Klallam Grammar Main Menu Klallam Grammar Alphabet and Sounds Basics Grammar Introduction: How to Use This Grammar 1 Transitive and Intransitive Verbs 2 Past and Future Tense 3 Basic Speech Acts 4 Nouns and Articles 5 Possessive Pronouns 6 Adjectives 7 Object Pronouns 8 The Preposition and Word Order 9 Negative Words 10 More Negative Words 11 Self and Each Other 12 Questions: ‘Who?’ and ‘What?’ 13 Subordinate Subjects in Questions 14 Questions: ‘Whose?’ 15 Focus Pronouns and Answering Questions 16 Comparison 17 Conjunction: ‘And/with,’ ‘but/without,’ and ‘or’ 18 Questions: ‘When?’ 19 Time Expressions 20 More Time Expressions 21 Time Prefixes 22 Questions: ‘Where?’ 23 Some Place Expressions 24 Source, Way, and Destination 25 Serial Verbs 26 Questions: ‘How?’ and ‘How much?’ 27 While Clauses 28 Adverbial Expressions 29 Intensifier Auxiliaries 30 Conditional Clauses 31 Passive Sentences and Shifting Vowels 32 Lexical Suffixes 33 Collective Plural 34 Possessed Verbs 35 So Then ... 36 Reporting Verbs and Direct Quotes 37 Indirect Quotes 38 Questions: ‘Why?’ 39 Because 40 Cause 41 Speech Act Particles 42 The Actual: To Be Continuing 43 State, Result, and Duration 44 Participant Roles and Middle Voice 45 Recipient, Beneficiary, and Source Objects 46 Reflexive, Noncontrol Middle, and Contingent 47 Activity Suffixes 48 Relative Clauses 49 Verbal Prefixes 50 Movement and Development Suffixes 51 Nominalizing Prefixes 52 Adverbial Prefixes 53 More Demonstrative Articles 54 Objects of Intent, Emotion, Direction, and Success 55 More Reduplication Patterns 56 Interjections 57 Rare Suffixes 58 A Fully Annotated Text 59 Texts to Annotate 60 Conclusion Appendices Klallam Dictionary Klallam-English and English-Klallam sections only

16.3. Superlative construction

30904 17 Conjunction: ‘And/with,’ ‘but/without,’ and ‘or’
ʔə́c nuʔčə́q.‘I am the biggest.’
nə́kʷ nuʔčə́q.‘You are the biggest.’
níɬ nuʔčə́q cə píšpš.‘The cat is biggest.’
ʔuʔhúy cn ʔuʔ čə́q.‘I am the biggest. / Only I am big.’
ʔuʔhúy cxʷ ʔuʔ čə́q.‘You are the biggest. / Only you are big.’
ʔuʔhúy cə píšpš ʔuʔ čə́q.‘The cat is biggest. / Only the cat is big.’

► 1  The first three models should look familiar. This form of the superlative in Klallam is basically the same as the comparative. The only difference is that in the superlative only one thing is mentioned. Here is the basic formula for this construction:
          FOCUS  nuʔQUALITY  X
► 2  Just as in the comparative construction, the question words cán and stáŋ count as focus pronouns. So the following are models for superlative questions:
          cán nuʔčə́q.              ‘Who is the biggest?’
          stáŋ nuʔčə́q.             ‘What is the biggest?’
► 3  The last three models show a different way of expressing superlative comparison. This uses one of the intensifier auxiliaries (§29). We will look at those in detail later. Note that these last three models were not included in the printed version of the Klallam Grammar.
► 4  The key word in these three models is húy, which means ‘finish, end’ when used without a following ʔuʔ clause. An example is húy cn čáy ‘I finished work.’
► 5  When there is a following ʔuʔ, the meaning of húy changes to ‘only, alone.’ An example is húy cn ʔuʔ čáy ‘I only work’ or ‘Only I work’ or ‘I work alone.’
► 6  We call this ʔuʔ the u-connector.
► 7  When the u-connector is followed by an adjective, as in the models, the whole construction is usually interpreted as a superlative.
► 8  The huy in this construction usually has the ʔuʔ- ‘contrast’ prefix. This prefix indicates a contrasting situation. For example, in the fist model I am contrasting myself with the others
► 9  Here are some new words to use in the exercises: nəxʷsčáŋkʷən ‘brave,’ čqánkʷs ‘stubborn, proud,’ nəxʷsqaʔyáɬ 'noisy'
níɬ nuʔčə́q tiə sčánnəxʷ.‘This salmon is biggest.’
ʔáwə. níɬ nuʔčə́q tíə.‘No. This one is biggest.’
nəx̣čŋín ʔaʔ či sníɬs nuʔčə́q tíə.‘I think it’s this one that’s biggest.’
čə́q tiə sčánnəxʷ x̣ʷnáŋ ʔaʔ tsíə.‘This salmon is as big as that one.’

 

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  1. 16 Comparison Montler, et al.

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  1. 16.3. Exercises

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