Woodland Indians Forum

I'm not sure I'm competent enough in SU to cover every possible possessive formation for nouns.  Here's those I know:

my  =  n- in words beginning with n- (with which it merges).  n- in words beginning with ch-, h-, k-, l- (sometimes), s-, sh-, t and x.  nt- in words beginning with a vowel.  ne- in words beginning with m- or w-.  m- in words beginning with p-.  nte- in some words beginning with l-.  [There may be some exceptional words with different formations.  At least one speaker used l- for first person with words beginning with l.  Some speakers say hn- for nh-.]

your (sg.)  =  k- in words beginning with k- (with which it merges).  k- in some words beginning with consonants.    kt- in words beginning with a vowel.  ke- in some words beginning with consonants.  kte- in words beginning with l-.

his/her  =  As you write.  The most important oddballs are placing the w- after the initial of nouns beginning with h- (hw-), k- (kw-), m- (mw-), p- (pw-), and x (xw-).

our (incl.)  =  Prefixes as with "I" above.  Suffixes as you write.

our (excl.)  =  Prefixes as with "you (sg.)" above.  Suffixes as you write.

your (pl.)  =  Prefixes as with "you (sg.)" above.  Suffix as -uwa, usually.  -ewa after -y-.

their  =  Prefixes as you write, but with the same varied permutations ("funky things") you cite for his/her.  Suffix as -uwa, usually.  -ewa after -y-.

When adding the noun plurals to these possessive plurals, use -enan-, -oo- and -eo- (I think!).

Kavik wrote:

Thanks -

I'm wondering if perhaps the 2nd person pl. in SU might be -owa instead of -uwa ('u' being usually NU) - ?

SU, kenaxkuwa  = "your (pl.) hands" 

You should probably check with Jim Rementer, at the LTD e-mail address, about this.  He's the SU expert.  Mission Delaware (NU) is often a conglomeration of dialects and you will find both -owa and -uwa in their second person plural possessives.

Addendum:  One thing I forgot to tell you is that in SU the letter combination, -wa-, usually transforms into -o-.  So, in words beginning with consonant plus -a-, where the third person w- moves after the initial letter, that -wa- changes to -o-; thus, a word like mwaxkam changes to moxkam.