Teri tsalì’u alu nìfkeytongay—About “nìfkeytongay”

I’ve been reminded that I haven’t yet officially introduced this useful word, although I had promised to in a comment in a previous post. So here it is:

nìfkeytongay (adv., nì.fkey.to.NGAY) ‘actually, as a matter of fact’

The word is most often used to contradict something already said or implied—to “set the record straight,” so to speak. For example:

(NUMEYU: Tok pesenget pamrelìl? Tsat ngal tswolänga’ nìlam.

PAWL: Nìfkeytongay ke tswola’ kaw’it. 🙂  )

Our Neytiri nailed the derivation of this word:

nì-[tìfkeytok+angay]—that is, “true situation-ly.” The historical stages along the way might have been:

*nìtìfkeytokangay > nìtfkeytokngay (unstressed vowels dropped) > nìfkeytongay (consonants at the end of syllables dropped, making the pronunciation easier and more flowing)