Klallam Grammar

33.4. Ci, C...í, and Cí reduplication

Ci     snə́xʷɬ‘canoe’sninə́xʷɬ‘canoes’
         ŋə́qsən ‘nose’ŋiŋə́qsən‘noses’
C...í   sx̣ə́naʔ‘foot’sínaʔ‘feet’
 čə́nəs‘tooth’ččínəs‘teeth’
mə́q̓‘full belly’məq̓‘full bellies’
 sxʷə́kʷ ‘lower back’sxʷíxʷəkʷ‘lower backs’

1 These are three rare reduplication patterns for plural in Klallam.
2 The first pattern, Ci, makes the collective plural by copying the first consonant of the root and putting an i after the copy. So, for example, with ŋə́qsən, the first consonant is ŋ. Copy the ŋ and put an i after the copy to get ŋiŋə́qsən.
3 The second pattern, C...í, copies the first consonant and replaces the stressed ə́ of the root with í. So, for example, with p̓ə́wiʔ, the first consonant is . Copy the and change the root ə́ to í to get p̓p̓íwiʔ.
4 The third pattern, , is similar to the Ci pattern, but the inserted i gets the stress. So, for example, with mə́q̓ the first consonant is m. Copy the m and put í after the copy to get míməq̓.
5 There is no general way to tell which words take these patterns. But there are two pieces of good news. First, these patterns occur only on words whose singular form has ə́ or whose root begins with two consonants in a row. But, of course, there are many words with ə́  or with roots beginning in two consonants that do not take these forms of the plural.
6 The second piece of good news is that these forms are rare. They do, however, occur on some very common words. The Ci form occurs on eleven words, C...i occurs on nine, and Cí occurs only on the two words shown in the model.
7 An inescapable part of learning any language is a certain amount of memorization. So here are the Ci and C...i forms for you to memorize at this time. (Note that in the plural for ‘lake,’ the í becomes é because it’s followed by ʔ.)
Words with Ci pluralWords with C...í plural
sə́miʔ        sisə́miʔ         ‘blanket’sə́miʔ        ssímiʔ           ‘blanket’
ƛ̓x̣ʷáy̓        ƛ̓iƛ̓ə́x̣ʷiʔ        ‘dog salmon’k̓ʷə́yčən     k̓ʷk̓ʷíyčən       ‘grizzly’
sčə́saʔqʷ    sčičə́saʔqʷ     ‘hat’q̓ʷə́yən̓       q̓ʷq̓ʷíyən̓        ‘ear’
q̓ʷq̓ʷúʔəŋ̓   q̓ʷiq̓ʷúʔəŋ      ‘kelp’sƛ̓ə́wən̓     sƛ̓ƛ̓íwən̓        ‘earring’
p̓ə́wiʔ        p̓ip̓ə́wiʔ         ‘flounder’p̓ə́wiʔ        p̓p̓íwiʔ          ‘flounder’
sxʷtqə́n      sxʷtitqə́n       ‘lid’sx̣ə́naʔ      sx̣x̣ínaʔ         ‘foot’
sk̓ʷtúʔ       sk̓ʷik̓ʷə́tuʔ      ‘raven’cə́yʔəɬ       ccéʔyəɬ          ‘lake’
pə́q̓           pipə́q̓            ‘white’sk̓ʷə́yəc      sk̓ʷk̓ʷíyəc       ‘slave’
c̓ək̓ʷ          sc̓ic̓ə́k̓ʷ          ‘worm’čə́nəs        ččínəs           ‘tooth’
snə́xʷɬ       sninə́xʷɬ        ‘canoe’ 
ŋə́qsən      ŋiŋə́qsən        ‘nose’ 
8 Note that the words for ‘blanket’ and ‘flounder’ can take either form of the plural; some elders prefer one or the other. As you browse through the Klallam Dictionary, you will notice that many words have various acceptable forms for the plural.
ččáts cə nəséʔyaʔ cə ŋə́n̓ sƛ̓ƛ̓íwən̓.‘My grandmother made many earrings.’
x̣čŋín tə ʔaʔ či sččáts cə sčičə́saʔqʷ.‘I thought she made hats?’
ččáts cə sƛ̓ƛ̓íwən̓ ʔiʔ sčičə́saʔqʷ.‘She makes earrings and hats.’
mán̓ ʔuʔ ʔiʔánəŋ cə ʔən̓séʔyaʔ.‘Your grandmother is very skillful.’

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