By English WORD or PHRASE
By Lenape WORD or PHRASE
Alënixsitàm!
Let's
Talk Lenape!
Lesson
5
Building sentences - While one word in Lenape can mean a whole
sentence in English here are a few small words to help create sentences:
alëmi to
begin
hàch (some speakers
said hèch) (indicates a question)
konaèt maybe
ktite you
think
ntite I think
xu will;
shall (future marker)
Now
let’s put some short sentences about weather together:
Alëmi sukëlan It’s
beginning to rain
Sukëlan hàch? Is
it raining?
Wine hàch? Is
it snowing?
Xu sukëlan It
will rain
Ntite xu sukëlan I
think it will rain
Ktite hàch xu sukëlan? Do you think it will rain?
Konaèt xu sukëlan Maybe
it will rain
More sentences can be made by
replacing sukëlan with kshëlànte (hot day),
kùmhòkòt (cloudy), and most
of the words above. This should give you
a possibility of 90+ sentences.
Making Plurals of
Lenape Nouns:
It
is important in any language to learn how to form the plural forms for the
words, and that is what we will discuss at this point for Lenape. Formation of the plurals is fairly regular
and simple in Lenape, and here are the basic rules. We will try to use some of the nouns that we
have already gone over in previous classes.
One
thing to understand in the formation of plurals in Lenape is that you need to
remember which words are Animate and which are Inanimate. As stated in earlier lessons this is usually
pretty straightforward in that anything living is animate, while anything not
living is inanimate. We say “usually”
because as with any language there are exceptions to the rules. An example would be the Lenape word for
bucket, hus, which is borrowed from Dutch and is considered animate, as are
many of the early loanwords.
Animate
Nouns:
1. The regular plural ending for Animate Nouns
is [-àk]. Examples:
Singular Plural English
pushis
pushisàk cats
tipas
tipasàk chickens
ahas
ahasàk crows
hus
husàk buckets
2. For words
ending with –e the Animate Plural is [-yok].
Examples:
mwekane
mwekaneyok dogs
uche
ucheyok flies
chinkwe
chinkweyok bobcats
When the plural ending is added to a word which ends in [–w], the [–w] and the [–àk] combine to make [-ok]. Examples:
xanikw
xanikok squirrels
òpinkw
òpinkok opossums
4. For words ending
with –m the Animate Plural is [-
chikënëm
chikënëmuk turkeys
aihàm
aihàmuk golden eagles
5. For words ending
with –im (usually the names for fruits and nuts) the word takes no plural. Examples:
wisahkim
wisahkim grape(s)
wtehim
wtehim strawberry(s)
Inanimate Nouns:
1. The regular
plural for Inanimate Nouns is [-a]. Some examples are:
ahsën
ahsëna rocks
ahpòn
ahpòna bread(s)
lokèns
lokènsa dishes
salàpòn
salàpòna frybread(s)
2. For words
ending with –e the Inanimate Plural is [-yo].
Examples:
kitahtëne
kitahtëneyo big mountains
3. When the plural
ending is added to a word which ends in [–w], the [–w] and the [–a] combine to
make [-o]. For example:
skikw
skiko blades of grass
hàkhàkw
hàkhàko bottles
Some Lenape Loanwords From Dutch:
Some
of the earliest Europeans to meet the Lenape were the Dutch, and some of their
words for things new to the Lenape people were borrowed. Here are some examples:
Lenape Dutch English
halpànkël half anker barrel
hèmpës hemd shirt; skirt
kënup knoop button
mòkël moker hammer
pan’kuk pannekoek pancake
putël boter butter
shëmìt
(or) shmìt smid blacksmith
shkëp schop playing card
shukël suiker sugar
The Swedes settled
in the southern area of the Lenape homeland ( Lënapehòkink) and at least one
word was borrowed by the Lenape:
tipas tippa (word
to call chickens) chicken