The Selection of Theme Suffix in VTA verbs

Observation

ᒋᐧᐋᐸᒥᓐ᙮		chiwaapamin.	you see me.
ᒋᐧᐋᐸᒥᑎᓐ᙮		chiwaapamitin.	I see you.

The it in the second example above is called a theme suffix. The difference between these two examples is that the theme suffix –it appears in ᒋᐧᐋᐸᒥᑎᓐ chiwaapamitin I see you and not in ᒋᐧᐋᐸᒥᓐ chiwaapamin you see me.

There are three transitive animate theme suffixes, which follow the TA verb stem: -it, -aa, -e, and -ikw/-iku. it is used only when first persons ( ᓃ nii I, ᓃᔮᓐ niiyaan we) are actors and the second persons ( ᒌ chii you, ᒌᔮᓅ chiiyaanuu we including you, ᒌᐧᐋᐤ chiiwaau you all) are goals. -aa and -ikw/-iku are used in all combinations with third persons.

Southern Dialect			English	Actor	Rank	Goal	Prefix		Theme Suffix
ᒋᐧᐋᐸᒥᓐ		chiwaapamin	you see me.	2	>	1	ᒋ	chi	–
ᒋᐧᐋᐸᒥᑎᓐ		chiwaapamitin	I see you.	1	<	2	ᒋ	chi	it
ᒋᐧᐋᐸᒥᓈᐧᐋᐤ		chiwaapaminaawaau	you all see me.	2	>	1	ᒋ	chi	–
ᒋᐧᐋᐸᒥᑎᓈᐧᐋᐤ		chiwaapamitinaawaau	I see you all.	1	<	2	ᒋ	chi	it
ᒋᐧᐋᐸᒥᓈᓐ		chiwaapaminaan	you see us.	2	>	1	ᒋ	chi	–
ᒋᐧᐋᐸᒥᑎᓈᓐ		chiwaapamitinaan	we see you.	1	<	2	ᒋ	chi	it
ᒋᐧᐋᐸᒫᐤ		chiwaapamaau	you see her.	2	>	3	ᒋ	chi	aa
ᒋᐧᐋᐸᒥᒄ		chiwaapamikw	she sees you.	3	<	2	ᒋ	chi	ikw
ᓂᐧᐋᐸᒫᐤ		niwaapamaau	I see her.	1	>	3	ᓂ	ni	aa
ᓂᐧᐋᐸᒥᒄ		niwaapamikw	she sees me.	3	<	1	ᓂ	ni	ikw
ᐧᐋᐸᒣᐤ		waapameu	she sees him (the other).	3	>	3′	–		aa
ᐧᐋᐸᒥᑰ		waapamikuu	he (the other) sees her.	3′	<	3	–		iku

[for the plural third persons combinations see the Conjugation Tables]

The theme suffix it appears in independent and conjunct verb forms for 1>2 person combinations. The direct theme suffix aa/e and the inverse theme suffix iku/ikw appear in the independent, and some conjunct verb forms for third persons combinations.

Direct and Inverse in TA verbs

When the actor of a TA verb outranks the goal on the person hierarchy, we can speak of a “direct” relationship. When the goal outranks the actor on the person hierarchy, then we speak of an “inverse” relationship. The theme suffix aa is thus also called the Direct suffix , while the theme suffixes it and iku/ikw are called the Inverse suffixes.