Nouns

Nouns may be inflectable or, as most are, non-inflectable.

The former group inflects for person and number. It contains names of body parts and kin terms, which must inflect, and a few other personal possessions, with option inflection. The person markers are nk- for the first person, ay- second person, and Ø- for the third person.

They may be pluralized with the marker -tu. The noun's number itself is not marked explicitly.

Examples of inflected nouns are below:

dodi 'throat'

ndodi 'my throat'

idodi 'your throat'

doxtu 'their throats'

adi 'father'

iyadi 'your father'

nkaxtu 'our father'

Here are examples of optionally-inflected nouns:

ti~ati 'house'

nkti/nkati 'my house'

doxpe 'shirt'

idoxpe 'your shirt'

Personal pronouns are formed by inflecting the root indi for person and number. (It may once also have been done by the demonstratives he and de.) Pronouns are always optional, and are emphasis. Singular pronouns may occur as either the subject or the object, but the plurals are always subjects (see -daha).

1. In free variation with ind and int before /h/
2. In free variation with įxt before /h/

Biloxi has two common demonstratives: de 'this' and he 'that'. They may be marked for plurality as denani and henani, but that is very rare since they are used if plurality is unmarked elsewhere, and it is marked on the verb in noun phrases with classificatory verbs:

ąya atąhį amą de 'these running men'

Verbs

Verbs inflect for person (1st, 2nd, 3rd), number (singular vs. plural), and mode (many possibilities, including some less-well understood mode markers).

Morphemes within verbs have the following order:

1. Very occasionally an enclitic will proceed -tu, e.g. supi xti tu 'they are very black'.

Verbs may either be classificatory or normal. Classificatory verbs specify the subject's position (sitting, standing, etc.) and differ from normal verbs in that the first person is not inflected for person.

Inflection for person and number is identical to inflected nouns:

nk- 1st person

ay- 2nd person

Ø- 3rd person

-tu pluralizes referent of prefix (not used for inanimate subjects)

Because of the rules determining the surface manifestations of some combinations of person markers, 2nd person on 1st and 3rd person on 1st forms are identical, e.g. yaxtedi 'you hit me, he hit me'. Also, 2nd person subj., 2nd person on 3rd, and 3rd person on 2nd are identical, e.g. idǫhi 'you see, you see him, they see you'.

-tu marks animate plurality (except with some motion verbs).

įkcatu ni 'we have not forgotten you'

nkyehǫtu ni 'we did not know'

However, -tu is not used:

1. In the presence of the plural auxiliary yuke 'are':

   dǫhi yuke 'they were looking at it'

2. When the sentence has already been marked as plural:

   aditu ką, hidedi nedi 'they climbed up, and were falling continually'

3. If it is followed by a plural motion verb:

   dą kahi hą 'they took it and were returning'

Some (but not all) verbs of motion mark plurality with the prefix a- inserted directly before the root:

de 'he goes'

nkade 'we go', ayade 'you (pl.) go', ade 'they go'

kide 'he goes homeward'

xkade 'we go homeward'

But there are counterexamples (even ones derived from the same roots):

kade 'he goes thither'

xkadetu 'we go thither', ikadetu 'you (pl.) go thither'

daha marks plural objects when they are not specified elsewhere. It comes after -tu and before all mode markers.

Examples:

de ya daha 'he sent them'

yacǫ daha ǫni 'she named them (in the past)'

There are two examples of daha being reduced to ha:

įkte ha dande 'I will kick you (pl.)'

nyiku ha dande 'I will give it to you (pl.)'

a- may be added to some verb roots to mark an unspecified indefinite object:

ki 'carry on back'

nkaki 'I carried something on my back'

da 'gather'

nkada 'I gather things'

Nouns

Nouns may be derived either through nominalizing verbs or by compounding.

Verbs are nominalized via the prefix a-:

sǫ 'sharp at all ends'

asǫ 'briar'

duti 'eat'

aduti 'food'

Compound nouns may either be formed by combining two nouns or a noun and a verb. (Some morphophonemic rules are involved, see above.)

noun + noun:

||cindi + aho|| > /cindaho/ 'hip + bone' = 'hip bone'

||peti + ti|| > /petiti/ 'fire + house' = 'fireplace'

noun + verb:

||sǫpxi + ǫni|| > /sǫpxǫni/ 'flour + make' = 'wheat'

||ąyadi + ade|| > /ąyadiade/ 'people + talk' = 'language'

Pronouns

For the personal pronoun indi, see above. įkowa may be used as a reflexive pronoun. It is possible that both of these, and perhaps the reflexive pronoun -įxki- (see below) are derived from a root in.

Interrogatives

A number of interrogatives come from the prefix ca- (with vowel elision following morphophonemic rules):

cak~caką 'where?'

cane 'where (stands)?'

canaska 'how long?'

cehedą 'how high, tall, deep?'

cidike 'which, how, why?'

cina~cinani 'how many'

Some are derived from pronouns:

kawa 'something, anything'

kawak 'what?'

cina 'a few, many'

cinani 'how many?'

Verbs

Verbal derivation may occur by root derivation (reduplication and compounding) or stem derivation (thematic prefixes, dative markers, reciprocals, reflexives, and instrumentals.)

Adverbs

Adverbs may be derived from connectives, pronouns, and verbs and particles via a number of affixes:

Connectives

There are various instances of derived connectives:

e- 'and (?), the aforesaid (?)'

ehą ||e + hą|| 'and then'

eką ||e + ką|| 'and then'

eke ||e + ke||(?) 'and so'

eke 'so' (probably derived itself, see above)

ekedi ||eke + di|| 'that is why'

ekehą ||eke + hą|| 'and then'

ekeką ||eke + ką|| 'and then'

ekeko ||eke + ko|| 'well'

ekeǫnidi ||eke + ǫni + di|| 'therefore'

Numerals

Derived numbers contain predictable vowel syncope (see above).

1. may be derived from ||nǫpa + ahudi|| 'two + bones' and ||dani + ahudi|| 'three + bones'

11-19 are derived via the formula 'X sitting on Y' ('Y Xaxehe').

20-99 are derived via the formula 'X sitting on Y Zs' ('Z Y Xaxehe')

1. shows up twice as kįkįke

Ordinal numerals (1st, 2nd, 3rd) are not attested. To express 'once', 'twice', 'three times', etc.', use the verb de 'to go' before cardinal numbers:

de sǫsa 'once'

de nǫpa 'twice'

de dani 'three times'

de topa 'four times'

de ksani 'five times'

To form multiplicatives, use akipta 'to double' before cardinal numbers:

akipta nǫpa 'twofold'

akipta dani 'threefold'

akipta topa 'fourfold'

akipta ohi 'tenfold'

akipta tsipa 'one hundredfold'

Interjectory particles

aci 'o no!'

he he 'hello!'

nu: 'help!'

ux 'pshaw!'

Animal cries

a: a: 'caw'

pes pes 'cry of the tiny frog'

taǫ 'cry of the squealer duck'

tį 'cry of the sapsucker'

Vocatives

Vocatives are almost always unmarked:

kǫkǫ 'O grandmother!'

kǫni 'O mother!'

cidikuna 'Oh Cidikuna!'

There are only three exceptions:

tata 'Oh father!' (suppletive – the regular stem meaning 'father' is adi)

nyąxohi 'Oh wife!' (literally 'my old lady')

nyąįcya 'Oh husband!' (literally 'my old man')

Adverbial particles

Some particles:

tohanak 'yesterday'

emą 'right there'

eyą 'there'

kiya 'again'

yąxa 'almost'

(Also, see "adverbs", above.)

Usage examples:

skakanadi ewitexti eyąhį yuhi 'the Ancient of Opossums thought he would reach there very early in the morning'

ekeką kiya dedi 'and then he went again'

ndao ku di 'come back here!' (male to female)

tohanak wahu 'yesterday it snowed'

Postpositional phrases

(For vowel elision, see above.)

Notes:

1. may have a base form yaski
2. less occurrences than kuya~okaya
3. eu here, an unexpected diphthong, is shortened ewa 'there'

Almost all of the above allow following de or yą. de has the expected meaning 'here' or 'this', while yą may be glossed 'the' or 'yonder'.

Prepositions are sometimes used without modifying a noun, becoming adverbial:

sąhį yą kiya nkǫ 'I do it again on the other side'

itka yą ustki 'to stand a tall object on something'

kuya kedi 'to dig under, undermine'

Multiplicatives

Such as:

de nǫpa 'twice'

de dani 'three times'

de topa 'four times'

Some interrogatives

1. derived from cina
2. cak and caką appear to be in free variation
3. occurs indicatively a few times, e.g. anahįk cinani kiduwe 'he untied some hair for her'

Nominal particles (np)

Biloxi has many nominal particles, and for the most part their function is unclear.

A non-exhaustive list:

yą

di

yandi

ką

-k

yąką

ko

Ø

For the most part it's unclear what conditions the use of a particular np (or ∅), but the following can be said:

1. ką, -k, yąk, yąką are only used with objects
2. yandi almost always is used with human nouns (with exception)
3. ko is used when the noun is a pronoun, when the main verb is stative, or when there is an interrogative present

Auxiliary constructions

Biloxi contains a defective auxiliary verb (h)andE/yukE (ande is used in singular, yuke for plural). By itself it may mean 'to be' or 'to stay', but with another verb it lends durativity. The plural marker -tu is not used with yuke since the defective form itself already serves to mark number.

When the auxiliary construction is used, both the main verb and the auxiliary are inflected.

Examples:

de ande 'he was departing'

iduti yayuke 'you (pl.) are eating'

Generally to express the negative the stem is negated, rather than the auxiliary:^[9]

kox ni yuke di 'they were unwilling'

kukuhi ni yuke 'they could not raise (it)'

Classificatory verbs

Biloxi contains five classificatory verbs, which indicate duration and position of the subject: (See above for morphophonemic explanation of ||mąki|| > /max/.)

nąki 'sitting'

kak ayǫk yąhi inąki wo 'what have you suffered that causes you to sit and cry?'

pa kidǫhi nąki 'she sat looking at her head'

mąki 'reclining', 'in a horizontal position'^[10]

įdahi ye daha max 'he continually sent for them'

naxe ąki 'he listened (reclining)'

plural form: mąxtu~amąki

dǫhi amąx ką 'while they were looking at him'

akikahį mąktu 'they were telling news to one another'

ne 'upright'

ta duxke ne ką 'he stood slaying the deer'

kawak iye inedi wo 'what were you saying as you stood?'

plural form: ne

ade ne di 'they were moving'

hine 'walking'

ąya ni hine ayehǫ ni 'do you know the walking man?'

tohoxkk ni hine ko toxka xe 'the walking horse is gray' (fem.)

ande 'running'

mani ande yą 'the (running) wild turkey'

ąya tąhį yande ayehǫ ni 'do you know the running man?'

They may be used alone as verbs (kuhik mąx ką 'when it was lying high') but often reinforce synonymous roots:

xe nąki 'she is sitting (sitting)'

tox mąki 'he was lying (lying)'

sįhįx ne 'it was standing (standing)'

ąya ni hine ayehǫ ni 'do you know the walking (walking) man?'

ąya tąhį yande ayehǫ ni 'do you know the running (running) man?'

They are used mostly with animates.^[11]

Classificatory verbs are only inflected for 2nd person (not 1st) when used as auxiliaries.

hamaki~amaki is used as the plural form for all five classificatory verbs (even optionally for mąki and ne, which have their own plural forms mąxtu~amąki and ne):

ąksiyǫ yamaki wo 'are you all making arrows?'

ca hanke te nkamaki na 'we wish to kill them' (masc.)

ąya nǫpa ci hamaki nkehǫ ni 'I know the two reclining men'

ąya nǫpa ni hamaki nkehǫ ni 'I know the two walking men'

ąya xaxaxa hamaki ayehǫ ni 'do you know all the standing men?'

Causatives

The causative verb ||YE|| comes after (uninflected) stems to form a causative construction. In first and second person ha (sometimes h if followed by a vowel, see 3.1 above) is inserted between the stem and ||YE||.

Examples:

• axehe hanke nąki na 'I have stuck it in (as I sit)' (masc.)
• ca hiyetu 'you kill them all'
• te ye 'he killed her'

Expanded verbs

Serial verb constructions occur with two or three verbs in sequence. All are of the same person and number, but only the final stem has suffixes:

nkǫ įkte xo 'I do it, I will hit you if...'

hane dusi duxke 'he found her, took her, and skinned her'

Co-ordinating

Subordinating

All subordinating connectives end the clause. ką is the most common by far and may be related to the np ką.