Klallam Grammar

42 The Actual: To Be Continuing

In English we indicate an ongoing action by using a form of the word ‘be’ with a main verb ending in ‘‑ing.’ For example, ‘I am eating.’ As a verb form, it can be called ‘continuative’ (because the action is continuing). In Klallam and some other Salishan languages this form can occur with nouns and adjectives as well as with verbs, so it is usually called the actual because it indicates that the situation is or was actually occurring.

The actual is very common in Klallam and is marked in a number of different ways. It accounts for quite a bit of the variation you see in the form of roots. Though there are many ways of forming the actual, three methods are very common and important to understand.

The first method of forming the actual is an infix (a glottal stop is inserted into the word), the second is reduplication (the first consonant of the root is copied), and the third is metathesis (a consonant and vowel switch places).

It is important to remember that there are a number of ways of forming the actual. The three described here are simply the most common. See Appendix G for a long list of actuals.
 

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