Klallam Grammar

50 Movement and Development Suffixes

This section covers two useful suffixes. One, ‑iyɬ, indicates movement and is often translated ‘go.’ The other, ‑iy, marks an event in the process of development, which might involve movement.
héʔwi cn.‘I’m going to the front.’
kʷáyi  cn.‘I’m hiding.’
ƛ̓číyəŋ cn.‘I sank.’
sqíyəŋ  cn‘I went out.’
ʔəɬəníyɬ cn.‘I went out to eat.’
čáyiyɬ cn.‘I went to work.’
t̓éʔwiʔəɬíyɬ cn.‘I went to church.’
ƛ̓aʔk̓ʷəŋíyɬ.‘It’s getting dark.’

1 The first four models show the ‑iy ‘development’ suffix. In the first two models, the form is ‑i because the root is taking the stress. The basic ‑iy form appears only when it is stressed, and that happens only when there is a following suffix. In the second two models, the ‑iy suffix is followed by the ‑əŋ ‘middle.’
2 The meaning of the ‑iy ‘development’ suffix is not as strong or easy to discern as the meaning of most suffixes in Klallam. The best that can be done to describe the meaning is that it refers to a situation that is developing or has developed from some other situation. For example, the first model is based on héʔəw ‘bow (of a canoe), front of any place with seats.’ Add the ‘development’ suffix to get the idea of moving toward the front or of a situation change from back to front.
3 For the second model, the stem kʷáy means ‘be hidden.’ Adding the ‘development’ suffix adds the change-of-situation idea of going into hiding.
4 The  ‑iy ‘development’ suffix is fairly common on Klallam words. Most words that end in i and most words that have the stressed form íy have this ‘development’ suffix.
5 The  ‑iy ‘development’ is a suffix that is good to know and recoginize in words. It could also be used to create new words that are not in the Klallam Dictionary.
6 The  ‑iyɬ ‘movement’ suffix has a much more direct and recognizable meaning. It basically means ‘go,’ especially by some conveyance, such as a canoe, car, horse, bus, and so on.
7 The  ‑iyɬ ‘movement’ suffix is typically attached to a verb to indicate going (somewhere) to do the activity referred to in the verb. So, for example, ʔíɬən means ‘eat,’ and when the ‑iyɬ suffix is added you get ʔəɬəníyɬ ‘go to eat,’ which is usually interpreted as ‘go out to eat in a restaurant.’
8 The ‑iyɬ ‘movement’ is shown on the last four models. It is sometimes pronounced ‑iyəɬ, and sometimes simply ‑.
9 The  ‑iyɬ ‘movement’ suffix has a similar form and vaguely similar meaning to the ‑iy ‘development’ suffix. It may be that they are historically related or that the ‑iyɬ suffix contains the other one.
čáyiyɬ u caʔ cxʷ.‘Are you going to go to work?’
ʔáwənə nəsnəxʷɬ. ƛ̓číyəŋ kʷə.‘I have no canoe. It sank.’
x̣ʷə́ŋ cxʷ ʔiʔ kʷcáci ʔiʔ ʔə́c.‘You can get a ride with me.’
mán̓ cn ʔuʔ háʔnəŋ.‘Thank you very much.’

 

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