Notes & Translation
Heyaay 'iikwich 'ehin trravaah tenarrh umaaw.
Long ago, a man did not have work.
Wiiches kupilly 'ehin paasinyvu: " 'Enyaach 'iichaa ta'am."
He said one day to his wife: "I've been thinking."
" 'Uuch miichaa?"
"What have you been thinking?"
" 'Enyekaarr 'enyehatt 'ehetuuk 'enaamh 'ewikm." Peyaa wiiches.
"Let's take our wagon and our horses and head west." This he said.
Nyaapum naam; siny, 'elymaam nyawihch 'iikwichvech naams 'ewikm.
And then they left; the woman, the child and the man left toward the west.
Kupilly hemukm naam tenaa.
For three days they were going away.
Kupilly hemuk nyatenaach matsay etuy nekemich.
As they were going on their third day, they reached the middle of the desert.
'Enyekwik sepirch apesiiw.
The east wind was very strong.
Nyatenaam kaarrvech wennam. Nyaapum 'iikwichvech aachanp.
As they were going, the wagon broke down. Then the man got off.
'Iikwichvech aachanpch 'uuch ma'wiih ewuuw tuuyuuw.
The man got off and was seeing what he would do.
Yuuhanhlly war; llyepuuwars.
He wanted to fix it; he was unable.
Nyuk tenay nesoom.
It was already completely dark.
Nyuully pehemach, nyamaaykallym, 'iikwichvech wemann.
They slept right there, and in the morning, the man got up.
Nyehatt uusuw, 'ehaa winy, nyaapum paasinyvech 'esuw wechuw.
He fed his horses, he gave them water, then his wife made food.
Nyawesuwch, nyaapum 'iikwichvech nyinyuy yuuhanhlly war; nyinyuy llyepuuwar.
After they ate, the man again tried to fix it, but again he could not.
Kupilly chepapm tenams, 'ehaach nesoom.
They stayed there for four days, and their water ran out.
Nyatenamem, 'elymaam kwa'stikvech melay.
While they were there, the small child died.
'Iiwaarm paatalyvech melay. Nyehattvech shaawattp tenyeway.
After a while, her mother died. Their horses were dying.
Nyaapum 'iikwichvech waach paasiny hekwany ekwach aamar,
Then the man went and buried his wife and her child together,
nyaapum 'uuchuch nyaamatvu wecham waam.
then he left all his stuff and left.
Maaym waam? Nyii nyaakwarch netuu-urph umaaw.
Where did he leave to? Nobody knows.
Long ago, a man did not have work.
- 'iikwich 'ehin: "One man, a certain man". Could also be " 'iikwich 'ehinch," with -ch as the same-subject verb suffix and/or the nominative noun suffix.
- trravaah: Work, from Spanish trabajo. The verb is trravaharr (trravaharrch).
- tenarr: "Has" Tenarr (tetnaarrch) vs. nyewich (nyechewiich) appears to be the same distinction between to have vs. to own. You don't "own" a job but you can "have" one. Some other dialects just use "nyewich".
Wiiches kupilly 'ehin paasinyvu: " 'Enyaach 'iichaa ta'am."
He said one day to his wife: "I've been thinking."
- kupilly 'ehin: One day, meaning "on a certain day".
- wiiches: He said. -ches for emphasis, like saying "indeed", but with a wider usage.
- paasinyvu: To his wife. -vu is like the bare form of the definite article, could also be seen as the accusative case or the object marker. Thus, wii (wip) "says" takes an object as the person a thing was said to, which can be left bare or marked with -vu to make it definite.
- 'Enyaach 'iichaa ta'am: I have been thinking. 'Enyaach for a sort of emphasis, indicating that the statement is significant, not just some casual remark. Helping verb ta'am, 1st person of tewam, suggests that the thinking has carried on for some time, and may be ongoing. The choice of tewam over other auxiliaries indicates to the listener the location where the thinking took place: "Around" a certain area, meaning the subject may have moved around or been in different positions while doing the action. This information is not usually translated into English.
" 'Uuch miichaa?"
"What have you been thinking?"
- 'Uuch: What? Here, "what" is the object of the verb "miichaa", and is in its bare form. In other questions, 'uuch can be the subject of the verb, and the nominative suffix -ch is added, as in " 'Uuchechu?" "What is it?" and " 'Uuchech tuushup?" "What fell?"
- miichaa: Though this verb is part of a question, it has no question endings which would make it "miichaach meyu?" or "miichaa-a?", demonstrating that these endings can be left out in casual speech, and when it is obvious that it is a question. There is also no helping verb, but that is normal.
" 'Enyekaarr 'enyehatt 'ehetuuk 'enaamh 'ewikm." Peyaa wiiches.
"Let's take our wagon and our horses and head west." This he said.
- 'Enyekaarr 'enyehatt: Our wagon and our horses. No conjunction and no articles. However, both words have the 1st person possessive prefix 'eny(e)- "Our". Note that this prefix is the same whether the possessor is singular or plural, so whether it means "my" or "our" in English.
- 'ehetuuk 'enaamh: Let's grab and let's go. -k on 'ehetuuk is like -ch + -h: The subject of the attached verb and the following verb is the same, and the verb is in the irrealis mood (usually equivalent to English future tense). Here it indicates: We will grab AND WE will go… The subject of both verbs is "we"; the same subject will carry out both actions.
- 'ehetuuk: "Hetuu" is like "get" or "grab" in English, not always meaning the physical action, but the general action of getting/taking something (and doing something else with it.) Hetuu has no separate plural form.
- 'enaamh: Note that this is not waa (naa), "goes", but waam (naam), "goes away, leaves". While the English translation might still be "go", this verb means that they are leaving a certain place and going away, perhaps permanently in this case. Based on the way he says this, it means "Let's go" and not "we will go." Unless he's just that kind of guy, and means to say it as "we will go."
- 'ewikm: West. -m means "to, towards".
- Peyaa wiiches: Literally "This he said", translated in the book as, "That's what he said." Perhaps this is the way you would say "that's what…" phrases like: "peyaa 'ewuuwches." "That's what I saw," which is just an emphasized way of saying, "I saw that."
Nyaapum naam; siny, 'elymaam nyawihch 'iikwichvech naams 'ewikm.
And then they left; the woman, the child and the man left toward the west.
- naam: Again, waam (naam) is chosen over waa (naa), perhaps to illustrate how they were leaving a place behind. The verb is repeated here, possibly for storytelling effect.
- nyawihch: This word for "and" is not always used, maybe it is here to show 'iikwichvech as separate from siny and 'elymaam, or because 'iikwich is the last in a series of three. Also notice how only 'iikwich, the last noun in the series, receives the suffix -vech.
- 'elymaam: "(their) child". The gender is not specified.
- naams: Though it is not the last word in the sentence, it is the main verb, and can take the -s ending.
Kupilly hemukm naam tenaa.
For three days they were going away.
- kupilly hemukm: Literally, "Days were three and…" Kupilly is a noun meaning "day", no plural form, and here it is bare, with no suffixes. Hemuk is a noun meaning "are three", and has the -m suffix meaning the following verb will have a different subject. This phrase serves as background information, here being the duration of time they were performing the other action described in the sentence. As stated in Let's Talk 'Iipay Aa, suffixes like -m usually go "on the least important verb in the sentence."
- naam tenaa: Due to the -m on hemukm, we know that the subject of this clause cannot be "kupilly". Having no explicit subject, we revert back to the subjects of previous sentences, being the child and the parents.
- tenaa: pl. of tewaa, auxiliary "while going". This verb illustrates how they were moving in a certain direction, which is away from another point of reference known to the audience. In this case, they are "going" away from wherever they were living before they decided to move.
Kupilly hemuk nyatenaach matsay etuy nekemich.
As they were going on their third day, they reached the middle of the desert.
- Kupilly hemuk: One could read this simply as "on the third day", or more literally as, "the days were three and…" Here there is no marking on hemuk, though it seems like it could use -m. Maybe this is unnecessary because the next verb uses nya- and makes it clear that we are talking about a point in time.
- nyatenaach: "When they were going". Nya- means "when" on verbs, and it is usually used in conjunction with verb suffixes -ch, -m, and -k. Here, -ch is used because the following verb's subject is the same as this verb, and the verb is in the realis (past or present, not future tense) mood. Notice how the auxiliary tenaa is used, not an ordinary verb like waa (naa) or waam (naam). This could refer to how the event described by the sentence's main verb (nekemich) happened while the process of "going" was going on; the "going" described by tenaa was an ongoing process and not a singular event.
- matsay etuy: "Iat/in) the middle of the desert". Etuy "in the middle" appears to be like helyepay "near", which can appear behind unmarked nouns. We can presumably put suffixes on etuy too, e.g. matsay etuyvem "to the middle of the desert".
- matsay: From 'emat saay, "dry land".
- etuy: Seems to combine etuu, "belly" with -i, "at/in", becoming etuy, "in the middle".
- matsay etuy nekemich: "They arrived at the middle of the desert". "Matsay etuy" has no suffixes, though the verb pam (nekemich) "to get there, arrive" can take suffixes on the nouns it applies to: either -m "arrived to a place", -k "arrived from a place", or -i, "arrived at a place".
'Enyekwik sepirch apesiiw.
The east wind was very strong.
- 'Enyekwik: Also spelled 'enyakwik (which is probably preferable), means "east wind", or more literally, "east-west wind" ('enyaak = east, 'ewik = west). Can also mean "strong wind" or "windstorm", not necessarily from the east. This could be what we know locally as the Santa Ana wind, a period of dry, warm, and often strong wind coming from the east.
Nyatenaam kaarrvech wennam. Nyaapum 'iikwichvech aachanp.
As they were going, the wagon broke down. Then the man got off.
- Nyatenaam: As they were going. Tenaa is the auxiliary "while going" in 3rd person plural. Nya- "when", -m, different subject suffix. The -m tells us that "tenaa" refers to the people, and the following verb, wennam, has a different subject (here, "kaarrvech").
- aachanp: Got off, or down off of something. Note similarity with wechan, "goes down, descends", which can also be used to mean "get off", though aachanp is more specific. Aachan is a transitive verb, meaning "take down (a large or long object)". The -p on aachanp means that the action (here, of getting down or descending) is happening to the subject of the verb, often as a result of the subject's own action. In other words, aachan = he takes something down, and aachanp = he takes himself down.
'Iikwichvech aachanpch 'uuch ma'wiih ewuuw tuuyuuw.
The man got off and was seeing what he would do.
- 'Iikwichvech aachanpch: Repetition is common in these stories, and here is a way of introducing a new line of thought, like a new paragraph. -ch on aachanpch is like a conjunction "and", connecting the current clause to the following one, with -ch indicating that the following verb has the same subject.
- 'uuch ma'wiih: What he would do, what he should do, or what to do. Ma'wii is the verb "to do" used in questions such as "What is he doing?" The -h on ma'wii is the irrealis suffix, here meaning would/should, and also possibly indicating that the action will take place in the future.
- 'uuch ma'wiih ewuuw: Sees what he will/would do. The object of "ewuuw" is the entire phrase "'uuch ma'wiih", "what he would do". In other examples, the article -vu is placed on the verb in the object phrase, making it clear that the phrase is the object of the verb. Here that would look like: 'Uuch ma'wiihvu ewuuw. He saw what he would do.
- ewuuw: The textbook translates this idiomatically as "wondered". One can imagine he was looking in an investigative or pensive manner.
- tuuyuuw: Chosen to illustrate that he was doing the "seeing" in a stationary standing position, and that it went on for some time. The textbook's translation is: "[He] stood there wondering what to do."
Yuuhanhlly war; llyepuuwars.
He wanted to fix it; he was unable.
- Yuuhan: Make right, make good, or fix. Note similarity with 'ehan, is good. -hlly is the ending on verbs that go with war, "wants", implying that the action of the marked verb has not happened but is desired.
- war: The textbook translates this as "tried". Since we know that he couldn't fix it (llyepuuwar), it is implied that he tried to.
- war; llyepuuwars: Wanted to, (but) could not. Though the Spanish loanword "pes" has been adapted to mean "but" across practically all dialects of Kumeyaay, the use of this word is not needed to express the same sentiment. -s on llyepuuwar "cannot do it" is for a bit of emphasis.
Nyuk tenay nesoom.
It was already completely dark.
- Nyuk: Already. Adverb of time, sentence-initial.
- Tenay nesoom: With "tenay" meaning "late, evening", and "nesoom" meaning "all over, finished", this phrase should probably be interpreted as, "evening is all over", i.e. it was very late or full-on nighttime.
Nyuully pehemach, nyamaaykallym, 'iikwichvech wemann.
They slept right there, and in the morning, the man got up.
- Nyuully: "Right here" or "right there". Suffix -lly means "inside", and sometimes combines with demonstrative pronouns such as "that". Nyuully looks like it could be a combination of "nyip", "that right there" and -lly, meaning "right in there".
- Nyamaaykallym: "When it was morning". Maaykally means "morning" or "in the morning". Here, it acts like a verb, "it is morning", taking the prefix nya- "when", and -m, showing that the following verb will take a different subject.
Nyehatt uusuw, 'ehaa winy, nyaapum paasinyvech 'esuw wechuw.
He fed his horses, he gave them water, then his wife made food.
- Nyehatt uusuw: He fed his horses. Ny- "his", deletes the glottal stop in 'ehatt. The plural form nyechehaatt, "his animals", is also possible. Uusuw, "feed", note similarity with 'esuw, "food".
- 'ehaa winy: He gave them water. You could also specify the indirect object (the horses) in a standalone sentence: Nyechehaatt(vu) 'ehaa winy. He gave his horses water. Both direct and indirect objects (water and horses, respectively) would be in "bare object form", taking no suffix for indefinite nouns and the suffix -vu for definite. Determining the direct/indirect objects would mostly be left to context (as it makes sense to give water to horses, but not horses to water), though it seems the order is often [indirect object] [direct object] [verb].
- 'esuw wechuw: It seems that the verb wechuw "makes" is often used to mean "cook" or "prepare" food when the manner of cooking is not specified.
Nyawesuwch, nyaapum 'iikwichvech nyinyuy yuuhanhlly war; nyinyuy llyepuuwar.
After they ate, the man again tried to fix it, but again he could not.
- Nyawesuwch, nyaapum… : Though this is literally, "When they ate, then…", it appears to be the equivalent of English, "after they ate…, once they ate…, they ate and then…"
- Nyawesuwch: The use of -ch "same subject suffix" is interesting here, because the subject of wesuw is "they" and the subject of the following verb, war, is "the man", so they are not exactly the same. Perhaps because the man was one of the people who ate in the first verb wesuw, it was more appropriate to use -ch. -m, "different subject suffix", might suggest that the two subjects are completely different, and that the man was not one of the ones who ate.
- nyinyuy: This word looks like an adverb but it is actually a verb, "he does it again", sometimes taking -ch and -k, same subject suffixes.
- llyepuuwar: he can't do it. To make a sentence like, "he couldn't fix it", the second verb "fix" would take the irrealis suffix -h, indicating that the verb did not take place, becoming: Yuuhanh llyepuuwar. "He can't/couldn't do it." The "lly" in llyepuuwar is likely related to the -lly suffix that goes with "war", indicating a desired or intended action.
Kupilly chepapm tenams, 'ehaach nesoom.
They stayed there for four days, and their water ran out.
- Kupilly chepapm tenam: They were around for four days. -m on chepap "are four" means that chepap has one subject (kupilly, "days"), and tenam has a different subject (they).
- 'ehaach nesoom: Nesoom can mean, "is gone, over, done", and here means "it ran out". Context tells us it's their water; no need to specify.
Nyatenamem, 'elymaam kwa'stikvech melay.
While they were there, the small child died.
- Nyatenamem: In contrast to the "nyawesuwch" from above, this verb uses -m, followed by the child, who was one of the subjects of "tenam". This seems like the more natural choice, as the subjects of "tenam" and "melay" are not exactly the same.
- tenamem: See how a shwa (e) was inserted in front of the suffix -m to make it audible, allowing you to have two "m"s in a row. Isn't that cool?
- 'elymaam kwa'stikvech: The child that was small.
'Iiwaarm paatalyvech melay. Nyehattvech shaawattp tenyeway.
After a while, her mother died. Their horses were dying.
- 'Iiwaarm: After a while. The -m (different subject marker) hints at verbal origin.
- paataly: His mother. Whose mother? The child from the previous sentence.
- Nyehattvech: Their horses. The "nye" helps us see that it's "their" horses and not some random horse, but this would have been obvious anyway.
Nyaapum 'iikwichvech waach paasiny hekwany ekwach aamar,
Then the man went and buried his wife and her child together,
- waach…: He went AND… -ch means he was the one who went and the one who buried.
- 'iikwichvech waach...: The use of waa "goes" seems to be idiomatic, as it's sometimes used in English, meaning that he "put himself into motion and..." In other words, he didn't literally go anywhere.
- paasiny hekwany ekwach: His wife with her child. "Paasiny" is probably the direct object of aamar "buried", and ekwach acts on hekwany: Hekwany ekwach = with her son. Ekwach means "with", used when the people involved are staying in one place (if not, you use emiy).
nyaapum 'uuchuch nyaamatvu wecham waam.
then he left all his stuff and left.
- 'uuchuch nyaamatvu: All his stuff. This phrase is the direct object of wecham, "he left". 'Uuchuch here means "things, stuff", and nyaamat is "all", which acts on the previous noun unless it is isolated, in which case it usually means "everything". The definite article -vu on nyaamat is probably optional, but here points out that the stuff he left behind is the same stuff we've been talking about previously.
- Why the guy didn't decide to leave while his wife, child, and horses were still alive, I do not know.
Maaym waam? Nyii nyaakwarch netuu-urph umaaw.
Where did he leave to? Nobody knows.
- Maaym: Note the -m, making this "where to?" or my favorite, "whither?"
- waam: Probably better translated simply as "go", waam seems to emphasize the fact that he is going "away" from someplace.
- Nyii: Pairs with "umaaw" to amplify it, to the effect of, "not even..." "not a single..." "not at all...", etc.
- nyaakwarch: From nya'kwar, in fast speech can become nyaakwar. Usually meaning "somebody", it means "nobody" in a negative sentence. -ch subject marker.
- netuu-urp: Plural of nur, "knows". Interesting that the subject "nobody" gets a plural verb. Either that's the way it is, or you're free to choose, or the plural illustrates that out of all the people out there, nobody knows!
Vocabulary
aachanp
aamar apesiiw chepap 'ehaa 'ehatt 'ehin ekwach 'elymaam 'enyaach 'enyakwik 'enyekwik 'esuw etuy 'ewik ewuuw hekwany hemuk hetuu heyaay iichaa 'iikwich 'iiwaarm kaarr kupilly kwa'stik llyepuuwar maaykally maaym ma'wii melay naam nekemich nesoom netuu-urp nyaakwar nyaamat nyaapum nyawihch nyii nyinyuy nyuk nyuully paasiny pehemach peyaa peyapaches sepir shaawattp siny ta'am tenaa tenarr tenay tenyeway trravaah tuuyuuw umaaw 'uuch 'uuchuch uusuw waa waam war wecham wechuw wemann wennam wesuw wii winy yuuhan |
gets down, off
buries is very much are four water horse, domesticated animal is one is with him, staying child, little one I east wind east wind food in the middle west sees, looks her child are three grabs long ago thinks man after a while wagon (from Spanish carro) day that is small, the small one can't do it it is morning where to does something, does what dies, is dead pl. of waam, goes away pl. of pam, gets there is over, gone, run out pl. of nur, knows somebody, anybody, nobody all, every, everything then and, and then not even (used with umaaw) again, is or does again already right in there his wife pl. of hemaa, sleeps this this is all is strong pl. of melay, dies woman, wife 1st person of tewam, is/does around pl. of tewaa, is/does while going has (Spanish tener) it is late pl. of tewaa, auxiliary verb work, a job (Spanish trabajo) is/does while standing is not what something, things, stuff feeds goes goes away, leaves wants, tries to leaves (something) makes gets up breaks down pl. of wesaaw, eats (chewy things) says gives makes it good, fixes |