Mahican VTA Independent Indicative Local Forms

 

VTA You-Me and Me-You Forms, also called local forms, allow one to say things like “I love you” and “You love me.”
These local forms, unlike the direct and inverse modes which have one mandatory 3rd person participant, do not involve any third person participants. No obviative markings therefore are present in local forms.

Overview of Local Forms

Me-You Forms You-Me Forms
1st sg Subject 1st pl Subject 2nd sg Subject 2nd pl Subject
I —- you We —- you You —- me You (pl) —- me
I —- you (pl) We —- you (pl) You —- us You (pl) —- us

These are formed using the general template :

(prefix)-(stem)-(direction marker)-(endings)  

The ‘you-me’ direction marker is (ii)
‘Me-you’ uses (un)
All local forms use the (ku) prefix except local conjunct forms because conjunct forms do not use prefixes. (to be described later)

You-Me Forms

You-me forms in the indicative mode add m endings to the (ii) direction marker. The (m) is omitted in Mahican so the final long vowel (ii) becomes (ih)

VTA Indicative You-Me Forms

Participants Paradigm
You —- me ku-(stem)-ih
You (pl) —- me ku-(stem)-íhmah
You —- us ku-(stem)-íhnah
You (pl) —- us ku-(stem)-íhnah
Kŭnāāwih. 
You see me.  

Kuyah kiisih-nāāwih?  
Are you able to see me?

Kŭnāāwíhmah. 
You (pl) see me.  

Kŭnāāwíhnah.  
You or you (pl) see us.  

You-me negatives

(ku)-(stem)-(ii)-(wii)-(m ending)

VTA Indicative You-Me Negative Forms

Participants Paradigm
You —- me not ustah ku-(stem)-iiw
You (pl) —- me not ustah ku-(stem)-iiwíhmah
You —- us not ustah ku-(stem)-iiwíhnah
You (pl) —- us not ustah ku-(stem)-iiwíhnah
Kuyah ustah kunāāwíiw. 
You see me not.  

Ustah kunāāwiiwíhmah. 
You (pl) see me not.  

Kŭnāāwiiwíhnah. 
You or you (pl) see us.  

Me-You Forms

Me-you forms in the indicative mode add m endings to the (un) direction marker.

VTA Indicative Me-You Forms

Participants Paradigm
Me, I —- you ku-(stem)-un
Me, I —- you (pl) ku-(stem)-unhmah
We —- you ku-(stem)-unhnah
We —- you (pl) ku-(stem)-unhnah
Wąąk=chih kŭnāāwun. 
I'll see you later.  

Kŭnāāwunhmah. 
I see you (pl).  

Kŭnāāwunhnah. 
We see you or you (pl).  

Ktúnun.  I told you so. 

Negative Me-You Forms

These form as if AI stems ending in –un
(ku)-(stem)-(un)-(oowii)-(ending)

VTA Indicative Me-You Negative Forms

Participants Paradigm
Me, I —- you not ustah ku-(stem)-unóow
Me, I —- you (pl) not ustah ku-(stem)-unoowíhmah
We —- you not ustah ku-(stem)-unoowíhnah
We —- you (pl) not ustah ku-(stem)-unoowíhnah
Ustah kŭnāāwunóow.  
I see you not.  

Ustah kŭnāāwunoowíhmah. 
We see you (pl) not.  

Ustah ktunŭnóowih.   
I did not tell you so. 

VTA Indicative Me-You Special Cases

Structure Form
ku-(stem-aw)-un ku-(stem)-āān
ku-(stem-uw)-un ku-(stem)-oon
ku-(stem-x)-un ku-(stem)-xoon
ku-(stem-h)-un ku-(stem)-hoon

Examples:

wunuθtawāāw vta believe s.o.
pāāsuwāāw vta bring s.o. (pāāshuwāāw)
kwxāāw vta fear s.o.
anihāāw vta treat s.o. so

Koonθutāān. 
I believe you. 

Kpāāsoonhmah. 
I brought you (pl). 

Kwaxoonhnah. 
We fear you. 

Ktunihoon.
I treated you so. 

Subordinatives

Subordinatives form as if AI stems in –ii and in –un

Nan kŭnāāwiin.   
Then you saw me.  

Nan kŭnāāwiināāwah.   
Then you (pl) saw me.  

Nan kŭnāāwíināānah.   
Then you saw us.  

Nan ustah kŭnāāwíiwun.  
Then you saw me not.  

Nan kunāāwŭnun.   
Then I saw you.  

Nan kunāāwununāāwah.   
Then I saw you (pl).  

Nan kunāāwunúnāānah.   
Then we saw you.  

Yahah ustah kunāāwunoowun.   
Then I saw you not.  

Stems ending in (aw) contract with (un) to (āān) then (un) is added to form (āānun)

Nan koonθutóonun. 
Then I believed you.  
(ku)-(wunuθtaw)-(un)-(un)  

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