Prepositions and postpositionsPrepositions and postpositions

Prepositions: preposition – noun. English:Prepositions: preposition – noun. English:count count forfor me  me 

prep nounprep noun

Postpositions: noun – postposition. Witsuwit’en: Postpositions: noun – postposition. Witsuwit’en: [[s- s- pepe c’o c’ottw]w]me me forfor you (sg.) count you (sg.) count

noun postpositionnoun postposition ‘ ‘count for me’count for me’

Affixation to postpositionsAffixation to postpositions

[spe][spe] ‘‘for me’for me’

[mpe][mpe] ‘‘for you (sg.)’for you (sg.)’

[n[nxxwwpe]pe] ‘‘for us, you (pl.)’for us, you (pl.)’

[p[ppe]pe] ‘‘for him, her, it’for him, her, it’

[h[hpppe]pe] ‘‘for them’for them’

Morphological analysisMorphological analysis

-pe-pe ‘‘for’for’

s-s- ‘‘me’me’

m-m- ‘‘you (sg.)’you (sg.)’

nnxxww-- ‘‘us, you (pl.)’us, you (pl.)’

pp-- ‘‘him, her, it’him, her, it’

hhpp-- ‘‘them’them’

Morphological analysis (revised)Morphological analysis (revised)

sgsg plpl

1 person1 person s-s-

nnxxww--2 person2 person n/m-n/m-

3 person3 person pp-- hhpp--

Prefixes to nouns/postpositions:

Affixation to verbsAffixation to verbs

Unusual featuresUnusual features Position class morphology: (Position class morphology: (prefix order prefix order

restrictions)restrictions)

prefix-prefix-prefix-...-verb root-suffixprefix-prefix-prefix-...-verb root-suffix Discontinuous morphemesDiscontinuous morphemes

Some verbs (dictionary entry)Some verbs (dictionary entry)

-jin -jin 'sg./du. stand''sg./du. stand' -tseq ‘be lightweight’-tseq ‘be lightweight’ --as ‘du./group goes, walksas ‘du./group goes, walks

O-u-jin ‘pick O (berries) while stationary’O-u-jin ‘pick O (berries) while stationary’

Some verbs (actual words)Some verbs (actual words)

Minimally: dictionary form of verb+‘tense’Minimally: dictionary form of verb+‘tense’ [sa n[sa na] ‘the sun/moon is going’a] ‘the sun/moon is going’

sa ‘sun, moon’sa ‘sun, moon’ --a 'sun, moon goes'a 'sun, moon goes' nn- continuative (‘round-trip’)- continuative (‘round-trip’)

[sa [sa iiaa] ‘the sun/moon is moving'] ‘the sun/moon is moving' i-...-i-...- progressive progressive

Position class morphologyPosition class morphologyVerb prefix positions: postposition/adverbial – iterative – multiple plural – negative – incorporated root – inceptive – distributive plural – pronominal object/subject – qualifier – tense/neg – subject – valence

Root

Suffix positions: negative - tense

[sa [sa iiaa] ‘the sun/moon is moving'] ‘the sun/moon is moving'

ii- - tense + --aa root + - tense

Some more verb wordsSome more verb words

1. [t1. [tci ci ujinujin]] 'he/she is picking huckleberries''he/she is picking huckleberries' O-u-jinO-u-jin 'pick O (berries) while stationary‘'pick O (berries) while stationary‘ O- u - jinO- u - jin (object required) qualifier –root - imperfective- imperfective (tense position) (tense position)

0 / u ___0 / u ___

Prefix positions: postposition/adverbial – iterative – multiple plural – negative – incorporated root – inceptive – distributive plural – pronominal object/subject – qualifier – tense/neg – subject – valence

Root

Suffix positions: negative - tense

2. [c'ojin] 'he/she is picking' c'-c'- unspecified objectunspecified object ( (pronominal

object/subject position)(c’ + u c’o)

Prefix positions: postposition/adverbial – iterative – multiple plural – negative – incorporated root – inceptive – distributive plural – pronominal object/subject – qualifier – tense/neg – subject – valence

Root

Suffix positions: negative - tense

th- future (qualifier position)i- (tense position)- (tense position)/ + / t /n/ 0 / ___ C]syllable

6. [wec'onthzisjit] 'I won't pick (round things)‘

Prefix positions: postposition/adverbial – iterative – multiple plural – negative – incorporated root – inceptive – distributive plural – pronominal object/subject – qualifier – tense/neg – subject – valence

Root

Suffix positions: negative - tense

Morphological structureMorphological structure'I'm not going to pick (round) things'

[we- c‘- o- n- th- [] z- i- s- ji -t -]

negative round 1 sg. subject

unspecified object‘pick (berries) while stationary’

future