45.2. Noncontrol middle
Models
| 1) | YÁ¸NOṈET SEN. | ‘I finally managed to go.’ |
| 2) | HILEȻNOṈET SEN. | ‘I finally got happy.’ |
| 3) | HELINOṈET SEN. | ‘I was saved (brought back to life).’ |
| 4) | IȽENNOṈET SEN. | ‘I finally got to eat.’ / ‘I managed to eat.’ |
| 5) | ĆȺNOṈET SEN. | ‘I managed to get work.’ |
| 6) | NEḰNOṈET SEN. | ‘I finally managed to sleep.’ / |
| ‘I fell asleep accidentally.’ | ||
| 7) | ḴÁȻEṈNOṈET SEN. | ‘I managed to rest.’ |
| 8) | ḴÁȻEṈNOṈETTW̱ SEN. | ‘I finally managed to get them to rest.’ |
| 9) | HELISETNOṈET SEN. | ‘I managed to recover.’ |
| 10) | ȽENEQNOṈET SEN. | ‘I shot myself accidentally.’ |
| 11) | ȽENEQNOṈET SEN ¸E ŦE SḴAXE¸. | ‘I accidentally shot the dog.’ |
‣ 1 To refresh your memory on the idea of noncontrol, review §8.1, §13.3, §32.2, and §33.2. SENĆOŦEN has a noncontrol transitivizer and a noncontrol reciprocal. The noncontrol middle shown in these models shares basically the same meaning with those noncontrol suffixes: ‘accidentally’ or ‘manage to succeed after trying’ or ‘finally get to.’ In all of these, the agent does something without being in complete, direct control.
‣ 2 A careful look at the translations for the models shows that almost all of these are translated with ‘finally,’ ‘manage to,’ or ‘accidentally.’ Only model 3 does not have any of these phrases in the translation, but the idea is clearly in the idea of being saved, brought back to life.
‣ 3 Model 6 shows the seemingly opposite meanings that this suffix can give. NEḰNOṈET has the root NEḰ ‘fall asleep.’ With the ‑NOṈET suffix it can refer to a situation where someone is trying and trying to sleep and they finally do manage to. Or it can refer to a situation where someone is not trying to sleep at all, but drops off accidentally. What these two seemingly opposite situations have in common is that the actor is not in control. They fall asleep, but are not in control of it.
‣ 4 Model 4, based on IȽEN ‘eat,’ shows a similar pair of translations. ‘I finally got to eat’ could refer to a situation where I had to wait a long time in line. ‘I managed to eat’ could refer to a situation where I had been sick and finally felt well enough to eat. Both of these situations have an actor who is not in control; both are covered by IȽENNOṈET.
‣ 5 The ‑NOṈET suffix is similar in meaning and function to the ‑EṈ ‘middle’ suffix (§35). The difference is that ‑NOṈET adds the noncontrol meaning. And just like the ‑EṈ ‘middle,’ the ‑NOṈET noncontrol middle can sometimes be interpreted as a reflexive. The models 10 and 11 show this. Without any patient mentioned, as in model 11, the interpretation is usually that the agent and patient are the same, as in model 10.
‣ 6 Model 7 shows that the noncontrol middle ‑NOṈET can follow the ‑EṈ ‘middle.’ No cases of the reverse order have been recorded.
‣ 7 Model 8 shows that the causative can follow the noncontrol middle suffix. Model 8 ḴÁȻEṈNOṈETTW̱ is based on model 7 ḴÁȻEṈNOṈET and provides the idea of causing someone to finally rest.
‣ 8 The noncontrol middle ‑NOṈET always takes the primary stress in the word.
 | ṮIU¸NOṈET TŦE NE SḴAXE¸. | ‘My dog managed to get away.’ |
 | W̱YÁL¸ḴENNOṈET SE¸. | ‘It will finally get back.’ |
| U¸ ŦE¸IT E SW̱? | ‘Are you sure?’ |
| U¸ YOŦ U¸ JÁṈNOṈET. | ‘He always manages to get home.’ |
| 45.2A. Translate each of the following into English. 1. ĆȺNOṈET E SW̱? 2. ŚTEṈNOṈET SEN ¸E TŦE ḰO¸. 3. HELINOṈET TI¸Á SENĆOŦEN. 4. JÁṈNOṈET ŦE NE TÁN. | 45.2B. Translate each of the following into SENĆOŦEN. 1. You folks will finally get to eat. 2. My father managed to sit up. 3. Did you manage to get here? 4. I accidentally fell asleep in the car. |