-TĄ́

Navajo edit

Etymology edit

From Proto-Athabaskan *tan ~ *tən (“to handle stick-like objects or vessels”), probably one of the most polysemous root across all Athabascan languages.

Cognate root found in Ahtna deztaan (“(elongated object) is in position”), datiił (“he is counting”), natadghitaan (“water drips down”), hwghitaʼ (“it stops”), tinitaan (“there is a trail”), łtaan (“(enclosed object) is in position”), dełtaan (“(body of water) is in position”), sa dinhwtniłten (“explain to me!”), titahdiniłtaan (“they rushed off in a group”), l+taan (“animate rests”), among many other meanings in the sole Ahtna language.

Occurs in Navajo as momentaneous perfective -TĄ́ or -TĄ́Ą́ʼ, in themes related to the handling of stick-like objects (SSO), to raining, to teaching, to the gallopping of a horse, and also acts as the suppletive neuter stem of -BIN (plural S sit).

Root edit

-TĄ́

1. to handle a slender stiff object

Theme	Category	Bases	Transitive bases (O + ł)
O + ∅	motion	S handles SSO yitįįh (∅-MOM) iitįįh yiditįįh yidiitįįh haitįįh neitįįh neidiitįįh (ńdii-, “pick up”) neidíníitįįh (ńdíníi-, “good start”) naʼiidiitįįh (nʼdii-, “detach”) táiditįįh yisdéítįįh yitįįh [shishtįįh] (si-MOM) yítįįh (ni-MOM) chʼíítįįh niyítįįh neitin (CONT) yootį́į́ł (PROG)
∅	positional	SSO is in position sitą́ (NEUT) naaztą́ nítą́	S keeps SSO in position yistą́ (NEUT)
hi / di + yíní + ∅	positional	SSO hangs, dangles or protrudes détą́ hidétą́ chʼíhidétą́ hahíítą́ nahíítą́
∅	positional	it hangs in mid-air (new moon, hummingbird) yiitįįh (TRANS?)