Grammatical Sketch of Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache Originially published by University of Chicago Press, © 1938, All rights reserved. |
12. Subject Pronoun Prefixes |
Grammatical Sketch of Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache | ||
12. Subject Pronoun Prefixes
There are two series of subjective pronouns, as
follows:
Chiricahua | Mescalero | |||
Person | [a] | [b] | [a] | [b ] |
Sg. 1 | sh- | í- | sh- | í- |
Sg. 2 | n- | ńn- | n- | ńn- |
high vowel- | í- | high nasal vowel- | í- | |
Sg. 3 | zero | zero | zero | zero |
Du. 1 | long vowel[d]- | long vowel[d]- | long nasal vowel[d]- | long nasal vowel[d]- |
Du. 2 | ah- | aa- | ah- | aa- |
Series [b] is employed in the perfective mode of all but -d- and -l- class verbs, and series [a] in all other modes and in the perfective mode of - d- and -l- class verbs. Of the two forms for the second person singular, n- is used only in the disjunct paradigm of the imperfective mode [see number 13]. In all other paradigms the second person is indicated by a high tone on the vowel of the preceding prefix [a high tone and nasalization in Mescalero].
As may be seen from the table, the mark of the first person dual is a lengthening and low tone on the vowel of the preceding prefix followed by the consonant -d-. This consonant, however, never occurs as such but either becomes -h- or zero or merges with the classifier or stem consonant which follows it.
First person dual plus: | Chiricahua | Mescalero |
Classifier -ł- | long vowel -ł- | long nasal vowel -ł- |
Stem Consonant '- | long vowel -t'- | long nasal vowel -t'- |
Stem Consonant y- | long vowel -d- | long nasal vowel -d- |
Stem Consonant gh- | long vowel -g- | long nasal vowel -g- |
Stem Consonant z- | long vowel -dz- | long nasal vowel -dz- |
Stem Consonant zh- | long vowel -j- | long nasal vowel j- |
Stem Consonant l- | long vowel dl- | long nasal vowel dl- |
The first person dual plus any other stem consonant results in either long vowel-plus h- plus stem consonant [long nasal vowel-plus stem consonant in Mescalero] or in long vowel-plus stem consonant [long nasal vowel-plus stem consonant in Mescalero].
The 3a person, place, and indefinite subjects are expressed by the deictic prefixes ji- [ch'i- in Mescalero], go-, and 'i-, respectively.
Grammatical Sketch of Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache | ||