Pawnee Language Learning

ti - positive statement marker

ku - I [tiku has been described as meaning, “something is happening to me”]

rictak - back [back by itself is rictâku’. The ‘u’ is dropped when using it in a sentence and the long ‘â’ sound changes to a short ‘a’ sound.]. [c = ‘ts’ sound]

ta’âri’ - hurting/ aching

ti - positive statement marker

ku - I [tiku has been described as meaning, “something is happening to me”]

kara - stomach [stomach by itself is karâru’. The ‘u’ is dropped when using it in a sentence and the long ‘â’ sound changes to the short ‘a’ sound.]

ta’âri’ - hurting / aching [-ta’âri’ and -ra’âri’ mean the same thing]

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tikupaksta’âri’ - My head is hurting/ I have a headache.

ti - positive statement marker

ku - I [tiku has been described as meaning, “something is happening to me”]

paks - head [head by itself is paksu’. The ‘u’ is dropped when using it in a sentence]

ta’âri - hurting [-ra’âri’ and -ta’âri’ mean the same thing]

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**karara’âri’ - Are you hurting/ aching?

kara - yes/no question marker

a - you

ra’âri - hurting/ aching [ra’âr is the dictionary form of the verb; -a’âri is the Incomplete Form of a verb, meaning the action is not yet complete, it’s still happening, roughly equivalent to the -ing form of an English verb.]

**âhû’, tikura’âri’ - Yes, I am hurting. (Southband dialect)

**hâ’u’, tikura’âri’ - Yes, I am hurting. (Skidi dialect)

âhu’ - yes (Southband dialect) / hâ’u’ - yes (Skidi dialect)

ti - positive statement marker

ku - I

ra’âri’ hurting/ aching

**kâkî, kâkikura’âri’ - No, I am not hurting.

kâkî - no

kâki - negative statement marker

ku - I

ra’âri’ - hurting/ aching

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čûsu’ - nose/ snout. [č = ‘ch’ sound]

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âka’u’ - mouth (Southband dialect)

hâka’u’ - mouth (Skidi dialect)

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tîtkahârihûrit - he/she has big ears, meaning he or she likes to overhear what people say, likes to eavesdrop, is “all ears".” [There is no grammatical difference between “he” and “she” in the Pawnee language.]

Nora Pratt says, "tîtkahârihûrit"

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âtkahâru’ - ear (Southband dialect)

itkahâru’ - ear (Skidi dialect)

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kîrîku’ - eye

kîrîkî - bright eyes, happy eyes; a common nickname for little girls

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ikskîcu - finger. [iksu’= hand; kîcu’= neck]

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