Spelling East Cree (Southern) – Syllabic Finals

ᔦᐦᔦᐧᐋᑲᓐ The use of the ᐦ (h) final

ᐦ at the end of a word

At the end of a word ᐦ (h) is used to mark grammatical categories such as inanimate plural of nouns or verbs, obviative of animate nouns, locative of nouns, imperative marker of verbs, etc.

Inanimate plural marker

Nouns:

Verbs:

Animate obviative marker

Possessed animate nouns

Obviative Nouns with Transitive Animate Verbs

When a Transitive Animate Verb has two third persons, one of them adds an ᐦ (h) at the end.

• ᐋᓃ ᒫᑎᐧᔐᐤ ᓂᔥᑲᔒᐦ᙮
• ᐋᓃ ᐧᐋᐸᒣᐤ ᓂᔅᑌᔅᐦ᙮
• ᐋᓃ ᐧᐋᐸᒣᐤ ᐅᔅᑌᔅᐦ᙮
• ᐋᓃ ᐊᔑᒣᐤ ᐊᓂᔫᐦ ᐊᑎᒻᐦ᙮
• ᐋᓃ ᐊᔑᒣᐤ ᓂᑌᒻᐦ᙮

ᐦ (h) on expressions of time

ᐦ (h) is found on expressions of time.

• ᐯᔭᒄ ᐲᓯᒻᐦ ᐄᑎᓇᐦᐆ ᒫᓐᐦ᙮
• ᒣᔑᑯᒻ ᒌᔑᑳᐤᐦ ᒥᔅᐳᓐ᙮
• ᐁᔑᑯᒻ ᒌᔑᑳᐤᐦ ᒥᔅᐳᓐ᙮

ᐦ (h) on habitual verbs

“ (h) is found on conjugation #12b to indicate a habitual or repetitive event: ‘whenever…’

ᐦ (h) as a marker of Imperative verbs for second person singular forms.

Note that ᐦ (h) is used for the command forms ‘do it to it’ and ‘do it to me’ but not for ‘do it to him’.

See also: Spelling East Cree – Northern Dialect – ᐦ at the end of a word