SENĆOŦEN: A Grammar of the Saanich Language

30.2. Coordinate conditional

Models
1)HO¸ SEN ŚOPT W̱ITEṈ SW̱.If I whistle, you jump.’
2)HO¸ SEN ŚOPT EN¸ SU¸ W̱ITEṈ.If I whistle, you jump.’
3)HO¸ ȽTE ŚOPT W̱ITEṈ SW̱.If we whistle, you jump.’
4)HO¸ ȽTE ŚOPT EN¸ SU¸ W̱ITEṈ.If we whistle, you jump.’
5)HO¸ SW̱ ŚOPT W̱ITEṈ ȽTE.If you whistle, w jump.’
6)HO¸ SW̱ ŚOPT SU¸ W̱ITEṈ TE.If you whistle, we jump.’
7)HO¸ SW̱ HÁLE ŚOPT W̱ITEṈ SEN.If you folks whistle, I jump.’
8)HO¸ SW̱ HÁLE ŚOPT NE SU¸ W̱ITEṈ.If you folks whistle, I jump.’
9)HO¸ ŚOPT W̱ITEṈ SW.If he/she/they whistle, you jump.’
10)HO¸ ŚOPT EN SU¸ W̱ITEṈ.If he/she/they whistle, you jump.’

1 Notice that the models here are in pairs—1 and 2 are translated the same, 3 and 4 mean the same, and so on. There are two ways of using the conjoined conditional.
2 In the coordinate conditional construction, we have two main clauses. The first clause is the condition clause and begins with HO¸, which is an auxiliary verb meaning ‘to be if, when.’ The second clause is the main event clause and is conjoined to the condition clause in one of two ways: with ‘and’ or with SU¸ and a possessive subject.
3 It may seem odd from an English (or European) point of view that there is an auxiliary verb meaning ‘if, when,’ but that is, indeed, the way SENĆOŦEN works. HO¸ always has to be followed by some other verb, but it need not have the second clause to be grammatical. For example, HO¸ SE¸ TÁĆEL is a complete sentence meaning ‘It will be when/if he arrives.’
4 Like most words in SENĆOŦEN, HO¸ can even be made transitive by adding the ‑T suffix. So what could it mean to ‘if someone’ or ‘when someone?’ HO¸T means ‘warn someone,’ as in HO¸T LE¸ SEN ‘I warned him/her.’ Apparently, it’s telling somebody what might happen ‘if’ or ‘when.’
5 Since HO¸ means ‘if’ or ‘when,’ you can substitute ‘when’ for ‘if’ in the translations for all of the models. So, for example, model 1 could be translated ‘When I whistle, you jump.’
6 The models 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 show the First pattern for the coordinate conditional:
               HO¸  condition event    main event
The subjects for both the condition event and the main event are marked as main clause subjects. See §1 to review the main clause subjects.
7 The models 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 show the Second pattern for the coordinate conditional:
               HO¸  condition event  SU¸ main event
The subject for condition event is marked as a main clause subject (§1). The subject of the main event is marked as a possessive.
8 The SU¸ in models 2, 3, 6, 8, and 10 is really two prefixes: S‑ a prefix that converts a verb into a noun and U¸‑ the ‘in contrast’ prefix mentioned in §11.2, §19, §20.3, §23.6, §28.1, §30.2, §51.2, and §56.1.
This combination of prefixes is very common and traditionally written as a separate word in SENĆOŦEN. It is discussed in some detail in §51.
9 The S‑ prefix is required on any verb to allow it to take one of the possessive pronouns (see §5.1).
10 There is very little difference in meaning between the sentences with and the sentences with SU¸. Sentences with the SU¸ prefix give the idea of an event happening as a consequence of something. This comes from the presence of the ‘in contrast’ prefix. Therefore, sentences with SU¸ are often translated into English with ‘And so…’ The sentences with do not explicitly contain the ‘consequence’ idea that the sentences with SU¸ have.
11 The word HO¸ is also often pronounced beginning with a glottal stop in place of the H. It is HO¸ /háʔ/ or O¸ /ʔáʔ/.
12 As far as can be determined, there is no difference in meaning between the coordinate and subordinate conditional constructions.
   
HO¸ ȽTE SE¸ JÁṈ I¸ IȽEN ȽTE.‘When we get home, we’ll eat.’
ȻȽ QÁQI¸ SEN.‘I’m already hungry.’
X̱EṈ E SW̱ I¸ MEQEL¸O¸?‘Can you wait?’
EWE. W̱ÁNEĆ SEN.‘No. I’m starving.’
 
30.2A. Translate each into English.
1. HO¸ ȽTE EMET I¸ IȽEN LŦE SE¸.
2. HO¸ LE¸ SEN JÁṈ NE SU¸ ITET.
3. HO¸ SEN SE¸ ȻONEṈET I¸ EWE SW̱ S NEĆEṈ.
4. HO¸ TÁĆEL ȻSE SṮÁLEḴEM I¸ ȽÁU¸ SEN.
30.2B. Translate each into SENĆOŦEN using the coordinate conditional with HO¸.
1. I’ll go if you go.
2. You go when the canoe gets here.
3. Will you sing if I sing?
4. We’ll sleep if you folks go to Victoria.

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