Nouns 7 -Building Nouns

Some kinds of words may be constructed on the fly using pre-established patterns. Productive word formation is similar in a way to using prenouns but uses other word structures than prenouns.

Delaware Stem Morphology, by John O’Meara, is an excellent resource for this topic.

(1) Building nouns related to the meat of an animal:

Adding (eewakw) to an animal noun stem forms a new inanimate noun meaning ‘meat of that animal’

(animal noun stem)-(eewakw)   

na kóowuy                   
that cow  

nu kooyéewakw          
that beef  

atóh                              
deer  

atohéewakw                
venison  

kooshkoosh                  
pig  

kooshkooshéewakw   
pork (meat)  

kiikíipush                     
chicken  

kiikiipushéewakw       
chicken meat  

puléew                           
turkey  
turkey meat = 

wiíxcheew 
wolf  
wolf meat =

máxkw   
bear meat =

psakwulúnjeew           
squirrel  
squirrel meat =

mooshkíingwus
rabbit

nehnayóongus
horse

éespan
raccoon

amóxkw
beaver

poxkăpíishush
chipmunk

meeméekush
sheep

meeméekushush
lamb

(2) Build a house:

Adding (iikan) to a noun stem makes an inanimate noun meaning house made from that noun

(noun stem)-(iikan)   

Examples

asuníikaan                       
'stone house'   

pasiikaaxkwíikaan         
'board house'   

wshapakwiiwaníikaan   
tent'  cloth-house  

Build your own using these words:

log house
school house
cookie house
dog house

saalaak
ni log

shkóol
school

Shookulapwáanush
cookie

mwaakaneew
dog

(4) Building excrement nouns

Adding (chuy) to a noun stem makes an inanimate noun meaning excrement of that noun

(noun stem)-(chuy)   

Examples

mwaakanéewchuy   
(mwaakaneew)-(chuy)  
dog-excrement  

kiikīipshuchuy     
(kiikiipush)-u-(chuy)  
Chicken droppings  

nehnayóongsuchuy   
(nehnayoongus)-u-(chuy)  
Horse dung  

Build your own using these words:

mooshkíingwus
rabbit

nehnayóongus
horse

éespan
raccoon

amóxkw
beaver

poxkăpíishush
chipmunk

meeméekush
sheep

meeméekushush
lamb

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