8 Lesson 8: How are Language and Culture Related? (has activity)
Activity: Cherokee Classificatory Verbs (and really—Noun Classes)
Purposes:
- To practice analyzing data
- To examine the different ways in which languages divide up human lived experiences based on cultural worldview
- To introduce syntax!
- To introduce interlinear glosses format!
Background: About Cherokee
Cherokee is a Native American language from the Algonquian family. Cherokee was originally spoken in the region of North America that would become known as North Caroline and Tennessee. Cherokee is now spoken also in Oklahoma, due to forced removal in the 1830s under U.S. President Jackson, over a long walk from the original Cherokee homelands to then Indian Territory. This walk is known as the Trail of Tears. Cherokee is currently spoken by 2000 in Oklahoma and is considered endangered under the UNESCO language status classification system. Cherokee is a tonal language!
About Cherokee Classificatory Verbs
Certain verbs in Cherokee (or Tsalagi) are classificatory verbs. Classificatory verbs are verbs that must ‘agree’ with the referent noun (the noun that the verb refers to). In Cherokee, these verbs are ones for carrying, holding, eating, throwing, containing, hanging, falling, etc.—often verbs that involve doing things to things. Not all verbs are classificatory. Cherokee classificatory verbs must agree with either the subject of an intransitive sentence or the direct object of a transitive sentence. In the sentences below, direct objects are bolded. These are the nouns that the verbs must agree with. The verbs in Cherokee have special morphemes (bits of meaning) added to them to indicate the class of the noun.
About Transitivity!
Sentences can be intransitive, transitive or ditransitive.
- Intransitive = has a subject (agent/doer of action), but no object (recipient of the action).
- o Example: Jane ate.
- Transitive = has a subject and an object.
- o Example: Jane ate an apple.
- Ditransitive = has a subject and a direct object and an indirect object.
- o Example: Jane gave an apple to Sacha.
About Noun Classes
Some languages around the world divide up their nouns into classes. You might be familiar with some of these classes in the Indo-European language family, specifically in the Romance and Germanic sub-branches. In these languages, the noun classes often get called ‘gender’ because they ending used with them sometimes are also used to indicate the social gender of people. These classes are not really about ‘gender’ though, when talking about inanimate objects. I mean, in Spanish, why is a beard feminine? Or water masculine? These are really just classes of nouns. In Cherokee, these classes of nouns focus on the physical characteristics or animacy (aliveness) of the nouns.
The Data
This data is adapted from Blankenship (1997), unless otherwise indicated. The data is written in the Cherokee orthography. The ‘ symbol represents glottal stop. The data is simplified and much of the indication of tone is left off, to help you see the data more clearly. The referent noun is bolded. The verb class morpheme is highlighted in gray.
The data provided is given in the form of an interlinear gloss.
- The top line of each line of three represents the sounds, broken into words in the language (Cherokee).
- The second line is a morpheme-by-morpheme breakdown of all the bits of meaning in the sentence. The morphemes are lined up so you can see which bit of sound in the language has which bit of meaning.
- o You don’t need to know what everything in this line means yet. We will study these more later. But, here are a few key abbreviations: 3SG = 3rd person singular. So, 3SG>3SG means a third person singular subject (action) to a third person singular recipient object. PRES = present tense. Grammatical information in interlinear glosses is given in all caps.
- o The hyphens indicate which side a ‘bound morpheme’ must attach to something.
- The third line is a ‘free gloss’ or translation of the sentence. It does not match the syntax of the target language. Instead, it is written to make sense in the translation language.
Weesa ga- kaa- nee’a. This class might also be used with the nouns:
cat 3SG>3SG- VCLASS1- give:PRES dog, horse, baby, tree, a person
‘She is giving him a cat.’
Ama ga- neeh- nee’a. This class might also be used with the nouns:
water 3SG>3SG- VCLASS2- give:PRES coffee, milk, soda, tea, mercury at room temp
‘She is giving him water.’
Ahnawo ga- nvv- nee’a. This class might also be used with the nouns:
shirt 3SG>3SG- VCLASS3- give:PRES noodle, purse strap, cable, copper, aluminum,
‘She is giving him a shirt.’ young sapling
Gansda aa- d- ee’a. This class might also be used with the nouns:
stick 3SG>3SG- VCLASS4- give:PRES train, crutches, skyscraper, pencil, flag pole
‘She is giving him a stick.’
Kwana aa- h- nee’a. This category is more complicated! It might include:
peach 3SG>3SG- VCLASS5- give:PRES pine cone, acorn, ball, toilet paper roll
‘She is giving him a peach.’ And also… i-phone, idea, credit, thanks, forgiveness
Jvlvvsdati -d a- h- neeli.
job FUT- 3SG>3SG- VCLASS5- give:BENE:FUT
‘She is going to give him a job.’
Gado uuadi aa- hy- e’a?
what is.it 3SG>3SG- VCLASS5- hold:PRES
‘What is he holding?’
What To Do
- Analyze
- Based on the data above, what do you think the characteristics of the nouns that each of the five classificatory verb types must agree with in Cherokee are? Put another way—what are the five classes of nouns in Cherokee?
- Explain
- How do you think these noun classes/classificatory verbs reflect a Cherokee worldview? What do you think might have historically been important in their culture, based on this data?
References
Blankenship, B. (1997). Classificatory Verbs in Cherokee. Anthropological Linguistics 39(1): 92-110.
Kilarski, M. (2009) Cherokee Classificatory Verbs. Historiographia Linguistitica XXXVI (1): 39-73.