57.2. Definite, specific, and the other one
Models
| 1) | U¸ XĆIT SEN TŦEU¸NIȽ SW͸ḴE¸. | ‘I know the man.’ |
| 2) | U¸ XĆIT SEN ŦEU¸NIȽ SȽÁNI¸. | ‘I know the woman.’ |
| 3) | U¸ XĆIT SEN ȻSEU¸NIȽ SW͸ḴE¸. | ‘I know the man.’ |
| 4) | U¸ XĆIT SEN ȻŦEU¸NIȽ SȽÁNI¸. | ‘I know the woman.’ |
| 5) | TÁSEȽ ¸E Ṯ SȾÁ¸EW¸TW̱. | ‘It’s close to Tsawout.’ |
| 6) | TÁSEȽ ¸E Ṯ Terry. | ‘It’s close to Terry.’ |
| 7) | TÁSEȽ ¸E Ṯ ESE. | ‘It’s close to me.’ |
| 8) | TÁSEȽ ¸E TŦE SOȽ. | ‘It’s close to the road.’ |
| 9) | JELI¸ ¸E Ṯ XPȺ¸. | ‘It’s cedar bark.’ |
| 10) | EWENE NE SXĆIT TŦÍYE W̱ILṈEW̱. | ‘I don’t know that other person.’ |
| 11) | EWENE NE SXĆIT TŦÍYE. | ‘I don’t know that other one.’ |
‣ 1 There are three new demonstrative articles illustrated in these models. The articles in models 1, 2, 3, and 4 are very common. They all end in ‑U¸NIȽ. The second set shows the article Ṯ in models 5, 6, 7, and 9. This one is also very common. The third article is rare and shown in models 10 and 11.
‣ 2 The articles ending in ‑U¸NIȽ are all ‘definite’ articles. In SENĆOŦEN, as in English, a ‘definite’ article refers to a particular thing that both the speaker and listener know about. It typically refers to something previously mentioned in a story or conversation. Consider these two English sentences, for example,
I saw a man.
I saw the man.
The first sentence here has the ‘indefinite’ article ‘a’ while the second has the ‘definite’ article ‘the.’ When we use the first sentence, we are introducing a new character into the conversation ‘a man.’ When we use the second sentence with ‘the man,’ we are referring to some man that the speaker or the listener has already mentioned and both know about. For example, we could continue the second sentence as ‘I saw the man that you asked about.’ But that continuation is strange with the first sentence: ‘I saw a man that you were asking about.’
SENĆOŦEN has no ‘indefinite’ article like English ‘a,’ but it does have a set of ‘definite’ articles. Those are shown in models 1, 2, 3, and 4.
‣ 3 The definite articles ending are historically based on the focus pronoun NIȽ (§15.2) preceded by a basic particular article (§4.2, §4.3, §4.5) and the U¸ ‘contrast’ prefix (§56.1). However, L1 speakers these consider these definite articles to be single words, just like TŦE, ȻSE, and the other articles.
‣ 4 As noted in point 11 of §57.1, any of the articles can stand alone without a noun following. So, for example, it is possible to say QENNEW̱ SEN TŦE ‘I saw that one.’ This usage is not common with the short articles covered in §4, but it is very common with the articles ending in ‑U¸NIȽ. Sentences like QENNEW̱ SEN TŦEU¸NIȽ are common and are translated ‘I saw him/her/it’ referring to someone or something previously mentioned.
‣ 5 The E of the definite articles often drops out, so they can be spelled and pronounced as TŦU¸NIȽ, ŦU¸NIȽ, ȻSU¸NIȽ, and ȻŦU¸NIȽ.
‣ 6 The article Ṯ, illustrated in models 5, 6, 7, and 9 is quite different from the other articles. This article occurs only before certain nouns that are objects of the preposition ¸E. This never occurs before a subject or direct object noun, and it never occurs without a noun or personal pronoun following.
‣ 7 The article Ṯ is usually pronounced TȽ by older L1 speakers of SENĆOŦEN. It is also frequently pronounced as a plain T.
‣ 8 The article Ṯ occurs typically before items that have a specific reference. Words that have specific reference are place names (as in model 5), personal names (as in model 6), and the personal, focus pronouns (as in model 7). This article is also used in traditional stories when an animal, such as Mink ĆEĆIḴEN or Raven SQTO¸, or some natural phenomenon, such as the North Wind SOTEĆ, is a character and its common name is treated as a specific proper name with specific reference.
‣ 9 Model 8 is provided for contrast with models 5, 6, and 7. In model 8, SOȽ does not have specific reference even though it does refer to a particular road. So *TÁSEȽ ¸E Ṯ SOȽ is ungrammatical unless SOȽ is a character in a traditional story. It which case, the translation would be ‘It was close to Road.’
‣ 10 The Ṯ article is also where it marks an inherent part of something. In Model 9, for example, bark JELI¸ is inherently a part of cedar XPȺ. Another example of this is QELEU¸ ¸E Ṯ SMÍEŦ ‘buckskin,’ literally ‘skin of the deer.’ It is possible to say OŦES ¸E Ṯ Á¸LEṈ ‘front of the house’ only when it refers to the façade or front wall of a building. If you mean ‘front of the house’ referring to the front area inside a building you can use HI¸U¸ ¸E TŦE Á¸LEṈ. You cannot use HI¸U¸ ¸E Ṯ Á¸LEṈ because HI¸U¸ is not an inherent part of the structure. The Ṯ article is not required in any of these constructions.
‣ 11 The Ṯ article also occurs in a few phrases that are metaphorical idioms. Here are the ones that have been recorded:
SXENE¸ ¸E Ṯ SḰEḰEL¸ ‘sunbeam’ literally ‘leg of the sun’
ṮÁS ¸E Ṯ SXENE¸ ‘calf of the leg’ literally ‘belly of the leg’
S₭OṈI¸ ¸E Ṯ KX̱EU¸Ƚ ‘prow of the canoe’ literally ‘head of the canoe’
KIDE ¸E Ṯ SPELḰIȾE¸ ‘honeysuckle’ literally ‘swing of the screech owl’
‣ 12 The article shown in models 10 and 11, TŦÍYE, is the rarest of the articles. It has been recorded only from the oldest L1 speakers. Younger speakers do not know it. This article is used to make reference to an item that is remote and separate from the other third-person participants in a story or conversation. It is translated as ‘the other one.’
 | QENNEW̱ E SW̱ ȻSE PEK SMÍEŦ? | ‘Did you see the white deer? |
 | HÁ¸E. I¸ ÁN¸ U¸ ĆEḴ ȻSU¸NIȽ SMÍEŦ. | ‘Yes. And that deer was really big.’ |
| EWE Ȼ SȽENEQTS CS PEK SMÍEŦ. | ‘Never shoot a white deer.’ |
| I¸ U¸ ÁN¸ U¸ NE SṮI¸ TŦE | ‘But I really want a |
| QELEW¸ ¸E Ṯ SMÍEŦ PEK. | buckskin that’s white.’ |
| 57.2A. Use the SENĆOŦEN dictionary to find four example sentences using different ‘definite’ articles. Explain each of the words in each sentence. 57.2B. Use the SENĆOŦEN dictionary to find four example sentences using the ‘specific’ article. Explain each of the words in each sentence. 57.2C. Write four original sentences in SENĆOŦEN using different demonstrative articles from the models in this section. |