The selection of Person Prefix in TA verbs
Observation:
| ᒋ ᐧᐋᐱᒥᓐ᙮ ᓰ᙮ |  |
chiwaapimin. | ‘you see me.’ |
| ᒋ ᐧᐋᐱᒥᑎᓐ᙮ | |
chiwaapimitin. | ‘I see you.’ |
In both these forms, the person prefix is ᒋchi. This is because of the person hierarchy that says that chi ‘you’ ranks above ni ‘I’.
Cree person hierarchy:
| 2 | > | 1 | > | 3 | > | 3′ | > | 0 | > | 0′ |
| ᒌᔨ | > | ᓃᔨ | > | ᐧᐄᔨ | > | ᐊᐧᐋᔨᐤᐦ | > | ᒑᐧᑳᓐ | > | ᒑᐧᑳᔨᐤ |
| chiiyi | > | niiyi | > | wiiyi | > | awaayiuh | > | chaakwaan | > | chaakwaayiu |
| ᒌᔮᓂᐤ | > | ᓃᔮᓐ | > | ᐧᐄᔨᐧᐋᐤ | ||||||
| chiiyaaniu | > | niiyaan | > | wiiyiwaau | ||||||
| ᒌᔨᐧᐋᐤ | ||||||||||
| chiiyiwaau | ||||||||||
VTA verbs have two roles, an actor and a goal. In the independent order, the person prefix with the higher ranked role in the person hierarchy will be selected.
| Northern Dialect | English | Actor | Rank | Goal | Prefix | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ᒋᐧᐋᐱᒥᓐ | |
chiwaapimin | ‘you see me’ | 2 | > | 1 | ᒋ chi |
| ᒋᐧᐋᐱᒥᑎᓐ | |
chiwaapimitin | ‘I see you‘ | 1 | < | 2 | ᒋ chi |
| ᒋᐧᐋᐱᒫᐤ | |
chiwaapimaau | ‘you see her’ | 2 | > | 3 | ᒋ chi |
| ᒋᐧᐋᐱᒥᒄ | |
chiwaapimikw | ‘she sees you‘ | 3 | < | 2 | ᒋ chi |
| ᓂᐧᐋᐱᒫᐤ | |
niwaapimaau | ‘I see her.’ | 1 | > | 3 | ᓂ ni |
| ᓂᐧᐋᐱᒥᒄ | |
niwaapimikw | ‘she sees me.’ | 3 | < | 1 | ᓂ ni |
| ᐧᐋᐱᒫᐤ | |
waapimaau | ‘she sees him (the other).’ | 3 | > | 3′ | - |
| ᐧᐋᐱᒥᑰ | |
waapimikuu | ‘he (the other) sees her.’ | 3′ | < | 3 | - |
There are no person prefixes in the conjunct and imperative orders. The same selection of person prefixes applies in noun possession.
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