53.1. -iə ‘near’ and -əsə ‘far’
| ʔəɬənístxʷ cn tiə nəŋə́naʔ. | ‘I fed my son.’ |
| ʔəɬənístxʷ cn tsiə nəŋə́naʔ. | ‘I fed my daughter.’ |
| ʔəɬənístxʷ cn kʷiə nəŋə́naʔ. | ‘I fed my son.’ |
| ʔəɬənístxʷ cn kʷsiə nəŋə́naʔ. | ‘I fed my daughter.’ |
| x̣iʔəsít cn təsə nəcáčc. | ‘I wrote to my uncle.’ |
| x̣iʔəsít cn ɬəsə nəcáčc. | ‘I wrote to my aunt.’ |
| x̣iʔəsít cn kʷəsə nəcáčc. | ‘I wrote to my uncle.’ |
| x̣iʔəsít cn kʷɬəsə nəcáčc. | ‘I wrote to my aunt.’ |
► 1 The first thing to notice about these model sentences is that there are two sets: one set with articles ending in ‑iə, and one with the article ending in ‑əsə. The articles ending in ‑iə all indicate that the following noun is something that is close by. The articles ending in ‑əsə all indicate that the following noun is something that is distant.
► 2 Compare these with the articles you learned in §4, such as cə. Those articles were neutral about whether the noun following them referred to something near or far. A Klallam speaker uses these articles to explicitly let the listener know that the item in question is near or far. Generally, if it doesn’t matter, use the neutral articles.
► 3 The next thing to notice about these articles is that in each of the sets, the sentences refer alternately to male and female direct objects. Remember that nəŋə́naʔ can mean either ‘my daughter’ or ‘my son,’ and nəcáčc means either ‘my aunt’ or ‘my uncle.’ It is only the article that makes it clear which—male or female—the speaker is talking about.
► 4 The ‘near,’ ‑iə, forms with s, tsiə, and kʷsiə indicate feminine individuals, such as ‘daughter’ and ‘aunt.’ The other two forms, tiə and kʷiə, do not indicate explicitly feminine individuals.
► 5 The ‘far,’ ‑əsə, forms with ɬ, ɬəsə and kʷɬəsə indicate feminine individuals, such as ‘daughter’ and ‘aunt.’ Just as for the ‑iə articles, the other two forms, təsə and kʷəsə, do not indicate explicitly feminine individuals.
► 6 The nonfeminine forms actually are gender-neutral and could be used with a noun referring to a female. You need to use the feminine forms only when you need to make the distinction explicit. This need typically occurs with words like ŋə́naʔ and cáčc, which can be used to refer to a female or a male.
► 7 The final thing to notice about these models is that the second pair of sentences in each of the two sets is translated into English the same as the first pair of sentences in each set. The reason for this is that Klallam makes a fine distinction that English grammar cannot. This distinction is the difference between visible and not visible. This distinction should be familiar to you from §4.4.
► 8 The articles beginning with kʷ in both sets consistently refer to individuals that are not currently visible to the speaker and the listener. They may be near—in a different room, for example—or far—perhaps in a different country.
► 9 The nonvisible forms with kʷ are also typically used to refer to individuals who have passed away, moved away, or are somehow part of the past.
► 10 An important use of all of these forms is as demonstrative pronouns by themselves without a following noun. By themselves, they would be translated as ‘this,’ ‘that,’ ‘this one,’ or ‘that one.’ So, for example, you could say ʔəɬənístxʷ cn tiə ‘I fed this one.’ In this use, the word tiə is, by far, the most common.
► 11 The ‑iə ending is sometimes pronounced ‑iʔə and is sometimes spelled that way.
► 12 By now, you should be able to translate the qʷiʔnəwi yourself. Use the Klallam Dictionary to look up any words that may be unfamiliar to you.
 | x̣iʔəsít u cxʷ kʷɬəsə ʔən̓cáčc. |
 | ʔáa. x̣iʔəsít cn ʔaʔ či ʔuʔx̣ən̓áɬ. |
| ʔəsx̣ʷəníŋ̓ ʔuč kʷɬəsə. |
| ʔáwənə nəsx̣čít. ʔáwə c x̣iʔəsíc ʔaʔ či ʔuʔx̣ən̓áɬ. |