w – prepronominal prefix

It is known as the motion away from speaker, position away from speaker, or translocative prepronominal prefix.

It appears as w – before vowels and wi – before constants.

ᏫᏥᏌᏕᎦ / witsadega / wijadéèga – ᏫᏥᏌᏕᎦ is pronounced w – short i – j – short a – d – long a (held and falling tone) – g – short a. witsadega means you are throwing it (away from the speaker).

ᏩᏩᏕᎦ / wawadega / waàwadéèga – wawadega is pronounced w – short a (held, lowfall tone) – w – short a – d – long a (held, falling tone) – g – short a. ᏩᏩᏕᎦ means I am throwing it there.

If the w – prepronominal appears before an ‘h’ metathesis occurs. Metathesis is the transposition of sounds or letters in a word. In this case, the ‘h’ appears first, followed by the w – prepronominal prefix.

ᏪᎾ / wena / hweèna – ᏪᎾ pronounced aspirated w – long a (held and lowfall tone) – n – short a. wena means go!

It is optionally employed to indicate that the subject of the verb is facing away from the speaker. In the case of motion verbs, it always indicates the motion will be away from the speaker.

ᏭᏬᏝ / wuwotla / wuwóohla – wuwotla is pronounced w – oo – w – long o (held, high tone) – aspirated l – short a. ᏭᏬᏝ means he is sitting (with his back to the speaker).

ᏩᎢ / wai / wáaʔi – ᏩᎢ is pronounced w – short a (held and high tone) – glottal stop – long e. wai means he is walking (away from the speaker).

In some words, w – prepronominal prefix may be deleted after the y – (negative) prepronominal prefix. It is optional. For the examples provided, both are accepted. Remember the previous lesson? Y – prepronominal prefix becomes yu – before ‘w.’

ᏳᏫᎦᏬᏂᎭ / yuwigawoniha / yuwigawóòniha – ᏳᏫᎦᏬᏂᎭ is pronounced y – oo – w – short i – g – short a – w – long o (held and falling tone) – n – short i – h – short a.

ᏳᎦᏬᏂᎭ / yugawoniha / yugawóóniha – yugawoniha is pronounced y – oo – g – short a – w – long o (held, falling tone) – n – short i – h – short a. ᏳᎦᏬᏂᎭ and yuwigawoniha mean he is not speaking (with his back turned).

w – prefix indicates distance when the subject of the verb is not within sight of the speaker.
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ᏫᏚᎸᏫᏍᏓᏁᎰᎢ / widulvwisdanehoi – widuúlvv(h)wisdaàneehóoʔi – widulvwisdanehoi is pronounced w – short i – d – oo (held, rising tone) – l – nasalized uh (held, high tone) – aspiration – w – short i – s – d – short a (held, lowfall tone) – n – long a (held) – h – long o (held, high tone) – glottal stop – long e. ᏫᏚᎸᏫᏍᏓᏁᎰᎢ means he works (at a distance).

When used with the dative-benefactive (d – ), is indicates a dative meaning.

ᏕᎪᏪᎳᏁᎭ / degowelaneha / deegóo(h)weéláàneha – ᏕᎪᏪᎳᏁᎭ is pronounced d – long a (held) – g – long o (held and high tone) – aspiration – w – long a (held and risingtone) – l – short a (held and falling tone) – n – long a – h – short a. degowelaneha means he is writing them for him.

ᏫᏗᎪᏪᎳᏁᎭ / widigowelaneha / widigoó(h)wéelaàneha – widigowelaneha is pronounced w – short i – d- short i – g – long o (held, rising tone) – aspiration – w – long a (held, high tone) – l – short a (held, lowfall tone) – n – long a – h – short a. ᏫᏗᎪᏪᎳᏁᎭ means he is writing to him.

w – prefix appears on adjectives to create a superlative meaning, the highest possible degree of quality.
ᏩᏃᏍᏓᏴᎢ / wanosdayvi / wanoosdayvvʔi – ᏩᏃᏍᏓᏴᎢ is pronounced w – short a – n – long o (held) – s – d – short a – y – nasalized uh (held and highfall tone) – glottal stop – long e. wanosdayvi means they are the sharpest.

When used with the second person imperative form, the result is a change in meaning.

ᎯᏬᏂᎯ / hiwonihi – hiwoòniíhi – ᎯᏬᏂᎯ is pronounced h – short i – w – long o (held and lowfall tone) – n – short i (held and rising tone) – h – long e. hiwonihi means speak.

ᏫᏬᏂᎯ / wiwonihi – (h)wiwóòniihi – wiwonihi is pronounced aspirated w – short i – w – long o (held, falling tone) – n – short i (held) – h – long e. ᏫᏬᏂᎯ means speak (facing away from speaker).

A few verbs always takes this prefix. The verb send requires it. The action assumes a place at some distance from the speaker. Typically, this would cause the next vowel to automatically be a high tone, but because it is a long vowel it becomes a falling tone.

ᏫᏥᏅᏁᎭ / witsinvneha / wijíìnvvneha – ᏫᏥᏅᏁᎭ pronounced w – short i – j – short i (held and falling tone) – n – nasalized uh (held and rising tone) – n – long a – h – short a. witsinvneha means I’m sending it.