11.2. ‘But’ and ‘without’
Models
| 1) | EMET LE¸ SW̱ I¸ U¸ EWE S IȽEN. | ‘You sat but didn’t eat.’ |
| 2) | XEȽ SEN I¸ U¸ ŚETEṈ¸. | ‘I’m sick but walking.’ |
| 3) | XEȽ SEN I¸ U¸ ŚETEṈ¸ SEN. | ‘I’m sick but I’m walking.’ |
| 4) | YÁ¸ SEN SE¸ I¸ U¸ EWENE NE SKEM¸EL¸. | ‘I’ll go without my paddle.’ |
‣ 1 The meaning of ‘but’ is similar to that of ‘and.’ They both conjoin two phrases—one to the left, and one to the right. The difference is that with ‘but’ the phrase to the right of it is in contrast with the phrase to the left of it.
‣ 2 In SENĆOŦEN the notion of ‘in contrast’ is added to any verb with the little prefix U¸ /ʔuʔ-/. See more on this prefix in §56.1.
‣ 3 The meaning and use of the U¸ prefix is somewhat broader than ‘in contrast.’ It means more like ‘with respect to what has happened or been said.’ The ‘in contrast’ meaning is included in that broader definition.
‣ 4 You know that YÁ¸ LE¸ SEN means ‘I went,’ so when the U¸ prefix is added, U¸ YÁ¸ LE¸ SEN means something like ‘in contrast (to what you might think), I went’ or ‘with respect to that, I went.’
‣ 5 Note that this prefix is traditionally written as a separate word in SENĆOŦEN.
‣ 6 SENĆOŦEN produces the notion of English ‘but’ with a combination of I¸ ‘and’ and U¸ ‘in contrast.’ Note that the verb in the second clause in the models always begins with U¸.
‣ 7 The idea of ‘without’ is created in SENĆOŦEN with a combination of I¸ and the U¸ prefix on EWENE, which means ‘is nothing, doesn’t exist.’
‣ 8 Negative words like EWENE are covered in detail in §12.5. For now, it will be enough to know that EWENE followed by a possessed noun means ‘have no.’ So EWENE NE SKEM¸EL¸ ‘I have no paddle.’ And with the U¸‑ prefix, U¸ EWENE NE SKEM¸EL¸ means ‘in contrast to what you might think, I have no paddle.’
‣ 9 The final model here uses I¸ to conjoin YÁ¸ SEN SE¸ ‘I’ll go’ and U¸ EWENE NE SKEM¸EL¸. The result, YÁ¸ SEN SE¸ I¸ U¸ EWENE NE SKEM¸EL¸, literally means ‘I’ll go and, contrary to what you might think, I have no paddle.’ Another way to translate this would be ‘I’ll go, but I have no paddle.’ A freer and easier translation uses ‘without’: ‘I’ll go without a paddle.’
‣ 10 New vocabulary (with the stressed vowel underlined): ŚETEṈ¸ ‘walking;’ XEȽ ‘to be sick;’ SKEM¸EL¸ ‘canoe paddle.’
 | U¸ ÍY¸ E SW̱? | ‘Are you well?’ |
 | XEȽ SEN I¸ U¸ TUWE ŚETEṈ¸. | ‘I’m sick but still walking.’ |
| X̱EṈ E SW̱ I¸ ȻONEṈET? | ‘Can you run?’ |
| EWE. ŚTEṈ SEN I¸ U¸ EWE S ȻONEṈET. | ‘No. I walk but don’t run.’ |
11.2A. Which of these sentences is ungrammatical? If it is ungrammatical, explain why it is. If it is grammatical, translate the sentence. If you see a word you do not know, look it up in the SENĆOŦEN dictionary.
1. IȽEN SEN I¸ U¸ EWENE NE SĆÁ¸ĆE¸.
2. X̱EṈ E SW̱ E¸ ȻONEṈET?
3. XEȽ ŦE NE TÁN I¸ U¸ ŚETEṈ¸.
4. XEȽ I¸ U¸ ŚETEṈ¸ E¸ TŦE NE TÁN.
5. XEȽ I¸ U¸ ŚETEṈ¸ TŦE NE TÁN.
11.2B. Make four new SENĆOŦEN sentences that will translate with ‘but’ or ‘without’.