2.4. Person.

2.4.0.1. Saanich has four basic sets of person markers: predicative, possessive, objective, and subjective. In each of these sets means are provided for referring to the speaker (first person), the addressee (second person), and others (third person). The predicative pronominals (§2.4.1) are independent roots that refer to first, second, and third persons. The possessives (§2.4.2) include prefixes for first singular and second persons and suffixes for first plural and third persons. The objective pronominals (§2.4.3) are suffixes that always occur with a transitivizing suffix (see §2.5.2). The subjective pronominals (§2.4.4) include a suffix for the third person transitive and post-predicate particles (see §2.6.2.) for the first and second persons in main clauses, and suffixes for all three persons in both transitive and intransitives in certain subordinate clauses.

2.4.0.2. In all four sets plurality is obligatorily marked only in the first person. Moreover, separate singular and plural forms are available only in the first person. For all four sets a plural second person may be indicated with the addition of an independent post-predicate particle (see §2.6.2.5.5). Plurality may be marked in second and third person predicative pronominals by means of a suffix. Plurality in second and third persons may also be marked indirectly by means of the ‘plural’ morpheme (see §2.3.3).

2.4.1. Predicative pronominals.
The predicative pronominals are independent full words with predicative force. They serve primarily as emphatics in stylistic variation. They may function either as predicate head or as oblique or non-oblique arguments to predications.
Table 4.
Predicative pronominals
 SingularPlural
1st ʔə́sə ɬníŋəɬ 
2nd nə́kʷə nəkʷíʔliʔə 
3rd níɬ nəníɬliʔə 


Table 4 lists the predicative pronominals. This diagram is a bit deceptive in that it puts the second and third plurals on par with the other four forms. These two are obviously derived from the corresponding singular forms. The suffixes on these two forms are apparently related but appear nowhere else. Third plural carries reduplication in addition to this suffix.1 These two forms differ also in that they serve strictly to emphasize the plurality. Unlike the first person plural, they are not obligatory in plural reference.
The following examples show each of these pronominals in the same context. In each the pronominal serves as the main predicate head of the sentence.
1. √ʔə́sə ʔal̕ ʔəw̕ séy̕+√siʔ ‘I scared myself.’ [√I LIMIT CONTEMP CHAR+√scare]
2. nə́kʷə ʔal̕ ʔəw̕ séy̕siʔ ‘You scared yourself.’
3. ʔəw̕ níɬ ʔal̕ ʔəw̕ séy̕siʔ ‘He scared himself.’
4. ɬníŋəɬ ʔal̕ ʔəw̕ séy̕siʔ ‘We scared ourselves.’
5. nəkʷíʔliʔə ʔal̕ ʔəw̕ séy̕siʔ ‘You folks scared yourselves.’
6. ʔəw̕ nəníɬliʔə ʔal̕ ʔəw̕ séy̕siʔ ‘They scared themselves.’
The use of the predicative pronominals in examples 1-6 with the post-predicate particle /ʔal̕/ ‘limiting’ (see §2.6.2.5.6) emphasizes that only one person is involved.
Examples 7 and 8 illustrate the stylistic variation allowed by the use of these pronominals.
7. x̣éʔel̕s sən ‘I am Transformer.’
8. ʔə́sə x̣éʔel̕s ‘I am Transformer.’
Example 8 can be seen in context in §3.1 sentence 66. The gradual build-up to the mysterious "white robed guy" announcing himself concludes with this sentence. It is clearly used for dramatic effect and is better translated "it is I, Transformer." Example 7 is the more ordinary construction parallel to sentences such as /péstən sən/ ‘I’m American.’
In examples 1 to 6 only the third person pronominals are preceded by /ʔəw̕/ ‘contemporaneous’ (see §2.6.1.4). This particle often occurs with the third person predicative pronominal where other persons occur without it. This is unexplained, but it may offer a clue to the analysis of two other forms that translate as third person pronominals.
9. √ƛ̕íw̕ sən ʔə kʷs tsəw̕níɬ ‘I ran away from him.’ [√escape 1SUBJ OBL DEM him]
10. ƛ̕íw̕ sən ʔə kʷs θəw̕níɬ ‘I ran away from her.’
The third person pronominals in examples 9 and 10 obviously contain ∥níɬ∥ the third person predicate pronominal. They also certainly contain the ‘general’ and ‘feminine’ demonstrative formatives ∥ts-∥ and ∥θ-∥ (§2.6.3). The /əw̕/ may be identifiable with the ‘contemporaneous’ particle though it never otherwise appears between a demonstrative and a full word argument to a predication. Another problem with this analysis is that nowhere else do such sequences of demonstratives occur. In 9, in fact, they are contradictory: /kʷs/ indicates ‘invisible, particular’ where /ts/ indicates ‘not invisible, particular’. It seems best at present to leave the analysis of these forms an open question.

2.4.2. Possessive pronominals.

2.4.2.1. The possessive pronominals are a set of prefixes and suffixes that function in ways similar to the English possessives ‘my’, ‘your’, etc. They primarily indicate personal possession of the entity or state indicated in the full word to which they are affixed. They are also used to indicate the subject of certain subordinate clauses.
Table 5.
Possessive pronominals
 SingularPlural
1st nə- -ɬtə 
2nd ʔən̕- ʔən̕- 
3rd -s -s 


Table 5 shows the possessive pronominal affixes. Note that as in the other pronominal systems the first person differs from the other two in that it has separate singular and plural forms.
The following examples illustrate each of the possesive pronominals in the same context.
11. nətén ‘It’s my mother.’
12. ʔən̕tén ‘It’s your mother.’
13. téns ‘It’s his/her/their mother.’
14. ténɬtə ‘It’s our mother.’
Examples 11 to 14 are predicate heads. They can take one of the subject pronominals as in example 15.2
15. ʔən̕tén sən ‘I am your mother.’
Like example 15, examples 16 and 17 are formally intransitive, though they seem from the translation to refer to an agent and a patient.
16. nəsƛ̕iʔ sxʷ ‘I like you.’ [1POS-S√want,like 2SUBJ]
17. ʔən̕sƛ̕éʔeʔšən sən ‘You invited me.’ [2POS-S√invite 1SUBJ]

Examples 16 and 17 can be literally, though awkwardly, translated ‘you are my liking’ and ‘I am your inviting.’

2.4.2.3. The possessive pronominals can occur affixed to transitive as well as intransitive forms.
18. √ʔə́wə√nəʔ nə-s√x̣č-í-t ‘I don’t know him/her/it.’ [√not√exist 1POS-S√know,figure-PERSIS-CTRAN-3OBJ(ø)]
19. √ʔə́wə√nəʔ n̕-s√x̣č-i-t-ál̕xʷ ‘You don’t know us.’ [√not√exist 2POS-S√know, figure-PERSIS-CTRAN-1PLOBJ]
Example 18 might more literally be translated ‘my knowing him does not exist.’

2.4.2.4. The subject of a subordinate clause marked by ∥kʷə∥ (see §2.6.4.2) is often indicated by a possessive pronominal. Example 20 shows the possessive pronominals in both the main and subordinate clauses.
20. nə-s√ƛ̕iʔ kʷə nə-s√čte-sə ‘I want to ask you (a question).’ [1POS-S√want, like SUB 1POS-S√ask-(CTRAN)-2OBJ]
21. √ʔəkʷá(ʔ)-sə sən kʷə n̕-s-xʷ√sénəč=qən ‘I’m teaching you to speak Saanich.’ [√teach(ACT)-(CTRAN)-2OBJ 1SUBJ SUB 2POS-S-LOC√Saanich=pharynx]
Note that the initial /ʔə/ of the second person possessive deletes when following /ʔ/ as in example 19 or /ə/ as in example 21. This deletion occurs, however, only when the preceding /ʔ/ or /ə/ is part of the same clause. Examples 22 to 24 show possessive pronominals functioning as subjects of nominalized conjunctive clauses (see §2.1.1). In example 24 the second person possessive is clause initial and therefore does not show deletion.
22. √kʷə́n-ət sən kʷəʔ nə-s-əw̕ √nəw̕é-s ‘I took it and carried it in.’ [√take, grasp-CTRAN-3OBJ(ø) 1SUBJ INFORM 1POS-S-CONTEMP √inside(RES)-EFFORT-3OBJ(ø)]
23. √kʷə́n-ət ɬtə kʷəʔ s-əw̕√nəw̕é-s-ɬtə ‘We took it and carried it in.’ [√take, grasp-CTRAN-3OBJ(ø) 1PLSUBJ INFORM S-CONTEMP √inside(RES)-EFFORT-3OBJ(ø)-1PLPOS]
24. √kʷə́n-ət sxʷ kʷəʔ ʔən̕-s-əw̕ √nəw̕é-s ‘You took it and carried it in.’ [√take, grasp-CTRAN-3OBJ(ø) 2SUBJ INFORM 2POS-S-CONTEMP √inside(RES)-EFFORT-3OBJ(ø)]

2.4.2.5. Emphatic pronominals are formed by affixing the possessive pronominals to a special base, /skʷéʔ/, which can function as a predicate head as in examples 25 to 30.
25. nəskʷéʔ ‘It’s mine.’
26. nəskʷéʔ nəʔél̕əŋ ‘It’s my house.’
27. ʔən̕skʷéʔ n̕ʔél̕əŋ ‘It’s your house.’
28. ʔən̕skʷéʔ hélə n̕ʔél̕əŋ ‘It’s you folks’ house.’
29. skʷéʔɬtə ʔél̕əŋɬ tə ‘It’s our house.’
30. skʷéʔs ʔél̕əŋs ‘It’s his/her/their house.’

See §2.1.5 on the possessive pronominals in contrast and combination with ∥č-∥ ‘have’.

2.4.3. Objective pronominals.

2.4.3.1. The objective pronominals indicate the objects of transitive predicates. They are all suffixes which always immediately follow one of the transitivizing suffixes (see §2.5.2).
There are two sets of object suffixes. One (table 6) occurs only following the ‘control transitive’; the other (table 7) follows the other transitivizers.
Table 6.
Object suffix set 1
 SingularPlural
1st -s -al̕xʷ 
2nd -sə -sə 
3rd ø ø 


Table 7.
Object suffix set 2
 SingularPlural
1st -aŋəs -al̕xʷ 
2nd -aŋə -aŋə 
3rd ø ø 


As with the other pronominals, a regular, distinct plural form is available only in the first person where plurality is obligatorily marked.
The two systems of object suffixes show a number of similarities. The third person object is a zero morpheme in both systems. The first person plural is the same in both systems. First person singular ends in /s/3 and second person ends in /ə/ in both systems. No differences in meaning or function between the two systems have been observed.

2.4.3.2. It may be that the first and second person objects of set 2 are further analyzable as involving a morpheme /-aŋ/. Since apparently nothing is gained from such an analysis I will continue to represent each of these two as single morphemes.
It is also tempting, for these two suffixes, to presume that the /a/ is not a part of the object but rather a part of the preceding transitivizer. The two transitivizing suffixes that object set 2 most commonly occurs with both have an underlying /a/, ∥-naxʷ∥ ‘non-control transitive’ and ∥-staxʷ∥ ‘causative’. It seems reasonable to assume that the /xʷ/ is deleted when followed by an object suffix, /-ŋəs/ or /-ŋə/, leaving the /a/ as in 31.
31. k̕ʷənnáŋə sən ‘I see you.’ ∥√k̕ʷən-naxʷ-ŋə sən∥ [√see-NTRAN-2OBJ 1SUBJ]
However, there does seem to be evidence to assume the contrary: that the vowel and final consonant of the transitivizer are deleted and the /a/ is part of the suffix as in 32.
32. k̕ʷənnáŋə sən ‘I see you.’ ∥√k̕ʷən-naxʷ-aŋə sən∥ [√see-NTRAN-2OBJ 1SUBJ]
There are two reasons for assuming the analysis as in 32. First, the /a/ of the transitivizers ordinarily surface only when the root is vowelless (see §2.5 and §2.3.5). The /a/ appears with first and second person objects regularly both with vowelless roots and with roots having full vowels. This suggests that the /a/ appearing with the object suffixes is different from that of the transitive suffixes. The second and more compelling reason to assume the analysis as in 32 is the fact that the first and second person object suffixes occurring with the transitivizer ∥-nəs∥ ‘purposive’ have /a/. The /s/ of this transitivizer does not delete and there is no reason to assume any underlying /a/ for it. See §2.4.5 for summary paradigms with various transitivizers and especially §2.4.5.7 for ∥-nəs∥.

2.4.4. Subjective pronominals.

2.4.4.1. In main clauses the subjective pronominals include post-predicate particles in first and second person, a suffix in third person transitive, and a zero morpheme for third person in some other contexts.
Table 8.
Main clause subject pronominals
 SingularPlural
1st s-ən ɬtə 
2nd s-xʷ s-xʷ 
3rd -əs ∼ ø -əs ∼ ø 


As with other pronominal systems, no special forms for second and third plurals are available. Plurality is obligatory only in the first person.

2.4.4.2. The /s/ of the first singular and second persons is segmentable as a main clause subject base. The /-ən/ and /-xʷ/ appear suffixed to the predicate head of certain subordinate clauses. Table 9 shows the subordinate clause subject markers.
Table 9.
Subordinate clause subject pronominals
 SingularPlural
1st -ən -əɬtə 
2nd -əxʷ -əxʷ 
3rd -əs -əs 


In subordinate clauses, /-əs/ marks the third person subject in intransitives as well as transitives.

2.4.4.3. Ergative or split ergative systems have been noted for several Coast Salish languages (Squamish, Kuipers (1967); Halkomelem, Gerdts (1980); and Lummi, Jelinek and Demers (1983)). Saanich also displays limited ergativity. It is ergative in that the intransitive subject is marked the same as the transitive object, a zero morpheme; it is split in that this is true only of the third person in main clauses. However, the third person subject appears as a zero morpheme not only in main clause intransitives but also in transitives having a first person object from set 2. In §2.4.5 summary paradigms give examples.

2.4.4.4. In Saanich a second person object almost never occurs with a third person subject. In eliciting paradigms, sentences such as ‘he looked at you’ appear in the passive, ‘you were looked at’, as in example 33.
33. √k̕ʷə́n-ət-əŋ sxʷ [√see-CTRAN-PASS 2SUBJ]
The expected underlying form, ∥√k̕ʷən-ət-sə-əs∥, with second person object and third person subject would, by regular phonological rules, merge on the surface with another underlying form, ∥√k̕ʷən-ət-s-əs∥, with first person object and third person subject. Example 34, which could be the surface realization of either of these, has ordinarily only one reading.
34. k̕ʷə́nəsəs ‘He looked at me.’
It is interesting how the language has chosen to avoid a sensitive, possibly highly confusing ambiguity. The choice of reading here is undoubtedly determined by the high pragmatic salience of "looking out for number one," probably a human universal reflected also in the traditional grammatical terminology ‘first person’. Jelinek and Demers (1983) discuss similar phenomena occurring in other Coast Salish languages.
Sentences like 34 do rarely occur with a second person object interpretation. Example 35 occurred in running text and was later translated with second person object. When questioned on this, informants confirmed that it could mean either of the two glosses.
35. t̕ə́m̕əsəs ʔə tsə sŋénət ‘He hit you with a rock; he hit me with a rock.’
In attributive constructions that translate as relative clauses the subject is always third person. In these cases the subject is never overtly marked by the pronominal suffix. Since the third person subject is zero here, the ambiguity can never arise. Therefore, first and second person objects appear freely. In examples 36 and 37 first and second person objects occur with the zero third person subject. The relative clause is in boldface.
36. √k̕ʷə́n-nəxʷ sən kʷsə s√wə́y̕qəʔ xʷ√t̕θs=ás-sə ‘I saw the man who hit you in the face.’ [√see-NTRAN-3OBJ(ø) 1SUBJ DEM S√man LOC√punch=face-(CTRAN)-2OBJ]
37. √k̕ʷə́n-nəxʷ sxʷ kʷsə s√wə́y̕qəʔ xʷ√t̕θs=ás-s ‘You saw the man who hit me in the face.’ [√see-NTRAN-3OBJ(ø) 2SUBJ DEM S√man LOC√punch=face-(CTRAN)-1OBJ]

2.4.4.5. A few examples will suffice to demonstrate that the third person subject marker is a suffix where the first and second person subject markers are particles.
38. ʔət̕θíŋəstxʷ sən ‘I dressed him.’
39. ʔət̕θíŋəstxʷ sxʷ ‘You dressed him.’
40. ʔət̕θíŋəstxʷ ɬtə ‘We dressed him.’
41. ʔət̕θəŋístəs ‘She (he, they) dressed him.’
Stress placement is discussed in §1.4. In general, given two contiguous syllables with equal stress valence, stress will fall on the penultimate. In 38-40 the subject pronominals do not count as ultimate syllables for stress placement, but in 41 the third person subject pronominal does cause stress to be placed on the /i/ of the ‘relational’ suffix. Stress placement in these examples indicates that the phonological word ends in 38-40 after the ‘causative’ suffix and before the subject pronominal and in 41 the phonological word includes the subject pronominal.
Aside from stress placement, these examples offer a second reason for considering the first and second person subject pronominals to be particles while the third person subject pronominal is a suffix. All four of these examples contain the ‘causative’ suffix which, like the ‘non-control transitive’, has a final /xʷ/ which invariably deletes when followed by any suffix (see §2.5.2.3). Examples 38-40 show that the /xʷ/ does not delete before the first and second person subject pronominals, but in 41 it does delete before the third person. The third person subject behaves like a suffix; the first and second person subjects behave like they are not phonologically part of the word.

2.4.5. Summary paradigms.
This section provides a summary, exemplification, and a convenient reference to the objective and subjective pronominals. Paradigms are provided for intransitives, each of the transitive suffixes of §2.5.2, and for transitives in combination with the ‘indirective’ (§2.5.3.1) and ‘persistent’ (§2.2.1) suffixes.

2.4.5.1. Examples 42-45 illustrate main clause intransitives.
42. yéʔ sən ‘I go.’
43. yéʔ sxʷ ‘You go.’
44. yéʔ ‘He/she/it goes.’
45. yéʔ ɬtə ‘We go.’
Examples 46-49 illustrate the subject pronominals in subordinate clause intransitives. Note that whereas the third person main clause intransitive subject is ø, the third person subordinate intransitive subject is /-əs/, the same as the third person transitive subject. The subordinate subject in 46-49 is suffixed to the same root that appears in 42-45.
46. sés sxʷ kʷə yéʔən tɬ šxʷiméləʔ ‘You sent me to the store (you sent me that I go to the store).’ ∥√se-ət-s sxʷ kʷə √yeʔ-ən tl s-xʷ√xʷəym=eləʔ∥ [√send-CTRAN-1OBJ 2SUBJ SUB √go-1SUBJ DEM S-LOC√sell=container]
47. sésə sən kʷə yéʔəxʷ tɬ šxʷiméləʔ ‘I sent you to the store (I sent you that you go to the store).’ ∥√se-ət-sə sən kʷə √yeʔ-əxʷ tl s-xʷ√xʷəym=eləʔ∥ [√send-CTRAN-2OBJ 1SUBJ SUB √go-2SUBJ DEM S-LOC√sell=container]
48. sét sən kʷs tsəw̕níɬ kʷə yéʔəs tɬ šxʷiméləʔ ‘I sent him to the store (I sent him that he go to the store).’ ∥√se-ət-ø sən kʷs tsəw̕niɬ kʷə √yeʔ-əs tl s-xʷ√xʷəym=eləʔ∥ [√send-CTRAN-3OBJ 1SUBJ DEM him SUB √go-3SUBJ DEM S-LOC√sell=container]
49. setál̕xʷ sxʷ kʷə yéʔəɬtə tɬ šxʷiméləʔ ‘You sent us to the store (you sent us that we go to the store).’ ∥√se-ət-al̕xʷ sxʷ kʷə √yeʔ-əɬtə tl s-xʷ√xʷəym=eləʔ∥ [√send-CTRAN-1PLOBJ 2SUBJ SUB √go-1PLSUBJ DEM S-LOC√sell=container]

2.4.5.2. Object (columns) and subject (rows) paradigm with ∥-ət∥ ‘control transitive’ (§2.5.2.1). The root ∥√k̕ʷən∥ ‘see’ with the ‘control transitive’ has the gloss ‘look at’ as in ‘I look at you.’
 11pl23
-- -- k̕ʷə́nəsə sən k̕ʷə́nət sən 
1pl -- -- k̕ʷə́nəsə ɬtə k̕ʷə́nət ɬtə 
k̕ʷə́nəs sxʷ k̕ʷənətál̕xʷ sxʷ -- k̕ʷə́nət sxʷ 
k̕ʷə́nəsəs k̕ʷənətál̕xʷəs (k̕ʷə́nətəŋ sxʷ) k̕ʷə́nətəs 



2.4.5.3. Object (columns) subject (rows) paradigm with ∥-naxʷ∥ ‘non-control transitive’ (§2.5.2.2). The root ∥√k̕ʷən∥ ‘see’ with this transitivizer is glossed as, for example, ‘I see you.’
 11pl23
-- -- k̕ʷənnáŋə sən k̕ʷə́nnəxʷ sən 
1pl -- -- k̕ʷənnáŋə ɬtə k̕ʷə́nnəxʷ ɬtə 
k̕ʷənnáŋəs sxʷ k̕ʷənnál̕xʷ sxʷ -- k̕ʷə́nnəxʷ sxʷ 
k̕ʷənnáŋəs k̕ʷənnál̕xʷəs (k̕ʷə́nnəŋ sxʷ) k̕ʷə́nnəs 



2.4.5.4. Object (columns) subject (rows) paradigm with ∥-staxʷ∥ ‘causative’ (§2.5.2.3). The root ∥√k̕ʷən∥ ‘see’ with this transitivizer is glossed ‘show’ as in ‘I show (it to) you.’
 11pl23
-- -- k̕ʷənstáŋə sən k̕ʷə́nstxʷ sən 
1pl -- -- k̕ʷənstáŋə ɬtə k̕ʷə́nstxʷ ɬtə 
k̕ʷənstáŋəs sxʷ k̕ʷənstál̕xʷ sxʷ -- k̕ʷə́nstxʷ sxʷ 
k̕ʷənstáŋəs k̕ʷənstál̕xʷəs (k̕ʷə́nstəŋ sxʷ) k̕ʷə́nstəs 



2.4.5.5. Object (columns) subject (rows) paradigm with ∥-ət∥ ‘control transitive’ and ∥-si∥ ‘indirective’ (§2.5.3.1). The root ∥√k̕ʷən∥ ‘see’ with these two suffixes is glossed as, for example, ‘I look at it for you.’
 11pl23
-- -- k̕ʷənsísə sən k̕ʷənsít sən 
1pl -- -- k̕ʷənsísə ɬtə k̕ʷənsít ɬtə 
k̕ʷənsís sxʷ k̕ʷənsitál̕xʷ sxʷ -- k̕ʷənsít sxʷ 
k̕ʷənsísəs k̕ʷənsitál̕xʷəs (k̕ʷənsítəŋ sxʷ) k̕ʷənsítəs 



2.4.5.6. Object (columns) subject (rows) paradigm with ∥-ət∥ ‘control transitive’ and ∥-i∥ ‘persistent’ (§2.2.1). The root4 ∥√x̣č∥ ‘figure out’ with these two suffixes is glossed ‘know’ as in ‘I know you.’
 11pl23
-- -- x̣əčsí sən x̣čít sən 
1pl -- -- x̣əčsí ɬtə x̣čít ɬtə 
x̣čís sxʷ x̣čitál̕xʷ sxʷ -- x̣čít sxʷ 
x̣əčsís x̣čitál̕xʷəs (x̣əčtíŋ sxʷ) x̣əčtís 



2.4.5.7. Object (columns) subject (rows) paradigm with ∥-nəs∥ ‘purposive’ (§2.5.2.4). The root ∥√kʷaniŋat∥ ‘run, race’ with this transitivizer is glossed as, for example, ‘I run after you.’
 11pl23
-- -- kʷənəŋatnəsáŋə sən kʷənəŋátnəs sən 
1pl -- -- kʷənəŋatnəsáŋə ɬtə kʷənəŋátnəs ɬtə 
kʷənəŋatnəsáŋəs sxʷ kʷənəŋatnəsál̕xʷ sxʷ -- kʷənəŋátnəs sxʷ 
kʷənəŋatnəsáŋəs kʷənəŋatnəsál̕xʷəs (kʷənəŋátnəsəŋ sxʷ) kʷənəŋátnəsəs 



2.4.5.8. Object (columns) subject (rows) paradigm with ∥-əs∥ ‘effort transitive’ (§2.5.2.5). Only partial paradigms have been recorded with this transitivizer. The following set with ∥√nəw̕∥ ‘be inside’ is the most complete. Note that when both first and second persons are involved ∥-ŋiy∥ ‘relational’ also appears. See also §2.5.2.5.
 11pl23
-- -- nəw̕ŋíŋə sən nəw̕és sən 
1pl -- -- not recorded not recorded 
nəw̕ŋíŋəs sxʷ not recorded -- nəw̕és sxʷ 
(nəw̕éŋ sən) not recorded (nəw̕éŋ sxʷ) not recorded 

Notes to §2.4.

1. The prosodic similarity between the second and third plurals here is striking but as yet unaccounted for.

2. I recorded no examples with the first plural possesive and a second person subject. Hess (p.c.) has data indicating that constructions like *ténɬtə sxʷ are unacceptable in Saanich. This is also the case in other Salish languages. In order to say ‘you are our mother’ one must resort to the second person predicative pronominal: nə́kʷə ténɬtə.

3. This similarity is an historical accident. The first singular /s/ of object set 1 comes from Proto-Salish *c, while that of object set 2 comes from *x (Kinkade, p.c.).

4. A full paradigm for the root of previous paradigms, ∥k̕ʷən∥, with ∥-i∥ ‘persistent’ was not recorded. However, forms such as /k̕ʷənsí sən/ ‘I watch you’ do occur. See examples 1-4 in §2.2. This root has not been recorded with either ∥-nəs∥ ‘purposive’ or ∥-əs∥ ‘effort’.