Arapaho Use of Animals in Former Times (4 sentences)

(The following brief story was written by native Arapaho speakers, for children. It is extracted from a children’s dictionary of animal names. The translation was done by the Arapaho speakers as well. The linguistic analysis and pitch accent marks were done by Dr. Andrew Cowell, University of Colorado, after re-elicitation from a native speaker. Surface forms have simply been divided into grammatical or lexical morphemes and noun/verb stems on the second line: no underlying forms are given.)

téécxo’ hinóno’éíno’, tih’íínoo’éí3i’,

teecxo’ hinono’ei-no’ tih-’iinoo’ei-3i’

long ago Arapaho-PL when.PAST-hunt(AI)-3p

‘a long time ago, when Arapahos used to hunt,

tih’ííne’etiiwóohú3i’, nih’iinóonóyoo3óó3i’

tih-’iine’etiiwoohu-3i’ nih-’ii-noo-noyoo3-oo3i’

when.PAST-make living(AI)-3p PAST-HABIT-REDUP-trap(TA)-3p/3p’

when they made a living for themselves, they trapped

cése’ehíího.

cese’ehii-ho

wild animal-PL.OBV

wild animals.’

nohcí’nih’iinóónoyéí3i’ niiciihéhe’ noh ni’éci’.

noh=ci’=nih-’ii-noo-noyei-3i’ niicii-hehe’ noh ni’ec-i’

and-also-PAST-HABIT-REDUP-fish(AI)-3p river-LOC and lake-LOC

‘and also, they fished in the rivers and lakes.’

nuh’úúno notóyeicii nenééniní’i nihí’iitéíxo’oní3i’

nuh’-uuno notoyeic-ii neneeni-ni’i nih-i’-ii-iteixo’oni-3i’

this-PL hide-PL it-PL PAST-INSTR-HABIT-have clothes(AI)-3p

‘they used hides for their clothing

noh nihí’iiyeih’í3i’.

noh nih-i’-ii-iyeih’i-3i’

and PAST-INSTR-HABIT-have shelter(AI)-3p

and their homes.’

né’nih’iisííne’etiiwóohú3i’.

ne’=nih-’iis-iine’etiiwoohu-3i’

that-PAST-how-make living(AI)-3p

‘that is how they lived.’