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Lesson 11: Demonstratives & Location Words

Demonstratives are words like this, that, here, and there. In Dusun, these help point to people, objects, and places. They are usually placed before the noun to clarify what or where something is.

English	Malay	Dusun	Example (Dusun)	Meaning
This	ini	iti / ti	Iti tungau minangahu doho	This cat scratched me
That	itu	ilo / lo	Poingodop ilo tanak	That child is sleeping
That's the one!	yang itu	ino	Ino kurita ku	That's my car!
Here	di sini	hiti	Poirikau oku hiti	I am sitting down here
There (can be seen)	tu di sanan	huudi	Huudi kurita ku	There's my car! (pointing)
Over there (cannot be seen)	di sana	hilo	Hilo sampaping kadai kurita ku	My car is right beside the shop over there
Over there (other person's location)	di sana (tempat kamu)	hino	Hino ko mongoi	You go there (where you are)

🔹 Understanding the Location System:

Dusun has a sophisticated way of indicating location that depends on visibility and whose location is being referenced:

• hiti = "here" (di sini) - where we/I am currently
• huudi = "there!" (tu di sana) - visible location when pointing, often with emphasis
• hilo = "over there" (di sana) - distant location, cannot see or neither person is there
• hino = "over there" (di sana) - where the other person is located

🔹 Formal vs Informal Usage:

• iti/ilo are more formal
• ti/lo are everyday, casual forms (especially "kalau taim kelam kabut")
• ino is used for specific identification: "That's the one!" (yang itu)

📝 Note:

• Location visibility matters: Use huudi when you can see and point to the location, hilo when it's distant/unseen
• Dusun contracts location expressions: instead of saying hilo id sikul (there at school), it becomes hilo'd sikul. This also applies to hiti'd (here at...) and hino'd (over there at...)
• Person-specific locations: hino refers specifically to where the other person is, while hilo is a general distant location

These forms are common in both casual and formal speech and will greatly help you describe, point, and refer to things naturally in Dusun.