4.5. Feminine articles: tsə ____ and kʷɬə ____
hiyáʔ kʷɬə húʔpt. ‘The doe (not now visible) goes.’
hiyáʔ yaʔ tsə húʔpt. ‘The/that doe went.’
hiyáʔ yaʔ kʷɬə húʔpt. ‘The (not visible) doe went.’
hiyáʔ caʔ tsə húʔpt. ‘The/that doe will go.’
hiyáʔ caʔ kʷɬə húʔpt. ‘The (not visible) doe will go.’
hiyáʔ u yaʔ tsə húʔpt. ‘Did the/that doe go?’
hiyáʔ u yaʔ kʷɬə húʔpt. ‘Did the (not visible) doe go?’
ƛ̓kʷə́t cn tsə húʔpt. ‘I took the/that doe.’
ƛ̓kʷə́t cn kʷɬə húʔpt. ‘I took the (not visible) doe.’
► 1 This section introduces two new articles: tsə, the feminine form of cə, and kʷɬə, the feminine form of kʷə.
► 2 Notice that cə húʔpt means ‘the deer’ and tsə húʔpt means ‘the doe.’ In Klallam the noun stays the same but the article differs.
► 3 Notice also that kʷə húʔpt means ‘the (not now visible) deer’ and kʷɬə húʔpt means ‘the (not now visible) doe.’
► 4 These are not as common as the other articles. The feminine form of the article is not required. It is only used where it is needed to avoid confusion.
► 5 If you have studied some other European language, like Spanish, French, or German, you know that the feminine article is always required with a feminine noun. Klallam is different from those languages in this respect.
► 6 One situation in which the feminine article is commonly used is with certain words for relatives. For example, the Klallam word for ‘aunt’ is the same as the word for ‘uncle’: cačc. If you want to make sure that the listener understands that you mean ‘aunt,’ use the feminine article, tsə cačc.
► 7 Another situation in which the feminine article is often used is with words referring to items owned or associated with a woman or a girl. So a phrase like tsə ʔáʔyəŋ refers to a house owned or lived in by a woman or a girl.
► 8 A feminine article can sometimes even be used to refer to the smaller of a pair of males. For example, if you see two deer with antlers (obviously both male), you can use tsə húʔpt to refer to the smaller of the two.
► 9 It is important to remember that, while tsə and kʷɬə mark ‘feminine,’ cə and kʷə do not necessarily mark ‘masculine.’ The nonfeminine articles cə and kʷə are simply neutral with respect to gender.
► 10 The two model sentences with caʔ are given for illustration purposes and are grammatical, but native speakers feel that these are somewhat strange. You will remember from §2.2 that caʔ implies that the speaker has reasonably sure knowledge that some future event will happen. What makes these two sentences strange is that you can’t usually be reasonably sure what a deer is going to do.
 | ʔəsʔúmənaʔ u yaʔ cxʷ. | ‘Did you go hunting?’ |
 | hiyáʔ cn. | ‘I went.’ |
| k̓ʷə́nnəxʷ u yaʔ cxʷ. | ‘Did you see it?’ |
| k̓ʷə́nnəxʷ yaʔ cn kʷɬə húʔpt. | ‘I saw the doe.’ |