June 2025 O’otham Ñeo’ok: “Tho:ḍ hegai?/using vuḍ in sentences”
Submitted by
Huhugam Heritage Center
A common question often asked amongst O’otham speakers is “Tho:ḍ hegai?” This question literally asks “Who is he/she/that person?” and is the conversational version of the more formal phrase “Tho: ‘o vuḍ hegai?” This question utilizes the O’otham word “vuḍ” which, is often heard in O’otham conversations and has a specific purpose in the spoken language. In O’otham sentences “vuḍ” is used to link or identify two words (often nouns) as being one and the same. This can be seen in the following example sentences.
1) “Añi ‘añ vuḍ Akimel O’otham.” (I am Akimel O’otham.)
2) “Victoria ‘o vuḍ u:v.” (Victoria is a woman.)
3) “Hegai uvig ‘o vuḍ ba’ag.” (That bird is an eagle.)
4) “A:pi ‘ap vuḍ eñ navoj.” (You are my friend.)
All four examples above have the same form in that they each start off with a noun (Victoria) or pronoun (Añi, Hegai, A:pi), are followed by a form of the auxiliary (‘añ, ‘o, ‘ap), are then followed by the word vuḍ and end with a type of noun. What is interesting about all of these examples, is that there is no true verb, in the form of an action word present in the sentence. The auxiliary verb which is present (‘añ, ‘o, ‘ap) is only there to provide information about the subject and does not provide any information on the type of sentence. Vuḍ in these sentences expresses the idea, that the subject (the first noun) is linked, or identical with the predicate (the final noun). You can think of vuḍ as being like an equals sign (=) in that it communicates the idea that the two nouns are one and the same: Añi=Akimel O’otham. Victoria=u:v. Hegai uvig=ba’ag. “Vuḍ” works similar to the word “be” in English. In everyday conversation vuḍ shortens to ḍ and it is often this form that is used by speakers. The corresponding sentences from above would shorten to the following.
5) “Añi ‘añ ḍ Akimel O’otham.” (I am Akimel O’otham.)
6) “Victoria‘o ḍ u:v.” (Victoria is a woman.)
7) “Hegai uvig ‘o ḍ ba’ag.” (That bird is an eagle.)
8) “A:pi ‘ap ḍ eñ navoj.” (You are my friend.)
Although, there is no change in meaning with these sentences, you can imagine that it is harder to hear the word vuḍ in its shortened form. Even O’otham speakers may not (consciously) realize that the shortened form ḍ is the same word as vuḍ. This is especially true in commonly used phrases and questions (Tho: ḍ hegai? Sha:chuḍ i:tha?), where the ḍ seems like it attaches to the closest word. O’otham ñeo’ok is flexible and allows for different orderings of words without changing their basic meanings. This is true with sentences that use vuḍ. Another possible ordering for the sentences above is one where vuḍ appears at the beginning. It is actually this order that is commonly heard in casual conversations. Vuḍ is never spoken in its full form when it appears at the front of the sentence but shortens and changes slightly to sound like a th (in some villages it will sound like a ḍ). When appearing at the front it will attach to the following auxiliary to create the following sentences.
9) “Thañ Akimel O’otham.” (I am Akimel O’otham.)
10) “Tho u:v heg Victoria.” (Victoria is a woman.)
11) “Tho ba’ag hegai uvig.” (That bird is an eagle.)
12) “Thap eñ navoj a:pi.” (You are my friend.)
By now, you should be able to understand the word vuḍ and all its forms that are used in sentences. As you can see, it is a very useful word when you want to identify someone or something to another person. So the next time you hear the question “Tho: ḍ hegai?” you should be able to think of an answer using the word vuḍ. See some of the possible answers in the following word match.
A special Thank You to O’otham Elders, who shared their knowledge of Tho: ḍ hegai? And Vuḍ. That made this article possible.