27 While Clauses
In §13 you learned how to use the subordinate subjects in questions. Take a few minutes to review that section before continuing with this one. In this section you will see that ‘while’ clauses also use the subordinate subjects.
The subordinate subject table is repeated here from §13:
Subordinate subject pronouns
| Singular | Plural | |||
| 1 | ‑ən | ‘I’ | ‑əɬ | ‘we’ |
| 2 | ‑əxʷ | ‘you’ | ‑əxʷ hay | ‘you folks’ |
| 3 | ‑əs | ‘he, she, it’ | ‑əs | ‘they’ |
| ʔíɬən cn ʔəɬ štə́ŋən. | ‘I eat while I walk.’ |
| ʔíɬən cn ʔəɬ štə́ŋəɬ. | ‘I eat while we walk.’ |
| ʔíɬən cn ʔəɬ štə́ŋəxʷ. | ‘I eat while you walk.’ |
| ʔíɬən cn ʔəɬ štə́ŋəxʷ hay. | ‘I eat while you folks walk.’ |
| ʔíɬən cn ʔəɬ štə́ŋəs. | ‘I eat while he/she/it/they walk.’ |
► 1 The little word ʔəɬ means ‘while’ and introduces the subordinate clause.
► 2 The structure of ‘while’ clauses in Klallam is very similar to the English structure. In English, as in Klallam, while clauses are used to express the idea of two events happening at the same time. In English we can summarize while clauses like this:
main clause subordinate clause
I eat while I walk.
event one while event two
In Klallam the basic structure is similar:
main clause subordinate clause
ʔíɬən cn ʔəɬ štə́ŋən.
event one while event two
► 3 The major difference between Klallam and English ‘while’ constructions is that the subordinate clause in English uses the same subject pronoun set as the main clause. Klallam uses the special subordinate subject set.
► 4 To mention specific individuals, use the ‘he/she/it/they’ form. Subject and object noun phrases occur in their normal positions with each verb, for example:
ʔíɬən cə swéʔwəs ʔəɬ štə́ŋəs cə q̓áʔŋi.
eat the boy while walk the girl
‘The boy eats while the girl walks.’
Note that the subordinate event (‘walk’ in this example) must have the ‑s subordinate subject suffix to agree with ‘the girl.’
► 5 As you will see in §28.2, the word ʔəɬ is also used in one method of making adverbial expressions (such as ‘I walk fast’).
► 6 The subordinate subjects are also used in some adverbial expressions and in conditional clauses. These will be covered in §28.2 and §30.1.
► 7 The word ʔəɬ can sometimes be translated as ‘when’ in English, as in ‘I’ll eat when I walk.’ This is okay as long as the two events are happening at the same time. But in the sentence ‘I’ll eat when I get there,’ the two events are not happening at the same time: first I’ll get there, then I’ll eat. This use of ‘when’ in English cannot be translated as ʔəɬ in Klallam. The problem is that English ‘when’ is vague in meaning either ‘at the same time’ or ‘just after.’ Klallam is not vague in this regard. To translate the ‘just after’ use of English ‘when,’ Klallam uses the little word kʷaʔ, which is discussed in §30.1.
► 8 New vocabulary: waʔsə́yu ‘barking’
 | ʔíɬən caʔn ʔəɬ ƛ̓aʔsiʔáɬən. | ‘I’ll eat while I go to Seattle.’ |
 | kʷɬníɬ či ʔən̓sʔíɬən | ‘Eat right now |
| ʔaʔ či čiyáy ʔaʔ či ʔən̓shiyáʔ. | before you go.’ |
| ʔə́y̓. ʔéʔɬən cn. | ‘Okay. I’m eating.’ |
| mán̓ cxʷ ʔuʔ ʔə́y̓ swéʔwəs. | ‘You’re a very good boy.’ |