Ne' ne unëhtsi wai wáôwö' ne höwöhsút huikê úênö', akwas wai nê kaëníyú.
It was a song his grandmother had given him long ago, a very beautiful song.

höwöhsút  ::  his grandmother

This is our first kinterm.  Mingo has an intricate system of words for speaking about relatives, notably more detailed than in English.  Here, we'll learn some words for grandmothers.

aksút  --  my grandmother
sahsút  --  your grandmother
höwöhsút  --  his grandmother
köwöhsút  --  her grandmother

We can use these in dialogues like these:

Të'ë yeyásö ne sahsút?  --  What is your grandmother called?
Gloria yeyásö ne aksút.  --  My grandmother is called Gloria.

Kukwëtææ'ö ne höwöhsút?  --  Is his grandmother lonely?
Túkës, kukwëtææ'ö.  --  Yes, she's lonely.

Kutênút ne köwöhsút?  --  Is her grandmother singing?
Ê', kutênút.  --  Yes, she's singing.

huikê  ::  that, those

This is one of a set of handy Pointer Particles.  Their job is pick out particular members of a group.  There are two basic pointer particles, huikê "that" and nêkê "this".  They can be put in front of any noun to make it more specific.

huikê kanöhsút  --  that house
huikê yakökwe'ôwe  --  that Native woman
nêkê haksa'aa  --  this boy
nêkê kaháta'  --  this forest

úênö'  ::  song

This noun is related to the verb "be singing" that we saw earlier.

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