ch'-

Compare Ahtna cʼ-, Navajo ʼa-, Wailaki ʼ-, chʼi-.

• IPA^(key): /tʃʼ/

ch'-

1. Marks an indefinite possessor of a noun; someone's; something's

   ‎ch'- + ‎-to' (“father”) → ‎ch'eto' (“a father; the father; someone's father”)

2. Marks an indefinite object of a postposition

   ‎ch'- + ‎eɬ (“with”) → ‎ch'e'aɬ (“with someone”)

3. Used to mark a possessed body part as detached or butchered

   ‎ch'- + ‎betthi' (“his/her head (part of his/her body)”) → ‎bech'etthi' (“his/her head (head of another animal that he/she owns)”)

   ‎ch'- + ‎seka' (“my foot (foot of my body)”) → ‎sech'eka' (“my foot (foot of another animal that I possess)”)

4. Appears in the possessive forms of many loanwords

   ‎ch'- + ‎chebisja (“matches”) → ‎-ch'echebisja' (“'s matches”)

   ‎ch'- + ‎sulji (“socks”) → ‎-ch'esulji' (“'s socks”)

5. Marks an indefinite verbal object

   ‎ch'- + ‎baba e'oɬ (“he/she is eating food”) → ‎ch'e'oɬ (“he/she is eating something”)

6. Appears thematicized in some verbs

   ch'eldzes ― he/she is dancing

   ch'eteghodeɬ ― animals will gather

7. Appears thematicized in a number of nouns, especially gerunds (often with the transitional prefix i-)

   ch'ikegi ― ball

   ch'it'uda ― leech

   ch'etthen' ― meat, game animal

• Very often realized in the form ch'e-.
• In fast speech, when followed by the prefix tr'-, this prefix shifts in pronunciation to tr'e-.

• Kari, James et al. (2024), Kari, James, editor, Lower Tanana Dene Dictionary, Fairbanks, Alaska: Alaska Native Language Center, →ISBN, pages 94-95