Remedy for a Rattlesnake Bite Mary J. Yee
Remedy for a Rattlesnake Bite
Story by Mary J. Yee Recorded by John Peabody Harrington Translation by Suzanne Wash Edited by Matthew Vestuto
Here is a short text in Barbareño Chumash, which Mary J. Yee gave to John Harrington. Suzanne Wash provided the parsing and translation. A parsing is a breakdown of the Chumash phrases into their smallest parts (morphemes.) Below the parsing, or break-down, there are abbreviations for what the different phrase parts mean. I have done my best to align these directly below the parsing. Sometimes you will see an actual English translation beneath the Chumash word, but mostly you will see mysterious abbreviations, like the number, 3, or PURP… At the end of this document, I will provide a glossary of the abbreviations that appear in this text with the full term and definitions. I’ll also provide links to further information if you are inclined to go deeper into the analysis of the language. You may notice that some letters in the parsing don’t appear in the main text. For example, the h in h’il, is dropped, resulting in phrases beginning with il. This process is called elision, and it is common even in English.
nas’uw ilku ilxšáp,
When a rattlesnake bit a person,
na =s-ʔuw when=3-bite
hi=l =ku DP=ART=person
hi=l =xšap DP=ART=rattlesnake
imekasamqili’uniyíwpi il’e’neq iltštániw iltupméktš kehaku itštániw iləxəy iltupméktš,
they used to look for (at once) a little girl or a little boy,
himeka=s-am -qili-ʔ-uniyiw-pi
hi=l =ʔeneq hi=l =tštaniw EM.SEQ=3-IDF-HAB -look.for-at.once DP=ART=female DP=ART=be.small hi=l =tupmekč kehaku hi=tštaniw
DP=ART=child
or
DP=be.small
hi=l =ʔǝ hǝy hi=l =tupmektš DP=ART=male DP=ART=child
se’olxó’nin íku, a person not grown up,
s-e-ʔolxonin hi=ku 3-N-grown.up DP=person
tšušoxšólpì hilpuhu, to urinate at once into a dish,
tš u =s- oxšol -pi hi=l =puhuʔ PURP=3-urinate-at.once DP=ART=dish
hikasamhíkén isamsoxyó’pus iho’luwpí iho’lxšáp and then they use it to wash out the place where the rattlesnake bit.
hika=s- am - hiken hi=s-am -soxyop-us
SEQ =3-IDF-use
DP=3-IDF-wash -APPL
hi=hoʔ=l =xšap DP=DIS=ART=rattlesnake
hi=hoʔ=l =ʔuw -pi DP=DIS=ART=bite-LOC
nas’uw ilku ilxšáp, imekasamqili’uniyíwpi il’e’ neq iltštániw iltupméktš kehaku itštániw ilə xəy iltupméktš, se’olxó’nin íku , tšušoxšólpì hilpuh u hikasamhíkén isam soxyó’pus iho’ luwpí iho’lxšáp
When a rattlesnake bit a person, they used to look for at once a little girl or a little boy, a person not grown up, to urinate at once into a dish, and then they use it to wash out the place where the rattlesnake bit. Â Â Â
TERMS 3 = Third person; them, they, it APPL = Appelative ART = Article DIS = Distal (Demonstrative) DP = Determiner Proximal EM.SEQ = Emphatic Sequential HAB = Habitual Aspect IDF = Indefinite LOC = Locative N = Negative marker PURP = Purposive SEQ = Sequential