SENĆOŦEN: A Grammar of the Saanich Language

44.2. Customary -IṈEȽ and habitual -ENEḴ

Models
      
1)OYENIṈEȽ‘iron clothes.’
2)ĆENIṈEȽ‘plant seeds.’
3)ĆEḰIṈEȽ‘perform a burning’
4)ĆEKIṈEȽ‘cut down trees’
 
5)JEKENEḴ‘show off’
6)DEXEN¸EḴ‘habitually wrong’
7)XEĆEN¸EḴ‘curious’
8)QENSTENEḴ‘put on display’

1 The labels ‘customary’ and ‘habitual’ only vaguely cover the meaning and function of these two suffixes ‑IṈEȽ and ‑ENEḴ. The labels imply a regular aspect distinction that these do not have. A look at the models and their translations show that the meaning is not entirely predictable.
2 The root in model 1 is OYEN ‘iron,’ which is borrowed from English ‘iron.’ This does not refer to the metal iron, but only to the tool used for pressing clothes. Adding the ‘customary’ suffix to create OYENIṈEȽ makes an intransitive verb referring to the activity that is customarily associated with an iron.
3 Model 2 has the root that appears in words like ĆENET ‘bury it.’ Adding the suffix to get ĆENIṈEȽ, we get an intransitive verb that refers to an activity that customarily involves burying--planting.
4 In model 4 we have the root ĆEḰ ‘burn.’ This root shows up in many words meaning ‘fire,’ ‘fireplace,’ ‘flame,’ ‘lamp,’ ‘light bulb,’ ‘electric power,’ and so on. In ĆEḰIṈEȽ we have a word that refers only to the performance of a customary memorial burning ceremony.
5 The fourth model has the root ĆAK ‘fall over.’ With the suffix, ĆEḰIṈEȽ refers to the customary practice of felling trees.
6 The second suffix, ‑ENEḴ is illustrated in models 5, 6, 7, and 8. The root in model 5 is JEK ‘be impressed, amazed.’ To habitually try to impress or amaze is being a showoff. So JEKENEḴ is an intransitive verb meaning ‘to show off.’
7 The word DEXEN¸EḴ in model 6 is shown with one of its regular translations. It has the root DEX ‘make a mistake.’ With the ‘habitual’ suffix it also means ‘to provoke, instigate a dispute, be a troll.’
8 Compare model 7 with model 3 in §44.1. This has the same root. In that other model XĆÁL¸S refers to being nosy on some particular thing. With the habitual XEĆEN¸EḴ refers to being nosy and generally curious.
9 Model 8 shows that, unlike the structured activity suffixes in §44.1, the habitual suffix can appear after a transitive suffix. The root here is QEN ‘see, look.’ This has the causative suffix creating the stem QEN¸STW̱ ‘show it (cause to see it).’ Adding the ‘habitual’ suffix gives ‘habitually cause to see’ or ‘put on display, show (something) off.’ Note that although the stem QEN¸STW̱ is transitive, adding ‑ENEḴ makes it an intransitive verb. Therefore, the thing that is being displayed must be the object of the preposition. For example, QENSTENEḴ SEN ¸E TŦE ŚXEL¸ES ‘I showed/displayed the picture.’
 
YÁ¸ SEN SE¸ ṮLÁ¸EṈ ¸E ȻS SĆȺ. ‘I’m going to look for a job.’
OYENIṈEȽ E SW̱ ¸E TŦE EN¸ ŚṮPIU¸EN?‘Did you iron your shirt?’
HÁ¸E. I¸ ȽȾIṈET SEN TŦE NE SI¸ÁTEN.‘Yes. And I combed my hair.’
ÁN¸ SW̱ U¸ SLÁLE¸.‘You’re really prepared.’
 
44.2A. Look up these words and make an original sentence with each.
          1. NEPENEḴ  2. PIPENTIṈEȽ  3. ḰEḰO¸STENEḴ  4. XEL¸IṈ¸EȽ  5. ȻEXENEḴ  6. ȾSIṈEȽ

44.2B. Explain how each of those words show the ‘customary’ or ‘habitual’ idea.
 

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