Gene Buckley
version of April 25, 2019
This list is intended to help language learners understand the meanings of small grammatical elements in Kashaya. For more details about the different forms of suffixes, see this list.
NOTES
Click on the heading of a column to sort by that column; click a second time to get the reverse ordering. (By default, the first column is ordered according to the phonetic symbols; sorting will take into account the leading - or = so, for example, all the suffixes will be together at the end.)
| Form | Definition |
|---|---|
| ‑a | Factual Evidential: used for imperfective or uncompleted actions being watched by the speaker; also for facts or general truths which are known by everybody to be true, whether or not the action has actually been seen by the speaker [often followed by responsive (as /-a-m/) or by nonfinal verb marker (as /-w-e·/)]; ALSO /-Ø, -wa, -w/ |
| ‑ad | Durative: frequently translated with a progressive in English, or with the phrase "keep on doing" [following a consonant] |
| ‑ad | 1. Directional: along; 2. Directional: toward here (in imperatives) |
| ‑adad | 1. Locomotory (with non-motion verb): the Agent, while performing the action of the verb, is moving from one place to another, or is intermittently doing so; duplicate use indicates that the movement is definitely intermittent; 2. Locomotory (with motion verb): intermittent movement; duplicant use intensifies this meaning, i.e. it is more intermittent or continues a longer distance; 3. Locomotory (with change of state verb): indicates a steady or gradual change, with no movement implied; ALSO /-ada·dad, -wadad/ |
| ‑aduc | Directional: far away in space or time; at a distance, away to a distance, from a distance |
| ‑ahmucʼ | plural form of the Directional-Distributive suffix combination -ad-wad, indicating movement of several actors "around" or "here and there" [occurs in contexts where the Plural form /t/ is not appropriate] |
| ‑ala | 1. Directional: down, without reference to "here" or "there"; 2. Inceptive: begin an involuntary act |
| ‑alamecʼ | Directional: down off of a place, down out of an enclosed area |
| ‑aloq | Directional: up toward here, moving upward and in this direction |
| ‑aloqocʼ | Directional + Reflexive: up and out of; no meaning of "hither" as found in -aloq by itself |
| ‑am | 1. become what the root noun denotes; 2. become what the root adjective denotes [added to many nouns and adjectives, but not freely] |
| ‑aq | 1. Directional: out from here; 2. Directional: north or west from here; ALSO /-a·q, -ah/ |
| ‑aq | 1. address by this kinship term; 2. acknowledge this kinship relation; 3. come to the state indicated by the root |
| ‑aq | Plural Act: the object undergoing the action is plural, or the act is performed on the same object more than once [occurs with a few stems ending in /l/; sometimes causes deletion of an increment in the root] |
| ‑aqac | Directional: up from here |
| ‑aqocʼ | Directional + Reflexive: out from here, with no cardinal direction meaning |
| ‑aqʷ | 1. Directional: out toward here; 2. Directional: north or west toward here; from the south or east |
| ‑at | Plural Act: the object undergoing the action is plural, or the act is performed on the same object more than once [occurs with some stems ending in /l/ or /n/; must be followed by the Durative /ad/] |
| ‑ataq | Plural Act: the object undergoing the action is plural, or the act is performed on the same object more than once [occurs with a few stems ending in /l/; sometimes causes deletion of an increment in the root] |
| ‑ay | Directional: against, next to, at |
| ‑aʔyaw | creates an adjective from a verb stem |
| ba‑ | with the mouth (of human beings), with the snout (of animals), with the beak (of birds). The meaning includes both the organ that produces speech, the mouth, and the organ that detects speech, the ear; thus the translation is often best given by an English verb expressing speaking or hearing |
| ‑ba | Same-Subject Past: the action denoted by the verb has been completed and precedes that of the main verb, and they have the same Agent; "after, having done, when, and, because" |
| =bakʰe | 1. from (a time or place), part of (some larger quantity), some of; 2. for (a person), for (some purpose); 3. so many (years) old, when preceded by a number and time span |
| ‑basʼid | must be; I guess [typically with the Assertive as a clitic /ʔbasʼid/, but sometimes suffixed to a verb] |
| ‑bem | Inferential, Different Subject: marks the verb of a dependent clause that indicates the reason for what is described in the main clause, where the subject or agent of the two clauses is not the same; the cause is at the same time as, or preceding, the main clause |
| bi‑ | by encircling softly. It is often translated ‘with both arms (wrapped around something), by sewing (perhaps because the thread entwines the cloth), by eating (expecially something with a spoon which the lips encircle): |
| ‑bi | Inferential: the action of the verb is inferred or deduced to be true either from the logic of the situation or from information acquired later on; best translated "must have done" or "turned out to be" |
| ‑bina | Inferential, Same Subject: marks the verb of a dependent clause that indicates the reason for what is described in the main clause (or sometimes just a preceding action), where the subject or agent of the two clauses is the same; this verb describes action that is at the same time as, or preceding, the main clause; often can be translated as "because", or simply as "and" [accompanying main verb often contains /-bi/ or /-qa/] |
| d | Iterative reduplication: the action is repeated a few times [added to just a dozen or so verbs that can also occur in unreduplicated form; but many verbs require this reduplication (sometimes changing to Frequentative in the plural)] |
| d | Frequentative reduplication: the action is repeated in quick succession [quite freely used, although there are some verbs that do not have a Frequentative form] |
| ‑c | Terrestrial: the action takes place on the ground or floor [with a few verbs, the Terrestrial and Essive act as a pair; either one or the other must be present] |
| ‑c | Semelfactive: usually means that the action is done once, but with verbs of motion can also mean "start" or "away"; ALSO /-·c, -ci, -ʔc/ |
| ca‑ | with the rear end, with a massive or bulky object, with a knife |
| ‑ccicʼ | 1. Retractive: back with a quick movement; 2. Retractive (with Imperative): forceful way of telling someone to stop doing the reverse of the verb's meaning |
| ‑cicʼ | become, or enter the state described by the verb |
| ‑cid | Durative [following a vowel; /ced/ found with /ʔi/, /sʼi/, /mi/, all monosyllables of the shape /Ci/]; ALSO /-ced/ |
| =cow | crave, need urgently, be desperate for (basic bodily need only) |
| cu‑ | with a rounded object, with flowing water, by shooting, with the front end |
| cʰi‑ | by holding a small or constricted part of a larger object, often by an instrument with a handle |
| =cʰot | without, lacking, absent; nor, neither; without; not have, lacking to (someone) |
| =cʰuʔli | 1. without; 2. away from, removed from |
| =cʼa·wi | between, among, communal; close together |
| da‑ | with the hand, especially the palm, with the paw of animals, by waves |
| ‑de | Vocative in kinship system |
| di‑ | by gravity; by falling or from a heavy weight placed on top of |
| ‑do | Hearsay Evidential: the speaker learned what he or she is talking about only by hearing it from someone else; especially common in telling traditional stories |
| du‑ | with the finger |
| ‑e | Explanatory: forms a subordinate adverbial clause that explains or gives the reason for a command [only occurs in a sentence containing one of the Imperative suffixes] |
| ‑ed | Durative [following /c/] |
| ‑el | 1. Objective: changes verb to noun; employed when the noun clause is an object of the larger sentence or is in an object relation with a locative enclitic; 2. REL.obj; 3. POSS |
| ‑ela | Performative Incomplete: the speakers knows that what he is saying is true because he is or was performing the action himself; ALSO /-wela/ |
| ‑em | Different-Subject Simultaneous: the action denoted by the verb is simultaneous with that of the main verb, but they have different Agents; "while, whenever" [added only to imperfective verbs]; ALSO /-wem/ |
| ‑em | Responsive: employed when the utterance is in response to something said by the one(s) spoken to, whether question, statement, or other comment; not used when the utterance is spontaneous or stimulated solely by the action being described [can follow Evidentials and Modals, as well as the Singular Imperative /-i/ and the Performative Intentive /-te/; accompanied by rising intonation /ˇ/]; ALSO /-en/ |
| ‑em | 1. Subjective: changes verb to noun; employed when the noun clause is the subject of the larger sentence; 2. REL.subj |
| ‑eti | Concessive: "although, even though"; different Agent from the main verb [?]; ALSO /-weti/ |
| ‑e· | Non-Final Verb: occurs whenever a main verb which would otherwise end in an Evidential or Modal suffix is not final in the sentence; ALSO /-we·/ |
| ‑h‑ | Plural Act: the object undergoing the action is plural, or the act is performed on the same object more than once [often infixed before a stem-final /c/, sometimes /t/ or /ṭ/; causes deletion of an increment in the root] |
| ha‑ | with a swinging motion |
| =hca | plural marker for humans |
| =he· | 1. and; 2. or |
| hi‑ | with the body. This can include any of the individual parts of the body specified by other prefixes if the action is due to motion of the body and not to a purposeful act of the individual part. E.g. hihcʰaw could be ‘to knock over’ with the hand if a person walked by and brushed against a vase with his hand and so knocked it over |
| =hlaw | 1. as far as, up to, even; 2. also; 3. even (Intensive) |
| =hla·li | 1. maybe; 2. probably |
| =hmi | 1. really, truly; 2. real |
| =hni | question particle |
| ‑hqa | 1. Causative: make or cause another to act; 2. Permissive: let another act; ALSO /-qa/ |
| =hqal | one who likes something, tends to do something; a lover of the thing identified; an aficionado |
| =hqohqaw | let a specified period of time go by |
| =hqʰac | toward, -ward |
| =hqʰowal | all (with time expressions), throughout (a duration of time) |
| ‑ht | Plural Movement: two or more people or things are moving from one place to another [restricted to verbs that denote translocation, either because of the meaning of the verb root or because the verb contains a Directional suffix; the Plural Act does not customarily occur with such verbs] |
| ‑hw | Movement and Plural: prepares a non-movement stem to receive a Directional suffix, and also marks Plural Act |
| ‑i | Singular Imperative: spoken directly to one person who will perform the action [may be followed by the Responsive] |
| ‑ibic | 1. Directional: up; neither toward or from here, because what is moving does not become separated from what it has been attached to; 2. Directional: away (with verbs of motion); 3. Inceptive: begin a voluntary act |
| ‑icʼ | Reflexive: the agent acts on itself, for itself, or on something along with itself; ALSO /-iyicʼ, -mecʼ, -yicʼ/ |
| ‑id | Durative [following /c/] |
| ‑il | a component of certain Directional expressions |
| ‑im | Formal Imperative: employed in prayers and invocations, and in ordinary situations by the characters in myths; previous generations used this suffix more in their daily life, but this now sounds old-fashioned |
| ‑in | 1. Same-Subject Simultaneous: the action denoted by the verb is simultaneous with that of the main verb, and they have the same Agent; "while, whenever, because, by"; 2. Progressive Aspect, used typically with the copula /ʔe·/ [added only to imperfective verbs] |
| ‑inna | Aural evidential: the speaker heard the sounds of the reported action, but did not see it |
| ‑insʼ | Suppositional: variously rendered by "I suppose, probably, may, might, could" [in texts, often attached to the Assertive] |
| ‑inʔna | Potential: seems to be concerned with a capability of doing an act which may or may not be carried through |
| ‑iš | Optative: expresses the hope or desire of the speaker; the desire is that the speaker himself do that action unless the Causative immediately precedes [with /tí·qa/ means "I wish"; with Causative can be added to the Assertive] |
| ‑iy | Indirect Imperative: said to someone who will not perform the action, so the agent will be either first or third person; ALSO /-iya/ |
| ‑iʔba | Conditional: "would", "could" [often linked to a condition that may be expressed explicitly in a subordinate clause containing /-pʰi/ or /-pʰila/, or the condition may only be implied]; ALSO /-iʔbeʔ, -iʔbe/ |
| ‑kinʔ | suffix for male names, used in proper names and nicknames, as well as certain common nouns for men |
| ‑l | Allative: toward a place [suffixed to terms for common geographic features and for the cardinal directions; triggers Decrement] |
| la‑ | Plural Act: the object undergoing the action is plural, or the act is performed on the same object more than once [copies its vowel from the following syllable; used with just a few verbs] |
| =lhqʰac | toward [used in text glossing to stand for both components at once] |
| =li | Locative on Relative Object verb |
| =ltow | from, away from |
| =luw | with |
| ‑m | 1. Essive: diverse abstract meanings, often stative; 2. Supraterrestrial: the action takes place in one spot off the ground or floor; ALSO /-·m, -ma/ |
| ‑m | Directional: across, past |
| ‑m | Plural Act: the object undergoing the action is plural, or the act is performed on the same object more than once [occurs in a variety of contexts, after vowels and consonants; has the form /ma/ after a consonant] |
| ma‑ | Reflexive third-person possessive in kinship system |
| ma‑ | with the sole of the foot, with the foot or claws of a bird, with the butt of the hand |
| ‑mac | 1. Directional: in from here; 2. Directional: south or east from here |
| ‑mad | Directional: within an enclosed place; at a place identified in the context, enclosed or not |
| ‑maduc | Directional: arrive at a place, go as far as a place, arrive home |
| ‑maqocʼ | Directional + Reflexive: back a little bit (no location or cardinal direction meaning) ["back" needs a particularized interpretation with some verbs] |
| ‑maqʷ | 1. Directional: in toward here; 2. Directional: south or east toward here; from the north or west |
| ‑med | Durative [following a vowel] |
| ‑mela | Performative Complete: the speakers knows that what he is saying is true because he performed the action himself [not used after the Negative nor after imperfective suffixes such as the Durative] |
| ‑menʔ | suffix for female names, used in proper names and nicknames, as well as certain common nouns for women |
| ‑meʔ | 1. Plural Imperative: spoken directly to two or more people who will perform the action; 2. Respectful Imperative: spoken directly to an in-law who will perform the action; ALSO /-me/ |
| ‑mhma | multiplied by five, in creating numerals [restricted to a few numerals] |
| mi‑ | Second-person possessive in kinship system |
| mi‑ | with a small projection near the end of a long object, with the toes, with the nose, by kicking, by smelling, by counting, by reading |
| ‑mi | Remote Past: the action happened long ago (over ten years) [always followed by the Visual] |
| =min | like, similar, rather |
| miya·‑ | Third-person possessive in kinship system |
| mu‑ | with energy — kinetic, thermal, photo, or psychic; by a quick movement, with something moving quickly, with heat, with light, or with the mind or emotions |
| ‑mucʼ | Reciprocal: each other, together, apart [always associated with the Plural Agent] |
| ‑mul | Directional: around in a circle, around an obstruction, turning in a new direction |
| ‑mulicʼ | Directional + Reflexive: all the way around and back to the starting point, around in a complete circle |
| ‑nati | although, even though |
| ‑nʔ | 1. Subjective case in the kinship system: occurs with first-person possessive, otherwise zero suffix is used; 2. suffix for male names, used in proper names and nicknames, as well as certain common nouns for men outside the basic kinship words |
| pʰa‑ | with the end of a long object, with the fist (neither {da-} nor {dǔ-} is used for actions of the closed hand); by wrapping |
| pʰi‑ | with the side of a long object, with the eyes, with an axe, hammer, etc. |
| ‑pʰi | Same-Subject Future: the action denoted by the verb has not taken place but if and when it does, it precedes that of the main verb; and they have the same Agent; "when, if, unless"; ALSO /-cʰi/ |
| ‑pʰila | Different-Subject Future: the action denoted by the verb has not taken place but if and when it does, it precedes that of the main verb; but they have different Agents; "when, if, unless"; ALSO /-cʰila/ |
| pʰu‑ | by blowing |
| qa‑ | between two strongly opposed forces. The most common translations are: ‘with the teeth, by chewing, by eating (chewed food, as contrasted with {bi-} for soft foods and {si-} for liquids)’ |
| ‑qa | Circumstantial Evidential: the speaker did not see happen what he is telling about but deduced the action from circumstantial evidence; preferred over /-bi/ when the evidence is discovered soon after the action or is incontrovertible; ALSO /-qʰ/ |
| ‑qa | Psych Verb: verb expressing mental state or emotion when the subject is not first-person; ALSO /-hqa/ |
| ‑qacʼ | Psych Verb: verb expressing mental state or emotion when the subject is not first-person |
| =qan | 1. now; 2. (some number) at a time |
| =qʼo | 1. and (placed after both words that are conjoined); 2. with; having, in possession of; accompanied by; 3. having: "to be with" is the usual way to express the meaning "to have"; with /ci·cʼ/ "to become" it expresses "get; come to have" |
| =riya·l | bit (of money); half the value of a quarter [only used following a numeral] |
| =se·ntu | hundred [combines with a preceding number] |
| si‑ | by water. Because of its chemical and physical properties not because it is flowing, indicated by {cu-}, nor because of wave action, indicated by {da-}. The meaning includes: ‘by wetting, dissolving, slipping (because of the slickness of wet objects), floating (because of water’s buoyancy, not because it is flowing), by rain,’ and by many actions of the tongue such as ‘by licking, drinking, sucking, whispering, etc.’ |
| ‑sʼe | 1st person [lengthens preceding vowel] |
| ‑sʼuw | Mandatory: that agent is not the person (or thing) at whose will a future act is going to be done; "must, have to" or simply "may, will" |
| =š | behave like the person to whose name this clitic is attached |
| ša‑ | by a long object moving lengthwise, with a mesh |
| =ša· | expert |
| ‑še | Speculative: the speaker is speculating or theorizing about the action; often translated "I wonder" |
| =šon | minus one, added to quinary numbers to form the next lower number |
| šu‑ | by pulling, by alternately pushing and pulling, with a long flexible object |
| ‑t‑ | Plural Act: the object undergoing the action is plural, or the act is performed on the same object more than once [often infixed before a stem-final /m/ or /q/; causes deletion of an increment in the root] |
| ‑t | 1. Verbalizer: derives verbs from nouns; 2. Verbalizer: derives verbs from adjectives [may be suffixed to the name of a body part to form a verb meaning to do something with the specified part; meaning is often further affected by additional verbal suffixes and frequently specialized; occasionally occurs with other nouns and with adjectives; triggers the Decrement] |
| ‑t | Plural Act: the object undergoing the action is plural, or the act is performed on the same object more than once [the most common form after a vowel; causes deletion of a root increment] |
| ‑ta‑ | Plural Act: the object undergoing the action is plural, or the act is performed on the same object more than once [infixed before some stems ending in /m, q, c/; causes deletion of an increment in the root] |
| ‑ta | Plural Act: the object undergoing the action is plural, or the act is performed on the same object more than once [a common form after stems ending in /l, n, d, cʼ/; causes deletion of an increment in the root; occurs as /ʔta/ after /y/] |
| ‑te | Performative Intentive: the speaker plans to do that action himself, alone or in association with others; ALSO /-teʔ/ |
| ‑ti | 1. General Intentive: usually a complement to the main verb, referring to purpose "in order to"; 2. as the main verb it refers to intention or near future "intend to", "be going to", "be about to"; ALSO /-ti·/ |
| ‑to | 1. Objective case marking in the kinship system, certain pronouns, and proper names: indicates the object of a verb or a postposition; 2. of, belonging to: "inalienable" possession of something that is inherent to the owner, such as a body part [/to/ occurs with a first-person possessive; /el/ occurs with other persons]; ALSO /--l, --el/ |
| =tol | 1. on; 2. about |
| =tolhqʰac | towards |
| =tow | side |
| ‑tʰ | Negative; ALSO /-tʰi, -tʰu/ |
| =tʰin | not |
| ‑tʰmucʼ | plural form of the Directional-Distributive suffix combination -ad-wad, indicating movement of several actors "around" or "here and there" [includes the Plural /t/] |
| ‑tʰuʔ | Negative Imperative: used in telling a single person not to perform an action [the final /ʔ/ is technically a distinct clitic that can be separated from the verb] |
| =ṭa | Focus |
| =ṭikʰ | exactly [?] |
| ‑uced | Durative [following /d/ of a suffix] |
| ‑uw | component of certain Locative expressions |
| ‑uwad | Distributive: the action takes place in several places, or haphazardly |
| ‑uwad | Distributive: the action takes place in several places, or haphazardly |
| ‑w | Locative: in a place [suffixed to a few nouns] |
| ‑w | Movement: obligatory before Directional suffix if the verb does not otherwise denote movement [?] |
| ‑w | 1. Absolutive: the citation form for verbs, usually translated as an infinitive; the commonest form for the main verb in a narrative when referring to completed action; 2. Absolutive Noun: translated as infinitive, gerund, suffixed or simple noun; 3. Absolutive Adjective: translation may be past participle, present participle, or some other device; ALSO /-u, -ʔ/ |
| ‑w | Plural Act: the object undergoing the action is plural, or the act is performed on the same object more than once [occurs with some stems ending in a vowel; must be followed by the Durative /ad/] |
| ‑wa | Interrogative: always linked systematically to one of the class of interrogative words that occur first in the clause [may be suffixed to the Assertive, when then follows the question word or some other major word of the sentence] |
| ‑wad | Distributive: the action occurs in different places or moves in a haphazard manner; usually translated "here and there" or "about"; ALSO /-iwad/ |
| ‑wad | Durative [optional after the Causative /-hqa/, where otherwise /-med/ is typical] |
| ‑weʔ | First-person Object: not obligatory; nearly always occurs with a syntactically expressed first-person pronoun object [technically the final /ʔ/ is a separable clitic] |
| ‑wi | First-person Object: not obligatory; nearly always occurs with a syntactically expressed first-person pronoun object [always followed by Visual or by Singular Imperative]; ALSO /-we/ |
| =wi | 1. at; 2. in; 3. with (a tool), by (some means); 4. in order to, with which to [following /ʔkʰe/] |
| ‑ya | Visual Evidential: used for perfective or completed actions that the speaker knows to be true because he or she saw them happen [not used after the Negative nor after imperfective suffixes such as the Durative]; ALSO /-y/ |
| =yac | 1. Agentive: indicates the cause or driving force behind an action; can be used with animals and inanimates that are seen to cause some change; 2. Relative Nominalizer: the one who does the thing named in the preceding verb phrase; use in many names of professions; 3. Respectful, or Honorific: indicates respect for the person named by the noun; used with in-laws and deceased persons |
| =yacʰma | Plural for animate nouns, especially people |
| ‑yaw | creates an adjective from a verb |
| ‑yi | Comitative in kinship system; ALSO /--·yi, -e·yi/ |
| ‑yi | times, number of instances [sometimes lengthens preceding vowel]; ALSO /-·yi/ |
| ‑yic | Inceptive: to start or begin an action [occurs only after a vowel-final stem, but otherwise freely used] |
| =yihe | as if; imitation, pretended |
| =yoltow | from inside, under, or within |
| =yow | below, in, under something |
| =yoʔ | continuing [?] |
| =yya | plural, used optionally on noun phrases [occurs as /yya/ after a vowel, and /ay/ after a consonant; a plain stop consonant is glottalized when this clitic is added] |
| =ʔ | Imperative Clitic: occurs sentence-finally when separated from singular /-i/, and with most instances of the plural /-me/ and the indirect /-iy/ |
| ʔa·‑ | first-person possessive in kinship system [/ʔa·/ occurs with monosyllabic roots that do not also take /·sʼ/; otherwise the zero prefix is used] |
| =ʔca | person |
| =ʔcayʔ | person, -man, -er. Can be added to almost any noun, noun phrase or verb in the Absolutive or Nominalized form. Often indicates a person experienced, expert or habitually associated with an activity but in many constructions seems to be primarily a way of focussing on one person or group |
| ‑ʔced | Defunctive: the action was done by someone now dead |
| =ʔd | 1. Independent Intentive (with an Imperfective suffix, such as the Factive): intention or near future: "be about to, be going to"; 2. Unfulfilled Intention (with a Perfective suffix, such as the Absolutive): the act was intended but was abandoned, or, especially with an inanimate agent, the act almost took place: "intended to, was going to, was about to, almost" [a defective verb that takes only a few suffixes, and immediately follows a main verb with the Intentive /-ti/] |
| =ʔel | 1. Objective; 2. POSS |
| =ʔem | Subjective |
| =ʔiy | 1. Partitive: (some number) of them, of you; 2. Superlative: most of all [combined with numeral or quantifier] |
| ‑ʔkʰe | Future: commonly expresses future action regardless of whether the agent will do the act on his own initiative or not; may also be a verb complement expressing purpose, or may denote obligation, permission, a request or polite imperative; often employed in giving directions [with Negative /=tʰin/ and usually /heʔen/ "how" it signifies inability, "cannot"] |
| =ʔkʰe | 1. for the sake of; 2. of, belonging to: "alienable" possession of something that is not inherent to the owner |
| ‑ʔli | Different-Subject Past: the action denoted by the verb has been completed and precedes that of the main verb, but they have different Agents; "after, having done, when, and, because"; ALSO /-·li, -u·li/ |
| =ʔnati | even, even though, although |
| =ʔsi | (with weya·) parade [Only in one construction, with weya·, parade] |
| =ʔṭʼo | emphatic |
| =ʔwa·yi | 1. first, leading, early, ahead; 2. before, in front of; 3. day before yesterday; 4. be first, lead |
| =ʔyow | 1. Past Performative: the event has taken place and was actually seen or experienced by the speaker; followed by either /am/ or /e·/; 2. former |
| ‑· | Locative: in, at, to a place [suffixed to terms for common geographic features and to a few other nouns] |
| ‑ʼ | Plural Agent: the entity in control of the action is plural, whether this is an expressed participant or not [causes the change /d/ > /cʼ/ through most of the word] |
| Ø‑ | this prefix is restricted in occurrence to about two dozen of the class Vi; it means ‘with no specified agent’ and is frequently, but not always, best translated as a passive or as an intransitive verb |