Mi'gmaq Wiki - User contributions [en-ca]

LingSync Glosses

2014-05-30T17:42:38Z

Elise:

''being updated constantly, stay tuned''

==General Guidelines==
'''Gloss everything--no defaults'''!
* This is mainly to make search easier and more intuitive. If we had, for instance, “animate” as the understood default person and only glossed inanimate morphology as such, it would be very difficult to get a datalist of all animate words. Having no default glossing means that all our glosses will be very explicit and therefore easy to search.
* This will be painful at the start, but once we have enough data in there, LingSync will autogloss and make our lives much easier! Hang in there.
* If you have an affix that affects the category of the word to which it attaches, mark the original word's category as well as that of the affix. (ie: ''plamu'' 'salmon.AN' and ''plamu-ei'' 'salmon.AN-of.IN')
** However, if you have an affix that reflects the category of the original word, do not redundantly mark both for the same animacy. (ie: ''plamu'' 'salmon.AN' and ''plamu-g'' 'salmon-AN.PL')

When in doubt, '''don’t parse it out'''!
* Try to avoid making null morphemes unless there's very, very strong evidence for them. Pass it by someone else's eyes first, too!

In general, try to be '''faithful to the surface form''' when drawing morpheme boundaries. (ie match the morpheme line to the utterance line as closely as possible)
* You can use comments to discuss phonology if you think there is a predictable process going on.
* One exception is the palatalization of 't' at morpheme boundaries. Throughout LingSync we will assume that t -> j / _-i, so it is safe to have the utterance and morpheme lines different here.

Order '''functional abbreviations''' (separated by dots) as you would say them out loud, e.g...
* AN.PL
* PRES.IND
The auto-glosser doesn't currently learn anything as allcaps, so it will guess '''an.pl''' and '''obv''' for morphemes that we would normally gloss '''AN.PL''' and '''OBV'''. This isn't a big problem for searchability, but it does impact how readable your glosses are, so when possible please correct it to the capitals.

Verbs...
* if you can identify a verb's theme sign, indicate it as being VAI, VTA, VII or VTI as appropriate
* if you cannot identify the theme sign, don't worry about it. You can include it with dots (i.e. 'cook.VTI-3'), or put it in the tags for that datum (tagged: 'VTI'), and someone can come back to it later with an analysis.
* due to the complexity of the Mi'gmaq verb, it's a good idea to run your glosses by someone else before you put them in LingSync. We may set up a forum for that soon, stay posted!
*''to be continued''

When glossing speech...
*''a''' and ''aij'' are 'uh' and 'um'
* false starts are verbatim in the utterance line, and [false.start] in the morpheme and gloss lines

==Tags used==
Tags should generally be not the same as glossable morphemes.

Current:
*'''needs translation'''/'''needs glossing'''
**use these tags if you're unsure of the translation or gloss you've used
*'''preverb stacking'''
**when you have more than two or three preverbs on a verb
*'''SVO''', '''OSV''', '''SOV''', etc.
**these tags are mostly being used in the session for Mike's word order experiment. Don't feel obliged to tag the word order of every datum you input.

Proposed:
*NPI
*Q wh
*Q yesno
*modal

==Abbreviations==
(following Leipzig Glossing Conventions)

{|class="wikitable sortable"
!ABBREVIATION!!terminology!!notes
|-
|0||third person (inanimate)||
|-
|1||first person||
|-
|12||first person inclusive ('we (me & you)')||
|-
|13||first person exclusive ('we (me & another)')||
|-
|2||second person||
|-
|3||third person (proximate, i.e. 's/he')||
|-
|4||third person (obviative, i.e. 'her/his mother'||
|-
|ABSN||absentive||
|-
|ADV||adverb(ial)||
|-
|AN||animate||
|-
|ANTIP||antipassive||
|-
|APPL||applicative||
|-
|BEN||benefactive||
|-
|CAUS||causative||
|-
|CLF||classifier||
|-
|COMP||complementizer||
|-
|COMPL||completive||
|-
|COND||conditional||
|-
|CONJ||conjunct||
|-
|COP||copula||
|-
|DECL||declarative||
|-
|DEM||demonstrative||
|-
|DIR||direct||
|-
|DIST||distal||
|-
|DISTR||distributive||
|-
|DU||dual||
|-
|EMPH||emphatic||
|-
|EXCL||exclusive||
|-
|EXT.PL||extended plural||(provisional term contrasting with SG, DL, PL, to mean a number equivalent of 'multitude')
|-
|FOC||focus||
|-
|FUT||future||
|-
|IMP||imperative||
|-
|IN||inanimate||
|-
|INCL||inclusive||
|-
|IND||indicative||
|-
||INF||infinitive||
|-
|INST||instrumental||
|-
|INT||intonation||
|-
|IPFV||imperfective||
|-
|IMPS||impersonal||
|-
|IRR||irrealis||
|-
|LOC||locative||
|-
|N-||non-||
|-
|NEG||negation, negative||
|-
|NMLZ||nominalizer, nominalization||
|-
|OBJ||object||
|-
|OBL||oblique||
|-
|OBV||obviative|| see [[obviation]]
|-
|PART||particle||
|-
|PASS||passive||
|-
|PFV||perfective||
|-
|PL||plural||
|-
|POSS||possessive||
|-
|PLP||pluperfect||
|-
|PRF||perfect||
|-
|PRES||present||
|-
|PROG||progressive||
|-
|PROH||prohibitive||
|-
|PROX||proximal, proximate||
|-
|PST||past||
|-
|PURP||purposive||
|-
|Q||question, question marker/particle||
|-
|QUOT||quotative||
|-
|RECP||reciprocal||
|-
|REFL||reflexive||
|-
|RES||resultative||
|-
|SBJV||subjunctive||
|-
|SG||singular||
|-
|SUBJ||subject||
|-
|SUBV||subordinative||
|-
|TOP||topic||
|-
|VAI||intransitive verb with animate subject)||
|-
|VII||intransitive verb with inanimate subject)||
|-
|VOC||vocative||
|-
|VTA||transitive verb with animate subject & animate object||
|-
|VTI||transitive verb with animate subject & intransitive object||
|-
|}

LingSync Glosses

2014-05-30T17:41:48Z

Elise: /* General Guidelines */

''being updated constantly, stay tuned''

==General Guidelines==
'''Gloss everything--no defaults'''!
* This is mainly to make search easier and more intuitive. If we had, for instance, “animate” as the understood default person and only glossed inanimate morphology as such, it would be very difficult to get a datalist of all animate words. Having no default glossing means that all our glosses will be very explicit and therefore easy to search.
* This will be painful at the start, but once we have enough data in there, LingSync will autogloss and make our lives much easier! Hang in there.
* If you have an affix that affects the category of the word to which it attaches, mark the original word's category as well as that of the affix. (ie: ''plamu'' 'salmon.AN' and ''plamu-ei'' 'salmon.AN-of.IN')
** However, if you have an affix that reflects the category of the original word, do not redundantly mark both for the same animacy. (ie: ''plamu'' 'salmon.AN' and ''plamu-g'' 'salmon-AN.PL')

When in doubt, '''don’t parse it out'''!
* Try to avoid making null morphemes unless there's very, very strong evidence for them. Pass it by someone else's eyes first, too!

In general, try to be '''faithful to the surface form''' when drawing morpheme boundaries. (ie match the morpheme line to the utterance line as closely as possible)
* You can use comments to discuss phonology if you think there is a predictable process going on.
* One exception is the palatalization of 't' at morpheme boundaries. Throughout LingSync we will assume that t -> j / _-i, so it is safe to have the utterance and morpheme lines different here.

Order '''functional abbreviations''' (separated by dots) as you would say them out loud, e.g...
* AN.PL
* PRES.IND
The auto-glosser doesn't currently learn anything as allcaps, so it will guess '''an.pl''' and '''obv''' for morphemes that we would normally gloss '''AN.PL''' and '''OBV'''. This isn't a big problem for searchability, but it does impact how readable your glosses are, so when possible please correct it to the capitals.

Verbs...
* if you can identify a verb's theme sign, indicate it as being VAI, VTA, VII or VTI as appropriate
* if you cannot identify the theme sign, don't worry about it. You can include it with dots (i.e. 'cook.VTI-3'), or put it in the tags for that datum (tagged: 'VTI'), and someone can come back to it later with an analysis.
* due to the complexity of the Mi'gmaq verb, it's a good idea to run your glosses by someone else before you put them in LingSync. We may set up a forum for that soon, stay posted!
*''to be continued''

When glossing speech...
*''a''' and ''aij'' are 'uh' and 'um'
* false starts are verbatim in the utterance line, and [false.start] in the morpheme and gloss lines

==New Datum Fields==
Current:
*'''utterance'''
*'''morpheme'''
*'''gloss'''
*'''translation'''

Proposed:
*'''utteranceType''': this field allows users to specify whether the Datum is a lone word such as NOUN or VERB, or a full SENTENCE or a STORYPART.
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.
*'''utteranceNumber''': this field allows users to number a Datum to fit within a story, such as 1/20, 2a/20, 2b/20 etc.
**NOT contender for a tag
*'''conjugationType''': this field allows users to specify whether a verb is of the first conjugation, second conjugation, etc. (helpful for users who are learning Mi'gmaq and want to find more straightforward patterns.)
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.

==Tags used==
Tags should generally be not the same as glossable morphemes.

Current:
*'''needs translation'''/'''needs glossing'''
**use these tags if you're unsure of the translation or gloss you've used
*'''preverb stacking'''
**when you have more than two or three preverbs on a verb
*'''SVO''', '''OSV''', '''SOV''', etc.
**these tags are mostly being used in the session for Mike's word order experiment. Don't feel obliged to tag the word order of every datum you input.

Proposed:
*NPI
*Q wh
*Q yesno
*modal

==Abbreviations==
(following Leipzig Glossing Conventions)

{|class="wikitable sortable"
!ABBREVIATION!!terminology!!notes
|-
|0||third person (inanimate)||
|-
|1||first person||
|-
|12||first person inclusive ('we (me & you)')||
|-
|13||first person exclusive ('we (me & another)')||
|-
|2||second person||
|-
|3||third person (proximate, i.e. 's/he')||
|-
|4||third person (obviative, i.e. 'her/his mother'||
|-
|ABSN||absentive||
|-
|ADV||adverb(ial)||
|-
|AN||animate||
|-
|ANTIP||antipassive||
|-
|APPL||applicative||
|-
|BEN||benefactive||
|-
|CAUS||causative||
|-
|CLF||classifier||
|-
|COMP||complementizer||
|-
|COMPL||completive||
|-
|COND||conditional||
|-
|CONJ||conjunct||
|-
|COP||copula||
|-
|DECL||declarative||
|-
|DEM||demonstrative||
|-
|DIR||direct||
|-
|DIST||distal||
|-
|DISTR||distributive||
|-
|DU||dual||
|-
|EMPH||emphatic||
|-
|EXCL||exclusive||
|-
|EXT.PL||extended plural||(provisional term contrasting with SG, DL, PL, to mean a number equivalent of 'multitude')
|-
|FOC||focus||
|-
|FUT||future||
|-
|IMP||imperative||
|-
|IN||inanimate||
|-
|INCL||inclusive||
|-
|IND||indicative||
|-
||INF||infinitive||
|-
|INST||instrumental||
|-
|INT||intonation||
|-
|IPFV||imperfective||
|-
|IMPS||impersonal||
|-
|IRR||irrealis||
|-
|LOC||locative||
|-
|N-||non-||
|-
|NEG||negation, negative||
|-
|NMLZ||nominalizer, nominalization||
|-
|OBJ||object||
|-
|OBL||oblique||
|-
|OBV||obviative|| see [[obviation]]
|-
|PART||particle||
|-
|PASS||passive||
|-
|PFV||perfective||
|-
|PL||plural||
|-
|POSS||possessive||
|-
|PLP||pluperfect||
|-
|PRF||perfect||
|-
|PRES||present||
|-
|PROG||progressive||
|-
|PROH||prohibitive||
|-
|PROX||proximal, proximate||
|-
|PST||past||
|-
|PURP||purposive||
|-
|Q||question, question marker/particle||
|-
|QUOT||quotative||
|-
|RECP||reciprocal||
|-
|REFL||reflexive||
|-
|RES||resultative||
|-
|SBJV||subjunctive||
|-
|SG||singular||
|-
|SUBJ||subject||
|-
|SUBV||subordinative||
|-
|TOP||topic||
|-
|VAI||intransitive verb with animate subject)||
|-
|VII||intransitive verb with inanimate subject)||
|-
|VOC||vocative||
|-
|VTA||transitive verb with animate subject & animate object||
|-
|VTI||transitive verb with animate subject & intransitive object||
|-
|}

LingSync Glosses

2014-05-21T19:33:04Z

Elise: /* General Guidelines */

''being updated constantly, stay tuned''

==General Guidelines==
'''Gloss everything--no defaults'''!
* This is mainly to make search easier and more intuitive. If we had, for instance, “animate” as the understood default person and only glossed inanimate morphology as such, it would be very difficult to get a datalist of all animate words. Having no default glossing means that all our glosses will be very explicit and therefore easy to search.
* This will be painful at the start, but once we have enough data in there, LingSync will autogloss and make our lives much easier! Hang in there.
* If you have an affix that affects the category of the word to which it attaches, mark the original word's category as well as that of the affix. (ie: ''plamu'' 'salmon.AN' and ''plamu-ei'' 'salmon.AN-of.IN')
** However, if you have an affix that reflects the category of the original word, do not redundantly mark both for the same animacy. (ie: ''plamu'' 'salmon.AN' and ''plamu-g'' 'salmon-AN.PL')

When in doubt, '''don’t parse it out'''!
* Try to avoid making null morphemes unless there's very, very strong evidence for them. Pass it by someone else's eyes first, too!

In general, try to be '''faithful to the surface form''' when drawing morpheme boundaries. (ie match the morpheme line to the utterance line as closely as possible)
* You can use comments to discuss phonology if you think there is a predictable process going on.
* One exception is the palatalization of 't' at morpheme boundaries. Throughout LingSync we will assume that t -> j / _-i, so it is safe to have the utterance and morpheme lines different here.

Order '''functional abbreviations''' (separated by dots) as you would say them out loud, e.g...
* AN.PL
* PRES.IND
The auto-glosser doesn't currently learn anything as allcaps, so it will guess '''an.pl''' and '''obv''' for morphemes that we would normally gloss '''AN.PL''' and '''OBV'''. This isn't a big problem for searchability, but it does impact how readable your glosses are, so when possible please correct it to the capitals.

Verbs...
* if you can identify a verb's theme sign, indicate it as being VAI, VTA, VII or VTI as appropriate
* if you cannot identify the theme sign, don't worry about it. You can include it with dots (i.e. 'cook.VTI-3'), or put it in the tags for that datum (tagged: 'VTI'), and someone can come back to it later with an analysis.
*''to be continued''

When glossing speech...
*''a''' and ''aij'' are 'uh' and 'um'
* false starts are verbatim in the utterance line, and [false.start] in the morpheme and gloss lines

==New Datum Fields==
Current:
*'''utterance'''
*'''morpheme'''
*'''gloss'''
*'''translation'''

Proposed:
*'''utteranceType''': this field allows users to specify whether the Datum is a lone word such as NOUN or VERB, or a full SENTENCE or a STORYPART.
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.
*'''utteranceNumber''': this field allows users to number a Datum to fit within a story, such as 1/20, 2a/20, 2b/20 etc.
**NOT contender for a tag
*'''conjugationType''': this field allows users to specify whether a verb is of the first conjugation, second conjugation, etc. (helpful for users who are learning Mi'gmaq and want to find more straightforward patterns.)
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.

==Tags used==
Tags should generally be not the same as glossable morphemes.

Current:
*'''needs translation'''/'''needs glossing'''
**use these tags if you're unsure of the translation or gloss you've used
*'''preverb stacking'''
**when you have more than two or three preverbs on a verb
*'''SVO''', '''OSV''', '''SOV''', etc.
**these tags are mostly being used in the session for Mike's word order experiment. Don't feel obliged to tag the word order of every datum you input.

Proposed:
*NPI
*Q wh
*Q yesno
*modal

==Abbreviations==
(following Leipzig Glossing Conventions)

{|class="wikitable sortable"
!ABBREVIATION!!terminology!!notes
|-
|0||third person (inanimate)||
|-
|1||first person||
|-
|12||first person inclusive ('we (me & you)')||
|-
|13||first person exclusive ('we (me & another)')||
|-
|2||second person||
|-
|3||third person (proximate, i.e. 's/he')||
|-
|4||third person (obviative, i.e. 'her/his mother'||
|-
|ABSN||absentive||
|-
|ADV||adverb(ial)||
|-
|AN||animate||
|-
|ANTIP||antipassive||
|-
|APPL||applicative||
|-
|BEN||benefactive||
|-
|CAUS||causative||
|-
|CLF||classifier||
|-
|COMP||complementizer||
|-
|COMPL||completive||
|-
|COND||conditional||
|-
|CONJ||conjunct||
|-
|COP||copula||
|-
|DECL||declarative||
|-
|DEM||demonstrative||
|-
|DIR||direct||
|-
|DIST||distal||
|-
|DISTR||distributive||
|-
|DU||dual||
|-
|EMPH||emphatic||
|-
|EXCL||exclusive||
|-
|EXT.PL||extended plural||(provisional term contrasting with SG, DL, PL, to mean a number equivalent of 'multitude')
|-
|FOC||focus||
|-
|FUT||future||
|-
|IMP||imperative||
|-
|IN||inanimate||
|-
|INCL||inclusive||
|-
|IND||indicative||
|-
||INF||infinitive||
|-
|INST||instrumental||
|-
|INT||intonation||
|-
|IPFV||imperfective||
|-
|IMPS||impersonal||
|-
|IRR||irrealis||
|-
|LOC||locative||
|-
|N-||non-||
|-
|NEG||negation, negative||
|-
|NMLZ||nominalizer, nominalization||
|-
|OBJ||object||
|-
|OBL||oblique||
|-
|OBV||obviative|| see [[obviation]]
|-
|PART||particle||
|-
|PASS||passive||
|-
|PFV||perfective||
|-
|PL||plural||
|-
|POSS||possessive||
|-
|PLP||pluperfect||
|-
|PRF||perfect||
|-
|PRES||present||
|-
|PROG||progressive||
|-
|PROH||prohibitive||
|-
|PROX||proximal, proximate||
|-
|PST||past||
|-
|PURP||purposive||
|-
|Q||question, question marker/particle||
|-
|QUOT||quotative||
|-
|RECP||reciprocal||
|-
|REFL||reflexive||
|-
|RES||resultative||
|-
|SBJV||subjunctive||
|-
|SG||singular||
|-
|SUBJ||subject||
|-
|SUBV||subordinative||
|-
|TOP||topic||
|-
|VAI||intransitive verb with animate subject)||
|-
|VII||intransitive verb with inanimate subject)||
|-
|VOC||vocative||
|-
|VTA||transitive verb with animate subject & animate object||
|-
|VTI||transitive verb with animate subject & intransitive object||
|-
|}

LingSync Glosses

2014-05-21T18:30:01Z

Elise: /* General Guidelines */

''being updated constantly, stay tuned''

==General Guidelines==
'''Gloss everything--no defaults'''!
* This is mainly to make search easier and more intuitive. If we had, for instance, “animate” as the understood default person and only glossed inanimate morphology as such, it would be very difficult to get a datalist of all animate words. Having no default glossing means that all our glosses will be very explicit and therefore easy to search.
* This will be painful at the start, but once we have enough data in there, LingSync will autogloss and make our lives much easier! Hang in there.
* If you have an affix that affects the category of the word to which it attaches, mark the original word's category as well as that of the affix. (ie: ''plamu'' 'salmon.AN' and ''plamu-ei'' 'salmon.AN-of.IN')
** However, if you have an affix that reflects the category of the original word, do not redundantly mark both for the same animacy. (ie: ''plamu'' 'salmon.AN' and ''plamu-g'' 'salmon-AN.PL')

When in doubt, '''don’t parse it out'''!
* Try to avoid making null morphemes unless there's very, very strong evidence for them. Pass it by someone else's eyes first, too!

In general, try to be '''faithful to the surface form''' when drawing morpheme boundaries. (ie match the morpheme line to the utterance line as closely as possible)
* You can use comments to discuss phonology if you think there is a predictable process going on.
* One exception is the palatalization of 't' at morpheme boundaries. Throughout LingSync we will assume that t -> j / _-i, so it is safe to have the utterance and morpheme lines different here.

Order '''functional abbreviations''' (separated by dots) as you would say them out loud, e.g...
* AN.PL
* PRES.IND

Verbs...
* if you can identify a verb's theme sign, indicate it as being VAI, VTA, VII or VTI as appropriate
* if you cannot identify the theme sign, don't worry about it. You can include it with dots (i.e. 'cook.VTI-3'), or put it in the tags for that datum (tagged: 'VTI'), and someone can come back to it later with an analysis.
*''to be continued''

When glossing speech...
*''a''' and ''aij'' are 'uh' and 'um'
* false starts are verbatim in the utterance line, and [false.start] in the morpheme and gloss lines

==New Datum Fields==
Current:
*'''utterance'''
*'''morpheme'''
*'''gloss'''
*'''translation'''

Proposed:
*'''utteranceType''': this field allows users to specify whether the Datum is a lone word such as NOUN or VERB, or a full SENTENCE or a STORYPART.
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.
*'''utteranceNumber''': this field allows users to number a Datum to fit within a story, such as 1/20, 2a/20, 2b/20 etc.
**NOT contender for a tag
*'''conjugationType''': this field allows users to specify whether a verb is of the first conjugation, second conjugation, etc. (helpful for users who are learning Mi'gmaq and want to find more straightforward patterns.)
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.

==Tags used==
Tags should generally be not the same as glossable morphemes.

Current:
*'''needs translation'''/'''needs glossing'''
**use these tags if you're unsure of the translation or gloss you've used
*'''preverb stacking'''
**when you have more than two or three preverbs on a verb
*'''SVO''', '''OSV''', '''SOV''', etc.
**these tags are mostly being used in the session for Mike's word order experiment. Don't feel obliged to tag the word order of every datum you input.

Proposed:
*NPI
*Q wh
*Q yesno
*modal

==Abbreviations==
(following Leipzig Glossing Conventions)

{|class="wikitable sortable"
!ABBREVIATION!!terminology!!notes
|-
|0||third person (inanimate)||
|-
|1||first person||
|-
|12||first person inclusive ('we (me & you)')||
|-
|13||first person exclusive ('we (me & another)')||
|-
|2||second person||
|-
|3||third person (proximate, i.e. 's/he')||
|-
|4||third person (obviative, i.e. 'her/his mother'||
|-
|ABSN||absentive||
|-
|ADV||adverb(ial)||
|-
|AN||animate||
|-
|ANTIP||antipassive||
|-
|APPL||applicative||
|-
|BEN||benefactive||
|-
|CAUS||causative||
|-
|CLF||classifier||
|-
|COMP||complementizer||
|-
|COMPL||completive||
|-
|COND||conditional||
|-
|CONJ||conjunct||
|-
|COP||copula||
|-
|DECL||declarative||
|-
|DEM||demonstrative||
|-
|DIR||direct||
|-
|DIST||distal||
|-
|DISTR||distributive||
|-
|DU||dual||
|-
|EMPH||emphatic||
|-
|EXCL||exclusive||
|-
|EXT.PL||extended plural||(provisional term contrasting with SG, DL, PL, to mean a number equivalent of 'multitude')
|-
|FOC||focus||
|-
|FUT||future||
|-
|IMP||imperative||
|-
|IN||inanimate||
|-
|INCL||inclusive||
|-
|IND||indicative||
|-
||INF||infinitive||
|-
|INST||instrumental||
|-
|INT||intonation||
|-
|IPFV||imperfective||
|-
|IMPS||impersonal||
|-
|IRR||irrealis||
|-
|LOC||locative||
|-
|N-||non-||
|-
|NEG||negation, negative||
|-
|NMLZ||nominalizer, nominalization||
|-
|OBJ||object||
|-
|OBL||oblique||
|-
|OBV||obviative|| see [[obviation]]
|-
|PART||particle||
|-
|PASS||passive||
|-
|PFV||perfective||
|-
|PL||plural||
|-
|POSS||possessive||
|-
|PLP||pluperfect||
|-
|PRF||perfect||
|-
|PRES||present||
|-
|PROG||progressive||
|-
|PROH||prohibitive||
|-
|PROX||proximal, proximate||
|-
|PST||past||
|-
|PURP||purposive||
|-
|Q||question, question marker/particle||
|-
|QUOT||quotative||
|-
|RECP||reciprocal||
|-
|REFL||reflexive||
|-
|RES||resultative||
|-
|SBJV||subjunctive||
|-
|SG||singular||
|-
|SUBJ||subject||
|-
|SUBV||subordinative||
|-
|TOP||topic||
|-
|VAI||intransitive verb with animate subject)||
|-
|VII||intransitive verb with inanimate subject)||
|-
|VOC||vocative||
|-
|VTA||transitive verb with animate subject & animate object||
|-
|VTI||transitive verb with animate subject & intransitive object||
|-
|}

LingSync Glosses

2014-05-21T17:55:51Z

Elise: /* Tags used */

''being updated constantly, stay tuned''

==General Guidelines==
'''Gloss everything--no defaults'''!
* This is mainly to make search easier and more intuitive. If we had, for instance, “animate” as the understood default person and only glossed inanimate morphology as such, it would be very difficult to get a datalist of all animate words. Having no default glossing means that all our glosses will be very explicit and therefore easy to search.
* This will be painful at the start, but once we have enough data in there, LingSync will autogloss and make our lives much easier! Hang in there.
* If you have an affix that affects the category of the word to which it attaches, mark the original word's category as well as that of the affix. (ie: ''plamu'' 'salmon.AN' and ''plamu-ei'' 'salmon.AN-of.IN')
** However, if you have an affix that reflects the category of the original word, do not redundantly mark both for the same animacy. (ie: ''plamu'' 'salmon.AN' and ''plamu-g'' 'salmon-AN.PL')

When in doubt, '''don’t parse it out'''!
* Try to avoid making null morphemes unless there's very, very strong evidence for them. Pass it by someone else's eyes first, too!

In general, try to be '''faithful to the surface form''' when drawing morpheme boundaries. (ie match the morpheme line to the utterance line as closely as possible)
* You can use comments to discuss phonology if you think there is a predictable process going on.
* One exception is the palatalization of 't' at morpheme boundaries. Throughout LingSync we will assume that t -> j / _-i, so it is safe to have the utterance and morpheme lines different here.

Order '''functional abbreviations''' (separated by dots) as you would say them out loud, e.g...
* AN.PL
* PRES.IND

Verbs...
* if you can identify a verb's theme sign, indicate it as being VAI, VTA, VII or VTI as appropriate
* if you cannot identify the theme sign, don't worry about it. You can include it with dots (i.e. 'cook.VTI-3'), or put it in the tags for that datum (tagged: 'VTI'), and someone can come back to it later with an analysis.
*''to be continued''

==New Datum Fields==
Current:
*'''utterance'''
*'''morpheme'''
*'''gloss'''
*'''translation'''

Proposed:
*'''utteranceType''': this field allows users to specify whether the Datum is a lone word such as NOUN or VERB, or a full SENTENCE or a STORYPART.
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.
*'''utteranceNumber''': this field allows users to number a Datum to fit within a story, such as 1/20, 2a/20, 2b/20 etc.
**NOT contender for a tag
*'''conjugationType''': this field allows users to specify whether a verb is of the first conjugation, second conjugation, etc. (helpful for users who are learning Mi'gmaq and want to find more straightforward patterns.)
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.

==Tags used==
Tags should generally be not the same as glossable morphemes.

Current:
*'''needs translation'''/'''needs glossing'''
**use these tags if you're unsure of the translation or gloss you've used
*'''preverb stacking'''
**when you have more than two or three preverbs on a verb
*'''SVO''', '''OSV''', '''SOV''', etc.
**these tags are mostly being used in the session for Mike's word order experiment. Don't feel obliged to tag the word order of every datum you input.

Proposed:
*NPI
*Q wh
*Q yesno
*modal

==Abbreviations==
(following Leipzig Glossing Conventions)

{|class="wikitable sortable"
!ABBREVIATION!!terminology!!notes
|-
|0||third person (inanimate)||
|-
|1||first person||
|-
|12||first person inclusive ('we (me & you)')||
|-
|13||first person exclusive ('we (me & another)')||
|-
|2||second person||
|-
|3||third person (proximate, i.e. 's/he')||
|-
|4||third person (obviative, i.e. 'her/his mother'||
|-
|ABSN||absentive||
|-
|ADV||adverb(ial)||
|-
|AN||animate||
|-
|ANTIP||antipassive||
|-
|APPL||applicative||
|-
|BEN||benefactive||
|-
|CAUS||causative||
|-
|CLF||classifier||
|-
|COMP||complementizer||
|-
|COMPL||completive||
|-
|COND||conditional||
|-
|CONJ||conjunct||
|-
|COP||copula||
|-
|DECL||declarative||
|-
|DEM||demonstrative||
|-
|DIR||direct||
|-
|DIST||distal||
|-
|DISTR||distributive||
|-
|DU||dual||
|-
|EMPH||emphatic||
|-
|EXCL||exclusive||
|-
|EXT.PL||extended plural||(provisional term contrasting with SG, DL, PL, to mean a number equivalent of 'multitude')
|-
|FOC||focus||
|-
|FUT||future||
|-
|IMP||imperative||
|-
|IN||inanimate||
|-
|INCL||inclusive||
|-
|IND||indicative||
|-
||INF||infinitive||
|-
|INST||instrumental||
|-
|INT||intonation||
|-
|IPFV||imperfective||
|-
|IMPS||impersonal||
|-
|IRR||irrealis||
|-
|LOC||locative||
|-
|N-||non-||
|-
|NEG||negation, negative||
|-
|NMLZ||nominalizer, nominalization||
|-
|OBJ||object||
|-
|OBL||oblique||
|-
|OBV||obviative|| see [[obviation]]
|-
|PART||particle||
|-
|PASS||passive||
|-
|PFV||perfective||
|-
|PL||plural||
|-
|POSS||possessive||
|-
|PLP||pluperfect||
|-
|PRF||perfect||
|-
|PRES||present||
|-
|PROG||progressive||
|-
|PROH||prohibitive||
|-
|PROX||proximal, proximate||
|-
|PST||past||
|-
|PURP||purposive||
|-
|Q||question, question marker/particle||
|-
|QUOT||quotative||
|-
|RECP||reciprocal||
|-
|REFL||reflexive||
|-
|RES||resultative||
|-
|SBJV||subjunctive||
|-
|SG||singular||
|-
|SUBJ||subject||
|-
|SUBV||subordinative||
|-
|TOP||topic||
|-
|VAI||intransitive verb with animate subject)||
|-
|VII||intransitive verb with inanimate subject)||
|-
|VOC||vocative||
|-
|VTA||transitive verb with animate subject & animate object||
|-
|VTI||transitive verb with animate subject & intransitive object||
|-
|}

LingSync Glosses

2014-05-21T17:55:26Z

Elise: /* Tags used */

''being updated constantly, stay tuned''

==General Guidelines==
'''Gloss everything--no defaults'''!
* This is mainly to make search easier and more intuitive. If we had, for instance, “animate” as the understood default person and only glossed inanimate morphology as such, it would be very difficult to get a datalist of all animate words. Having no default glossing means that all our glosses will be very explicit and therefore easy to search.
* This will be painful at the start, but once we have enough data in there, LingSync will autogloss and make our lives much easier! Hang in there.
* If you have an affix that affects the category of the word to which it attaches, mark the original word's category as well as that of the affix. (ie: ''plamu'' 'salmon.AN' and ''plamu-ei'' 'salmon.AN-of.IN')
** However, if you have an affix that reflects the category of the original word, do not redundantly mark both for the same animacy. (ie: ''plamu'' 'salmon.AN' and ''plamu-g'' 'salmon-AN.PL')

When in doubt, '''don’t parse it out'''!
* Try to avoid making null morphemes unless there's very, very strong evidence for them. Pass it by someone else's eyes first, too!

In general, try to be '''faithful to the surface form''' when drawing morpheme boundaries. (ie match the morpheme line to the utterance line as closely as possible)
* You can use comments to discuss phonology if you think there is a predictable process going on.
* One exception is the palatalization of 't' at morpheme boundaries. Throughout LingSync we will assume that t -> j / _-i, so it is safe to have the utterance and morpheme lines different here.

Order '''functional abbreviations''' (separated by dots) as you would say them out loud, e.g...
* AN.PL
* PRES.IND

Verbs...
* if you can identify a verb's theme sign, indicate it as being VAI, VTA, VII or VTI as appropriate
* if you cannot identify the theme sign, don't worry about it. You can include it with dots (i.e. 'cook.VTI-3'), or put it in the tags for that datum (tagged: 'VTI'), and someone can come back to it later with an analysis.
*''to be continued''

==New Datum Fields==
Current:
*'''utterance'''
*'''morpheme'''
*'''gloss'''
*'''translation'''

Proposed:
*'''utteranceType''': this field allows users to specify whether the Datum is a lone word such as NOUN or VERB, or a full SENTENCE or a STORYPART.
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.
*'''utteranceNumber''': this field allows users to number a Datum to fit within a story, such as 1/20, 2a/20, 2b/20 etc.
**NOT contender for a tag
*'''conjugationType''': this field allows users to specify whether a verb is of the first conjugation, second conjugation, etc. (helpful for users who are learning Mi'gmaq and want to find more straightforward patterns.)
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.

==Tags used==
Tags should generally be not the same as glossable morphemes.

Current:
*''needs translation''/''needs glossing''
**use these tags if you're unsure of the translation or gloss you've used
*''preverb stacking''
**when you have more than two or three preverbs on a verb
*'''SVO''', '''OSV''', '''SOV''', etc.
**these tags are mostly being used in the session for Mike's word order experiment. Don't feel obliged to tag the word order of every datum you input.

Proposed:
*NPI
*Q wh
*Q yesno
*modal

==Abbreviations==
(following Leipzig Glossing Conventions)

{|class="wikitable sortable"
!ABBREVIATION!!terminology!!notes
|-
|0||third person (inanimate)||
|-
|1||first person||
|-
|12||first person inclusive ('we (me & you)')||
|-
|13||first person exclusive ('we (me & another)')||
|-
|2||second person||
|-
|3||third person (proximate, i.e. 's/he')||
|-
|4||third person (obviative, i.e. 'her/his mother'||
|-
|ABSN||absentive||
|-
|ADV||adverb(ial)||
|-
|AN||animate||
|-
|ANTIP||antipassive||
|-
|APPL||applicative||
|-
|BEN||benefactive||
|-
|CAUS||causative||
|-
|CLF||classifier||
|-
|COMP||complementizer||
|-
|COMPL||completive||
|-
|COND||conditional||
|-
|CONJ||conjunct||
|-
|COP||copula||
|-
|DECL||declarative||
|-
|DEM||demonstrative||
|-
|DIR||direct||
|-
|DIST||distal||
|-
|DISTR||distributive||
|-
|DU||dual||
|-
|EMPH||emphatic||
|-
|EXCL||exclusive||
|-
|EXT.PL||extended plural||(provisional term contrasting with SG, DL, PL, to mean a number equivalent of 'multitude')
|-
|FOC||focus||
|-
|FUT||future||
|-
|IMP||imperative||
|-
|IN||inanimate||
|-
|INCL||inclusive||
|-
|IND||indicative||
|-
||INF||infinitive||
|-
|INST||instrumental||
|-
|INT||intonation||
|-
|IPFV||imperfective||
|-
|IMPS||impersonal||
|-
|IRR||irrealis||
|-
|LOC||locative||
|-
|N-||non-||
|-
|NEG||negation, negative||
|-
|NMLZ||nominalizer, nominalization||
|-
|OBJ||object||
|-
|OBL||oblique||
|-
|OBV||obviative|| see [[obviation]]
|-
|PART||particle||
|-
|PASS||passive||
|-
|PFV||perfective||
|-
|PL||plural||
|-
|POSS||possessive||
|-
|PLP||pluperfect||
|-
|PRF||perfect||
|-
|PRES||present||
|-
|PROG||progressive||
|-
|PROH||prohibitive||
|-
|PROX||proximal, proximate||
|-
|PST||past||
|-
|PURP||purposive||
|-
|Q||question, question marker/particle||
|-
|QUOT||quotative||
|-
|RECP||reciprocal||
|-
|REFL||reflexive||
|-
|RES||resultative||
|-
|SBJV||subjunctive||
|-
|SG||singular||
|-
|SUBJ||subject||
|-
|SUBV||subordinative||
|-
|TOP||topic||
|-
|VAI||intransitive verb with animate subject)||
|-
|VII||intransitive verb with inanimate subject)||
|-
|VOC||vocative||
|-
|VTA||transitive verb with animate subject & animate object||
|-
|VTI||transitive verb with animate subject & intransitive object||
|-
|}

LingSync Glosses

2014-05-21T17:51:10Z

Elise:

''being updated constantly, stay tuned''

==General Guidelines==
'''Gloss everything--no defaults'''!
* This is mainly to make search easier and more intuitive. If we had, for instance, “animate” as the understood default person and only glossed inanimate morphology as such, it would be very difficult to get a datalist of all animate words. Having no default glossing means that all our glosses will be very explicit and therefore easy to search.
* This will be painful at the start, but once we have enough data in there, LingSync will autogloss and make our lives much easier! Hang in there.
* If you have an affix that affects the category of the word to which it attaches, mark the original word's category as well as that of the affix. (ie: ''plamu'' 'salmon.AN' and ''plamu-ei'' 'salmon.AN-of.IN')
** However, if you have an affix that reflects the category of the original word, do not redundantly mark both for the same animacy. (ie: ''plamu'' 'salmon.AN' and ''plamu-g'' 'salmon-AN.PL')

When in doubt, '''don’t parse it out'''!
* Try to avoid making null morphemes unless there's very, very strong evidence for them. Pass it by someone else's eyes first, too!

In general, try to be '''faithful to the surface form''' when drawing morpheme boundaries. (ie match the morpheme line to the utterance line as closely as possible)
* You can use comments to discuss phonology if you think there is a predictable process going on.
* One exception is the palatalization of 't' at morpheme boundaries. Throughout LingSync we will assume that t -> j / _-i, so it is safe to have the utterance and morpheme lines different here.

Order '''functional abbreviations''' (separated by dots) as you would say them out loud, e.g...
* AN.PL
* PRES.IND

Verbs...
* if you can identify a verb's theme sign, indicate it as being VAI, VTA, VII or VTI as appropriate
* if you cannot identify the theme sign, don't worry about it. You can include it with dots (i.e. 'cook.VTI-3'), or put it in the tags for that datum (tagged: 'VTI'), and someone can come back to it later with an analysis.
*''to be continued''

==New Datum Fields==
Current:
*'''utterance'''
*'''morpheme'''
*'''gloss'''
*'''translation'''

Proposed:
*'''utteranceType''': this field allows users to specify whether the Datum is a lone word such as NOUN or VERB, or a full SENTENCE or a STORYPART.
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.
*'''utteranceNumber''': this field allows users to number a Datum to fit within a story, such as 1/20, 2a/20, 2b/20 etc.
**NOT contender for a tag
*'''conjugationType''': this field allows users to specify whether a verb is of the first conjugation, second conjugation, etc. (helpful for users who are learning Mi'gmaq and want to find more straightforward patterns.)
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.

==Tags used==
Tags should generally be not the same as glossable morphemes.

Current:
*needs translation/needs glossing
**use these tags if you're unsure of the translation or gloss you've used
*preverb stacking
**when you have more than two or three preverbs on a verb
*

Proposed:
*NPI
*Q wh
*Q yesno
*modal

==Abbreviations==
(following Leipzig Glossing Conventions)

{|class="wikitable sortable"
!ABBREVIATION!!terminology!!notes
|-
|0||third person (inanimate)||
|-
|1||first person||
|-
|12||first person inclusive ('we (me & you)')||
|-
|13||first person exclusive ('we (me & another)')||
|-
|2||second person||
|-
|3||third person (proximate, i.e. 's/he')||
|-
|4||third person (obviative, i.e. 'her/his mother'||
|-
|ABSN||absentive||
|-
|ADV||adverb(ial)||
|-
|AN||animate||
|-
|ANTIP||antipassive||
|-
|APPL||applicative||
|-
|BEN||benefactive||
|-
|CAUS||causative||
|-
|CLF||classifier||
|-
|COMP||complementizer||
|-
|COMPL||completive||
|-
|COND||conditional||
|-
|CONJ||conjunct||
|-
|COP||copula||
|-
|DECL||declarative||
|-
|DEM||demonstrative||
|-
|DIR||direct||
|-
|DIST||distal||
|-
|DISTR||distributive||
|-
|DU||dual||
|-
|EMPH||emphatic||
|-
|EXCL||exclusive||
|-
|EXT.PL||extended plural||(provisional term contrasting with SG, DL, PL, to mean a number equivalent of 'multitude')
|-
|FOC||focus||
|-
|FUT||future||
|-
|IMP||imperative||
|-
|IN||inanimate||
|-
|INCL||inclusive||
|-
|IND||indicative||
|-
||INF||infinitive||
|-
|INST||instrumental||
|-
|INT||intonation||
|-
|IPFV||imperfective||
|-
|IMPS||impersonal||
|-
|IRR||irrealis||
|-
|LOC||locative||
|-
|N-||non-||
|-
|NEG||negation, negative||
|-
|NMLZ||nominalizer, nominalization||
|-
|OBJ||object||
|-
|OBL||oblique||
|-
|OBV||obviative|| see [[obviation]]
|-
|PART||particle||
|-
|PASS||passive||
|-
|PFV||perfective||
|-
|PL||plural||
|-
|POSS||possessive||
|-
|PLP||pluperfect||
|-
|PRF||perfect||
|-
|PRES||present||
|-
|PROG||progressive||
|-
|PROH||prohibitive||
|-
|PROX||proximal, proximate||
|-
|PST||past||
|-
|PURP||purposive||
|-
|Q||question, question marker/particle||
|-
|QUOT||quotative||
|-
|RECP||reciprocal||
|-
|REFL||reflexive||
|-
|RES||resultative||
|-
|SBJV||subjunctive||
|-
|SG||singular||
|-
|SUBJ||subject||
|-
|SUBV||subordinative||
|-
|TOP||topic||
|-
|VAI||intransitive verb with animate subject)||
|-
|VII||intransitive verb with inanimate subject)||
|-
|VOC||vocative||
|-
|VTA||transitive verb with animate subject & animate object||
|-
|VTI||transitive verb with animate subject & intransitive object||
|-
|}

LingSync Glosses

2014-05-21T17:48:35Z

Elise: /* General Guidelines */

''being updated constantly, stay tuned''

==General Guidelines==
'''Gloss everything--no defaults'''!
* This is mainly to make search easier and more intuitive. If we had, for instance, “animate” as the understood default person and only glossed inanimate morphology as such, it would be very difficult to get a datalist of all animate words. Having no default glossing means that all our glosses will be very explicit and therefore easy to search.
* This will be painful at the start, but once we have enough data in there, LingSync will autogloss and make our lives much easier! Hang in there.
* If you have an affix that affects the category of the word to which it attaches, mark the original word's category as well as that of the affix. (ie: ''plamu'' 'salmon.AN' and ''plamu-ei'' 'salmon.AN-of.IN')
** However, if you have an affix that reflects the category of the original word, do not redundantly mark both for the same animacy. (ie: ''plamu'' 'salmon.AN' and ''plamu-g'' 'salmon-AN.PL')

When in doubt, '''don’t parse it out'''!
* Try to avoid making null morphemes unless there's very, very strong evidence for them. Pass it by someone else's eyes first, too!

In general, try to be '''faithful to the surface form''' when drawing morpheme boundaries. (ie match the morpheme line to the utterance line as closely as possible)
* You can use comments to discuss phonology if you think there is a predictable process going on.
* One exception is the palatalization of 't' at morpheme boundaries. Throughout LingSync we will assume that t -> j / _-i, so it is safe to have the utterance and morpheme lines different here.

Order '''functional abbreviations''' (separated by dots) as you would say them out loud, e.g...
* AN.PL
* PRES.IND

Verbs...
* if you can identify a verb's theme sign, indicate it as being VAI, VTA, VII or VTI as appropriate
* if you cannot identify the theme sign, don't worry about it. You can include it with dots (i.e. 'cook.VTI-3'), or put it in the tags for that datum (tagged: 'VTI'), and someone can come back to it later with an analysis.
*''to be continued''

==Specific Oddball Cases==
Break up long sentences/utterances at conjunctions and add ellipses. Number, for example, as 1a, 1b, etc.
* Example:
** “Once there was a bear. He was a really big bear and he liked to fish and he used to go to the lake every day”
** 1-1 Once there was a bear.
** 1-2a He was a really big bear …
** 1-2b … and he liked to fish …
** 1-2c … and he used to go to the lake every day.

On glossing multiple words that your consultant translates as 1 word:
*utterance: tan pas’g
*morphemes: tan.pas’g
*gloss: any
*translation: any

==New Datum Fields==
Current:
*'''utterance'''
*'''morpheme'''
*'''gloss'''
*'''translation'''

Proposed:
*'''utteranceType''': this field allows users to specify whether the Datum is a lone word such as NOUN or VERB, or a full SENTENCE or a STORYPART.
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.
*'''utteranceNumber''': this field allows users to number a Datum to fit within a story, such as 1/20, 2a/20, 2b/20 etc.
**NOT contender for a tag
*'''conjugationType''': this field allows users to specify whether a verb is of the first conjugation, second conjugation, etc. (helpful for users who are learning Mi'gmaq and want to find more straightforward patterns.)
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.

==Tags used==
''right now we don't have tags in operation, but this may change. If you want to make arguments for or against tagging, please go to the discussion side of this page.''
Tags should generally be not the same as glossable morphemes.

Current:

Proposed:
*NPI
*Q wh
*Q yesno
*modal

==Abbreviations==
(following Leipzig Glossing Conventions)

{|class="wikitable sortable"
!ABBREVIATION!!terminology!!notes
|-
|0||third person (inanimate)||
|-
|1||first person||
|-
|12||first person inclusive ('we (me & you)')||
|-
|13||first person exclusive ('we (me & another)')||
|-
|2||second person||
|-
|3||third person (proximate, i.e. 's/he')||
|-
|4||third person (obviative, i.e. 'her/his mother'||
|-
|ABSN||absentive||
|-
|ADV||adverb(ial)||
|-
|AN||animate||
|-
|ANTIP||antipassive||
|-
|APPL||applicative||
|-
|BEN||benefactive||
|-
|CAUS||causative||
|-
|CLF||classifier||
|-
|COMP||complementizer||
|-
|COMPL||completive||
|-
|COND||conditional||
|-
|CONJ||conjunct||
|-
|COP||copula||
|-
|DECL||declarative||
|-
|DEM||demonstrative||
|-
|DIR||direct||
|-
|DIST||distal||
|-
|DISTR||distributive||
|-
|DU||dual||
|-
|EMPH||emphatic||
|-
|EXCL||exclusive||
|-
|EXT.PL||extended plural||(provisional term contrasting with SG, DL, PL, to mean a number equivalent of 'multitude')
|-
|FOC||focus||
|-
|FUT||future||
|-
|IMP||imperative||
|-
|IN||inanimate||
|-
|INCL||inclusive||
|-
|IND||indicative||
|-
||INF||infinitive||
|-
|INST||instrumental||
|-
|INT||intonation||
|-
|IPFV||imperfective||
|-
|IMPS||impersonal||
|-
|IRR||irrealis||
|-
|LOC||locative||
|-
|N-||non-||
|-
|NEG||negation, negative||
|-
|NMLZ||nominalizer, nominalization||
|-
|OBJ||object||
|-
|OBL||oblique||
|-
|OBV||obviative|| see [[obviation]]
|-
|PART||particle||
|-
|PASS||passive||
|-
|PFV||perfective||
|-
|PL||plural||
|-
|POSS||possessive||
|-
|PLP||pluperfect||
|-
|PRF||perfect||
|-
|PRES||present||
|-
|PROG||progressive||
|-
|PROH||prohibitive||
|-
|PROX||proximal, proximate||
|-
|PST||past||
|-
|PURP||purposive||
|-
|Q||question, question marker/particle||
|-
|QUOT||quotative||
|-
|RECP||reciprocal||
|-
|REFL||reflexive||
|-
|RES||resultative||
|-
|SBJV||subjunctive||
|-
|SG||singular||
|-
|SUBJ||subject||
|-
|SUBV||subordinative||
|-
|TOP||topic||
|-
|VAI||intransitive verb with animate subject)||
|-
|VII||intransitive verb with inanimate subject)||
|-
|VOC||vocative||
|-
|VTA||transitive verb with animate subject & animate object||
|-
|VTI||transitive verb with animate subject & intransitive object||
|-
|}

Plural Nouns

2013-06-27T16:02:58Z

Elise: /* Animate */

'''Pluralization''' is used to denote two or more of a particular noun. Unlike verbs, nouns in Mi'gmaq do not distinguish between dual or plural forms. Like the familiar English method of pluralizing nouns by adding [-s], nouns are pluralized by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffix suffixation] in Mi'gmaq; the form of this suffixation is dependent on the gender (animate/inanimate) of the noun, as well as the final segments of the noun in question.

= Animate =
There are many possible forms for the animate plural suffix, as demonstrated by the following table:

{| class="wikitable"
! Singular form||Plural form||Morpheme||Gloss
|-
| miti's
| miti'sg
| -g
| tree
|-
| nipi
| nipi'g
| -g (with vowel lengthening)
| leaf
|-
| sqolj
| sqoljig
| -ig
| frog
|-
| e'pit
| e'pijig
| -ig (with palatalization)
| tree
|-
| alug
| alug-g
| -g
| cloud
|-
| samqwano'q
| samqwano'q-q
| -q
| water jug
|-
| siguap
| siguapaq
| -aq
| widower
|}

The variation in the form of the suffix can mostly be explained by the final segment and syllable shape of the noun taking it, and thus it is reasonable to postulate that the underlying plural suffix for animate nouns is /-g/ and, depending on the final segment of the noun being pluralized, this suffix can surface as [-g], [-ig], [-ug], [-q] or [-aq], as well as having some effects on the final segment itself.

* After vowels [-g] is added, and the final vowels are lengthened. If the word ends in a sequence of vowels, such as [ei], the final vowel is removed and the preceding vowel is lengthened.

{| class="wikitable"
! Singular form||Plural form||Gloss
|-
| tmtmu
| tmtmu'-g
| oyster
|-
| plamu
| plamu'-g
| salmon
|-
| miti
| miti'-g
| aspen, poplar
|-
| sewlugowei
| sewlugowe'-g
| rhubarb
|}

* Words ending in [n] and [l] always take the [-g] suffix, without any changes of length. Words ending in [j] also take the [-g] suffix, so long as the [j] is not preceded by another consonant (e.g., *migjigj-g, *gajuewj-g), and words ending in [s] take this suffix so long as they are multisyllabic (*e's-g).

{| class="wikitable"
! Singular form||Plural form||Gloss
|-
| taqate'l
| taqate'l-g
| currant
|-
| tu'aqan
| tu'aqan-g
| ball
|-
| amqwanji'j
| amqwanji'j-g
| spoon
|-
| tmato's
| tmato's-g
| tomato
|}

* We find the [-ig] suffix after monosyllabic words ending in [s], words ending in [t], and words ending in consonant clusters. Note that before [i], assimilation of place seems to occur for [t], resulting in its replacement with the segment [j] before the plural morpheme. (see phonology?)

{| class="wikitable"
! Singular form||Plural form||Gloss
|-
| e's
| e's-ig
| clam
|-
| slaps
| slaps-ig
| slab (of wood)
|-
| e'pit
| e'pij-ig
| woman
|-
| sqolj
| sqolj-ig
| frog
|-
| te'pulj
| te'pulj-ig
| goat
|-
| epsaqtejg
| epsaqtejg-ig
| stove
|}

* Words ending in [m] take the [-ug] variant of the plural suffix.

{| class="wikitable"
! Singular form||Plural form||Gloss
|-
| jin'm
| jin'm-ug
| man
|-
| paqtesm
| paqtesm-ug
| wolf
|-
| tia'm
| tia'm-ug
| moose
|}

* The suffix [-aq] appears after labial consonants [p] and [gw], as well as replacing most word-final [aw] or [ow] sequences. (Note that this does not apply to word-final diphthongs in which the first vowel is long, such as ''tmoqta'w'' "log", plural ''tmoqta'w-g''.)

{| class="wikitable"
! Singular form||Plural form||Gloss
|-
| sasap
| sasap-aq
| jellyfish
|-
| sulumgw
| sulumgw-aq
| goose
|-
| nasguaw
| nasgu-aq
| snowshoe
|-
| guow
| gu-aq
| pine
|}

* After [g] not in a consonant cluster, a [-g] is usually added, resulting in gemination. A [-q] also geminates in the animate plural due to assimilation in place of the [-g] ending.

{| class="wikitable"
! Singular form||Plural form||Gloss
|-
| alug
| alug-g
| oyster
|-
| samqwano'q
| samqwano'q-q
| salmon
|}

== Exceptions ==

As yet, there are several unexplainable exceptions to the general rules of pluralization stated above. Notably, there seems to be a not-insignificant number of words whose plural is the ''-aq'' suffix ending in consonants other than [p] or [gw]. Some of the known violations of this rule are listed below.

{| class="wikitable"
! Singular form||Plural form||Gloss
|-
| muin
| muin-aq
| bear
|-
| ga't
| ga't-aq
| eel
|-
| gast'pl
| gast'pl-aq
| police officer
|-
| gapiten
| gapiten-aq
| captain
|-
| je'g
| je'g-aq
| Jack (in cards)
|}

The last three examples in the table above are borrowed words, which perhaps excuses their unusual form of pluralization, but the first two seem to be traditional Mi'gmaq words. Fieldholtz (1963) analyzes these particular exceptions as underlyingly having the short vowel [a] on the end of the noun, with it being dropped in ordinary production but surfacing with the addition of the plural morpheme (e.g., ''muin'' is underlyingly [muina], ''ga't'' is underlyingly [ga'ta]). It does appear that [a]-final words are rare in Mi'gmaq, and no examples of [a]-final nouns have been encountered thus far, supporting the hypothesis that final [a]s could be deleted as a rule. However, there are not any other suffixation processes in which this underlying [a] surfaces - for example, the [[Nouns#Diminutive_and_Augmentative|diminutive]] of ''muin'' is ''muin-ji'j'', not *''muina-ji'j''. These particular exceptions to the pluralization rule should be examined in further detail to uncover any other possible morphological irregularities to account for their irregular plurals.

Beyond this somewhat large group of nouns unpredictably receiving the ''-aq'' suffix, there are a few known exceptions to pluralization rules with only one or two tokens each in violation of a particular rule; these will be listed below without any attempt at analysis.

{| class="wikitable"
! Singular form||Attested plural form||Expected plural form||Gloss
|-
| na'goqom
| na'goqom-g
| na'goqom-ug
| ice skate
|-
| lattolaw
| lattolaw-g
| lattol-aq
| bull
|-
| gjiaplue'w
| gjiaplue'w-g
| gjiaplue'w-ug
| rascal
|-
| la'sgw
| la'sg-ug
| la'sgw-aq
| playing card
|-
| gawatgw
| gawatg-ug
| gawatgw-aq
| spruce tree
|}

= Inanimate =

The inanimate plural is considerably simpler than the animate. The underlying form of the suffix is /-l/, which can surface as [-l], [-n], [-al] or [-ul].

* Vowel finals take the plain [-l] suffix, as do words ending in consonants [t], [s], [j], [g], [m] or [p]. As in the animate plural, words ending in the sequence [ei] show deletion of the final vowel and lengthening of the preceding one. Some single-vowel finals seem to show the same lengthening seen in the animate plural, while others do not; as yet there is no clear pattern as to which vowels lengthen and which do not (see ''p'towti'' vs. ''lnuipi'').

{| class="wikitable"
! Singular form||Plural form||Morpheme||Gloss
|-
| p'towti
| p'towti-l
| -l (without vowel
lengthening)
| table
|-
| lnuipi
| lnuipi'-l
| -l (with vowel
lengthening)
| native paddle
|-
| alawei
| alawe'-l
| -l
| pea
|-
| magot
| magot-l
| -l
| dress
|-
| mapos
| mapos-l
| -l
| pocket
|-
| gmu'j
| gmu'j-l
| -l
| stick, piece of wood
|-
| gawaqtejg
| gawaqtejg-l
| -l
| gooseberry
|-
| wiguom
| wiguom-l
| -l
| house
|-
| lagga'p
| lagga'p-l
| -l
| cellar
|}

* Words ending in the consonant [n] show gemination in the inanimate plural. This is due to assimilation of [l] and [n], which is seen in several other processes in Mi'gmaq such as [[Obviation]].

{| class="wikitable"
! Singular form||Plural form||Gloss
|-
| tepagan
| tepagan-n
| car
|-
| pguman
| pguman-n
| blueberry
|-
| sign
| sign-n
| stocking, sock
|}

* For words ending in the vowel-glide sequence [ew], the final segments are replaced by the suffix [-al].

{| class="wikitable"
! Singular form||Plural form||Gloss
|-
| mussew
| muss-al
| piece
|-
| guntew
| gunt-al
| rock
|-
| maqamigew
| maqamig-al
| land
|}

* Finally, words ending in the labialized consonant [gw] take the [-ul] suffix.

{| class="wikitable"
! Singular form||Plural form||Gloss
|-
| llutaqanatgw
| llutaqanatg-ul
| fencepost
|-
| egsitpu'gwewulgw
| egsitpu'gwewulg-ul
| rock
|-
| seggw
| segg-ul
| sweet thing
|}

== Exceptions==
There is one instance of a word ending in something other than [gw] taking the [-ul] suffix: ''galiulg'', "sleigh" and ''galiulgul'', "sleighs". This difference seems to be only orthographic, as the vowel [u] is not particularly audible when the plural of this word is pronounced.

Plural Nouns

2013-06-27T16:02:40Z

Elise: /* Animate */

'''Pluralization''' is used to denote two or more of a particular noun. Unlike verbs, nouns in Mi'gmaq do not distinguish between dual or plural forms. Like the familiar English method of pluralizing nouns by adding [-s], nouns are pluralized by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffix suffixation] in Mi'gmaq; the form of this suffixation is dependent on the gender (animate/inanimate) of the noun, as well as the final segments of the noun in question.

= Animate =
There are many possible forms for the animate plural suffix, as demonstrated by the following table:

{| class="wikitable"
! Singular form||Plural form||Morpheme||Gloss
|-
| miti's
| miti'sg
| -g
| tree
|-
| nipi
| nipi'g
| -g (with vowel lengthening)
| leaf
|-
| sqolj
| sqoljig
| -ig
| frog
|-
| e'pit
| e'pijig
| -ig (with palatalization)
| tree
|-
| alug
| alug-g
| -g
| cloud
|-
| samqwano'q
| samqwano'q-q
| -q
| water jug/bottle
|-
| siguap
| siguapaq
| -aq
| widower
|}

The variation in the form of the suffix can mostly be explained by the final segment and syllable shape of the noun taking it, and thus it is reasonable to postulate that the underlying plural suffix for animate nouns is /-g/ and, depending on the final segment of the noun being pluralized, this suffix can surface as [-g], [-ig], [-ug], [-q] or [-aq], as well as having some effects on the final segment itself.

* After vowels [-g] is added, and the final vowels are lengthened. If the word ends in a sequence of vowels, such as [ei], the final vowel is removed and the preceding vowel is lengthened.

{| class="wikitable"
! Singular form||Plural form||Gloss
|-
| tmtmu
| tmtmu'-g
| oyster
|-
| plamu
| plamu'-g
| salmon
|-
| miti
| miti'-g
| aspen, poplar
|-
| sewlugowei
| sewlugowe'-g
| rhubarb
|}

* Words ending in [n] and [l] always take the [-g] suffix, without any changes of length. Words ending in [j] also take the [-g] suffix, so long as the [j] is not preceded by another consonant (e.g., *migjigj-g, *gajuewj-g), and words ending in [s] take this suffix so long as they are multisyllabic (*e's-g).

{| class="wikitable"
! Singular form||Plural form||Gloss
|-
| taqate'l
| taqate'l-g
| currant
|-
| tu'aqan
| tu'aqan-g
| ball
|-
| amqwanji'j
| amqwanji'j-g
| spoon
|-
| tmato's
| tmato's-g
| tomato
|}

* We find the [-ig] suffix after monosyllabic words ending in [s], words ending in [t], and words ending in consonant clusters. Note that before [i], assimilation of place seems to occur for [t], resulting in its replacement with the segment [j] before the plural morpheme. (see phonology?)

{| class="wikitable"
! Singular form||Plural form||Gloss
|-
| e's
| e's-ig
| clam
|-
| slaps
| slaps-ig
| slab (of wood)
|-
| e'pit
| e'pij-ig
| woman
|-
| sqolj
| sqolj-ig
| frog
|-
| te'pulj
| te'pulj-ig
| goat
|-
| epsaqtejg
| epsaqtejg-ig
| stove
|}

* Words ending in [m] take the [-ug] variant of the plural suffix.

{| class="wikitable"
! Singular form||Plural form||Gloss
|-
| jin'm
| jin'm-ug
| man
|-
| paqtesm
| paqtesm-ug
| wolf
|-
| tia'm
| tia'm-ug
| moose
|}

* The suffix [-aq] appears after labial consonants [p] and [gw], as well as replacing most word-final [aw] or [ow] sequences. (Note that this does not apply to word-final diphthongs in which the first vowel is long, such as ''tmoqta'w'' "log", plural ''tmoqta'w-g''.)

{| class="wikitable"
! Singular form||Plural form||Gloss
|-
| sasap
| sasap-aq
| jellyfish
|-
| sulumgw
| sulumgw-aq
| goose
|-
| nasguaw
| nasgu-aq
| snowshoe
|-
| guow
| gu-aq
| pine
|}

* After [g] not in a consonant cluster, a [-g] is usually added, resulting in gemination. A [-q] also geminates in the animate plural due to assimilation in place of the [-g] ending.

{| class="wikitable"
! Singular form||Plural form||Gloss
|-
| alug
| alug-g
| oyster
|-
| samqwano'q
| samqwano'q-q
| salmon
|}

== Exceptions ==

As yet, there are several unexplainable exceptions to the general rules of pluralization stated above. Notably, there seems to be a not-insignificant number of words whose plural is the ''-aq'' suffix ending in consonants other than [p] or [gw]. Some of the known violations of this rule are listed below.

{| class="wikitable"
! Singular form||Plural form||Gloss
|-
| muin
| muin-aq
| bear
|-
| ga't
| ga't-aq
| eel
|-
| gast'pl
| gast'pl-aq
| police officer
|-
| gapiten
| gapiten-aq
| captain
|-
| je'g
| je'g-aq
| Jack (in cards)
|}

The last three examples in the table above are borrowed words, which perhaps excuses their unusual form of pluralization, but the first two seem to be traditional Mi'gmaq words. Fieldholtz (1963) analyzes these particular exceptions as underlyingly having the short vowel [a] on the end of the noun, with it being dropped in ordinary production but surfacing with the addition of the plural morpheme (e.g., ''muin'' is underlyingly [muina], ''ga't'' is underlyingly [ga'ta]). It does appear that [a]-final words are rare in Mi'gmaq, and no examples of [a]-final nouns have been encountered thus far, supporting the hypothesis that final [a]s could be deleted as a rule. However, there are not any other suffixation processes in which this underlying [a] surfaces - for example, the [[Nouns#Diminutive_and_Augmentative|diminutive]] of ''muin'' is ''muin-ji'j'', not *''muina-ji'j''. These particular exceptions to the pluralization rule should be examined in further detail to uncover any other possible morphological irregularities to account for their irregular plurals.

Beyond this somewhat large group of nouns unpredictably receiving the ''-aq'' suffix, there are a few known exceptions to pluralization rules with only one or two tokens each in violation of a particular rule; these will be listed below without any attempt at analysis.

{| class="wikitable"
! Singular form||Attested plural form||Expected plural form||Gloss
|-
| na'goqom
| na'goqom-g
| na'goqom-ug
| ice skate
|-
| lattolaw
| lattolaw-g
| lattol-aq
| bull
|-
| gjiaplue'w
| gjiaplue'w-g
| gjiaplue'w-ug
| rascal
|-
| la'sgw
| la'sg-ug
| la'sgw-aq
| playing card
|-
| gawatgw
| gawatg-ug
| gawatgw-aq
| spruce tree
|}

= Inanimate =

The inanimate plural is considerably simpler than the animate. The underlying form of the suffix is /-l/, which can surface as [-l], [-n], [-al] or [-ul].

* Vowel finals take the plain [-l] suffix, as do words ending in consonants [t], [s], [j], [g], [m] or [p]. As in the animate plural, words ending in the sequence [ei] show deletion of the final vowel and lengthening of the preceding one. Some single-vowel finals seem to show the same lengthening seen in the animate plural, while others do not; as yet there is no clear pattern as to which vowels lengthen and which do not (see ''p'towti'' vs. ''lnuipi'').

{| class="wikitable"
! Singular form||Plural form||Morpheme||Gloss
|-
| p'towti
| p'towti-l
| -l (without vowel
lengthening)
| table
|-
| lnuipi
| lnuipi'-l
| -l (with vowel
lengthening)
| native paddle
|-
| alawei
| alawe'-l
| -l
| pea
|-
| magot
| magot-l
| -l
| dress
|-
| mapos
| mapos-l
| -l
| pocket
|-
| gmu'j
| gmu'j-l
| -l
| stick, piece of wood
|-
| gawaqtejg
| gawaqtejg-l
| -l
| gooseberry
|-
| wiguom
| wiguom-l
| -l
| house
|-
| lagga'p
| lagga'p-l
| -l
| cellar
|}

* Words ending in the consonant [n] show gemination in the inanimate plural. This is due to assimilation of [l] and [n], which is seen in several other processes in Mi'gmaq such as [[Obviation]].

{| class="wikitable"
! Singular form||Plural form||Gloss
|-
| tepagan
| tepagan-n
| car
|-
| pguman
| pguman-n
| blueberry
|-
| sign
| sign-n
| stocking, sock
|}

* For words ending in the vowel-glide sequence [ew], the final segments are replaced by the suffix [-al].

{| class="wikitable"
! Singular form||Plural form||Gloss
|-
| mussew
| muss-al
| piece
|-
| guntew
| gunt-al
| rock
|-
| maqamigew
| maqamig-al
| land
|}

* Finally, words ending in the labialized consonant [gw] take the [-ul] suffix.

{| class="wikitable"
! Singular form||Plural form||Gloss
|-
| llutaqanatgw
| llutaqanatg-ul
| fencepost
|-
| egsitpu'gwewulgw
| egsitpu'gwewulg-ul
| rock
|-
| seggw
| segg-ul
| sweet thing
|}

== Exceptions==
There is one instance of a word ending in something other than [gw] taking the [-ul] suffix: ''galiulg'', "sleigh" and ''galiulgul'', "sleighs". This difference seems to be only orthographic, as the vowel [u] is not particularly audible when the plural of this word is pronounced.

LingSync Glosses

2013-02-07T20:41:03Z

Elise: /* General Guidelines */

''being updated constantly, stay tuned''

==General Guidelines==
'''Gloss everything--no defaults'''!
* This is mainly to make search easier and more intuitive. If we had, for instance, “animate” as the understood default person and only glossed inanimate morphology as such, it would be very difficult to get a datalist of all animate words. Having no default glossing means that all our glosses will be very explicit and therefore easy to search.
* This will be painful at the start, but once we have enough data in there, LingSync will autogloss and make our lives much easier! Hang in there.
* If you have an affix that affects the category of the word to which it attaches, mark the original word's category as well as that of the affix. (ie: ''plamu'' 'salmon.AN' and ''plamu-ei'' 'salmon.AN-of.IN')
** However, if you have an affix that reflects the category of the original word, do not redundantly mark both for the same animacy. (ie: ''plamu'' 'salmon.AN' and ''plamu-g'' 'salmon-AN.PL')

When in doubt, '''don’t parse it out'''!
* Try to avoid making null morphemes unless there's very, very strong evidence for them. Pass it by someone else's eyes first, too!
* Feel free to use dots frequently in your glosses.

In general be '''faithful to the surface form''' when drawing morpheme boundaries. (ie match the morpheme line to the utterance line as closely as possible)
* Please use the Notes section to leave comments about phonology if you think there is a predictable process going on!
* One exception is the palatalization of 't' at morpheme boundaries. Throughout LingSync we will assume that t -> j / _-i, so it is safe to have the utterance and morpheme lines different here.

Order '''functional abbreviations''' (separated by dots) as you would say them out loud, e.g...
* AN.PL
* PRES.IND

Verbs...
*don’t write V in VAI, VTA, etc. Just use AI (animate intrans), II (inanimate intrans), TA (transitive animate), TI (transitive inanimate)
*''to be continued''

==Specific Oddball Cases==
Break up long sentences/utterances at conjunctions and add ellipses. Number, for example, as 1a, 1b, etc.
* Example:
** “Once there was a bear. He was a really big bear and he liked to fish and he used to go to the lake every day”
** 1-1 Once there was a bear.
** 1-2a He was a really big bear …
** 1-2b … and he liked to fish …
** 1-2c … and he used to go to the lake every day.

On glossing multiple words that your consultant translates as 1 word:
*utterance: tan pas’g
*morphemes: tan.pas’g
*gloss: any
*translation: any

==New Datum Fields==
Current:
*'''utterance'''
*'''morpheme'''
*'''gloss'''
*'''translation'''

Proposed:
*'''utteranceType''': this field allows users to specify whether the Datum is a lone word such as NOUN or VERB, or a full SENTENCE or a STORYPART.
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.
*'''utteranceNumber''': this field allows users to number a Datum to fit within a story, such as 1/20, 2a/20, 2b/20 etc.
**NOT contender for a tag
*'''conjugationType''': this field allows users to specify whether a verb is of the first conjugation, second conjugation, etc. (helpful for users who are learning Mi'gmaq and want to find more straightforward patterns.)
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.

==Tags used==
''right now we don't have tags in operation, but this may change. If you want to make arguments for or against tagging, please go to the discussion side of this page.''
Tags should generally be not the same as glossable morphemes.

Current:

Proposed:
*NPI
*Q wh
*Q yesno
*modal

==Abbreviations==
(following Leipzig Glossing Conventions)

{|class="wikitable sortable"
!ABBREVIATION!!terminology!!notes
|-
|0||third person (inanimate)||
|-
|1||first person||
|-
|12||first person inclusive ('we (me & you)')||
|-
|13||first person exclusive ('we (me & another)')||
|-
|2||second person||
|-
|3||third person (proximate, i.e. 's/he')||
|-
|4||third person (obviative, i.e. 'her/his mother'||
|-
|ABSN||absentive||
|-
|ADV||adverb(ial)||
|-
|AN||animate||
|-
|ANTIP||antipassive||
|-
|APPL||applicative||
|-
|BEN||benefactive||
|-
|CAUS||causative||
|-
|CLF||classifier||
|-
|COMP||complementizer||
|-
|COMPL||completive||
|-
|COND||conditional||
|-
|CONJ||conjunct||
|-
|COP||copula||
|-
|DECL||declarative||
|-
|DEM||demonstrative||
|-
|DIR||direct||
|-
|DIST||distal||
|-
|DISTR||distributive||
|-
|DU||dual||
|-
|EMPH||emphatic||
|-
|EXCL||exclusive||
|-
|EXT.PL||extended plural||(provisional term contrasting with SG, DL, PL, to mean a number equivalent of 'multitude')
|-
|FOC||focus||
|-
|FUT||future||
|-
|IMP||imperative||
|-
|IN||inanimate||
|-
|INCL||inclusive||
|-
|IND||indicative||
|-
||INF||infinitive||
|-
|INST||instrumental||
|-
|INT||intonation||
|-
|IPFV||imperfective||
|-
|IMPS||impersonal||
|-
|IRR||irrealis||
|-
|LOC||locative||
|-
|N-||non-||
|-
|NEG||negation, negative||
|-
|NMLZ||nominalizer, nominalization||
|-
|OBJ||object||
|-
|OBL||oblique||
|-
|OBV||obviative|| see [[obviation]]
|-
|PART||particle||
|-
|PASS||passive||
|-
|PFV||perfective||
|-
|PL||plural||
|-
|POSS||possessive||
|-
|PLP||pluperfect||
|-
|PRF||perfect||
|-
|PRES||present||
|-
|PROG||progressive||
|-
|PROH||prohibitive||
|-
|PROX||proximal, proximate||
|-
|PST||past||
|-
|PURP||purposive||
|-
|Q||question, question marker/particle||
|-
|QUOT||quotative||
|-
|RECP||reciprocal||
|-
|REFL||reflexive||
|-
|RES||resultative||
|-
|SBJV||subjunctive||
|-
|SG||singular||
|-
|SUBJ||subject||
|-
|SUBV||subordinative||
|-
|TOP||topic||
|-
|VAI||intransitive verb with animate subject)||
|-
|VII||intransitive verb with inanimate subject)||
|-
|VOC||vocative||
|-
|VTA||transitive verb with animate subject & animate object||
|-
|VTI||transitive verb with animate subject & intransitive object||
|-
|}

LingSync Glosses

2013-02-07T19:16:51Z

Elise: /* General Guidelines */

''being updated constantly, stay tuned''

==General Guidelines==
'''Gloss everything--no defaults'''!
* This is mainly to make search easier and more intuitive. If we had, for instance, “animate” as the understood default person and only glossed inanimate morphology as such, it would be very difficult to get a datalist of all animate words. Having no default glossing means that all our glosses will be very explicit and therefore easy to search.
* This will be painful at the start, but once we have enough data in there, LingSync will autogloss and make our lives much easier! Hang in there.
* If you have an affix that affects the category of the word to which it attaches, mark the original word's category as well as that of the affix. (ie: ''plamu'' 'salmon.AN' and ''plamu-ei'' 'salmon.AN-of.IN')
** However, if you have an affix that reflects the category of the original word, do not redundantly mark both for the same animacy. (ie: ''plamu'' 'salmon.AN' and ''plamu-g'' 'salmon-AN.PL')

When in doubt, '''don’t parse it out'''!
* Try to avoid making null morphemes unless there's very, very strong evidence for them. Pass it by someone else's eyes first, too!
* Feel free to use dots frequently in your glosses.

In general be '''faithful to the surface form''' when drawing morpheme boundaries. (ie match the morpheme line to the utterance line as closely as possible)
* Please use the Notes section to leave comments about phonology if you think there is a predictable process going on!
* One exception is the palatalization of 't' at morpheme boundaries. Thoughout LingSync we will assume that t -> j / _-i, so it is safe to have the utterance and morpheme lines different here.

Order '''functional abbreviations''' (separated by dots) as you would say them out loud, e.g...
* AN.PL
* PRES.IND

Verbs...
*don’t write V in VAI, VTA, etc. Just use AI (animate intrans), II (inanimate intrans), TA (transitive animate), TI (transitive inanimate)
*''to be continued''

==Specific Oddball Cases==
Break up long sentences/utterances at conjunctions and add ellipses. Number, for example, as 1a, 1b, etc.
* Example:
** “Once there was a bear. He was a really big bear and he liked to fish and he used to go to the lake every day”
** 1-1 Once there was a bear.
** 1-2a He was a really big bear …
** 1-2b … and he liked to fish …
** 1-2c … and he used to go to the lake every day.

On glossing multiple words that your consultant translates as 1 word:
*utterance: tan pas’g
*morphemes: tan.pas’g
*gloss: any
*translation: any

==New Datum Fields==
Current:
*'''utterance'''
*'''morpheme'''
*'''gloss'''
*'''translation'''

Proposed:
*'''utteranceType''': this field allows users to specify whether the Datum is a lone word such as NOUN or VERB, or a full SENTENCE or a STORYPART.
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.
*'''utteranceNumber''': this field allows users to number a Datum to fit within a story, such as 1/20, 2a/20, 2b/20 etc.
**NOT contender for a tag
*'''conjugationType''': this field allows users to specify whether a verb is of the first conjugation, second conjugation, etc. (helpful for users who are learning Mi'gmaq and want to find more straightforward patterns.)
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.

==Tags used==
''right now we don't have tags in operation, but this may change. If you want to make arguments for or against tagging, please go to the discussion side of this page.''
Tags should generally be not the same as glossable morphemes.

Current:

Proposed:
*NPI
*Q wh
*Q yesno
*modal

==Abbreviations==
(following Leipzig Glossing Conventions)

{|class="wikitable sortable"
!ABBREVIATION!!terminology!!notes
|-
|0||third person (inanimate)||
|-
|1||first person||
|-
|12||first person inclusive ('we (me & you)')||
|-
|13||first person exclusive ('we (me & another)')||
|-
|2||second person||
|-
|3||third person (proximate, i.e. 's/he')||
|-
|4||third person (obviative, i.e. 'her/his mother'||
|-
|ABSN||absentive||
|-
|ADV||adverb(ial)||
|-
|AN||animate||
|-
|ANTIP||antipassive||
|-
|APPL||applicative||
|-
|BEN||benefactive||
|-
|CAUS||causative||
|-
|CLF||classifier||
|-
|COMP||complementizer||
|-
|COMPL||completive||
|-
|COND||conditional||
|-
|CONJ||conjunct||
|-
|COP||copula||
|-
|DECL||declarative||
|-
|DEM||demonstrative||
|-
|DIR||direct||
|-
|DIST||distal||
|-
|DISTR||distributive||
|-
|DU||dual||
|-
|EMPH||emphatic||
|-
|EXCL||exclusive||
|-
|EXT.PL||extended plural||(provisional term contrasting with SG, DL, PL, to mean a number equivalent of 'multitude')
|-
|FOC||focus||
|-
|FUT||future||
|-
|IMP||imperative||
|-
|IN||inanimate||
|-
|INCL||inclusive||
|-
|IND||indicative||
|-
||INF||infinitive||
|-
|INST||instrumental||
|-
|INT||intonation||
|-
|IPFV||imperfective||
|-
|IMPS||impersonal||
|-
|IRR||irrealis||
|-
|LOC||locative||
|-
|N-||non-||
|-
|NEG||negation, negative||
|-
|NMLZ||nominalizer, nominalization||
|-
|OBJ||object||
|-
|OBL||oblique||
|-
|OBV||obviative|| see [[obviation]]
|-
|PART||particle||
|-
|PASS||passive||
|-
|PFV||perfective||
|-
|PL||plural||
|-
|POSS||possessive||
|-
|PLP||pluperfect||
|-
|PRF||perfect||
|-
|PRES||present||
|-
|PROG||progressive||
|-
|PROH||prohibitive||
|-
|PROX||proximal, proximate||
|-
|PST||past||
|-
|PURP||purposive||
|-
|Q||question, question marker/particle||
|-
|QUOT||quotative||
|-
|RECP||reciprocal||
|-
|REFL||reflexive||
|-
|RES||resultative||
|-
|SBJV||subjunctive||
|-
|SG||singular||
|-
|SUBJ||subject||
|-
|SUBV||subordinative||
|-
|TOP||topic||
|-
|VAI||intransitive verb with animate subject)||
|-
|VII||intransitive verb with inanimate subject)||
|-
|VOC||vocative||
|-
|VTA||transitive verb with animate subject & animate object||
|-
|VTI||transitive verb with animate subject & intransitive object||
|-
|}

LingSync Glosses

2013-02-07T19:14:09Z

Elise:

''being updated constantly, stay tuned''

==General Guidelines==
Gloss everything--no defaults!
* This is mainly to make search easier and more intuitive. If we had, for instance, “animate” as the understood default person and only glossed inanimate morphology as such, it would be very difficult to get a datalist of all animate words. Having no default glossing means that all our glosses will be very explicit and therefore easy to search.
* This will be painful at the start, but once we have enough data in there, LingSync will autogloss and make our lives much easier! Hang in there.
* If you have an affix that affects the category of the word to which it attaches, mark the original word's category as well as that of the affix. (ie: ''plamu'' 'salmon.AN' and ''plamu-ei'' 'salmon.AN-of.IN')
** However, if you have an affix that reflects the category of the original word, do not redundantly mark both for the same animacy. (ie: ''plamu'' 'salmon.AN' and ''plamu-g'' 'salmon-AN.PL')

When in doubt, don’t parse it out!
* Try to avoid making null morphemes unless there's very, very strong evidence for them. Pass it by someone else's eyes first, too!
* Feel free to use dots frequently in your glosses.

In general be faithful to the surface form when drawing morpheme boundaries. (ie match the morpheme line to the utterance line as closely as possible)
* Please use the Notes section to leave comments about phonology if you think there is a predictable process going on!
* One exception is the palatalization of 't' at morpheme boundaries. Thoughout LingSync we will assume that t -> j / _-i, so it is safe to have the utterance and morpheme lines different here.

Break up long sentences/utterances at conjunctions and add ellipses. Number, for example, as 1a, 1b, etc.
* Example:
** “Once there was a bear. He was a really big bear and he liked to fish and he used to go to the lake every day”
** 1-1 Once there was a bear.
** 1-2a He was a really big bear …
** 1-2b … and he liked to fish …
** 1-2c … and he used to go to the lake every day.

Order functional abbreviations (separated by dots) as you would say them out loud, e.g...
* AN.PL
* PRES.IND

On glossing multiple words that your consultant translates as 1 word:
*utterance: tan pas’g
*morphemes: tan.pas’g
*gloss: any
*translation: any

Verbs...
*don’t write V in VAI, VTA, etc. Just use AI (animate intrans), II (inanimate intrans), TA (transitive animate), TI (transitive inanimate)
*''to be continued''

==New Datum Fields==
Current:
*'''utterance'''
*'''morpheme'''
*'''gloss'''
*'''translation'''

Proposed:
*'''utteranceType''': this field allows users to specify whether the Datum is a lone word such as NOUN or VERB, or a full SENTENCE or a STORYPART.
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.
*'''utteranceNumber''': this field allows users to number a Datum to fit within a story, such as 1/20, 2a/20, 2b/20 etc.
**NOT contender for a tag
*'''conjugationType''': this field allows users to specify whether a verb is of the first conjugation, second conjugation, etc. (helpful for users who are learning Mi'gmaq and want to find more straightforward patterns.)
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.

==Tags used==
''right now we don't have tags in operation, but this may change. If you want to make arguments for or against tagging, please go to the discussion side of this page.''
Tags should generally be not the same as glossable morphemes.

Current:

Proposed:
*NPI
*Q wh
*Q yesno
*modal

==Abbreviations==
(following Leipzig Glossing Conventions)

{|class="wikitable sortable"
!ABBREVIATION!!terminology!!notes
|-
|0||third person (inanimate)||
|-
|1||first person||
|-
|12||first person inclusive ('we (me & you)')||
|-
|13||first person exclusive ('we (me & another)')||
|-
|2||second person||
|-
|3||third person (proximate, i.e. 's/he')||
|-
|4||third person (obviative, i.e. 'her/his mother'||
|-
|ABSN||absentive||
|-
|ADV||adverb(ial)||
|-
|AN||animate||
|-
|ANTIP||antipassive||
|-
|APPL||applicative||
|-
|BEN||benefactive||
|-
|CAUS||causative||
|-
|CLF||classifier||
|-
|COMP||complementizer||
|-
|COMPL||completive||
|-
|COND||conditional||
|-
|CONJ||conjunct||
|-
|COP||copula||
|-
|DECL||declarative||
|-
|DEM||demonstrative||
|-
|DIR||direct||
|-
|DIST||distal||
|-
|DISTR||distributive||
|-
|DU||dual||
|-
|EMPH||emphatic||
|-
|EXCL||exclusive||
|-
|EXT.PL||extended plural||(provisional term contrasting with SG, DL, PL, to mean a number equivalent of 'multitude')
|-
|FOC||focus||
|-
|FUT||future||
|-
|IMP||imperative||
|-
|IN||inanimate||
|-
|INCL||inclusive||
|-
|IND||indicative||
|-
||INF||infinitive||
|-
|INST||instrumental||
|-
|INT||intonation||
|-
|IPFV||imperfective||
|-
|IMPS||impersonal||
|-
|IRR||irrealis||
|-
|LOC||locative||
|-
|N-||non-||
|-
|NEG||negation, negative||
|-
|NMLZ||nominalizer, nominalization||
|-
|OBJ||object||
|-
|OBL||oblique||
|-
|OBV||obviative|| see [[obviation]]
|-
|PART||particle||
|-
|PASS||passive||
|-
|PFV||perfective||
|-
|PL||plural||
|-
|POSS||possessive||
|-
|PLP||pluperfect||
|-
|PRF||perfect||
|-
|PRES||present||
|-
|PROG||progressive||
|-
|PROH||prohibitive||
|-
|PROX||proximal, proximate||
|-
|PST||past||
|-
|PURP||purposive||
|-
|Q||question, question marker/particle||
|-
|QUOT||quotative||
|-
|RECP||reciprocal||
|-
|REFL||reflexive||
|-
|RES||resultative||
|-
|SBJV||subjunctive||
|-
|SG||singular||
|-
|SUBJ||subject||
|-
|SUBV||subordinative||
|-
|TOP||topic||
|-
|VAI||intransitive verb with animate subject)||
|-
|VII||intransitive verb with inanimate subject)||
|-
|VOC||vocative||
|-
|VTA||transitive verb with animate subject & animate object||
|-
|VTI||transitive verb with animate subject & intransitive object||
|-
|}

LingSync Glosses

2013-02-07T19:13:37Z

Elise:

''being updated constantly, stay tuned''

Gloss everything--no defaults!
* This is mainly to make search easier and more intuitive. If we had, for instance, “animate” as the understood default person and only glossed inanimate morphology as such, it would be very difficult to get a datalist of all animate words. Having no default glossing means that all our glosses will be very explicit and therefore easy to search.
* This will be painful at the start, but once we have enough data in there, LingSync will autogloss and make our lives much easier! Hang in there.
* If you have an affix that affects the category of the word to which it attaches, mark the original word's category as well as that of the affix. (ie: ''plamu'' 'salmon.AN' and ''plamu-ei'' 'salmon.AN-of.IN')
** However, if you have an affix that reflects the category of the original word, do not redundantly mark both for the same animacy. (ie: ''plamu'' 'salmon.AN' and ''plamu-g'' 'salmon-AN.PL')

When in doubt, don’t parse it out!
* Try to avoid making null morphemes unless there's very, very strong evidence for them. Pass it by someone else's eyes first, too!
* Feel free to use dots frequently in your glosses.

In general be faithful to the surface form when drawing morpheme boundaries. (ie match the morpheme line to the utterance line as closely as possible)
* Please use the Notes section to leave comments about phonology if you think there is a predictable process going on!
* One exception is the palatalization of 't' at morpheme boundaries. Thoughout LingSync we will assume that t -> j / _-i, so it is safe to have the utterance and morpheme lines different here.

Break up long sentences/utterances at conjunctions and add ellipses. Number, for example, as 1a, 1b, etc.
* Example:
** “Once there was a bear. He was a really big bear and he liked to fish and he used to go to the lake every day”
** 1-1 Once there was a bear.
** 1-2a He was a really big bear …
** 1-2b … and he liked to fish …
** 1-2c … and he used to go to the lake every day.

Order functional abbreviations (separated by dots) as you would say them out loud, e.g...
* AN.PL
* PRES.IND

On glossing multiple words that your consultant translates as 1 word:
*utterance: tan pas’g
*morphemes: tan.pas’g
*gloss: any
*translation: any

Verbs...
*don’t write V in VAI, VTA, etc. Just use AI (animate intrans), II (inanimate intrans), TA (transitive animate), TI (transitive inanimate)
*''to be continued''

==New Datum Fields==
Current:
*'''utterance'''
*'''morpheme'''
*'''gloss'''
*'''translation'''

Proposed:
*'''utteranceType''': this field allows users to specify whether the Datum is a lone word such as NOUN or VERB, or a full SENTENCE or a STORYPART.
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.
*'''utteranceNumber''': this field allows users to number a Datum to fit within a story, such as 1/20, 2a/20, 2b/20 etc.
**NOT contender for a tag
*'''conjugationType''': this field allows users to specify whether a verb is of the first conjugation, second conjugation, etc. (helpful for users who are learning Mi'gmaq and want to find more straightforward patterns.)
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.

==Tags used==
''right now we don't have tags in operation, but this may change. If you want to make arguments for or against tagging, please go to the discussion side of this page.''
Tags should generally be not the same as glossable morphemes.

Current:

Proposed:
*NPI
*Q wh
*Q yesno
*modal

==Abbreviations==
(following Leipzig Glossing Conventions)

{|class="wikitable sortable"
!ABBREVIATION!!terminology!!notes
|-
|0||third person (inanimate)||
|-
|1||first person||
|-
|12||first person inclusive ('we (me & you)')||
|-
|13||first person exclusive ('we (me & another)')||
|-
|2||second person||
|-
|3||third person (proximate, i.e. 's/he')||
|-
|4||third person (obviative, i.e. 'her/his mother'||
|-
|ABSN||absentive||
|-
|ADV||adverb(ial)||
|-
|AN||animate||
|-
|ANTIP||antipassive||
|-
|APPL||applicative||
|-
|BEN||benefactive||
|-
|CAUS||causative||
|-
|CLF||classifier||
|-
|COMP||complementizer||
|-
|COMPL||completive||
|-
|COND||conditional||
|-
|CONJ||conjunct||
|-
|COP||copula||
|-
|DECL||declarative||
|-
|DEM||demonstrative||
|-
|DIR||direct||
|-
|DIST||distal||
|-
|DISTR||distributive||
|-
|DU||dual||
|-
|EMPH||emphatic||
|-
|EXCL||exclusive||
|-
|EXT.PL||extended plural||(provisional term contrasting with SG, DL, PL, to mean a number equivalent of 'multitude')
|-
|FOC||focus||
|-
|FUT||future||
|-
|IMP||imperative||
|-
|IN||inanimate||
|-
|INCL||inclusive||
|-
|IND||indicative||
|-
||INF||infinitive||
|-
|INST||instrumental||
|-
|INT||intonation||
|-
|IPFV||imperfective||
|-
|IMPS||impersonal||
|-
|IRR||irrealis||
|-
|LOC||locative||
|-
|N-||non-||
|-
|NEG||negation, negative||
|-
|NMLZ||nominalizer, nominalization||
|-
|OBJ||object||
|-
|OBL||oblique||
|-
|OBV||obviative|| see [[obviation]]
|-
|PART||particle||
|-
|PASS||passive||
|-
|PFV||perfective||
|-
|PL||plural||
|-
|POSS||possessive||
|-
|PLP||pluperfect||
|-
|PRF||perfect||
|-
|PRES||present||
|-
|PROG||progressive||
|-
|PROH||prohibitive||
|-
|PROX||proximal, proximate||
|-
|PST||past||
|-
|PURP||purposive||
|-
|Q||question, question marker/particle||
|-
|QUOT||quotative||
|-
|RECP||reciprocal||
|-
|REFL||reflexive||
|-
|RES||resultative||
|-
|SBJV||subjunctive||
|-
|SG||singular||
|-
|SUBJ||subject||
|-
|SUBV||subordinative||
|-
|TOP||topic||
|-
|VAI||intransitive verb with animate subject)||
|-
|VII||intransitive verb with inanimate subject)||
|-
|VOC||vocative||
|-
|VTA||transitive verb with animate subject & animate object||
|-
|VTI||transitive verb with animate subject & intransitive object||
|-
|}

LingSync Glosses

2013-01-31T18:45:10Z

Elise:

''being updated constantly, stay tuned''

We are not making any assumptions, so gloss everything--no defaults!
* This is mainly to make search easier and more intuitive. If we had, for instance, “animate” as the understood default person and only glossed inanimate morphology as such, it would be very difficult to get a datalist of all animate words. Having no default glossing means that all our glosses will be very explicit and therefore easy to search.
* This will be painful at the start, but once we have enough data in there, LingSync will do autogloss and make our lives much easier! Hang in there.
* If you have an affix that affects the category of the word to which it attaches, mark the original word's category as well as that of the affix. (ie: ''plamu'' 'salmon.AN' and ''plamu-ei'' 'salmon.AN-of.IN')

When in doubt, don’t parse it out!
* We're trying to avoid making null morphemes unless there's very very strong evidence for them.
* Feel free to use dots frequently in your glosses. You might see morpheme glossing happening like the following, and that's fine: stem-VTA.3>2.NEG.IND.PRES

In general be faithful to the surface form.
* Please use the Notes section to leave comments about phonology if you think there is a predictable process going on!

Break up long sentences/utterances at conjunctions and add ellipses. Number, for example, as 1a, 1b, etc.
* Example:
** “Once there was a bear. He was a really big bear and he liked to fish and he used to go to the lake every day”
** 1-1 Once there was a bear.
** 1-2a He was a really big bear …
** 1-2b … and he liked to fish …
** 1-2c … and he used to go to the lake every day.

==New Datum Fields==
Current:
*'''utterance'''
*'''morpheme'''
*'''gloss'''
*'''translation'''

Proposed:
*'''utteranceType''': this field allows users to specify whether the Datum is a lone word such as NOUN or VERB, or a full SENTENCE or a STORYPART.
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.
*'''utteranceNumber''': this field allows users to number a Datum to fit within a story, such as 1/20, 2a/20, 2b/20 etc.
**NOT contender for a tag
*'''conjugationType''': this field allows users to specify whether a verb is of the first conjugation, second conjugation, etc. (helpful for users who are learning Mi'gmaq and want to find more straightforward patterns.)
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.

==Tags used==
''right now we don't have tags in operation, but this may change. If you want to make arguments for or against tagging, please go to the discussion side of this page.''

Current:

Proposed:

==Abbreviations==
(following Leipzig Glossing Conventions)

{|class="wikitable sortable"
!ABBREVIATION!!terminology!!notes
|-
|0||third person (inanimate)||
|-
|1||first person||
|-
|12||first person inclusive ('we (me & you)')||
|-
|13||first person exclusive ('we (me & another)')||
|-
|2||second person||
|-
|3||third person (proximate, i.e. 's/he')||
|-
|4||third person (obviative, i.e. 'her/his mother'||
|-
|ABSN||absentive||
|-
|ADV||adverb(ial)||
|-
|AN||animate||
|-
|ANTIP||antipassive||
|-
|APPL||applicative||
|-
|BEN||benefactive||
|-
|CAUS||causative||
|-
|CLF||classifier||
|-
|COMP||complementizer||
|-
|COMPL||completive||
|-
|COND||conditional||
|-
|CONJ||conjunct||
|-
|COP||copula||
|-
|DECL||declarative||
|-
|DEM||demonstrative||
|-
|DIR||direct||
|-
|DIST||distal||
|-
|DISTR||distributive||
|-
|DU||dual||
|-
|EMPH||emphatic||
|-
|EXCL||exclusive||
|-
|EXT.PL||extended plural||(provisional term contrasting with SG, DL, PL, to mean a number equivalent of 'multitude')
|-
|FOC||focus||
|-
|FUT||future||
|-
|IMP||imperative||
|-
|IN||inanimate||
|-
|INCL||inclusive||
|-
|IND||indicative||
|-
||INF||infinitive||
|-
|INST||instrumental||
|-
|INT||intonation||
|-
|IPFV||imperfective||
|-
|IMPS||impersonal||
|-
|IRR||irrealis||
|-
|LOC||locative||
|-
|N-||non-||
|-
|NEG||negation, negative||
|-
|NMLZ||nominalizer, nominalization||
|-
|OBJ||object||
|-
|OBL||oblique||
|-
|OBV||obviative|| see [[obviation]]
|-
|PART||particle||
|-
|PASS||passive||
|-
|PFV||perfective||
|-
|PL||plural||
|-
|POSS||possessive||
|-
|PLP||pluperfect||
|-
|PRF||perfect||
|-
|PRES||present||
|-
|PROG||progressive||
|-
|PROH||prohibitive||
|-
|PROX||proximal, proximate||
|-
|PST||past||
|-
|PURP||purposive||
|-
|Q||question, question marker/particle||
|-
|QUOT||quotative||
|-
|RECP||reciprocal||
|-
|REFL||reflexive||
|-
|RES||resultative||
|-
|SBJV||subjunctive||
|-
|SG||singular||
|-
|SUBJ||subject||
|-
|SUBV||subordinative||
|-
|TOP||topic||
|-
|VAI||intransitive verb with animate subject)||
|-
|VII||intransitive verb with inanimate subject)||
|-
|VOC||vocative||
|-
|VTA||transitive verb with animate subject & animate object||
|-
|VTI||transitive verb with animate subject & intransitive object||
|-
|}

LingSync Glosses

2013-01-31T15:46:52Z

Elise:

''being updated constantly, stay tuned''

We are not making any assumptions, so gloss everything--no defaults!
* This is mainly to make search easier and more intuitive. If we had, for instance, “animate” as the understood default person and only glossed inanimate morphology as such, it would be very difficult to get a datalist of all animate words. Having no default glossing means that all our glosses will be very explicit and therefore easy to search.
* This will be painful at the start, but once we have enough data in there, LingSync will do autogloss and make our lives much easier! Hang in there.
* If you have an affix that affects the category of the word to which it attaches, mark the original word's category as well as that of the affix. (ie: ''plamu'' 'salmon.AN' and ''plamu-ei'' 'salmon.AN-of.IN')

When in doubt, don’t parse it out!
* We're trying to avoid making null morphemes unless there's very very strong evidence for them.
* Feel free to use dots frequently in your glosses. You might see morpheme glossing happening like the following, and that's fine: stem-VTA.3>2.NEG.IND.PRES

In general be faithful to the surface form.

==New Datum Fields==
Current:
*'''utterance'''
*'''morpheme'''
*'''gloss'''
*'''translation'''

Proposed:
*'''utteranceType''': this field allows users to specify whether the Datum is a lone word such as NOUN or VERB, or a full SENTENCE or a STORYPART.
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.
*'''utteranceNumber''': this field allows users to number a Datum to fit within a story, such as 1/20, 2a/20, 2b/20 etc.
**NOT contender for a tag
*'''conjugationType''': this field allows users to specify whether a verb is of the first conjugation, second conjugation, etc. (helpful for users who are learning Mi'gmaq and want to find more straightforward patterns.)
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.

==Tags used==
''right now we don't have tags in operation, but this may change. If you want to make arguments for or against tagging, please go to the discussion side of this page.''

Current:

Proposed:

==Abbreviations==
(following Leipzig Glossing Conventions)

{|class="wikitable sortable"
!ABBREVIATION!!terminology!!notes
|-
|0||third person (inanimate)||
|-
|1||first person||
|-
|12||first person inclusive ('we (me & you)')||
|-
|13||first person exclusive ('we (me & another)')||
|-
|2||second person||
|-
|3||third person (proximate, i.e. 's/he')||
|-
|4||third person (obviative, i.e. 'her/his mother'||
|-
|ABSN||absentive||
|-
|ADV||adverb(ial)||
|-
|AN||animate||
|-
|ANTIP||antipassive||
|-
|APPL||applicative||
|-
|BEN||benefactive||
|-
|CAUS||causative||
|-
|CLF||classifier||
|-
|COMP||complementizer||
|-
|COMPL||completive||
|-
|COND||conditional||
|-
|CONJ||conjunct||
|-
|COP||copula||
|-
|DECL||declarative||
|-
|DEM||demonstrative||
|-
|DIR||direct||
|-
|DIST||distal||
|-
|DISTR||distributive||
|-
|DU||dual||
|-
|EMPH||emphatic||
|-
|EXCL||exclusive||
|-
|EXT.PL||extended plural||(provisional term contrasting with SG, DL, PL, to mean a number equivalent of 'multitude')
|-
|FOC||focus||
|-
|FUT||future||
|-
|IMP||imperative||
|-
|IN||inanimate||
|-
|INCL||inclusive||
|-
|IND||indicative||
|-
||INF||infinitive||
|-
|INST||instrumental||
|-
|INT||intonation||
|-
|IPFV||imperfective||
|-
|IMPS||impersonal||
|-
|IRR||irrealis||
|-
|LOC||locative||
|-
|N-||non-||
|-
|NEG||negation, negative||
|-
|NMLZ||nominalizer, nominalization||
|-
|OBJ||object||
|-
|OBL||oblique||
|-
|OBV||obviative|| see [[obviation]]
|-
|PART||particle||
|-
|PASS||passive||
|-
|PFV||perfective||
|-
|PL||plural||
|-
|POSS||possessive||
|-
|PLP||pluperfect||
|-
|PRF||perfect||
|-
|PRES||present||
|-
|PROG||progressive||
|-
|PROH||prohibitive||
|-
|PROX||proximal, proximate||
|-
|PST||past||
|-
|PURP||purposive||
|-
|Q||question, question marker/particle||
|-
|QUOT||quotative||
|-
|RECP||reciprocal||
|-
|REFL||reflexive||
|-
|RES||resultative||
|-
|SBJV||subjunctive||
|-
|SG||singular||
|-
|SUBJ||subject||
|-
|SUBV||subordinative||
|-
|TOP||topic||
|-
|VAI||intransitive verb with animate subject)||
|-
|VII||intransitive verb with inanimate subject)||
|-
|VOC||vocative||
|-
|VTA||transitive verb with animate subject & animate object||
|-
|VTI||transitive verb with animate subject & intransitive object||
|-
|}

LingSync Glosses

2013-01-31T15:45:50Z

Elise:

''being updated constantly, stay tuned''

We are not making any assumptions, so gloss everything--no defaults!
* This is mainly to make search easier and more intuitive. If we had, for instance, “animate” as the understood default person and only glossed inanimate morphology as such, it would be very difficult to get a datalist of all animate words. Having no default glossing means that all our glosses will be very explicit and therefore easy to search.
* This will be painful at the start, but once we have enough data in there, LingSync will do autogloss and make our lives much easier! Hang in there.
* If you have an affix that affects the category of the word to which it attaches, mark the original word's category as well as that of the affix. (ie: ''plamu'' 'salmon.AN' and ''plamu-ei'' 'salmon.AN-of.IN')

When in doubt, don’t parse it out!
* We're trying to avoid making null morphemes unless there's very very strong evidence for them.
* Feel free to use dots frequently in your glosses. You might see morpheme glossing happening like the following, and that's fine: stem-VTA.3>2.NEG.IND

In general be faithful to the surface form.

==New Datum Fields==
Current:
*'''utterance'''
*'''morpheme'''
*'''gloss'''
*'''translation'''

Proposed:
*'''utteranceType''': this field allows users to specify whether the Datum is a lone word such as NOUN or VERB, or a full SENTENCE or a STORYPART.
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.
*'''utteranceNumber''': this field allows users to number a Datum to fit within a story, such as 1/20, 2a/20, 2b/20 etc.
**NOT contender for a tag
*'''conjugationType''': this field allows users to specify whether a verb is of the first conjugation, second conjugation, etc. (helpful for users who are learning Mi'gmaq and want to find more straightforward patterns.)
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.

==Tags used==
''right now we don't have tags in operation, but this may change. If you want to make arguments for or against tagging, please go to the discussion side of this page.''

Current:

Proposed:

==Abbreviations==
(following Leipzig Glossing Conventions)

{|class="wikitable sortable"
!ABBREVIATION!!terminology!!notes
|-
|0||third person (inanimate)||
|-
|1||first person||
|-
|12||first person inclusive ('we (me & you)')||
|-
|13||first person exclusive ('we (me & another)')||
|-
|2||second person||
|-
|3||third person (proximate, i.e. 's/he')||
|-
|4||third person (obviative, i.e. 'her/his mother'||
|-
|ABSN||absentive||
|-
|ADV||adverb(ial)||
|-
|AN||animate|| default form (assumed if animacy not indicated)
|-
|ANTIP||antipassive||
|-
|APPL||applicative||
|-
|BEN||benefactive||
|-
|CAUS||causative||
|-
|CLF||classifier||
|-
|COMP||complementizer||
|-
|COMPL||completive||
|-
|COND||conditional||
|-
|CONJ||conjunct||
|-
|COP||copula||
|-
|DECL||declarative||
|-
|DEM||demonstrative||
|-
|DIR||direct||
|-
|DIST||distal||
|-
|DISTR||distributive||
|-
|DU||dual||
|-
|EMPH||emphatic||
|-
|EXCL||exclusive||
|-
|EXT.PL||extended plural||(provisional term contrasting with SG, DL, PL, to mean a number equivalent of 'multitude')
|-
|FOC||focus||
|-
|FUT||future||
|-
|IMP||imperative||
|-
|IN||inanimate||
|-
|INCL||inclusive||
|-
|IND||indicative|| default form (assumed if mode not indicated)
|-
||INF||infinitive||
|-
|INST||instrumental||
|-
|INT||intonation||
|-
|IPFV||imperfective||
|-
|IMPS||impersonal||
|-
|IRR||irrealis||
|-
|LOC||locative||
|-
|N-||non-||
|-
|NEG||negation, negative||
|-
|NMLZ||nominalizer, nominalization||
|-
|OBJ||object||
|-
|OBL||oblique||
|-
|OBV||obviative|| see [[obviation]]
|-
|PART||particle||
|-
|PASS||passive||
|-
|PFV||perfective||
|-
|PL||plural||
|-
|POSS||possessive||
|-
|PLP||pluperfect||
|-
|PRF||perfect||
|-
|PRES||present|| default form (assumed if tense not indicated)
|-
|PROG||progressive||
|-
|PROH||prohibitive||
|-
|PROX||proximal, proximate|| default form (assumed if 3rd person not marked as obviative)
|-
|PST||past||
|-
|PURP||purposive||
|-
|Q||question, question marker/particle||
|-
|QUOT||quotative||
|-
|RECP||reciprocal||
|-
|REFL||reflexive||
|-
|RES||resultative||
|-
|SBJV||subjunctive||
|-
|SG||singular|| default form (assumed if number not indicated)
|-
|SUBJ||subject||
|-
|SUBV||subordinative||
|-
|TOP||topic||
|-
|VAI||intransitive verb with animate subject)||
|-
|VII||intransitive verb with inanimate subject)||
|-
|VOC||vocative||
|-
|VTA||transitive verb with animate subject & animate object||
|-
|VTI||transitive verb with animate subject & intransitive object||
|-
|}

LingSync Glosses

2013-01-31T15:45:16Z

Elise:

'being updated constantly, stay tuned'

We are not making any assumptions, so gloss everything--no defaults!
* This is mainly to make search easier and more intuitive. If we had, for instance, “animate” as the understood default person and only glossed inanimate morphology as such, it would be very difficult to get a datalist of all animate words. Having no default glossing means that all our glosses will be very explicit and therefore easy to search.
* This will be painful at the start, but once we have enough data in there, LingSync will do autogloss and make our lives much easier! Hang in there.
* If you have an affix that affects the category of the word to which it attaches, mark the original word's category as well as that of the affix. (ie: 'plamu' \'salmon.AN\' and 'plamu-ei' \'salmon.AN-of.IN\')

When in doubt, don’t parse it out!
* We're trying to avoid making null morphemes unless there's very very strong evidence for them.
* Feel free to use dots frequently in your glosses. You might see morpheme glossing happening like the following, and that's fine: stem-VTA.3>2.NEG.IND

In general be faithful to the surface form.

==New Datum Fields==
Current:
*'''utterance'''
*'''morpheme'''
*'''gloss'''
*'''translation'''

Proposed:
*'''utteranceType''': this field allows users to specify whether the Datum is a lone word such as NOUN or VERB, or a full SENTENCE or a STORYPART.
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.
*'''utteranceNumber''': this field allows users to number a Datum to fit within a story, such as 1/20, 2a/20, 2b/20 etc.
**NOT contender for a tag
*'''conjugationType''': this field allows users to specify whether a verb is of the first conjugation, second conjugation, etc. (helpful for users who are learning Mi'gmaq and want to find more straightforward patterns.)
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.

==Tags used==
''right now we don't have tags in operation, but this may change. If you want to make arguments for or against tagging, please go to the discussion side of this page.''

Current:

Proposed:

==Abbreviations==
(following Leipzig Glossing Conventions)

{|class="wikitable sortable"
!ABBREVIATION!!terminology!!notes
|-
|0||third person (inanimate)||
|-
|1||first person||
|-
|12||first person inclusive ('we (me & you)')||
|-
|13||first person exclusive ('we (me & another)')||
|-
|2||second person||
|-
|3||third person (proximate, i.e. 's/he')||
|-
|4||third person (obviative, i.e. 'her/his mother'||
|-
|ABSN||absentive||
|-
|ADV||adverb(ial)||
|-
|AN||animate|| default form (assumed if animacy not indicated)
|-
|ANTIP||antipassive||
|-
|APPL||applicative||
|-
|BEN||benefactive||
|-
|CAUS||causative||
|-
|CLF||classifier||
|-
|COMP||complementizer||
|-
|COMPL||completive||
|-
|COND||conditional||
|-
|CONJ||conjunct||
|-
|COP||copula||
|-
|DECL||declarative||
|-
|DEM||demonstrative||
|-
|DIR||direct||
|-
|DIST||distal||
|-
|DISTR||distributive||
|-
|DU||dual||
|-
|EMPH||emphatic||
|-
|EXCL||exclusive||
|-
|EXT.PL||extended plural||(provisional term contrasting with SG, DL, PL, to mean a number equivalent of 'multitude')
|-
|FOC||focus||
|-
|FUT||future||
|-
|IMP||imperative||
|-
|IN||inanimate||
|-
|INCL||inclusive||
|-
|IND||indicative|| default form (assumed if mode not indicated)
|-
||INF||infinitive||
|-
|INST||instrumental||
|-
|INT||intonation||
|-
|IPFV||imperfective||
|-
|IMPS||impersonal||
|-
|IRR||irrealis||
|-
|LOC||locative||
|-
|N-||non-||
|-
|NEG||negation, negative||
|-
|NMLZ||nominalizer, nominalization||
|-
|OBJ||object||
|-
|OBL||oblique||
|-
|OBV||obviative|| see [[obviation]]
|-
|PART||particle||
|-
|PASS||passive||
|-
|PFV||perfective||
|-
|PL||plural||
|-
|POSS||possessive||
|-
|PLP||pluperfect||
|-
|PRF||perfect||
|-
|PRES||present|| default form (assumed if tense not indicated)
|-
|PROG||progressive||
|-
|PROH||prohibitive||
|-
|PROX||proximal, proximate|| default form (assumed if 3rd person not marked as obviative)
|-
|PST||past||
|-
|PURP||purposive||
|-
|Q||question, question marker/particle||
|-
|QUOT||quotative||
|-
|RECP||reciprocal||
|-
|REFL||reflexive||
|-
|RES||resultative||
|-
|SBJV||subjunctive||
|-
|SG||singular|| default form (assumed if number not indicated)
|-
|SUBJ||subject||
|-
|SUBV||subordinative||
|-
|TOP||topic||
|-
|VAI||intransitive verb with animate subject)||
|-
|VII||intransitive verb with inanimate subject)||
|-
|VOC||vocative||
|-
|VTA||transitive verb with animate subject & animate object||
|-
|VTI||transitive verb with animate subject & intransitive object||
|-
|}

LingSync Glosses

2013-01-31T15:33:58Z

Elise: /* Tags used */

==New Datum Fields==
Current:
*'''utterance'''
*'''morpheme'''
*'''gloss'''
*'''translation'''

Proposed:
*'''utteranceType''': this field allows users to specify whether the Datum is a lone word such as NOUN or VERB, or a full SENTENCE or a STORYPART.
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.
*'''utteranceNumber''': this field allows users to number a Datum to fit within a story, such as 1/20, 2a/20, 2b/20 etc.
**NOT contender for a tag
*'''conjugationType''': this field allows users to specify whether a verb is of the first conjugation, second conjugation, etc. (helpful for users who are learning Mi'gmaq and want to find more straightforward patterns.)
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.

==Tags used==
''right now we don't have tags in operation, but this may change. If you want to make arguments for or against tagging, please go to the discussion side of this page.''

Current:

Proposed:

==Abbreviations==
(following Leipzig Glossing Conventions)

{|class="wikitable sortable"
!ABBREVIATION!!terminology!!notes
|-
|0||third person (inanimate)||
|-
|1||first person||
|-
|12||first person inclusive ('we (me & you)')||
|-
|13||first person exclusive ('we (me & another)')||
|-
|2||second person||
|-
|3||third person (proximate, i.e. 's/he')||
|-
|4||third person (obviative, i.e. 'her/his mother'||
|-
|ABSN||absentive||
|-
|ADV||adverb(ial)||
|-
|AN||animate|| default form (assumed if animacy not indicated)
|-
|ANTIP||antipassive||
|-
|APPL||applicative||
|-
|BEN||benefactive||
|-
|CAUS||causative||
|-
|CLF||classifier||
|-
|COMP||complementizer||
|-
|COMPL||completive||
|-
|COND||conditional||
|-
|CONJ||conjunct||
|-
|COP||copula||
|-
|DECL||declarative||
|-
|DEM||demonstrative||
|-
|DIR||direct||
|-
|DIST||distal||
|-
|DISTR||distributive||
|-
|DU||dual||
|-
|EMPH||emphatic||
|-
|EXCL||exclusive||
|-
|EXT.PL||extended plural||(provisional term contrasting with SG, DL, PL, to mean a number equivalent of 'multitude')
|-
|FOC||focus||
|-
|FUT||future||
|-
|IMP||imperative||
|-
|IN||inanimate||
|-
|INCL||inclusive||
|-
|IND||indicative|| default form (assumed if mode not indicated)
|-
||INF||infinitive||
|-
|INST||instrumental||
|-
|INT||intonation||
|-
|IPFV||imperfective||
|-
|IMPS||impersonal||
|-
|IRR||irrealis||
|-
|LOC||locative||
|-
|N-||non-||
|-
|NEG||negation, negative||
|-
|NMLZ||nominalizer, nominalization||
|-
|OBJ||object||
|-
|OBL||oblique||
|-
|OBV||obviative|| see [[obviation]]
|-
|PART||particle||
|-
|PASS||passive||
|-
|PFV||perfective||
|-
|PL||plural||
|-
|POSS||possessive||
|-
|PLP||pluperfect||
|-
|PRF||perfect||
|-
|PRES||present|| default form (assumed if tense not indicated)
|-
|PROG||progressive||
|-
|PROH||prohibitive||
|-
|PROX||proximal, proximate|| default form (assumed if 3rd person not marked as obviative)
|-
|PST||past||
|-
|PURP||purposive||
|-
|Q||question, question marker/particle||
|-
|QUOT||quotative||
|-
|RECP||reciprocal||
|-
|REFL||reflexive||
|-
|RES||resultative||
|-
|SBJV||subjunctive||
|-
|SG||singular|| default form (assumed if number not indicated)
|-
|SUBJ||subject||
|-
|SUBV||subordinative||
|-
|TOP||topic||
|-
|VAI||intransitive verb with animate subject)||
|-
|VII||intransitive verb with inanimate subject)||
|-
|VOC||vocative||
|-
|VTA||transitive verb with animate subject & animate object||
|-
|VTI||transitive verb with animate subject & intransitive object||
|-
|}

LingSync Glosses

2013-01-31T15:33:50Z

Elise: /* Tags used */

==New Datum Fields==
Current:
*'''utterance'''
*'''morpheme'''
*'''gloss'''
*'''translation'''

Proposed:
*'''utteranceType''': this field allows users to specify whether the Datum is a lone word such as NOUN or VERB, or a full SENTENCE or a STORYPART.
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.
*'''utteranceNumber''': this field allows users to number a Datum to fit within a story, such as 1/20, 2a/20, 2b/20 etc.
**NOT contender for a tag
*'''conjugationType''': this field allows users to specify whether a verb is of the first conjugation, second conjugation, etc. (helpful for users who are learning Mi'gmaq and want to find more straightforward patterns.)
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.

==Tags used==
''right now we don't have tags in operation, but this may change. If you want to make arguments for or against tagging, please go to the discussion side of this page.''
Current:

Proposed:

==Abbreviations==
(following Leipzig Glossing Conventions)

{|class="wikitable sortable"
!ABBREVIATION!!terminology!!notes
|-
|0||third person (inanimate)||
|-
|1||first person||
|-
|12||first person inclusive ('we (me & you)')||
|-
|13||first person exclusive ('we (me & another)')||
|-
|2||second person||
|-
|3||third person (proximate, i.e. 's/he')||
|-
|4||third person (obviative, i.e. 'her/his mother'||
|-
|ABSN||absentive||
|-
|ADV||adverb(ial)||
|-
|AN||animate|| default form (assumed if animacy not indicated)
|-
|ANTIP||antipassive||
|-
|APPL||applicative||
|-
|BEN||benefactive||
|-
|CAUS||causative||
|-
|CLF||classifier||
|-
|COMP||complementizer||
|-
|COMPL||completive||
|-
|COND||conditional||
|-
|CONJ||conjunct||
|-
|COP||copula||
|-
|DECL||declarative||
|-
|DEM||demonstrative||
|-
|DIR||direct||
|-
|DIST||distal||
|-
|DISTR||distributive||
|-
|DU||dual||
|-
|EMPH||emphatic||
|-
|EXCL||exclusive||
|-
|EXT.PL||extended plural||(provisional term contrasting with SG, DL, PL, to mean a number equivalent of 'multitude')
|-
|FOC||focus||
|-
|FUT||future||
|-
|IMP||imperative||
|-
|IN||inanimate||
|-
|INCL||inclusive||
|-
|IND||indicative|| default form (assumed if mode not indicated)
|-
||INF||infinitive||
|-
|INST||instrumental||
|-
|INT||intonation||
|-
|IPFV||imperfective||
|-
|IMPS||impersonal||
|-
|IRR||irrealis||
|-
|LOC||locative||
|-
|N-||non-||
|-
|NEG||negation, negative||
|-
|NMLZ||nominalizer, nominalization||
|-
|OBJ||object||
|-
|OBL||oblique||
|-
|OBV||obviative|| see [[obviation]]
|-
|PART||particle||
|-
|PASS||passive||
|-
|PFV||perfective||
|-
|PL||plural||
|-
|POSS||possessive||
|-
|PLP||pluperfect||
|-
|PRF||perfect||
|-
|PRES||present|| default form (assumed if tense not indicated)
|-
|PROG||progressive||
|-
|PROH||prohibitive||
|-
|PROX||proximal, proximate|| default form (assumed if 3rd person not marked as obviative)
|-
|PST||past||
|-
|PURP||purposive||
|-
|Q||question, question marker/particle||
|-
|QUOT||quotative||
|-
|RECP||reciprocal||
|-
|REFL||reflexive||
|-
|RES||resultative||
|-
|SBJV||subjunctive||
|-
|SG||singular|| default form (assumed if number not indicated)
|-
|SUBJ||subject||
|-
|SUBV||subordinative||
|-
|TOP||topic||
|-
|VAI||intransitive verb with animate subject)||
|-
|VII||intransitive verb with inanimate subject)||
|-
|VOC||vocative||
|-
|VTA||transitive verb with animate subject & animate object||
|-
|VTI||transitive verb with animate subject & intransitive object||
|-
|}

LingSync Glosses

2013-01-31T15:33:02Z

Elise: /* New Datum Fields */

==New Datum Fields==
Current:
*'''utterance'''
*'''morpheme'''
*'''gloss'''
*'''translation'''

Proposed:
*'''utteranceType''': this field allows users to specify whether the Datum is a lone word such as NOUN or VERB, or a full SENTENCE or a STORYPART.
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.
*'''utteranceNumber''': this field allows users to number a Datum to fit within a story, such as 1/20, 2a/20, 2b/20 etc.
**NOT contender for a tag
*'''conjugationType''': this field allows users to specify whether a verb is of the first conjugation, second conjugation, etc. (helpful for users who are learning Mi'gmaq and want to find more straightforward patterns.)
**contender for a tag as well, rather than a Datum Field.

==Tags used==
Current:

Proposed:

==Abbreviations==
(following Leipzig Glossing Conventions)

{|class="wikitable sortable"
!ABBREVIATION!!terminology!!notes
|-
|0||third person (inanimate)||
|-
|1||first person||
|-
|12||first person inclusive ('we (me & you)')||
|-
|13||first person exclusive ('we (me & another)')||
|-
|2||second person||
|-
|3||third person (proximate, i.e. 's/he')||
|-
|4||third person (obviative, i.e. 'her/his mother'||
|-
|ABSN||absentive||
|-
|ADV||adverb(ial)||
|-
|AN||animate|| default form (assumed if animacy not indicated)
|-
|ANTIP||antipassive||
|-
|APPL||applicative||
|-
|BEN||benefactive||
|-
|CAUS||causative||
|-
|CLF||classifier||
|-
|COMP||complementizer||
|-
|COMPL||completive||
|-
|COND||conditional||
|-
|CONJ||conjunct||
|-
|COP||copula||
|-
|DECL||declarative||
|-
|DEM||demonstrative||
|-
|DIR||direct||
|-
|DIST||distal||
|-
|DISTR||distributive||
|-
|DU||dual||
|-
|EMPH||emphatic||
|-
|EXCL||exclusive||
|-
|EXT.PL||extended plural||(provisional term contrasting with SG, DL, PL, to mean a number equivalent of 'multitude')
|-
|FOC||focus||
|-
|FUT||future||
|-
|IMP||imperative||
|-
|IN||inanimate||
|-
|INCL||inclusive||
|-
|IND||indicative|| default form (assumed if mode not indicated)
|-
||INF||infinitive||
|-
|INST||instrumental||
|-
|INT||intonation||
|-
|IPFV||imperfective||
|-
|IMPS||impersonal||
|-
|IRR||irrealis||
|-
|LOC||locative||
|-
|N-||non-||
|-
|NEG||negation, negative||
|-
|NMLZ||nominalizer, nominalization||
|-
|OBJ||object||
|-
|OBL||oblique||
|-
|OBV||obviative|| see [[obviation]]
|-
|PART||particle||
|-
|PASS||passive||
|-
|PFV||perfective||
|-
|PL||plural||
|-
|POSS||possessive||
|-
|PLP||pluperfect||
|-
|PRF||perfect||
|-
|PRES||present|| default form (assumed if tense not indicated)
|-
|PROG||progressive||
|-
|PROH||prohibitive||
|-
|PROX||proximal, proximate|| default form (assumed if 3rd person not marked as obviative)
|-
|PST||past||
|-
|PURP||purposive||
|-
|Q||question, question marker/particle||
|-
|QUOT||quotative||
|-
|RECP||reciprocal||
|-
|REFL||reflexive||
|-
|RES||resultative||
|-
|SBJV||subjunctive||
|-
|SG||singular|| default form (assumed if number not indicated)
|-
|SUBJ||subject||
|-
|SUBV||subordinative||
|-
|TOP||topic||
|-
|VAI||intransitive verb with animate subject)||
|-
|VII||intransitive verb with inanimate subject)||
|-
|VOC||vocative||
|-
|VTA||transitive verb with animate subject & animate object||
|-
|VTI||transitive verb with animate subject & intransitive object||
|-
|}

LingSync Glosses

2013-01-30T18:42:24Z

Elise: /* New Datum Fields */

==New Datum Fields==
Current:
*'''utterance'''
*'''morpheme'''
*'''gloss'''
*'''translation'''

Proposed:
*'''utteranceType''': this field allows users to specify whether the Datum is a lone word such as NOUN or VERB, or a full SENTENCE or a STORYPART.
*'''utteranceNumber''': this field allows users to number a Datum to fit within a story, such as 1/20, 2a/20, 2b/20 etc.

==Tags used==
Current:

Proposed:

==Abbreviations==
(following Leipzig Glossing Conventions)

{|class="wikitable sortable"
!ABBREVIATION!!terminology!!notes
|-
|0||third person (inanimate)||
|-
|1||first person||
|-
|12||first person inclusive ('we (me & you)')||
|-
|13||first person exclusive ('we (me & another)')||
|-
|2||second person||
|-
|3||third person (proximate, i.e. 's/he')||
|-
|4||third person (obviative, i.e. 'her/his mother'||
|-
|ABSN||absentive||
|-
|ADV||adverb(ial)||
|-
|AN||animate|| default form (assumed if animacy not indicated)
|-
|ANTIP||antipassive||
|-
|APPL||applicative||
|-
|BEN||benefactive||
|-
|CAUS||causative||
|-
|CLF||classifier||
|-
|COMP||complementizer||
|-
|COMPL||completive||
|-
|COND||conditional||
|-
|CONJ||conjunct||
|-
|COP||copula||
|-
|DECL||declarative||
|-
|DEM||demonstrative||
|-
|DIR||direct||
|-
|DIST||distal||
|-
|DISTR||distributive||
|-
|DU||dual||
|-
|EMPH||emphatic||
|-
|EXCL||exclusive||
|-
|EXT.PL||extended plural||(provisional term contrasting with SG, DL, PL, to mean a number equivalent of 'multitude')
|-
|FOC||focus||
|-
|FUT||future||
|-
|IMP||imperative||
|-
|IN||inanimate||
|-
|INCL||inclusive||
|-
|IND||indicative|| default form (assumed if mode not indicated)
|-
||INF||infinitive||
|-
|INST||instrumental||
|-
|INT||intonation||
|-
|IPFV||imperfective||
|-
|IMPS||impersonal||
|-
|IRR||irrealis||
|-
|LOC||locative||
|-
|N-||non-||
|-
|NEG||negation, negative||
|-
|NMLZ||nominalizer, nominalization||
|-
|OBJ||object||
|-
|OBL||oblique||
|-
|OBV||obviative|| see [[obviation]]
|-
|PART||particle||
|-
|PASS||passive||
|-
|PFV||perfective||
|-
|PL||plural||
|-
|POSS||possessive||
|-
|PLP||pluperfect||
|-
|PRF||perfect||
|-
|PRES||present|| default form (assumed if tense not indicated)
|-
|PROG||progressive||
|-
|PROH||prohibitive||
|-
|PROX||proximal, proximate|| default form (assumed if 3rd person not marked as obviative)
|-
|PST||past||
|-
|PURP||purposive||
|-
|Q||question, question marker/particle||
|-
|QUOT||quotative||
|-
|RECP||reciprocal||
|-
|REFL||reflexive||
|-
|RES||resultative||
|-
|SBJV||subjunctive||
|-
|SG||singular|| default form (assumed if number not indicated)
|-
|SUBJ||subject||
|-
|SUBV||subordinative||
|-
|TOP||topic||
|-
|VAI||intransitive verb with animate subject)||
|-
|VII||intransitive verb with inanimate subject)||
|-
|VOC||vocative||
|-
|VTA||transitive verb with animate subject & animate object||
|-
|VTI||transitive verb with animate subject & intransitive object||
|-
|}

LingSync Glosses

2013-01-30T18:36:56Z

Elise:

==New Datum Fields==

Proposed:
*'''utteranceType''': this field allows users to specify whether the Datum is a lone word such as NOUN or VERB, or a full SENTENCE or a STORYPART.
*'''utteranceNumber''': this field allows users to number a Datum to fit within a story, such as 1/20, 2a/20, 2b/20 etc.

==Tags used==
Current:

Proposed:

==Abbreviations==
(following Leipzig Glossing Conventions)

{|class="wikitable sortable"
!ABBREVIATION!!terminology!!notes
|-
|0||third person (inanimate)||
|-
|1||first person||
|-
|12||first person inclusive ('we (me & you)')||
|-
|13||first person exclusive ('we (me & another)')||
|-
|2||second person||
|-
|3||third person (proximate, i.e. 's/he')||
|-
|4||third person (obviative, i.e. 'her/his mother'||
|-
|ABSN||absentive||
|-
|ADV||adverb(ial)||
|-
|AN||animate|| default form (assumed if animacy not indicated)
|-
|ANTIP||antipassive||
|-
|APPL||applicative||
|-
|BEN||benefactive||
|-
|CAUS||causative||
|-
|CLF||classifier||
|-
|COMP||complementizer||
|-
|COMPL||completive||
|-
|COND||conditional||
|-
|CONJ||conjunct||
|-
|COP||copula||
|-
|DECL||declarative||
|-
|DEM||demonstrative||
|-
|DIR||direct||
|-
|DIST||distal||
|-
|DISTR||distributive||
|-
|DU||dual||
|-
|EMPH||emphatic||
|-
|EXCL||exclusive||
|-
|EXT.PL||extended plural||(provisional term contrasting with SG, DL, PL, to mean a number equivalent of 'multitude')
|-
|FOC||focus||
|-
|FUT||future||
|-
|IMP||imperative||
|-
|IN||inanimate||
|-
|INCL||inclusive||
|-
|IND||indicative|| default form (assumed if mode not indicated)
|-
||INF||infinitive||
|-
|INST||instrumental||
|-
|INT||intonation||
|-
|IPFV||imperfective||
|-
|IMPS||impersonal||
|-
|IRR||irrealis||
|-
|LOC||locative||
|-
|N-||non-||
|-
|NEG||negation, negative||
|-
|NMLZ||nominalizer, nominalization||
|-
|OBJ||object||
|-
|OBL||oblique||
|-
|OBV||obviative|| see [[obviation]]
|-
|PART||particle||
|-
|PASS||passive||
|-
|PFV||perfective||
|-
|PL||plural||
|-
|POSS||possessive||
|-
|PLP||pluperfect||
|-
|PRF||perfect||
|-
|PRES||present|| default form (assumed if tense not indicated)
|-
|PROG||progressive||
|-
|PROH||prohibitive||
|-
|PROX||proximal, proximate|| default form (assumed if 3rd person not marked as obviative)
|-
|PST||past||
|-
|PURP||purposive||
|-
|Q||question, question marker/particle||
|-
|QUOT||quotative||
|-
|RECP||reciprocal||
|-
|REFL||reflexive||
|-
|RES||resultative||
|-
|SBJV||subjunctive||
|-
|SG||singular|| default form (assumed if number not indicated)
|-
|SUBJ||subject||
|-
|SUBV||subordinative||
|-
|TOP||topic||
|-
|VAI||intransitive verb with animate subject)||
|-
|VII||intransitive verb with inanimate subject)||
|-
|VOC||vocative||
|-
|VTA||transitive verb with animate subject & animate object||
|-
|VTI||transitive verb with animate subject & intransitive object||
|-
|}

LingSync Glosses

2013-01-30T18:33:48Z

Elise:

LingSync Glosses

2013-01-30T18:18:30Z

Elise:

==New Datum Fields==

Proposed:
*'''utteranceType''': this field allows users to specify whether the Datum is a lone word such as NOUN or VERB, or a full SENTENCE or a STORYPART.
*'''utteranceNumber''': this field allows users to number a Datum to fit within a story, such as 1/20, 2a/20, 2b/20 etc.

==Abbreviations==
(following Leipzig Glossing Conventions)

{|class="wikitable sortable"
!ABBREVIATION!!terminology!!notes
|-
|0||third person (inanimate)||
|-
|1||first person||
|-
|12||first person inclusive ('we (me & you)')||
|-
|13||first person exclusive ('we (me & another)')||
|-
|2||second person||
|-
|3||third person (proximate, i.e. 's/he')||
|-
|4||third person (obviative, i.e. 'her/his mother'||
|-
|ABSN||absentive||
|-
|ADV||adverb(ial)||
|-
|AN||animate|| default form (assumed if animacy not indicated)
|-
|ANTIP||antipassive||
|-
|APPL||applicative||
|-
|BEN||benefactive||
|-
|CAUS||causative||
|-
|CLF||classifier||
|-
|COMP||complementizer||
|-
|COMPL||completive||
|-
|COND||conditional||
|-
|CONJ||conjunct||
|-
|COP||copula||
|-
|DECL||declarative||
|-
|DEM||demonstrative||
|-
|DIR||direct||
|-
|DIST||distal||
|-
|DISTR||distributive||
|-
|DU||dual||
|-
|EMPH||emphatic||
|-
|EXCL||exclusive||
|-
|EXT.PL||extended plural||(provisional term contrasting with SG, DL, PL, to mean a number equivalent of 'multitude')
|-
|FOC||focus||
|-
|FUT||future||
|-
|IMP||imperative||
|-
|IN||inanimate||
|-
|INCL||inclusive||
|-
|IND||indicative|| default form (assumed if mode not indicated)
|-
||INF||infinitive||
|-
|INST||instrumental||
|-
|INT||intonation||
|-
|IPFV||imperfective||
|-
|IMPS||impersonal||
|-
|IRR||irrealis||
|-
|LOC||locative||
|-
|N-||non-||
|-
|NEG||negation, negative||
|-
|NMLZ||nominalizer, nominalization||
|-
|OBJ||object||
|-
|OBL||oblique||
|-
|OBV||obviative|| see [[obviation]]
|-
|PART||particle||
|-
|PASS||passive||
|-
|PFV||perfective||
|-
|PL||plural||
|-
|POSS||possessive||
|-
|PLP||pluperfect||
|-
|PRF||perfect||
|-
|PRES||present|| default form (assumed if tense not indicated)
|-
|PROG||progressive||
|-
|PROH||prohibitive||
|-
|PROX||proximal, proximate|| default form (assumed if 3rd person not marked as obviative)
|-
|PST||past||
|-
|PURP||purposive||
|-
|Q||question, question marker/particle||
|-
|QUOT||quotative||
|-
|RECP||reciprocal||
|-
|REFL||reflexive||
|-
|RES||resultative||
|-
|SBJV||subjunctive||
|-
|SG||singular|| default form (assumed if number not indicated)
|-
|SUBJ||subject||
|-
|SUBV||subordinative||
|-
|TOP||topic||
|-
|VAI||intransitive verb with animate subject)||
|-
|VII||intransitive verb with inanimate subject)||
|-
|VOC||vocative||
|-
|VTA||transitive verb with animate subject & animate object||
|-
|VTI||transitive verb with animate subject & intransitive object||
|-
|}

LingSync Glosses

2013-01-30T18:16:10Z

Elise: Created page with "==New Datum Fields== Proposed: *'''utteranceType''': this field allows users to specify whether the Datum is a lone word such as NOUN or VERB, or a full SENTENCE or a STORYPART...."

==New Datum Fields==

Proposed:
*'''utteranceType''': this field allows users to specify whether the Datum is a lone word such as NOUN or VERB, or a full SENTENCE or a STORYPART.

==Abbreviations==
(following Leipzig Glossing Conventions)

{|class="wikitable sortable"
!ABBREVIATION!!terminology!!notes
|-
|0||third person (inanimate)||
|-
|1||first person||
|-
|12||first person inclusive ('we (me & you)')||
|-
|13||first person exclusive ('we (me & another)')||
|-
|2||second person||
|-
|3||third person (proximate, i.e. 's/he')||
|-
|4||third person (obviative, i.e. 'her/his mother'||
|-
|ABSN||absentive||
|-
|ADV||adverb(ial)||
|-
|AN||animate|| default form (assumed if animacy not indicated)
|-
|ANTIP||antipassive||
|-
|APPL||applicative||
|-
|BEN||benefactive||
|-
|CAUS||causative||
|-
|CLF||classifier||
|-
|COMP||complementizer||
|-
|COMPL||completive||
|-
|COND||conditional||
|-
|CONJ||conjunct||
|-
|COP||copula||
|-
|DECL||declarative||
|-
|DEM||demonstrative||
|-
|DIR||direct||
|-
|DIST||distal||
|-
|DISTR||distributive||
|-
|DU||dual||
|-
|EMPH||emphatic||
|-
|EXCL||exclusive||
|-
|EXT.PL||extended plural||(provisional term contrasting with SG, DL, PL, to mean a number equivalent of 'multitude')
|-
|FOC||focus||
|-
|FUT||future||
|-
|IMP||imperative||
|-
|IN||inanimate||
|-
|INCL||inclusive||
|-
|IND||indicative|| default form (assumed if mode not indicated)
|-
||INF||infinitive||
|-
|INST||instrumental||
|-
|INT||intonation||
|-
|IPFV||imperfective||
|-
|IMPS||impersonal||
|-
|IRR||irrealis||
|-
|LOC||locative||
|-
|N-||non-||
|-
|NEG||negation, negative||
|-
|NMLZ||nominalizer, nominalization||
|-
|OBJ||object||
|-
|OBL||oblique||
|-
|OBV||obviative|| see [[obviation]]
|-
|PART||particle||
|-
|PASS||passive||
|-
|PFV||perfective||
|-
|PL||plural||
|-
|POSS||possessive||
|-
|PLP||pluperfect||
|-
|PRF||perfect||
|-
|PRES||present|| default form (assumed if tense not indicated)
|-
|PROG||progressive||
|-
|PROH||prohibitive||
|-
|PROX||proximal, proximate|| default form (assumed if 3rd person not marked as obviative)
|-
|PST||past||
|-
|PURP||purposive||
|-
|Q||question, question marker/particle||
|-
|QUOT||quotative||
|-
|RECP||reciprocal||
|-
|REFL||reflexive||
|-
|RES||resultative||
|-
|SBJV||subjunctive||
|-
|SG||singular|| default form (assumed if number not indicated)
|-
|SUBJ||subject||
|-
|SUBV||subordinative||
|-
|TOP||topic||
|-
|VAI||intransitive verb with animate subject)||
|-
|VII||intransitive verb with inanimate subject)||
|-
|VOC||vocative||
|-
|VTA||transitive verb with animate subject & animate object||
|-
|VTI||transitive verb with animate subject & intransitive object||
|-
|}

Glosses

2013-01-30T18:13:58Z

Elise:

There are some key differences between the Mi'gmaq Research Partnership's LingSync glossing conventions and the ones listed below. Please check out the [[LingSync Glosses]] for more details!

==Format==
Separate:
*segmentable morphemes within a word with '-'
*clitics with '='
*multiple meta-language elements (meanings and/or abbreviations) in a single form with '.'

Gloss lexical items in 'normal font', and all else in 'CAPITALS'

<gl>
\gll ms't e'pij-ig genn-atijig ji'nm-ug\\
all woman-PL hold-3PL>4PL man-PL\\
\trans all the women are holding the men
</gl>

When glossing morphemes, please use the following order:
*verb.(mode).person

Please refer to the following default forms:
*person: animate [AN] is assumed, only gloss inanimate [IN]
*number: singular [SG] is the assumed, only gloss dual [DU] or plural [PL]
*tense: present is assumed, only gloss past [PST], future [FUT], or pluperfect [PLP]
*mode: indicative [IND] is assumed, only gloss imperative [IMP], subjunctive [SBJV] ('if...' or 'when...'), conditional [COND], subordinative [SUBV], infinitive [INF], or impersonal [IMPS]
*order: no need to gloss this as the person agreement will provide this information (i.e. VII has one inanimate argument (i.e. 0 'it...'), VAI has one animate argument (i.e. 3 's/he...'), VTI has one animate subject and an inanimate object (i.e. 2>0 'you... it') and VTA has two animate arguments (i.e. 2>3 'you... her/him'))

NOTE: person/number agreement affixes that express both subject & object agreement, '>' should be used with the subject first and the object is second (i.e. subject>object)

==Terms==
(following Leipzig Glossing Conventions)

{|class="wikitable sortable"
!ABBREVIATION!!terminology!!notes
|-
|0||third person (inanimate)||
|-
|1||first person||
|-
|12||first person inclusive ('we (me & you)')||
|-
|13||first person exclusive ('we (me & another)')||
|-
|2||second person||
|-
|3||third person (proximate, i.e. 's/he')||
|-
|4||third person (obviative, i.e. 'her/his mother'||
|-
|ABSN||absentive||
|-
|ADV||adverb(ial)||
|-
|AN||animate|| default form (assumed if animacy not indicated)
|-
|ANTIP||antipassive||
|-
|APPL||applicative||
|-
|BEN||benefactive||
|-
|CAUS||causative||
|-
|CLF||classifier||
|-
|COMP||complementizer||
|-
|COMPL||completive||
|-
|COND||conditional||
|-
|CONJ||conjunct||
|-
|COP||copula||
|-
|DECL||declarative||
|-
|DEM||demonstrative||
|-
|DIR||direct||
|-
|DIST||distal||
|-
|DISTR||distributive||
|-
|DU||dual||
|-
|EMPH||emphatic||
|-
|EXCL||exclusive||
|-
|EXT.PL||extended plural||(provisional term contrasting with SG, DL, PL, to mean a number equivalent of 'multitude')
|-
|FOC||focus||
|-
|FUT||future||
|-
|IMP||imperative||
|-
|IN||inanimate||
|-
|INCL||inclusive||
|-
|IND||indicative|| default form (assumed if mode not indicated)
|-
||INF||infinitive||
|-
|INST||instrumental||
|-
|INT||intonation||
|-
|IPFV||imperfective||
|-
|IMPS||impersonal||
|-
|IRR||irrealis||
|-
|LOC||locative||
|-
|N-||non-||
|-
|NEG||negation, negative||
|-
|NMLZ||nominalizer, nominalization||
|-
|OBJ||object||
|-
|OBL||oblique||
|-
|OBV||obviative|| see [[obviation]]
|-
|PART||particle||
|-
|PASS||passive||
|-
|PFV||perfective||
|-
|PL||plural||
|-
|POSS||possessive||
|-
|PLP||pluperfect||
|-
|PRF||perfect||
|-
|PRES||present|| default form (assumed if tense not indicated)
|-
|PROG||progressive||
|-
|PROH||prohibitive||
|-
|PROX||proximal, proximate|| default form (assumed if 3rd person not marked as obviative)
|-
|PST||past||
|-
|PURP||purposive||
|-
|Q||question, question marker/particle||
|-
|QUOT||quotative||
|-
|RECP||reciprocal||
|-
|REFL||reflexive||
|-
|RES||resultative||
|-
|SBJV||subjunctive||
|-
|SG||singular|| default form (assumed if number not indicated)
|-
|SUBJ||subject||
|-
|SUBV||subordinative||
|-
|TOP||topic||
|-
|VAI||intransitive verb with animate subject)||
|-
|VII||intransitive verb with inanimate subject)||
|-
|VOC||vocative||
|-
|VTA||transitive verb with animate subject & animate object||
|-
|VTI||transitive verb with animate subject & intransitive object||
|-
|}

Glosses

2013-01-30T16:24:00Z

Elise: /* Format */

==Format==
Separate:
*segmentable morphemes within a word with '-'
*clitics with '='
*multiple meta-language elements (meanings and/or abbreviations) in a single form with '.'

Gloss lexical items in 'normal font', and all else in 'CAPITALS'

<gl>
\gll ms't e'pij-ig genn-atijig ji'nm-ug\\
all woman-PL hold-3PL>4PL man-PL\\
\trans all the women are holding the men
</gl>

When glossing morphemes, please use the following order:
*verb.(mode).person

Please refer to the following default forms:
*person: animate [AN] is assumed, only gloss inanimate [IN]
*number: singular [SG] is the assumed, only gloss dual [DU] or plural [PL]
*tense: present is assumed, only gloss past [PST], future [FUT], or pluperfect [PLP]
*mode: indicative [IND] is assumed, only gloss imperative [IMP], subjunctive [SBJV] ('if...' or 'when...'), conditional [COND], subordinative [SUBV], infinitive [INF], or impersonal [IMPS]
*order: no need to gloss this as the person agreement will provide this information (i.e. VII has one inanimate argument (i.e. 0 'it...'), VAI has one animate argument (i.e. 3 's/he...'), VTI has one animate subject and an inanimate object (i.e. 2>0 'you... it') and VTA has two animate arguments (i.e. 2>3 'you... her/him'))

NOTE: person/number agreement affixes that express both subject & object agreement, '>' should be used with the subject first and the object is second (i.e. subject>object)

==Terms==
(following Leipzig Glossing Conventions)

{|class="wikitable sortable"
!ABBREVIATION!!terminology!!notes
|-
|0||third person (inanimate)||
|-
|1||first person||
|-
|12||first person inclusive ('we (me & you)')||
|-
|13||first person exclusive ('we (me & another)')||
|-
|2||second person||
|-
|3||third person (proximate, i.e. 's/he')||
|-
|4||third person (obviative, i.e. 'her/his mother'||
|-
|ABSN||absentive||
|-
|ADV||adverb(ial)||
|-
|AN||animate|| default form (assumed if animacy not indicated)
|-
|ANTIP||antipassive||
|-
|APPL||applicative||
|-
|BEN||benefactive||
|-
|CAUS||causative||
|-
|CLF||classifier||
|-
|COMP||complementizer||
|-
|COMPL||completive||
|-
|COND||conditional||
|-
|CONJ||conjunct||
|-
|COP||copula||
|-
|DECL||declarative||
|-
|DEM||demonstrative||
|-
|DIR||direct||
|-
|DIST||distal||
|-
|DISTR||distributive||
|-
|DU||dual||
|-
|EMPH||emphatic||
|-
|EXCL||exclusive||
|-
|EXT.PL||extended plural||(provisional term contrasting with SG, DL, PL, to mean a number equivalent of 'multitude')
|-
|FOC||focus||
|-
|FUT||future||
|-
|IMP||imperative||
|-
|IN||inanimate||
|-
|INCL||inclusive||
|-
|IND||indicative|| default form (assumed if mode not indicated)
|-
||INF||infinitive||
|-
|INST||instrumental||
|-
|INT||intonation||
|-
|IPFV||imperfective||
|-
|IMPS||impersonal||
|-
|IRR||irrealis||
|-
|LOC||locative||
|-
|N-||non-||
|-
|NEG||negation, negative||
|-
|NMLZ||nominalizer, nominalization||
|-
|OBJ||object||
|-
|OBL||oblique||
|-
|OBV||obviative|| see [[obviation]]
|-
|PART||particle||
|-
|PASS||passive||
|-
|PFV||perfective||
|-
|PL||plural||
|-
|POSS||possessive||
|-
|PLP||pluperfect||
|-
|PRF||perfect||
|-
|PRES||present|| default form (assumed if tense not indicated)
|-
|PROG||progressive||
|-
|PROH||prohibitive||
|-
|PROX||proximal, proximate|| default form (assumed if 3rd person not marked as obviative)
|-
|PST||past||
|-
|PURP||purposive||
|-
|Q||question, question marker/particle||
|-
|QUOT||quotative||
|-
|RECP||reciprocal||
|-
|REFL||reflexive||
|-
|RES||resultative||
|-
|SBJV||subjunctive||
|-
|SG||singular|| default form (assumed if number not indicated)
|-
|SUBJ||subject||
|-
|SUBV||subordinative||
|-
|TOP||topic||
|-
|VAI||intransitive verb with animate subject)||
|-
|VII||intransitive verb with inanimate subject)||
|-
|VOC||vocative||
|-
|VTA||transitive verb with animate subject & animate object||
|-
|VTI||transitive verb with animate subject & intransitive object||
|-
|}

Glosses

2013-01-24T15:17:16Z

Elise: /* Format */

==Format==
Separate:
*segmentable morphemes within a word with '-'
*clitics with '='
*multiple meta-language elements (meanings and/or abbreviations) in a single form with '.'

Gloss lexical items in 'normal font', and all else in 'CAPITALS'

<gl>
\gll ms't e'pij-ig genn-atijig jinm-ug\\
all woman-PL hold-3PL>4PL man-PL\\
\trans all the women are holding the men
</gl>

When glossing morphemes, please use the following order:
*verb.(mode).person

Please refer to the following default forms:
*person: animate [AN] is assumed, only gloss inanimate [IN]
*number: singular [SG] is the assumed, only gloss dual [DU] or plural [PL]
*tense: present is assumed, only gloss past [PST], future [FUT], or pluperfect [PLP]
*mode: indicative [IND] is assumed, only gloss imperative [IMP], subjunctive [SBJV] ('if...' or 'when...'), conditional [COND], subordinative [SUBV], infinitive [INF], or impersonal [IMPS]
*order: no need to gloss this as the person agreement will provide this information (i.e. VII has one inanimate argument (i.e. 0 'it...'), VAI has one animate argument (i.e. 3 's/he...'), VTI has one animate subject and an inanimate object (i.e. 2>0 'you... it') and VTA has two animate arguments (i.e. 2>3 'you... her/him'))

NOTE: person/number agreement affixes that express both subject & object agreement, '>' should be used with the subject first and the object is second (i.e. subject>object)

==Terms==
(following Leipzig Glossing Conventions)

{|class="wikitable sortable"
!ABBREVIATION!!terminology!!notes
|-
|0||third person (inanimate)||
|-
|1||first person||
|-
|12||first person inclusive ('we (me & you)')||
|-
|13||first person exclusive ('we (me & another)')||
|-
|2||second person||
|-
|3||third person (proximate, i.e. 's/he')||
|-
|4||third person (obviative, i.e. 'her/his mother'||
|-
|ABSN||absentive||
|-
|ADV||adverb(ial)||
|-
|AN||animate|| default form (assumed if animacy not indicated)
|-
|ANTIP||antipassive||
|-
|APPL||applicative||
|-
|BEN||benefactive||
|-
|CAUS||causative||
|-
|CLF||classifier||
|-
|COMP||complementizer||
|-
|COMPL||completive||
|-
|COND||conditional||
|-
|CONJ||conjunct||
|-
|COP||copula||
|-
|DECL||declarative||
|-
|DEM||demonstrative||
|-
|DIR||direct||
|-
|DIST||distal||
|-
|DISTR||distributive||
|-
|DU||dual||
|-
|EMPH||emphatic||
|-
|EXCL||exclusive||
|-
|EXT.PL||extended plural||(provisional term contrasting with SG, DL, PL, to mean a number equivalent of 'multitude')
|-
|FOC||focus||
|-
|FUT||future||
|-
|IMP||imperative||
|-
|IN||inanimate||
|-
|INCL||inclusive||
|-
|IND||indicative|| default form (assumed if mode not indicated)
|-
||INF||infinitive||
|-
|INST||instrumental||
|-
|INT||intonation||
|-
|IPFV||imperfective||
|-
|IMPS||impersonal||
|-
|IRR||irrealis||
|-
|LOC||locative||
|-
|N-||non-||
|-
|NEG||negation, negative||
|-
|NMLZ||nominalizer, nominalization||
|-
|OBJ||object||
|-
|OBL||oblique||
|-
|OBV||obviative|| see [[obviation]]
|-
|PART||particle||
|-
|PASS||passive||
|-
|PFV||perfective||
|-
|PL||plural||
|-
|POSS||possessive||
|-
|PLP||pluperfect||
|-
|PRF||perfect||
|-
|PRES||present|| default form (assumed if tense not indicated)
|-
|PROG||progressive||
|-
|PROH||prohibitive||
|-
|PROX||proximal, proximate|| default form (assumed if 3rd person not marked as obviative)
|-
|PST||past||
|-
|PURP||purposive||
|-
|Q||question, question marker/particle||
|-
|QUOT||quotative||
|-
|RECP||reciprocal||
|-
|REFL||reflexive||
|-
|RES||resultative||
|-
|SBJV||subjunctive||
|-
|SG||singular|| default form (assumed if number not indicated)
|-
|SUBJ||subject||
|-
|SUBV||subordinative||
|-
|TOP||topic||
|-
|VAI||intransitive verb with animate subject)||
|-
|VII||intransitive verb with inanimate subject)||
|-
|VOC||vocative||
|-
|VTA||transitive verb with animate subject & animate object||
|-
|VTI||transitive verb with animate subject & intransitive object||
|-
|}

Glosses

2013-01-11T20:51:19Z

Elise: /* Terms */

==Format==
Separate:
*segmentable morphemes within a word with '-'
*clitics with '='
*multiple meta-language elements (meanings and/or abbreviations) in a single form with '.'

Gloss lexical items in 'normal font', and all else in 'CAPITALS'

<gl>
\gll ms't e'pi-jig genn-atijig jinm-ug\\
all woman-PL hold-3PL>4PL man-PL\\
\trans all the women are holding the men
</gl>

When glossing morphemes, please use the following order:
*verb.(mode).person

Please refer to the following default forms:
*person: animate [AN] is assumed, only gloss inanimate [IN]
*number: singular [SG] is the assumed, only gloss dual [DU] or plural [PL]
*tense: present is assumed, only gloss past [PST], future [FUT], or pluperfect [PLP]
*mode: indicative [IND] is assumed, only gloss imperative [IMP], subjunctive [SBJV] ('if...' or 'when...'), conditional [COND], subordinative [SUBV], infinitive [INF], or impersonal [IMPS]
*order: no need to gloss this as the person agreement will provide this information (i.e. VII has one inanimate argument (i.e. 0 'it...'), VAI has one animate argument (i.e. 3 's/he...'), VTI has one animate subject and an inanimate object (i.e. 2>0 'you... it') and VTA has two animate arguments (i.e. 2>3 'you... her/him'))

NOTE: person/number agreement affixes that express both subject & object agreement, '>' should be used with the subject first and the object is second (i.e. subject>object)

==Terms==
(following Leipzig Glossing Conventions)

{|class="wikitable sortable"
!ABBREVIATION!!terminology!!notes
|-
|0||third person (inanimate)||
|-
|1||first person||
|-
|12||first person inclusive ('we (me & you)')||
|-
|13||first person exclusive ('we (me & another)')||
|-
|2||second person||
|-
|3||third person (proximate, i.e. 's/he')||
|-
|4||third person (obviative, i.e. 'her/his mother'||
|-
|ABSN||absentive||
|-
|ADV||adverb(ial)||
|-
|AN||animate|| default form (assumed if animacy not indicated)
|-
|ANTIP||antipassive||
|-
|APPL||applicative||
|-
|BEN||benefactive||
|-
|CAUS||causative||
|-
|CLF||classifier||
|-
|COMP||complementizer||
|-
|COMPL||completive||
|-
|COND||conditional||
|-
|CONJ||conjunct||
|-
|COP||copula||
|-
|DECL||declarative||
|-
|DEM||demonstrative||
|-
|DIR||direct||
|-
|DIST||distal||
|-
|DISTR||distributive||
|-
|DU||dual||
|-
|EMPH||emphatic||
|-
|EXCL||exclusive||
|-
|EXT.PL||extended plural||(provisional term contrasting with SG, DL, PL, to mean a number equivalent of 'multitude')
|-
|FOC||focus||
|-
|FUT||future||
|-
|IMP||imperative||
|-
|IN||inanimate||
|-
|INCL||inclusive||
|-
|IND||indicative|| default form (assumed if mode not indicated)
|-
||INF||infinitive||
|-
|INST||instrumental||
|-
|INT||intonation||
|-
|IPFV||imperfective||
|-
|IMPS||impersonal||
|-
|IRR||irrealis||
|-
|LOC||locative||
|-
|N-||non-||
|-
|NEG||negation, negative||
|-
|NMLZ||nominalizer, nominalization||
|-
|OBJ||object||
|-
|OBL||oblique||
|-
|OBV||obviative|| see [[obviation]]
|-
|PASS||passive||
|-
|PFV||perfective||
|-
|PL||plural||
|-
|POSS||possessive||
|-
|PLP||pluperfect||
|-
|PRF||perfect||
|-
|PRES||present|| default form (assumed if tense not indicated)
|-
|PROG||progressive||
|-
|PROH||prohibitive||
|-
|PROX||proximal, proximate|| default form (assumed if 3rd person not marked as obviative)
|-
|PST||past||
|-
|PURP||purposive||
|-
|Q||question, question marker/particle||
|-
|QUOT||quotative||
|-
|RECP||reciprocal||
|-
|REFL||reflexive||
|-
|RES||resultative||
|-
|SBJV||subjunctive||
|-
|SG||singular|| default form (assumed if number not indicated)
|-
|SUBJ||subject||
|-
|SUBV||subordinative||
|-
|TOP||topic||
|-
|VAI||intransitive verb with animate subject)||
|-
|VII||intransitive verb with inanimate subject)||
|-
|VOC||vocative||
|-
|VTA||transitive verb with animate subject & animate object||
|-
|VTI||transitive verb with animate subject & intransitive object||
|-
|}

Nouns

2012-12-03T22:52:52Z

Elise: /* Indefinite Pronouns */

Nouns are words that refer to persons, places, or things. They are the elements that do the action described by the verb or have the action done to them. Many Mi'gmaq sentences have nouns in them, but they aren't necessary. A few examples of English nouns include ''Listuguj'', ''Mary'', ''woman'', and ''table''. These same words are also nouns in Mi'gmaq: ''Listuguj'', ''Mali'', ''e'pit,'' and ''ptauti''.

There are several characteristics that are found in both nouns and verbs, including [[Animacy]], [[Obviation]] and [[Person and number]] marking, which are discussed in their respective articles. Independently of verbs, nouns can also be [[Plural Nouns|Singular or Plural]], [[Absentative]], and [[Vocative]]. Nouns can be modified by a variety of things, including [[Possession]], [[Adjectives]], [[Determiners]], [[Numerals]], [[Nouns#Diminutive and Augmentative|Diminuitives]] and [[Relative Clauses]]. [[Pronouns]] can also be used to substitute for nouns.

=Characteristics of Nouns=
==Plural Nouns==
''For more detail, see [[Plural Nouns]]''

"Number" refers to how many of something there are. In both English and Mi'gmaq, there are two numbers for nouns: singular (only one of something) and plural (two or more of something). In English, a plural noun often looks like the singular plus an ''-s'' at the end, for example, ''girl'' becomes ''girls.'' In Mi'gmaq, there are two things you can add to a noun in order to make it plural, depending on whether the noun is [[Animacy|animate or inanimate]]. For inanimate nouns, like ''ptauti'' 'table' as shown in (1), you generally add ''-l'' to the end of the word (or sometimes you make the last sound of the word longer). For animate nouns, like ''ji'nm'' 'man' as shown in (2), you add ''-ug'' or ''-ig'' or ''-oq'' depending on the particular noun.

<gl>
\gll ptauti, ptauti-l
table, table-PL\\
\trans table, tables
</gl>

<gl>
\gll ji'nm, ji'nm-ug
man, man-PL\\
\trans man, men
</gl>

If you've looked at number in Mi'gmaq [[Verbs: Overview|verbs]], you may have noticed that Mi'gmaq verbs make a distinction between singular, dual (two participants), and plural (three or more participants). However, for nouns, the only distinction is between one and more than one.

==Vocatives==
When one addresses a person directly, the term used to address that person is known as a '''vocative'''.

As seen in the example below, English vocatives do not look different from non-vocative English nouns.
*To take an English example, in the sentence "Chris baked a cake," ''Chris'' is not a vocative noun. But in the command, "Hey Chris, please bake a cake!" the name ''Chris'' is a vocative.

However, one category of Mi'gmaq nouns seems to differ based on whether they are vocative or not. In Mi'gmaq, the words for '''family members''' look different as vocatives than they do when used in a sentence. While it is not grammatical to say "I have a daughter" using the bare root for 'daughter,' (more detail on this is given in [[Possession]]) it is completely grammatical to use that bare root to address one's daughter directly. Examples of both uses of the root for 'daughter' are seen below.

<gl>
\gll *geggung tus
have.1>3 daughter\\
\trans (intended) I have a daughter.
</gl>

<gl>
\gll tus, pasi
daughter, sit.IMP\\
\trans Daughter, sit!
</gl>

This second example should be double-checked.--[[User:Elise|Elise]] 12:18, 15 May 2012 (CDT)

==Feminine Suffix==
* The ''-sgw'' suffix, which functions like ''-ess'' in ''lioness''
'''more detail to follow'''

==Diminutive and Augmentative==
''For more detail, see [[Diminutive and Augmentative]].''

In Mi'gmaq, the diminutive is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffix suffix], that means "'''little [noun]'''". It cannot attach to every noun, though it is possible that your meaning may be understood even if you put it on a slightly non-standard noun. It may also be used to connote youth or affection towards the noun in question.

Some examples of words where it might appear include...
* ''lpa'tuj'' 'boy' becomes ''lpa'tu'ji'j'' 'little boy'
* ''gjigan'' 'city' becomes ''gjiganji'j'' 'village'
* ''jijgluewj'' 'sheep' becomes ''jijgluewji'j'' 'lamb'

Note that you can't always assume that the ending ''-ji'j'' is going to be a diminutive. The word ''jipji'j'' 'bird' ends in ''-ji'j'', but there is no word meaning 'larger bird' that is pronounced ''jip.''

The opposite of a diminutive is an '''augmentative''', an affix which '''denotes largeness'''. When augmenting a noun, Mi'gmaq speakers seem to prefer using the [[Nouns#Adjectives|adjective]] ''mesg'ig'' rather than a particular augmentative affix. However, there is evidence that at some point the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefix prefix] ''gji-'' was used as an augmentative, as it occurs as a prefix in several words that are bigger or greater than their un-prefixed counterparts.

Examples of this type of prefixation are limited, however, and the process does not seem to be productive any longer. The most relevant pair of examples are...
* ''ga'gaquj'' 'crow' compared to ''gjiga'qaquj'' 'raven'
* ''nisgam'' 'god' compared to ''gjinisgam'' 'Great Spirit'

==Absentatives==
This is another feature of Mi'gmaq that English doesn't share. It is a suffix on both verbs and nouns indicating that the person about whom you are speaking is no longer around, either because they are absent, lost, or dead.

For example, in speaking about a living relative, you would say:

<gl>
\gll Nujj teluisit Piel
n-ujj telui-sit Piel \\
1-father name-3 Piel \\
\trans My father is named Piel/Pierre.
</gl>

However, speaking about a deceased relative, you would say:
<gl>
\gll Nujaq teluisipnaq Piel
n-ujj-aq telui-sipn-aq Piel \\
1-father-ABSN name-3.PST-ABSN Piel \\
\trans My (deceased) father was named Piel/Pierre.
</gl>

Additionally, the absentative suffix ''-oq'' can be attached to names; in this example, you might refer to your father not as ''Piel'', but ''Pieloq''. It cannot attach to inanimate objects to indicate that they are absent. Take the ungrammaticality of the next example:

<gl>
\gll *ugjigan-oq
town-ABSN\\
\trans ghost town (intended)
</gl>

=Modifiers of Nouns=
A modifier is basically a word that changes how a noun is interpreted, giving it a different or more precise meaning. They tend to be optional, so if you're not sure if a given word in a sentence is a modifier, try saying the sentence again without that word: if it still makes sense, the word was probably a modifier.

==Numerals==
''For more detail, see [[Numerals]]''

There are some categories of nouns in Mi'gmaq that require special ways of counting. This could be compared to how in English, we say "a pair of pants" rather than "one pants" or "two pants"--though admittedly, the Mi'gmaq system is more compex than that. In Mi'gmaq, nouns are split into categories that are grouped together with specific counting words for that specific category. These are the most common groups, using examples from Hewson & Francis (1990)<ref>Hewson & Francis. 1990. ''Father Pacifique's Migmaq Grammar''.</ref>:
*long and round objects, such as bottles, candles, and even people
*round objects, such as potatoes, balls, and apples
*money
*units of time
**days
**years, months
**ages of people
*classes, groups, types of things
*dimensions, weights and measures

==Possession==
''For more detail, see [[Possession]]''

Possession covers a whole range of relationships between nouns, not necessarily relationships where there is a possession and an owner. In English, possession covers expressions such as:
*'''my''' umbrellas
*Tom''''s''' sister
*Jamie''''s''' leg
*a friend '''of''' Alice''''s'''
*the music '''of''' Beethoven

The verbs used in these sentences can also be thought of as "possessive":
*I '''have''' a cake.
*This dog '''belongs''' to me.

As mentioned before, these relationships aren't always strictly of ownership, but can be interpreted as a type of closeness or relatedness--so while the umbrella may be my possession in the strictest sense of the word, we also shouldn't think of Tom's sister being ''his'' possession. Instead, we use possession to show that a relationship exists between the two nouns in question.

Mi'gmaq possession has one very important feature that English speakers will have to get used to. This is related to the idea of '''alienability'''. So when something is '''alienable''', the relationship between the two nouns is changeable; ''my umbrella'' shows an alienable relationship, because I can give away the umbrella, and then it is no longer mine and the relationship dissolves. ''Tom's sister'', however, shows an '''inalienable''' relationship because no matter what, Tom and his sister will always be related.

Mi'gmaq inalienable nouns include...
*body parts (i.e. '''gpitn'' 'your hand', and ''nunji'' 'my head')
*family members (i.e. ''nuj'' 'my father', and ''ugmisl'' 'his/her big sister')
*a couple exceptions (i.e. ''nitap'' 'my friend' is inalienable, even though it describes a relationship that might change.)

Mi'gmaq alienable nouns include...
*everything else (i.e. '' 'gtsipuminu'' 'our river', and '' 'ntptautim'' 'my table', and ''ugtwigatign'' 'his/her book', and so on and so forth)

==Demonstratives/Determiners==
''For more detail, see [[Demonstratives]]''

A demonstrative is a word that can be paired with a noun, and generally helps people differentiate between two different nouns in conversation. In English, "this," "that," "these," and "those" are all demonstratives--you can pair them with nouns ("this cat," "those hats") but not verbs or lone adjectives.

In Mi'gmaq, we also see at least two demonstratives:
*''ula,'' for things that are close to the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "this"
*''ala,'' for things that are further from the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "that"

However, in Mi'gmaq they seem to be used a little differently from English. We have seen grammatical Mi'gmaq phrases such as ''ula nemis,'' which would translate in English to "this my big sister," a badly-formed phrase.

Another grammatical Mi'gmaq phrase where a demonstrative looks different from its English counterpart is seen below:

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ula tet.
Piel be.3 this here
\trans Piel is right here. // Piel is at this place
</gl>

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ala tet.
Piel be.3 that here
\trans Piel is over there. // Piel is at that place.
</gl>

==Adjectives==
Mi'gmaq adjectives behave quite differently from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjective English adjectives.] Specifically, they seem somewhat like [[verbs]].

'''more detail to follow'''

==Relative Clauses==

=Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Pronouns]]''

A pronoun is a word that can substitute for a noun that is already known from the context of the conversation.

* Q: What did Mary do with the book?
** A: Mary gave the book to Peter. (all nouns - sounds too long)
** A: She gave it to him. (all pronouns - we don't know who "him" is)
** A: She gave it to Peter. (pronouns for known information, nouns for new information - sounds more natural)
** A: She gave it to me. (ok as long as we know who is talking so we know who "me" is)

Some examples of pronouns in English are I, me, you, he, she, her, him, it, we, us, they, and them. Pronouns can be classified in several ways, see [[Person and number]] and [[Obviation]] for details. The table below shows the pronouns in Mi'gmaq.

{| class="wikitable"
! ||Singular||Dual/Plural
|-
| 13 (excl)
| ni'n
| ninen
|-
| 12 (incl)
| ''n/a''
| ginu
|-
| 2
| gi'l
| gilew
|-
| 3
| negm
| negmow
|}

Mi'gmaq uses pronouns in somewhat different contexts compared to how English does. In English, you can't tell from a verb by itself who is doing the action or who has the action being done to them. For example, "see" doesn't tell us anything about who is seeing or being seen, so the only way to know this is by having nouns or pronouns. Mi'gmaq verbs do give you this information. For example, ''nemi'g'' can only mean that "I see an animate thing," and if we want to change who/what is seeing or being seen we have change parts of the verb (''much'' more information about this in the [[Verbs]] section).

These facts mean that it isn't necessary to use pronouns to express this information again, since we already know it. Saying ''ni'n nemitu negm'' is therefore not quite like saying "I see him/her". Since we didn't have to use ''ni'n'' or ''negm'', the fact that we're choosing to say them means that we want to emphasize these particular people. For example, if someone asked you "Did she see you?" you might want to emphasize the opposite by saying "No, it was ''me'' that saw ''her''", but in a normal sentence you probably wouldn't bother to do this.

=Indefinite Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Indefinite Pronouns]]''

Indefinite pronouns are words that refer to non-specific entities. The following is a partial list of indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq:

{| class="wikitable"
! Form || Gloss
|-
| nat goqwei
| something
|-
| mugoqwei
| nothing
|-
| ms't goqwei
| everything
|-
| tampasgoqwei
| anything
|-
| mogwa'wen
| nobody/no one
|-
| ta'n wen
| somebody/whomever
|-
| na'tuen/natawen
| someone
|-
| jijuaqa
| sometimes/occasionally
|}

The speaker notes that it is possible to say 'moqoi' as a contraction of 'mugoqwei'. Alternatively, the [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/ Mi'gmaq dictionary ] lists the following form: 'mo'qagoqwei'. In addition, for the form 'moqwa' wen' the speaker notes that it is possible to say 'mowen' as a contraction. As can be seen from this table, many of the indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq could be broken down into two parts--a quantifier or an affix, and a wh-word. For example:

<gl>
\gll mu-goqwei
NEG-what
\trans nothing
</gl>

=References=
<references />

Nouns

2012-12-03T22:48:22Z

Elise: /* Modifiers of Nouns */

Nouns are words that refer to persons, places, or things. They are the elements that do the action described by the verb or have the action done to them. Many Mi'gmaq sentences have nouns in them, but they aren't necessary. A few examples of English nouns include ''Listuguj'', ''Mary'', ''woman'', and ''table''. These same words are also nouns in Mi'gmaq: ''Listuguj'', ''Mali'', ''e'pit,'' and ''ptauti''.

There are several characteristics that are found in both nouns and verbs, including [[Animacy]], [[Obviation]] and [[Person and number]] marking, which are discussed in their respective articles. Independently of verbs, nouns can also be [[Plural Nouns|Singular or Plural]], [[Absentative]], and [[Vocative]]. Nouns can be modified by a variety of things, including [[Possession]], [[Adjectives]], [[Determiners]], [[Numerals]], [[Nouns#Diminutive and Augmentative|Diminuitives]] and [[Relative Clauses]]. [[Pronouns]] can also be used to substitute for nouns.

=Characteristics of Nouns=
==Plural Nouns==
''For more detail, see [[Plural Nouns]]''

"Number" refers to how many of something there are. In both English and Mi'gmaq, there are two numbers for nouns: singular (only one of something) and plural (two or more of something). In English, a plural noun often looks like the singular plus an ''-s'' at the end, for example, ''girl'' becomes ''girls.'' In Mi'gmaq, there are two things you can add to a noun in order to make it plural, depending on whether the noun is [[Animacy|animate or inanimate]]. For inanimate nouns, like ''ptauti'' 'table' as shown in (1), you generally add ''-l'' to the end of the word (or sometimes you make the last sound of the word longer). For animate nouns, like ''ji'nm'' 'man' as shown in (2), you add ''-ug'' or ''-ig'' or ''-oq'' depending on the particular noun.

<gl>
\gll ptauti, ptauti-l
table, table-PL\\
\trans table, tables
</gl>

<gl>
\gll ji'nm, ji'nm-ug
man, man-PL\\
\trans man, men
</gl>

If you've looked at number in Mi'gmaq [[Verbs: Overview|verbs]], you may have noticed that Mi'gmaq verbs make a distinction between singular, dual (two participants), and plural (three or more participants). However, for nouns, the only distinction is between one and more than one.

==Vocatives==
When one addresses a person directly, the term used to address that person is known as a '''vocative'''.

As seen in the example below, English vocatives do not look different from non-vocative English nouns.
*To take an English example, in the sentence "Chris baked a cake," ''Chris'' is not a vocative noun. But in the command, "Hey Chris, please bake a cake!" the name ''Chris'' is a vocative.

However, one category of Mi'gmaq nouns seems to differ based on whether they are vocative or not. In Mi'gmaq, the words for '''family members''' look different as vocatives than they do when used in a sentence. While it is not grammatical to say "I have a daughter" using the bare root for 'daughter,' (more detail on this is given in [[Possession]]) it is completely grammatical to use that bare root to address one's daughter directly. Examples of both uses of the root for 'daughter' are seen below.

<gl>
\gll *geggung tus
have.1>3 daughter\\
\trans (intended) I have a daughter.
</gl>

<gl>
\gll tus, pasi
daughter, sit.IMP\\
\trans Daughter, sit!
</gl>

This second example should be double-checked.--[[User:Elise|Elise]] 12:18, 15 May 2012 (CDT)

==Feminine Suffix==
* The ''-sgw'' suffix, which functions like ''-ess'' in ''lioness''
'''more detail to follow'''

==Diminutive and Augmentative==
''For more detail, see [[Diminutive and Augmentative]].''

In Mi'gmaq, the diminutive is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffix suffix], that means "'''little [noun]'''". It cannot attach to every noun, though it is possible that your meaning may be understood even if you put it on a slightly non-standard noun. It may also be used to connote youth or affection towards the noun in question.

Some examples of words where it might appear include...
* ''lpa'tuj'' 'boy' becomes ''lpa'tu'ji'j'' 'little boy'
* ''gjigan'' 'city' becomes ''gjiganji'j'' 'village'
* ''jijgluewj'' 'sheep' becomes ''jijgluewji'j'' 'lamb'

Note that you can't always assume that the ending ''-ji'j'' is going to be a diminutive. The word ''jipji'j'' 'bird' ends in ''-ji'j'', but there is no word meaning 'larger bird' that is pronounced ''jip.''

The opposite of a diminutive is an '''augmentative''', an affix which '''denotes largeness'''. When augmenting a noun, Mi'gmaq speakers seem to prefer using the [[Nouns#Adjectives|adjective]] ''mesg'ig'' rather than a particular augmentative affix. However, there is evidence that at some point the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefix prefix] ''gji-'' was used as an augmentative, as it occurs as a prefix in several words that are bigger or greater than their un-prefixed counterparts.

Examples of this type of prefixation are limited, however, and the process does not seem to be productive any longer. The most relevant pair of examples are...
* ''ga'gaquj'' 'crow' compared to ''gjiga'qaquj'' 'raven'
* ''nisgam'' 'god' compared to ''gjinisgam'' 'Great Spirit'

==Absentatives==
This is another feature of Mi'gmaq that English doesn't share. It is a suffix on both verbs and nouns indicating that the person about whom you are speaking is no longer around, either because they are absent, lost, or dead.

For example, in speaking about a living relative, you would say:

<gl>
\gll Nujj teluisit Piel
n-ujj telui-sit Piel \\
1-father name-3 Piel \\
\trans My father is named Piel/Pierre.
</gl>

However, speaking about a deceased relative, you would say:
<gl>
\gll Nujaq teluisipnaq Piel
n-ujj-aq telui-sipn-aq Piel \\
1-father-ABSN name-3.PST-ABSN Piel \\
\trans My (deceased) father was named Piel/Pierre.
</gl>

Additionally, the absentative suffix ''-oq'' can be attached to names; in this example, you might refer to your father not as ''Piel'', but ''Pieloq''. It cannot attach to inanimate objects to indicate that they are absent. Take the ungrammaticality of the next example:

<gl>
\gll *ugjigan-oq
town-ABSN\\
\trans ghost town (intended)
</gl>

=Modifiers of Nouns=
A modifier is basically a word that changes how a noun is interpreted, giving it a different or more precise meaning. They tend to be optional, so if you're not sure if a given word in a sentence is a modifier, try saying the sentence again without that word: if it still makes sense, the word was probably a modifier.

==Numerals==
''For more detail, see [[Numerals]]''

There are some categories of nouns in Mi'gmaq that require special ways of counting. This could be compared to how in English, we say "a pair of pants" rather than "one pants" or "two pants"--though admittedly, the Mi'gmaq system is more compex than that. In Mi'gmaq, nouns are split into categories that are grouped together with specific counting words for that specific category. These are the most common groups, using examples from Hewson & Francis (1990)<ref>Hewson & Francis. 1990. ''Father Pacifique's Migmaq Grammar''.</ref>:
*long and round objects, such as bottles, candles, and even people
*round objects, such as potatoes, balls, and apples
*money
*units of time
**days
**years, months
**ages of people
*classes, groups, types of things
*dimensions, weights and measures

==Possession==
''For more detail, see [[Possession]]''

Possession covers a whole range of relationships between nouns, not necessarily relationships where there is a possession and an owner. In English, possession covers expressions such as:
*'''my''' umbrellas
*Tom''''s''' sister
*Jamie''''s''' leg
*a friend '''of''' Alice''''s'''
*the music '''of''' Beethoven

The verbs used in these sentences can also be thought of as "possessive":
*I '''have''' a cake.
*This dog '''belongs''' to me.

As mentioned before, these relationships aren't always strictly of ownership, but can be interpreted as a type of closeness or relatedness--so while the umbrella may be my possession in the strictest sense of the word, we also shouldn't think of Tom's sister being ''his'' possession. Instead, we use possession to show that a relationship exists between the two nouns in question.

Mi'gmaq possession has one very important feature that English speakers will have to get used to. This is related to the idea of '''alienability'''. So when something is '''alienable''', the relationship between the two nouns is changeable; ''my umbrella'' shows an alienable relationship, because I can give away the umbrella, and then it is no longer mine and the relationship dissolves. ''Tom's sister'', however, shows an '''inalienable''' relationship because no matter what, Tom and his sister will always be related.

Mi'gmaq inalienable nouns include...
*body parts (i.e. '''gpitn'' 'your hand', and ''nunji'' 'my head')
*family members (i.e. ''nuj'' 'my father', and ''ugmisl'' 'his/her big sister')
*a couple exceptions (i.e. ''nitap'' 'my friend' is inalienable, even though it describes a relationship that might change.)

Mi'gmaq alienable nouns include...
*everything else (i.e. '' 'gtsipuminu'' 'our river', and '' 'ntptautim'' 'my table', and ''ugtwigatign'' 'his/her book', and so on and so forth)

==Demonstratives/Determiners==
''For more detail, see [[Demonstratives]]''

A demonstrative is a word that can be paired with a noun, and generally helps people differentiate between two different nouns in conversation. In English, "this," "that," "these," and "those" are all demonstratives--you can pair them with nouns ("this cat," "those hats") but not verbs or lone adjectives.

In Mi'gmaq, we also see at least two demonstratives:
*''ula,'' for things that are close to the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "this"
*''ala,'' for things that are further from the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "that"

However, in Mi'gmaq they seem to be used a little differently from English. We have seen grammatical Mi'gmaq phrases such as ''ula nemis,'' which would translate in English to "this my big sister," a badly-formed phrase.

Another grammatical Mi'gmaq phrase where a demonstrative looks different from its English counterpart is seen below:

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ula tet.
Piel be.3 this here
\trans Piel is right here. // Piel is at this place
</gl>

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ala tet.
Piel be.3 that here
\trans Piel is over there. // Piel is at that place.
</gl>

==Adjectives==
Mi'gmaq adjectives behave quite differently from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjective English adjectives.] Specifically, they seem somewhat like [[verbs]].

'''more detail to follow'''

==Relative Clauses==

=Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Pronouns]]''

A pronoun is a word that can substitute for a noun that is already known from the context of the conversation.

* Q: What did Mary do with the book?
** A: Mary gave the book to Peter. (all nouns - sounds too long)
** A: She gave it to him. (all pronouns - we don't know who "him" is)
** A: She gave it to Peter. (pronouns for known information, nouns for new information - sounds more natural)
** A: She gave it to me. (ok as long as we know who is talking so we know who "me" is)

Some examples of pronouns in English are I, me, you, he, she, her, him, it, we, us, they, and them. Pronouns can be classified in several ways, see [[Person and number]] and [[Obviation]] for details. The table below shows the pronouns in Mi'gmaq.

{| class="wikitable"
! ||Singular||Dual/Plural
|-
| 13 (excl)
| ni'n
| ninen
|-
| 12 (incl)
| ''n/a''
| ginu
|-
| 2
| gi'l
| gilew
|-
| 3
| negm
| negmow
|}

Mi'gmaq uses pronouns in somewhat different contexts compared to how English does. In English, you can't tell from a verb by itself who is doing the action or who has the action being done to them. For example, "see" doesn't tell us anything about who is seeing or being seen, so the only way to know this is by having nouns or pronouns. Mi'gmaq verbs do give you this information. For example, ''nemi'g'' can only mean that "I see an animate thing," and if we want to change who/what is seeing or being seen we have change parts of the verb (''much'' more information about this in the [[Verbs]] section).

These facts mean that it isn't necessary to use pronouns to express this information again, since we already know it. Saying ''ni'n nemitu negm'' is therefore not quite like saying "I see him/her". Since we didn't have to use ''ni'n'' or ''negm'', the fact that we're choosing to say them means that we want to emphasize these particular people. For example, if someone asked you "Did she see you?" you might want to emphasize the opposite by saying "No, it was ''me'' that saw ''her''", but in a normal sentence you probably wouldn't bother to do this.

=Indefinite Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Indefinite Pronouns]]''

Indefinite pronouns are words that refer to non-specific entities. The following is an inexhaustive list of indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq:

{| class="wikitable"
! Form || Gloss
|-
| nat goqwei
| something
|-
| mugoqwei
| nothing
|-
| ms't goqwei
| everything
|-
| tampasgoqwei
| anything
|-
| mogwa'wen
| nobody/no one
|-
| ta'n wen
| somebody/whomever
|-
| na'tuen/natawen
| someone
|-
| jijuaqa
| sometimes/occasionally
|}

The speaker notes that it is possible to say 'moqoi' as a contraction of 'mugoqwei'. Alternatively, the [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/ Mi'gmaq dictionary ] lists the following form: 'mo'qagoqwei'. In addition, for the form 'moqwa' wen' the speaker notes that it is possible to say 'mowen' as a contraction. As can be seen from this table, many of the indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq could be broken down into two parts--a quantifier or an affix, and a wh-word. For example:

<gl>
\gll mu-goqwei
NEG-what
\trans nothing
</gl>

=References=
<references />

Nouns

2012-12-03T22:02:59Z

Elise: /* Absentatives */

Nouns are words that refer to persons, places, or things. They are the elements that do the action described by the verb or have the action done to them. Many Mi'gmaq sentences have nouns in them, but they aren't necessary. A few examples of English nouns include ''Listuguj'', ''Mary'', ''woman'', and ''table''. These same words are also nouns in Mi'gmaq: ''Listuguj'', ''Mali'', ''e'pit,'' and ''ptauti''.

There are several characteristics that are found in both nouns and verbs, including [[Animacy]], [[Obviation]] and [[Person and number]] marking, which are discussed in their respective articles. Independently of verbs, nouns can also be [[Plural Nouns|Singular or Plural]], [[Absentative]], and [[Vocative]]. Nouns can be modified by a variety of things, including [[Possession]], [[Adjectives]], [[Determiners]], [[Numerals]], [[Nouns#Diminutive and Augmentative|Diminuitives]] and [[Relative Clauses]]. [[Pronouns]] can also be used to substitute for nouns.

=Characteristics of Nouns=
==Plural Nouns==
''For more detail, see [[Plural Nouns]]''

"Number" refers to how many of something there are. In both English and Mi'gmaq, there are two numbers for nouns: singular (only one of something) and plural (two or more of something). In English, a plural noun often looks like the singular plus an ''-s'' at the end, for example, ''girl'' becomes ''girls.'' In Mi'gmaq, there are two things you can add to a noun in order to make it plural, depending on whether the noun is [[Animacy|animate or inanimate]]. For inanimate nouns, like ''ptauti'' 'table' as shown in (1), you generally add ''-l'' to the end of the word (or sometimes you make the last sound of the word longer). For animate nouns, like ''ji'nm'' 'man' as shown in (2), you add ''-ug'' or ''-ig'' or ''-oq'' depending on the particular noun.

<gl>
\gll ptauti, ptauti-l
table, table-PL\\
\trans table, tables
</gl>

<gl>
\gll ji'nm, ji'nm-ug
man, man-PL\\
\trans man, men
</gl>

If you've looked at number in Mi'gmaq [[Verbs: Overview|verbs]], you may have noticed that Mi'gmaq verbs make a distinction between singular, dual (two participants), and plural (three or more participants). However, for nouns, the only distinction is between one and more than one.

==Vocatives==
When one addresses a person directly, the term used to address that person is known as a '''vocative'''.

As seen in the example below, English vocatives do not look different from non-vocative English nouns.
*To take an English example, in the sentence "Chris baked a cake," ''Chris'' is not a vocative noun. But in the command, "Hey Chris, please bake a cake!" the name ''Chris'' is a vocative.

However, one category of Mi'gmaq nouns seems to differ based on whether they are vocative or not. In Mi'gmaq, the words for '''family members''' look different as vocatives than they do when used in a sentence. While it is not grammatical to say "I have a daughter" using the bare root for 'daughter,' (more detail on this is given in [[Possession]]) it is completely grammatical to use that bare root to address one's daughter directly. Examples of both uses of the root for 'daughter' are seen below.

<gl>
\gll *geggung tus
have.1>3 daughter\\
\trans (intended) I have a daughter.
</gl>

<gl>
\gll tus, pasi
daughter, sit.IMP\\
\trans Daughter, sit!
</gl>

This second example should be double-checked.--[[User:Elise|Elise]] 12:18, 15 May 2012 (CDT)

==Feminine Suffix==
* The ''-sgw'' suffix, which functions like ''-ess'' in ''lioness''
'''more detail to follow'''

==Diminutive and Augmentative==
''For more detail, see [[Diminutive and Augmentative]].''

In Mi'gmaq, the diminutive is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffix suffix], that means "'''little [noun]'''". It cannot attach to every noun, though it is possible that your meaning may be understood even if you put it on a slightly non-standard noun. It may also be used to connote youth or affection towards the noun in question.

Some examples of words where it might appear include...
* ''lpa'tuj'' 'boy' becomes ''lpa'tu'ji'j'' 'little boy'
* ''gjigan'' 'city' becomes ''gjiganji'j'' 'village'
* ''jijgluewj'' 'sheep' becomes ''jijgluewji'j'' 'lamb'

Note that you can't always assume that the ending ''-ji'j'' is going to be a diminutive. The word ''jipji'j'' 'bird' ends in ''-ji'j'', but there is no word meaning 'larger bird' that is pronounced ''jip.''

The opposite of a diminutive is an '''augmentative''', an affix which '''denotes largeness'''. When augmenting a noun, Mi'gmaq speakers seem to prefer using the [[Nouns#Adjectives|adjective]] ''mesg'ig'' rather than a particular augmentative affix. However, there is evidence that at some point the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefix prefix] ''gji-'' was used as an augmentative, as it occurs as a prefix in several words that are bigger or greater than their un-prefixed counterparts.

Examples of this type of prefixation are limited, however, and the process does not seem to be productive any longer. The most relevant pair of examples are...
* ''ga'gaquj'' 'crow' compared to ''gjiga'qaquj'' 'raven'
* ''nisgam'' 'god' compared to ''gjinisgam'' 'Great Spirit'

==Absentatives==
This is another feature of Mi'gmaq that English doesn't share. It is a suffix on both verbs and nouns indicating that the person about whom you are speaking is no longer around, either because they are absent, lost, or dead.

For example, in speaking about a living relative, you would say:

<gl>
\gll Nujj teluisit Piel
n-ujj telui-sit Piel \\
1-father name-3 Piel \\
\trans My father is named Piel/Pierre.
</gl>

However, speaking about a deceased relative, you would say:
<gl>
\gll Nujaq teluisipnaq Piel
n-ujj-aq telui-sipn-aq Piel \\
1-father-ABSN name-3.PST-ABSN Piel \\
\trans My (deceased) father was named Piel/Pierre.
</gl>

Additionally, the absentative suffix ''-oq'' can be attached to names; in this example, you might refer to your father not as ''Piel'', but ''Pieloq''. It cannot attach to inanimate objects to indicate that they are absent. Take the ungrammaticality of the next example:

<gl>
\gll *ugjigan-oq
town-ABSN\\
\trans ghost town (intended)
</gl>

=Modifiers of Nouns=
==Numerals==
''For more detail, see [[Numerals]]''

There are some categories of nouns in Mi'gmaq that require special ways of counting. This could be compared to how in English, we say "a pair of pants" rather than "one pants" or "two pants"--though admittedly, the Mi'gmaq system is more compex than that. In Mi'gmaq, nouns are split into categories that are grouped together with specific counting words for that specific category. These are the most common groups, using examples from Hewson & Francis (1990)<ref>Hewson & Francis. 1990. ''Father Pacifique's Migmaq Grammar''.</ref>:
*long and round objects, such as bottles, candles, and even people
*round objects, such as potatoes, balls, and apples
*money
*units of time
**days
**years, months
**ages of people
*classes, groups, types of things
*dimensions, weights and measures

==Possession==
''For more detail, see [[Possession]]''

Possession covers a whole range of relationships between nouns, not necessarily relationships where there is a possession and an owner. In English, possession covers expressions such as:
*'''my''' umbrellas
*Tom''''s''' sister
*Jamie''''s''' leg
*a friend '''of''' Alice''''s'''
*the music '''of''' Beethoven

The verbs used in these sentences can also be thought of as "possessive":
*I '''have''' a cake.
*This dog '''belongs''' to me.

As mentioned before, these relationships aren't always strictly of ownership, but can be interpreted as a type of closeness or relatedness--so while the umbrella may be my possession in the strictest sense of the word, we also shouldn't think of Tom's sister being ''his'' possession. Instead, we use possession to show that a relationship exists between the two nouns in question.

Mi'gmaq possession has one very important feature that English speakers will have to get used to. This is related to the idea of '''alienability'''. So when something is '''alienable''', the relationship between the two nouns is changeable; ''my umbrella'' shows an alienable relationship, because I can give away the umbrella, and then it is no longer mine and the relationship dissolves. ''Tom's sister'', however, shows an '''inalienable''' relationship because no matter what, Tom and his sister will always be related.

Mi'gmaq inalienable nouns include...
*body parts (i.e. '''gpitn'' 'your hand', and ''nunji'' 'my head')
*family members (i.e. ''nuj'' 'my father', and ''ugmisl'' 'his/her big sister')
*a couple exceptions (i.e. ''nitap'' 'my friend' is inalienable, even though it describes a relationship that might change.)

Mi'gmaq alienable nouns include...
*everything else (i.e. '' 'gtsipuminu'' 'our river', and '' 'ntptautim'' 'my table', and ''ugtwigatign'' 'his/her book', and so on and so forth)

==Demonstratives/Determiners==
''For more detail, see [[Demonstratives]]''

A demonstrative is a word that can be paired with a noun, and generally helps people differentiate between two different nouns in conversation. In English, "this," "that," "these," and "those" are all demonstratives--you can pair them with nouns ("this cat," "those hats") but not verbs or lone adjectives.

In Mi'gmaq, we also see at least two demonstratives:
*''ula,'' for things that are close to the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "this"
*''ala,'' for things that are further from the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "that"

However, in Mi'gmaq they seem to be used a little differently from English. We have seen grammatical Mi'gmaq phrases such as ''ula nemis,'' which would translate in English to "this my big sister," a badly-formed phrase.

Another grammatical Mi'gmaq phrase where a demonstrative looks different from its English counterpart is seen below:

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ula tet.
Piel be.3 this here
\trans Piel is right here. // Piel is at this place
</gl>

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ala tet.
Piel be.3 that here
\trans Piel is over there. // Piel is at that place.
</gl>

==Adjectives==
Mi'gmaq adjectives behave quite differently from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjective English adjectives.] Specifically, they seem somewhat like [[verbs]].

'''more detail to follow'''

==Relative Clauses==

=Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Pronouns]]''

A pronoun is a word that can substitute for a noun that is already known from the context of the conversation.

* Q: What did Mary do with the book?
** A: Mary gave the book to Peter. (all nouns - sounds too long)
** A: She gave it to him. (all pronouns - we don't know who "him" is)
** A: She gave it to Peter. (pronouns for known information, nouns for new information - sounds more natural)
** A: She gave it to me. (ok as long as we know who is talking so we know who "me" is)

Some examples of pronouns in English are I, me, you, he, she, her, him, it, we, us, they, and them. Pronouns can be classified in several ways, see [[Person and number]] and [[Obviation]] for details. The table below shows the pronouns in Mi'gmaq.

{| class="wikitable"
! ||Singular||Dual/Plural
|-
| 13 (excl)
| ni'n
| ninen
|-
| 12 (incl)
| ''n/a''
| ginu
|-
| 2
| gi'l
| gilew
|-
| 3
| negm
| negmow
|}

Mi'gmaq uses pronouns in somewhat different contexts compared to how English does. In English, you can't tell from a verb by itself who is doing the action or who has the action being done to them. For example, "see" doesn't tell us anything about who is seeing or being seen, so the only way to know this is by having nouns or pronouns. Mi'gmaq verbs do give you this information. For example, ''nemi'g'' can only mean that "I see an animate thing," and if we want to change who/what is seeing or being seen we have change parts of the verb (''much'' more information about this in the [[Verbs]] section).

These facts mean that it isn't necessary to use pronouns to express this information again, since we already know it. Saying ''ni'n nemitu negm'' is therefore not quite like saying "I see him/her". Since we didn't have to use ''ni'n'' or ''negm'', the fact that we're choosing to say them means that we want to emphasize these particular people. For example, if someone asked you "Did she see you?" you might want to emphasize the opposite by saying "No, it was ''me'' that saw ''her''", but in a normal sentence you probably wouldn't bother to do this.

=Indefinite Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Indefinite Pronouns]]''

Indefinite pronouns are words that refer to non-specific entities. The following is an inexhaustive list of indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq:

{| class="wikitable"
! Form || Gloss
|-
| nat goqwei
| something
|-
| mugoqwei
| nothing
|-
| ms't goqwei
| everything
|-
| tampasgoqwei
| anything
|-
| mogwa'wen
| nobody/no one
|-
| ta'n wen
| somebody/whomever
|-
| na'tuen/natawen
| someone
|-
| jijuaqa
| sometimes/occasionally
|}

The speaker notes that it is possible to say 'moqoi' as a contraction of 'mugoqwei'. Alternatively, the [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/ Mi'gmaq dictionary ] lists the following form: 'mo'qagoqwei'. In addition, for the form 'moqwa' wen' the speaker notes that it is possible to say 'mowen' as a contraction. As can be seen from this table, many of the indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq could be broken down into two parts--a quantifier or an affix, and a wh-word. For example:

<gl>
\gll mu-goqwei
NEG-what
\trans nothing
</gl>

=References=
<references />

Nouns

2012-12-03T22:02:46Z

Elise: /* Absentatives */

Nouns are words that refer to persons, places, or things. They are the elements that do the action described by the verb or have the action done to them. Many Mi'gmaq sentences have nouns in them, but they aren't necessary. A few examples of English nouns include ''Listuguj'', ''Mary'', ''woman'', and ''table''. These same words are also nouns in Mi'gmaq: ''Listuguj'', ''Mali'', ''e'pit,'' and ''ptauti''.

There are several characteristics that are found in both nouns and verbs, including [[Animacy]], [[Obviation]] and [[Person and number]] marking, which are discussed in their respective articles. Independently of verbs, nouns can also be [[Plural Nouns|Singular or Plural]], [[Absentative]], and [[Vocative]]. Nouns can be modified by a variety of things, including [[Possession]], [[Adjectives]], [[Determiners]], [[Numerals]], [[Nouns#Diminutive and Augmentative|Diminuitives]] and [[Relative Clauses]]. [[Pronouns]] can also be used to substitute for nouns.

=Characteristics of Nouns=
==Plural Nouns==
''For more detail, see [[Plural Nouns]]''

"Number" refers to how many of something there are. In both English and Mi'gmaq, there are two numbers for nouns: singular (only one of something) and plural (two or more of something). In English, a plural noun often looks like the singular plus an ''-s'' at the end, for example, ''girl'' becomes ''girls.'' In Mi'gmaq, there are two things you can add to a noun in order to make it plural, depending on whether the noun is [[Animacy|animate or inanimate]]. For inanimate nouns, like ''ptauti'' 'table' as shown in (1), you generally add ''-l'' to the end of the word (or sometimes you make the last sound of the word longer). For animate nouns, like ''ji'nm'' 'man' as shown in (2), you add ''-ug'' or ''-ig'' or ''-oq'' depending on the particular noun.

<gl>
\gll ptauti, ptauti-l
table, table-PL\\
\trans table, tables
</gl>

<gl>
\gll ji'nm, ji'nm-ug
man, man-PL\\
\trans man, men
</gl>

If you've looked at number in Mi'gmaq [[Verbs: Overview|verbs]], you may have noticed that Mi'gmaq verbs make a distinction between singular, dual (two participants), and plural (three or more participants). However, for nouns, the only distinction is between one and more than one.

==Vocatives==
When one addresses a person directly, the term used to address that person is known as a '''vocative'''.

As seen in the example below, English vocatives do not look different from non-vocative English nouns.
*To take an English example, in the sentence "Chris baked a cake," ''Chris'' is not a vocative noun. But in the command, "Hey Chris, please bake a cake!" the name ''Chris'' is a vocative.

However, one category of Mi'gmaq nouns seems to differ based on whether they are vocative or not. In Mi'gmaq, the words for '''family members''' look different as vocatives than they do when used in a sentence. While it is not grammatical to say "I have a daughter" using the bare root for 'daughter,' (more detail on this is given in [[Possession]]) it is completely grammatical to use that bare root to address one's daughter directly. Examples of both uses of the root for 'daughter' are seen below.

<gl>
\gll *geggung tus
have.1>3 daughter\\
\trans (intended) I have a daughter.
</gl>

<gl>
\gll tus, pasi
daughter, sit.IMP\\
\trans Daughter, sit!
</gl>

This second example should be double-checked.--[[User:Elise|Elise]] 12:18, 15 May 2012 (CDT)

==Feminine Suffix==
* The ''-sgw'' suffix, which functions like ''-ess'' in ''lioness''
'''more detail to follow'''

==Diminutive and Augmentative==
''For more detail, see [[Diminutive and Augmentative]].''

In Mi'gmaq, the diminutive is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffix suffix], that means "'''little [noun]'''". It cannot attach to every noun, though it is possible that your meaning may be understood even if you put it on a slightly non-standard noun. It may also be used to connote youth or affection towards the noun in question.

Some examples of words where it might appear include...
* ''lpa'tuj'' 'boy' becomes ''lpa'tu'ji'j'' 'little boy'
* ''gjigan'' 'city' becomes ''gjiganji'j'' 'village'
* ''jijgluewj'' 'sheep' becomes ''jijgluewji'j'' 'lamb'

Note that you can't always assume that the ending ''-ji'j'' is going to be a diminutive. The word ''jipji'j'' 'bird' ends in ''-ji'j'', but there is no word meaning 'larger bird' that is pronounced ''jip.''

The opposite of a diminutive is an '''augmentative''', an affix which '''denotes largeness'''. When augmenting a noun, Mi'gmaq speakers seem to prefer using the [[Nouns#Adjectives|adjective]] ''mesg'ig'' rather than a particular augmentative affix. However, there is evidence that at some point the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefix prefix] ''gji-'' was used as an augmentative, as it occurs as a prefix in several words that are bigger or greater than their un-prefixed counterparts.

Examples of this type of prefixation are limited, however, and the process does not seem to be productive any longer. The most relevant pair of examples are...
* ''ga'gaquj'' 'crow' compared to ''gjiga'qaquj'' 'raven'
* ''nisgam'' 'god' compared to ''gjinisgam'' 'Great Spirit'

==Absentatives==
This is another feature of Mi'gmaq that English doesn't share. It is a suffix on both verbs and nouns indicating that the person about whom you are speaking is no longer around, either because they are absent, lost, or dead.

For example, in speaking about a living relative, you would say:

<gl>
\gll Nujj teluisit Piel
n-ujj telui-sit Piel \\
1-father name-3 Piel \\
\trans My father is named Piel/Pierre.
</gl>

However, speaking about a deceased relative, you would say:
<gl>
\gll Nujaq teluisipnaq Piel
n-ujj-aq telui-sipn-aq Piel \\
1-father-ABSN name-3.PST-ABSN Piel \\
\trans My (deceased) father was named Piel/Pierre.
</gl>

Additionally, the absentative suffix ''-oq'' can be attached to names; in this example, you might refer to your father not as ''Piel'', but ''Pieloq''. It cannot attach to inanimate objects to indicate that they are absent. Take the ungrammaticality of the next example:

<gl>
\gll * ugjigan-oq
* town-ABSN\\
\trans ghost town (intended)
</gl>

=Modifiers of Nouns=
==Numerals==
''For more detail, see [[Numerals]]''

There are some categories of nouns in Mi'gmaq that require special ways of counting. This could be compared to how in English, we say "a pair of pants" rather than "one pants" or "two pants"--though admittedly, the Mi'gmaq system is more compex than that. In Mi'gmaq, nouns are split into categories that are grouped together with specific counting words for that specific category. These are the most common groups, using examples from Hewson & Francis (1990)<ref>Hewson & Francis. 1990. ''Father Pacifique's Migmaq Grammar''.</ref>:
*long and round objects, such as bottles, candles, and even people
*round objects, such as potatoes, balls, and apples
*money
*units of time
**days
**years, months
**ages of people
*classes, groups, types of things
*dimensions, weights and measures

==Possession==
''For more detail, see [[Possession]]''

Possession covers a whole range of relationships between nouns, not necessarily relationships where there is a possession and an owner. In English, possession covers expressions such as:
*'''my''' umbrellas
*Tom''''s''' sister
*Jamie''''s''' leg
*a friend '''of''' Alice''''s'''
*the music '''of''' Beethoven

The verbs used in these sentences can also be thought of as "possessive":
*I '''have''' a cake.
*This dog '''belongs''' to me.

As mentioned before, these relationships aren't always strictly of ownership, but can be interpreted as a type of closeness or relatedness--so while the umbrella may be my possession in the strictest sense of the word, we also shouldn't think of Tom's sister being ''his'' possession. Instead, we use possession to show that a relationship exists between the two nouns in question.

Mi'gmaq possession has one very important feature that English speakers will have to get used to. This is related to the idea of '''alienability'''. So when something is '''alienable''', the relationship between the two nouns is changeable; ''my umbrella'' shows an alienable relationship, because I can give away the umbrella, and then it is no longer mine and the relationship dissolves. ''Tom's sister'', however, shows an '''inalienable''' relationship because no matter what, Tom and his sister will always be related.

Mi'gmaq inalienable nouns include...
*body parts (i.e. '''gpitn'' 'your hand', and ''nunji'' 'my head')
*family members (i.e. ''nuj'' 'my father', and ''ugmisl'' 'his/her big sister')
*a couple exceptions (i.e. ''nitap'' 'my friend' is inalienable, even though it describes a relationship that might change.)

Mi'gmaq alienable nouns include...
*everything else (i.e. '' 'gtsipuminu'' 'our river', and '' 'ntptautim'' 'my table', and ''ugtwigatign'' 'his/her book', and so on and so forth)

==Demonstratives/Determiners==
''For more detail, see [[Demonstratives]]''

A demonstrative is a word that can be paired with a noun, and generally helps people differentiate between two different nouns in conversation. In English, "this," "that," "these," and "those" are all demonstratives--you can pair them with nouns ("this cat," "those hats") but not verbs or lone adjectives.

In Mi'gmaq, we also see at least two demonstratives:
*''ula,'' for things that are close to the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "this"
*''ala,'' for things that are further from the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "that"

However, in Mi'gmaq they seem to be used a little differently from English. We have seen grammatical Mi'gmaq phrases such as ''ula nemis,'' which would translate in English to "this my big sister," a badly-formed phrase.

Another grammatical Mi'gmaq phrase where a demonstrative looks different from its English counterpart is seen below:

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ula tet.
Piel be.3 this here
\trans Piel is right here. // Piel is at this place
</gl>

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ala tet.
Piel be.3 that here
\trans Piel is over there. // Piel is at that place.
</gl>

==Adjectives==
Mi'gmaq adjectives behave quite differently from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjective English adjectives.] Specifically, they seem somewhat like [[verbs]].

'''more detail to follow'''

==Relative Clauses==

=Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Pronouns]]''

A pronoun is a word that can substitute for a noun that is already known from the context of the conversation.

* Q: What did Mary do with the book?
** A: Mary gave the book to Peter. (all nouns - sounds too long)
** A: She gave it to him. (all pronouns - we don't know who "him" is)
** A: She gave it to Peter. (pronouns for known information, nouns for new information - sounds more natural)
** A: She gave it to me. (ok as long as we know who is talking so we know who "me" is)

Some examples of pronouns in English are I, me, you, he, she, her, him, it, we, us, they, and them. Pronouns can be classified in several ways, see [[Person and number]] and [[Obviation]] for details. The table below shows the pronouns in Mi'gmaq.

{| class="wikitable"
! ||Singular||Dual/Plural
|-
| 13 (excl)
| ni'n
| ninen
|-
| 12 (incl)
| ''n/a''
| ginu
|-
| 2
| gi'l
| gilew
|-
| 3
| negm
| negmow
|}

Mi'gmaq uses pronouns in somewhat different contexts compared to how English does. In English, you can't tell from a verb by itself who is doing the action or who has the action being done to them. For example, "see" doesn't tell us anything about who is seeing or being seen, so the only way to know this is by having nouns or pronouns. Mi'gmaq verbs do give you this information. For example, ''nemi'g'' can only mean that "I see an animate thing," and if we want to change who/what is seeing or being seen we have change parts of the verb (''much'' more information about this in the [[Verbs]] section).

These facts mean that it isn't necessary to use pronouns to express this information again, since we already know it. Saying ''ni'n nemitu negm'' is therefore not quite like saying "I see him/her". Since we didn't have to use ''ni'n'' or ''negm'', the fact that we're choosing to say them means that we want to emphasize these particular people. For example, if someone asked you "Did she see you?" you might want to emphasize the opposite by saying "No, it was ''me'' that saw ''her''", but in a normal sentence you probably wouldn't bother to do this.

=Indefinite Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Indefinite Pronouns]]''

Indefinite pronouns are words that refer to non-specific entities. The following is an inexhaustive list of indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq:

{| class="wikitable"
! Form || Gloss
|-
| nat goqwei
| something
|-
| mugoqwei
| nothing
|-
| ms't goqwei
| everything
|-
| tampasgoqwei
| anything
|-
| mogwa'wen
| nobody/no one
|-
| ta'n wen
| somebody/whomever
|-
| na'tuen/natawen
| someone
|-
| jijuaqa
| sometimes/occasionally
|}

The speaker notes that it is possible to say 'moqoi' as a contraction of 'mugoqwei'. Alternatively, the [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/ Mi'gmaq dictionary ] lists the following form: 'mo'qagoqwei'. In addition, for the form 'moqwa' wen' the speaker notes that it is possible to say 'mowen' as a contraction. As can be seen from this table, many of the indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq could be broken down into two parts--a quantifier or an affix, and a wh-word. For example:

<gl>
\gll mu-goqwei
NEG-what
\trans nothing
</gl>

=References=
<references />

Nouns

2012-12-03T22:02:32Z

Elise: /* Absentatives */

Nouns are words that refer to persons, places, or things. They are the elements that do the action described by the verb or have the action done to them. Many Mi'gmaq sentences have nouns in them, but they aren't necessary. A few examples of English nouns include ''Listuguj'', ''Mary'', ''woman'', and ''table''. These same words are also nouns in Mi'gmaq: ''Listuguj'', ''Mali'', ''e'pit,'' and ''ptauti''.

There are several characteristics that are found in both nouns and verbs, including [[Animacy]], [[Obviation]] and [[Person and number]] marking, which are discussed in their respective articles. Independently of verbs, nouns can also be [[Plural Nouns|Singular or Plural]], [[Absentative]], and [[Vocative]]. Nouns can be modified by a variety of things, including [[Possession]], [[Adjectives]], [[Determiners]], [[Numerals]], [[Nouns#Diminutive and Augmentative|Diminuitives]] and [[Relative Clauses]]. [[Pronouns]] can also be used to substitute for nouns.

=Characteristics of Nouns=
==Plural Nouns==
''For more detail, see [[Plural Nouns]]''

"Number" refers to how many of something there are. In both English and Mi'gmaq, there are two numbers for nouns: singular (only one of something) and plural (two or more of something). In English, a plural noun often looks like the singular plus an ''-s'' at the end, for example, ''girl'' becomes ''girls.'' In Mi'gmaq, there are two things you can add to a noun in order to make it plural, depending on whether the noun is [[Animacy|animate or inanimate]]. For inanimate nouns, like ''ptauti'' 'table' as shown in (1), you generally add ''-l'' to the end of the word (or sometimes you make the last sound of the word longer). For animate nouns, like ''ji'nm'' 'man' as shown in (2), you add ''-ug'' or ''-ig'' or ''-oq'' depending on the particular noun.

<gl>
\gll ptauti, ptauti-l
table, table-PL\\
\trans table, tables
</gl>

<gl>
\gll ji'nm, ji'nm-ug
man, man-PL\\
\trans man, men
</gl>

If you've looked at number in Mi'gmaq [[Verbs: Overview|verbs]], you may have noticed that Mi'gmaq verbs make a distinction between singular, dual (two participants), and plural (three or more participants). However, for nouns, the only distinction is between one and more than one.

==Vocatives==
When one addresses a person directly, the term used to address that person is known as a '''vocative'''.

As seen in the example below, English vocatives do not look different from non-vocative English nouns.
*To take an English example, in the sentence "Chris baked a cake," ''Chris'' is not a vocative noun. But in the command, "Hey Chris, please bake a cake!" the name ''Chris'' is a vocative.

However, one category of Mi'gmaq nouns seems to differ based on whether they are vocative or not. In Mi'gmaq, the words for '''family members''' look different as vocatives than they do when used in a sentence. While it is not grammatical to say "I have a daughter" using the bare root for 'daughter,' (more detail on this is given in [[Possession]]) it is completely grammatical to use that bare root to address one's daughter directly. Examples of both uses of the root for 'daughter' are seen below.

<gl>
\gll *geggung tus
have.1>3 daughter\\
\trans (intended) I have a daughter.
</gl>

<gl>
\gll tus, pasi
daughter, sit.IMP\\
\trans Daughter, sit!
</gl>

This second example should be double-checked.--[[User:Elise|Elise]] 12:18, 15 May 2012 (CDT)

==Feminine Suffix==
* The ''-sgw'' suffix, which functions like ''-ess'' in ''lioness''
'''more detail to follow'''

==Diminutive and Augmentative==
''For more detail, see [[Diminutive and Augmentative]].''

In Mi'gmaq, the diminutive is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffix suffix], that means "'''little [noun]'''". It cannot attach to every noun, though it is possible that your meaning may be understood even if you put it on a slightly non-standard noun. It may also be used to connote youth or affection towards the noun in question.

Some examples of words where it might appear include...
* ''lpa'tuj'' 'boy' becomes ''lpa'tu'ji'j'' 'little boy'
* ''gjigan'' 'city' becomes ''gjiganji'j'' 'village'
* ''jijgluewj'' 'sheep' becomes ''jijgluewji'j'' 'lamb'

Note that you can't always assume that the ending ''-ji'j'' is going to be a diminutive. The word ''jipji'j'' 'bird' ends in ''-ji'j'', but there is no word meaning 'larger bird' that is pronounced ''jip.''

The opposite of a diminutive is an '''augmentative''', an affix which '''denotes largeness'''. When augmenting a noun, Mi'gmaq speakers seem to prefer using the [[Nouns#Adjectives|adjective]] ''mesg'ig'' rather than a particular augmentative affix. However, there is evidence that at some point the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefix prefix] ''gji-'' was used as an augmentative, as it occurs as a prefix in several words that are bigger or greater than their un-prefixed counterparts.

Examples of this type of prefixation are limited, however, and the process does not seem to be productive any longer. The most relevant pair of examples are...
* ''ga'gaquj'' 'crow' compared to ''gjiga'qaquj'' 'raven'
* ''nisgam'' 'god' compared to ''gjinisgam'' 'Great Spirit'

==Absentatives==
This is another feature of Mi'gmaq that English doesn't share. It is a suffix on both verbs and nouns indicating that the person about whom you are speaking is no longer around, either because they are absent, lost, or dead.

For example, in speaking about a living relative, you would say:

<gl>
\gll Nujj teluisit Piel
n-ujj telui-sit Piel \\
1-father name-3 Piel \\
\trans My father is named Piel/Pierre.
</gl>

However, speaking about a deceased relative, you would say:
<gl>
\gll Nujaq teluisipnaq Piel
n-ujj-aq telui-sipn-aq Piel \\
1-father-ABSN name-3.PST-ABSN Piel \\
\trans My (deceased) father was named Piel/Pierre.
</gl>

Additionally, the absentative suffix ''-oq'' can be attached to names; in this example, you might refer to your father not as ''Piel'', but ''Pieloq''. It cannot attach to inanimate objects to indicate that they are absent. Take the ungrammaticality of the next example:

<gl>
* \gll ugjigan-oq
town-ABSN\\
\trans ghost town (intended)
</gl>

=Modifiers of Nouns=
==Numerals==
''For more detail, see [[Numerals]]''

There are some categories of nouns in Mi'gmaq that require special ways of counting. This could be compared to how in English, we say "a pair of pants" rather than "one pants" or "two pants"--though admittedly, the Mi'gmaq system is more compex than that. In Mi'gmaq, nouns are split into categories that are grouped together with specific counting words for that specific category. These are the most common groups, using examples from Hewson & Francis (1990)<ref>Hewson & Francis. 1990. ''Father Pacifique's Migmaq Grammar''.</ref>:
*long and round objects, such as bottles, candles, and even people
*round objects, such as potatoes, balls, and apples
*money
*units of time
**days
**years, months
**ages of people
*classes, groups, types of things
*dimensions, weights and measures

==Possession==
''For more detail, see [[Possession]]''

Possession covers a whole range of relationships between nouns, not necessarily relationships where there is a possession and an owner. In English, possession covers expressions such as:
*'''my''' umbrellas
*Tom''''s''' sister
*Jamie''''s''' leg
*a friend '''of''' Alice''''s'''
*the music '''of''' Beethoven

The verbs used in these sentences can also be thought of as "possessive":
*I '''have''' a cake.
*This dog '''belongs''' to me.

As mentioned before, these relationships aren't always strictly of ownership, but can be interpreted as a type of closeness or relatedness--so while the umbrella may be my possession in the strictest sense of the word, we also shouldn't think of Tom's sister being ''his'' possession. Instead, we use possession to show that a relationship exists between the two nouns in question.

Mi'gmaq possession has one very important feature that English speakers will have to get used to. This is related to the idea of '''alienability'''. So when something is '''alienable''', the relationship between the two nouns is changeable; ''my umbrella'' shows an alienable relationship, because I can give away the umbrella, and then it is no longer mine and the relationship dissolves. ''Tom's sister'', however, shows an '''inalienable''' relationship because no matter what, Tom and his sister will always be related.

Mi'gmaq inalienable nouns include...
*body parts (i.e. '''gpitn'' 'your hand', and ''nunji'' 'my head')
*family members (i.e. ''nuj'' 'my father', and ''ugmisl'' 'his/her big sister')
*a couple exceptions (i.e. ''nitap'' 'my friend' is inalienable, even though it describes a relationship that might change.)

Mi'gmaq alienable nouns include...
*everything else (i.e. '' 'gtsipuminu'' 'our river', and '' 'ntptautim'' 'my table', and ''ugtwigatign'' 'his/her book', and so on and so forth)

==Demonstratives/Determiners==
''For more detail, see [[Demonstratives]]''

A demonstrative is a word that can be paired with a noun, and generally helps people differentiate between two different nouns in conversation. In English, "this," "that," "these," and "those" are all demonstratives--you can pair them with nouns ("this cat," "those hats") but not verbs or lone adjectives.

In Mi'gmaq, we also see at least two demonstratives:
*''ula,'' for things that are close to the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "this"
*''ala,'' for things that are further from the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "that"

However, in Mi'gmaq they seem to be used a little differently from English. We have seen grammatical Mi'gmaq phrases such as ''ula nemis,'' which would translate in English to "this my big sister," a badly-formed phrase.

Another grammatical Mi'gmaq phrase where a demonstrative looks different from its English counterpart is seen below:

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ula tet.
Piel be.3 this here
\trans Piel is right here. // Piel is at this place
</gl>

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ala tet.
Piel be.3 that here
\trans Piel is over there. // Piel is at that place.
</gl>

==Adjectives==
Mi'gmaq adjectives behave quite differently from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjective English adjectives.] Specifically, they seem somewhat like [[verbs]].

'''more detail to follow'''

==Relative Clauses==

=Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Pronouns]]''

A pronoun is a word that can substitute for a noun that is already known from the context of the conversation.

* Q: What did Mary do with the book?
** A: Mary gave the book to Peter. (all nouns - sounds too long)
** A: She gave it to him. (all pronouns - we don't know who "him" is)
** A: She gave it to Peter. (pronouns for known information, nouns for new information - sounds more natural)
** A: She gave it to me. (ok as long as we know who is talking so we know who "me" is)

Some examples of pronouns in English are I, me, you, he, she, her, him, it, we, us, they, and them. Pronouns can be classified in several ways, see [[Person and number]] and [[Obviation]] for details. The table below shows the pronouns in Mi'gmaq.

{| class="wikitable"
! ||Singular||Dual/Plural
|-
| 13 (excl)
| ni'n
| ninen
|-
| 12 (incl)
| ''n/a''
| ginu
|-
| 2
| gi'l
| gilew
|-
| 3
| negm
| negmow
|}

Mi'gmaq uses pronouns in somewhat different contexts compared to how English does. In English, you can't tell from a verb by itself who is doing the action or who has the action being done to them. For example, "see" doesn't tell us anything about who is seeing or being seen, so the only way to know this is by having nouns or pronouns. Mi'gmaq verbs do give you this information. For example, ''nemi'g'' can only mean that "I see an animate thing," and if we want to change who/what is seeing or being seen we have change parts of the verb (''much'' more information about this in the [[Verbs]] section).

These facts mean that it isn't necessary to use pronouns to express this information again, since we already know it. Saying ''ni'n nemitu negm'' is therefore not quite like saying "I see him/her". Since we didn't have to use ''ni'n'' or ''negm'', the fact that we're choosing to say them means that we want to emphasize these particular people. For example, if someone asked you "Did she see you?" you might want to emphasize the opposite by saying "No, it was ''me'' that saw ''her''", but in a normal sentence you probably wouldn't bother to do this.

=Indefinite Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Indefinite Pronouns]]''

Indefinite pronouns are words that refer to non-specific entities. The following is an inexhaustive list of indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq:

{| class="wikitable"
! Form || Gloss
|-
| nat goqwei
| something
|-
| mugoqwei
| nothing
|-
| ms't goqwei
| everything
|-
| tampasgoqwei
| anything
|-
| mogwa'wen
| nobody/no one
|-
| ta'n wen
| somebody/whomever
|-
| na'tuen/natawen
| someone
|-
| jijuaqa
| sometimes/occasionally
|}

The speaker notes that it is possible to say 'moqoi' as a contraction of 'mugoqwei'. Alternatively, the [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/ Mi'gmaq dictionary ] lists the following form: 'mo'qagoqwei'. In addition, for the form 'moqwa' wen' the speaker notes that it is possible to say 'mowen' as a contraction. As can be seen from this table, many of the indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq could be broken down into two parts--a quantifier or an affix, and a wh-word. For example:

<gl>
\gll mu-goqwei
NEG-what
\trans nothing
</gl>

=References=
<references />

Nouns

2012-12-03T22:02:18Z

Elise: /* Absentatives */

Nouns are words that refer to persons, places, or things. They are the elements that do the action described by the verb or have the action done to them. Many Mi'gmaq sentences have nouns in them, but they aren't necessary. A few examples of English nouns include ''Listuguj'', ''Mary'', ''woman'', and ''table''. These same words are also nouns in Mi'gmaq: ''Listuguj'', ''Mali'', ''e'pit,'' and ''ptauti''.

There are several characteristics that are found in both nouns and verbs, including [[Animacy]], [[Obviation]] and [[Person and number]] marking, which are discussed in their respective articles. Independently of verbs, nouns can also be [[Plural Nouns|Singular or Plural]], [[Absentative]], and [[Vocative]]. Nouns can be modified by a variety of things, including [[Possession]], [[Adjectives]], [[Determiners]], [[Numerals]], [[Nouns#Diminutive and Augmentative|Diminuitives]] and [[Relative Clauses]]. [[Pronouns]] can also be used to substitute for nouns.

=Characteristics of Nouns=
==Plural Nouns==
''For more detail, see [[Plural Nouns]]''

"Number" refers to how many of something there are. In both English and Mi'gmaq, there are two numbers for nouns: singular (only one of something) and plural (two or more of something). In English, a plural noun often looks like the singular plus an ''-s'' at the end, for example, ''girl'' becomes ''girls.'' In Mi'gmaq, there are two things you can add to a noun in order to make it plural, depending on whether the noun is [[Animacy|animate or inanimate]]. For inanimate nouns, like ''ptauti'' 'table' as shown in (1), you generally add ''-l'' to the end of the word (or sometimes you make the last sound of the word longer). For animate nouns, like ''ji'nm'' 'man' as shown in (2), you add ''-ug'' or ''-ig'' or ''-oq'' depending on the particular noun.

<gl>
\gll ptauti, ptauti-l
table, table-PL\\
\trans table, tables
</gl>

<gl>
\gll ji'nm, ji'nm-ug
man, man-PL\\
\trans man, men
</gl>

If you've looked at number in Mi'gmaq [[Verbs: Overview|verbs]], you may have noticed that Mi'gmaq verbs make a distinction between singular, dual (two participants), and plural (three or more participants). However, for nouns, the only distinction is between one and more than one.

==Vocatives==
When one addresses a person directly, the term used to address that person is known as a '''vocative'''.

As seen in the example below, English vocatives do not look different from non-vocative English nouns.
*To take an English example, in the sentence "Chris baked a cake," ''Chris'' is not a vocative noun. But in the command, "Hey Chris, please bake a cake!" the name ''Chris'' is a vocative.

However, one category of Mi'gmaq nouns seems to differ based on whether they are vocative or not. In Mi'gmaq, the words for '''family members''' look different as vocatives than they do when used in a sentence. While it is not grammatical to say "I have a daughter" using the bare root for 'daughter,' (more detail on this is given in [[Possession]]) it is completely grammatical to use that bare root to address one's daughter directly. Examples of both uses of the root for 'daughter' are seen below.

<gl>
\gll *geggung tus
have.1>3 daughter\\
\trans (intended) I have a daughter.
</gl>

<gl>
\gll tus, pasi
daughter, sit.IMP\\
\trans Daughter, sit!
</gl>

This second example should be double-checked.--[[User:Elise|Elise]] 12:18, 15 May 2012 (CDT)

==Feminine Suffix==
* The ''-sgw'' suffix, which functions like ''-ess'' in ''lioness''
'''more detail to follow'''

==Diminutive and Augmentative==
''For more detail, see [[Diminutive and Augmentative]].''

In Mi'gmaq, the diminutive is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffix suffix], that means "'''little [noun]'''". It cannot attach to every noun, though it is possible that your meaning may be understood even if you put it on a slightly non-standard noun. It may also be used to connote youth or affection towards the noun in question.

Some examples of words where it might appear include...
* ''lpa'tuj'' 'boy' becomes ''lpa'tu'ji'j'' 'little boy'
* ''gjigan'' 'city' becomes ''gjiganji'j'' 'village'
* ''jijgluewj'' 'sheep' becomes ''jijgluewji'j'' 'lamb'

Note that you can't always assume that the ending ''-ji'j'' is going to be a diminutive. The word ''jipji'j'' 'bird' ends in ''-ji'j'', but there is no word meaning 'larger bird' that is pronounced ''jip.''

The opposite of a diminutive is an '''augmentative''', an affix which '''denotes largeness'''. When augmenting a noun, Mi'gmaq speakers seem to prefer using the [[Nouns#Adjectives|adjective]] ''mesg'ig'' rather than a particular augmentative affix. However, there is evidence that at some point the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefix prefix] ''gji-'' was used as an augmentative, as it occurs as a prefix in several words that are bigger or greater than their un-prefixed counterparts.

Examples of this type of prefixation are limited, however, and the process does not seem to be productive any longer. The most relevant pair of examples are...
* ''ga'gaquj'' 'crow' compared to ''gjiga'qaquj'' 'raven'
* ''nisgam'' 'god' compared to ''gjinisgam'' 'Great Spirit'

==Absentatives==
This is another feature of Mi'gmaq that English doesn't share. It is a suffix on both verbs and nouns indicating that the person about whom you are speaking is no longer around, either because they are absent, lost, or dead.

For example, in speaking about a living relative, you would say:

<gl>
\gll Nujj teluisit Piel
n-ujj telui-sit Piel \\
1-father name-3 Piel \\
\trans My father is named Piel/Pierre.
</gl>

However, speaking about a deceased relative, you would say:
<gl>
\gll Nujaq teluisipnaq Piel
n-ujj-aq telui-sipn-aq Piel \\
1-father-ABSN name-3.PST-ABSN Piel \\
\trans My (deceased) father was named Piel/Pierre.
</gl>

Additionally, the absentative suffix ''-oq'' can be attached to names; in this example, you might refer to your father not as ''Piel'', but ''Pieloq''. It cannot attach to inanimate objects to indicate that they are absent. Take the ungrammaticality of the next example:

<gl>
\gll * ugjigan-oq
town-ABSN\\
\trans ghost town (intended)
</gl>

=Modifiers of Nouns=
==Numerals==
''For more detail, see [[Numerals]]''

There are some categories of nouns in Mi'gmaq that require special ways of counting. This could be compared to how in English, we say "a pair of pants" rather than "one pants" or "two pants"--though admittedly, the Mi'gmaq system is more compex than that. In Mi'gmaq, nouns are split into categories that are grouped together with specific counting words for that specific category. These are the most common groups, using examples from Hewson & Francis (1990)<ref>Hewson & Francis. 1990. ''Father Pacifique's Migmaq Grammar''.</ref>:
*long and round objects, such as bottles, candles, and even people
*round objects, such as potatoes, balls, and apples
*money
*units of time
**days
**years, months
**ages of people
*classes, groups, types of things
*dimensions, weights and measures

==Possession==
''For more detail, see [[Possession]]''

Possession covers a whole range of relationships between nouns, not necessarily relationships where there is a possession and an owner. In English, possession covers expressions such as:
*'''my''' umbrellas
*Tom''''s''' sister
*Jamie''''s''' leg
*a friend '''of''' Alice''''s'''
*the music '''of''' Beethoven

The verbs used in these sentences can also be thought of as "possessive":
*I '''have''' a cake.
*This dog '''belongs''' to me.

As mentioned before, these relationships aren't always strictly of ownership, but can be interpreted as a type of closeness or relatedness--so while the umbrella may be my possession in the strictest sense of the word, we also shouldn't think of Tom's sister being ''his'' possession. Instead, we use possession to show that a relationship exists between the two nouns in question.

Mi'gmaq possession has one very important feature that English speakers will have to get used to. This is related to the idea of '''alienability'''. So when something is '''alienable''', the relationship between the two nouns is changeable; ''my umbrella'' shows an alienable relationship, because I can give away the umbrella, and then it is no longer mine and the relationship dissolves. ''Tom's sister'', however, shows an '''inalienable''' relationship because no matter what, Tom and his sister will always be related.

Mi'gmaq inalienable nouns include...
*body parts (i.e. '''gpitn'' 'your hand', and ''nunji'' 'my head')
*family members (i.e. ''nuj'' 'my father', and ''ugmisl'' 'his/her big sister')
*a couple exceptions (i.e. ''nitap'' 'my friend' is inalienable, even though it describes a relationship that might change.)

Mi'gmaq alienable nouns include...
*everything else (i.e. '' 'gtsipuminu'' 'our river', and '' 'ntptautim'' 'my table', and ''ugtwigatign'' 'his/her book', and so on and so forth)

==Demonstratives/Determiners==
''For more detail, see [[Demonstratives]]''

A demonstrative is a word that can be paired with a noun, and generally helps people differentiate between two different nouns in conversation. In English, "this," "that," "these," and "those" are all demonstratives--you can pair them with nouns ("this cat," "those hats") but not verbs or lone adjectives.

In Mi'gmaq, we also see at least two demonstratives:
*''ula,'' for things that are close to the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "this"
*''ala,'' for things that are further from the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "that"

However, in Mi'gmaq they seem to be used a little differently from English. We have seen grammatical Mi'gmaq phrases such as ''ula nemis,'' which would translate in English to "this my big sister," a badly-formed phrase.

Another grammatical Mi'gmaq phrase where a demonstrative looks different from its English counterpart is seen below:

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ula tet.
Piel be.3 this here
\trans Piel is right here. // Piel is at this place
</gl>

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ala tet.
Piel be.3 that here
\trans Piel is over there. // Piel is at that place.
</gl>

==Adjectives==
Mi'gmaq adjectives behave quite differently from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjective English adjectives.] Specifically, they seem somewhat like [[verbs]].

'''more detail to follow'''

==Relative Clauses==

=Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Pronouns]]''

A pronoun is a word that can substitute for a noun that is already known from the context of the conversation.

* Q: What did Mary do with the book?
** A: Mary gave the book to Peter. (all nouns - sounds too long)
** A: She gave it to him. (all pronouns - we don't know who "him" is)
** A: She gave it to Peter. (pronouns for known information, nouns for new information - sounds more natural)
** A: She gave it to me. (ok as long as we know who is talking so we know who "me" is)

Some examples of pronouns in English are I, me, you, he, she, her, him, it, we, us, they, and them. Pronouns can be classified in several ways, see [[Person and number]] and [[Obviation]] for details. The table below shows the pronouns in Mi'gmaq.

{| class="wikitable"
! ||Singular||Dual/Plural
|-
| 13 (excl)
| ni'n
| ninen
|-
| 12 (incl)
| ''n/a''
| ginu
|-
| 2
| gi'l
| gilew
|-
| 3
| negm
| negmow
|}

Mi'gmaq uses pronouns in somewhat different contexts compared to how English does. In English, you can't tell from a verb by itself who is doing the action or who has the action being done to them. For example, "see" doesn't tell us anything about who is seeing or being seen, so the only way to know this is by having nouns or pronouns. Mi'gmaq verbs do give you this information. For example, ''nemi'g'' can only mean that "I see an animate thing," and if we want to change who/what is seeing or being seen we have change parts of the verb (''much'' more information about this in the [[Verbs]] section).

These facts mean that it isn't necessary to use pronouns to express this information again, since we already know it. Saying ''ni'n nemitu negm'' is therefore not quite like saying "I see him/her". Since we didn't have to use ''ni'n'' or ''negm'', the fact that we're choosing to say them means that we want to emphasize these particular people. For example, if someone asked you "Did she see you?" you might want to emphasize the opposite by saying "No, it was ''me'' that saw ''her''", but in a normal sentence you probably wouldn't bother to do this.

=Indefinite Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Indefinite Pronouns]]''

Indefinite pronouns are words that refer to non-specific entities. The following is an inexhaustive list of indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq:

{| class="wikitable"
! Form || Gloss
|-
| nat goqwei
| something
|-
| mugoqwei
| nothing
|-
| ms't goqwei
| everything
|-
| tampasgoqwei
| anything
|-
| mogwa'wen
| nobody/no one
|-
| ta'n wen
| somebody/whomever
|-
| na'tuen/natawen
| someone
|-
| jijuaqa
| sometimes/occasionally
|}

The speaker notes that it is possible to say 'moqoi' as a contraction of 'mugoqwei'. Alternatively, the [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/ Mi'gmaq dictionary ] lists the following form: 'mo'qagoqwei'. In addition, for the form 'moqwa' wen' the speaker notes that it is possible to say 'mowen' as a contraction. As can be seen from this table, many of the indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq could be broken down into two parts--a quantifier or an affix, and a wh-word. For example:

<gl>
\gll mu-goqwei
NEG-what
\trans nothing
</gl>

=References=
<references />

Nouns

2012-12-03T22:01:55Z

Elise: /* Absentatives */

Nouns are words that refer to persons, places, or things. They are the elements that do the action described by the verb or have the action done to them. Many Mi'gmaq sentences have nouns in them, but they aren't necessary. A few examples of English nouns include ''Listuguj'', ''Mary'', ''woman'', and ''table''. These same words are also nouns in Mi'gmaq: ''Listuguj'', ''Mali'', ''e'pit,'' and ''ptauti''.

There are several characteristics that are found in both nouns and verbs, including [[Animacy]], [[Obviation]] and [[Person and number]] marking, which are discussed in their respective articles. Independently of verbs, nouns can also be [[Plural Nouns|Singular or Plural]], [[Absentative]], and [[Vocative]]. Nouns can be modified by a variety of things, including [[Possession]], [[Adjectives]], [[Determiners]], [[Numerals]], [[Nouns#Diminutive and Augmentative|Diminuitives]] and [[Relative Clauses]]. [[Pronouns]] can also be used to substitute for nouns.

=Characteristics of Nouns=
==Plural Nouns==
''For more detail, see [[Plural Nouns]]''

"Number" refers to how many of something there are. In both English and Mi'gmaq, there are two numbers for nouns: singular (only one of something) and plural (two or more of something). In English, a plural noun often looks like the singular plus an ''-s'' at the end, for example, ''girl'' becomes ''girls.'' In Mi'gmaq, there are two things you can add to a noun in order to make it plural, depending on whether the noun is [[Animacy|animate or inanimate]]. For inanimate nouns, like ''ptauti'' 'table' as shown in (1), you generally add ''-l'' to the end of the word (or sometimes you make the last sound of the word longer). For animate nouns, like ''ji'nm'' 'man' as shown in (2), you add ''-ug'' or ''-ig'' or ''-oq'' depending on the particular noun.

<gl>
\gll ptauti, ptauti-l
table, table-PL\\
\trans table, tables
</gl>

<gl>
\gll ji'nm, ji'nm-ug
man, man-PL\\
\trans man, men
</gl>

If you've looked at number in Mi'gmaq [[Verbs: Overview|verbs]], you may have noticed that Mi'gmaq verbs make a distinction between singular, dual (two participants), and plural (three or more participants). However, for nouns, the only distinction is between one and more than one.

==Vocatives==
When one addresses a person directly, the term used to address that person is known as a '''vocative'''.

As seen in the example below, English vocatives do not look different from non-vocative English nouns.
*To take an English example, in the sentence "Chris baked a cake," ''Chris'' is not a vocative noun. But in the command, "Hey Chris, please bake a cake!" the name ''Chris'' is a vocative.

However, one category of Mi'gmaq nouns seems to differ based on whether they are vocative or not. In Mi'gmaq, the words for '''family members''' look different as vocatives than they do when used in a sentence. While it is not grammatical to say "I have a daughter" using the bare root for 'daughter,' (more detail on this is given in [[Possession]]) it is completely grammatical to use that bare root to address one's daughter directly. Examples of both uses of the root for 'daughter' are seen below.

<gl>
\gll *geggung tus
have.1>3 daughter\\
\trans (intended) I have a daughter.
</gl>

<gl>
\gll tus, pasi
daughter, sit.IMP\\
\trans Daughter, sit!
</gl>

This second example should be double-checked.--[[User:Elise|Elise]] 12:18, 15 May 2012 (CDT)

==Feminine Suffix==
* The ''-sgw'' suffix, which functions like ''-ess'' in ''lioness''
'''more detail to follow'''

==Diminutive and Augmentative==
''For more detail, see [[Diminutive and Augmentative]].''

In Mi'gmaq, the diminutive is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffix suffix], that means "'''little [noun]'''". It cannot attach to every noun, though it is possible that your meaning may be understood even if you put it on a slightly non-standard noun. It may also be used to connote youth or affection towards the noun in question.

Some examples of words where it might appear include...
* ''lpa'tuj'' 'boy' becomes ''lpa'tu'ji'j'' 'little boy'
* ''gjigan'' 'city' becomes ''gjiganji'j'' 'village'
* ''jijgluewj'' 'sheep' becomes ''jijgluewji'j'' 'lamb'

Note that you can't always assume that the ending ''-ji'j'' is going to be a diminutive. The word ''jipji'j'' 'bird' ends in ''-ji'j'', but there is no word meaning 'larger bird' that is pronounced ''jip.''

The opposite of a diminutive is an '''augmentative''', an affix which '''denotes largeness'''. When augmenting a noun, Mi'gmaq speakers seem to prefer using the [[Nouns#Adjectives|adjective]] ''mesg'ig'' rather than a particular augmentative affix. However, there is evidence that at some point the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefix prefix] ''gji-'' was used as an augmentative, as it occurs as a prefix in several words that are bigger or greater than their un-prefixed counterparts.

Examples of this type of prefixation are limited, however, and the process does not seem to be productive any longer. The most relevant pair of examples are...
* ''ga'gaquj'' 'crow' compared to ''gjiga'qaquj'' 'raven'
* ''nisgam'' 'god' compared to ''gjinisgam'' 'Great Spirit'

==Absentatives==
This is another feature of Mi'gmaq that English doesn't share. It is a suffix on both verbs and nouns indicating that the person about whom you are speaking is no longer around, either because they are absent, lost, or dead.

For example, in speaking about a living relative, you would say:

<gl>
\gll Nujj teluisit Piel
n-ujj telui-sit Piel \\
1-father name-3 Piel \\
\trans My father is named Piel/Pierre.
</gl>

However, speaking about a deceased relative, you would say:
<gl>
\gll Nujaq teluisipnaq Piel
n-ujj-aq telui-sipn-aq Piel \\
1-father-ABSN name-3.PST-ABSN Piel \\
\trans My (deceased) father was named Piel/Pierre.
</gl>

Additionally, the absentative suffix ''-oq'' can be attached to names; in this example, you might refer to your father not as ''Piel'', but ''Pieloq''. It cannot attach to inanimate objects to indicate that they are absent. Take the ungrammaticality of the next example:

<gl>
\gll ? ugjigan-oq
town-ABSN\\
\trans ghost town (intended)
<\gl>

=Modifiers of Nouns=
==Numerals==
''For more detail, see [[Numerals]]''

There are some categories of nouns in Mi'gmaq that require special ways of counting. This could be compared to how in English, we say "a pair of pants" rather than "one pants" or "two pants"--though admittedly, the Mi'gmaq system is more compex than that. In Mi'gmaq, nouns are split into categories that are grouped together with specific counting words for that specific category. These are the most common groups, using examples from Hewson & Francis (1990)<ref>Hewson & Francis. 1990. ''Father Pacifique's Migmaq Grammar''.</ref>:
*long and round objects, such as bottles, candles, and even people
*round objects, such as potatoes, balls, and apples
*money
*units of time
**days
**years, months
**ages of people
*classes, groups, types of things
*dimensions, weights and measures

==Possession==
''For more detail, see [[Possession]]''

Possession covers a whole range of relationships between nouns, not necessarily relationships where there is a possession and an owner. In English, possession covers expressions such as:
*'''my''' umbrellas
*Tom''''s''' sister
*Jamie''''s''' leg
*a friend '''of''' Alice''''s'''
*the music '''of''' Beethoven

The verbs used in these sentences can also be thought of as "possessive":
*I '''have''' a cake.
*This dog '''belongs''' to me.

As mentioned before, these relationships aren't always strictly of ownership, but can be interpreted as a type of closeness or relatedness--so while the umbrella may be my possession in the strictest sense of the word, we also shouldn't think of Tom's sister being ''his'' possession. Instead, we use possession to show that a relationship exists between the two nouns in question.

Mi'gmaq possession has one very important feature that English speakers will have to get used to. This is related to the idea of '''alienability'''. So when something is '''alienable''', the relationship between the two nouns is changeable; ''my umbrella'' shows an alienable relationship, because I can give away the umbrella, and then it is no longer mine and the relationship dissolves. ''Tom's sister'', however, shows an '''inalienable''' relationship because no matter what, Tom and his sister will always be related.

Mi'gmaq inalienable nouns include...
*body parts (i.e. '''gpitn'' 'your hand', and ''nunji'' 'my head')
*family members (i.e. ''nuj'' 'my father', and ''ugmisl'' 'his/her big sister')
*a couple exceptions (i.e. ''nitap'' 'my friend' is inalienable, even though it describes a relationship that might change.)

Mi'gmaq alienable nouns include...
*everything else (i.e. '' 'gtsipuminu'' 'our river', and '' 'ntptautim'' 'my table', and ''ugtwigatign'' 'his/her book', and so on and so forth)

==Demonstratives/Determiners==
''For more detail, see [[Demonstratives]]''

A demonstrative is a word that can be paired with a noun, and generally helps people differentiate between two different nouns in conversation. In English, "this," "that," "these," and "those" are all demonstratives--you can pair them with nouns ("this cat," "those hats") but not verbs or lone adjectives.

In Mi'gmaq, we also see at least two demonstratives:
*''ula,'' for things that are close to the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "this"
*''ala,'' for things that are further from the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "that"

However, in Mi'gmaq they seem to be used a little differently from English. We have seen grammatical Mi'gmaq phrases such as ''ula nemis,'' which would translate in English to "this my big sister," a badly-formed phrase.

Another grammatical Mi'gmaq phrase where a demonstrative looks different from its English counterpart is seen below:

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ula tet.
Piel be.3 this here
\trans Piel is right here. // Piel is at this place
</gl>

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ala tet.
Piel be.3 that here
\trans Piel is over there. // Piel is at that place.
</gl>

==Adjectives==
Mi'gmaq adjectives behave quite differently from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjective English adjectives.] Specifically, they seem somewhat like [[verbs]].

'''more detail to follow'''

==Relative Clauses==

=Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Pronouns]]''

A pronoun is a word that can substitute for a noun that is already known from the context of the conversation.

* Q: What did Mary do with the book?
** A: Mary gave the book to Peter. (all nouns - sounds too long)
** A: She gave it to him. (all pronouns - we don't know who "him" is)
** A: She gave it to Peter. (pronouns for known information, nouns for new information - sounds more natural)
** A: She gave it to me. (ok as long as we know who is talking so we know who "me" is)

Some examples of pronouns in English are I, me, you, he, she, her, him, it, we, us, they, and them. Pronouns can be classified in several ways, see [[Person and number]] and [[Obviation]] for details. The table below shows the pronouns in Mi'gmaq.

{| class="wikitable"
! ||Singular||Dual/Plural
|-
| 13 (excl)
| ni'n
| ninen
|-
| 12 (incl)
| ''n/a''
| ginu
|-
| 2
| gi'l
| gilew
|-
| 3
| negm
| negmow
|}

Mi'gmaq uses pronouns in somewhat different contexts compared to how English does. In English, you can't tell from a verb by itself who is doing the action or who has the action being done to them. For example, "see" doesn't tell us anything about who is seeing or being seen, so the only way to know this is by having nouns or pronouns. Mi'gmaq verbs do give you this information. For example, ''nemi'g'' can only mean that "I see an animate thing," and if we want to change who/what is seeing or being seen we have change parts of the verb (''much'' more information about this in the [[Verbs]] section).

These facts mean that it isn't necessary to use pronouns to express this information again, since we already know it. Saying ''ni'n nemitu negm'' is therefore not quite like saying "I see him/her". Since we didn't have to use ''ni'n'' or ''negm'', the fact that we're choosing to say them means that we want to emphasize these particular people. For example, if someone asked you "Did she see you?" you might want to emphasize the opposite by saying "No, it was ''me'' that saw ''her''", but in a normal sentence you probably wouldn't bother to do this.

=Indefinite Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Indefinite Pronouns]]''

Indefinite pronouns are words that refer to non-specific entities. The following is an inexhaustive list of indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq:

{| class="wikitable"
! Form || Gloss
|-
| nat goqwei
| something
|-
| mugoqwei
| nothing
|-
| ms't goqwei
| everything
|-
| tampasgoqwei
| anything
|-
| mogwa'wen
| nobody/no one
|-
| ta'n wen
| somebody/whomever
|-
| na'tuen/natawen
| someone
|-
| jijuaqa
| sometimes/occasionally
|}

The speaker notes that it is possible to say 'moqoi' as a contraction of 'mugoqwei'. Alternatively, the [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/ Mi'gmaq dictionary ] lists the following form: 'mo'qagoqwei'. In addition, for the form 'moqwa' wen' the speaker notes that it is possible to say 'mowen' as a contraction. As can be seen from this table, many of the indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq could be broken down into two parts--a quantifier or an affix, and a wh-word. For example:

<gl>
\gll mu-goqwei
NEG-what
\trans nothing
</gl>

=References=
<references />

Nouns

2012-12-03T21:35:27Z

Elise: /* Absentatives */

Nouns are words that refer to persons, places, or things. They are the elements that do the action described by the verb or have the action done to them. Many Mi'gmaq sentences have nouns in them, but they aren't necessary. A few examples of English nouns include ''Listuguj'', ''Mary'', ''woman'', and ''table''. These same words are also nouns in Mi'gmaq: ''Listuguj'', ''Mali'', ''e'pit,'' and ''ptauti''.

There are several characteristics that are found in both nouns and verbs, including [[Animacy]], [[Obviation]] and [[Person and number]] marking, which are discussed in their respective articles. Independently of verbs, nouns can also be [[Plural Nouns|Singular or Plural]], [[Absentative]], and [[Vocative]]. Nouns can be modified by a variety of things, including [[Possession]], [[Adjectives]], [[Determiners]], [[Numerals]], [[Nouns#Diminutive and Augmentative|Diminuitives]] and [[Relative Clauses]]. [[Pronouns]] can also be used to substitute for nouns.

=Characteristics of Nouns=
==Plural Nouns==
''For more detail, see [[Plural Nouns]]''

"Number" refers to how many of something there are. In both English and Mi'gmaq, there are two numbers for nouns: singular (only one of something) and plural (two or more of something). In English, a plural noun often looks like the singular plus an ''-s'' at the end, for example, ''girl'' becomes ''girls.'' In Mi'gmaq, there are two things you can add to a noun in order to make it plural, depending on whether the noun is [[Animacy|animate or inanimate]]. For inanimate nouns, like ''ptauti'' 'table' as shown in (1), you generally add ''-l'' to the end of the word (or sometimes you make the last sound of the word longer). For animate nouns, like ''ji'nm'' 'man' as shown in (2), you add ''-ug'' or ''-ig'' or ''-oq'' depending on the particular noun.

<gl>
\gll ptauti, ptauti-l
table, table-PL\\
\trans table, tables
</gl>

<gl>
\gll ji'nm, ji'nm-ug
man, man-PL\\
\trans man, men
</gl>

If you've looked at number in Mi'gmaq [[Verbs: Overview|verbs]], you may have noticed that Mi'gmaq verbs make a distinction between singular, dual (two participants), and plural (three or more participants). However, for nouns, the only distinction is between one and more than one.

==Vocatives==
When one addresses a person directly, the term used to address that person is known as a '''vocative'''.

As seen in the example below, English vocatives do not look different from non-vocative English nouns.
*To take an English example, in the sentence "Chris baked a cake," ''Chris'' is not a vocative noun. But in the command, "Hey Chris, please bake a cake!" the name ''Chris'' is a vocative.

However, one category of Mi'gmaq nouns seems to differ based on whether they are vocative or not. In Mi'gmaq, the words for '''family members''' look different as vocatives than they do when used in a sentence. While it is not grammatical to say "I have a daughter" using the bare root for 'daughter,' (more detail on this is given in [[Possession]]) it is completely grammatical to use that bare root to address one's daughter directly. Examples of both uses of the root for 'daughter' are seen below.

<gl>
\gll *geggung tus
have.1>3 daughter\\
\trans (intended) I have a daughter.
</gl>

<gl>
\gll tus, pasi
daughter, sit.IMP\\
\trans Daughter, sit!
</gl>

This second example should be double-checked.--[[User:Elise|Elise]] 12:18, 15 May 2012 (CDT)

==Feminine Suffix==
* The ''-sgw'' suffix, which functions like ''-ess'' in ''lioness''
'''more detail to follow'''

==Diminutive and Augmentative==
''For more detail, see [[Diminutive and Augmentative]].''

In Mi'gmaq, the diminutive is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffix suffix], that means "'''little [noun]'''". It cannot attach to every noun, though it is possible that your meaning may be understood even if you put it on a slightly non-standard noun. It may also be used to connote youth or affection towards the noun in question.

Some examples of words where it might appear include...
* ''lpa'tuj'' 'boy' becomes ''lpa'tu'ji'j'' 'little boy'
* ''gjigan'' 'city' becomes ''gjiganji'j'' 'village'
* ''jijgluewj'' 'sheep' becomes ''jijgluewji'j'' 'lamb'

Note that you can't always assume that the ending ''-ji'j'' is going to be a diminutive. The word ''jipji'j'' 'bird' ends in ''-ji'j'', but there is no word meaning 'larger bird' that is pronounced ''jip.''

The opposite of a diminutive is an '''augmentative''', an affix which '''denotes largeness'''. When augmenting a noun, Mi'gmaq speakers seem to prefer using the [[Nouns#Adjectives|adjective]] ''mesg'ig'' rather than a particular augmentative affix. However, there is evidence that at some point the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefix prefix] ''gji-'' was used as an augmentative, as it occurs as a prefix in several words that are bigger or greater than their un-prefixed counterparts.

Examples of this type of prefixation are limited, however, and the process does not seem to be productive any longer. The most relevant pair of examples are...
* ''ga'gaquj'' 'crow' compared to ''gjiga'qaquj'' 'raven'
* ''nisgam'' 'god' compared to ''gjinisgam'' 'Great Spirit'

==Absentatives==
This is another feature of Mi'gmaq that English doesn't share. It is a suffix on both verbs and nouns indicating that the person about whom you are speaking is no longer around, either because they are absent, lost, or dead.

For example, in speaking about a living relative, you would say:

<gl>
\gll Nujj teluisit Piel
n-ujj telui-sit Piel \\
1-father name-3 Piel \\
\trans My father is named Piel/Pierre.
</gl>

However, speaking about a deceased relative, you would say:
<gl>
\gll Nujaq teluisipnaq Piel
n-ujj-aq telui-sipn-aq Piel \\
1-father-ABSN name-3.PST-ABSN Piel \\
\trans My (deceased) father was named Piel/Pierre.
</gl>

Additionally, the absentative suffix ''-oq'' can be attached to names; in this example, you might refer to your father not as ''Piel'', but ''Pieloq''.

=Modifiers of Nouns=
==Numerals==
''For more detail, see [[Numerals]]''

There are some categories of nouns in Mi'gmaq that require special ways of counting. This could be compared to how in English, we say "a pair of pants" rather than "one pants" or "two pants"--though admittedly, the Mi'gmaq system is more compex than that. In Mi'gmaq, nouns are split into categories that are grouped together with specific counting words for that specific category. These are the most common groups, using examples from Hewson & Francis (1990)<ref>Hewson & Francis. 1990. ''Father Pacifique's Migmaq Grammar''.</ref>:
*long and round objects, such as bottles, candles, and even people
*round objects, such as potatoes, balls, and apples
*money
*units of time
**days
**years, months
**ages of people
*classes, groups, types of things
*dimensions, weights and measures

==Possession==
''For more detail, see [[Possession]]''

Possession covers a whole range of relationships between nouns, not necessarily relationships where there is a possession and an owner. In English, possession covers expressions such as:
*'''my''' umbrellas
*Tom''''s''' sister
*Jamie''''s''' leg
*a friend '''of''' Alice''''s'''
*the music '''of''' Beethoven

The verbs used in these sentences can also be thought of as "possessive":
*I '''have''' a cake.
*This dog '''belongs''' to me.

As mentioned before, these relationships aren't always strictly of ownership, but can be interpreted as a type of closeness or relatedness--so while the umbrella may be my possession in the strictest sense of the word, we also shouldn't think of Tom's sister being ''his'' possession. Instead, we use possession to show that a relationship exists between the two nouns in question.

Mi'gmaq possession has one very important feature that English speakers will have to get used to. This is related to the idea of '''alienability'''. So when something is '''alienable''', the relationship between the two nouns is changeable; ''my umbrella'' shows an alienable relationship, because I can give away the umbrella, and then it is no longer mine and the relationship dissolves. ''Tom's sister'', however, shows an '''inalienable''' relationship because no matter what, Tom and his sister will always be related.

Mi'gmaq inalienable nouns include...
*body parts (i.e. '''gpitn'' 'your hand', and ''nunji'' 'my head')
*family members (i.e. ''nuj'' 'my father', and ''ugmisl'' 'his/her big sister')
*a couple exceptions (i.e. ''nitap'' 'my friend' is inalienable, even though it describes a relationship that might change.)

Mi'gmaq alienable nouns include...
*everything else (i.e. '' 'gtsipuminu'' 'our river', and '' 'ntptautim'' 'my table', and ''ugtwigatign'' 'his/her book', and so on and so forth)

==Demonstratives/Determiners==
''For more detail, see [[Demonstratives]]''

A demonstrative is a word that can be paired with a noun, and generally helps people differentiate between two different nouns in conversation. In English, "this," "that," "these," and "those" are all demonstratives--you can pair them with nouns ("this cat," "those hats") but not verbs or lone adjectives.

In Mi'gmaq, we also see at least two demonstratives:
*''ula,'' for things that are close to the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "this"
*''ala,'' for things that are further from the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "that"

However, in Mi'gmaq they seem to be used a little differently from English. We have seen grammatical Mi'gmaq phrases such as ''ula nemis,'' which would translate in English to "this my big sister," a badly-formed phrase.

Another grammatical Mi'gmaq phrase where a demonstrative looks different from its English counterpart is seen below:

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ula tet.
Piel be.3 this here
\trans Piel is right here. // Piel is at this place
</gl>

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ala tet.
Piel be.3 that here
\trans Piel is over there. // Piel is at that place.
</gl>

==Adjectives==
Mi'gmaq adjectives behave quite differently from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjective English adjectives.] Specifically, they seem somewhat like [[verbs]].

'''more detail to follow'''

==Relative Clauses==

=Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Pronouns]]''

A pronoun is a word that can substitute for a noun that is already known from the context of the conversation.

* Q: What did Mary do with the book?
** A: Mary gave the book to Peter. (all nouns - sounds too long)
** A: She gave it to him. (all pronouns - we don't know who "him" is)
** A: She gave it to Peter. (pronouns for known information, nouns for new information - sounds more natural)
** A: She gave it to me. (ok as long as we know who is talking so we know who "me" is)

Some examples of pronouns in English are I, me, you, he, she, her, him, it, we, us, they, and them. Pronouns can be classified in several ways, see [[Person and number]] and [[Obviation]] for details. The table below shows the pronouns in Mi'gmaq.

{| class="wikitable"
! ||Singular||Dual/Plural
|-
| 13 (excl)
| ni'n
| ninen
|-
| 12 (incl)
| ''n/a''
| ginu
|-
| 2
| gi'l
| gilew
|-
| 3
| negm
| negmow
|}

Mi'gmaq uses pronouns in somewhat different contexts compared to how English does. In English, you can't tell from a verb by itself who is doing the action or who has the action being done to them. For example, "see" doesn't tell us anything about who is seeing or being seen, so the only way to know this is by having nouns or pronouns. Mi'gmaq verbs do give you this information. For example, ''nemi'g'' can only mean that "I see an animate thing," and if we want to change who/what is seeing or being seen we have change parts of the verb (''much'' more information about this in the [[Verbs]] section).

These facts mean that it isn't necessary to use pronouns to express this information again, since we already know it. Saying ''ni'n nemitu negm'' is therefore not quite like saying "I see him/her". Since we didn't have to use ''ni'n'' or ''negm'', the fact that we're choosing to say them means that we want to emphasize these particular people. For example, if someone asked you "Did she see you?" you might want to emphasize the opposite by saying "No, it was ''me'' that saw ''her''", but in a normal sentence you probably wouldn't bother to do this.

=Indefinite Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Indefinite Pronouns]]''

Indefinite pronouns are words that refer to non-specific entities. The following is an inexhaustive list of indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq:

{| class="wikitable"
! Form || Gloss
|-
| nat goqwei
| something
|-
| mugoqwei
| nothing
|-
| ms't goqwei
| everything
|-
| tampasgoqwei
| anything
|-
| mogwa'wen
| nobody/no one
|-
| ta'n wen
| somebody/whomever
|-
| na'tuen/natawen
| someone
|-
| jijuaqa
| sometimes/occasionally
|}

The speaker notes that it is possible to say 'moqoi' as a contraction of 'mugoqwei'. Alternatively, the [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/ Mi'gmaq dictionary ] lists the following form: 'mo'qagoqwei'. In addition, for the form 'moqwa' wen' the speaker notes that it is possible to say 'mowen' as a contraction. As can be seen from this table, many of the indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq could be broken down into two parts--a quantifier or an affix, and a wh-word. For example:

<gl>
\gll mu-goqwei
NEG-what
\trans nothing
</gl>

=References=
<references />

Nouns

2012-12-03T21:34:49Z

Elise: /* Absentatives */

Nouns are words that refer to persons, places, or things. They are the elements that do the action described by the verb or have the action done to them. Many Mi'gmaq sentences have nouns in them, but they aren't necessary. A few examples of English nouns include ''Listuguj'', ''Mary'', ''woman'', and ''table''. These same words are also nouns in Mi'gmaq: ''Listuguj'', ''Mali'', ''e'pit,'' and ''ptauti''.

There are several characteristics that are found in both nouns and verbs, including [[Animacy]], [[Obviation]] and [[Person and number]] marking, which are discussed in their respective articles. Independently of verbs, nouns can also be [[Plural Nouns|Singular or Plural]], [[Absentative]], and [[Vocative]]. Nouns can be modified by a variety of things, including [[Possession]], [[Adjectives]], [[Determiners]], [[Numerals]], [[Nouns#Diminutive and Augmentative|Diminuitives]] and [[Relative Clauses]]. [[Pronouns]] can also be used to substitute for nouns.

=Characteristics of Nouns=
==Plural Nouns==
''For more detail, see [[Plural Nouns]]''

"Number" refers to how many of something there are. In both English and Mi'gmaq, there are two numbers for nouns: singular (only one of something) and plural (two or more of something). In English, a plural noun often looks like the singular plus an ''-s'' at the end, for example, ''girl'' becomes ''girls.'' In Mi'gmaq, there are two things you can add to a noun in order to make it plural, depending on whether the noun is [[Animacy|animate or inanimate]]. For inanimate nouns, like ''ptauti'' 'table' as shown in (1), you generally add ''-l'' to the end of the word (or sometimes you make the last sound of the word longer). For animate nouns, like ''ji'nm'' 'man' as shown in (2), you add ''-ug'' or ''-ig'' or ''-oq'' depending on the particular noun.

<gl>
\gll ptauti, ptauti-l
table, table-PL\\
\trans table, tables
</gl>

<gl>
\gll ji'nm, ji'nm-ug
man, man-PL\\
\trans man, men
</gl>

If you've looked at number in Mi'gmaq [[Verbs: Overview|verbs]], you may have noticed that Mi'gmaq verbs make a distinction between singular, dual (two participants), and plural (three or more participants). However, for nouns, the only distinction is between one and more than one.

==Vocatives==
When one addresses a person directly, the term used to address that person is known as a '''vocative'''.

As seen in the example below, English vocatives do not look different from non-vocative English nouns.
*To take an English example, in the sentence "Chris baked a cake," ''Chris'' is not a vocative noun. But in the command, "Hey Chris, please bake a cake!" the name ''Chris'' is a vocative.

However, one category of Mi'gmaq nouns seems to differ based on whether they are vocative or not. In Mi'gmaq, the words for '''family members''' look different as vocatives than they do when used in a sentence. While it is not grammatical to say "I have a daughter" using the bare root for 'daughter,' (more detail on this is given in [[Possession]]) it is completely grammatical to use that bare root to address one's daughter directly. Examples of both uses of the root for 'daughter' are seen below.

<gl>
\gll *geggung tus
have.1>3 daughter\\
\trans (intended) I have a daughter.
</gl>

<gl>
\gll tus, pasi
daughter, sit.IMP\\
\trans Daughter, sit!
</gl>

This second example should be double-checked.--[[User:Elise|Elise]] 12:18, 15 May 2012 (CDT)

==Feminine Suffix==
* The ''-sgw'' suffix, which functions like ''-ess'' in ''lioness''
'''more detail to follow'''

==Diminutive and Augmentative==
''For more detail, see [[Diminutive and Augmentative]].''

In Mi'gmaq, the diminutive is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffix suffix], that means "'''little [noun]'''". It cannot attach to every noun, though it is possible that your meaning may be understood even if you put it on a slightly non-standard noun. It may also be used to connote youth or affection towards the noun in question.

Some examples of words where it might appear include...
* ''lpa'tuj'' 'boy' becomes ''lpa'tu'ji'j'' 'little boy'
* ''gjigan'' 'city' becomes ''gjiganji'j'' 'village'
* ''jijgluewj'' 'sheep' becomes ''jijgluewji'j'' 'lamb'

Note that you can't always assume that the ending ''-ji'j'' is going to be a diminutive. The word ''jipji'j'' 'bird' ends in ''-ji'j'', but there is no word meaning 'larger bird' that is pronounced ''jip.''

The opposite of a diminutive is an '''augmentative''', an affix which '''denotes largeness'''. When augmenting a noun, Mi'gmaq speakers seem to prefer using the [[Nouns#Adjectives|adjective]] ''mesg'ig'' rather than a particular augmentative affix. However, there is evidence that at some point the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefix prefix] ''gji-'' was used as an augmentative, as it occurs as a prefix in several words that are bigger or greater than their un-prefixed counterparts.

Examples of this type of prefixation are limited, however, and the process does not seem to be productive any longer. The most relevant pair of examples are...
* ''ga'gaquj'' 'crow' compared to ''gjiga'qaquj'' 'raven'
* ''nisgam'' 'god' compared to ''gjinisgam'' 'Great Spirit'

==Absentatives==
This is another feature of Mi'gmaq that English doesn't share. It is a suffix on both verbs and nouns indicating that the person about whom you are speaking is no longer around, either because they are absent, lost, or dead.

For example, in speaking about a living relative, you would say:

<gl>
\gll Nujj teluisit Piel
n-ujj telui-sit Piel \\
1-father name-3 Piel \\
\trans My father is named Piel/Pierre.
</gl>

However, speaking about a deceased relative, you would say:
<gl>
\gll Nujaq teluisipnaq Piel
n-ujj-aq telui-sipn-aq Piel \\
1-father-ABS name-3.PST-ABS Piel \\
\trans My (deceased) father was named Piel/Pierre.
</gl>

Additionally, the absentative suffix ''-oq'' can be attached to names; in this example, you might refer to your father not as ''Piel'', but ''Pieloq''.

=Modifiers of Nouns=
==Numerals==
''For more detail, see [[Numerals]]''

There are some categories of nouns in Mi'gmaq that require special ways of counting. This could be compared to how in English, we say "a pair of pants" rather than "one pants" or "two pants"--though admittedly, the Mi'gmaq system is more compex than that. In Mi'gmaq, nouns are split into categories that are grouped together with specific counting words for that specific category. These are the most common groups, using examples from Hewson & Francis (1990)<ref>Hewson & Francis. 1990. ''Father Pacifique's Migmaq Grammar''.</ref>:
*long and round objects, such as bottles, candles, and even people
*round objects, such as potatoes, balls, and apples
*money
*units of time
**days
**years, months
**ages of people
*classes, groups, types of things
*dimensions, weights and measures

==Possession==
''For more detail, see [[Possession]]''

Possession covers a whole range of relationships between nouns, not necessarily relationships where there is a possession and an owner. In English, possession covers expressions such as:
*'''my''' umbrellas
*Tom''''s''' sister
*Jamie''''s''' leg
*a friend '''of''' Alice''''s'''
*the music '''of''' Beethoven

The verbs used in these sentences can also be thought of as "possessive":
*I '''have''' a cake.
*This dog '''belongs''' to me.

As mentioned before, these relationships aren't always strictly of ownership, but can be interpreted as a type of closeness or relatedness--so while the umbrella may be my possession in the strictest sense of the word, we also shouldn't think of Tom's sister being ''his'' possession. Instead, we use possession to show that a relationship exists between the two nouns in question.

Mi'gmaq possession has one very important feature that English speakers will have to get used to. This is related to the idea of '''alienability'''. So when something is '''alienable''', the relationship between the two nouns is changeable; ''my umbrella'' shows an alienable relationship, because I can give away the umbrella, and then it is no longer mine and the relationship dissolves. ''Tom's sister'', however, shows an '''inalienable''' relationship because no matter what, Tom and his sister will always be related.

Mi'gmaq inalienable nouns include...
*body parts (i.e. '''gpitn'' 'your hand', and ''nunji'' 'my head')
*family members (i.e. ''nuj'' 'my father', and ''ugmisl'' 'his/her big sister')
*a couple exceptions (i.e. ''nitap'' 'my friend' is inalienable, even though it describes a relationship that might change.)

Mi'gmaq alienable nouns include...
*everything else (i.e. '' 'gtsipuminu'' 'our river', and '' 'ntptautim'' 'my table', and ''ugtwigatign'' 'his/her book', and so on and so forth)

==Demonstratives/Determiners==
''For more detail, see [[Demonstratives]]''

A demonstrative is a word that can be paired with a noun, and generally helps people differentiate between two different nouns in conversation. In English, "this," "that," "these," and "those" are all demonstratives--you can pair them with nouns ("this cat," "those hats") but not verbs or lone adjectives.

In Mi'gmaq, we also see at least two demonstratives:
*''ula,'' for things that are close to the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "this"
*''ala,'' for things that are further from the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "that"

However, in Mi'gmaq they seem to be used a little differently from English. We have seen grammatical Mi'gmaq phrases such as ''ula nemis,'' which would translate in English to "this my big sister," a badly-formed phrase.

Another grammatical Mi'gmaq phrase where a demonstrative looks different from its English counterpart is seen below:

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ula tet.
Piel be.3 this here
\trans Piel is right here. // Piel is at this place
</gl>

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ala tet.
Piel be.3 that here
\trans Piel is over there. // Piel is at that place.
</gl>

==Adjectives==
Mi'gmaq adjectives behave quite differently from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjective English adjectives.] Specifically, they seem somewhat like [[verbs]].

'''more detail to follow'''

==Relative Clauses==

=Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Pronouns]]''

A pronoun is a word that can substitute for a noun that is already known from the context of the conversation.

* Q: What did Mary do with the book?
** A: Mary gave the book to Peter. (all nouns - sounds too long)
** A: She gave it to him. (all pronouns - we don't know who "him" is)
** A: She gave it to Peter. (pronouns for known information, nouns for new information - sounds more natural)
** A: She gave it to me. (ok as long as we know who is talking so we know who "me" is)

Some examples of pronouns in English are I, me, you, he, she, her, him, it, we, us, they, and them. Pronouns can be classified in several ways, see [[Person and number]] and [[Obviation]] for details. The table below shows the pronouns in Mi'gmaq.

{| class="wikitable"
! ||Singular||Dual/Plural
|-
| 13 (excl)
| ni'n
| ninen
|-
| 12 (incl)
| ''n/a''
| ginu
|-
| 2
| gi'l
| gilew
|-
| 3
| negm
| negmow
|}

Mi'gmaq uses pronouns in somewhat different contexts compared to how English does. In English, you can't tell from a verb by itself who is doing the action or who has the action being done to them. For example, "see" doesn't tell us anything about who is seeing or being seen, so the only way to know this is by having nouns or pronouns. Mi'gmaq verbs do give you this information. For example, ''nemi'g'' can only mean that "I see an animate thing," and if we want to change who/what is seeing or being seen we have change parts of the verb (''much'' more information about this in the [[Verbs]] section).

These facts mean that it isn't necessary to use pronouns to express this information again, since we already know it. Saying ''ni'n nemitu negm'' is therefore not quite like saying "I see him/her". Since we didn't have to use ''ni'n'' or ''negm'', the fact that we're choosing to say them means that we want to emphasize these particular people. For example, if someone asked you "Did she see you?" you might want to emphasize the opposite by saying "No, it was ''me'' that saw ''her''", but in a normal sentence you probably wouldn't bother to do this.

=Indefinite Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Indefinite Pronouns]]''

Indefinite pronouns are words that refer to non-specific entities. The following is an inexhaustive list of indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq:

{| class="wikitable"
! Form || Gloss
|-
| nat goqwei
| something
|-
| mugoqwei
| nothing
|-
| ms't goqwei
| everything
|-
| tampasgoqwei
| anything
|-
| mogwa'wen
| nobody/no one
|-
| ta'n wen
| somebody/whomever
|-
| na'tuen/natawen
| someone
|-
| jijuaqa
| sometimes/occasionally
|}

The speaker notes that it is possible to say 'moqoi' as a contraction of 'mugoqwei'. Alternatively, the [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/ Mi'gmaq dictionary ] lists the following form: 'mo'qagoqwei'. In addition, for the form 'moqwa' wen' the speaker notes that it is possible to say 'mowen' as a contraction. As can be seen from this table, many of the indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq could be broken down into two parts--a quantifier or an affix, and a wh-word. For example:

<gl>
\gll mu-goqwei
NEG-what
\trans nothing
</gl>

=References=
<references />

Nouns

2012-12-03T21:34:30Z

Elise: /* Absentatives */

Nouns are words that refer to persons, places, or things. They are the elements that do the action described by the verb or have the action done to them. Many Mi'gmaq sentences have nouns in them, but they aren't necessary. A few examples of English nouns include ''Listuguj'', ''Mary'', ''woman'', and ''table''. These same words are also nouns in Mi'gmaq: ''Listuguj'', ''Mali'', ''e'pit,'' and ''ptauti''.

There are several characteristics that are found in both nouns and verbs, including [[Animacy]], [[Obviation]] and [[Person and number]] marking, which are discussed in their respective articles. Independently of verbs, nouns can also be [[Plural Nouns|Singular or Plural]], [[Absentative]], and [[Vocative]]. Nouns can be modified by a variety of things, including [[Possession]], [[Adjectives]], [[Determiners]], [[Numerals]], [[Nouns#Diminutive and Augmentative|Diminuitives]] and [[Relative Clauses]]. [[Pronouns]] can also be used to substitute for nouns.

=Characteristics of Nouns=
==Plural Nouns==
''For more detail, see [[Plural Nouns]]''

"Number" refers to how many of something there are. In both English and Mi'gmaq, there are two numbers for nouns: singular (only one of something) and plural (two or more of something). In English, a plural noun often looks like the singular plus an ''-s'' at the end, for example, ''girl'' becomes ''girls.'' In Mi'gmaq, there are two things you can add to a noun in order to make it plural, depending on whether the noun is [[Animacy|animate or inanimate]]. For inanimate nouns, like ''ptauti'' 'table' as shown in (1), you generally add ''-l'' to the end of the word (or sometimes you make the last sound of the word longer). For animate nouns, like ''ji'nm'' 'man' as shown in (2), you add ''-ug'' or ''-ig'' or ''-oq'' depending on the particular noun.

<gl>
\gll ptauti, ptauti-l
table, table-PL\\
\trans table, tables
</gl>

<gl>
\gll ji'nm, ji'nm-ug
man, man-PL\\
\trans man, men
</gl>

If you've looked at number in Mi'gmaq [[Verbs: Overview|verbs]], you may have noticed that Mi'gmaq verbs make a distinction between singular, dual (two participants), and plural (three or more participants). However, for nouns, the only distinction is between one and more than one.

==Vocatives==
When one addresses a person directly, the term used to address that person is known as a '''vocative'''.

As seen in the example below, English vocatives do not look different from non-vocative English nouns.
*To take an English example, in the sentence "Chris baked a cake," ''Chris'' is not a vocative noun. But in the command, "Hey Chris, please bake a cake!" the name ''Chris'' is a vocative.

However, one category of Mi'gmaq nouns seems to differ based on whether they are vocative or not. In Mi'gmaq, the words for '''family members''' look different as vocatives than they do when used in a sentence. While it is not grammatical to say "I have a daughter" using the bare root for 'daughter,' (more detail on this is given in [[Possession]]) it is completely grammatical to use that bare root to address one's daughter directly. Examples of both uses of the root for 'daughter' are seen below.

<gl>
\gll *geggung tus
have.1>3 daughter\\
\trans (intended) I have a daughter.
</gl>

<gl>
\gll tus, pasi
daughter, sit.IMP\\
\trans Daughter, sit!
</gl>

This second example should be double-checked.--[[User:Elise|Elise]] 12:18, 15 May 2012 (CDT)

==Feminine Suffix==
* The ''-sgw'' suffix, which functions like ''-ess'' in ''lioness''
'''more detail to follow'''

==Diminutive and Augmentative==
''For more detail, see [[Diminutive and Augmentative]].''

In Mi'gmaq, the diminutive is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffix suffix], that means "'''little [noun]'''". It cannot attach to every noun, though it is possible that your meaning may be understood even if you put it on a slightly non-standard noun. It may also be used to connote youth or affection towards the noun in question.

Some examples of words where it might appear include...
* ''lpa'tuj'' 'boy' becomes ''lpa'tu'ji'j'' 'little boy'
* ''gjigan'' 'city' becomes ''gjiganji'j'' 'village'
* ''jijgluewj'' 'sheep' becomes ''jijgluewji'j'' 'lamb'

Note that you can't always assume that the ending ''-ji'j'' is going to be a diminutive. The word ''jipji'j'' 'bird' ends in ''-ji'j'', but there is no word meaning 'larger bird' that is pronounced ''jip.''

The opposite of a diminutive is an '''augmentative''', an affix which '''denotes largeness'''. When augmenting a noun, Mi'gmaq speakers seem to prefer using the [[Nouns#Adjectives|adjective]] ''mesg'ig'' rather than a particular augmentative affix. However, there is evidence that at some point the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefix prefix] ''gji-'' was used as an augmentative, as it occurs as a prefix in several words that are bigger or greater than their un-prefixed counterparts.

Examples of this type of prefixation are limited, however, and the process does not seem to be productive any longer. The most relevant pair of examples are...
* ''ga'gaquj'' 'crow' compared to ''gjiga'qaquj'' 'raven'
* ''nisgam'' 'god' compared to ''gjinisgam'' 'Great Spirit'

==Absentatives==
This is another feature of Mi'gmaq that English doesn't share. It is a suffix on both verbs and nouns indicating that the person about whom you are speaking is no longer around, either because they are absent, lost, or dead.

For example, in speaking about a living relative, you would say:

<gl>
\gll Nujj teluisit Piel
n-ujj telui-sit Piel \\
1-father name-3 Piel \\
\trans My father is named Piel/Pierre.
</gl>

However, speaking about a deceased relative, you would say:
<gl>
\gll Nujaq teluisipnaq Piel
n-ujj-aq telui-sipn-aq Piel \\
1-father-ABS name-3.PST-ABS Piel \\
\trans My (deceased) father was named Piel/Pierre.
</gl>

Additionally, the absentative suffix can be attached to names; in this example, you might refer to your father not as ''Piel'', but ''Pieloq''.

'''more detail to follow'''

=Modifiers of Nouns=
==Numerals==
''For more detail, see [[Numerals]]''

There are some categories of nouns in Mi'gmaq that require special ways of counting. This could be compared to how in English, we say "a pair of pants" rather than "one pants" or "two pants"--though admittedly, the Mi'gmaq system is more compex than that. In Mi'gmaq, nouns are split into categories that are grouped together with specific counting words for that specific category. These are the most common groups, using examples from Hewson & Francis (1990)<ref>Hewson & Francis. 1990. ''Father Pacifique's Migmaq Grammar''.</ref>:
*long and round objects, such as bottles, candles, and even people
*round objects, such as potatoes, balls, and apples
*money
*units of time
**days
**years, months
**ages of people
*classes, groups, types of things
*dimensions, weights and measures

==Possession==
''For more detail, see [[Possession]]''

Possession covers a whole range of relationships between nouns, not necessarily relationships where there is a possession and an owner. In English, possession covers expressions such as:
*'''my''' umbrellas
*Tom''''s''' sister
*Jamie''''s''' leg
*a friend '''of''' Alice''''s'''
*the music '''of''' Beethoven

The verbs used in these sentences can also be thought of as "possessive":
*I '''have''' a cake.
*This dog '''belongs''' to me.

As mentioned before, these relationships aren't always strictly of ownership, but can be interpreted as a type of closeness or relatedness--so while the umbrella may be my possession in the strictest sense of the word, we also shouldn't think of Tom's sister being ''his'' possession. Instead, we use possession to show that a relationship exists between the two nouns in question.

Mi'gmaq possession has one very important feature that English speakers will have to get used to. This is related to the idea of '''alienability'''. So when something is '''alienable''', the relationship between the two nouns is changeable; ''my umbrella'' shows an alienable relationship, because I can give away the umbrella, and then it is no longer mine and the relationship dissolves. ''Tom's sister'', however, shows an '''inalienable''' relationship because no matter what, Tom and his sister will always be related.

Mi'gmaq inalienable nouns include...
*body parts (i.e. '''gpitn'' 'your hand', and ''nunji'' 'my head')
*family members (i.e. ''nuj'' 'my father', and ''ugmisl'' 'his/her big sister')
*a couple exceptions (i.e. ''nitap'' 'my friend' is inalienable, even though it describes a relationship that might change.)

Mi'gmaq alienable nouns include...
*everything else (i.e. '' 'gtsipuminu'' 'our river', and '' 'ntptautim'' 'my table', and ''ugtwigatign'' 'his/her book', and so on and so forth)

==Demonstratives/Determiners==
''For more detail, see [[Demonstratives]]''

A demonstrative is a word that can be paired with a noun, and generally helps people differentiate between two different nouns in conversation. In English, "this," "that," "these," and "those" are all demonstratives--you can pair them with nouns ("this cat," "those hats") but not verbs or lone adjectives.

In Mi'gmaq, we also see at least two demonstratives:
*''ula,'' for things that are close to the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "this"
*''ala,'' for things that are further from the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "that"

However, in Mi'gmaq they seem to be used a little differently from English. We have seen grammatical Mi'gmaq phrases such as ''ula nemis,'' which would translate in English to "this my big sister," a badly-formed phrase.

Another grammatical Mi'gmaq phrase where a demonstrative looks different from its English counterpart is seen below:

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ula tet.
Piel be.3 this here
\trans Piel is right here. // Piel is at this place
</gl>

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ala tet.
Piel be.3 that here
\trans Piel is over there. // Piel is at that place.
</gl>

==Adjectives==
Mi'gmaq adjectives behave quite differently from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjective English adjectives.] Specifically, they seem somewhat like [[verbs]].

'''more detail to follow'''

==Relative Clauses==

=Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Pronouns]]''

A pronoun is a word that can substitute for a noun that is already known from the context of the conversation.

* Q: What did Mary do with the book?
** A: Mary gave the book to Peter. (all nouns - sounds too long)
** A: She gave it to him. (all pronouns - we don't know who "him" is)
** A: She gave it to Peter. (pronouns for known information, nouns for new information - sounds more natural)
** A: She gave it to me. (ok as long as we know who is talking so we know who "me" is)

Some examples of pronouns in English are I, me, you, he, she, her, him, it, we, us, they, and them. Pronouns can be classified in several ways, see [[Person and number]] and [[Obviation]] for details. The table below shows the pronouns in Mi'gmaq.

{| class="wikitable"
! ||Singular||Dual/Plural
|-
| 13 (excl)
| ni'n
| ninen
|-
| 12 (incl)
| ''n/a''
| ginu
|-
| 2
| gi'l
| gilew
|-
| 3
| negm
| negmow
|}

Mi'gmaq uses pronouns in somewhat different contexts compared to how English does. In English, you can't tell from a verb by itself who is doing the action or who has the action being done to them. For example, "see" doesn't tell us anything about who is seeing or being seen, so the only way to know this is by having nouns or pronouns. Mi'gmaq verbs do give you this information. For example, ''nemi'g'' can only mean that "I see an animate thing," and if we want to change who/what is seeing or being seen we have change parts of the verb (''much'' more information about this in the [[Verbs]] section).

These facts mean that it isn't necessary to use pronouns to express this information again, since we already know it. Saying ''ni'n nemitu negm'' is therefore not quite like saying "I see him/her". Since we didn't have to use ''ni'n'' or ''negm'', the fact that we're choosing to say them means that we want to emphasize these particular people. For example, if someone asked you "Did she see you?" you might want to emphasize the opposite by saying "No, it was ''me'' that saw ''her''", but in a normal sentence you probably wouldn't bother to do this.

=Indefinite Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Indefinite Pronouns]]''

Indefinite pronouns are words that refer to non-specific entities. The following is an inexhaustive list of indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq:

{| class="wikitable"
! Form || Gloss
|-
| nat goqwei
| something
|-
| mugoqwei
| nothing
|-
| ms't goqwei
| everything
|-
| tampasgoqwei
| anything
|-
| mogwa'wen
| nobody/no one
|-
| ta'n wen
| somebody/whomever
|-
| na'tuen/natawen
| someone
|-
| jijuaqa
| sometimes/occasionally
|}

The speaker notes that it is possible to say 'moqoi' as a contraction of 'mugoqwei'. Alternatively, the [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/ Mi'gmaq dictionary ] lists the following form: 'mo'qagoqwei'. In addition, for the form 'moqwa' wen' the speaker notes that it is possible to say 'mowen' as a contraction. As can be seen from this table, many of the indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq could be broken down into two parts--a quantifier or an affix, and a wh-word. For example:

<gl>
\gll mu-goqwei
NEG-what
\trans nothing
</gl>

=References=
<references />

Nouns

2012-12-03T21:34:18Z

Elise: /* Absentatives */

Nouns are words that refer to persons, places, or things. They are the elements that do the action described by the verb or have the action done to them. Many Mi'gmaq sentences have nouns in them, but they aren't necessary. A few examples of English nouns include ''Listuguj'', ''Mary'', ''woman'', and ''table''. These same words are also nouns in Mi'gmaq: ''Listuguj'', ''Mali'', ''e'pit,'' and ''ptauti''.

There are several characteristics that are found in both nouns and verbs, including [[Animacy]], [[Obviation]] and [[Person and number]] marking, which are discussed in their respective articles. Independently of verbs, nouns can also be [[Plural Nouns|Singular or Plural]], [[Absentative]], and [[Vocative]]. Nouns can be modified by a variety of things, including [[Possession]], [[Adjectives]], [[Determiners]], [[Numerals]], [[Nouns#Diminutive and Augmentative|Diminuitives]] and [[Relative Clauses]]. [[Pronouns]] can also be used to substitute for nouns.

=Characteristics of Nouns=
==Plural Nouns==
''For more detail, see [[Plural Nouns]]''

"Number" refers to how many of something there are. In both English and Mi'gmaq, there are two numbers for nouns: singular (only one of something) and plural (two or more of something). In English, a plural noun often looks like the singular plus an ''-s'' at the end, for example, ''girl'' becomes ''girls.'' In Mi'gmaq, there are two things you can add to a noun in order to make it plural, depending on whether the noun is [[Animacy|animate or inanimate]]. For inanimate nouns, like ''ptauti'' 'table' as shown in (1), you generally add ''-l'' to the end of the word (or sometimes you make the last sound of the word longer). For animate nouns, like ''ji'nm'' 'man' as shown in (2), you add ''-ug'' or ''-ig'' or ''-oq'' depending on the particular noun.

<gl>
\gll ptauti, ptauti-l
table, table-PL\\
\trans table, tables
</gl>

<gl>
\gll ji'nm, ji'nm-ug
man, man-PL\\
\trans man, men
</gl>

If you've looked at number in Mi'gmaq [[Verbs: Overview|verbs]], you may have noticed that Mi'gmaq verbs make a distinction between singular, dual (two participants), and plural (three or more participants). However, for nouns, the only distinction is between one and more than one.

==Vocatives==
When one addresses a person directly, the term used to address that person is known as a '''vocative'''.

As seen in the example below, English vocatives do not look different from non-vocative English nouns.
*To take an English example, in the sentence "Chris baked a cake," ''Chris'' is not a vocative noun. But in the command, "Hey Chris, please bake a cake!" the name ''Chris'' is a vocative.

However, one category of Mi'gmaq nouns seems to differ based on whether they are vocative or not. In Mi'gmaq, the words for '''family members''' look different as vocatives than they do when used in a sentence. While it is not grammatical to say "I have a daughter" using the bare root for 'daughter,' (more detail on this is given in [[Possession]]) it is completely grammatical to use that bare root to address one's daughter directly. Examples of both uses of the root for 'daughter' are seen below.

<gl>
\gll *geggung tus
have.1>3 daughter\\
\trans (intended) I have a daughter.
</gl>

<gl>
\gll tus, pasi
daughter, sit.IMP\\
\trans Daughter, sit!
</gl>

This second example should be double-checked.--[[User:Elise|Elise]] 12:18, 15 May 2012 (CDT)

==Feminine Suffix==
* The ''-sgw'' suffix, which functions like ''-ess'' in ''lioness''
'''more detail to follow'''

==Diminutive and Augmentative==
''For more detail, see [[Diminutive and Augmentative]].''

In Mi'gmaq, the diminutive is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffix suffix], that means "'''little [noun]'''". It cannot attach to every noun, though it is possible that your meaning may be understood even if you put it on a slightly non-standard noun. It may also be used to connote youth or affection towards the noun in question.

Some examples of words where it might appear include...
* ''lpa'tuj'' 'boy' becomes ''lpa'tu'ji'j'' 'little boy'
* ''gjigan'' 'city' becomes ''gjiganji'j'' 'village'
* ''jijgluewj'' 'sheep' becomes ''jijgluewji'j'' 'lamb'

Note that you can't always assume that the ending ''-ji'j'' is going to be a diminutive. The word ''jipji'j'' 'bird' ends in ''-ji'j'', but there is no word meaning 'larger bird' that is pronounced ''jip.''

The opposite of a diminutive is an '''augmentative''', an affix which '''denotes largeness'''. When augmenting a noun, Mi'gmaq speakers seem to prefer using the [[Nouns#Adjectives|adjective]] ''mesg'ig'' rather than a particular augmentative affix. However, there is evidence that at some point the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefix prefix] ''gji-'' was used as an augmentative, as it occurs as a prefix in several words that are bigger or greater than their un-prefixed counterparts.

Examples of this type of prefixation are limited, however, and the process does not seem to be productive any longer. The most relevant pair of examples are...
* ''ga'gaquj'' 'crow' compared to ''gjiga'qaquj'' 'raven'
* ''nisgam'' 'god' compared to ''gjinisgam'' 'Great Spirit'

==Absentatives==
This is another feature of Mi'gmaq that English doesn't share. It is a suffix on both verbs and nouns indicating that the person about whom you are speaking is no longer around, either because they are absent, lost, or dead.

For example, in speaking about a living relative, you would say:

<gl>
\gll Nujj teluisit Piel
n-ujj telui-sit Piel \\
1-father name-3 Piel \\
\trans My father is named Piel/Pierre.
</gl>

However, speaking about a deceased relative, you would say:
<gl>
\gll Nujaq teluisipnaq Piel
n-ujj-aq telui-sipn-aq Piel \\
1-father-ABS name-3.PST-ABS Piel \\
\trans My (deceased) father was called Piel/Pierre.
</gl>

Additionally, the absentative suffix can be attached to names; in this example, you might refer to your father not as ''Piel'', but ''Pieloq''.

'''more detail to follow'''

=Modifiers of Nouns=
==Numerals==
''For more detail, see [[Numerals]]''

There are some categories of nouns in Mi'gmaq that require special ways of counting. This could be compared to how in English, we say "a pair of pants" rather than "one pants" or "two pants"--though admittedly, the Mi'gmaq system is more compex than that. In Mi'gmaq, nouns are split into categories that are grouped together with specific counting words for that specific category. These are the most common groups, using examples from Hewson & Francis (1990)<ref>Hewson & Francis. 1990. ''Father Pacifique's Migmaq Grammar''.</ref>:
*long and round objects, such as bottles, candles, and even people
*round objects, such as potatoes, balls, and apples
*money
*units of time
**days
**years, months
**ages of people
*classes, groups, types of things
*dimensions, weights and measures

==Possession==
''For more detail, see [[Possession]]''

Possession covers a whole range of relationships between nouns, not necessarily relationships where there is a possession and an owner. In English, possession covers expressions such as:
*'''my''' umbrellas
*Tom''''s''' sister
*Jamie''''s''' leg
*a friend '''of''' Alice''''s'''
*the music '''of''' Beethoven

The verbs used in these sentences can also be thought of as "possessive":
*I '''have''' a cake.
*This dog '''belongs''' to me.

As mentioned before, these relationships aren't always strictly of ownership, but can be interpreted as a type of closeness or relatedness--so while the umbrella may be my possession in the strictest sense of the word, we also shouldn't think of Tom's sister being ''his'' possession. Instead, we use possession to show that a relationship exists between the two nouns in question.

Mi'gmaq possession has one very important feature that English speakers will have to get used to. This is related to the idea of '''alienability'''. So when something is '''alienable''', the relationship between the two nouns is changeable; ''my umbrella'' shows an alienable relationship, because I can give away the umbrella, and then it is no longer mine and the relationship dissolves. ''Tom's sister'', however, shows an '''inalienable''' relationship because no matter what, Tom and his sister will always be related.

Mi'gmaq inalienable nouns include...
*body parts (i.e. '''gpitn'' 'your hand', and ''nunji'' 'my head')
*family members (i.e. ''nuj'' 'my father', and ''ugmisl'' 'his/her big sister')
*a couple exceptions (i.e. ''nitap'' 'my friend' is inalienable, even though it describes a relationship that might change.)

Mi'gmaq alienable nouns include...
*everything else (i.e. '' 'gtsipuminu'' 'our river', and '' 'ntptautim'' 'my table', and ''ugtwigatign'' 'his/her book', and so on and so forth)

==Demonstratives/Determiners==
''For more detail, see [[Demonstratives]]''

A demonstrative is a word that can be paired with a noun, and generally helps people differentiate between two different nouns in conversation. In English, "this," "that," "these," and "those" are all demonstratives--you can pair them with nouns ("this cat," "those hats") but not verbs or lone adjectives.

In Mi'gmaq, we also see at least two demonstratives:
*''ula,'' for things that are close to the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "this"
*''ala,'' for things that are further from the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "that"

However, in Mi'gmaq they seem to be used a little differently from English. We have seen grammatical Mi'gmaq phrases such as ''ula nemis,'' which would translate in English to "this my big sister," a badly-formed phrase.

Another grammatical Mi'gmaq phrase where a demonstrative looks different from its English counterpart is seen below:

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ula tet.
Piel be.3 this here
\trans Piel is right here. // Piel is at this place
</gl>

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ala tet.
Piel be.3 that here
\trans Piel is over there. // Piel is at that place.
</gl>

==Adjectives==
Mi'gmaq adjectives behave quite differently from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjective English adjectives.] Specifically, they seem somewhat like [[verbs]].

'''more detail to follow'''

==Relative Clauses==

=Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Pronouns]]''

A pronoun is a word that can substitute for a noun that is already known from the context of the conversation.

* Q: What did Mary do with the book?
** A: Mary gave the book to Peter. (all nouns - sounds too long)
** A: She gave it to him. (all pronouns - we don't know who "him" is)
** A: She gave it to Peter. (pronouns for known information, nouns for new information - sounds more natural)
** A: She gave it to me. (ok as long as we know who is talking so we know who "me" is)

Some examples of pronouns in English are I, me, you, he, she, her, him, it, we, us, they, and them. Pronouns can be classified in several ways, see [[Person and number]] and [[Obviation]] for details. The table below shows the pronouns in Mi'gmaq.

{| class="wikitable"
! ||Singular||Dual/Plural
|-
| 13 (excl)
| ni'n
| ninen
|-
| 12 (incl)
| ''n/a''
| ginu
|-
| 2
| gi'l
| gilew
|-
| 3
| negm
| negmow
|}

Mi'gmaq uses pronouns in somewhat different contexts compared to how English does. In English, you can't tell from a verb by itself who is doing the action or who has the action being done to them. For example, "see" doesn't tell us anything about who is seeing or being seen, so the only way to know this is by having nouns or pronouns. Mi'gmaq verbs do give you this information. For example, ''nemi'g'' can only mean that "I see an animate thing," and if we want to change who/what is seeing or being seen we have change parts of the verb (''much'' more information about this in the [[Verbs]] section).

These facts mean that it isn't necessary to use pronouns to express this information again, since we already know it. Saying ''ni'n nemitu negm'' is therefore not quite like saying "I see him/her". Since we didn't have to use ''ni'n'' or ''negm'', the fact that we're choosing to say them means that we want to emphasize these particular people. For example, if someone asked you "Did she see you?" you might want to emphasize the opposite by saying "No, it was ''me'' that saw ''her''", but in a normal sentence you probably wouldn't bother to do this.

=Indefinite Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Indefinite Pronouns]]''

Indefinite pronouns are words that refer to non-specific entities. The following is an inexhaustive list of indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq:

{| class="wikitable"
! Form || Gloss
|-
| nat goqwei
| something
|-
| mugoqwei
| nothing
|-
| ms't goqwei
| everything
|-
| tampasgoqwei
| anything
|-
| mogwa'wen
| nobody/no one
|-
| ta'n wen
| somebody/whomever
|-
| na'tuen/natawen
| someone
|-
| jijuaqa
| sometimes/occasionally
|}

The speaker notes that it is possible to say 'moqoi' as a contraction of 'mugoqwei'. Alternatively, the [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/ Mi'gmaq dictionary ] lists the following form: 'mo'qagoqwei'. In addition, for the form 'moqwa' wen' the speaker notes that it is possible to say 'mowen' as a contraction. As can be seen from this table, many of the indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq could be broken down into two parts--a quantifier or an affix, and a wh-word. For example:

<gl>
\gll mu-goqwei
NEG-what
\trans nothing
</gl>

=References=
<references />

Nouns

2012-12-03T21:33:42Z

Elise: /* Absentatives */

Nouns are words that refer to persons, places, or things. They are the elements that do the action described by the verb or have the action done to them. Many Mi'gmaq sentences have nouns in them, but they aren't necessary. A few examples of English nouns include ''Listuguj'', ''Mary'', ''woman'', and ''table''. These same words are also nouns in Mi'gmaq: ''Listuguj'', ''Mali'', ''e'pit,'' and ''ptauti''.

There are several characteristics that are found in both nouns and verbs, including [[Animacy]], [[Obviation]] and [[Person and number]] marking, which are discussed in their respective articles. Independently of verbs, nouns can also be [[Plural Nouns|Singular or Plural]], [[Absentative]], and [[Vocative]]. Nouns can be modified by a variety of things, including [[Possession]], [[Adjectives]], [[Determiners]], [[Numerals]], [[Nouns#Diminutive and Augmentative|Diminuitives]] and [[Relative Clauses]]. [[Pronouns]] can also be used to substitute for nouns.

=Characteristics of Nouns=
==Plural Nouns==
''For more detail, see [[Plural Nouns]]''

"Number" refers to how many of something there are. In both English and Mi'gmaq, there are two numbers for nouns: singular (only one of something) and plural (two or more of something). In English, a plural noun often looks like the singular plus an ''-s'' at the end, for example, ''girl'' becomes ''girls.'' In Mi'gmaq, there are two things you can add to a noun in order to make it plural, depending on whether the noun is [[Animacy|animate or inanimate]]. For inanimate nouns, like ''ptauti'' 'table' as shown in (1), you generally add ''-l'' to the end of the word (or sometimes you make the last sound of the word longer). For animate nouns, like ''ji'nm'' 'man' as shown in (2), you add ''-ug'' or ''-ig'' or ''-oq'' depending on the particular noun.

<gl>
\gll ptauti, ptauti-l
table, table-PL\\
\trans table, tables
</gl>

<gl>
\gll ji'nm, ji'nm-ug
man, man-PL\\
\trans man, men
</gl>

If you've looked at number in Mi'gmaq [[Verbs: Overview|verbs]], you may have noticed that Mi'gmaq verbs make a distinction between singular, dual (two participants), and plural (three or more participants). However, for nouns, the only distinction is between one and more than one.

==Vocatives==
When one addresses a person directly, the term used to address that person is known as a '''vocative'''.

As seen in the example below, English vocatives do not look different from non-vocative English nouns.
*To take an English example, in the sentence "Chris baked a cake," ''Chris'' is not a vocative noun. But in the command, "Hey Chris, please bake a cake!" the name ''Chris'' is a vocative.

However, one category of Mi'gmaq nouns seems to differ based on whether they are vocative or not. In Mi'gmaq, the words for '''family members''' look different as vocatives than they do when used in a sentence. While it is not grammatical to say "I have a daughter" using the bare root for 'daughter,' (more detail on this is given in [[Possession]]) it is completely grammatical to use that bare root to address one's daughter directly. Examples of both uses of the root for 'daughter' are seen below.

<gl>
\gll *geggung tus
have.1>3 daughter\\
\trans (intended) I have a daughter.
</gl>

<gl>
\gll tus, pasi
daughter, sit.IMP\\
\trans Daughter, sit!
</gl>

This second example should be double-checked.--[[User:Elise|Elise]] 12:18, 15 May 2012 (CDT)

==Feminine Suffix==
* The ''-sgw'' suffix, which functions like ''-ess'' in ''lioness''
'''more detail to follow'''

==Diminutive and Augmentative==
''For more detail, see [[Diminutive and Augmentative]].''

In Mi'gmaq, the diminutive is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffix suffix], that means "'''little [noun]'''". It cannot attach to every noun, though it is possible that your meaning may be understood even if you put it on a slightly non-standard noun. It may also be used to connote youth or affection towards the noun in question.

Some examples of words where it might appear include...
* ''lpa'tuj'' 'boy' becomes ''lpa'tu'ji'j'' 'little boy'
* ''gjigan'' 'city' becomes ''gjiganji'j'' 'village'
* ''jijgluewj'' 'sheep' becomes ''jijgluewji'j'' 'lamb'

Note that you can't always assume that the ending ''-ji'j'' is going to be a diminutive. The word ''jipji'j'' 'bird' ends in ''-ji'j'', but there is no word meaning 'larger bird' that is pronounced ''jip.''

The opposite of a diminutive is an '''augmentative''', an affix which '''denotes largeness'''. When augmenting a noun, Mi'gmaq speakers seem to prefer using the [[Nouns#Adjectives|adjective]] ''mesg'ig'' rather than a particular augmentative affix. However, there is evidence that at some point the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefix prefix] ''gji-'' was used as an augmentative, as it occurs as a prefix in several words that are bigger or greater than their un-prefixed counterparts.

Examples of this type of prefixation are limited, however, and the process does not seem to be productive any longer. The most relevant pair of examples are...
* ''ga'gaquj'' 'crow' compared to ''gjiga'qaquj'' 'raven'
* ''nisgam'' 'god' compared to ''gjinisgam'' 'Great Spirit'

==Absentatives==
This is another feature of Mi'gmaq that English doesn't share. It is a suffix on both verbs and nouns indicating that the person about whom you are speaking is no longer around, either because they are absent, lost, or dead.

For example, in speaking about a living relative, you would say:

<gl>
\gll Nujj teluisit Piel
n-ujj telui-sit Piel \\
1-father name-3SG.PRE Piel \\
\trans My father is named Piel/Pierre.
</gl>

However, speaking about a deceased relative, you would say:
<gl>
\gll Nujaq teluisipnaq Piel
n-ujj-aq telui-sipn-aq Piel \\
1-father-ABS name-3.PST-ABS Piel \\
\trans My (deceased) father was called Piel/Pierre.
</gl>

Additionally, the absentative suffix can be attached to names; in this example, you might refer to your father not as ''Piel'', but ''Pieloq''.

'''more detail to follow'''

=Modifiers of Nouns=
==Numerals==
''For more detail, see [[Numerals]]''

There are some categories of nouns in Mi'gmaq that require special ways of counting. This could be compared to how in English, we say "a pair of pants" rather than "one pants" or "two pants"--though admittedly, the Mi'gmaq system is more compex than that. In Mi'gmaq, nouns are split into categories that are grouped together with specific counting words for that specific category. These are the most common groups, using examples from Hewson & Francis (1990)<ref>Hewson & Francis. 1990. ''Father Pacifique's Migmaq Grammar''.</ref>:
*long and round objects, such as bottles, candles, and even people
*round objects, such as potatoes, balls, and apples
*money
*units of time
**days
**years, months
**ages of people
*classes, groups, types of things
*dimensions, weights and measures

==Possession==
''For more detail, see [[Possession]]''

Possession covers a whole range of relationships between nouns, not necessarily relationships where there is a possession and an owner. In English, possession covers expressions such as:
*'''my''' umbrellas
*Tom''''s''' sister
*Jamie''''s''' leg
*a friend '''of''' Alice''''s'''
*the music '''of''' Beethoven

The verbs used in these sentences can also be thought of as "possessive":
*I '''have''' a cake.
*This dog '''belongs''' to me.

As mentioned before, these relationships aren't always strictly of ownership, but can be interpreted as a type of closeness or relatedness--so while the umbrella may be my possession in the strictest sense of the word, we also shouldn't think of Tom's sister being ''his'' possession. Instead, we use possession to show that a relationship exists between the two nouns in question.

Mi'gmaq possession has one very important feature that English speakers will have to get used to. This is related to the idea of '''alienability'''. So when something is '''alienable''', the relationship between the two nouns is changeable; ''my umbrella'' shows an alienable relationship, because I can give away the umbrella, and then it is no longer mine and the relationship dissolves. ''Tom's sister'', however, shows an '''inalienable''' relationship because no matter what, Tom and his sister will always be related.

Mi'gmaq inalienable nouns include...
*body parts (i.e. '''gpitn'' 'your hand', and ''nunji'' 'my head')
*family members (i.e. ''nuj'' 'my father', and ''ugmisl'' 'his/her big sister')
*a couple exceptions (i.e. ''nitap'' 'my friend' is inalienable, even though it describes a relationship that might change.)

Mi'gmaq alienable nouns include...
*everything else (i.e. '' 'gtsipuminu'' 'our river', and '' 'ntptautim'' 'my table', and ''ugtwigatign'' 'his/her book', and so on and so forth)

==Demonstratives/Determiners==
''For more detail, see [[Demonstratives]]''

A demonstrative is a word that can be paired with a noun, and generally helps people differentiate between two different nouns in conversation. In English, "this," "that," "these," and "those" are all demonstratives--you can pair them with nouns ("this cat," "those hats") but not verbs or lone adjectives.

In Mi'gmaq, we also see at least two demonstratives:
*''ula,'' for things that are close to the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "this"
*''ala,'' for things that are further from the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "that"

However, in Mi'gmaq they seem to be used a little differently from English. We have seen grammatical Mi'gmaq phrases such as ''ula nemis,'' which would translate in English to "this my big sister," a badly-formed phrase.

Another grammatical Mi'gmaq phrase where a demonstrative looks different from its English counterpart is seen below:

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ula tet.
Piel be.3 this here
\trans Piel is right here. // Piel is at this place
</gl>

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ala tet.
Piel be.3 that here
\trans Piel is over there. // Piel is at that place.
</gl>

==Adjectives==
Mi'gmaq adjectives behave quite differently from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjective English adjectives.] Specifically, they seem somewhat like [[verbs]].

'''more detail to follow'''

==Relative Clauses==

=Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Pronouns]]''

A pronoun is a word that can substitute for a noun that is already known from the context of the conversation.

* Q: What did Mary do with the book?
** A: Mary gave the book to Peter. (all nouns - sounds too long)
** A: She gave it to him. (all pronouns - we don't know who "him" is)
** A: She gave it to Peter. (pronouns for known information, nouns for new information - sounds more natural)
** A: She gave it to me. (ok as long as we know who is talking so we know who "me" is)

Some examples of pronouns in English are I, me, you, he, she, her, him, it, we, us, they, and them. Pronouns can be classified in several ways, see [[Person and number]] and [[Obviation]] for details. The table below shows the pronouns in Mi'gmaq.

{| class="wikitable"
! ||Singular||Dual/Plural
|-
| 13 (excl)
| ni'n
| ninen
|-
| 12 (incl)
| ''n/a''
| ginu
|-
| 2
| gi'l
| gilew
|-
| 3
| negm
| negmow
|}

Mi'gmaq uses pronouns in somewhat different contexts compared to how English does. In English, you can't tell from a verb by itself who is doing the action or who has the action being done to them. For example, "see" doesn't tell us anything about who is seeing or being seen, so the only way to know this is by having nouns or pronouns. Mi'gmaq verbs do give you this information. For example, ''nemi'g'' can only mean that "I see an animate thing," and if we want to change who/what is seeing or being seen we have change parts of the verb (''much'' more information about this in the [[Verbs]] section).

These facts mean that it isn't necessary to use pronouns to express this information again, since we already know it. Saying ''ni'n nemitu negm'' is therefore not quite like saying "I see him/her". Since we didn't have to use ''ni'n'' or ''negm'', the fact that we're choosing to say them means that we want to emphasize these particular people. For example, if someone asked you "Did she see you?" you might want to emphasize the opposite by saying "No, it was ''me'' that saw ''her''", but in a normal sentence you probably wouldn't bother to do this.

=Indefinite Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Indefinite Pronouns]]''

Indefinite pronouns are words that refer to non-specific entities. The following is an inexhaustive list of indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq:

{| class="wikitable"
! Form || Gloss
|-
| nat goqwei
| something
|-
| mugoqwei
| nothing
|-
| ms't goqwei
| everything
|-
| tampasgoqwei
| anything
|-
| mogwa'wen
| nobody/no one
|-
| ta'n wen
| somebody/whomever
|-
| na'tuen/natawen
| someone
|-
| jijuaqa
| sometimes/occasionally
|}

The speaker notes that it is possible to say 'moqoi' as a contraction of 'mugoqwei'. Alternatively, the [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/ Mi'gmaq dictionary ] lists the following form: 'mo'qagoqwei'. In addition, for the form 'moqwa' wen' the speaker notes that it is possible to say 'mowen' as a contraction. As can be seen from this table, many of the indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq could be broken down into two parts--a quantifier or an affix, and a wh-word. For example:

<gl>
\gll mu-goqwei
NEG-what
\trans nothing
</gl>

=References=
<references />

Nouns

2012-12-03T21:32:47Z

Elise:

Nouns are words that refer to persons, places, or things. They are the elements that do the action described by the verb or have the action done to them. Many Mi'gmaq sentences have nouns in them, but they aren't necessary. A few examples of English nouns include ''Listuguj'', ''Mary'', ''woman'', and ''table''. These same words are also nouns in Mi'gmaq: ''Listuguj'', ''Mali'', ''e'pit,'' and ''ptauti''.

There are several characteristics that are found in both nouns and verbs, including [[Animacy]], [[Obviation]] and [[Person and number]] marking, which are discussed in their respective articles. Independently of verbs, nouns can also be [[Plural Nouns|Singular or Plural]], [[Absentative]], and [[Vocative]]. Nouns can be modified by a variety of things, including [[Possession]], [[Adjectives]], [[Determiners]], [[Numerals]], [[Nouns#Diminutive and Augmentative|Diminuitives]] and [[Relative Clauses]]. [[Pronouns]] can also be used to substitute for nouns.

=Characteristics of Nouns=
==Plural Nouns==
''For more detail, see [[Plural Nouns]]''

"Number" refers to how many of something there are. In both English and Mi'gmaq, there are two numbers for nouns: singular (only one of something) and plural (two or more of something). In English, a plural noun often looks like the singular plus an ''-s'' at the end, for example, ''girl'' becomes ''girls.'' In Mi'gmaq, there are two things you can add to a noun in order to make it plural, depending on whether the noun is [[Animacy|animate or inanimate]]. For inanimate nouns, like ''ptauti'' 'table' as shown in (1), you generally add ''-l'' to the end of the word (or sometimes you make the last sound of the word longer). For animate nouns, like ''ji'nm'' 'man' as shown in (2), you add ''-ug'' or ''-ig'' or ''-oq'' depending on the particular noun.

<gl>
\gll ptauti, ptauti-l
table, table-PL\\
\trans table, tables
</gl>

<gl>
\gll ji'nm, ji'nm-ug
man, man-PL\\
\trans man, men
</gl>

If you've looked at number in Mi'gmaq [[Verbs: Overview|verbs]], you may have noticed that Mi'gmaq verbs make a distinction between singular, dual (two participants), and plural (three or more participants). However, for nouns, the only distinction is between one and more than one.

==Vocatives==
When one addresses a person directly, the term used to address that person is known as a '''vocative'''.

As seen in the example below, English vocatives do not look different from non-vocative English nouns.
*To take an English example, in the sentence "Chris baked a cake," ''Chris'' is not a vocative noun. But in the command, "Hey Chris, please bake a cake!" the name ''Chris'' is a vocative.

However, one category of Mi'gmaq nouns seems to differ based on whether they are vocative or not. In Mi'gmaq, the words for '''family members''' look different as vocatives than they do when used in a sentence. While it is not grammatical to say "I have a daughter" using the bare root for 'daughter,' (more detail on this is given in [[Possession]]) it is completely grammatical to use that bare root to address one's daughter directly. Examples of both uses of the root for 'daughter' are seen below.

<gl>
\gll *geggung tus
have.1>3 daughter\\
\trans (intended) I have a daughter.
</gl>

<gl>
\gll tus, pasi
daughter, sit.IMP\\
\trans Daughter, sit!
</gl>

This second example should be double-checked.--[[User:Elise|Elise]] 12:18, 15 May 2012 (CDT)

==Feminine Suffix==
* The ''-sgw'' suffix, which functions like ''-ess'' in ''lioness''
'''more detail to follow'''

==Diminutive and Augmentative==
''For more detail, see [[Diminutive and Augmentative]].''

In Mi'gmaq, the diminutive is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffix suffix], that means "'''little [noun]'''". It cannot attach to every noun, though it is possible that your meaning may be understood even if you put it on a slightly non-standard noun. It may also be used to connote youth or affection towards the noun in question.

Some examples of words where it might appear include...
* ''lpa'tuj'' 'boy' becomes ''lpa'tu'ji'j'' 'little boy'
* ''gjigan'' 'city' becomes ''gjiganji'j'' 'village'
* ''jijgluewj'' 'sheep' becomes ''jijgluewji'j'' 'lamb'

Note that you can't always assume that the ending ''-ji'j'' is going to be a diminutive. The word ''jipji'j'' 'bird' ends in ''-ji'j'', but there is no word meaning 'larger bird' that is pronounced ''jip.''

The opposite of a diminutive is an '''augmentative''', an affix which '''denotes largeness'''. When augmenting a noun, Mi'gmaq speakers seem to prefer using the [[Nouns#Adjectives|adjective]] ''mesg'ig'' rather than a particular augmentative affix. However, there is evidence that at some point the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefix prefix] ''gji-'' was used as an augmentative, as it occurs as a prefix in several words that are bigger or greater than their un-prefixed counterparts.

Examples of this type of prefixation are limited, however, and the process does not seem to be productive any longer. The most relevant pair of examples are...
* ''ga'gaquj'' 'crow' compared to ''gjiga'qaquj'' 'raven'
* ''nisgam'' 'god' compared to ''gjinisgam'' 'Great Spirit'

==Absentatives==
This is another feature of Mi'gmaq that English doesn't share. It is a suffix on both verbs and nouns indicating that the person about whom you are speaking is no longer around, either because they are absent, lost, or dead.

For example, in speaking about a living relative, you would say:

<gl>
\gll Nujj teluisit Piel
n-ujj teluis-it Piel \\
1-father name-3sg Piel \\
\trans My father is named Piel/Pierre.
</gl>

However, speaking about a deceased relative, you would say:
<gl>
\gll Nujaq teluisipnaq Piel
n-ujj-aq teluis-pn-aq Piel \\
1-father-ABS name-3.PST-ABS Piel \\
\trans My (deceased) father was called Piel/Pierre.
</gl>

Additionally, the absentative suffix can be attached to names; in this example, you might refer to your father not as ''Piel'', but ''Pieloq''.

'''more detail to follow'''

=Modifiers of Nouns=
==Numerals==
''For more detail, see [[Numerals]]''

There are some categories of nouns in Mi'gmaq that require special ways of counting. This could be compared to how in English, we say "a pair of pants" rather than "one pants" or "two pants"--though admittedly, the Mi'gmaq system is more compex than that. In Mi'gmaq, nouns are split into categories that are grouped together with specific counting words for that specific category. These are the most common groups, using examples from Hewson & Francis (1990)<ref>Hewson & Francis. 1990. ''Father Pacifique's Migmaq Grammar''.</ref>:
*long and round objects, such as bottles, candles, and even people
*round objects, such as potatoes, balls, and apples
*money
*units of time
**days
**years, months
**ages of people
*classes, groups, types of things
*dimensions, weights and measures

==Possession==
''For more detail, see [[Possession]]''

Possession covers a whole range of relationships between nouns, not necessarily relationships where there is a possession and an owner. In English, possession covers expressions such as:
*'''my''' umbrellas
*Tom''''s''' sister
*Jamie''''s''' leg
*a friend '''of''' Alice''''s'''
*the music '''of''' Beethoven

The verbs used in these sentences can also be thought of as "possessive":
*I '''have''' a cake.
*This dog '''belongs''' to me.

As mentioned before, these relationships aren't always strictly of ownership, but can be interpreted as a type of closeness or relatedness--so while the umbrella may be my possession in the strictest sense of the word, we also shouldn't think of Tom's sister being ''his'' possession. Instead, we use possession to show that a relationship exists between the two nouns in question.

Mi'gmaq possession has one very important feature that English speakers will have to get used to. This is related to the idea of '''alienability'''. So when something is '''alienable''', the relationship between the two nouns is changeable; ''my umbrella'' shows an alienable relationship, because I can give away the umbrella, and then it is no longer mine and the relationship dissolves. ''Tom's sister'', however, shows an '''inalienable''' relationship because no matter what, Tom and his sister will always be related.

Mi'gmaq inalienable nouns include...
*body parts (i.e. '''gpitn'' 'your hand', and ''nunji'' 'my head')
*family members (i.e. ''nuj'' 'my father', and ''ugmisl'' 'his/her big sister')
*a couple exceptions (i.e. ''nitap'' 'my friend' is inalienable, even though it describes a relationship that might change.)

Mi'gmaq alienable nouns include...
*everything else (i.e. '' 'gtsipuminu'' 'our river', and '' 'ntptautim'' 'my table', and ''ugtwigatign'' 'his/her book', and so on and so forth)

==Demonstratives/Determiners==
''For more detail, see [[Demonstratives]]''

A demonstrative is a word that can be paired with a noun, and generally helps people differentiate between two different nouns in conversation. In English, "this," "that," "these," and "those" are all demonstratives--you can pair them with nouns ("this cat," "those hats") but not verbs or lone adjectives.

In Mi'gmaq, we also see at least two demonstratives:
*''ula,'' for things that are close to the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "this"
*''ala,'' for things that are further from the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "that"

However, in Mi'gmaq they seem to be used a little differently from English. We have seen grammatical Mi'gmaq phrases such as ''ula nemis,'' which would translate in English to "this my big sister," a badly-formed phrase.

Another grammatical Mi'gmaq phrase where a demonstrative looks different from its English counterpart is seen below:

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ula tet.
Piel be.3 this here
\trans Piel is right here. // Piel is at this place
</gl>

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ala tet.
Piel be.3 that here
\trans Piel is over there. // Piel is at that place.
</gl>

==Adjectives==
Mi'gmaq adjectives behave quite differently from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjective English adjectives.] Specifically, they seem somewhat like [[verbs]].

'''more detail to follow'''

==Relative Clauses==

=Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Pronouns]]''

A pronoun is a word that can substitute for a noun that is already known from the context of the conversation.

* Q: What did Mary do with the book?
** A: Mary gave the book to Peter. (all nouns - sounds too long)
** A: She gave it to him. (all pronouns - we don't know who "him" is)
** A: She gave it to Peter. (pronouns for known information, nouns for new information - sounds more natural)
** A: She gave it to me. (ok as long as we know who is talking so we know who "me" is)

Some examples of pronouns in English are I, me, you, he, she, her, him, it, we, us, they, and them. Pronouns can be classified in several ways, see [[Person and number]] and [[Obviation]] for details. The table below shows the pronouns in Mi'gmaq.

{| class="wikitable"
! ||Singular||Dual/Plural
|-
| 13 (excl)
| ni'n
| ninen
|-
| 12 (incl)
| ''n/a''
| ginu
|-
| 2
| gi'l
| gilew
|-
| 3
| negm
| negmow
|}

Mi'gmaq uses pronouns in somewhat different contexts compared to how English does. In English, you can't tell from a verb by itself who is doing the action or who has the action being done to them. For example, "see" doesn't tell us anything about who is seeing or being seen, so the only way to know this is by having nouns or pronouns. Mi'gmaq verbs do give you this information. For example, ''nemi'g'' can only mean that "I see an animate thing," and if we want to change who/what is seeing or being seen we have change parts of the verb (''much'' more information about this in the [[Verbs]] section).

These facts mean that it isn't necessary to use pronouns to express this information again, since we already know it. Saying ''ni'n nemitu negm'' is therefore not quite like saying "I see him/her". Since we didn't have to use ''ni'n'' or ''negm'', the fact that we're choosing to say them means that we want to emphasize these particular people. For example, if someone asked you "Did she see you?" you might want to emphasize the opposite by saying "No, it was ''me'' that saw ''her''", but in a normal sentence you probably wouldn't bother to do this.

=Indefinite Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Indefinite Pronouns]]''

Indefinite pronouns are words that refer to non-specific entities. The following is an inexhaustive list of indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq:

{| class="wikitable"
! Form || Gloss
|-
| nat goqwei
| something
|-
| mugoqwei
| nothing
|-
| ms't goqwei
| everything
|-
| tampasgoqwei
| anything
|-
| mogwa'wen
| nobody/no one
|-
| ta'n wen
| somebody/whomever
|-
| na'tuen/natawen
| someone
|-
| jijuaqa
| sometimes/occasionally
|}

The speaker notes that it is possible to say 'moqoi' as a contraction of 'mugoqwei'. Alternatively, the [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/ Mi'gmaq dictionary ] lists the following form: 'mo'qagoqwei'. In addition, for the form 'moqwa' wen' the speaker notes that it is possible to say 'mowen' as a contraction. As can be seen from this table, many of the indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq could be broken down into two parts--a quantifier or an affix, and a wh-word. For example:

<gl>
\gll mu-goqwei
NEG-what
\trans nothing
</gl>

=References=
<references />

Nouns

2012-12-03T21:31:19Z

Elise: /* Absentatives */

Nouns are words that refer to persons, places, or things. They are the elements that do the action described by the verb or have the action done to them. Many Mi'gmaq sentences have nouns in them, but they aren't necessary. A few examples of English nouns include ''Listuguj'', ''Mary'', ''woman'', and ''table''. These same words are also nouns in Mi'gmaq: ''Listuguj'', ''Mali'', ''e'pit,'' and ''ptauti''.

There are several characteristics that are found in both nouns and verbs, including [[Animacy]], [[Obviation]] and [[Person and number]] marking, which are discussed in their respective articles. Independently of verbs, nouns can also be [[Plural Nouns|Singular or Plural]], [[Absentative]], and [[Vocative]]. Nouns can be modified by a variety of things, including [[Possession]], [[Adjectives]], [[Determiners]], [[Numerals]], [[Nouns#Diminutive and Augmentative|Diminuitives]] and [[Relative Clauses]]. [[Pronouns]] can also be used to substitute for nouns.

=Characteristics of Nouns=
==Plural Nouns==
''For more detail, see [[Plural Nouns]]''

"Number" refers to how many of something there are. In both English and Mi'gmaq, there are two numbers for nouns: singular (only one of something) and plural (two or more of something). In English, a plural noun often looks like the singular plus an ''-s'' at the end, for example, ''girl'' becomes ''girls.'' In Mi'gmaq, there are two things you can add to a noun in order to make it plural, depending on whether the noun is [[Animacy|animate or inanimate]]. For inanimate nouns, like ''ptauti'' 'table' as shown in (1), you generally add ''-l'' to the end of the word (or sometimes you make the last sound of the word longer). For animate nouns, like ''ji'nm'' 'man' as shown in (2), you add ''-ug'' or ''-ig'' or ''-oq'' depending on the particular noun.

<gl>
\gll ptauti, ptauti-l
table, table-PL\\
\trans table, tables
</gl>

<gl>
\gll ji'nm, ji'nm-ug
man, man-PL\\
\trans man, men
</gl>

If you've looked at number in Mi'gmaq [[Verbs: Overview|verbs]], you may have noticed that Mi'gmaq verbs make a distinction between singular, dual (two participants), and plural (three or more participants). However, for nouns, the only distinction is between one and more than one.

==Vocatives==
When one addresses a person directly, the term used to address that person is known as a '''vocative'''.

As seen in the example below, English vocatives do not look different from non-vocative English nouns.
*To take an English example, in the sentence "Chris baked a cake," ''Chris'' is not a vocative noun. But in the command, "Hey Chris, please bake a cake!" the name ''Chris'' is a vocative.

However, one category of Mi'gmaq nouns seems to differ based on whether they are vocative or not. In Mi'gmaq, the words for '''family members''' look different as vocatives than they do when used in a sentence. While it is not grammatical to say "I have a daughter" using the bare root for 'daughter,' (more detail on this is given in [[Possession]]) it is completely grammatical to use that bare root to address one's daughter directly. Examples of both uses of the root for 'daughter' are seen below.

<gl>
\gll *geggung tus
have.1>3 daughter\\
\trans (intended) I have a daughter.
</gl>

<gl>
\gll tus, pasi
daughter, sit.IMP\\
\trans Daughter, sit!
</gl>

This second example should be double-checked.--[[User:Elise|Elise]] 12:18, 15 May 2012 (CDT)

==Feminine Suffix==
* The ''-sgw'' suffix, which functions like ''-ess'' in ''lioness''
'''more detail to follow'''

==Diminutive and Augmentative==
''For more detail, see [[Diminutive and Augmentative]].''

In Mi'gmaq, the diminutive is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffix suffix], that means "'''little [noun]'''". It cannot attach to every noun, though it is possible that your meaning may be understood even if you put it on a slightly non-standard noun. It may also be used to connote youth or affection towards the noun in question.

Some examples of words where it might appear include...
* ''lpa'tuj'' 'boy' becomes ''lpa'tu'ji'j'' 'little boy'
* ''gjigan'' 'city' becomes ''gjiganji'j'' 'village'
* ''jijgluewj'' 'sheep' becomes ''jijgluewji'j'' 'lamb'

Note that you can't always assume that the ending ''-ji'j'' is going to be a diminutive. The word ''jipji'j'' 'bird' ends in ''-ji'j'', but there is no word meaning 'larger bird' that is pronounced ''jip.''

The opposite of a diminutive is an '''augmentative''', an affix which '''denotes largeness'''. When augmenting a noun, Mi'gmaq speakers seem to prefer using the [[Nouns#Adjectives|adjective]] ''mesg'ig'' rather than a particular augmentative affix. However, there is evidence that at some point the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefix prefix] ''gji-'' was used as an augmentative, as it occurs as a prefix in several words that are bigger or greater than their un-prefixed counterparts.

Examples of this type of prefixation are limited, however, and the process does not seem to be productive any longer. The most relevant pair of examples are...
* ''ga'gaquj'' 'crow' compared to ''gjiga'qaquj'' 'raven'
* ''nisgam'' 'god' compared to ''gjinisgam'' 'Great Spirit'

==Absentatives==
This is another feature of Mi'gmaq that English doesn't share. It is a suffix on both verbs and nouns indicating that the person about whom you are speaking is no longer around, either because they are absent, lost, or dead.

For example, in speaking about a living relative, you would say:
Nujj teluisit Piel
n-ujj teluis-it Piel
1-father name-3sg Piel
"My father is named Piel/Pierre."

However, speaking about a deceased relative, you would say:
Nujaq teluisipnaq Piel
n-ujj-aq teluis-pn-aq Piel
1-father-ABS name-3.PST-ABS Piel
"My (deceased) father was called Piel/Pierre."

Additionally, the absentative suffix can be attached to names; in this example, you might refer to your father not as ''Piel'', but ''Pieloq''.

'''more detail to follow'''

=Modifiers of Nouns=
==Numerals==
''For more detail, see [[Numerals]]''

There are some categories of nouns in Mi'gmaq that require special ways of counting. This could be compared to how in English, we say "a pair of pants" rather than "one pants" or "two pants"--though admittedly, the Mi'gmaq system is more compex than that. In Mi'gmaq, nouns are split into categories that are grouped together with specific counting words for that specific category. These are the most common groups, using examples from Hewson & Francis (1990)<ref>Hewson & Francis. 1990. ''Father Pacifique's Migmaq Grammar''.</ref>:
*long and round objects, such as bottles, candles, and even people
*round objects, such as potatoes, balls, and apples
*money
*units of time
**days
**years, months
**ages of people
*classes, groups, types of things
*dimensions, weights and measures

==Possession==
''For more detail, see [[Possession]]''

Possession covers a whole range of relationships between nouns, not necessarily relationships where there is a possession and an owner. In English, possession covers expressions such as:
*'''my''' umbrellas
*Tom''''s''' sister
*Jamie''''s''' leg
*a friend '''of''' Alice''''s'''
*the music '''of''' Beethoven

The verbs used in these sentences can also be thought of as "possessive":
*I '''have''' a cake.
*This dog '''belongs''' to me.

As mentioned before, these relationships aren't always strictly of ownership, but can be interpreted as a type of closeness or relatedness--so while the umbrella may be my possession in the strictest sense of the word, we also shouldn't think of Tom's sister being ''his'' possession. Instead, we use possession to show that a relationship exists between the two nouns in question.

Mi'gmaq possession has one very important feature that English speakers will have to get used to. This is related to the idea of '''alienability'''. So when something is '''alienable''', the relationship between the two nouns is changeable; ''my umbrella'' shows an alienable relationship, because I can give away the umbrella, and then it is no longer mine and the relationship dissolves. ''Tom's sister'', however, shows an '''inalienable''' relationship because no matter what, Tom and his sister will always be related.

Mi'gmaq inalienable nouns include...
*body parts (i.e. '''gpitn'' 'your hand', and ''nunji'' 'my head')
*family members (i.e. ''nuj'' 'my father', and ''ugmisl'' 'his/her big sister')
*a couple exceptions (i.e. ''nitap'' 'my friend' is inalienable, even though it describes a relationship that might change.)

Mi'gmaq alienable nouns include...
*everything else (i.e. '' 'gtsipuminu'' 'our river', and '' 'ntptautim'' 'my table', and ''ugtwigatign'' 'his/her book', and so on and so forth)

==Demonstratives/Determiners==
''For more detail, see [[Demonstratives]]''

A demonstrative is a word that can be paired with a noun, and generally helps people differentiate between two different nouns in conversation. In English, "this," "that," "these," and "those" are all demonstratives--you can pair them with nouns ("this cat," "those hats") but not verbs or lone adjectives.

In Mi'gmaq, we also see at least two demonstratives:
*''ula,'' for things that are close to the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "this"
*''ala,'' for things that are further from the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "that"

However, in Mi'gmaq they seem to be used a little differently from English. We have seen grammatical Mi'gmaq phrases such as ''ula nemis,'' which would translate in English to "this my big sister," a badly-formed phrase.

Another grammatical Mi'gmaq phrase where a demonstrative looks different from its English counterpart is seen below:

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ula tet.
Piel be.3 this here
\trans Piel is right here. // Piel is at this place
</gl>

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ala tet.
Piel be.3 that here
\trans Piel is over there. // Piel is at that place.
</gl>

==Adjectives==
Mi'gmaq adjectives behave quite differently from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjective English adjectives.] Specifically, they seem somewhat like [[verbs]].

'''more detail to follow'''

==Relative Clauses==

=Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Pronouns]]''

A pronoun is a word that can substitute for a noun that is already known from the context of the conversation.

* Q: What did Mary do with the book?
** A: Mary gave the book to Peter. (all nouns - sounds too long)
** A: She gave it to him. (all pronouns - we don't know who "him" is)
** A: She gave it to Peter. (pronouns for known information, nouns for new information - sounds more natural)
** A: She gave it to me. (ok as long as we know who is talking so we know who "me" is)

Some examples of pronouns in English are I, me, you, he, she, her, him, it, we, us, they, and them. Pronouns can be classified in several ways, see [[Person and number]] and [[Obviation]] for details. The table below shows the pronouns in Mi'gmaq.

{| class="wikitable"
! ||Singular||Dual/Plural
|-
| 13 (excl)
| ni'n
| ninen
|-
| 12 (incl)
| ''n/a''
| ginu
|-
| 2
| gi'l
| gilew
|-
| 3
| negm
| negmow
|}

Mi'gmaq uses pronouns in somewhat different contexts compared to how English does. In English, you can't tell from a verb by itself who is doing the action or who has the action being done to them. For example, "see" doesn't tell us anything about who is seeing or being seen, so the only way to know this is by having nouns or pronouns. Mi'gmaq verbs do give you this information. For example, ''nemi'g'' can only mean that "I see an animate thing," and if we want to change who/what is seeing or being seen we have change parts of the verb (''much'' more information about this in the [[Verbs]] section).

These facts mean that it isn't necessary to use pronouns to express this information again, since we already know it. Saying ''ni'n nemitu negm'' is therefore not quite like saying "I see him/her". Since we didn't have to use ''ni'n'' or ''negm'', the fact that we're choosing to say them means that we want to emphasize these particular people. For example, if someone asked you "Did she see you?" you might want to emphasize the opposite by saying "No, it was ''me'' that saw ''her''", but in a normal sentence you probably wouldn't bother to do this.

=Indefinite Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Indefinite Pronouns]]''

Indefinite pronouns are words that refer to non-specific entities. The following is an inexhaustive list of indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq:

{| class="wikitable"
! Form || Gloss
|-
| nat goqwei
| something
|-
| mugoqwei
| nothing
|-
| ms't goqwei
| everything
|-
| tampasgoqwei
| anything
|-
| mogwa'wen
| nobody/no one
|-
| ta'n wen
| somebody/whomever
|-
| na'tuen/natawen
| someone
|-
| jijuaqa
| sometimes/occasionally
|}

The speaker notes that it is possible to say 'moqoi' as a contraction of 'mugoqwei'. Alternatively, the [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/ Mi'gmaq dictionary ] lists the following form: 'mo'qagoqwei'. In addition, for the form 'moqwa' wen' the speaker notes that it is possible to say 'mowen' as a contraction. As can be seen from this table, many of the indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq could be broken down into two parts--a quantifier or an affix, and a wh-word. For example:

<gl>
\gll mu-goqwei
NEG-what
\trans nothing
</gl>

=References=
<references />

Nouns

2012-12-03T21:14:40Z

Elise: /* Feminine Suffix */

Nouns are words that refer to persons, places, or things. They are the elements that do the action described by the verb or have the action done to them. Many Mi'gmaq sentences have nouns in them, but they aren't necessary. A few examples of English nouns include ''Listuguj'', ''Mary'', ''woman'', and ''table''. These same words are also nouns in Mi'gmaq: ''Listuguj'', ''Mali'', ''e'pit,'' and ''ptauti''.

There are several characteristics that are found in both nouns and verbs, including [[Animacy]], [[Obviation]] and [[Person and number]] marking, which are discussed in their respective articles. Independently of verbs, nouns can also be [[Plural Nouns|Singular or Plural]], [[Absentative]], and [[Vocative]]. Nouns can be modified by a variety of things, including [[Possession]], [[Adjectives]], [[Determiners]], [[Numerals]], [[Nouns#Diminutive and Augmentative|Diminuitives]] and [[Relative Clauses]]. [[Pronouns]] can also be used to substitute for nouns.

=Characteristics of Nouns=
==Plural Nouns==
''For more detail, see [[Plural Nouns]]''

"Number" refers to how many of something there are. In both English and Mi'gmaq, there are two numbers for nouns: singular (only one of something) and plural (two or more of something). In English, a plural noun often looks like the singular plus an ''-s'' at the end, for example, ''girl'' becomes ''girls.'' In Mi'gmaq, there are two things you can add to a noun in order to make it plural, depending on whether the noun is [[Animacy|animate or inanimate]]. For inanimate nouns, like ''ptauti'' 'table' as shown in (1), you generally add ''-l'' to the end of the word (or sometimes you make the last sound of the word longer). For animate nouns, like ''ji'nm'' 'man' as shown in (2), you add ''-ug'' or ''-ig'' or ''-oq'' depending on the particular noun.

<gl>
\gll ptauti, ptauti-l
table, table-PL\\
\trans table, tables
</gl>

<gl>
\gll ji'nm, ji'nm-ug
man, man-PL\\
\trans man, men
</gl>

If you've looked at number in Mi'gmaq [[Verbs: Overview|verbs]], you may have noticed that Mi'gmaq verbs make a distinction between singular, dual (two participants), and plural (three or more participants). However, for nouns, the only distinction is between one and more than one.

==Vocatives==
When one addresses a person directly, the term used to address that person is known as a '''vocative'''.

As seen in the example below, English vocatives do not look different from non-vocative English nouns.
*To take an English example, in the sentence "Chris baked a cake," ''Chris'' is not a vocative noun. But in the command, "Hey Chris, please bake a cake!" the name ''Chris'' is a vocative.

However, one category of Mi'gmaq nouns seems to differ based on whether they are vocative or not. In Mi'gmaq, the words for '''family members''' look different as vocatives than they do when used in a sentence. While it is not grammatical to say "I have a daughter" using the bare root for 'daughter,' (more detail on this is given in [[Possession]]) it is completely grammatical to use that bare root to address one's daughter directly. Examples of both uses of the root for 'daughter' are seen below.

<gl>
\gll *geggung tus
have.1>3 daughter\\
\trans (intended) I have a daughter.
</gl>

<gl>
\gll tus, pasi
daughter, sit.IMP\\
\trans Daughter, sit!
</gl>

This second example should be double-checked.--[[User:Elise|Elise]] 12:18, 15 May 2012 (CDT)

==Feminine Suffix==
* The ''-sgw'' suffix, which functions like ''-ess'' in ''lioness''
'''more detail to follow'''

==Diminutive and Augmentative==
''For more detail, see [[Diminutive and Augmentative]].''

In Mi'gmaq, the diminutive is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffix suffix], that means "'''little [noun]'''". It cannot attach to every noun, though it is possible that your meaning may be understood even if you put it on a slightly non-standard noun. It may also be used to connote youth or affection towards the noun in question.

Some examples of words where it might appear include...
* ''lpa'tuj'' 'boy' becomes ''lpa'tu'ji'j'' 'little boy'
* ''gjigan'' 'city' becomes ''gjiganji'j'' 'village'
* ''jijgluewj'' 'sheep' becomes ''jijgluewji'j'' 'lamb'

Note that you can't always assume that the ending ''-ji'j'' is going to be a diminutive. The word ''jipji'j'' 'bird' ends in ''-ji'j'', but there is no word meaning 'larger bird' that is pronounced ''jip.''

The opposite of a diminutive is an '''augmentative''', an affix which '''denotes largeness'''. When augmenting a noun, Mi'gmaq speakers seem to prefer using the [[Nouns#Adjectives|adjective]] ''mesg'ig'' rather than a particular augmentative affix. However, there is evidence that at some point the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefix prefix] ''gji-'' was used as an augmentative, as it occurs as a prefix in several words that are bigger or greater than their un-prefixed counterparts.

Examples of this type of prefixation are limited, however, and the process does not seem to be productive any longer. The most relevant pair of examples are...
* ''ga'gaquj'' 'crow' compared to ''gjiga'qaquj'' 'raven'
* ''nisgam'' 'god' compared to ''gjinisgam'' 'Great Spirit'

==Absentatives==
This is another feature of Mi'gmaq English doesn't share. It is a suffix indicating that the person about whom you are speaking is no longer around.

"Absentative suffixes are typically used in other Algonquian languages to indicate that the entity is removed from or distant from the current frame of reference, e.g., asleep, dead, lost, or absent." Quote from Deborah James, Sandra Clarke, and Marguerite MacKenzie. 2001. "The Encoding of Information Source in Algonquian: Evidentials in Cree/Montagnais/Naskapi" International Journal of American Linguistics, 63:3 pp.229-263. University of Chicago Press, accessed via http://www.jstor.org/stable/1265987 .

'''more detail to follow'''

=Modifiers of Nouns=
==Numerals==
''For more detail, see [[Numerals]]''

There are some categories of nouns in Mi'gmaq that require special ways of counting. This could be compared to how in English, we say "a pair of pants" rather than "one pants" or "two pants"--though admittedly, the Mi'gmaq system is more compex than that. In Mi'gmaq, nouns are split into categories that are grouped together with specific counting words for that specific category. These are the most common groups, using examples from Hewson & Francis (1990)<ref>Hewson & Francis. 1990. ''Father Pacifique's Migmaq Grammar''.</ref>:
*long and round objects, such as bottles, candles, and even people
*round objects, such as potatoes, balls, and apples
*money
*units of time
**days
**years, months
**ages of people
*classes, groups, types of things
*dimensions, weights and measures

==Possession==
''For more detail, see [[Possession]]''

Possession covers a whole range of relationships between nouns, not necessarily relationships where there is a possession and an owner. In English, possession covers expressions such as:
*'''my''' umbrellas
*Tom''''s''' sister
*Jamie''''s''' leg
*a friend '''of''' Alice''''s'''
*the music '''of''' Beethoven

The verbs used in these sentences can also be thought of as "possessive":
*I '''have''' a cake.
*This dog '''belongs''' to me.

As mentioned before, these relationships aren't always strictly of ownership, but can be interpreted as a type of closeness or relatedness--so while the umbrella may be my possession in the strictest sense of the word, we also shouldn't think of Tom's sister being ''his'' possession. Instead, we use possession to show that a relationship exists between the two nouns in question.

Mi'gmaq possession has one very important feature that English speakers will have to get used to. This is related to the idea of '''alienability'''. So when something is '''alienable''', the relationship between the two nouns is changeable; ''my umbrella'' shows an alienable relationship, because I can give away the umbrella, and then it is no longer mine and the relationship dissolves. ''Tom's sister'', however, shows an '''inalienable''' relationship because no matter what, Tom and his sister will always be related.

Mi'gmaq inalienable nouns include...
*body parts (i.e. '''gpitn'' 'your hand', and ''nunji'' 'my head')
*family members (i.e. ''nuj'' 'my father', and ''ugmisl'' 'his/her big sister')
*a couple exceptions (i.e. ''nitap'' 'my friend' is inalienable, even though it describes a relationship that might change.)

Mi'gmaq alienable nouns include...
*everything else (i.e. '' 'gtsipuminu'' 'our river', and '' 'ntptautim'' 'my table', and ''ugtwigatign'' 'his/her book', and so on and so forth)

==Demonstratives/Determiners==
''For more detail, see [[Demonstratives]]''

A demonstrative is a word that can be paired with a noun, and generally helps people differentiate between two different nouns in conversation. In English, "this," "that," "these," and "those" are all demonstratives--you can pair them with nouns ("this cat," "those hats") but not verbs or lone adjectives.

In Mi'gmaq, we also see at least two demonstratives:
*''ula,'' for things that are close to the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "this"
*''ala,'' for things that are further from the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "that"

However, in Mi'gmaq they seem to be used a little differently from English. We have seen grammatical Mi'gmaq phrases such as ''ula nemis,'' which would translate in English to "this my big sister," a badly-formed phrase.

Another grammatical Mi'gmaq phrase where a demonstrative looks different from its English counterpart is seen below:

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ula tet.
Piel be.3 this here
\trans Piel is right here. // Piel is at this place
</gl>

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ala tet.
Piel be.3 that here
\trans Piel is over there. // Piel is at that place.
</gl>

==Adjectives==
Mi'gmaq adjectives behave quite differently from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjective English adjectives.] Specifically, they seem somewhat like [[verbs]].

'''more detail to follow'''

==Relative Clauses==

=Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Pronouns]]''

A pronoun is a word that can substitute for a noun that is already known from the context of the conversation.

* Q: What did Mary do with the book?
** A: Mary gave the book to Peter. (all nouns - sounds too long)
** A: She gave it to him. (all pronouns - we don't know who "him" is)
** A: She gave it to Peter. (pronouns for known information, nouns for new information - sounds more natural)
** A: She gave it to me. (ok as long as we know who is talking so we know who "me" is)

Some examples of pronouns in English are I, me, you, he, she, her, him, it, we, us, they, and them. Pronouns can be classified in several ways, see [[Person and number]] and [[Obviation]] for details. The table below shows the pronouns in Mi'gmaq.

{| class="wikitable"
! ||Singular||Dual/Plural
|-
| 13 (excl)
| ni'n
| ninen
|-
| 12 (incl)
| ''n/a''
| ginu
|-
| 2
| gi'l
| gilew
|-
| 3
| negm
| negmow
|}

Mi'gmaq uses pronouns in somewhat different contexts compared to how English does. In English, you can't tell from a verb by itself who is doing the action or who has the action being done to them. For example, "see" doesn't tell us anything about who is seeing or being seen, so the only way to know this is by having nouns or pronouns. Mi'gmaq verbs do give you this information. For example, ''nemi'g'' can only mean that "I see an animate thing," and if we want to change who/what is seeing or being seen we have change parts of the verb (''much'' more information about this in the [[Verbs]] section).

These facts mean that it isn't necessary to use pronouns to express this information again, since we already know it. Saying ''ni'n nemitu negm'' is therefore not quite like saying "I see him/her". Since we didn't have to use ''ni'n'' or ''negm'', the fact that we're choosing to say them means that we want to emphasize these particular people. For example, if someone asked you "Did she see you?" you might want to emphasize the opposite by saying "No, it was ''me'' that saw ''her''", but in a normal sentence you probably wouldn't bother to do this.

=Indefinite Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Indefinite Pronouns]]''

Indefinite pronouns are words that refer to non-specific entities. The following is an inexhaustive list of indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq:

{| class="wikitable"
! Form || Gloss
|-
| nat goqwei
| something
|-
| mugoqwei
| nothing
|-
| ms't goqwei
| everything
|-
| tampasgoqwei
| anything
|-
| mogwa'wen
| nobody/no one
|-
| ta'n wen
| somebody/whomever
|-
| na'tuen/natawen
| someone
|-
| jijuaqa
| sometimes/occasionally
|}

The speaker notes that it is possible to say 'moqoi' as a contraction of 'mugoqwei'. Alternatively, the [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/ Mi'gmaq dictionary ] lists the following form: 'mo'qagoqwei'. In addition, for the form 'moqwa' wen' the speaker notes that it is possible to say 'mowen' as a contraction. As can be seen from this table, many of the indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq could be broken down into two parts--a quantifier or an affix, and a wh-word. For example:

<gl>
\gll mu-goqwei
NEG-what
\trans nothing
</gl>

=References=
<references />

Nouns

2012-12-03T21:04:14Z

Elise: /* Numerals */

Nouns are words that refer to persons, places, or things. They are the elements that do the action described by the verb or have the action done to them. Many Mi'gmaq sentences have nouns in them, but they aren't necessary. A few examples of English nouns include ''Listuguj'', ''Mary'', ''woman'', and ''table''. These same words are also nouns in Mi'gmaq: ''Listuguj'', ''Mali'', ''e'pit,'' and ''ptauti''.

There are several characteristics that are found in both nouns and verbs, including [[Animacy]], [[Obviation]] and [[Person and number]] marking, which are discussed in their respective articles. Independently of verbs, nouns can also be [[Plural Nouns|Singular or Plural]], [[Absentative]], and [[Vocative]]. Nouns can be modified by a variety of things, including [[Possession]], [[Adjectives]], [[Determiners]], [[Numerals]], [[Nouns#Diminutive and Augmentative|Diminuitives]] and [[Relative Clauses]]. [[Pronouns]] can also be used to substitute for nouns.

=Characteristics of Nouns=
==Plural Nouns==
''For more detail, see [[Plural Nouns]]''

"Number" refers to how many of something there are. In both English and Mi'gmaq, there are two numbers for nouns: singular (only one of something) and plural (two or more of something). In English, a plural noun often looks like the singular plus an ''-s'' at the end, for example, ''girl'' becomes ''girls.'' In Mi'gmaq, there are two things you can add to a noun in order to make it plural, depending on whether the noun is [[Animacy|animate or inanimate]]. For inanimate nouns, like ''ptauti'' 'table' as shown in (1), you generally add ''-l'' to the end of the word (or sometimes you make the last sound of the word longer). For animate nouns, like ''ji'nm'' 'man' as shown in (2), you add ''-ug'' or ''-ig'' or ''-oq'' depending on the particular noun.

<gl>
\gll ptauti, ptauti-l
table, table-PL\\
\trans table, tables
</gl>

<gl>
\gll ji'nm, ji'nm-ug
man, man-PL\\
\trans man, men
</gl>

If you've looked at number in Mi'gmaq [[Verbs: Overview|verbs]], you may have noticed that Mi'gmaq verbs make a distinction between singular, dual (two participants), and plural (three or more participants). However, for nouns, the only distinction is between one and more than one.

==Vocatives==
When one addresses a person directly, the term used to address that person is known as a '''vocative'''.

As seen in the example below, English vocatives do not look different from non-vocative English nouns.
*To take an English example, in the sentence "Chris baked a cake," ''Chris'' is not a vocative noun. But in the command, "Hey Chris, please bake a cake!" the name ''Chris'' is a vocative.

However, one category of Mi'gmaq nouns seems to differ based on whether they are vocative or not. In Mi'gmaq, the words for '''family members''' look different as vocatives than they do when used in a sentence. While it is not grammatical to say "I have a daughter" using the bare root for 'daughter,' (more detail on this is given in [[Possession]]) it is completely grammatical to use that bare root to address one's daughter directly. Examples of both uses of the root for 'daughter' are seen below.

<gl>
\gll *geggung tus
have.1>3 daughter\\
\trans (intended) I have a daughter.
</gl>

<gl>
\gll tus, pasi
daughter, sit.IMP\\
\trans Daughter, sit!
</gl>

This second example should be double-checked.--[[User:Elise|Elise]] 12:18, 15 May 2012 (CDT)

==Feminine Suffix==
* The ''-sgw'' suffix, which functions like ''-ess'' in ''lioness''

==Diminutive and Augmentative==
''For more detail, see [[Diminutive and Augmentative]].''

In Mi'gmaq, the diminutive is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffix suffix], that means "'''little [noun]'''". It cannot attach to every noun, though it is possible that your meaning may be understood even if you put it on a slightly non-standard noun. It may also be used to connote youth or affection towards the noun in question.

Some examples of words where it might appear include...
* ''lpa'tuj'' 'boy' becomes ''lpa'tu'ji'j'' 'little boy'
* ''gjigan'' 'city' becomes ''gjiganji'j'' 'village'
* ''jijgluewj'' 'sheep' becomes ''jijgluewji'j'' 'lamb'

Note that you can't always assume that the ending ''-ji'j'' is going to be a diminutive. The word ''jipji'j'' 'bird' ends in ''-ji'j'', but there is no word meaning 'larger bird' that is pronounced ''jip.''

The opposite of a diminutive is an '''augmentative''', an affix which '''denotes largeness'''. When augmenting a noun, Mi'gmaq speakers seem to prefer using the [[Nouns#Adjectives|adjective]] ''mesg'ig'' rather than a particular augmentative affix. However, there is evidence that at some point the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefix prefix] ''gji-'' was used as an augmentative, as it occurs as a prefix in several words that are bigger or greater than their un-prefixed counterparts.

Examples of this type of prefixation are limited, however, and the process does not seem to be productive any longer. The most relevant pair of examples are...
* ''ga'gaquj'' 'crow' compared to ''gjiga'qaquj'' 'raven'
* ''nisgam'' 'god' compared to ''gjinisgam'' 'Great Spirit'

==Absentatives==
This is another feature of Mi'gmaq English doesn't share. It is a suffix indicating that the person about whom you are speaking is no longer around.

"Absentative suffixes are typically used in other Algonquian languages to indicate that the entity is removed from or distant from the current frame of reference, e.g., asleep, dead, lost, or absent." Quote from Deborah James, Sandra Clarke, and Marguerite MacKenzie. 2001. "The Encoding of Information Source in Algonquian: Evidentials in Cree/Montagnais/Naskapi" International Journal of American Linguistics, 63:3 pp.229-263. University of Chicago Press, accessed via http://www.jstor.org/stable/1265987 .

'''more detail to follow'''

=Modifiers of Nouns=
==Numerals==
''For more detail, see [[Numerals]]''

There are some categories of nouns in Mi'gmaq that require special ways of counting. This could be compared to how in English, we say "a pair of pants" rather than "one pants" or "two pants"--though admittedly, the Mi'gmaq system is more compex than that. In Mi'gmaq, nouns are split into categories that are grouped together with specific counting words for that specific category. These are the most common groups, using examples from Hewson & Francis (1990)<ref>Hewson & Francis. 1990. ''Father Pacifique's Migmaq Grammar''.</ref>:
*long and round objects, such as bottles, candles, and even people
*round objects, such as potatoes, balls, and apples
*money
*units of time
**days
**years, months
**ages of people
*classes, groups, types of things
*dimensions, weights and measures

==Possession==
''For more detail, see [[Possession]]''

Possession covers a whole range of relationships between nouns, not necessarily relationships where there is a possession and an owner. In English, possession covers expressions such as:
*'''my''' umbrellas
*Tom''''s''' sister
*Jamie''''s''' leg
*a friend '''of''' Alice''''s'''
*the music '''of''' Beethoven

The verbs used in these sentences can also be thought of as "possessive":
*I '''have''' a cake.
*This dog '''belongs''' to me.

As mentioned before, these relationships aren't always strictly of ownership, but can be interpreted as a type of closeness or relatedness--so while the umbrella may be my possession in the strictest sense of the word, we also shouldn't think of Tom's sister being ''his'' possession. Instead, we use possession to show that a relationship exists between the two nouns in question.

Mi'gmaq possession has one very important feature that English speakers will have to get used to. This is related to the idea of '''alienability'''. So when something is '''alienable''', the relationship between the two nouns is changeable; ''my umbrella'' shows an alienable relationship, because I can give away the umbrella, and then it is no longer mine and the relationship dissolves. ''Tom's sister'', however, shows an '''inalienable''' relationship because no matter what, Tom and his sister will always be related.

Mi'gmaq inalienable nouns include...
*body parts (i.e. '''gpitn'' 'your hand', and ''nunji'' 'my head')
*family members (i.e. ''nuj'' 'my father', and ''ugmisl'' 'his/her big sister')
*a couple exceptions (i.e. ''nitap'' 'my friend' is inalienable, even though it describes a relationship that might change.)

Mi'gmaq alienable nouns include...
*everything else (i.e. '' 'gtsipuminu'' 'our river', and '' 'ntptautim'' 'my table', and ''ugtwigatign'' 'his/her book', and so on and so forth)

==Demonstratives/Determiners==
''For more detail, see [[Demonstratives]]''

A demonstrative is a word that can be paired with a noun, and generally helps people differentiate between two different nouns in conversation. In English, "this," "that," "these," and "those" are all demonstratives--you can pair them with nouns ("this cat," "those hats") but not verbs or lone adjectives.

In Mi'gmaq, we also see at least two demonstratives:
*''ula,'' for things that are close to the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "this"
*''ala,'' for things that are further from the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "that"

However, in Mi'gmaq they seem to be used a little differently from English. We have seen grammatical Mi'gmaq phrases such as ''ula nemis,'' which would translate in English to "this my big sister," a badly-formed phrase.

Another grammatical Mi'gmaq phrase where a demonstrative looks different from its English counterpart is seen below:

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ula tet.
Piel be.3 this here
\trans Piel is right here. // Piel is at this place
</gl>

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ala tet.
Piel be.3 that here
\trans Piel is over there. // Piel is at that place.
</gl>

==Adjectives==
Mi'gmaq adjectives behave quite differently from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjective English adjectives.] Specifically, they seem somewhat like [[verbs]].

'''more detail to follow'''

==Relative Clauses==

=Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Pronouns]]''

A pronoun is a word that can substitute for a noun that is already known from the context of the conversation.

* Q: What did Mary do with the book?
** A: Mary gave the book to Peter. (all nouns - sounds too long)
** A: She gave it to him. (all pronouns - we don't know who "him" is)
** A: She gave it to Peter. (pronouns for known information, nouns for new information - sounds more natural)
** A: She gave it to me. (ok as long as we know who is talking so we know who "me" is)

Some examples of pronouns in English are I, me, you, he, she, her, him, it, we, us, they, and them. Pronouns can be classified in several ways, see [[Person and number]] and [[Obviation]] for details. The table below shows the pronouns in Mi'gmaq.

{| class="wikitable"
! ||Singular||Dual/Plural
|-
| 13 (excl)
| ni'n
| ninen
|-
| 12 (incl)
| ''n/a''
| ginu
|-
| 2
| gi'l
| gilew
|-
| 3
| negm
| negmow
|}

Mi'gmaq uses pronouns in somewhat different contexts compared to how English does. In English, you can't tell from a verb by itself who is doing the action or who has the action being done to them. For example, "see" doesn't tell us anything about who is seeing or being seen, so the only way to know this is by having nouns or pronouns. Mi'gmaq verbs do give you this information. For example, ''nemi'g'' can only mean that "I see an animate thing," and if we want to change who/what is seeing or being seen we have change parts of the verb (''much'' more information about this in the [[Verbs]] section).

These facts mean that it isn't necessary to use pronouns to express this information again, since we already know it. Saying ''ni'n nemitu negm'' is therefore not quite like saying "I see him/her". Since we didn't have to use ''ni'n'' or ''negm'', the fact that we're choosing to say them means that we want to emphasize these particular people. For example, if someone asked you "Did she see you?" you might want to emphasize the opposite by saying "No, it was ''me'' that saw ''her''", but in a normal sentence you probably wouldn't bother to do this.

=Indefinite Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Indefinite Pronouns]]''

Indefinite pronouns are words that refer to non-specific entities. The following is an inexhaustive list of indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq:

{| class="wikitable"
! Form || Gloss
|-
| nat goqwei
| something
|-
| mugoqwei
| nothing
|-
| ms't goqwei
| everything
|-
| tampasgoqwei
| anything
|-
| mogwa'wen
| nobody/no one
|-
| ta'n wen
| somebody/whomever
|-
| na'tuen/natawen
| someone
|-
| jijuaqa
| sometimes/occasionally
|}

The speaker notes that it is possible to say 'moqoi' as a contraction of 'mugoqwei'. Alternatively, the [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/ Mi'gmaq dictionary ] lists the following form: 'mo'qagoqwei'. In addition, for the form 'moqwa' wen' the speaker notes that it is possible to say 'mowen' as a contraction. As can be seen from this table, many of the indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq could be broken down into two parts--a quantifier or an affix, and a wh-word. For example:

<gl>
\gll mu-goqwei
NEG-what
\trans nothing
</gl>

=References=
<references />

Nouns

2012-12-03T21:03:39Z

Elise: /* Absentatives */

Nouns are words that refer to persons, places, or things. They are the elements that do the action described by the verb or have the action done to them. Many Mi'gmaq sentences have nouns in them, but they aren't necessary. A few examples of English nouns include ''Listuguj'', ''Mary'', ''woman'', and ''table''. These same words are also nouns in Mi'gmaq: ''Listuguj'', ''Mali'', ''e'pit,'' and ''ptauti''.

There are several characteristics that are found in both nouns and verbs, including [[Animacy]], [[Obviation]] and [[Person and number]] marking, which are discussed in their respective articles. Independently of verbs, nouns can also be [[Plural Nouns|Singular or Plural]], [[Absentative]], and [[Vocative]]. Nouns can be modified by a variety of things, including [[Possession]], [[Adjectives]], [[Determiners]], [[Numerals]], [[Nouns#Diminutive and Augmentative|Diminuitives]] and [[Relative Clauses]]. [[Pronouns]] can also be used to substitute for nouns.

=Characteristics of Nouns=
==Plural Nouns==
''For more detail, see [[Plural Nouns]]''

"Number" refers to how many of something there are. In both English and Mi'gmaq, there are two numbers for nouns: singular (only one of something) and plural (two or more of something). In English, a plural noun often looks like the singular plus an ''-s'' at the end, for example, ''girl'' becomes ''girls.'' In Mi'gmaq, there are two things you can add to a noun in order to make it plural, depending on whether the noun is [[Animacy|animate or inanimate]]. For inanimate nouns, like ''ptauti'' 'table' as shown in (1), you generally add ''-l'' to the end of the word (or sometimes you make the last sound of the word longer). For animate nouns, like ''ji'nm'' 'man' as shown in (2), you add ''-ug'' or ''-ig'' or ''-oq'' depending on the particular noun.

<gl>
\gll ptauti, ptauti-l
table, table-PL\\
\trans table, tables
</gl>

<gl>
\gll ji'nm, ji'nm-ug
man, man-PL\\
\trans man, men
</gl>

If you've looked at number in Mi'gmaq [[Verbs: Overview|verbs]], you may have noticed that Mi'gmaq verbs make a distinction between singular, dual (two participants), and plural (three or more participants). However, for nouns, the only distinction is between one and more than one.

==Vocatives==
When one addresses a person directly, the term used to address that person is known as a '''vocative'''.

As seen in the example below, English vocatives do not look different from non-vocative English nouns.
*To take an English example, in the sentence "Chris baked a cake," ''Chris'' is not a vocative noun. But in the command, "Hey Chris, please bake a cake!" the name ''Chris'' is a vocative.

However, one category of Mi'gmaq nouns seems to differ based on whether they are vocative or not. In Mi'gmaq, the words for '''family members''' look different as vocatives than they do when used in a sentence. While it is not grammatical to say "I have a daughter" using the bare root for 'daughter,' (more detail on this is given in [[Possession]]) it is completely grammatical to use that bare root to address one's daughter directly. Examples of both uses of the root for 'daughter' are seen below.

<gl>
\gll *geggung tus
have.1>3 daughter\\
\trans (intended) I have a daughter.
</gl>

<gl>
\gll tus, pasi
daughter, sit.IMP\\
\trans Daughter, sit!
</gl>

This second example should be double-checked.--[[User:Elise|Elise]] 12:18, 15 May 2012 (CDT)

==Feminine Suffix==
* The ''-sgw'' suffix, which functions like ''-ess'' in ''lioness''

==Diminutive and Augmentative==
''For more detail, see [[Diminutive and Augmentative]].''

In Mi'gmaq, the diminutive is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffix suffix], that means "'''little [noun]'''". It cannot attach to every noun, though it is possible that your meaning may be understood even if you put it on a slightly non-standard noun. It may also be used to connote youth or affection towards the noun in question.

Some examples of words where it might appear include...
* ''lpa'tuj'' 'boy' becomes ''lpa'tu'ji'j'' 'little boy'
* ''gjigan'' 'city' becomes ''gjiganji'j'' 'village'
* ''jijgluewj'' 'sheep' becomes ''jijgluewji'j'' 'lamb'

Note that you can't always assume that the ending ''-ji'j'' is going to be a diminutive. The word ''jipji'j'' 'bird' ends in ''-ji'j'', but there is no word meaning 'larger bird' that is pronounced ''jip.''

The opposite of a diminutive is an '''augmentative''', an affix which '''denotes largeness'''. When augmenting a noun, Mi'gmaq speakers seem to prefer using the [[Nouns#Adjectives|adjective]] ''mesg'ig'' rather than a particular augmentative affix. However, there is evidence that at some point the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefix prefix] ''gji-'' was used as an augmentative, as it occurs as a prefix in several words that are bigger or greater than their un-prefixed counterparts.

Examples of this type of prefixation are limited, however, and the process does not seem to be productive any longer. The most relevant pair of examples are...
* ''ga'gaquj'' 'crow' compared to ''gjiga'qaquj'' 'raven'
* ''nisgam'' 'god' compared to ''gjinisgam'' 'Great Spirit'

==Absentatives==
This is another feature of Mi'gmaq English doesn't share. It is a suffix indicating that the person about whom you are speaking is no longer around.

"Absentative suffixes are typically used in other Algonquian languages to indicate that the entity is removed from or distant from the current frame of reference, e.g., asleep, dead, lost, or absent." Quote from Deborah James, Sandra Clarke, and Marguerite MacKenzie. 2001. "The Encoding of Information Source in Algonquian: Evidentials in Cree/Montagnais/Naskapi" International Journal of American Linguistics, 63:3 pp.229-263. University of Chicago Press, accessed via http://www.jstor.org/stable/1265987 .

'''more detail to follow'''

=Modifiers of Nouns=
==Numerals==
''For more detail, see [[Numerals]]''

There are some categories of nouns in Mi'gmaq that require special ways of counting. This could be compared to how in English, we say "a pair of pants" rather than "one pants" or "two pants"--though admittedly, the Mi'gmaq system is more compex than that. In Mi'gmaq, nouns are split into categories that are grouped together with specific counting words for that specific category. These are the most common groups, using examples from Hewson & Francis (1990)<ref>Hewson & Francis. 1990. ''Father Pacifique's Migmaq Grammar''.</ref>:
*long and round objects, such as bottles, candles, and even people
*round objects, such as potatoes, balls, and apples
*money
*units of time
**days
**years, months
*classes, groups, types of things
*dimensions, weights and measures

==Possession==
''For more detail, see [[Possession]]''

Possession covers a whole range of relationships between nouns, not necessarily relationships where there is a possession and an owner. In English, possession covers expressions such as:
*'''my''' umbrellas
*Tom''''s''' sister
*Jamie''''s''' leg
*a friend '''of''' Alice''''s'''
*the music '''of''' Beethoven

The verbs used in these sentences can also be thought of as "possessive":
*I '''have''' a cake.
*This dog '''belongs''' to me.

As mentioned before, these relationships aren't always strictly of ownership, but can be interpreted as a type of closeness or relatedness--so while the umbrella may be my possession in the strictest sense of the word, we also shouldn't think of Tom's sister being ''his'' possession. Instead, we use possession to show that a relationship exists between the two nouns in question.

Mi'gmaq possession has one very important feature that English speakers will have to get used to. This is related to the idea of '''alienability'''. So when something is '''alienable''', the relationship between the two nouns is changeable; ''my umbrella'' shows an alienable relationship, because I can give away the umbrella, and then it is no longer mine and the relationship dissolves. ''Tom's sister'', however, shows an '''inalienable''' relationship because no matter what, Tom and his sister will always be related.

Mi'gmaq inalienable nouns include...
*body parts (i.e. '''gpitn'' 'your hand', and ''nunji'' 'my head')
*family members (i.e. ''nuj'' 'my father', and ''ugmisl'' 'his/her big sister')
*a couple exceptions (i.e. ''nitap'' 'my friend' is inalienable, even though it describes a relationship that might change.)

Mi'gmaq alienable nouns include...
*everything else (i.e. '' 'gtsipuminu'' 'our river', and '' 'ntptautim'' 'my table', and ''ugtwigatign'' 'his/her book', and so on and so forth)

==Demonstratives/Determiners==
''For more detail, see [[Demonstratives]]''

A demonstrative is a word that can be paired with a noun, and generally helps people differentiate between two different nouns in conversation. In English, "this," "that," "these," and "those" are all demonstratives--you can pair them with nouns ("this cat," "those hats") but not verbs or lone adjectives.

In Mi'gmaq, we also see at least two demonstratives:
*''ula,'' for things that are close to the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "this"
*''ala,'' for things that are further from the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "that"

However, in Mi'gmaq they seem to be used a little differently from English. We have seen grammatical Mi'gmaq phrases such as ''ula nemis,'' which would translate in English to "this my big sister," a badly-formed phrase.

Another grammatical Mi'gmaq phrase where a demonstrative looks different from its English counterpart is seen below:

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ula tet.
Piel be.3 this here
\trans Piel is right here. // Piel is at this place
</gl>

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ala tet.
Piel be.3 that here
\trans Piel is over there. // Piel is at that place.
</gl>

==Adjectives==
Mi'gmaq adjectives behave quite differently from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjective English adjectives.] Specifically, they seem somewhat like [[verbs]].

'''more detail to follow'''

==Relative Clauses==

=Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Pronouns]]''

A pronoun is a word that can substitute for a noun that is already known from the context of the conversation.

* Q: What did Mary do with the book?
** A: Mary gave the book to Peter. (all nouns - sounds too long)
** A: She gave it to him. (all pronouns - we don't know who "him" is)
** A: She gave it to Peter. (pronouns for known information, nouns for new information - sounds more natural)
** A: She gave it to me. (ok as long as we know who is talking so we know who "me" is)

Some examples of pronouns in English are I, me, you, he, she, her, him, it, we, us, they, and them. Pronouns can be classified in several ways, see [[Person and number]] and [[Obviation]] for details. The table below shows the pronouns in Mi'gmaq.

{| class="wikitable"
! ||Singular||Dual/Plural
|-
| 13 (excl)
| ni'n
| ninen
|-
| 12 (incl)
| ''n/a''
| ginu
|-
| 2
| gi'l
| gilew
|-
| 3
| negm
| negmow
|}

Mi'gmaq uses pronouns in somewhat different contexts compared to how English does. In English, you can't tell from a verb by itself who is doing the action or who has the action being done to them. For example, "see" doesn't tell us anything about who is seeing or being seen, so the only way to know this is by having nouns or pronouns. Mi'gmaq verbs do give you this information. For example, ''nemi'g'' can only mean that "I see an animate thing," and if we want to change who/what is seeing or being seen we have change parts of the verb (''much'' more information about this in the [[Verbs]] section).

These facts mean that it isn't necessary to use pronouns to express this information again, since we already know it. Saying ''ni'n nemitu negm'' is therefore not quite like saying "I see him/her". Since we didn't have to use ''ni'n'' or ''negm'', the fact that we're choosing to say them means that we want to emphasize these particular people. For example, if someone asked you "Did she see you?" you might want to emphasize the opposite by saying "No, it was ''me'' that saw ''her''", but in a normal sentence you probably wouldn't bother to do this.

=Indefinite Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Indefinite Pronouns]]''

Indefinite pronouns are words that refer to non-specific entities. The following is an inexhaustive list of indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq:

{| class="wikitable"
! Form || Gloss
|-
| nat goqwei
| something
|-
| mugoqwei
| nothing
|-
| ms't goqwei
| everything
|-
| tampasgoqwei
| anything
|-
| mogwa'wen
| nobody/no one
|-
| ta'n wen
| somebody/whomever
|-
| na'tuen/natawen
| someone
|-
| jijuaqa
| sometimes/occasionally
|}

The speaker notes that it is possible to say 'moqoi' as a contraction of 'mugoqwei'. Alternatively, the [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/ Mi'gmaq dictionary ] lists the following form: 'mo'qagoqwei'. In addition, for the form 'moqwa' wen' the speaker notes that it is possible to say 'mowen' as a contraction. As can be seen from this table, many of the indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq could be broken down into two parts--a quantifier or an affix, and a wh-word. For example:

<gl>
\gll mu-goqwei
NEG-what
\trans nothing
</gl>

=References=
<references />

Nouns

2012-12-03T20:48:41Z

Elise: /* Vocatives */

Nouns are words that refer to persons, places, or things. They are the elements that do the action described by the verb or have the action done to them. Many Mi'gmaq sentences have nouns in them, but they aren't necessary. A few examples of English nouns include ''Listuguj'', ''Mary'', ''woman'', and ''table''. These same words are also nouns in Mi'gmaq: ''Listuguj'', ''Mali'', ''e'pit,'' and ''ptauti''.

There are several characteristics that are found in both nouns and verbs, including [[Animacy]], [[Obviation]] and [[Person and number]] marking, which are discussed in their respective articles. Independently of verbs, nouns can also be [[Plural Nouns|Singular or Plural]], [[Absentative]], and [[Vocative]]. Nouns can be modified by a variety of things, including [[Possession]], [[Adjectives]], [[Determiners]], [[Numerals]], [[Nouns#Diminutive and Augmentative|Diminuitives]] and [[Relative Clauses]]. [[Pronouns]] can also be used to substitute for nouns.

=Characteristics of Nouns=
==Plural Nouns==
''For more detail, see [[Plural Nouns]]''

"Number" refers to how many of something there are. In both English and Mi'gmaq, there are two numbers for nouns: singular (only one of something) and plural (two or more of something). In English, a plural noun often looks like the singular plus an ''-s'' at the end, for example, ''girl'' becomes ''girls.'' In Mi'gmaq, there are two things you can add to a noun in order to make it plural, depending on whether the noun is [[Animacy|animate or inanimate]]. For inanimate nouns, like ''ptauti'' 'table' as shown in (1), you generally add ''-l'' to the end of the word (or sometimes you make the last sound of the word longer). For animate nouns, like ''ji'nm'' 'man' as shown in (2), you add ''-ug'' or ''-ig'' or ''-oq'' depending on the particular noun.

<gl>
\gll ptauti, ptauti-l
table, table-PL\\
\trans table, tables
</gl>

<gl>
\gll ji'nm, ji'nm-ug
man, man-PL\\
\trans man, men
</gl>

If you've looked at number in Mi'gmaq [[Verbs: Overview|verbs]], you may have noticed that Mi'gmaq verbs make a distinction between singular, dual (two participants), and plural (three or more participants). However, for nouns, the only distinction is between one and more than one.

==Vocatives==
When one addresses a person directly, the term used to address that person is known as a '''vocative'''.

As seen in the example below, English vocatives do not look different from non-vocative English nouns.
*To take an English example, in the sentence "Chris baked a cake," ''Chris'' is not a vocative noun. But in the command, "Hey Chris, please bake a cake!" the name ''Chris'' is a vocative.

However, one category of Mi'gmaq nouns seems to differ based on whether they are vocative or not. In Mi'gmaq, the words for '''family members''' look different as vocatives than they do when used in a sentence. While it is not grammatical to say "I have a daughter" using the bare root for 'daughter,' (more detail on this is given in [[Possession]]) it is completely grammatical to use that bare root to address one's daughter directly. Examples of both uses of the root for 'daughter' are seen below.

<gl>
\gll *geggung tus
have.1>3 daughter\\
\trans (intended) I have a daughter.
</gl>

<gl>
\gll tus, pasi
daughter, sit.IMP\\
\trans Daughter, sit!
</gl>

This second example should be double-checked.--[[User:Elise|Elise]] 12:18, 15 May 2012 (CDT)

==Feminine Suffix==
* The ''-sgw'' suffix, which functions like ''-ess'' in ''lioness''

==Diminutive and Augmentative==
''For more detail, see [[Diminutive and Augmentative]].''

In Mi'gmaq, the diminutive is a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffix suffix], that means "'''little [noun]'''". It cannot attach to every noun, though it is possible that your meaning may be understood even if you put it on a slightly non-standard noun. It may also be used to connote youth or affection towards the noun in question.

Some examples of words where it might appear include...
* ''lpa'tuj'' 'boy' becomes ''lpa'tu'ji'j'' 'little boy'
* ''gjigan'' 'city' becomes ''gjiganji'j'' 'village'
* ''jijgluewj'' 'sheep' becomes ''jijgluewji'j'' 'lamb'

Note that you can't always assume that the ending ''-ji'j'' is going to be a diminutive. The word ''jipji'j'' 'bird' ends in ''-ji'j'', but there is no word meaning 'larger bird' that is pronounced ''jip.''

The opposite of a diminutive is an '''augmentative''', an affix which '''denotes largeness'''. When augmenting a noun, Mi'gmaq speakers seem to prefer using the [[Nouns#Adjectives|adjective]] ''mesg'ig'' rather than a particular augmentative affix. However, there is evidence that at some point the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefix prefix] ''gji-'' was used as an augmentative, as it occurs as a prefix in several words that are bigger or greater than their un-prefixed counterparts.

Examples of this type of prefixation are limited, however, and the process does not seem to be productive any longer. The most relevant pair of examples are...
* ''ga'gaquj'' 'crow' compared to ''gjiga'qaquj'' 'raven'
* ''nisgam'' 'god' compared to ''gjinisgam'' 'Great Spirit'

==Absentatives==
This is another feature of Mi'gmaq English doesn't share. It is a suffix indicating that the person about whom you are speaking is no longer around.

'''more detail to follow'''

=Modifiers of Nouns=
==Numerals==
''For more detail, see [[Numerals]]''

There are some categories of nouns in Mi'gmaq that require special ways of counting. This could be compared to how in English, we say "a pair of pants" rather than "one pants" or "two pants"--though admittedly, the Mi'gmaq system is more compex than that. In Mi'gmaq, nouns are split into categories that are grouped together with specific counting words for that specific category. These are the most common groups, using examples from Hewson & Francis (1990)<ref>Hewson & Francis. 1990. ''Father Pacifique's Migmaq Grammar''.</ref>:
*long and round objects, such as bottles, candles, and even people
*round objects, such as potatoes, balls, and apples
*money
*units of time
**days
**years, months
*classes, groups, types of things
*dimensions, weights and measures

==Possession==
''For more detail, see [[Possession]]''

Possession covers a whole range of relationships between nouns, not necessarily relationships where there is a possession and an owner. In English, possession covers expressions such as:
*'''my''' umbrellas
*Tom''''s''' sister
*Jamie''''s''' leg
*a friend '''of''' Alice''''s'''
*the music '''of''' Beethoven

The verbs used in these sentences can also be thought of as "possessive":
*I '''have''' a cake.
*This dog '''belongs''' to me.

As mentioned before, these relationships aren't always strictly of ownership, but can be interpreted as a type of closeness or relatedness--so while the umbrella may be my possession in the strictest sense of the word, we also shouldn't think of Tom's sister being ''his'' possession. Instead, we use possession to show that a relationship exists between the two nouns in question.

Mi'gmaq possession has one very important feature that English speakers will have to get used to. This is related to the idea of '''alienability'''. So when something is '''alienable''', the relationship between the two nouns is changeable; ''my umbrella'' shows an alienable relationship, because I can give away the umbrella, and then it is no longer mine and the relationship dissolves. ''Tom's sister'', however, shows an '''inalienable''' relationship because no matter what, Tom and his sister will always be related.

Mi'gmaq inalienable nouns include...
*body parts (i.e. '''gpitn'' 'your hand', and ''nunji'' 'my head')
*family members (i.e. ''nuj'' 'my father', and ''ugmisl'' 'his/her big sister')
*a couple exceptions (i.e. ''nitap'' 'my friend' is inalienable, even though it describes a relationship that might change.)

Mi'gmaq alienable nouns include...
*everything else (i.e. '' 'gtsipuminu'' 'our river', and '' 'ntptautim'' 'my table', and ''ugtwigatign'' 'his/her book', and so on and so forth)

==Demonstratives/Determiners==
''For more detail, see [[Demonstratives]]''

A demonstrative is a word that can be paired with a noun, and generally helps people differentiate between two different nouns in conversation. In English, "this," "that," "these," and "those" are all demonstratives--you can pair them with nouns ("this cat," "those hats") but not verbs or lone adjectives.

In Mi'gmaq, we also see at least two demonstratives:
*''ula,'' for things that are close to the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "this"
*''ala,'' for things that are further from the speaker, which seems to correspond to English "that"

However, in Mi'gmaq they seem to be used a little differently from English. We have seen grammatical Mi'gmaq phrases such as ''ula nemis,'' which would translate in English to "this my big sister," a badly-formed phrase.

Another grammatical Mi'gmaq phrase where a demonstrative looks different from its English counterpart is seen below:

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ula tet.
Piel be.3 this here
\trans Piel is right here. // Piel is at this place
</gl>

<gl>
\gll Piel eig ala tet.
Piel be.3 that here
\trans Piel is over there. // Piel is at that place.
</gl>

==Adjectives==
Mi'gmaq adjectives behave quite differently from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjective English adjectives.] Specifically, they seem somewhat like [[verbs]].

'''more detail to follow'''

==Relative Clauses==

=Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Pronouns]]''

A pronoun is a word that can substitute for a noun that is already known from the context of the conversation.

* Q: What did Mary do with the book?
** A: Mary gave the book to Peter. (all nouns - sounds too long)
** A: She gave it to him. (all pronouns - we don't know who "him" is)
** A: She gave it to Peter. (pronouns for known information, nouns for new information - sounds more natural)
** A: She gave it to me. (ok as long as we know who is talking so we know who "me" is)

Some examples of pronouns in English are I, me, you, he, she, her, him, it, we, us, they, and them. Pronouns can be classified in several ways, see [[Person and number]] and [[Obviation]] for details. The table below shows the pronouns in Mi'gmaq.

{| class="wikitable"
! ||Singular||Dual/Plural
|-
| 13 (excl)
| ni'n
| ninen
|-
| 12 (incl)
| ''n/a''
| ginu
|-
| 2
| gi'l
| gilew
|-
| 3
| negm
| negmow
|}

Mi'gmaq uses pronouns in somewhat different contexts compared to how English does. In English, you can't tell from a verb by itself who is doing the action or who has the action being done to them. For example, "see" doesn't tell us anything about who is seeing or being seen, so the only way to know this is by having nouns or pronouns. Mi'gmaq verbs do give you this information. For example, ''nemi'g'' can only mean that "I see an animate thing," and if we want to change who/what is seeing or being seen we have change parts of the verb (''much'' more information about this in the [[Verbs]] section).

These facts mean that it isn't necessary to use pronouns to express this information again, since we already know it. Saying ''ni'n nemitu negm'' is therefore not quite like saying "I see him/her". Since we didn't have to use ''ni'n'' or ''negm'', the fact that we're choosing to say them means that we want to emphasize these particular people. For example, if someone asked you "Did she see you?" you might want to emphasize the opposite by saying "No, it was ''me'' that saw ''her''", but in a normal sentence you probably wouldn't bother to do this.

=Indefinite Pronouns=
''For more detail, see [[Indefinite Pronouns]]''

Indefinite pronouns are words that refer to non-specific entities. The following is an inexhaustive list of indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq:

{| class="wikitable"
! Form || Gloss
|-
| nat goqwei
| something
|-
| mugoqwei
| nothing
|-
| ms't goqwei
| everything
|-
| tampasgoqwei
| anything
|-
| mogwa'wen
| nobody/no one
|-
| ta'n wen
| somebody/whomever
|-
| na'tuen/natawen
| someone
|-
| jijuaqa
| sometimes/occasionally
|}

The speaker notes that it is possible to say 'moqoi' as a contraction of 'mugoqwei'. Alternatively, the [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/ Mi'gmaq dictionary ] lists the following form: 'mo'qagoqwei'. In addition, for the form 'moqwa' wen' the speaker notes that it is possible to say 'mowen' as a contraction. As can be seen from this table, many of the indefinite pronouns in Mi'gmaq could be broken down into two parts--a quantifier or an affix, and a wh-word. For example:

<gl>
\gll mu-goqwei
NEG-what
\trans nothing
</gl>

=References=
<references />

Main Page

2012-12-03T20:37:52Z

Elise: /* Nouns */

Welcome to the Mi'gmaq language wiki!

This wiki aims to provide a snapshot of some of the current topics in describing the grammar of Mi'gmaq that McGill linguists are working on with members of the Listuguj community. It is still a work in progress, so nothing here should be taken as the final word on the language, although we are doing our best to make it as accurate as possible. If you see an error, we are very happy to fix it, so please contact us through the [http://migmaq.org blog] or if you have an account feel free to fix it yourself! If you know something about Mi'gmaq and would like to contribute to the wiki, feel free to also contact us for an account. Please be aware that anything that is submitted to the wiki may be edited by other contributors.

A list of glosses used on this wiki can be found on the [[Glosses]] page. There are various resources online which provide definitions of basic linguistic terminology, for example this [http://www.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOflinguisticTerms/ glossary of linguistic terms]; see the "Linguistics Online" sidebar of the [http://migmaq.org blog] for more info.

Many of the articles in this wiki build on class projects that were developed as part of a class wiki for a field methods course on Mi'gmaq in Fall 2011 at McGill. Currently available and projected topics are listed below.

==Background information==
Mi'gmaq is an Eastern Algonquian language spoken in eastern Canada. For more information about the history and the people, see the article [[Background]]. There are several general characteristics of the language that are useful to understand for the remaining sections. These include:
* [[Person and number]]
* [[Animacy]]
* [[Obviation]]

==Sounds and spelling==
There are several different ways of writing down Mi'gmaq. This wiki uses the [[Spelling]] from Listuguj, but some of the resources we discuss may also use other systems. One sound that is not always written is schwa, because it is sometimes possible to predict where to pronounce it anyway. For details on this, see [[Writing Schwa]].

Mi'gmaq has six [[Vowels|vowels]] and thirteen [[Consonants|consonants]] according to the Listuguj orthography, although they are not always pronounced as in [[Pronunciation Differences|English]]. Mi'gmaq words are also grouped into [[Syllables|syllables]], some of which are pronounced more emphatically, or are [[Stress|stressed]].

==Verbs==
''For more detail, see [[Verbs]]''

Verbs are used to describe actions, activities, or events. They are the central component of a sentence in Mi'gmaq and are made up of many different pieces of information. They contain enough information that they can represent a complete sentence, and are often the only element in a sentence.

All verbs include at least: the [[Stem|Verb Stem]] and [[Person and number]] marking. The person and number markings are vary depending on the type of verb, as described in the following articles.
* [[VAI]] -- Intransitive Animate Verbs
* [[VII]] -- Intransitive Inanimate Verbs
* [[VTA]] -- Transitive Animate Verbs
* [[VTI]] -- Transitive Inanimate Verbs
There are also elements that aren't present on all verbs but are still very useful in certain contexts, including [[Preverbs]], [[Negation]], [[Tense]], and [[Obviation]]. An additional characteristic of verbs is [[Mood]], which refers to the speaker's attitude towards a situation, for example, making a definite statement, giving an order, or talking about a condition or possibility.

==Nouns==
''For more detail, see [[Nouns]].

Nouns are words that refer to persons (like ''e'pit'', "woman"), places (like ''Listuguj''), or things (like ''mpoqon'', "bed"). They are the parts of a sentence that do the action described by the verb or have the action done to them. Many Mi'gmaq sentences have nouns in them, but they aren't necessary because the verbs are so expressive.

Nouns can have several characteristics in Mi'gmaq, including [[Animacy]], being [[Plural Nouns|Singular or Plural]], [[Obviation]], and being [[Absentative]]. Nouns can be modified by a variety of things, including [[Possession]], [[Adjectives]], [[Determiners]], [[Numerals]], [[Nouns#Diminutive|Diminutives]] and [[Relative Clauses]]. [[Pronouns]] can also be used to substitute for nouns.

==Sentences==
* [[Discourse Particles]]
* [[Questions]]
* [[Word Order]]

==Understanding and Editing this Wiki==
* [[Glosses|List of Abbreviations]]
* [[Style Guide]]
* [[How to do Citations]]
* [[Wiki gloss extension]]

* Consult [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Contents User's Guide] for information on using the wiki software
* [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:FAQ MediaWiki FAQ]

==Mi'gmaq Language Resources==
* The [http://migmaq.org/ blog] associated with this wiki, for project updates and more language-related links
* [http://www.mikmaqonline.org/ Mikmaq Online], which includes an online dictionary

Obviation

2012-12-03T20:35:19Z

Elise: /* Obviation and Discourse */

''This page is meant to be an introduction to obviation in Mi'gmaq only; for further details, please see the linked pages below''.

Mi'gmaq is a language with a feature called '''obviation'''. It is a way of distinguishing between different third [[Person and number|persons]]: a "closer to speakers" third person known as the '''proximate''' and a "further from speakers" third person known as the '''obviative''', also referred to as the 4th person (Payne 1997: 212). The obviate is marked on both nouns and verbs, as discussed below.

=Obviation on Nouns=

If there are two animate third person participants in a phrase, the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_(grammar) object] of the phrase will usually be marked as the obviate by adding ''-l'', ''-al'' or ''-tl'' to the end. This only happens when the object is a singular noun (Mi'gmaq [[Plural Nouns|plural nouns]] are not marked for obviation; Manyakina 2012). So, for example, in the phrase ''The deer sees the bear'', the obviative suffix will attach to ''the bear'', as in the example below:

<gl>
\gll lentug nemi-at-l mui'n-al\\
deer see-3>3-OBV bear-OBV\\
\trans The deer sees the bear
</gl>

This makes it easy to keep track of who is doing what, especially if the word order changes:

<gl>
\gll nemi-at-l mui'n-al lentug\\
see=3>3-OBV bear-OBV deer\\
\trans The deer sees the bear
</gl>

Obviation can also be marked on proper nouns, like names:

<gl>
\gll Mali gesal-at-l Piel-al\\
Mary love-3>3-OBV Peter-OBV
\trans Mary loves Peter
</gl>

Some [[Possession|possessed nouns]] necessarily have obviation marked on them since there are two third persons involved: a possessor (the proximate third person) and a person who is the object of possession (the obviative third person), as in 'his or her friend':

<gl id="A">
\gll w-itap-al\\
3.POSS-friend-OBV\\
\trans his or her friend
</gl>

=Obviation on Verbs=

''Proposed page: [[Obviation and Verbs]]''

''This section may need to be shortened once obviation is covered further on other pages (namely the VAI and VTA pages and/or the proposed Obviation and Verbs page)''.

In addition to being marked on nouns, obviation is also marked on verbs. This is most apparent in the [[VTA|transitive animate]] (or TA) verbs, such as ''nemiatl'', 'he or she sees him or her', and ''gesalatl'' 'he or she loves him or her', above. In general, these verbs will take either a singular obviative ending, '''-l''', or a plural obviative ending, '''-i''' (and sometimes '''-a'''), depending on whether the obviative is singular or plural. Some examples are given below:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+
! Obviative||Full Ending||Meaning||Example
|-
| rowspan="2" | -l
| -at-l
| 3>4
| gesalatl, 'he or she likes him or her (OBV)'
|-
| -a'tit-l
| 3PL>4
| gesala'titl, 'they like him or her (OBV)'
|-
| rowspan="2" | -i
| -aj-i
| 3>4PL
| gesalaji, 'he or she likes them (OBV)'
|-
| -a'tij-i
| 3PL>4PL
| gesala'tiji, 'they like them (OBV)'
|-
|}

In addition to proximate third persons acting on obviative third persons, obviative persons may also act on other obviative persons. An example taken from a written transcription of a story about the ''puglatmu'jg'', or little people, is given below:

<gl>
\gll gs'gat-a'nita\\
disappear-4PL>4PL\\
\trans They (OBV) disappeared into them (the mountains; OBV)
</gl>

Obviative third persons may also be the subject of [[VAI|animate intransitive]] (or AI) verbs if the discourse context allows it. For the singular form of these verbs, the obviative ending is added to the regular third person proximate ending, as so (example taken from Manyakina 2012):

<gl>
\gll ug-tus-l etlenm-ilit-l\\
3.POSS-daughter-OBV laugh-3-OBV\\
\trans his or her daughter is laughing
</gl>

For plural subjects, an entirely different ending is used for the obviative form (the dual form of the obviative for these verbs has not been seen as of yet):

<gl>
\gll wig-ulti'nij\\
live-4PL\\
\trans They (OBV) live
</gl>

=Obviation and Discourse=

''Main Page: [[Obviation and Discourse]]''

An easier way to think of obviation is as a "spotlighting system" in which there is a middleman (Quinn 2006). So, in example <glr id="A"/> above you have to know who "his/her" is (the person in the spotlight) before you know who his/her ''friend'' is (the other person). Obviation, then, is simply used whenever you have to "go through someone else" to get to the person you are talking about (footnote here: Quinn develops a very accessible scenario).

When there are two or more animate third persons within a given stretch of discourse in Mi'gmaq, only one third person is allowed to be proximate or in the spotlight. The rest must take the obviative suffix, as shown in the example below (taken from Manyakina 2012):

<gl>
\gll Piel ignmu-at-l Mali-al tap'tan-n\\
Peter give-3>3-OBV Mary-OBV potato-OBV\\
\trans Peter gives Mary a potato'
</gl>

Moreover, spotlights can shift. What this means is that from clause to clause or sentence to sentence, the person we are talking about can either "gain" or "lose" foreground. Imagine a situation in which you are talking to your friend and you tell him/her that your friend Peter loves Mary. Then, to clarify for your friend that the feeling is mutual you add, "And Mary loves Peter". In your first statement, "Peter loves Mary", Peter has the spotlight. He is the proximate and Mary is the obviative. However, this shifts when you add a second clause, because the last person that you have spoken about was Mary so she is the more prominent person in the discourse:

<gl>
\gll Piel gesal-a-t-l Mali-al aq Mali gesal-a-t-l Piel-al
Peter love-DIR-3>4AN-OBV Mary-OBV and Mary love-DIR-3>4AN-OBV Peter-OBV\\
\trans Peter loves Mary and Mary loves Peter.
</gl>

There is further discussion of the difficulties of pinning down discourse-driven obviation [http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~muehlbau/files/5-Cook-and-Muhlbauer.pdf here], in Cook & Muhlbauer (2006).

=References=
* Manyakina, Y. (2012) ''An Analysis of Obviation in Mi'gmaq''. Honour's Thesis. Montréal: Concordia University.
* Payne, T.E. (1997) ''Describing morphosyntax: A guide for field linguists''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
* Wilmot, Joe, prepared by. "Puglatmu'jg"