Pronominals

English gets by with just 21 pronouns that stand alone and are separate words:

Oneida has two kinds of pronouns: standalone and bound.

Standalone pronouns are words you‘ll find that stand alone in a sentence. The standalone pronouns are:

Bound pronouns must be attached to a word. There are roughly 80 of these, which can be broken down into four groups:

"The Purples" refers to a group of pronouns that do not have an English counterpart.

The table below displays the full list of subjective (red) pronominals. Each column represents a different "stem", which is the first letter in a root word. For example, the root word nuwehseʔ ("to like") starts with the letter "N" which is a consonant, so we use the "C-stem" column. The root word attokhaʔ ("to be wise") starts with the letter "A", so we use the "A-stem" column.

Attaching "k" to the start of the root word nuwehseʔ results in knú·wehseʔ which means "I like it". Attaching "l" to the start of the root word attokhaʔ gives us lattókhaʔ wich means "he is wise".

The small numbers in the table cells represent exceptions — Oneida is full of them!

The vowel with a squiggly underline replaces the leading vowel of the root word.

As an example, let‘s look at the A-stem column, where the root word is attokhaʔ. The translation for "she is wise" without this replacement rule would be yuattokhaʔ. yua is not a sound in Oneida so we instead change it to yu. Therefore the translation is yuttókhaʔ.

The h is not written or pronounced when nothing is attached in front of the pronominal. However, when anything is attached to the front of the pronominal, the h is written and pronounced. Example: snú·wehse̲ʔ and yah tehsnú·wehse̲ʔ.

The letter e only appears on root words that begin with a double consonant.

The ik prefix is attached to most (but not all) single syllable roots. The i in ik is used only occasionally. The i disappears when anything is attached in front of the prefix. Example: íkyʌheʔ and yah té·kyʌheʔ.

The prefix ts is attached to all roots beginning with yand i. The t disappears and is replaced by h when anything is attached in front of the prefix. Example:tsyʌtelíˍ and yah tehsyʌtelíˍ; tsí·tlu̲ʔ and yah tehsí·tlu̲ʔ.

The prefix it is attached to all roots beginning with hs and the idisappears when anything is attached in front of the prefix. Example: íthsaʔas and yah tethsáʔas

The table below displays the full list of objective (blue) pronominals.

The table below displays the full list of purple pronominals. These do not have an English counterpart.