Ojibwe grammar

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The Ojibwe language is an Algonquian American Indian language spoken throughout the Great Lakes region and westward onto the northern plains. It is one of the largest American Indian languages north of Mexico in terms of number of speakers, and exhibits a large number of divergent dialects. For the most part, this article describes the Minnesota variety of the Southwestern dialect. The orthography used is the Fiero Double-Vowel System.

Like many American languages, Ojibwe is polysynthetic, meaning it exhibits a great deal of synthesis and a very high morpheme-to-word ratio (e.g., the single word for "they are Chinese" is aniibiishaabookewininiiwiwag, which contains seven morphemes: elm-PEJORATIVE-liquid-make-man-be-PLURAL, or approximately "they are leaf-soup [i.e., tea] makers"). It is agglutinating, and thus builds up words by stringing morpheme after morpheme together, rather than having several affixes which carry numerous different pieces of information.

Like most Algonquian languages, Ojibwe distinguishes two different kinds of third person, a proximate and an obviative. The proximate is a traditional third person, while the obviative (also frequently called "fourth person") marks a less important third person if more than one third person is taking part in an action. In other words, Ojibwe uses the obviative to avoid the confusion that could be created by English sentences such as "John and Bill were good friends, ever since the day he first saw him" (who saw whom?). In Ojibwe, one of the two participants would be marked as proximate (whichever one was deemed more important), and the other marked as obviative.

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[edit] Gender

Rather than a gender contrast such as masculine/feminine, Ojibwe instead distinguishes between animate and inanimate. Animate nouns are generally living things, and inanimate ones generally nonliving things, although this is not a fast rule due to the cultural understanding on if the noun possesses a "spirit" or not (generally, if it can move, it possesses a "spirit"). Objects which have great spiritual importance for the Ojibwe — such as rocks — are very often animate rather than inanimate, for example. Some words are distinguished purely by their gender; for example, mitig can mean either "tree" or "stick:" if it is animate (plural mitigoog), it means "tree," and if it is inanimate (plural mitigoon), it means "stick."

[edit] Number

Number in Ojibwe is a simple singular/plural contrast. Nouns and pronouns can be either singular or plural, and verbs inflect for the number of their subject and object, although some nouns and verbs lack singular forms. Plural forms differ from word to word depending on the word's gender, root, and historical stress. By examining the plural form of the word, one can generally determine the word's gender and root. Animate plurals end in -g, while inanimate plural nouns (and obviative nouns) end in -n. The underlying form of a root determines the "linking vowel" — the vowel that appears before the plural suffix (-g or -n) but after the root itself.

[edit] Person

Ojibwe persons consists of seven each of singulars and plurals, not necessarily corresponding to each other. This staggering number of persons arise from taking in consideration of animate/inanimate, proximate/obviative and singular/plural.

  • X — indefinite [null person] proximate singular
  • 0 — inanimate [zeroeth person] proximate singular
  • 0' — inanimate [zeroeth person] obviative singular
  • 1 — animate first person proximate singular
  • 2 — animate second person proximate singular
  • 3 — animate [third person] proximate singular
  • 3' — animate [third person] obviative singular, or animate fourth person proximate singular
  • 0p — inanimate [zeroeth person] proximate plural
  • 0'p — inanimate [zeroeth person] obviative plural
  • 1p — animate first person proximate plural (exclusive)
  • 21 — animate first person proximate plural (inclusive)
  • 2p — animate second person proximate plural
  • 3p — animate [third person] proximate plural
  • 3'p — animate [third person] obviative plural, or animate fourth person proximate plural

Characteristics of the resulting 14 persons are built into Ojibwe nouns and pronouns, thus dictating which verb forms would be used in speech. In nouns, all 14 forms of persons may or may not present themselves, but all 14 forms of persons generally do appear with pronouns.

[edit] Pronouns

Ojibwe pronouns, along with distinguishing singular and plural number and first, second, third, and fourth (obviative) persons, also carry a distinction between inclusive and exclusive first person plural. Pronouns may present themselves either as independent words or as series of prefixes and suffixes.

An inclusive first person plural indicates that the pronoun includes the addressee, i.e., "we including you" (giinawind). An exclusive first person plural indicates that the addressee is not included, i.e., "we excluding you" (niinawind).

The other personal pronouns are the first singular niin, second singular giin, third singular wiin, second plural giinawaa, and third plural wiinawaa.

Like the independent words, Ojibwe pronominal prefixes indicate first person with n-, second person with g- and third person with w-. However, the associated suffixes for these persons will be different depending on if the word is a verb or a noun.

Word begins with... 1 2 3
a aa e i (n)ind- gid- od-
oo n- g- od-
ii n- g- w-
o (n)indo- gido- odo-
b (n)im- gi- (o)-
d g ' j z zh (n)in- gi- (o)-
p t k h ch m n s w y ni- gi- (o)-

In many Ojibwe speaking communities, the first person prefix is used without the initial n. Due to vowel syncope in some communities, those prefixes are further reduced without the initial i. However, among Saulteaux communities, the first person prefix nim- and nin- are instead reduced to ni-.

Ojibwe also has a set of demonstrative pronouns, distinguishing animate/inanimate, here/there/yonder/over here, singular/plural, and proximate/obviative. The demonstratives differ in their phonetic forms very significantly across Ojibwe dialects and communities, so this table, based on the Minnesota dialect of Southwestern Ojibwe, will not be entirely correct for many speakers:

Animate Inanimate
Singular Plural Obviative Singular Plural
Here wa'aw ongow onow o'ow onow
There a'aw ingiw iniw i'iw iniw
Over there/
Yonder		 a'awedi ingiwedig iniwedin i'iwedi iniwedin
Over here wa'awedi ongowedig onowedin o'owedi onowedin

Ojibwe also has a set of interrogative pronouns (awenen, "who?", awegonen, "what?"), dubitative pronouns (awegwen, "I don't know who", wegodogwen, "I don't know what"), and "indefinite" pronouns (awiiya, "someone", gegoo, "something," both of which can be preceded by gaawiin or akina to mean "no one, nothing" and "everyone, everything," respectively).

[edit] Verbs

Ojibwe verbs mark not only information on the subject (their animacy, person, and plurality), but also on the object. There are several different classes of verbs in the language, which differ based on whether they are transitive or intransitive, and whether they take animate or inanimate subjects. The main classes of verbs are abbreviated VAI (intransitive with animate subject), VII (intransitive with inanimate subject), VTA (transitive with animate object), and VTI (transitive with inanimate object).

Verbs mark tenses with prefixes (gii-, past, ga- and da-, future, and wii-, desiderative future), but also can take a myriad of affixes known as "preverbs", which convey a great amount of additional information about an action. For example, the preverb izhi- means "in such a way," and so its addition to the verb root -ayaa-, "to be," makes the verb izhi-ayaa, "to be a certain way." The preverb bimi-, "along," combines with the verb root -batoo-, "to run," to form bimibatoo, "to run along, run by."

Furthermore, there are three so-called "orders" of Ojibwe verbs. The basic one is called Independent Order, and is simply the indicative mood. There is also a Conjunct Order, which is most often used with verbs in subordinate clauses, in questions (other than simple yes-no questions), and with participles (paritciples in Ojibwe are verbal nouns, whose meaning is roughly equivalent to "someone who is (VERB), does (VERB)," for example, the word for "traveler," bebaamaadizid, is the third singular conjunct of babaamaadizi, "to travel about," and literally means "someone who travels about"). The final order is the Imperative Order, used with commands and corresponding to the imperative mood.

There are three imperatives in Ojibwe: the immediate imperative, used to indicate that the action must be completely right away (nibaan!, "Sleep (right now)!"), the delayed imperative, used to indicate that the action should be completely eventually, but not immediately (nibaakan!, "Sleep (in a little bit)!"), and the prohibitive imperative, used to indicate that the action is prohibited ((gego) nibaaken!, "Don't sleep!").

All verbs can also be marked for four "modes:" indicative (neutral), dubitative (the speaker is unsure about the validity of what they are saying, for example: bakade, "he is hungry," but bakadedog, "he must be hungry; he could be hungry"), preterit (which emphasizes that the action occurred in the past, and is also used to refer to attempted or intended but uncompleted actions, for example: imaa ninamadabi, "I'm sitting there," but imaa ninamadabiban, "I was sitting there; I meant to sit there"), or preterit-dubitative (which expresses doubt about a past action: imaa namadabigoban, "she must have sat there; she could have sat there").

[edit] Intransitives

As an example of some of the Ojibwe verbal distinctions at work, consider the conjugation of positive indicative long-vowel-final VAI verbs (using the example nibaa, "to sleep"):

Independent
Subject Conjugation Example Gloss
Niin ni _ 0 ninibaa "I sleep"
Giin gi _ 0 ginibaa "You sleep"
Wiin 0 _ 0 nibaa "S/he/it sleeps"
Obviative 0 _ wan nibaawan "S/he/it (obviate) sleeps"
Indefinite 0 _ m nibaam "Someone sleeps"
Niinawind ni _ min ninibaamin "We (exclusive) sleep"
Giinawind gi _ min ginibaamin "We (inclusive) sleep"
Giinawaa gi _ m ginibaam "You guys sleep"
Wiinawaa 0 _ wag nibaawag "They sleep"
Conjunct
Subject Conjugation Example Gloss
Niin 0 _ yaan nibaayaan "That I sleep"
Giin 0 _ yan nibaayan "That you sleep"
Wiin 0 _ d nibaad "That s/he/it sleeps"
Obviative 0 _ nid nibaanid "That s/he/it (obviate) sleeps"
Indefinite 0 _ ng nibaang "That someone sleeps"
Niinawind 0 _ yaang nibaayaang "That we (exclusive) sleep"
Giinawind 0 _ yang nibaayang "That we (inclusive) sleep"
Giinawaa 0 _ yeg nibaayeg "That you guys sleep"
Wiinawaa 0 _ waad nibaawaad "That they sleep"
Imperative
Subject Conjugation Example Gloss
Giin 0 _ n nibaan "You! Sleep!"
Giinawind 0 _ daa nibaadaa "Let's sleep!"
Giinawaa 0 _ k/g nibaak
nibaag		 "You guys! Sleep!"

[edit] Transitives

Ojibwe, as with other Algonquian languages, also exhibits a direct/inverse system, in which transitive verbs are marked for whether or not the direction of the action follows a "person hierarchy" of the language. The person hierarchy in Ojibwe is second person > first person > null person > third person (proximate) > third person obviative > zeroeth person. Ojibwe has no case distinctions among agent, patient and experiencer theta roles, so in a transitive verb with two participants, the only way to distinguish subject from object is through direct/inverse/goal suffixes.

Direction
Type		 ACTOR DIRECTION GOAL Theme
DIRECT → 3 -aa-
INVERSE ← 3 -igw-
1-GOAL (2) → 1 -i-
2-GOAL (1) → 2 -iN-

For the first person and second person GOALs, their ACTORs are specified if the words are in their Independent Order, and can also be known as local direct (first person GOAL) and local inverse (second person GOAL). A DIRECT suffix indicates that the action is performed by someone higher on the person hierarchy on someone lower on the person hierarchy (e.g., by the addressee on the speaker, or by a proximate third person on an obviative):

obizindawaan
o- bizindaw -aa -n
3- listen.to -DIRECT -3OBVIATIVE
"He listens to the other one"

An inverse suffix indicates that the action is performed by someone lower on the person hierarchy on someone higher on the person hierarchy (e.g., by the speaker on the addressee, or by an obviative third person on a proximate):

obizindawigoon
o- bizindaw -igoo -n
3- listen.to -INVERSE -3OBVIATIVE
"The other one listens to him"

As can be seen, the only difference between these two verbs is the direct/inverse opposition, rather than case markers (or word order, when distinct nominals are used). An inverse verb is not equivalent to a passive verb. There is a separate passivity marker, distinct from the direct/inverse markers:

bizindaawaa
bizindaw -aa
listen.to -PASSIVE
"He is listened to"

[edit] Nouns

Nouns distinguish plurality, animacy, obviation, and case with suffixes. Animacy is only overtly marked on plural nouns. There are no core cases to distinguish categories such as "subject" or "object," but rather various oblique cases, including a locative (e.g., wiisiniwigamig, "restaurant," wiisiniwigamigong, "in the restaurant") and a vocative plural (e.g., Ojibwedog, "(you) Ojibwes!"). Other suffixes are: pejorative (e.g., jiimaan, "canoe," jiimaanish, "worthless canoe"), diminutive (e.g., zhooniyaa, "money," zhooniyaans, "coin"), contemptive (e.g., odaabaan, "car", odaabaanenh, "just some old car"), preterit (which marks a deceased or no-longer existent person or object, e.g. nookomis, "my grandmother," nookomisiban, "my late grandmother"), and preterit-dubitative (which maks a deceased or no-longer existant person or object which was never known by the speaker, e.g. a'aw mindimooyenh, "that old woman", a'aw mindimooyenyigoban, "that late old woman I never knew").

Some nouns are considered "dependent" and cannot be presented by themselves. Instead, these dependent nouns are presented with pronoun prefixes/suffixes attached to them. An example of a dependent noun is nookomis ("my grandmother") where the dependent root -ookomis- ("grandmother") must be presented with a pronoun affix, which in this case is n-.

Other nouns are derived from verbs by transforming them to their participle form. Of the choices, third person (and thus third person plural) is the most common form. Though each class of verbs may have their own pariciple-forming patterns, for simplicity, only the VAI neutral mode, positive participles are shown in the example, again, using nibaa ("sleep").

VAI Neutral Mode, Positive Participles
Subject Conjugation Example Gloss
Niin 0 * yaan nebaayaan "Sleeper"
Giin 0 * yan nebaayan "Sleeper"
Wiin 0 * d nebaad "Sleeper"
Obviative 0 * nijin nebaanijin "Sleeper"
Indefinite 0 * ng nebaang "Sleeper"
Niinawind 0 * yaang nebaayaang "Sleepers"
Giinawind 0 * yang nebaayang "Sleepers"
Giinawaa 0 * yeg nebaayeg "Sleepers"
Wiinawaa 0 * jig nebaajig "Sleepers"
* For participles, the word experiences initial vowel change.

[edit] Plurals and Obviative

Plurals and obviative suffixes are the easiest to add to Ojibwe words. By examining the plural, one can generally determine the underlying root of the word. Generally, animate plurals end with -g, while inanimate plurals and obviatives end with -n. Often, a linking vowel is required to join the root to one of these endings. Underlying -w or -y or an augment may affect the choice of linking vowels.

Singular Inanimate
Plural		 Animate
Plural		 Obviative Singular
Example		 Plural
Example		 Gloss
Consonant Stem
C Can Cag Can miin miinan "blueberries"
Long-vowel Stem
CVV CVVn CVVg CVVn ajidamoo ajidamoog "squirrels"
CVV CVVwan CVVwag CVVwan bine binewag "partridges"
CV CVwan CVwag CVwan wado wadowag "bloodclots"
CVVw CVVwan CVVwag CVVwan niwiiw niwiiwag "my wives"
CVV CVVyan CVVyag CVVyan nimaamaa nimaamaayag "my mamas"
CVVnh CVVnyan CVVnyag CVVnyan giigoonh giigoonyag "fishes"
Short-vowel Stem
CV CVwan CVwag CVwan inini ininiwag "men"
CVw CVwan CVwag CVwan bigiw bigiwan "gums"
W Stem
C Coon Coog Coon mitig mitigoon "sticks"
C Cwan Cwag Cwan nigig nigigwag "otters"
Cwa Cwan Cwag Cwan makwa makwag "bears"
Cwa Cwan Cwag Cwan ikwa ikwag "lice"
Y Stem
C Ciin Ciig Ciin aniib aniibiig "elms"
Ci Ciin Ciig Ciin anwi anwiin "bullets
C Cwiin Cwiig Cwiin nining niningwiin "my armpits"
Augment Stem
C Can Cag Can ninow ninowan "my cheeks"
C Coon Coog Coon nikatig nikatigoon "my foreheads"
Ca Cawan Cawag Cawan oodena oodenawan "towns"
Cay Cayan Cayag Cayan omooday omoodayan "bottles"
C Can Cag Can nindengway nindengwayan "my faces"
Can Canan Canag Canan ma'iingan ma'iinganag "wolves"
Can Canan Canag Canan nindooskwan nindooskwanan "my elbows"
Cana Canan Canag Canan mikana mikanan "roads"
Participle Stem
C Cin Cig Cin maaniwang maaniwangin "fruits"
d jin jig jin naawogaaded naawogaadejig "quadrupeds"

[edit] Diminutives and Contemptives

Diminutives in Ojibwe express an idea of something that is smaller or younger version of the noun. All diminutives are treated as a Consonant Stem when made into one of the plural forms or into the obviative form, thus taking on the linking vowel -a-. Contemptives are formed in a similar fashion as diminutives and are used to express negative or depreciative attitude the speaker may have of the noun. Contemptive plurals and obviatives remain as contemptives, but can take on the linking vowel -i- to add a possible pejorative. Many words to express fauna are often in contemptive forms. In the Ojibwemowin spoken in Wisconsin and certain areas of northwestern Ontario, often contemptives are reduced from -nh/-ny- forms to -ø/-y-. In Odaawaa, the frequency of contemptives in fauna are higher than in other Anishinaabemowin dialects. For example, it is from the Daawaamwin word jidmoonh ("red squirrel") where the English word "chupmunk" has its origins, while the same word in Ojibwemowin is ajidamoo.

Singular Diminutive Contemptive Singular
Example		 Diminutive
Example		 Gloss
Consonant Stem
C Cens Cenh miin miinens "little blueberry"
Long-vowel Stem
CVV CVVns CVVnh ajidamoo ajidamoons "little squirrel"
CVV CVVns CVVnh bine binens "little partridge"
CV CVns CVnh wado wadons "little bloodclot"
CVVw CVVns CVVnh niwiiw niwiins "my little wife"
CVV CVVns CVVnh nimaamaa nimaamaans "my little mama"
CVVnh CVVns CVVnh giigoonh giigoons "little fish"
Short-vowel Stem
CV CVVns CVVnh inini ininiins "little man"
CVw CVVns CVVnh bigiw bigiins "little gum"
W Stem
C Coons Coonh mitig mitigoons "twig"
C Coons Coonh nigig nigigoons "little otter"
Cwa Coons Coonh makwa makoons "bear cub"
Cwa Coons Coonh ikwa ikoons "little louse"
Y Stem
C Ciins Ciinh aniib aniibiins "young elm"
Ci Ciins Ciinh anwi anwiins "little bullet"
C Cwiins Cwiinh nining niningwiins "my little armpit"
Augment Stem
C Cens Cenh ninow ninowens "my little cheek"
C Cwens Cwenh nikatig nikatigwens "my little forehead"
Ca Cawens Cawenh oodena oodenawens "hamlet"
Cay Cayens Cayenh omooday omoodayens "vial"
C Caans Caanh nindengway nindengwayaans "my little face"
Can Caans Caanh ma'iingan ma'iingaans "little wolf"
Can Caans Caanh nindooskwan nindooskwaans "my little elbow"
Cana Caans Caanh mikana mikaans "trail"
Participle Stem
C Coons Coonh maaniwang maaniwangoons "little fruit"
d doons doonh naawogaaded naawogaadedoons "little quadruped"

[edit] Locatives

Locatives indicate a location, and are indicated with -ng. Locatives do not take on any plurals or obviative suffixes, but obviation posessor or the number can be added before the locative suffix.

Singular Locative Singular
Example		 Locative
Example		 Gloss
Consonant Stem
C Cing miin miining "by/on the blueberry"
Long-vowel Stem
CVV CVVng ajidamoo ajidamoong "by/on the squirrel"
CVV CVVng bine bineng "by/on the partridge"
CV CVng wado wadong "by/on the bloodclot"
CVVw CVVng niwiiw niwiing "by/on my wife"
CVV CVVying nimaamaa nimaamaaying "by/on my mama"
CVVnh CVVnying giigoonh giigoonying "by/on the fish"
Short-vowel Stem
CV CVVng inini ininiing "by/on the man"
CVw CVVng bigiw bigiing "by/on the gum"
W Stem
C Cong mitig mitigong "by/on the tree"
C Cong nigig nigigong "by/on the otter"
Cwa Coong makwa makoong "by/on the bear"
Cwa Cong ikwa ikong "by/on the louse"
Y Stem
C Ciing aniib aniibiing "by/on the elm"
Ci Ciing anwi anwiing "by/on the bullet"
C Cwiing nining niningwiing "by/on my armpit"
Augment Stem
C Caang ninow ninowaang "by/on my cheek"
C Cwaang nikatig nikatigwaang "by/on my forehead"
Ca Caang oodena oodenawaang "by the village"
Cay Caang omooday omoodaang "by/on the bottle"
C Caang nindengway nindengwayaang "by/on my face"
Can Caning ma'iingan ma'iinganing "by/on the wolf"
Can Canaang nindooskwan nindooskwanaang "by/on my elbow"
Cana Canaang mikana mikanaang "by/on the road"
Participle Stem
C Cong maaniwang maaniwangong "by/on the fruit"
d dong naawogaaded naawogaadedong "by/on the quadruped"

[edit] Pejoratives

Pejoratives, marked with the -sh suffix, generally indicates a stronger negative feelings a speaker may have than that of the contemptive. However, pejorative may also indicate a term of affection. Some words take on different meaning in the pejorative, such as aniibiish, which means "no good elm" but also means "leaf". In some dialects, some words are always shown in their pejorative forms, such as animosh for "dog".

Singular Pejorative Singular
Example		 Pejorative
Example		 Gloss
Consonant Stem
C Cish miin miinish "no good blueberry"
Long-vowel Stem
CVV CVVsh ajidamoo ajidamoosh "no good squirrel"
CVV CVVsh bine binesh "no good partridge"
CV CVsh wado wadosh "no good bloodclot"
CVVw CVVsh niwiiw niwiish "my no good wife"
CVV CVVsh nimaamaa nimaamaash "my no good mama"
CVVnh CVVsh giigoonh giigoosh "no good fish"
Short-vowel Stem
CV CVwish inini ininiwish "no good man"
CVw CVwish bigiw bigiwish "no good gum"
W Stem
C Cosh mitig mitigosh "no good tree"
C Cosh nigig nigigosh "no good otter"
Cwa Coosh makwa makoosh "no good bear"
Cwa Cosh ikwa ikosh "no good louse"
Y Stem
C Ciish aniib aniibiish "no good elm"
Ci Ciish anwi anwiish "no good bullet"
C Cwiish nining ninishwiish "my lousy armpit"
Augment Stem
C Caash ninow ninowaash "my no good cheek"
C Cwaash nikatig nikatigwaash "my no good forehead"
Ca Caash oodena oodenawaash "damn village"
Cay Caash omooday omoodaash "no good bottle"
C Caash nindengway nindeshwayaash "my no good face"
Can Canish ma'iingan ma'iishanish "no good wolf"
Can Canaash nindooskwan nindooskwanaash "my no good elbow"
Cana Canaash mikana mikanaash "no good road"
Participle Stem
C Cosh maaniwang maaniwangosh "no good fruit"
d dosh naawogaaded naawogaadedosh "no good quadruped"

[edit] Adjectives

Ojibwe has no adjectives per se, but rather verbs which function as adjectives. Thus, instead of saying "the flower is blue," you would say something which is actually closer to "the flower blues" (ozhaawashkwaa waabigwan) or "be a blueing flower" (waabigwan-ozhaawashkwaa). Ojibwe does have a copula in some situations, in that it has a verb (several, in fact) that can be translated as "to be" and used in situations to equate one thing with another; however, a copula is not always used in Ojibwe—for example, when using demonstrative pronouns (jiimaan o'ow, "this is a canoe").

[edit] Modifications of sound

Ojibwe initials of words may experience morphological changes under two modificaiton strategies: initial vowel change and initial syllable reduplication.

[edit] Initial vowel change

In general, verbs in conjunct and partitive orders and nouns of subjunctive order change the vowel quality of the first syllable in the manner shown in the table below.

unchanged changed
-a- -e-
-aa- -ayaa-
-e- -aye-
-i- -e-
-ii- -aa-
-o- -we-
-oo- -waa-

However, in some words beginning in dan-, dazh-, das-, dash- or daa- instead take on the prefix en- to form endan-, endazh-, endas-, endash- or endaa-. The directional prefix bi-, meaning "over here," instead becomes ba-.

[edit] Initial syllable reduplication

Words typically conveying repetitive actions have their very first syllable experience reduplication. Reduplication may be found in both verbs and in nouns. Vowel syncope process Eastern Ojibwe and Odaawaa experiences happen after the word has gone through reduplication. The most general reduplication pattern for the initial syllable is C1V1 → C1V2C2V1 but the table below shows the most common reduplication strategies.

unchanged reduplicated unchanged reduplicated
a- aya- Ca- CaCa-
aa- aayaa- Caa- CaaCaa-
e- eye- Ce- CeCe-
i- ayi- Ci- CaCi- or CeCi-
ii- aayii- Cii- CaaCii- or CeCii- or CiiCii-
o- wawo- or wawi- Co- CaCo-
oo- oo'oo- Coo- CaaCoo- or CeCoo- or CooCoo-

In some words, the reduplicated consonant shifts from their lenis value to their fortis value. Yet in some stems, initial Cw- retains the -w- while others do not. Those words experiencing the prefix en- may change to in- before experiencing reduplication.

[edit] Syntax

As Ojibwe is highly synthetic, word order and sentence structure is relatively free, since a great deal of information is already encoded onto the verb. The subject can go before or after the verb, as can the object. In general, whichever participant is deemed more important or in-focus by the speaker is placed first, before the verb, and the less important participant follows the verb. Ojibwe tends to prefer a VS order (verb-subject) when subjects are specified with separate nominals or pronouns (e.g., bakade a'aw asabikeshiinh, be.hungry that.there.ANIMATE net.make.PEJORATIVE.CONTEMPTIVE, "that spider is hungry").

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • Mithun, Marianne. 1999. The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge: University Press.
  • Nichols, John D. and Earl Nyholm. 1995. A Concise Dictionary of Minnesota Ojibwe. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
  • Picard, Marc. 1984. On the Naturalness of Algonquian ɬ. International Journal of American Linguistics 50:424-37.
  • Rhodes, Richard A. 1985. Eastern Ojibwa-Chippewa-Ottawa Dictionary. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
  • Valentine, J. Randolph "Randy". 2001. Nishnaabemwin Reference Grammar. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

[edit] External links

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