18.1. Asking ‘Whose?’ questions
Models
| 1) | TW̱SÁN OĆE? | ‘Whose is it?’ |
| 2) | TW̱SÁN OĆE TŦE SḴAXE¸? | ‘Whose dog is it?’ / |
| ‘The dog is whose?’ | ||
| 3) | TW̱SÁN SḴAXE¸ YÁ¸? | ‘Whose dog went?’ |
| 4) | TW̱SÁN OĆE ȻSE SḴAXE¸ YÁ¸? | ‘Whose dog went?’ / |
| ‘The dog that went is whose?’ | ||
| 5) | TW̱SÁN OĆE ȻSE SḴAXE¸ TŦE YÁ¸? | ‘Whose dog went?’ / |
| ‘The dog that’s the one that went is whose?’ | ||
| 6) | TW̱SÁN SḴAXE¸ TŦE YÁ¸? | ‘Whose dog went?’ / |
| ‘The one that went is whose dog?’ | ||
| 7) | TW̱SÁN OĆE TŦE SḴAXE¸ ȻENET? | ‘Whose dog took it?’ / |
| ‘The dog that took it is whose?’ | ||
| 8) | TW̱SÁN SḴAXE¸ TŦE ȻENET TŦE SȾOM¸? | ‘Whose dog took the bone?’ / |
| ‘The one that took the bone is whose dog?’ | ||
| 9) | TW̱SÁN OĆE TŦE SḴAXE¸ ȻENETEṈ? | ‘Whose dog was taken?’ / |
| ‘The dog that was taken is whose?’ | ||
| 10) | TW̱SÁN SḴAXE¸ TŦE ȻENETEW̱? | ‘Whose dog did you take?’ / |
| ‘The one that you took is whose dog?’ | ||
| 11) | TW̱SÁN TŦE Á¸LEṈ EN¸ ŚW̱¸OX̱ LE¸? | ‘Whose house did you go to?’ / |
| ‘The house that you went to is whose? |
‣ 1 The word for ‘whose’ in SENĆOŦEN is the word for ‘who,’ can, with a TW̱‑ prefix on the front of it: TW̱SÁN. This TW̱‑ prefix adds the meaning ‘belong to’ to the word it is attached to. Generally, TW̱SÁN works like SÁN (§15.1).
‣ 2 The grammar here is simple: the question word, TW̱SÁN, comes first; then the thing that is possessed comes next as a noun phrase: TW̱SÁN TŦE SNEW̱EȽ ‘whose canoe (is it)?’ or literally, ‘The canoe is whose?’ As usual, the tense markers and other speech act modifiers, if any are specified, must come between the two.
‣ 3 The OĆE is not necessary, but speakers often use it. Each of the models above would be just as good without the OĆE. TW̱SÁN OĆE TŦE SNEW̱EȽ and TW̱SÁN TŦE SNEW̱EȽ both mean the same thing: ‘whose canoe (is it)?’
‣ 4 The word TW̱SÁN is really a verb meaning ‘to be whose,’ so the English ‘is it’ in the translation is part of the meaning of the SENĆOŦEN word. It is possible to say TW̱SÁN SEN ‘Whose am I?’ and TW̱SÁN SW̱ ‘Whose are you?’ You might use these two sentences when starting a team game—‘Whose (team) am I (on)?’
‣ 5 Models 3, 4, 5, and 6 all are usually translated the same—‘Whose dog is it?’ There are multiple ways of saying the same thing in SENĆOŦEN just as there are multiple ways of saying it in English.
‣ 6 The first translation in the models that have more than one is the usual translation. The second is a more literal translation.
‣ 7 Models 1, 2, and 3 are the basic forms. Each of the other forms contains a relative clause. Much more is said about relative clauses in §47.
‣ 8 Models 3, 6, 8 and 10 start with TW̱SÁN SḴAXE¸. Here TW̱SÁN acts as a modifier for SḴAXE¸ and creates what functions as a two-word verb meaning ‘to be whose dog.’ The noun phrase following it in models 6, 8, and 10 is the subject of that verb.
‣ 9 Notice in all of the models 3 through 9, the ‘whose dog’ represents the subject of the following verb. But in model 10, the dog is the object, not the subject of ȻENET ‘take.’ The subject of ȻENET is marked by the subordinate subject suffix ‑EW̱ ‘you.’ This follows the pattern for other questions described in §17.
‣ 10 In English ‘whose’ can be a question word, as in the models, or it can be a relative pronoun as in ‘The man whose dog escaped.’ An important difference between English and SENĆOŦEN is that TW̱SÁN is never used as a relative pronoun. Relative clauses are covered in detail in §47.
‣ 11 New vocabulary (with the stressed vowel underlined):
NEĆEṈ ‘laugh’‣ 2 The grammar here is simple: the question word, TW̱SÁN, comes first; then the thing that is possessed comes next as a noun phrase: TW̱SÁN TŦE SNEW̱EȽ ‘whose canoe (is it)?’ or literally, ‘The canoe is whose?’ As usual, the tense markers and other speech act modifiers, if any are specified, must come between the two.
‣ 3 The OĆE is not necessary, but speakers often use it. Each of the models above would be just as good without the OĆE. TW̱SÁN OĆE TŦE SNEW̱EȽ and TW̱SÁN TŦE SNEW̱EȽ both mean the same thing: ‘whose canoe (is it)?’
‣ 4 The word TW̱SÁN is really a verb meaning ‘to be whose,’ so the English ‘is it’ in the translation is part of the meaning of the SENĆOŦEN word. It is possible to say TW̱SÁN SEN ‘Whose am I?’ and TW̱SÁN SW̱ ‘Whose are you?’ You might use these two sentences when starting a team game—‘Whose (team) am I (on)?’
‣ 5 Models 3, 4, 5, and 6 all are usually translated the same—‘Whose dog is it?’ There are multiple ways of saying the same thing in SENĆOŦEN just as there are multiple ways of saying it in English.
‣ 6 The first translation in the models that have more than one is the usual translation. The second is a more literal translation.
‣ 7 Models 1, 2, and 3 are the basic forms. Each of the other forms contains a relative clause. Much more is said about relative clauses in §47.
‣ 8 Models 3, 6, 8 and 10 start with TW̱SÁN SḴAXE¸. Here TW̱SÁN acts as a modifier for SḴAXE¸ and creates what functions as a two-word verb meaning ‘to be whose dog.’ The noun phrase following it in models 6, 8, and 10 is the subject of that verb.
‣ 9 Notice in all of the models 3 through 9, the ‘whose dog’ represents the subject of the following verb. But in model 10, the dog is the object, not the subject of ȻENET ‘take.’ The subject of ȻENET is marked by the subordinate subject suffix ‑EW̱ ‘you.’ This follows the pattern for other questions described in §17.
‣ 10 In English ‘whose’ can be a question word, as in the models, or it can be a relative pronoun as in ‘The man whose dog escaped.’ An important difference between English and SENĆOŦEN is that TW̱SÁN is never used as a relative pronoun. Relative clauses are covered in detail in §47.
‣ 11 New vocabulary (with the stressed vowel underlined):
ḰÁL ‘talk’
ȻÁĆEṈ ‘yell, holler’
SEU¸ḴEṈ¸ ‘whispering’
 | TW̱SÁN OĆE PUS? | ‘Whose cat is it?’ |
 | EWENE NE SXĆIT. EN¸ SȻÁ¸ E? | ‘I don’t know. Is it yours?’ |
| EWE S NE SȻÁ¸. | ‘It’s not mine’ |
| ṮÁ¸ U¸ EWE S NE SȻÁ¸. | ‘It’s not mine either.’ |
| 18.1A. Translate each of the following into English. 1. TW̱SÁN OĆE TI¸Á SNÁ? 2. TW̱SÁN TŦE ṈENE¸? 3. TW̱SÁN SE¸ ȽÁU¸? 4. TW̱SÁN OĆE TŦE SḴAXE¸ ȻSE EN¸Á? 5. TW̱SÁN LE¸ OĆE ȻSE QENET? | 18.1B. Translate each of the following into SENĆOŦEN. 1. Whose ran? 2. Whose child is she? 3. Whose mother will go? 4. Whose friend saw it? 5. Whose father laughed? |
| 18.1C. Make up four more sentences using TW̱SÁN. | |