lesson 6 - konkow verb

Vocabulary

sentences and words
bája:tìtoton crack acorns for one another
bánotìp! Make his bed! (i.e. Make his bed for him.)
bǝdǝ:tin make someone happy
bískitjà:m ? Will you two stay?
bómittìn drive (a nail) into (i.e. make (a nail) go in)
c'úk'utʔòmis! Bathe yourself!
dó:me:p! (or dó:mep!) Don't bite!
jó:ki: dive
lájda:haj ʔýk'ojmehkì:n. I will not leave tomorrow.
láw lift
máhwo clap hands
méj give
méjton buys something (literally 'give something to each other')
moʔósinaj. I drank it up.
mỳsemsa c'í:titòn. They are dressing each other.
pánpemèhki:nàj. I'm not going to smoke.
pédojpỳ. Let's begin to eat.
péton eat something along with something else
píje:n swim about
pínsy listen
pípajin swim toward (someone or something)
písipin swim out (e.g. into deep water)
síʔy play
sólbòsnoméhwonomànc'odéno. You didn't go to finish that song long ago.
tédò:p! Stand up!
wóhboski:n. (He) will finish chopping wood.
wóhjon hit (something) repeatedly
ʔýc'on move over, move over to the edge
ʔýk'ojin go, move along in some direction
ʔýmpintòn come in and out sporadically
ʔýsipin move outward, move out of and up
ʔýtoton go about, move around
verb themes
bojehto swing
píje: swim
tédo: stand up
ʔýc'o move over, move over the edge
ʔýc'opi: come over (a hill) toward here
ʔýk'oj go away, move along in some direction
ʔýsip move outward, move out of and up
ʔýtoto go about, move around
thematic suffixes
-bos, -ʔos finish; to finish doing something
-c'o (move) over, to the edge
-do(j) begin; begin doing something
-jo iterative; doing something over and over
-k'o(j) move away, leave
-ki(t) future; will do
-me(h) negative; not do
-mit into
-pa(j) toward
-pi toward here
-pi(n) move out of and toward
-sip outward; out of and up
-ti (1) cause, make something happen; (2) do something for someone
-to reciprocal, doing something for or with each other
-toto (1) reciprocal; (2) go about, go around
-ʔomis do something to oneself; reflexive

RULE for consonants in parentheses: Remember that a consonant in parentheses means that sometimes it is there, and sometimes not. In general, the consonant disappears if it is just before another consonant which is at the end of the word, and the vowel before it gets longer.

Part 1. Roots and suffixes.

Several lessons so far have been discussing verbs (e.g. the lesson on commands and simple sentences), but in this one we'll show you the whole verb layout.
Every verb starts with a root, followed by at least one suffix (verb ending), and usually more than one.

There are two kinds of verb suffixes. Anderson calls the first kind infixes, because they are close to the verb root. Ultan calls them thematic suffixes. Anderson goes on to call the other kind just suffixes. Ultan calls those inflectional suffixes. Regardless of name, one way to think about them is that the suffixes that are close to the root add to the meaning of the root, and the ones further away from the root talk more about when the action of the verb took place, who did it, and so on. (The distinction is fuzzy, of course.)

Ultan calls a few components prefixes (components coming before the root), but we aren't convinced that this is the best way to think of those items - to us they are roots just like all the other roots.

In Konkow many roots can either be nouns or verbs, depending on what kind of suffixes get added! For example, the root sol can be either “sing” or “song”:
sòlin
sòl
sing
-in
verb.​final
   
he sang
my sòli méjin.
my
3.​PRO
   
sòl
song
-i
object
   
méj
give
-in.
verb.​final
   
He gave him a song.
Verbs can pile up suffixes and get very long.

Here's an example:

sólbòsnoméhwonomànc’odéno
'You didn't go to finish that song long ago.'
In this case, the translation might better have been 'You didn't go to finish singing long ago' since sol is behaving as a verb in this sentence.) After reading this lesson and getting to know the Verb Suffix Chart see how many of these suffixes you can identify.
In this case, the translation might better have been 'You didn't go to finish singing long ago' since sol is behaving as a verb in this sentence.) After reading this lesson and getting to know the Verb Suffix Chart see how many of these suffixes you can identify.
Part 2. Thematic suffixes.

The thematic suffixes (or infixes if you will) come right after the root. They help to define the meaning of the move over, verb. The root plus the thematic suffixes is called the verb theme in Ultan's dissertation.

Directional suffixes.

Let's take the root ʔý, meaning “move”. Depending on which suffix follows, the nature of the movement is defined.
For example:

ʔýk'oj go, move along in some direction
ʔýtoto go about, move around
ʔýsip move outward, move out of and up
ʔýc'o move over, move over the edge

To be a complete sentence, this word should have an inflectional suffix too. So we will use the verb final -(i)n on these examples:

ʔýk'ojin go, move along in some direction
ʔýtoton go about, move around
ʔýsipin move outward, move out of and up
ʔýc'on move over, move over the edge

Roots like ʔý have so little intrinsic meaning that they have to carry one or more thematic suffixes. Other roots can stand on their own, but would still take one as needed.
For example:

pín swim
písipin swim out (e.g. into deep water)
píje:n swim about
pípajin swim toward (someone or something)

You can also have more than one thematic suffix. (For examples with several suffixes we will use dashes for ease of recognizing the separate components.)

ʔýc’opi:n
ʔý
motion
-c’o
over
-pi:(N)
toward
-n
verb.​final
   
come over (a hill) toward here (two directionals)

All the examples above are directional suffixes. In Lesson 4 you learned about locational and directional suffixes that showed location or direction with regard to a noun - such as ʔúj-di, 'at the house'. Verbs have their own locational and directional suffixes, focusing on how an action is being done.


There are 26 locative/directional suffixes for verbs! All of them are in Class 3, meaning that except for a few of the suffixes, any other suffixes will come after the directionals. We will not go over all of them here, but we recommend that you look at all of them in the Verb Suffixes chart. Each suffix (verb ending) in the Verb Suffixes chart has an example (sometimes two) with it to help you understand the meaning. Click on the suffix to reveal a popup box with the example. Also, with the popup example is a link to the page of Dr. Ultan's dissertation that has the full explanation of the suffix, and often even more examples to help you get a stronger idea of how it adds to the meaning of the verb.

Exercise 1.

One of the verb roots for 'run' is jéwo. Using this root, you could add one or more thematic suffixes to add meaning - like 'run habitually' or 'run down'.

Go to the Verb Suffixes chart. and find 5 thematic suffixes that would make sense added to 'run'. Write the resulting verb themes below and state the translations. (Add the (i)n at the end too.)
EXERCISE 1.
Verb with
thematic suffixes
English translation
jewo-
jewo-
jewo-
jewo-
jewo-
Part 2.2. Suffixes about people interacting.

After the thematic suffixes are several suffixes about how the subject and object of the verb interact.

Ultan calls these object designators. If you refer to the Verb Suffixes, you'll see that they are all in Class 4, coming right after the locational/directionals of Class 3.

-ti This suffix has two functions - one, which we gloss as 'cause', means that the person or thing doing an action is causing something to happen.

Here are some examples:

bə́də:tin
bə́də:
happy
-ti
cause
-n
verb.​final
   
make somebody happy
bómittìn
use.​hard.​object
-mi(t)
into
-tì
cause
-n
verb.​final
   
drive (a nail) into
-ti¸ can also mean doing something for someone instead of to someone or something.
bánotip
báno
make.​bed
-tì
cause
-p
command
   
make his bed
-ʔomis is a suffix for when someone does something to oneself (a reflexive suffix).
c’úk’utʔòmis!
c’úk’ut
wash
-ʔòmis!
self
   
Wash yourself!

REMEMBER that the command suffix is not there if the verb ends in a consonant.

-to means that people are doing something to or with each other (a reciprocal suffix).
mỳsemsa c’í:titòn
mysem
they.​3rd.​person
-sa
plural
   
c’í:
get.​dressed
-ti
cause
-to
each.​otherl
-n
verb.​final
   
They are dressing one another.
-to can also refer to objects being together, such as this example:
péton
eat
-to
with.​each.​other
-n
verb.​final
   
eat something along with something else.
As you look through Ultan's language materials you will see -to used in may different ways to indicate two or more people, things or actions.

Here are a few more examples:

ʔýmpintòn
ʔý
motion
-m
x
-pin
go.​in
-tò
reciproal
-n
verb.​final
   
come in and out sporadically

*Sometimes some pieces have no known meaning. Perhaps. 2.person?

méjton
méj
give
-to
reciprocal
-n
verb.​final
   
buy (lit. to give something to each other)
-toto is a doubled (reduplicated) form of -to that can also be used:
bája:tìtoton
bája:
crack.​acorns
-tì
cause
-toto
for.​each.​other
-n
verb.​final
   
crack acorns for one another
Part 2.3

Below are a few other very useful thematic suffixes.


-jo iterative; doing something over and over

Examples:

pijéhton. They are bathing by turns.
wóhjon hit (something) repeatedly

-do(j) begin; to begin doing something

Examples:

dojpỳ. Let's begin to eat.
dò:p Stand up!

t’édo:p!
t’é
stand
-do(j)
upward
-p!
imperative
   
Stand up!

As described in the rule above, the j is gone when the consonant (in this case -p) is at the end of the word, and the vowel before it gets long.


-bos, -ʔos finish; to finish doing something

Examples:

wóhboski:n. (He) will finish chopping wood.
moʔósinaj. I drank it up.


Leland Scott used -ʔós, but other speakers used -bos. Take your pick!


-me(h) negative; not do

Examples:

pánpemèhki:nàj. I'm not going to smoke.
dó:me:p! (or dó:mep!) Don't bite!


In the case of dó:mep!, the vowel doesn't get long after all, showing that none of these “rules” are really hard and fast. A lot of the variation is due to how fast people speak, and maybe their emotion. dó:mep! is a command, and increased urgency of the command might make it shorter.


-k'i(t) future; will do

Examples:

bískitjà:m? Will you two stay?
lájda:haj ʔýk'ojmehkì:n. I will not leave tomorrow.


bískitjà:m.
bís
stay
-ki(t)
future
-jà:
dual
-m
object
   
Will you two stay?
lájda:haj ʔýk’ojmehkì:n.
lájda:
morning
-ha
do
-j
1.​per
   
ʔý
motion
-k’oj
leave
-meh
negative
-kì(t)
future
-n.
verb.​final
   
I will not leave tomorrow.

There are lots of other thematic suffixes to go through. We will go over many of them in our lessons on Konkow Time and Questions and Negatives. In the meantime, you can explore them all yourselves on the Verb Suffix Chart chart.

Exercises - 3-5

Exercise 3

Add the appropriate thematic suffix or suffixes on each Konkow verb to make a word that translates the English phrase beside it. Don't forget to add the -(in) verb final to make it a whole word. (Anything in parentheses you don't have to consider.)

síʔy
'play'
(They) played with each other.
jó:ki:
'dive'
(He) dove down.
máhwo
'clap hands'
(He) made them clap hands with each other.
[two suffixes]
law
'lift'
(He) lifted himself up.
[ two suffixes; don't forget that the directional suffix goes before the object designator suffix.]
pinsy
'listen'
(He) will not listen.
[two suffixes.]
méj
'give'
(He) began buying.


síʔy
'play'
jó:ki:
'dive'
máhwo
'clap hands'
law
'lift'
pinsy
'listen'
méj
'give'

Exercise 4

Some verbs we've given you in earlier lessons actually have several components. Take these familiar verbs and use dashes to separate off the suffixes. Write the meaning of each of the suffixes. If your new knowledge of the suffixes makes you think there is a better translation for any of these words, put that down too.

tédo:
'stand up'
ʔýk'oj
'go away'
bojehto
'swing'
píje:
'swim'


tédo:
'stand up'
ʔýk'oj
'go away'
bojehto
'swing'
píje:
'swim'

Exercise 5

Make sure you use a variety of suffixes - different ones for each sentence, and more than one thematic suffix in some of them.




















Part 3. Inflectional suffixes.

As we saw, a root plus thematic suffixes forms the verb theme, and the inflectional suffixes get attached to the theme (or directly to the root if there are no thematic suffixes).


Just like thematic suffixes, there are lots and lots of inflectional suffixes.

We have already seen some of the verb suffixes, such as commands (class 16-18), and the verb final suffix, which comes after position 20, and is called a post-fix, meaning that it comes after all the other suffixes we've be talking about.

We will be talking about other inflectional suffixes, including questions, negatives, and person-marking on verbs, in lessons to come.

3.1. Words vs. components.

A fluent speaker thinks in words and sentences, not in pieces of words. As a learner, it's important to know what the pieces are so you can figure out which components you need when you are trying to get an idea across; thinking about the components can also help you understand the meaning of sentences that the speakers uttered back in the 1960's when they were working with Ultan.


But the thematic suffixes in a word are really parts of a single unified idea. In English, if something is funny we might call it comical, but we don't consciously think “oh, we'll take the noun for comic and add the -al suffix to it”. You can't really speak a language if all you can do is think about the pieces of the words. So when you are trying to memorize words so that you can use them in your daily life, think about them and practice them as unified words, not as a set of pieces.


So in this lesson we do it both ways. We present all the words as whole words (no dashes), but also in many cases we separate all the components with dashes, so you can do both types of learning. You could even make two sets of flash cards: one set that has words for you to read and say out loud; and the other with just single roots or suffixes on them, so you can put them together like a jigsaw puzzle to make words.
Summary
  • The verb starts with a root, followed by at least one suffix, and usually more.
  • There are two types of suffixes:
    • Thematic suffixes, that are close to the root, and help to define the meaning of the verb;
    • Inflectional suffixes, which come after the thematic suffixes.

  • The thematic suffixes we presented here included directionals and object designators.
    • Directionals: There are 26 directionals. We presented 6 common ones:
      • -k'o(j) along in some direction
      • -toto around
      • -sip outward, out of and up
      • -c'o aside, over the edge
      • -je:, -jeh (move) about, continuous motion
      • -paj toward
      • The rest can be found in the VERB SUFFIX CHART
    • Object designators: These are about how two people or other entities interact. We present 4 of these:
      • -ti cause; cause something to happen; do for someone
      • -ʔòmis reflexive; do to oneself
      • -to reciprocal: do to or with each other; make two objects or actions happen
      • -toto doubled (reduplicated) form of -to
    • Other important thematic suffixes
      • -jo iterative; doing something over and over
      • ¬do(j) begin; to begin doing something
      • -(b)os finish; to finish doing something
      • -me(h) negative; not do
      • -k'i(t) future; will do


Rule for consonants in parentheses: A consonant in parentheses means that sometimes it is there, and sometimes not. In general, the consonant disappears if it is just before another consonant which is at the end of the word, and the vowel before it gets longer.



  • Inflectional suffixes come after the thematic suffixes. They include some components we have already discussed, including imperatives (commands), person-marking, and the verb.final
  • The verb.final is a postfix, meaning it comes after all the other 20 positions of verb classes.
  • We will discuss other verb suffixes in more detail in future lessons.
Mary Jones
The wonderful Mary Jones videos have lessons organized by topic rather than grammar, and are very good for learning conversational speech.


Click the arrow to start the video. Once started, moving the curser off the image causes the controls to disappear. Move the curser over the image to return the controls.

Want to learn more? All the Mary Jones videos lessons are available HERE

or you can download a PDF of the lesson here DOWNLOAD - LESSON 6
Each lesson has a set of flashcards that can be printed and used for practice. As you work through the lessons, the sets can be combined to create more advanced sentences. There are several fun games you can play using these flashcards. The cards can be printed either single or double sided depending on what and how you want to play. Three games will be outlined below.

Go Fish
This is a multiple player game. It can be played from a basic level with simply the vocabulary words, to a more advanced game where all the questions are asked in the language. At the most basic level, you can play with an open hand. The object is to get pairs and practice the vocabulary. You will need to print two or four copies of each card to play Go Fish and Concentration.

Concentration
This can be played individually or as a multiplayer game. Cards can be double sided or single sided. Pictures can be facing up or hidden. You can match pictures and/or words.The object is to find matches and pronounce the vocabulary.

Flashcard Drills
This can be played individually or as a two player game. One person shows the image to their partner, who says the Konkow word. This is repeated until each player can identify and pronounce each card in the stack. The amount of cards in the stack can be increased as needed.