qe-

Dena'ina

Etymology

Related to the pluralizing suffix -qa.

Compare perhaps also the Athna third person plural and areal subject markers ku- and ko-.

Prefix

qe-

  1. Marks a third person dual/plural verbal subject; they
  2. Marks an indefinite human verbal subject; someone
    ‎qe- + ‎chegh (“to cry”) → ‎qechegh (“they (2) are crying; someone is crying”)
  3. Marks a temporal, spatial, areal, or abstract verbal subject
  4. Appears as a thematic prefix in many verbs

Usage notes

  • With a singular verb stem, represents a dual subject
  • In transitive verbs with a third person object, this marker and the object marker are replaced with qey-.

See also

Dena'ina verbal subject prefixes
singular plural
1st person esh- chʼe-
2nd person n-, i- eh-
3rd person ∅- qe-
Non-human ye-
Indefinite human qe-
Indefinite non-human kʼe-
Unknown chʼe-
Areal/temporal/abstract qe-

References

  • Tenenbaum, Joan Marsha (1978), Morphology and Semantics of the Tanaina Verb, Columbia University, pages 66-68
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