NACLO 2022 - Problem OSeeing the Future

(The official solution already has a very detailed explanation, so this is just a paraphrase.)

Obviously the common part is "wen". Take it out and analyze the rest.

	I	we	you (sg.)	you (pl.)	he/she/they
me			si’-	si’-eɬ	si’-
us			kasi’-	kasi’-eɬ	kasi’-
you (sg.)	a’-	a’-a			in’-
you (pl.)	a’-eɬ	a’-ahaɬ			in’-eɬ
him/her/them	a’-	a’-a	hi’-	hi’-eɬ

Basically we have the pre-/suffix pairing for every combination of pronouns (barring those whose object and subject have the same person). Therefore for "you (pl.) are going to see him/her/them", it's natural to assume the pre-/suffix pairing is "hi’-eɬ". But in fact, here's the actual combination table for future, based on what the consultant said:

	I	we	you (sg.)	you (pl.)	he/she/they
me			si’-		si’-
us
you (sg.)	si’-
you (pl.)					in’-weɬ
him/her/them	si’-			in’-weɬ

We shall assume that the rule for selecting pre-/suffixes hasn't changed, just the set of pre-/suffixes has. That is, if we can figure out what each prefix and suffix means in the present tense, and what each affix corresponds to in future tense, we can fill in the remaining data.

So here comes our analysis of the present tense:

a’- appears iff the subject is 1sg.
a’-a appears iff the subject is 1pl.
si’- appears iff the object is 1sg.
kasi’- appears iff the object is 1pl.
in’- appears iff the subject is third person and object is second person.
hi’- appears iff the subject is second person and object is third person.
-eɬ appears iff the subject or object is 2pl. -a + -eɬ = -ahaɬ.

In future:

si’- replaces a’-
-weɬ replaces -eɬ
in’- replaces hi’-

The sample solution wants us to believe that this is enough evidence that in the future tense, we only take the top-right half of the table and mirror it to be bottom-left (notice the symmetry in the table above?). I don't totally buy this though.

	I	we	you (sg.)	you (pl.)	he/she/they
me			si’-	si’-weɬ	si’-
us			kasi’-	kasi’-weɬ	kasi’-
you (sg.)	si’-	kasi’-			in’-
you (pl.)	si’-weɬ	kasi’-weɬ			in’-weɬ
him/her/them	si’-	kasi’-	in’-	in’-weɬ

Anyway, if this is true then the problem is trivial. It only remains to read off the tables for each sentence and combine it with the root, wehnayi’.

NACLO 2022 - Problem OSeeing the Future

(The official solution already has a very detailed explanation, so this is just a paraphrase.)

Obviously the common part is "wen". Take it out and analyze the rest.

	I	we	you (sg.)	you (pl.)	he/she/they
me			si’-	si’-eɬ	si’-
us			kasi’-	kasi’-eɬ	kasi’-
you (sg.)	a’-	a’-a			in’-
you (pl.)	a’-eɬ	a’-ahaɬ			in’-eɬ
him/her/them	a’-	a’-a	hi’-	hi’-eɬ

you (sg.)

you (pl.)

he/she/they

si’-

si’-eɬ

si’-

kasi’-

kasi’-eɬ

kasi’-

you (sg.)

a’-

a’-a

in’-

you (pl.)

a’-eɬ

a’-ahaɬ

in’-eɬ

him/her/them

a’-

a’-a

hi’-

hi’-eɬ

you (sg.)

you (pl.)

he/she/they

si’-

you (sg.)

si’-

you (pl.)

in’-weɬ

him/her/them

si’-

in’-weɬ

So here comes our analysis of the present tense:

a’- appears iff the subject is 1sg.

a’-a appears iff the subject is 1pl.

si’- appears iff the object is 1sg.

kasi’- appears iff the object is 1pl.

in’- appears iff the subject is third person and object is second person.

hi’- appears iff the subject is second person and object is third person.

-eɬ appears iff the subject or object is 2pl. -a + -eɬ = -ahaɬ.

In future:

si’- replaces a’-

-weɬ replaces -eɬ

in’- replaces hi’-

	I	we	you (sg.)	you (pl.)	he/she/they
me			si’-	si’-weɬ	si’-
us			kasi’-	kasi’-weɬ	kasi’-
you (sg.)	si’-	kasi’-			in’-
you (pl.)	si’-weɬ	kasi’-weɬ			in’-weɬ
him/her/them	si’-	kasi’-	in’-	in’-weɬ

you (sg.)

you (pl.)

he/she/they

si’-

si’-weɬ

si’-

kasi’-

kasi’-weɬ

kasi’-

you (sg.)

si’-

kasi’-

in’-

you (pl.)

si’-weɬ

kasi’-weɬ

in’-weɬ

him/her/them

si’-

kasi’-

in’-

in’-weɬ

Anyway, if this is true then the problem is trivial. It only remains to read off the tables for each sentence and combine it with the root, wehnayi’.