dog
Sqwemá:y is the Halq’eméylem word for ‘dog’. You can use it to talk about any kind of dog …
Pronunciation
- Sqwemá:y sounds like skwum-EH, except that instead of a k you say the Halq’eméylem q.
- To make the q, touch the back of your tongue to your uvula. In this word the q is also rounded (qw).
Audio: Elizabeth Herrling, Elizabeth Phillips
Related words
Here are some words related to sqwemé:y:
- sqwiqwemá:y – puppy (‘little’ or ‘diminutive’ form of sqwemá:y, made with partial doubling of the first syllable, and insertion of vowel i).
- sqweqweméytses – pussy willow (-tses means ‘hand’, so this is literally ‘puppy-hand’)
- sqwemé:yalqel – dog wool (-alqel means ‘wool’)
- Sqwemá:y – name of a rock shaped like a dog, east shore of the Fraser near an abandoned town called Hill’s bar, between Emory Creek and Yale.
Plural Form
The plural for sqwemé:y is like this: sqweméqwem:y – dogs (audio here).
dogs (plural)
Elders make this type of plural by doubling (‘reduplicating’) the first part of the word.
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