UNIT 1: ɯ̀r “Spring”, Lesson 1: Uk i: bila?

Aim: By the end of the lesson, students should be able to ask and answer “what is your/his/her name?” and introduce themselves.  Additionally, they should be able ask and answer “kire/ture/qare akus?” for a few simple neuter nouns.

Story: Imagine you have been taken back in time to before the 20^th century, when Ket was used as a primary means of communication along the middle Yenisei river and its tributaries.  As you reflect on the coolness of the Ket language and culture, you float down the river in a small boat made of birchbark.  The Yenisei river has just begun to flow after its winter freeze, and there are still pieces of ice floating in the water.  The weather is sunny but cold, and there is still snow on the ground.  As you travel down the river you meet a friendly man on the shore.  He is putting up some sort of structure on the riverside.  He greets you in Ket. 

Dialog: ????: Bǝ’j-o:! (addressing a man) Kǝla-a:! (addressing a woman)

You: Bǝ’j-o:!  Uk i: bila?

????: Ap i: Dahaniŋ.  Uk i: bila?

You: A:p i: __________________.   Ture akus?

Dahaniŋ: Kire ap qu’s.  Ture uk qa’p?

You: E’!

Grammar

1.      VOCATIVE POSTPOSITION: We can call out to our friends by saying their name + o:! (masculine) or a:! (feminine).  If you are calling to a woman who is not in view, you change vocative particle to ə:!

a.       Since Ket has no direct translation to “hello”, we can make a friendly greeting to someone we don’t know by saying bu’j- o:! or kǝla-a:!.  This translates literally to “hey friend!”

2.      INTRODUCTIONS: We can ask someone’s name with U:k i: bila? Or literally, “Your name how?”

3.      DEMONSTRATIVES: We can ask what something is by saying Kire/ture akus? Or literally “This/that what?”

Vocabulary:

Nouns
Bǝ’j m.		Friend (male)
Kǝla f.		Friend (female)
I:		Name
Qu’s		Birchbark teepee
Qa’p		Birchbark boat
Hɯssej		Forest
Se:s		River
Ke’t		Person, man
Pronouns
A:t	I	Ap	My
U:	You	Uk	Your
Bu:	S/he	Bud	His/her
Other
Kire		This
Ture		That (nearby)
Qare		That (far away)
Akus		What
E’		Yes
Bə:n		No

Exercise

Translate:

1.      Uk i: bila? ______________________

2.      Bud i: bila? ______________________

3.      Kire uk qa’b? _________________________

4.      Ture ap qu’s? ________________________________

5.      Kire se:s? ______________________________

6.      Ture hɯssej? ______________________________

7.      How do you greet a woman whose name you don’t know (assuming you can see her)?

8.      How do you greet a man whose name you don’t know?

Ket Alphabet and Tones

            Ket has a phonemic inventory—that is, an inventory of sounds—that’s pretty different from what we have in English, and quite different from what most people are used to.  In our discussions on this blog we’ll be using the following alphabet for the Ket language, developed by Vajda et al. (2014)

ətn ostɨʁanbes diriŋbetn! (We write in Ket!)

Ket Letter with Variants	Example (“Is for…”)	English Meaning of Example
Aa [æ, a, ɑ]	A:t	“I”
Bb [b]	Bə:n	“No, not”
Dd [d] *In between vowels /d/à[ ɾ] represented by “r”.  See US English “butter”	Dɯ:l	“Child”
Ee [e, ɛ]	E’	“Yes”
ə [ə, ʌ, ɤ]	ətn	“We”
Gg [ɣ, g] *Intervocalic/word-final and postvocalic pre-obstruent allophones of /k/	Tag(im) [taɣ(im)] Tìg [tìɣ] qɔgd [qɔgdi]	“(It is) white” “Swan” “Autumn”
Hh [h]	Hɯna	“Small”
Ii [i]	I:m	“Pine nut”
ɯ [ɯ]	ɯ:n(am)	“two (of them)”
Jj [j]	Jelok	“Yelogui” (a river of Central Siberia)
Kk [k]	Ku’	“Soot, embers”
Ll [tɬ, l, ɬ] *Word-initial [tɬ] *Intervocalic [l] *Word-final [ɬ]	La’q [tɬa’q] Allel [al:e ɬ]	“Selkup” “female family guardian spirit”
Mm [m]	Mamul	“Milk” lit. “Breast-water”
Nn [n]	Na’n	“Flatbread made from dried lily bulb” Nowadays made from bread flour.
Ŋŋ [ŋ]	Ba’ŋ	“Earth”
Oo [o, ɔ]	O:p	“Father, Dad”
Pp [p] *Word-final allophone of /b/	Ap	“My”
Qq [qχ, ʁ, q]	Qu’ [qχu’] Aqta(m) [aʁta(m)] lә̄q [tɬә̄’q]	“Mouth of river” “(It is) good” “Animal pelts”
Rr [ɾ] *intervocalic allophone of /d/	Kire	“this”
Ss [s]	Súùl	“Sled”
Tt [t] *allophone of /d/	Ti:p	“dog”
Uu [u]	U:	“You”
Vv [v] *intervocalic allophone of /v/	Ovaŋ	Parents

            Ket also has four tones that we should be aware of.  Just like in Chinese, a word’s meaning can change if you get the tone wrong—so be careful!  Also, tone is lost before suffixes, so in longer words we usually don’t use our tones, at least as prominently:

High Even	Qo:j E:n E:s E: A:t	“uncle, aunt” “now” “sky god” “iron” “I”
Glottalized	Qo'j E’n E’s E’ A’t	“wish” “pine trees” “wooden nail” “Yes!” “bone, body part (coll. Relative)”
Rising-Falling	Qóòj	“neighboring”
Falling	Qòj	Bear
No tone or marker	D-(qoj)-olboksibed	“I get turned into (a bear)” (a phrase that could in fact be conceivably used by a Ket shaman!)

            Now that we have the basics of Ket pronunciation down, let’s get to the fun part.