LESSON 5

THE LITTLE RATTLESNAKE IS BLACK

More animals yet :

Hantak	frog
‘esuuyan	horned toad
‘ehpank	whale
Milyaapan	bat
Kallyehwiiw	skunk
Haakwal	lizard
Kethii	gopher
‘ewii	rattle snake

You already know how to say sentences like “The buzzard is black , “namely Sha’ii nyillyches. But you have not yet learned how to say a sentence like “The black buzzard is big, ” or “This is a black buzzard .” You need to know how to make a phrase like “black buzzard . “You know the words for “buzzard, ” sha’ii, and for “black, ” nyilly. Now you must add ku – in front of nyilly, and you get kunyilly. This is a noun and actually means “the black one. “The whole phrase is sha’ii kunyilly , “the black buzzard, ” literally ” buzzard, the black one . ” When the word you must make into a noun begins with ‘_-, like ‘ehwatt “red, “you add kwa – in front of it, instead of ku -, and you get kwa ‘hwatt, “the red one . ” You can now say things like

Kun yilly	black one	‘ehatt kun yilly	black dog
Kuhepshiw	green one	haakwal kuhepshiw	green lizard
Kunemshap	white one	‘emekay kunemshap	white mouse
Kwa’hwatt	red one	‘ekwak kwa’hwatt	red deer
Kwa’kwas	yellow one	‘aashaa kwa’kwas	yellow bird¬
Kwa’stik	little one	milyaapan kwa’stik	little bat
Kwa’shash	pretty one	‘aashaa kwa’shash	pretty bird

Notice that if the word to which you add ku – or kwa – had an e in the next – to – last syllable, it drops out of the word.

Hepeshiw	kuhepshiw
‘ekwas	kwa’kwas

All ku – and kwa – words can be used alone like other nouns. So you can say

Kunemshap ‘estikches.

The white one is small.

You can add peyaa ‘ nyip, or puu at the end of these new phrases to get longer phrases like

Nyemetaay kwa’kwas peyaa	this yellow mountain lion
Mil yaapan kwa’stik puu	that little bat way over there
‘aashaa kwa’shash nyip	that pretty bird there

And you can now say sentences like.

‘Ewii kwa’stik nyillyches.

The little rattle snake is black.

Exercise 1

What do these sentences mean?

1. ‘Aashaa kuhchalyp ‘eshashches.
2. Peyaa ‘ehpank kuhepshiwches.
3. ‘Ehpank peyaa hepeshiwches.
4. Kunemshap ‘iikuuches.
5. Halypuusuutt kwa’kwas peyaa ‘estikches.

Exercise 2

Say and write the following sentences in ‘lipay Aa.

1. The red bird is little.
2. The white bird is big.
3. That is the little dog.
4. This little rattlesnake is black.
5. That green hummingbird is pretty.
6. This is the blue one.

In sentences like the ones we have just described , it is also OK to drop the ending –ches. This will still be understood to mean the same thing and would also be the best way to translate English sentences of the type “What a pretty bird ( that is)! “

Puu ‘aashaa kwa’shash! Or even ‘Aashaa kwa’ahash!

Exercise 3

Take the sentences of Experiences 1 and 2 ; say them without -ches, and give all possible English translation.

Exercise 4

Translate into ‘lipay Aa ( without -ches).

1. What a big whale this is!
2. That is a white deer.
3. What a happy girl !
4. It’s a green frog !
5. This is a horned toad.
6. It’s a red one.

Previous Lesson

Back to Course

Ipai AA All language