Talk:áłtsʼíísí
Latest comment: 10 years ago by Stephen G. Brown in topic etymology question
etymology question[edit]
Aren't all Navajo verb stems monosyllabic? Eirikr 16:35, 4 February 2014 (UTC)
- No, there are several stems with two syllables: -chʼį́į́dí (“to be few in number”); -chʼį́į́dii (“ghost, spirit”); -ghání (“nearby”); -ʼį́dí (“be brittle”); -kʼází (“cold”); -mąʼii (“coyote”); -tsází (“emaciated”); and so on. —Stephen (Talk) 08:10, 6 February 2014 (UTC)
- Apologies, I should have been clearer -- I believe verb roots are monosyllabic, based in part on my readings of Y&M and of Vajda. Looking at the verb stems above, I note that cold is also expressed in hakʼaz, which is clearly ha- + -kʼaz, indicating that the usually-nominalizing suffix -í does sometimes show up in verb stems, as also with -zhǫ́ in hózhǫ́, manifesting with the suffix in hózhóní and nizhóní. As such, I'm curious as to further analysis of verb stem -tsʼíísí into its apparent roots -tsʼíís (perhaps as at atsʼíís “body”, apparently related to atsįʼ “meat, flesh”?) + í, and how the term áłtsʼíísí came into its current meaning. ‑‑ Eiríkr Útlendi │ Tala við mig 01:44, 1 March 2014 (UTC)
- I don’t know that the last vowel in two-syllable stems comes from a nominalizing suffix at all; as far as I know these stems do not break down any further. In words such as hózhóní, the stem is not -zhóní, it is only -zhǫ́. I don’t know of any Athabaskan etymology sources that explain how the two-syllable stems came about. —Stephen (Talk) 14:12, 1 March 2014 (UTC)