okupona

Wauja

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɨˌku.pɨˈna/

Noun

okupona

1. name (esp. a personal name identifying a specific person or place)

   Katsa umapai pityupona?

   What is your name?

   Aitsa nagatapai okupona. Numatukojo.

   I do not utter his name. [He's] my father-in-law.

   Kanai katou no?

   Katsa onai ha yi, tya! Itsatai yai nu jano... Itsatai jano han, itsatai han. Katebe agatakona okupwona nejo ya han, umakona, aitsa wa han.

   [Audience member interrupting a storyteller:] Where was this, anyway? [Where did it happen?]

   [Storyteller:] Where indeed! I wonder myself. What I have told you is all that I know... That's how the story goes, that's just how it is. It's not as if long ago people spoke the name of that place, as if they said, that indeed is the name. It's not like that.

Usage notes

• This noun is obligatorily possessed. That is, the noun must be inflected to identify who is the possessor.

References

• "Kanai katou no" uttered by Peyeeto and his father Aruta, storyteller and elder, recounting traditional Wauja tale, "The Caiman Spirit" (Yakaojokuma). Recorded in Piyulaga village in the presence of assembled elders and others, November 1989, transcript p. 11.
• Other examples from E. Ireland field notes. Need to be checked by native speaker.