The Languages of Native North America

Nouns maybe monomorphemic (kac'son'), compound (axice- -krwra -m *child-house'
= Vomb'), or derived (^anamd-hi-cva 'child-imitation' = 'doll'). Pronominal prefixes
specify possessors: three persons in singular and plural and two impersonals. The
prefixes can also indicate more general relations: ^d^ kuma-^f^ris 'above its-floor' =
upstairs'; ?(f^k vd-hih 'here its-language' = 'the Karok language'.

Verb morphology is more elaborate. Some verb roots include features of number
or shape as part of their meanings: n-hya '(a long object) to stand, be', v^hnv '(one
or more long objects) to stand, be', ihydnh '(singular animate) to stand', ^iruve^hriv

436 7 Catalogue: language families and isolates

Xdual or plural animate) to stand*, etc. Many roots contain sub-morphemic elements
that resemble the instrumental prefixes of other California languages: ^cup *to kiss',
jgapuQ *to chev/\ ^cnut *to suck on\ pgxut *to hold in one*s mouth', ^loxnf^ *to blow
a whistle' (Bright 1957: 87, Haas 1980). Among the verbal prefixes is an iterative:
i^-na ' *to come back '. Partial, or occasionally full reduplication is used to derive verbs
describing repeated or intense actions: ^dxuh Ho cough', ?axuh'^dxuh *to have
tuberculosis'. Manner suffixes add meanings such as 'closing up' (ikm-cgk 'sit- block '
= *to sit in the way') and *on(to) a horizontal surface' {Ovv-tak, *be-Qn' = *to lie on').
Rich sets of suffixes specify location and direction, with meanings like *thither',
'hither', 'hence downriverward', 'hither from downriver', 'down from a considerable
height; hence downhillward', 'up to a considerable height; hence uphillward', 'hither
from uphill', 'hence upriverward', 'hither from upriver', 'up to the height of a man or
less', 'down from the height of a man or less', 'hence across a body of water', 'hither
from across a body of water', 'horizontally away from the center of a body of water',
'horizontally toward the center of a body of water', 'into one's mouth', 'out of one's
mouth', 'into a container', 'out of a container', 'into or onto fire', 'in through a tubular
space', 'out through a tubular space', 'in through a solid', 'out through a solid', 'into
an enclosed space', 'out of an enclosed space', 'in opposite directions', 'toward each
other', 'here and there within an enclosed space', 'here and there in an open area',
and others: ?^9'Sjp_ > ^e-cip 'take- up.to.the.height.of.a.man.or.less ' = 'to pick up'
and ikre-myd'h- mpu 'blow- hence.upriverward ' = 'north wind to blow'. Other deriva-
tional suffixes include a purposive (imka-nv-gr 'to.gather. food-go' = 'to go gather
food'), an instrumental (ikrup-ara 'sew- with '). and a benefactive (iksup-iju 'point-for'
(someone) = 'to teach').

Other derivational suffixes include a marker of plural action, a causative, a
comitative, and a reflexive. There are a number of nominalizers that yield terms
referring to objects: ^av-a, 'eat- NOMiNAUZER ' = 'food', ^am-kir-q, 'eat-on- NOMiNALizER '
= 'table'; to agents: vik-qjt 'weave- NOMiNAUZER ' = 'weaver'; to refuse: vwcic-£^ 'to
saw- NOMiNALiZER ' = 'sawdust'; to locations: imOatva-ram 'to.play.shinny- NOMiNAUZER '
= 'shinny field'.

Verbs contain pronominal affixes referring to their core arguments. There are
distinct forms for singular and plural first, second, and third person animates, in
indicative and imperative, but no overt marker for inanimate third persons. First
persons affected by states may be referred to by an agent pronoun ni- 'I (it)' or by
a patient pronoun na- '(it) me': ni-xunlW and na-xurihi both mean 'I am hungry'.
Passives may be formed with third person plural agents: kun-mah ' they/him -see' =
'they see him' or 'he is seen'. Finally, tense enclitics may follow either nouns or verbs
functioning as predicates to distinguish future, anterior, or ancient time.

Mithun, Marianne. 1999. The Languages of Native North
America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.