younger sibling
Sqá:q means ‘younger sibling’. You can use it for a younger brother or a younger sister. You can also use it for certain of your cousins.
Pronunciation
- Sqá:q sounds like SKACK, except instead of k‘s you say the Halq’eméylem q.
- To make the q, touch the back of your tongue right back to your uvula.
Audio: Elizabeth Herrling, Elizabeth Phillips
Brother or sister?
Sqá:q is the same for male and female siblings. That is, it can mean either younber brother or. younger sister.
There are ways to get around this. The word for my is tel before males (or neutral objects), but for many speakers my is thel before females. Thus you can say tel sqá:q for my brother and thel sqá:q for my sister. Similar ways of expressing the difference work with words for your (ta’ vs. tha’) and some other words in the language.
Some cousins are also sqá:qs
Was your aunt/uncle your father’s sqá:q? Then his/her children (your cousins, in English terms) count as your sqá:qs too!
The same thing works with your mother`s brother/sister sqá:qs, too, they also become your cousin sqá:qs.
Interestingly, with cousins, your cousin-sqá:q can actually be older than you! They are your `little cousin` because their parent is your parent`s sqá:q.
Plural form
Sqá:q has a special plural form, like this: sqelá:q – siblings (audio here).
Elders make this type of plural by inserting (‘infixing’) an -(e)l into the word.
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