Copula /ʔe·/

A copula is an element like English "is, are" that joins together pieces of a sentence, especially a subject and its description, such as "the dog is brown". The copula /ʔe·/ can serve the same function in Kashaya, but the subject typically comes at the end.

• sine· ʔé· mu
  that's easy; it's easy
• madu ʔé· mu·kinʔ
  he's awake
• ʔahqʰa keš ʔe· maʔu ʔacaʔ
  this man is generous (isn't stingy) with his water
• ʔama háṭʰkʼo ʔe· ma
  you're a liar

Technically, the copula is a clitic that consists of the assertive /ʔ/, the factual (which is not realized explicitly here), and the nonfinal verb suffix /e·/. When it occurs after a consonant, the /ʔ/ usually disappears, but will glottalize a plain stop that precedes it; this is a general pattern with the assertive.

• batʼaʔ tʰin é· mu
  he's not quiet
• kʼis é· dile·ma·
  the middle is red
• banakʼ é· mu
  it's a swing
• damucʼ é· ʔa
  I'm full
• yoqʼocí·du cilicʼ e· miʔkʰe ma·kina
  your car is worth keeping

The copula can focus attention on one part of the sentence.

• mi· ʔé· ʔa bihše mahcʰáhqaw
  that's where I scared a deer away
• ʔa ʔé· ma·cal duʔṭʼawa·muʔ
  I'm the one who introduced them to each other
• cohtó·ti ʔe· ʔa daṭadáṭawanʔ
  I'm hurrying to leave (it's to leave that I'm hurrying)

At other times, it's less obvious that a single part of the sentence is being emphasized, and the usage may simply be idiomatic.

• hu·ʔ daw é· to
  yes, I like it
• pʰilaʔ la·li ʔe· ma·caʔ
  maybe they moved away
• ciba· waláʔkʰe tʰin e· qʰaʔbe píhciṭa·la· tol
  no one can walk down a perpendicular rock