40.1. Agent causative: -istxʷ
| ʔəɬənísc cxʷ. | ‘You feed me.’ |
| ʔəɬənísc cxʷ hay. | ‘You folks feed me.’ |
| ʔəɬənistúŋɬ cxʷ. | ‘You feed us.’ |
| ʔəɬənistúŋɬ cxʷ hay. | ‘You folks feed us.’ |
| ʔəɬənísc cn. | ‘I feed you.’ |
| ʔəɬənísc st. | ‘We feed you.’ |
| ʔəɬənísc cn hay. | ‘I feed you folks.’ |
| ʔəɬənísc st hay. | ‘We feed you folks.’ |
| ʔəɬənístxʷ cn. | ‘I feed him/her/it/them.’ |
| ʔəɬənístxʷ st. | ‘We feed him/her/it/them.’ |
| ʔəɬənístxʷ cxʷ. | ‘You feed him/her/it/them.’ |
| ʔəɬənístxʷ cxʷ hay. | ‘You folks feed him/her/it/them.’ |
| ʔəɬənísts. | ‘He/she/it/they feeds/feed him/her/it/them.’ |
► 1 The root of the verb in each of these models is ʔíɬən ‘eat.’
► 2 ʔíɬən is basically an intransitive verb. For example, ʔíɬən cn means ‘I ate’—no direct object.
► 3 When the suffix ‑istxʷ is added to ʔíɬən, the meaning becomes ‘cause to eat,’ which is usually translated ‘feed’ in English.
► 4 The ‑istxʷ suffix turns an intransitive verb into a transitive verb.
► 5 This chart will help make clear the meaning that the ‑istxʷ suffix adds:
| ʔíɬən | ‘eat’ | + -ístxʷ | → | ʔəɬənístxʷ | ‘feed it’ (cause to eat) |
| ƛ̓ə́č | ‘deep’ | + -ístxʷ | → | ƛ̓čístxʷ | ‘sink it’ (cause to be deep) |
| č̓ə́yəxʷ | ‘enter’ | + -ístxʷ | → | č̓ixʷístxʷ | ‘bring it in’ (cause to enter) |
| nə́čəŋ | ‘laugh’ | + -ístxʷ | → | nəčəŋístxʷ | ‘make someone laugh’ |
► 7 There are a seven stems that keep their stress when the animate causative suffix is added:
ʔiyə́m̓stxʷ ‘make someone strong’
k̓ʷə́nəstxʷ ‘show someone, make someone see’
qə́muʔstxʷ ‘nurse a baby, make someone drink milk’
qʷaʔqʷúʔstxʷ ‘give someone a drink’
q̓ʷaʔq̓ʷáy̓stxʷ ‘make someone believe, fib to someone’
túyistxʷ ‘bring someone over water’
wíqsstxʷ ‘make someone yawn’
► 8 The object suffixes that follow the ‑istxʷ suffix are the same as those that appear with the basic ‑t transitive. Review §7.1 now. For convenience here is the object chart from §7.1:
| Singular | Plural | |||
| 1 | ‑c | ‘me’ | ‑úŋɬ | ‘us’ |
| 2 | ‑c | ‘you’ | ‑c hay | ‘you folks’ |
| 3 | Ø | ‘him, her, it’ | Ø | ‘them’ |
► 10 The t as well as the xʷ of the ‑istxʷ suffix drops off when the ‑c ‘me, you’ object suffix is added. So, for example, ʔəɬənístxʷ +‑c becomes ʔəɬənísc.
► 11 The occurrence of the ‑s suffix for the ‘he/she/it/they’ subject with the ‑istxʷ causative is very rare. Usually the passive is used instead.
► 12 The passive of this causative is formed in a way similar to the passive of the regular ‑t transitive: suffix ‑əŋ. So the passive of ʔəɬənístxʷ is ʔəɬənístəŋ. See §31 to refresh your memory on how the passive works.
► 13 The object of this ‑istxʷ causative is an agent, usually animate. That is, it is usually participant that can act on its own. People and animals are animate, of course, but sometimes something like a canoe can be perceived to be animate if it is doing something on its own (like if it’s sinking).
► 14 The ‑istxʷ causative adds the meaning that the subject is causing the object to act on its own.
► 15 Vocabulary: t̓úk̓ʷ ‘go home’; táči ‘arrive here’; ƛ̓ə́č ‘be deep, under, below’
 | ʔəɬənístxʷ či cə ʔən̓sqáx̣aʔ. | ‘Feed your dog.’ |
 | kʷɬʔəɬənístxʷ yaʔ cn. | ‘I already fed it.’ |
| stáŋ ʔuč či ʔən̓sʔəɬənístxʷ? | ‘What did you feed it?’ |
| ʔə́ŋaʔt cn ʔaʔ či sc̓úm̓. | ‘I gave it a bone.’ |