'Iikwich Kuhlul
Tewaaches 'iikwich 'ehinch. Pechaay 'ehin tenarr. Peyapch 'emtaarvi nyechewayp tenyeway.
Kupilly 'ehin siny 'elymaamvech yip tewaa, maaykaam wemannch yip. 'Iikwich 'ehin maay tewaach, aakily 'uuch helul wii chuuhiim tewaa. Puuch helulem yip, nyaapum umannch waams. Matetay wekull, 'ewily wekull, aachanp puwkch weyiwk nyewaa paas. Paataly ukenaa: " 'Enyaach 'eyips maapch aahiishem 'eyips, 'enuw ta'aach 'aakuuhaph 'emaaw. 'Epuwkch peyii 'epaa ta'waa." |
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Nyaapum nyametenyaallyem nyinyuych yip. Kupilly nyaamat aakilyem yip, aahiish, helulem yip tewaas.
Kupilly 'ehin waam, peyaach waak hemay tewamek, weyuuwh wiich waam. 'Enyaaklly kuuyumch waam, waam tewam tewam 'ekur. Tewaach kupilly 'ehin yipches, aakilyem yip tewaas.
Tewaach pams. 'Iikwich 'ehin tewaach, 'ewily 'ehin emak wenakch helul tewaas. 'Enyaak nyayaaypem helulvu, helulvech waams 'ewikem. Puu yipkuh siny 'elymaamvech. Nyayipch nyaapum akewiich waam.
Kupilly 'ehin waam, peyaach waak hemay tewamek, weyuuwh wiich waam. 'Enyaaklly kuuyumch waam, waam tewam tewam 'ekur. Tewaach kupilly 'ehin yipches, aakilyem yip tewaas.
Tewaach pams. 'Iikwich 'ehin tewaach, 'ewily 'ehin emak wenakch helul tewaas. 'Enyaak nyayaaypem helulvu, helulvech waams 'ewikem. Puu yipkuh siny 'elymaamvech. Nyayipch nyaapum akewiich waam.
Nya-aakuuhapch nyaapum ii wayches 'iikwichvu. 'Iikwichvech nyii waayplly warh umaaw, nyii ewuuwlly warh umaaw siny 'elymaamvu.
Puy ii way tenamvem, nyaapum kenaaps 'iikwichvech: " 'Enyaach peyaa 'eheluls siny 'ehemaych." Nyaapum siny 'elymaamvech wiiches: " 'E-en nyuk 'enyemeyuuws. 'Enyaach 'ekurk 'eyiws, 'enyaa hemukem 'enuw ta'yiws. Nya-aam maak 'etaat nya'taly mewuuwh." |
Nyaapum 'elymaam 'iikwichvech wiiches: "Nyii 'aahlly 'arh 'emaaw, 'ekurch apesiiw."
Ewii tenamvem waamches emiy akewiich waam, naam, naam, naam, tenamch nekemich, paataly paatat nyewaa nekemich.
Kupilly 'ehin 'iikwich 'elymaamvech 'ehaavu ewuuw tewaas, llehup tewaam, 'ehaa tuuyaq. Puuch nyaewuuw tewaach wettuk, wehap 'ehaavi. Nyawehap puy 'ukuwaay tewaa, 'ehaa kuwaay nyewaayp, nyii chepakh umaaw.
'Elymaam siny wenuwch wehap paataat ukenaa. Paataat waach achepachlly war, llyepuuwar, wecham. Wecham nyaapum maaykally puwk waach ewuuw. 'Iikwichvech tewaach 'ehaa 'ukuwaay wenak tewaa. Puy kenaam tenam, nyii chepakh umaaw. Nyuully tewaa.
Nyatewaam nyaapum siny 'elymaamvech wehapi. Nyawehapch waam puully nyechewayp, mat weyum, nyechewayp, 'ehaa 'ukuwaay tenyeway.
Puy tenyewayem, nyaapum 'enyaach 'eyiwks.
Ewii tenamvem waamches emiy akewiich waam, naam, naam, naam, tenamch nekemich, paataly paatat nyewaa nekemich.
Kupilly 'ehin 'iikwich 'elymaamvech 'ehaavu ewuuw tewaas, llehup tewaam, 'ehaa tuuyaq. Puuch nyaewuuw tewaach wettuk, wehap 'ehaavi. Nyawehap puy 'ukuwaay tewaa, 'ehaa kuwaay nyewaayp, nyii chepakh umaaw.
'Elymaam siny wenuwch wehap paataat ukenaa. Paataat waach achepachlly war, llyepuuwar, wecham. Wecham nyaapum maaykally puwk waach ewuuw. 'Iikwichvech tewaach 'ehaa 'ukuwaay wenak tewaa. Puy kenaam tenam, nyii chepakh umaaw. Nyuully tewaa.
Nyatewaam nyaapum siny 'elymaamvech wehapi. Nyawehapch waam puully nyechewayp, mat weyum, nyechewayp, 'ehaa 'ukuwaay tenyeway.
Puy tenyewayem, nyaapum 'enyaach 'eyiwks.
Notes
See the video for a full English translation. Since this is an advanced text, we will only discuss details that seem out of the ordinary.
Tewaaches 'iikwich 'ehinch.
Pechaay 'ehin tenarr.
Peyapch 'emtaarvi nyechewayp tenyeway.
Kupilly 'ehin siny 'elymaamvech yip tewaa, maaykaam wemannch yip.
'Iikwich 'ehin maay tewaach, aakily 'uuch helul wii chuuhiim tewaa.
Puuch helulem yip, nyaapum umannch waams.
Matetay wekull, 'ewily wekull, aachanp puwkch weyiwk nyewaa paas.
Paataly ukenaa: " 'Enyaach 'eyips maapch aahiishem 'eyips,
'enuw ta'aach 'aakuuhaph 'emaaw.
'Epuwkch peyii 'epaa ta'waa."
Nyaapum nyametenyaallyem nyinyuych yip.
Kupilly nyaamat aakilyem yip, aahiish, helulem yip tewaas.
Kupilly 'ehin waam, peyaach waak hemay tewamek, weyuuwh wiich waam.
'Enyaaklly kuuyumch waam, waam tewam tewam 'ekur.
Tewaach kupilly 'ehin yipches, aakilyem yip tewaas.
Tewaach pams.
'Iikwich 'ehin tewaach, 'ewily 'ehin emak wenakch helul tewaas.
'Enyaak nyayaaypem helulvu, helulvech waams 'ewikem.
Puu yipkuh siny 'elymaamvech.
Nyayipch nyaapum akewiich waam.
Nya-aakuuhapch nyaapum ii wayches 'iikwichvu.
'Iikwichvech nyii waayplly warh umaaw, nyii ewuuwlly warh umaaw siny 'elymaamvu.
Puy ii way tenamvem, nyaapum kenaaps 'iikwichvech:
" 'Enyaach peyaa 'eheluls siny 'ehemaych."
Nyaapum siny 'elymaamvech wiiches: " 'E-en nyuk 'enyemeyuuws.
'Enyaach 'ekurk 'eyiws, 'enyaa hemukem 'enuw ta'yiws.
Nya-aam maak 'etaat nya'taly mewuuwh."
Nyaapum 'elymaam 'iikwichvech wiiches: "Nyii 'aahlly 'arh 'emaaw, 'ekurch apesiiw."
Ewii tenamvem waamches emiy akewiich waam, naam, naam, naam, tenamch nekemich, paataly paatat nyewaa nekemich.
Kupilly 'ehin 'iikwich 'elymaamvech 'ehaavu ewuuw tewaas,
llehup tewaam, 'ehaa tuuyaq.
Puuch nyaewuuw tewaach wettuk, wehap 'ehaavi.
Nyawehap puy 'ukuwaay tewaa, 'ehaa kuwaay nyewaayp, nyii chepakh umaaw.
'Elymaam siny wenuwch wehap paataat ukenaa.
Paataat waach achepachlly war, llyepuuwar, wecham.
Wecham nyaapum maaykally puwk waach ewuuw.
'Iikwichvech tewaach 'ehaa 'ukuwaay wenak tewaa.
Puy kenaam tenam, nyii chepakh umaaw.
Nyuully tewaa.
Nyatewaam nyaapum siny 'elymaamvech wehapi.
Nyawehapch waam puully nyechewayp, mat weyum, nyechewayp,
'ehaa 'ukuwaay tenyeway.
Puy tenyewayem, nyaapum 'enyaach 'eyiwks.
Pechaay 'ehin tenarr.
- Langdon's transcription says "pechaay", while in the recording Couro says "hekwany siny". This is apparently because only women's children are called "hekwany", while men's children are either pechaay "his daughter" or huumaay "his son". Here we have to question: Did Langdon revise her transcription with guidance from Couro? Or did she "correct" his speech on her own? Did Couro make a conscious choice to use "hekwany" because saying "pechaay tenarr", "he had his daughter" would be unnatural, or was it an actual mistake?
- tenarr: Couro tends to use "tenarr" to mean "having" something, whether or not you own it, and "nyewich" for owning things that are your actual property. However, other dialects of 'iipay are comfortable using nyewich for having things like daughters and sons, along with other things you don't literally own.
Peyapch 'emtaarvi nyechewayp tenyeway.
- peyapch: In the recording, Couro appears to say "peyaach", "this". Perhaps it is not important, but it does make sense to use the plural peyap, "these", which when referring to people translates to "they".
Kupilly 'ehin siny 'elymaamvech yip tewaa, maaykaam wemannch yip.
- In the recording, this sentence and the next are combined, which makes more sense as this sentence does not tell you the object of "yip". In the recording, the object of "yip" is "aakilyvu", the playing.
'Iikwich 'ehin maay tewaach, aakily 'uuch helul wii chuuhiim tewaa.
- maay: In this instance it means "somewhere".
- aakily: Defined as "plays an instrument, like a piano". This seems to be the most general term for playing some sort of instrument. In the recording, we hear "aakilyvu", meaning the verb has been made into a noun in the object phrase. This word is actually the subject of "yip" from the previous sentence: "She heard a man's playing", or, "A man was somewhere, she heard his playing." Obviously this whole sentence does not translate well into English.
- 'uuch helul: In the recording, Couro says "plaawt", from Spanish "plauta", "flute". Apparently, according to the transcription, in Kumeyaay you can call a flute a "helul", which is the verb meaning "plays a flute". However, we have to hope that Langdon checked with Couro on this and didn't just decide it for herself.
- wii chuuhiim: This line is a little different in the recording. He seems to put -m on "wii" and not on "chuuhii". However, "___ wii chuuhiim" is the normal way of saying what something is called within a larger sentence: "He was playing what they call a flute."
- 'uuch: It can be sometimes hard to tell when a native speaker is saying 'uuch to mean something, or when it is being used as a filler word ("uh…"). Here, it seems to make sense as the word "what".
Puuch helulem yip, nyaapum umannch waams.
- Puuch yip, "she heard", helulem, "him playing".
- umann: Same as wemann. As we will see elsewhere in this text, we- on verbs is sometimes interchangeable with u-.
Matetay wekull, 'ewily wekull, aachanp puwkch weyiwk nyewaa paas.
Paataly ukenaa: " 'Enyaach 'eyips maapch aahiishem 'eyips,
- 'Enyaach 'eyips… 'eyips: This pattern of saying a verb, then saying the object of the verb and then repeating the verb, has been repeated elsewhere. One wonders how intentional it was, how common it was, and what impact it had on the message.
'enuw ta'aach 'aakuuhaph 'emaaw.
- The -ch we believe is at the end of "ta'aach" sounds quite like an "n" in the recording, a letter which we would not expect at the end of that verb at all. If the suffix -ch is known to often be reduced to "d", then it follows that "d" could sometimes come out as "n", since those two sounds have the same place of articulation.
- In English we would say, "I ran BUT I couldn't catch up to him." Kumeyaay, by all accounts I've seen, has no native word for "but". There is the loanword "pes" meaning "but", but it seems that in the millenia before the Spanish arrival and in most of Ted Couro's speech, there was no word used for "but". Contradictions were simply stated; you didn't need a word like "but" to tell you they were there.
'Epuwkch peyii 'epaa ta'waa."
- " 'epaa ta'waa" doesn't exactly make sense as a progressive, "I am arriving here", but it might be something like, "I've arrived and I'm here now." This is what we think the recording says, but I can't be 100% sure.
Nyaapum nyametenyaallyem nyinyuych yip.
- nyametenyaallyem: In the recording, it really sounds like there is an -s at the end of this. Though the affirmative -s is not supposed to go on anything except main verbs, as far as we know.
- nyinyuy: The recording sounds like "nyinyuyech", with -ch being the same-subject suffix. Couro's dialect really seems to like to split up consonant clusters at the end of syllables, which is why I end up writing a lot more "e"s at the end of words than Langdon ever did. You can spell it however you like, but if I hear an "e" there, I'm going to write it.
Kupilly nyaamat aakilyem yip, aahiish, helulem yip tewaas.
- kupilly nyaamat: "every day"
- aakily: Langdon translates this as "the music". I doubt it's an equivalent to the word "music", but it could be understood as "the (instrument) playing".
- aahiish: This verb means "plays" a string instrument. I think the sound itself resembles doing so. This word would imply that the man was playing another instrument, like a violin. Was he really? It is not mentioned anywhere else.
Kupilly 'ehin waam, peyaach waak hemay tewamek, weyuuwh wiich waam.
- weyuuwh wiich: "To get him". The construction "-h wiich" seems to be a set phrase indicating the purpose of an action, like saying "in order to". As such it should not be translated literally as, "she said she would get him," etc. Though this phrase is not mentioned in LTII, another example is seen in "The Creation" and it is similar to a feature described in the BITD.
- waak hemay tewamek: These verbs appear to fall under the aforementioned "weyuuwh wiich", and since they come before it, the endings are -k, which we know is -ch plus -h. The "tewamek" appears to just be the helping verb tewam "is around" plus -k, with an inserted shwa "e" for ease of pronunciation. Is it really, I don't know, because this possibility was never mentioned in the documentation. But let's hope that's it.
'Enyaaklly kuuyumch waam, waam tewam tewam 'ekur.
- 'Enyaaklly kuuyumch waam: He went heading east. Again, we see a "correction" of " 'enyaakem" in the recording to " 'enyaaklly" in Langdon's text. We know that "kuuyum" normally takes a noun with -lly, but is " 'enyaakem kuuyum" really incorrect? Perhaps it is, but it makes logical sense that -m can be used on something you're going or turning towards.
Tewaach kupilly 'ehin yipches, aakilyem yip tewaas.
- aakilyem yip tewaa: It seems awkward to say, "one day she heard it, she was hearing it." With the verb tewaa, maybe we can translate this as, "she started hearing it". I have seen this interpretation of tewaa once before but it would be great to get some more confirmation on it.
Tewaach pams.
- I read this as, "she (kept) going and she reached it," or "arrived".
'Iikwich 'ehin tewaach, 'ewily 'ehin emak wenakch helul tewaas.
- There are many ways to interpret this sentence, but I would look to the -ch to tell you where the breaks are: " 'Iikwich 'ehin tewaach," a man was there, "'ewily 'ehin emak wenakch," he (had) sat behind a rock, "helul tewaas," and he was playing a flute.
- emak: Notice the very light and breathy "h" sound at the beginning of this word in the recording. That's what it sounds like when you say a word that begins in a vowel with no glottal stop: You allow your breath to flow freely through your throat before you begin to voice the word. In English and Spanish, we always hold our throats closed before we say a word that begins with a vowel, so this will take some practice.
'Enyaak nyayaaypem helulvu, helulvech waams 'ewikem.
- 'Enyaak nyayaaypem: "When the East wind blew" or "when the wind blew from the east".
- helulvech waam: Another "correction" that sort of makes sense: In the recording, Couro says, "nyayaaypch, aahiishvu helulvu waamches…" "Aahiishvu" and "helulvu" are verbs turned into nouns, meaning "the thing that he played", or "the playing". With the suffix -vu, they are marked as objects, and with -ch on "nyayaayp", we expect the subject of "yaayp", the wind, to be the subject that acts on the following object nouns aahiishvu and helulvu. Things get a little confusing when we see the verb "waam", an intransitive verb, when we expect to see a transitive verb such as a-aam "takes along" acting on the preceding nouns aahiishvu and helulvu. What happened is a change in word order: "yaayp" still acts on direct objects aahiishvu and helulvu, then takes suffix -m switching the subject of the following verb waam to "aahiishvech" and "helulvech", though these are not stated. So Couro originally said, "When the East wind blew the string-playing and the flute playing, they went away to the west." Langdon simplified this a bit by deleting "aahiishvu" and writing "helul" twice: Once as the object, helulvu, and once as the subject, helulvech. So, her transcription reads: "When it blew the flute playing, the flute playing went to the west."
Puu yipkuh siny 'elymaamvech.
- puu yipkuh: "She must have heard that." -kuh is the suffix meaning "must have, it must be". I have decided to spell it -kuh to more closely reflect the way it sounds. Langdon spelled this suffix -keh, as under her rules, the letter "e" can never receive the word's stress, but a syllable with a short vowel and final consonant like "-uh", could. However, I find -keh to be problematic as you are really tempted to pronounce it with an "e" sound, like in ketchup. So, I spell it as -kuh, aligning with other dialects where it is -ku, and we will simply have to remember that -kuh is a grammatical suffix and as such will never change the original position of a word's stress.
- Notice the unconventional word order for storytelling effect? Flexible word order is great.
Nyayipch nyaapum akewiich waam.
- akewiich waam: "She went and followed it", or literally, "she followed it and went". This type of verb combination, of a specific verb like "follow", and a general word like "go" or "come", is quite common. In order to understand it we really have to get into the Kumeyaay way of thinking, rather than trying to fit it into our preexisting English or Spanish framework.
Nya-aakuuhapch nyaapum ii wayches 'iikwichvu.
- Nya- plus nyaapum can be seen as "once…" She spoke to him "once" she caught up with him, or, "after" she caught up, "then" she spoke to him.
'Iikwichvech nyii waayplly warh umaaw, nyii ewuuwlly warh umaaw siny 'elymaamvu.
- Gee that sounds just like me when I'm around girls.
Puy ii way tenamvem, nyaapum kenaaps 'iikwichvech:
- I am very unsure of the transcription, "puy ii way", and as to why "tenamvem" seems to have -vem at the end. Maybe this is just different-subject -m, which would make sense if the girl was talking, and then the man spoke up.
" 'Enyaach peyaa 'eheluls siny 'ehemaych."
- The same-subject -ch has been deliberately placed on the final verb, and when done so, it marks it as the purpose or cause of the aforementioned action: "I'm playing this (flute) because I’m looking for a woman," or, "I'm playing this flute in order to find a woman."
- siny: "woman" is a rather literate interpretation, in all likelihood he meant he was looking for a wife.
Nyaapum siny 'elymaamvech wiiches: " 'E-en nyuk 'enyemeyuuws.
- 'enyemeyuuws: In the recording, Couro quite clearly says " 'enyemeyaaws", from the verb weyaaw, "picks up, picks from vine, gathers, takes over". So, weyuuw "gets" would make a bit more sense here, as the most common word for "gets", though Couro might have intentionally said "weyaaw" to mean he "got" her. Langdon transcribed this as " 'enyemewuuw", "you see me", but I don't think that's what it sounds like nor what Couro meant to say. So for the text here I compromised with "weyuuw".
- 'E-en: Notice how this word actually sounds. The "n" is not a letter, but more of a reminder to make it sound nasal-y. The two syllables are not very distinct. I equate this expression more with "yeah" and "uh huh" than with "yes", which is "haa".
'Enyaach 'ekurk 'eyiws, 'enyaa hemukem 'enuw ta'yiws.
- After this we are missing a line, something like, "Pily peyii 'epaa 'enyaach, pily nya-aamlly 'ar.." "Now I've come here, now I want to take you along…" There seems to be a word at the end that I can't make out.
Nya-aam maak 'etaat nya'taly mewuuwh."
- Nya-aam: I briefly thought this was, "nya'a-aam", "when I take (someone)", but now I only hear, "nya-aam", "I take you". Seeing as there is only one "nya-", it must be either the nya- meaning "when", or the ny- meaning "I do to you". Given the context and the way it sounds, I think it must be the ny- "I do to you", meaning there is no "when" on this verb, and it is not marked for future or anything. So, the literal translation is, "I take you and you will see…", though we can interpret it as, "I'm taking you and you will see…"
- nya'taly: This seems to be a fairly common way of saying "my mother", even in Mesa Grande where we are taught "my mother" should be 'etaly. Nya'taly looks short for 'enyaa 'etaly.
Nyaapum 'elymaam 'iikwichvech wiiches: "Nyii 'aahlly 'arh 'emaaw, 'ekurch apesiiw."
- nyii: supplementary negative word for extra emphasis.
- 'ekurch apesiiw: "It's too far." Apesiiw can mean "very much" or "too much".
Ewii tenamvem waamches emiy akewiich waam, naam, naam, naam, tenamch nekemich, paataly paatat nyewaa nekemich.
- Ewii tenamvem: Again I am not sure if this is the right transcription and if it is, what it means and why it is that way. If this is correct, it means "She kept doing it and he went with her…" The -vem looks like different-subject -m, maybe with -ve- to make it audible after tewam, indicating that that action was done by the girl, and the next action was done by the man, who went with her and followed her.
Kupilly 'ehin 'iikwich 'elymaamvech 'ehaavu ewuuw tewaas,
- In the recording this sounds like a standalone sentence.
llehup tewaam, 'ehaa tuuyaq.
- This is Langdon's transcription, which is quite different from what I heard. I heard, "hallhall llehup tuuyaq", which is "(something) was lying (in) a hole". I continue to be mystified with the first word, which is either "hallhall" or "hallhaall". While neither is a word by itself, the related words are: hall "praying mantis", hallhall wii "makes a rattling or rustling noise", and hallehaall wii, "makes a clanking noise". Since hallhall wii is the closest-sounding, I thought maybe "hallhall" was some sort of informal term for a rattlesnake. That is the only thing I could think of that the boy would have seen lying in a hole, which would have made him jump into the water, as he does below.
Puuch nyaewuuw tewaach wettuk, wehap 'ehaavi.
- Here is where my previous conjecture gets challenged: It doesn't say "when he saw it, he jumped" (nyaewuuwch wettuk), but rather "as he was looking at it, he jumped" (with tewaa). Why would he jump "while" looking at a supposed rattlesnake, instead of immediately? Maybe he was just looking at the water and decided to jump in, for some reason.
- Notice how it doesn't say, "wettuk 'ehaavi". This could be taken to mean that he jumped while inside the water. Instead, it says "wettuk(ch) wehap 'ehaavi," he jumped and went in the water. Kumeyaay requires you to use multiple verbs in this fashion when you want to describe both a motion and its manner.
Nyawehap puy 'ukuwaay tewaa, 'ehaa kuwaay nyewaayp, nyii chepakh umaaw.
- tewaa: In this case tewaa means he "stayed" there.
- nyii chepakh umaaw: Here the "nyii" tells us that he "never" came back out.
'Elymaam siny wenuwch wehap paataat ukenaa.
- Since "wehap" doesn't have an object, it's easy to get confused and think she went in the water too, but she was actually going inside her house, the only place where she would have found her father.
- In the recording, "ukenaa" has a -m, meaning the sentence is not over and the next subject will be different. However, in writing it made more sense to split up the sentences.
Paataat waach achepachlly war, llyepuuwar, wecham.
- As we have seen in Pat's Story, "war" can mean "tries" to do something, in addition to wanting or needing to do it. We can also use the verb "waa" as seen here to mean "go" and do something, not just physically go to a place.
- In the recording, there is an inaudible word or syllable after "war". Then, the llye- in "llyepuuwar" is inaudible, possibly left out.
- "Wecham" can mean he literally "left" the boy there, or that he "stopped doing it" or effectively gave up and quit.
Wecham nyaapum maaykally puwk waach ewuuw.
- maaykally: "In the morning", presumably of the next day.
- In the recording, this line sounded like "puwkech nyawaach ewuuwches." "He went back and when he went, he saw him." Again we see -ch separated by a shwa from its verb "puwk", though we would expect it to be possible to pronounce "puwkch" as one syllable. It seems that lots of details were left out of the original transcription, but we have to remember that in the 1960's, their technology did not offer the same playback and text editing flexibility we enjoy today.
'Iikwichvech tewaach 'ehaa 'ukuwaay wenak tewaa.
- tewaa, "was there".
Puy kenaam tenam, nyii chepakh umaaw.
- kenaam tenam: Rather than, "they were calling him", we can see this as, "they were calling him (while around) for some time."
Nyuully tewaa.
- "He stayed right there." Nyuully is "right there" or "right in there", a combination of nyip and -lly.
Nyatewaam nyaapum siny 'elymaamvech wehapi.
- nyatewaam: "As he was there…" With -m, the next subject is different.
- wehapi: Langdon writes this was "wehapechi" and notes that the ending might be a variation of -ches, a suffix for emphasis. I only hear the ending as -i, and after hearing it in other recordings am starting to think that it is another one of the "emphasis endings" like -s, though it is not officially noted in Langdon's work. We know that it is not a separate word because it is unstressed, much like other grammatical suffixes. Langdon translates this part as, "she went in too", but I do not have enough evidence to conclude that the -i itself means "too".
Nyawehapch waam puully nyechewayp, mat weyum, nyechewayp,
- mat weyum: In the recording I hear "mat uuyum", suggesting a possible variation of the verb. The dictionary only lists "mat weyum" for "get married".
'ehaa 'ukuwaay tenyeway.
- "They were" or "they stayed under the water"
Puy tenyewayem, nyaapum 'enyaach 'eyiwks.
- "There they stayed, and then I came out."
- Langdon translated this as "they're still there, so I came away," which I think totally misses the point of the story! Unless Couro helped her with the translation, in which case I'm the one misreading this.
Vocabulary
a-aam
aachanp aahiish aakily aakuuhap achepach akewii apesiiw chepak chuuhii 'ehaa 'ehin 'ekur 'elymaam emak emiy 'emtaar 'enyaa 'enyaak 'ewaa 'ewik 'ewily ewuuw helul hemay hemuk ii way 'iikwich kenaam kenaap kupilly kuuyum kuwaay llehup llyepuuwar maap maay maaykaam maaykally mat weyum matetay metenyaally nekemich nyaamat nyaapum nyechewayp nyewaayp nyii nyinyuy nyuully paa paataat paataly pam pechaay peyaa peyap peyii puu puully puwk puy siny ta'yiw tenam tenarr tenyeway tewaa tewam ukenaa 'ukuwaay umaaw umann 'uuch waa waam waayp war wecham wehap wekull wemann wenak wenuw wettuk weyiw weyiwk weyuuw wii yaayp yip |
takes along, away
gets down from plays a string instrument plays an instrument catches up with takes out something follows, chases is very, too much comes out is called water is one, a is far little one behind with (going) wilderness, desert, valley, open space me, sun, day east house west rock sees, looks at plays a flute, flute looks for, finds are three talks to man calls out to tells about day faces underneath, inside (same as 'ukuwaay) a big hole in the ground can't do it who, someone where, somewhere in the morning in the morning get married mountain tomorrow, the next day pl. of pam, arrives, gets there all, every then pl. of nyewaayp, lives lives not even, intensifies a negative is/does again right there arrives (same as pam) his father his mother arrives his daughter this these here that, him right in there comes back, goes back there woman, wife 1st person of tuuyiw, while coming pl. of tewam, is while around has pl. of tewaa, is is, stays is/does around tells underneath, inside is not gets up (same as wemann) what, something goes goes away, leaves speaks wants, needs, tries leaves it, stops doing goes in climbs gets up sits runs jumps comes comes away, out gets says the wind blows hears, listens |