Explanation
- (1) ᎡᏘᏴᏃ - eti:yvhno 'a long time ago'
- et- 'ancient'
-iyv- 'time'
-hno declarative - (2) ᏥᎨᏎᎢ - tsige:se'i 'it was'
- tsi- prepronominal prefix 'empirical';
indicates that the statement should be taken as matter of fact.
g- pronominal prefix, 3rd person singular, attached to Class I verbs that begin with a vowel.
-e:- verb root 'state of being'
-s aspect suffix perfective tense
-e'i 'reportative' modal suffix-conveys the idea that the speaker did not witness the event. - (3) ᎡᎮᎢ - e:he'i 'she lived'
- Ø 3rd person singular prefix with vowel initial verb stems.
e:h- verb root 'live, dwell'
-e'i 'reportative' modal suffix - (4) ᎠᎦᏴᎵᎨᎢ - aga:yvlige:'i 'old woman'
- a- pronominal prefix, 3rd person singular;
attached to Class II verb stems beginning with a consonant.
-ga:yvlige:'i noun root 'old woman' - (5) ᏴᎩ - yv:gi 'spear'
(also 'nail, fork, pin,' etc.)
(6) ᎤᏩᏑᎦᎵ - u:wa:su:gali 'her fingernail' - u:w- pronominal prefix, 3rd person singular
attached to stative stems, although short a, it does not replace
long a, but rather adds an epenthetic /w/ as it does with all
other vowel initial stems.
-ᎠᏑᎦᎵ - a:su:gali 'fingernail' - (7) ᏚᏙᎡᎢ - du:do:'e'i 'her names were'
- d- prepronominal prefix, 'distributive
object'
u:- pronominal prefix, 3rd person singular, attached to all perfective verb stems and noun and present verb stems that require stative prefixes with consonant initials.
-do:'- verb root 'name'
-e'i 'reportative' - (8) ᎤᏓᎴᏃ - u:dale:hno 'she had different'
- u:- '3rd person singular'
-dale:- noun root 'different'
-hno 'declarative' - (9) ᎤᏓᏅᏖᏗ - u:da:nthe'di 'mind' (for her to think)
- u:- '3rd person singular'
-da:nthe- verb root 'think'
-'di infinitive suffix - (10) ᏥᎨᏎᎢ - tsige:se:'i (See No. 2)
(11) ᏅᎩᏯᏂ - nv:ki:yani 'four of them' - ᏅᎩ - nv-k(i)- 'four'
ᎢᏯᏂ - iyani postposition 'of them' used when enumerating animate objects.
- (12) ᎠᏂᏃᎵᏙ - anino:lido 'hunters'
- ani- pronominal prefix, 3rd person plural,
attached to consonant initial stems that require active prefixes.
-no:lido noun root ' hunter' - (13) ᏧᎾᏓᎵᎢ - tsu:nada:li:'i 'their wives'
- ts- prepronominal prefix 'distributive
object' (multiple objects).
u:n- pronominal prefix, 3rd person plural, attached to vowel initial stems that require stative prefixes.
ada:- reflexive
-li:'i noun root 'spouse' - (14) ᏚᎾᏘᏅᏎᎢ - du:nhtinv:se'i 'they took them along'
- d- 'distributive prepronominal prefix'. See
No. 7.
u:n(i)- 'distributive object'; (although there is a consonant initial in this word. The short /i/ is dropped because of the h-metathesis rule.)
-htinv:- verb root 'to accompany, be taken along'
-s aspect suffix-perfective stem
-e'i 'reportative' - (15) ᏐᏊᎢᏴ - so:gwu'iyv 'one at a time'
- so:gwu- 'one'
-iyv postposition 'at a time' - (16) ᏏᏴᏫᎭ - siyv:wiha 'a (single) person'
- si- preposition - a single one / one only
-yv:wi- person
-ha postposition 'emphatic' - (17) ᏥᏩᏯᏂᏍᎨᎢ - tsiwahyanihsge'i 'she would call to them'
- tsi- 'empirical, factual'. See No. 2.
w- 'distant position (away from speaker)'
-ahyan- verb root 'call'
-ihsk aspect suffix 'imperfective'
-e'i 'reportative' - (18) ᎨᎾ - ke:na 'come here!'
- g- prepronominal prefix 'cislocative'
h- '2nd person singular' (Note that g- + h- = k)
-e:- verb root 'go' (with the cislocative it is translated 'come')
-n aspect suffix 'imperative'
-a modal suffix 'imperative' - (19) ᏎᎦ - se:ga particle 'a little while'
(20) ᏘᎾ - ti:na 'louse/ lice'
(21) ᏗᎬᎢᏏ - digv'i'si 'let me kill them' - di- prepronominal prefix 'distributive
object'.
gv- pronominal prefix, 1st person singular - 2nd person singular before consonant initial stems.
-'-(h) verb root 'kill' (although the verb root is -h, it becomes a glottal stop /'/ here because of the h-' alternation rule.)
-i epenthetic vowel
-'s aspect suffix 'hortative' (imperative stem)
-i modal suffix 'hortative' (imperative stem) - (22) ᎨᏍᏗᏃ - ge:sdihno 'not'
- ge:sdi particle 'not'
-hno 'declarative' (also indicates a change of subject, or "and") - (23) ᎭᏩ - ha:wa particle 'really'
(24) ᏘᎾ - ti:na 'louse, lice'
(25) ᏱᏓᎯᎮᎢ - yida:hihe'i 'she wasn't killing them' - yi- conditional prepronominal prefix added
when negating verbs.
d- distributive object
a:- pronominal prefix
-h- verb root 'kill'
-ih- aspect suffix 'imperfective'
-e'i reportative
ᏴᎩ ᎤᏩᏑᎦᎵ- Paragraph 1
1. (1)ᎡᏘᏴᏃ ᏥᎨᏎᎢ ᎡᎮᎢ ᎠᎦᏴᎵᎨᎢ (5)ᏴᎩ ᎤᏩᏑᎦᎵ ᏚᏙᎡᎢ. 2. ᎤᏓᎴᏃ ᎤᏓᎾᏖᏗ (10)ᏥᎨᏎᎢ. 3. ᏅᎩ ᎢᏯᏂ ᎠᏂᏃᎵᏙ ᏧᎾᏓᎵᎢ ᏚᎾᏘᏅᏎᎢ. 4. (15)ᏐᏊᎢᏴ ᏏᏴᏫᎭ ᏥᏩᏯᏂᏍᎨᎢ "ᎨᎾ ᏎᎦ (20)ᏘᎾ ᏗᎬᎢᏏ." 5. ᎨᏍᏗᏃ ᎭᏩ ᏘᎾ (25)ᏱᏓᎯᎮᎢ.1. (1) eti:yvhno tsige:se'i e:he'i agayv:lige'i (5) yv:gi u:wa:su:gali du:do:'e'i. 2. u:dale:hno u:da:nte'di (10) tsige:se:'i. 3. nv:ki:yani anino:lido tsu:nada:li:'i du:nhtinv:se'i. 4. (15) so:gwu'iyv siyv:wiha tsiwahyanihsge'i "ke:na se:ga (20) ti:na digv:'i'si". 5. ge:sdihno ha:wa ti:na (25) yida:hihe'i.
Sentences are numbered and all words in the story are referenced in the word studies in the column to the right. Every 5th word in the text numbered (in parentheses) to help locate words in the study.
A few words are tagged so that clicking them will take you to corresponding word in the word study. Clicking the back arrow on your web browser should return you to the paragraph (or you can just scroll back up).
Intrusive "h" is indicated throughout, a colon (:) indicates that the syllable is long and an apostrophe (') indicates a glottal stop.
The word studies here are transcribed from Dr. Duane King's 1975 dissertation on Cherokee grammar. I have taken the liberty to redact the phonetic transcriptions in order to simplify them and align them with other transcriptions such as that of the Holmes/Smith "Beginning Cherokee" book, Feeling & Pulte's famous Cherokee English and also the traditional transcription of the Sequoia syllabary to English letters that more learners are familiar with today.
A special thanks to ᏣᎵ ᎡᎵᏂ ᎠᏍᎦᏳᏏᏩᏍᎩ, ᏩᏕ ᎦᎵᏍᎨᏫ for all of their generous help in checking over my transcriptions, catching my typos and also helping me to understand some of the more difficult constructions!
ᎠᏴ ᏔᎻᎵ
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