Sandra Nyaaknach
Weraawh umaaws; kaarr 'ehin 'esuw chaayih pweebl 'ehin uutaa. 'Iikwich 'ehin nyawihch 'elymaam 'ehin kaarrvu wenir tenaa.
Yuupitt 'iikwiich chepap netepachk 'ewilyvek. 'Iikwiichvech kavaay tetuullp nekemich. 'Iikwich kaarrvi tekuwachvech 'elymaam 'iikwichvu wiis: "Menyepal keyuuw, keyullp tekewa'!" 'Iikwichvech 'ehattvu etaanuwch ewillp naam. Nyatenaam rrweed welluh tuushup. Rrweedvech nyatuushupm kaarrvech tekewanp, 'ehatt mat chechuushuup shaawattp. 'Iikwiich kunekmichvech kaarr kunirvu achemuch, 'elymaamvech wettukch kaarr 'ukuwaaym aayullp. Kutetuullpvech 'uuchuch kaarrvi tekuwachvu hetuuch naam, 'elymaam 'iikwichvech 'ehin paam paataat aamar. Peyapaches. |
Notes from the book:
tekuwach: the one who was there
nyatenaam: as they were going
Notes:
Weraawh umaaws; kaarr 'ehin 'esuw chaayih pweebl 'ehin uutaa.
It was not hot; a cart was carrying food to a town.
'Iikwich 'ehin nyawihch 'elymaam 'ehin kaarrvu wenir tenaa.
A man and a child were driving the car.
Yuupitt 'iikwiich chepap netepachk 'ewilyvek.
Suddenly four men came out from the rocks.
'Iikwiichvech kavaay tetuullp nekemich.
The men arrived riding horses.
'Iikwich kaarrvi tekuwachvech 'elymaam 'iikwichvu wiis:
The man who was in the cart said to the boy:
"Menyepal keyuuw, keyullp tekewa'!"
"Get out your gun, be ready!"
'Iikwichvech 'ehattvu etaanuwch ewillp naam.
The man drove the horses and they went fast.
Nyatenaam rrweed welluh tuushup.
As they were going, a wheel came off and fell over.
Rrweedvech nyatuushupm kaarrvech tekewanp, 'ehatt mat chechuushuup shaawattp.
When the wheel fell, the wagon turned over, and the horses fell over each other and died.
'Iikwiich kunekmichvech kaarr kunirvu achemuch;
The men that got there killed the wagon driver;
'elymaamvech wettukch kaarr 'ukuwaaym aayullp.
The child jumped and hid under the wagon.
Kutetuullpvech 'uuchuch kaarrvi tekuwachvu hetuuch naam,
The riders grabbed the stuff that was in the wagon and went off,
'elymaam 'iikwichvech 'ehin paam paataat aamar. Peyapaches.
the boy stayed behind alone and buried his father. This is all.
tekuwach: the one who was there
nyatenaam: as they were going
Notes:
Weraawh umaaws; kaarr 'ehin 'esuw chaayih pweebl 'ehin uutaa.
It was not hot; a cart was carrying food to a town.
- weraaw: "it is hot", no subject; describes the weather.
- Weraawh umaaws: The book translates this as, "it was not too hot."
- kaarr 'ehin… pweebl 'ehin: "'ehin" (is one) seems to be used like an indefinite article "a/an" or like saying, "a certain __" when introducing new subjects into the story. The use of "'ehin" seems to imply that the noun is not something we have heard about before.
- kaarr 'ehin 'esuw chaayih: they loaded food on the back of the cart. Both "kaarr" and "'esuw" are unmarked, as if they are both objects of a verb.
- pweebl 'ehin uutaa: It took a bunch to a town. Again, the indirect object (pweebl) is unmarked.
- kaarr 'ehin 'esuw chaayih, pweebl 'ehin uutaa: Literally, "they (unspecified subject) loaded a cart with food, and it (the cart) took it (the food) to a town."
'Iikwich 'ehin nyawihch 'elymaam 'ehin kaarrvu wenir tenaa.
A man and a child were driving the car.
- tenaa: plural of tewaa, "going" auxiliary
- kaarvu wenir: drove the cart. While -vu marks the object of the verb wenir, the subjects are not marked with -ch due to them each being modified with the verb 'ehin. When this happens, the nouns ('iikwich and 'elymaam) remain bare, and there is nowhere to put a suffix like -ch.
Yuupitt 'iikwiich chepap netepachk 'ewilyvek.
Suddenly four men came out from the rocks.
- yuupitt: "Suddenly". Adverb of time, comes at the beginning of the sentence.
- 'iikwiich chepap: If you want to be totally proper, you can say "'Iikwiich chepapch…" 'Iikwiich chepap means "men were four". The -ch is like "and", indicating that the next verb is of the same subject: "'Iikwiich chepapch netepachk." "Men were four and they came out."
- netepachk: plural of chepak, comes out
- 'ewilyvek: from the rock/s
'Iikwiichvech kavaay tetuullp nekemich.
The men arrived riding horses.
- 'Iikwiichvech: Definite article -vech signifying "the", in the nominative case.
- kavaay tetuullp: "Rode horses". "Kavaay" is the object, being unmarked.
- tetuullp nekemich: As with "chepap" above, you can say "tetuullpch nekemich" to clarify that the subject of "tetuullp" is the same as the subject of "nekemich".
'Iikwich kaarrvi tekuwachvech 'elymaam 'iikwichvu wiis:
The man who was in the cart said to the boy:
- tekuwach: The nominalized form of "tewaa, sitting", becoming tekuwach, "the one that was there (sitting)"
- 'Iikwich tekuwach: "The man who was (sitting) there"
- kaarvi: "In the cart", comes before the verb
- tekuwachvech: the -vech is added at the end of the series of words that refer to the same man.
- 'elymaam 'iikwichvu wiis: "Wii" takes a direct object as the person a thing is being said to. This person is often marked with -vu.
"Menyepal keyuuw, keyullp tekewa'!"
"Get out your gun, be ready!"
- Menyepal: "Your gun". 'Epal is "arrow" but also "gun". The glottal stop (') disappears when the word is prefixed. In some other dialects, the word used for gun is 'aatim (bow).
- Keyuuw: "Get". Weyuuw can mean "get" and "get out (something)".
- keyullp tekewa': "Get ready". "Keyullp" is the imperative of "yullp", "gets ready, is ready", but the auxiliary "tewaa" is also added in the imperative form, making this phrase into "get ready and stay ready," or perhaps, "be ready!"
'Iikwichvech 'ehattvu etaanuwch ewillp naam.
The man drove the horses and they went fast.
- 'Iikwichvech 'ehattvu etaanuw: "etaanuw" means "drive" or "make something go fast", said of horses or machines. "etaa-" is a common prefix on verbs to make or command something to do something.
- etaanuwch: The -ch acts like a conjunction "and", indicating that the subject of the verb is the same as the next verb. Although the subject of etaanuw ('iikwichvech) is not exactly the same as ewillp naam ("they"), the two are not entirely different, so -ch is used in favor of -m.
- ewillp naam: "They went fast." These verbs appear to go together: "They were fast and they went." In other examples, an affix is used: "ewillpch naam."
Nyatenaam rrweed welluh tuushup.
As they were going, a wheel came off and fell over.
- Nyatenaam: "As they were going." Here, the auxiliary verb is used, the plural of "tewaa", being "tenaa". Nya- means "when", and -m is added to show that the following verb will have a different subject from this verb. The subject of this verb is "they", and the subject of the next verb "welluh" is rrweed. Notice how the verb "tenaa", usually a helping verb, does not have a complementary main verb, but is more of a description of their motion, or what is going on.
- rrweed: Loanword from Spanish "rueda" (wheel). The stress is preserved on the same syllable as in the Spanish word, and the final syllable falls off to make the stressed syllable the final one in the Kumeyaay word.
- welluh tuushup: "Fell off." Two distinct ideas are depicted by these two verbs: First, the wheel comes off of the wagon (welluh), and it also falls (tuushup). "Tuushup" is said of round objects falling "of their own impetus".
Rrweedvech nyatuushupm kaarrvech tekewanp, 'ehatt mat chechuushuup shaawattp.
When the wheel fell, the wagon turned over, and the horses fell over each other and died.
- Rrweedvech… kaarvech: These nouns take the definite article because they refer to specific things we have mentioned before, thus they are "the wheel" and "the wagon".
- nyatuushupm: Same when-prefix and -m as seen above.
- tekewanp: Means "is turned around" or "turns around". The -p ending implies that something is being done to the noun.
- 'ehatt mat: "'ehatt" is the subject and is plural as indicated by the verbs, despite not having any markings. "mat" acts like the object, meaning "each other". In other contexts, it can mean "themselves" or "itself". Consider it a reflexive pronoun like "se" in Spanish.
- chechuushuup shaawattp: Chechuushuup is the passive (-p) form of chechuushuuk, plural of "cheshuk", "a bunch of objects fall off". So here it refers to the horses falling down. "Shaawattp" is the plural of "melay", "died". So "mat chechuushuup shaawattp" is, "they fell on top of each other and died."
'Iikwiich kunekmichvech kaarr kunirvu achemuch;
The men that got there killed the wagon driver;
- 'Iikwiich kunekmichvech: "The men who came…" The suffix -vech goes at the end of the noun phrase. "Kunekmich" is the nominalized form of "nekemich", the plural of "pam/paa", "gets there, is here, has come." The shwa in the second syllable of "nekemich" is deleted when the verb is nominalized, becoming "kunekmich" instead of "kunekemich".
- karr kunirvu: "The one who was driving away the wagon." -vu, placed on the end of the noun phrase, marks it as the object of the verb while also acting as the definite article "the". "Karr" is the object of the nominalized verb "kunir", which comes from wenir, "drives away, shoos". Note the choice of verb, to illustrate that the wagon was running away.
- achemuch: Plural of "aamuuch", "kills one person". Here, they only killed "kaarr kunirvu", "the one who was driving the wagon", or "the wagon driver".
'elymaamvech wettukch kaarr 'ukuwaaym aayullp.
The child jumped and hid under the wagon.
- wettukch… aayullp: "Jumped and hid." The suffix -ch connects the two verbs under the same subject, "'elymaamvech". "Aayullp" is an intransitive verb, meaning "hides himself".
- kaarr 'ukuwaaym: "Underneath the wagon". 'ukuwaay is a postposition meaning "under", and here it has the suffix -m, which suggests motion towards a location. While another suffix like "'ukuwaayvi," or no suffix at all could have been used, the choice of -m" helps depict the image of the boy moving to get underneath the wagon.
Kutetuullpvech 'uuchuch kaarrvi tekuwachvu hetuuch naam,
The riders grabbed the stuff that was in the wagon and went off,
- Kutetuullpvech: "The ones who were riding". Nominalized from "tetuullp", plural of "tullp", "rides (a horse), is on top of".
- 'uuchuch kaarrvi tekuwachvu: "The stuff that was in the wagon". "Kaarr + vi" is "in the wagon." "'Uuchuch" is "something, things". "Tekuwach" is nominalized from "tewaa", "is (sitting somewhere)". Here "'Uuchuch kaarrvi tewaa", "stuff is in the wagon", is nominalized to "'uuchuch kaarrvi tekuwach", "stuff that is in the wagon", and -vu is added to mean "the" and mark the stuff as the object of the main verb.
- naam: pl. of waam, go away.
- hetuuch naam: "They took it and went away." -ch connector. "Hetuu" means "grabs, takes hold of, takes over, finds." There is no plural.
'elymaam 'iikwichvech 'ehin paam paataat aamar. Peyapaches.
the boy stayed behind alone and buried his father. This is all.
- 'ehin paam: "'ehin", "is one", here means "alone". It is not suffixed, but -ch could probably be added to show the connection with "paam", but it is not necessary. "Paam" means "is absent, stays away, stays behind". Not to be confused with pam, "arrives".
- paam paataat aamar. No conjunctions like -ch are used in this sentence. In "paataat", "paa-" means "his/hers".
Vocabulary
aamar
aayullp achemuch chaayih chechuushuup chepap 'ehatt 'ehin 'elymaam 'elymaam 'iikwich 'epal 'esuw etaanuw ewillp 'ewily hetuu 'iikwich kaarr kavaay mat naam nekemich netepachk nyawihch paam paataat peyapaches pweebl rrweed shaawattp tekewa' tekewanp tekuwach tenaa tetuullp tuushup 'ukuwaay umaaw 'uuchuch uutaa welluh wenir weraaw wettuk weyuuw wii yullp yuupitt |
buries
hides self pl. of aamuuch, kills one person loads on the back of something pl. of cheshup, a bunch of objects fall down four, are four horse, four-legged domesticated animal one, is one, is alone child boy, male child gun food drives, makes it run is fast, goes fast rock, rocks grabs, takes hold of man, male wagon (from Spanish carro) horse (Sp. caballo) himself, themselves, each other pl. of waam, goes away pl. of pam or paa, gets there, arrives, is there pl. of chepak, comes out and stays behind, is absent his father that is all town (Sp. pueblo) wheel (Sp. rueda) pl. of melay, dies, is dead imperative of tewaa, is (in a sitting position) is turned around, turned over the one who was there, nominalized form of tewaa pl. of tewaa, is going pl. of tullp, rides (horse, etc.) falls (round object, on its own) underneath not things, stuff, something takes a bunch comes off, drops off of something drives away, shoos is hot jumps gets, takes, holds says gets ready suddenly |