A Chipewyan Ethnological Text

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A Chipewyan Ethnological Text Author(s): Fang-Kuei Li Reviewed work(s): Source: International Journal of American Linguistics, Vol. 30, No. 2 (Apr., 1964), pp. 132-136 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1263480 . Accessed: 10/05/2012 04:11 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

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A CHIPEWYAN ETHNOLOGICAL TEXT1 FANG-KUEI LI UNIVERSITY

0. Introduction 1. Text and analysis

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paragraph is followed by its translation (1.1.2, 1.2.2, 1.3.2, 1.4.2, 1.5.2, 1.6.2) and its notes (1.1.3, 1.2.3, 1.3.3, 1.4.3, 1.5.3, 1.6.3). References are made to the sections (??) in my Chipewyan sketch, and to the list of stems in IJAL.

0. Since the publication of the list of Chipewyan stems (Li 1933a) and the grammatical sketch (Li 1946), it has been my wish to prepare a volume of texts and a dictionary which will contain not only all 1. The title of the text is: t'tui'si the stems but also the various prefixes that ilttsi How I Made A Canoe. ' go with the stems. It became increasingly 1.1.1. ?Itaa 'si Oitsitsi i tsi-yudyw clear to me that a thorough comparative hiltcu. ?eyi hBiti~6 be7a4 ?^yalayi'na. tahtstudy of the Athapaskan languages, phono- 0Ohitu' keih dayiltcel hjldqu hodelyil tsilogically and grammatically, cannot be detcine hiltcul. ?e,woz-xa ?la&ye detcin achieved without taking into consideration heyi't0el. kulu ?cyi detcin ?elt0i dezdz the various processes which occur in the kuhlu oteye hetcel-hile. ?yita tai detcin prefixes and the stems, and their mutual netca- nhilxez. ?eyi detcin betsi ?7ewoz relationship. My preoccupation with the 7il'tcel. t0i nahi- tsi-yu7we betsi hiltcu. 1.1.2. Once I made a canoe. So I began to study of Sino-Tibetan languages unavoidably prevented me from preparing for get the material for the canoe. I worked hard publication either the texts or the dictionary. at it. First of all I tore off the birch barkfrom It is a great pleasure for me, on the occasion the upper part of the tree, and then I got all the of honoring my friend Harry Hoijer, who woodfor thecanoe. For thecanoeribs I chopped has devoted many years to Athapaskan one tree down. However, that tree [ought to] studies, to publish a short text which may split straight, but it did not split well. Therehelp to illustrate the usage of the gram- fore I knocked down another big tree. From matical forms given in my sketch of Chipe- that tree I made (split) the canoe ribs. I also wyan. I retain the orthography used in my got some otherparts of the canoefrom it. sketch. 1.1.3. ta'ti' how is probably derived from As the sketch is short and cannot treat *tah-hite-u, cf. tah- in tahi that which, tahi all the forms, prefixes, postpositions, etc., the one who, (?47); -te to be so, and -uf geruneven a short text such as the present one dive suffix (?45d). The analysis of such contains forms which need explanation stereotyped particles is, however, not certain. beyond that already provided for. The text tsi canoe is not used with the pronominal is divided into paragraphs (1.1.1, 1.2.1, 1.3.1, 1.4.1, 1.5.1, 1.6.1), somewhat arbi- possessive prefixes, thus my canoe is usually trarily for the sake of convenience. Each given as tsi setsi canoe from me, i.e., my canoe (?13). 1 All my texts and notes were obtained in 1928 Oiltsi, 1st person perfectiveof the verb to from Francois Mandeville, then living in Fort one object, see ?38.4. The use of perI to take this to wish make opportunity Chipewyan. express my great indebtedness to him, for he fective active verbs, transitive or intransipossessed the extraordinary ability to dictate tive is normal in narratives, but for neuter texts and to explain forms with lucidity and verbs, etc. the imperfective is used, thus, a patience. 132

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few lines below ?eIt6i dzu'z it splits straight, and ?oteye hetcel it tears or splits well. ?ku or ku- then, so, see ?49. tsi-yuywe is a compound of tsi- canoe and -yu7yw (poss.) its garment, meaning the material used to make a canoe or canoe parts; similarly below, tsi-detcine canoe-its wood, i.e. canoe frame or material used to make the frame of a canoe. hiltcu, for the prefix hi-, see ?39.b. ?eyi that, it, see ?47. hu4tle much, hard, from *hu-ne-tle-e, cf. netdl6 it is strong. bea4 at it, see ? 16, 17. keih birch, birch bark. dayiltcel, 1st pers. perf. of -tcul, -tcel, -tcul to tear apart, off, with da- up (?43.b), referring to the position of the bark on the tree. The reason for preferring the bark on the upper part of the tree is that it is usually in a better condition, without cracks or holes. ?gywoz-xa for the canoe ribs. xa is a variant form of the postposition -a for when the object immediately precedes. All postpositions beginning with a vowel take the consonant x-, while all postpositions beginning with a consonant are simply attached to the preceding object, see ??16, 17, 18. he- in hvyi't6el I chopped it down, not in my list of prefixes, referring to the upright position of the tree. ?eyita thereforecomes from ?eyi that, and -ta with. tOi also, together with the following numeral one means another, and a few lines below with nahi- some means some other. netca- is contracted from *netca-i that which is big (?45.a). In rapid speech the -i is often assimilated to the preceding a, giving a long vowel. ?eyi detcin betsi that treefrom it, i.e. from that tree, is unusual in having be- it before -tsi from, see ?18. Perhaps after ?eyi detcin there is a long pause, so that a redundant 3rd pers. pronominal object prefix is introduced before the postposition -tsi.

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n4hilxez is from *na-hehilxez, I knocked it down again, see ?42. nahi' some, is a contracted variant of nahei, ?47. 1.2.1. ku- hodelyiu tsi-yuiwe i'ya h(ilduu tsi-ke h6Oiltsi. ku-i keih-ke toe npni'la. keih hiywulu tsi holet nezq-hile. keih ?oteye ?eIt0ir&6?a-yi-tatsi nezi nastsini-ta. ?oteye nl ?eeit0ihode6?a ?aslAi ?eyi-ke keih ?elkedeyi'la. beke detcin nini'la hqldiu t0e beke nini-la, ?ekw4tf- keih ?eltOidahilkas-ixa. 1.2.2. Then after I made all the parts of the canoe, I made the canoe-place. Then I laid rocks on the birch bark. If the birch bark got warped, the canoe, thus made, would not be good. For only with well-stretchedbirch bark I made good canoes. On the ground which I made very level I spread the birch bark. I laid logs of wood on it, and then I laid rocks on it, so that the birch bark would thus get stiff and flat. 1.2.3. yi7ay I made several objects. The canoe parts are considered as several objects while the canoe as a whole is conceived as one object, thus tsi Oilti I made a canoe. tsi-ke canoe-place refers to the ground which was leveled and made into the shape of a canoe, and on which the birch bark was laid. h6oiltsi I made it, where h6- is the pronominal object referring to place, time, or event i.e., on the canoe-place, (?17, 40f). The high pitch is due to the following 0(e)-perfective. keih-ke birch bark-oni.e. on the birch bark, see ?16, 18. tOe rock, rocks does not indicate plurality, it is the verb nini'la I put down several objects which indicates that we are dealing into several rocks. For the prefixes of the verb, see ?37c, 43e. hole', contracted and assimilated from *hole-i that which is made. The verb seems to be the causative of the verb -le, -li, -le to be, becomewith the I-classifier. For the relationship of d and r, see ?8. 'eltir&6?a it stretches straight, from eltOi

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straight, incorporated as a prefix, and de6?a it extends, -yi only, suffixed to the verb, and -ta by means of, because of, for, see ?16. The whole phrase literally means by means of the birch bark which was well stretchedonly. nastsi-ni-ta I customarily make it-in the past- for, i.e., for I usually made it. The stem -tsi is the customary form (?31), with the iterative prefix na- (?42), and the verbal suffix -ni (?45e), followed by the postposition -ta (?16). n?elteihod&5?athe ground or place stretches straight or level, with n'- terminative, referring to the ground (?43e), and ho- 3rd pers. pron. subj. referring to place (?40f), cf. ?eltBire6?ait (birch bark) stretchesstraight. ?aslai from ?asla-i that which I made so. ?asla is often used after a verb to form a sort of paraphrastic causative. The phrase here literally means very much-the ground stretchesstraight-I made it so-that, i.e. the ground which I made very level. ?elkederi'la I spread them one by the side of the other, with ?lke- one by the side of the other (?17, 44), de- (?39g), and -la, perfective of the stem to handle severalobjects. ?ekw4it in that way, probably from ?ekwa- thus (?43m) -hi-te-i. dahillkas-ixa in order that all of them get stiff and flat. da- distributive (?43a), hiinchoative (?39b), 1-classifier (?35d), -kas to become stiff (active, intransitive), and -ixa, a verbal suffix to indicate future or future purpose (?45b). 1.3.1. htldiu xai xadaiiltcel. e?yi tPi hodelyiu dayiltcel. huldu` ?etia n5ni'tq. ?oteye 'etia Oiltabuitskuyi sa nadayjnnlk4. hlduli tsi-zire-xa keih nini'la. ?eyi detcinhotsal-ta ?oteye naniltsay. ?ckwa'sla hu'ldiu tsekuyi sa {si-zire nadahunelk4. htldQu ?e,i beke nlni'tq. ?eyi {Oibeyare tsi-daya Oilta5. hgld?iu sa ?ei7-ks nahure`de5 tsIkuyi tsi tOi hIldqu ?it9el ye'i'la. ?eyi t6i tsekuyi sa ?itOel-kenadaunelk4. 1.3.2. Then I tore the roots out (from the ground) here and there.I also torethem all up. Then I put the bottomof the canoe down. When

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I had cut the bottom out, the woman sewed (the pieces of birch bark) up for me. Then I laid the birch bark down for the canoe-side. With wood nails I nailed it well. After I did that, the woman sewed the canoe-sidefor me. Then I put the gunwale on it. I also cut off (the sides of the canoe) along the gunwale abovethe canoe. Then after the woman wound (the bark) around the gunwale, I put the bow posts in the canoe. The woman sewed also the bowposts downfor me. 1.3.3. xadail'tcel, see xa- out (?43g), dadistributive, referring to the roots of many plants (?43a), 60()- perfective (?37a). Notice the different perfectives used with the same stem -tcel. ?etia bottomof the canoe, cf. silatiaya palm of my hand. Here it refers rather to the birch bark used to make the bottom of the canoe. nnini't I put down a long object. sa, from s-a for me (?16, 17). nadaiyjnnlk4 She sewed them up, see naalong, continuative (?) (?43e); da- distributive, referring to the pieces of bark; yinasalized on account of the following nefrom ye- 3rd person obj., sing. or pl. (?40a); ne- prefix constantly used with this verb stem (?39c); the high pitch is from the influence of the 0e-perfective which is coalesced with the following 1-classifier (?37a). detcin-hotsal- ta wood-nails-with,i.e. with wood nails. Presumably iron nails were not known or used. naniltsay I nailed them up, from nan(e-0e)- i-I-tsar, cf. nayinjntsaiy he nailed them up, similar in structure to nadayinIek4 above, only without the da- prefix, which is often optional unless the distributive or plural sense is emphasized. ?ekwa'sia I did that, in that way, from 'ekwa-?asla, see ?43 k, m. ?e'yi beke gunwale-on it, i.e. gunwale on the canoe side, cf. below, 's7i-ke on or around the gunwale. tsi y&yi'lacanoe-in I put them, i.e. I put them in the canoe. ye- incorporatedpostposition (?44) would normally take a pronominal

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object, thus beyeyi-la I put themin it, unless the object of the postposition immediately precedes, see ? 16, 17, 18. 1.4.1. huld'u ?etlat9i7ali tsi yeTi-tq. ku?etiatOiyalitseletoi tsiyyerila. beke ?it0lttcai?a ininit. kd- ?etlat0iyali ?cdi ho?4zi ncnb0 Oiltsi. ?eyita bekenani-ta h4ld4u suiywa ?a,iyneO?adja. ku- tsi-ye-detcine, tsi yeCi'la. ?elehunelya ?aslAuhildu' ?eywoz tsi yeyila. ku tu-bel-ta beke tahsle. ?ekw4itu ?oteye keih -ya?enij0il. h4ldgu ?ewoz ?elena ?ekwa'sbenadana&cil. ts0Oiyebeyeccl. yaze ?j-hltu- ?etsina0e tahi beke benida'0ilcel. ?ekwa'sla-hita tsi ?oteye keih beke denitiy ?asla. 1.4.2. Then I put the inside-keel in the canoe. Then I put the small pieces (on both ends of the keel) also in the canoe. On them I put that which propped the bow posts. Then I made the keel much too long. ThereforeI cut a part of it off, then it became of the correct length. Then I put the frame in the canoe. After I made them all fit each other, I put the ribs in the canoe. Then I spread hot water over it. In that way the birch bark was heated through. I knocked at the ribs one after the other carefully. I moved them little by little by knocking. While I was doing thus, I knocked them finally to their proper place. Because I did so, I made the birch bark stretch quite tight on the canoe. 1.4.3. ?edi ho?4zi ncne0 iltsi--too-beyondit is long-I made it, i.e. I made it much too long. bekenani'ta--on it-again-I made a cut, i.e. I cut off a part of it, see ?44e, 42, and 37c. siywa good, correct. ?ayilneO-it has such a length, see ?43k, cf. -neOto be long. ?adja so it became.The stem -dja (perfective) is probably a coalescence of the dclassifier (medio-passive) plus the stem -ya to do, act. The imperfective is -ne, cf. -le, -la to make, to cause, causative derived *-n-ne,*-l-ya. tsi-ye-detcin-4, a compound of canoeinside-its wood, i.e. the canoe frame.

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?elehunelya each other-toward-ithas the size, i.e. it fits each other,see ?17, and 39j. tu-6el-ta water-hot-with,i.e. with hot water. tah,sic I spread water on it, ta- referring to water, probably an incorporated noun stem related to tu water. The stem is -le, -la, -lel, to handle several objects. 7a?enj0il it was heated through, yathrough, with the perfective of the stem -0il, -0il, -Oilto heat up, cf. -6el to be warm. 'eena each other-in place of, i.e. one after the other,see ?16, 17. beyclc--at them-I kept on knocking, see ?44a (here however with a low tone), 37e, 32, and 36. This is the progressive form of -cui, -cel, -cuitto hit, knockwith a stone. benadanaecil I knock (cust.) again and again at them to move them, see 31, 44a, 43a, c, 42 and 39b. benida0ilcel I knocked them to their proper places, see ?44a, 43a, e, and 37a. da--must be a contraction of dadistributive plus another prefix difficult to determine. denitiy It is stretchedtight, see 39g, c. 1.5.1. hildi- dze ka&iya. dze ria7ige. 'eyi ?4nilt. ?eyi 0iltcaz. ku- dze hetceshuike tes betadeni-yis ?ckw4tu-i delzen ?asla hqldq' tsekuyi sa tsi Oedzey.hMldi' to0e de7estsi h4ildi' tsi-gw66e-ye dzereyi-kkeih. degw63 tr'te-hita beye tu hule. 'ii naltla. tsi-detcine tsetale ?arasl-hita tsi ned6aya. 1.5.2. Then I went to look for the gum. I I poked it down. I broughtit home in a sack. I boiled it. Then while the gum was boiling, I crumbled charcoal into it. In that way I made it black, afterwards the woman put the pitch on the canoe for me. Then I made a paddle for myself, and then I paddled around in the new canoe. As it was new, therewas no water in it. Also it moved fast. Because I made every part of the canoe frame thin, the canoe was light. 1.5.3. dze ka&i-ya I went to look for the gum. ka- is a prefixed postposition (?44), the pronominal object is omitted as its object immediately precedes, cf. bekahesaih

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I go to look for it, bekaoi'ya I went to look for it. nayi'ge I poked down with a stick, see ?43c, 37b, from the verb -ger, -ge, ger to spear at, to poke. ?qniiltt I broughtit home in a sack. See ?4- back home (?431), n(e)- momentaneous (?37c), -ta to handle a stick-like object. The peculiar use of the i-classifier here changes the meaning of the stem to handling something in a sack, vessel, etc., see ?35. ilttcaz I boiled it, 1st pers. perfective causative of the neuter verb 0etcaz it is boiling. hetces it boils (imperfective). -huike- while, a verbal suffix, probably from -hu, gerundivesuffix (?45d), and postposition -ke on. betadeni'yis I crumbled (charcoal) into it, with be- pron. obj. of the prefixed postposition ta- among, de- (?39g), and n(e)momentaneous(?37c). deyestsi I made it for myself; cf. dereflexive(?40c), ye- perfective(?37b), s-coalescence of -s-l- (?36). Notice the different perfective prefix used in Oiltsi, I made it. tsi-gw6oe-y?, canoe-new-in, i.e. in the new canoe. dzere7rikeih I paddle (a canoe) around, with dzere- (?43h), which requires the customary form of the verb -k6ih, -kI, -kel, to paddle a canoe. t1'te it is so. hule thereis not, cf. hile not. ?arasla I made them so, see ?a- so (?43k), ra- from da- distributive (?43a). delzen it is black (?39e), degw6o it is new, nedbaya it is light (?39d), and tsetale it is thin are all neuter verbs. 1.6.1. ?etea yi dey?r ?arala, ?eyi betazi tsi dzeresti-ixa. deyer hile ?as?9u, nah_ke ?i74 tsi-ye niesaih ?etsa kesniu, ?et6a bekeheteih. ?eyita ?el9t deyer ?al?lu be-

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horelni-hile. tsi nezq Oiltsi, kulud ?ate '?ewoz-tsele neduwe ?asla- hita tsi-ye dedenitiy-hile. kulu ?eyi baite-hile. ?cyi tsi 0a tsi yesti. 1.6.2. I made only the thwarts strong, so that I might carry the canoe around by means of them. If I do not make them strong, sometimes when I get up quickly in the canoe, pressing on the thwart, the thwartwill usually break. Therefore, when the thwart is made strong, there is no danger. I made a good canoe, becauseI made but one small rib short, there was one place in the canoe not tight. But thatwas not a fault. I used thatcanoefor a long time. 1.6.3. betazi by means of them, see -ta (?16), and -zl (?19). dzeresti I carry it around, with dzerearound (?43h), and -ti, customary form of the verb -ti, -ta, -t4, to handle a long object. From deyer hile ?as?lu ... If I do not make them strong ... on for a couple of sentences, the aspect is imperfective, as the sentences here refer to a general situation, not a part of the narration. naheke sometimes, from nahe- some and -ke on. niesaih, from *ni-hesaih I get up, see niup (?43f), hi- inchoative (?39b), and the verb stem for one person goes. kesniu when I press on (the thwarts), cf. ke- on to, (?44e, 20), and -ni to push with hands. belkheteih on it there is customarily a break, i.e. it customarily breaks, from the verb -te, -t?, -te to break. dedenitiy it is tight in one place, cf. denitiy it is tight. tsi yesti I used it as a canoe (but no longer), perfective of -?i to do, make with the dclassifier (?35c).