Difference between revisions of "Animacy"

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(Created page with "Animacy is... (intro) ==From the Nouns article== ''This information has been taken from the ==Animacy== section under the Nouns article and is no longer present there. '' A...")
 
 
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Animacy is... (intro)
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All [[Nouns|nouns]] in Mi'gmaq belong to one of two categories: '''animate''' and '''inanimate'''. Animate nouns are generally things that are alive, such as people (like ''lpatuj'', 'boy') or animals (like ''mui'n'', 'bear'), while inanimate nouns are generally things that are not alive, such as places and objects (like ''guntew'', 'rock', or ''wigatign'', 'book'). However, the distinction is not always so clear-cut: containers, for example, are a type of object that are always animate. In addition, some foods and items of clothing are animate (like ''atla'i'', 'shirt' or ''gmu'jmin'', 'raspberry') while others are inanimate (like ''a'gwesn'', 'hat' or ''aloqoman'', 'grape'). This animate/inanimate distinction is sometimes referred to as the '''gender''' of language, in parallel to other languages such as French, where ''le couteau'', 'the knife', is masculine and ''la cuillère'', 'the spoon', is feminine.
  
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==From the Nouns article==
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=Animacy and Nouns=
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''This information has been taken from the ==Animacy== section under the [[Nouns]] article and is no longer present there. ''
 
  
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All nouns in Mi'gmaq belong to one of two categories, '''animate''' and '''inanimate'''. Animate nouns generally refer to things that are alive, such as people or animals, but other words such as containers and some types of food or clothing can also be animate. Inanimate nouns generally refer to things that are not alive, such as places and objects like rocks and tables. Some examples are below:  
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Animacy is important to keep in mind with nouns because it determines which [[Plural Nouns|plural]] ending to take. (Notice in the examples below that sometimes adding the plural ending also changes the final vowel of the word.) Animate nouns (in general) take the ending '''-g''' (although this sometimes changes to [[Relating G with Q|''q'']], while inanimate nouns take the ending '''-l''' (which sometimes changes to [[Assimilation_with_N|''n'']]):
  
 
<gl>
 
<gl>
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\gll lpatuj
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\gll lpa'tuj-g\\
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boy.AN\\
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boy.AN-PL.AN\\
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\trans boy (animate)
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\trans boys
 
</gl>
 
</gl>
  
 
<gl>
 
<gl>
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\gll mu'in
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\gll mui'na-q\\
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bear.AN\\
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bear.AN-PL.AN\\
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\trans bear (animate)
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\trans bears (cf. singular ''mui'n'', 'bear')
 
</gl>
 
</gl>
  
 
<gl>
 
<gl>
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\gll tuop'ti
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\gll gunta-l\\
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window.INAN\\
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rock.INAN-PL.INAN\\
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\trans window (inanimate)
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\trans rocks (cf. singular ''guntew'', 'rock')
 
</gl>
 
</gl>
  
 
<gl>
 
<gl>
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\gll guntew
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\gll wigatign-n\\
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rock.INAN\\
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book.INAN-PL.INAN\\
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\trans rock (inanimate)
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\trans books
 
</gl>
 
</gl>
  
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Animacy is important because it influences how to make the plural of a noun, and what form of verb to use with it. This also means that if you see a noun in a sentence and you want to try to figure out whether it it is animate or inanimate, there are a few things you can look for in addition to meaning: if its plural is ''-ug/-ig/-oq/-g'', then it's animate, or if it's ''-l''/long consonant then it's inanimate (see the section above for examples). If the noun is the subject of a sentence, then it's almost definitely animate, because only animate beings can do things. If the noun is the object of a sentence, the verb will have a different form depending on whether it's a [[Verbs: Transitive Animate|VTA]] (animate) or [[Verbs: Transitive Inanimate|VTI]] (inanimate).
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Some words can also change from being animate to inanimate by adding the suffix ''-ewei''. For example, ''plamu'', 'salmon', as an animal is animate, but ''plamuwei'', 'salmon meat' is inanimate.
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=Animacy and Verbs=
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Animacy is also important to keep in mind with [[Verbs|verbs]], since it helps determine which ending the verb will take (except in the first and second [[Person_and_number|persons]], which are always animate), as well as the [[Verbs#Verb Class|class]] to which the verb belongs.
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For example, in '''intransitive''' verbs, the animacy of the subject determines whether the verb is [[VAI|animate]] (example 7) or [[VII|inanimate]] (example 8), as well as which ending to take:
  
 
<gl>
 
<gl>
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\gll nemi-g epit
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\gll apje'ji-t lpa'tuj\\
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see-TA woman.AN\\
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be.small-3.AN boy.AN\\
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\trans I see the woman
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\trans the boy is small
 
</gl>
 
</gl>
  
 
<gl>
 
<gl>
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\gll nemi-tu ptauti
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\gll apje'j-g na guntew\\
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see-TI table.INAN\\
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be.small-INAN NA rock.INAN\\
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\trans I see the table
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\trans that rock is small
 
</gl>
 
</gl>
  
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Some words can change from being animate to inanimate. For example, the names of animals are animate, but when you eat their meat, the meat is inanimate. This is expressed by adding the ending ''-ewei'' to the name of the animal.
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In '''transitive''' verbs, the animacy of the object determines whether the verb is [[VTA|animate]] (example 9) or [[VTI|inanimate]] (example 10) (it's usually assumed that the subject is animate), and thus which ending to take:
  
 
<gl>
 
<gl>
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\gll plamu
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\gll nemi-'g epit\\
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salmon\\
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see-1>3.AN woman.AN\\
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\trans salmon (live fish)
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\trans I see the woman
 
</gl>
 
</gl>
  
 
<gl>
 
<gl>
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\gll plamu-ewei
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\gll nemi-tu ptauti\\
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salmon-EWEI\\
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see-1>INAN table.INAN\\
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\trans salmon meat, salmon steak
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\trans I see the table
 
</gl>
 
</gl>
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==From the Verbs article==
 
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''This information is copied from the original section ==Animacy & transitivity== in the [[Verbs]] article, although it has not been deleted from there because it overlaps with transitivity.''
 
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Animacy is a classification of the status of a noun as animate or inanimate. This classification is often related to whether the noun is alive (''animate''), such as humans and animals, or not alive (''inanimate''), such as a chair and a table. But sometimes there may not be an obvious connection between the meaning of the noun and whether it is animate or inanimate. For example, containers tend to be animate, and some foods and items of clothing are animate (such as ''gmu'jmin'' 'raspberry') while others are inanimate (such as ''aloqoman'' 'grape').  This is similar to gender in other languages, such as in French, ''un couteau'' 'a knife' is masculine and ''la cuillère'' 'the spoon' is feminine.
 
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Transitivity refers to how many people, things, or groups need to be involved in the action of the verb. If the verb only has a subject, we call it ''intransitive'', and if it has both a subject and an object, we call it ''transitive''.
 
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Both animacy and transitivity are important and result in a 4 way classification of verbs: intransitive verbs with an animate subject [VAI], intransitive verbs with an inanimate subject [VII}, transitive verbs with an animate subject and object [VTA], and transitive verbs with an animate subject and an inanimate object [VTI]. Verbs within each classification have different forms to encode information. Please refer to the specific pages for each classification for the details of each.
 
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{| border="1" style="text-align: center;  width: 250px; height: 150px;"
 
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|+ '''Algonquian verb classes'''
 
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! scope="col" |
 
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! scope="col" | Intransitive
 
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! scope="col" | Transitive
 
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|-
 
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! scope="row" | Animate
 
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| [[#VAI|VAI]] || [[#VTA|VTA]]
 
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|-
 
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! scope="row" | Inanimate
 
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| [[#VII|VII]]
 
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| [[#VTI|VTI]]
 
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|}
 
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Depending on which classification the verb has, person and number marking will differ.
 

Latest revision as of 10:13, 3 December 2012

All nouns in Mi'gmaq belong to one of two categories: animate and inanimate. Animate nouns are generally things that are alive, such as people (like lpatuj, 'boy') or animals (like mui'n, 'bear'), while inanimate nouns are generally things that are not alive, such as places and objects (like guntew, 'rock', or wigatign, 'book'). However, the distinction is not always so clear-cut: containers, for example, are a type of object that are always animate. In addition, some foods and items of clothing are animate (like atla'i, 'shirt' or gmu'jmin, 'raspberry') while others are inanimate (like a'gwesn, 'hat' or aloqoman, 'grape'). This animate/inanimate distinction is sometimes referred to as the gender of language, in parallel to other languages such as French, where le couteau, 'the knife', is masculine and la cuillère, 'the spoon', is feminine.

Animacy and Nouns

Animacy is important to keep in mind with nouns because it determines which plural ending to take. (Notice in the examples below that sometimes adding the plural ending also changes the final vowel of the word.) Animate nouns (in general) take the ending -g (although this sometimes changes to q, while inanimate nouns take the ending -l (which sometimes changes to n): 

  1. lpa'tuj-g     
boy.AN-PL.AN  
    'boys'
  1. mui'na-q       
bear.AN-PL.AN  
    'bears (cf. singular ''mui'n'', 'bear')'
  1. gunta-l            
rock.INAN-PL.INAN  
    'rocks (cf. singular ''guntew'', 'rock')'
  1. wigatign-n         
book.INAN-PL.INAN  
    'books'

Some words can also change from being animate to inanimate by adding the suffix -ewei. For example, plamu, 'salmon', as an animal is animate, but plamuwei, 'salmon meat' is inanimate.

Animacy and Verbs

Animacy is also important to keep in mind with verbs, since it helps determine which ending the verb will take (except in the first and second persons, which are always animate), as well as the class to which the verb belongs.

For example, in intransitive verbs, the animacy of the subject determines whether the verb is animate (example 7) or inanimate (example 8), as well as which ending to take: 

  1. apje'ji-t      lpa'tuj  
be.small-3.AN  boy.AN   
    'the boy is small'
  1. apje'j-g       na  guntew     
be.small-INAN  NA  rock.INAN  
    'that rock is small'

In transitive verbs, the animacy of the object determines whether the verb is animate (example 9) or inanimate (example 10) (it's usually assumed that the subject is animate), and thus which ending to take: 

  1. nemi-'g     epit      
see-1>3.AN  woman.AN  
    'I see the woman'
  1. nemi-tu     ptauti      
see-1>INAN  table.INAN  
    'I see the table'
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