shashkaimu	s/he lights it	nishashkain	I light it
pakuneimu	s/he pierces it	nipakunein	I pierce it

The stems of verbs like shashkaim^u and pakuneim^u are shashkai- and pakunei-. They can be found before the endings -m^u or -n.

These stem finals consist of a vowel followed by the sound [j]LINGUISTICS : The sounds [j] and [w] are called semi-consonants or semi-vowels because they can act like a vowel or a consonant. In Innu spelling, these sounds are written with the letters i and u, which are also used to write the vowels [i] and [u]. (also called yod) : ai [aj] (as in English pie or sky), or ei [ej] (as in English may, day). TI stems ending in ai or ei usually have as their basic meaningLINGUISTICS : These stem endings are called instrumental endings in Algonquian linguistics. an action that is done with a blow or an object, either a tool or an instrument. Because the stems end in vowels, the thematic TI vowels -a- and -e- are dropped Except in the Pessamit dialect: [nt∫ǝpje:n] I close it., as if replaced by the final stem vowels, as shown in the following examples.

EXAMPLES OF TI VERBS WITH ai or ei STEMS

takaimu	s/he touches it	takaimuat	they touch it
shashkaimu	s/he lights it	shashkai!	light it!
maimu	s/he goes downstream by canoe	tshika main	you go downstream by canoe
utamaimu	s/he hits it	nutamaiti	I hit it
munaimu	s/he digs it up	nimunainan	we dig it up
tshinaimu	s/he sharpens it	tshinaimińua	s/he (obv) sharpens it
tepaimu	s/he meets it by chance	tshitepaiti	you met it by chance
apaimu	s/he takes it apart	apaimuat	they take it apart
peshaimu	s/he paints it	apu peshaik	s/he doesn’t paint it
mishaimu	s/he patches it	nimishain	I patch it
kutaimu	s/he verifies it	apu kutaiman	I don’t verify it
kashkameimu	s/he takes a shortcut by canoe	nikashkamein	I take a shortcut by canoe
pińeimu	s/he frays it	eka pińei!	don’t fray it!
pakuneimu	s/he pierces it	pakuneimupan	s/he pierced it
natumesheimu	s/he goes fishing by boat	natumesheitau!	let’s go fishing by boat!
tapitsheimu	s/he brushes it	apu tapitsheik	s/he doesn’t brush it
atatsheimu	s/he fences it in	apu atatsheimin	you don’t fence it in
amisseimu	s/he mixes it	amissei!	mix it!

NOTES ON PRONUNCIATION AND SPELLING

In the eastern dialects, vowels followed by [j] are pronounced, while in the western dialects, ai is pronounced more as though there were only one vowel: [i:]. Western speakers should therefore be aware that, in writing, there is no TI ending in i [imu]; they are always spelled: -aimu, -eimu, -ain, -ein, etc. On the other hand, ei stems are always pronounced [ej]. So the difficulty is in knowing which vowel, a or e, precedes the i. In eastern dialects, the distinction between -ai and -ei has a tendency to be neutralized, i.e. the two pronunciations are the same, and closer to [ej] than [aj]. It is therefore necessary to learn how to distinguish these endings. The dictionary is a useful tool for knowing the correct spelling of these TI verbs.