20.1. Equative constructions
Models
| 1) | ṮÁ¸ SEN U¸ X̱EṈ X̱EN¸IṈ¸ ¸E Ṯ NEȻE. | ‘I am as fast as you.’ |
| 2) | ṮÁ¸ U, ĆEḴ TŦE PUS X̱EN¸IṈ¸ ¸E TŦE SḴAXE¸. | ‘The cat is as big as the dog.’ |
| 3) | ṮÁ¸ U, X̱EṈ TŦE SWIW¸LES Ȼ SȻONEṈETS | ‘The boy runs |
| X̱EN¸IṈ¸ ¸E TŦE SMÍEŦ. | as fast as a deer.’ | |
| 4) | ṮÁ¸ SEN U¸ X̱EN¸IṈ¸ OL¸ ¸E Ṯ NEȻE Ȼ NE SĆEḴ. | ‘I am just as big as you are.’ |
| 5) | XEM TŦE NE SȻÁ¸ X̱EN¸IṈ¸ ¸E TŦE EN¸ SȻÁ,. | ‘Mine is as heavy as yours.’ |
| 6) | TEW̱ OL¸ U¸ X̱EN¸IṈ¸ ȻS Á¸LEṈ Ȼ SĆEḴS TŦE SNEW̱EȽ. | ‘The canoe is a big as a house.’ |
| 7) | ṮÁ¸ SEN U¸ ĆEḴ, I¸ ṮÁ¸ SW̱ U¸ ĆEḴ. | ‘I am as big as you.’ |
| 8) | ṮÁ¸ SEN U¸ X̱EṈ ¸E Ȼ EN¸ SŚETEṈ¸. | ‘I walk as fast as you.’ |
‣ 1 There are four patterns for the equative in SENĆOŦEN. Three of the patterns involve the word X̱EN¸IṈ¸ ‘like, how, way,’ which is in un-highlighted bold face in the models.
‣ 2 The first four models (1, 2, 3, and 4) show the first pattern. We can state the formula for this pattern as we did for the English pattern above. Here and in the rest of the formulas in this chapter, X stands for the thing being compared and Y stands for what it is being compared to. First Equative Formula:
ṮÁ¸ U, QUALITY X X̱EN¸IṈ¸ ¸E Y
Compare this pattern with the English pattern repeated here:
X is as QUALITY as Y
‣ 3 This first pattern begins with ṮÁ¸ ’also.’ You will remember that this is a U¸ class auxiliary (§10.1), so U¸ must come before the quality word.
‣ 4 Of course, if the X being compared is SEN ‘I’ or SW̱ ‘you’, it goes after the first word, as always, as shown in models 1 and 4.
‣ 5 Model 1, ṮÁ¸ SEN U¸ X̱EṈ X̱EN¸IṈ¸ ¸E Ṯ NEȻE can be seen as composed of two clauses: ṮÁ¸ SEN U¸ X̱EṈ ‘I am also fast’ and X̱EN¸IṈ¸ ¸E Ṯ NEȻE ‘it’s like you.’ Therefore, when the two are combined in the one sentence it means literally, ‘I am also fast like you.’ We can call the first clause the quality clause and the second clause the equative clause.
‣ 6 If the thing being compared to is ‘me,’ ‘you,’ or ‘us’ as in models 1 and 4, use the focus pronouns (§15.3). Notice that when a focus pronoun is the object of the preposition, it takes a special article Ṯ. Older speakers pronounce this TȽ, and some pronounce it just T. See §57.2 for more detail on this article.
‣ 7 The second pattern is shown in the fifth model. This pattern is simpler than the first, but it seems to be less commonly used. It is the same as the first pattern without the ṮÁ¸ U,. Here is the Second Equative Formula:
QUALITY X X̱EN¸IṈ¸ ¸E Y
The fifth model can be translated literally as ‘Mine is heavy; it’s like yours.’
‣ 8 The third pattern is shown in model 6. In this pattern the quality clause appears as a Ȼ clause. This type of clause has appeared so fare in §12.6, §14.1, §14.3, §15.1, and §15.2. Ȼ clauses are covered in detail in §46.
‣ 9 The third pattern begins with the U¸ class auxiliary (§10.1) TEW̱ ‘exactly.’ The beginning of the sentence shown in model 6, TEW̱ OL¸ U¸ X̱EN¸IṈ means ‘It is exactly like that’ or ‘It is exactly that way.’ The whole sentence could be literally translated ‘It is exactly like a house that the canoe is big.’ Here is the Third Equative Formula:
TEW̱ OL¸ U¸ X̱EN¸IṈ¸ ¸E X Ȼ SQUALITYS Y
‣ 10 The fourth pattern is shown in model 7. This pattern differs from the others in that there is no X̱EN¸IṈ¸. This pattern joins two sentences with I¸ conjunction (§11.1). Here is the Fourth Equative Formula:
ṮÁ¸ U, QUALITY X I¸ ṮÁ¸ U, QUALITY Y
Model 6 can be translated literally as ‘I am big, too and you are big, too.’
‣ 11 Models 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 show the comparison of simple qualities—‘fast,’ ‘big,’ ‘heavy.’ Models 3 and 8 are a bit more complex. In these two, the comparison is between actions—‘run as fast,’ ‘walk as fast.’ Notice that both of these models have Ȼ clauses: Ȼ SȻONEṈETS in model 3 and Ȼ EN¸ SŚETEṈ¸ in model 8.
‣ 12 Although model 3 is a complex sentence, it still follows the pattern of the First Equative Formula. In model 3, TŦE SWIW¸LES Ȼ SȻONEṈETS ‘the boy when he runs’ is the X in the formula. Model 3 could be literally translated ‘The boy when he runs is also fast like a deer.’
‣ 13 Model 8 is a bit different. Here is model 8 with the meaning of each word:
ṮÁ¸ SEN U¸ X̱EṈ ¸E Ȼ EN¸ SŚETEṈ¸.
also I u-conn fast prep Ȼ your walking
Model 8 could be literally (though it sounds odd in English) translated ‘I am also fast with respect to your walking.’ With the preposition translated here as ‘with respect to.’
‣ 14 Although adverbial expressions are not covered in detail until §29, it is worth mentioning here that the quality clause can be an adverbial expression, such as X̱EṈ SEN ¸E Ȼ NE SŚTEṈ ‘I walk fast.’ When this is combined with the equative clause, we get X̱EṈ SEN ¸E Ȼ NE SŚTEṈ X̱EN¸IṈ¸ ¸E Ṯ NEȻE ‘I walk as fast as you.’
 | ÁN¸ SEN U¸ STI¸TEM¸. | ‘I am very fast. |
 | STI¸TEM¸ E SW̱ X̱EN¸IṈ¸ ¸E Ṯ ESE? | ‘Are you as fast as I am?’ |
| ṮÁ¸ SEN U¸ STI¸TEM¸ X̱EN¸IṈ¸ ¸E ȻSE SMÍYEŦ. | ‘I’m as fast as a deer.’ |
| HELI E TŦE SMÍYEŦ? | ‘Is the deer alive?’ |
| 20.1A. Translate each of the following into English. 1. ÍY¸ TŦE EN¸ S¸IȽEN X̱EN¸IṈ¸ ¸E TŦE NE SȻÁ¸. 2. ṮÁ¸ U, ĆEḴ TŦE SNEW̱EȽ X̱EN¸IṈ¸ ¸E TŦE Á¸LEṈ. 3. ṮÁ¸ U¸ MEMIM¸EN¸ TŦE SMÍYEŦ X̱EN¸IṈ¸ ¸E ȻSE SḴAXE¸. 4. ṮÁ¸ SEN U¸ QOMQEM I¸ ṮÁ¸ SW̱ U¸ QOMQEM. 5. QOMQEM E SW̱ X̱EN¸IṈ¸ ¸E Ṯ ESE? | 20.1B. Translate each of the following into SENĆOŦEN. 1. That deer is a big as my dog. 2. I’m as fast as you. 3. Is your father as old as mine? 4. My cat is a brave as your dog. 5. That boy paddles as slowly as my grandmother. |
| 20.1C. Make five equative SENĆOŦEN sentences. | |