Noun plurals
When we examine Cheyenne noun plurals, our first impression is that there are quite a few different suffixes used to change singulars to plurals. But when we look more closely we see that most animate plurals end with -o or -ne and most inanimate plurals end with -�stse or -�tse. We notice that many inanimate plurals include -n, so it looks like there are plurals ending in -n�stse and -n�tse. Further investigation allows us to see the basic patterns of Cheyenne pluralization even more clearly. In this investigation we can use some techniques of linguistics that enable us to posit more "abstract" forms (phonemic spelling) of nouns. The result is that what initially appears as a rather large number of plural suffixes condenses to a short list of one, or at most, two, plural suffixes for each of the two animacy categories, animate and inanimate nouns. This shorter list is affirmed by reference to the developmental history of Cheyenne sounds, as seen, especially, through comparison with nouns in other Algonquian languages. Following is a brief outline of Cheyenne noun pluralization, with a few representative nouns:
ANIMATE NOUNS
Plurals ending with -o
ant h�tse�ke h�ts�keho
baby m�'�ev�tse m�'�evoto
bear n�hkohe n�hk�heo'o
bee h�hnoma h�hnomaho
bird v�'k�se v�'k�seho
cat p��so p�esono
child ka'�k�ne ka'�k�neho
duck ��'�e ��'�eo'o
feather mee'e m�eno
man hetane hetaneo'o
shirt �stse'he �stse'heno
woman he'e he'eo'o
Plurals ending with -ne
meaning singular plural
animal hova hov�hne
chicken kok�h��xa kok�h�ax�ne
deer v��ts�va v�otsev�hne
sheep kosa k�s�ne
skunk xao'o xa�ne
turtle ma'eno ma'en�ne
INANIMATE NOUNS
Plurals ending with -n�tse
meaning singular plural
bone he'ko he'kon�tse
book m�xe'�stoo'o m�xe'�st�on�tse
house m�heo'o m�heon�tse
road meo'o meon�tse
shoe mo'keha mo'k�han�tse
Plurals ending with -�tse
meaning singular plural
airplane ame'haht�tse ame'h�htot�tse
axe hohk�xe hohk�xeh�tse
bed ��e�est�tse ��e��stot�tse
chair t�xe's�est�tse t�xe's�estot�tse
knife mot��ke m�t��keh�tse
Plurals ending with -n�stse
meaning singular plural
belt hoest�to hoest�t�n�stse
bowstring ma'tano ma'tan�n�stse
coin ma'kaeta ma'kaet�n�stse
Plurals ending with -�stse
meaning singular plural
bead on�havo'ke on�havo'k�stse
hat h�hk�ha'e h�hk�h�'�stse
fishhook non�n��'e non�n��'�stse
river �'he'e o'he'�stse
(To be continued)
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