61.2. ‘Thank you’ and ‘Welcome’
Models
| 1) | HÍ SW̱ KE. | ‘Thank you.’ |
| 2) | HÍ SW̱ KE HÁLE. | ‘Thank you folks.’ |
| 3) | HÍ SW̱ KE, SI¸ÁM¸ NE SĆÁ¸ĆE¸. | ‘Thank you, my respected friend.’ |
| 4) | HÍ SW̱ KE ¸E TŦE EN¸ SNEPENEḴ. | ‘Thank you for your good advice.’ |
| 5) | HÍ SW̱ KE Ȼ EN¸ STÁĆEL. | ‘Thank you for arriving here.’ |
| 6) | OO HÍ SW̱ KE, SI¸ÁM¸. | ‘Thank you very much, sir/madam.’ |
| 7) | HÍ SW̱ KE, HÍ SW̱ KE, HÍ. | ‘Thank you, thank you, thanks.’ |
| 8) | HÍ KE. | ‘Thanks.’ |
| 9) | EWE. U¸ SṮO¸ṮEM¸ SEN. | ‘No. I’m fine. / No thanks.’ |
| 10) | ÁN¸ SEN U¸ JI¸EĆEȽ. | ‘I am very grateful.’ |
| 11) | JI¸ET SEN. | ‘I thanked him/her/them.’ |
‣ 1 Model 1 shows the phrase you are probably already familiar with. This was one of the useful phrases listed at the end of Part 1 of this book. HÍ SW̱ KE is composed of the word HÍ, which by itself means ‘done, only, alone.’ With the SW̱ ‘you’ second-person subject (§1.1), and KE ‘emphatic’ speech act modifier (§48.1), the ‘thank you’ idiom is created.
‣ 2 The phrase for ‘thank you’ is very similar in neighboring languages. In the Cowichan dialect Hul’q’umin’um’, for example, ‘thank you’ is hay ch q’a’ (Gerdts 1997), which would be HÍ Ć KO¸ in SENĆOŦEN spelling. Some SENĆOŦEN students pronounce it the Cowichan way not realizing they are speaking Cowichan rather than SENĆOŦEN.
‣ 3 To make the SW̱ ‘you’ plural, add HÁLE at the end, as usual (§1.1). Model 2 is used when saying ‘thank you’ to a group of people.
‣ 4 Model 3 shows an especially warm way of thanking a friend. SI¸ÁM¸ is an important word with several meanings (look it up in the dictionary), but it always signifies deep respect.
‣ 5 To mention a specific thing that you are thanking someone for, use the pattern in model 4. The thing is mentioned as the object of the preposition, which follows the usual grammar for an intransitive verb with a specified subject such as SW̱ (§8.2).
‣ 6 To thank someone for something specific that they have done, use the pattern shown in model 5. The action or behavior is specified in a Ȼ clause (§46).
‣ 7 There is no direct way to say ‘thank you very much.’ You cannot use the ÁN¸ auxiliary (§10.1), as you might expect. So, something like *ÁN¸ U¸ HÍ SW̱ KE or *ÁN¸ SW̱ KE U¸ HÍ or *ÁN¸ SW̱ U¸ HÍ KE are all considered ungrammatical by L1 speakers.
‣ 8 Models 6 and 7 are the only ways to emphasize your thanks. Model 6 starts with the interjection OO (§60) and ends with SI¸ÁM¸ the word signifying high respect. Model 7 emphasizes the thanks by repeating and ending with just HÍ.
‣ 9 Model 8 is a short casual way to say ‘thanks.’ This would not be used to someone giving you a gift, but it could be used when someone hands you the salt across the dinner table.
‣ 10 There is no direct way to say ‘no thank you’ in SENĆOŦEN. Model 9 could be used to mean ‘No thanks’ when someone offers you something you do not need. The first translation given for the model is the literal translation.
‣ 11 Models 10 and 11 show that there is a root in SENĆOŦEN that means ‘thank.’ This root is JI or JIY. It appears in words such as those shown JI¸EĆEȽ ‘be grateful, thankful’ and JI¸ET ‘thank someone.’ These words are never used directly to the person you are thanking. Model 10, for example, would be said to someone else, not the person you want to thank.
‣ 12 The title of this section includes the word ‘welcome,’ but notice that there is no sentence in the models mentioning ‘welcome.’ That is because there is no way to verbally translate English ‘welcome’ into SENĆOŦEN. To reply to someone who thanks you, face the person and hold your hands in front of you, palms up with your elbows at your sides. This is an important gesture known and used across Coast Salish territory. It means both ‘thank you’ and ‘you’re welcome.’
‣ 13 Another use in English of the word ‘welcome’—to welcome someone who has arrived—also has no direct equivalent in SENĆOŦEN. There are several equivalent ways to welcome someone that L1 elders use. These could all be translated as ‘welcome’:
ÍY¸ Ȼ EN¸ STÁĆEL ‘It’s good that you’ve arrived.’
EMET SW̱ OL¸. ‘Just sit down.’
EN¸Á NU¸ILEṈ EN¸ SU¸ EMET OL¸. ‘Come inside and sit down.’
 | HÍ SW̱ KE ¸E TŦE PUC. | ‘Thank you for the book.’ |
 | EWE S ESE Ȼ NE S¸OṈESE. | ‘It wasn’t me that gave it to you.’ |
| SÁN OĆE Ȼ NE SJI¸ET? | ‘Who do I thank?’ |
| NIȽ ŦE NE TÁN. | ‘It’s my mother.’ |
61.2A. Use the four sentences you made in exercise 61.1A and create a ‘thank you’ for each of those requests. 61.2B. Continue the dialogue you wrote for exercise 61.1B using several ways of expressing ‘thank you.’ |