/doni/ "over there" /awaan/ "over there" (close to hearer) /gwi/ definite ("the") /ta'a/ for deceased kin only Possessives Possession is shown by placing the possessing noun after the object being possessed, which gets an /-a/ connective. If the object being possessed is not considered to be closely connected to the owner in some way (body parts, clothing, kin) then the object also gets a /na-/ prefix. /gyigyeda huwaap/ "The color of the houses" /nahoon 'yuuta/ "the man's fish" Ergatives If the verb is transitive then the agent of the verb is treated as an ergative and the object as an absolutive. In these cases, the temporal marker receives the suffix /-t/, the verb receives /-da/ and the ergative noun itself has an /-a/ suffix. (Proper nouns require variant suffixes.) Transitive sentences in which the verb is closely related to the absolutive can actually allow the noun to be attached onto the verb, a process called incorporation. A verbal connector /-m-/ is then used to suffix the noun onto the verb. Absolutives When an intransitive verb is used, the agent of the verb is treated as an absolutive. If the absolutive directly follows the verb then the verb receives an /-a/ suffix. (Proper nouns again require different suffixes.) Pronominals Much of the information appearing in a noun phrase can be expressed on the verb phrase as a pronominal. Ergative and absolutive phrases affix onto the verb phrase and take a different form depending on person and number. Below are the most common forms of absolutive suffixes, although depending on the tense, different suffixes are applicable. If there is an (unmarked) ergative noun in the sentence along with the absolutive pronoun, the temporal marker also gets a suffixed /-t/. Dunn has found that some temporal markers take a suffix and others do not. It seems to be "a matter of local and personal style". Ergative pronominals appear before the verb on the temporal marker as infixes or suffixes. Some tense markers call for different affixes. With the perfective tense /nah/, for instance, the ergative suffixes are identical to the absolutive suffixes. Below is the most common form of ergative affix. Both pronominals can occur in one sentence: Linguists and other scholars who have worked on the Tsimshian language Margaret Seguin Anderson William Beynon Franz Boas John A. Dunn Susan Marsden Jean Mulder Odille Morison Bishop William Ridley Fumiko Sasama Tonya Stebbins Marie-Lucie