Some words in Sgaw Karen have so many different jobs that they deserve their own treatment. These are the polysemous words—words that carry multiple related meanings and grammatical functions.
Understanding these words is like finding master keys: they unlock huge parts of the language. Once you see how they work, you'll recognize them everywhere.
lə̄
The great connector — preposition, relativizer, complementizer
lə̄ hîˀ pù (in the house)
pɣà lə̄ ʔə-ɣè (person who is good)
jə-sʰō.môˀ lə̄ ʔə-kə-hɛ̄ (I think that he will come)
pʰō
Child → small → member — literal child, diminutive, group membership
pʰō-kʰwā (son)
kʰlī-pʰō (small boat)
pɣà-būˀ.dāˀ-pʰō (Buddhist)
bâˀ
Hit, must, applicative — main verb, modal, valency-changer, question word
jə-bâˀ lɛ̀ (I must go)
mɨ̀ˀ-bâˀ (be enjoyable for someone)
bâˀ mənɨ̀ ʔəxō lɛ̂ˀ (why?)
xō
Reason, cause — relator noun for 'because', 'therefore', 'why'
jə-xō (because of me)
ʔəxō nêˀ (therefore)
bâˀ mənɨ̀ ʔəxō lɛ̂ˀ (why?)
tâ
Thing, nominalizer, expletive — noun, verb nominalizer, impersonal 'it'
tâ-ʔɔ̂ˀ (food)
tâ-mà (work)
tâ-kô (it is hot)
Complete glossary
For reference, here is the full glossary of all polysemous words from the source text, including detailed entries for bâˀ, dâˀ, dīˀ, dōˀ, dɔ̄ˀ, lə̄, lɔ̀, mê, nê, pɣà, tâ, tə-, tʰɔ̂ˀ, xàˀ, θāˀ, θêˀ.ɲā, θōˀ, ʔə-, and ʔôˀ.
View complete glossary →What makes these words special?
These words share a common property: they have both lexical meanings (they can be main verbs or nouns) and grammatical functions (they can be markers, connectors, or auxiliaries).
For example:
- pʰō means 'child' as a noun, but also marks small things ('diminutive') and group membership.
- bâˀ means 'hit' as a verb, but also 'must' as a modal, and adds an extra person to the action ('applicative').
- lə̄ has no concrete meaning—it's purely grammatical—but it's the single most frequent word in the language.
Learning these words deeply will transform your understanding of Sgaw Karen sentences.