, the dependent clause is translated
‘that Elim is sick’ in (10.25), but ‘that Elim was sick’ in (10.26).

Likewise, when the dependent verb appears in the perfect or perfective aspect, this signals that the event
or situation denoted by the dependent clause properly precedes the event or situation denoted by the main
clause—again, regardless of whether the main clause is in the past or the non-past tense (perfect aspect is
generally used when the dependent clause denotes a previous state or habitual action, while the perfective is
used when it denotes a single completed event). In the following examples, perfect marking on the dependent
verb indicates that Sakial’s knowledge of Elim’s sickness came about only after Elim had recovered:

(10.27) Sakialna

iona
know.ipv

Elime
Elim.nom

umout`a
pf.sick.dep.nom

Sakial.loc
‘Sakial knows that Elim was sick’ or ‘… that Elim has/had been sick’

(10.28) Sakialna

iontyi
know.tinc.pv

Elime
Elim.nom

umout`a
pf.sick.dep.nom

Sakial.loc
‘Sakial found out that Elim had been sick’

Compare also the following examples, which di↵er in the aspect of the dependent verb. In (10.29), with the
dependent verb in the imperfect, it is understood that the woman witnessed the pot being smashed—i.e, the
seeing event and the smashing event occurred simultaneously. In (10.30), with the dependent verb in the
perfective, it is understood that the woman witnessed the consequences of the action (say, a smashed pot
lying on the ground) rather than the action itself. Here, the smashing event properly precedes the seeing
event.

270

CHAPTER 10. NOMINALIZATION AND COMPLEX CLAUSES

(10.29) Ihai

kopoi
woman.dat
pot.dat
‘The woman saw the boy smash the pot’

mikalma
boy.erg

kilyi
see.pv

tsitsp`a
smash.dep.nom

(10.30) Ihai

woman.dat

kilyi
see.pv

mikalma
boy.erg

kopoi
pot.dat

atsitsp`a
pv.smash.dep.nom

‘The woman saw that the boy (had) smashed the pot’

As an additional example, observe the three-way contrast below. In (10.31), where the dependent verb is
in the imperfect, it is understood that Elim witnessed the entire mending event from beginning to end: the
temporal span of the seeing event coincides with the temporal span of the mending event. In (10.32), by
contrast, with the dependent verb in the progressive, the meaning is that Elim saw the man engaged in the
in other words, the seeing
activity of mending the net, but may not have witnessed the complete event:
event merely overlaps with the mending event. Finally, in (10.33), with the dependent verb in the perfect,
it is understood that Elim observed the after-e↵ects of the mending event (and was thus able to conclude
that the event had taken place at some earlier point in time), but did not witness the event itself.

(10.31) Eleim

kilyi
see.pv

kalma
man.erg

niloi
net.dat

Elim.dat
‘Elim saw the man mend the net’

(10.32) Eleim

kilyi
see.pv

kalma
man.erg

niloi
net.dat

Elim.dat
‘Elim saw the man mending the net’

namuoht`a
mend.dep.nom

inamuoht`a
prg.mend.dep.nom

(10.33) Eleim

kilyi
see.pv

kalma
man.erg

niloi
net.dat

unamuoht`a
pf.mend.dep.nom

Elim.dat
‘Elim saw that the man had mended the net’

When the state of a↵airs expressed by the dependent clause is interpreted as following the state of a↵airs
expressed by the main clause, the dependent verb appears in the imperfect aspect, usually accompanied by
an adverb expressing futurity, such as efoi ‘later’ or oke ‘by and by’ (‘be going to’):

(10.34) Sakialna

Elime
iona
Elim.nom
know.ipv
Sakial.loc
‘Sakial knows that Elim will leave’

oke
going:to

nkilh`a
leave.dep.nom

(10.35) Sakialna

ionanka
know.ipv:pst

Elime
Elim.nom

Sakial.loc
‘Sakial knew that Elim was going to leave’

oke
going:to

nkilh`a
leave.dep.nom

Dependent clauses in the dative and oblique cases

Dependent clauses can appear in other cases besides the nominative. For instance, dependent indicative
clauses may inﬂect for dative case to express the resulting state, or temporal ‘cut-o↵ point’, for some state
of a↵airs. They often correspond to ‘until’ clauses in English. As the example below illustrates, dependent
clauses in the dative are often followed by the particle sik`a, roughly equivalent to ‘as far as’.

(10.36) Se

kauotat
be:here.dur.ipv.pl

lhat`e
13nom
children.nom
‘We will stay here until the children return’

nioktatai
return.dep.pl.dat

sik`a
as:far:as

10.2. THE DEPENDENT FORM

271

Besides the nominative and the dative, dependent clauses can appear in one of the four oblique cases: locative,
allative, ablative, instrumental. Oblique case-marked dependent clauses have various adverbial functions,
many of which can also be expressed in other ways—e.g., by using a participial clause (
10.3), or with a
constituent consisting of a relational noun (
10.2.3) taking a dependent clause (unmarked
for case) as its complement.

10.2.2) or aun (
§

A dependent indicative clause in the locative case denotes an event which acts as a temporal reference for
the event expressed by the main clause. Such expressions, which function similarly to indicative participial
clauses (

10.3.1), are equivalent to ‘when/while/as’ clauses in English:

(10.37) Ne

ma
1serg

imuelhana
prg.sleep.dep.loc

3anom
‘They left while I was sleeping’

nkilhyit
leave.pv.pl

When inﬂected for the allative case, a dependent subjunctive clause indicates the purpose or goal of an
action—expressed in English using ‘so that’, ‘in order for/to/that’, or a bare inﬁnitival clause. Dependent
subjunctive clauses also take the allative when they co-occur with degree markers like tsuo ‘too’ and muhpi
‘enough’.

(10.38) Na

3aerg

makai
meat.dat

ksapatlyi
salt.pv

tuhsaua
winter.all

lanteia
preserve.dep:sbj.all

‘She salted the meat (in order) to preserve (it) for the winter’

(10.39) Elime

Elim.nom

keuli
chair.dat

tolhyi
stand.pv

isane
13all

kuleia
see:res.dep:sbj.all

‘Elim stood on a chair so that we could see (him)’
or ‘… in order for us to see (him)’

(10.40) Kohote

chest.nom

tsuo
too

alhuta
rel.heavy.ipv

(Sakialma)
Sakial.erg

tiyiseia
lift.dep:sbj.all

‘The chest is too heavy (for Sakial) to lift’

Dependent indicative clauses in the ablative case express the cause or reason for an event, or the beginning
point of an event or state, and are equivalent to ‘since’ or ‘because’ clauses in English. When expressing a
beginning point, the dependent clause may be followed by the emphatic particle su, here equivalent to ‘ever’
(e.g., iome alimau su ‘ever since the world began’).

(10.41) Tomla

iome
mountain
world.nom
‘Those mountains have been there since the world began’

ieuolhat
prg.be:there.ipv.pl

tin
those:nom

alimau
pv.begin.dep.abl

(10.42) Pyie

meun
child.dat
milk
‘Elim gave the child milk because she was thirsty’

Elimma
Elim.erg

uktiyi
give.pv

inan
3asloc

ihalhkonau
prg.thirsty.dep.abl

Finally, dependent clauses (both indicative and subjunctive) can inﬂect for instrumental case. In the indica-
tive mood, an instrumental dependent clause denotes a secondary event or state which co-occurs with the
event denoted by the main clause. This is illustrated in (10.43), where ihisame describes an action which
accompanies the event of the child running out of the room. More commonly, secondary events are expressed
using a participial clause (

10.3), as in (10.44):

(10.43) Pyie

child.nom

halou
room.abl

kiompe
run.cv

suhyi
go:out.pv

ihisame
prg.cry.dep.inst

‘The child ran out of the room crying’ (lit. ‘with crying’)

272

(10.44) Pyie

halou
room.abl

kiompe
run.cv

suhyi
go:out.pv

ihise
prg.cry.pt

child.nom
‘The child ran out of the room crying’

CHAPTER 10. NOMINALIZATION AND COMPLEX CLAUSES

Indicative clauses in the instrumental case can also express the action by means of which a given result is
achieved:

(10.45) Na

nasats
strength

tafyi
show.pv

lhute
heavy.tnzr

nak`a
rock.nom

tiyisame
lift.dep.inst

3aerg
‘He showed his strength by lifting a heavy rock’

When combined with a stative verb in the dependent form, instrumental case forms the equivalent of a
manner adverb in English: e.g., kiota ‘be quick’ > kiotame ‘quickly, by being quick’. (Manner modiﬁcation
can also be done with converbs; see

10.4 for discussion.)

(10.46) Pyie

§
kiotame
child.nom
quick.dep.inst
‘The child ran quickly out of the room’

halou
room.abl

kiompe
run.cv

suhyi
go:out.pv

Subjunctive dependent clauses can also combine with instrumental case to express a hypothetical condition,
corresponding to a conditional (‘if’) clause in English—or, when the dependent verb is negated, an ‘unless’
clause. This is illustrated in (10.47) and (10.48). (Conditional clauses can also be formed using aunme or a
subjunctive participle, as discussed in
10.3.2, respectively). The locative case can also be used
in place of the instrumental, as in (10.49), but this is less common.

10.2.3 and

(10.47) Ma

aleut
help

uktia
give.ipv
1serg
‘I will help if necessary’

tiuhime
necessary.dep:sbj.inst

(10.48) Lhat`e

children.nom

ntse
neg

tehefoi
soon

nioktoitame,
return.dep:sbj:neg.pl.inst

inane
3apall

ekpihoksa
search.must.ipv

le
it:seems

‘If the children don’t return soon, I guess (we) will have to go look for them’
or ‘Unless the children return soon…’

(10.49) S`u

kahpina,
fall.dep:sbj.loc

kim
12nom

Kemotlasei
Kemotlasi.dat

metot
neg.go.ipv:neg.pl

rain
‘If it rains, we won’t go to Kemotlasi’

10.2.2 Dependent clauses as complements of relational nouns

As discussed in
6.5, relational nouns are a special class of nouns which express a spatio-temporal or abstract
relation between two or more objects, locations, or events. These nouns normally carry dative or oblique
case marking, and combine with a preceding noun or noun phrase complement to form a larger noun phrase.
In the following example, him ‘interior’ is a relational noun (inﬂected for locative case), and tohmi kotu is
its complement:

(10.50) tohmi

large:one

kotu
house

himna
inside.loc

‘inside the large house’ (lit. ‘at the large house[’s] interior’)

In addition to noun phrase complements, a number of relational nouns can take dependent clause comple-
ments to form adverbial modiﬁers. The most common of these are listed below, suxed with the appropriate
case ending (note that talhkou and ohpeu are essentially synonymous):

10.2. THE DEPENDENT FORM

273

elhkoua
hekuna
himna
isna
kamna
ohpeu
talhkou
usna

‘in order to/that, so that’
‘because, since, given that; when’
‘while’
‘after’
‘before’
‘because’
‘because’
‘instead of’

Elhkoua, which forms purpose clauses, selects a complement containing a verb in the dependent subjunctive,
as does usna:

(10.51) kihoin

siehpi
write.dep:sbj

elhkoua…
in:order:to.all

letter.dat
‘in order to write the letter…’

(10.52) Sakialma

Sakial.erg

kihoin
letter.dat

siehpi
write.dep:sbj

elhkoua…
in:order:to.all

‘in order for Sakial to write the letter…’ or ‘in order that Sakial (would) write the letter…’

(10.53) Sakialma

kihoin
letter.dat

siehpi
write.dep:sbj

usna,
instead.loc

na
3aerg

atuyi
rest.pv

Sakial.erg
‘Instead of writing the letter, Sakial took a nap’
more lit. ‘Instead of Sakial writing the letter, he took a nap’

The other relational expressions normally select complements with a verb in the dependent indicative:

(10.54) s`u

rain

ikahpa
prg.fall.dep

talhkou…
cause.abl

‘because it is/was raining…’

(10.55) no

am`e
mother.nom

3ardat
‘after her mother died…’

atioka
pv.die.dep

isna…
after.loc

(10.56) Kima
12erg

hauat
ﬁre

pusukata
make.dep.pl

kamna,
before.loc

losak
ﬁrewood

titioksa
gather.must.ipv

‘Before we build a ﬁre, (we) have to gather ﬁrewood’

The relational noun heku, inﬂected for locative case, corresponds to English ‘when’ (expressing a time) or
‘since, given that’ (expressing a presupposed state of a↵airs). Note also the expression hulne hekuna, meaning
‘by the time that…’, where hulne is literally ‘no more, no later (than)’:

(10.57) Me

niokta
return.dep

hulne
no:later

hekuna,
when.loc

1snom
‘By the time I returned, they had already left’

ne
3anom

uta
already

unkilhankat
pf.leave.ipv:pst.pl

In the examples above, the dependent clause complement immediately precedes the relational noun and is
unmarked for case. It is also possible for the dependent verb to take ablative case marking:

(10.58) s`u

rain

ikahpau
prg.fall.dep.abl

talhkou…
cause.abl

‘because it is/was raining…’

274

CHAPTER 10. NOMINALIZATION AND COMPLEX CLAUSES

(10.59) Elime

Kemotlasei
Elim.nom
Kemotlasi.dat
‘instead of Elim going to Kemotlasi…’

eteu
go.dep:sbj.abl

usna…
stead.loc

Ablative marking on the complement is rare when the dependent clause immediately precedes the relational
noun. However, when the two are separated by intervening material, ablative marking becomes obligatory.
For instance, the dependent clause must take ablative marking when it is separated from kamna ‘before’
or isna ‘after’ by an adverb or instrumental noun phrase expressing temporal duration (e.g., etsipi ‘a little
while’, ilme henme ‘for two months’):

(10.60) no

am`e
mother.nom

atiokau
pv.die.dep.abl

3ardat
‘a little while after her mother died…’

(10.61) no

am`e
mother.nom

atiokau
3ardat
pv.die.dep.abl
‘two months before her mother died…’

etsipi
for:a:while

isna…
after.loc

ilme
moon

henme
two.inst

kamna…
before.loc

It is likely that the elements aun and alh, which inﬂect for case and select dependent clause complements,
also belong to the class of relational nouns. However, since these elements require special discussion, I deal
with them in a separate subsection.

10.2.3 Dependent clauses as complements of aun and alh

Dependent clauses may be selected as complements by the noun-like elements aun and alh. The former is
used to form conditional clauses and related constructions, while the latter forms concessive clauses and
I discuss these elements in turn. For the sake of consistency, aun will be glossed
related constructions.
‘if’ in the examples, while alh will be glossed ‘though’. Note, however, that ‘if’ and ‘though’ are not fully
equivalent to aun and alh, so these glosses are only approximate.

Clauses with aun

An important function of aun is to form indirect questions. Indirect questions are embedded clauses express-
ing a hypothetical proposition, which are selected by verbs such as nesapa ‘ask’, untsapa ‘wonder’, and iona
‘know’. When the dependent verb in the aun clause is in the subjunctive mood, the clause is interpreted as
an indirect yes/no question. Here, aun corresponds to ‘if’ or ‘whether’ in English. As the examples below
show, indirect questions are normally postposed to the right of the verb that selects them:

(10.62) Ma

untsapa
wonder.ipv

elohfoi
tomorrow

s`u
rain

kahpi
fall.dep:sbj

aun
if

1serg
‘I wonder if/whether it will rain tomorrow’

(10.63) Ma

Sakiail
Sakial.dat

nesapyi
ask.pv

Motlama
Motla.erg

kihoin
letter.dat

usiehpi
pf.write.dep:sbj

aun
if

1serg
‘I asked Sakial if/whether Motla had written the letter’

Aun also forms indirect content questions by combining with a dependent indicative clause. Here the clause
contains one or more of the indeﬁnite/interrogative correlative elements discussed in
6.7.1 (e.g., m`a ‘what’,
mi`o ‘who’, emi ‘when’, ymiohpa ‘why’, etc.). In such cases, aun serves merely to indicate that the clause is
an indirect question and has no direct English equivalent.

(10.64) Ma

untsapa
wonder.ipv

Motlama
Motla.erg
1serg
‘I wonder what Motla is writing’

mai
what.dat

isiehpa
prg.write.dep

aun
if

10.2. THE DEPENDENT FORM

275

(10.65) Ma

1serg

Sakiail
Sakial.dat

nesapyi
ask.pv

Motlama
Motla.erg

kihoin
letter.dat

emi
when

usiehpa
pf.write.dep

aun
if

‘I asked Sakial when Motla wrote / had written the letter’

Besides expressing indirect questions, clauses headed by aun have other functions as well. For example, an
aun clause with the verb in the dependent subjunctive can be selected by the relational noun elhko ‘purpose’,
inﬂected for allative case. The resulting expression is equivalent to English ‘just in case’:

(10.66) ne

manioktoita
neg.return.dep:sbj:neg.pl

3anom
‘just in case they don’t return …’

aun
if

elhkoua…
purpose.all

Being itself a noun-like element, aun can be suxed with a case ending under certain circumstances. For ex-
ample, aun can take the allative case ending -a. Clauses headed by auna, meaning roughly ‘about (whether)’,
are used with verbs of thinking and saying to indicate a question which is being debated:

(10.67) Sa

ikyitsampauot
prg.talk:about.act.ipv.recip.pl

13erg
‘We’re talking about whether to go hunting tomorrow’

elohfoi
tomorrow

lakieta
hunt.dep:sbj.pl

auna
if.all

(10.68) Na

sokastyiot
argue.pv.recip.pl

ineu
3apabl

mi`o
who

3aerg
‘They argued about which of them was stronger’

anasohta
rel.strong.comp.dep

auna
if.all

Dependent indicative aun clauses can also take the ablative case ending -u. Ablative aun clauses occur in
comparative constructions (
7.6), where they express the standard of comparison, especially when making
§
comparisons of manner or amount. Typically the aun clause contains a correlative such as miai ‘how’, mian
‘how much’, miante ‘how many’. As example (10.71) shows, the verb may be omitted from the aun clause
when it is the same as the verb in the main clause.

(10.69) Ma

1serg

akut
2pdat

halma
book

anihte
as:many

uktiama
give.ipv.dpl

ikune
2pall

miante
how:many

moituha
get.want.dep

aunu
if.abl

‘I’ll give you as many books as you want’ (lit. ‘… as how many you want to get’)

(10.70) Imem
1sinst

halma
book

anohte
more

he
be:ipv

miante
how:many

ekpyipa
carry.able.dep

aunu
if.abl

‘I have more books than I can carry’ (lit. ‘… than how many are carryable’)

(10.71) Na

3aerg

ueho
wine

ifei
as:much.dat

sepyit
drink.pv.pl

ikima
12erg

miain
how:much.dat

aunu
if.abl

‘They drank as much wine as we did’ (lit. ‘… as how much we [drank]’)

Finally, aun can take the instrumental case ending -me. As shown below, aunme can select a dependent
indicative complement to form a temporal (‘when’) clause, or a conditional (‘if, whenever’) clause expressing
a general precondition for some event. Alternatively, aunme can select a dependent subjunctive complement
to form a conditional (‘if’) clause expressing a hypothetical or counterfactual condition. When introduced
by an aunme clause, the main clause often includes the particle temai ‘then’. (Note that aunme clauses
have many of the same functions as participial clauses, discussed in

10.3.)

(10.72) S`u

rain

kahpa
fall.dep

aunme,
if.inst

me
1snom

mokna
home.loc

teha
stay.ipv

‘When(ever) it rains, I stay at home’ or ‘If it rains…’

276

(10.73) Elohfoi

s`u
rain

kahpi
fall.dep:sbj

aunme,
if.inst

tomorrow
‘If it rains tomorrow, then I’ll stay at home’

me
1snom

temai
then

mokna
home.loc

teha
stay.ipv

CHAPTER 10. NOMINALIZATION AND COMPLEX CLAUSES

(10.74) S`u

kahpi
fall.dep:sbj

me
rain
1snom
‘If it rained, I would stay at home’

aunme,
if.inst

mokna
home.loc

tehike
stay.cond

(10.75) Elohka

s`u
rain

ukahpi
pf.fall.dep:sbj

aunme,
if.inst

yesterday
‘If it had rained yesterday, I would have stayed at home’

me
1snom

mokna
home.loc

utehike
pf.stay.cond

When an indicative aunme clause contains an indeﬁnite/interrogative correlative, it functions as a type of
adverbial clause known as an adjunct free relative. Adjunct free relatives in English are introduced by
a wh-element suxed with ‘-ever’ (‘whoever’, ‘whatever’, ‘whenever’, etc.). The main clause often contains
a pronoun or demonstrative correlative (see
6.7.2) which refers back to the proposition expressed by the
aunme clause.

(10.76) Na

m`a
what:nom

sukata
do.dep.pl

aunme,
if.inst

na
3aerg

tsuali
careful.dep:sbj

lehuat
should.ipv.pl

3aerg
‘Whatever they do, they should be careful’
more lit. ‘When(ever) they do something, they should be careful’

(10.77) Ku

miei
where.dat

eta
go.dep

aunme,
if.inst

tiei
there.dat

husu
also

man
1snom

eta
go.ipv

2nom
‘Wherever you go, I will go there too’
more lit. ‘When(ever) you go somewhere, there I also will go’

(10.78) Hitolna

mi`o
who:nom

auotiohta
rel.close.comp.dep

aunme,
if.inst

hi
3inom

in`a
3aerg

muke
close.cv

eskuke
please

door.loc
‘Whoever is closest to the door, please close it’
more lit. ‘When(ever) someone is closest to the door, will that (person) please close it’

The verb hutopa ‘depend on, be based on, be linked with’ often selects an aunme clause:

(10.79) Soniokt`e

hutopa
answer.nom
depend.ipv
‘The answer depends on who one asks’

mioi
who.dat

nesapa
ask.dep

aunme
if.inst

Aunme clauses can include a quantiﬁer, such as ante ‘many’, sepyi ‘a few’, tsomote ‘most’, etc., which
quantiﬁes over the set of events or cases denoted by the clause. When a quantiﬁer is present, it follows aun
and carries the case ending. The following combinations are particularly common:

aun anteme
aun ikyime
aun sepyime
aun tsomoteme

‘often when, in many cases when/where’
‘always when, whenever’
‘sometimes when, in some cases when/where’
‘usually when, in most cases when/where’

Examples:

(10.80) Sakialma

ueho
wine

sepa
Sakial.erg
drink.dep
‘When Sakial drinks wine, he usually gets drunk’
more lit. ‘In most (cases) when Sakial drinks wine, he gets drunk’

tsomoteme,
most.inst

ne
3aabs

aun
if

munteta
drunk.tinc.ipv

10.2. THE DEPENDENT FORM

277

(10.81) Ma

1serg

imuelhta
prg.sleep.tinc.dep

aun
if

sepyime,
some.inst

iman
1sloc

opa
believe.ipv

lohan
voice

ul`a
hear:res.dep.nom

‘Sometimes when I’m going to sleep, I think (I can) hear voices’

Note ﬁnally that, in addition to combining with a dependent clause, aunme can follow a noun phrase
(unmarked for case) to mark that noun phrase as a contrastive topic. The contrastive topic construction is
used to introduce a new (or newly relevant) participant into the discourse, and is more or less equivalent to
English ‘as for X’ or ‘as far as X is concerned’:

(10.82) Elim
Elim
‘As for Elim, he will have to wait for us to return’

peutoksa
wait.must.ipv

aunme,
if.inst

kim
12nom

na
3aerg

nioktitaua
return.dep:sbj.pl.all

A contrastive topic with aunme can also combine with the question particle ne to form a construction
equivalent to English ‘What about X?’ (e.g., Sakial aunme ne? ‘What about Sakial?’).

Clauses with alh

Like aun, alh is a nominal element which normally selects a dependent clause as its complement. Unlike aun,
which can appear in various cases, alh always takes the instrumental ending -me. When alhme combines with
a dependent clause in the indicative mood, the result is a concessive clause, equivalent to a clause headed
by ‘although’, ‘(even) though’, or ‘despite (the fact that)’. The main clause often includes the contrastive
particle anin ‘still, nevertheless, even so’.

(10.83) Hi

3inom

teusu
very

lhutata
heavy.dep.pl

alhme,
though.inst

anin
still

tekelhyipankat
pick:up.able.ipv:pst.pl

iman
1sloc

‘Although they’re quite heavy, I was still able to pick (them) up’

(10.84) Mi

Motl`a
Motla.nom

motsokuo
neg.pf.meet.dep:neg

1sdat
‘Even though I’ve never met Motla, I know a lot about him’

alhme,
though.inst

in`e
3aall

han
much

iona
know.ipv

iman
1sloc

When the alhme clause includes an indeﬁnite correlative (
question introduced by ‘despite, in spite of’ or ‘no matter’:

6.7.1), it usually corresponds to an indirect

(10.85) Ikuna
2ploc
‘Despite what you think, the work is not so dangerous’

alhme,
though.inst

opa
believe.dep

m`a
what:nom

suklute
work.nom

ntsemiai
not:so

nukano
dangerous.ipv:neg

(10.86) Na

miampi
how:much

na
nika
3aerg
3aerg
try.dep
‘No matter how hard she tries, she won’t succeed’

alhme,
though.inst

manamuohto
neg.succeed.ipv:neg

When the dependent verb is in the subjunctive mood, the alhme clause is interpreted as a concessive
conditional, corresponding to a clause with ‘even if’ or ‘whether (or not)’. Sometimes the alhme clause
contains two predicates combined using the repeated coordinator lo ‘or’, as in (10.88) and (10.89) below.
Here, the concessive clause indicates that the choice among alternative situations makes no di↵erence to the
situation denoted by the main clause.

(10.87) Na

3aerg

hampi
much

uespi
pf.study.dep:sbj

alhme,
though.inst

nesaip
question.dat

mosonioktyipoike
neg.pf.answer.able.cond:neg

‘Even if he had studied hard, (he) would not have been able to answer the question’

278

CHAPTER 10. NOMINALIZATION AND COMPLEX CLAUSES

aho
(10.88) Lo
or
sun
‘Whether it rains or shines, the ship will depart tomorrow’

laini
shine.dep:sbj

kahpi
fall.dep:sbj

alhme,
though

s`u
rain

lo
or

topuole
ship.nom

elohfoi
tomorrow

nkilha
leave.ipv

(10.89) Ikoi
2all

lo
or

okﬁ
want.dep:sbj

lo
or

ntsune
not

alhme,
though.inst

hi
3inom

anin
still

sukoksa
do.must.ipv

‘Whether you want to or not, (you) still have to do it’

Finally, like aunme, alhme can combine with an unmarked noun phrase in place of a dependent clause, in
which case it corresponds to English ‘in spite of’ or ‘notwithstanding’:

(10.90) S`u

rain

alhme,
though.inst

otieuni
garden.dat

seuki
weed

tifoksa
remove.must.ipv

hial`o
today

‘In spite of the rain, (we) need to weed the garden today’

10.2.4 Restructuring: Bare dependent complements of verbs

4.4.1, a number of Class I verbs can take a dependent clause as their nominative argument.
As discussed in
These include verbs like otsena ‘be likely’, where the dependent clause is headed by a verb in the subjunctive
mood. In the examples below, etok`e consists of etoki (the dependent subjunctive form of toka ‘ﬁx’), plus the
nominative case ending -e; ietok`e and iotok`e are the progressive and perfect forms, respectively. As these
examples show, dependent clauses in the nominative are normally postposed after the verb that selects them
(cf.

9.2.3).

(10.91) Otsena

Elimma
Elim.erg

mutoi
fence.dat

tok`e
ﬁx.dep:sbj.nom

likely.ipv
‘It is likely that Elim will ﬁx the fence’

(10.92) Otsena

Elimma
Elim.erg

mutoi
fence.dat

itok`e
prg.ﬁx.dep:sbj.nom

likely.ipv
‘It is likely that Elim is ﬁxing the fence’

(10.93) Otsena

Elimma
Elim.erg

mutoi
fence.dat

utok`e
pf.ﬁx.dep:sbj.nom

likely.ipv
‘It is likely that Elim has ﬁxed the fence’

An alternative to this construction is shown below. Here, the dependent subjunctive verb and its dependents
immediately precede otsena, and the dependent verb is not marked for nominative case, but appears instead
in its ‘bare’ form, without any case marking (e.g., toki instead of tok`e). As the translations of these sentences
show, the dependent subjunctive form here corresponds roughly to the English inﬁnitive (e.g., ‘to ﬁx’).

(10.94) Elimma

mutoi
fence.dat

toki
ﬁx.dep:sbj

Elim.erg
‘Elim is likely to ﬁx the fence’

otsena
likely.ipv

(10.95) Elimma

mutoi
fence.dat

itoki
prg.ﬁx.dep:sbj

Elim.erg
‘Elim is likely to be ﬁxing the fence’

(10.96) Elimma

utoki
Elim.erg
pf.ﬁx.dep:sbj
‘Elim is likely to have ﬁxed the fence’

mutoi
fence.dat

otsena
likely.ipv

10.2. THE DEPENDENT FORM

279

In this construction, the selecting verb and the dependent verb form a kind of complex predicate heading a
single clause, a phenomenon known as restructuring. Here the selecting verb rather than the dependent
verb carries the tense and mood inﬂection for the clause, and can also take other morphology available to
7.6), as in (10.98) below.
Class I predicates—e.g., it can inﬂect for the comparative/superlative degree (see

(10.97) Elimma

mutoi
Elim.erg
fence.dat
‘Elim was likely to ﬁx the fence’

toki
ﬁx.dep:sbj

otsenanka
likely.ipv:pst

(10.98) Elimma

mutoi
fence.dat

toki
ﬁx.dep:sbj

Elim.erg
‘Elim is more likely than me to ﬁx the fence’

auotsenohta
rel.likely.comp.ipv

im`o
1sabl

Crucially in restructuring, the arguments and modiﬁers of the dependent verb behave as part of the main
clause. Consequently, the predicate as whole can be thought of as inheriting its argument structure properties
from the dependent verb. For instance, although otsena ‘be likely’ belongs to Class I, toki otsena ‘be likely
to ﬁx’ behaves as a Class III predicate because toka ‘ﬁx’ is a Class III verb. One piece of evidence to show
that the arguments of the dependent verb are part of the main clause comes from number agreement (cf.
if one of the core arguments of the dependent verb is plural, the number agreement suxes attach
7.2):
§
not to the dependent verb itself, but to the verb that selects it:

(10.99) Elimma

mutoi
fence.dat

utoki
pf.ﬁx.dep:sbj

Elim.erg
‘Elim is likely to have ﬁxed the fences’

otsenama
likely.ipv.dpl

(10.100) Elim
utoki
pf.ﬁx.dep:sbj
Elim
‘Elim and Sakial are likely to have ﬁxed the fences’

Sakialma
Sakial.erg

mutoi
fence.dat

ka
and

otsenamat
likely.ipv.dpl.pl

Compare (10.99) and (10.100) with the non-restructuring examples below, where otsena takes a (postposed)
dependent subjunctive clause complement in the nominative case. Here the plural noun phrases are properly
part of the dependent clause, and number agreement shows up on the dependent verb rather than on otsena:

(10.101) Otsena

Elimma
Elim.erg

mutoi
fence.dat

utokim`a
pf.ﬁx.dep:sbj.dpl.nom

likely.ipv
‘It is likely that Elim has ﬁxed the fences’

(10.102) Otsena

Elim
Elim

ka
and

Sakialma
Sakial.erg

mutoi
fence.dat

utokimat`a
pf.ﬁx.dep:sbj.dpl.pl.nom

likely.ipv
‘It is likely that Elim and Sakial have ﬁxed the fences’

An additional piece of evidence for restructuring comes from the fact that a verb and its bare dependent
complement can act as a single unit in the formation of a participant nominal (see
10.6), with participant
nominal morphology appearing on the selecting verb. Compare:

(10.103) Elimma

Elim.erg

utokal
pf.ﬁx.dep.dnzr

mutu
fence

‘(the) fence that Elim has/had ﬁxed’

(10.104) Elimma

Elim.erg

utoki
pf.ﬁx.dep:sbj

otsenal
likely.dep.dnzr

mutu
fence

‘(the) fence that Elim is/was likely to have ﬁxed’

280

(10.105) mutoi

utokaka
pf.ﬁx.dep.anzr

koin
person

fence.dat
‘(the) person who has/had ﬁxed the fence’

CHAPTER 10. NOMINALIZATION AND COMPLEX CLAUSES

(10.106) mutoi

utoki
pf.ﬁx.dep:sbj

otsenaka
likely.dep.anzr

koin
person

fence.dat
‘(the) person who is/was likely to have ﬁxed the fence’

There are two possible ways to negate a clause containing a restructuring predicate: either the clause as
a whole can be negated, including the selecting verb, or just the dependent verb can be negated. When
just the dependent verb is negated, the negative marker ntse attaches to it as a preﬁx (m-) if the two are
adjacent. This is illustrated in (10.107). When the entire clause is negated, both verbs inﬂect for negative
polarity; the negative marker ntse again precedes the dependent verb, but does not attach to it as a preﬁx,
even when the two are adjacent. This is illustrated in (10.108). Notice how these sentences are translated,
reﬂecting a subtle di↵erence in interpretation:
in the latter sentence negation scopes over ‘likely to have
ﬁxed’, while in the former sentence it only scopes over ‘to have ﬁxed’.

(10.107) Elimma

mutoi
fence.dat

motokoi
neg.pf.ﬁx.dep:sbj:neg

Elim.erg
‘Elim is likely not to have ﬁxed the fence’

(10.108) Elimma

mutoi
fence.dat

ntse
neg

utokoi
pf.ﬁx.dep:sbj:neg

Elim.erg
‘Elim is not likely to have ﬁxed the fence’

otsena
likely.ipv

otseno
likely.ipv:neg

Verbs like otsena, which can select a bare dependent subjunctive verb to form a restructuring predicate, all
7.7.2 for additional discussion). The
belong to Class I. They include the modal verbs, listed below (see
glosses give the most literal English equivalents of each verb, while more idiomatic translations are given in
parentheses.

alha
aniohta
etaupa
ksafa
kuia
lehua
lyihpa
okfa
tima
tiuha
toupa

‘be allowed, permissible’ (‘can, may, be allowed to’)
‘be better, preferable’ (‘better, it would be better/best if…’)
‘be predicted’ (‘be supposed to’)
‘be desired, wished for’ (‘want to, wish for’)
‘be certain, deﬁnite’ (‘be sure’)
‘be advisable’ (‘should, ought to, be supposed to’)
‘be possible’ (‘can, may, might’)
‘be desired/desirable’ (‘want’)
‘be likely, common’ (‘tend to; be liable to’)
‘be necessary, needed’ (‘need to, have to, must’)
‘be presumable, apparent’ (‘must’)

Examples:

(10.109) S`u

kahpi
fall.dep:sbj

etaupa
predicted.ipv
rain
‘It’s supposed to rain tomorrow’

elohfoi
tomorrow

(10.110) Ne

hatlam
soon

tioki
die.dep:sbj

kuia
certain.ipv

3anom
‘He is certain to die soon’

(10.111) Ma

kielna
dream.loc

utupi
pf.walk.dep:sbj

1serg
‘I must have been dreaming’ (lit. ‘walking in a dream’)

toupa
must.ipv

10.2. THE DEPENDENT FORM

281

(10.112) Ko

2erg

kaine
ﬁrst

halma
book

atat
these:dat

tali
read.dep:sbj

lehuamat
advisable.ipv.dpl.pl

mo
in:my:opinion

‘I think you (pl) should read these books ﬁrst’

The following examples, featuring tiuha ‘be necessary’, show how the placement of negation a↵ects the
interpretation of sentences with modal predicates. When the entire sentence is negated, the meaning is ‘not
have to’, but when only the dependent verb is negated, the meaning is ‘must not’. A more literal translation
of (10.114) would be ‘For you it is not necessary to leave now’, while (10.115) may be paraphrased ‘For you
it is necessary to not leave now’.

(10.113) Ikune
2pall

takan
now

nkilhi
leave.dep:sbj

tiuha
necessary.ipv

‘You (pl) must leave now’

(10.114) Ikune
2pall

ntse
neg

takan
now

nkilhoi
leave.dep:sbj:neg

tiuho
necessary.ipv:neg

‘You (pl) don’t have to leave now’

(10.115) Ikune
2pall

takan
now

mankilhoi
neg.sbj.leave.dep:sbj:neg

tiuha
necessary.ipv

‘You (pl) must not leave now’

The following examples further illustrate the interaction between modal verbs and negation in restructuring
predicates:

ntse nkilhoi alho
ntse nkilhoi lyihpo
ntse unkilhoi toupo

‘not allowed to leave’ mankilhoi alha
‘can’t leave’
‘can’t have left’

mankilhoi lyihpa
monkilhoi toupa

‘allowed not to leave’
‘might not leave’
‘must not have left’

Other Class I verbs which form restructuring predicates are listed below. These include the resultative forms
of dynamic perception verbs such as kila ‘see, notice’, ola ‘hear’, etc., to which the relative preﬁx a- has
been added (see

7.5.1 for more on the resultative aspect, and

7.6 for more on the relative marker).

akula
aloihtsa
amaihtla
aseifa
auoita
auola
iala
koluma
kuista
kyisa
malha
tiapa
tiyla
tuosa

‘look, appear’
‘smell’
‘taste’
‘feel (to the touch)’
‘feel, seem’
‘sound’
‘know how’
‘be dicult’
‘take a long time’
‘take (only) a short time’
‘be worthwhile, worth (doing)’
‘be easy’
‘seem, appear’
‘it’s time that…’ (lit. ‘be ripe’)

Examples:

(10.116) Mase

hampi
soup.nom
very
‘The soup smells very good’

ahenki
rel.enjoyable.dep:sbj

ialoihtsa
prg.rel.smell:res.ipv

282

(10.117) Halma

tan
this:nom

iman
1sloc

mutli
understand.dep:sbj

book
‘This book is very dicult for me to understand’

teusu
very

koluma
dicult.ipv

CHAPTER 10. NOMINALIZATION AND COMPLEX CLAUSES

(10.118) Mo

Motl`a
Motla.nom

empekamna
most:recently

1srdat
‘The last time I saw Motla, he seemed to be happy’

akile,
pv.see.pt

inan
3asloc

ikesti
prg.happy.dep:sbj

tiylanka
seem.ipv:pst

(10.119) Kim

nkilhi
leave.dep:sbj

12nom
‘It’s time for us to leave’

ituosat
prg.be:time.ipv.pl

(10.120) Halma

atai
this:dat

tali
read.dep:sbj

book
‘That book is worth reading’

malha
worthwhile.ipv

(10.121) Halma

atai
this:dat

tali
read.dep:sbj

kuistanka
take:long:time.ipv:pst

book
‘That book took a long time to read’ or ‘Reading that book took a long time’

The verb iala ‘have, be responsible for’ normally combines with a noun phrase complement and denotes
inalienable possession (e.g., Sakialu suhpa iala ‘Sakial has a brother’). However, iala can also combine with
a bare dependent subjunctive complement, in which case it means ‘know how’. The individual who possesses
the knowledge is referenced by a noun phrase in the ablative case:

(10.122) Sakialu

tali
read.dep:sbj
Sakial.abl
‘Sakial knows how to read and write’

tena
and

siehpi
write.dep:sbj

iala
have.ipv

As with other restructuring predicates, either the selecting verb or the dependent verb can be negated,
depending on the scope of negation. Compare the following examples, where the second and third sentences
di↵er subtly in meaning:

(10.123) Ikun

ytapi
certainly
2sloc
‘You certainly look happy’

kesti
happy.dep:sbj

iakula
prg.rel.look.ipv

(10.124) Ikun

ytapi
certainly

ntse
neg

kestoi
happy.dep:sbj

iakulo
prg.rel.look.ipv:neg

2sloc
‘You certainly don’t look happy’

(10.125) Ikun

ytapi
certainly

nkestoi
neg.sbj.happy.dep:sbj:neg

iakula
prg.rel.look.ipv

2sloc
‘You certainly look unhappy’

Note that restructuring predicates like kesti akula ‘look happy’ are somewhat formal. A more colloquial
alternative would be to use a stative verb preceded by an unmarked noun denoting an abstract quality: e.g.,
akiel kesta, literally ‘be happy (in) appearance’. Compare the pairs of sentences below, where the second
sentence in each pair is the more common variant:

(10.126) Ohu`e

seimi
sweet.dep:sbj

amaihtla
rel.taste:res.ipv

fruit.nom
‘The fruit tastes sweet’

10.3. PARTICIPIAL CLAUSES

(10.127) Ohu`e

fruit.nom

amahtle
ﬂavour

seima
sweet.ipv

‘The fruit tastes sweet’ (lit. ‘is sweet in ﬂavour’)

283

(10.128) Elime

hakti
tired.dep:sbj

iakula
prg.rel.look.ipv

hial`o
today

Elim.nom
‘Elim is looking tired today’

(10.129) Elime

Elim.nom

akiel
appearance

ihakta
prg.tired.ipv

hial`o
today

‘Elim is looking tired today’ (lit. ‘is tired in appearance’)

(10.130) Sakialna

hotsmi
angry.dep:sbj

iauola
prg.rel.sound.ipv

Sakial.loc
‘Sakial sounds angry’

(10.131) Sakialna

Sakial.loc

aule
sound

ihotsma
prg.angry.ipv

‘Sakial sounds angry’ (lit. ‘is angry in sound’)

Finally, evaluative Class I verbs like henka ‘be enjoyable’ and huata ‘be appreciated’ can take a bare depen-
dent subjunctive complement denoting a type of activity. The experiencer is expressed by a noun phrase in
the allative case.

(10.132) Im`e

sihpi
swim.dep:sbj

henka
enjoyable.ipv

1sall
‘I like to swim’

10.3 Participial clauses

The term participial clause refers to a type of subordinate clause in Okuna headed by a participle.
Participles are untensed verbs marked with one of a set of special suxes, listed and discussed below. A
participial clause acts as an adjunct, and names an event or state of a↵airs which provides the temporal
In discourse-functional
or logical context for the event or state of a↵airs denoted by the main clause.
terms, participial clauses express ‘background’ (presupposed or scene-setting) information, while main clauses
generally express ‘foregrounded’ (asserted) information. In narratives, for example, the sequence of events
which constitutes the plot line is encoded by a succession of main clauses, while participial clauses serve to
clarify, modify, or set the scene for events in the plot line. Put another way, the main clauses describe what
happened, while participial clauses describe when it happened or under what conditions.

Consider the following example, where Elimma imuelhe is the participial clause (marked by the sux
-e on the verb), and Sakiale moktyi is the main clause. Here the participial clause provides context for the
main clause by expressing an event which was ongoing at the time when the main clause event occurred.

(10.133) Elimma

imuelhe
prg.sleep.pt

Sakiale
Sakial.nom

moktyi
come:home.pv

Elim.erg
‘While Elim was sleeping, Sakial came home’

Participles are formed by adding an ending on the verb stem, which replaces the tense/aspect/mood/polarity
endings found in main clauses (cf.
10.2), participles make a two-
way mood distinction between indicative and subjunctive, with separate endings in each mood for positive
and negative participles. Participles also take the same aspectual preﬁxes found on verbs in the dependent

7.4). Like verbs in the dependent form (
§

284

CHAPTER 10. NOMINALIZATION AND COMPLEX CLAUSES

form: progressive i-, perfect u-, and perfective a-, with the imperfect marked by the absence of an aspect
preﬁx on the participle.

The endings for forming participles are listed in the table below, together with the abbreviations used for
these endings in the glosses. Note that -u becomes -o when preceded by a glide: e.g., m.o.pau.u > mopauo
‘not having washed’.

indicative participle
subjunctive participle

positive
(pt)
(pt:sbj)

-e/-i
-ai

negative
(pt:neg)
(pt:sbj:neg)

-u
-au

Participles agree in number with their subjects and objects, with plural number agreement marked by suxes
that follow the participial ending. These suxes are the same as the ones used for verbs in main clauses (see
discussion in
7.2). The complete set of number agreement forms for the participles is given in the following
table. As this table shows, the positive indicative ending, which otherwise takes the form -e, surfaces as -i
when preceded and followed by a consonant.

sg
-e
pt
-u
pt:neg
pt:sbj
-ai
pt:sbj:neg -au

pl
-it
-ut
-ait
-aut

npl
-eua
-oua
-aia
-aua

npl+pl dpl
-ima
-euat
-uma
-ouat
-aima
-aiat
-auma
-auat

dpl+pl
-imat
-umat
-aimat
-aumat

epl
-ine
-une
-aine
-aune

epl+pl
-init
-unit
-ainit
-aunit

Participles can also take the reciprocal sux -(u)o, either by itself or in combination with the plural topic
sux -t (see

9.4.4 for more on reciprocal clauses):

recip recip+pl
-euo
pt
-ouo
pt:neg
pt:sbj
-aio
pt:sbj:neg -auo

-euot
-ouot
-aiot
-auot

The copula he (
§
discussed in
and can host the agreement suxes -t (plural topic) and -(u)a (nominative plural).

9.3.1) has an irregular conjugation. The participial forms for the copula are listed below. As
7.4.1, the copula makes only a two-way aspectual distinction, between imperfect and perfect,

imperfect

sg
hi
hu
hai
hau

pl
hit
hut
hait
haut

npl
heia
houa
haia
haua

sg
heue
heuo
heuai
heuau

perfect
pl
heuet
heuot
heuait
heuaut

npl
heueia
heuoua
heuaia
heuaua

pt
pt:neg
pt:sbj
pt:sbj:neg

The deictic verbs ts`a ‘be here (near me)’ and k`a ‘be here/there (near us/you)’ (
5.3.2) also form their
§
participles irregularly. The table below gives the imperfect participles for ts`a and k`a; the preﬁxes i- and
u- are added to these forms to give the corresponding progressive and perfect participles, respectively. For
these verbs, the indicative participles and their subjunctive counterparts are homophonous.

pt
pt:neg
pt:sbj
pt:sbj:neg

sg
tsai
tsau
tsai
tsau

pl
tsait
tsaut
tsait
tsaut

npl
tsaia
tsaua
tsaia
tsaua

sg
kai
kau
kai
kau

pl
kait
kaut
kait
kaut

npl
kaia
kaua
kaia
kaua

10.3. PARTICIPIAL CLAUSES

285

Indicative participial clauses generally express a temporal context (‘when/while’) or the presupposed cause or
reason for the event denoted by the main clause (‘because/since/given that’). Subjunctive participial clauses
express a hypothetical condition on which the event in the main clause depends, making them functionally
equivalent to conditional (‘if’) clauses. Indicative participles are discussed and illustrated further in
10.3.1,
while subjunctive participles are dealt with in

10.3.2.

10.3.1 Indicative participles

As noted above, indicative participles are formed by adding the sux -e (or -i between two consonants) to
the verb stem when the clause is positive, and -u when the clause is negative. The indicative participial form
may be unpreﬁxed, or it may carry the progressive preﬁx i-, the perfect preﬁx u-, or the perfective preﬁx a-.
Examples of indicative participial clauses are given here (formed from na muelha ‘s/he sleeps’, na muelhat
‘they sleep’), while the functions of the di↵erent aspectual forms are discussed below.

na muelhe
na imuelhe
na umuelhe
na amuelhe

na muelhit
na imuelhit
na umuelhit
na amuelhit

‘when s/he sleeps’
‘while s/he is/was sleeping’
‘once s/he has/had slept’
‘when s/he slept’

na mamuelhu
na memuelhu
na momuelhu
na mamuelhu

‘when s/he doesn’t sleep’
‘without him/her sleeping’
‘without him/her having slept’
‘when s/he didn’t sleep’

‘when they sleep’
‘while they are/were sleeping’
‘once they have/had slept’
‘when they slept’

na mamuelhut
na memuelhut
na momuelhut
na mamuelhut

‘when they don’t sleep’
‘without them sleeping’
‘without them having slept’
‘when they didn’t sleep’

The progressive participle

Progressive participles generally express an event which is or was ongoing, or a state of a↵airs which is/was
in e↵ect, at the time when the event denoted by the main clause takes place. The following examples show
a progressive participial clause juxtaposed with a main clause in the perfective aspect. As the glosses for
these sentences indicate, progressive participial clauses are typically translated using a subordinate clause
10.2.2, but
with ‘while’ (Okuna also has other ways of forming ‘while’ clauses, as discussed in
these are less common). The participial clause and the main clause may occur in either order, though it is
most common for the participial clause to precede the main clause.

10.2.1 and

(10.134) Elimma

imuelhe
prg.sleep.pt

Sakiale
Sakial.nom

moktyi
come:home.pv

Elim.erg
‘While Elim was sleeping, Sakial came home’

(10.135) Sakialma

kamala
knife.all

ikpihe
prg.search.pt

no
3ardat

utsape
pf.lose.tnzr

Sakial.erg
‘While Sakial was looking for a/the knife, he found the shoe that (he) had lost’

tloke
shoe.nom

tlelhyi
ﬁnd.pv

Below, a progressive participial clause is juxtaposed with a main clause in the imperfect or progressive aspect.
Notice that how the participial clause is translated (with ‘is asleep’ versus ‘was asleep’) depends on whether
the main clause is in the past tense or the non-past tense. The participle itself does not show any tense
distinctions.

(10.136) Elimma

imuelhe
prg.sleep.pt
Elim.erg
‘While Elim is asleep, I (will) work’

ma
1serg

suka
work.ipv

(10.137) Elimma

imuelhe
prg.sleep.pt

ma
1serg

isuka
prg.work.ipv

Elim.erg
‘I am working while Elim sleeps / is asleep’

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CHAPTER 10. NOMINALIZATION AND COMPLEX CLAUSES

(10.138) Elimma

Elim.erg

imuelhe
prg.sleep.pt

ma
1serg

isukanka
prg.work.ipv:pst

‘I was working while Elim slept / was asleep’

Progressive participial clauses can also correspond to bare participial modiﬁers in English, especially when
they share a referent with the main clause:

(10.139) Mikale

halou
room.abl

kiompe
run.cv

boy.nom
‘The boy ran out of the room crying’

suhyi
go:out.pv

ihise
prg.cry.pt

In the examples presented above, the participle is an eventive (Class II or Class III) verb. Stative (Class
I) verbs can also form progressive participles, expressing a condition or state of a↵airs holding at the time
when the main clause event occurs. Stative progressive participles often correspond to secondary predicates
in English:

(10.140) Sakiale

moktyi
come:home.pv
Sakial.nom
‘Sakial came home completely exhausted’

muohpi
completely

iahakte
prg.rel.tired.pt

A progressive participle is often used to express a situation involving two or more actions performed together,
where English would be more likely to use two tensed predicates or clauses conjoined with ‘and’:

(10.141) Lhatima

children.erg

iohnit
prg.sing.pt.pl

hostyit
dance.pv.pl

‘The children sang and danced’ (lit. ‘danced while singing’)

Although progressive participial clauses usually provide a temporal context for the event denoted by the
main clause, they can also express the cause, reason, or rationale for that event:

(10.142) Sakialna

teusu
very

iekone,
prg.hungry.pt

na
3aerg

iase
food

maha
some.all

Sakial.loc
‘Sakial being very hungry, he began to look for something to eat’
or ‘Since/given that Sakial (was) very hungry…’

ekpihtyi
search.tinc.pv

Notice that when the main clause and the participial clause share a referent, any full noun phrase which
picks out that referent will appear in the ﬁrst clause, regardless of whether it is the participial clause or the
main clause. In the second clause, that referent will be picked out by the appropriate pronoun. Compare
the following sentences, which have the same meaning, but with the order of the participial clause and the
main clause reversed: in each case the noun iha ‘woman’ occurs in the ﬁrst clause, while the second clause
contains a clitic pronoun which refers to the same referent.

(10.143) Ihama

kop`o
pot.nom

inakpe
prg.carry:in:hands.pt

ne
room.dat

woman.erg
‘The woman, carrying the pot, came into the room’
more lit. ‘While the woman (was) carrying a pot, she came into the room’

haloi
3anom

lhyuyi
enter.pv

(10.144) Ih`a

haloi
room.dat

lhyuyi
enter.pf

na
3aerg

kop`o
pot.nom

inakpe
prg.carry:in:hands.pt

woman.nom
‘The woman came into the room carrying a pot’
more lit. ‘The woman came into the room while she (was) carrying a pot’

When the progressive participial clause is negated, it may be translated into English using a ‘without’ clause:

10.3. PARTICIPIAL CLAUSES

287

(10.145) Ne

euolhna
there.loc

3anom
‘He sat there without looking at me’ or ‘He sat there, not looking at me’

euohtanka
prg.sit.ipv:pst

inme
3aerg.1snom

meksonu
neg.prg.look:at.pt:neg

The progressive participle is also used in the construction illustrated below, where the participial clause
is introduced by the conjunction ka ‘and, such that’. Here the participial clause provides background
information about one of the entities mentioned in the preceding clause. In the English counterpart of this
sentence, the noun in question is modiﬁed by a non-restrictive (or ‘appositional’) relative clause.

(10.146) Me

Uilumai
Uiluma.dat

ulhmo
1snom
year
‘I went to Uiluma, where my mother has been living for many years’
more lit. ‘I went to Uiluma, and in it (my) mother living for many years’

amema
mother.erg

itan
3iloc

etyi,
go.pv

kas
so:far

ka
and

antei
many.dat

itsuhpe
prg.live.pt

Finally, note the examples below. Here Okuna uses a progressive participle construction where English would
employ a preposition or subordinating conjunction. The progressive participial form of tiyla ‘seem’ (which
in turn selects a dependent subjunctive clause marked for nominative case) is the equivalent of ‘as if’ or ‘as
though’. In addition, ‘without’, when used of an instrument, can be expressed using a negative participial
clause headed by a verb like nyipa ‘use’.

(10.147) Na

im`e
1sall

kuhinie
dirty:look

etyi,
put.pv

itiyle
prg.seem.pt

inan
3asloc

amai
1sdat

kahtihp`e
hit.intend.dep:sbj.nom

3aerg
‘She glared at me as though she intended to hit me’
more lit. ‘She gave me a dirty look, (it) seeming that she intended to hit me’

(10.148) Ama

3idat.1serg

eiasoksanka
prg.eat.must.ipv:pst

ntse
neg

taus
spoon

inyipu
prg.use.pt:neg

‘I had to eat it without a spoon’ (lit. ‘not using a spoon’)

The perfect participle

As with progressive participial clauses, a perfect participial clause typically provides a temporal context for
the clause it modiﬁes. When the perfect participle is used, the contextualizing event properly precedes the
main event, rather than overlapping with it, as in the case of the progressive participle. As the examples
below illustrate, the main clause can refer to a past or non-past event or state. In either case, the perfect
participle expresses an event/state which properly precedes it. A perfect participial clause is often used
where English would employ a subordinate clause with ‘when’, ‘once’, or ‘after’.

(10.149) Sakiale

umokte
pf.come:home.pt

sa
13erg

sati
meal

iasyit
eat.pv.pl

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial having come home, we ate dinner’ or ‘After Sakial had come home…’

(10.150) Sakiale

umokte
pf.come:home.pt

sa
13erg

sati
meal

iasat
eat.ipv.pl

Sakial.nom
‘When Sakial comes home, we will eat dinner’ or ‘Once Sakial has come home…’

Sometimes there is an implied cause-and-e↵ect relation between the two clauses, where the perfect participial
clause describes an event which acts as a necessary precondition to the event denoted by the main clause:

(10.151) Ihama

woman.erg

ahotsine
corn.nom

tlule
grind.cv

uoslit,
pf.ﬁnish.pt.pl

homai
bread.dat

pusuktyit
make.tinc.pv.pl

‘The women having ﬁnished grinding the corn, (they) began to make the bread’
or ‘Since the women had ﬁnished grinding the corn…’

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CHAPTER 10. NOMINALIZATION AND COMPLEX CLAUSES

When the perfect participle is negated, as in the examples below, the participial clause is roughly equivalent
to a ‘before’, ‘without’, or ‘until’ clause in English, depending on the tense/aspect and polarity of the main
clause:

(10.152) Sakiale

ntsuta
not:yet

umoktu
pf.come:home.pt:neg

sa
13erg

sati
meal

iasyit
eat.pv.pl

Sakial.nom
‘Before Sakial got home, we ate dinner’ (lit. ‘Sakial having not yet come home…’)

(10.153) Sakiale

momoktu
neg.pf.come:home.pt:neg

sa
13erg

Sakial.nom
‘Until Sakial comes home, we won’t eat dinner’
or ‘We won’t eat dinner without Sakial having (ﬁrst) come home’

sati
meal

ntse
neg

iasot
eat.ipv:neg.pl

As with progressive participial clauses, perfect participial clauses may be introduced by the conjunction ka
‘and, such that’, as in the example below. Here the participial clause provides background information about
one of the participants mentioned in the main clause—speciﬁcally, by mentioning an event involving that
participant which had occurred at some point prior to the event in the main clause:

(10.154) Ma

Elimme
Elim.inst

laisne
just

etsampyi,
say.act.pv

ka
and

nami
3anom.1sdat

ntsemihka
never:before

usasu
pf.meet.pt:neg

1serg
‘I just spoke to Elim, who I had never met before’
lit. ‘I just spoke with Elim, and I never having met him before’

The imperfect participle

The imperfect participle is marked by the absence of an aspectual preﬁx on the verb. It is similar in meaning
to a progressive participle, but is used when the participial clause denotes a generic or habitual event, a
future event, or a permanent or integral property of an individual. A participial clause in the imperfect
nearly always correspond to an English ‘when’ or ‘since’ clause with the verb in the simple present, or (when
expressing a cause or reason) a bare participial modiﬁer.

(10.155) Sakiale

mokte
come:home.pt

sa
13erg

sati
meal

iasat
eat.ipv.pl

Sakial.nom
‘When Sakial gets home, we (will) eat dinner’

(10.156) Sakiale

kot`a
Sakial.nom
brick.nom
‘Since Sakial is strong, he should be the one to carry the bricks’ or ‘Sakial being strong…’

ekpi
carry.dep:sbj

lehuaua
should.npl

nase,
strong.pt

in`a
3aerg

te
foc

The perfective participle

The perfective participle is marked by the preﬁx a-. Perfective participial clauses normally combine with a
main clause in the past progressive or the past perfect, as shown below. Here the participial clause provides
a temporal context for the main clause by identifying a (usually punctual) event which occurred while the
main clause event was ongoing. Normally the perfective participial clause may be translated into English
using a ‘when’ clause in the simple past.

(10.157) Ma

Uilumana
Uiluma.loc

itsuhpanka
prg.live.ipv:pst

Motl`a
Motla.nom

atioke
pv.die.pt

1serg
‘I was living in Uiluma when Motla died’

(10.158) Uta

aho
sun

ukahpanka
pf.descend.ipv:pst

lakiak`a
hunter.nom

paloi
village.dat

already
‘The sun had already set when the hunters returned to the village’

anioktit
pv.return.pt.pl

10.3. PARTICIPIAL CLAUSES

289

Note also the following example, where the perfective participial clause is introduced by ka ‘and, such that’.
Here the participial clause names a (single) past event which provides background or identifying information
on one of the individuals named in the main clause.

ka
and

(10.159) Sakial,
Sakial
‘Sakial, who I just introduced to you, is my brother’
more lit. ‘Sakial, and I having just introduced him to you, he is my brother’

asotsokue,
pv.introduce.pt

nima
3anom.1serg

ukoi
2srdat

ne
3anom

laisne
just

mo
1srdat

suhpa
brother

As a ﬁnal illustration of the indicative participial construction, compare the examples below. These sentences
describe the same temporal relation between two events, but di↵er in which event is expressed by the main
clause and which event is expressed by the participial clause:

(10.160) Sakiale

moktyi
come:home.pv

Elimma
Elim.erg

imuelhe
prg.sleep.pt

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial came home while Elim was sleeping’

(10.161) Elimma

imuelhanka
prg.sleep.ipf:pst

Sakiale
Sakial.nom

Elim.erg
‘Elim was sleeping when Sakial came home’

amokte
pv.come:home.pt

10.3.2 Subjunctive participles

The subjunctive participle is formed by adding the sux -ai to the verb stem when the clause is positive, and
-au when the clause is negative. Like indicative participles, subjunctive participles may be unpreﬁxed, or
may carry the progressive preﬁx i-, the perfect preﬁx u-, or the perfective preﬁx a-. Examples of subjunctive
participial inﬂection are given below (na muelha ‘s/he sleeps’):

na muelhai
na imuelhai
na umuelhai
na amuelhai

‘if s/he sleeps’
‘if s/he is/was sleeping’
‘if s/he has/had slept’
‘if s/he slept’

na mamuelhau
na memuelhau
na momuelhau
na mamuelhau

‘unless s/he sleeps’
‘unless s/he is/was sleeping’
‘unless s/he has/had slept’
‘unless s/he slept’

Clauses headed by a subjunctive participle denote a precondition for the event denoted by the main clause—
that is, a hypothetical state of a↵airs which must be realized in order for the main event to occur. Subjunctive
participial clauses thus correspond roughly to conditional (‘if’) or means (‘by’) clauses in English. (For other
ways of forming conditional clauses in Okuna, see

10.2.1 and

10.2.3.)

(10.162) Ko

2erg

kamala
knife.all

kotuna
house.loc

ekpihai,
search.pt:sbj

tiena
there.loc

tlelhi
ﬁnd.dep:sbj

otsena
likely.ipv

‘If you look for your knife in the house, (you) are likely to ﬁnd it there’
or ‘By looking for your knife in the house…’

(10.163) S`u

ikahpai,
prg.fall.pt:sbj

me
rain
1snom
‘Had it been raining, I would have stayed at home’

mokna
home.loc

utehike
pf.stay.cond

(10.164) Ko

2erg

kamala
knife.all

kotuna
house.loc

ukpihai,
pf.search.pt:sbj

tiena
there.loc

utlelhike
pf.ﬁnd.cond

‘If you had looked for your knife in the house, (you) would have found it there’

As the following examples illustrate, how the participial clause is translated depends on the tense (non-past
versus past) and mood (indicative versus conditional) of the verb in the main clause:

290

CHAPTER 10. NOMINALIZATION AND COMPLEX CLAUSES

(10.165) Me

1snom

ihaktai,
prg.tired.pt:sbj

ma
1serg

muelha
sleep.ipv

‘If I’m tired, I (will) sleep’

(10.166) Me

ihaktai,
prg.tired.pt:sbj

1snom
‘If I were tired, I would sleep’

ma
1serg

muelhike
sleep.cond

(10.167) Me

ihaktai,
prg.tired.pt:sbj

ma
1serg

umuelhike
pf.sleep.cond

1snom
‘If I were tired, I would have slept’ or ‘Had I been tired…’

When the participial clause is negated, it can often be translated using ‘unless’ or ‘without’ in English:

(10.168) Sakialma

Sakial.erg
‘Unless Sakial helps, I won’t be able to do it’ or ‘Without Sakial helping…’

uktiau,
give.pt:sbj:neg

hi
3inom

ntsoke
not:going:to

sukyipo
do.able.ipv:neg

iman
1sloc

aleut
help

ntse
neg

10.4 The converb construction

In the converb construction, a verb carrying the sux -e modiﬁes a following verb, with the two verbs
forming a kind of complex predicate expressing a single event or type of action. The verb marked with -e is
called the converb (abbreviated cv in the examples), while the verb which it modiﬁes is called the head
verb. An example is lihke tifa ‘cut o↵, remove by cutting’, where the head verb tifa ‘remove’ is modiﬁed by
the converb lihke ‘cutting’. Note that converb modiﬁcation can be iterated, meaning that a converb modifer
may itself consist of a head verb modiﬁed by a converb: e.g., kiote kiompe mokta ‘run home quickly’, where
kiote ‘being quick’ modiﬁes kiompe ‘running’, and kiote kiompe ‘running quickly’ in turn modiﬁes mokta ‘go
home’.

The converb must be adjacent to the head verb, and the two behave as a single syntactic unit. The head
7.2), and the nominalizing
verb carries all tense/aspect/mood/polarity inﬂection (
morphology discussed elsewhere in this chapter. Consider the following examples, featuring lihke tifa ‘cut
o↵’:

7.4), number agreement (
§

(10.169) Na

lotsane
branch.nom

lihke
cut.cv

3aerg
‘They are trying to cut the branches o↵’

itifilmauat
prg.remove.icpl.ipv.npl.pl

(10.170) Inan
3iloc
‘She preferred to cut the branch o↵’

lotsane
3asall

lihke
cut.cv

tifuhohtanka
remove.want.comp.ipv:pst

(10.171) Iman
1sloc

iona
know.ipv

na
3aerg

lotsane
branch.nom

lihke
cut.cv

utifat`a
pf.remove.dep.pl.nom

‘I know that they (had) cut the branch o↵’

When a clause containing a converb is negated, the negative particle takes the form ntse, and precedes the
converb, while the head verb takes the negative form of the tense/aspect/mood sux. Note that ntse never
attaches directly to the converb (in its bound form m(a)-) even when it immediately precedes the converb.

(10.172) Na

3aerg

lotsane
branch.nom

eima
still

ntse
neg

lihke
cut.cv

utifo
pf.remove.ipf:neg.

‘S/he hasn’t cut o↵ the branch yet’

10.4. THE CONVERB CONSTRUCTION

291

A complex predicate containing a converb is assigned to the same verb class as the head verb (cf.
example, lihke tifa ‘cut o↵’ is a change-of-location predicate belonging to Class III (see
the fact that tifa ‘remove’ is a Class III change-of-location verb.

4.4). For
§
4.4.3) by virtue of

Converbs expressing means or manner

Predicates consisting of a head verb modiﬁed by a converb express a single uniﬁed event. Typically the
converb denotes an activity while the head verb denotes a change of state, and the construction as a whole
expresses an activity that brings about or culminates in the change of state. Consider the examples given
below. In (10.173), with tlynke lima ‘push open’ (lit. ‘open by pushing’), the pushing activity brings about
the opening event; while in (10.174), with solhe kahta ‘pelt, bombard’ (lit. ‘hit by throwing’), the throwing
activity results in the hitting event.

(10.173) Sakialma

hitole
door.nom

tlynke
push.cv

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial pushed the door open’

limyi
open.pv

(10.174) Sakialma

solhe
Sakial.erg
throw.cv
‘Sakial is pelting the rats with stones’

sekeit
rat.dat

naka
stone

ikahtama
prg.hit.ipv.dpl

English resultative constructions, such as ‘hammer the metal ﬂat’, may be rendered in Okuna using a converb
construction where the head verb denotes the entry into a state (often formed from a stative verb stem using
the telic inchoative sux -(e)t, discussed in

7.5.3):

(10.175) Motlama

lhote
metal.nom

konom
hammer
Motla.erg
‘Motla hammered the metal ﬂat’
more lit. ‘Motla ﬂattened the metal by pounding (it with a) hammer’

tsaltyi
ﬂat.tinc.pv

§
tlule
pound.cv

In the examples above, the converb is a Class II verb denoting an activity which modiﬁes a Class III verb.
The converb can also be (headed by) a stative Class I verb modifying a Class II or Class III verb, as shown
below. Given that converbs express the manner or means by which an action is carried out, stative converbs
correspond closely to manner adverbs in English (‘quickly’, ‘beautifully’, etc.):

(10.176) Na

kiote
quick.cv

etsampyiot
speak.act.pv.recip.pl

3aerg
‘They spoke to one another quickly’

(10.177) Motlama

elife
Motla.erg
beautiful.cv
‘Motla sings beautifully’

uhna
sing.ipv

Class II verbs expressing the manner in which something is done appear frequently as converbs modifying
other verbs. Examples of Class II manner verbs include kapua ‘be skillful/accomplished, act with skill’, kela
‘be together, act as a group’, and sukana ‘act/happen suddenly or abruptly’.

(10.178) Elimma

kapue
skillful.cv

siehpa
write.ipv

Elim.erg
‘Elim writes well’ or ‘Elim is a good writer’

(10.179) Lhatima

kele
be:together.cv

eiasat
prg.eat.ipv.pl

children.erg
‘The children are eating together’

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CHAPTER 10. NOMINALIZATION AND COMPLEX CLAUSES

(10.180) Mo

Elimma
Elim.erg

sukane
1srdat
be:abrupt.cv
‘Elim suddenly hit me’ (lit. ‘hit me by acting abruptly’)

kahtyi
hit.pv

Particularly prevalent are cases where the converb denotes a manner of motion (‘run’, ‘walk’, ‘swim’, ‘ﬂy’,
‘dance’, ‘crawl’, ‘jump’, etc.) and the head verb denotes a trajectory of motion (‘go to’, ‘come from’, ‘enter’,
‘exit’, ‘insert’, ‘remove’, etc.). Examples are given below, showing the converbs iante ‘by jumping’ and
heulhte ‘by being pulled’ in combination with various trajectory verbs. Iante atia ‘jump towards’ is literally
‘approach by jumping’, heulhte otla ‘pull apart’ is literally ‘separate by being pulled’ (or ‘cause to separate
by pulling’), and so on.

atia
eta
hita
kloha
tlisa
tsypa

elha
kloha
nkilha
otla
teuna
tolha

‘approach’
‘go to’
‘come over here’
‘go through’
‘cross, traverse, go over’
‘enter [a body of water]’

iante atia
iante eta
iante hita
iante kloha
iante tlisa
iante tsypa

‘jump towards’
‘jump to’
‘jump over here’
‘jump through’
‘jump across/over’
‘jump into [a body of water]’

‘put into, insert’
‘go through’
‘leave, go away’
‘separate’
‘put, place’
‘stand up’

heulhte elha
heulhte kloha
heulhte nkilha
heulhte otla
heulhte teuna
heulhte tolha

‘pull into’
‘pull through’
‘pull away’
‘pull apart’
‘pull into place’
‘pull up, pull into a standing position’

Example sentences with motion-denoting converb constructions include:

(10.181) Ik`e

halou
room.abl

kiompe
run.cv

suhyi
go:out.pv

dog.nom
‘The dog ran out of the room’ (lit. ‘exited by running’)

(10.182) Hastine

mutume
fence.inst

iante
jump.cv

tlisyi
go:over.pv

deer.nom
‘The deer jumped over the fence’ (lit. ‘crossed by jumping’)

(10.183) Hesa

naum`a
cougar.nom

klalpe
move:stealthily.cv

iatia
prg.approach.ipv

rabbit.all
‘The rabbit is being stalked by a cougar’ (lit. ‘approached by moving stealthily’)

(10.184) Han`e

teneme
hill.inst

lokai
forest.dat

kiompe
run.cv

kelhyi
ascend.pv

fox.nom
‘The fox ran up the hill (and) into the woods’ (lit. ‘ascended by running’)

(10.185) Na

ketoi
bone.dat

heulhte
pull.cv
3aerg
‘She is pulling meat o↵ the bones’ (lit. ‘removing by pulling’)

itifama
prg.remove.ipv.dpl

maka
meat

(10.186) Hut`a

sukuma
wind.erg

lhope
blow.cv

puhtlyi
overturn.pv

basket.nom
‘The wind blew the basket over’ (lit. ‘overturned by blowing’)

Some trajectory verbs in Okuna refer to a particular direction or type of goal—e.g., ilalta ‘go to the shore
(from inland)’, mokta ‘go home’, palhta ‘come ashore’, sihafa ‘go downstream’. These can also combine with
converbs denoting manner of motion to express complex movement events:

10.4. THE CONVERB CONSTRUCTION

293

tatane ilalta
tupe palhta
sihpe sihafa

‘wander down to the shore’
‘wade ashore’
‘swim downstream’

(lit. ‘go to the shore by wandering’)
(lit. ‘come ashore by walking’)
(lit. ‘go downstream by swimming’)

Additional examples:

(10.187) Ma

nak`a
stone.nom

sihkunoi
river.dat

1serg
‘I dropped the stone into the river’

tiause
drop.cv

tsypyi
submerge.pv

(10.188) Lhat`e

kiompe
run.cv

imoktat
prg.go:home.ipv.pl

children.nom
‘The children are running home’

Note also the following example, where the converb is selected by the stative verb ohtla ‘resemble’. Ohtla
expresses a comparison, and takes a nominative noun phrase denoting the subject of comparison and an
allative noun phrase denoting the object/standard of comparison. Here, the converb expresses a type of
action with respect to which the comparison holds. A more literal translation of this example might be ‘She
resembles a bird by (or with respect to) singing’.

(10.189) Ne

pilaua
bird.all

uhne
sing.cv

ohtla
resemble.ipv

3anom
‘She sings like a bird’

Other functions of the converb construction

In the examples above, the converb indicates the manner in which, or means by which, the action denoted
by the main verb is carried out. The converb construction also has a handful of other uses. In certain cases,
for instance, the head verb expresses aspectual modiﬁcation of the event denoted by the converb. Verbs
which can appear as the head verb in this construction include:

atia
esta
niokta
sehta
tima
uata
usla
ylpa

‘come close to, almost/nearly do’
‘manage to, succeed in doing’
‘redo, do again, repeat’
‘continue, go on; resume, start again’
‘tend to; be liable to, be likely to’
‘stop, cease’
‘ﬁnish’
‘undo’

Examples:

(10.190) Ma

ahotsine
corn.nom

nalhe
1serg
plant.cv
‘I ﬁnished planting the corn’

uslyi
ﬁnish.pv

(10.191) Sakialma

Sakial.erg

halmai
book.dat

tale
read.cv

sehtyi
go:on.pv

‘Sakial resumed/continued reading his book’

(10.192) Motlai

itiause
Motla.dat
prg.fall.tnzr
‘Motla was nearly hit by a falling rock’
more lit. ‘A falling rock approached hitting Motla’

nak`a
rock.nom

kahte
hit.cv

atiyi
approach.pv

294

CHAPTER 10. NOMINALIZATION AND COMPLEX CLAUSES

When used in this construction, the motion verb niokta ‘return, go back’ indicates repetition of the action
denoted by the converb, and often translates the English preﬁx ‘re-’: e.g., siehpa ‘write’ > siehpe niokta
‘rewrite’. Similarly, predicates formed with ylpa (glossed ‘undo’) express an action which reverses or undoes
the e↵ects of the action denoted by the converb; hence, ylpa corresponds fairly closely to the English preﬁxes
‘un-’ and ‘de-’: e.g., patla ‘cover’ > patle ylpa ‘uncover’; tiespa ‘build, construct’ > tiespe ylpa ‘unbuild,
deconstruct, disassemble’. Compare also:

(10.193) Na

ikei
dog.dat

s`o
rope

hotyi
attach.pv

3aerg
‘He tied up the dog’

(10.194) Na

ikei
dog.dat

s`o
rope

hote
attach.cv

ylpyi
undo.pv

3aerg
‘He untied the dog’ (lit. ‘He undid tying up the dog’)

(10.195) Na

ikei
dog.dat

s`o
rope

hote
attach.cv

nioktyi
return.pv

3aerg
‘He retied the dog’ (lit. ‘He redid tying up the dog’)

Crucially, an aspectual verb can select a converb just in case both verbs share the same core arguments. For
instance, the converb construction is allowed in (10.196) because the ergative noun phrase functions as the
actor argument for both verbs: the musicians are responsible for carrying out both the playing event and the
stopping event. In (10.197), by contrast, the playing event and the stopping event have di↵erent actors (the
musicians and Sakial, respectively), and so the converb construction is not allowed: uata instead selects as its
complement a postposed dependent clause marked with nominative case, and atlpaka ‘musicians’ functions
as the ergative argument of the dependent verb:

(10.196) Atlpakama

sukane
musician.erg
sudden.cv
‘The musicians suddenly stopped playing’

atlpe
play.cv

uatyit
stop.pv.pl

(10.197) Sakialma

sukane
sudden.cv

uatyi
stop.pv

atlpakama
musician.erg

atlpat`a
play.dep.pl.nom

Sakial.erg
‘Sakial suddenly stopped the musicians from playing’

Causative verbs, such as one of the ones listed below, can also select a converb. These verbs take an
ergative argument denoting the causer, with the converb and its dependents indicating the event that is
being caused. Crucially, the converb must be a Class II or Class III verb which does not take an ergative
argument; otherwise, the causative verb must select a dependent clause marked with nominative case.

aktapa
kina
lohka
mehka
nana
solohka
somita
teuohka
tsuhka

‘help, aid (in); let, enable, facilitate’
‘let, enable’
‘make, cause’
‘have, cause, let happen’
‘allow, let, permit; leave’
‘order, command, demand’
‘persuade, convince’
‘force, compel’
‘have, cause, let happen (s.th. bad)’

Examples:

(10.198) Me

Sakialma
Sakial.erg

1snom
‘Sakial made me leave’

nkilhe
leave.cv

lohkyi
make.pv

10.5. GERUNDS

(10.199) Moihama

ik`e
dog.nom

suhe
go:out.cv

girl.erg
‘The girl let the dogs out’

kinyia
let.pv.npl

295

Finally, when a Class I verb expressing a property is modiﬁed by certain degree words (such as tsuo ‘too’,
mu ‘enough’, etc.), the degree word can be preceded by a converb denoting the (type of) action with respect
to which the property holds to the degree indicated.

(10.200) Toml`a

kule
see:res.cv

tsuo
too

alamat
rel.far.ipv.pl

mountain.nom
‘The mountains are too far away to see’

(10.201) Ohui
fruit
‘Is that fruit ripe enough to eat yet?’

tin
those:nom

kas
already

iase
eat.cv

mu
enough

iatuosit
prg.rel.ripe.ipv:int.pl

ne?
qu

10.5 Gerunds

Gerunds are nominalizations denoting a type of action or state, or an abstract property or characteristic.
Gerunds are formed by suxing -ts (glossed ger) to a verb stem in the dependent indicative form, which is
marked by the sux -a in the positive and -u in the negative (see

10.2):

kesta
nkestu

‘be happy’
‘not be happy’

kestats
nkestuts

‘being happy, happiness’
‘not being happy, unhappiness’

The formation of gerunds with -ts is completely productive: any verb is capable of taking this sux, even
11.2). Examples:
if it also has an irregular nominal form (see

esta
ﬁha
huetla
kiota
kuola
lalia
lomua
mehka
mouta
tioka
usla

‘reach, succeed at’
‘be young’
‘be afraid’
‘be fast’
‘meet’
‘play, have fun’
‘crash on shore’
‘happen, occur’
‘be sick’
‘die’
‘end, ﬁnish’

estats
ﬁhats
huetlats
kiotats
kuolats
laliats
lomuats
mehkats
moutats
tiokats
uslats

‘success’
‘being young, youth’
‘fear’
‘speed, quickness’
‘meeting, appointment, rendezvous’
‘playing, game, fun, amusement’
‘wave(s)’
‘event, occurrence’
‘sickness, illness, being sick’
‘dying, death’
‘end, conclusion’

7.4. However, gerunds can be formed
Gerunds do not inﬂect for the tense/aspect categories discussed in
§
from resultative stems (see
7.5.1): e.g., kula ‘be visible’ (resultative form of kila ‘see’) > kulats ‘visibility’.
In addition, gerunds can be formed from stems which include the aspectual and modal suxes discussed
7.7.1: e.g., munta ‘be drunk’ + active aspect -amp > muntampa ‘act drunk’ > muntampats
in
‘acting drunk, drunken behaviour’; iona ‘know’ + -uh ‘want’ > ionuha ‘want to know’ > ionuhats ‘wanting
to know, curiosity’.

7.5 and

Gerunds formed with -ts are capable of taking arguments, unmarked noun phrase dependents, and other
modiﬁers to form complex phrases, just like ordinary verbs. However, phrases headed by gerunds cannot
include a topic. Gerunds may be taken to belong to the same argument structure class (I, II, or III) as the
verb from which they are derived, and case-mark their noun phrase arguments accordingly. Examples of
complex gerunds include:

296

(10.202) hastin

lakiats
hunt.dep.ger

deer
‘hunting deer, deer-hunting’

CHAPTER 10. NOMINALIZATION AND COMPLEX CLAUSES

(10.203) Sakialma

mestuts
Sakial.erg
neg.succeed.dep:neg.ger
‘Sakial’s not succeeding’ or ‘Sakial’s lack of success’

huetlats
(10.204) iman
1sloc
afraid.dep.ger
‘my being afraid of snakes’ or ‘my fear of snakes’

lianka
snake

When plural, ergative, dative, and nominative dependents can even trigger number agreement on the gerund
(cf.

7.2). The number agreement sux immediately precedes -ts. Compare:

(10.205) pyima

hakatlats
laugh.dep.ger

child.erg
‘the child’s laughter’

(10.206) pyima

hakatlanits
laugh.dep.epl.ger

child.erg
‘the children’s laughter’

In terms of their syntactic distribution, gerunds behave like noun phrases, and hence can inﬂect for case. In
the ﬁrst example below, the gerund Elime muntats ‘Elim’s drunkenness’ functions as the theme argument of
the verb oukuta ‘bother’, and thus carries the nominative case sux -e. In the second example, the gerund
ikema lakats ‘the dog’s barking’ bears the actor relation with respect to the causative verb lohka, and hence
appears in the ergative case:

(10.207) Elime

muntatse
drunk.dep.ger.nom

Elim.nom
‘Elim’s drunkenness always bothers me’

mulhe
always

oukuta
bother.ipv

im`e
1sall

(10.208) Ikema

lohkyi
lakatsma
dog.erg
make.pv
bark.dep.ger.erg
‘The dog’s barking made the baby cry’

kimima
baby.erg

ail`a
cry.dep.nom

Gerunds occasionally appear as non-case-marked complements of verbs, as in (10.209). Here the gerund
alternates with a complement consisting of a verb (phrase) in the dependent subjunctive form, as in (10.210).

(10.209) In`e

sihpats
swim.dep.ger

henka
enjoyable.ipv

3aall
‘He likes swimming’ (lit. ‘For him, swimming is enjoyable’)

(10.210) In`e

sihpi
swim.dep:sbj

henka
3aall
enjoyable.ipv
‘He likes to swim’ (more lit. ‘For him, it is enjoyable to swim’)

10.2.1. Dependent
Note that gerunds di↵er semantically from case-marked dependent clauses, discussed in
clauses express propositions or events, and normally pick out a particular situation or state of a↵airs (whether
actual or hypothetical). Gerunds, on the other hand, usually denote general types of actions or properties
as opposed to speciﬁc incidents. Compare the examples below. In (10.211) the (nominative case-marked)
dependent clause ihama homa ipusuk`a refers to a particular instance where the woman was making bread;
whereas in (10.212) the gerund homa pusukats refers to the act of bread-making in general.

10.6. PARTICIPANT NOMINALS

297

(10.211) Im`e

ikulanka
prg.see:res.ipv:pst

ihama
woman.erg

homa
bread

ipusuk`a
prg.make.dep.nom

1sall
‘I saw the woman making bread’ or ‘I saw that the woman was making bread’

(10.212) Homa
bread
‘Making bread is dicult’

pusukatse
make.dep.ger.nom

koluma
dicult.ipv

10.6 Participant nominals

Okuna has productive morphology for taking a verb, a verb phrase, or a clause denoting an event and
converting it into a noun phrase denoting one of the participants in—or circumstances of—that event, such
as the agent, patient, instrument, setting, etc. I will refer to nominalizations of this type as participant
nominals. There are four types of participant nominals:

1. Actor nominals are formed by adding the sux -ka (glossed anzr) to the dependent form of the

verb. They denote the actor of the event expressed by the verb/clause.

2. Theme nominals are normally formed by adding -e (-o in the negative) directly to the verb stem
(these suxes are glossed tnzr). In certain cases the sux -i is added to the dependent form of the
verb. Theme nominals denote the participant to which a property is attributed, or which occupies a
location or undergoes a change of location (certain theme nominals also denote the event itself).

3. Delimiter nominals are formed by adding the sux -l (glossed dnzr) to the dependent form of the
verb. Delimiter nominals denote the recipient, goal, or a↵ected participant of the event expressed by
the verb/clause.

4. Circumstantial nominals are formed by adding the sux -nen (glossed cnzr) to the dependent
form of the verb. Circumstantial nominals denote some aspect of the event named by the verb/clause
(such as the time, place, manner, etc., in which it takes place), or else some individual peripherally
involved in that event (such as a recipient, beneﬁciary, instrument, etc.).

Consider the following examples, formed from the verb uktia ‘give’:

Actor nominal
Theme nominal
Delimiter nominal
Circumstantial nominal

uktiaka
uktie
uktial
uktianen

‘giver, one who gives’
‘gift, thing which is given’
‘recipient, person to whom something is given’
‘time, place, manner, etc., of giving’

Participant nominalization plays a central role in the grammar of Okuna by providing the principal means
of modifying nouns. As mentioned elsewhere, Okuna does not have a distinct category of adjectives;
instead, states and properties are expressed for the most part using Class I verbs: e.g., pata ‘be tall’, eka
‘be empty’. One of the primary functions of adjectives in English is to modify a noun. However, their
verb counterparts in Okuna cannot modify nouns directly. Instead, a verb must ﬁrst be converted into a
participant nominal, which is then juxtaposed with the noun to form a compound-like structure (see
6.4 on
noun-noun compounding). For example, pata ‘be tall’ can be converted into the theme nominal pate ‘tall
one, person or thing which is tall’. This nominal can then be placed in front of another noun to modify it:
pate palahta ‘tall tree’.

Participant nominals can take the form of larger phrases. Compare the clause in (10.213), for example,
with the corresponding delimiter nominal phrase in (10.214). When modifying a following noun, participant
nominal phrases function much like relative clauses. In (10.215), for instance, the participant nominal in
(10.214) modiﬁes kihun ‘letter’, specifying which letter is being referred to, and is translated into English
using a relative clause construction.

298

CHAPTER 10. NOMINALIZATION AND COMPLEX CLAUSES

(10.213) Kalma

man.erg

elohka
yesterday

siehpyi
write.pf

‘The man wrote (something) yesterday’

(10.214) kalma

elohka
yesterday

asiehpal
pf.write.dep.dnzr

man.erg
‘thing written yesterday by the man’ or ‘what the man wrote yesterday’

(10.215) Ma

kalma
man.erg

elohka
1serg
yesterday
‘I read the letter that the man wrote yesterday’

asiehpal
pf.write.dep.dnzr

kihoin
letter.dat

talyi
read.pf

Participant nominals have a rich morphology. Like dependent verbs and participles, they inﬂect for mood
and polarity, show number agreement, and carry preﬁxes for marking aspect (e.g., the perfective preﬁx a-
in (10.214) above). Being derived nouns, participant nominals can also inﬂect for case. Participant nominal
morphology is discussed in

10.6.1.

10.6.2–
§

10.6.5 I provide additional examples and discussion of each of the four types of participant
nominals. As this discussion shows, participant nominalization parallels case assignment: brieﬂy, actor
nominals, theme nominals, and delimiter nominals refer to the kinds of event participants associated with
the ergative, nominative, and dative case roles, respectively, while circumstantial nominals refer to the kinds
of participants encoded by oblique noun phrases. Consider the sentence in (10.216):

(10.216) Kalma

uostyi
man.erg
shape.pv
‘The man made a cup for the woman out of the clay’

ihaua
woman.all

sut`e
clay.nom

nauoit
cup.dat

The four event participants named in this sentence can each be described by a noun phrase containing a
di↵erent type of participant nominal modiﬁer, as shown below. In (10.217), the noun kal ‘man’ is modiﬁed
by an actor nominal phrase. Because the actor nominal form is used, the man is understood to be the agent
of the action named by the participant nominal. Likewise the noun phrase in (10.218) denotes the theme
of the event, (10.219) the delimiter, and (10.220) some peripheral participant (here, the person for whose
beneﬁt the action is carried out).

(10.217) ihaua

nauoit
cup.dat
woman.all
‘the man who made a cup for the woman out of the clay’

auostaka
pv.shape.dep.anzr

sut`e
clay.nom

kal
man

(10.218) kalma

nauoit
cup.dat
man.erg
‘the clay that the man made into a cup for the woman’

auoste
pv.shape.dep.tnzr

ihaua
woman.all

sute
clay

(10.219) kalma

nauot
sut`e
cup
clay.nom
man.erg
‘the cup that the man made for the woman out of the clay’

auostal
pv.shape.dep.dnzr

ihaua
woman.all

(10.220) kalma

sut`e
clay.nom

nauoit
cup.dat

auostanen
pv.shape.dep.cnzr

man.erg
‘the woman for whom the man made a cup out of the clay’

iha
woman

10.6. PARTICIPANT NOMINALS

299

10.6.1 Participant nominal inﬂection

The formation of participant nominals is complicated by the fact that they share properties with both
nouns and verbs.
In terms of their internal structure, participant nominal phrases look like subordinate
clauses. Like dependent verbs, participant nominals inﬂect for aspect, mood, and polarity, and can take
noun phrase arguments with which they agree in number. However, in terms of their distribution, participant
nominal phrases pattern like noun phrases, and can thus inﬂect for case, with the case ending attaching to
the participant nominal. I consider case marking on participant nominals ﬁrst, before turning to aspect,
mood/polarity, and agreement inﬂection.

Case marking

As noted above, a participant nominal phrase will normally appear inside a larger noun phrase, where it
acts as a modiﬁer of the head noun (functionally equivalent to an attributive adjective or restrictive relative
clause).
In (10.221), for example, kihun ‘letter’ is modiﬁed by the delimiter nominal Sakialma asiehpal
‘(thing) written by Sakial’. However, it is also possible for a participant nominal phrase to function by
itself as a verb dependent, rather than modifying a following noun, as shown in (10.222). In the latter case,
the participant nominal phrase is interpreted somewhat like a free relative in English (‘what Sakial wrote’).
Notice that when the participant nominal modiﬁes a noun as part of a larger noun phrase, the modiﬁed noun
(or some other element following the noun, such as a quantiﬁer; cf.
4.2) will carry the case ending for that
noun phrase. However, when there is no following noun, the case ending attaches directly to the participant
nominal. Compare the placement of the allative ending -a in (10.221) versus (10.222).

(10.221) Ma

Sakialma
Sakial.erg

asiehpal
pf.write.dep.dnzr

kihuna
letter.all

kyitsampyi
talk:about.act.pf

1serg
‘I talked about the letter that Sakial wrote’

(10.222) Ma

Sakialma
Sakial.erg

asiehpala
pf.write.dep.dnzr.all

1serg
‘I talked about what Sakial wrote’

kyitsampyi
talk:about.act.pf

When hosting a case ending, participant nominals inﬂect according to the regular pattern for nouns (
4.2),
§
with one exception: the theme nominal sux -e changes to -ai before a case ending (the negative counterpart
of this ending also changes; see next subsection). Case marking on participant nominals is illustrated
in the following table, which gives declensions for the nominals formed from uktia ‘give’: uktiaka ‘giver,
one who gives’, uktie ‘thing which is given’, uktial ‘recipient, one to whom something is given’, uktianen
‘place/time/etc. of giving’.

uktiaka
nom uktiak`a
dat
uktiakai
erg uktiakama
uktiakana
loc
uktiakaua
all
uktiakau
abl
uktiakame
inst

uktie
uktiaie
uktiaie
uktiaima
uktiaina
uktiaia
uktiaio
uktiaime

uktial
uktiale
uktiail
uktialma
uktialna
uktiala
uktialu
uktialme

uktianen
uktianene
uktianein
uktianenma
uktianenna
uktianena
uktianenu
uktianenme

Agreement, mood/polarity, and aspect

When a participant nominal takes a nominative, dative, or ergative argument, that argument will trigger
agreement on the participant nominal when interpreted as plural (see
7.2 on plural agreement). Examples of
agreement are given below. Notice that the agreement sux immediately precedes the nominalizing sux—
e.g., the dative plural sux -ma precedes the actor nominal sux -ka in (10.224), while the nominative

300

CHAPTER 10. NOMINALIZATION AND COMPLEX CLAUSES

plural sux -ua precedes the delimiter nominal sux -l in (10.226) (number agreement marking on theme
nominals is slightly more complicated; see below).

(10.223) kauein

turkey.dat

itahaka
prg.kill.dep.anzr

‘(the) one who is/was killing the turkey’

(10.224) kauein

turkey.dat

itahamaka
prg.kill.dep.dpl.anzr

‘(the) one who is/was killing the turkeys’

(10.225) halm`a

book.nom

atlelhal
pv.ﬁnd.dep.dnzr

moiha
girl

‘(the) girl who found the book’

(10.226) halm`a

book.nom

atlelhaual
pv.ﬁnd.dep.dnzr

moiha
girl

‘(the) girl who found the books’

The morphology for participant nominals includes only one ‘slot’ for a number agreement morpheme. Hence,
a participant nominal can agree with at most one of its plural arguments. If the participant nominal has two
or more plural arguments, speakers have a choice regarding which argument will trigger agreement. In such
cases, animate arguments are more likely to trigger agreement than inanimate ones. Compare the examples
below: here the participant nominal is marked to show that its animate argument (‘children’) is plural, while
the number of the inanimate argument (‘letter’ versus ‘letters’) must be inferred from context.

(10.227) pyie

child.dat

kihune
letter.nom

akilamaka
pv.show.dep.dpl.anzr

iha
woman

‘(the) woman who showed the letter(s) to the children’

(10.228) pyima

child.erg

kihoin
letter.dat

asiehpaninen
pv.write.dep.epl.cnzr

ohpe
reason

‘(the) reason why the children wrote the letter(s)’

When the participant nominal is formed from a reciprocal predicate, the agreement slot is ﬁlled by the
reciprocal sux -uo (see

9.4.4):

(10.229) ikahtauoka

prg.hit.dep.recip.anzr

pyi
child

‘(the) children (who are/were) hitting each other’

(10.230) pyima

child.erg

akahtauonen
pv.hit.dep.recip.cnzr

ohpe
reason

‘(the) reason why the children hit each other’

Besides agreeing in number with their arguments, participant nominals inﬂect for polarity (positive versus
negative) and mood (indicative versus subjunctive). The subjunctive mood is used when the nominal denotes
a participant in a hypothetical or potential action, while the indicative is used otherwise. The following
tables gives the full set of aspect/polarity and agreement endings for actor, delimiter, and circumstantial
nominals, which are formed by adding the nominalizing suxes (-ka, -l, and -nen, respectively) directly to
the dependent form of the verb (see

10.2).

10.6. PARTICIPANT NOMINALS

301

actor sg

dep
-aka
dep:neg -uka
-ika
dep:sbj

dep:sbj:neg -oika

npl
-auaka
-ouaka
-euaka
-oiaka

dpl
-amaka
-umaka
-imaka
-oimaka

recip
-auoka
-ouoka
-euoka
-oioka

delimiter sg
dep
-al
dep:neg -ul
dep:sbj
-il
dep:sbj:neg -oil

npl
-aual
-oual
-eual
-oial

epl
-anil
-unil
-inil
-oinil

recip
-auol
-ouol
-euol
-oiol

circumstantial
dep

sg
-anen
dep:neg -unen
-inen
dep:sbj

dep:sbj:neg -oinen

npl
-auanen
-ouanen
-euanen
-oianen

dpl
-amanen
-umanen
-imanen
-oimanen

epl
-aninen
-uninen
-ininen
-oininen

recip
-auonen
-ouonen
-euonen
-oionen

In accordance with the phonological rules summarized in
3.5.3, the initial i and u of the subjunctive and
negative endings lower to become e and o when preceded by a glide: e.g., pau.ika > paueka ‘one who would
wash’, m.pau.uka > mpauoka ‘one who doesn’t wash’ (from the stem pau- ‘wash’); e.taki.il > etakiel ‘thing
to be broken’, m.taki.ul > ntakiol ‘thing which is not broken’ (from taki- ‘break’).
Theme nominals are formed by adding the following endings to the verb stem:

theme
dep

sg
-e, -ai
dep:neg -o, -oi
dep:sbj
dep:sbj:neg -oie

-ei

dpl
-amai
-umai
-imai
-oimai

epl
-anei
-unei
-inei
-oinei

recip
-auoi
-ouoi
-euoi
-oioi

In most cases the theme nominal consists of the dependent form of the verb followed by the sux -i. However,
when no plural agreement sux is present, the dependent indicative theme nominals each have a short variant
formed by adding -e (for the positive) or -o (for the negative) directly to the stem. These short forms are
used when the nominal is unmarked for case (e.g., when it modiﬁes a following noun in a compound), while
the regular forms are used when the nominal takes a case ending. Compare the following noun phrases to
which the allative case ending -(u)a has been attached:

hakte ihaua
haktaia

(tired.tnzr woman.all)
(tired.tnzr.all)

‘for the tired woman’
‘for the tired one’

nkakto ihaua
nkaktoia

(neg.tired.tnzr:neg woman.all)
(neg.tired.tnzr:neg.all)

‘for the woman who isn’t tired’
‘for the one who isn’t tired’

The following sets of examples illustrate polarity and mood distinctions on participant nominal modiﬁers. In
the ﬁrst set of examples, iha ‘woman’ is modiﬁed by an actor nominal formed from hosta ‘dance’. As these
examples and the ones above show, negative participant nominals can carry the bound form of the negative
particle ntse (namely m(a)-).

hostaka iha
nkostuka iha
hostika iha
nkostoika iha

‘dancing woman, woman who dances, woman who will dance’
‘non-dancing woman, woman who doesn’t/won’t dance’
‘woman who would/could/might dance’
‘woman who wouldn’t/couldn’t dance’

Below the noun halma ‘book’ is modiﬁed by a delimiter nominal formed from pyima talane ‘children read;
read by children’. Notice that when the delimiter nominal is in the subjunctive mood, it may be translated
using an inﬁnitive modiﬁer (‘to [be] read’).

302

CHAPTER 10. NOMINALIZATION AND COMPLEX CLAUSES

pyima talanil halma
pyima ntalunil halma
pyima talinil halma
pyima ntaloinil halma

‘book (that is) read by children’
‘book that children don’t/won’t read’
‘book to be read by children; book for children to read’
‘book which is not to be read by children’

Finally, the following examples show mood/polarity marking on the circumstantial nominal formed from
Motlama muelha ‘Motla sleep(s)’, which modiﬁes the noun eun ‘place’:

Motlama muelhanen eun
Motlama mamuelhunen eun
Motlama muelhinen eun
Motlama mamuelhoinen eun

‘place where Motla sleeps / will sleep’
‘place where Motla doesn’t sleep’
‘place where Motla would sleep, place for Motla to sleep’
‘place where Motla would not sleep’

Like the dependent verbs from which they are formed, participant nominals can take preﬁxes to mark aspect:
progressive i-/e-, perfect u-/o-, and perfective a-. The progressive aspect is used when the nominal refers to
a participant in an ongoing event or situation. Perfect aspect marks the nominal as referring to a participant
in a previous event or situation. Perfective marking is added when the nominal denotes a participant in
an event which took place on a particular occasion in the past. Finally, the imperfect form is used when
the nominal denotes a participant bearing a general property or participating in a habitual or future action.
These aspectual contrasts are illustrated below:

pyima kahtal
pyima ikahtal
pyima ukahtal
pyima akahtal

‘one who is hit by the child, one who will be hit by the child’
‘one who is/was being hit by the child’
‘one who has/had been hit by the child’
‘one who was hit by the child (at a certain point)’

uastaka pila
euastaka pila
ouostaka pila
auostaka pila

‘ﬂying bird, bird that ﬂies (i.e., is capable of ﬂight) / bird that will ﬂy’
‘ﬂying bird, bird that is/was ﬂying’
‘bird that has/had ﬂown’
‘bird that ﬂew (at a certain point)’

In the following subsections I discuss each of the participant nominal types in more detail, giving additional
examples of their functions.

10.6.2 Actor nominals

Actor nominals denote the doer of the action expressed by the verb. The distribution of actor nominals
mirrors the distribution of ergative case: only Class II and Class III verbs, which take an ergative argument
to encode an actor participant, may add -ka to form a noun referring to that actor participant. Examples:

hosta
huatampa
kahunia
kaiha
kuntupa
sihpa

‘dance’
‘be friendly’
‘catch ﬁsh’
‘kill, murder’
‘walk on four legs’
‘swim’

hostaka
huatampaka
kahuniaka
kaihaka
kuntupaka
sihpaka

‘dancer, one who dances’
‘friendly one’
‘ﬁsherman, one who catches ﬁsh’
‘killer, murderer’
‘one who goes on four legs, quadruped’
‘swimmer, one who swims’

Actor nominals may function as the head of a noun phrase, in which case they can take modiﬁers, including
another participant nominal (such as mile ‘beautiful one’ in (10.231)):

(10.231) Sa

mile
beautiful.tnzr

hostak`a
dance.dep.anzr.nom

loityiat
watch.pv.npl.pl

13erg
‘We watched the beautiful dancers’

Alternatively, an actor nominal may be placed before another noun to modify it. Such constructions often
correspond to modifying present participles or relative clauses in English, where the relativized noun is
interpreted as the agent of the action:

10.6. PARTICIPANT NOMINALS

303

(10.232) muelhaka

kimi
baby

sleep.dep.anzr
‘sleeping baby, baby that sleeps’

(10.233) hostaka

dance.dep.anzr
‘dancing woman’ or ‘woman who dances’

iha
woman

Actor nominals can also be formed from more complex constituents, consisting of a verb and its non-actor
arguments and modiﬁers:

(10.234) maka
meat
‘meat-eater, one who eats meat’

iasaka
eat.dep.anzr

(10.235) palahtai
tree.dat

naka
rock

akahtaka
pv.hit.dep.anzr

‘(the) one who hit the tree with a rock’

(10.236) yhkunai

guest.det

elohka
yesterday

kyt`o
gift.nom

auoktiamaka
pvgive.dep.dpl.anzr

‘(the) one who gave the gifts to the guests yesterday’

Actor nominalization is further illustrated below. In each pair of examples, the second sentence includes
an actor nominal phrase related to the ﬁrst sentence. Notice how the actor nominal picks out or refers to
the ergative argument of the verb from which it is formed. Notice also that although the actor nominal is
marked for aspect, it is not marked for tense: often one must infer from context whether the event referenced
by the actor nominal precedes, follows, or overlaps with the time when the sentence is uttered.

(10.237) Na

hastein
deer.dat

3aerg
‘He killed the deer’

tahyi
kill.pv

(10.238) Ma

hastein
deer.dat

atahakame
pv.kill.dep.anzr.inst
1serg
‘I spoke with the one who killed the deer’

etsampyi
say.act.pv

nauoit
(10.239) Mikalma
cup.dat
boy.erg
‘The boy has broken the cup’

utsitspa
pf.break.ipv

(10.240) Ma

nauoit
cup.dat

utsitspaka
pf.break.dep.anzr

1serg
‘I scolded the boy who had broken the cup’

mikail
boy.dat

fentyi
scold.pv

(10.241) Ihama

pyie
woman.erg
child.nom
‘The woman is watching the children’

iloitaua
prg.watch.ipv.npl

(10.242) Pyie

child.nom

iloitauaka
prg.watch.dep.npl.anzr

ih`a
woman.nom

koipa
known.ipv

im`e
1sall

‘I know the woman who is/was watching the children’

304

(10.243) Ihama

tsokoimpai
stranger.dat

pal`o
village.nom

kilyimat
show.pv.dpl.pl

woman.erg
‘The women showed the village to the strangers’

CHAPTER 10. NOMINALIZATION AND COMPLEX CLAUSES

(10.244) Tsokoimpai

pal`o
village.nom

akilamaka
pv.show.dep.dpl

ih`a
woman.nom

ikat
prg.be:here.ipv.pl

stranger.dat
‘Here are the women who showed the village to the strangers’

10.6.3 Theme nominals

Theme nominals may be derived from verbs of any class (see
4.4). For verbs which assign nominative case
to one of their arguments, the corresponding theme nominal denotes the kind of participant which bears
that case role. For instance, a theme nominal derived from a Class I stative verb denotes an individual to
whom the property denoted by that verb is attributed:1

elifa
kesta
louna
nasa

‘be beautiful’
‘be happy’
‘be awake’
‘be strong’

elife
keste
loune
nase

‘beautiful one/thing’
‘happy thing/event/occasion; (cause of) happiness’
‘one who is awake’
‘strong one, person/thing that is strong’

When the theme nominal is formed from a Class II/III verb denoting a (change of) location or position, it
denotes the entity which occupies (or comes to occupy) the position/location in question, whether sponta-
neously or as a result of physical manipulation by an agent. When formed from a Class II verb denoting
a change of state, the theme nominal names the individual undergoing that change of state. By contrast,
when formed from Class III verb denoting a change of state, the theme nominal names the instrument which
e↵ects that change, or the (type of) material undergoing transformation. Examples include:

ekpa
etsa
lima
patla
sasa
siehpa
tapa
tioka
uihta
uosta

‘hold, carry’
‘say, tell’
‘open’
‘cover’
‘ﬁnd, discover’
‘write’
‘weave’
‘die’
‘sit down’
‘shape, fashion’

ekpe
etse
lime
patle
sase
siehpe
tape
tioke
uihte
uoste

‘thing which is held/carried’
‘speech; thing which is said/told’
‘thing which opens, thing which is opened’
‘covering, thing/substance used to cover something’
‘ﬁnding(s), discovery, thing which is found’
‘writing instrument’
‘material from which something is woven’
‘one who dies, mortal’
‘one who sits down’
‘substance out of which something is fashioned’

Even verbs which do not normally take nominative arguments can form theme nominals. With Class I
verbs of this type, the theme nominal names the state denoted by the verb, or else some entity or occasion
which brings about that state in some individual—e.g., ekona ‘be hungry’ > ekone ‘hunger; cause of hunger,
fast’. Likewise, Class II verbs which are normally used ‘intransitively’ (taking an ergative argument but no
nominative argument: see
4.4.2) may form theme nominals denoting the type of activity referred to by the
verb—e.g., kiompa ‘run’ > kiompe ‘running, chase, race’ (can also mean ‘one who is chased’). Additional
examples of this sort include:

1Note that the theme nominal keste ‘happy one’ would be used to refer to an object or situation which engenders feelings of
happiness. To describe the individual in whom a feeling of happiness is engendered, the circumstantial nominal kestanen ‘happy
one’ is used. E.g., keste mehkats ‘a happy event’ versus kestanen pyi ‘a happy child’. Likewise for other verbs of emotion, such
as ohiyna ‘be sad’.

10.6. PARTICIPANT NOMINALS

305

atlpa
ekpiha
halhkona
himeka
klalpa
peuta
puniaka
uasta

‘make music’
‘search, look for’
‘be thirsty’
‘be hollow’
‘move stealthily’
‘wait’
‘travel’
‘ﬂy’

atlpe
ekpihe
halhkone
himeke
klalpe
peute
puniake
uaste

‘music, playing’
‘search’
‘(cause of) thirst’
‘hollow(ness), empty space’
‘stealth; ambush’
‘wait, period of waiting’
‘trip, journey’
‘ﬂight’

Theme nominals formed from ‘intransitive’ Class II verbs are similar in meaning to gerunds (
10.5), but tend
§
to refer to particular instantiations of the action denoted by the verb, rather than to the general type of
action. For instance, whereas the gerund atlpats ‘playing’ denotes the general activity of making music, the
theme nominal atlpe ‘music, playing’ usually denotes a speciﬁc musical performance. Likewise, the gerund
uastats ‘ﬂying’ refers to the activity of ﬂying or the ability to ﬂy, whereas the theme nominal uaste ‘ﬂight’
refers to a particular trip through the air.

Additional examples of theme nominalization are shown below. The ﬁrst example of each pair gives
a sentence containing a verb which takes a nominative argument, while the second example gives a noun
phrase in which that verb (together with its non-nominative dependents, if any) has been converted into a
theme nominal and used to modify a noun.

(10.245) Mikale

ihakta
prg.tired.ipv

boy.nom
‘The boy is tired’

(10.246) ihakte

prg.tired.tnzr

mikal
boy

‘the tired boy’ or ‘the boy who is/was tired’

(10.247) Mikale

tonakana
boy.nom
rock.loc
‘The boy is sitting on the rock’

euohta
prg.sit:res.ipv

(10.248) tonakana
rock.loc

euohte
prg.sit:res.tnzr

mikal
boy

‘the boy (who is/was) sitting on the rock’

(10.249) Mo

tsul
bed

lulna
under.loc

1srdat
‘I found a box under the bed’

akote
box.nom

tlelhyi
ﬁnd.pv

(10.250) umai

tsul
bed

lulna
under.loc

atlelhe
pv.ﬁnd.tnzr

1srdat
‘the box that I found under the bed’

akot
box

(10.251) Ma

1serg

es
one

konome
hammer.nom

nyipike
use.cond

‘I would/could use a hammer’

(10.252) im`a

1serg

nyipei
use.dep:sbj.tnzr

es
one

konom
hammer

‘a hammer that I would/could use’ or ‘a hammer for me to use’

306

CHAPTER 10. NOMINALIZATION AND COMPLEX CLAUSES

(10.253) Sakial
Sakial
‘Sakial and Motla gave each other those presents’

Motlama
Motla.erg

tin
those:nom

kytu
present

ka
and

uktiyiot
give.pv.recip.pl

kytu
(10.254) Sakial
Sakial
present
‘those presents that Sakial and Motla gave (to) each other’

auoktiauoi
pv.give.dep.recip.tnzr

Motlama
Motla.erg

ka
and

tin
those:nom

Consider also the following examples. These illustrate theme nominals formed from Class III verbs whose
(optional) nominative argument denotes the instrument with which the event is carried out, or the amount
4.4.3 for discussion).
of time it takes to complete the event (see

(10.255) Kalonma
boy.erg
‘The boy speared the ﬁsh with a harpoon’

tik`o
harpoon.nom

kahoi
ﬁsh.dat

kikahtyima
pierce.pv.dpl

(10.256) Ma

kalonma
boy.erg

1serg
‘I’m ﬁxing the harpoon with which the boy speared the ﬁsh’

kahoi
ﬁsh.dat

akikahtamai
pv.pierce.dep.dpl.tnzr

tik`o
harpoon.nom

imuohta
prg.ﬁx.ipv

(10.257) Na

kotoi
house.dat

ilme
month

kun
four:nom

tiespyit
build.pv.pl

3aerg
‘They built the house in four months’ or ‘They took four months to build the house’

(10.258) Me

inkulhanka
prg.gone.ipv:pst

atiespanei
1snom
pv.build.dep.epl.tnzr
‘I was away during the four months that it took them to build the house’

kotoi
house.dat

inat
3aperg

ilme
month

kunme
four.inst

Note ﬁnally that a handful of common stative verbs form irregular theme nominals:

ﬁha
iena
keﬁha
kelhiuna
kiha
liuna
toha

‘be young’
‘be good’
‘be new, recent, unfamiliar’
‘be old, familiar, well-known’
‘be small, little’
‘be old, aged’
‘be big, large’

ﬁhu
ian
keﬁhu
kelhuhme
kiho
luhme
tohmi

‘young one’
‘good one’
‘new/recent/unfamiliar one’
‘old/familiar one’
‘small/little one’
‘old one’
‘big/large one’

These nominals can head noun phrases of their own, but more often occur as adjective-like modiﬁers of other
nouns:

ﬁhu pyi
kiho tene
luhme iha
kelhuhme kuna
tohmi kotu

‘young child’
‘small hill’
‘old woman’
‘old friend’
‘large house’

Irregular forms such as ﬁhu and tohmi are used only when the theme nominal is uninﬂected for verbal
categories such as mood, polarity, degree, etc. When verbs like ﬁha ‘be young’ and toha ‘be big’ are negated
or appear in the subjunctive mood, or when they host degree preﬁxes, aspectual suxes, or other derivational
markers (cf.

7.7), they form theme nominals in the regular manner:

7.5–
§

liuna
maliuno
aliunohta

‘is old’
‘is not old’ (neg.old.ipv:neg) maliuno
aliunohte
‘is older’ (rel.old.comp.ipv)

luhme

‘old one’
‘one who is not old’
‘older one’

10.6. PARTICIPANT NOMINALS

307

(10.259) aﬁhohte

rel.young.comp.tnzr
‘a younger child’

es
one

pyi
child

(10.260) it`o

ihpi
this:abl
equally
‘a house which isn’t as big as this one’

atoho
rel.big.neg:tnzr

ntse
neg

es
one

kotu
house

10.6.4 Delimiter nominals

Delimiter nominals are formed from Class III verbs only, and refer to the type of participant to which the
verb would assign dative case (see
4.4.3). If the verb expresses a change of state (e.g., kahta ‘hit’, iasa
‘eat’), the delimiter nominal denotes the patient of the action. If the verb expresses an event of motion or
transmission (e.g., eta ‘go’, lasta ‘send’), the delimiter nominal denotes the goal or recipient. And if the verb
expresses the entry into a cognitive or perceptual state (e.g., kila ‘see’, tsokua ‘meet, come to know’), the
delimiter nominal denotes the individual who enters into that state. Examples of delimiter nominals, and
the verbs they are formed from, are given below:

eta
etsa
hana
kahta
kila
sasa
tiespa
uktia

‘go, come’
‘say, tell’
‘cut, incise’
‘hit, strike’
‘see, notice; show’
‘meet, run across’
‘build, construct’
‘give’

etal
etsal
hanal
kahtal
kilal
sasal
tiespal
uktial

‘goal, thing/place to which one goes’
‘addressee, person to whom something is said/told’
‘person/thing which is cut’
‘one who is hit’
‘one who sees; one to whom something is shown’
‘one who meets’
‘structure, thing which is built’
‘recipient, person to whom something is given’

Although delimiter nominals can function as case-marked arguments, more often the delimiter noun (or a
larger phrase headed by it) will precede another noun and act as a modiﬁer of that noun. Compare the
following pairs of examples: the ﬁrst example gives a sentence containing a Class III verb with a dative
argument, while the second example gives a noun phrase in which the head noun is modiﬁed by a delimiter
nominal formed from that verb.

(10.261) Sakialma

kopoi
pot.dat
Sakial.erg
‘Sakial broke the pot’

utsitspa
pf.break.ipv

(10.262) Sakialma

Sakial.erg

utsitspal
pf.break.dep.dnzr

kopo
pot

‘the pot that Sakial has/had broken’ or ‘the pot broken by Sakial’

(10.263) Puniakak`a

tiesait
town.dat

itat
prg.go.ipv.pl

traveller.nom
‘The travellers are going to the town’

(10.264) puniakak`a

itaual
prg.go.dep.npl.dnzr

traveller.nom
‘the town which the travellers are going to’

tiesat
town

(10.265) Kaloin

kietame
picture.nom

boy.dat
‘The boy saw the picture’

kilyi
see.pv

308

CHAPTER 10. NOMINALIZATION AND COMPLEX CLAUSES

(10.266) kietame

akilal
pv.see.dep.dnzr

picture.nom
‘the boy who saw the picture’

kalon
boy

(10.267) Ma

kaloin
boy.dat

kietame
picture.nom

kilyi
see.pv

1serg
‘I showed the picture to the boy’

(10.268) im`a

kietame
picture.nom

akilal
pv.see.dep.dnzr

1serg
‘the boy who I showed the picture to’

kalon
boy

(10.269) Sakialma

lhatei
children.dat

meunu
milk.abl

Sakial.nom
‘Sakial handed cups of milk to the children’

nauote
cup.nom

natyima
hand.pv.dpl

(10.270) Sakialma

meunu
milk.abl

nauote
cup.nom

anataual
pv.hand.dep.npl.dnzr

lhati
children

Sakial.nom
‘the children to whom Sakial handed cups of milk’

Notice the di↵erence in number agreement on the verb in the last pair of examples. In (10.269) the verb
nata ‘hand’ carries the dative plural sux -ma, in agreement with the dative noun lhatei ‘children’. This
prevents the nominative argument meunu nauote ‘cups of milk’ from triggering agreement: a verb can agree
with at most one of its non-topic arguments, and agreement with an animate argument usually pre-empts
agreement with an inanimate argument (see
7.2). In (10.270), however, the dative noun phrase is absent
from the delimiter nominal phrase (since the latter denotes the recipient of the action). Since there is no
dative argument, the verb is free to agree with its nominative argument, and so the nominalized verb carries
the nominative plural sux -ua.

10.6.5 Circumstantial nominals

Circumstantial nominals, like theme nominals, may be derived from verbs of any class. Circumstantial
nominals generally denote some individual which bears a peripheral relation to the event denoted by the
verb—i.e., some relation other than actor, theme, or delimiter. Relations of this sort include experiencer,
beneﬁciary, possessor, instrument, source, or path.

As their name indicates, circumstantial nominals can also refer to some aspect of the circumstances
surrounding the event—e.g., the location where the event takes place, the time at which it takes place, the
manner in which it is carried out, the reason for which it is carried out, etc. For instance, depending on the
context in which it is used, the nominal atlpanen (< atlpa ‘make music’) can refer to a time or place for making music, the instrument with which the music is made, the person for whom the music is made, and so on. Other examples: isuhta isuhtanen ‘be born’ ‘place/time/circumstances of one’s birth’ kyitsampa kyitsampanen ‘discuss, converse about’ ‘(time/place of) discussion, topic of conversation’ tsuhpa tsuhpanen hyikpa hyikpanen ‘live, reside’ ‘residence, where/when one lives’ ‘hold, contain’ ‘container, vessel, place/object which contains’ 10.6. PARTICIPANT NOMINALS 309 Like other participant nominals, circumstantial nominals can take arguments and modiﬁers to form larger phrases. These phrases function either as a verb dependent, in which case the circumstantial nominal usually takes a case ending; or as a modiﬁer of a noun within a larger noun phrase, in which case it acts much like a relative clause. In (10.271), the circumstantial nominal phrase no am`e uesuhtanen carries the locative case ending -na, while in (10.272) it modiﬁes the noun tiesat ‘town’, and the latter takes the locative ending. (10.271) Sakialma ntsemi never no 3ardat am`e mother.nom uesuhtanenna pf.be:born.cnzr.loc utsulo pf.visit.ipv:neg Sakial.erg ‘Sakial has never visited (the place) where his mother was born’ (10.272) Sakialma uesuhtanen Sakial.erg pf.be:born.cnzr ‘Sakial has never visited the town where his mother was born’ am`e mother.nom no 3ardat ntsemi never tiesatna town.loc utsulo pf.visit.ipv:neg Although a circumstantial nominal can denote various kinds of peripheral roles, its interpretation can usually be determined by the context in which it occurs. For example, no am`e uesuhtanen can refer to any of a number of factors connected with the birth of Sakial’s mother (place, time, manner, etc.). That it refers to the place of her birth in the examples above is signaled by the fact that it is (a part of) the locative argument selected by the verb tsula ‘visit’, as well as by the fact that it modiﬁes the place noun tiesat ‘town’ in (10.272). (I return to the ambiguity of circumstantial nominals at the end of this section.) Circumstantial nominals can refer to any participant in an event which may be expressed using a noun phrase in one of the oblique cases (locative, allative, ablative, or instrumental). For instance, the verb henka ‘be enjoyable’ can take an allative noun phrase indicating the experiencer of the enjoyment, in which case it is usually translated as ‘like’ (10.273). A noun phrase denoting the experiencer can be formed with the circumstantial nominal derived from henka (10.274). (10.273) Sakiala henka Sakial.all enjoyable.ipv ‘Sakial likes the meal’ (lit. ‘For Sakial, the meal is enjoyable’) sat`e meal.nom (10.274) sat`e henkanen enjoyable.dep.cnzr meal.nom ‘(the) one who likes the meal’ The verb ekpiha ‘search, look around’ also takes an allative noun phrase, but with this verb the allative noun phrase indicates the goal of the search (10.275). In (10.276) the circumstantial nominal formed from ekpiha is used to refer to this goal. (10.275) Elimma kamala knife.all ikpiha prg.search.ipv Elim.erg ‘Elim is looking for a knife’ (10.276) Mo Elimma Elim.erg ikpihanen prg.search.dep.cnzr 1srdat ‘I found the knife that Elim was looking for’ kamale knife.nom tlelhyi ﬁnd.pv Further examples of circumstantial nominalization are given below. Examples (10.278) and (10.280) show circumstantial nominals which denote the kinds of participants speciﬁed by noun phrases in the locative case (cf. (10.277) and (10.279)). The former denotes a location, while the latter denotes the experiencer of a cognitive state. (10.277) Iha in`a that:erg Tenmotlaina Tenmotlai.loc woman ‘That woman lives in Tenmotlai’ tsuhpa live.ipv 310 CHAPTER 10. NOMINALIZATION AND COMPLEX CLAUSES (10.278) iha in`a that:erg tsuhpanen woman live.dep.cnzr ‘the town where that woman lives’ tiesat town (10.279) Motlana iona know.ipv m`a what suki do.dep:sbj aun if Motla.loc ‘Motla knows what to do’ (10.280) m`a what suki do.dep:sbj aun if ionanen know.dep.cnzr ‘(the) one who knows what to do’ In the examples below, the circumstantial nominal denotes a source (10.282) or the possessor of an inalienable property (10.284), both functions of the ablative case role. Likewise in (10.286), the modiﬁed noun moiha ‘girl’ is interpreted as the possessor of suhpa ‘brother’, since the possessor in kinship constructions is marked by ablative case. (10.281) Sakiale Uilumau Uiluma.abl ehkana originate.ipv Sakial.nom ‘Sakial comes from Uiluma’ (10.282) Sakiale ehkananen originate.dep.cnzr Sakial.nom ‘the town that Sakial comes from’ tiesat town (10.283) Moihau ulhmo year girl.abl ‘The girl is ten years old’ tam ten iala have.ipv (10.284) ulhmo tam ten year ‘a ten-year-old girl’ ialanen have.dep.cnzr es one moiha girl (10.285) Moihau girl.abl ‘The girl’s brother killed the turkeys’ suhpama brother.erg kauein turkey.dat tahyima kill.pv.dpl (10.286) suhpama kauein turkey.dat atahamanen pv.kill.dep.dpl.cnzr brother.erg ‘the girl whose brother killed the turkeys’ more lit. ‘the girl, the brother (of whom) killed the turkeys’ moiha girl Finally, the circumstantial nominal may denote the kind of participant expressed by an instrumental noun phrase (instrument, possessor, etc.): (10.287) Sakialme olh dist kotu house tan that:nom efa own.ipv Sakial.inst ‘Sakial owns that house over the there’ (10.288) olh dist kotu house tan that:nom efanen own.dep.cnzr ‘(the) owner of that house over the there’ 10.6. PARTICIPANT NOMINALS 311 (10.289) Ma sul 1serg language ‘I speak two languages’ henme two.inst koma speak.ipv (10.290) im`a 1serg komanen speak.dep.cnzr sul language hen two ‘(the) two languages that I speak’ § § § 2.4, 7.5.1, 7.7.1), adding certain aspectual or modal axes to the verb As discussed elsewhere (e.g., can a↵ect case assignment, such that a noun phrase which would normally appear in one of the core cases (nominative, dative, ergative) is instead marked with an oblique case. These case alternations feed the formation of participant nominals. For example, the verb tala ‘read’ assigns ergative case to the noun phrase denoting the actor participant (10.291). However, when the potential mood sux -yip is added to the verb to form talyipa ‘readable’, the actor noun phrase appears instead in the locative case (10.292). Hence, to derive a noun phrase which describes an individual who reads, an actor nominal is formed from tala (talaka), but to derive a noun phrase describing an individual who is capable of reading, the circumstantial nominal form is used instead (talyipanen). halmai (10.291) Mikalma boy.erg book.dat ‘The boy is reading the book’ itala prg.read.ipv halmai (10.292) Mikalna boy.loc book.dat ‘The boy can read the book’ talyipa read.able.ipv (10.293) halmai italaka prg.read.dep.anzr book.dat ‘the boy who is reading the book’ mikal boy (10.294) halmai talyipanen read.able.dep.cnzr book.dat ‘the boy who can read the book’ mikal boy Consider also the examples below. The Class III verb tsitspa ‘break, smash’ assigns dative case to its patient argument (10.295), so when a participant nominal denoting the patient is formed from tsitspa, the delimiter nominal form is used (10.296). However, when resultative aspect morphology is added to the stem to derive the Class I verb tseitspa ‘be broken, be in a broken state’, dative case is unavailable and the patient instead 7.5.1 on resultative aspect). Hence, when a participant nominal appears in the locative case (10.297) (see denoting the patient is derived from tseitspa, the circumstantial form will be used (10.298). § (10.295) Mikalma boy.erg ‘The boy broke the pot’ kopoi pot.dat tsitspyi break.pv kopo (10.296) Mikalma boy.erg pot ‘Here is the pot that the boy broke’ atsitspal pv.break.dep.dnzr ik`a prg.be:here.ipv (10.297) Kopona pot.loc ‘The pot is broken’ tseitspa break:res.ipv 312 CHAPTER 10. NOMINALIZATION AND COMPLEX CLAUSES (10.298) Tseitspanen break:res.dep.cnzr ‘Here is the broken pot’ kopo pot ik`a prg.be:here.ipv Nominalizations like tseitspanen ‘broken one’ are rather common. With verbs of creation, for example, a circumstantial nominal derived from the resultative stem typically denotes the object or substance which has been created: kyuata pusuka siehpa tapa tiespa ‘carve’ ‘make, create’ ‘write’ ‘weave’ ‘build, construct’ kyuaitanen pusoikanen sieihpanen taipanen tieispanen ‘carving’ (lit. ‘carved thing’) ‘creation, artifact’ ‘writing(s), written composition’ ‘weaving, woven cloth, textile’ ‘structure, construction’ Since a verb can combine with various di↵erent types of oblique dependents, circumstantial nominals are underspeciﬁed with regard to the type of participant they refer to, as noted above. In many cases, the correct interpretation of a circumstantial nominal can be inferred by looking at the verb from which it is formed, the arguments and modiﬁers it takes, or the context in which the circumstantial nominal phrase appears. However, often some ambiguity remains. For instance, any semantically appropriate verb can take an animate noun phrase in the allative case denoting the individual(s) on whose behalf the action is being carried out (10.299). Likewise, any semantically appropriate verb can take an animate noun phrase in the instrumental case denoting the individual(s) in whose company the action is being carried out (10.300). (10.299) Motlama kalona boy.all piat arrow ipusuka prg.make.ipv Motla.erg ‘Motla is making arrows for the boy’ (10.300) Motlama kalonme boy.inst piat arrow ipusuka prg.make.ipv Motla.erg ‘Motla is making arrows with the boy’ The circumstantial nominal formed from such a verb can express either of these roles (among others). Consequently, the noun phrase in (10.301) does not specify the precise role that the boy is playing in the arrow-making event. If (10.301) were presented in isolation, all we would know for certain is that the boy should not be interpreted as the actor, theme, or delimiter of the event, but is instead playing some more peripheral role. (If the boy were the actor, theme, or delimiter, kalon would be modiﬁed by a di↵erent type of participant nominal—e.g., an actor nominal in piat ipusukaka kalon ‘the boy who is/was making arrows’.) (10.301) Motlama piat arrow ipusukanen prg.make.dep.cnzr Motla.erg ‘the boy for whom Motla is/was making arrows’ or ‘the boy with whom Motla is/was making arrows’ kalon boy Whether (10.301) means ‘the boy for whom Motla is/was making arrows’, ‘the boy with whom Motla is/was making arrows’, or something else, can usually be determined from the context in which the noun phrase is uttered. When context does not suce to make the meaning clear, a di↵erent construction must be used. 10.3, sentences can include a participial clause introduced by the connective For example, as discussed in ka ‘and’, which serves to provide supplementary information about one of the participants referenced in the main clause. The participial clause includes a pronoun which refers back to the participant in question, and the case marking on the pronoun indicates the function it is serving within the participial clause. Compare the following: § (10.302) Mo kalone boy.nom kilyi, see.pv ka and in`e 3aall Motlama Motla.erg piat arrow ipusuke prg.make.pt 1srdat ‘I saw the boy for whom Motla is/was making arrows’ lit. ‘I saw the boy, and for him Motla making arrows’ 10.6. PARTICIPANT NOMINALS 313 (10.303) Mo 1srdat kalone boy.nom kilyi, see.pv ka and inem 3ainst Motlama Motla.erg piat arrow ipusuke prg.make.pt ‘I saw the boy with whom Motla is/was making arrows’ lit. ‘I saw the boy, and with him Motla making arrows’ Chapter 11 Derivation and the Lexicon 11.1 Introduction This chapter covers miscellaneous topics related to the lexicon. 11.3 deal with productive and non-productive morphology for deriving nouns and verbs. The remaining sections cover various lexical classes 11.4.2 gives an overview of colour requiring special discussion. In 11.4.1 I discuss kinship terminology, while § 11.5 gives a list of greetings and 11.4.3 provides additional discussion of motion verbs. Finally, terms, and § § other common phrases. 11.2 and § § § 11.2 Noun derivation 11.2.1 deals with the preﬁxes used to form In this section I discuss morphology for deriving nouns. Section diminutive and augmentative noun stems from other noun stems, while 11.2.2 deals with the formation of collective nouns. This morphology is fully productive, meaning that it can be added to any noun stem to 11.2.3 I give an overview of various derive a new noun stem (subject to semantic plausibility). Then in non-productive means for deriving nouns, and give examples of each. § § § 11.2.1 Diminutive and augmentative marking To form a diminutive noun, the preﬁx ki- (kih- before a vowel) may be added to a noun stem; while augmen- tatives are formed by preﬁxing to- (toh- before a vowel) to the noun stem. (These preﬁxes are transparently related to the verbs kiha ‘be small’ and toha ‘be big’, as well as the corresponding nominalizations kiho ‘small one’ and tohmi ‘big one’.) The diminutive and augmentative preﬁxes are fully productive: they can be added to any semantically appropriate noun. Typically diminutive nouns denote small objects, while augmentative nouns denote large objects. However, with animal names, the diminutive form is often used to denote the o↵spring of the animal. With kinship terms, the diminutive and augmentative may be used to denote relative age. Examples are given below: halu ike kotu naka pila sati suhpa suku ‘room’ ‘dog’ ‘house’ ‘rock’ ‘bird’ ‘food, meal’ ‘brother’ ‘wind’ kihalu kihike kikotu kinaka kipila kisati kisuhpa kisuku ‘small room, compartment’ ‘puppy’ ‘small house, hut, cottage’ ‘small rock, pebble’ ‘small bird, hatchling’ ‘small meal, snack’ ‘younger brother’ ‘breeze’ tohalu tohike tokotu tonaka topila tosati tosuhpa tosuku ‘large room, hall’ ‘large dog’ ‘large house’ ‘large rock, boulder’ ‘large bird’ ‘large meal, feast’ ‘older brother’ ‘strong wind’ The diminutive and augmentative preﬁxes also attach to certain quantiﬁers to form other quantiﬁers: 314 11.2. NOUN DERIVATION 315 anohte sepyi sipe tuhe tuhte ante anohte han ohe muhte sepyi sipe tuhe ‘more’ ‘some, a few’ ‘much, a bit’ ‘less, not as much’ ‘fewer, not as many’ ‘many’ ‘more’ ‘much, a lot’ ‘more’ ‘enough’ ‘some, a few’ ‘some, a bit’ ‘less, not as much’ kihanohte kisepyi kisipe kituhe kituhte tohante tohanohte tohan tohohe tomuhte tosepyi tosipe totuhe ‘a few more’ ‘very few’ ‘a little/tiny bit’ ‘a bit less, not quite as much’ ‘somewhat fewer, not quite as many’ ‘very many, a great many’ ‘many more, a lot more’ ‘very much, a great deal’ ‘much more, a lot more’ ‘plenty, more than enough’ ‘several, a fair number’ ‘a fair bit’ ‘a lot less, not nearly as many’ The augmentative preﬁx may also be used with stative deverbal nouns—that is, nouns formed from stative 10.6.3)—to express ‘very’: verbs, used to modify other nouns (see § luhme iha toluhme iha ‘old woman’ ‘very old woman’ tohmi kotu totohmi kotu ‘large house’ ‘very large house’ 11.2.2 Collective nouns A collective noun refers to a complete set or collection of entities of a given type, conceived of as a unit. To form collective nouns in Okuna, the sux -mit may be added to any noun denoting the type of entity in question: ahkunan his hostaka lakiaka puniakaka pyi suk tomla tsan uhnaka ‘companion’ ‘star’ ‘dancer’ ‘hunter’ ‘traveller’ ‘child, o↵spring’ ‘tooth’ ‘mountain’ ‘thing, object; body’ ‘singer’ ahkunanmit hismit hostakamit lakiakamit puniakakamit pyimit sukmit tomlamit tsanmit uhnakamit ‘fellowship, group of companions’ ‘the stars, the night sky’ ‘dance troupe’ ‘hunting party’ ‘travelling party’ ‘(one’s) children, o↵spring’ ‘set of teeth’ ‘mountain chain/range’ ‘collection, set’ ‘group of singers, chorus’ The collective sux can also be attached to proper names to indicate a collection of individuals associated with the person named: e.g., Sakialmit ‘Sakial and company’. Finally, -mit can be added to the second of a pair of nouns conjoined with ka ‘and’, to denote pairs of individuals, groups, or substances that go together: e.g., iase ka sepemit ‘food and drink’, iha ka kalmit ‘women and men’. Nouns and noun phrases formed with -mit have unusual agreement properties. For purposes of marking number on the verb (see 7.2), inanimate collectives are treated as grammatically singular when denoting a single set, and plural when denoting multiple sets; whereas animate collectives (especially those denoting groups of humans) are almost always treated as plural, regardless of whether they refer to a single set or multiple sets. § (11.1) Tomlamite mountain:range.nom ‘The mountain range is far from here’ ekau here:abl lama far.ipv (11.2) Tomlamite mountain:range.nom ‘The mountain ranges are far from here’ ekau here:abl lamat far.ipv.pl 316 CHAPTER 11. DERIVATION AND THE LEXICON (11.3) Puniakakamite group:of:travellers.nom ‘The group(s) of travellers arrived at the village yesterday’ paloi village.dat elohka yesterday etskanyit arrive.pv.pl 11.2.3 Other noun derivational morphology In addition to the regular noun-deriving morphology discussed above, Okuna has a variety of non-productive means for forming nouns from other words. Examples of these are given below. The axes discussed here are mostly used to derive nouns from verb stems, but a few are used to derive nouns from other noun stems (or from both verb and noun stems). Property nouns with a- + -i/e Various abstract nouns denoting properties are formed from verbs by adding the preﬁx a-, together with the sux -e and/or the inﬁx -i-/-e. Many of these nouns are derived from Class I scalar verbs, and denote the scale to which the verb refers. Others are derived from Class I and Class III verbs referring to one of the senses, and refer to the aspect(s) of an object which that sense provides information about. Examples include: kila koluma kuista lhuta liakna liuna luhtsa mahtla muohfa mutla ola pata toha uota ‘see’ ‘be dicult’ ‘be long, last’ ‘be heavy’ ‘be long’ ‘be old’ ‘smell’ ‘taste’ ‘be thick/dense’ ‘understand’ ‘hear’ ‘be tall’ ‘big’ ‘feel, perceive’ ‘appearance, looks’ akiel akoloim ‘(level of) e↵ort, diculty’ akuiset alhoit aliaken alioin aluhtse amahtle amuohfe amoitl aule apait atoihe auote ‘length of time, duration’ ‘weight’ ‘length, distance, span’ ‘age’ ‘smell, odour, aroma’ ‘taste, ﬂavour’ ‘density, consistency’ ‘meaning, signiﬁcance, interpretation’ ‘sound’ ‘height’ ‘size, bigness’ ‘feeling, sensation; stimulus; property, trait’ When a noun from this class takes a possessor, the possessor appears in the ablative case: e.g., Sakialu alioin ‘Sakial’s age’, palahtau apait ‘the height of the tree’. Directional nouns with -ut/-ot Various nouns denoting a direction, orientation, or limit are formed by adding the sux -ut to a motion verb. A few such nouns are derived from other nouns by adding the related sux -ot. ahopiau hepa hita ilalta kahpa kelha koset kotsim kumita sihafa sihita sihkasta ‘noon, sun zenith’ ‘go along’ ‘come here’ ‘go down to the shore’ ‘go down, descend’ ‘rise, go up, ascend’ ‘evening’ ‘morning’ ‘go forward’ ‘go downstream’ ‘go to the river’ ‘go upstream’ ahopiaut hepaut hitaut ilalot kahpaut kelhaut kosetot kotsimot kumitaut sihafaut sihitaut sihkasout ‘south’ ‘course, route, path’ ‘heading, destination, goal’ ‘direction of the shore’ ‘down, depth; downhill; downstairs’ ‘up, height; uphill; upstairs’ ‘west’ ‘east’ ‘orientation, direction’ ‘downstream’ ‘direction of the river’ ‘upstream’ 11.2. NOUN DERIVATION 317 tima tsypa uelalta usihta usla ‘lie, be situated’ ‘submerge, go into water’ ‘come up from the shore’ ‘come up from the river’ ‘end, ﬁnish’ timaut tsypaut uelalot usihot uslaut ‘location, placement; situation’ ‘down, depths, under water’ ‘direction away from shore’ ‘direction away from the river’ ‘edge, boundary, limit, starting/ending point’ These nouns normally take the allative case when denoting the direction in which something is going (or in which something is facing), and the ablative case when denoting the direction from which something is coming. They take the locative case when picking out a location deﬁned in terms of the direction from some reference point, where the reference point is expressed with a noun phrase in the ablative case. (11.4) Sakiale sihkasouta Sakial.nom upstream.all ‘Sakial is going upstream along the river’ sihkunume river.inst ihepa prg.go:along.ipv (11.5) Sakiale sihafauta upstream.all ikumuta prg.face:res.ipv Sakial.nom ‘Sakial is facing downstream’ (11.6) Puniakakamite travelling:party.nom ‘The travellers came from the east’ kotsimotu east.abl etyit come.pv.pl (11.7) Pal`o ekau village.nom here:abl ‘The village lies up(hill) from here’ kelhautna up.loc tima lie.ipv Locational nouns with -en A number of nouns denoting (real or metaphorical) locations, geographical features, or settings are formed from verbs by adding the sux -en. This sux may be related to the noun eun ‘place’, or it might be a variant of the circumstantial nominalizer -nen ( § 10.6.5): alontsa ehkana okla paksona palhta s`ı suha siufa suka tiausa tiuma tlala ‘set up camp’ ‘come from, originate’ ‘hide, conceal’ ‘look after, cultivate’ ‘come ashore, disembark’ ‘stream comes out’ ‘be dense, enclosed’ ‘do, make, work’ ‘fall, drop’ ‘be deep’ ‘be wide, open’ alontsen ehkanen oklen paksonen palhten sisuhen siufen suken tiauen tiumen tlalen ‘camp, campsite’ ‘origin, source; home, birthplace’ ‘hiding place; seclusion, refuge’ ‘garden, nursery’ ‘landing, mooring’ ‘spring’ ‘thicket, dense woods’ ‘time and place (for doing something)’ ‘drop, precipice, edge of a cli↵’ ‘depths, bottom (of an enclosed space)’ ‘open land, plain(s), prairie’ Abstract nouns with -hats The sux -hats combines with certain nouns, mostly kinship terms (see nouns, to form abstract nouns expressing a type of relationship or stage of life. Examples: § 11.4.1) and other human-denoting ahkunan ahte alioin ame esian ‘companion’ ‘father’ ‘age’ ‘mother’ ‘(adult) name’ ahkunankats ahtehats alioinkats amehats esiankats ‘companionship, fellowship’ ‘fatherhood’ ‘age, stage of development, period in one’s life’ ‘motherhood, childbearing’ ‘adulthood, maturity’ 318 CHAPTER 11. DERIVATION AND THE LEXICON kimi kuna luhme pyi suhpa talo ‘baby’ ‘friend’ ‘old one’ ‘child’ ‘brother’ ‘chieftain’ kimihats kunahats luhmehats pyihats suhpahats talohats ‘infancy’ ‘friendship’ ‘old age’ ‘childhood, youth’ ‘brotherhood, fraternity’ ‘rule, reign, chiefdom, command’ These nouns often take instrumental case marking to express manner: e.g., ahtehatsme ‘as a father’; kuna- hatsme ‘as a friend, in friendship’. They can also take locative case marking to form expressions indicating a time of life: e.g., pyihatsna ‘during childhood, when [one] was a child’; Sakiale talohatsna ‘during Sakial’s chieftainship, when Sakial was chief’. Collective nouns with -pa The sux -pa attaches to certain noun stems to form nouns denoting a people, tribe, or other social group (e.g., otana ‘patrilineal clan’ > otanapa ‘patrilineal relatives, the people belonging to one’s patrilineal clan’).
When -pa is suxed to a place name or the name of an individual, the resulting noun denotes the people
associated with that place or individual:

Ehkantlukan
Kemotlasi
Okuna

‘Raven’ (mythical ﬁgure) Ehkantlukampa
(name of a town)
(name of a river)

Kemotlasipa
Okunapa

‘people of the Raven’
‘people of Kemotlasi’
‘people of the Okuna valley’

These derived nouns can in turn modify a noun denoting an individual, so as to indicate a member of a
particular group or native of a particular region: e.g., Kemotlasipa iha ‘a woman of/from Kemotlasi’. The
sux -pa also appears on nouns like okapa ‘member of a community, society, or tribe’ (< oka ‘people, ethnicity’), tsokoimpa ‘stranger’ (cf. tsokoia ‘recently met’), utempa ‘neighbour’ (cf. utena ‘nearby’). Miscellaneous noun-deriving axes There are a handful of other noun-forming suxes (-at, -e, -lut, -oi, -ol, -on, -ot) and inﬁxes (-a-, -i/e-), each attested on only a few forms in the language: aihne aile elia fana hana huan hotsma iasa iom tota kesta kymainka kytlana naua paka sepa suka ties uhna uila ‘golden thing’ ‘silvery/metallic thing’ ‘be easy, relaxed’ ‘have a↵ection for’ ‘cut (into)’ ‘mouth’ ‘be angry’ ‘eat’ ‘earth shakes’ ‘happy’ ‘hold in place’ ‘keep straight’ ‘palm of the hand’ ‘step, take a step’ ‘drink’ ‘do, make, work’ ‘structure’ [archaic] ‘sing’ ‘love’ aihan ailot eliol fanol hanoi huanot hotsem iase iontoton kestol kymainkon kytlanon nauot pakon sepe suklut tiesat uhin uilol ‘gold’ [metal] ‘silver; mirror’ ‘ease, comfort’ ‘a↵ection’ ‘gash, wound’ ‘mouthful’ ‘anger’ ‘food’ ‘earthquake’ ‘happiness, joy’ ‘clasp, fastener, brooch, buckle’ ‘brace, splint’ ‘cup’ ‘bridge’ ‘drink, beverage’ ‘task, job’ ‘town, large settlement’ ‘song, poem’ ‘love’ 11.3. VERB DERIVATION 11.3 Verb derivation 319 Verbs may be derived from other verbs, or from nouns. Morphology for deriving verbs from nouns is much less common than morphology for deriving verbs from verbs. I begin by surveying the former before turning to the latter. 11.3.1 Deriving verbs from nouns By far the most productive element for deriving verbs from noun stems is the sux -t (or -it), perhaps related to the verb eta ‘go/take’. This sux mostly derives motion verbs from nouns denoting body parts and locations. In certain cases (tasta, uosta, etc.) there is no sense of motion, and the sux acts merely as a general verb formative. (This might be the same -t sux added to certain stative verbs to form telic inchoative/causative verbs: kisa ‘be frozen’ > kista ‘freeze’; tlana ‘be straight’ > tlanta ‘straighten’, etc.)

ampio
ihfo
ilal
kuma
lohan
loi
milh
minap
mok
s`ı
tasi
uos

‘surrounding area’
‘area behind/obscured by’
‘shore’
‘face, front’
‘voice’
‘eye, opening’
‘shift, transition’
‘bone marrow’
‘hearth, home’
‘stream, ﬂow, current’
‘liquid, ﬂuid’
‘shape, form’

ampiota
ihfoita
ilalta
kumita
lohanta
loita
milhta
minahta
mokta
sihita
tasta
uosta

‘surround’
‘be secret, be private’
‘go towards the shore’
‘come/appear before’
‘express, utter, give voice to’
‘watch, look at’
‘turn, shift; change’
‘be vital; be powerful, vigorous, dynamic’
‘go home’
‘go towards the river’
‘melt, thaw, liquify’
‘shape, give form to; make, create, fashion’

Several verbs denoting bodily emissions are derived from the corresponding nouns by adding the sux -k,
with additional idiosyncratic changes in certain cases:

ahim ‘breath, air’
f`a
hiunu
nek
semu
san
tesiek
tsinu
uake
utsas

‘feather’
‘tears’
‘scales’
‘skin’
‘blood’
‘shit, feces’
‘seed; semen’
‘urine’
‘sweat’

ahinka
fahka
hiunuka
nehka
semuka
salhka
siehka
tsinuka
uahka
utsaska

‘breathe heavily, pant, be out of breath’
‘moult, shed feathers’
‘weep, shed tears’
‘moult, shed scales’
‘shed one’s skin’
‘bleed, shed blood’
‘defecate’
‘release seeds; ejaculate’
‘urinate’
‘sweat, perspire’

A small number of verbs describing the collection of natural resources are formed by adding the sux -(e)ni
to a noun root denoting the resource in question:

kahu
kepe
l`a
mpetio
n`a
ohui
sohie

kahunia
kepenia
lahenia

‘ﬁsh’
‘nut, seed’
‘plant’
‘mushroom’ mpetionia
‘water’
‘fruit’
‘shellﬁsh’

nahenia
ohuinia
sohenia

‘ﬁsh, catch ﬁsh’
‘forage for nuts/seeds’
‘gather plants; graze’
‘forage for mushrooms’
‘fetch water (from a stream or well)’
‘gather wild fruit or berries’
‘gather/harvest shellﬁsh’

Finally, a handful of verbs are formed from nouns using the sux -p, sometimes with a change in the root
vowel. These verbs have little in common except that they denote volitional events.

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esian
iahki
lias
mosie
nalh
ties
tlap
tsets
tuk

‘name’
‘forceful blow’
‘throat, neck’
‘upper back, shoulders’
‘arm’
‘building, structure’ [archaic]
‘large piece, chunk’
‘shard, fragment’
‘group’

esiampa
iahkipa
liaspa
mosipa
nalhpa
tiespa
tlehpa
tsitspa
tukpa

‘address, call by name’
‘strike forcefully’
‘swallow’
‘carry on one’s back/shoulders’
‘gesture, gesticulate’
‘build, construct’
‘break into chunks’
‘break into small pieces, smash, shatter’
‘collaborate, act as a group’

11.3.2 Deriving verbs from verbs

There are only two widely-occurring suxes for deriving verb stems from other verb stems. The ﬁrst of
these is -om, illustrated below. Verbs formed with this sux are stative and belong to class I or II. They
denote a tendency to possess the characteristic or perform the action named by the stem from which they
are derived.

etsa
huata
hehta
kahta
lalia
mehka
mina
sokasta
suhonta
tiausa
tsitspa

‘say, tell’
‘be liked, appreciated’
‘move, stir’
‘hit, strike’
‘play, have fun’
‘happen, occur’
‘think’
‘argue’
‘forget’
‘fall, drop’
‘smash, shatter’

etsoma
huatoma
hehtoma
kahtoma
lalioma
mehkoma
minoma
sokastoma
suhonoma
tiausoma
tsitsoma

‘be talkative’
‘be likable, agreeable, congenial’
‘be restless’
‘be violent’
‘be playful’
‘be common, likely; tend to occur’
‘be thoughtful, mindful’
‘be argumentative, quarrelsome’
‘be forgetable; be forgetful, absent-minded’
‘tend to fall/drop; be precarious; be clumsy’
‘be breakable, fragile’

The other major sux for deriving verb stems from other verb stems is -on (possibly related to iona ‘know’).
This sux attaches to stative and motion verb stems—and also to some noun stems—to form verbs denoting
abstract states, mental activities, and physical sensations:

eka
halhka
ksohe
muelha
niokta
sehta
suha
tsatsa
tunku
uake

‘be empty’
‘be dry’
‘darkness’
‘sleep’
‘return’
‘go forward; emerge’
‘go out, leave, exit’
‘be full’
‘pain’
‘urine’

ekona
halhkona
ksohona
muelhona
niokona
sehtona
suhona
tsatsona
tunkona
uakona

‘be hungry’
‘be thirsty’
‘be mysterious’
‘be drowsy, sleepy; have the urge to sleep’
‘remember’
‘predict, envision’
‘forget’
‘be full, sated, no longer hungry’
‘hurt, feel pain’
‘feel the urge to urinate; have a full bladder’

For the most part, verb stems are derived from other verb stems by adding a preﬁx. Many of these preﬁxes
are clearly related to nouns, and the verbs derived with them probably arose as a result of noun incorporation,
where the incorporated noun underwent phonological reduction and ended up attaching to the verb. For
example, the verb ksapatla ‘salt, coat with salt (for preservation)’ is transparently derived from the noun ksas
‘salt’, reduced to the bound form ksa-, combined with the verb patla ‘cover’. Another example is mupatla
‘dress, put on (clothing)’, derived from patla plus mu-, a reduced form of mul ‘cloth’. This mu- formative is
also found in mutifa ‘undress, take o↵, remove (clothing)’, from tifa ‘remove’.

Many noun-derived preﬁxes, like ksa- and mu-, occur on only one or two verbs. Another example like this
is the preﬁx hi(n)- (from ahim ‘air, breath’), found on the following verbs related to air quality or breathing:

11.3. VERB DERIVATION

321

atlpa
muka
muohfa
tika

‘play, make music’
‘close; put out, extinguish’
‘be thick, dense’
‘leak, emit’

hinatlpa
himuka
himuohfa
hintika

‘play a wind instrument’
‘blow out (a lamp/candle)’
‘be stu↵y’
‘leak air; be drafty; blow out, whistle’

Other preﬁxes are somewhat more productive. One example is so-, a reduced form of the noun sot ‘word’,
which forms a large number of verbs expressing verbal activities. Examples of this include:

hompa
kasta
lasta
lhila
lohka
moita
nkilha
niokta
tsokua
uata
uosta

‘force, push steadily on’
‘go against, oppose’
‘send’
‘pull, stretch taut’
‘cause, make’
‘receive’
‘leave; take away’
‘return, go/come back’
‘meet (for the ﬁrst time)’
‘stop, cease’
‘shape, fashion, make’

sohompa
sokasta
solasta
solhila
solohka
somoita
sonkilha
soniokta
sotsokua
souata
souosta

‘order, command’
‘argue’
‘send word, send news’
‘exaggerate’
‘order, command’
‘hear about, get news of’
‘call o↵; dismiss, tell (someone) to leave’
‘answer, respond, reply’
‘introduce’
‘interrupt’
‘describe’

The preﬁx mi-, probably from minu ‘mind, thoughts’ (cf. mina ‘think’), combines with various stems to
form verbs denoting cognitive states and activities:

ekona
hepa
hyla
kloha
kyitsa
mota
nkilha
sasa
tatana
uktia

miekona
‘be hungry’
mihepa
‘go along’
mihyla
‘pass by’
mikloha
‘go through’
mikyitsa
‘talk about’
‘come/bring together’ mimota
‘go away, leave’
minkilha
‘encounter, run across’ misasa
‘wander’
‘give’

mitatana
mioktia

‘be ignorant’
‘ponder, meditate on’
‘overlook, ignore’
‘think through, mull over’
‘think about, think of’
‘plan’
‘be distracted from, lose interest in’
‘ﬁnd out, discover, hit upon’
‘daydream, let one’s mind wander’
‘notice, give thought to; teach’

Several verbs are formed using the preﬁx tsa-, from tsan ‘self; thing, body, form’ (in one case with a change
in the quality of the root vowel). Verbs formed with tsa- denote states or activities which involve, or are
directed towards, a person’s entire body.

elia
hehta
kahpa
kanta
kelha
laha
mota
paua

‘be at ease’
‘move, stir’
‘descend, go down’
‘be vertical, upright’
‘ascend, go up’
‘release, let go’
‘join, come together’
‘wash’

tsalia
tsahihta
tsakahpa
tsakanta
tsakelha
tsalaha
tsamota
tsapaua

‘be healthy, well, in good shape’
‘shiver (all over)’
‘lie back, recline (from a sitting position)’
‘lean against’
‘sit up (from a lying position)’
‘cremate’
‘have sex’
‘bathe, wash oneself’

In some cases where a verb-forming preﬁx is presumably derived from a noun historically, the identity of
that noun is now obscure. The preﬁx ki-, for example, combines with a small number of roots to derive verbs
expressing actions performed with a sharp, pointed object, such as an awl or harpoon. This preﬁx is likely
derived from a noun referring to a (type of) pointed object, but if so, that noun is no longer in use.

hana
kahta
taha
tluha
uosta

‘cut, make a cut in’
‘hit, strike’
‘kill (for food)’
‘push, press’
‘shape, fashion, make’

kihana
kikahta
kitaha
kitluha
keuosta

‘pierce, poke a hole in’
‘poke, prick, jab, stab’
‘stab to death, kill with a harpoon’
‘drill, bore a hole in’
‘carve, incise, shape with a pointed tool’

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The preﬁx na- attaches to a number of stems to derive verbs expressing actions performed with the hands,
while tu- forms verbs denoting actions performed with the legs or feet. These are unrelated to the current
nouns for ‘hand’ and ‘foot’ (tem and kus, respectively); however, na- is likely related to naua ‘palm of the
hand’, while tu- occurs as the root of the verb tupa ‘walk, go on foot’.

ekpa
eta
kahta
katia
laha
muohta
nkilha
nyipa
peta
piha
tiausa
tlula
tlynka
tupa

kahta
lhanka
nyipa
tlula
tlynka

‘carry, bring/take, hold’
‘go/come, bring/take, put’
‘hit, strike’
‘make a sharp sound’
‘stop, relent; release’
‘become whole/complete’
‘go away’
‘use, employ’
‘take’
‘follow’
‘fall; drop’
‘pound, grind’
‘push’
‘walk’

‘hit, strike’
‘(make/leave a) mark’
‘use, employ’
‘grind, pound’
‘push’

nakpa
nata
nakahta
nakatia
nalaha
namuohta
nankilha
nanyipa
napeta
napiha
natiausa
natlula
natlynka
natupa

tukahta
tulhanka
tunyipa
tutlula
tutlynka

‘hold/carry in one’s hands’
‘hand, pass; handle’
‘hit with one’s hands, punch, slap’
‘clap one’s hands’
‘let go of, release one’s grip on’
‘repair; succeed at; accomplish, attain’
‘take away, remove, put away’
‘handle, manipulate, wield’
‘grab, grasp, pick up’
‘feel (for), search with one’s hands’
‘drop, let go of, release (causing to fall)’
‘pound with one’s hands; beat, throttle’
‘push with one’s hands’
‘crawl on one’s hands and knees’

‘kick’
‘leave tracks/footprints’
‘use, take, follow’ [a path/route]
‘tread, stomp on’
‘push with one’s legs/feet’

Other verb-deriving preﬁxes, expressing manner or degree, appear to be related to verbs rather than nouns.
Verbs derived with these preﬁxes may have originated as converb constructions (
10.4), with the converb
§
undergoing phonological reduction over time and attaching to the main verb. The preﬁx ka(h)-, for example,
may derive from the verb kahta ‘hit, strike’. Attaching ka(h)- to a verb stem derives a verb expressing a
sudden or unexpected motion, or an action involving particular force or violence:

atia
heulhta
kahta
liaspa
lohka
niokta
nkilha
paka
patla
sasa
solha
tiausa
tsypa
tluha
tlynka
uata

‘approach, get closer’
‘pull, draw’
‘hit, strike’
‘swallow’
‘cause’
‘return, come back’
‘go away, leave’
‘take a step’
‘cover’
‘ﬁnd, encounter’
‘throw’
‘fall, drop’
‘go into water, submerge’
‘push down, press (on)’
‘push’
‘stop, halt’

kahatia
kaheulhta
kakahta
kaliaspa
kalohka
kaniokta
kankilha
kapaka
kapatla
kasasa
kasolha
katiausa
katsypa
katluha
katlynka
kahuata

‘lunge at; thrust’
‘pull hard, yank (on)’
‘hit suddenly; run into, collide with’
‘swallow quickly, guzzle, gulp down; gorge on’
‘be sudden; happen without warning’
‘reappear unexpectedly’
‘leave quickly, ﬂee; disappear unexpectedly’
‘stumble, lurch’
‘smother; cover quickly/forcefully’
‘stumble upon, encounter unexpectedly’
‘throw hard, hurl’
‘fall/drop unexpectedly; trip’
‘drown’
‘press ﬁrmly’
‘push hard, shove’
‘stop abruptly’

The preﬁx kel- is clearly related to the verb kela ‘be in a mutual relationship’, which regularly occurs as the
converb kele, meaning ‘together’. Verbs formed with kel- denote collective or reciprocal actions:

11.3. VERB DERIVATION

323

efa
iala
ohtla
otla
tima
uktia

‘have, own’
‘have, be responsible for’
‘resemble’
‘separate’
‘lie, be situated’
‘give’

kelefa
keliala
kelohtla
kelotla
keltima
keluktia

‘share, have joint ownership of’
‘share, have/hold in common; be related’
‘be similar, alike; resemble each other’
‘come apart; part ways, disband, disperse’
‘touch, be in contact, be adjacent’
‘exchange, trade (with)’

Another example is the preﬁx lia-, no doubt related to the verb liakna ‘be long’. This element is added to a
number of stems (many of them in the resultative aspect; cf.
7.5.1) to form verbs expressing an augmented
or extended state, or a long distance along some dimension:

hosta
hotsma
kahpa
kelha
luma
tima

‘be powerful’
‘be angry’
‘descend, go down’
‘ascend, go up’
‘be open; ignited’
‘lie, be situated’

liahosta
liahotsma
liakaihpa
liakeilha
lialuma
liatima

‘be mighty’
‘be enraged, livid’
‘be low; be a long way down’
‘be high; be a long way up’
‘be wide open; be roaring [ﬁre]’
‘be remote, distant, far away’

Finally, there are a few verb-forming preﬁxes whose origin is completely obscure. These include the preﬁx
un-, which derives a handful of verbs, mostly involving a circular motion or attention directed at oneself:

eta
ﬁhta
milhta
nesapa
suka
tapa

‘go/come’
‘become/make new’
‘turn’
‘ask’
‘do; make’
‘weave’

unta
umpihta
unmilhta
untsapa
untsuka
untapa

‘come full circle, return to where one began’
‘renew; start over, begin again’
‘twist, wind, coil’
‘wonder, ask oneself’
‘take on; carry out; perform, enact, bring about’
‘twist, braid, weave together’

Verbs formed with the preﬁx tsi- express abrupt, rapid, or brief and uncontrolled actions, usually performed
with minimal e↵ort or movement:

etskana
hata
kahta
ksona
lima
milhta
muka
peta
peuta
tsana

‘arrive, appear’
‘shout, call out’
‘hit, strike’
‘look at’
‘open; ignite’
‘turn’
‘close; extinguish’
‘take’
‘wait’
‘make a noise’

tsitskana
tsihata
tsikahta
tsiksona
tsilima
tsimilhta
tsimuka
tsipeta
tsipeuta
tsitsana

‘appear for an instant’
‘cry out suddenly, exclaim’
‘jab, prod, poke’
‘glance at, take a quick look at’
‘open and close quickly; ﬂash, glint’
‘swerve’
‘close and open quickly; wink, blink’
‘snatch, grab (esp. something small)’
‘pause brieﬂy, hesitate’
‘make a sudden, soft sound’

The preﬁx ti- attaches to various motion verb stems (mostly in the resultative aspect) to indicate a small
distance along some dimension:

hepa
kahpa
kaila
kanta
kelha
luma
nuha
tolha

‘go along’
‘descend, go down’
‘be hot’
‘stand, be vertical’
‘ascend, go up’
‘be open; ignited’
‘be cold’
‘stand up’

tiheipa
tikaihpa
tikaila
tikanta
tikeilha
tiluma
tinuha
titoilha

‘be short’ (opposite of long)
‘be a short way down, not low’
‘be warm, tepid’
‘be short’ (opposite of tall) [inanimates]
‘be a short way up, not high’
‘be slightly ajar; be smoldering; be shallow’
‘be cool’
‘be short’ (opposite of tall) [animates]

Finally, the preﬁxes ky- and te- are used to derive a number of verbs from other verbs (and occasionally from
nouns). Verbs formed with ky- (or one of its variants, k- and kyi-) are semantically quite heterogeneous:

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CHAPTER 11. DERIVATION AND THE LEXICON

many denote actions of holding or keeping in place, or actions involving sustained e↵ort or attention on the
part of the actor. This preﬁx also combines with verbs of thinking or communicating to form verbs which
refer to the subject matter or content of the action. Verbs formed with te- (and its variants, t- and ti-) do
not seem to form a semantically coherent class, except that they all denote agentive actions.

etsa
luma
mainka
moika
ohtla
peuta
teha
tlana
toilha
untsapa
usia

ahim
eun
kelha
luhtsa
mahtla
niokta
ola
yisa

‘speak, say’
‘be open’
‘be ﬁxed in place’
‘be closed’
‘resemble’
‘wait’
‘stay; leave behind’
‘be straight’
‘be standing’
‘wonder’
‘be warm, cozy’

‘air, breath’
‘place’
‘ascend, go up’
‘smell’
‘taste’
‘return, come back’
‘hear’
‘climb/take up’

kyitsa
kyluma
kymainka
kymoika
kyiohtla
kypeuta
kyteha
kytlana
kytoilha
kuntsapa
kyuosia

tehima
teuna
tekelha
teluhtsa
temahtla
teniokta
teula
tiyisa

‘mention, refer to; discuss, talk about’
‘hold/keep open; sustain, keep going’
‘hold/keep in place, support’
‘hold/keep closed; be shut tight’
‘compare’
‘anticipate, look forward to’
‘hold back, detain, delay’
‘hold straight, keep in alignment’
‘be upright, vertical; support, hold up’
‘ask/inquire about; speculate, wonder about’
‘keep warm; cuddle’

‘breathe’
‘put (down); put in place’
‘pick up’
‘smell, sni↵, inhale the scent of’
‘taste, sample, try’ [food]
‘return, replace, put back’
‘listen to’
‘raise, lift, elevate; pick up’

The following list illustrates miscellaneous verb derivation strategies not discussed above, involving preﬁxes
found on at most one or two verbs:

afa
‘come along’
ahim ‘breath, air’
ahim ‘breath, air’
elia
ﬁha
kanta
koipa
koipa
ksona
liuna
suka
uktia

‘be easy’
‘be young’
‘stand, be vertical’
‘know, be familiar with’
‘know, be familiar with’
‘look at’
‘be old’
‘do, work’
‘give’

hiafa
kehima
suhima
luelia
keﬁha
pakanta
niokoipa
sukoipa
paksona
kelhiuna
pusuka
hioktia

‘bring, bring along, include’
‘breathe in, inhale’
‘breathe out, exhale’
‘relax, put at ease; treat’
‘be new, unfamiliar, recent’
‘tower over, loom over’
‘remember, recognize’
‘forget, fail to recognize’
‘look after, take care of; tend, cultivate’
‘be old, familiar, known’
‘make, create’
‘give, bestow, deliver’

11.4 Special lexical classes

11.4.1 I consider vocabulary
In this section I turn to some lexical classes which require special discussion. In
§
related to the complex Okuna kinship system.
11.4.2 gives an overview of basic colour terms. Finally, in
11.4.3 I discuss how verbs lexicalize aspects of motion events such as trajectory, goal, and type of movement.

11.4.1 Kinship terminology

The Okuna reckon kinship according to a bilineal or ‘double-descent’ system. Every individual belongs to
two clans or descent groups, called the mok (literally ‘hearth’), or ‘home clan’, and the otana, or ‘ritual clan’.
The mok is a matrilineal descent group, while the otana is patrilineal: hence, you belong to the same mok

11.4. SPECIAL LEXICAL CLASSES

325

as your mother and the same otana as your father. Both descent groups are exogamous, and so individuals
are prohibited from marrying or having sex with someone from the same mok or the same otana.

There are ﬁve mok, whose names are given below. These names are related to the names for ﬁve of the

six cardinal directions:

Iseunma
Kotsimma
Ahopiaunma
Kosenma
Sukunma

iseut
kotsimot
ahopiaut
kosetot
sukuot

‘northeast’ (< ise ‘snow’) ‘southeast’ (< kotsim ‘morning’) ‘south’ (< ahopiau ‘noon’) ‘southwest’ (< koset ‘evening’) ‘northwest’ (< heut ‘wind’) With individuals they do not know well, Okuna use their mok name as a surname, followed by their given name. For instance, if Sakial is a member of the Iseunma mok, he will introduce himself as Iseunma Sakial. In dealings with members of other tribes, Okuna is added before the mok name. Hence, when travelling abroad Sakial would refer to himself as Okuna Iseunma Sakial. (Note that there is a sixth surname, Heunma, from heut ‘north’. This name is used for strangers, as well as foreigners living among the Okuna who have not been adopted into one of the ﬁve mok.) Within the Okuna double-descent system, four kinds of kinship are recognized: 1. Ahkame ‘siblings’ are individuals who share the same mok and the same otana. One’s ahkame princi- pally include full siblings (children of both one’s parents), but can include other individuals as well. 2. Mokelhol ‘hearth relatives’ are individuals who belong to the same mok but not the same otana. These include one’s mother, maternal grandmother, maternal aunts, and direct descendants of one’s maternal aunts, among others. 3. Otanalhol ‘ritual relatives’ are individuals belonging to the same otana but not the same mok, including one’s father, paternal grandfather, paternal uncles and their direct descendants, etc. 4. Finally, yhmalhol ‘outside relatives’ are those to whom one is related by blood or marriage, but with whom one shares neither mok nor otana membership. These include one’s kohmi spouse (see below), as well as (typically) one’s maternal grandfather, paternal grandmother, in-laws and other relations by marriage, and certain cousins. Note that the incest ban applies to all of one’s ahkame, mokelhol and otanalhol, but only to yhmalhol who are blood relations closer than ﬁrst cousins. Sex between ﬁrst cousins is permitted so long as they are in an yhmalhol relationship. It is also important to note that the Okuna recognize two di↵erent kinds of marriage. A kohmi marriage consists of two individuals who have entered into a monogamous (heterosexual or homosexual) pairing for purposes of mutual emotional and economic support. A sakohmi marriage consists of two or more individuals, some of whom may be related by clan, who have entered into a partnership for purposes of raising children together. A sakohmi marriage typically consists of between one and three kohmi partnerships, and sometimes includes unattached siblings or close friends of one or more of the kohmi partners. The children might be born into the sakohmi, or adopted. It is the sakohmi union, together with the children (and often elderly parents or grandparents of sakohmi members), which constitutes the basic unit of the Okuna household. Note also that kohmi marriages, though culturally important, are somewhat casual, and are entered into and dissolved without much ceremony, whereas the creation of a sakohmi marriage—and its obligatory dissolution once the children have moved out of the household—are marked by important formal rituals involving the entire community. Okuna kinship terms encode the type of relationship involved (ahkame, mokelhol, otanalhol, or yhmalhol ), the generation of the individual in relation to oneself, and, if the relationship is one of marriage, whether it is a kohmi or sakohmi marriage. Most kinship terms encode the gender of the individual as well, although there are also gender-neutral terms for many types of relationships. CHAPTER 11. DERIVATION AND THE LEXICON 326 Ahkame relations ahkame ahkamie lihpa suhpa ‘sibling’ ‘(pair of) twins’ ‘sister’ ‘brother’ These terms apply to any individuals with whom one shares both descent groups. These are considered one’s closest kin. Most often the ahkame terms are used for full siblings (i.e., children of both one’s parents). However, other individuals who happen to share both descent groups will also refer to each other using these terms, regardless of their relative age, generation, or degree of relatedness by blood. For example, if my maternal grandmother’s sister, who belongs to my mok, married someone who happened to belong to my father’s otana, then their daughter (my ﬁrst cousin once removed) would share both descent groups with me, and I would refer to her as my lihpa ‘sister’. Mokelhol relations ame miame kahame hotu pyi nap`e tien ahmokame kalihpa kasuhpa mokai mokanap`e mokatien mohkilu mohkiloiha mohkilukal ‘mother’ ‘maternal grandmother (mother’s mother)’ ‘maternal aunt (mother’s sister, etc.)’ ‘maternal uncle (mother’s brother, etc.)’ ‘child, o↵spring’ ‘daughter’ ‘son’ ‘maternal cousin/relative’ ‘maternal female cousin’ ‘maternal male cousin’ ‘maternal niece/nephew’ ‘maternal niece’ ‘maternal nephew’ ‘maternal grandchild’ ‘maternal granddaughter’ ‘maternal grandson’ The terms pyi, nap`e, and tien are sometimes used by men to refer to their children, even though a man and his o↵spring necessarily belong to di↵erent mok (the mok being matrilineal and exogamous). More often, a man will refer to his children using the otanalhol terms, namely otanai, otanap`e, and otatien (see below). In all other cases, the terms in the above table are used exclusively for relatives belonging to one’s mok. Note that these terms do not express degree of relatedness by blood. Hence, miame is used to refer not only to one’s mother’s mother, but also to other women of the same generation—or previous generations— belonging to one’s mok. Likewise, kahame and hotu are used for all people of one’s mother’s generation belonging to the same mok, not just one’s mother’s siblings. Kasuhpa and kalihpa refer to half-siblings (children of one’s mother, but not one’s father), as well as one’s mother’s sister’s children, and any other relatives of one’s own generation belonging to the same mok (other than full siblings). Mokai, mokanap`e, and mokatien are used for one’s sister’s children, and any other relatives of the next-younger generation belonging to the same mok (other than one’s own children). Similarly, mohkilu, mohkiloiha, and mohkilukal would be used by a woman to refer to her daughter’s children, or any other relatives of her grandchildren’s generation belonging to her mok. Finally, ahmokame is a generic term for relatives who share the same mok, especially (but not exclusively) those of one’s own generation. 11.4. SPECIAL LEXICAL CLASSES 327 Otanalhol relations ahte tiahte omili otusu otanakame otalihpa otasuhpa otanai otanap`e otatien otakilu otakiloiha otakilukal ‘father’ ‘paternal grandfather (father’s father)’ ‘paternal aunt (father’s sister, etc.)’ ‘paternal uncle (father’s brother, etc.)’ ‘paternal cousin/relative’ ‘paternal female cousin’ ‘paternal male cousin’ ‘paternal child/niece/nephew’ ‘paternal daughter/niece’ ‘paternal son/nephew’ ‘paternal grandchild’ ‘paternal granddaughter’ ‘paternal grandson’ These terms are used for relatives belonging to one’s otana. Their meanings parallel those of the mokelhol terms discussed above. Tiahte is used for one’s father’s father, and his patrilineal ancestors, as well as any other man of one’s grandparents’ generation (or a previous generation) belonging to one’s otana; otusu and omili are used for one’s father’s siblings, and any other relatives of one’s father’s generation belonging to the same otana; and so on. As mentioned above, a man will usually refer to his own children using otanai, otatien, and otanap`e—terms which he will also use to refer to his brother’s children, and to any other relatives of his children’s generation belonging to his otana. Yhmalhol relations miahte tiame mili tusu pahal ympyi ynnap`e yntien ynkilu ynkiloiha ynkilukal kohmi sakohmi ‘maternal grandfather’ ‘paternal grandmother’ ‘outside aunt, stepmother, mother-in-law’ ‘outside uncle, stepfather, father-in-law’ ‘outside cousin/relative, step-sibling, sister/brother-in-law’ ‘outside niece/nephew, stepchild, son/daughter-in-law’ ‘outside niece, stepdaughter, daughter-in-law’ ‘outside nephew, stepson, son-in-law’ ‘outside grandchild’ ‘outside granddaughter’ ‘outside grandson’ ‘spouse, partner’ (in a kohmi marriage) ‘spouse, partner’ (in a sakohmi marriage) These terms are used for ‘outside’ relatives—that is, relatives by blood or marriage who do not belong to either of one’s descent groups. Tusu and mili are used for outside relatives of one’s parents’ generation, including the spouses of one’s parents’ siblings, as well as step-parents and parents-in-law (unless they happen to share a descent group, in which case the terms for maternal or paternal aunt and uncle would be used). Likewise, pahal is used for most step-siblings, sisters- and brothers-in-law, and cousins other than one’s mother’s sister’s children and father’s brother’s children. The remaining terms are used in a similar fashion. Remarks on kinship terminology When a kinship term heads a noun phrase that includes a possessor noun phrase, the possessor appears in the ablative case: e.g., Sakialu ahte ‘Sakial’s father’. When the possessor is a pronoun, that pronoun normally takes the form of a realis dative clitic: e.g., mo ahte ‘my father’. 328 CHAPTER 11. DERIVATION AND THE LEXICON Where relevant, kinship terms referring to siblings and cousins can carry the augmentative and diminutive 11.2.1) to indicate relative age. For example: preﬁxes to(h)- and ki(h)- ( § ‘older sibling’ ‘older sister’ ‘older brother’ ‘older outside cousin’ tohahkame tolihpa tosuhpa topahal kihahkame kilihpa kisuhpa kipahal ‘younger sibling’ ‘younger sister’ ‘younger brother’ ‘younger outside cousin’ When added to terms for grandparents, aunts, and uncles, to(h)- functions similarly to the English preﬁx ‘great-’: e.g., tomiame ‘maternal great-grandmother’ (mother’s mother’s mother), tohomili ‘paternal great- aunt’ (father’s father’s sister), and so on. Similarly, adding ki(h)- to terms for grandchildren forms terms for great-grandchildren: e.g., kihynkilu ‘outside great-grandson’ (great-grandson unrelated by direct maternal or paternal descent). The collective sux -mit ( § 11.2.2) may be added to kinship terms when referring to the total set of people who stand in a particular relationship to a given individual, or to each other: e.g., ahkamemit ‘set of siblings’, mo ahkamemit ‘(all) my siblings, my sisters and brothers’, Sakialu otanaimit ‘Sakial’s children and paternal nieces and nephews’, ame ka pyimit ‘mothers and children’. To form a sentence indicating a mutual relationship, the Class I stative verb kela ‘be together, have a relationship, be related (as)’ is used. This term combines with one or more kinship terms (or other relational nouns such as kuna ‘friend’) to express the type of relationship. The relational noun(s) appear without any case marking, while a noun phrase in the nominative case denotes the individuals who bear the relationship: (11.8) Motla Motla ‘Motla and Elim are brothers’ Elime Elim.nom ka and suhpa brother kelat related.ipv.pl Elime (11.9) Motla Motla Elim.nom ‘Motla and Elim are father and son’ ahte father ka and otanai child kelat related.ipv.pl (11.10) Motla Motla ‘Motla and Elim are old friends’ Elime Elim.nom ka and kelhuhme familiar:one kuna friend kelat related.ipv.pl (11.11) Motla Motla ka and Elime Elim.nom sakohmi spouse kelat related.ipv.pl ‘Motla and Elim are married/spouses’ (11.12) Motla Motla ka and Elime Elim.nom sakohmi spouse keltyit related.tinc.pv.pl ‘Motla and Elim got married’ (lit. ‘became related as spouses’) 11.4.2 Colour terms Okuna has eleven basic colour terms, listed below:1 1Sane is presumably derived from the noun san ‘blood’; while lohne might contain the root lo-, found in a number of words related to trees (e.g., loka ‘forest’, lotsan ‘wood’, losak ‘ﬁrewood’, losemu ‘bark’, etc.). The origins of the other colour terms is unknown. 11.4. SPECIAL LEXICAL CLASSES 329 aihne aile has hemak hiem kote kulhe laite lohne lune sane ‘golden/amber one’ ‘silvery/metallic one’ ‘white one’ ‘dark grey one’ ‘light grey one’ ‘black one’ ‘green one’ ‘yellow one’ ‘brown/earth-coloured one’ ‘blue one’ ‘red one’ Many of these terms refer to a broader range of the spectrum than their usual English translations suggest. For example, sane covers not only ‘true’ red, but also reddish orange, pink, magenta, and reddish purple (burgundy). Likewise, lune covers all of the hues from sky blue to indigo to bluish purple and lavender, and laite covers yellow-orange and yellow ochre as well as ‘true’ yellow. Hiem (deﬁned by speakers as mohi nalei ‘the colour of clouds’) is used for shades of pale blue or blue-grey, along with lighter neutral greys, while hemak (deﬁned as moin nalei ‘the colour of the sea’, or tasle toun nalei ‘the colour of wet stone’) is reserved for darker neutral greys and blue/green greys. Finally, lohne covers a broad range of warm and cool earth tones, including brown, chestnut, copper, tan, olive, and khaki. Complex colour terms may be formed as necessary by combining basic colour words into compounds. In particular, kote may be used to indicate a darker shade of some other colour, and has a lighter shade: has lune kote kulhe kulhe laite sane lohne ‘light blue one’ ‘dark green one’ ‘greenish-yellow one’ ‘reddish-brown one’ As glosses such as ‘red one’ indicate, the colour terms function syntactically as nouns, and usually refer to some entity bearing a particular colour, rather than designating the colour in the abstract. (To express colour in the abstract, the noun nalei ‘colour’ is modiﬁed by a colour term: e.g., sane nalei ‘the colour red’.) Being nouns, colour terms can function by themselves as arguments of verbs, as illustrated in (11.13). Note also the example in (11.14), where the colour term is unmarked for case and denotes a substance (red pigment): (11.13) Mo es one san`e red:one.nom tlelhyi ﬁnd.pv 1srdat ‘I found a red one/thing’ or ‘I found something red’ (11.14) Sa sane kotoi red:one house.dat 13erg ‘We painted the house red’ nepatlyit paint.pv.pl More often, the colour term modiﬁes a following noun: e.g., kote naka ‘black rock’, kulhe lyip ‘green leaves’, hemak hos ‘dark grey sand’. (11.15) Mo es one sane red:one lohne brown:one 1srdat ‘I found a reddish-brown stone’ uos`o round:stone.nom tlelhyi ﬁnd.pv To form a predicate indicating class membership, the colour term combines with the copula he (optional in the present tense, cf. 9.3.1): (11.16) Kot`o (he) house.nom be:ipv ‘The house is red’ (lit. ‘The house is a red thing’) § sane red:one 330 CHAPTER 11. DERIVATION AND THE LEXICON 11.4.3 Motion verbs Motion verbs are those which express movement or displacement of an object from one location to another. The entity undergoing movement/displacement is typically expressed by a noun phrase the nominative case. If the clause includes a noun phrase expressing the goal or endpoint of motion, this noun phrase is marked with the dative case role; while the ergative case marks the external agent (if any) which manipulates the object in order to set it in motion. Clauses with motion verbs can also include oblique noun phrases. An allative noun phrase expresses the direction or ultimate goal of motion, an ablative noun phrase expresses the source of motion, and an instrumental noun phrase expresses the path of motion (or an object or place located along that path). Compare: (11.17) Ne 3anom tomlai mountain.dat etyi go.pv ‘She came/went to the mountain’ (goal) (11.18) Ne 3anom tomlaua mountain.all etyi go.pv ‘She came/went towards the mountain’ (direction) (11.19) Ne 3anom tomlau mountain.abl etyi go.pv ‘She came/went from the mountain’ (source) (11.20) Ne 3anom tomlame mountain.inst etyi go.pv ‘She came/went by way of the mountain’ (path) Okuna has a large number of motion verbs. These may be grouped into two major classes: Trajectory- of-motion verbs encode the direction, path, or position of the moving object with respect to some other object or location. Verbs of this type often correspond to English ‘go/come’ plus a preposition: e.g., lhyua ‘go into’, suha ‘come out of’, kloha ‘go through’. Some of these verbs, such as tsypa ‘go into’ [a body of water] and uelalta ‘go/come inland, go/come up from the shore’, also encode the type of source or goal. Manner-of-motion verbs, by contrast, indicate the kind of activity which the object in motion is engaged in: e.g., tupa ‘walk, go on foot’, ianta ‘jump’, sihpa ‘swim’. I consider these two types of motion verbs in turn. Trajectory-of-motion verbs 4.4.3). Some common trajectory-of-motion verbs Trajectory-of-motion verbs mostly belong to Class III (see are listed below (a few of these, like afa, kasta, and kloha, also have ﬁgurative uses that do not involve motion): § 11.4. SPECIAL LEXICAL CLASSES 331 afa ampiota atia eta fuia hepa hyla ilalta kahpa kasta kelha kloha kumita lampa lhyua mokta mota niokta nkilha otla palhta pasehta piha saha sehta sihafa sihita sihkasta suha tatana tlisa tsypa uelalta usihta ‘go with, accompany; participate’ ‘go around, surround, encircle’ ‘approach, get closer to’ ‘go, come; move’ ‘come out, emerge’ [from a body of water] ‘go along/beside [the edge of], follow [a path]’ ‘pass, go past; elapse’ ‘go down towards the shore’ ‘go/come down, descend; fall’ ‘go against, go in the opposite direction of; oppose’ ‘go up, rise, ascend’ ‘go through; experience, undergo’ ‘go/come before, go/come up to, enter the presence of’ ‘go one after another, go in sequence’ ‘enter, go into’ ‘go/come home, get come’ ‘come together, come into contact with, join with’ ‘go/come back, return’ ‘leave, depart, go away’ ‘leave, separate from, part ways with, come apart’ ‘land, go/come ashore, alight’ [from the water or air] ‘go/come before, precede’ ‘go/come after, go/come behind, follow, be subsequent to’ ‘go/come after, follow, pursue’ [with the intention of catching up to] ‘go ahead/forward, proceed; go forth, emerge’ ‘go downstream’ ‘go/come down towards the (nearest) river’ ‘go upstream’ ‘go/come out, exit, emerge’ ‘go around (from place to place), wander’ ‘go/come across, cross, traverse, go over’ ‘go into, enter, be submerged in’ [a body of water] ‘go/come inland, go/come up from the coast’ ‘go/come up from the (nearest) river’ Also included among the trajectory-of-motion verbs are the following deictic verbs, which describe motion with respect to the position of the speaker and/or the addressee: kampa kauta keta olhempa euolhta olhuta tseuta tsimpa tsita ‘pass by here/there, go/come through here/there’ [where we/you are] ‘leave here, go away from here’ [where we are]; ‘go/come from there’ [where you are] ‘come here’ [to where we are]; ‘go there’ [to where you are] ‘pass by there, go/come through there’ [away from us] ‘go over there; go away’ [away from us] ‘leave there, go/come from over there’ [away from us] ‘leave here, go away from here’ [where I am] ‘pass by here, go/come through here, go/come this way’ [where I am] ‘come here’ [to where I am] Sample sentences illustrating trajectory-of-motion verbs are given below. Notice how the noun phrases are case-marked in these examples: (11.21) Moih`a girl.nom kotoi house.dat kutsmu back hitolme door.inst lhyuyi enter.pv 332 CHAPTER 11. DERIVATION AND THE LEXICON ‘The girl came/went into the house through the back door’ (11.22) Ne es one luhme old:one laume path.inst lokai woods.dat hepyit go:along.pv.pl 3anom ‘They followed an old path into the woods’ (11.23) Isane 13all ‘Our boat got closer to the island’ ula island.all puole boat.nom atiyi approach.pv (11.24) Elime palou village.abl teneme hill.inst kahpyi go:down.pv Elim.nom ‘Elim came down the hill from the village’ (11.25) Sa 13erg ilalna shore.loc losak ﬁrewood utitiet pf.gather.pt.pl paloi village.dat uelaltyit go:inland.pv.pl ‘Having gathered ﬁrewood on the shore, we went (back) inland to the village’ (11.26) Kon`o sihkasta go:upstream.ipv seku roe salmon.nom ‘Salmon swim upstream to spawn’ tikeia secrete.dep:sbj.all Most motion verbs can be used transitively as well as intransitively, taking an ergative argument to express an external agent who causes the theme to be in motion, usually by physically manipulating it. Motion verbs used transitively tend to be translated using ‘put’ or ‘bring/take’ rather than ‘go/come’. Compare these pairs of sentences: (11.27) Kim`e kelhyi keuli baby.nom go:up.pv chair.dat ‘The baby got up onto the chair’ (11.28) Moihama kelhyi girl.erg go:up.pv ‘The girl lifted the baby up onto the chair’ kim`e baby.nom keuli chair.dat (11.29) Pyie tsityi come:here.pv child.nom ‘The child came here’ (11.30) Sakialma Sakial.erg halm`a book.nom tsityi come:here.pv ‘Sakial put/brought the book here’ (11.31) Puole Tenmotlaio Tenmotlai.abl sihafyit go:downstream.pv.npl.pl boat.nom ‘The boats went downstream from Tenmotlai’ (11.32) Kahuniakama ﬁsherman.erg puole boat.nom Tenmotlaio Tenmotlai.abl sihafyiat go:downstream.pv.npl.pl ‘The ﬁshermen took/propelled the boats downstream from Tenmotlai’ A handful of trajectory-of-motion verbs are ‘basically’ transitive, in the sense that the ergative argument is almost always present (or implied). These include: 11.4. SPECIAL LEXICAL CLASSES 333 elha hiafa nufa tekelha teniokta teuna tifa tiyisa uktia ‘put in, insert’ ‘bring, take; bring along’ ‘take out, extract, remove (from inside)’ ‘pick up’ ‘put back, replace, return’ ‘put, put down; take, place’ ‘take o↵, remove (from the surface of)’ ‘lift, raise, pick up’ ‘give, bestow’ With the exception of hiafa, these verbs describe events where the actor participant does not (or need not) undergo the same change of location as the theme. By contrast, other motion verbs tend to describe events where the actor and theme move together. Compare the examples below. With (11.33) it is understood that both the girl and the baskets ended up inside the tent; however, (11.34) has no such entailment: the girl may have stayed outside and lifted the baskets in through an opening in the tent. The second pair of sentences show a similar contrast. (11.33) Moihama hut`a basket.nom hulhpamoil tent.dat girl.erg ‘The girl took the baskets into the tent’ lhyuyia enter.pv.npl (11.34) Moihama hut`a basket.nom hulhpamoil tent.dat girl.erg ‘The girl put the baskets in the tent’ elhyia put:in.pv.npl (11.35) Moihama girl.erg halm`a book.nom Sakiail Sakial.dat nioktyi go:back.pv ‘The girl took the book back to Sakial’ (or ‘returned the book to Sakial’) (11.36) Moihama kamale knife.nom akoit box.dat girl.erg ‘The girl put the knife back in the box’ tenioktyi put:back.pv Note ﬁnally that combining a motion verb (used transitively) with the unmarked noun inie ‘eyes’ yields expressions denoting events of looking, with the choice of motion verb specifying the direction in which the perceiver (marked with ergative case) is looking: e.g., inie kahpa ‘look down’ (lit. ‘move eyes down’), inie suha ‘look out (of)’ (lit. ‘move eyes out’), inie nkilha ‘look away’ (lit. ‘take eyes away’), etc.: (11.37) Na akoit box.dat 3aerg ‘She looked into the box’ inie eyes elhyi insert.pv (11.38) Ma huiloime window.inst inie eyes 1serg ‘I was looking through the window’ iklohanka prg.go:through.ipv:pst Likewise, combining kuma ‘face’ with a motion verb forms expressions like kuma kelha ‘face up’, kuma kahpa ‘face down’, kuma nkilha ‘face away, turn away’, etc. Here, however, the subject of the motion verb appears in the nominative case: (11.39) Ne 3anom im`o 1sabl kuma face inkulhanka prg.go:away:res.ipv:pst ma 1serg itsampa prg.speak.dep emuohpi whole:time ‘She was facing away from me the whole time I was talking (to her)’ 334 CHAPTER 11. DERIVATION AND THE LEXICON Manner-of-motion verbs The following verbs all express the manner in which an object moves, or the means by which it moves, rather than the trajectory, direction, goal, or source of motion: aipa hentupa hiela ianta kaklala kiompa klalpa kuntupa lefa lhopa mimilha natupa paka piyla puita sihpa talha tupa uasta yisa ‘ﬂoat, drift’ (on air or water) ‘walk on two legs, be bipedal’ ‘travel by vehicle’ [esp. boat] ‘jump, leap’ ‘scurry, scamper, move quickly on small legs’ ‘run, move quickly’ ‘move stealthily, sneak around’ ‘walk on four legs, be quadrupedal’ ‘roll (over)’ ‘ﬂow; blow’ [pertaining to ﬂuid: water, wind, etc.] ‘move back and forth, oscillate; move in a serpentine path’ ‘crawl on one’s hands and knees’ ‘step, take a step’ ‘slither, crawl on ones belly’ ‘ride’ [an animal] ‘swim’ ‘climb’ [a sloping surface] ‘walk, go on foot’ ‘ﬂy’ ‘climb’ [a steep/vertical surface] Manner-of-motion verbs belong to Class II (see the object in motion appears in the ergative case rather than the nominative: § 4.4.2). With verbs of this type, the noun phrase denoting (11.40) Kimima kas now/already inatupa prg.crawl.ipv iam it:turns:out baby.erg ‘The baby is crawling now’ (11.41) Kahuma ﬁsh.erg ‘Fish swim and birds ﬂy’ sihpa swim.ipv le while pilama bird.erg uasta ﬂy.ipv Manner-of-motion verbs generally do not take noun phrases denoting a goal or a source. A Okuna speaker will not say the equivalent of ‘Sakial is walking to the house’, expressing both the manner of motion and the trajectory of motion within a single verb phrase. Instead, s/he will express this idea by saying ‘Sakial is going to the house by walking’, using a combination of a manner-of-motion verb and a trajectory-of-motion verb. In constructions of this sort the manner-of-motion verb precedes and modiﬁes the trajectory-of-motion verb, taking the converb sux -e (cf. 10.4 on the converb construction). Compare: § (11.42) Sakialma itupa prg.walk.ipv Sakial.erg ‘Sakial is walking’ or ‘Sakial is going on foot’ (11.43) Sakiale kotoi house.dat ita prg.go.ipv Sakial.nom ‘Sakial is going to the house’ (11.44) Sakiale kotoi house.dat tupe walk.cv ita prg.go.ipv Sakial.nom ‘Sakial is walking to the house’ (lit. ‘is going to the house [by] walking’) 11.5. COMMON EXPRESSIONS 335 Notice that in the last sentence, the trajectory-of-motion verb determines how the theme is case-marked. So whereas tupa ‘walk’ assigns ergative case to the noun phrase denoting the object in motion, the compound predicate tupe eta ‘walk to X, go to X by walking’ assigns nominative case to this argument, since that is the case assigned by eta ‘go (to)’. Compare also the following pairs of sentences: (11.45) Sakialma eiantanka Sakial.erg prg.jump.ipv:pst ‘Sakial was jumping (around) in the hole’ otuhna hole.loc (11.46) Sakiale iante Sakial.nom jump.cv ‘Sakial jumped into the hole’ (lit. ‘entered [by] jumping’) otoi hole.dat lhyuyi enter.pv (11.47) Kamiuama klalpyi move:stealthily.pv lynx.erg ‘The lynx moved stealthily’ or ‘The lynx sneaked around’ (11.48) Kamiu`a hesa rabbit.all klalpe move:stealthily.cv atiyi approach.pv lynx.nom ‘The lynx stalked the rabbit’ (lit. ‘approached [by] moving stealthily’) Inherently transitive motion verbs such as elha ‘put in, insert’ and tifa ‘take o↵, remove’ also routinely take converb modiﬁers denoting the manner of motion or means by which the motion is accomplished, as shown below. (11.49) Na ahotsine corn.nom tultsai bag.dat tlynke push.cv elhyi insert.pv 3aerg ‘She shoved the corn into the bag’ (lit. ‘inserted [by] pushing’) (11.50) Na hastein deer.dat kaliale legs.nom lihke cut.cv itifa prg.remove.ipv 3aerg ‘He is cutting the legs o↵ the deer’ (lit. ‘removing [by] cutting’) 11.5 Common expressions Below is a list of greetings and other common expressions. Nalla Ihu`alin? Ihualit ne? Ihuala, tianunta Ku miai t`aksan? Ku miai taksat ne? Me taksa ia X Mieu ehk`anan? Mieu ehkanat ne? Eliampi etskana Eliampi eta Eliampi sehta Eskuke Tianunta Tianunta hok Kas uonta la ‘Hello’ ‘How are you?’ (lit. ‘Are you well?) ‘How are you (pl)?’ ‘I’m well, thank you’ ‘What is your name?’ (lit. ‘How are you called?’) ‘What are your names?’ ‘(My) name is X’ ‘Where do you come from?’ ‘Where do you (pl) come from? ‘Welcome’ (lit. ‘Arrive with ease’) ‘Good-bye’ (lit. ‘Go with ease’) ‘Farewell, Bon voyage’ (lit. ‘Go on with ease’) ‘Please’ ‘Thank you’ ‘Thank you very much’ ‘You’re welcome’ 336 CHAPTER 11. DERIVATION AND THE LEXICON Mi mehu skale eskuke Uta uskala la Luom mianka hin? ‘Pardon me, Forgive me’ (lit. ‘May shame be removed from me’) ‘I forgive you, Don’t mention it’ (lit. ‘It has already be removed’) ‘What time is it?’ (lit. ‘It’s the how many-th hour?’) Nalla is a casual greeting, typically used with friends and relatives. A more formal greeting is Nalla eskuke, often used between strangers or recent acquaintances (eskuke normally means ‘please’, but is here used simply to indicate politeness or deference). Other expressions of greeting and leave-taking are formed by combining the adverb eliampi ‘with ease’ with an appropriate verb. These include Eliampi etskana and Eliampi eta, listed above. Eliampi can be combined with other verbs as well, according to the situation. For instance, after visiting someone, one may take one’s leave by saying Eliampi teha (literally ‘Stay behind with ease’). Tianunta ‘Thank you’ is a contraction of the expression Ikou tiane unta, meaning ‘May your kindness return (to you)’. Here the verb unta means ‘come around, come full circle, return to where one began’. Tianunta hok is a more emphatic form. The customary polite reply, Kas uonta la, literally means ‘Rest assured (it) has now returned’—in other words, the kindness mentioned by the thanker has returned to the person being thanked. The idea is that the very act of thanking is itself a kindness which amply repays the act for which the thanks was o↵ered. Chapter 12 Sample Texts 12.1 The North Wind and the Sun This is a translation of one of Aesop’s fables. Notice that the north wind and the sun, being personiﬁed characters in a story, are treated as animate. Heutu suku ka ahoma isokastankat ineu mi`o anasohta auna, mosiemul imupaitlanen es puniakak`a atskane. Ahoma tlai etsyi, “Utskopa ha ikimna sukumampeia otupinen mitunke. Ikimu ehtsanna lohkyipai olh puniakaka in`a mosiemule tif`e, temai te nan anasoht`a iontike. Elh ik`o kai nika nem.” Temai ah`o mohi ihfoi etyi le sukuma puniakakaua lhope kastyi. Le taualhme anasohte lhope, tlai puniakakama mosiemule ohpi tsan heulhte ampiotyi. Lamuta sukuma lhan lahyi eskyi ahoma nik`e. Elh ah`o temai mohi ihfou sehtyi na puniakakaua lai uantetyi hostats muoheme. Tehefoi puniakakaua tsuo akailtyi elh na mosiemule tifyi. Tlotunke te ah`o anasoht`a atafe. Word-by-word glosses: (12.1) Heutu suku wind ka and ahoma sun.erg isokastankat prg.argue.ipv:pst.pl north.abl ‘The north wind and the sun were arguing...’ (12.2) mi`o who:nom anasohta ineu 3apabl rel.strong.comp.dep ‘about which (one) of them was stronger...’ auna, if.all (12.3) mosiemul imupaitlanen prg.wear:res.dep.cnzr cloak ‘when a traveller wearing a cloak appeared.’ es one puniakak`a traveller.nom atskane. pv.arrive.pt (12.4) Ahoma sun.erg ‘The sun said (as follows)...’ etsyi, say.pv tlai thus (12.5) Utskopa ha in:fact ikimna 12loc sukumampeia dispute.all otupinen decide.dep:sbj.cnzr mitunke. some:way pf.realize.ipv ‘(I) have realized a way to resolve our dispute.’ (12.6) ehtsanna one.loc Ikimu 12abl ‘If one of us can cause that traveller to remove (his) cloak...’ lohkyipai cause.able.pt:sbj puniakaka traveller olh dist in`a 3aserg mosiemule cloak.nom tif`e, remove.dep:sbj.nom 337 338 (12.7) te foc temai then ‘then it would become known that that one is the strongest.’ anasoht`a rel.strong.comp.dep.nom nan 3asnom iontike. known.tinc.cond CHAPTER 12. SAMPLE TEXTS (12.8) Elh and:so ik`o 2serg kai ﬁrst nika try.ipv nem. why:not ‘Why don’t you try (it) ﬁrst?’ (12.9) Temai ah`o sun.nom mohi cloud ihfoi behind.dat then ‘The the sun went behind a cloud...’ etyi go.pv (12.10) le while sukuma wind.erg puniakakaua traveller.all lhope blow.cv kastyi. go:against.pv ‘while the wind blew (itself) against the traveller.’ (12.11) Le but taualhme despite:that.inst anasohte rel.strong.comp.cv lhope, blow.cv ‘Nevertheless, the more strongly (it) blew...’ (12.12) tlai to:that:extent puniakakama traveller.erg mosiemule cloak.nom ohpi more:so tsan self heulhte pull.cv ampiotyi. surround.pv ‘the more (tightly) the traveller pulled the cloak around himself.’ (12.13) Lamuta at:last sukuma wind.erg lhan resolve lahyi release.pv eskyi ask.pv ahoma sun.erg nik`e. try.dep:sbj.nom ‘At last the wind gave up (lit. let go of its resolve) (and) asked the sun to try.’ (12.14) Elh ah`o sun.nom temai then mohi cloud ihfou behind.abl sehtyi emerge.pv and:so ‘So then the sun emerged from behind the cloud...’ (12.15) na 3aerg puniakakaua traveller.all lai light uantetyi cast.tinc.pv hostats power muoheme. whole.inst ‘(and) it began to cast (its) light on the traveller with all (its) might.’ (12.16) Tehefoi puniakakaua traveller.all tsuo too akailtyi rel.hot.tinc.pv elh and:so na 3aerg mosiemule cloak.nom tifyi. remove.pv shortly:after ‘Presently it became to hot for the traveller, and so he removed the cloak.’ (12.17) Tlotunke in:that:way te foc ah`o sun.nom anasoht`a rel.strong.comp.dep.nom atafe. pv.show.pt ‘In that way it (was) shown that it was the sun that was stronger.’ Chapter 13 Okuna-to-English Dictionary This dictionary includes a large yet still preliminary alphabetical listing of Okuna words and phrases. Some notes on the arrangement and formatting of the glossary are given below: 1. Alphabetization follows English conventions. Words beginning with lh are alphabetized with words beginning with l, while words beginning with tl and ts are alphabetized with words beginning with t. 2. Words and phrases are classiﬁed into the following categories: adverbial [a], conjunction [c], interjection [i], noun [n], particle [p], and verb [v]. Verbs are further divided into Class I, Class II, and Class III, abbreviated [v1], [v2], and [v3], respectively. When a case-inﬂected form of a noun or noun phrase is listed separately, the case abbreviation (see below) is included with the category abbreviation—e.g., [n(loc)] for a locative case-marked noun or noun phrase. Idioms and ﬁxed expressions are marked [e], and are listed under the (main) verb they contain. 3. Nouns are listed in their unmarked form. This is identical to the stem, except when the unmarked form ends in a stressed vowel (e.g., nap`e ‘daughter’), in which case the stem ends in h (napeh-). Verbs are listed in their citation form, consisting of the stem followed by the ending -a, which marks both the non-past imperfect and the dependent indicative forms. 4. Productively derived words, along with idioms and ﬁxed expressions, are listed as subentries. Derived words are listed under the word from which they are derived. They are generally included only if they have an unpredictable meaning, or if their closest English equivalent(s) are not obvious. Idioms and ﬁxed expressions consisting of two or more nouns or two or more verbs are listed under the head (i.e., the ﬁnal noun/verb). Those consisting of a verb and a noun are listed under the verb. 5. Entries for verbs may end in a case frame, given in angled brackets. The case frame provides information about the cases which the verb assigns to its arguments, in situations where this information cannot be clearly inferred from the verb’s meaning and class membership. Case frames make use of the following abbreviations: nominative (nom), dative (dat), ergative (erg), locative (loc), allative (all), ablative (abl), instrumental (inst). These abbreviations ﬁll ‘slots’ within the case frame which designate the corresponding arguments. For example, the case frame for kahta ‘hit’ is given as:

This is meant to show that if a sentence like ‘The girl hit the tree (with a stick)’ or ‘The girl hit the
stick against the tree’ were translated into Okuna, ‘the girl’ would be rendered with a noun phrase in
the ergative case, ‘the tree’ with a noun phrase in the dative case, and ‘the stick’ (if present) with a
noun phrase in either the nominative case or the instrumental case. Note that, when a verb has more
than one possible English equivalent, typically only one of the equivalents will be used in the case
frame, unless di↵erent equivalents require di↵erent case frames.

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CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

afa [v3] come on, come along, go on, go along,
accompany; take along, bring along; (ﬁg.) par-
ticipate, take part; follow, obey, comply with,
conform to. afemit [n] escort, entourage.
tuhanme afa [v3] follow a rule, obey a law.
aﬁma [v1] be parallel, be side by side; be arranged
in parallel lines.

ahim [n] breath; air.
ahinka [v2] let air escape; breathe out, exhale;
blow out. ahinkota
[v2] pant, breathe heavily, be out of breath.
ahkame [n] full sibling (child of both one’s par-
ents). ahkamehats [n] the sibling relationship.
ahkamie [n] twins, pair of twins. ahkamieu
ehtsan [n] twin, one of a pair of twins.

ahkena [v1] be principal, main, primary, major, of
greatest importance, (most) essential, supreme;
be central, innermost. ahkene [n] head, chief;
the main (one(s)), the principal (one(s)), the
primary (one(s)); (inner) essence, core, centre.
ahkenemit [n] council of elders.

ahkunan [n] companion, fellow. ahkunanmit [n]

fellowship, cohort, group of companions.
ahkunankats [n] companionship, fellowship.
ahkupa [v1] be connected to, related to, relevant
to; have something to do with. ohpeu akhupa
[v] be causally connected to, have a cause and
e↵ect relationship with.

ahkusta [v3] agree; decide (together), settle on.
ahkuste [n]
agreement, arrangement, settlement, shared de-
cision.

ahmoita [v3] share, share in, receive a share of
(food or other resources); share out, divide up,
split up, apportion, distribute, give (s.o.) a share
of.
ahmoite [n] share, portion, cut.

ahmokame [n] maternal cousin; relative on one’s

mother’s side.

aho [n] sun.
ahokipihe [n] the planet Mercury.
ahopiau [n] zenith, the highest point of the sun
in the sky; noon, midday, the time of day when
the sun is at its highest point; (ﬁg.) south, south-
ern (esp. when used to modify a noun denoting
a location).

highest point in the sky).

ahotsin [n] corn, maize.
ahotsinkot [n] ear of corn.
ahpa [v1] include, incorporate; be ﬁtted with, be
furnished, outﬁtted with. ahpanen [n] whole (containing or
incorporating smaller parts). ahpe [n] part, por-
tion, component; addition, supplementary ele-
ment. ahpemit [n] gear, equipment, provisions,
accoutrements. ahpeta [v2] come to include, in-
corporate; add to, incorporate into; provide, fur-
nish, equip with.
ahta [v2] join, meet up with, rendezvous with;
bring together.

ahte [n] father.
ahtehats [n] fatherhood. ahtehatsme [n(inst)]

as/like a father, in a fatherly way.

ahtena [v2] be included; count, matter, be impor-
tant; include, count, consider, pay attention to,
assign importance to.

ahti [n] shape; style, mode; technique.
ahtima [v1] lie on the ground, collect/accumulate
on the ground, cover the ground (used esp. of par-
ticulate substances like snow, sand, or leaves).
ahtimen [n] patch, covering (of snow, sand, leaves,
gravel, etc.), place where falling material has col-
lected; collection, accumulation.

ahtlama [n] domesticated animal; pet, animal

companion.

ahtseipa [v1] share a common source or origin;
share ancestry, be related (by blood/birth), be
kin, be cognate; be akin.
ahtseipats [n] relatedness; familial relationship,
kinship, consanguinity. ahtseipanen [n] com-
mon origin, common source, (shared) ancestry.
ahtseipe [n] kin, kindred, relative, blood rela-
tion, family member; cognate, person or thing
with which one shares a common origin.

ahuna [v1] be uncovered, bare, (in the) open, ex-
posed; be naked, nude, unclothed. ahunta [v2]
uncover, expose, bare, reveal; disrobe, remove
one’s clothing.

aihan [n] gold (metal).
aihne [n] gold(en) thing, amber thing.

aihne

nalei [n] the colour gold, the colour amber.

aila [v2] cry, bawl, wail.
aile [n] silver(y) thing, object with a shiny or re-

ahopiaut [n] south (lit. direction of the sun at its

ﬂective surface.

ailot [n] silver (metal); mirror.
aipa [v2] ﬂoat, hover, drift (in the air, or on the sur-
face of water); be aﬂoat, be aloft; move through
the air/water, be blown. aipyipa [v2] ﬂoat, be
buoyant. an aipa [v2] (p.t. atmosphere) be still,
calm (i.e., not windy). tsasan aipa [v2] be hu-
mid, sticky, moist.

aitsip [n] wasp.
ak`a [n] spleen.
akaile [n] temperature.
akapa [v2] be steady, move at a steady pace; do

(s.th.) at a steady pace.

aki [n] ﬂea.
akiel [n] appearance, looks.
akime [n] to us (1st plural exclusive irrealis dative

pronoun).

akioit [n] speed, velocity, pace.
akma [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate ir-
realis dative + ﬁrst person inclusive ergative).
akme [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate ir-
realis dative + ﬁrst person inclusive nominative).
ako [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate irre-

alis dative + second person ergative).

akoi [n] to you (2nd singular irrealis dative pro-

noun).

akoloim [n] diculty, level/degree of diculty; ef-

fort, toil.

akot [n] box, small chest; compartment.
aktapa [v3] help (bring about), aid in, facilitate,
enable. aktapats [n] help, aid, assis-
tance.

341

alhta [v3] invert, turn over, ﬂip. ailhta [v1] be in-
verted, ﬂipped, upside-down. ampe alhta [v3]
change one’s mind, change one’s opinion or po-
sition; have a change of heart. kasu alhta [v3]
turn a page (of a book). kutsmoi alhta [v3]
turn over on one’s back. ope alhta [v3] change
one’s mind, change what one believes.

aliaken [n] length, distance, span.
alimalh [n] beginning (point), start, outset,

in-
ception, commencement, opening. alimalhna
[n(loc)] in/at the beginning, at the outset. ali-
malhu [n(abl)] from the start, from the get go.
alimalhu su [n(abl)] right from the start, all
along.

alina [v1] be uncertain, doubtful, dubious; be re-
luctant, hold back, hesitate to act. alinats [n] doubt, uncertainty; re-
luctance, hesitation.

alioin [n] age.
alioinkats [n] age (esp. of a person), stage or pe-

riod in one’s life/development.
aliointuk [n] age group, generation.
alla [v1] be fresh (i.e., not spoiled, used of food).
alna [v1] be alluring, sexually attractive.
alom [n] hill (esp. with steep sides), butte; cone of

a volcano. kihalom [n] hillock, knoll.

alona [v1] be aroused, lusty, horny, in the mood for
sex; arouse, inspire lust. alone [n] lust, arousal; object of
lust.

aku [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate irre-

alontsa [v2] make camp, set up camp. alontse [n]

alis dative + second person nominative).
akuiset [n] length of time, duration, span.
akut [n] to you (2nd plural irrealis dative pronoun).
alaine [n] (p.t. light) degree of brightness, inten-

sity; (p.t. sound) pitch, frequency.

alats [n] birch tree.
ale [n] thread, yarn.
aleut [n] help, aid, assistance.
aleutekan [n] beneﬁt, advantage; use, usefulness.
alha [v1] be allowed, permitted.
alhena [v1] feel like, be in the mood for, be inclined
to(wards).
alhene [n] mood, feeling, inclination; desire.
alhme [n(inst)] though, although, despite (the fact
that); even if (marks concessive clauses). ntsune
alhme [n(inst)] nevertheless, even if not; al-
though that’s not the case.

alhoit [n] weight.

camp, camping.

alontsen [n] camp, campsite.
alu [n] fat, grease; oil.
aluhtse [n] smell, aroma, odour.
alusak [n] lamp oil, oil used as fuel.
ama [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate irre-

alis dative + ﬁrst person singular ergative).

ama [n] mama, mommy.
amahtle [n] taste, ﬂavour.
amai [n] to me (1st singular irrealis dative pro-

noun).

amal`o [n] happiness, joy, delight.
ame [n] mother.
ame [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate irre-
alis dative + ﬁrst person singular nominative).

amehats [n] motherhood; childbearing.
amoitl [n] meaning, signiﬁcance, signiﬁcation, con-
tent (of a sign or message); interpretation, read-

342

CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

ing; understanding.

ampa [v1] think, believe, consider, have the opinion
that. ampe [n] opinion, be-
lief, viewpoint, position, feeling(s). ampeta [v2]
come to believe, come to the opinion that, decide;
convince. eihte ampa
[v1] be right, have the right position/opinion.
kele ampa [v1] agree, concur. ufatl ampa [v1] be
wrong, have the wrong position/opinion.

ampilan [n] perimeter, periphery; outline; bor-

case. husu anin [p] even so.

aniohta [v1] be better, preferable; be best; it would

be better/best (if).

ankim [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate irre-
alis dative + ﬁrst person inclusive nominative).
ankima [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate ir-
realis dative + ﬁrst person inclusive ergative).
anma [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate irre-

alis dative + ﬁrst person singular ergative).

anme [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate irre-
alis dative + ﬁrst person singular nominative).
ano [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate irrealis

der(line), boundary (around something).

dative + second person ergative).

ampilomuats [n] ripples.
ampimutu [n] pen, corral, enclosure, stockade, sur-

rounding wall or fence.

ampio [n] area around, surrounding area. am-
piomit [n] surroundings, environs, environment;
community, society. tohampiona [n(loc)] ev-
erywhere, all around.

ampioian [n] rim, circumference.
ampiota [v3]

surround,

encircle, go around;
put/place around. ampioita [v1] surround. iante ampi-
ota [v3] jump out and surround, ambush.

ampisemu [n] foreskin.
amuohfe [n] (degree of) thickness, density, consis-
tency; (p.t. colour) brightness, intensity, degree
of saturation.

an [n] still air, lack of wind.
an`a [i] behold, lo and behold.
anai [n] to him, to her; to this (one), to that (one)
(3rd singular animate irrealis dative pronoun and
demonstrative).

anat [n] to them; to these (ones), to those (ones)
(3rd plural animate irrealis dative pronoun and
demonstrative).
ania [v1] (see: iena).
aniema [v2] get better,

improve; make better,

ameliorate.

anihte [n] as many, equally many. ianihtena [a] as
often, as frequently, equally often. kanihteme,
kanihtei [a] as many times (in a row); as much,
to as great an extent, to the same extent. ntse
anihte [n] not as many, fewer. ntse ianihtena
[a] not as often; seldom. ntse kanihteme, ntse
kanihtei [a] not as many times, fewer times (in
a row); less, not as much, to a lesser extent.
anin [p] still, even so; nevertheless, anyway, in any

anohte [n] more, a greater number (of);

the
most, the greatest number (of). ianohtena [a]
more, more often. kanohteme, kanohtei [a]
more times (in a row); more, to a greater de-
gree/extent, by a larger factor. kihanohte [n]
a few more.
tohanohte [n] a lot more, many
more. ntse anohte [n] not more; no more, not
any more.

ante [n] many, a lot (quantiﬁes count nouns).
iantena [a] often, many times, on many occa-
sions; in many cases. kanteme, kantei [a] many
times (in a row); by a large amount/proportion.
antsa [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate irre-
alis dative + ﬁrst person exclusive ergative).

antsaka [n] many kinds (of), various.
antse [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate irre-
alis dative + ﬁrst person exclusive nominative).
anu [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate irrealis

dative + second person nominative).

apait [n] height.
apiat [n] prong-horned antelope.
apun [n] wheel.
apunkol [n] axle.
apunmet [n] hub (of a wheel).
asa [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate irre-
alis dative + ﬁrst person exclusive ergative).
asat [n] to us (1st plural exclusive irrealis dative

pronoun).

ase [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate irre-
alis dative + ﬁrst person exclusive nominative).
atai [n] to it; to this (one), to that (one); there,
to there, thither (3rd singular inanimate irrealis
dative pronoun and demonstrative).

atak [n] leg, limb, appendage (esp. of an animal).
atat [n] to them; to these (ones), to those (ones)
(3rd plural inanimate irrealis dative pronoun and
demonstrative).

atia [v2] approach, move towards, get close(r) to;

bring/move close(r) to. utia [v1] be close
(to), near, nearby, in the area (of), in the vicinity.
heulhte atia [v2] pull
towards, draw towards, attract. klalpe atia [v2]
stalk, sneak up on, approach stealthily.
lhahe
atia [v2] reach (out) for, reach towards. nalhpe
atia [v2] beckon towards, motion towards. pake atia [v2] (take a) step towards, step
closer to. pihe atia, sahe atia [v2] gain on,
catch up with.

atlo [n] warning, alarm. atlo ha [e] look out, watch

out, be careful!

atlomin [n] (state of) emergency.
atlpa [v2] play, make music. atlpaka [n] player, musician.
atlpakamit [n] band, ensemble, group of musi-
cians. atlpanen [n] musical instrument. atlpe,
atlpats [n] music, piece of music; playing, mu-
sical performance. kiyn atlpanen [n] stringed
instrument.

atoihe [n] size, bigness.
aton [n] can, canister, tin, metal container.
atsafe [a] very, truly, really, extremely, terribly,
horribly (intensiﬁer for verbs with a negative con-
notation).

atsoin [n] loudness, volume (of sound), noise level.
tsan atua [v2] rest
atua [v2] rest, have a rest.

oneself, get (oneself) some rest.

atulme [n] breadth, girth; mass, weight.
aule [n] sound. kihaule [n] soft sound, small noise.

tohaule [n] loud noise.

aulina [v3] determine, ascertain, establish, make
sure, conﬁrm, verify; conclude, reach a conclu-
sion, decide, resolve, settle (a question). auline [n] determination,
conclusion, decision, resolution.

aun [n]

if, whether (marks indirect questions).
if, when, provided that, on
aunme [n(inst)]
condition that, supposing, assuming (marks con-
ditional clauses); as for, regarding, given X, as
far as X is concerned (marks contrastive top-
ics). aun anteme [n(inst)] often when, in many
cases when/where. aun elhkoua [n(all)] just in
case. aun iketme [n(inst)] always when, when-
ever. aun sepyime [n] sometimes when, in some
cases when/where. aun tsomoteme [n] usu-
ally when, in most cases when/where. ntsune

343

aunme [n(inst)] if not, otherwise. X aunme
ne [e] what about X?

auohi [n] darling, dear one, beloved (term of en-

dearment).

auote [n] feeling, sensation; emotion; stimulus,
thing which is felt or perceived; feature, trait,
characteristic, property.

auotekan [n] sensory value, (visual/auditory) in-

terest, appeal.

efa [v1] have, own, possess; belong to. efanen [n] owner;
ownership. efe [n] property, possession; goods.
eﬁn [n] order, system, harmonious arrangement,

organization; regular or repeated pattern.

eﬁnma [v1] be orderly, systematic, organized, ar-
ranged, in order; be harmonious; be regular, pat-
terned.

efoi [a] then, later, hereafter, after now, from now,
in the future; in (a certain amount of time; pre-
ceded by a noun phrase in the instrumental case).
esihpi efoi [a] in a while.

efos [n] problem, diculty.
ehampi [a] for a long time.
ehisne [a] late.
ehkalain [n] dawn, daybreak, ﬁrst light of day.
ehkamne [a] early.
ehkana [v1] come from, be from, hail from, origi-
nate at, be native to; emerge from, spring from,
issue from. ehkanampa
[v2] be original, act in a distinctive manner.
okau ehkana [v1] be a member of a tribe or
cultural group.

ehkanen [n] origin(s), source, provenance; home,
birthplace; homeland, native region, territory
claimed by a tribe or cultural group.

ehkasati [n] breakfast.
ehkasuk [n] baby tooth.
ehkisut [n] ﬁrstborn child.
ehkype [n] cargo, goods, merchandise.
ehsa [v3] tear, rip, rend.
ehtape [n] weft (on a loom).
ehte [n] three. ehteka [n] third (ordinal). ehtetla
[n] (one) third (fraction).
kaiehte [n] triple,
three-part (thing); three times; threesome, trio,
group of three. kaiehtei, kaiehteme [a] three
times (in a row); threefold, by a factor of three.
iehtena [a] thrice, three times, in three cases,
on three occasions. iehtekana [a] for the third

344

time.

CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

lionna [n(loc)] on the left.

ehtepatam [n] thirteen. ehtepatanka [n] thir-

teenth.

ehtsan [n] one, only one, a single.
eiahtena [a] at other times, in other cases, on other

occasions.

eihtaut [n] the right way.
eihte [n] the right one(s), the correct one(s).
eima [a] still, yet; again; more; (in comparative
constructions) even. eima ante [n] many more;
still a lot. eima ntse [p] still not, not yet. eima
takan [a] still, even now.

eka [n] here (place near both speaker and ad-

dressee); there (place near addressee).

eka [v1] be empty; be lacking (in some property
or substance). ekta [v3] empty, make/become
empty. elhko eka [v1] be pointless, have no pur-
pose.
lhan eka [v1] be defeated, demoralized,
have low morale; lack the will to act. mohi eka
[v1] be unclouded, clear (p.t. ﬂuids, glass, crys-
tipe eka
tal, etc.); be colourless, transparent.
[v1] be simple, plain, unadorned; be lacking in
detail.

ekane [p] just, speciﬁcally, in particular; exactly,

precisely; in this case.

ekanta [v3] choose, select, appoint, elect; autho-
rize, empower. ekantal
[n] oce, function, appointment, post, position
of responsibility. ekantats [n] election, appoint-
ment. ekainte [n] elected ocial. ekaintanen
[n] tenure, appointment, term (of oce).

ekas [n] single (thing), whole; once, one time.
ekasme [n(inst)] (only) once (referring to the
number of repetitions of an event). ekas iapme
[a] again, once more, one more time.

eket [n] each, every, each of them, they each; each
of the (inanimate). eun eket [n] everywhere.
hen eket [n] both, both of them, both of the;
the two of them each (inanimate).

eketl [n] shell, carapace, exoskeleton (of an arthro-
pod); ﬁngernail, toenail. euti eketl [n] eggshell.
ekina [a] every time, each time, whenever, in every
case. l`o ekina [a] every day. ulhmo ekina [a]
every year.

ekitomu [n] fool, idiot.
ekitymok [n] frantic, chaotic, and misdirected or
meaningless activity; pointless commotion; much
ado about nothing (lit. ‘empty thunder’).

eklion [n] left, left hand side. ekliona [n(all)] left,
to the left. eklionme X etlenme Y [n(inst)]
on the one hand X, on the other hand Y. ek-

ekme [n]

(clitic cluster:

third person inani-
mate ergative + ﬁrst person inclusive nomina-
tive/irrealis dative).

ekmo [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate
ergative + ﬁrst person inclusive realis dative).
ekona [v1] be hungry; hunger. ekonampa [v2] cause/inspire
hunger; be appetizing, palatable; be tempting,
enticing, delectable. ekonats [n] hunger. ekone
[n] hunger, cause or source of hunger; type of food
for which one is hungry.

ekop [n] pinecone.
ekpa [v2] carry, bear; hold, keep; bring, take,
convey (by carrying); wear (an article of cloth-
ing); (ﬁg.) show, display, exhibit, manifest, act
in accordance with (a trait or characteristic);
be about, concern, deal with. ekpanen [n] topic,
subject matter. atsafe ekpa [v2] be terrible,
awful, horrible; be very unfortunate, highly re-
gretable. efos ekpa [v2] have a problem; have
problems, be in trouble. fasoun ekpa [v2] be
proud, act with pride. huetlats ekpa [v2] show
fear. ihfoite ekpa [v2] keep a secret. kan ekpa
[v2] be worthy; be valuable, have worth/value.
kilhte ekpa [v2] hold in/with one’s teeth. lhan
ekpa [v2] be resolved, determined; have will, act
with determination; be certain, deﬁnite. lulhan
ekpa [v2] be malicious, act with malice, have
ill will; act in bad faith. masi`o ekpa [v2] be sorrow-
ful. mehu ekpa [v2] be ashamed, feel shame;
be shameful. minahkan ekpa [v2] be beloved,
cherished, dear, highly valued.
minta ekpa [v2] have meaning, be meaningful;
mean, express, denote, signify. minukan ekpa
[v2] be interesting, stimulating. nesap ekpa [v2]
have a question (to ask). nole ekpa [v2] be
admired, respected, esteemed; be admirable, re-
spectable. ntah`o ekpa [v2] despair; be miser-
able, demoralized, daunted. okoni ekpa [v2] be
in a certain condition.
ta okoni m`a `ekpan?
[e] what condition is it in?, what’s it like?, how
is it? simu ekpa [v2] show concern. sioku-
minta ekpa [v2] be ambiguous, have a double
meaning. soun ekpa [v2] be brave, bold, coura-
geous, strong-willed, undaunted; act with convic-
tion. taimo ekpa [v2] be jubilant, triumphant;
celebrate. tlehai ekpa [v2] respect, have respect,
show respect. tsimu ekpa [v2] be compassionate, have
empathy. yhmamehu ekpa [v2] be humiliated.
ekpiha [v2] search, look around. ekpihe [n] search.
ekpiha [v2] look, search (by looking around).
eksia [v2] shave; scrape the surface of (to remove
ekseia [v1] be shaved, (clean-)shaven,

hair).
smooth.

eku [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate erga-

tive + second person nominative).

ekue [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate erga-

tive + second person irrealis dative).

ekulha [v3] treat, infuse, ﬂavour, season; enhance;
add (as an enhancement). ekulhe [n] infusion,
ﬂavour(ing), seasoning.

ekuo [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate erga-

tive + second person realis dative).

ekusa [v2] be a cowardly act; be cowardly, craven,
timid, fainthearted; act with cowardice, act out
of cowardice, succumb to fear, lack the courage
of one’s convictions.
ekusaka [n] coward, craven. ekuse [n] act of
cowardice. ekusats [n] cowardice, acting in a
cowardly manner, not living up to one’s convic-
tions.

ekusin [n] cowardice, timidity, crippling fear.
ela [a] in each case; in any case, anyway, anyhow;
regardless. ela ehtsanme [n(inst)] one at a
time, one by one. ela henme [n(inst)] two at a
time, two by two, in pairs. ela m`a [n] anything
(at all), it doesn’t matter what. ela X su Y [c]
either X or Y.

elan [n] line, edge, contour.
elh [c] and, and then; so, and so, and thus (denotes

a sequential or causal relation).

elha [v3] put into, place inside, insert; soak, sat-
urate, treat with (a liquid). elhe [n]
contents, ﬁlling; substance used to treat some-
thing. eilhanen [n] container, vessel; compart-
ment; treated material. hauk elha [v3] smoke
(e.g., meat or ﬁsh). myiouk elha [v3] pad,
cushion, line the inside of. nalei elha [v3] dye.
tiause elha [v3] pour into.

elhkani [n] snout.
elhko [n] purpose, goal;

reason;

elhkoua [n(all)] for, for the purpose of;

sake, beneﬁt.
for

345

the sake/beneﬁt of; in order to, so that. aun
elhkoua [n(all)] just in case. tiaun elhkoua
[n(all)] in that case, just in case (of that).

elhu [n] eleven. elhuka [n] eleventh (ordinal). el-
hutla [n] (one) eleventh (fraction). kaielhu [n]
eleven-part (thing); eleven times; group of eleven.
kaielhoi, kaielhume [a] eleven times (in a row);
elevenfold, by a factor of eleven.
ielhuna [a]
eleven times, in eleven cases, on eleven occasions.
ielhukana [a] for the eleventh time.

elia [v1] be soft and smooth, toned, lithe; be easy,
graceful; be calm, relaxed, at ease, peaceful, com-
fortable; be well, healthy; trust, believe in. eielioma [v3] make/become more
relaxed, calm down; recover, recuperate, get bet-
ter. eliampa [v2] be calming, relaxing, put at
ease; be graceful, nimble, agile; move gracefully;
be hospitable. eliampe [n] comfort; grace, ease,
agility. elita [v3] relax, become relaxed, calm
(down).

eliampi [a] easily, with ease; smoothly, gracefully;

well.

elifa [v1] be beautiful, attractive, aesthetically
pleasing (not used of people); (p.t. landscapes)
be scenic.

elila [v2] hug, embrace, hold tightly in one’s arms.
elilhanke [n] calligraphy.
eliol [n] ease, comfort; trust; health, well-being.
elipaimanen [n] medicine;
which promotes health.

food or preparation

elohfoi [a] tomorrow. fene elohfoi [a] tomorrow
at the earliest, no sooner than tomorrow. hulne
elohfoi [a] tomorrow at the latest, no later than
tomorrow, by tomorrow. hun elohfoi [a] tomor-
row night. koset elohfoi [a] tomorrow evening.
kotsim elohfoi [a] tomorrow morning, in the
morning.

elohka [a] yesterday. hun elohka [a] last night.
kotsim

koset elohka [a] yesterday evening.
elohka [a] yesterday morning.

emalh [n] when, which time, which occasion;
some time, some point (in time), some occasion.
emailh sik`a [n(dat)] until when, (for) how long,
how much longer. emalhme [n(inst)] during
what time, for how long; how, under what cir-
cumstances. emalhna [n(loc)] when, at which
time, on which occasion; sometime, at a cer-
tain point, on a certain occasion; at any point.
emalhu su [n(abl)] since when, (for) how long.
eme [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate erga-

346

CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

tive + ﬁrst person singular nominative).
emi [a] when; sometime, at some point; ever.
emi [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate erga-

tive + ﬁrst person singular irrealis dative).

emiampi [a] (for) how long; for a certain length of

time.

tive + ﬁrst person exclusive irrealis dative).
esiampa [v3] address (by name), call by name.
esiampe, esiampa-
nen [n] use of one’s name; form of address; greet-
tsutakis esiampa [v3] insult,
ing, salutation.
call (s.o.) a bad name.

emifoi [a] when; sometime, at some point; ever

esian [n] name (esp. one’s adult name). kihesian

(used of future events).

emihka [a] when; sometime, at some point; ever

(used of past events).

emo [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate erga-

tive + ﬁrst person singular realis dative).

emot [n] all, all of them, they all; all of the (inani-
mate). eun emot [n] everywhere, all over. hen
emot [n] both, both of them, they both; both of
the (inanimate).

empehisna [a] the next time.
empehkaina [a] (for) the ﬁrst time.
empekamna [a]
most recently.

last, the last time, previously,

empekunna [a] (for) the last time, the ﬁnal time.
empiolhna [a] nowadays, these days, currently;

lately, recently.

emuna [a] always, in all cases, on all occasions.
emuohpi [a] (for) the whole time. hun emuohpi
l`o
[a] all night (long), (for) the whole night.
emuohpi [a] all day (long), (for) the whole day.
ulhmo emuohpi [a] all year, (for) the whole
year.

enek [n] lizard.
enkit [n] breeze, light wind.
epa [v3] head for, make for, move towards; lead to-
wards; take (s.o.) in the direction of; try (for),
attempt, strive for, aspire towards, have a go at;
seek, search for, look for, aim for. epaka [n] guide; scout, searcher, seeker.
epanen [n] heading; goal, aim, objective; aspi-
ration(s). epats [n] attempt; e↵ort, endeavour,
pursuit; search, quest.

epam [n] top, horizontal surface (solid, as of a ta-

ble). epamna [n(loc)] on (top of).

es [n] one, a/an.
esalh [n] one time/occasion.

esalhna [n(loc)]
once, at one time, on one occasion. esalh iapna
[n(loc)] another time, some other time, on an-
other occasion. esalhna ihka [a] once before, at
one time, at one point (in the past).

ese [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate erga-

tive + ﬁrst person exclusive nominative).

esi [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate erga-

[n] (adult) nickname, epithet.

esiankats [n] adulthood, maturity. esiankatsme
[n(inst)] as an adult. esiankatsna [n(loc)] in
adulthood, when/once one is an adult.
esianta [v3] name, mention, refer to,

identify
(by name), use/say the name of. esiante, esiantats [n] reference, men-
tion, citation.

esie [n] light rain, mist.
esiehuilau [n] rainbow.
esihpi [a] for a while.
esimoita [v3] be named, acquire one’s adult name.

esimoitats [n] naming ceremony.

esip [n] ﬂower, blossom.
esitia [v2] grow up, mature, develop; raise, rear,
bring up, parent (a child). esitiaka [n] parent, caregiver,
guardian, one raising a child. esitie [n] growing
child, developing child, child whom one is raising;
ward. esitianen [n] growing up, maturation, de-
velopment; (time, place, etc., of one’s) childhood.
esitiats [n] growth, growing up; parenting, child
rearing.

esitiemin [n] puberty, (period of) maturation.
eska [v3] ask for, request. eske [n] request.

eskuke [p/v] please (marks polite commands).
eso [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate erga-

tive + ﬁrst person exclusive realis dative).

esta [v3] reach, get to, get as far as, make it to,
manage to get to; manage, succeed. estal [n] achieve-
ment, attainment. estats [n] success. etle esta
[v3] ﬁnd, locate (by scent). inie esta [v3] (man-
age to) ﬁnd, spot, locate (by sight). sahe esta
[v3] catch up to/with, intercept. sot esta [v3]
get through to, make understand, manage to
communicate with.

estin [n] range, reach, distance.
eta [v3] go, come; bring, take. eliampi eta [e] good-
bye, farewell (said to someone leaving; lit. ‘[may
you] go easily’).
iante eta [v3] jump (on)to.
inie eta [v3] look, gaze, cast one’s eyes (upon).

kuhinie eta [v3] scowl, glare, give a dirty look.
lhahe eta [v3] reach out
to, stretch out to, extend to. ntah`o eta [v3]
lose one’s nerve, cause/begin to despair; demor-
alize, make/become miserable. pake eta [v3]
step up to. saninie eta [v3] be enraged, furious.
solhe eta [v3] throw
to, cast to, toss to. tupe eta [v3] walk to.
etaupa [v1] be predicted; should, supposed to.
etlampi [a] for so long; for that long, that’s how

long.

etle [n] nose.
etleloi [n] nostril.
etlen [n] right, the right hand side. etlena [n(all)]
right, to the right. etlenna [n(loc)] on the right.
etohampi [a] for a very long time, for a great while.
etotsomopi [a] almost always, nearly all the time.
etsa [v3] say, tell. etsampa [v2] speak, talk
to/with; converse with. etsampe, etsampats [n] talk, speech;
conversation, discussion.
etse [n] utterance,
(spoken) word/phrase. etsihpa [v3] mean, in-
tend (to say). eihte
etsa [v3] tell the truth, be honest. eliol etsa [v3]
say good-bye, bid farewell, wish (s.o.) well (upon
leaving). fenu etsa [v3] tell a riddle. haio etsa
[v3] whisper, speak/say in a whisper. hate etsa
[v3] shout, exclaim. kanu etsa [v3] lie, tell a lie,
say something false; deceive. kanu etsaka [n]
liar. keﬁs etsa [v3] threaten. kufusot etsampa
[v2] gossip, spread gossip. muohsot etsa [v3]
apologize. tle-
haime itse [e] with all due respect. tlote etsa
[v3] be serious, sincere, in earnest (i.e., not jok-
ing or dissembling); say something serious. uske
etsa [v3] deceive, mislead, lie.

etsi [n] here, over here (place near the speaker).
etskana [v3] arrive, show up, appear, come; bring.

etskuna [v1] be here, be present. eliampi et-
skana [e] welcome (lit. ‘[may you] arrive eas-
ily’). tuohisne etskana [v3] be late, arrive late.
tuohkamne etskana [v3] be early, arrive early.
etskasta [v3] summon, cause to appear; call, bring
(forth), produce.
etskopa [v3] realize, come to know, come to un-
derstand; notice; cause to notice/realize, point
out, bring (s.th.) to the attention of.

etsoma [v2] be talkative.
etsomopi [a] for most of the time, mostly.
etsuompi [a] for too long.
eua [v1] be clean. aieuema [v2] clean, get/make
cleaner, do some cleaning. euta [v2] clean (up),
cleanse, get clean.
lhime euta [v2] wipe clean
(with a rag). pese euta [v2] sweep (up), sweep
clean.

euhte [n] the only ones (plural).
eun [n] place, location.
euolh [n] there, over there, yonder (away from both

the speaker and the addressee).

euolha [v1] be over there, be yonder (away from
speaker and addressee); be there (at a previously-
mentioned location); there is, that is, voil`a. eu-
olhota [v2] stay there, remain there; keep (s.th.)
there. euolhta [v3] go (over) there, take (over)
there (away from speaker and addressee), go
there, take there (to a previously mentioned
place).

eupa [v1] be alone, be the only one. eupampa [v2]
keep to oneself, stay apart, stay away (from oth-
ers). eupe [n] lone, lonesome (one); the only
(one), the sole (one).
tiefu eupa [v1] be all
alone.

euti [n] egg (of a bird or reptile). eutimit [n] clutch

of eggs.

eutimok [n] egg yolk.

f`a [n] feather.
faha [v3] fold, fold over.
hentlai faha, hentla hein faha [v3] fold in
half.

fahfa [v1] be terrible, horrible, awful.
fahka [v2] moult, shed feathers; cause to moult.
fahkats
[n] moulting time, period of ﬂightlessness during
moulting. fahke [n] moulting; moulted feathers.

fahoi [n] fold, furrow, pleat, ridge.
fahoie [n] vulva; labia.
fala [n] party, festival, celebration.
falha [v1] be hoped for, wished for; hope, wish.
falhe [n] hope, wish.
falua [v2] start over, start again, begin over again.
fana [v2] be a↵ectionate towards, treat with a↵ec-

tion.

fanol [n] a↵ection.
fasa [v2] decrease, subside, taper (o↵), gradually
stop; dwindle, ebb, diminish, die away; (p.t. ﬁre)

348

CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

die down, slowly burn out.

fasoun [n] pride.
fata [v1] be bad, harmful, damaging, destructive,

malignant.

fehia [v1] be uncomfortably hot.

feksa [v1] tingle (unpleasantly), prickle, itch; be ir-
ritated. feksampa [v2] be itchy,
prickly, irritating; cause itchiness or irritation.
fene [p] at the lower limit; at least, no less than,
no fewer than; no sooner than, no earlier than, at
the earliest, not before. fene hekuna [n(loc)]
no sooner than, no earlier than, at the earliest.

fenta [v2] scold, criticize, show disapproval.
fentoma [v2] be critical, disapproving.
fenu [n] riddle.
feti [n] scarf.
ﬁaku [n] trash, rubbish, refuse; worthless or useless
thing(s); trivia, drivel, nonsense, gobbledygook.
ﬁana [v1] be warm (to the touch); be comforting,

reassuring.

ﬁha [v1] be young; be new. ﬁhats [n] youth.
ﬁhkoipa [v1] be new, novel, unfamiliar, strange,
di↵erent.

ﬁhu [n] young (one).
ﬁnta [v1] be tense, agitated, strained, stressed, ex-
cited, under stress/pressure; be tight, taut, con-
strained.

ﬁtia [v2] peck (at) (p.t. birds); nag, badger, bother,

irritate, annoy.

ﬁtok [n] hawk; falcon.
fola [v1] be inevitable, highly likely, bound to be.
fomuha [v1] be unending, persist, go on indeﬁ-

nitely.

fona [v2] praise, laud, compliment. fone, fonats

[n] praise, compliment(s).
fueile [n] bulge, bump, lump.
fuia [v3] come out, emerge (from a body of wa-
ter); take (s.th.) out (of a body of water); (ﬁg.)
come to, regain consciousness, come out (of a
trance), be revived (e.g., after fainting).
fueia [v1] stick out, be above the level of the
water.
lhahe fuia [v3] stick out (of a body of
water); stretch/reach out, extend out (of a body
of water). souetinu fuia [v3] come out of a
trance. uaste fuia [v3] take o↵ (from the sur-

face of a body of water; p.t. water birds).

fula [v3] declare, proclaim; claim, assert. fule, fulats [n] declaration,
proclamation; claim, assertion.

fulloi [n] pupil (of the eye).
funtia [v1] be very dark, be pitch black.
futla [v1] be unpleasant, disagreeable, dislikable,
foul-tempered, unappealing (used esp. of peo-
impolite,
ple).
rude, disagreeable; behave badly, have bad man-
ners.

futlampa [v2] be unfriendly,

ha [p] in fact, actually, as it happens (emphatic par-
ticle expressing new or surprising information).
hafa [v1] be new, newly made/created; be fresh

(p.t. bread or other prepared food).

hain [n] frame, framework (e.g., the beams that
form the framework of a house); arbor; sca↵old,
rack; structure, construction, arrangement, sys-
tem.

haio [n] whispering without words, murmuring,

rustling; the sound of the wind.

haka [v2] scrape, rasp.
hakatla [v2] laugh. hakatle, hakatlats [n] laugh,

laughter, laughing.
hakon [n] grindstone.
hakla [v2] go straight, move in a straight line, go
directly. haklame [n(inst)] straight, right, di-
rectly; in a straight line; as the crow ﬂies. hakle
[n] straight line.

hakta [v1] be tired, weary, fatigued. minap hakta
[v1] be thoroughly tired, exhausted, worn out (lit.
tired in one’s bone marrow).
hakui [n] bristle, sti↵ hair; spine.
hakuima [n] brush.
hal [n] temple, side of the head.
hala [v2] soar, glide (like a hawk). halaka [n] bird

of prey.

halai [n] summer.
halaina [v1] be warm, warming; provide warmth,
radiate heat. halainats [n] warmth, heat, heat-
ing. halaine [n] heat source.
halas [n] (long) coat, overcoat.
halhina [n] crown, circlet; wreath (worn on the

head).

halhka [v1] be dry, arid. halhketa [v3] dry, dry
out. halhkeita [v1] be dried, dessicated (as op-
posed to fresh).

halhkahain [n] drying rack (for drying ﬁsh, laun-

dry, etc.).

halhkenam [n] arid region, desert.
halhkoi [n] (dry) patch, spot, stain (formed by the
evaporation of liquid from a surface); scab. san
halhkoi [n] blood clot.

halhkona [v1] be thirsty; thirst (for). halhkonampa [v2] cause
thirst, make (s.o.) thirsty. halhkone [n] thirst,
cause of thirst; type of liquid for which one is
thirsty.

halime [p] on the contrary, rather.
halle [p] however, yet.
halma [n] book.
halu [n] room. kihalu [n] small room, chamber,
large room,

tohalu [n]

compartment, closet.
hall.

hame [n] white/grey (thing), pale (thing), light-
coloured (thing) (used of hair; also of objects
whose original colour has faded or bleached).

hamekoin [n] old person, elder.
hameloi [n] cataract.
hamo [n] market, marketplace.
hamohi [n] steam, vapour.
hamohimok [n] sweat lodge, sauna, steam room.
to a
hampi
great degree; (with eventive verbs) hard,
in-
intently, with ef-
forcefully;
tensely, strongly,
fort/concentration. tohampi [a] very much, ex-
tremely, exceedingly; very intensely, with great
e↵ort.
lau hampi [a] far, a long way; much, a
lot, to a large extent.

[a] a lot, much, very, greatly,

han [n] much, a lot. tohan [n] a large amount, a
great deal, quite a lot. han iap [n] a lot more,
much else (besides). han iahte [n] many more,
many other(s).

hana [v3] cut, make a cut/gash in (i.e., cut without
severing); (p.t. sound) ring, chime, peal, blare
out, sound out suddenly; make, emit (a sound,
usually loud and/or sudden). atlo hana [v3] sound an alarm,
raise the alarm, make a warning call/noise; warn,
alert. lhonko hana [v3] make
a loud noise, be loud. lihke hana [v3] cut (into),
make a cut/incision in. losumilh hana [v3] (p.t.
a bell) sound the hour, signal the time of day.
niokaule hana [v3] echo, reverberate, resound.

hanakol [n] torch, brand.
hani [n] fox.
hanoi [n] wound, cut, gash; incision.
hanta [v1] be ﬁt, appropriate, suitable, proper,
hantampa [v2]

acceptable; ﬁt, be ﬁtting.

349

be polite, be well-mannered, behave appropri-
ately/properly. hantampanen [n] rule, man-
ner(s), convention(s) of politeness, standard of
behaviour.

hantilme [n] season, appropriate time; chance, op-

portunity.

hanu [n] teacher, scholar.
hapa [a] often; regularly, periodically; all the time.
hapa [v2] oppose, challenge; ﬁght against, struggle
against; be the opposite of, be the counterpart of,
complement, mirror. hapaka [n] opponent,
challenger.

hapakoin [n] opponent; enemy.
hapakotl [n] claw (of a crab, scorpion, etc.), chela,

pincer.

hapanialie [n] scissors, shears.
hapasilh [n] thumb.
hapoi [n] counterpart, complement; opposite, re-
ﬂection, mirror image; member of a pair of ob-
jects.

has [n] white (thing).
hasiku [n] pus.
haskitsu [n] head of garlic.
hasokuto [n] parsnip.
hastin [n] deer (esp. whitetail deer).
hasu [n] life; living, being alive.
hasuka [v3] cook over heat (esp. an open ﬂame),
roast, toast, grill; apply heat. hasoika [v1] be cooked (as
opposed to raw), roasted, toasted, grilled. ha-
soikanen [n] dish made by cooking over heat;
roast. hasoike [n] cooked food.
hasumiha [n] transgender woman.
hasumin [n] life, lifetime, the course of one’s life.
hasumpa [v2] live, go through life, have (life) expe-
riences. hasumpe, hasumpats [n] life, lifetime;
experience(s). hasumpanen [n] way of life, way
of living; the circumstances of one’s life.

hasunkal [n] transgender man.
hata [v3] shout, cry, call out, give a shout. hate, hatats [n] shout, cry.
taimo hata [v3] cheer, shout hurrah.
hati [n] heat, warmth; power, energy, force.
hatiaha [n] volcanic ash.
hatina [v1] be warm (used of a person, object, or
surface which has been exposed to heat, rather
than the heat source itself); be warmed, heated.
ahatinima [v2] warm, heat, make/get warmer.
hatinota [v2] keep warm, stay warm. hatinta

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CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

[v2] warm up, heat up, make/get warm.

[n] symptom (of disease).

hatlam [a] soon, presently, in a while, before long.

helhtam [n] slice. kihelhtam [n] thin slice, sliver.

laisne hatlam [a] very soon, shortly.

tohelhtam [n] thick/large slice, slab.

hatoun [n] ﬂint.
hauat [n] ﬁre, ﬂames. tohauat [n] large ﬁre, blaze,
conﬂagration.
alontsen hauat [n] campﬁre.
hele hauat [n] signal ﬁre, beacon. loka tohauat
[n] forest ﬁre. tapio hauat [n] signal ﬁre, bea-
con, ﬂare.
hauk [n] smoke.
haukia [v2] cough. haukie, haukiats [n] cough,

coughing.

haukpite [n] soot.
he [v1] be, exist; there is (copula). hita [v2] be-
come, begin to be; make, cause, cause to be.

hehta [v2] move, shift (change position or ori-
entation, but without changing location); stir,
be disturbed; disturb,
rouse, arouse, cause
(re)position, change the pos-
to stir; move,
ture/orientation of. kihaule hehta [v2]
stir, make a
small/quiet noise. tsan hehta [v2] masturbate
(lit. stir oneself).

hehtoma [v2] be restless, wakeful.
heiku [a] again, once more (indicates repetition of
an action). heiku taheiku [a] again and again,
over and over.
heka [n] shark.
heki [n] way, means, method.
hekiyn [n] cord, string, wire, twine (esp. when
wrapped around something to hold it in place);
knot; snare, noose (when set or pulled tight).

hektia [v3] carry, bring, take, deliver.
hektuta [v2] hiccough. hektute, hektutats [n]

hiccough(s), hiccoughing.

heku [n] cause, account; time, occurrence, occasion.
hekuna [n(loc)] since, because, on account of;
given that, inasmuch as; when. heku hekuna
[n(loc)] from time to time, occasionally, now and
then; sporadically; here and there. heku tsanna
[n(loc)] at the same time, simultaneously. fene
hekuna [n(loc)] not until (after), not before,
no sooner than, no earlier than. hulne hekuna
[n(loc)] before, by the time (that), no later
laisne hekuna [n(loc)] right when, ex-
than.
actly when, at the same time as, simultaneously
with; just as, as soon as. lhua hekuna [n(loc)]
about when, around the time (that).

hele [n] signal, sign, warning, indication. kihele

heluk [n] cold (illness).
hema [n] warm water (from hot springs).
hemak [n] dark grey (thing).
hempi [n] pheasant.
hen [n] two. henka [n] second. hentla [n] (one)
half. ehenna [a] twice, two times, on two (dif-
ferent) occasions. ehenkana [a] for the second
time. kahen [n] double, two-part (thing); cou-
ple, pair, twosome, group of two (parts); two
times. kahein, kahenme [a] twice, two times
(in a row); twice, twofold, double, by a factor of
two. ela henme, hen la henme [n(inst)] two
by two, two at a time, in groups of two.
ilme
hentla [n] fortnight.

hena [v1] be safe, harmless, benign.
henka [v1] be good, enjoyable, pleasant, appeal-
ing (used esp. of food or other consumables, pas-
times, artifacts, etc., but not people). henkats
[n] pleasure, joy, enjoyment, appeal. kihenke [n]
treat. ahenkohta [v1] be preferable, preferred;
be (the) favourite. akiel henka [v1] look good,
have a pleasing appearance, be enjoyable to look
at. aluhtse henka [v1] smell good, have a pleas-
ant smell. amahtle henka [v1] taste good, be
tasty, delicious. aule henka [v1] sound nice,
have a pleasant sound.

henkol [n] pleasure, enjoyment, delight.
hentupa [v2] go/walk on two legs, be two-legged.
hentupaka [n] biped. kihentupaka [n] toddler.
hepa [v3] go along, pass along (the length of), fol-
low (a path); be on one’s way; take along. heipa
[v1] go, follow (used of a route or path); lie along
(a path), be adjacent to. hepota [v3] go on,
keep going, continue.
launa hepa [v3] be on
the way (to), be in transit. lhahe hepa [v3] stretch along, reach
along, extend along. sukenme hepa [v3] take
the time to/for, take the opportunity to, set aside
space/time/resources for. tihelaume hepa [v3]
take a shortcut.

hepahian [n] pipe, conduit.
hepalan [n] line, contour, path, route; edge, out-

line.

hepalau [n] trail, path, way (leading from one place
to another). hepalauna [n(loc)] on the way, on

one’s way, in transit.

hepalomuats [n] wake, waves, ripples (made by a
boat or other object moving through the water).

hepas`ı [n] current, ﬂow.
hepaut [n] route, course; path, passage, way (along

which one travels).
hes [n] rabbit; hare.
hesla [v3] become stuck, become lodged (in an
opening); get caught; stick, catch, jam, lodge,
snag.

hestemon [n] red-tailed hawk.
heta [v3] carry, bring, take, convey, transport,
transmit. hiele heta [v3] carry, transport, ship
(by vehicle). natak heta [v3] strike, deliver a
blow. pynalhme heta [v3]
test, examine, put to the test. sioku heta [v3] balance, bring bal-
ance to, bring into equilibrium; have a purpose;
be sensible, rational, reasonable.

hetl [n] piece, small portion. kihetl [n] fragment.
hetsan [n] fraction; portion, share.
hets`o [n] snare, noose (esp. when loose).
hetu [n] beak, bill.
hetuksal [n] tunnel, passage, passageway, run (in a
cave or burrow); (narrow) corridor, hallway (con-
necting one place to another).

heuhka [v2] (p.t. a ﬁre, chimney) smoke, emit

smoke.

heulhta [v2] pull, pull on; draw, attract.
heut [n] north.
hi [n] it; that (3rd person inanimate nominative

351

hicle); drive, conduct, propel; row, sail. hielta [v2] set out, embark (on a trip by
vehicle); launch. hiele [n] vehicle, conveyance,
means of transport. suku hiela [v2] sail.

hielme [a] this month. huikuma hielme [a] this

month during the full moon.

hielmon [n] oar, paddle.
hiem [n] light grey (thing), blue-grey (thing).
hife [n] cushion, pillow.
hihta [v3] light, kindle, spark, ignite. hihte [n] tinder, kindling.
heihtanen [n] ﬁre, burning, combustion; thing
which is on ﬁre.

hihtihme [n] outer layer, exterior; top layer, sur-

face.

hihtsemin [n] constellation.
hihuikumats [n] waxing gibbous moon.
hikua [v1] have a strong or complex taste or aroma;
be rich, savoury, piquant, full-bodied, aromatic.

hilap [n] dove, pigeon.
hilu [n] ink.
hilul [n] bottom (i.e., lowest point or area on the
interior surface of an enclosed space); ﬂoor, bed.
him [n] interior, inside; period of time, duration,
while. himna [n(loc)] inside (of); during, while.
himakot [n] compartment (in a trunk or piece of
furniture); cupboard; drawer. heulhte himakot
[n] drawer.

himatoihe [n] volume, size (of an interior space),
(amount of) space, room; (p.t. time) duration.
himauote [n] feeling or sensation internal to one’s

body; emotion.

clitic).

himeka [v1] be hollow, empty, not solid. himeke

hiafa [v3] bring along; include.

hiapa [v2] gallop. hiape, hiapats [n] gallop(ing).
hiali [n] undershirt.
hial`o [a] today. fene hial`o [a] today at the ear-
liest, no sooner than today, not before today.
hulne hial`o [a] today at the latest, no later than
today, by today. hun hial`o [a] tonight. koset
hial`o [n] this evening. kotsim hial`o [n] this
morning. lem hial`o [n] today (during the day).

hian [n] tube, pipe; (hollow) cylinder.
hias [n] wax.
hiauma [v2] yawn. hiaume [n] yawn.
hiaumoma [v2] be drowsy, sleepy, prone to yawn-

ing.

hiela [v2] go, move, be propelled (used of vehi-
cles); go/travel by vehicle; take, ride (in) (a ve-

himeupa [v1] be forlorn; be lonely,

feel alone.

himiahki [n] trauma (mental/emotional trauma or

internal injury).

himpeklha [v1] be nauseous.
himpi`a [n] top, ceiling, roof (i.e., highest surface in
the interior of an enclosed space). huan himpi`a
[n] the roof of one’s mouth.
himuka [v2] blow out (a candle).
himuohfa [v1] be stu↵y, lack proper air circula-

tion; have a thick atmosphere.

himynta [v1] be cramped, conﬁned, tight, con-

strained; have a small/narrow interior.

hina [n] ring, loop, circlet; circle.
hinatlpa [v2] play (a wind instrument), blow into
(to make music). hinatlpanen [n] wind instrument.

is blowing.

hinkepe [n] intestines, entrails, guts.
hintana [n] shelf.
hintika [v3] leak air, release air through a small
opening; whistle, blow (with puckered lips); let
in air. hinteika
[v1] be drafty, have a draft, let in air.

hintiuhe [n] urge, compulsion.
hintoha [v1] be roomy, spacious, have a large inte-

rior.

hintsuha [v3] blow (air) out, push (air) out. etleu

hintsuha [v3] blow one’s nose.

hintsypal [n] pneumonia.
hi`o [p] yes, indeed, so; actually, in fact (used as a
focus particle, and when answering questions in
the armative).

hiolhmo [a] this year.

ihmet hiolhmo [a] this

spring, last spring (i.e., spring of this year).

hiokon [n] storehouse, storage tank, vault (any
free-standing above-ground structure of brick or
stone, used for storage). ahotsin hiokon [n]
granary.

hipalhi [n] ﬂoor (of a cave or tunnel); dirt or stone
ﬂoor (unﬁnished ﬂoor of an enclosed space, such
as a cellar).

hipana [v2] go on, continue, endure; be constant,
steady, continuous; be sustained, persistent, in-
cessant; continue, go on, persist, sustain, keep
up.

hipeita [v1] a↵ect, matter, be important, be of con-
cern. hipeite [n] e↵ect, consequence;
import, importance; important issue.

his [n] star. hismit [n] the stars, the night sky.
hisa [v2] cry, weep. hise [n] weeping, tears; cause

of weeping.

hisanta [v3] blow on (to cool).
hisne [p] next, then, after (that), afterwards, there-

after.

hista [v3] lead (the way), take, bring, conduct,
guide, escort; follow, go after, come next. histaka
[n] leader, guide, escort. nalhpe hista [v3] usher
(by gesturing).
hisue [n] sparrow.
hitaut [n] heading, direction (in which one is go-
ing); route, way, path, trajectory; goal, destina-
tion. suku hitaut [n] direction in which the wind

hite [n] tip (esp. of something rounded or tapered);
end, endpoint, farthest point, limit, extent. inna
hite [n] the corner of one’s eye. monen hite [n]
wing tip. monie hite [n] wingspan. tete hite
[n] tip of one’s tongue.

hitli [n] screech owl.
hitol [n] door.
hitsatsa [v1] be solid, ﬁrm, not hollow.
hitsla [v3] be dishonest, cheat at, get away with;
trick, play a trick on, cheat. hitslaka [n] cheater, trickster. hitsle,
hitslats [n] trick, cheating.
hiua [n] horse. kihiua [n] pony.
hiuapyi [n] foal.
hiuma [n] ﬂoor (esp. ﬁnished ﬂoor of a room); ﬂoor-

ing, ﬂoorboards.

hiumpatle [n] ﬂoor covering, carpet, rug.
hiunu [n] tear(s).
hiunuka [v1] shed tears, weep.

hiunuke [n] tears, weeping.

hoﬁ [n] bubble.
hohits [n] dust; powder.
hoiko [n] rainbow trout, steelhead.
hok [p] (exclamatory particle).
hokipa [v1] be constant, steady; be invariant, con-

sistent.

hokla [v1] be bad, unpleasant, unappealing, not en-
joyable (used mostly of food and drink, pastimes,
art, etc., but not people). akiel hokla [v1] look
bad, be unattractive, be ugly. aluhtse hokla
[v1] stink, reek, smell bad, have an unpleasant
odour. amahtle hokla [v1] taste bad; be foul-
tasting, unpalatable.

holha [v1] be tender, sore, sensitive or painful to

the touch.

homa [n] bread; loaf of bread.
hompa [v2] push steadily and forcefully (on), put

constant pressure on, force.

hona [v2] visit (a place), go and see, stop at; tour,
take a tour of. honota [v2]
stay, remain (in a place). hone [n] visit, tour.

honne [n] goose (esp. Canada goose).
hos [n] sand.
hosia [v3] shake (out), ﬂap, ﬂick (e.g., to remove

water).

hoskem [n] sandbar, shoal. tifueie hoskem [n]
titsyipe hoskem [n]

exposed sandbar, shoal.
submerged sandbar.
hoskit [n] grain of sand.

353

hosmi [n] spirit, being with supernatural powers.
hosta [v1] be powerful, mighty; have energy.

hostats [n] power, might; energy.

hosta [v2] dance. hoste [n] dance. hostakamit

[n] dance troupe.

hota [v3] attach, connect, join, fasten. hoita [v1] be connected, attached.
s`o hota [v3] tie.

hotakani [n] lamprey.
hotamet [n] joint, link, connection, point of attach-

inspire
loc> huetlampa [v2] be frightening,
fear; scare, frighten, make (s.o.) afraid. huet-
lats [n] fear (i.e., the sensation of being afraid).
huetle [n] fear (i.e., thing which one fears).

huikul [n] lamp.
huikuma [n] full moon.
huilau [n] ray, shaft of light.
huiliout [n] window shutter; blind.
huiloi [n] window, opening for letting in light.
huin [n] light (esp. light reﬂected o↵ a surface),

ment; exchange, transfer point.

brightness, illumination.

hoti [a] always, ever, constantly, all the time (mod-

iﬁes eventive verbs).

hotin [n] stem (of a plant). kihotin [n] shoot, o↵-

shoot, new growth.
hoto [n] cooking pot.
hots [n] oak tree.
hotsem [n] anger. tohotsem [n] rage.
hotsma [v1] be angry.
hotsmampa [v2] anger, make angry. hotsmeta
[v3] get angry; anger, cause to get angry.
hotu [n] maternal uncle (mother’s brother).
houka [v1] be rough, rough-hewn, crude, coarse,

unpolished, unreﬁned, unsophisticated.

houn [n] owl.
huala [v1] be well, healthy. ahualima [v2] heal,
recuperate, recover, get better; tend (to) (a sick
person).
hualats [n] health. hualta [v3] recover, get well,
become healthy; heal. ihu`alin [e] how are you?
(addressed to a single individual;
lit. ‘are you
well?’). ihualit ne [e] how are you? (addressed
to two or more individuals).

huamp`a [n] upper lip, area between the mouth and

nose.

huampalhi [n] mustache.
huan [n] mouth. tohuan [n] smile, grin.
huanot [n] mouthful.
huata [v1] be liked, appreciated (used esp. of peo-
ple). ahuatohta [v1] be pre-
ferred; be (the) favourite. huatampa [v2] be
friendly, likable, engaging, pleasant; behave in a
likable manner.

huatoma [v1] be likable, favorable, agreeable, ac-
commodating, congenial; be willing, amenable,
well-disposed.
huelhta [v3] (see: huetla).
huetla [v1] fear, be afraid, be scared. huelhta [v3] become afraid, be-
gin to fear; scare, frighten, startle. hule [n] sheath, case, casing, cov-
ering; scabbard, holster; cover (e.g., of a book).
kihule [n] cocoon.

hulhpa [n] shadow; shade; shelter (esp. from the

sun).

hulhpakuma [n] (total) eclipse. aho hulhpakuma
ilme hulhpakuma [n] lunar

[n] solar eclipse.
eclipse.

hulhpamul [n] canopy; tent.
hulhti [n] ﬂute, recorder. kihulhti [n] whistle.
hulne [p] at the upper limit; at most, no more than,
up to, as much as, as many as (modifes quanti-
ﬁers); no later than, at the latest, not after, by.

hulo [n] leather.
hulte [n] boot(s); overshoe(s).
humia [v3] swell, become ﬁrm, become engorged;
get an erection. humeia [v1] be swollen, ﬁrm, en-
gorged; be hard, have an erection.

humik [n] badger.
humin [n] broth, stock.
humuil [n] moth.
hun [n] night, nighttime (period from sunset to
sunrise). hunna [n(loc)] at night, by night.
takuiste hun [n] the longest night of the year

354

CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

(the night of the winter solstice).

huna [v3] get up, climb (onto, e.g., a horse),
mount, get astride. hoina, kemna hoina [v1]
be astride, mounted, on horseback. hunal [n]
mount.

hunka [n] lung; bladder. tohunka [n] forge bel-

lows.

hunkie [n] (pair of) lungs.
hunu [n] bruise.
[n] twelve.
huoi

huoika [n] twelfth (ordinal).
huoitla [n] (one) twelfth (fraction). ehuoina
[a] twelve times. kahuoi [n] twelve-part (thing);
twelve times; dozen, group of twelve. kahuoime,
kahuoie [a] twelve times (in succession); twelve-
fold, by a factor of twelve.

huol [n] bowl, basin. kihuol [n] small bowl, cup

(esp. for serving soup or tea).

huoma [v2] moan, groan.
hupai [n] pipe, ﬂute (unperforated musical instru-

ment, esp. of the pan ﬂute type).

husia [v2] rustle, ripple (used e.g. of the sound of

leaves in the wind).

husu [c/p] and, and also, as well as, along with, to-
gether with, plus; (as a focus particle) also, even.
husu ntse [p] not even.

huta [n] basket.
huto [n] root (of a plant); base, foundation (of a
house or other structure). hutomit [n] root sys-
tem.

hutopa [v2] be based on, have as a foundation; de-
pend on, be dependent on; be linked to, (co)vary
with.

hutouta [v1] be crucial, vital, necessary, instru-

mental, of central importance.

hyikpa [v2] hold, contain; store, keep (in reserve),
save. hyikpanen [n]
container, vessel; storage. hyikpe [n] contents,
stu↵, material; stores, supplies, goods, reserves,
holdings.

hyl [n] buttocks, rump, ass.
hyla [v3] pass (by), go past, go beyond; elapse,
lhahe hyla [v3] stretch past, reach

transpire.
beyond, extend beyond; exceed in length.

hylloi [n] anus; rectum.
hympailats [n] motion sickness. moin hympa-

ilats [n] seasickness.

hyna [v3] move, shift (from one place to another);
move, reposition. hynats [n] movement, motion, lo-

comotion.

hynukial [n] play, drama.

ia [p] (quotative/vocative particle).
iahki [n] sudden or forceful blow; ﬂash, burst; ﬁt,
seizure, spasm, convulsion, attack. aile iahki
[n] screaming ﬁt, temper tantrum. haukie iahki
[n] coughing ﬁt. ksiame iahki [n] sneezing ﬁt.
lai iahki [n] ﬂash of light, burst of light. siehat
iahki [n] bolt of lightning, ﬂash of lightning. to-
hotsem iahki [n] ﬁt of rage. tymok iahki [n]
thunderclap.

iahkipa [v3] be attacked, struck; have a ﬁt/seizure;
hit forcefully, strike, beat (usu. with a tool or
weapon); attack, lash out (suddenly) at.
iahkipe [n] weapon; tool used to strike a blow
(such as a hammer or axe).
iahkipota [v3]
strike repeatedly, beat. haukie iahkipa [v3] be
seized by a ﬁt of coughing. konom iahkipa
[v3] hammer, hit with a hammer.
lai iahkipa
[v3] blind (temporarily). natak iahkipa [v3] strike a blow.
siehat iahkipa [v3] be struck by lighting.

iahkusta [v2] choose di↵erently; pick, select (as
an alternative). iahkuste [n] alternative, other
choice. oiahkustame [n(inst)] instead; alterna-
tively, as an alternative.

iahok [p] at all (emphatic particle used in negative

clauses).

iahte [n] others.

la iahte [n] each other, one an-
other, each … the others (reciprocal expression
used of three or more individuals). ntsemi`o
iahte [n] no others, no-one else (animate plural).
iak [p] (particle used to form negative imperatives

[prohibitives]).

iakin [p] (emphatic particle used in negative ques-

tions).

iala [v1] be a responsibility, be an obligation; have,
own, be responsible for (something to which one
bears a relation of stewardship or obligation, such
as land, livestock, hunting/ﬁshing rights); have,
be related to (used with kinship terms, and terms
denoting abstract qualities); know how to. ialta
[v2] gain, acquire, attain, receive (stewardship
over); take/accept responsibility for, take charge
of; give, bestow (responsibility). iale, ialats
[n] obligation, responsibility; stewardship, over-
sight; relationship, bond, kinship; knowledge,
ability. pyi ialta [v2] have a child, become a
parent. esihpi iala [v1] know how to swim. sot
iala [v1] be serious, mean what one says, take re-
sponsibility for what one says. suke iala [v1] be
responsible, reliable; take responsibility for one’s
actions. ulhmo takun iala [v1] be forty years
old.

carrying a positive connotation).

ifa [v1] be thin, light, ﬁne, weak (used of paper,
cloth, walls, pottery, and other ﬂat objects and
surfaces).

ifama [v2] be equal to, be a match for.

ife [n] as much, an equal amount (of). ntse ife [n]

not as much, less, a smaller amount (of).

iha [n] woman, female. ihinen iha [n] lesbian, ho-
mosexual woman. kalanen iha [n] heterosexual
woman.

iam [p] it turns out (evidential particle, used to

ihahats [n] womanhood, being a woman; feminin-

express surprise or new information).

ity.

ian [n] good (one).
ianta [v2] jump, leap.
iap [n] other, else. es iap [n] another (one).

la
iap [n] each other, one another, each … the
other (used of two individuals). ekas iapme
[a] again, once more, one more time. emalh
iapna, esalh iapna [n(loc)] some other time,
on some other occasion. m`a iap [n] something
else, anything else; some other, some more. mi`e
iapna [n(loc)] somewhere else, anywhere else,
elsewhere. ntsemi`o iap [n] no-one else.

iasa [v3] eat, consume.
iase [n] food.
iasonta [v1] be delightful, joyous; be joyful, glee-
ful, blissful, delighted, elated; delight (in), enjoy.

iasontol [n] joy, glee, delight, bliss, elation, rap-

ture.

iaspailats [n] (bout of) food poisoning.
iat`u [n] crack, crevice, ﬁssure, rift, slit.
iatuhta [v3] crack, become cracked, develop a
crack; make a crack in, fracture.

ielmefoi [a] next month. huikuma hielmefoi [a]

next month during the full moon.

ielmehka [a] last month.
iena [v1] be good. ania [v1] be as good, be good
enough; might as well (irregular relative form).
ienampa [v2] go well, be done well; do good;
make (s.th.) good, do (s.th.) well. akiel iena [v1]
be good-looking, attractive, beautiful, handsome;
look good. amahtle iena [v1] be tasty, be good-
tasting, taste good. atoihe iena [v1] be good-
sized.
ienapi

really,
[a] very, extremely, wonderfully;
truly, well (intensiﬁer for stative verbs, esp. ones

ihfo [n] other side, area behind, area obscured or
occluded by.
ihfona [n(loc)] behind, on the
other side (of). tene ihfona [n(loc)] over the
hill.

ihfoloita [v2] spy on.
ihfoma [v2] be hidden; hide, block, conceal from
view, obscure, occlude, screen, be located in front
of; (ﬁg.) be in the future, be yet to come.
ihfomemit [n] the future, future events. ihfo-
maka [n] screen.

ihfota [v3] hide behind, disappear behind; put be-
hind; block (the view of), conceal, obscure, oc-
clude. ihfoita [v1] be
hidden from view, concealed, obscured, blocked,
occluded; be obscure; be secret, private, conﬁ-
dential.
ihfoite [n] secret; thing hidden from
view. ihfotanen [n] screen, barrier.

ihfoula [v2] eavesdrop.
ihinen [n] person who is sexually or romantically
attracted to women (used of both heterosexual
men and homosexual women).

ihka [a] before (now), beforehand, earlier, then; ago
(preceded by a measure phrase in the instrumen-
tal case). etohampi ihka [a] a long time ago.
ihkanta [v2] explain, account for, provide a ra-
tionale for; justify, defend, argue for, support.
ihkantanen [n] explanation, account, rationale;
justiﬁcation, argument, defense.

ihmet [n] spring (season).
ihpi [a] equally, as, as much, to the same degree, in
equal measure. iehpi [a] for (just) as long. lau
ihpi [a] as far; to the same extent. ntse ihpi [a]
not as much, less, to a lesser degree. ntse lau
ihpi [a] not as far, less far; to a lesser extent.
iht`a [n] six. ihtauka [n] sixth (ordinal). ihtautla
[n] (one) sixth (fraction). iehtahna [a] six times.

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CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

iehtaukana [a] for the sixth time. kaieht`a [n]
sextuple, six-part (thing); six times; group of six.
kaiehtahme, kaiehtahi [a] six times (in succes-
sion); by a factor of six.
ihtaupatam [n] sixteen.

ihtaupatanka [n] six-

ikue [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate nom-

inative + second person irrealis dative).

ikume [n] with you (2nd plural instrumental pro-

noun).

ikun [n] at you, in you (2nd singular locative pro-

teenth.

noun).

ihtia [v3] shred, rip up, tear into small pieces. ih-

ikuna [n] at you, in you (2nd plural locative pro-

tial [n] shred, fragment, small piece.

noun).

ihtlisa [v3] translate,

interpret. ihtleisanen [n] trans-
lation.

ihtsila [v2] speak clearly, speak ﬂuently, be artic-
ulate; be clear, easy to understand; say clearly.

ike [n] dog. kihike [n] small dog; puppy, whelp.
ikepyi [n] puppy, whelp.

ikepyimit [n] litter of

puppies.

ikune [n] towards you, for you (2nd plural allative

pronoun).

ikunu [n] from you, of you (2nd plural ablative pro-

noun).

ikuo [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate nom-

inative + second person realis dative).
ikut [n] you (2nd plural ergative pronoun).
ilal [n] shore, coast; bank, side, edge (of a body of

water). kosto ilal [n] beach.

ikia [v1] be frail, feeble, inﬁrm, delicate.
ikima [n] we (1st plural

inclusive ergative pro-

ilalkam [n] lodgepole pine, shore pine.
ilalot [n] (area) towards the shore/ocean, the di-

noun).

ikime [n] for us, towards us (1st plural inclusive

allative pronoun).

ikimme [n] with us (1st plural inclusive instrumen-

tal pronoun).

ikimna [n] in us, at us (1st plural inclusive locative

pronoun).

ikimu [n] from us, of us (1st plural inclusive abla-

tive pronoun).

ikla [v2] scratch (at).
ikma [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate
nominative + ﬁrst person inclusive ergative).
ikme [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate
nominative + ﬁrst person inclusive irrealis da-
tive).

ikmo [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate
nominative + ﬁrst person inclusive realis dative).
iko [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate nom-

inative + second person ergative).

ik`o [n] you (2nd singular ergative pronoun).
ikoi [n] for you, towards you (2nd singular allative

pronoun).

ikom [n] with you (2nd singular instrumental pro-

noun).

ikou [n] from you, of you (2nd singular ablative

pronoun).

iksa [v1] be serious, be a serious matter. iksampa
[v2] be serious, earnest; act with seriousness of
purpose; be honest, frank, open, direct, straight-
forward.
iksampe [n] seriousness, earnestness;
serious matter; honesty, openness, frankness. ik-
sats [n] seriousness, gravity.

rection of the shore.

ilalta [v3] go to the shore/ocean.
ilhka [v1] be bitter, taste bitter.
ilhkoua [v3] forgive, pardon, excuse. ilhkouats [n] forgiveness.

ilme [n] moon; month,

lunation,

lunar cycle.
ahuinime ilme [n] waxing moon; the ﬁrst half
of the lunar cycle. aksohmime ilme [n] wan-
ing moon; the second half of the lunar cycle.
ilme ilmeme [n(inst)] month by month, (from)
month to month.

ilmemet [n] new moon, dark of the moon.
ilmemilh [n] phase of the moon; time of the month;

menstrual period.

ilo [n] writing, script, letters; writing system.
ilotein [n] letter, character, symbol (used in writ-
ing), rune, glyph. iloteinmit [n] alphabet, char-
acter set.
ilotl [n] horn.
ima [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate nom-

inative + ﬁrst person singular ergative).
im`a [n] I (1st singular ergative pronoun).
iman [n] at me (1st singular locative pronoun).
imaul [n] corner (of an enclosed ﬁgure or space,
sheet of paper, etc.), angle; vertex, point where
two sides/edges meet.

im`e [n] towards me, for me (1st singular allative

pronoun).

imem [n] with me (1st singular instrumental pro-

noun).

imi [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate nom-
inative + ﬁrst person singular irrealis dative).

357

imla [v2] smile. imle, imlats [n] smile.
imo [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate nom-
inative + ﬁrst person singular realis dative).
im`o [n] from me, of me (1st singular ablative pro-

intilas [n] eyeglasses.
intse [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate erga-

tive + ﬁrst person exclusive nominative).

intsepe [a] sometimes, now and then, from time to

noun).

time.

in`a [n] he, she; this (one), that (one) (3rd singular
animate ergative pronoun and demonstrative).
inan [n] in him/her, at him/her; in/at this (one),
in/at that (one) (3rd singular animate locative
pronoun and demonstrative).

inane [n] for them, towards them;

for/towards
these (ones), for/towards those (ones) (3rd plural
animate allative pronoun and demonstrative).
inat [n] they, them; these (ones), those (ones) (3rd
plural animate ergative pronoun and demonstra-
tive).

in`e [n] for him/her, towards him/her; for/towards
this (one), for/towards that (one) (3rd singular
animate allative pronoun and demonstrative).
inem [n] with him/her; with this (one), with that
(one) (3rd singular animate instrumental pro-
noun and demonstrative).

inena [n] at them, in them; at/in these (ones),
at/in those (ones) (3rd plural animate locative
pronoun and demonstrative).

ineu [n] from them, of them; from/of these (ones),
from/of those (ones) (3rd plural animate ablative
pronoun and demonstrative).

inie [n] (pair of) eyes.
inime [n] with them; with these (ones), with those
(ones) (3rd plural inanimate instrumental pro-
noun and demonstrative).

inkilhi [n] eyelash(es).
inkim [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate erga-

tive + ﬁrst person inclusive nominative).

inkime [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate
ergative + ﬁrst person inclusive irrealis dative).
inkimo [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate
ergative + ﬁrst person inclusive realis dative).
inloia [v1] see well, be sharp-eyed, have keen eye-

sight.

inme [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate erga-

tive + ﬁrst person singular nominative).

inmi [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate erga-

tive + ﬁrst person singular irrealis dative).

inmo [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate erga-

tive + ﬁrst person singular realis dative).

inna [n] eye.
in`o [n] from him/her, of him/her;

from/of this
(one), from/of that (one) (3rd singular animate
ablative pronoun and demonstrative).

intsi [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate erga-
tive + ﬁrst person exclusive irrealis dative).
intso [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate erga-

tive + ﬁrst person exclusive realis dative).

intuma [v1] be blind.
blind; become blind.

intunta [v2] blind, make

intumu [n] blindness. intumu koin [n] blind per-

son.

inu [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate ergative

+ second person nominative).

inue [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate erga-

tive + second person irrealis dative).

inuo [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate erga-

tive + second person realis dative).

iohun [n] the middle of the night.
iokolhi [n] beard.
ioku [n] jaw, jawline; chin; cheeks, lower part of
the face. kilhi ioku [n] unshaven face; facial
hair, stubble.

iokuketo [n] jawbone.
iolem [n] midday, the middle of the day.
iolhmofoi [a] next year. tuhsa iolhmofoi [a] next

winter, winter of next year.

iolhmohka [a] last year. halai iolhmohka [a]

(during the) summer of last year.

iom [n] world, earth; realm.
iometeun [n] landmark, prominent place; sacred

place; focal point.

iona [v1] be known; be clear, apparent; know (a
fact); know about (a person or thing), know what
(s.th.) is, know who (s.o.) is. ione [n] knowledge; fact, piece of informa-
tion, thing which is known. ionemit [n] set of
facts; information, material. ionta [v3] become
known/apparent; learn (about), ﬁnd out (about),
come to know, become aware of, discover, real-
ize; make known, let (s.o.) know (about), inform.
iontilma [v3] investigate, in-
quire (about), look into, try to ﬁnd out (about).
ionuha [v1] want to know, be curious (about).
ionuhats [n] curiosity.

iontapin [n] nature, the natural world; environ-

ment, ecosystem.

358

CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

iontoton [n] earthquake.
iontsu [n] middle, centre, midst, interior (esp. of a

non-enclosed space).

iosok [n] key.
ipal`a [n] herb, plant used in cooking or medicine.
ipama [v3] cook, prepare, make (food or medicine).
ipame [n]
ingredient, substance (used in making food or
medicine). ipaimanen [n] preparation, concoc-
tion; prepared food; medicine, potion. n`a ipama
[v3] boil, brew, prepare in/with water.

ipoi [n] blackberry.
is [n] time/place after,

morseful, sorry, feel guilty. isuniats [n] regret; remorse,
contrition, guilt.

isuta [v1] live, be alive; be animate. isuhta [v3]
be born; give birth to. isoihte [n] newborn, young (esp.
of an animal). isoihtemit [n] litter of o↵spring.
isuhtanen [n] birth, the circumstances of one’s
birth. isutats [n] life, being alive. isute [n] be-
ing, creature, entity, living thing, organism. isu-
tota [v2] stay alive, live, keep on living; survive;
save, preserve, keep (s.o.) alive.

it`a [n] it; this (one), that (one) (3rd singular inan-

time following.

isna

imate pronoun and demonstrative).

[n(loc)] after, following, behind.

isa [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate nom-

inative + ﬁrst person exclusive ergative).

isane [n] for us, towards us (1st plural exclusive

allative pronoun).

isat [n] we (1st plural exclusive ergative pronoun).
ise [n] snow.
iseheut [n] north by northeast.
isekiam [n] snowstorm. tohisekiam [n] blizzard.
isena [n] at us, in us (1st plural exclusive locative

pronoun).

iseu [n] from us, of us (1st plural exclusive ablative

pronoun).

iseut [n] northeast (lit. snow direction; convention-

ally, 60 degrees east of true north).

isi [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate nomi-
native + ﬁrst person exclusive irrealis dative).
isime [n] with us (1st plural exclusive instrumental

pronoun).

iso [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate nom-
inative + ﬁrst person exclusive realis dative).
isoka [v3] be next, be subsequent, happen next,
come next; result in, lead to, cause, create (a
situation). isokaka [n] cause, trig-
ger; causer, agent. isokal, isoikanen [n] result,
e↵ect, consequence.

ispa [v2] learn; study. ispaka [n] student, pupil.
ispe [n] learning,
lore, knowledge. minapna
ispa [v2] learn by heart (lit. learn in the mar-
row).

isu [n] wrinkle, crease.
isuhkats [n] life, being alive; the living; the world

of the living.

isunia [v1] be regrettable; regret, feel bad about
(s.th. that happened in the past); be contrite, re-

itan [n] in it, at it;

in/at this (one), in/at that
(one); there (3rd singular inanimate locative pro-
noun and demonstrative).

itane [n] for them, towards them; for/towards these
(ones), for/towards those (ones) (3rd plural inan-
imate allative pronoun and demonstrative).

itat [n] they, them; these (ones), those (ones) (3rd
plural inanimate ergative pronoun and demon-
strative).

it`e [n] for it, towards it; for/towards this (one),
for/towards that (one); towards there, that way,
thither (3rd singular inanimate instrumental pro-
noun and demonstrative).

itehis [n] comet.
item [n] with it; with this (one), with that (one)
(3rd singular inanimate instrumental pronoun
and demonstrative).

itena [n] in them, at them; in/at these (ones), in/at
those (ones) (3rd plural inanimate locative pro-
noun and demonstrative).

iteu [n] from them, of them; from/of these (ones),
from/of those (ones) (3rd plural inanimate abla-
tive pronoun and demonstrative).

itime [n] with them; with these (ones), with those
(ones) (3rd plural inanimate instrumental pro-
noun and demonstrative).

it`o [n] from it, of it; from/of this (one), from/of that
(one); from there, thence (3rd singular inanimate
ablative pronoun and demonstrative).

itlas [n] record(s); observation. itlasmit [n] chron-
icle, set of records. kihitlas [n] minor observa-
tion; note, passing remark, comment.

itlasalu [n] library, archive(s).
iuhta [v1] be funny, humorous, comical. iuhtampa
[v2] be funny, witty; act in a humorous manner;
joke, jest.

iumia [v1] be limp, ﬂaccid, slack; droop, be wilted;

(ﬁg.) be listless, lethargic.

ka [c] and; as, such that. X ka Y nemot [c] both

X and Y (animate).

k`a [v1] be here (near both speaker and addressee),
be there (near addressee); here/there is, this/that
is, voil`a. kauota [v1] stay here, remain here;
keep (s.th.) here.

kahame [n] maternal aunt (mother’s sister, or
other female maternal relative belonging to one’s
mother’s generation).

kahatia [v2] lunge; rush (at); thrust.

kahehta [v2] shake, agitate; (ﬁg.) disturb, upset.
kaheulhta [v2] pull hard (on), yank (on).
kahisa [v2] cry loudly, weep uncontrollably, bawl.
kahits [n] spark.
kahma [v1] be valued, honoured; be valuable; re-
spect, value, honour, hold in high esteem. kahmats [n] value;
respect, esteem, honour.

kahompa [v2] ﬁght (with), battle (against); attack.
kahpa [v3] go down, descend; bring/take down, put
down, lower; (p.t. rain or snow) fall. aipe kahpa
inie kahpa
[v3] ﬂoat down, drift down, sink.
[v3] look down. kuma kahpa [v3] face down.
kuma kaihpa [v1] be face-down.
lefe kahpa
[v3] roll down. pake kahpa [v3] step down; get
o↵, step o↵ (a train or wagon). s`u kahpa [v3]
rain; get rained on. talhe
kahpa [v3] climb down (a sloping surface); go
downstairs. tiause kahpa [v3] fall down; drop,
let fall; (p.t. liquids) pour (out). yise kahpa [v3]
climb down (a vertical surface).

kahpaho [n] sunset.
kahpaut [n] down, downward direction, way down;
kahpauta [n(all)]
area below; downstairs.
down, downward(s), in a downwards direction;
on the way down. kahpautna [n(loc)] down,
below,
euolh kahpautna
[n(loc)] down there.
kahpilme [n] moonset.
kahpimohi [n] fog, heavy mist.
kahpise [n] snowfall.
kahpis`u [n] rain, rainfall. muohfe kahpis`u [n]

lower; downstairs.

heavy rainfall, downpour.

kahs`ı [n] rapids, whitewater; turbulence.
kahta [v3] hit, strike; run into, collide with. kahtampa [v2]

359

ﬁght. kahtota [v3] hit
repeatedly, beat. kiompe kahta [v3] run into,
collide with. solhe kahta [v3] pelt, hit (with a
thrown object).

kahtoma [v2] be violent.
kahu [n] ﬁsh.
kahuata [v3] stop abruptly, stop suddenly, break

o↵; interrupt, disrupt.

kahuenek [n] salamander; newt.
kahunia [v2] ﬁsh, catch ﬁsh; go ﬁshing. kahuni-
aka [n] ﬁsherman. kahunie [n] ﬁshing; catch.

retaliate,

kahunta [v3] avenge,

take revenge,
take vengeance. kahunte [n] retali-
ation, act of revenge. kahuntats [n] revenge,
vengeance.

kai [p] ﬁrst, ﬁrst of all (before anything else hap-

pens).

kaia [v2] appear suddenly, be unexpected; be sud-
den, happen suddenly, happen abruptly or un-
expectedly; act suddenly, do (s.th.) suddenly.

kaiha [v3] kill, murder (used of unsanctioned or im-
proper killing). kaihaka [n] killer,
murderer. kahtote kaiha [v3] beat to death.
ulhnan kaiha [v3] poison, kill by poisoning.
kaila [v1] be hot.

kaimutin [n] cancer; (cancerous) tumor.
kaine [p] ﬁrst, ﬁrst of all (before anything else hap-

pens).

kais`u [n] shower, sudden burst of rain.
kakahta [v3] hit suddenly, strike without warning;
attack; run into, knock against, collide abruptly
with.

kakasoita [v2] move from side to side. taule kaka-
soita, ulohe kakasoita [v2] sway from side to
side.

kakilhin [n] rabies.
kakilhta [v3] bite hard (on), bite forcefully; chomp,
clamp (down on); (p.t. a predator) bite to kill.
kaklala [v2] crawl, scurry, scamper, scuttle, move
quickly on small legs. kaklale [n] scurrying, scuf-
ﬂing (sound).

kaksipa [v2] squeeze tightly, grip violently or un-
expectedly; throb, pound.
lias kaksipa [v2]
choke, strangle, throttle. tyn kaksipa [v2] have
a throbbing headache. kaksipe [n] strong grip; stranglehold.

360

CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

kakyime [a] each time, every time (i.e., at each

iteration of an action).

kal [n] man, male.

heterosexual man. kalanen kal
homosexual man.

ihinen kal [n] straight man,
[n] gay man,

kamak [n] duck (esp. mallard).
kamal [n] knife. tokamal [n] large knife, machete.
kamehats [n] parenthood, parentage, being a par-
ent, child-rearing; the period of one’s life during
which one is raising children.

kala [n] leg (of a person); back leg, hind leg (of a

kamiakta [v1] burst open, erupt; (ﬁg.) ejaculate,

four-legged animal).

kalakte [n] ankle.
kalamet [n] knee.
kalanen [n] person who is sexually or romanti-
cally attracted to men (used of both heterosexual
women and homosexual men).
kalap`a [n] upper leg, thigh; lap.
kalapatle [n] pant leg; leggings, breeches.
kalapun [n] bicycle (or other human-powered

wheeled vehicle).

kalh [p] (emphatic particle, used in questions).
kalha [v3] force entry, force one’s way in; storm, in-
vade; insert forcefully, force, shove, cram, thrust
(into).

kalhats [n] manhood, being a man; maleness, mas-

culinity.

kalhona [v1] be reminiscent of, similar to; resemble
somewhat. akiel
kalhona [v1] look (a bit) like, be similar in ap-
pearance.

kalial [n] (pair of) legs; back legs, hind legs (of an

animal).

kaliaspa [v2] swallow quickly, bolt, gulp down;
gorge on; devour, consume, swallow up, engulf,
overwhelm.

kalihpa [n] maternal

female cousin, half-sister
(daughter of one’s mother) (or other female rel-
ative of one’s generation belonging to the same
matrilineal clan).

kalina [v1] be upsetting, disturbing, distressing; be
upset, agitated, distressed, disturbed, unsettled.

kalinampa [v2] upset, distress, disturb, agitate,
unsettle.
kallul [n] lower leg, shin; calf.
kalohka [v3] be sudden, happen abruptly or vio-
lently, happen without warning; erupt, break out,
burst forth.

kalon [n] (adolescent) boy, young man, lad.
kalyua [v2] wake up suddenly/abruptly, awaken

with a start, startle awake.

kam [n] time/place before, time preceding. kamna

[n(loc)] before, preceding, in front (of).

kam [p] before (that), beforehand, ﬁrst, previously.

have an orgasm (p.t. men).

kamie [n] parents. tokamie [n] grandparents.
kamilha [v2] weave back and forth, swerve from

side to side.

kamiua [n] lynx, bobcat.
kamne [p] before (that), beforehand, ﬁrst, previ-

ously.

kamona [v1] be expected, foreseen; foresee, fore-
tell, predict, expect, anticipate.

kampa [v3] pass by here, come through here, come
this way (near speaker and addressee); pass by
there, go/come through there, go that way (near
addressee).

kampyka [v3] slam (into), collide forcefully with.

kamume [a] invariably, consistently, with every it-

eration.

kamunia [v1] be apprehensive, anxious, worried;
dread, not look forward to. kamuniats [n] appre-
hension, dread, foreboding, anticipation of some-
thing unpleasant.
kan [n] value, worth.
kani [n] mouth (of an animal), maw, jaws.
kaniokta [v3] reappear suddenly, turn up unex-

pectedly.

kankilha [v3] depart quickly, leave suddenly, dis-

appear; ﬂee, run away.

kanlo [n] bay, estuary.
kanta [v3] stand (usu. p.t. inanimates), be upright,
erect, vertical. tsan kanta [v3] stand on one’s
own, be free-standing.

kantalu [n] shed, outhouse, outbuilding; shack;

booth, stand, kiosk.

kantiuhe [n] condition, precondition, requirement.
kantsa [v2] pull steadily and forcefully (on), force;

take by force, pry, wrest.

kantsuhkanen [n] past misfortune.
kantsympe [n] lever, crowbar.
kanu [n] lie, falsehood, deception.
kanulne [p] at ﬁrst, initially, at/in the beginning.
kapa [v3] receive, accept, take (what is o↵ered);
deliver, bestow, provide, supply; outﬁt, equip.

kaipa [v1] have, pos-
sess, be bestowed with, be equipped with. kaipe [n] gift, o↵ering; possession,
kaipemit [n] gear, kit, equipment,
property.
supplies, provisions. atlo kapa [v3] take heed,
heed a warning; warn, alert.

kapaka [v2] stumble, lurch.
kapalhta [v3] wash ashore, be washed ashore; (p.t.
waves) crash on shore. kapalhtats [n] (sound of)
surf, breaking wave(s).

kapatla [v3] smother, su↵ocate.
kapin [n] gift, o↵ering; privilege; endowment.
kapua [v2] be good, skillful, accomplished; do
skillfully, do well; approve of, think well of, be
pleased with (the actions/abilities of). kapuohta [v2] be better (at), do
more skillfully, outperform. kapuaka [n] master, expert,
skilled/accomplished person. kapue, kapuats
[n] skill, talent, ability, aptitude, accomplish-
ment. iale kapua [v2] be responsible, reliable.
kas [a] now, then, already; so far, as of now/then;
up to now/then, until now/then; for (with a time
phrase in the dative, used to express a measure
of time ending at the present).

kasasa [v3] stumble upon, encounter unexpect-
edly; reveal suddenly or without warning.

361

onto. tluhe kasta [v3] push against; put pres-
sure on. tlynke kasta [v3] push (back),
push against; resist, actively oppose; hold out
against. tuhana kasta [v3] be illegal, be against
the law/rules; break the rules/law.

kastoma [v2] be contrary, antagonistic; be stub-
born, obstinate; be irascible, argumentative, dis-
agreeable, feisty.

kasu [n] side, vertical/sloping surface; face, slope
(of a mountain); side, edge, face (of an enclosed
ﬁgure); side, surface (of a sheet of paper or
other ﬂat object), page (of a book). kasu ka-
soua [n(all)] from side to side. kasu kasume
[n(loc)] side by side, abreast; together, in tan-
dem.

kasuhpa [n] maternal male cousin, half-brother
(son of one’s mother) (or other male relative of
one’s generation belonging to the same matrilin-
eal clan).

kasukuntsan [n] rectangle, square, four-sided ﬁg-

ure. sioku kasukuntsan [n] square.

katama [v1] be intimidating, daunting. katamampa [v2] intimidate, bully.

kateka [v2] seize, grab, take suddenly and/or by

force; catch, capture.

katia [v2] clap, crack, make a sharp/cracking
sound, make a percussive sound. katie [n] clap,
crack, sharp or percussive sound. kikatie [n]
snap. tymok tokatie [n] thunderclap.

katiausa [v3] trip, fall over unexpectedly, drop

kasehtetsan [n] triangle. sioku kasehtetsan [n]

suddenly.

equilateral triangle.

katioka [v3] die violently; die suddenly or unex-

kasni [n] care, taking care, mindfulness.
kasol [n] iron.
kasolha [v3] throw hard, hurl, lob; hit, pelt.
kasolhe [n] missile, projectile.

kasta [v3] go against, go in the opposite direc-
tion; oppose. kastaka [n]
opponent, antagonist. kaste [n] opposite, an-
tithesis; opponent, opposing object/force. lhahe
kasta [v3] reach in the opposite direction; step
inter-
in,
rupt, attempt to prevent. pake kasta [v3] take a
step towards (s.o.) (in challenge); challenge, op-
pose.
solhe kasta [v3] throw (s.th.) against.
tiause kasta [v3] fall against, fall onto; drop

interfere with, meddle in;

intervene;

pectedly, drop dead.

katiopa [v2] gallop; run, chase (used of four-legged
animals).
katlam [n] standard cubit (a unit of measurement,
equivalent to about 55 centimetres, or 1.8 feet).
katluha [v3] press hard (on), press ﬁrmly (on),
push hard (on).

katlynka [v2] push hard (on), push forcefully

(against).

katsypa [v3] drown;

force (s.th.) under the wa-
ter.
kauempyi [n] chick, poult.
kauen [n] fowl, domestic bird, poultry; turkey (esp.

a domesticate of Meleagris).

362

CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

kauenka [n] hen, female turkey.
kaume [n] battle, foray; raid. kaumemit [n] war.
the following
kaupihe [n]
(one(s)) (esp. used of objects or places in a linear
arrangement).

the next

(one(s)),

kauta [v3] leave, go from here (where the speaker
leave, go/come from there

and addressee are);
(where the addressee is).

kaute [n] cheese.
ke [p] here, there; this, that (near addressee, or near

speaker and addressee; deictic particle).

keﬁha [v1] be new, unfamiliar; be recent, novel,
previously unknown, recently arrived/acquired.
keﬁhu [n] something new or unfamiliar, novelty.
keﬁhusot [n] news, tidings, new information.
keﬁs [n] threat.
kehima [v2] breathe in, inhale.
kekua [v3] prepare, process, make usable. kekoia [v1] be ready (to use), pre-
pared, processed; be usable, serviceable.

kela [v1] be together; be related, be in a mu-
tual/reciprocal relationship; share, have in com-
mon. kelats [n] relationship; relatedness.
kelta [v3] (cause to) become related, enter into
a relationship. ahkame kela [v1] be siblings.
ame nap`e kela [v1] be mother and daughter,
be related as mother and daughter. kohmi kela
[v1] be in a romantic relationship. kuna kela
[v1] be friends, have a friendship. sakohmi kela
[v1] be married, be spouses. sakohmi kelats
[n] marriage. sakohmi kelta [v3] get married;
marry.

kelaitsip [n] wasps’ nest.
kelana [v1] be fascinating, compelling, enthralling;
be fascinated (by), be very interested (in), ﬁnd
compelling. kelanampa [v2] fascinate,
enthrall; do (s.th.) in a compelling way.

kele [a] together, all together; a total of.
kelefa [v1] be shared, held in common; share, own
together, have joint ownership of. kelefe [n] shared one, common one, the
same (one).

kelh [n] shard, fragment, chip, ﬂake, small piece
(broken o↵ of something hard and brittle); small
piece, bite, morsel (of crispy/crunchy food).
kelha [v3] go up, rise, ascend; bring/take up; raise,
lift (e.g., a part of one’s body). inie kelha [v3] look up.
kuma kelha [v3] face up. pake kelha [v3] step
up, get up (onto). talhe kelha [v3] climb, climb
up, walk up (a sloping surface); go upstairs. yise
kelha [v3] climb, climb up (a vertical surface).

kelhaho [n] sunrise.
kelhapa [v2] oppose one another, be in opposition,
struggle, compete (with one another); be com-
plementary, be the counterpart of, correspond;
match up, pair up, put together. kelhapanen [n] match,
pair, pairing; contest, competition (involving two
opponents). kelhapats [n] opposition, distinc-
tion, complementarity.

kelhaut [n] height, area above; up, upward direc-
tion, way up; upstairs. kelhauta [n(all)] up,
upward(s), higher; on the way up. kelhautna
[n(loc)] up, above, higher; upstairs. eka kel-
hautna [n(loc)] up here (where we are).

kelhilme [n] moonrise.
kelhiuna [v1] be old, familiar, well known.
kelhpa [v1] be hard and thin, brittle, easy to crack;
(p.t. food) be crisp, crunchy, crusty. kelhpe [n]
crust.

kelhuhme [n] old/familiar (one).
kelhutopa [v1] be interdependent, depend on one

another; be linked, closely connected.

keliala [v1] be a shared responsibility; share, have
in common (s.th. to which one has a relationship
of stewardship or obligation); be related (in com-
mon), share a relationship (with); be related to
one another, share a bond of mutual responsi-
bility or obligation. kelialats [n]
mutual obligation, relationship involving shared
responsibility and/or responsibility for one an-
other; relatedness, kinship. keliale [n] shared
(one), common (one), the same (one).
ihfoite
keliala [v1] share a secret, conspire with.

kelmiku [n] ant colony.
kelmilhta [v3] compromise.

kelmota [v3] unite, join together, bring/come to-

gether, unify.

kelohtla [v1] resemble each other, be alike, be simi-
lar. kelohtlats [n] resemblance, similarity. akiel
kelohtla [v1] look alike.

keloise [n] beehive.
kelotla [v1] part (ways), separate; disband, dis-

perse.

keltima [v1] touch, be in contact with, be adja-
cent to, border on, share an edge/boundary with;
(ﬁg.) touch on; be related to, be involved with,
have something to do with, have something in
common with. keltinta [v2]
touch, come into contact; bring into contact; be-
come involved.
kelu [n] seven. keluka [n] seventh (ordinal). ke-
lutla [n] (one) seventh (fraction). ekeluna [a]
seven times, on seven occasions.
ekelukana
[a] for the seventh time. kakelu [n] seven-part
(thing); seven times; group of seven. kakelume,
kakeloi [a] seven times (in a row); sevenfold, by
a factor of seven.

keluhits [n] dusk, twilight (period between sunset

and darkness).

keluktia [v2] exchange, trade. keluktianen [n] ex-
change, trade/exchange network. keluktiats [n]
trade, exchange.

kelupatam [n] seventeen. kelupatanka [n] seven-

teenth.

kelusinta [v2] change places, switch places; ex-
change, switch (with one another).

kem [n] ridge; headland; back of a horse or other
quadruped. etle kem [n] bridge of one’s nose.
kutsmu kem [n] lower back, small of the back.
lias kem [n] nape of the neck.

kemeta [v2] be disturbed, rise suddenly into the
air (used of groups of small light objects such
as leaves or birds, or particulate matter such as
snow or dust). hohits kemetats [n] cloud of
dust. ise kemetats [n] snow ﬂurries.

kemus [n] saddle.
kenin [n] (adolescent) girl, young woman, maid.
kenta [v3] use up, expend, exhaust, consume,
spend. keintanen [n] waste,
trash, refuse. kental
[n] resource(s). kustai
kenta [v3] have no choice, have no alternative.
kenu [n] unit of distance, equivalent to ten thou-
sand standard cubits (katlam), or about 5 and a
half kilometres.
kepe [n] seed, nut.
kepehots [n] acorn.
kepenia [v2] gather nuts or seeds, forage for nuts

363

kesta [v1] be happy, fortunate; be pleasing, pleas-
ant; be happy, cheerful, joyful.
kestampa [v2] please, make happy.
kestats
[n] fortune; pleasure. keste [n] pleasing thing,
(cause of) happiness; happy/fortunate event.

kestol [n] happiness, cheer.
kesup [n] mould, fungal growth; lichen.
keta [v3] come here, arrive here (where the speaker
and addressee are); go/come there (where the
addressee is); bring here/there, put here/there.
pake keta [v3] step forward.

keto [n] bone.
ketohain [n] skeleton.
ketsan [n] time, moment in time.
keul [n] chair; stool; seat.
keuosta [v3] carve, incise, shape (with a pointed
tool).
kiampatanka [n] ﬁf-

kiampatam [n] ﬁfteen.

teenth.

kian [n] ﬁve. kianka [n] ﬁfth (ordinal). kiantla [n]
(one) ﬁfth (fraction). ekianna [a] ﬁve times; on
ﬁve occasions; in ﬁve cases. ekiankana [a] for
the ﬁfth time. kakian [n] quintuple, ﬁve-part
(thing); ﬁve times; group of ﬁve. kakianme,
kakiain [n] ﬁve times (in a row); ﬁvefold, by a
factor of ﬁve.

kiatahkan [n] centipede.
kiel [n] the dream world (as separate from the wak-
ing world). kielna [n(loc)] in a dream, while
dreaming, as part of a dream.
kielmin [n] dream(s), dreaming.
kienaua [n] vote.
kietam [n] picture, image; drawing; painting; like-

ness, representation.

kietla [v2] ﬁddle with, play with, move (around)

absentmindedly or without purpose.

kietsan [n] model, replica.

tokietsan [n] sculp-

ture, statue.

kifa [v2] shrink, contract, diminish, recede, take
up less and less room; reduce, compress; fold up.
tluhe kifa [v2]
compress, compact, press together; crumple.
kiha [v1] be small, little. akihima [v2] shrink, di-

minish, (cause to) get smaller.

kihaka [v2] scrape, scratch (with a pointed instru-

or seeds.

ment).

kepesoha [n] nutshell.
kesehta [v1] be continuous, perpetual, unending.
kesi [n] stain; blemish.

kihana [v3] pierce, stab, puncture, poke a hole in.
lilh-
piau kihana [v3] drill a hole in.

364

CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

kihanoi [n] piercing, hole (through s.th.), punc-
ture, perforation. ahim kihanoi [n] air hole,
ﬁnger hole (on a ﬂute).

kiho [n] small (one), little (one).
kiholu [n] iris (of the eye).
kihuata [v3] carve, scratch (with a pointed instru-
ment), engrave, incise, make an incision in. kihuate [n]
stylus, carving knife, tool used for scratching or
incising. kihuaitanen [n] carving, carved sym-
bol or inscription, engraving.

kihun [n] letter, message, note, correspondence.
kikahta [v3] jab, poke, prick (with a pointed in-

strument).

kiket [n] each of us, every one of us, we each (1st
plural inclusive). hen kiket [n] both of us, we
two, the two of us, you and I (each).
kikiha [v1] be very small, tiny, miniscule.
kikloha [v3] pierce, poke a hole through, skewer;
stick (a pointed object) through; thread (a nee-
dle) through. kiklohe [n]
skewer, spit, lance.

kiksona [v2] focus (in) on, concentrate on; look at
closely, inspect carefully, examine closely, exam-
ine in minute detail.

kila [v3] be seen, appear, come into view; see, no-
tice, spot; show, reveal. kula [v1] be seen,
be visible, be in view; be evident; it appears that,
it looks as though; see, have in view. ekula [v1] look, have
the appearance of, have an X appearance; seem,
appear. kulampa [v2] show, be visible, be ap-
parent; show, let show, reveal, exhibit, display.

kilahta [v3] be pointed, sharp, piercing; have a
point, have a sharp tip; (p.t. a thorn, spine,
etc.) stick out, protrude; point, aim (a pointed
weapon or instrument) at; touch, prod, poke, jab
(with the pointed end of s.th.). kilahtal [n] target
(e.g.,
in archery). kilahte [n] poker, pointer,
weapon or tool with a sharp point.

kilalitsan [n] doll; puppet.
kilha [v1] be sharp, keen, have a sharp edge. kilhta

[v3] sharpen, hone (a blade).

kilhi [n] hair (esp. facial hair), whisker(s).
kilhot [n] bite, sample (of food).
kilhta [v3] bite. kilhte [n] bite;

biting.

kilim [n] chime, small bell. enkit kilim [n] wind

chime.

kilohanen [n] larynx, voice box. fueie kilohanen

[n] adam’s apple.

kiloma [v1] be easily seen, prominent, noticeable,

highly visible, eye-catching.

kilu [n] descendant. kilumit [n] one’s descendants.
kiluote [n] topsoil.
kim [n] we, us (1st plural inclusive nominative pro-

noun and clitic).

kima [n] we (1st plural inclusive ergative clitic).
kima [v2] be in use, occupied, taken up; take up; be
busy, occupied (with); be diligent, hard at work;
be preoccupied (with).

kime [n] to us (1st plural inclusive irrealis dative

clitic).

kimi [n] baby, newborn, infant.
kimihats [n] infancy.
kimo [n] to us (1st plural inclusive realis dative

clitic).

kimon [n] petal.
kimot [n] all of us, we all (1st plural inclusive). hen
kimot [n] both of us, the two of us, we both, you
and I both.

kina [v3] let, allow, enable.

lhyue kina [v3] let

(s.o.) in, allow (s.o.) to enter.

kinalu [n] toilet, latrine.
kinapetaka [n] mantis.
kine [n] bead. kinemit [n] string of beads.
kinu [n] stain (esp. wet stain formed by the absorp-
tion of liquid into porous material), spot, blotch,
splotch.

kiolh [n] burn (on the skin).
kiolhka [v1] be too hot to touch; be burning hot,
scalding. kiolhketa [v2] make/become (very)
hot, reach a high temperature; bring up to a high
temperature; heat, ﬁre (pottery, metal, etc.).
kiompa [v2] run, move quickly; chase, pursue.
kiompohta [v2]
outrun, run faster than, beat (in a race).
kiospa [v3] burn.
kiota [v1] be quick, fast, swift, rapid; move quickly.
akiotima [v2] speed up, accelerate, go faster.
kiotampa [v2] act quickly, hurry, rush; do (s.th.)
quickly; be quick to (do s.th.). kiotats [n] speed,
swiftness, rapidity.

kiouha [n] demon, bogeyman (creature from
Okuna folklore, usually depicted as a tall, pale-

skinned ﬁgure with no eyes or ears and a giant
mouth).

kipehi [a] slightly, barely, just, a very little bit.
kipiatsike [n] dragonﬂy.
kisa [v1] be frozen, solid, hard, petriﬁed; be icy.
akisima [v2] (cause to) freeze, get harder, be-
come more solid. kise [n] ice. kista [v3] freeze
(completely), freeze solid, turn to ice; solidify,
harden. keista [v1] be frozen.

kisenan [n] ice.
kisepyi [n] a very few, only a few. ekisepyina [a]
rarely, (only) very occasionally, every now and
then, every so often. kakisepyime, kakisepyie
[a] only a few times (in a row); only a little.
kisipe [n] a tiny bit, only a little (quantiﬁes mass

nouns).

kistynan [n] frost, hoarfrost.
kit [n] mote, speck, grain, particle.
kitaha [v3] stab, spear, harpoon, kill (game) by

stabbing.

kitam [n] piece/sheet of paper;

leaf, page (in a

book).

kitluha [v3] bore a hole in, drill a hole in.

kitoleu [n] squirrel.
kitou [n] beetle.
kitsipi [a] slightly, barely, just, a very little bit.
ekitsipi [a] brieﬂy, for a very short time.
lau
kitsipi [a] a very little ways, not far; slightly,
barely, to a small degree.

kitsu [n] onion.
kitsypon [n] faucet, spigot, tap.
kiunma [n] (one) hundred. kiunmaka [n] hun-
kiunmatla [n] (one) hun-
dredth (ordinal).
dredth (fraction), percent. ekiunmana [a] a
hundred times. ekiunmakana [a] for the hun-
dredth time. kakiunmame, kakiunmai [a] a
hundred times (in a row); a hundredfold, by a
factor of a hundred. kiunma hen [n] two hun-
dred. kiunma tam [n] (one) thousand (lit. ten
hundreds).

kiuo [n] whorl, loop, gyre; curl. kiuomit [n] coil,
spiral; circular pattern, series of loops. silh ki-
uomit [n] ﬁngerprints.

kiyn [n] string, wire, cord, line (esp. when stretched
taut, as on a bow, stringed instrument, or rack).
kiynmit [n] set of strings (on a musical instru-
ment); warp (on a loom).

klalpa [v2] creep (around), move stealthily. klalpe,

klalpats [n] stealth.

kloha [v3] go through; undergo, endure, experience;

365

put/take through; subject to. hasume
kloha [v3] live one’s life, spend one’s life. iante
kloha [v3] jump through. inie kloha [v3] look
through, look out of (a window or other open-
ing); examine, inspect, look over.
lhope kloha
[v3] ﬂow through; (p.t. wind) blow through; per-
meate, saturate; cause to ﬂow through, infuse
(with). n`a kloha, n`a lhope kloha [v3] soak,
drench.
tiause kloha [v3] fall through, drop
through. yise kloha [v3] climb through/among
(e.g., the branches/canopy of a tree).

klolhau [n] path, passage, way through (an obsta-

cle).

ko [n] you (2nd person ergative clitic).
kohahpe [n] piece of furniture. kohahpemit [n]

furniture (set), furnishings.
kohalu [n] room (in a house).
kohmi

[n]

lover, partner, spouse (person with
whom one is in a monogamous sexual relation-
ship).

kohot [n] large box, chest, crate.
kohta [v2] compare. kohtanen [n] comparison; standard of
comparison, thing against which s.th. is com-
pared. kohtats [n] comparison.
kohtin [n] blacktail deer, mule deer.
kohui [n] berry.
kohuin`a [n] berry juice.
koi [n] you (2nd singular nominative pronoun).
koihta [v3] (see: koipa).
koihte [n] speciﬁc (ones), particular (ones), (ones)

in particular (plural).

koilampats [n] procession, parade.
koin [n] person, human being. esiankats koin
[n] adult. pahai koin [n] hermit, wild person,
person living outside society.

koinkats [n] personhood, humanity, being human.
koipa [v1] be familiar, known; be identiﬁed, inden-
tiﬁable; be speciﬁc, particular; know, be familiar
with (a person or thing). koipe [n] acquain-
tance;
familiar person or thing; (when follow-
ing another noun) speciﬁc, certain, (in) partic-
ular. akoipima [v2] become more familiar; get
to know (gradually), become better acquainted
with. koihta [v3] become familiar/known; get
to know, become acquainted with; come to know,
ﬁnd out about; introduce, acquaint, familiarize,
let (s.o.) know about; identify, specify. esian
koipa [v1] know by name, know the name of.
kuma koipa [v1] know by sight, recognize.

koipahain [n] social network, network of relation-
ships or associations; association, organization;
society.

koitsan [n] (human) body; human form, ﬁg-
ure/shape of a person. koitsanme [n(inst)] in
human form.

koituk [n] crowd of people.
kol [n] pole, post, (vertical) support, timber, shaft,

mast; leg (of a piece of furniture).

kolha [v2] protect, guard, watch over. kolhaka [n]

guard, guardian, protector.

kolmutu [n] fence.
koluma [v1] be dicult, hard; be confusing, chal-
lenging, obtuse; (p.t. physical objects) be hard
to handle or manipulate, cumbersome, awk-
ward, unwieldy, clumsy, unmanageable; be crude,
poorly done/made. kolumampa [v2] be clumsy,
awkward; do (s.th.) clumsily; do (s.th.) with dif-
ﬁculty.

kolumpi [a] with diculty.
koma [v2] (be able to) speak, know, understand,
use (a language or other form of communication);
communicate (a message), convey, express, indi-
cate; represent, stand for (an idea or concept).
komats, koma-
nen [n] speech, language, means of communica-
tion. kome [n] message, meaning, concept (being
communicated); speech, speaking, words, com-
munication, expression, (use of) language. ko-
muhka [v2] manage to convey; get one’s mean-
ing/message across. ihtsile koma [v2] speak ﬂu-
ently, be proﬁcient.

komal [n] beaver.
komaliout [n] beaver dam.
komi [n] seagull.
kompi [n] squash, gourd.
konin [n] state, conditions; environment, setting,
surroundings, circumstances. suklut konin [n]
working conditions; place or circumstances of
one’s work.
tsuhpanen konin [n] living con-
ditions.

kono [n] salmon.
konom [n] hammer.
konti [n] jacket, (short) coat.
kopo [n] pot, jar, jug, vase (any container with a
narrow opening, used for storing or carrying liq-

uid, grain, etc.). tilas kopo [n] bottle, glass jar.
kosa [v2] be dicult, be a struggle, be an e↵ort;
struggle with, grapple with, have diculty with,
have a hard time with. kosats [n] struggle, di-
culty, e↵ort.

kosehkam [n] early afternoon.
kosehkamot [n] south by southwest (lit. direction

of the sun in the early afternoon).

kosehteut [n] due west (lit. just north of the direc-

tion of the sun in the evening).

koset [n] evening, afternoon (esp. mid to late after-
noon); (ﬁg.) west, western (esp. when modifying
a noun denoting a location).

kosetot [n] west, southwest (lit. direction of the sun
in the evening; conventionally, 120 degrees west
of true north).

kosto [n] beach; sand bar, stretch of sand.
kot [n] (seed) pod, husk; capsule.
kota [n] brick.
kotanu [n] porch, deck, veranda.
kote [n] black (thing).
kotiemi [n] raccoon.
kotsim [n] morning, forenoon; (ﬁg.) east, eastern
(esp. when modifying a noun denoting a loca-
tion).

kotsimot [n] east, southeast (lit. direction of the
sun in the morning; conventionally, 120 degrees
east of true north).

kotsinkeut [n] due east (lit. just north of the di-

rection of the sun in the morning).

kotsinkis [n]

late morning (period just before

noon).

kotsinkisot [n] south by southeast (lit. direction of

the sun during late morning).

kotsuku [n] chest, wardrobe, cabinet (or other
piece of furniture used for storage, usu. with com-
partments).

kotu [n] house, dwelling. kikotu [n] hut, cottage;

shack; temporary shelter.

kouak [n] crow.
ksafa [v1] be hoped for, wished for, wanted, de-
sired; hope, wish (for); want, desire. ksafe [n] hope, wish; desire.

ksalpa [v1] vomit, throw up. ksalpe

[n] vomit.

ksalpona [v1] be nauseated, fell (very) nauseous,
feel the urge to vomit.
ksalpone, ksalponanen [n] (cause of) nausea.
kummin ksalpona [v1] have morning sickness.
ksapatla [v3] salt, cover/coat with salt. ksapatle

[n] salt used in food preservation. ksapaitlanen
[n] salted meat.

ksas [n] salt.
ksetli [n] die/dice used in gambling.
ksiama [v2] sneeze. ksiame [n] sneeze, sneezing.
ksinan [n] salt water (sea water or other salty or

brackish water); brine.

ksipa [v2] squeeze, pinch, clench, grasp tightly,
lhimie ksipa [v2]
hold tightly (in one’s grip).
furrow one’s brow. naua ksipa [v2] clench one’s
ﬁst. ksipe [n] grip, grasp, hold.

ksipoma [v2] be greedy, stingy, tight-ﬁsted, unwill-

ing to share; be jealous.

ksohe [n] darkness.
ksohma [v1] be dark,

in darkness,

in shadow
(used of objects reﬂecting light, rather than light
sources). aksohmima [v1] darken, get darker,
fall (gradually) into shadow. ksohmanen [n]
shadow. ksohmeta [v3] darken, get dark.

ksohnomats [n] dusk, twilight, late evening (after

sunset).

ksohona [v1] be mysterious,

inscrutable, enig-
matic, dicult to understand. ksohone [n] mys-
tery, enigma.

ksohtilas [n] obsidian.
ksona [v2] look at, gaze at. ksonilma [v2] look
for, look out for, try to see. ksonats [n] gaze;
attention.

ksonoma [v2] be watchful, vigilant; be observant.
ksutla [v1] be ugly.
ku [n] you (2nd person nominative clitic).
kue [n] to you (2nd person irrealis dative clitic).
kueka [v1] be false, wrong, untrue, incorrect, inac-

curate; be unreal. kueke [n] falsehood.
kufu [n] place between/among, midst.

kufuna
[n(loc)] between; among, in the midst of. eka
kufuna [n(loc)] around here, hereabouts, in the
area. kufu kufuna [n(loc)] all around, here and
there, in various places.

kufumpa [v2] go (back and forth) between; medi-
ate between, arbitrate.

kufusot [n] gossip.
kuha [v1] be hard, ﬁrm, rigid, tough, unyielding; be
dense, solid (not hollow); be rough. kuhampa
[v2] be rough, careless, brutal; handle roughly.
kuhta [v2] harden, make/become ﬁrm; solidify.

kuhinie [n] scowl, glare, dirty look.
kuhsule [n] slipper (or similar footwear); stocking.
kuket [n] each of you, every one of you, you each.
hen kuket [n] both of you, the two of you (each).
kuia [v1] be certain, deﬁnite; be sure.

kuista [v1] be long (temporally), take a long
time; last, endure; (p.t. animates) be long-lived.
akuista [v1] last, endure (for a certain measure
of time), take (a certain amount of time). akuistohta [v1]
be longer (than); exceed, outlast, outlive, last
longer (than), survive for longer (than).

kula [v1] (see: kila).
kulampio [n] view, sight, ﬁeld/range of vision, area
which can be seen. kulampiona [n(loc)] in
sight, within view, in one’s range of vision. ku-
lampio pahaina [n(loc)] out of view, beyond
one’s sight.

kulhe [n] green (thing).
kulhepaut [n] vein of a leaf.
kulhiku [n] bile, gall.
kulhua [v2] curl (up).
kulhulyip [n] frond.
kulu [n] thing; concept, idea, notion.
kuma [n] face, visage; front, facade; (ﬁg.) pres-
ence; view, attention. kumana [n(loc)] before,
in front of, in the presence of, facing. kuma ku-
mana [n(loc)] face to face, facing one another;
in person.

kumakyin [n] facial expression.
kumalhi [n] facial hair.
kumapahti [n] complexion.
kumeilhte [n] outcome, end result, upshot.
kumi [n] womb, uterus; vagina.
kumipa [v2] gestate, develop, be in utero; be
pregnant, expecting; be pregnant with, carry
(a child). kumipaka [n] pregnant woman, expec-
tant mother. kumipe [n] unborn child, fetus.
kumipanen [n] pregnancy.

kumita [v2] come/go forward; approach, come be-
fore, present oneself to, enter into the presence
of; turn towards, turn to face; present, bring for-
ward; show, display, demonstrate; bring before,
bring into the presence of. inie kumita
[v] look at, turn to look at, turn one’s eyes to-
wards. kumitats
[n] display, demonstration, presentation; audi-
ence, hearing. kumuta [v1] face, be facing (in
the direction of); be opposite, complementary
(to). kumute [n] complement,
counterpart, opposite; opponent. ufatlauta ku-
mita [v3] face the wrong way, look/turn in the
wrong direction. ufatlauta kumuta [v1] be fac-

368

CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

ing the wrong way; be backwards.

kumitaut [n] direction, way (in which something is

facing), orientation, alignment, position.

kummin [n] (period of one’s) pregnancy.
kumolua [v2] look behind, look over one’s shoul-

der about; think over, mull over. kuntsapanen [n] object of
investigation or speculation, topic of
inquiry.
kuntsapats [n] inquiry, investigation; specula-
tion. kuntsape [n] query, question.

der, turn one’s head (to face s.o.).

kuntsihfeta [v3] rinse.

of you, you both.
kumpakaka [n] heron.
kumpatam [n] fourteen. kumpatanka [n] four-

teenth.

kumpatla [v3] water, drench, cover with wa-
ter (or other liquid). san
kumpaitla [v1] be bloody, covered in blood. ut-
sas kumpaitla [v1] be sweaty, covered in sweat.

kumpokot [n] turtle.
kumuta [v1] (see: kumita).
kumuten [n] the other side, the opposite side (of a
divided space). kumutenna [n(loc)] opposite,
across, on the other side.

kun [n]

four.

fourth (ordinal).
kunka [n]
kuntla [n] (one) quarter, (one) fourth (fraction).
ekunna [a] four times, on four occasions, in four
cases. ekunkana [a] for the fourth time. kakun
[n] quadruple, four-part (thing); four times; four-
some, quartet, group of four. kakunme, kakoin
[a] four times (in a row); fourfold, by a factor of
four.

kuna [n] friend. keliale kuna [n] mutual friend.
kunahats [n] friendship. kunahatsme [n(inst)]

kuntupa [v2] walk on four legs, be four-legged.
kuntupaka [n] four-legged animal, quadruped.
kunu [n] water (esp. fresh water); water source,
body of fresh water; pond. kikunu [n] pool,
small pond. tokunu [n] lake.

kunumots [n] frog.
kuo [n] to you (2nd person realis dative clitic).
kuohka [v2] caw; croak; be hoarse.
kuola [v2] meet (by prior arrangement), meet with,
rendezvous with. kuolats [n] meeting, appoint-
ment, rendezvous.

kuolen [n] meeting place, rendezvous (point).
kupina [v2] be patient.
kupio [n] den, lair; hideout; shelter, sanctuary, re-

treat.

kus [n] foot; base, bottom.
kusati [n] supper, evening meal.
kuska [v2] crumple, crinkle, crease, wrinkle.
kusnaua [n] sole (of the foot).
kusta [v2] choose, select, pick (out); decide (on),
opt (for). kuste [n] choice, selection; option; de-
cision. kumute kuste [n] alternative.

kustampe [n] judgement, discernment, ability to

in friendship; as a friend.

form opinions.

kunelha [v3] soak, drench, saturate; ﬁll with water
(or other liquid). san
kuneilha [v1] be bloody, blood-soaked, drenched
in blood. utsas kuneilha [v1] be drenched with
sweat.

kuniokon [n] water tank.
kunkule [n] ﬂask, canteen, water bottle, water con-

tainer.

kunne [a] lastly, last of all, ﬁnally.
kunoike [n] otter.
kunta [v3] divide, separate (into groups or piles);
sort, classify, categorize. kuntal [n] category, class, type, kind; divi-
sion; group, grouping, pile (into which things are
sorted). kuntanen [n] classiﬁcation, taxonomy,
way of sorting.

kuntehain [n] classiﬁcatory scheme, system of cat-

egories, taxonomy.
kuntiauen [n] waterfall.
kuntsapa [v2] ask about,

kustial [n] (pair of) feet. kustialna [n(loc)] on

foot.

kustoma [v2] be decisive.
kusuk [n] wisdom tooth.
kusuta [v3] back up, back away. pake kusuta [v3]

step back, take a step back.

kut [n] you (2nd plural nominative pronoun).
kutsmu [n] back, backside; spine, backbone, ver-
tebrae; ridge (running along the length of s.th.).
kutsmuna [n(loc)] behind, in back of. puol
tene
kutsmu [n] keel or underside of a boat.
kutsmu [n] ridge, crest of a hill.

kutsumpa [v2] move backwards, go in reverse.
kututi [n] skunk.
kyfalu [a] generally, usually, as a rule; regularly;
tend to, be wont to (indicates a generic or habit-
ual event).

kyiohtla [v2] compare.

inquire about; won-

kyipa [v2] hold up (high), hold aloft, support; (ﬁg.)

bear, endure, put up with; maintain, sustain.
kyipeutin [n] pause, brief wait; moment (esp.
moment during which nothing is happening).
kyipeutein [n(dat)] for a moment.

kyisa [v1] be short, brief; be quick; take a short
(amount of) time; (p.t. animates) be short-lived,
live for a short time. kyista [v2] stop, end, cut
short, put a stop to, discontinue, interrupt.

kyitsa [v3] say (s.th.) about, tell about, let (s.o.)
know about, inform. kyitsampa
[v2] talk about, speak about, discuss.
kyit-
sanen [n] subject/topic of conversation, what
one talks about. kyitse [n] information, knowl-
edge, tidings.
itlas kyitsa [v3] make an ob-
servation about, note, take note of, remark on,
comment on. keﬁhu kyitsa [v3] give (the) news
of/about, inform, let (s.o.) know about. siehpe
kyitsa [v3] write about, write on; deal with, dis-
cuss (in writing).
sliahte kyitsa [v3] tell a story about.

kykaihpa [v2] keep down, hold down, keep from

moving/rising.

kykanta [v2] be upright, vertical (used of inan-
imates); keep upright; bolster, support, brace,
keep erect/standing; hold up, prop up, support,
shoulder (the weight of).
kykantats [n] support.

kykilha [v2] hold/carry (s.th.) in one’s mouth.
kylhoua [v2] keep inside, hold (inside), contain,
store. kylhouanen [n]
container; (place for) storage.

kylhouon [n] container, vessel (for storage).
kyluma [v2] stand open, be ajar; hold/keep open;
sustain; (p.t. a ﬁre) be/keep lit, be/keep going.

kymainka [v2] keep in place, hold in place, hold
fast, keep (s.th.) in position, keep fastened, pre-
vent from moving.

kymainkon [n] clasp, fastener, brooch, buckle.
kymoika [v2] be closed up, shut tight; hold closed,
keep closed; suppress; conﬁne, keep contained.
kymokta [v3] be welcomed, invited in; welcome,
invite in, make (s.o.) feel at home; be hos-
pitable, welcoming,
inviting. kymoikta [v1] be welcome, feel

369

lodger.

at home. kymokte, kymoikte [n] guest, vis-
itor,
landlord,
innkeeper. kymoktats [n] welcome, invitation;
hosting, hospitality.

kymoktaka [n] host;

kymokten [n] inn, guesthouse, lodging.
kyntla [v2] avoid, stay away from, keep from; fail
to (do s.th.), keep oneself from (doing s.th.).
kypeuta [v2] expect, anticipate, look forward to.

kysoika [v2] valuable, beneﬁcial; be useful, helpful,
of use; beneﬁt, help. kysoikats [n] use, use-
fulness, utility; value, worth, beneﬁt; purpose,
function.

kytaihpa [v2] hold back, restrain, keep (s.o.) out of
the way. kytaihpaka [n] obstacle; restraint.
kyteha [v2] hold back, detain, keep from leaving,
make (s.o.) stay behind; delay, postpone, defer,
put o↵, hold o↵ (on). kytehats [n] delay, post-
ponement, deferment.

kytlana [v2] keep straight, hold straight, keep in

alignment.

kytlanon [n] brace, splint.
kytoilha [v2] be erect, be upright, stand upright
(used of animates); hold (s.o.) up, keep upright,
keep standing, support (s.o.); hold oneself up,
lean on (for support). kytoilhats [n]
posture, stance; support. ympe kytoilha [v2]
lean on or
support oneself using a sta↵/cane,
walk with a sta↵/cane.

kytsoha [v1] be relevant, pertinent.

kytsyipa [v2] hold/keep under water, hold/keep

submerged (in liquid).

kytu [n] gift, present.
kytukpa [v2] participate in, take part in; work to-

gether on, collaborate on.

kytusia [v2] gnaw (on).
kyuata [v3] carve. kyuaitanen [n]
carving.

kyuosia [v2] keep warm, cuddle.

la [p] each, apiece; individually, separately; in turn.
hen la henme [n(inst)] two by two, two at a
time, in groups of two.

la [p] it’s all right, don’t worry, rest assured (em-
phatic particle, used to indicate reassurance).

l`a [n] plant. tol`a [n] bush.

370

CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

laha [v3] stop, relent; release, free, let go of; solve.
efois laha [v3] solve a
problem.
lhan laha [v3] give up, admit defeat
(lit. release will). petats laha [v3] let go of, re-
lease (from one’s grip).

lahai [n] period of hot, dry weather, heat wave.
lahenia [v2] gather plants or plant material, forage

for wild plants; (p.t. animals) graze.

lahi [n] ditch, trough.
lahta [v3] point, extend, stick out, protrude; point
to, point out,
indicate, call attention to; ob-
serve, take note of. tete lahta [v3] stick out one’s
tongue.

lahtsipe [n] sprout, shoot (of a plant), new growth.
lahtsipin [n] early spring, season when plants are

ﬁrst budding.

lai [n] light (esp. light emitted directly from a light
source, such as the sun or a ﬁre, rather than light
reﬂected o↵ of some object); rays, radiation; bril-
liance. kilai [n] lamplight, ﬂame of a lamp.

laina [v1] shine, glow, be bright, give o↵ light;
(p.t. sound) be high (in pitch). alainima [v2]
brighten, intensify, get/make brighter; rise, go up
(in pitch). lainampa [v2] be clear, transparent;
be translucent.

laisne [a] just, right, barely; a short time/distance
away; just about to; (modifying a numeral) ex-
actly, precisely. lau laisne [a] straight, directly,
in a straight line.
laite [n] yellow (thing).
laitepai [n] yellow warbler.
laka [v2] bark, bay, make a barking sound.

lake,

lakats [n] bark, barking.

lakia [v2] go hunting; hunt (for). lakiaka [n] hunter. lakiakamit [n] hunt-
ing party.
lakianen [n] game, quarry, prey.
lakiats, lakie [n] hunt, hunting.

lakuie [n] delight, enjoyment, thrill(s); enthrall-

ment, heightened emotional engagement.

lala [v2] touch, feel, stroke, pet.
lalia [v2] play, have fun.
laliats, lalie [n] play, playing; fun, amusement.
pota lalia [v2] play ball.

lalioma [v2] be playful.
lama [n] (area) far away, distance.
[n(loc)] far away, at a distance.

lamana

lampa [v3] go one after the other, go in order,
process; move in formation; happen in order,
happen in succession, occur in (a particular) se-

quence; put in order, sequence; take turns (at),
do (s.th.) step by step; play (a game that requires
taking turns); bring, take, pass, transfer (from
one person to another). lampats [n] order, sequence, suc-
cession; sequentiality; alternation, turn-taking.
lampe [n] list, sequence, procession (of objects
or events); line, queue, set of objects arranged in
a line; game (played in turns). kutsumpe lampa
[v2] go/happen in reverse order; reverse (the or-
der of). pake lampa [v2] take alternating steps;
alternate, take turns (at a game). solhe lampa [v2] throw/pass
from person to person; play (a ball game). solhe
lampe [n] ball game. uaste lampa [v2] ﬂy in
formation.

lampesot

[n] (step-by-step) directions,

instruc-

tions; explanation of a procedure; recipe.

lampin [n] (linear or temporal) order, sequence,
succession, arrangement. mehke lampin [n] se-
quence of events. sliahte lampin [n] narrative.
tola-

lamuhin [n] ballad, lay; narrative poem.

muhin [n] epic.

lamuta [a] ﬁnally, at last, at the end.
lan [n] line; mark, stroke. aﬁme lan [n] parallel

lines.

lana [v1] be free, loose, unfettered, unconstrained.
alanima [v2] loosen.
lanta [v3] get free, es-
cape; free, release, let loose. petats alanima
[v2] loosen one’s grip on.

lanta [v2] keep, maintain, preserve (e.g., food).
lantsemin [n] pattern (of lines), shape, ﬁgure.
lantupa [v2] walk in single ﬁle; lead in single ﬁle.

lapu [n] crest; dorsal ﬁn.
las [p] only, merely, just, except (focus particle).
lasta [v3] send, transmit.
[n] recipient, addressee (of a message).
lastal
lastampa [v2] send out, distribute.
laste [n]
message, transmission; delivery. tapio lasta [v3]
signal, send a signal.

latla [v2] send away, dismiss, banish, expel.
latuma [v2] shade, block the light, eclipse; cast a

shadow.

lau [n] way, path.
laui [n] rabbit.
laumasi`o [n] homesickness.
launia [v2] doze, be half-asleep.
lautehian [n] track(s), rail(s) (for a train).

le [c] but, yet; while, whereas.
le [p] I guess, I suppose, perhaps (evidential parti-
cle used to express uncertainty). hi`o le [p] yes,
I think so. ntsune le [p] no, I don’t think so.
lefa [v2] roll (over), roll around, move with a cir-

cular/rolling motion.

lehina [v1] be little, small, minor; be trivial, unim-

portant, inconsequential.

lehma [v1] be calm, peaceful. alehmima [v2] calm
down, become calmer, relax; pacify, make more
peaceful.
lehmeta [v2] calm down, pacify, be-
come/make calm.

lehua [v1] be advisable; should, ought to.
leike [n] treat; snack.
leka [v1] be exhausted.
lem [n] day, daylight hours (period from dawn
to dusk). takuiste lem [n] the longest day of
the year (day of the summer solstice).
lemna
[n(loc)] during the day, by day.

lempek [n] type of stringed instrument.
lena [v2] guess, suppose, reckon; imagine, specu-

late (about).

letan [n] mat, covering made of woven material.
letanin [n] coarsely woven material, matting.
leu [n] tail (of a land mammal, amphibian, or rep-

tile).

leua [v1] be clear; be clean, pure, unsullied, un-
blemished, untarnished. leuta [v3] clear; (make)
clean, purify.

lhaha [v2] reach, stretch (out), extend, lengthen.
lhahohta [v2] overreach, reach past. hulhpa lhaha [v2] cast a shadow.
lotsan
tsilpe lhaha [n] be branching, have
lhaha,
branches, send o↵ branches.

lhahampio [n] reach, area within one’s reach. lha-
lhahampio

hampiona [n(loc)] within reach.
pahaina [n(loc)] out of reach, beyond reach.
lhahina [v1] be strong, rich, intense, vivid, sat-
urated, brilliant (in colour, taste, smell, etc.).
akiel lhahina [v1] be vivid, have a vivid appear-
ance. amahtle lhahina [v1] have a rich/intense
ﬂavour, be ﬂavourful.

lhailotl [n] antler(s).
lhakina [v3]

infect, contaminate. lhakeina [v1] be infected, have
an infection; be contaminated. nol lhakeina [v1] have an ear infec-
tion. lhakine, lhakeine [n] infection; contami-

371

nation.

lhala [v1] be disliked; be annoying; dislike; mind,
be annoyed by, not accept, not tolerate. lhale [n] an-
noyance, pet peeve.

lhama [v3] wrap. lhame [n] wrapping(s);
wrap, cloak, shawl, cape.

lhan [n] will, resolve, determination; e↵ort.
lhana [v2] be left behind, be left over, remain;
leave.
lhaina [v1] be left behind, remain (stative);
have left, have remaining.
lhaine [n] leftovers, leavings, remains.

lhanka [v3] mark, make a mark,

leave a trace.
lhanke [n] mark,
trace.

lhata [v3] split, separate (lengthwise), branch;
sever, cleave. lhaita [v1] be split, severed, cloven;
be branching, forked. lhaitanen [n] cleft, split,
branching point, fork (in a road).
lhatats [n]
split, separation, branching; slit, seam, rent.
lhati [n] (group of) children (collective noun; trig-

gers plural agreement).

lhatopa [n] cloven hoof.
lhau [n] swallow (bird; esp. barn swallow).
lheiha [v1] be frivolous, silly, facetious; be light,
unserious; be trivial, inconsequential, unimpor-
tant.
lheihampa [v2] be/act silly, do s.th.
frivolous, act without serious intent; make light
of; be ﬂippant, make fun; be playful, play around,
have fun.

lheka [v2] stand up, get up, rise (from a seated po-
sition); raise up. lheika [v1] stand, be in a standing position
(having previously been seated).

lhema [v2] fail, give out, lose one’s strength or in-
tegrity; give way, yield, not resist; fail (at). tiause lhema
[v2] collapse, fall apart, fall in.

lhenu [n] wool.
lhenua [v2] be bad, poor, unskillful, incompetent
(at); do (s.th.) poorly; be displeased with (one’s
abilities), disapprove of.

lhes [n] edge (esp. sharp edge); blade, cutting edge;

ridge, crest.

lheta [v1] be thin, sparse, ﬁne; be loosely packed,

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CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

not dense (used of forest, hair, aggregated mate-
rial, etc.).

lhi [p] almost, nearly, close to (modiﬁes quanti-

ﬁers).

lhihe [n] grass.
lhihenam [n] grassland(s), prairie.
lhihka [v] drool, dribble. lhihke

[n] drool, spittle.

lhihkitalo [n] grasshopper.
lhika [n] saliva.
lhila [v2] pull (back towards oneself); pull in, draw
back/in, haul in; stretch, make taut.
lhilampa
[v2] be strict, stern, rigid. lheila [v1] be drawn
tight; be tight, taut, stretched (back); (ﬁg.) be
tense, alert, on edge. kiyn lhila [v2] draw in a
line (e.g., a ﬁshing line), tighten a cord, tighten
a string (on a stringed instrument). tau lhila,
taukiyn lhila [v2] draw (back) one’s bow (to ﬁre
an arrow).

lhim [n] eyebrow.
lhima [v2] wipe, rub gently.
lhimie [n] (pair of) eyebrows; brow.
lhimpek [n] smudge.
lhimul [n] rag, washcloth, cloth used for rubbing

or polishing.
lhinial [n] razor.
lhinta [v2] be clever, smart, shrewd, cunning; be
adept, adroit, agile, dexterous; use/wield (s.th.)
skillfully. lhintohta [v2] outwit, outsmart,
be smarter than.
lhinte [n] cleverness, cunning, agility, dexterity.
inie lhinta [v2] be alert, watchful, on guard.
lhisa [v3] sew, stitch. lhise [n] sewing materials (fabric
and thread).
lheisanen [n] (piece of) sewing,
stitchery.

lhita [v1] be missed, overlooked; miss, skip, over-
fail to ﬁnd/notice.

lhokana [n] grate (for a ﬁre); brazier.
lhol [n] relative, family member.
lholoi [n] inlet, entrance to a bay or harbour.
lhoma [v3] add, include; augment, supplement; in-
crease (the number of), extend. lhome [n] addition, in-
crease, supplement.

lhomik [n] pin.
lhonko [n] loud noise. lhonkomit [n] din, racket.
lhono [n] soap.

lhopa [v2] ﬂow, run, be ﬂuid; (p.t. wind) blow.
lhope [n] ﬂow, stream, cur-

lhopaka [n] ﬂuid.
rent.

lhopaut [n] direction in which s.th. ﬂows; stream,
current; course, channel, path (of a stream).

lhot [n] metal.
lhotam [n] pan, griddle.
lhoua [v1] (see: lhyua).
lhua [p] about, around, approximately (modiﬁes a

following numeral quantiﬁer).

lhukahim [n] foul air; bad breath; intestinal gas.
lhuko [n] waste, garbage, trash, refuse.
lhuma [v1] be dim, dark, hazy, foggy, poorly illu-
minated, in half-light (used of objects reﬂecting
light or spaces containing light, rather than light
sources); be unclear, obscure, indistinct, hard to
discern/distinguish. alhumima [v2] fade, pale,
grow dimmer.

lhumu [n] ache, dull pain.
lhuna [v1] leave, take one’s leave; part ways (with),
part company (with). lhunats [n] parting, leave-taking.

lhunki [n] steller’s jay.
lhusa [v2] ooze, seep, ﬂow thickly, be viscous.
lhuta [v1] be heavy (in weight); be massive, dense;
be bulky, cumbersome, dicult to lift or handle
(relative to size). alhuta [v1] weigh (a certain
amount).

lhympa [v2] be stupid, silly, foolish; be a fool, act
foolishly, make a fool of oneself, do s.th. stupid;
be clumsy. lhympaka [n] fool.
lhympe, lhympats [n] foolishness, stupidity.
lhyua [v3] enter, go/come into; bring/take into,
lead into. lhoua [v1] be inside, be indoors, occupy
(an enclosed space); be occupied, not empty.
lhouota [v2] stay inside, keep in-
side. lhyuohka [v3] get into, make it into,
manage to enter. eliampe lhyua [v3] welcome,
make (s.o.) feel welcome, be hospitable towards.
iante lhyua [v3] jump into. kahompe lhyua
[v3] break in(to); invade, storm, assail. nalhpe
lhyua [v3] usher into (by gesturing). s`u lhyua
[v3] leak, let in the rain (p.t. roofs).

liafueia [v1] be sticking out far above the surface

(of a body of water).

liahosta [v1] be mighty, (very) powerful.

liahotsma [v1] be enraged,

livid.

liahsina [n] necklace.
liahuetla [v1] be very afraid, terriﬁed, petriﬁed.
liahuetlampa [v2]
terrify, petrify.
liahuetlats [n] terror, intense
fear.

liakaihpa [v1] be a long way down, be far down;

be low, deep (down).

liakeilha [v1] be high (up), be far up, be a long

way up; be lofty.

liakna [v1] be long (distance). aliakna [v1] be
as long; be long enough; have a certain length,
measure in length. aliaknima [v2] lengthen,
make/get longer, elongate.

lialima [v2] open wide. lialuma [v1] be wide open;

(p.t. a ﬁre) be roaring, blazing.

lianka [n] snake.
liapaka [v2] take a large/long step (forward). lia-

pakota [v2] take large steps, stride.

liapama [v1] be vast, immense.
lias [n] neck; throat.
liaskan [n] collar.
liaspa [v3] swallow.
liatima [v1] be remote, distant, far away.
liatsuhka [v3] be disastrous, catastrophic; befall;
su↵er (a disaster). liatsuhke [n] disas-
ter, catastrophe, calamity.

liatsyipa [v1] be deep below the surface (of a body
water); be submerged, sunk (out of sight/reach).
liat-
syipanen [n] deep, depths.

liaume [n] penis.
liauna [v3] spread, scatter, disperse, strew; toss,
throw (in all directions).

liet [n] hat, cap; head covering.
lihe [n] strand, thread (in a web or weaving).

li-

hemit [n] web, webbing, weaving.

lihka [v3] cut (up), cut into pieces. leihka [v1] be cut up, be
in pieces. lihke [n] blade, cutting implement.
lihpa [n] sister. kilihpa [n] younger sister. tolihpa

373

(ﬁg.) discuss, debate, explore, consider, talk over;
decide, resolve.
likanal [n] yarn, thread; (ﬁg.) decision, resolu-
tion, conclusion, outcome of a debate or discus-
sion. likane [n] ﬁbre for spinning; material, mat-
ter, substance; (ﬁg.) subject, topic, issue, con-
cern, matter, question.

likanapun [n] spinning wheel.
lilhka [v3] fall (p.t. water level); ﬂow out, ﬂow
away; ebb, recede, subside (p.t. water, also ﬁg.).
lilhke, lilhkats [n] ebb, reﬂux, ﬂowing out; ebb
tide, falling tide.

lilhpiau [n] drill.
lima [v2] open; start, begin, initiate, commence,
activate; (p.t. ﬁre) light, ignite, start.
limuhka
[v2] get (s.th.) open; get (s.th.) going; get (s.th.)
started.
luma [v1] be open; be begun, started;
(p.t. ﬁre) be lit, going. hauat lima [v2] start
a ﬁre,
heulhte lima [v2] pull
open. hompe lima [v2] force open (by push-
ing). kantse lima [v2] pry open, force open (by
pulling). stihe lima [v2] make (ﬁre) by rubbing
sticks together. tlynke lima [v2] pull open.
lin [p] do you suppose? (question particle, used
to elicit supposition or conjecture from the ad-
dressee).

light a ﬁre.

lino [n] body (esp. of an animal); frame; hull (of a

ship); carcass.

lioke [n] symbol, sign; letter.
lioklampe [n] sequence of signs; writing, inscrip-

tion, line (of text).

liouhta [v2] block, block out, shut out, shield from
(light); obstruct, cut o↵ (the ﬂow of air or water);
hold back, dam.

liout [n] barrier, barricade, obstruction; screen,
levee.

toliout [n] dam, dike,

shield.

blind;
salhke liout [n] blood clot.

lipa [v1] be sticky.
lis [n] jewel, gem.
lisma [v2] be disrespectful, insolent, impudent.
listoun [n] crystal.
litla [v2] spin, twirl, gyrate, rotate (rapidly).
liuk [n] awl.
liuna [v1] be old, aged. aliunima [v2] age, get

[n] older sister.

older.

lihpahats [n] sisterhood.
lihtu [n] hips, waist.
lihtumul [n] belt, sash.
lika [v1] be tender, soft; (ﬁg.) be cute, adorable.
likana [v3] spin (yarn or thread); twist (rope);

liunta [v1] be loose, slack; be relaxed, lax, not un-
liuntampa [v2] be/act relaxed; be

der strain.
lax, lenient, indulgent.

lo [c] or, or else (exclusive or, used in questions).
lo [p] is it the case? (evidential particle expressing

374

CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

uncertainty, used when the speaker is requesting
conﬁrmation).

l`o [n] day (i.e., twenty-four hour period,

lasting
from dawn to dawn).
l`o lohme [n(inst)] from
day to day, day by day. ulhmo moitanen l`o [n]
birthday.

lohampa [v3] speak, talk, express oneself; say, ex-
press, articulate, give voice to, put into words.
lohampe [n] words,
speech; (verbal) expression, wording, the words
in which s.th. is expressed; voice (ﬁg.).

lohan [n] voice; (ﬁg.) opinion(s), expression.

lo-

hanme [n(inst)] aloud, out loud.
lohka [v3] cause, make, bring about.
lohkihun [n] diary, journal; newspaper.
lohkiuo [n] knot (in wood).
lohne [n] brown (thing), earth-coloured (thing).
lohotin [n] sapling.
lohuto [n] tree root.
loi [n] opening, oriﬁce; eye.
loia [v1] be clear, open.
loien [n] clearing (in a forest); courtyard. toloien

[n] square, plaza, open space (in a town).

loimik [n] needle (for sewing).
loiotla [v2] be distinct, be (recognizably) di↵erent;
distinguish, tell apart, tell the di↵erence.

lonalh [n] large branch (of a tree).
lonka [n] mussel.
losak [n] ﬁrewood.
losemu [n] tree bark.
losumilh [n] time of day.
lotsan [n] wood, piece of wood (esp. when used
as material for carving or building); tree trunk,
heavy branch. kapailhte lotsan [n] (piece of)
driftwood.

lotsuku [n] tree trunk.
loua [v1] (see: lyua).
loun [n] highland, upland, fell.
luaki [n] coyote.
luan [n] hair, head of hair; coat, fur (of an animal).

hame luan [n] grey hair.

luelia [v2] calm, relax, pacify, put (s.o.) at ease;
care for, treat (a disease or condition). lueliaka [n] doctor, healer; nurse.
lueliats [n] care, treatment, therapy.

luha [v1] be dim, pale, faint, weak; give o↵ very
little light (used of light sources, rather than ob-
jects reﬂecting light); (p.t. ﬁre) be low, smol-
der. aluhima [v2] fade, grow dimmer, dwindle,
weaken, die away, burn low. luhampa [v2] (p.t.
translucent substances) be cloudy, hazy, dark,
dense;
let through very little light.

loipahu [n] eyelid.
loita [v2] watch, observe, look at; attend; witness,

luhits [n] ember(s).
luhkoipa [v1] be well-known, old, familiar, known

experience. loitakamit [n] audience.

for a long time.

loitam [n] lid (esp. hinged lid of a box or chest);
door (of a cupboard or compartment); window
shutter.

loitoma [v2] be watchful, observant, attentive.
loka [n] forest, woods.
loke [n] mortar (for grinding). toloke [n] mill, mill-

stone.

luhme [n] old (one); elder.
luhmehats [n] old age.
luhtsa [v3] smell, detect the odour of. loihtsa [v1] smell, perceive the odour of;
have a smell/odour. aloihtsa [v1] smell (of),
have the smell/odour of.

luiha [n] old woman (esp. after the onset of

lokilu [n] o↵shoot; (small) branch, bough, limb (of

menopause), crone; wise woman.

a tree or plant).

luihats [n] menopause.

luihatsna [n(loc)]

lokua [v1] stink; be rank, foul, fetid, pungent; have

menopause; during menopause.

a strong and unpleasant smell/taste.

lolhampe [n] week.

lolhampe ekina [a] every

week.

lomiku [n] termite.
lomua [v1] ripple, form into waves; drift, form
into drifts. lomuats [n] small wave(s), ripple(s).
tolomuats [n] ocean wave(s), surf. ise lomuats
[n] snowdrift. kosto tolomuats [n] sand dune.
lon [n] cauldron, tub, vat, large vessel (for cooking

or bathing).

luka [v1] be very old, ancient.
luku [n] louse.
lul

[n] place/space underneath, area below, area
beneath. lulna [n(loc)] under, underneath, be-
neath.

lulha [v1] be bad.

lulhampa [v2] go badly, go
poorly, be poorly done; do s.th. bad; make (s.th.)
bad, do (s.th.) badly, do (s.th.) poorly. lulhta [v2]
become/make bad, ruin.

lulhan [n] malice, ill will; bad faith.

lulhanme

[n(inst)] maliciously, with malice; in bad faith.

luma [v1] (see: lima).
lumakon [n] cellar, basement, underground room.
kilumakon [n] vault, underground chamber or
tank.

lune [n] blue (thing).
lunkam [n] spruce.
lunta [v1] ﬂee, escape, run away, get away.
luom [n] (large) bell; (ﬁg.) hour.
luta [v2] bow, bend forward. tyn luta [v2] bow

one’s head; nod (one’s head).

luto [n] liver. kiluto [n] gall bladder.
lyhma [v3] seal (e.g., with glue or wax), make a
seal in; caulk. lyhme
[n] seal; sealant, caulking agent.

lyihpa [v1] be possible. lyihpe, lyihpats [n] pos-

sibility.

lyihpiylaka [n] caterpillar.
lyip [n] leaf. lhihe lyip [n] blade of grass. tsatsa-

nen lyipmit [n] foliage, greenery.

lynnu [n] yew tree.
lyua [v2] wake up, awaken. loua [v1] be awake.
waking, wakefulness.

ma [n] I (1st singular ergative clitic).
m`a [n] what, which; some, something; any, any-

thing; certain (inanimate).

mahki [n] demon, monster, malevolent spirit.
mahta [v2] be mean, petty; be nasty, malicious,
unkind; do (s.th.) out of malice; be merciless,
act without compassion. mahtats [n] mean-
ness, pettiness; malice, lack of compassion.

mahtla [v3] taste, detect the taste of. maihtla [v1] taste, experience the
taste of, be able to taste; have a taste. emaihtla [v1] taste (of), have the
taste/ﬂavour of.

maka [n] (cooked) meat.
mala [v3] create, invent, make up, come up with,
coin (usu. spontaneously,
through improvisa-
tion); discover, hit upon, arrive at; be inspired;
inspire. malats [n] creativity, inven-
tion, inspiration; improvisation. male [n] cre-
ation, invention, coinage; discovery.
malha [v1] be worthwhile, worth (doing).

375

malioina [v1] be clear, obvious, self-evident.
malka [n] wolf.
malo [n] wall (esp. supporting wall of a house or

other enclosed structure).

maloma [v2] be creative.
man [n] I, me (1st singular nominative pronoun).
manka [v3] ﬁx (in place), fasten, attach, ax.
mainka [v1] be ﬁxed
in place, held in place, held fast; stay in place,
stay put; be ﬁrm, stable, unmoving. mainkota
[v2] keep in place, hold onto, restrain, prevent
from moving. ahim mainkota [v2] hold one’s
inie manka [v3] catch sight of, focus
breath.
one’s gaze on; pay attention to. kistatl manka
[v3] lock. kiste manka [v3] freeze in place. lhile
mainkota [v2] restrain, hold back (esp. with a
rope or net); keep tied up, keep on a leash. no-
lal manka [v3] listen attentively to. s`o manka
[v3] tie (in place), tie down. statl manka [v3] trap. tsan manka [v3]
stay still, hold oneself in a ﬁxed position; hold
tightly onto; attach to oneself, fasten to oneself;
(ﬁg.) ﬁxate on, become obsessed with.

mankemik [n] pin, brooch.
mankol [n] stake, peg.
manute [n] fungus.
mas [n] soup, broth; stew.
masete [n] cattail.
masi`o [n] sorrow, melancholy, mournfulness.
matu [n] right, due, prerogative.
me [n] I, me (1st singular nominative clitic).
meha [v3] compose, create, produce, make up, de-
vise, author (esp. a poem or song). mehaka [n] poet, author, composer.
meihanen [n] work, piece, composition; (piece
of) poetry.

mehka [v3] happen, occur, transpire, come about,
come to pass; experience; come to be, come into
existence, originate, be realized, be instantiated;
cause, be the cause of, have, be responsible for.
mehkats [n] ex-
istence, being, reality; event, occurrence. mehke
[n] being, (real) thing, entity; happening, event,
occurrence; experience. mehketa [v3] appear,
come about, come into existence, arise; (p.t. sea-
sons) arrive, come, start, begin; bring into ex-
istence, make, create; cause to happen, e↵ect,
bring about. mehkihpa [v1] be intended, meant
to happen; be intentional, deliberate. mehkihpanenme [n(inst)] delib-
erately,
intentionally. mehkyipa [v1] be pos-
sible, potential. mehkoksa [v1] be necessary.
meihka [v1] have happened; be done, complete,
completed; be, exist, occur, be attested; be real,
actual. meihke [n] fact, real/true thing, thing
which exists. umehkemit [n] (the) past, past
events, what happened.
iomna meihka [v1]
be real, actual (lit. exist in the world). taimo
mehka [v3] be festive, celebratory, triumphal.

tight, rigid, clenched, contracted. naua metia
[v2] clench one’s ﬁst.

meun [n] milk.
meunka [v3] give milk,

lactate; nurse, suckle.
me-
unkaka [n] nursing mother. meunkal, kime-
unkal [n] nursing infant, suckling, newborn.
mi [n] to me (1st singular irrealis dative clitic).
mi [p] unfortunately, I’m afraid (emphatic particle

used when reporting misfortune).

miafa [v1] understand,

follow (an argument or

mehkamin [n] experience; s.th. which one under-

train of thought).

goes.

mehkehain [n] information; system of knowledge,
science, metaphysics, theory; way of organizing
or interpreting facts.

mehketapin [n] history, annal(s), saga.
mehkoma [v1] be common, usual; tend to occur,
be liable to occur; be likely, probable, expected.

mehon [n] maple.
mehu [n] shame.
mekietam [n] vision, mental image, picture in the
mind’s eye. ahim mekietam [n] hallucination.

mekoi [n] style, mode, design.
mekonin [n] mood, mental state, emotional state,

state of mind.

mekota [n] scorpion.
mekul [n] dish, plate; shallow ﬂat-bottomed bowl.

tomekul [n] platter, serving dish.

melehon [n] honeycomb. melehonmit [n] bee-

hive.

melet [n] kidney.
meletie [n] (pair of) kidneys.
melyi [n] honey.
melyiho [n] mead.
mena [v3] promise, vow, swear, assure. mene [n] promise, vow.

mesioku [n] mental health, mental balance, sanity.
metatak [n] crayﬁsh.
mete [n] hinge, joint; link (in a chain); juncture,
meeting point, node; pivot, turning point (lit.
and ﬁg.). kimete [n] link (in a chain). tuose
metena [n(loc)] in the nick of time.

metehis [n] the North Star (Polaris).
meteun [n] juncture, junction, meeting point, con-
ﬂuence, place where two paths or rivers come to-
gether; turning point, place of transition, bound-
ary, threshold, horizon.

metia [v2] ﬂex, tense, tighten, clench, contract,
make/become rigid. meitia [v1] be ﬂexed, tense,

miahte [n] maternal grandfather (mother’s father).

tomiahte [n] great-grandfather.

miai [a] how, to what degree; to some degree.
miakta [v3] come out, emerge (esp. as a result of
force or e↵ort); hatch (from an egg); (p.t. buds
or ﬂowers) sprout; force out, cause to hatch or
sprout. esip
miakta [v3] ﬂower, come into ﬂower, sprout ﬂow-
ers. hunu miakta [v3] bruise, get
a bruise.

miame

grandmother

[n] maternal

(mother’s
mother). tomiame [n] great-grandmother. to-
miamemit [n] one’s maternal ancestors; matri-
lineage.

miampi [a] how, to what degree; to some degree;
somewhat, more or less.
lau miampi [a] how
far; to what extent; some distance, a certain dis-
tance; to some extent. ntse miampi [a] not
much, not very, not so.

mian [n] how much; some, a certain amount. mian
iahte [n] some more (plural), others. mian iap
[n] more, some more (singular). ntse mian [n]
not much, not a lot; little.

mianka [n] which (one) (in a sequence) (lit. the
how many-th). emiankana [a] at which time
(out of a set of times); on which occasion, in
which case (out of a set of cases); at a certain
time; on a certain occasion, in one case.

miankats [n] quantity, amount, number; portion.

kufu miankats [n] range.

miante [n] how many; some, a (certain) number
of. emiantena [a] how often; on certain occa-
sions, in certain situations; at various times, from
time to time. kamianteme, kamiantei [a] how
many times (in a row); by how much, by what
factor; a number of times (in a row); to a certain
degree, by a certain factor. ntse miante [n] not
many, not a lot; few.

miatia [v1] get closer to, narrow in on, work on
(formulating an idea).

miauha [v2] mew, meow.
mi`e [n] where;

somewhere; anywhere. miei
[n(dat)] where to, whither. mieia [n(all)]
where, whither,
in which direction. mieme
[n(inst)] which way, how, by what route; some-
how, in some way, by some route. mieu [n(abl)]
where from, whence.

miekona [v1] be ignorant.

mihepa [v1] meditate, ruminate, ponder, think

over.
mihkot [n] bur, prickly seed pod.
mihoiton [n] umbilical cord.
mihsa [v1] be graceful, quick, sleek.
mihua [v1] be humble, modest, unassuming.
mihyla [v1] overlook, ignore, disregard, fail to con-
fail to remember/recall. mihylats [n] disregard.

mik [n] thorn; needle, barb, spine, quill. kimik [n]

prickle, bristle.

mikal [n] boy (esp. pre-pubescent boy). kimikal

[n] baby boy.

mikamie [n] maternal grandparents.
mikankuts [n] porcupine.
mikema [n] comb.
mikiela [v3] visualize, see in one’s mind; imagine,

envision.

mikloha [v1] think through, mull over, go over (in
one’s mind); relive, experience (the mental image
or memory of).

miktipa [v3] embroider.
miktipe, miktipats [n] embroidery, needlework.

miku [n] ant.
mikulu [n] idea, notion, abstract concept, mental

construct.

mikyitsa [v3] think about, contemplate.

mila [v1] be beautiful, handsome, attractive,

pretty, comely (used of people).

milh [n] turn, shift, transition, change, transfor-
mation; stage (in a sequence of events), moment
of change, point at which s.th. happens. milhu
meilh [n(abl/dat)] back and forth, to and fro;
over and over, again and again (lit. from turn to
turn).

milhinta [v1] be smart, intelligent, clever.
milhkoua [n(all)] why, what for, for what pur-
pose, to what end; what’s the point in (doing X);

377

for some purpose.

milhoka [v2] do over (from the beginning), redo;

start over.

milhta [v3] turn, shift; change, transform, turn
(into); become; enter, begin (a new stage of one’s
development). ekliona milhta [v3] turn
left. hamei milhta [v3] pale, fade; (p.t. hair)
turn grey, go grey. isutai milhta [v3] come to
life; bring to life, animate. kamehaits milhta
[v3] become a parent; make (s.o.) a parent, be
born to. keﬁhai milhta [v3] start over (from the
beginning), begin again; renew. koini milhta
[v3] grow up, mature, enter adulthood, become
luihaits
an adult. ksipe milhta [v3] twist.
milhta [v3] begin/enter menopause. misalhkai
milhta [v3] begin menstruating, reach puberty
(female). muelhai milhta [v3] fall asleep; put
to sleep. oklai milhta [v3] go into hiding. sanei
milhta [v3] redden, turn red. souetein mil-
hta [v3] go/fall into a trance; put into a trance.
ufatlauta milhta [v3] make a wrong turn, turn
in the wrong direction; go wrong. uiloil milhta
[v3] fall in love.
mili [n] outside aunt, stepmother, mother-in-law
(female relative of one’s parents’ generation who
does not belong to the same maternal or paternal
clan). milimit [n] group of older women.

mimeun [n] breast milk, mother’s milk.
mimilha [v2] move back and forth, oscillate; move
to and fro, zigzag, move in a serpentine fashion;
twist and turn, meander. mimilhe [n] serpentine
path, zigzag.

mimilhelau [n] winding or serpentine path, mean-

dering path, trail with many switchbacks.

mimota [v1] plan (out); bring together a set of
ideas; come up with a plan, strategy, or theory.
mimote [n] plan, strategy,
theory.

mina [v3] think, have thoughts. mine [n] thought(s).

minahkan [n] emotional value, worth; respect,

honour, esteem, high regard.

minahta [v1] be alive, vital, robust, powerful, vig-
orous, dynamic; have energy; work, function, be
able to move (used esp. of body parts; opposite
of paralyzed); have the use of, have life/feeling
in (a part of one’s body). minahtats [n] life,
vitality, energy; vigour; function, functionality.

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CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

auote minahta [v1] be in high spirits, have good
morale; have conﬁdence. kalial minahta [v1]
have the use of one’s legs, be able to walk. py-
ime minahta [v1] be pregnant.

minap [n] bone marrow; (ﬁg.) core, essence, heart;
the heart, the very centre (of an enclosed space).
minapna [n(loc)] at the heart, in the very cen-
tre (of); thoroughly, fully, completely, to the core,
through and through; intensely.

mineihte [n] correct thought/belief; right impres-

sion.

miniokta [v3] return to (an idea or endeavour), re-
sume thinking about, turn one’s attention back
to; remember, recall, bring to mind; draw one’s
attention to, remind.

minkilha [v3] let one’s mind wander, be distracted;
lose interest, cease to concentrate (on).

minoma [v2] be thoughtful, mindful.
minta [n] meaning, denotation; signiﬁcance.
minu [n] mind; thought(s); interest, attention.
minufatl [n] fallacy, mistaken belief; false impres-

sion.

minukan [n] interest, intellectual value; idea wor-

thy of one’s attention.

minunta [v3] reconsider, revisit (an idea).

minupahti [n] personality, character; perspective,

outlook, point of view, way of thinking.

minuta [v3] come to mind, come to the attention
of; become interested in.
mi`o [n] who, which one (animate); some, someone;

any, anyone; certain.

miokoni [n] mental state, state/frame of mind,

mood, spirits, attitude.

inform of; teach,

mioktia [v3] be interesting, noteworthy; give a
thought to, notice, become aware of; make aware
of,
impart knowledge. mioktiaka [n] teacher; infor-
mant. mioktie [n] subject of interest; teaching,
imparted knowledge, information.

miola [v3] hear in one’s mind, imagine the sound

of.

miosuta [v1] be bored, lethargic. miosutampa
[v2] be boring, tedious. miosutats [n] boredom,
tedium; lethargy.

mipa [v1] be bad, unfortunate, sad, regrettable.

mipe, mipats [n] misfortune.

mipeita [v1] be understandable, imaginable, acces-
sible, easy to grasp; be clear, evident, apparent;
grasp, understand, get, see the point of, see the
reason for.

misaha [v3] think over, mull over, ruminate on;
pursue a train of thought; (try to) work out, try
to come up with (an idea).
misahe [n] thought(s), train of thought.

misalhka [v1] menstruate.
misalhke [n] menstrual ﬂow; menstruation,
menstrual bleeding.

misasa [v3] ﬁnd out, discover,

learn (inadver-
tently); realize, conclude, come to a conclusion;
let slip, unintentionally reveal or disclose (a piece
of information). misaisa [v1] be known,
revealed, found out; know, be aware of, have
learned (inadvertently). mis-
ase [n] (unexpected) discovery, realization, rev-
elation, conclusion. ufatl misasa [v3] be mis-
taken, get the wrong idea, come to the wrong
conclusion; misunderstand.

misihsan [n] menses, menstrual blood/ﬂow.
mita [v3] come to mind, enter one’s mind, occur
to; think (of), consider, remember, recall, be re-
minded of; have an idea; discover, realize, think
up, work out (an idea); bring to mind, remind
(s.o.) of. mite [n] idea, something thought up.
mitahpa [v1] be surprised, taken aback.

mitakis [n] childhood name; nickname.
mitatana [v1] daydream, let one’s mind wander;
be absent-minded. mitatane,
mitatanats [n] daydream(ing).

miteka [v2] assume, presume, infer, gather, con-
clude, come to the conclusion (that). miteke [n]
assumption, inference, conclusion.

miteuna [v3]

focus on, concentrate on, give
thought to, pay attention to. miteunal [n] focus of one’s attention.
miteune [n] attention, regard, focus.

mitia [v1] be weak, frail; be fragile, breakable, eas-

ily broken.

mitifa [v3] be/become distracted, stop paying at-
tention; distract, divert one’s attention.

mitilha [v2] be confused, dazed, bewildered, be-
fuddled; have diculty thinking clearly.

mitlelha [v3] ﬁnd out (about), discover,

learn
(about), come to know (s.th. which one has been
trying to understand); disclose, reveal; inform.
mitlelhilma [v3]
investigate, study, try to ﬁnd out (about), set out
to discover. mitlelhe [n] discovery; conclusion,
result(s) of one’s investigations. mitlelhuha [v1]
be curious, want to ﬁnd out (about).

mitsaka [n] what kind, what sort, what type; some

kind, a certain kind.
mitsipe [n] ﬂower bud.
mitsoha [v2] be connected, related, associated
(used of ideas or concepts); associate mentally.
mitsohanen, mitsohats
[n] mental association, relationship between two
or more ideas or concepts.

mitunke [a] how, in what way, by what means;

somehow, in some way, by some means.

miua [n] cat. kimiua [n] kitten.
mo [n] to me (1st singular realis dative clitic).
mo [p] I think, in my opinion, in my view (particle
used to indicate that the sentence expresses the
speaker’s personal opinion).

moheuhka [v2] steam, be steaming, simmer.

moheuk [n] steam, vapour.
mohi [n] cloud(s).
mohisiem [n] (partly) cloudy sky.
mohkain [n] society, community, social network;

alliance, group of lineages.

mohkauat [n] hearth; hearth ﬁre.
mohkiloiha [n] maternal granddaughter (female
relative of one’s grandchildren’s generation be-
longing to the same matrilineal clan).

mohkilu [n] maternal grandchild (relative of one’s
grandchildren’s generation belonging to the same
matrilineal clan). kimohkilu [n] maternal great-
grandchild.

mohkilukal [n] maternal grandson (male relative
of one’s grandchildren’s generation belonging to
the same matrilineal clan).

moiha [n] girl (esp. pre-pubescent girl). kimoiha

[n] baby girl.

moiheki [n] sea otter.
moihkanoi [n] scar.
moikem [n] cape, peninsula. kimoikem [n] spit.

379

moikenaua [n] ﬁst.
moin [n] sea, ocean.
moinike [n] sea lion.
mois`ı [n] ocean current.
moita [v3] get, receive, acquire, obtain; get the
chance, have the opportunity; cause to receive;
let, allow, facilitate; give (s.o.) a chance, give
(s.o.) the opportunity. moitampa
[v2] be available, obtainable; be possible, feasi-
ble; provide, make available; enable, facilitate,
make possible. moitampe [n] (available) stores, supplies,
provisions. moital
[n] recipient. moite [n]
thing received, acquisition; chance, opportunity.
moituha [v1] be desirable; desire, want (to re-
taskuhe moita [v3] curdle. ulhmo
ceive).
moita [v3] get a year older, have a birthday.
mok [n] hearth; home, household; matrilineal clan;
matrilineage, maternal ancestry (in the Okuna
bilineal kinship system, the clan aliation inher-
ited from one’s mother, which forms the foun-
dation of the household and the basic political
and economic unit in Okuna society); (ﬁg.) heart,
middle, centre, midst (esp. of a closed space).
mokai [n] maternal niece/nephew (child of one’s
sister, or other relative of one’s children’s gener-
ation belonging to the same matrilineal clan).
mokanap`e [n] maternal niece (daughter of one’s
sister, or other female relative of one’s chil-
dren’s generation belonging to the same matri-
lineal clan).

mokatien [n] maternal nephew (son of one’s sister,
or other male relative of one’s children’s genera-
tion belonging to the same matrilineal clan).
mokelhol [n] matrilineal relative(s). mokelholmit
[n] (extended) maternal family, matrilineal clan.
moknamit [n] household, immediate family, rela-

tives with whom one lives.

mokta [v3] go/come home, get home; bring/take
home. moikta [v1] be (at) home.
moktuhka [v3] get home, reach home, make it
home. moktanen [n] way home; homecoming.
momilhta [v3] come (back) around, come full cir-
cle, come back to where one started, complete
a cycle/circuit; bring (back) around, bring full
circle. momilhtats [n] round trip, circuit; cycle.

mompi [n] mole (animal).
monen [n] wing (of a bird or bat); ﬁn, ﬂipper.
monie [n] (pair of) wings; (pair of) ﬁns, ﬂippers.

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CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

moseki [n] bat (animal).
mosie [n] upper back, shoulders.
mosiemul [n] cloak, shawl.
mosipa [v2] carry on one’s back/shoulders.
mosketo [n] shoulder blade.
mostapu [n] armpit.
mota [v3] come together, join (with), come into
contact (with); bring together, join, bring into
contact (with). moita [v1]
be joined, be together; touch, be in contact
(with), be adjacent (to); consist of, be composed
of, be formed from (the combination of). ampe mota [v3]
agree, come to an agreement, achieve consensus.
ampe motats [n] agreement, consensus, shared
opinion, collective decision. ampe moita [v1]
agree, be in agreement, be of the same mind,
have the same opinion. hete mota [v3] bring to-
gether, assemble, collect together (from di↵erent
places). kele moita [v1] touch, be touching, be
adjacent, be in contact (with each other). lhahe
mota [v3] reach (each other), come together,
meet (by stretching/extending, e.g., branches of
trees). lyhme mota [v3] stick together, glue to-
gether. milhte mota [v3] mix together, combine
(with a circular motion); twist together. sohi
milhte mota [v3] twist rope, make rope. solhe
mota [v3] throw together, toss together; pile up,
throw into a (jumbled) pile; mix together quickly
and carelessly. tiause mota [v3] fall in, collapse
(in on oneself). tlule mota [v3] push together,
press together, squeeze together; knead.

motanalh [n] starﬁsh.
moteun [n] meeting place, junction, point of con-

tact.

mots [n] frog; toad.
mouta [v1] be sick,

ill, unwell. mouhta [v2]
get/make sick. moutats [n] sickness,
heluku mouta [v1] have a cold, be sick with
a cold. hekulu mouhta [v3] get a cold, come
down with a cold. hintsypalu mouta [v1] have
pneumonia. nykalu mouta [v1] be allergic, have
an allergy. nykalu mouhta [v3] have an aller-
gic reaction; be allergic to.

moutoma [v2] tend to get sick; be sickly; be
frail, be inﬁrm, have a poor constitution; be un-

healthy, unhygienic.

mpehis [n] the next (one(s)), the following (one(s)),
subsequent (one(s)). empehisna [a] (the) next
time. mpehis eket, mpehis nket [n] every
other (one).

mpekam [n]

mpehkai [n] ﬁrst, the ﬁrst (one(s)), the primary
(one(s)). empehkaina [a] ﬁrst, for the ﬁrst time.
the previous
(one(s)), the preceding (one(s)), the most recent
(one(s)). empekamna [a] last, the last time,
previously, most recently.

the last

(one(s)),

mpekunte [n] the last (ones(s)), the ﬁnal (one(s)),

the ultimate (one(s)).

mpeteuna [v3] rank, put in an order/sequence, ar-
range in order, organize into a hierarchy or nu-
merical order; prioritize. mpeteune [n] order, ranking,
hierarchy.

mpetio [n] mushroom (esp. an edible mushroom).
forage for mushrooms, gather
mpetionia [v2]
mushrooms.

mpetsan [n] number, numeral; rank, position (in

an ordering or sequence).

mpyka [v3] bump, knock (against), run into, col-
lide accidentally with.

mu [a] enough, suciently.
muelha [v2] sleep. muelhe [n] sleep, period of
sleep. muelhta [v2] fall asleep, go to sleep. tsan
muelha [v2] get (oneself) some sleep.

muelhona [v1] be drowsy, sleepy; have the urge
to sleep. muelhone, muel-
honats [n] drowsiness, the urge to sleep.

muha [v1] be enough, suce, be sucient; have
enough, be well-supplied. amuhohta [v1] be
more than sucient, exceed what is required;
be plentiful. muhampa [v2] do enough; sat-
isfy, satiate, give enough. muhe
[n] enough, a sucient amount (of) (quantiﬁes
mass nouns).
suken muha [v1] be a su-
cient amount of time/room, be time enough, be
room enough; have (enough) time, have (enough)
room.

muhpi [a] enough, suciently, to a sucient de-
gree. emuhpi [a] enough, for enough time, for
lau muhpi [a]
a sucient amount of time.

enough, suciently, to a great enough extent; far
enough.

muhte [n] enough, a sucient number (of) (quan-
tiﬁes count nouns). emuhtena [a] often enough;
in enough cases. kamuhteme, kamuhtei [a]
enough times (in a row); enough, suciently.
muka [v2] close, shut; end, conclude, ﬁnish, com-
plete; (p.t. ﬁre) go out; put out, extinguish.

moika [v1] be closed, shut; be over, ﬁnished,
complete(d);
(p.t. ﬁre) be out, extinguished.
hauat muka [v2] put out a ﬁre, extinguish a
ﬁre. heulhte muka [v2] pull closed, close by
pulling.
hompe muka [v2] force closed (by
pushing hard); (p.t. ﬁre) smother. kani muka
na [v2] shut up!, be quiet!, shut your mouth!
kantse muka [v2] force closed (by pulling hard).
lyhme muka [v2] seal up, seal shut.
tlynke
muka [v2] push closed, close by pushing.

mul [n] (piece of) cloth, fabric.
mulhe [a] always, constantly, all the time (usu.

modiﬁes stative verbs).
mulhta [v3] (see: mutla).
mun [p] do you think, is it your opinion that…?
(question particle, used to elicit the addressee’s
personal opinion or subjective assessment).
muna [n] burrow, warren, (underground) lair.
munta [v1] be drunk. munteta [v3] get drunk.
minap munta [v1] be very drunk (lit. drunk [in
tasle aitsip emunta [v1] be
one’s] marrow).
exceedingly drunk (lit. drunk as a wet wasp).

muoha [v1] be whole, complete,

in one piece.
muohe [n] all, the whole, a/the complete (one).
muohta [v3] become whole; complete, make
whole; mend, ﬁx, repair, reassemble, put back
together (s.th. in pieces); unite, unify; reconcile.

muohfa [v1] be thick, dense, heavy, concentrated
(used of liquid or vapour, hair, or packed ma-
terial); (p.t. colour) be bright, saturated; (p.t.
intense; (p.t. precipi-
food) be rich, savoury,
tation) be heavy.
amuohﬁma [v2] thicken,
become thicker/denser, become more concen-
trated; make thicker, reduce; brighten, deepen,
blush, ﬂush; enrich, add ﬂavour to. muohfeta
[v3] thicken, make/become thick; concentrate;
brighten, make/become bright. akaile muohfa
[v1] be humid, muggy. amahtle muohfa [v1] be
rich, have a rich/intense ﬂavour. luan muohfa
[v1] have a thick head of hair; (p.t. animals) be

381

furry, have a thick coat. nalei muohfa [v1] be
brightly coloured. pahti amuohﬁma [v2] blush,
become red in the face.

muohpi

fully.
[a] completely, entirely, wholly,
emuohpi [a] the whole time. hun emuohpi
[a] all night (long), (for) the whole night.
lem
emuohpi [a] all day (long), (for) the whole day.

muohsot [n] apology, words of reconciliation.
muot [n] valley, dale.
mupatla [v3] put on, don (an article of clothing);
clothe, dress, cover, drape; get dressed, clothe
oneself in. mupaitla [v1]
wear, have on, be dressed in, be clothed in. mupatle [n] (article of) clothing,
clothes, dress. mupatlemit [n] set of clothes,
outﬁt; wardrobe.

muta [v2] grow, develop, mature, evolve, become
more complex; enrich,
foster, elaborate (on).
mutanen [n] (manner of) growth, development,
evolution.

mutifa [v3] take o↵, remove (an article of cloth-
ing); undress. mutifampa
[v2] get undressed. muteifa [v1] be naked, nude,
undressed.

mutla [v1] be understood; be understandable, com-
prehensible; understand, comprehend, see, real-
ize; be aware of. mulhta [v3] become
understood; come to understand, realize; teach,
show, cause to understand.

mutu [n] wall, fence, barrier.
myhuna [v2] purr, make a purring sound.
myiouk [n] padding, cushioning.

na [n] he, she (3rd person animate ergative clitic).
na [p] (imperative/optative particle).
n`a [n] water (esp. water for human use).
nafa [v2] hold, hold onto, grasp; embrace.
nahenia [v2] fetch water (from a stream or well).

nahenie [n] water supply.

nahepa [v3] run one’s hand(s) along/across; feel
the contours of; stroke.

nahiela [v2] row, paddle (a boat); handle (a boat).
naka [n] stone, rock, piece of stone; chunk, piece
(when used with the name of a type of stone).
tonaka [n] boulder. ksohtilas naka [n] chunk

CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

382

of obsidian.

nakahta [v3] hit (with one’s hands), punch, slap;
knock (on). moikenaua nakahta [v3] punch,
hit with one’s ﬁsts. naua nakahta [v3] slap, hit
with the palm of one’s hand.

nakap [n] chance, luck, happenstance. nakapme

[n(inst)] by chance, accidentally.

nakasta [v3] oppose, resist, ﬁght, struggle against.
nakatia [v2] clap one’s hands. nakatiota [v2] clap
repeatedly, applaud. nakatiote, nakatiotats
[n] applause.

nakelha [v3] pick up (with one’s hands).
nakem [n] the back of one’s hand.
naki [n] duck (esp. wood duck).
nakiha [v2] scoop up a handful of. nakihe [n]
handful, scoop, clump (esp. of a granular sub-
stance).

naklana [v3] happen by chance, just happen to;
end up, get into, ﬁnd oneself (in a certain situa-
tion); it turns out that; lead to, bring about (un-
intentionally). naklanats [n] chance,
luck,
happenstance. naklane [n] chance occurrence,
accident, unintended event. nyhim naklana
[v3] get into trouble (inadvertently).

nakluha [v1] be old, worn, used. anakluhima [v2]
age, wear out. nakluhats [n] age; use, wear and
tear. nakluhta [v2] get old, become worn out.
nakol [n] handle, grip (of a knife or other tool), hilt

(of a sword).

nakoma [v2] communicate using gestures;

indi-
cate, convey, express (an idea) using gestures
or pantomime. nakome [n] gesture; concept or
message communicated through gesture. nako-
mats [n] gesturing, pantomime.

nakopa [v2] point out, indicate, identify, pick out,
draw attention to; recognize, acknowledge (with
a gesture), salute.

nakpa [v2] carry, bear, hold, have in one’s hands.
temie nakpauot [v3] hold

tem nakpauot,
hands.

nalaha [v2] let go of, release (from one’s grip).
nalahta [v3] stick out one’s hand, point; point out,
indicate.
nalampa [v3] pass (from hand to hand), transfer
(from one person to the next).

nalei [n] colour, hue; pigment, paint, dye. patle

nalei [n] paint. elhe nalei [n] dye.

nalh [n] arm (of a person); front leg, foreleg (of an

animal).

nalha [v3] put in, place inside, insert (with one’s
hands); ﬁt in, stick in; plant; sow. nalhe [n] insertion; plant-
ing; newly-sown seeds. nailhanen [n] garden
plot, bed, patch of ground in which something is
planted.

nalhal [n] (pair of) arms; front legs, forelegs.
nalhanka [v3] mark,

leave a mark with one’s

hand/ﬁngers. nalhanke [n] ﬁngerprint(s).

nalhinta [v1] be dexterous, handy, nimble, skilled
or clever with one’s hands. nalhintats [n] dex-
terity, skill with one’s hands; ﬁne/clever work-
manship.

nalhmet [n] elbow.
nalhpa [v2] (make a) gesture, gesticulate.
nalhpe, nalhpats [n] gesture, gesticulation.

nalhp`a [n] upper arm, bicep.
nalhpatle [n] sleeve.
nalhul [n] lower arm, forearm.
nalla [v3] greet, wish (s.o.) well. nalle [n] greet-
ing, salutation; farewell; well-wishing, benedic-
tion. etskane nalla [v3] welcome, say hello to,
greet upon arrival. mokte nalla [v3] welcome
(s.o.) home. nkilhe nalla [v3] say farewell to,
say good-bye to, see o↵.

nam [n] (type of) terrain, landscape, topography;

land, country, region, zone.

nami [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate nom-
inative + ﬁrst person singular irrealis dative).
namilhta [v3] turn, twist (with one’s hands); steer;
(ﬁg.) manipulate, change, transform (using one’s
hands); make, create (one thing out of another,
by hand).

namilhton [n] dial, wheel; rudder, device for steer-

ing.

namo [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate nom-
inative + ﬁrst person singular realis dative).
namota [v3] assemble, put together (from vari-
ous parts); connect, join together, combine (by
hand); build, construct.

nampahai [n] wilderness, the wild.
nampyka [v3] make a rapping sound, knock

383

on (with one’s hand).
nampyke, nampykats [n] knock, knocking,
rapping sound.

namuohta [v3] ﬁx, repair, mend (by hand); com-
plete, make whole; (ﬁg.) work, succeed, come o↵,
pan out, be successful; succeed (at); make (s.th.
work), create, accomplish, achieve, attain, pull
o↵, bring about; win, prevail. namuoihtanen [n] ac-
complishment, achievement; creation. namuoi-
hte [n] attainment; reward, winnings. namuo-
htats [n] repair; success, (act of) accomplish-
ment. namuohtyipa [v3] be possible, feasible,
doable, workable; be attainable.

nan [n] he, him; she, her; this (one), that (one)
(3rd singular animate nominative pronoun and
demonstrative).

napiha [v2] feel, reach (out), search (with one’s

hands).

nasa [v1] be strong. anasima [v2] strengthen,
get/make stronger, fortify. nasampa [v2] exert
oneself, use one’s strength; do (s.th.) by force.
nasats [n] strength.

nasehta [v3] hand on, pass on; hand over, turn
(s.th.) over to; give out, dispense.

nasimampe [n] handiwork, craft.
naslola [v3] grab (in a bunch), take a handful.
nasloilanen [n]
bunch, handful, as much as one can grab in a
single hand.

nata [v3] hand, pass, give (by hand); (p.t. food)
serve; feed. nate [n] serving; feed.
natafa [v3] show/demonstrate using gestures or

nana [v2]

let,

leave, allow, permit;

leave (s.o.)

pantomime. natafats [n] pantomime.

alone, let be, not interfere with; spare, save.
nanika [v2] try, attempt (to do or use s.th.); try
out, test, experiment (with). nanikota [v2]
practice; keep trying; test repeatedly. naniko-
tats [n] practice, exercise, drill.

naniokta [v3] put back, replace, return, hand back,
pass back, give back.

nankilha [v3] give away, get rid of; remove, put
away, put out of sight/reach; take away; pass on,
hand o↵.

nantsemin [n] landscape, terrain, geography.
nantsemoi [n] map, chart.
nanufa [v3] take out, remove, extract (by hand);
pluck; harvest (from the ground). nanufal [n] plot, patch
of ground, ﬁeld (where crops are grown); culti-
vated land, cropland, farmland. nanufe [n] crop,
harvest.

nanyipa [v2] handle, manipulate, wield, use (with
one’s hands), operate (by hand). nanyipe [n]
hand tool, implement, instrument.

napatla [v3] cover, conceal, block (s.th.) with one’s
hands, put one’s hands over, put one’s hands in
front of.

nap`e [n] daughter (esp. the daughter of a woman).
strum (a
napesa [v2] brush with one’s hand;

stringed instrument).

napeta [v2] grab, grasp, take hold of; pick up with

one’s hands.

natak [n] blow. natakme [n(inst)] forcefully, by
hitting. natak ehtsanme [n] in one blow, with
a single blow.

natatana [v3] hand out/around, give out, dis-

pense, distribute; circulate (by hand).

nateka [v2] get, go and get, fetch, gather, collect
(in/with one’s hands); pick up, take, grab; pick,
choose, select, take up (i.e., identify s.th. as one’s
choice by grabbing or picking it up); (p.t. plants)
pick, harvest. nateke [n] pick, choice, selection;
harvest.

nateuna [v3] touch with one’s hand(s), put/lay
one’s hand(s) on; put down, set down (s.th. which
one has been holding or carrying).

natiausa [v2] drop, let go of (allowing to fall).
natifa [v3] take o↵, remove (by hand); strip, peel;
pick, pluck; harvest. natifampa
[v2] gather, harvest, bring in (a crop).

natilha [v2] be clumsy (with one’s hands); handle
clumsily, fumble with, have diculty manipulat-
ing.

natiyisa [v2] lift (with one’s hands), pick up, hold

up (in one’s hands).

natliku [n] noxious or irritating substance, irritant.
tiokin natliku [n] poison, toxin, venom, deadly
substance.

natlisa [v3] hand over, hand across; pass (e.g., food
across a table); transfer, transmit (by hand).
natluha [v3] press down (on), hold down, pin (with

one’s hands/arms).

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CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

natlula [v3] pound, hammer (with one’s ﬁst), beat,

throttle.

natlynka [v2] push (against) with one’s hands.
natoka [v3] ﬁx, repair, mend (esp. manually).
natoke [n] ﬁx, repair; tool (used to ﬁx
something).
natui [n] pestle.
natupa [v2] crawl on one’s hands and knees. natu-

paka [n] infant who has learned to crawl.

naua [n] palm (of the hand); sole (of the foot); paw.
nauatia [v2] gesture towards, point towards, indi-
cate; hold out, o↵er; show, display.

nauma [n] cougar, mountain lion, puma.
nauosta [v3] shape by hand; work (a material)
with one’s hands. nauostats, nauoistanen [n]
handiwork.

nauot [n] cup, vessel (for drinking out of). tilas

nauot [n] (drinking) glass.

nauotla [v2] separate, take apart, disassemble (by

hand).

ne [n] he, him; she, her (3rd person animate nomi-

native clitic).

ne [p] (interrogative particle; contracts to -n after

a vowel).

neﬁ [n] fern (esp. western sword fern).
nehka [v1] moult, shed skin/scales (used of rep-

tiles).

nehta [v2] move suddenly, move quickly, jump,
jerk; be startled; startle, upset. nehtota
[v2] ﬁdget.

neile [n] sheep, mountain goat.
nek [n] scales; skin (of a ﬁsh, reptile, or amphib-

ian).

nelha [v3] forbid, prohibit, disallow; deny, say no.
neilha [v1] be forbid-
den, prohibited, disallowed, taboo. neilhe [n]
forbidden thing, taboo.

nem [p] (speech act particle used to mark a sen-

tence as expressing a suggestion).

nemot [n] all, all of them, they all; all of the (ani-
mate). hen nemot [n] both, both of them, they
both; both of the (animate).

nenta [v3] scout, take one’s bearings, examine
one’s surroundings; ﬁnd (s.th. which one has been
hunting for), locate, seek out, identify the loca-
tion of. nentaka
[n] scout. nentyipa [v3] be available, accessible,

reachable, locatable; be able to ﬁnd/locate. inie
nenta [v3] scout, scan; sight, catch sight of, lo-
cate (by sight).

nepatla [v3] paint, cover/coat with paint. nepaitla [v1] be painted,
be covered with paint. nepatle, nepaitle [n] paint, pigment.
sane nepatla [v3] paint (s.th.) red.

nesap [n] question.
nesapa [v3] ask. nesapampa
interrogate, ask questions (of).

[v2] question,

ni [n] to him, to her (3rd person animate irrealis

dative clitic).

niaila [v2] scream, shriek, shout (esp. in pain or

fear).

nial [n] blade; sword; machete. kinial [n] dagger.
nialhule [n] sheath, scabbard.
nialonka [n] (northern) pintail duck.
niama [v1] be sacred, holy, venerable; revere, ven-
erate, hold sacred, recognize as sacred. niamampa [v2] be
hallowed, be venerated; do (s.th.) sacred, partici-
pate in a sacred act; bless, hallow, sanctify, make
sacred; venerate, treat as sacred.

niepa [v3] be available; o↵er (up), present, provide,
make available; o↵er (to do s.th.), propose, sug-
gest.
niepe [n] o↵er, o↵ering, suggestion.

niha [v3] witness, experience, be exposed to; show,
demonstrate, expose, give (s.o.) the experience
of.
neiha [v1] be experienced, familiar. nihal [n] witness.
nihanen [n] experience.
nika [v2] try, attempt; sample.
niku [n] perch (ﬁsh).
nila [v2] change, shift, undergo steady or constant
change; (p.t. time) pass, seem to pass (at a cer-
tain rate); experience the passage of time. kiote nila [v2] change quickly; seem
to pass quickly. nilats [n] (the experi-
ence of) steady or constant change; the passage
of time; (subjective) time, the sensation of time
passing.

nilon [n] clock (or other device for marking or mea-

suring the passage of time).

385

nilu [n] net.
nima [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate nom-

a good memory.

inative + ﬁrst person singular ergative).

nima [v2] go/travel from place to place, wander,
move around; be nomadic. nimaka [n] wan-
derer, itinerant, nomad. nime [n] wandering(s),
travel(s).

nimia [v2] su↵er, be made to su↵er, agonize.

nimutok [n] golden eagle.
nin [n] they, them; these (ones), those (ones) (3rd
plural animate nominative pronoun and demon-
strative).

ni`o [n] eight. niohka [n] eighth (ordinal). nio-
htla [n] (one) eighth (fraction). eniohna [a]
eight times. eniohkana [a] for the eighth time.
kani`o [n] eight-part (thing); eight times; group
of eight. kaniohme, kanioi [a] eight times (in
a row); eightfold, by a factor of eight.

niohpatam [n] eighteen. niohpatanka [n] eigh-

teenth.

niok [a] back, again, once more (indicates a return

to a previous state of a↵airs).

niokakiel [n] reﬂection, image; projection.
niokalau [n] return, way back.

niokalauna

[n(loc)] on the way back.

niokaule [n] echo, reverberation.
niokepa [v3] head back, turn back, turn around, go
back the way one came; retreat, withdraw; lead
back.

nioksot [n] answer, response, reply, retort.
niokta [v3] return, go/come back; put back,
take/bring back, return, replace; redo, do again,
do over; resume, begin again, take up again.
nioikta [v1] be back, returned.
inie
niokta [v3] look back at, return someone’s gaze;
turn one’s attention back to, resume looking
at, take another look at. laste niokta [v3] send back, return;
resend, send again. ois niokta [v3] replace, put
(s.th.) back in its place. tiause niokta [v3] fall
back down.

nioktunka [v2] react, respond, acknowledge. nioktunke [n] reaction, response.

niolh [n] land, country, region, territory.
nisa [v2] arise, come up (for consideration or dis-
cussion), come to one’s attention; bring up, con-
sider; think about, give attention to, give thought
to; talk about, discuss, go over.
neise, neisanen [n] topic, subject (brought up
for consideration or discussion).

nisoma [v2] be interesting, be of interest; be in-
terested, take interest in, be concerned with, be
devoted to; mention or think about frequently.
nisome [n] topic/object of interest.
nisomats [n] interest, concern, attention.

nitlka [v3] sting, inject with venom. nitlke [n] sting, stinger.

dat>

niokilon [n] mirror, reﬂective surface.
niokoipa [v1] be familiar; remember (a person or
thing), recognize. niokoihta [v3] (come to) remember,
recognize, recall, realize who (s.o.) is; remind.
niokoitsan [n] ghost, phantom, spectre; vision or

apparition of a human form.

niokona [v1] be remembered, recalled, in mem-
ory; be clear, distinct (in one’s mind); remem-
ber, recall, have in one’s memory. niokonampa [v2] be reminiscent of,
call to mind, remind, cause to remember. niokone, niokonats
[n] memory. niokonta [v3] (come/begin to) re-
member, recall, bring to mind; remind.

niokonoma [v3] be memorable, noteworthy; have

niuka [v2] grunt, snort. niuke, niukats [n] grunt,

grunting sound, snort.

nket [n] each, every, each of them, they each; each
of the (animate). hen nket [n] both, both of
them, they both, the two of them each (animate).

nketu [n] crab.
nkilha [v3] leave, depart, go away, disappear; re-
move, put away; get rid of, dispose of, dispense
with. nkilhuhka [v3] get
away, escape, manage to leave; get rid of, man-
age to remove. nkulha [v1] be gone, absent,
away. nkulhota [v2] stay away, avoid; keep
away. hete nkilha [v3] take away, carry away,
remove.
iante nkilha [v3] jump away, jump
aside. kiompe nkilha [v3] run away, ﬂee, disap-
pear quickly. kutsumpe nkilha [v3] back away.

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CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

solhe nkilha [v3] throw away, toss away/aside,
discard.
tlynke nkilha [v3] push away, push
aside; (ﬁg.) reject. kulampiou nkulha [v1] be
out of sight, beyond the range of one’s vision.
ulampiou nkulha [v1] be out of earshot.

nointe [n] (acquired) skill, learning; lore, accu-
mulated knowledge. nontilma [v3] study, train
in, seek to master. nontats [n] mastery, train-
ing.

ntah`o [n] misery; despair, hopelessness,

lack of

nkima [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate
nominative + ﬁrst person inclusive ergative).
nkime [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate nom-
inative + ﬁrst person inclusive irrealis dative).
nkimo [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate nom-
inative + ﬁrst person inclusive realis dative).
nko [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate nomi-

native + second person ergative).

nkue [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate nom-

inative + second person irrealis dative).

nkulha [v1] (see: nkilha).
nkulhona [v1] be missed; miss, feel the loss or ab-

sence of.

nkuo [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate nom-

inative + second person realis dative).

nkuta [v3] hit, beat (with a heavy blunt in-
strument), club, bludgeon.

no [n] to him, to her (3rd person realis dative clitic).
nohtsune [n] earlobe.
nohtuma [v1] be deaf, hard of hearing. anohtu-
mima [v2] lose (some of) one’s hearing. no-
htunta [v2] deafen, make deaf; become deaf.
nohtumu [n] deafness, trouble hearing, inability to
hear (well). nohtumu koin [n] deaf person.

noksu [n] sturgeon.
nol [n] ear.
nolal [n] (pair of) ears.
nole [n] respect, esteem, admiration.
nolekoin [n] respected or revered person; mentor,
patron, person (usu. older) to whom one owes
allegiance or reverence.

nolhina [n] earring.
nolho [n] muscle.
nolhohain [n] musculature, build.
nolna [v1] be respected, admired, esteemed; re-
spect, admire, hold in esteem.

noni [n] quail.
nonta [v3] learn (completely), grasp; master, be-
come skilled, become proﬁcient. nointa [v1]
be learned, skilled, proﬁcient; be an expert, be a
master (of). nointa-
nen [n] master, expert, learned person; teacher,
scholar. nointats [n] skill, proﬁciency, expertise.

courage or resolve.

ntasiku [n] oyster.
ntiel`a [n] dolphin, porpoise.
ntsa [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate nomi-

native + ﬁrst person exclusive ergative).

ntsam`a [n] nothing, none. tiuse ntsam`a [n] little

or nothing.

ntsamalh [n] no time, no point. ntsamalhna
[n(loc)] never, in no case, at no point, on no
occasion.

ntse [p] not (negative focus particle). eima ntse
[p] not yet, still not. husu ntse [p] not even.
tiefu ntse [p] only not, just not; except (for).
tiuse ntse [p] little or no, few if any.

ntseima [a] no longer, no more, not any more.
ntsemi [a] never. tiuse ntsemi [a] perhaps never;

rarely if ever.

ntsemiai [a] not so, not very; nohow.
ntsemi`e [n] nowhere.
ntsemifoi [a] never (in the future), nevermore,

never again.

ntsemihka [a] never (in the past), never before.
ntsemilhkoua [n(all)] for no purpose, to no avail;
there’s no purpose (for X), there’s no point (in
doing X), it’s useless (to do X).

ntsemi`o [n] no-one, nobody, none (animate).

tiuse ntsemi`o [n] few if any.

ntsemitunke [a] nohow, in no way, by no means;

there’s no way (to do X).

ntsi [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate nomi-
native + ﬁrst person exclusive irrealis dative).
ntsilas [p] not only, not merely, not just (focus par-
ticle). ntsilas X husu Y [p] not only X but also
Y.

ntsit [n] tin.
ntso [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate nomi-
native + ﬁrst person exclusive realis dative).
ntsohkina [c/p] nor, and not, also not; not includ-
ing, except for; (as a focus particle) neither, not
even, not including.

ntsu [c] nor, and not. ntsu X ntsu Y, ntsu X

ntsohkina Y [c] neither X nor Y.

ntsoke [a] not going to (future tense marker used

in negative clauses).

ntsune [p] no, not so (used in answering questions
in the negative); not, not in fact (focus particle

387

expressing emphatic negation). ntsune eskuke
[e] no thank you.

ntsunehiots [n] disagreement; argument, dispute.
ntsuta [a] not yet; not already.
ntsymiohpa [a] for no reason; there’s no reason

nyhui [n] surface (of a body of water); (permeable)
membrane, barrier, tissue. nyhui lul [n] under
(the) water, below the surface (of a body of wa-
ter).

nyhuilan [n] waterline; water level; edge (of a body

why.

of water).

ntsyntsa [v2] buzz, hum, murmur, make a buzzing
sound. ntsyntse [n] buzz, buzzing sound, hum,
murmur.

ntyla [n] dough.
nufa [v3] take out, remove (from inside), extract,
draw out; draw (water from a well). hake nufa [v3]
scrape out. heulhte nufa [v3] pull out, pull up,
extract by pulling, draw (water). hinkepe nufa
[v3] disembowel, gut, remove the entrails from.
keto nufa [v3] debone, remove the bones from.
lihke nufa [v3] cut out, remove/extract by cut-
ting. otse nufa [v3] dig up, unearth; dig out.
seuki nufa [v3] weed, remove weeds from (a gar-
den plot). siume nufa [v3] suck out, extract by
sucking.

nuha [v1] be cold. anuhima [v2] chill, cool (down),
get/make colder. minap nuha [v1] be chilled to
the bone, cold through and through.

nuhkunu [n] water source, water supply; (large)

well; reservoir.

nukana [v1] be dangerous, perilous, dire; be
formidable, intimidating, terrible, mighty, grim.
nulha [v3] result in, develop into, lead to; trig-
ger, bring about. noilha
[v1] be the result of, be a consequence of, have
as a consequence. nulhal [n] re-
sult(s), outcome; consequences; development.
nulhut [n] cold, cold weather, low temperature(s).
numa [n] wild rose.
numpa [v3] mash, grind, pound, make into (mush).
numpal [n] grain
or seeds for making meal. numpe [n] pestle,
grinder. noimpanen [n] mush, coarse meal; por-
ridge. ahotsin noimpanen [n] corn mush, corn-
meal, polenta. kepehots noimpanen [n] acorn
mush.

nuta [v2] be idle, not in use; keep idle; be free, not
busy.

nyfe [n] nest.
nyhim [n] trouble, diculty, problems.

nyhuimoi [n] algae.
nyhuitsike [n] water skater.
nyipa [v2] use, employ; work, operate. nyipanen [n] use; function, pur-
pose/reason for which something is used. nyipe
[n] tool, instrument, implement, device. kinyipe
[n] toy, plaything. nyipuhka [v2] succeed in us-
ing, get (s.th.) to work.

nykal [n] allergy; allergic reaction.

oha [v1] be about, concern, pertain to, be con-
cerned with, have to do with. ohanen [n] topic, subject matter, content.
ohe [n] more, a greater amount (of); the most, the
greatest amount (of) (quantiﬁes mass nouns). ki-
hohe [n] a bit more, a little more. tohohe [n]
much more, a lot more, a good deal more. ntse
ohe [n] not more; no more, not any more.

ohila [v1] be healthy, hale, ﬁt, robust,
shape; be pretty, handsome, attractive.

in good

ohiyna [v1] be sad, unhappy, cheerless, dreary,
mournful; be unfortunate, tragic; be sad, un-
happy. ohiynampa [v2] sadden, depress, inspire
unhappiness. ohiynta [v3] sadden, (cause to)
become unhappy, depress.

ohka [v1] be dear, cherished, beloved; love, cherish,

hold dear.

ohkina [c/p] and, also, as well as, in addition to,
including; (as a focus particle) also, even, includ-
ing.

ohkutia [v1] be accurate.
ohpe [n] reason, rationale, motive, motivation. oh-
peu [n(abl)] because (of), on account of; for the
sake of.

ohpi [a] more, more so, to a greater degree. iohpi
[a] for longer. kihohpi [a] a bit more, somewhat
more. tohohpi [a] a lot more, quite a bit more,
to a much greater degree. lau ohpi [a] farther;
more, to a greater extent.

ohsak [n] ﬂesh, pulp (of a fruit or plant), raw veg-
etable matter; ﬂesh (of an animal), uncooked
meat.

ohta [v2] (see: opa).

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CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

ohtla [v1] resemble, be like, be similar to. akiel ohtla [v1] look like, resem-
ble. aluhtse ohtla [v1] smell like. aule ohtla
[v1] sound like.

ohtlutsin [n] scarring, scar tissue.
ohui [n] (piece of) fruit, berry.
ohuin`a [n] juice.
ohuinia [v2] gather berries or wild fruit.
oise [n] bee. oisemit [n] swarm of bees.
oisemon [n] hummingbird.
oita [v1] be important, be signiﬁcant, matter.
oitekan [n] importance, signiﬁcance, worth, value.
oka [n] community, society; people, tribe, cultural

group, ethnicity.

okapa [n] member of a community, member of a

tribe or cultural group.

oke [a] in the future, by and by; going to (marks

future events).

okemehkemit [n] the future (esp. the foreseeable

future), future events, what will happen.

okfa [v1] be wanted, desired. okfe, okfats [n] want, desire.
auokfohta [v1] be preferred, be (the) favourite;
prefer, would rather. euok-
fohte [n] favourite; preference.

okita [v2] isolate, cut o↵, separate.

okla [v2] be hidden, in hiding; be secret; hide, con-
ceal, have/keep hidden. okle [n] hidden object,
secret; cache. okleta [v2] go into hiding; hide
(away), secrete, stow away.

oklen [n] hiding place, hideout; seclusion, refuge.
okonakiel [n] (visual) sign, token, indication, evi-
dence (of a property or condition); characteristic
appearance; symptom.

okoni [n] quality, value, degree,

level of inten-
sity; tone; mood, condition, disposition; char-
feature, prop-
acter, characteristic(s), aspect,
erty, attribute. akiel okoni [n] appearance,
looks, visual characteristic(s). aule okoni [n]
sound quality, tone, timbre.
lohan okoni [n]
voice quality; tone of voice, inﬂection, intonation.
nalei okoni [n] hue, shade, colour value. pahti
okoni [n] complexion.

okuto [n] edible root, root vegetable; tuber.
ola [v3] come within earshot; hear, catch the sound
it
of. ula [v1] be audible;
sounds like; hear, be able to hear, have within
earshot. euola [v1] sound,
have the sound of, have an X sound. ufatl ola
[v3] mishear.

olh [p] there, over there, yonder, that (away from

speaker and addressee; deictic particle).

olhempa [v3] pass (by) there, go through there, go
that way (via a location away from the speaker
and addressee, or a previously-mentioned loca-
tion).

olhuta [v3] go/come away from there, leave there;
bring/take away from there (a location away from
the speaker and addressee, or previously men-
tioned).

oloma [v1] be easily heard, audible, clear, distinct;

(p.t. voices) project, be powerful.
olua [v2] turn around, rotate, pivot.
omuti [n] opossum.
onakan [n] wisdom, learning.
onakpa [v2] be wise, learned.
ontia [v2] bounce.
opa [v1] believe, think, suppose, guess, speculate.
ope [n] belief, supposition,
guess. ohta [v2] come to believe; convince, cause
to believe. eihte opa [v1] be right,
get it right, guess correctly; believe/think the
right thing. tsuon opa [v1] overestimate. ufatl
opa [v1] be wrong, guess wrong, believe incor-
rectly.

osek [n] mouse (esp. ﬁeld mouse).
oson [n] the planet Jupiter.
otakiloiha [n] paternal granddaughter (or other fe-
male relative of one’s grandchildren’s generation
belonging to the same patrilineal clan).

otakilu [n] paternal grandchild (or other relative of
one’s grandchildren’s generation belonging to the
same patrilineal clan).

otakilukal [n] paternal grandson (or other male rel-
ative of one’s grandchildren’s generation belong-
ing to the same patrilineal clan).

otalihpa [n] paternal

female cousin, half-sister
(daughter of one’s father or father’s brother, or
other female relative of one’s generation belong-
ing to one’s patrilineal clan).

otamili [n] paternal aunt (father’s sister, or other
female relative of one’s parents’ generation who
belongs to the same patrilineal clan).

otana [n] patrilineal clan; patrilineage, paternal
ancestry (in the Okuna bilineal kinship system,
the clan aliation inherited from one’s father,
serving a largely ceremonial function).

otanai [n] child (of a man); paternal niece/nephew
(relative of one’s children’s generation belonging
to the same patrilineal clan).

otanakame [n] paternal relative; paternal cousin
(relative, esp. of one’s own generation, belonging
to the same patrilineal clan).

otanalhol [n] patrilineal relative(s).
otanap`e [n] daughter (of a man); paternal niece
(or other female relative of one’s children’s gen-
eration belonging to the same patrilineal clan).
otasuhpa [n] paternal male cousin, half-brother
(son of one’s father or father’s brother, or other
male relative of one’s generation belonging to
one’s patrilineal clan).

otatien [n] son (of a man); paternal nephew (or
other male relative of one’s children’s generation
belonging to the same patrilineal clan).
ote [n] earth, soil, dirt; fertile/arable land.
otelhal [n] hole dug for burying something; place
where something is buried; grave, burial, burial
plot. kihotelhal [n] hole dug for planting seeds.

otieun [n] garden plot.
otime [n] fallen leaves; litter, straw or other plant

material covering the ground.

otla [v3] come apart, break apart; separate (from);
take apart; break up, separate, disband, dis-
perse. oitla [v1]
in pieces.
be apart, separated; be broken up,
ampe otla [v3] di↵er, disagree, have a di↵er-
ence of opinion. ehse otla [v3] tear apart, rip to
pieces, shred; tear o↵, rip o↵. heulhte otla [v3]
pull apart, pull to pieces. iante otla [v3] jump
apart, spring away from (each other). kantse
otla [v3] pry apart. lau otla [v3] part ways, go
separate ways (after traveling together). lihke otla [v3] cut apart,
dismember; cut o↵, cut away, remove by cut-
ting. kiompe otla [v3] run away (from each
other), disperse quickly, scatter. solhe otla [v3]
cast away, throw in di↵erent directions (as when
searching frantically for something), scatter, dis-
perse (by throwing). tiause otla [v3] fall apart,
fall down, collapse into pieces.

otlen [n] gap, empty space, point of separation;

hole, opening; cleft.

otsa [v3] dig. oit-
sanen [n] dug hole, (water) well.

otsena [v1] be likely, probable; it is likely (that).
ot`u [n] hole.
otuhko [n] cave. tohotuhko [n] cavern.
otuhpa [v3] make a hole in, breach.

otupa [v2] decide (on); settle; judge; choose, select.
otupilma [v2] deliberate (on), try to decide; con-
sider, evaluate, think about, ponder, ruminate
(on).

otupam [n] potato.
otusu [n] paternal uncle (father’s brother, or other
male relative of one’s parents’ generation belong-
ing to one’s patrilineal clan).

oukuta [v1] be bothersome, worrying, of concern;
be bothered, worried, concerned.

ouna [n] bear (esp. American black bear). ki-

houna [n] bear cub.

pahai [n] area beyond; (as a noun modiﬁer) wild
(thing), feral (animal). pahaina [n(loc)] be-
yond; except (for), apart from, besides, above
and beyond.

pahaipa [n] foreigner, outsider, alien; outlandish

person.

pahal [n] cousin (or other relative of one’s own gen-
eration) who is unrelated by clan; step-sibling,
sister/brother-in-law (if belonging to di↵erent
clans).

pahetsa [v3] say clearly. pahetsampa [v2] speak

clearly; be articulate; be clear, explicit.

pahiem [n] overcast sky.
pahite [n] bow (of a ship).
pahkite [n] pace, stride (as an approximate unit of

measure).

pahola [v3] hear clearly.
pahoila [v1] be easy to hear, clearly audible; be
clear, crisp, distinct, sharp.

pahona [v1] be well known; know well, know a lot
about, be proﬁcient in, be well versed in, be an
expert in. pahonanen [n] expert; expertise, proﬁ-
ciency. pahone [n] area of expertise, subject
about which one knows a great deal.

pahta [v2] lead, rule, direct, govern, administer.
pahtaka [n] leader, ruler, chief. pahtanen [n]
rule, administration, governance, leadership; of-
ﬁce, position of authority; government.

pahti [n] texture, consistency; complexion, visage,

appearance; (degree of) clarity.

pahulhpa [n] shelter.
pai [n] songbird, warbler, passerine.
pak [n] step; stride, pace.
paka [v2] step, take a step. pake [n] step (in a

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CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

sequence), stage, turn. pakemit [n] (series of)
steps; stair(s); path marked by steps. pakota
[v2] go step by step, move one step at a time; fol-
low a series of steps, follow a procedure; do step
by step, do in stages; do in sequence. pako-
tame [n(inst)] step by step. pakotats [n] se-
quence; procedure, series of steps.
lampesot
pakota [v2] follow instructions, follow directions.
pakanta [v1] loom, tower.
pakaule [n] (sound of) footsteps, tread.
pakehis [n] planet.
paken [n] step; stepping stone.
pakila [v3] become clear, become easy to see, come
into focus; see clearly; show clearly, show care-
fully/thoroughly.
pakeila [v1] be easy to see, clearly visible; be
sharp, vivid, in focus, easy to make out; be clear,
plain, obvious, evident.

paklampe [n] (series of) tracks; trail, path, track.

hastin paklampe [n] deer track.

paklima [v2] begin, start, commence (used of jour-
neys, stories, or other events which involve fol-
lowing a path); embark, set o↵, set out; orig-
lead away (used of a path or course).
inate,
paklimanen [n]
start, beginning, beginning point (of a journey,
path/route, or story).

pakon [n] bridge.
paksona [v2] take care of, tend (to), care for, man-
age; watch over, protect, guard; develop, enrich;
raise, bring up, grow, cultivate, propagate, breed.
paksonaka [n] care-giver, guardian, protector,
manager, custodian. paksone [n] charge, ward,
responsibility; person or thing that one cares for;
(p.t. plants) crop, cultivar.
paksonen [n] garden; nursery.
pakuma [n] forehead, brow.
pakyipa [v2] hold up, support (e.g., a roof), keep

from falling or collapsing.

pakyitsa [v3] tell (s.o.) everything there is to say
about; explain clearly, explain thoroughly; give
a complete description of. pakyitsampa
[v2] discuss thoroughly, say everything there is to
say about; be thorough, comprehensive (in one’s
explanation). pakyitse [n] complete description,
thorough discussion, comprehensive treatment.

pala [v2] catch, capture, trap; (p.t. disease) catch,
come down with; a✏ict.
paila [v1] be caught, captured; be ill, a✏icted,
stricken. pale [n] quarry, prey.
paile [n] catch, haul; (p.t. illness) patient, person
a✏icted. pailats [n] attack, a✏iction, bout of
illness, sickness, condition. hekiynna pala [v2]
(en)snare, catch in a snare. kakilhinme paila
[v1] be rabid,
infected with rabies. nykalme
pala [v2] have an allergic attack, have a serious
allergic reaction. statlna pala [v2] trap, catch
in a trap. uante pala [v2] catch in a net; catch
with a harpoon. haukie pailats [n] coughing
ﬁt. hinkepe pailats [n] indigestion; intestinal
gas. ksiame pailats [n] sneezing ﬁt.

palahta [n] tree.
palan [n] yard, courtyard.
palhi [n] (solid) ground, (dry) land, terra ﬁrma;
surface of the earth; level ground; ﬂoor, bottom
(of a forest or valley). palhina [n(loc)] on the
ground; on land, ashore. palhi lul [n] under-
ground, below the surface. loka palhi [n] forest
ﬂoor.

palhil`a [n] ground cover, undergrowth.
palhinam [n]
bottom.

lowland(s), bottom land(s), river

palhta [v3] land, alight (i.e., move from the water
or air to the land); go/come ashore, run aground;
touch down. pailhta [v1] be landed, grounded;
(p.t. a boat or aquatic animal) be ashore, be on
dry land; (p.t. a bird or other ﬂying animal) sit,
roost, be perched. tolomuats palhta [v3] wash
up on shore. tupe palhta, tumpake palhta [v3]
wade ashore.

palhten [n] landing; pier, dock, mooring; perch,

roost, resting place. topalhten [n] port.

palu [n] village, small settlement.
palul [n] underside, bottom (lowest point/area on
the exterior surface of an object); belly, abdomen
(of a four-legged or crawling animal). palulna
[n(loc)] under, below, beneath, on the underside
of; on one’s belly.

palyipmit [n] forest canopy.
pama [v1] be large, massive, expansive, take up

room; (ﬁg.) be grand, impressive.

pamasot [n] speech, address, oration; argument,

rhetoric, discourse.

pamoikem [n] headland, promontory.
pamutla [v1] be well understood, be completely

understood.

pana [v1] be simple, plain, unadorned.
pankalu [n] kitchen.
pankauat [n] cooking ﬁre.
pankoto [n] cooking pot.
pasehta [v3] go/come before, precede; go in front,
lead the way. pasehtemit
[n] vanguard.
pata [v1] be tall.
patla [v3] cover, coat; put on.
paitla [v1] cover; be covered, be coated, have
(s.th.) all over. patle [n] coat, coating, cov-
ering.
hunu
hohits paitla [v1] be dusty.
paitla [v1] be (badly) bruised, be covered with
bruises. kilhi paitla [v1] be hairy, be covered
with hair. myiouk patla [v3] pad (the outside
of), cover/protect with padding. nalei patla
[v3] paint, cover/coat with paint. nalei patle
[n] (coat) of paint. pite paitla, tsyho paitla
[v1] be dirty, grimy, ﬁlthy. tipe paitla [v1] be
detailed, elaborate; be ornate, covered with dec-
orations.
pato [n] heel.
patoilha [v1] stand in front, be foremost, be (in)
ﬁrst (place). pa-
toilhanen [n] forefront.

patsihfa [v1] be bare, clear(ed), uncovered, un-
ﬁlled, empty (used of horizontal surfaces such as
tables and shelves).

paua [v2] wash, bathe, clean (with water). pauats

[n] wash, washing.
pauekul [n] wash basin.
paulon [n] (wash) tub.
paumul [n] washcloth.
peha [v3] kiss.
pehe [n] lips.
pehi [a] a little, a bit, somewhat, not very, to some

degree, to some extent; partly, partially.

pek [n] patch (of colour). kipek [n] spot, speck.

topek [n] area, region (of colour).

pekait [n] rash, skin irritation.
peklha [v1] be crooked, askew, out of alignment,
unbalanced; tilt, list to one side; (ﬁg.) be uneasy,
disturbed, uncomfortable, ill-at-ease, tense, ner-
vous, on edge. peklhampa [v2] be uneasy, tense,
disturbed; disturb, be unnerving, be unsettling.
peklheta [v3] tilt, tip, (cause to) lean to

391

one side, make/become crooked; (cause to) be-
come uneasy, lose one’s composure; unnerve.
pella [v2] get in the way, interfere with. pellaka
[n] obstacle, obstruction. pellats [n] interference,
being in the way.

penta [v1] be safe, secure, out of harm’s way.
pesa [v2] sweep, brush. hakuima pesa [v2] brush,
clean/groom with a brush. tolu pesa [v2] sweep
with a broom.

peta [v2] take (hold of), grasp; pick up; get, fetch.
petilma [v2] reach for, grasp at, try to take; at-
tempt to pick up. petats [n] grip, grasp, hold.
hitsle peta [v2] take by trickery, cheat. kilhte peta [v2] bite
down on, grasp in/with one’s teeth.

peteun [n] handle, grip; place where s.th.

grasped.

peuta [v2] wait; bide one’s time. peute [n] wait, vigil; waiting period. inie
peuta [v2] watch out, keep an eye out, keep a
look out (for).
inie peutaka [n] lookout, watch(er), guard, sen-
try. nolal peuta [v2] listen (for).

peutalh [n] wait, waiting time; break; time, inter-

val, period (esp. of inactivity).

peutoma [v2] be patient, willing to wait; be watch-

ful, vigilant.

pi [p] maybe, perhaps, possibly (evidential particle

used to express uncertainty).

piat [n] arrow, dart.
piau [n] top, summit, peak, pinnacle, highest point,

zenith. kipiau [n] tip, point, end.

piauta [v3] go to the top, go to the highest point,
reach the summit; land on top (of), alight on;
put/place on top. piaueta [v1]
sit/stand atop, be perched on top (of), be at the
summit; (p.t. the sun/moon) be at its highest
point in the sky, be at the zenith; be directly
overhead.

piha [v2] follow, go/come after, come behind (in a
sequence or procession); be next (in line), come
next, be subsequent to. pihe
[n] follower. mpihume [n(inst)] unlooked-for;
surprisingly, unexpectedly, contrary to what one
would think.

pihta [v1] be dirty, grimy, ﬁlthy.
pikia [v3] feel a stabbing or spasmic pain, have a
cramp. piki-
ats [n] stabbing pain, (painful) cramp, spasm.

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CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

tsankasu pikiats [n] stitch in one’s side.

pila [n] bird. pilamit [n] ﬂock of birds. kipila [n]

small bird; hatchling.

pima [n] stu↵, material (with which something is
ﬁlled, or out of which something is made); con-
tents; ingredients.
pinai [n] chile pepper.
piohta [v2] mock, make fun of. piohte, piohtats [n] mockery.

pyihats

[n]

childhood,

pyihatsme
[n(inst)] as a child, during childhood.
pyi-
hatsna [n(loc)] in (one’s) childhood, in (one’s)
youth, when (one) was a child.

youth.

pyna [v3] put, place (on the end/tip of something);
put (s.th.) on one’s hands or feet. pyina [v1] wear (s.th.) on one’s hands
or feet.

pynalh [n] test, examination, experiment, evalua-

pite [n] dirt (adhering to an object), grime, crud,

tion.

ﬁlth.

piyla [v2] slither, crawl on one’s belly.
poha [v1] be fat, corpulent.
pohua [v2] burst, rupture; (p.t. bubbles) pop.

pokiolh [n] blister (caused by burning).
pokot [n] turtle, tortoise.
poku [n] stomach, belly, abdomen.
popinai [n] large mild chile pepper.
poso [n] grebe.
posteihe [n] blister (caused by friction/rubbing).
pota [n] ball; sphere.
psyta [v2] spit out.
puhetlka [v2] spill (out), overﬂow.

puhtla [v3] overturn, capsize, upset, turn/fall over
(spilling one’s contents). mpyke
puhtla [v2] knock over.

puita [v2] ride (an animal or bicycle). puite [n]

mount.

pune [n] bean, pea, legume.
puniaka [v3] travel, go on a trip/journey. puniake, puniakats [n] jour-
ney, trip, voyage; travel. puniakaka [n] trav-
eller. puniakakamit [n] travelling party. puni-
akta [v3] set out, embark (on a journey). kielna
puniaka [v3] dream, have a dream.

puol [n] boat, canoe. topuol [n] large boat, ship.
pusuka [v3] make, create, produce, build; combine,
assemble (out of parts or ingredients); prepare.
pusoika [v1] be made, created,
prepared; consist (of), be composed (of). pusukal, pusoikanen
[n] creation, artifact, product; preparation; crea-
ture. pusuke [n] material(s), ingredient(s). sati
pusuka [v3] make/prepare a meal, cook. so-
nana pusuka [v3] bake.

pyi [n] child; o↵spring (of a woman). pyimit [n]
(one’s) children, o↵spring (taken collectively).

sa [n] we (1st plural exclusive ergative clitic).
saha [v2] pursue, go after, follow (with the in-
tention of catching up to).
iante saha [v2] jump after; jump out at, leap
out at, pounce on, spring on (with the intent
of catching); ambush. kiompe saha [v2] chase,
pursue, run after.
lhahe saha [v2] reach out
towards, reach for, try to touch/grasp; stretch
(s.th.) out to. solhe saha [v2] throw
at, lob towards (with the intention of hitting).
sahi [n] patch, cluster, stand (i.e., area where many
plants of the same type are growing). ipoi sahi
[n] blackberry patch. palahta sahi [n] grove of
trees; orchard.
sahontu [n] condor.
sahta [v1] be ﬁerce, fearsome, dangerous.
saila [v3] strike, attack, force oneself upon; catch;
prey upon. sailal, saielanen
[n] victim; prey, quarry. sailampa [v2] be hos-
tile, violent; use force. sailampe [n] force, violence. sailampats
[n] hostility; violence, use of force.

sak [n] fuel; sustenance.
saka [v2] be courageous, be a courageous act,
be bravely done; be brave, courageous, valiant,
heroic; do (s.th.) bravely, act with courage, do
(s.th.) out of courage. sakaka [n]
hero, courageous person. sake [n] act of courage,
act of bravery, heroic act. sakats [n] bravery,
courage, heroism.

sakan [n] wagon, cart (or other wheeled vehicle).
sakelha [v2] digest (food).
saket [n] each of us, every one of us, we each (1st

plural exclusive).

sakit [n] crumb, bit, particle of food.
sakl`a [n] edible plant; vegetable.
sako [n] larva, grub; maggot.

sakohmi [n] spouse, husband, wife.
sakpa [v3] feed (a ﬁre), stoke, fuel, add fuel to,

supply fuel for.

salha [v3] lie down (esp. from a standing position);
lay down, put to bed/sleep. sailha [v1] lie
(down), be lying, be prone.

salhka [v2] bleed, shed blood; cause to bleed. salhke [n] blood, bleed-
ing, bloodshed. haukie salhka [v2] cough up
blood.

salia [v2] wave, ﬂap, ﬂutter; move (s.th.) back and
forth; gesticulate. salie [n] ﬂag, banner,
pennant. tem salie [n] gesture, gesticulation.

salo [n] plum.
salota [n] stu↵, material, substance.
sama [v1] be cool enough to touch (used of food,
metal, pottery, or other objects which have been
heated). asamima [v2] cool down, make/get
cooler (after cooking/ﬁring). santa [v3] cool o↵,
make/become cool enough to touch.

samot [n] all of us, we all (1st plural exclusive).
sampekmon [n] red-winged blackbird.
san [n] blood (substance).
sane [n] red (thing).
sanekam [n] cedar (esp. western red cedar).
saniahki [n] hemorrhage.
saninie [n] rage, fury.
sankepaut [n] vein; artery.
sanki [n] bronze.
sankilai [n] the planet Mars.
sankits [n] rust; oxidation; red earth or dust.
sankohui [n] salmonberry.
sanokuto [n] carrot.
sapa [v3] tidy up, neaten; groom. saipa [v1] be tidy, neat,
in order; be well-groomed. mikema sapa [v3]
comb one’s hair.

sasa [v3] meet, ﬁnd (without prior arrangement
or intention), encounter, come across/upon, run
across, discover. sasats [n]
meeting, encounter. ole sasa [v3] overhear.
saskihin [a] right away, immediately, directly.
sat [n] we, us (1st plural exclusive nominative pro-

noun).

sata [v2] think of, conceive of, imagine, come up
with (an idea); propose, suggest. sate [n] thought, idea, concept; proposal,
suggestion.

393

kisati [n] light meal, snack; lunch.
large meal; feast, banquet.
satimilh [n] course (in a meal).
satla [n] roof; shelter, covering. kisatla [n] lean-to,

tosati [n]

canopy (or other temporary shelter); tent.

satlakol [n] pillar, column, (vertical) roof support.
se [n] we, us (1st plural exclusive nominative clitic).
sefa [v3] feel (on/with one’s skin).
seifa [v1] (be able to) feel (on/with one’s skin);
touch, be touching, be in contact with. eseifa [v1] feel (to the touch), have the
feel/texture of, have an X texture.

sehta [v3] go/come forward, go/come forth, pro-
ceed; come out, emerge, appear, come into view;
go ahead, go on, continue, keep going; go in front,
precede; bring/take forward, bring/take out, pro-
duce, show, display; resume, start again, take up
again. eliampi sehta [e] good-bye,
farewell, bon voyage (lit. ‘[may you] go forth eas-
ily’). hompe sehta [v3] lunge (forward). inie
sehta [v3] look forward, look ahead; (ﬁg.) antic-
ipate. kuma sehta [v3]
face forward, face front.
laste sehta [v3] send
forth, send out. tale sehta [v3] continue read-
ing; resume reading.

sehtaut [n] way forward, forward progress, (move-
ment in a) forward direction. sehtauta [n(all)]
forward, forth, in a forward direction; out, into
the open.

sehtona [v1] be foreseen, envisioned, anticipated;
foresee, envision, anticipate, have foresight of.
sehtonta [v2] predict, en-
vision, have a premonition of.
sehtonats [n]
foresight, prediction, prophecy; anticipation. se-
htone [n] prediction, premonition, forethought,
vision of the future.
seima [v1] be sweet.
sekit [n] rat.
seku [n] ﬁsh or amphibian eggs, spawn, roe.
sekui [n] shrike.
selem [n] conifer, ﬁr, pine tree.
seleu [n] catkin.
semu [n] skin, hide; covering; bark; peel.
semuka [v1] peel, shed one’s skin/bark. semuke [n] shed skin/bark.

sena [v3] hang, suspend; hang up. suna [v1] hang, be hanging, be
suspended.

sati [n] meal; dinner, midday meal;

food, dish.

senin [n] curtain, wall hanging.

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CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

sepa [v2] drink, imbibe, consume (liquid); inhale,
breathe in (smoke or fumes). tete sepa [v2] lap,
lick up.

sepe [n] drink, beverage.
sepyi [n] some, a few (quantiﬁes over count nouns).
esepyina [a] sometimes, occasionally, now and
then, from time to time. kasepyime, kasepyie
[a] a few times (in a row); a little, a bit, by a
small degree.

sesina [v1] be colourful.
sete [n] reed; tule, sedge (or similar water plant).
setenam [n] marsh, wetland(s), fen, bog.
setla [v2] be rash, act rashly, take drastic measures;

do (s.th.) in a rash manner.

setspa [v3] get stuck, get lodged, get bogged down
(in mud, water, snow, sand, etc.), sink into; stick,
lodge. seitspa [v1] be stuck, lodged.

seuki [n] weed; inedible or non-useful plant.
si [n] to us (1st plural exclusive irrealis dative

clitic).

s`ı [n] stream, current, ﬂow; running water.
siafa [v2] rub (vigorously); polish, bu↵.
sial [n] breast; nipple.
sialie [n] (pair of) breasts; (pair of) nipples.
sialoi [n] entrance, opening, way in.
siaua [v2] be gentle, be very careful, do (s.th.) gen-
tly; handle gently or delicately, handle/treat with
care.

siehat [n] lightning.
siehka [v1] shit, defecate; excrete, pass drop-
pings. siehke [n] excre-
ment; droppings, dung.

siehpa [v3] write, inscribe, transcribe. siehpe [n] pen,
writing instrument. sieihpanen [n] writing(s),
document, written record, composition.

siekona [v1] feel the urge to defecate.
sieksihin [n] diarrhea.
siem [n] sky, heaven; weather.
siemalh [n] season, time of year; the weather asso-

whistling, chirping, tweeting (sound).

sifoi [a] from now on, as of now, starting now, from
this point on. esihpi sifoi [a] for now, for a
while.

siha [v1] ﬂow, run (p.t. liquids), be in liquid form.
sihta [v3] melt, liquify, turn to liquid. etle siha
[v1] have a runny nose.

sihafa [v3] go/travel downstream;

take down-
stream.

sihafaut [n] downstream, direction in which a

stream ﬂows.
sihauat [n] ﬂame.
sihilal [n] river bank, riverside, area beside a creek
or river. sihilalna [n(loc)] by/beside the river.

sihimpailats [n] (bout of) dysentery.
sihin [n] ﬂow, ﬂux; outﬂow, discharge.
sihita [v3] go/come (down) to the (nearest) stream
or river; bring/take (down) to the (nearest)
stream or river.

sihitaut [n] direction of the (nearest) stream or
river; area closer to the (nearest) stream or river.
sihitauta [n(all)] towards the river, in the di-
rection of the river.

sihka [a] up to now, until now (but no longer), just
now, until just recently (used of a state of a↵airs
which held in the past but has now ended).

sihkasout [n] upstream, direction opposite that in

which a stream ﬂows.

sihkasta [v3] go/travel against

current,
go/travel upstream; bring/take upstream. puite
sihkasta [v3] travel upstream (by boat).

the

sihkiuo [n] whirlpool, eddy, vortex.
sihkumuten [n] the opposite side/bank of a stream

or river.

sihkunu [n] ﬂowing water; stream, (large) creek,
(small) river. kisihkunu [n] creek, brook, small
stream. tosihkunu [n] (large) river.

sihmoteun [n] conﬂuence, place where two streams
or rivers come together, place where one stream
ﬂows into another.

sihpa [v2] swim.
sihsan [n] blood ﬂow, bloodstream, circulation of

ciated with a particular time of year.

blood.

siemlai [n] daylight, natural light; bright sky.
siemlan [n] horizon (line).
siempahti [n] weather, weather conditions; atmo-

sihtsilpe [n] tributary. sihtsilpemit [n] watershed,

drainage basin.

sihtsipin [n] source of a river or stream, headwa-

sphere.

ters.

sieni [n] sock(s), stocking(s).
sifa [v2] whistle; chirp, tweet. sife [n] whistle,

sihuanten [n] mouth of a river.
sika [v2] be clever, wily, shrewd, cunning; do/act

with an ulterior motive; trick, play a trick on;
be tricky, treacherous; deceive. sikaka [n] trickster, de-
ceiver. sikats [n] cleverness, shrewdness, cun-
ning; trickery; treachery. sike [n] trick, act of
cleverness/cunning.

sik`a [p] until, up to, as far as, all the way to (em-
phatic particle, used after a noun phrase or de-
pendent clause in the dative case). X su Y sik`a
[p] from X (all the way) to Y, (extending) be-
tween X and Y.
sikotl [n] claw, talon.
siku [n] hook.
sila [v1] be clear, straightforward, plain, obvious;
be understandable, easy to understand, explicit;
be easy to perceive. silta [v3] be-
come clear; clarify, make clear, explain, elucidate.

aule sila [v1] be clear, easy to hear.

silh [n] ﬁnger, digit. silhmit [n] (set of) ﬁngers.
ahopiau silh [n] middle ﬁnger. kikoset silh [n]
little ﬁnger, pinky. kunka silh [n] ring ﬁnger.
nakopanen silh [n] index ﬁnger.

silhakte [n] knuckle.
silhanka [v3] leave ﬁngerprints, mark with one’s
ﬁnger(s). sil-
hanke [n] ﬁngerprints, marks made with one’s
ﬁnger(s).

silheketl [n] ﬁngernail.
silhmet [n] ﬁnger joint.
silip [n] butterﬂy.
sima [v1] be subtle; be exquisite, ﬁne, ﬁnely made;
be carefully made or thought out.
simampa
[v2] be careful, take care; be thoughtful, mind-
ful. sinta [v2] make, work, fashion with care or
subtlety.

simu [n] concern, worry.
sinna [v1] be fragile, delicate; break easily.
sioku [n] balance, equilibrium; purpose, goal, end.
siokuanen [n] bisexual person.
siokumilh [n] equinox.

ihmet siokumilh [n]
spring equinox. tiaulyip siokumilh [n] autum-
nal equinox.

siokuminta [n] ambiguity, double meaning.
siola [v2] slip, slide, skid.

sioute [n] precipitation, weather conditions.
sipa [n] pants, trousers.

395

sipe [n] some, a little, a bit (quantiﬁes mass nouns).
sipia [v1] be colourful.
sisa [n] rattle.
sislianka [n] rattlesnake.
sistatl [n] ﬁsh trap.
sisuhen [n] spring, source (of a stream or river).
sita [v1] be quiet, soft (i.e., not loud); be still, calm,
peaceful, relaxed, at rest. asitima [v2] get qui-
eter; go down, lower (in volume); calm down, set-
tle down, relax.

siufa [v1] be close, enclosed; be thick, dense,
crowded, packed tightly together (used of forest,
hair, bundled objects, etc.). tahkua siufa [v1]
be tangled (up), be in tangles.
siufen [n] dense woods, thicket.
siulla [v2] curl, spiral.
siuma [v2] suck (up), absorb; suckle, nurse. kisiumaka [n]
suckling, nursing infant. siumats [n] sucking;
suction; suckling, nursing.

siyhu [n] ﬁeld, meadow, open space.
siyhupai [n] meadowlark.
skala [v3] remove, take away, eliminate, expunge,
purge;
lift (from); omit; relieve, absolve (of).
mehu skala [v3] forgive.

skimo [n] tadpole.
skoha [v2] steal. skohaka [n] thief.
sliahte [n] story, tale.
slol

[n]
[n] pack, bag, knapsack; bundle. kislol
satchel. slolmit [n] baggage, kit, packed sup-
plies. mosipe slol [n] backpack, shoulder bag.
slola [v3] bunch up, cluster together; gather (up),
collect, assemble; bundle (together). sloilanen [n] bundle, bunch,
cluster, group(ing). pete slola [v3] grab (in a
bunch), take a handful. s`o slola [v3] tie up, tie
together (into a bundle).

sluka [v1] be distasteful, odious, repulsive, repug-
nant; be unpleasant, unappealing, unappetizing;
be sickening, nauseating; repel, repulse; be sick-
ened, nauseated, repulsed.

so [n] to us (1st plural exclusive realis dative clitic).
s`o [n] rope. kis`o [n] thin rope, string. tahkua s`o

[n] knotted or tangled rope.

sofalua [v2] start over, start again, pick up again,
resume talking (after stopping to correct oneself);
rephrase, restate.

sofalue [p] that is, that is to say, in other words.

396

CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

sofo [n] ﬂour.
soha [n] shell (i.e., hard, rigid shell, as of a mollusk
or turtle, or of a nut); protective case or covering;
shield. tosoha [n] shield.

sohenia [v2] gather shellﬁsh, harvest shellﬁsh.
sohie [n] shellﬁsh (speciﬁcally bivalve mollusk: oys-

ter, mussel, etc.).

sohta [v3] say, utter, state (in terms of); articulate,
express, put into words. soihta
[v1] be uttered, be in words, be verbal. sohte [n]
utterance, statement; verbal expression; word-
ing, phrasing, the words with which something
is expressed. sohtal, soihtanen [n] speech, dis-
course, oration; idea(s) put into words, concept
being articulated. ampe sohta [v3] voice one’s
fasoun sohta
opinion, express one’s opinion.
[v3] brag, boast, be boastful. haio sohta [v3]
whisper, say (s.th.) in a whisper. sile sohta [v3]
say plainly, express clearly, put in simple terms.
sohtapin [n] argument, argumentation, chain of

reasoning; discourse; poem.

soiahki

[n] outburst, outpouring of emotion,
blowup; verbal attack, rant, railing; harsh crit-
icism, castigation, invective.

soialta [v2] claim, proclaim, lay claim to, declare;
take on, take charge of, take responsibility for;
take a vow, promise ﬁdelity, pledge fealty to.
soialtats [n] pledge, promise, oath of fealty,
(wedding) vows.

sokala [v3] invite; encourage.

sokasta [v2] argue, quarrel; disagree (with), op-
speak against, argue against.
pose; dispute,
sokastats [n] arguing, dispute;
disagreement, (vocal) opposition. sokaste [n] ar-
gument, quarrel, dispute.

sokastoma [v2] be argumentative, quarrelsome,

disagreeable.

sokla [v3] attach, fasten, join.

sokloha [v3] talk through, go over, discuss, brief
(s.o.) on; describe, explain; instruct.
sokoipa [v1] know by reputation, know of/about,
have heard of.
sokoipats [n] reputation.

sokopa [v2] hail, call out to, shout out to, greet
(esp. from a distance); recognize, show recogni-
tion of, acknowledge.

sokopats [n] hail, call, greeting; (ﬁg.) recogni-
tion, acknowledgement.

sokumita [v3]

summon,
present, invoke, conjure up (in words).

call over;

describe,

solahta [v3] mention, point out, refer to; inform
(s.o.) of, let (s.o.) know about; remark on, com-
ment on, observe.

solampe [n] sentence, clause.
solasta [v3] contact, get in touch with, send word,
send news.
solaste [n] news, tidings; message, word.

solatla [v3] dismiss, excuse, send away, tell (s.o.)

to leave.

solau [n] advice, counsel.
solha [v2] throw, toss, cast, lob; scatter, disperse

(by throwing).

solhila [v2] exaggerate.
solhinta [v1] be eloquent, articulate, well-spoken,
good/clever with words, skilled at expressing
oneself.
solhintats [n] eloquence, skill with
words.

solisma [v2] be insulting; insult, speak disrespect-
fully. solisme [n] insult.
solohka [v3] order, command, demand (that an
action be performed). solohke [n] or-
der, command, demand.

solohkoma [v2] be bossy, pushy, authoritarian; be

demanding.

somehka [v3] create, enact, call into being (by
speaking); perform (a ritual formula or incan-
tation); order; arrange, organize, administer.
somehkaka [n] speaker,
spokesperson; performer; boss, foreman, man-
ager, overseer.

somita [v3] convince, persuade.

somoita [v3] hear (tell), get news, receive word.

somoieta [v1] be known; know (about), have
heard of, be aware of.
somoiete [n] word, news, tidings, report; knowl-
edge, information, intelligence. somoietemit [n]
reputation; all that is known about a person or
thing.

sona [n] oven. tosona [n] furnace.
soniha [v3] describe, talk about; convey, portray,
depict (in words).

soniokta [v3] answer, reply, respond. soniokte [n] answer, response, reply,
retort.

sonka [v1] be surprising, amazing, marvelous; be
remarkable, out of the ordinary; be surprised,
amazed (at); wonder, marvel (at).
sonkampa [v2] surprise, amaze. sonketa [v2]
startle, surprise.
sonki [n] pig; boar.
sonkilha [v3] dismiss, send away, tell to leave; call
o↵ (a dog).

sosilta [v2] explain, clarify.

sot [n] word; words, speech, utterance. ihfoite sot

[n] a private word, private conversation.

sota [v1] be thick, heavy, bulky, strong (used of
paper, cloth, walls, and other ﬂat objects and
surfaces).

sotafa [v3] describe, explain, explicate; instruct.

soteuna [v3] claim, lay claim, make a claim, assert
the right to; reserve. soteune,
soteunal [n] claim.

sotilha [v2] have diculty speaking, slur or fumble
one’s words; be inarticulate, bad at expressing
oneself, not well-spoken.

sotiuhe [n] rule, law, commandment, injunction,

directive.

sotoka [v3] correct, contradict (an erroneous state-
ment or false impression), set (s.o.) straight; de-
bunk (a fallacy).
sotsokua [v3] introduce.
sotuhfa [v2] make excuses. sotuhfe [n] excuse(s), evasion.
sotuma [v3] refuse, say no.

sotupuats [n] syllable.
souata [v2] interrupt, cut o↵; silence, shut (s.o.)

up, stop (s.o.) from talking.
souetin [n] trance; hypnosis.
souksipa [v2] dread, feel dread. souksipe, souk-
sipats [n] dread, a feeling of dread.

soun [n] heart; (ﬁg.) soul, life force; spirit, courage,

bravery, boldness, fearlessness.

sounta [v1] be moving, sublime, emotional; be
moved, be deeply a↵ected, feel deeply. sountampa

397

[v2] move, be moving, a↵ect deeply, cause in-
tense emotion; inspire, encourage, embolden, give
courage.

souokia [v3] orate, give a speech or oral perfor-
mance; recite, repeat, perform (in words). souokial [n] speech, oratory, recital,
spoken performance. souokie [n] words (of a
performance), lines (of a spoken text).

souosta [v3] pronounce, produce,

form (words,
sounds); describe, depict, portray, characterize,
represent (in words).

souta [v3] go into a trance; put in a trance, put
under, hypnotize. soueta [v1] be in a trance.
stahka [v2] snap, crack, make a cracking sound.
statl

[n] trap, vice (or other device for catching
or holding in place). kistatl [n] lock; knot. s`o
kistatl [n] knot (in rope).

stiha [v2] cause friction; be abrasive, rough, harsh
(in texture); rub roughly, rasp, chafe, scrape, ir-
ritate. steiha
[v1] be raw, chafed; be sore or irritated (due to
rubbing). stihats [n] friction, rubbing; abrasion,
chaﬁng.

stoka [v3] destroy. stokampa [v2] be destructive.

stula [v1] be strange, odd, unusual. stulampa [v2]

act strangely, behave in an unusual way.

su [c] or. su X su Y [c] either X or Y.
su [p] ever since, all the way from (emphatic parti-
cle, used after a noun phrase or dependent clause
in the ablative case). X su Y (sik`a) [p] from X
to Y, between X and Y.
s`u [n] rain. kise s`u [n] sleet.
suaha [v3] smear, spread, daub, rub.

sufe [n] foam, froth; lather, suds.
suﬁa [v3] rise, surge (p.t. bodies of water, also ﬁg.);
rush in, ﬂow in, surge forward; ﬂood, overﬂow,
overwhelm, inundate, deluge. suﬁe, suﬁats [n]
inﬂux; rise, surge, rush; deluge; rising tide, ﬂood
tide.

suha [v3] go/come outside; go/come out, exit,
leave, emerge (from an enclosed space); take out,
lead out, carry out, remove. soiha [v1] be out, be outside; be out-
doors. soihota [v2] stay out, keep out. suhuhka
[v3] get out, escape, manage to leave.
lhahe
suha [v3] stretch out, reach out, extend out,
stick out, protrude (from an enclosed space).

398

CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

pake suha [v3] step out (of). talhe suha [v3]
climb (up) out of. tiause suha [v3] fall out, drop
out; (p.t. liquids) pour out.
suhalau [n] exit, way out, outlet.
suhaloi [n] exit, way out, outlet, opening (to the

outside).

suhauat [n] ash, soot, char.
suhima [v2] breathe out, exhale; sigh. suhime [n]

exhalation; sigh, sighing.

tsan
nana suka [v3] bake, make in an oven.
suka [v3] work hard, be busy, be preoccupied.
ufatl suka [v3] make a mistake, err, be wrong,
do the wrong thing.

sukana [v3] be sudden, happen suddenly, happen
abruptly; happen quickly; rush, hurry, be in a
hurry; do (s.th.) suddenly or abruptly.

suhkuto [n] basis (for doing something); basics,

sukehain [n] information; advice, counsel, set of

fundamentals.

suhona [v1] be forgotten; forget (not be able to re-
member). asuhonima [v1]
fade from memory. suhonta [v2] become forgot-
ten; forget, overlook (lose the memory of); cause
to forget.

suhonoma [v2] be forgetable; be forgetful, absent-
minded, have a tendency to forget things.

suhpa [n] brother. kisuhpa [n] younger brother.

tosuhpa [n] older brother.
suhpahats [n] brotherhood.
suhuikumats [n] waning gibbous moon.
suk [n] tooth. sukmit [n] set of teeth.
suka [v3] work, do work; operate, function; do,
make, bring about, cause (to happen). sukampa [v2] work, do things, be ac-
functional.
tive;
function; be useful, usable,
sukaka [n] worker. sukanen
[n] means, wherewithal; position, situation, oc-
cupation. sukats [n] work, working, activity; ac-
tion; function. suke [n] action, deed. sukihpa
[v1] plan (a project), intend.
sukihpats [n] plan. sukihpe [n] goal, intent, in-
tention. sukilma [v3] try, undertake, set out to
do/make. sukilme [n] endeavour, undertaking,
e↵ort. sukuhka [v3] work, work out, succeed, be
successful; accomplish, manage (to do s.th.); get
(s.th.) to work. efos suka [v3] make trouble,
cause trouble; be troublesome. eihte suka [v3]
be right, do the right thing. fala suka [v3] cel-
ebrate, have a party. heiku suka [v3] do again,
do over, repeat. ian suka [v3] do good, do well,
do the right thing. kaumei suka [v3] make war,
wage war. keﬁs suka [v3] threaten (by one’s
deeds). lulhe suka [v3] do wrong; do evil. ny-
him suka [v3] make trouble, cause trouble. so-

instructions for performing an action.

sukeihte [n] correct action, the right thing to do.
sukelia [v1] work, function, operate (smoothly or
sukeliampa [v2] be skillful, agile;

correctly).
work, operate, cause to function (correctly).
sukelhko [n] task, mission; motivation, purpose for

doing something.

suken [n] time and place (in which to accomplish
something); room; extent, measure, share, allot-
ment (of resources, esp. time and/or space in
which to perform a task); chance, opportunity.

sukiam [n] storm, rainstorm.
sukimla [v2] grin. sukimle [n] grin, grinning.
suklut [n] job, task, undertaking; work.
sukoipa [v1] be forgotten, unrecognized; not re-
member, fail to recognize (a person or thing).
sukoihta [v3] for-
get (the identity of a person or thing); cause to
forget.

suku [n] wind. kisuku [n] breeze, light wind. to-

suku [n] strong wind, heavy wind, gale.

sukufatl [n] mistake, error; the wrong thing to do.
sukuheut [n] north by northwest.
sukukiam [n] windstorm, gale.
sukuliout [n] windbreak.
sukuma [v1] be di↵erent, distinct; di↵er. sukunta [v2] change, alter,
transform, make/become di↵erent.

sukumampe [n] disagreement, dispute, di↵erence

of opinion.

sukumon [n] banner, ﬂag, streamer, pennant; kite.
sukuot [n] northwest (lit. wind direction; conven-

tionally, 60 degrees west of true north).

sul [n] language, speech.
sulhta [v3] turn aside, turn away; (ﬁg.) forsake,
abandon. soilhta, kuma soilhta
[v1] be facing away, be turned away (from). sul-
htampa [v2] avoid; ignore, disregard, fail to ac-
knowledge. inie sulhta [v3]

look away, look to one side.

sulipe [n] sap.
sumilh [n] time, period, season; phase, step, stage,
development (in a process or procedure); chapter,
episode (in a narrative); verse, stanza.

suna [v1] (see: sena).
sunkiyn [n] plumb-line.
sunta [v1] be silent, mute; not speak, not make
noise. suntats [n] silence. sunteta [v1] be quiet,
shut up, stop speaking; silence, stop from speak-
ing.

suntaipanen [n] tapestry, wall covering.
suntiemoi [n] hanging moss.
suonu [n] horn (musical instrument).
supiha [v2] fall behind, lag behind, fail to keep up.
supihe [n] straggler.

sutaut [n] direction (from which s.th. is coming),
where one is coming from, source, place/direction
of origin; route, way, path (away from a source).
suku sutaut [n] direction from which the wind
is blowing.
sute [n] clay.
sutlka [v1] be spoiled, decayed, rotten, rancid, pu-
trid, foul, bad; be degraded, debased. asutlkima
[v2] decay, spoil, rot (become more spoiled); de-
compose; degrade. sutlkampa [v2] be vile, vi-
cious; act with viciousness. sutlketa [v2] de-
cay, spoil, rot, putrify; degrade, debase; ruin,
make/become ruined. minapna sutlka [v1] be
rotten to the core.

syha [v1] faint, swoon, pass out, lose consciousness.

syiha [v1] be unconscious, passed out.

syhona [v1] feel faint, dizzy.
syma [v2] mutter, mumble, murmur. syme [n]

muttering(s), mumbling(s).

syti [n] navel, belly button.

ta [n] it, that (3rd person inanimate ergative clitic).
tafa [v3] show, demonstrate; teach. efos tafa [v3] teach (s.o.) a lesson
(lit. show trouble). nole tafa [v3] show respect
to.

taha [v3] kill (an animal

for food). tahaka [n] killer, hunter;
predator, carnivore. tahal, taihanen [n] prey,
quarry, catch; meat source.
tahe [n] hunting
weapon.
lihke taha [v3] slaughter (for meat),
kill with a knife. nitlke taha [v3] sting to death,
paralyze. piat taha [v3] kill with a bow and ar-

399

row. tiku taha [v3] spear, harpoon, kill with a
spear/harpoon.

taheiku [a] yet again, once more. heiku taheiku

[a] again and again, over and over.

tahen [n] twenty. tahenka [n] twentieth (ordinal).
tahenka [v1] be delightful, very enjoyable, very
pleasurable; like/enjoy very much, love, delight
in, get a lot of pleasure from.

tahfun [n] pitch, resin.
tahka [a] earlier, before (then), at an earlier point.
etohampi tahka [a] long before, a long time be-
fore (then), quite a bit earlier. laisne tahka [a]
just before (that).

tahkua [n] bramble(s), brush; dense growth,
thicket; tangle, knot. kitahkua [n] tangle, knot.
lihe ki-
ipoi tahkua [n] blackberry bush(es).
tahkua [n] cobweb(s).

tahkuste [n] example, instance, illustration, case
tahkuste aunme

in point; sample, selection.
[a] for example, for instance.

tahoi [a] after (then/that), thereafter, afterwards,
later on, at a later point, subsequently; after, in
(preceded by a measure phrase in the instrumen-
tal case). etsipi tahoi [a] shortly thereafter, not
long after, a bit later. laisne tahoi [a] just after,
right afterwards, just then, immediately.

tahop [n] cli↵.
tahoti [a] constantly, repeatedly,

incessantly, al-

ways, all the time.

tahpa [v2] step back, step aside; get back, get out
of the way, steer clear; miss, avoid. taihpa [v1] be clear, out of the
way; be o↵ to one side.

tahuoi [n] one hundred and twenty (‘twelfty’). es-

tahuoi [n] one hundred and twenty-one.

taieht`a [n] sixty. taiehtauka [n] sixtieth (ordinal).

taiehtautla [n] (one) sixtieth (fraction).

taimo [n] cheer, hurrah; (ﬁg.) joy, cheer, celebra-

tion, jubilation, triumph.

taimomilh [n] special occasion, festive occasion,

(time of) celebration.

taimosot [n] congratulations, good wishes, well-

wishing.

taiona [v1] be deﬁnite, sure, certain; know for sure,
know for certain, be positive. taionta [v2] con-
ﬁrm, make sure, make certain, verify, prove, val-
idate.

taka [v3] cut (into two or more pieces), cut through,

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CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

sever. helhtaim taka
[v3] slice, cut into slices/slabs. hentlai taka,
hentla hein taka [v3] cut in half; bisect. hetl
hein taka [v3] cut in two. losak taka [v3] cut
ﬁrewood.

takan [a] now, at this time. eima takan [a] still,
even now. hulne takan [a] by now, by this time.
laisne takan [a] just now, right now, at this mo-
ment, even now.

takel [n] harp.
takelu [n] seventy.
takia [v3] break (into pieces), snap (used of thin,
usu. brittle objects such as sticks or bones).
takeia
[v1] be broken. hentlai takia, hentla hein
takia [v3] break in half. hetl hein takia [v3]
break into two pieces. nalh takeia [v1] have a
broken arm.
takian [n] ﬁfty.
takioma [v1] be brittle, easily broken (used esp. of

thin objects).

tala [v3] read; examine, peruse, scan;

interpret.

talak [n] coin; money.
talakpa [v3] give/spend money; pay (for); buy, pur-
chase. talakpe [n] cost, price,
fee, fare; type or amount of payment. talakpaka
[n] buyer, purchaser, customer. talakpanen [n]
purchase (object bought, or transaction).

taleilhkats [n] low tide.
talh [n] then, that time, that case, that occasion.
talhme [n(inst)] meanwhile, during that time.
talhna [n(loc)] then, at that time, at that point,
that’s when; in that case; on that occasion. fene
talhna [n(loc)] no earlier than that, not before
(then). hulne talhna [n(loc)] by then, no later
than that.

talha [v2] climb (a sloping surface, such as a hill-
side or stairway). talhe,
talhats [n] climb, climbing. talhanen [n] slope,
sloping surface.

takis [n] name (of a place or object rather than a

talhalau [n] climbing path, trail leading up/down

person), designation.

a hill or slope.

takita [v3] alight on, land on (a branch or other
narrow surface). takeita [v1] perch, be perched,
roost, balance, sit, crouch (on a narrow surface).
takeitanen [n] perch, roost; nesting place.

taklan [n] copper.
takoipa [v1] be well-known; be widely known, fa-
mous; be well acquainted with.

taksa [v2] be named X, be called X; go by X; call
by X, refer to as X, address as X. takseta [v2] (begin
to) call (s.o.) X, give (s.o.) the name X, dub, la-
bel. ku miai t`aksan [e] what is your name? (lit.
‘how are you called?’).

takua [v1] be dark, unlit, give o↵ no light (used of
light sources, rather than objects reﬂecting light);
(p.t. sound) be low (in pitch). atakuema [v2]
darken, dim, get darker; (p.t. ﬁre) die down; (p.t.
sound) fall, lower, go down (in pitch).
takuta
[v2] go dark; go out; put out, snu↵, extinguish.
takoita [v1] be darkened; be out, extinguished.
takuiste [n] solstice. halai takuiste [n] summer
solstice. tuhsa takuiste [n] winter solstice.

takun [n] forty.

talhko [n] cause. talhkou [n(abl)] because (of).
talhkuma [n] (gentle) slope, rise, incline; hillside.
talhpakemit [n] stairs,
talhpake [n] step, stair.
stairway; steps; path made in the side of a hill by
cutting steps or placing stepping stones.

talo [n] chief, chieftain, lord, ruler
talohats [n] rule, reign; chiefdom, lordship, com-

mand, sovereignty.

taloniolh [n] chiefdom, dominion.
talpana [v3] cover; spread over, spread across,
overrun. talpaina [v1]
cover, be spread over.

tam [n] ten.

tanka [n] tenth (ordinal).

tantla
[n] (one) tenth (fraction), tithe. etamna [a] ten
times. etankana [a] for the tenth time. katam
[n] ten-part (thing); ten times; group of ten.
kataim, katamme [a] ten times (in succession);
tenfold, by a factor of ten.

tama [v1] be great, strong, mighty, powerful,
formidable, impressive. tanta
[v2] become powerful; empower, make strong.
tamats [n] strength, greatness, impressiveness;
power, might. nolho tama [v1] be muscular,
well-muscled.

tamin [n] might, power.
tamne [a] often, frequently.
tampalhten [n] dock, pier.
tampe [n] mattress; bedroll.
tampemul [n] bedspread.
tan [n] it; this (one), that (one) (3rd singular inan-
imate nominative pronoun and demonstrative).
tana [v1] be connected, bound, aliated. tanats [n] bond, con-
nection, aliation.

tanata [v3] sell, vend.
tanataka [n] seller, vendor, merchant. tanate
[n] item for sale; ware(s), merchandise. tanata-
nen [n] sale, vending.

tani`o [n] eighty.
tanko [n] bench; platform for seating built into the
wall of a room. huiloi tanko [n] window seat.
tanotl [n] unit of distance, equivalent to one hun-
dred standard cubits (katlam), or about 55 me-
tres.

tants`o [n] strap, band; belt; thong.
tanu [n] platform; porch, deck; stage. kitanu [n]

ledge, small platform.

tapa [v3] weave. tape [n] yarn,
thread, ﬁbre, material used in weaving. taipa-
nen [n] weaving, woven cloth, fabric, textile; rug;
tapestry.
lihe tapa [v3] spin a web. ulei tapa
[v3] cast a spell, do/perform magic.

tapahain [n] loom.
tapin [n] weaving; web, mesh, net;

lattice; net-
work. mehke tapin [n] situation, state of a↵airs.
nilu tapin [n] net, netting; network.
tsuhke
tapin [n] unfortunate situation or state of a↵airs,
predicament, jam, quagmire; misfortune, spell of
bad luck.

tapio [n] signal, alert, beacon.
tapu [n] pelvic region, lower abdomen, loins; groin,

crotch, pubic area.
tapuketo [n] pelvis.
tapumul [n] loincloth, breechcloth.
tasalia [v2] expand, grow, take up room; spread

out, stretch out, unfold.

tasalu [n] grease, oil.
tasi [n] liquid, ﬂuid; nectar, sap.
taskuhe [n] curds.
tasla [v1] be wet.

ataslima [v2] get wetter.
tasleta [v3] wet, get wet. s`u tasleta [v3] get
rained on, get wet from the rain.

tasolh [n] sack, large bag.
tasonka [v1] be astounding,

401

drous, marvelous, miraculous.
tasonkampa [v2] amaze, astound.

tasohta [v3] arm, assure, reassure. tasohte
[n] armation; assurance, reassurance.

tasta [v2] melt, thaw, liquify. taste, taste ise [n]

slush, slurry.

tasufeiats [n] high tide.
tat [p] of course, after all, as you know, naturally
(evidential particle used to mark a sentence as
expressing common knowledge). hi`o tat [p] yes,
of course. ntsune tat [p] of course not.

tata [n] dad, daddy, papa.
tatalhkou [n(abl)] thus, therefore, for that reason,

because of that.

tatana [v2] go around from place to place, wan-
der (constantly), circulate; be in constant mo-
tion; be restless, prone to wander; take from place
to place, show around. tatane [n] wanderer,
vagabond. iante tatana [v2] jump around (from
place to place). kielna tatana [v2] dream, have
a dream. kiompe tatana [v2] run around (from
place to place). solhe tatana [v2] toss around
(a ball, etc.). uaste tatana [v2] ﬂy around, ﬂy
in di↵erent directions.

tatasot [n] babbling, gibberish, nonsense.
tatasuke [n] superstition; irrational or compulsive

behaviour.

tateiek [n] ninety. tateiehka [n] ninetieth.
tatsa [v3] throw, hurl, ﬁre, shoot (a projectile); hit,
bombard (with a projectile). tatse [n] pro-
jectile, missile. tatsal [n] target. tatsilma [v3]
shoot at, try to shoot. tiku tatsaka [n] spear
thrower, harpoon thrower, atlatl.

tau [n] bow. tau ka piat [n] bow and arrow(s).
taualhme [n(inst)] still, anyway, even so, even if

so, despite that, nevertheless, regardless.

tauehte [n] thirty.
tauelhu [n] one hundred and ten (‘eleventy’).
tauketo [n] rib. tauketomit [n] ribcage.
taukiyn [n] bowstring.
taula [v3] bend, bow, curve; turn up (the ends
of), make into a bowl shape. huan taula [v2] smile ruefully. naua
taula [v2] cup one’s hand(s).
taulan [n] curve, bend; crescent.
tauoma [v1] be ﬂexible, bendable, pliable, elastic,

amazing, won-

tensile; be lithe, supple, toned; be springy.

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CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

taus [n] spoon;

ladle.

totaus [n] ladle, serving

move nom to dat, erg steer nom towards all>

spoon; cup with a handle.

te [p] only; it is (only) X that… (identiﬁcational

focus particle).

teha [v2] stay, remain (behind), not leave; be left,
remaining;
leave, abandon; detain, keep from
leaving.
tehe [n] the rest, the remainder, what’s left
(of) (combines with mass nouns). eliampi teha
[e] good-bye, take care (said by someone tak-
ing his/her leave to someone staying behind; lit.
‘[may you] stay easily’).

tehefoi [a] soon, shortly, presently, in a little while.
rouse, arouse, cause to
tehehta [v2] disturb,

move/stir (esp. by touching).

tehempi [p] also, moreover, besides, in addition;

either.

tehian [n] (thin) rod, bar; rail, railing, bannister.
tehiankepaut [n] railroad, railway.
tehiantsakan [n] train.
tehihka [a] recently, lately, a little while ago, not

long ago.

tehima [v2] breathe. tehimats [n] breathing, res-

piration. tehime [n] breath.

tehou [n] tail (of a bird, ﬁsh, or marine mammal).
tehpa [v3] lick.
tehsua [v3] drain slowly; (ﬁg.) dwindle, diminish,
taper o↵, abate. tehsue [n]
run-o↵. tehsuats [n] drainage.

tehsulau [n] drainage ditch; sewer, culvert; duct,

pipe (for drainage).

tehsuon [n] drain (in a ﬂoor or basin).
tehta [v1] be light (weight; opposite of heavy); (p.t.
liquid or vapour) be thin, di↵use, clear, diluted,
weak, unconcentrated; (p.t. colour) be faded,
pale, bleached, colourless; translucent; (ﬁg.) be
subtle. atehtima [v2] lighten, get lighter, lose
weight;
thin, get thinner, weaken, dissipate,
make/become more diluted; fade, pale. tehteta
[v3] lighten, become light; (make/become) thin,
fade, bleach. amahtle tehta [v1] be
dilute;
bland, light, weak; have a subtle ﬂavour. nalei
tehta [v1] be faded, be light in colour; be pale,
colourless, translucent. pahti tehta [v1] be pale
(in the face).

tehte [n] the rest, the remainder, what’s left (of);
all the other, all the rest (combines with count
nouns). etehtena [a] the rest of the time(s), at
all other times.

tehyna [v3] move, convey; direct, steer, lead. tekeme
[n] hurt, injury, damage; object used to cause in-
jury/damage.

telaum [n] paciﬁc madrone, madrona, arbutus.
telhma [v2] be trusted, trustworthy; trust, put
one’s trust in, believe (in), have conﬁdence in.
telhmats [n]
trust, belief; conﬁdence.

telhol [n] bereaved relative, surviving relative, rela-
tive of one who has died. telholmit [n] surviving
family, family of one who has died. kamie tel-
hol [n] orphan. kohmi telhol, sakohmi telhol
[n] widow, widower. pyi telhol [n] parent who
has lost a child.

teli [n] clitoris.
teltu [n] basalt (or similar igneous rock).
teluhtsa [v2] smell, sni↵ (at), inhale the scent of.
tem [n] hand. temme [n(inst)] by hand.
temahtla [v2] taste, have a taste; try, sample (the

ﬂavour of), partake of.

temai [p] then, thus, consequently, in that case;
now (indicates a sequential or causal relation-
ship). husu temai [p] even then.

403

temel [n] cotton.
temie [n] (pair of) hands.
temieut [n] double handful, as much as can be car-

ried in two hands.

temnaua [n] palm of the hand.
temokta [v3] adopt, take in, take custody of, make
(s.o.) a member of one’s immediate family. temokte [n] adoptee,
ward, relative by adoption. temoktats [n] adop-
tion, custody.
temot [n] handful.
tempato [n] heel of the hand (part of the palm

nearest the wrist).

tena [c] and. tena X tena Y [c] both X and Y.
tene [n] hill.
teniokta [v3] return, put back, replace. silh teuna
[v3] touch, put one’s ﬁnger(s) on. statl teuna
[v3] set a trap. talohats teuna [v3] make (s.o.)
into a chief, elect/appoint as chief, give the chief-
tainship to. tiyise teuna [v3] lift into place; lift
onto. tlynke teuna
[v3] push into place.

teunen [n] location, site, place (where something

is put).

teuohka [v3] be required, obligatory; make, re-
quire,
force, compel. teuohke [n] compulsion, obligation, re-
quirement.

teusu [p] very, greatly, quite; really, truly, cer-

turn nom to dat>

tainly; well, thoroughly.

tenka [v1] be inevitable, highly likely; (it’s) bound

ti [n] to it, to that (3rd person inanimate irrealis

to be.

tenkite [n] ﬁngertip.
tenkule [n] glove; mitten.
ten`u [n] people, group of people (inherently plural

collective noun).

tepa [n] thrush, western bluebird.
tepu [n] lid, cover (used to cover a pot or hole).
tesa [v1] (p.t. weather) be cool and pleasant, be
temperate; (p.t. liquid, food, breeze) be cool and
refreshing.

tesiaua [v2] be delicate; handle gently, handle with
care; do (s.th.) gingerly.

tesiek [n] feces, shit, solid waste.
tesu [n] western hemlock.
tetam [n] stack, pile (of ﬂat objects).
tete [n] tongue.
teuk [p] thus, therefore, hence.
teula [v2] listen to. teulilma [v2] listen for. ma pila iteula [e] I don’t un-
derstand, I can’t make it out, it’s Greek to me
(lit. ‘I am listening to birds’).

teuloma [v2] be attentive, be a good listener.
teuna [v3] put, put down, place (esp. on a horizon-
tal or sloping surface).
teunal [n] place, location, site (where something
is put). teunampa [v2] put down; put in place,
put (s.th.) where it belongs; site, position, ﬁnd a
place for; hand out, distribute. inie teuna [v3]
look (down) at, take a look at, turn one’s atten-
tion to. itlas teuna [v3] make an observation,
make a comment. myiouk teuna [v3] pad, cush-
ion, put padding under. nesap teuna [v3] ask a

dative clitic).

tiaha [n] ash.
tiahafun [n] charcoal.
tiahpi [a] easily, with ease.
tiahte [n] paternal grandfather (father’s father).
totiahte [n] great-grandfather. totiahtemit [n]
one’s paternal ancestors; patrilineage.
tiako [n] goat. tiakomit [n] herd of goats.
tiala [v1] be decent, polite (behaviour), good man-
ners; be honorable. tialampa [v2] act with de-
cency; be polite, behave well, have good manners;
do (s.th.) in a polite or well-mannered way; be re-
spectful, show respect for oneself and others, act
with dignity; be respectable, digniﬁed; honour,
do (s.th.) out of a sense of honour. tialampe,
tialampats [n] politeness, behaving well; re-
spect, dignity; honour; respectability.
tialats
[n] decency, politeness, good manners, good be-
haviour; that which is decent or honorable.

tiame [n] paternal grandmother (father’s mother).
tian [n] kindness, consideration; helpfulness.
tianta [v3] put (s.th.) where it belongs, put (s.th.)
in its proper place; ﬁt into/onto (an appropri-
ate place). tiainta [v1] ﬁt,
belong (in/with), complement; be ﬁtting, suit-
able, right, appropriate. tiantal, tiaintanen [n] the
right/proper/suitable place (for s.th.), the place
where (s.th.) belongs.
tiantats [n] ﬁt, ﬁtness,
appropriateness, suitability; belonging, being in
the right place.

tianunta [e] thank you (lit. ‘may [your] kindness

404

CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

come full circle’). tianunta hok [e] thank you
very much.

tiapa [v1] be easy, simple; (p.t. physical objects)
be easy to use or manipulate, be manageable;
be well done/made, elegant, graceful. atiapima
[v2] ease, get/make easier, become more manage-
able; loosen (esp. s.th. which is too tight).

tiauen [n] drop, drop-o↵ (point); (edge of a) cli↵,

precipice, steep slope, embankment.

tiaulotsan [n] fallen tree, log.
tiaulyip [n] fall, autumn.
tiaun [n] if so, whether that’s the case (heads in-
direct questions from which the verb has been
elided).
tiaunme [n(inst)] if so, in that case;
given that.

tiausa [v2] fall (down),

fall over, collapse;

fell,
liquids) pour
cause to fall (over); drop; (p.t.
(out). tiauesa [v1] be fallen, collapsed; (p.t. a
mouth) agape, slack, hanging open.

tiausoma [v2] be precarious, unsteady, unstable,
liable to fall; be clumsy, have a tendency to drop
things.
ti`e [n] there, that place. tiena [n(loc)] there, in

that place, that’s where.

tiefu [p] only, solely, exclusively, just; except (for)
tiefu ntse [p] only not, just

(focus particle).
not; except (for).

tiekal [n] foe, enemy, opponent.
tielhkoua [n(all)] thus, for that purpose, in order

to do so/that.

tiella [v3] lure, attract, bait. tiellal [n] quarry, prey. tielle [n] bait.

tiemoi [n] moss.
tien [n] son.
ties [n] building, structure. toties [n] large build-
ing (esp. public building). totiesmit [n] building
complex.

tiesat [n] town, large settlement. totiesat [n] city.
tiespa [v3] build, construct, make, assemble. tieispanen [n] build-
tiespe [n]
ing, structure, construction, ediﬁce.
building materials.

tifa [v3] take o↵, remove, strip (from the surface
or exterior of); pick (fruit, seeds, etc.). hake tifa [v3] scrape o↵, scrape away.
hete tifa [v3] lift o↵, remove. kilhte tifa [v3]
bite o↵.
lihke tifa [v3] cut o↵, remove by
cutting. semu tifa [v3] skin, remove the skin
(from); peel, strip, remove the outer layer (of).

tyn lihke tifa [v3] behead, decapitate. paue
tifa [v3] wash o↵, remove by washing. pese tifa
[v3] sweep o↵, brush o↵. tiause tifa [v3] fall o↵,
come o↵, drop o↵.

tifueia [v1] be sticking out just above the surface

of the water.

tiham [n] skirt, kilt.
tihelau [n] shortcut.
tiheipa [v1] be short (in length/dimension).
tihme [n] layer, stratum.
tihmehets [n] (layer of) sediment, deposit.
tihsemu [n] skin, hide, rawhide (esp. for making

leather).

tihtsinu [n] grain, cereal crop.
tika [v2] leak (out), come out, escape, be emitted
(usu. through a small or narrow opening, p.t.
liquid, light, sound); emit, let out, give o↵; se-
crete, excrete, exude, shed (e.g., a bodily sub-
stance);
lay, deposit, expel (from one’s body).
teika [v1] leak,
have a leak, be leaky.
eketl tika [v2] moult, shed one’s exoskeleton
(p.t. crustaceans, etc.). euti tika [v2] lay eggs
(p.t. birds, reptiles).
lhuse tika [v2] ooze out,
seep out. n`a tika [v2] leak (water). seku tika
[v2] lay eggs, spawn (p.t. ﬁsh or amphibians). ul-
hnan tika [v2] be poisonous, venomous, toxic.
tikaihpa [v1] be a short way down, be slightly be-
low (i.e., a short vertical distance below some
point).

tikaila [v1] be warm, tepid.
tikamie [n] paternal grandparents.
tikanta [v1] be short (opposite of tall; used of inan-

imates).

tikeilha [v1] be a short way up, be slightly above
(i.e., a short vertical distance above some point).

tiku [n] spear, harpoon.
tilan [n] line.
tilas [n] glass (substance); pane of glass.
tilha [v2] lean, teeter; be unsteady, unstable; be
clumsy, fumble (with).

tiluma [v1] be shallow; (p.t. doors, etc.) be open
slightly, ajar; (p.t. ﬁre) burn low, be smoldering.
inie tiluma [v1] squint.

tima [v1] lie, sit (on the ground); lie, be found,
be located, be situated (in a particular place);
be prone, horizontal (used of inanimates); (p.t.
events or states) be likely, common, tend to (oc-
cur), be liable to (occur). timanen [n] place, lo-
cation, position, site; situation; habit, tendency.
tinta [v2] settle on the ground; locate, situate;
lay, lay down (ﬂoorboards, carpet, etc.).

timaut [n] direction (in which s.th. lies); place-
ment, situation, location (of s.th. relative to one’s
position).

tipu [n] beer (esp. type of beer made from fer-

mented maize).

tis [n] drop, droplet; ﬂake, particle. hiunu tis [n]
tear, teardrop. ise tis [n] snowﬂake. salhke tis
[n] drop of blood. s`u tis [n] raindrop. utsaske
tis [n] bead of sweat.

tisimpa [v3]

spray.

mon, hard to ﬁnd, in short supply.

timen [n] spot, plot, site, position, place (on the

ground) where something is situated.

timunta [v1] be slightly drunk, tipsy.
tin [n] they, them;

these (ones), those (ones)
(3rd plural inanimate nominative pronoun and
demonstrative).

tina [v1] be tame, mild (i.e., not ﬁerce), be domes-
ticated; (p.t. food) be wholesome, good to eat;
(p.t. water) be potable, safe to drink.

tinuha [v1] be cool.
tioikehats [n] death, being dead.
tioka [v2] die, perish; kill (unintentionally), be the
cause of death; be deadly, fatal, lethal.
tioika [v1] be dead. tioikampa [v2] play dead.
tioikanen [n] death, being dead; the world of the
dead, the afterlife. tioike [n] dead person/thing.
tiokats [n] death, dying, loss of life. moutats
tioka [v2] die of sickness. ulhnan tioka [v2] be
poisoned, die of poisoning.

tiokemilh [n] time of death, moment when one

dies.

tiokin [n] death, mortality, the event or phe-
nomenon of dying; time/circumstances of one’s
death.

tiokutsan [n] dead body, corpse. time tiokutsan

[n] carrion.

tiompaken [n] gateway, opening (in a fence or

wall).

tion [n] gate.
tipaka [v2] take a small step, move slightly forward.
tipakota [v2] take small steps, inch forward; be
incremental, gradual; move/progress in small in-
crements.

tipana [v3] decorate, adorn, add designs to. tipane [n] decoration,
design, adornment, ornamentation.

tipe [n] detail, ﬁne point; motif, design element.
tipemit [n] pattern (esp. rhythmic or repeat-
ing pattern), design involving a repeated motif;
rhythm. huiom tipemit [n] melody, musical
phrase.

tisin [n] spray.
tislau [n] trickle, drip, rivulet, streak.
titia [v3] collect, gather; pick (fruit, etc.); build, as-
semble, put together, make, create (out of gath-
ered materials). titie [n] haul, collection, gathered
or collected materials.
itlas titia [v3] gather
records, gather information; collect observations.
nyfei titia [v3] build a nest.

titima [v1] be short (on a horizontal dimension;

opposite of long).

titoilha [v1] be short (opposite of tall; used of an-

imates).

titsyipa [v1] be just below the surface (of a body of
water).

tiufa [v1] be juicy, succulent.
tiuha [v1] be necessary, needed, required; need.

tiuhe [n] need, necessity, requirement.

tiuma [v1] be deep, low.
tiumen [n] depths, lowest or deepest point, bot-

tom, nadir.

tiumet`u [n] crevasse, abyss, chasm.
tiuse [a] maybe, perhaps, possibly.
tiyisa [v2] lift, raise, elevate; pick up.
tiyla [v1] be apparent, seeming; seem. itiyle [v1]
seeming (that); as if, as though.

tlafa [c] for, since, because, as.
tlaholon [n] bath tub.
tlahomok [n] bath house.
tlahua [v2] clean, cleanse; refresh. tlahoia [v1] be
clean, cleansed, refreshed; be sanitary, hygienic.
tlai [a] that, that much, to that degree; that’s how;
so, to such a degree, how; thus, in that way.
tlaika [v3] consent, give consent, agree, allow, per-
mit.

tlaka [v2] punish. tlakats [n] punishment.
tlala [v1] be wide; be open, clear (used of land).
tlalen [n] open space; area free of trees/brush; open

country. totlalen [n] plain(s), prairie.

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CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

tlama [n] (wild) animal, beast, creature. pahai

tlihtam [n] horizontal beam, rafter, crossbar. hitol

tlama [n] wild animal.

tlihtam [n] lintel.

tlampi [a] that, that much, to that degree/extent;
that’s how; how, such, to such a degree.
lau
tlampi [a] that far, that distance; to that extent;
that’s how (much), that’s how far; (in exclama-
tions) how far, so far, such a long way.

tlan [n] that much, so much; that’s how much.

tiefu tlan [n] that’s all, only that much.

tlana [v3] put, put up, place, mount (on a vertical
surface). inie tlana
[v3] look (up) at, take a look at, turn to, turn
one’s attention to.

tlante [n] so many, this/that many, thus many;
that’s how many.
etlantena [a] that often;
that’s how often; so often, so frequently. kat-
lanteme, katlantei [a] that many times, so
many times (in a row); by that much, by so much,
by such a large proportion. tiefu tlante [n] only
that many; that’s all.

tlap [n] large piece/portion, chunk, hunk.
tlasa [v1] survive, live, remain alive, go on living;
continue, persist. tlasampa, tlasota [v2] con-
tinue, keep (going), maintain; preserve (the life
of), sustain. tlasta [v2] save (the life of); pre-
serve, enable (s.th.) to continue.

tlasi [n] bend in a river. lau tlasi, tulo tlasi [n]

bend in a road.
tlehai [n] respect.
tlehpa [v3] break into large pieces, break into

chunks.

tleke [n] tile; shingle.
tlelha [v3] ﬁnd, locate, discover (s.th. which one has
been looking for); reveal, present, show the loca-
tion of, show how to ﬁnd (s.th. being sought).
tleilha [v1] be found, accounted for, at-
tested, known (about); be available, extant; know
the location of, keep track of. tlelhilma [v3]
seek, look for, search for, set out to ﬁnd, try to
ﬁnd.

tlena [v1] be elaborate, complex, detailed; be or-

nate, (heavily) decorated.

tli [p] (so) they say, apparently (evidential particle
added to a sentence expressing hearsay or sec-
ondhand information).

tliha [v1] be thin, slender, narrow, skinny, slight
(used of people, and cylindrical objects such as
sticks).

tlihsiele [n] ferry.

tlimu [n] mercy, charity, benevolence.
tlina [v1] be straight (i.e., not crooked), be in align-

ment. tlinta [v2] straighten (out), align.

tlisa [v3] cross, go/come across, get across, tra-
verse; go/come over; ford (a stream); bring/take
across, bring/take over;
transmit. tleisa [v1] cross, be/lie across, stretch
across, span, extend over. tlisuhka [v3] (manage
to) get across, make it across, get over. tlisanen
[n] crossing point; boundary; barrier, obstacle;
transmission.
iante tlisa [v3] jump over, leap
across. kome tlisa [v3] translate; interpret, act
as an interpreter. moinme tlisa [v3] cross the ocean; (ﬁg.)
die, pass away. pake tlisa [v3] step over, step
across. puite tlisa [v3] cross (by vehicle, esp.
boat), take a boat across, ferry across.
talhe
tlisa [v3] climb over, climb across, scale (a hill-
side or mountainside). yise tlisa [v3] climb over,
clamber over, scramble over (a fence, embank-
ment, or other vertical obstacle).

tliseun [n] crossing point; ford; threshold, bound-

ary. pake tliseun [n] threshold.

tlislau [n] path, passage, way over, way across (an
tomla tlislau [n] mountain

obstacle); bridge.
pass.

tlohpa [a] for that reason, therefore, that’s why.
tlok [n] shoe; clog, patten.
tlota [v1] be heavy, dense, compact, solid; (ﬁg.) be
serious. tlotats [n] density, solidity, heaviness;
seriousness, gravity. tlote [n] solid/heavy thing;
serious matter.

tlotona [v1] be dangerous, risky, unsafe, haz-

ardous, precarious.

tlotonin [n] risk, hazard, danger.
tlotsaka [n] that kind, that type, that sort; like
that, such (a). tlotsaka koin [n] a person like
that, that kind of person, such a person.

tlotunke [a] thus, thereby, in that way, in that man-
ner, by that means, that’s how, so doing; like
that, likewise.

tluha [v3] press, press down on, put pressure
on, push.

tlukan [n] raven.
tlula [v3] pound; grind, crush. tlulaka [n] miller; grinder, pes-

tle. tloilanen [n] meal. hoheits tlula [v3] pul-
verize, pound into dust. sofoi tlula [v3] grind
(grain) into ﬂour, mill ﬂour.

tlume [n] large piece, chunk, hunk.
tluosna [p] instead (of that), rather, but. ntse X

(le) tluosna Y [p] not X but Y.

tlutsa [v2] corrode, become corroded, rust, dete-
riorate (esp. through exposure to the elements);
corrode, eat away (at). tloitsa [v1] be corroded, rusted.

tlutsoma [v2] be corrosive, caustic, harsh.
tlynka [v2] push (on/against), move by pushing.
to [n] to it, to that (3rd person inanimate realis

dative clitic).

toha [v1] be big, large. atohima [v2] grow, in-

crease in size, (cause to) get bigger.

tohampi [a] extremely, exceedingly, a great deal,
to a very great degree. etohampi [a] for a long
time. lau tohampi [a] very far, a very long way;
very much, to a very great extent.

tohante [n] a great many, a large number (of), nu-
merous. etohantena [a] very often; in a great
many cases. katohanteme, katohantei [a] a
great many times (in a row); greatly, immensely,
signiﬁcantly, by a large factor, to a great degree.

tohi [a] extremely, exceedingly; especially.
tohmi [n] big (one), large (one).
tohta [v1] be extra, left over, excess (beyond what
is needed); exceed, go beyond. tohte [n] extra, excess, left-
over(s). nasats tohta [v1] have extra strength,
have excess strength; exceed in strength.

toka [v3] correct, remedy, rectify, make right, set
right; ﬁx, repair, mend.
toika [v1] be correct, right, accurate; be ﬁxed,
repaired, mended, whole, in good repair, in good
working order. toke [n] correction, remedy; ﬁx,
repair; tool (used to ﬁx something).

tokamemit [n] ancestors.
tokana [v1] be wonderful, glorious, sublime.
tokisenam [n] glacier.
toklha [v1] be grim, grave, serious, somber, solemn;
be heavy; be austere, severe, cheerless; (p.t.
weather) be stormy, severe,
tokl-
hampa [v2] be serious, behave seriously; act in
a solemn manner, have a somber a↵ect.

inclement.

toklhemohi [n] storm cloud.
toklhin [n] stormy weather, inclement weather.
tokma [v3] tan hides. tokme [n] tannin. toikmanen

407

[n] leather, treated hide.

tokoloi [n] the planet Venus, the morning/evening

star.

tokon [n] bald eagle.
tola [v3] attack, assail, assault. tolilma [v3] menace, threaten.
tolaka [n] attacker, assailant. tolal [n] victim of
an attack. tole [n] weapon.

tolha [v2] stand up (esp. from a lying position), get
up; erect, raise, cause to stand up. toilha [v1] stand, be
standing; be erect, upright; be up (out of bed).
tolika [v1] be disappointing; be disappointed.
tolikampa [v2] disappoint, let down.

tolmu [n] moose.
tolok [n] ten thousand.

tolohka [n] ten thou-
sandth. toloktla [n] (one) ten-thousandth (frac-
tion). etolokna [a] ten thousand times. ka-
tolokme, katoloik [a] ten thousand times (in
succession); ten thousandfold, by a factor of ten
thousand. tolok tam [n] one hundred thousand
(lit. ten ten-thousands). tolok kiunma [n] (one)
million (lit. one hundred ten-thousands).

tolokion [n] mill, mill house.
toloma [v2] be threatening, menacing; be ﬁerce,
aggressive, belligerent.

tolu [n] broom.
toluhs`ı [n] undercurrent, undertow.
tom [n] drum.
tomia [v1] be jolly; be jovial, good-humoured.
tomla [n] mountain.

tomlamit [n] mountain
chain, mountain range. hatiaha tomla [n] (ac-
tive) volcano.

tomlanam [n] mountainous

region, mountain

range; the mountains.

tomo [n] sir, madam (honoriﬁc used in addressing

strangers).

tomoito [n] orca, killer whale.
tomouna [n] grizzly bear, brown bear.
tomu [n] cranium, top of the head; skull, braincase.
tomuha [v1] be plenty, plentiful, abundant; be
more than enough; have plenty, have more than
enough. tomuhats [n] plenty, abundance. to-
muhe [n] more than enough, plenty (of) (quan-
tiﬁes mass nouns).

tomuhpi [a] more than enough, to a more than
sucient degree, quite. etomuhpi [a] for more
lau to-
than enough time, for plenty of time.

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CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

muhpi [a] more than enough, to a greater than
sucient extent; plenty far.

tomuhte [n] more than enough, plenty (of) (quan-
tiﬁes count nouns). etomuhtena [a] plenty of
times; in plenty of cases. katomuhteme, kato-
muhtei [a] plenty of times (in a row); more than
enough, to a more than sucient degree.

tomyt [n] dragon.
topa [n] hoof.
tosepyi [n] several, a (fair) number (of) (quantiﬁes
count nouns). etosepyina [a] fairly often, sev-
eral times, on several occasions; in several cases.
katosepyime, katosepyie [a] several times (in
a row); by quite a bit.

tousemu [n] scalp.
toutam [n] paving stone, ﬂagstone.
toutamin [n] paving, pavement, paved area.
ts`a [v1] be here (where the speaker is); here is, this
tsauota [v2] stay here, remain here;

is, voil`a.
keep (s.th.) here.

tsaha [v1] be exciting,

thrilling; be excited,
thrilled, enthusiastic. tsahampa [v2] excite,
cause excitement.

tsahati [n] body heat.
tsahihta [v1] shiver, tremble (all over).
tsahompa [v2] push against (with one’s whole

body); wrestle.

tosipe [n] a fair bit, quite a bit (of) (quantiﬁes mass

tsahosia [v2] shake oneself (o↵) (e.g., used of a dog

nouns).

tota [v2] shake, shudder, quake, tremor; (p.t. liq-
uid) boil, roil; (ﬁg.) have an orgasm (p.t. women).

totam [n] board, plank.
totoha [v1] be very large, huge, enormous, gigantic.
totohi [a] extremely, immensely, extraordinarily, to

an extraordinary degree; most especially.

totohmi [n] very large (one), giant.
totsat [n] table; work bench.
totsipi [a] fairly, quite, rather, pretty; quite a bit,
to a fair degree. etotsipi [a] rather often, fairly
often. lau totsipi [a] rather far, pretty far; to a
reasonable extent.

shaking water out of its fur).

tsahota [v3] mate, copulate, have intercourse.
tsaka [n] kind, type, sort; category. tsaka tohante
[n] a great many kinds; plethora, multitude, vast
array.

tsakahpa [v3] lie down, lie back, recline (from a sit-
ting position); lay down. tsakaihpa [v1] be
reclining, lying down (having previously been sit-
ting up).

tsakamot [n] all kinds, all types, every kind.
tsakamot koin [n] all kinds of people, people
of every sort.

totsomo [n] nearly all (of), the largest part (of),

tsakanta [v1] lean on, lean against.

totsomopi [a] almost, almost entirely. etotso-
mopi [a] almost always, nearly always, for al-
most the entire time. lau totsomopi [a] nearly
all the way, almost the entire way; almost en-
tirely.

totsomote [n] the vast majority (of), almost every,
almost all, nearly all (quantiﬁes count nouns).
etotsomotena [a] nearly always, in the vast ma-
jority of cases.

totsypin [n] ﬂood, deluge.
touhati [n] fever.
touhets [n] (bed of) rough rocks, rocky ground.

kitouhets [n] gravel.

toukante [n] standing stone.
touketo [n] skull.
toumpaken [n] stepping stone.
toun [n] stone, rock (substance). tihme toun [n]

sedimentary rock.

toupa [v1] be apparent, presumable, presumed;

seem to be true; it must be the case (that).

toupima [n] brain(s).

tsakelha [v3] sit up (from a lying position).

tsakeilha [v1] be sitting up.

tsakulhua [v2] curl up into a ball (e.g., to sleep,

used of cats and other animals).
tsala [v1] be ﬂat. tsalta [v2] ﬂatten.
tsalaha [v3] cremate. tsalahe

[n] funeral, cremation.

tsalahauat [n] funeral pyre; cremation.
tsalehma [v1] feel (physically) well, at ease; have

a healthy appetite and good digestion.

tsalia [v1] be healthy, well, ﬁt,

tsalhi [n] body hair.
tsalhila [v2] distort, deform; bend, stretch (s.th.)
out of shape.
tsalheila [v1] be distorted, de-
formed, misshapen, bent/stretched out of shape.
in shape. at-
saliema [v2] heal, get better, recuperate; get
ﬁtter, get in shape; heal, treat, tend (a sick per-
son). atsaliemaka
[n] healer, doctor.
atsalieme [n] patient.
tsaliampa [v2] be healthy, wholesome, good for
one’s health; be nourishing, nutritious. tsalita

[v2] heal, get well, recover; make well, cure.

tsalokuats [n] strong body odour.
tsamanka [v3] hold on, hang on, steady oneself
(to keep from moving or falling).

tsametia [v2] start, freeze, become tense (in one’s
entire body); startle. tsameitia [v2] be tense,
alert, motionless, frozen (e.g., in fear).

tsam`ı [n] shirt, tunic; blouse.
tsamota [v3] have sex (with), make love (to). tsamotats [n] lovemaking,
sexual intercourse.

tsampa [v3] manifest (as), take the shape of, ap-
pear in the form of; create, embody, make man-
ifest, give the shape of. tsaimpa
[v1] be manifested (as), have the shape/body of;
look like, resemble, appear as, appear in the form
of. tsaimpe [n]
manifestation, embodiment, incarnation, person-
iﬁcation, material form; body, form, shape, im-
age, avatar.

tsamusa [v2] draw away, draw back, retreat;
shrink back, ﬂinch, cringe; shy away, avoid.

tsan [n] thing, object, entity; body, ﬁgure, shape,
material form; individual; member (of a set or
class of entities), exponent; self, oneself; (one’s)
own; the same (one), the very (one). tsanmit
[n] group, collection, set. him tsanna [n(loc)]
at the same time, simultaneously.
tsaka tsan
[n] the same kind.

tsana [v2] make a noise/sound.
tsanalhta [v3] change (shape), transform.
tsanie [n] pair, couple, twosome; both (used of two
things that go together). tem tsanie [n] both
hands.

tsaniumia [v1] be limp, listless. tsaniumita [v3]

let one’s body go limp; make (s.o.) go limp.

tsankasu [n] side (of one’s body/torso).
tsankats [n] substance, body, mass, corporeality;
concreteness, physical being, having shape or
substance, having a physical form; individuality,
selfhood, autonomy.

tsankulu [n] identity, selfhood, being, conception

of oneself.

tsankyin [n] posture, carriage, bearing, stance,

way of holding one’s body.

tsanmok [n] heart; soul, spirit, life force.
tsanoma [v2] be noisy, make a lot of noise.
tsante [n] the same (ones), the very (ones) (plural).

409

tsapa [v1] get lost, go missing, go astray;

lose.
tsupa [v1] be
lost, missing. mesiokou tsapa [v1] go mad,
lose one’s mind; have a nervous breakdown.
mesiokou tsupa [v1] be mad, insane, crazy.
tsapahti [n] health, state of one’s health, physical

condition, ﬁtness.

tsapaua [v2] bathe, take a bath, wash oneself.

tsapauats, tsapaue [n] bath, bathing.

tsapaulon [n] bath tub.
tsapeihta [v1] have a seizure. tsapeihtanen [n]

epilepsy.

tsapeklha [v1] be dizzy, wobbly, woozy; be faint,

light-headed.

tsasan [n] humidity, humid weather.
tsasioku [n] good health, wellness, ﬁtness; (physi-

cal) well-being; cleanliness, hygiene.

tsatsa [v1] be full. atsatsima [v2] ﬁll (gradu-
ally). tsatsta [v2] ﬁll, ﬁll up, make/become full;
become sated.
iase tsatsta [v1] eat one’s ﬁll.
mohi tsatsa [v1] be foggy, cloudy, misty; be
clouded, unclear, translucent but not transpar-
ent. n`a tsatsa [v1] be full of water.

tsatskam [p] and so on, and the like, et cetera.
tsatsona [v1] be ﬁlling (p.t. food); be full, feel full,
feel sated (after eating), be satisﬁed. tsatsonampa
[v2] be ﬁlling, cause to feel full, satisfy, satiate.
tsatsone [n] the
feeling of being full; food which is ﬁlling.

tsehpe [n] ribbon, strip of cloth or paper. lhame

tsehpe [n] wrapping(s), bandage.

tsek [n] stick, dry branch. kitsek [n] twig.
tsekloha [v2] exercise, do exercises, condition one-
self; practice (a physical activity or skill), re-
hearse, run through (a procedure). tseklohota
[v2] practice repeatedly; train, be in training.
tseklohats [n] exercise, conditioning, training;
practice, rehearsal, drill, run-through.

tsekte [n] wrist.
tsektehina [n] bracelet.
tsektekan [n] shirt cu↵.
tsema [v3] move, manipulate; put; place, posi-
tion, arrange, conﬁgure; make, build, assemble
(a collection or conﬁguration of objects); col-
lect, accumulate. tseimanen [n] arrange-
ment, conﬁguration; assemblage; collection, ac-
cumulation. tsemal, etseminen [n] place, posi-
tion (in an arrangement). tseme [n] object to be

410

CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

manipulated; element, part (of a conﬁguration),
member (of a collection); piece, pawn, game to-
ken. lampei tsema [v3] line (up), align, arrange
into a line. tetaim tsema [v3] stack (up), make
a stack (of), arrange into a stack. tuhai tsema
[v3] pile (up), make a pile (of), arrange into a
pile.

tsemehka [v2] happen, take place (esp. used of a
ritual or other performance); perform, enact, act
out. tsemehke, tsemehkats
[n] performance.

tsemin [n] arrangement, conﬁguration; shape, ﬁg-
ure, pattern, composition (made by an arrange-
ment of objects).

tsemoi [n] diagram, plan, ﬁgure.
tsena [v1] regret.
tsenki [n] chain.
tsenoma [v1] be regrettable; be regretful, remorse-
ful, full of regret.

tsets [n] shard, piece. kitsets [n] (small) fragment,

sliver, splinter.

tsetsema [v3] organize, arrange, set up, prepare

(for) (an event).

tsetskietam [n] mosaic.
tseuata [v2] stop momentarily, pause, hesitate (be-

fore going on); brieﬂy interrupt.
tseuika [v2] stir, make a soft sound.
tseuna [v3] sprinkle, scatter; sow (seeds).

tseuta [v3] leave, go away, go from here; take/lead

away from here (where the speaker is).

nom/inst>

tsike [n] ﬂy; ﬂying insect. tsikemit [n] swarm of

ﬂies/insects.

tsikelha [v3] move quickly up and down, bob
up and down; jerk upwards; raise, lift (quickly,
and with minimal e↵ort). lhimie tsikelha [v3]
raise one’s eyebrows (e.g., in surprise). mosie
tsikelha [v3] shrug one’s shoulders. nyhuina
tsikelha [v3] bob on the surface of the water.

tsikilh [n] insect bite.
tsikilhta [v3] nip, take a small bite.
tsikiospa [v3] singe, scorch.
tsiko [n] seam; crack, crevice; fracture.
tsiksipa [v2] grasp lightly but ﬁrmly (as between

one’s ﬁnger and thumb).

tsiksipon [n] pincer(s), tongs; tweezers.
tsiksona [v2] glance at, take a quick look at.
tsila [v3] trim, prune, cut back; snip, cut o↵. luan
tsila [v3] get a haircut, cut one’s hair.

tsilaiota [v1] sparkle, twinkle.
tsilima [v2] open and close quickly; ﬂash, glint.
tsilpa [v1] branch o↵, split o↵, separate. tsilpe [n] branch, o↵shoot;
prong; tributary.
tsilpemit [n] canopy (of a
tree). tsilpanen [n] fork, branching point, sepa-
ration point.

tsilua [v2] spin, twirl.
tsimetia [v2] start, ﬂinch, twitch, have a spasm.

tsimilhta [v3] swerve, turn abruptly.
tsimma [v1] tingle pleasantly; (p.t. light) shimmer,

tsi [p] here, over here, this (near the speaker; deic-

sparkle.

tic particle).

tsiﬁla [v2] chirp, twitter, make a chirping sound.
tsihata [v2] cry out suddenly, exclaim.
tsiheulhta [v2] pull gently (on), tug; pluck (a
stringed instrument). tsiheulhtota [v2] play (a
stringed instrument).

tsihfa [v1] be bare, clear; lack; be rid, free (of); be
stripped (of); be naked, uncovered; (p.t. paper)
be blank. tsihfeta [v2] get rid of (s.th. cover-
ing the outside of s.th.), rid, remove (from the
outside); clear, strip, peel (o↵). kilhi tsihfa
[v1] be hairless, smooth; have no hair (on one’s
luan tsihfa [v1] be bald. nalei
body/face).
tsihfa [v1] be colourless.
tipu tsihfa [v1] be
simple, plain, unadorned, lacking in detail or dec-
oration.

tsikahta [v3] jab, prod, poke.

tsimu [n] compassion, empathy.
tsimuka [v2] close and open quickly; (p.t. ﬁre) dim
brieﬂy. inie tsimuka [v2] blink. inna tsimuka
[v2] wink.

tsinioka [v2] be reﬂexive, automatic, involuntary,
spontaneous, impulsive; react automatically, do
(s.th.) reﬂexively, act on impulse; act without
thinking, respond without thinking. tsinioke [n] reﬂex, impulse, reﬂex-

ive action, automatic reaction/response.
iokanen [n] (one’s) reﬂexes.
tsinkot [n] seed pod; ear (of corn).
tsinmok [n] genitalia; pubic region.
tsinu [n] seed; grain, cereal; semen.
tsinuka [v2] ejaculate; (p.t. plants) release/spread

tsin-

seeds.

tsinukit [n] kernel, seed, (individual) grain.
tsinyipa [v2] be deft, nimble, precise, accurate;
wield deftly; use (an instrument) to perform a
delicate or minute task.

tsip [n] mosquito, midge, gnat (or other ﬂying, bit-

ing insect).

tsipa [v1] sprout, spring, issue, emanate; appear,
arise, start, originate.
tsipanen [n] origin, starting point.

tsipemilh [n] beginning, starting point, source,
point of origin, moment at which something be-
gins or comes into being.

tsipeta [v2] snatch, grab (esp. something small or

lightweight); pluck, pick (o↵).
tsipeuta [v2] pause brieﬂy, hesitate.
tsipi [a] a little, a bit, somewhat, to some extent;
sort of. etsipi [a] for a little while, or a short
while, brieﬂy. lau tsipi [a] a short ways, a little
ways, not far; a little bit, to some extent.

tsipikia [v3] sting, cause/experience a stinging
pain.
tsipin [n] source (esp. of a river or stream), spring;
(point of) origin, starting place. hema tsipin
[n] hot springs. ksinan tsipin [n] salt spring.
tsisuaha [v3] daub lightly, spread/smear gently.

tsita [v3] come here; bring here, put here, give here
(where the speaker is). nate tsita [v3] hand over
here. pake tsita [v3] take a step forward (to-
wards the speaker).

tsitianta [v3] adjust, ﬁx, straighten, set right; tune

(a musical instrument).

tsitlynka [v2] push gently (on).
tsitsana [v2] make a sudden, soft sound.
tsitskana [v3] appear for an instant, appear and
disappear. tsitskuna [v1] be very brief, momen-
tary, instantaneous; last for a moment.
tsitsoma [v1] be fragile, delicate, breakable.
tsitspa [v3] break (into shards), smash, shat-
ter (used of brittle substances such as glass
or pottery).

411

tsitusia [v2] nibble, munch (on).
tsoha [v2] be connected, related; have a con-
nection/relationship; be associated with, have
something to do with; connect, relate, associate.
tsohanen [n] connection,
association, thing with which s.th. is connected
or associated. tsohats, tsohauots [n] connec-
tion, relationship, association.

tsohka [v1] be sti↵, rigid, inﬂexible (lit. and ﬁg.);
be stubborn, dicult; be serious, grave, proud.
tsohtia [v3] conﬁne, hold captive; capture, ar-
rest, imprison, incarcerate. tsohteia [v1] be conﬁned, imprisoned,
under arrest, in custody, in captivity. tsohtie, tsohteie [n] prisoner,
captive. tsohtiats [n] capture, arrest. tsohteia-
nen [n] conﬁnement, captivity, custody, impris-
onment; place of conﬁnement, prison, jail; period
of conﬁnement, sentence.
tsohtikon [n] (prison) cell.
tsokoimpa [n] stranger, unknown person; outsider,

foreigner.

tsokua [v3] meet (for the ﬁrst time), encounter,
discover, become acquainted with; be introduced
to; introduce, acquaint with. tsokoia [v1] be
known; know, be acquainted with, have met (be-
fore). tsokoie [n] (new) ac-
quaintance.
tsolam [n] anvil.
tsomo [n] most, the major part (of) (quantiﬁes

mass nouns).

tsomopi [a] almost, almost entirely; mostly, for
the most part. etsomopi [a] mostly, (for) most
of the time.
lau tsomopi [a] most of the way;
mostly, for the most part.

tsomote [n] most, the majority (of) (quantiﬁes
count nouns). etsomotena [a] usually, mostly,
most often, for the most part,
in most cases.
katsomoteme, katsomotei [a] most times, the
most number of times (in a row); mostly, to the
greatest extent; almost twice, almost twofold,
nearly double.

tsonna [v2] be stupid, dumb, idiotic, unintelligent;
act out of stupidity, be stupid enough to (do
s.th.). tsonne, tsonnats [n] stupidity,
idiocy, lack of intelligence. tsonnaka [n] stupid
person, idiot.

tsop [n] toe. tsopmit [n] (set of) toes.

412

CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

tsopeketl [n] toenail.
tsotu [n] joke, jest; joking, fooling around; wit, hu-

mour, cleverness.

tsoukahin [n] chaos, disorder, great confusion,

bedlam, pandemonium.

tsouota [v3] (come to) feel bad about, regret. tsouoita [v1] feel bad about, re-
gret, feel contrite.

tsuala [v2] be wary, careful, mindful; be vigilant,
watch out, beware, be on guard, be on the look-
out. tsualaka [n] watch(er), guard,
tsuale, tsualats [n]
lookout, sentry, sentinel.
vigil, watch.

tsuhka [v3] occur, happen, come about, come
to pass, befall (p.t. unfortunate or unwelcome
events), be the fault of; go wrong; have a mis-
fortune; cause, be responsible for. tsoihka [v1] be, exist, occur, be attested;
be done, be complete (p.t. unpleasant things,
conditions, or events); be wrong; su↵er from.
tsoihkanen [n] victim, one a↵ected by misfor-
tune.
tsuhkats [n] unfortunate event or oc-
tsuhke,
currence; fault, responsibility, blame.
tsoihke [n] misfortune, unfortunate event or oc-
currence;
totsuhke, totsoihke
[n] disaster, calamity, tragedy, grave misfortune.
tsuhkyipa [v3] be possible; be susceptible to,
su↵er from.

fault, wrong.

tsuhkamin [n] ordeal, trial, diculty, bad or un-

fortunate experience.

tsuhpa [v2]

live, dwell, reside;

inhabit, occupy.
tsuhpaka [n] resident.
tsuhpanen [n] dwelling, residence, abode, habi-
tation, place where one lives; settlement; circum-
stances of one’s residence. tsuhpe [n] residence,
occupancy.

tsuhyikpa [v2] be miserly. tsuhyikpaka [n] miser.
tsuika [v2] belch, burp; fart, break wind, pass gas.

tsuike [n] belch, fart; ﬂatulence, gas, wind.

tsuktu [n] curse, bane, a✏iction.
tsuku [n] torso, trunk, upper body; chest.
tsukunta [v1] o↵end, be o↵ensive; be o↵ended,
take o↵ense.
tsukuntampa [v2] o↵end, be o↵ensive, cause
o↵ense, do (s.th.) to o↵end.

tsul [n] bed, sleeping platform.

tsula [v2] visit, see, spend time with, socialize with;
talk to/with, consult (with). tsulakamit [n] get-
together, social event, group of people socializ-
ing; conference. tsulats [n] socializing; visit, get-
together; consultation.

tsulholpa [v2] commit incest. tsulholpe [n] incest,

incestuous relations.

tsulmasi`o [n] loneliness, longing for the company

of others.

tsuloma [v2] be sociable, gregarious.
tsuma [v1] be bad, poor, deﬁcient, inferior.
tsuna [v1] be loud.
tsunyipa [v2] abuse, treat poorly; misuse.
tsuo [a] too, overly (degree adverbial).
tsuol [n] mud.
tsuompi [a] too, too much. etsuompi [a] for too
long. lau tsuompi [a] too far; too much, to too
great an extent.

tsuon [n] too much. totsuon [n] far too much.
tsuonte [n] too many. etsuontena [a] too often;
in too many cases. katsuonteme, katsuontei
[a] too many times (in a row); too much, by too
large a proportion. totsuonte [n] far too many.

tsupa [v1] (see: tsapa).
tsusna [v2] mourn, grieve.

tsusne [n] grief.

tsutakis [n] insult; bad name, insulting epithet.
tsutupa [v2] limp, walk with an irregular gait.
tsyho [n] grime, soot.
tsyhopek [n] stain, patch of dirt/grime.
tsyi [a] not enough, insuciently (degree adver-

bial).

tsyimpi [a] not enough, too little, insuciently, to
an insucient degree. etsyimpi [a] not (for)
long enough.
lau tsyimpi [a] not far enough;
not enough, too little, insuciently, to an insuf-
ﬁcient extent.

tsyin [n] not enough, an insucient amount (of),

too little.

tsyinte [n] not enough, an insucient number (of),
too few. etsyintena [a] not often enough, too
seldom, too rarely. katsyinteme, katsyintei
[a] too few times, not enough times (in a row);
too little, not enough. totsyinte [n] far too few.

tsyipahits [n] silt, deposit.
tsyipalul [n] bottom, ﬂoor, bed (of a body of wa-

ter).

tsymo [n] ruin(s), derelict building or other struc-

ture.

tsympuite [n] sled, sledge; travois.
tsyntla [v2] drag, pull (along the ground).

tsypa [v3] enter, go into, become submerged in
(a body of water); put, place, submerge,
im-
merse (in water). tsyipa [v1] be submerged,
be below the surface (of a body of water), be un-
der water. iante tsypa [v3] jump into, dive into
(a body of water). minei tsypa [v3] become
lost in thought, become preoccupied; preoccupy.
minena tsyipa [v1] be preoccupied, be lost in
thought. solhe tsypa [v3] throw/cast (s.th.) into
(a body of water). tiause tsypa [v3] fall/drop
into (a body of water); (p.t. liquids) pour into.
tlynke tsypa [v3] push (s.th.) into (a body of
water), dunk, submerge by pushing. tupe tsypa
[v3] wade into (a body of water). uaste tsypa
[v3] dive into (a body of water; p.t. water birds).
tsypaut [n] depth(s), downward direction (p.t. a
body of water). tsypauta [n(all)] down, down-
ward, deeper (into a body of water).

tuaha [v1] be good, useful, beneﬁcial, e↵ective;
be suitable, appropriate, ﬁtting; be ﬁne, elegant,
well-made, well-crafted.

tuha [n] heap, pile, mound (esp. of round or irreg-

ularly shaped objects); cairn.

tuhalom [n] mound, barrow; hillock, knoll.
tuhan [n] rule, law.
tuhe [n] less, not as much. kituhe [n] a bit less,
somewhat less. totuhe [n] far less, not nearly as
much.

tuhfa [v2] fall short, come up short, be inadequate,
be insucient; not do enough, fail.

tuhpana [v2] be regular, periodic, rhythmic; do
regularly, do at regular or periodic intervals;
do in rhythm. tuhpane [n] rhythm; rhythmic or reg-
ular action, periodic event.

tuhpi [a] less, to a lesser degree, not as much.
etuhpi [a] (for) less (time), not (for) as long.
kituhpi [a] a bit less, somewhat less. totuhpi
[a] much less, a lot less, not nearly as much. lau
tuhpi [a] less far, not as far; not as much, to a
lesser extent.
tuhsa [n] winter.
tuhta [v3] break, breach, damage, make a hole
or crack in. toihta [v1] be broken, be damaged;
have a hole/crack; lack structural integrity.

tuhte [n] fewer, not as many. kituhte [n] some-

413

what fewer. totuhte [n] a lot fewer, not nearly as
many. etuhtena [a] not as often, less often, less
frequently, in fewer cases. katuhteme, katuhtei
[a] not as many times (in a row).

tuk [n] group, gathering, collection (of people or

things).

tukahta [v3] kick. tukahte, tukahtats [n] kick.
tukpa [v2] do/act together, do/act as a group,
cooperate, collaborate; herd (animals). tukpats [n] cooper-
ation, collaboration, collective action. tukpe [n]
shared work, joint project, collaboration, collec-
tive or cooperative endeavour.
tiako tukpaka
[n] goatherd.
tuksal [n] tunnel.
tuksalau [n] tunnel, underground passage(way);

run (in a burrow).

tukta [n] gorge, canyon, narrow valley with steep

sides.

tula [v2] be good, kind, generous, hospitable; act
out of kindness; do a good deed; be useful, help-
ful. tule, tulats [n] goodness, kind-
ness, generosity, hospitality; good deed(s); use,
usefulness, help.

tulama [v2] stride, march, amble, walk purpose-

fully. tulame, tulamats [n] stride, gait.

tulhanka [v3] leave tracks, leave footprints. tsuol tulhanka [v3] track
mud (on). tulhanke [n] tracks, footprints.

tulma [v1] be thick, wide, broad, massive, stout,
stocky, heavy (used of people, as well as trees
and other cylindrical objects); be awkward, un-
gainly. tulmampa [v2] move clumsily or awk-
wardly, blunder; stumble; lumber.

tulo [n] road.
tulomoteun [n] crossroads.
tultsa [n] bag, sack. kitultsa [n] small bag, pouch;

purse; pocket.

tuma [v2] be blocked; block, obstruct,

interfere
with; (p.t. parts of the body) be numb, be par-
alyzed; lack the use of (a body part). kalial tuma
[v2] lack the use of one’s legs, be paralyzed or
severely crippled from the waist down.
lias
tuma [v2] choke, have an obstruction in one’s
throat. sehtaut tuma [v2] bar the way, block
forward movement, prevent forward motion.

tumi [n] blanket.
tumona [v1] be frustrating; be/feel

frustrated.

414

CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

tumonampa [v2] frustrate, cause
frustration, discourage.

tumpaka [v2] move carefully and/or with diculty,
struggle (through or around obstacles), scramble,
pick one’s way; wade (through water).

tunka [v2] act, behave; act as, fulﬁll the role/oce
of; (in combination with a dependent subjunc-
tive complement) make as if to, pretend to, act
as if. tunke, tunka-
nen [n] behaviour, deportment, way of acting;
way, means, manner, method; role, oce, duty,
responsibility. etsaka tunka, lohan tunka [v2]
speak for, speak on behalf of, represent.

tunkapahti [n] behaviour, way of acting, tendency
to act a certain way; character, nature, temper-
ament.

tunkilha [v3] kick away, kick aside; (ﬁg.) dismiss,

set aside, brush o↵, dispense with.
tunkoma [v2] be active, keep busy.
tunkona [v1] hurt, ache, be painful; feel pain, be in
pain, have pain. tunkonampa [v2] be
painful, be harmful, cause pain. tunkonta [v3]
begin to be in pain; hurt, harm, cause pain. suk tunkona
[v1] have a toothache. tyn tunkona [v1] have a
headache.

tunkonoma [v1] be painful, (tend to) cause pain;
have chronic pain.

tunku [n] pain, ache.
tuntsoha [n] shield; armor plate.
tunyipa [v2] take, use, follow (a path). tunyipe

[n] route, way, path (that one follows).

tuohisne [a] late, too late, after the appropriate
tuohisne etskana [v3] be late, arrive

time.
(too) late.

occasion. muelhtanen tuosalh [n] bedtime,
time to go to sleep. nalhanen tuosalh [n] plant-
ing time. sati tuosalh [n] mealtime.

tuosne [a] on time, in time, in a timely manner, at

the appropriate time.

tupa [v2] walk, tread, go on foot; walk, guide, lead,
escort (on foot).
tupe [n] walk, trip on foot. tupaka [n] walker,
pedestrian; guide, escort. ahune tupa [v2] go
barefoot. kielna tupa [v2] dream. tilhe tupa
[v2] stagger, be unsteady on one’s feet. tlok tupa
[v2] wear shoes, walk in shoes. ympe tupa [v2]
walk with a cane/sta↵.

tupalau [n] footpath, track, trail.
tupaule [n] (sound of) footsteps, tread.
tupelioke [n] footprint(s), tracks.
tupu [n] club, baton, bludgeon. kitupu [n] (small)

baton; drumstick.

tupua [v2] pulse, beat in rhythm. tupuats [n]
pulse, beat; (ﬁg.) moment, second. tupuatsme
[n(inst)] brieﬂy, momentarily, for (just) a mo-
ment. tupuatsmit [n] rhythm, pulse, series of
beats. soun tupuats [n] heartbeat. tom tupu-
ats [n] drumbeat.

tupuhtla [v3] kick over, overturn (s.th.) by running

or walking into it.

tusia [v2] chew (on).
tusien [n] texture, consistency (of food).
tuska [v2] compete, play, participate (in a game
or contest). tuskanen [n] sporting
event; (time/place of) competition; manner/style
tuske [n] competition, contest, game,
of play.
match. tuskemit [n] tournament, games.

tuskoma [v2] be competitive.
tusu [n] uncle, stepfather, father-in-law (or other
male relative of one’s parents’ generation who
does not belong to one’s matrilineal or patrilineal
clan). tusumit [n] group of older men.

tuohkamne [a] early, too early, too soon, before

tutilha [v2] stumble, stagger, move awkwardly, be

the appropriate time.

unsteady on one’s feet.

tuosa [v1] be ripe, mature; be ready, prepared;
it is (the right) time for,
the time is ripe
for. atuosima [v2] be in prepara-
tion, ripening, maturing; prepare, get ready. tu-
osta [v2] ripen, mature, become ripe; prepare,
make ready.

tuosalh [n] time (at which an event takes place);

tutluha [v3] press down on, hold down (with one’s

foot).

tutlula [v3] tread on, stomp on, trample; grind
(down) with one’s feet.

tutlynka [v3] push with one’s foot/feet.
tutuma [v1] be lame, crippled; have diculty walk-
ing. tutunta [v2] lame, cripple, incapacitate, be-
come/make crippled.

tyhin [n] area, region, zone, range, expanse.
tyma [v2] be a burden, be burdensome, weigh heav-
ily (on); carry a heavy load, bear a burden; be
burdened, encumbered, saddled, weighed down.
tyme [n] bur-
den, heavy load. tymanen [n] burden; strain.

tymok [n] thunder.
tymoktin [n] elk, wapiti.
tympa [v2] move one’s head; gesture/point with

one’s head.
tyn [n] head.
tynan [n] dew.

uahka [v2] urinate, piss.

uahke [n] urine, urination, discharge.

uake [n] urine (substance).
uakona [v1] have a full bladder, feel the urge to

urinate.

uanta [v3] cast, throw (esp. without letting go of
the end; used of ropes, nets, harpoons, etc.); (p.t.
cloth) spread out. ksetli
uanta [v3] throw dice, gamble.

uasta [v2] ﬂy. uaste [n] ﬂight.
uata [v2] stop, cease; interrupt.
ueho [n] wine (or other drink made from fermented
fruit). aihne ueho [n] white wine. lohne ueho,
takue ueho [n] red wine.

uelalout [n] inland, away from shore.
uelalta [v3] go/come inland, go/come away from

shore.

ufasin [n] remnants, leftovers; dregs.
ufatl [n] (the) wrong (one(s)).
ufatlaut [n] the wrong way, the wrong direction.
uhin [n] song, poem. malka uhin [n] wolf
pai uhin [n] birdsong, warbling,

howl(ing).
chirping.

uhna [v2] sing; (p.t. dogs, wolves) howl, call. uh-
naka [n] singer. uhnakamit [n] group of singers,
chorus.

uhsite [n] stern (of a ship).
uihta [v3] sit down, take a seat; set down.
uihtal
[n] seat, place to sit. uohta [v1] sit,
be seated, be in a sitting position. kalameit uihta [v3] kneel (down).
kalametna uohta [v1] kneel, be in a kneeling
position. minuna uohta [v1] be interesting (lit.
sit in one’s mind). satei uihta [v3] sit

415

down to a meal. tsoip uihta [v3] crouch (down).
tsopna uohta [v1] crouch, be in a crouching po-
sition.

uila [v2] love, cherish. uile [n]
beloved, loved one. uilta [v2] fall in love with,
come to love.

uilol [n] love.
uinon [n] ash (tree).
ukata [v1] be elaborate, complex, rich in detail; be
adorned, decorated; (p.t. food) be rich, ﬂavorful.
ukatanen, ukatats [n] detail, elaboration; dec-
oration, adornment.

ukia [v3] perform; orate. uki-
aka [n] performer; orator; one who leads or over-
sees a ceremony. ukiakamit [n] group of per-
formers, troupe, ensemble. ukial
[n] perfor-
mance, ritual, ceremony. hyne ukia [v3] act
out, perform in a drama; mime; dance. pamasot
ukia [v3] give a speech, orate. sliahte ukia [v3]
tell a story.

ukime [n] to us (1st plural inclusive realis dative

pronoun).

ukinta [v3] evoke, summon; capture, portray, ex-
press well/clearly.

ukma [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate re-
alis dative + ﬁrst person inclusive ergative).
ukme [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate re-
alis dative + ﬁrst person inclusive nominative).
uko [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate realis

dative + second person ergative).

ukoi [n] to you (2nd singular realis dative pronoun).
ukoti [n] poisonous mushroom, toadstool.
uktia [v3] give, provide, bestow; let, enable, give
(s.o.) a chance. uk-
tial [n] recipient. uktiampa [v2] give out, dis-
tribute; give away. uktiampanen [n] ceremonial
feast, potlach. uktiampats [n] distribution (of
wealth), gift-giving; generosity, largesse. uktie
[n] gift, thing which is given; chance, opportu-
nity. aleut uktia [v3] be helpful; help, aid, give
aid. aleutekan uktia [v3] be beneﬁcial; bene-
ﬁt, help. eske uk-
tia [v3] grant one’s request. hele uktia [v3] sig-
nal, give a sign, warn; indicate. lhes uktia [v3]
sharpen (a tool or weapon). mpetsan uktia [v3]
count, number; order, arrange in order. solau
uktia [v3] advise, counsel, give advice. soun
uktia [v3] hearten, encourage, embolden, give
courage; inspire; boost, elevate, energize, exhil-
arate. taimosot uktia [v3] congratulate, wish

416

CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

(s.o.) well. tule uktia [v3] be kind, considerate,
helpful.

uku [n] axe, hatchet.
uku [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate realis

dative + second person nominative).

ukuha [v1] be suspicious, dubious; be peculiar,
odd, strange; be cautious, wary; be suspicious
(of), be incredulous (of), suspect. ukuhampa [v2] act in a suspicious man-
ner, rouse suspicion; behave strangely.

ukut [n] to you (2nd plural realis dative pronoun).
ul [n] island. kihul [n] islet.
ula [v1] (see: ola).
ulampio [n] earshot, (range of one’s) hearing.
ulampiona [n(loc)] within earshot. ulampio
pahaina [n(loc)] out of earshot. hate ulam-
pio [n] shouting distance.

ulau [n] testicles, scrotum.
ul`e [n] magic, witchcraft, the supernatural.
ulehkan [n] magic, magical power, supernatural

power.

ulehtapin [n] spell, charm, enchantment.
ulhiku [n] worm (esp. earthworm).
ulhmo [n] year. ulhmo ulhmome [n(inst)] year

by year, (from) year to year.

ulhmomet [n] new year’s, the end of one year and

the beginning of the next.

ulhmomilh [n] time of year, season.
ulhmotiokin [n] late autumn.
ulhnan [n] poison, venom, toxin, harmful or deadly

substance.

uliho [n] vinegar.
ullaha [v2] relax, loosen up, slacken, release ten-
sion; calm down, experience relief. ullaiha
[v1] be relaxed, lax, loose, slack (having previ-
ously been tense/ﬂexed); be calm, at rest, at ease;
be relieved.
ullefa [v3] roll up.

saturated. ulume, ulumanen [n] marsh, quagmire,
soft/muddy patch, area where the ground is
saturated with water.
ulunta [v2] dampen,
make/become damp; ﬂood, soak, saturate. tsuol
uluma [v1] be muddy.

ulumpek [n] puddle.
uma [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate re-

alis dative + ﬁrst person singular ergative).

umai [n] to me (1st singular realis dative pronoun).
ume [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate realis

dative + ﬁrst person singular nominative).

umialta [v2] adopt, take up, start (to do/use s.th.).
umpaha [v3] fold up, fold over; fold in on oneself.
umpahal, umpaihanen [n] hem, cu↵.
umpatla [v3] cover completely, cover all over, coat;
wrap, envelop, encase.
umpatle [n] cover, covering; wrapper, wrapping,
envelope; coat, coating; cocoon.

umpeta [v2] take, grab for oneself; take back, re-
trieve; take in, bring in, absorb, imbibe, swallow,
devour.

umpetoma [v2] be greedy, grasping, acquisitive,

voracious.

umpiha [v1] be renewed,

fresh, refreshed, re-
juvenated,
invigorated; be recreated, reestab-
lished. umpihampa [v2] be refreshing, invig-
umpihau
umpihats [n] renewal.
orating.
[n(abl)] afresh, anew; once again. umpihta [v3]
start over, begin again; renew, refresh, rejuve-
nate, invigorate.

umul [n] speech, language, the ability to speak and

understand language.

umusa [v2] close up, seal (a crack or small open-
ing); (p.t. ﬂowers, sails) close, shut,
fold up,
furl; (p.t. a wound or lesion) close, heal. lhame
umusa [v2] bind (up), bandage (a wound). tsat-
ste umusa [v2] ﬁll in, caulk.

umusoi [n] mortar, plaster, caulking, sealant. ki-

ulleife [n] roll, scroll.

humusoi [n] scab.

ulna [v1] be sour, tart, acidic; taste sour; (ﬁg.) be
bitter, resentful, sore, in a sour mood.
uloha [v2] rock back and forth, sway, undulate.
uluka [v1] be very old, ancient. ulukats [n] ancient
times. ulukatsna [n(loc)] long ago, a very long
time ago, ages ago.

uluma [v1] be soft and wet, mushy, squishy; (p.t.
earth) be damp, boggy, muddy; be ﬂooded,

unai [n] to him, to her; to this (one), to that (one)
(3rd singular animate realis dative pronoun and
demonstrative).

unat [n] to them; to these (ones), to those (ones)
(3rd plural animate realis dative pronoun and
demonstrative).

unia [v1] be uneasy, ill-at-ease, disturbed, unset-
tled, disquieted. uniats [n] unease, disquiet, dis-
comfort; disease, illness. hinkepe unia [v1] have

417

indigestion, have abdominal discomfort. minu
unia [v1] be depressed. poku unia [v1] have an
upset stomach. ym`o unia [v1] be constipated,
have constipation.

unkim [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate re-
alis dative + ﬁrst person inclusive nominative).
unkima [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate re-
alis dative + ﬁrst person inclusive ergative).
unkista [v2] lead in circles; confuse, confound.
unkuma [n] mask.
unkusta [v2] pick (s.th. new), make a di↵erent se-
lection; switch, shift, change (from one thing to
another); replace.
mupatle unkusta [v2] change (one’s clothes).
unma [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate realis

dative + ﬁrst person singular ergative).

mediator; judge, magistrate.
unto [n] whale (esp. grey whale).
untsa [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate realis

dative + ﬁrst person exclusive ergative).

untsapa [v2] wonder, ask oneself.
untse [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate realis

dative + ﬁrst person exclusive nominative).

untsuka [v3] carry out, follow (through on) (a task
or request); perform, execute, enact, bring about;
obey, be obedient.

untuhka [v3] begin again, start up again; resume,
take up again, return to; continue (with), re-
store, reinstate; return, give back.

unu [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate realis

unme [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate realis

dative + second person nominative).

dative + ﬁrst person singular nominative).

unmilhta [v3] turn around; pivot, rotate; (p.t.
rope, etc.) twist, wind, coil. unmeilhtanen [n]
coil.

unniepa [v2] make a decision, come to a decision;

choose, decide, resolve, opt (to do s.th.).

uno [n] (clitic cluster: third person animate realis

dative + second person ergative).

unta [v3] circle back, come full circle; return, come
back (around); revisit; recur, happen again; bring
back, reinstate, restore. untanen [n]
circle, circular or closed path, loop. kas uonta
la [e] you’re welcome (lit. ‘rest assured [it] has
now come full circle’; formulaic response to tia-
nunta ‘thank you’, lit. ‘may [your] kindness come
full circle’).

untana [v2] circle, move in circles; veer, follow a
curved path; spin, whirl (slowly); scout, patrol.
untanaka [n] scout, ranger. untanakamit [n]
scouting party, patrol.

untanin [n] range, patrol (act of patrolling, or area

patrolled), rounds, circuit; scouting trip.

untapa [v3] braid; tie, knot, make a knot in. untaipanen
[n] braid, braided hair. kistaitl untapa [v3] tie
(rope) into a knot.

untapu [n] underwear, underpants.
untlama [n] spirit, supernatural (non-corporeal)

being.

untlisa [v3] mediate, arbitrate; facilitate, oversee;
judge (a dispute). untlisaka [n] arbitrator,

uohta [v1] (see: uihta).
uohtima [v1] exist, be attested; be real, actual; be
deﬁnite, certain, substantial; be unavoidable, be
the fact of the matter.

uokona [v1] be recognizable, be familiar, have a
familiar shape; be identiﬁable, discernible; know
the shape of; recognize, know by sight, be able
to identify; know who/what (s.th.) is.

uokuha [v1] be set (used of clay or paint that is
dried, pottery that is ﬁred, food that is baked,
etc.); be baked, dried, ﬁred; be hard, ﬁrm, solid,
rigid, in a ﬁxed shape (not pliable). uokuhta
[v2] harden, get hard, set (up), solidify, become
ﬁrm. uokuhe [n] (piece of) pottery, ceramic.

uos [n] shape, form.
uoslan [n] shape, contour(s); outline, silhouette;

ﬁgure. hulhpa uoslan [n] silhouette.

uosta [v3] shape, give shape to, work; make, create,
craft, fashion, produce. uoista
[v1] be shaped, wrought; have a shape; have the
form of; be made/fashioned out of.
uoistanen [n] (made) object, artifact, creation,
product. uostanen [n] design, shape, way of
making. uoste [n] substance, material (out of
which something is made). mine uosta [v3]
imagine, envision, conceive. nalei uosta [v3]
paint a picture of, depict.

uostunka [v2] act, play a role (in a drama); play,
portray, depict, act the role of; perform, act out.

418

CHAPTER 13. OKUNA-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY

uos-
tunkaka [n] actor, player. uostunke [n] charac-
ter, role, part. uostunkanen [n] performance;
portrayal, depiction, role.

uosu [n] pebble, stone made round and smooth by
erosion. kihuosu [n] small pebble. tohuosu [n]
large, round boulder.

uota [v3] feel, sense, perceive, notice, become aware
(of); ﬁnd (out), discover, see, realize. uoita [v1] feel, sense, per-
ceive, be aware (of), be conscious (of). euoita [v1] feel, have the feel-
ing/sensation of; seem, appear. laumasi`o uoita
[v1] be/feel homesick. masi`o uoita [v1] be sor-
rowful, feel sorrow. simu uoita [v1] worry, be
worried, be concerned.
tulats uoita [v1] be grateful.

upam [n] wapato, broadleaf arrowhead.
us [n] place (where one sits), seat; saddle; stead.

usna [n(loc)] instead (of), in place (of).

usa [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate realis

dative + ﬁrst person exclusive ergative).

usahke [p] especially, in particular (focus particle).
usahkena [v1] be special, particular, noteworthy.
usat [n] to us (1st plural exclusive realis dative pro-

noun).

use [n] (clitic cluster: third person inanimate realis

dative + ﬁrst person exclusive nominative).
uset [n] being, creature, living thing, organism.
usia [v1] be warm, cozy, comfortable (used of a

space).

usihout [n] direction away from the river. usi-

houta [n(all)] away from the river.

usihta [v2] go/come up from the (nearest) river,

move away from the (nearest) river.

usinta [v3] move, shift (from one place to an-
other), change location; transfer; switch, ex-
change.

uska [v2] fool, trick, deceive.
uskats [n] deception, trickery. uske [n] trick;
fake (thing), deceptive words/action.

usla [v2] end, conclude, ﬁnish. oisla [v1] be ended, concluded, ﬁnished,
over, closed. uslanen [n] end, conclusion, close,
ﬁnish; endpoint. uslats [n] end, ending, conclu-
sion.

uslalh [n] end(ing), endpoint, closing, concluding

moment.

uslaut

[n] end; edge,

rim, border; boundary,
frontier (between two areas/regions); transition
point, starting and ending point; spine (of a
book).

usleian [n] border, boundary line; edge
usoihtapin [n] spiderweb.
usoit [n] spider.
usteuna [v2] replace, substitute, put in (the) place
(of). usteune [n] replacement, substitute.

ustima [v1] be in place; lie, be located, be situated;
exist (in the physical world), be tangible, take up
space; be real, actual, attested. ustimanen [n] place, location, space;
situation; existence, physical reality.

usuta [v1] be slow, move slowly. auosutima [v2]
slow down, go/get slower, decelerate. usutampa
[v2] be slow, avoid rushing; do (s.th.) slowly.

uta [a] already; yet.
utai [n] to it; to this (one), to that (one); there,
to there, thither (3rd singular inanimate realis
dative pronoun and demonstrative).

utat [n] to them; to these (ones), to those (ones)
(3rd plural inanimate realis dative pronoun and
demonstrative).

ute [n] area nearby, vicinity; area beside (s.th.).
utena [n(loc)] near, close (to), nearby, in the
area, in the vicinity; by, beside, next to.

utempa [n] neighbour.
uteupi [a] almost, nearly, close to. uteupi ntse [a]

hardly, barely.
utia [v1] (see: atia).
utla [v2] be harmful, (do/cause) harm. utle, utlats [n] harm.

utloma [v2] be harmful, hurtful.
utok [n] stump.
utsan [n] amount, measure, portion (of some sub-

stance).

utsas [n] sweat. hamohi utsas [n] condensation.
utsaska [v2] sweat, perspire. ut-

saske [n] perspiration, sweat.

utume [n] the planet Saturn.

yhkuna [n] guest, visitor; person to whom one is

obligated to show hospitality.

yhma [n] outside, exterior, area outside; outdoors.
yhmalhol [n] outside relative (i.e., blood relative

or relative by marriage who does not belong to
one’s matrilineal or patrilineal clans).

yhmamehu [n] humiliation.
yhmauote [n] sensation originating outside one’s
body; external stimulus, object or quality per-
ceived by one’s senses.

yhtipe [n] embellishment, elaboration.
yi [i] oops; ouch.
yikasu [n] cli↵ (face), precipice; steep bank.
yikuma [n] (steep) slope, bank, hillside.
yima [v1] be steep; be sheer, precipitous; be verti-

cal, perpendicular.

yipake [n] rung (of a ladder); foothold (for climbing

a steep surface). yipakemit [n] ladder.

yipalhten [n] eyrie, high perch or nesting site.
yisa [v2] climb (a vertical surface/path, such as a

tree or ladder); (p.t. smoke) rise.

yisaloi [n] opening (in or near the roof of a struc-

ture), smoke hole; dormer, skylight.

yisin [n] column of smoke or ﬂame; rising cloud,
plume, emanation, emission (of smoke/ﬂame,
mist, or gas). kihyisin [n] wisp; fume(s), vapour.

yitanu [n] raised platform, dais; balcony.
yities [n] tower (or other tall structure).
yklha [v1] be severe, harsh (used of an action
or condition). yklhampa [v2] be severe, harsh
(used of an individual); act with severity, treat
harshly.

yk`u [n] (red) alder.
yla [v1] have, include (as a sub-part or property),
be equipped with, endowed with, furnished with;
feature. ylanen [n] prop-
erty, trait; component; (body) part. ylta [v2]
acquire, develop, come to include (a feature or
property); endow, furnish, equip, supply, install.

hauatme yla [v1] be on ﬁre, be in ﬂames. hau-
atme ylta [v2] catch ﬁre; set ﬁre to. laime yla [v1] be lit,
give o↵ light (p.t. lamps). laime ylta [v2] light
(a lamp). pyime yla [v1] be pregnant, be with
child.

ylha [v2] lose, be defeated; defeat, vanquish. ylhaka [n] victor. ylhats [n] loss,
defeat.

ylpa [v2] undo, reverse (an action or event); un-
make, take down, strike. alontsats ylpa [v2]
strike camp. kulhue ylpa [v2] unfold, unfurl.
meunke ylpa [v2] wean. patle ylpa [v2] un-
cover. pusuke ylpa [v3] unmake, take apart,
tane ylpa [v2] discon-
disassemble; destroy.

419

nect. tiespe ylpa [v2] unbuild, deconstruct, take
apart, take down, dismantle, disassemble. uoste
ylpa [v2] mar, disﬁgure.

ymiohpa [a] why, how come, for what reason; for
some reason. ntse ymiohpa [a] for no reason,
without cause; there’s no reason why.
ym`o [n] bowel(s), lower intestine; colon.
ympe [n] sta↵, cane, walking stick, crutch.
ympyi [n] niece/nephew, stepchild, son/daughter-
in-law (or other relative of one’s children’s gen-
eration not belonging to one’s matrilineal or pa-
trilineal clan).

ynal

[n] are in front of, this side of.
[n(loc)] before, in front of, on this side of.

ynalna

ynkiloiha [n] granddaughter (or other female rela-
tive of one’s grandchildren’s generation) not be-
longing to one’s matrilineal or patrilineal clan.
ynkilu [n] grandchild (or other relative of one’s
grandchildren’s generation) not belonging to
one’s matrilineal or patrilineal clan.

ynkilukal [n] grandson (or other male relative of
one’s grandchildren’s generation) not belonging
to one’s matrilineal or patrilineal clan.

ynnap`e [n] niece, stepdaughter, daughter-in-law
(or other female relative of one’s children’s gen-
eration) not belonging to one’s matrilineal or pa-
trilineal clan.

ynta [v1] be narrow, tight, small (used of open-
ings and spaces between objects). aiyntima [v2]
narrow, get/make narrower, close up, close in,
tighten, shrink.

yntien [n] nephew, stepson, son-in-law (or other
male relative of one’s children’s generation) not
belonging to one’s matrilineal or patrilineal clan.
yntoi [n] narrow opening or passage, bottleneck;

tight space.

ypi`a [n] area above. ypiahna [n(loc)] above, over,

overhead.

yta [v1] be true, correct, accurate; be the case; be

real, actual. ytats [n] truth; reality.

ytapi [a] truly, really, deﬁnitely, surely, certainly.
ytlampi [a] especially, particularly, in particular;

noticeably; in a noteworthy fashion.

ytlana [v1] stand out; be noteworthy, remarkable,
noticeable, signiﬁcant, conspicuous; be unusual,
odd, peculiar; be impressive; notice, wonder at,
be struck by; observe with interest, pay (close)
attention to, show interest in.
ytypa [v2] rumble, rattle.

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