Tl’áqt ta’ lex̲éywa siyólh. Tl’átl’el te th’ístels te smúsmes li te élqsels.

Tl’áqt ta’ lex̲éywa siyólh. Tl’átl’el te th’ístels te smúsmes li te élqsels.

means “Your torchlighting spear is long. They attach a cow’s horn on the end.”.

Audio: Elizabeth Herrling

Structure and Vocabulary

This phrase has the following structure:

• (s)tl’átl’el – (be) attached
• te – a, the (Halq’eméylem uses the same words for ‘a’ and ‘the’)
• th’ístel – horn (or an animal), antler
• -s here, translates roughly as ‘of‘. Literally it marks that a ‘third person’ (neither you nor me) possesses the object.
• (s)músmes – cow (Note that Elizabeth adds an s-. The s- prefix, used in this way, is a noun marker, and speakers are quite variable in whether they use it or not with certain nouns.)
• li – this is a general preposition which can mean in, on, at or on, here the best translations is on
• élqsel – tip, end