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• 1 2018-07-23T12:06:07-07:00 5.1. Possessive prefixes and suffixes 16 plain 2021-07-16T04:48:48-07:00

  nətán	‘my mother’
  tánɬ	‘our mother’
  ʔən̓tán	‘your mother’
  ʔən̓tán hay	‘you folks’ mother’
  táns	‘his/her/its/their mother’

  
  ► 1  Note that forms meaning ‘my’ and ‘your’ are prefixes, while the forms meaning ‘our’ and ‘his/her/its/their’ are suffixes.
  ► 2  Note that, just as in the previous sections, when there is more than one ‘you,’ hay is put at the end.
  ► 3  When words with the possessive prefixes and suffixes are used in a noun phrase, they must be preceded by an article, just as any other noun, as in hiyáʔ cə nətán  ‘my mother goes.’
  ► 4  Klallam differs from English, where the possessive word takes the place of the article. We do not need to say ‘the my mother goes;’ in fact, this is ungrammatical in English. But in Klallam the article must be there.
  ► 5  Note that, just as with other nouns, words with the possessive pronouns can be used as nouns or verbs. For example,
            x̣čít cn cə nətán.       ‘I know my mother’
            nətán u cxʷ.             ‘Are you my mother?’
  ► 6  Note that the possessive prefixes and suffixes are never stressed.
  ► 7  In fluent, connected speech the ə is usually dropped in the ‘my’ and ‘your’ prefixes. So, for example, ‘my mother’ is pronounced ntán and ‘your mother’ is pronounced ʔn̓tán.
  

  	ʔəsʔúmənaʔ u yaʔ kʷə ʔən̓cə́t.	‘Did your father hunt?’
  	ƛ̓ácu yaʔ kʷə nəcə́t.	‘My father fished.’
  	ʔəsx̣ʷaʔníŋ ʔuč cə ʔən̓tán hay.	‘How is your mother?’
  	ʔuʔə́y̓ cə tánɬ.	‘Our mother is fine.’