4.6. Proper nouns and the ʔaʔ article
k̓ʷə́nnəxʷ cn ʔaʔ Terry. ‘I see Terry.’
hiyáʔ yaʔ ʔaʔ Terry. ‘Terry went.’
k̓ʷə́nnəxʷ cn ʔaʔ nə́kʷ. ‘I see you.’
► 1 In English, proper nouns (names of people and places) never have an article in front of them as other nouns do. This can be seen in the English of the models.
► 2 In Klallam, all nouns must be preceded by an article. When the direct object (as in the first model) or the intransitive subject (as in the second model) is a proper noun, it is usually preceded by the special article ʔaʔ. Other articles can be used, but ʔaʔ is almost always used.
► 3 The third model shows that this ʔaʔ article can also be used with focus pronouns. These focus pronouns will be covered in more detail in §15 and elsewhere.
► 4 The usual way of expressing ideas like ‘I see you’ is covered in detail in §7. The form shown here is used when you want to put special emphasis on the object—‘you’ in this case, marked with boldface type.
► 5 The ʔaʔ article is used only before personal proper names. It is never used before other words that translate as proper names in English. For example, it is never used before a place name.
► 6 The ʔaʔ article has the same form as the Klallam preposition, which will be covered in §8.1.
 | ʔəsʔúmənaʔ u yaʔ ʔaʔ Lee. | ‘Did Lee go hunting?’ |
 | ʔáwə. hiyáʔ ʔaʔ Terry. | ‘No. Terry went.’ |