16.3. ‘Which one?’
Models
| 1) | TEXIN ¸E TŦE MO͸? | ‘Which is the basket?’ |
| 2) | NIȽ TEXIN? | ‘Which one is it?’ |
| 3) | TEXIN¸ṈEN ¸E TŦE SMÍEŦ? | ‘Which part of the deer?’ |
| 4) | NIȽ TEXIN¸ṈEN? | ‘Which part is it? |
‣ 1 The basic word meaning ‘to be which’ is TEXIN. This is an intransitive verb in SENĆOŦEN.
‣ 2 TEXIN never takes an ‘I’ or ‘you’ subject and is never followed by a direct noun phrase (§8.1).
‣ 3 The first model is a pattern that is useful to know and use. If you have a group of various things, use this pattern to identify one.
‣ 4 Note that the thing to be identified must be specified as the object of the preposition.
‣ 5 The second model shows that the use of the focus pronoun gives a sense of ‘which one’. Other focus pronouns could be used. For example, NEȻE TEXIN? ‘Which one are you?’ This could be used, for example, when looking at an old group photograph.
‣ 6 The second ‘which?’ word, shown in models 3 and 4, is obviously built on TEXIN. TEXIN¸ṈEN is TEXIN with the ‑ṈEN ‘piece, part’ suffix. This is one of the lexical suffixes covered in §37.
‣ 7 TEXIN¸ṈEN means ‘which part’ or ‘which piece.’ It can also be translated ‘what part’ or ‘what piece.’ The grammar of TEXIN¸ṈEN is essentially the same as the grammar of TEXIN.
‣ 8 In English ‘which’ can be a question word, as in the models, or it can be a relative pronoun as in ‘The hat which I wore.’ An important difference between English and SENĆOŦEN is that TEXIN is never used as a relative pronoun. Relative clauses are covered in detail in §47.
 | NIȽ TEXIN ¸E TŦE ŦEḴI¸? | ‘Which one is the sockeye?’ |
 | ÁȽETI ȽÁ¸E TŦE ŦEḴI¸. | ‘This one here is the sockeye.’ |
| TEXIN¸ṈEN EN¸ SṮI¸ ¸E TŦE SĆÁÁNEW̱? | ‘What part of the salmon do you want?’ |
| NE SṮI¸ TŦE S₭OṈI¸I¸Ḱ. | ‘I want the fish head.’ |
| 16.3A. Translate each of the following into English. 1. TEXIN¸ṈEN EN¸ SṮI¸? 2. NIȽ TEXIN ¸E TŦE EN¸ SNEW̱EȽ? 3. NIȽ TEXIN ¸E TŦE NE S¸IȽEN? 4. NIȽ TEXIN¸ṈEN ¸E TŦE SMÍEŦ? 5. TEXIN¸ṈEN ¸E TŦE SNEW̱EȽ? | 16.3B. Translate each of the following into SENĆOŦEN. 1. Which one am I? 2. Which is the dog? 3. Which part of the canoe is it? 4. Which one is big? 5. Which part do you want? |
| 16.3C. Make up four more sentences using TEXIN. | |