-TŁÉÉʼ
Navajo
Etymology
From Proto-Athabaskan *tłeqʼʷ, classificatory root for mushy or decrepit objects (as mud, butter, a rotten rag), or animate object sharing such characteristics (as a frog, a drunken person).
Cognate root found in Ahtna ghitlaeʼ (“he handed (some mud)”), nałtloʼ (“it became wet”), Gwich'in naałtłik (“I threw it (a rotten cloth) down”).
Also occurs in Navajo along with hi-seriative in a motion theme describing the hopping of a frog (literally, a mushy object throwing itself successively).
Root
-TŁÉÉʼ
1. to handle or propel mushy matter (as butter, mud)
| Theme | Category | Bases | Transitive bases (O + ł) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| O + ∅ | motion |
S handles MM |
|||||
| (dzi) + ∅ | successive |
S throws MM Motion:
Successive:
|
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| ∅ | positional |
MM is in position |
S keeps MM in position
|
| Theme | Category | Bases | Transitive bases (O + ł) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| hi + d | motion |
|
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| ni + ∅ | motion |
|
2. to be wet
| Theme | Category | Bases | Transitive bases (O + ł) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ∅ | adjectival |
S is wet |
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| ∅ | transitional |
S gets wet
|
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| l | conversive |
S gets wet
|
S makes O wet
|
Stem set
| Aspect | IMP | PERF | FUT | ITER | OPT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MOM / CONT / CONCL | -tłeeh | -tłééʼ | -tłoh | -tłoh | -tłeeh |
| DIST | -tłeʼ | -tłééʼ | -tłoh | -tłoh | -tłeʼ |
| REV / CON | -tłoh | -tłééʼ | -tłoh | -tłoh | -tłoh |
| NEUT | -tłééʼ | -tłééʼ | — | — | — |
See also Appendix: Roots and stems derivation.