Chapter 45Affiliative Suffix Patterns

45.1 Predictable patterns and lexical choices

An affiliative often has a short form ending in a vowel and a long form with a further h plus that same vowel: teke / tekehe, siki / sikihi. The repeated vowel is the final vowel of the short affiliative. Choosing the short form itself requires both phonological and lexical information Nakagawa (2024: 226–228); Satō (2008: 153–154); Refsing (1986: 82–85).

The tables below follow Nakagawa's classification. They give unsegmented surface forms so that alternations such as askepet → askepeci remain visible. Person marking is treated in Chapter 44 (Concept, Affiliative, and Personal Forms).

45.2 Vowel-final stems

For most vowel-final stems, the short affiliative is segmentally identical to the concept form. The long form adds -hV, with V repeating that vowel Nakagawa (2024: 226). Monosyllabic stems ending in i or u have a separate pattern discussed below.

In the third person, the short form may therefore contain neither a pronounced person marker nor an overt affiliative suffix. Context and construction distinguish it from the concept form Nakagawa (2024: 227). The meaning “breast” for totto in this table is separate from its kinship uses; see Chapter 48 (Kinship, Address, and Possession).

45.3 Stems ending in y or w

Glide-final stems take -e or -ehe. Nakagawa gives patoy → patoye(he) “lips” and ikkew → ikkewe(he) “waist/hip” Nakagawa (2024: 227). Refsing includes haw → hawe(he) “voice” Refsing (1986: 82). Parentheses represent the long-form extension.

45.4 Other consonant-final stems

For the remaining consonant-final stems, Nakagawa distinguishes three lexical classes. One takes -i(hi) regardless of the last stem vowel. Another repeats the last stem vowel. A third takes -u(hu) after a stem whose last vowel is a Nakagawa (2024: 227–228, table 51). The last condition concerns the vowel before the final consonant; these stems are consonant-final.

The form askepeci illustrates the t + i alternation. The table also shows why a single vowel-copy rule is insufficient: am, kisar, and nan all contain a, but their affiliatives end in different vowels. Satō accordingly recommends learning the individual forms Satō (2008: 154).

45.5 Compounds and locative connections

Some nouns change suffix class as the second element of a compound. Nakagawa compares at → atu(hu) with tar-at → tar-aci(hi), the cord section of a carrying strap. He suggests that a weakened semantic connection with the independent noun allows the common -i pattern Nakagawa (2024: 228) ‹speculative›. His observation concerns some compounds, rather than an obligatory suffix replacement in every compound.

Nakagawa also connects many vowel-repeating forms historically with locative nouns. He compares locative sut “lower edge/hem,” long sutu, with ordinary noun tap-sut “shoulder” and its affiliative tap-sut-u(hu). He explicitly leaves some members of the class outside this explanation Nakagawa (2024: 228) ‹speculative›.

45.6 Exceptional short stems and irregular forms

The following forms depart from the ordinary vowel-final pattern Nakagawa (2024: 228–229):

Nakagawa proposes underlying glide-final forms such as *ciy and *kuw, comparing Sakhalin long vowels. The starred forms are analytical representations Nakagawa (2024: 229) ‹speculative›. Availability of the bow affiliative differs between descriptions; see Chapter 43 (Possessive Constructions and Alienability).

Two further irregular forms are par → paro(ho) “mouth” and mor → moru(hu) “hair in front of the ears.” Nakagawa discusses possible historical explanations involving a locative element for the former and reanalysis for the latter Nakagawa (2024: 230) ‹speculative›.

45.7 Phonological and historical analyses

The vowel patterns have been discussed in terms of harmony, assimilation, and morphological classes. Shiraishi reviews these accounts, including Chiri's historical proposal and later formal analyses, while emphasizing lexical restrictions and troublesome vowel combinations Shiraishi (2022: §4.5) ‹contested›. The descriptive classes above do not by themselves decide between those accounts.

For the long forms, Kindaichi and Chiri propose a development from repeated vowels to an intervening h Kindaichi & Chiri (1936: 17) ‹speculative›. Refsing reviews competing views about whether short or long forms are basic Refsing (1986: 85) ‹contested›. The present alternation is better established than its historical derivation.

45.8 Sakhalin comparison

For Sakhalin Ainu, Tangiku reports Murasaki's long-type paradigm, including sapa-ha, imi-yehe, and ram-uhu. He also describes the restoration of stem-final consonants in teh → tek-ihi and otoh → otop-ihi Tangiku (2022: §§4.1–4.2, reporting Murasaki 1979: 83–84). These Sakhalin patterns require their own account; the Hokkaido short/long pairing cannot simply be transferred to them.