x̲ex̲élh

feeling hurt

X̲ex̲élh means ‘feeling hurt’, or ‘be hurting’.

X̲ex̲élh is the ‘-ing‘ (‘continuative’) form of x̲élh ‘feel hurt, be hurt’.

Pronunciation

• X̲ex̲élh sounds like kuh-KUSH, except instead of k‘s you say the Halq’emeylem hard-x (̲x), and the last sound is not SH but the Halq’eméylem hissy-l (lh)
• To make the hard-x (x̲), you create heavy friction with the back of your tongue against your uvula.
• To make the hissy-l (lh), you say a regular l, but then create more friction and stop the vibration in your throat.

Audio: Elizabeth Herrling, Elizabeth Phillips

Structure

The Elders create this –ing form by a regular process of duplicating the first consonant and vowel in the word, as illustrated here (‘C’ stands for ‘Consonant’, and ‘V’ stands for ‘Vowel’: