Thursday, January 20, 2011

Leksion Chamoru: Prefix mi-

The prefix mi- is added to nouns to say "full of" or "plenty of." Here are some examples:
  • åcho' = rock
    Mi- + åcho' => Mi'acho' = Full of rocks, rocky.
  • kulot = color
    Mi- + kulot => Mikulot = Full of color, colorful.
  • unai = sand
    Mi- + unai => Mi'inai = Full of sand, sandy.
The primary stress of the new word falls on mi-, so for the above examples we get:
  • Mi'acho' => ME'-a-choo'
  • Mikulot => ME-koo-lut
  • Mi'inai => ME'-ee-nigh
One thing to note is that mi- follows the rules of vowel harmony. That just means that, in general, the first vowel of the root word is "pulled back." I.e.: å to a, o to e, and u to i.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Pålåbran 01/15/2011: Ulu

Ulu (OO-loo): Head

Note: When using with a possessive suffix, it always changes to ilu, i.e., ilu-hu, ilu-mu, ... This occurs even when the focus marker "i" is not there.

Uses:
"Mådanche ilu-ña, ya på'go diso'." = "His head was hit, and now has a bump."
"Gof ataktak ilu-hu." = "I have a very stubborn head."
"Usa i matiyu ni dankolo ilu-ña." = "Use the big-headed hammer."