TikTok LIVE Replay June 1/25 - Plains Cree Story & Study (p1)
Tonight we tie into a story from the Cree Literacy Network, kika-ayâsawi-miyitonâwâw "You will pass them on to one another: Cree stories of the Horse and Buffalo" (https://creeliteracy.org/2024/07/14/c...)
Rather than just studying vocab, we're going to start picking apart some of the grammar to understand some of the verbs, but also some of the "conjugations".
In nêhiyawêwin (unlike english) when you speak about someone doing something, the verb changes depending on who you're talking about, so for example in english when talking about running for you or me or someone else, the very "run" changes very little:
I run.
You run.
They (singular) run.
They all run.
In nêhiyawêwin, however, the verb is "inflected" or "conjugated" meaning that it changes to reflect who you are talking about:
nipimpahtân "I run"
kipimpahtân "You run"
pimpahtâw "They (singular) run"
pimpahtâwak "They all run"
This is just a very simple example, and understanding how verbs work in nêhiyawêwin can be a little bit of work 😅 and (for me) definitely falls in the category of "intermediate study". So tonight we start to take a look at that through studying a story!
If you're new to the concept of "verbs" in nêhiyawêwin, you may get some benefit from this video here on Animacy & Verb Types in nêhiyawêwin (Plains Cree): • Animacy & Verb Types in nêhiyawêwin (Plain...
If you're looking for more advanced study on verbs and conjugation, check out VTA Verb Conjugation in Plains Cree: • VTA Verb Conjugation in nêhiyawêwin (Plain...