Pronominals

English Pronouns

English has 21 pronouns that standalone and are separate words:

Subjective Set	Objective Set	Possessive Set
I	me	my
you	you	your
he	him	his
she	her	her
it	it	its
we	us	our
they	them	their

Oneida has two kinds of pronouns: standalone and bound.

Standalone Pronouns

Standalone pronouns are words you‘ll find that stand alone in a sentence. The standalone pronouns are:

Oneida	English
í·	I / Me
isé·	You
né·	It
laulhá·	He / Him
akaulhá·	She / Her
aulhá·	It
lonulhá·	They / Them (males, mix of males and females)
onulhá·	They / Them (females)

Bound Pronouns

Bound pronouns must be attached to a word. There are roughly 80 of these, which can be broken down into four groups:

Subjective (Red)
Objective (Blue)
Possessive (Light Blue)
Interactive (Purple)

The last group, Interactive, refers to a group of pronouns that do not have an English counterpart. Each of these groups are colour-coded to help you identify pronouns within words.

Below you‘ll see a paradigm chart for each stem for each of the groups above, as well as tables that show all pronouns for each group.

From here on, we will refer to pronouns as pronominals, which is an abbreviation of "pronominal prefix". This is a linguistics term.

While you should end up learning all of the following paradigms, it is best to prioritize paradigms for C-stem and A-stem words as they are the most common.

Subjective Pronominals (Red)

Generally, subjective (red) pronominals are used when the person is in control of the action. There are exceptions to this, though.

English	C-stem	A-stem	I-stem	E-stem Λ-stem	O-stem U-stem
I	k ik ⁵ ke ⁴	k	k	k	k
You	s ts ⁶ it ⁷ hse ³⁴	hs ³	ts hs ³	hs ³	hs ³
He	la ²	l ²	lʌ ¹²	hl ²³	hl ²³
She	ye	yu ¹	ye ¹	yak	yak
It	ka	w	kʌ ¹	w	y
You and I	tni	ty	tn	tn	tn
Someone and I	yakni	yaky	yakn	yakn	yakn
You two	sni	tsy	sn	sn	sn
2 males 1 male + 1 female	hni ³	hy ³	hn ³	hn ³	hn ³
2 females	kni	ky	kn	kn	kn
You all and I	twa	tw	twʌ ¹	tw	ty
They and I	yakwa	yakw	yakwʌ ¹	yakw	yaky
All of you	swa	sw	swʌ ¹	sw	tsy
They (males) They (males + females)	lati ²	lu ¹²	lʌn ² lat ²	lʌn ²	lʌn ²
They (females)	kuti	ku ¹	kutkun	kun	kun

Objective Pronominals (Blue)

Objective (blue) pronominals are often when the person is not in control of the action, such as states of mind or illnesses. Many of these are discussed in module 5. There are exceptions to this too, though.

English	C-stem	A-stem	I-stem	E-stem Λ-stem	O-stem U-stem
I	wak wake ⁴	wak	wak	wak	wak
You	sa	s	sʌ ¹	s	s
He	lo ²	lo ¹²	lo ¹²	law ²	la ²
She	yako	yako ¹	yako ¹	yakaw	yaka
It	yo	yo ¹	yo ¹	yaw	ya
You and I	yukni	yuky	yukn	yukn	yukn
Someone and I	yukni	yuky	yukn	yukn	yukn
You two	sni	tsy	sn	sn	sn
2 males 1 male + 1 female	loti ²	lon ²	lot ²	lon ²	lon ²
2 females	yoti	yon	yot	yon	yon
You all and I	yukwa	yukw	yukwʌ ¹	yukw	yuky
They and I	yukwa	yukw	yukwʌ ¹	yukw	yuky
All of you	swa	sw	swʌ ¹	sw	tsy
They (males) They (males + females)	loti ²	lon ²	lot ²	lon ²	lon ²
They (females)	yoti	yon	yot	yon	yon

Interactive Pronominals (Purple)

Interactive (purple) pronominals do not have an English counterpart. There are many of these! On this website, almost all verbs that use interactive pronominals will be stated only with a subset of these pronominals. These are the singular cases, as seen in the tables below.

English	C-stem	A-stem	I-stem	E-stem Λ-stem	O-stem U-stem
I → you	ku	kuy	ku ¹	kuy	kuy
I → him	li ²	liy ²	l ²	liy ²	liy ²
I → her	khe	khey	khe ¹	khey	khey
I → you two	kni	ky	kn	kn	kn
I → all of you	kwa	kw	kwʌ ¹	kw	ky
You → me	sk ske ⁴	skw	sk	sk	sk
You → him	hetsh ³ hetshe ³⁴	hetsh ³	hetsh ³	hetsh ³	hetsh ³
You → her	she	shey	she ¹	shey	shey
You → someone and I	skni	sky	skn	skn	skn
You → them and I	skwa	skw	skwʌ ¹	skw	sky ³
He → me	lak lake ⁴	lakw	lak	lakw	lak
He → you	hya ³	hy ³	hyʌ ¹³	hyay ³	hyay ³
He → him	lo ²	lo ¹²	lo ¹²	law ²	la ²
He → her	shako	shako ¹	shako ¹	shakaw	shaka
He → you and I	shukni	shuky	shukn	shukn	shukn
He → someone and I	shukni	shuky	shukn	shukn	shukn
He → you two	hetsni ³	hetsy ³	hetsn ³	hetsn ³	hetsn ³
He → you all and I	shukwa	shukw	shukwʌ ¹	shukw	shuky
He → them and I	shukwa	shukw	shukwʌ ¹	shukw	shuky
He → all of you	hetswa ³	hetsw ³	hetswʌ ¹³	hetsw ³	hetsy ³
She → me	yuk yuke ⁴	yukw	yuk	yukw	yuk
She → you	yesa	yes	yesʌ ¹	yes	yesay
She → him	luwa	luw	luwʌ ¹	luw	luway
She → her	yutat yutate ⁴	yutat	yutat	yutat	yutat
She → you and I	yukhi	yukhiy	yukh	yukhiy	yukhiy
She → someone and I	yukhi	yukhiy	yukh	yukhiy	yukhiy
She → you two	yetshi	yetshiy	yetshi	yetshiy	yetshiy
She → you all and I	yukhi	yukhiy	yukh	yukhiy	yukhiy
She → them and I	yukhi	yukhiy	yukh	yukhiy	yukhiy
She → all of you	yetshi	yetshiy	yetshi	yetshiy	yetshiy
You and I → him	hethni ³	hety ³	hethn ³	hethn ³	hethn ³
You and I → her	yethi	yethiy	yeth	yethiy	yethiy
Someone and I → you	kni	ky	kn	kn	kn
Someone and I → him	shakni	shaky	shakn	shakn	shakn
Someone and I → her	yakhi	yakhiy	yakh	yakhiy	yakhiy
Someone and I → you two	kni	ky	kn	kn	kn
Someone and I → all of you	kwa	kw	kwʌ ¹	kw	ky
You two → me	skni	sky	skn	skn	skn
You two → him	hetsni ³	hetsy ³	hetsn ³	hetsn ³	hetsn ³
You two → her	yetshi	yetshiy	yetshi	yetshiy	yetshiy
You two → them and I	skwa	skw	skwʌ ¹	skw	sky
You all and I → him	hethwa ³	hethw ³	hethwʌ ¹³	hethw ³	hety ³
You all and I → her	yetshi	yetshiy	yetshi	yetshiy	yetshiy
They and I → you	kwa	kw	kwʌ ¹	kw	ky
They and I → him	shakwa	shakw	shakwʌ ¹	shakw	shaky
They and I → her	yakhi	yakhiy	yakh	yakhiy	yakhiy
They and I → you two	kwa	kw	kwʌ ¹	kw	ky
They and I → all of you	kwa	kw	kwʌ ¹	kw	ky
All of you → me	skwa	skw	skwʌ ¹	skw	sky
All of you → him	hetswa ³	hetsw ³	hetswʌ ¹³	hetsw ³	hetsy ³
All of you → her	yetshi	yetshiy	yetshi	yetshiy	yetshiy
All of you → someone and I	skwa	skw	skwʌ ¹	skw	sky ³
All of you → them and I	skwa	skw	skwʌ ¹	skw	sky ³
They (males),They (males + females) →	shakoti	shakon	shakot	shakon	shakon
They (females) →	yakoti	yakon	yakot	yakon	yakon
They → them (males),them (males + females)	luwati ²	luwʌn ²	luwat ²	luwʌn ²	luwʌn ²
They → them (females)	kuwati	kuwʌn	kuwat	kuwʌn	kuwʌn
They → it	kuwa	kuw	kuwʌ ¹	kuw	kuway
You → me	tak take ⁴	takw	tak	tak	tak
All of you → me	takwa	takw	takwʌ ¹	takw	taky
You two → me	takni	taky	takn	takn	takn

Possessive Pronominals (Light Blue)

Possessive (light blue) pronominals occur when talking about nouns. Almost all nouns use these, but they cannot be used with people, plants, animals, and most body parts.

English	C-stem	A-stem	I-stem	E-stem Λ-stem	O-stem U-stem
I	ak ake ⁴	akw	ak	akw	ak
You	sa	s	sʌ ¹	s	s
He	lao	lao ¹	lao ¹	law	la
She	ako	ako ¹	ako ¹	akaw	ak
It	ao	ao ¹	ao ¹	aw	a
You and I	ukni	uky	ukn	ukn	ukn
Someone and I	ukni	uky	ukn	ukn	ukn
You two	sni	tsy	sn	sn	sn
2 males 1 male + 1 female	laoti	laon	laonlaot	laon	laon
2 females	aoti	aon	aonaot	aon	aon
You all and I	ukwa	ukw	ukwʌ ¹	ukw	uky
They and I	ukwa	ukw	ukwʌ ¹	ukw	uky
All of you	swa	sw	swʌ ¹	sw	tsy
They (males) They (males + females)	laoti	laon	laonlaot	laon	laon
They (females)	aoti	aon	aonaot	aon	aon

Exceptions

Exception 1

The vowel with a squiggly underline replaces the leading vowel of the root word.

As an example, let‘s look at the A-stem column in the subjective pronominals table, and use the root word attokhaʔ. The translation for "she is wise" without this replacement rule would be yuattokhaʔ. yua is not a sound in Oneida so we instead change it to yu. Therefore the translation is yuttókhaʔ.

Exception 2

The letter l changes to an h when there is something attached before the pronominal. Examples:

lanú·wehse̲ʔ vs. yáh tehanú·wehse̲ʔ
lonúhte̲ʔ vs. yáh tehonúhte̲ʔ

Exception 3

The h is not written or pronounced when nothing is attached in front of the pronominal. However, when anything is attached to the front of the pronominal, the h is written and pronounced. Example: snú·wehse̲ʔ and yáh tehsnú·wehse̲ʔ.

Exception 4

The letter e only appears on root words that begin with a double consonant or a glottal stop. Examples:

keshwʌ·neʔ
keʔnekʌhtalá·keʔ
kenyalá·keʔ
wakeste·líhst
wakeʔnikuhlowanʌ̲́

Exception 5

The ik prefix is attached to most (but not all) single syllable roots. The i in ik is used only occasionally. The i disappears when anything is attached in front of the prefix. Example: íkyʌheʔ and yáh té·kyʌheʔ.

Exception 6

The prefix ts is attached to all roots beginning with y and i. The t disappears and is replaced by h when anything is attached in front of the prefix. Examples:

tsyʌtelí̲ vs. yáh tehsyʌtelí̲
tsí·tlu̲ʔ vs. yáh tehsí·tlu̲ʔ

Exception 7

The prefix it is attached to all roots beginning with hs and the i disappears when anything is attached in front of the prefix. Example: ítshaʔas and yáh tetsháʔas. Additionally, the h shifts over.

Pronominals

English Pronouns

Standalone Pronouns

Bound Pronouns

Subjective Pronominals (Red)

C-stem

A-stem

E-stem

I-stem

O-stem

U-stem

Λ-stem

Objective Pronominals (Blue)

C-stem

A-stem

E-stem

I-stem

O-stem

U-stem

Λ-stem

Interactive Pronominals (Purple)

C-stem

A-stem

E-stem

I-stem

O-stem

U-stem

Λ-stem

Possessive Pronominals (Light Blue)

C-stem

A-stem

E-stem

I-stem

O-stem

U-stem

Λ-stem

Exceptions

Exception 1

Exception 2

Exception 3

Exception 4

Exception 5

Exception 6

Exception 7