57.1. This, that, and that far
Models
| 1) | W̱ĆEMES SEN ¸E TI¸Á NE SÁĆS. | ‘I met my uncle/aunt.’ |
| 2) | W̱ĆEMES SEN ¸E ŦI¸Á NE SÁĆS. | ‘I met my aunt.’ |
| 3) | W̱ĆEMES SEN ¸E ȻSI¸Á NE SÁĆS. | ‘I meet my uncle/aunt.’ |
| 4) | W̱ĆEMES SEN ¸E ȻŦI¸Á NE SÁĆS. | ‘I met my aunt.’ |
| 5) | QENNEW̱ SEN TŦÁ¸E NE SÁĆS. | ‘I saw my uncle/aunt.’ |
| 6) | QENNEW̱ SEN ŦÁ¸E NE SÁĆS. | ‘I saw my aunt.’ |
| 7) | QENNEW̱ SEN ȻSÁ¸E NE SÁĆS. | ‘I saw my uncle/aunt.’ |
| 8) | QENNEW̱ SEN ȻŦÁ¸E NE SÁĆS. | ‘I saw my aunt.’ |
| 9) | ĆTÁT SEN TULE¸ NE SÁĆS. | ‘I asked my uncle/aunt.’ |
| 10) | ĆTÁT SEN ŦULE¸ NE SÁĆS. | ‘I asked my aunt.’ |
| 11) | ĆTÁT SEN ȻSULE¸ NE SÁĆS. | ‘I asked my uncle/aunt.’ |
| 12) | ĆTÁT SEN ȻŦULE¸ NE SÁĆS. | ‘I asked my aunt.’ |
| 13) | ĆTÁT SEN TŦE NE SÁĆS | ‘I asked my uncle/aunt |
| LÁ¸E TULE¸. | who is far away.’ |
‣ 1 The models show three sets. In the first set—models 1, 2, 3, and 4—the article ends in ‑I¸Á. In the second set—models 5, 6, 7, and 8—the article ends in ‑Á¸E. In the third set—models 9, 10, 11, and 12— the article ends in ‑ULE¸.
‣ 2 Although the translation does not show it, the articles in the first set with ‑I¸Á indicate something that is near the speaker while the articles in the second set with ‑Á¸E indicate something that is away from the speaker. The articles in the third set with ‑ULE¸ indicate something that is far away from the speaker.
‣ 3 The ending ‑ULE¸ is often pronounced, especially by older L1 speakers, as ‑EULE¸. So TEULE¸, TŦEULE¸¸ ȻSEULE¸, and ȻŦEULE¸ are alternate pronunciations.
‣ 4 Usually the forms ending in ‑I¸Á are translated ‘this,’ and all the others are translated ‘that.’ The reason the translations of the models do not show this is because of a limitation of English. In English, since ‘my’ takes the place of an article, you cannot say things like ‘I met this my aunt.’ In SENĆOŦEN, NE is a prefix on the noun and does not take the place of an article.
‣ 5 When the sentence has a noun without the possessive, the translations are like these:
QENNEW̱ SEN TI¸Á SḴAXE¸. ‘I saw this dog.’
QENNEW̱ SEN TŦÁ¸E SḴAXE¸. ‘I saw that dog.’
QENNEW̱ SEN TULE¸ SḴAXE¸. ‘I saw that dog (that is way over there).’
‣ 6 In §4.5 the ‘feminine’ articles ŦE and ȻŦE were introduced. It would be good to review that section now. The models here (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12) show six more feminine articles. However, you really do not have to learn six new words. There is a regular pattern. Notice that, like ŦE and ȻŦE, each of the feminine articles either begins with Ŧ or has Ŧ after the Ȼ.
‣ 7 The word SÁĆS can mean either ‘aunt’ or ‘uncle.’ If you want to specify ‘aunt,’ use the feminine form of the article. The nonfeminine forms are not necessarily ‘masculine.’ They are simply just not specified for gender.
‣ 8 Notice that the first pair of sentences in each of the three sets is translated the same as the second pair of sentences in each set. For example, models 1 and 2 translate the same as models 3 and 4, respectively. The reason for this is that SENĆOŦEN grammar makes a fine distinction that English does not. This distinction is between visible and not visible. Review §4.3 on this distinction.
‣ 9 The articles beginning with Ȼ always refer to something not visible to the speaker and listener at the moment of speech. It may be near—in a different room, for example—or far away.
‣ 10 The nonvisible articles with Ȼ also often are used to refer to something from the past, such as an individual who has died.
‣ 11 An important use of all of these forms, and all of the articles in §4, is as demonstrative pronouns by themselves without a following noun. By themselves, they would be translated as ‘this,’ ‘that,’ ‘this one,’ or ‘that one.’ So, for example, it is possible to say ĆTÁT SEN TULE¸ ‘I asked that one far away.’ In fact, the forms with ‑ULE¸ are most commonly used this way without a following noun.
‣ 12 Sentences like models 9, 10, 11, and 12 are recorded from the oldest L1 speakers of SENĆOŦEN, but younger L1 speakers reject them. The younger speakers prefer using constructions such as that in model 13, where the LÁ¸E TULE is a relative clause with the preceding noun as the head (§47).
 | XEL¸SIT E SW̱ ȻŦULE¸ EN¸ SILE¸? | ‘Do you write to your grandmother?’ |
 | HÁ¸E. YOŦ SEN OL¸ U¸ XEL¸SIT. | ‘Yes. I write to her all the time.’ |
| U¸ ÍY¸ E? | ‘Is she well?’ |
| EWENE NE SXĆIT. EWE Ȼ NE SXELSITEṈ. | ‘I don’t know. She never writes to me.’ |
| 57.1A. Use the SENĆOŦEN dictionary to find four example sentences using different demonstrative articles introduced in this chapter. Explain each of the words in each sentence. 57.1B. Write four original sentences in SENĆOŦEN using different demonstrative articles from the models in this section. 57.1C. Notice that models 1 to 4 have the ¸E preposition before the noun phrase, while models 5 to 12 do not. Explain why this is so. |