33.2. Infix -ə́y- or -ə́yə-
| stáʔčəŋ | ‘wolf’ | stə́yaʔčəŋ | ‘wolves’ |
| snə́xʷɬ | ‘canoe’ | snə́yəxʷɬ | ‘canoes’ |
► 1 The ‑ə́y‑/‑ə́yə‑ form of the plural occurs in some Klallam words.
► 2 In this pattern the ‑ə́y‑ or ‑ə́yə‑ completely replaces the stressed vowel of the word.
► 3 The meaning of the ‑ə́y‑/‑ə́yə‑ form of the plural is exactly the same as the other forms of the plural. It’s just that some words use this form.
► 4 Some speakers always drop the unstressed ə, so for them the infix is just ‑ə́y‑.
► 5 For some speakers the y is sometimes glottalized, so the infix sounds like ‑ə́y̓‑ or ‑áʔyə‑ (remember that ə always becomes a before ʔ).
► 6 There is no way to tell for sure if a word takes the ‑ə́y‑/‑ə́yə‑ form of the plural. There are, however, three rules to tell you if a word does not take this form:
1. If the first vowel of the word is not stressed, then do not use ‑ə́y‑/‑ə́yə‑. So, for example, words like šəmán ‘enemy’ or ƛ̓aʔƛ̓úƛ̓aʔ ‘small’ would never use the ‑ə́y‑/‑ə́yə‑ plural because the stressed vowel is the second vowel in the word.
2. If the second consonant of the root is y or y̓, then do not use ‑ə́y‑/‑ə́yə‑. So, for example, words like smə́yəc ‘elk’ would never use this form of the plural because the second consonant of the root is y. (Remember that the s at the beginning is ignored.)
3. If the root begins with two consonants in a row, then do not use ‑ə́y‑/‑ə́yə‑. So, for example, words like x̣páy̓ ‘cedar’ and čxʷə́yuʔ ‘whale’ would never use this form of the plural because they begin with two consonants in a row.
► 7 If you just have the plural form with ‑ə́y‑/‑ə́yə‑, there is no way to tell what the stressed vowel of the singular should be. So, for example, if you have hə́yaʔpt ‘group of deer,’ there is no way to tell that the stressed vowel of the singular is ú: húʔpt.
► 8 Many of the words that form the plural with ‑ə́y‑/‑ə́yə‑ have a stressed ú in the nonplural. This especially applies to words that have been borrowed from English:
spún ‘modern spoon’ spə́yən ‘spoons’
pút ‘boat’ páʔyət ‘boats’
For these words there is usually an alternative form of the plural using the ‑əy̓‑ form (§33.1):
spun ‘modern spoon’ spəy̓ún ‘spoons’
 | k̓ʷə́nnəxʷ u cxʷ cə snə́yəxʷɬ. | ‘Did you see the canoes?’ |
 | ʔáwə. níɬ u šəy̓əmánɬ ʔiʔ ʔuʔsčə́yaʔčaʔɬ. | ‘No. Are they enemies or friends?’ |
| ʔáwənə nəsx̣čít. | ‘I don’t know.’ |
| yéʔt či cə ʔə́yaʔyəŋ. | ‘Get the houses ready!’ |