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In Nez Perce, the subject of a sentence and the
object can each be marked with a
called
a case-marker. This tells whether the word in
question is the subject or the object. This
strategy of differentiating subject from object
is found in most languages; consider English
'I', a subject only, versus 'me', an object.)
Nez Perce employs a strategy called three-way
case-marking; this means that a transitive
subject, transitive object, and intransitive
subject are all marked differently. Because Nez
Perce subjects and objects carry morphemes
revealing their function in the sentence, the
word order can be quite free. For example, in
English one says "I saw him" but not "I him
saw," "him I saw," "him saw I," "saw I him," or
"saw him I"; in Nez Perce, one may say the
equivalent of any of these. The word order tells
what is new information (focus) versus old
information (topic), but it does not tell which
noun is subject and which is object, unlike in
English.
A Nez Perce verb can have the meaning of an
entire sentence in English. This manner of
providing a great deal of information in one
word is called 'polysynthesi Verbal morphemes
provide information about the person and number
of the subject and object, as well as tense and
aspect (whether or not an action has been
completed, e.g.). In fact, so much information
is provided by the verb that nouns can often be
left out of sentences. The example "I saw him"
would probably be translated as one word, a
verb, whose morphemes would be the equivalent of
I-him-see-past.
The of Nez Perce includes a
phenomenon known as
, as well as a complex stress
system described by Crook (1999).
Nez Perce is a highly endangered language. While
sources differ on the exact number of fluent
speakers, it is almost definitely under 100. The
Nez Perce tribe is endeavoring to reintroduce
the language into native usage through a
revitalization program, though at present the
future of the Nez Perce language is far from
assured.
Credits to Eliza for all her work on the Nez
Perce Language Page |
