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In addition to the plural marker iy–,
Samala also has a dual marker i –.
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| These two prefixes iy–
and i–
are called number markers. |
| Dual refers to "two," so the Samala
plural refers to "three or more." This is worth mentioning because
in English the plural refers to "two or more," as in an expression
such as "my eyes." |
| Here are examples of the dual with the three
person markers: |
![our child [two of us]](../pix/family-th.gif) |
| k– |
 ma
k–i–i t  n |
"our child" — the two of us |
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k–i–amn |
"the two of us know" |
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| p– |
p–i–tap |
"you two go in" |
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ma k–i–itn |
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ma
p–i–popo |
"your [two of you] grandfather" |
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| s– |
ma
s–i–wot
 ma iwot |
"their chief" |
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s–i–alpat
ialpat |
"the two of them are running" |
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| Because of sibilant harmony, the combination
of s– + i–
usually becomes i–.
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| As you've already seen, sometimes more than
one sound rule may apply at a time. |
| What happens when you add the dual marker
to the following words? |
 |
k–i–icis |
kisicis |
"our younger brother/sister
[of the two of us]" |
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p–i–iskon |
pisiskon |
"your family, the family of the two
of you" |
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s–i–icumu |
sisicumu |
"the two of them are pointing" |
| Sibilant harmony operates in all of the examples
above. Because an s or a
c — "hissing" sibilants without a wedge
— come later in the word, the
of the dual marker i–
becomes s. |
In the example below, sibilant harmony also
operates: it turns the sequence
+ s into ss. Then
the double consonant ss becomes aspirated
s : |
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p–i–sinay |
pisinay |
"you two put something
away" |
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