Preverbs

A preverb is an element found at the left edge of a verb in Mi'gmaq that modifies the meaning of the root and any other preverbs to the right of it. Some of the meanings that are expressed in Mi'gmaq using preverbs are expressed in other languages such as English as adverbs (e.g. jaqal- "quickly, energetically"), prepositions (e.g. toqjuw- "up"), modal verbs (e.g. getu- "want (to)"), prefixes (e.g. minu- "re-"), other verbs (e.g. poqju- "begin (to)"), and other expressions (e.g. etl- "in the process of, be __ing"), although not all elements that belong to one of these categories in English are expressed as preverbs in Mi'gmaq, such as igtug "at, near (location)," which is found after nouns, not before verbs. Delisle and Metallic (1976) suggest that there are several hundred preverbs: some examples are below.

1. poqju-wissugwa-t-m-ap     
   begin-cook-inan-1sg-past  
   'I started cooking it '

1. newti-wissugwa-t-m-ap   
   one-cook-inan-1sg-past  
   'I cooked it alone '

1. getu-  poqju-  mamuni-     espi-   inn-ui-      sit   
   want-  start-  high,very-  level-  people-lang  -3sg  
   's/he wants to start to speak the people's language (Mi'gmaq) at a very high level'
   (sample context: said of an enthusiastic student of Mi'gmaq)

What Can Preverbs Attach To?

Preverbs are found only when attached to another verb. There are two kinds of verbs in this context: independent verbs, which can occur without a preverb, and dependent verbs, which must have some preverb attached to them.

Independent Verbs

Independent verbs, such as wissugwa- "cook", can be found by themselves or with a preverb.

1. wissugwa-t-m-ap   
   cook-inan-1sg-pa  
   'I cooked it'

1. etl-wissugwa-t-m-ap       
   process-cook-inan-1sg-pa  
   'I was cooking it'

1. me'si-wissugwa-t-m-ap        
   difficulty-cook-inan-1sg-pa  
   'I had difficulty cooking it'

1. ala-wissugwa-t-m-ap      
   around-cook-inan-1sg-pa  
   'I cooked it in any direction'

Dependent Verbs

Dependent verbs, like -lugwe- "work, do", -enmi- "laugh", and - "cry" can only be found with a preverb (they don't sound right without one). For example:

1. *lugwe-t  
   work-3an  
   's/he works'

1. e-lugwe-t   
   ?-work-3an  
   's/he works'

1. etl-lugwe-t       
   process-work-3an  
   's/he is working'

Unattached Preverbs?

Sometimes it can be hard to tell whether something that looks like it might be a preverb is really attaching to the verb or whether it's actually just a modifier that goes before the verb but is not attached to it. One way of telling this is that people who are fluent speakers and writers often seem to write preverbs without a space before the rest of the verb, while modifiers will have a space. However, individual speakers may have different preferences here, so another good way of figuring this out is seeing where it's possible to place mu "not".

Mu "not" is always found before the verb that it negates. It can go between a modifier and a verb, as in the first example below, but it cannot go between a preverb and a verb, as in the second example.

1. esteti  mu   wissugwa-t-m-u-ap       
   maybe   not  cook-inan-1sg-neg-past  
   'I might not cook it'

1. *nata-mu-wissugwa-t-m-u-ap           
   know.how-not-cook-inan-1sg-neg-past  
   '(intended) I couldn't cook it (don't know how).'

1. mu  nata-wissugwa-t-m-u-ap           
   mu  know.how-cook-inan-1sg-neg-past  
   'I couldn't cook it (don't know how).'

From this we can see that esteti "maybe" is a modifier instead of a preverb, but nata- "know.how" is a true preverb. Preverbs will always be written here with a hyphen (-) to indicate that they are attached to a root, while modifiers like esteti will be written without one because they are not attached.

Sometimes mu "not" can appear either before the modifier or between it and the verb, as we can see in the examples below with amujpa "have to".

1. amujpa   wissugwa-t-m-ap     
   have.to  cook-inan-1sg-past  
   'I had to cook it'

1. mu   amujpa   wissugwa-t-m-u-ap       
   not  have.to  cook-inan-1sg-neg-past  
   'I didn't have to cook it'

1. amujpa   mu   wissugwa-t-m-u-ap       
   have.to  not  cook-inan-1sg-neg-past  
   'I had to not cook it'

These expressions will not be considered preverbs either. Although this other group of modifiers is not quite the topic of this article, a list of some non-preverb modifiers can be found after the list of preverbs, since they are often confused with each other.

Several Preverbs at Once

It is quite common to have several preverbs all attached to the same verb stem. However, not all combinations of preverbs sound natural. It's not quite clear yet exactly what makes certain combinations okay and others not okay, but below are some general guidelines.

Slots

One way of showing which orders of preverbs are grammatical is to classify them by their common positions into groups or "slots". The table below is a preliminary attempt to do this.

Position	7	6	5	4	3	2	1
Category	aspect1	mode	aspect2	duration?	manner	quantity	direction, state
Sample preverb	etl-, gi's-, i-	getu-, me'si-, gisi-, nata-	poqji-, gaqi	minu-, siew-	gimi-, jaqal-, gesigew-, gaqisg-	newti-, aqat-, toqi-	al-, wel-
Gloss	process, already, used to	want, fail, can (able), can (know how)	start, finish	again/re-, continuous	secretively, quickly, loudly, often	alone, half, two	around, good

We can use the template as a guide for combining preverbs if we know what their positions are. For example, let's say we have the three preverbs etl- "in the process of" (position 7), poqju- "start" (position 5), and newti- "alone" (position 2), plus the verb wissugwatman "I cook them." We know that the verb is going to be the furthest to the right (position 0). We then add preverbs to it in order from the lowest position to the highest, so that the highest number preverb is leftmost one, and the lowest number is the rightmost, just before the verb. This correct ordering is shown in the example below, with the preverb positions indicated for clarity.

1. etl-poqju-newti-wissugwatman               
   process(7)-start(5)-alone(2)-cook.1sg.3pl  
   'I am in the process of beginning to cook them by myself'

Other orders of these preverbs, such as those below, are not possible:

1. *newti-poqju-etl-wissugwatman              
   alone(2)-start(5)-process(7)-cook.1sg.3pl  
   'I am in the process of beginning to cook them by myself'

1. *poqju-newti-etl-wissugwatman              
   start(5)-alone(2)-process(7)-cook.1sg.3pl  
   'I am in the process of beginning to cook them by myself'

However, these slots should be viewed as general guidelines, not as hard-and-fast rules, because there are also exceptions to them.

Several Orders

A few examples of when two preverbs can occur in either order are shown below. Sometimes this has an effect on the meaning, and sometimes it doesn't. For example, the first pair has quite a different meaning when the order is switched.

1. me'si-poqji-lugwe-t  
   fail-start-work-3an  
   's/he has difficulty starting to work'

1. poqji-me'si-lugwe-t  
   start-fail-work-3an  
   's/he is starting to have difficulty working'

In the second pair of examples, there is a partial meaning difference.

1. gimi-newti-lugwe-t       
   secretly-alone-work-3an  
   's/he is working alone secretly OR it's secret that it's alone that s/he's working'

1. newti-gimi-lugwe-t       
   alone-secretly-work-3an  
   's/he is working secretly alone (NOT it's secret that it's alone that s/he's working)'

And in this pair of examples, it is difficult to find any difference in meaning.

1. gaqisg-gi's-nemi-'g      
   often-already-see-1>3an  
   'I often see her/him already, I often had seen her/him'

1. gi's-gaqisg-nemi-'g      
   already-often-see-1>3an  
   'I already see her/him often, I had seen her/him often'

Big (but incomplete!) List of Preverbs

The following is a list of all the preverbs found to date.

Preverb	Preverb gloss	Category	Position	Example	Example gloss
pem-	by	direction	1	pem-iet	"s/he goes by"
enm-	away, home	direction	1	enm-iet	"s/he goes away/home"
wej((i)qua)-	towards	direction	1	wejuw-et	"s/he goes towards..."
el-	to (away)	direction	1	el-iet	"s/he goes to..."
al-	around, any direction	direction	1	al-a'si-t	"s/he wanders around"
apaj-/apij-	back (return)	direction	1	apij-a'si-t	"s/he comes back"
gigtoqw-	around, encircle	direction	1	gigtoqw-a'si-t	"s/he goes around..."
toqjuw-	up (e.g. stairs)	direction	1	toqjuw-a'si-t	"s/he goes up (e.g. stairs)"
(e)jig'l-	to a different spot	direction	1	ejig'l-a'si-t	"s/he moves to a different spot"
menj-	up (from reclining position)	direction	1	menj-a'si-t	"s/he gets up (e.g. out of bed)"
asaqom-	across (to Campbellton)	direction	1	asaqom-a'si-t	"s/he is going across, to Campbellton"
ugtejg-	back of (house, classroom)	direction	1	ugtejg-a'si-t	"I am going to the back"
matam-	to end (e.g. of driveway)	direction	1	matam-a'si	"I go to the end (of the road/driveway)"
pesg-	into (road)	direction	1	pesg-a'si	"I pull into the driveway"
utan-	to town	direction	1	utan-a'si	"I go to town"
wanu-	to the cove	direction	1	wann-a'si	"I go towards the cove"
jaqal-	quickly, energetically	manner	3	jaqal-e'g	"s/he is fast"
awan-	awkward, unskilled	manner? state?	1	awan-e'g	"s/he is awkward"
etl-	in the process of	aspect1	7	etl-wissugwatm-apn	"I was in the process of cooking them (inan)"
wel-	good/fine	state	1	wel-e'g	"s/he is good/fine"
poqju-	begin, start (to)	aspect2	5	poqju-wissugwatm-apn	"I began to cook them (inan)"
getu-	want	mode	6	getu-wissugwatm-apn	"I wanted to cook them (inan)"
minu-	again (re-)	quantity?	4	minu-wissugwatm-apn	"I re-cooked them (inan)"
siew-	continue	quantity?	4	siew-wissugwatm-apn	"I continued cooking them (inan)"
amujpa-	have to	mode	6	amujpa-wissugwatm-apn	"I had to cook them (inan)"
etugjel-	might, maybe	mode	6	etugjel-wissugwatm-apn	"I might have cooked them (inan)"
gaqi-	finish	aspect2	5	gaqi-wissugwatm-apn	"I finished cooking them (inan)"
gisi-	can, be able to	mode	6	gisi-wissugwatm-apn	"I was able to cook them (inan)"
nata-	skilled (at), knowledgeable	mode	6	nata-wissugwatm-apn	"I was skilled at cooking them (inan)"
amal-	in a disorganized/awkward fashion	state?	(1?)	amal-g-at	"s/he dances (walks awkwardly)"
mal-	lazy	state?	(1?)	mal-eig	"s/he is lazy"
tel-	condition/state	state?	(1?)	tel-iaq, tel-eig	"it happened, it is true," "s/he has a condition, is in a mood, is pregnant"
gesigew-	loudly, quickly and loudly	manner	3	gesigew-wissugwatm-apn	"I cooked them (inan) loudly"
mili-	(?) many, a lot	mode	6	mili-t-asi-t	"s/he has a lot of thoughts, is stressed"
nuji-	skilled at	mode	6	nuji-wissugwatm-apn	"I was skilled at cooking them (inan)"
lnu-	(of the) people (i.e. Mi'gmaq)	state?	1	lnu-amal-g-at"	"s/he danced a traditional dance"
inn-ui- (alternate form of lnu-)	Native/peoples' (language)	incorporated noun? state?	1	innui-si-t	"s/he speaks the language of the people (Mi'gmaq)"
aqat-	half	quantity	2	aqati'si	"I speak half Mi'gmaq half English"
gaqisg-	frequently	manner	(3)	gaqisg-wissugwatm-apn	"I cooked them (inan) frequently"
teg-	intentionally?	manner?	(3?)	teg-tes-g-at	"s/he kicks (something anim)"
me-	more (?), non-volitional?	state? quantity	(1? 2?)	me-tes-g-m	"I am hitting (something)"
metu-	difficult	mode?	3	metuw-eig	"it is difficult to come by, find"
wenju-	French (person), foolish	state?	(1?)	wenjuw-et	"s/he acts foolishly"
wenju-wi	French (language)	state?	1	wenju-wi-si-t	"s/he speaks French"
alman-uwi	German (language)	state?	1	alman-uwi-si-t"	"s/he speaks German"
gimi-	secretively, surreptitiously	manner	3
newti-	one, one one's own, alone	quantity	2	newti-al-a'si-t	"s/he wanders around alone"
toqi-	the two of them	quantity	2	toqi-al-a'si-jig	they two wander around together
mesi-	difficult, difficulty	mode	5
melgi-	hard (physical)	state?	(1?)
i-	used to	time? aspect? state?	7	i-wissugwatm-apn pisgit-l	"I used to cook cookies"

Things that look like preverbs but aren't

Preverb	Preverb gloss	Category	Position	Example	Example gloss
gi's-	by then, already	time	8	gi's-wissugwatm-apn	"I already cooked them"
sangew-	slowly, calmly, deliberately, carefully	time	8	sangew-e'g	"s/he is slow, calm"
esteti-	always	time	8	esteti-wissugwatm-apn	"I always cooked them (inan)"
app-	again (high scope)	time	8	app-wissugwatm-apn	"I cooked them (inan) again"
assma-	be about to	time	8	assma-wissugwatm-apn	"I was about to cook them (inan)"