Lesson #6: Sik bremaŋ, ɨnam ekam ko qibaŋ

Lesson 6: Sik bremaŋ, ɨnam ekam qo qibaŋ

Goal: Students introduced to Ket seasons and nomadizing patterns.  Learn cardinal and ordinal numbers to twenty, as well as months of the year.

Vocab
Time, season: Brema (from Russian vremja)
Month, moon: Qib
Every: Kasna
Day's journey: Itaŋ (i' "day" + taŋ "drag")
Year: Sɨ
Autumn: Qogd(i)
Winter: Kət
Spring: ɨr
Summer: Sil
Cold: Ta'j
Hunting grounds: Kəjbaŋ kə'j "go out" + ba'ŋ "earth"
Together: Qujbaŋ
Now: En

Numbers:
1: Qus, Quk
2: ɨn
3: doŋ
4: Sik
5: Qak
6: As
7: O'n (this word also means "many")
8: ɨnam bənsaŋ qo (lit. two from ten)
9: qusam bənsaŋ qo
10: qo
20: e'k

Months: There are two ways to name the months in Ket: the first is to use the recent Russian loan + qib.  But that's no fun, and it keeps us from learning about what happened at different times throughout the traditional Ket year.

January: Qà holan eqŋ qib "The big short-days month"

February: Qaetaŋ qib "the elk migration month" (qaj "elk" + itaŋ "day of nomadizing" + qib)

March: Diqib "eagle month" (di' "eagle")

April: Qonɨb "chipmunk month" (qo'p "chipmunk)

May: Qudebəlqib "Pike Spawning Month"

June: Danqib "Grass month".  Unfortunately, this was also known as qalas qib "tribute month".

July: The first half was known as Kubənnaqib "dabbling ducks' month".  The second half was Ulbənna qib "diving ducks' month".  Also, su-sil qib "midsummer month" or Sulaŋtaŋ qib "white salmon fishing month"

August: Sujdəqŋ qib "mosquitoes-living month", or Eltij qib "berry-picking month"

September: əŋdeqŋqib "falling leaves month"

October: Ba'ŋtelqib "earth-freezing month"

November: Tabeiŋqib "dogs-hunting month"

December: Həna holan eqŋ qib "the small short-days month"

Grammar: Ket numerals can be suffixed to predicate form with "-am" with the meaning "it is" when standing by themselves (for instance, when counting we can say "qusam, ɨnam, doŋam...".  We can also use this with interrogative Anun "how many", but if we say the name of the thing we're counting, we drop -am suffix.  For example:

A: Tune isan anun? ("How many fish are those?")

B: Doŋam. ("Three of them")

But:

A: Tune isan anun?

B: Tune doŋ isan. ("Those are three fish")

Ordinal numbers add the nominalizer -s to the predicate.  This gives us words like qusamas "first", ekamas "twentieth", etc.  

For constructions between 11 and 17, we can say (number) ekam qo "beyond ten".  18 and 19 are subtracted from twenty the same way 8 and 9 are from ten.  Therefore, sikam ekam qo "fourteen", asam ekam qokamas "sixteenth", qusam bənsaŋ ekam "there are nineteen".

Lesson: Read this piece about the Ket year, and answer the questions.  Keep an eye out for adessive postposition -diŋta, which as we've discussed is often used instead of locative when discussing some non-sentient location.  There's a translation into English after the questions, but don't look at it unless you really need it!

Ostɨkanna Utis Deŋna Sɨ: Qukamas brema ɨr.  Ostɨganna utis de'ŋ qusqa dukadaqan.  ɨnamas brema sil.  Kasna sil de'ŋ aseleneŋqa dukadaqan.  Sil suj baŋdiŋta, haj utis de'ŋ sesdiŋta.  Qogd, kət haj ɨr buŋ hɨssejdiŋnta.  Doŋamas brema qogd.  En utis de'ŋ haj qusqa.  Sikamas brema kət.  Kət qà ta'j!  Am haj dɨlgit baŋŋusqa dukadakan.  Ob haj qà higbiséèbaŋ bən qaseŋ--buŋ kəjbaŋdiŋta.

1. Kasna qogd utis de'ŋ aseleneŋqa dukadaqan?

2. Ostɨkan kasna sil biseŋ?

3. Sil baŋdiŋta akus?

4. Kasna kət baŋŋusqa anetaŋ?

5. Kət ob, qà higbiséèbaŋ biseŋ?

English:

A Ket Family's Year: The first season is spring.  Every spring the Ket family lives in a birchbark teepee.  The second season is summer.  Every summer people live in houseboats.  In summer mosquitoes are on the land, and the family is on the river.  In fall, winter and spring they're in the forest.  Now, also, the family lives in a birchbark teepee.  The fourth season is winter.  Winter is very cold!  The mother and kids stay in the earthen shelter.  Dad and the older brothers aren't there--they're at the hunting grounds.

Homework: Here are some number questions.  I've phrased them as simple math problems, e.g. "how much is three from seven?".  Try to find the proper names for the numbers, even if the true ket name for the number translates to something like "two from ten!"  (Hint: remember that ekam "beyond, plus" is different from ekam "there are twenty".  You can tell which is which by position in the sentence.)

1. Sikam bənsaŋ ekam anun?

2. Onam ekam asam anun?

3. Doŋam ekam qo anun?

4. ɨnam bənsaŋ onam anun?

5. qusam bənsaŋ qo bənsaŋ qakam ekam qo anun?