(s)tl’átl’el

Stl’átl’el (Elizabeth in this story says tl’átl’el) means ‘attached’ or ‘stuck on’.

Pronunciation

Stl’átl’el sounds like ‘STLA-TLULL‘, except that the t‘s are ‘popped’ (‘ejective’). To make an ejective t (t’), you combine it with a catch in the throat (glottal stop) sound.

Audio: Elizabeth Herrling

Note: Elizabeth does not say the s– prefix, which normally goes with this form (the ‘resulting state’ form, described below).  The sentence could have a different analysis, or she might just not always say the s– in this particular word.

Structure and related words

Tl’átl’el comes from the root tl’ál, the same root as in tl’álx – to attach (it).

Tl’átl’el is the ‘resulting state’ form of tl’ál. To make this form, you double (‘reduplicate’) the first consonant and vowel in the word, and then adding the prefix s– (with a minor vowel change in the second vowel):

Note that tl’ counts as a single consonant for ‘doubling’ processes like this (which is why it is a separate letter in the alphabet).