Southern Athabascan grammar facts for kids

The Southern Athabascan languages, also called Apachean, are a group of Athabaskan languages. People speak these languages in the southwestern part of North America. You can find more details in the main article, Southern Athabaskan languages.

These languages are quite unique! They are mostly fusional and polysynthetic. This means words often combine many different parts to show meaning. They are also head-marking, which means important information is added to the main word in a phrase.

The usual word order in these languages is Subject-Object-Verb (SOV). This is different from English, which is Subject-Verb-Object.

For example, in the Lipan language:

Kónitsąąhį́į́ dziłádałts’aa’híí áí daajiłdiił means "The Lipan ate those wild grapes."

The subject is Kónitsąąhį́į́ ("the Lipan").

The object is dziłádałts’aa’híí áí ("those wild grapes").

The verb is daajiłdiił ("they ate them").

Southern Athabascan words are mostly changed by adding prefixes at the beginning. This is a bit unusual for SOV languages, which often use suffixes at the end.

These languages have many verbs but fewer nouns. Besides verbs and nouns, they also have pronouns, demonstratives (like "this" or "that"), numerals, adverbs, and conjunctions.

A linguist named Harry Hoijer grouped words into three main types:

• verbs
• nouns and postpositions (words like "on" or "in" that come after the noun)
• particles (other small words)

There are no words like "adjectives" in English. Instead, verbs are used to describe things. These special "adjectival verbs" have their own prefixes.

Understanding Nouns in Southern Athabascan Languages

Nouns in Southern Athabascan languages come in a few main types. These include simple nouns, compound nouns, and nouns made from verbs.

Simple nouns can be just one word part, often a single syllable.

• In Chiricahua, ku̧u̧ means "fire."
• In Navajo, sǫ’ means "star."

Other nouns might have a noun plus one or more prefixes.

• Navajo: dibé means "sheep." This comes from di- plus -bé.

Some nouns have a noun plus an enclitic (a small word attached to the end) or a suffix.

• Chiricahua: dlú̧í means "prairie dog." This comes from dlú̧- plus -í.

These languages do not have many simple nouns. However, these simple nouns are very old and help us compare Athabascan languages.

Another type is a compound noun, which combines more than one noun part.

• Chiricahua: ku̧u̧ba̧a̧ means "fireside." This combines ku̧u̧ ("fire") and ba̧a̧ ("edge").
• Navajo: tsésǫ’ means "glass." This combines tsé ("rock") and sǫ" ("star").

The most common type of noun is a "deverbal noun." This is a noun that comes from a verb. Many of these are made by adding a special ending (like -ń or -í) to a verb phrase.

For example, in Mescalero:

• ’ént’į́į́ means "he/she bewitches him/her."
• Add -ń for people: ’ént’į́į́ń means "witch" (literally "the one who bewitches him or her").
• Add -í for things: ’ént’į́į́’í means "witchcraft."

Here is another example from Navajo:

• ná’oolkiłí means "clock" (literally "one that is moved slowly in a circle").

Some of these nouns can be very long and complex. For instance, in Navajo:

• chidí naa’na’í bee’eldǫǫhtsoh bikáá’ dah naaznilígíí means "army tank." This literally means "a car that they sit up on top of that crawls around with a big thing with which an explosion is made."

Some deverbal nouns do not use these special endings.

• Navajo: Hoozdo means "Phoenix, Arizona" (literally "the place is hot").
• Navajo: ch’é’étiin means "doorway" (literally "something has a path horizontally out").

Showing Possession with Nouns

Most nouns can change to show possession, like saying "my bread" or "your bread."

Using Prefixes for Possession

Simple and compound nouns often show possession by adding a pronominal prefix to the noun. These prefixes tell you who owns the item.

Here are examples from Chiricahua, showing how prefixes are used with the noun bán ("bread"):

As you can see, Chiricahua nouns change for number (singular and dual) and person (first, second, third, fourth, and indefinite).

Here is a table of Chiricahua pronominal prefixes:

Navajo also uses similar prefixes. Here is a comparison:

There are also prefixes like Mescalero ’ił- and Navajo ał- for "each other's." And Mescalero ’ádi- and Navajo ádi- for "one's own."

Forming Possessive Phrases

You can create longer possessive phrases in Navajo.

Notice that the owner (the possessor) comes before the item owned (the possessed noun). So, to say "John's bread," you add the bi- prefix to "bread" (making it "his bread") and then put "John" before it.

These languages are "head-marking." This means the possessive prefix is added to the noun that is being owned (the "head" of the phrase). This is different from languages like English, where the possessive marker is often added to the owner.

Exploring Verbs in Southern Athabascan Languages

Verbs are the most important and often the most complex part of Southern Athabascan languages. Every verb has a main part called a stem. To this stem, different prefixes are added. These prefixes are always added in a specific order.

A verb is built up in layers:

• The stem is the basic part.
• The theme is the stem plus a "classifier" prefix (and sometimes other prefixes).
• The base is the theme plus prefixes that change the meaning.
• The full verb is the base plus prefixes that show things like who is doing the action.

This system is like a "position class template." Imagine a set of slots, and each slot can only hold certain types of prefixes.

The Navajo verb has three main parts:

Even though there are many possible slots, most Navajo verbs are not that complex.

Verb Stems and How Actions Happen

Verb stems change their form based on the mode (like how the action is seen, e.g., ongoing or completed) and aspect (like how the action unfolds over time, e.g., momentary or continuous). These changes often involve vowels or tones.

For example, in Chiricahua, the verb stem for "to sharpen" changes form for different modes:

A single verb stem can have many forms. For example, the Navajo verb stem -’aah/-’ą́ means "to handle a solid roundish object." It has 26 possible combinations of modes and aspects, but only 7 different stem forms. This means some forms sound the same even if their meaning is slightly different.

Classifying Objects with Verbs

Southern Athabascan languages have special verbs called classificatory verb stems. These verbs describe an object based on its shape or other features, as well as its movement or state.

For example, Navajo has 11 main classificatory "handling" verb stems. These are used when you talk about moving or holding different types of objects.

Here are some examples from Navajo:

Think about the English word "give." In Navajo, there isn't just one verb for "give." You have to choose the right verb based on what you are giving!

• To say "Give me some hay!" you would use the verb níłjool (for Non-Compact Matter).
• To say "Give me a cigarette!" you would use the verb nítįįh (for Slender Stiff Object).

These verbs also describe how the object moves:

• handling (like carrying or taking)
• propelling (like tossing or throwing)
• free flight (like falling or flying)

For example, for a "Solid Roundish Object" (SRO) in Navajo:

• -'ą́ means to handle (a round object).
• -ne' means to throw (a round object).
• -l-ts'id means (a round object) moves independently.

How Animacy Affects Verbs (yi-/bi- alternation)

Like many Athabaskan languages, Southern Athabascan languages have an "animacy hierarchy." This means that living things are ranked higher than non-living things. This ranking affects how sentences are built and which verb forms are used.

In Navajo, nouns are ranked from most animate (like humans or lightning) to least animate (like ideas or plants): humans/lightning → infants/big animals → mid-size animals → small animals → insects → natural forces → inanimate objects/plants → abstractions

Usually, the most animate noun in a sentence comes first. The noun with less animacy comes second. If both nouns have the same animacy, either can come first.

The prefix yi- on the verb shows that the first noun is the subject (the one doing the action). The prefix bi- shows that the second noun is the subject.

Look at these examples:

Here, "boy" is more animate than "girl," so "boy" comes first, and the verb uses yi-.

Here, "girl" is still more animate, but if you want to put "girl" first, the verb changes to bi-. This sentence means the same thing as the first one, just from a different angle.

However, some sentences might sound strange if the animacy order is not followed.

This sentence sounds wrong to Navajo speakers because "bird" (less animate) comes before "girl" (more animate).

To say "The bird pecked the girl" correctly, you would put the more animate noun first:

Even though this is translated as a passive sentence in English, it is not passive in Navajo. Passive verbs are formed in a different way using specific prefixes.