lá:lém

house

Lá:lém is the general Halq’eméylem word for ‘house’. You can use it for any kind of house, as well as for animals’ dens …

Pronunciation

• Lá:lém sounds like LAA-lum
• The first vowel is emphasized (slightly longer and with raised pitch).
• Some speakers also have slightly raised pitch on the second vowel, marked with the accent on the ‘é‘.

Speakers vary in the pitch and length of vowels in this word.  Elders also say the word like this (with slightly different pitch and length patterns): lálem, lá:lem, làlèm.  All are ‘correct’.

Audio: Elizabeth Herrling, Elizabeth Phillips

Examples

Here are some examples of how you can use lá:lém:

• …li te lá:lém – …in the house, at home
• Hikw te lá:lém – The house is big
• lá:léms te sqelá:w – beaver’s den

Plural form

The plural for for lá:lém is like this: lalàlèm – houses (audio here).

This form of  plural is made by doubling the first two sounds of the word.  Elders often just use the singular form for plurals, though, e.g. say ye lá:lém for the houses.

Related words

Here are some words related to lá:lém:

• lílem – little house
• slálem álhqey – turtle (lit. ‘snake with a house’)
• lá:léms te sqelá:w – beaver’s den

Note:  when talking about buildings and houses, you will also often see the unrelated ending –a:wtxw.   Elders use –a:wtxw in many words for buildings and houses, e.g. xwelmexwáwtxw – longhouse (lit. First Nations house/building).