Preverbs

2012-10-19T18:18:17Z

Gretchen: /* Slots */

Preverbs

2012-10-19T18:17:17Z

Gretchen: /* What Can Preverbs Attach To? */

Preverbs

2012-10-19T18:07:12Z

Gretchen:

2012-07-03T05:36:56Z

Gretchen:

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. Some examples of English verbs include: ''am'', ''seeing'', ''happen'', and ''gave''. Some examples of Mi'gmaq verbs are ''eig'' 's/he is there, exists', ''amalgan'' 'you dance', and ''nemitu'' 'I see it'. Note that English verbs cannot form a sentence by themselves, while Mi'gmaq verbs can.

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. In general, a Mi'gmaq verb may contain the following elements, of which the ones in parentheses are optional.

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; width: 600px; height: 50px;"
! scope="col" | ([[preverbs|preverb]])
! scope="col" | [[stem]]
! scope="col" | [[verb class]]
! scope="col" | ([[negation]])
! scope="col" | [[person & number]]
! scope="col" | ([[tense]])
! scope="col" | ([[3rdPL/obviative]])
|}

An example of each of these portions is shown below. The remainder of this article will discuss each of these portions.

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; width: 300px; height: 200px;"
| poqju || angitelm || eg' || p
|-
| 'begin'
| 'think'
| I (1) > her/him(3)
| PAST
|-
| '''preverb'''
| '''stem'''
| '''person & number'''
| '''tense'''
|-
| colspan="7" | 'I began to think about her/him'
|-
|}

=Basic Verbs=

==(Preverbs)==
''For more detail, see [[Preverbs]]''

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

<gl>
\gll poqju-wissugwatma-p
begin-cook.3sg.anim.3sg.inan-past\\
\trans s/he is beginning to cook it
</gl>

<gl>
\gll newti-wissugwatma-p
one-cook.3sg.anim.3sg.inan-past\\
\trans s/he cooks it alone (slot 2)
</gl>

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

==Stems==
''For more detail, see [[Verb stems]]''

Verbs in Mi'gmaq can describe events, comparable to verbs such as in English, and the qualities of nouns, comparable to adjectives in English. Verbs that describe events include nem- 'see' and gelus- 'speak' and verbs that describe nouns include maqtaw- 'black' and ewe'g'- 'loose'.

But verb roots cannot stand on their own. They minimally need to show information about the subject, and if relevant, the object.

==Verb Class==
Transitivity refers to how many people, things, or groups need to be involved in the action of the verb. If the verb only has a subject, we call it ''intransitive'', and if it has both a subject and an object, we call it ''transitive''.

Transitivity interacts with [[Animacy]] to form a 4 way classification of verbs: intransitive verbs with an animate subject [VAI], intransitive verbs with an inanimate subject [VII], transitive verbs with an animate subject and object [VTA], and transitive verbs with an animate subject and an inanimate object [VTI], each of which has their own page.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; width: 250px; height: 150px;"
|+ '''Algonquian verb classes'''
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" | Intransitive
! scope="col" | Transitive
|-
! scope="row" | Animate
| [[VAI]] || [[VTA]]
|-
! scope="row" | Inanimate
| [[VII]]
| [[VTI]]
|-
|}

==(Negation)==
''For more detail, see [[Negation]]''

Affirmative sentences can be can be negated with the addition of a negative particle directly before the verb, usually ''mu''. Verbs that are followed by this negative particle must have negative marking, ''-w'' or ''-u''. We can see this contrast in the table below, where ''mu teluis-ig'' 'her/his name is...' is negated with the addition of the negative particle "mu" and the "-w" negative marker. In addition, the we can see the negated form of ''mu'' is ''ma'' when negating a sentence the future tense.

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; width: 600px; height: 150px;"
|+ teluis- 'to be named' Indicative mode
! scope="col" | tense
! scope="col" | teluis- 'name'
! scope="col" | gloss
! scope="col" | negated form
! scope="col" | gloss
|-
! scope="row" | present
| teluis-it
| 'her/his name is...'
| mu teluis-iwg
| 'her/his name isn't...'
|-
! scope="row" | future
| tluis-itew
| 'her/his name will be...'
| ma tluis-iwg
| 'her/his name will not be...'
|-
|}

==Person & number==
''This section is a description of how person and number are marked on verbs. For a description of what these categories are and how they function in general in Mi'gmaq, see [[Person and number]]''

Person and number marking on the verb indicates characteristics of its subject and its object, if it has one. These markings change their appearance depending on what the final is.

==(Tense)==
''For more detail, see [[Tense]]''

A sentence can refer to a time period which is the same or different from the time when it was spoken. This is called tense and this is often marked on verbs as an ending (suffix). In Mi'gmaq, verbs can be expressed in present, past, and future. Aspect marking is similar to tense, i.e. imperfective, but is usually done with preverbs; for more detail see [[Aspect]]. Generally, present is the default and not marked. Past is often marked with ''-p'', as shown in below, but this is not always the case. This ''-p(n)'' is also argued to mark evidentiality as well [come in Jenny!]. Future tense is often marked with a vowel reduction in the verb stem, as shown below.

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; width: 400px; height: 200px;"
|+ teluis- 'to be named' Indicative mode
! scope="col" | tense
! scope="col" | teluis- 'name'
! scope="col" | gloss
|-
! scope="row" | present
| teluis-it
| 'her/his name is...'
|-
! scope="row" | past
|| teluis-iss/-i(s)p
| 'her/his name was...'
|-
! scope="row" | future
| tluis-itew
| 'her/his name will be...'
|-
|}

==(Third Plural Marker)==

==(Obviative)==
''This section describes how the obviative is marked on the verb. For more detail on what the obviative is in general, see [[Obviation]].''

=Mood=
''Also known as Mode. For more detail, see [[Mood]]''

'Mode describes the speaker's attitude toward a situation, including the speaker's belief in its reality, or likelihood.' (Payne, 1997; 244) In each class, there are a variety of different mode's which can be expressed. Most can be expressed in different tenses and in the affirmative or the negative. Below is a table, based on Pacifique's grammar (as translated in Lesson 10 in Hewson & Francis (1990), although ), that summarizes these observations using the first conjugation of VAI (intransitive verb with animate subject) with third person subject agreement.

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; width: 400px; height: 100px;"
! scope="col" | mode
! scope="col" | teluis- 'name'
! scope="col" | gloss
|-
! scope=''row'' | Indicative
| teluis-in
| 'you name'
|}

2012-06-04T21:17:48Z

Gretchen:

Inanimate Intransitive (II) verbs are verbs that only have a subject and this subject is inanimate. Examples of II verbs are ''gaqam-'' 'it is standing'. Inanimate intransitive verbs have only two possible person/number combinations: a singular subject and a plural subject. For this reason, they are sometimes grouped with the animate intransitives as a "0th person" instead of being made into their own two-cell table. However, if this table were created, it could look as follows.

{| class="wikitable"
|+ VII table template
|-
! scope="col" | ↓person / number→
! scope="col" | SG
! scope="col" | PL
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2"| 0
|
|
|-
|}

VTI

2012-06-04T21:14:00Z

Gretchen:

Transitive Inanimate (TI) verbs are verbs that have an object and this object is inanimate. (All verbs with an object of any kind also have an animate subject). Examples of TI verbs include ''nestm'' 'I understand it' and ''nemitu'nn'' 'you see them (inanimate)'. TI verbs have 14 possible combinations of subjects (7) and objects (2), which are shown in the table below.

{| class="wikitable"
|+ VTI table template
|-
! scope="col" | ↓subject / object→
! scope="col" | 0SG
! scope="col" | 0PL
|-
! scope="row" | 1
|
|
|-
! scope="row" | 13
|
|
|-
! scope="row" | 12
|
|
|-
! scope="row" | 2
|
|
|-
! scope="row" | 2PL
|
|
|-
! scope="row" | 3
|
|
|-
! scope="row" | 3PL
|
|
|-
|}

VTI

2012-06-04T21:13:44Z

Gretchen: Created page with "Transitive Inanimate (TI) verbs are verbs that have an object and this object is inanimate. (All verbs with an object of any kind also have an animate subject). Examples of TI ve..."

VII

2012-06-04T21:03:33Z

Gretchen: Created page with "Inanimate Intransitive (II) verbs are verbs that only have a subject and this subject is inanimate. Examples of II verbs are ''gaqam-'' 'it is standing'. Inanimate intransitive v..."

VTA

2012-06-04T20:59:19Z

Gretchen: Created page with "Transitive Animate (TA) verbs are verbs that have an object and this object is animate. (All verbs with an object of any kind also have an animate subject). Examples of TA verbs ..."

VAI

2012-06-04T20:53:25Z

Gretchen:

Animate Intransitive verbs are verbs that only have a subject, no object, and this subject is animate. Examples of animate intransitive (AI) verbs are ''teluisi'' 'I am (thus) named', ''amalgai'' 'I dance', and ''ewi'gigei'' "I write". AI verbs have eleven possible person/number combinations, which reflect their possible subjects.

{| class="wikitable"
|+ VAI table template
|-
! scope="col" colspan="2"| ↓person / number→
! scope="col" | SG
! scope="col" | DU
! scope="col" | PL
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2"| 1
! scope="row"| 13
| rowspan="2" |
|
|
|-
! scope="row" | 12
|
|
|-
! scope="row" colspan="2" | 2
|
|
|
|-
! scope="row" colspan="2"| 3
|
|
|
|-
|}

VAI

2012-06-04T20:52:54Z

Gretchen:

Main Page

2012-06-04T20:39:52Z

Gretchen: /* 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, you can create an account using the link at the top right corner of the screen, although we would also love to hear from you in person. 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 and thirteen consonants according to the Listuguj orthography. For a longer description of them, see [[Sound Inventory and Pronunciation]], and for a description of how Mi'gmaq sounds compare to English sounds, see [[Pronunciation Differences]]. Mi'gmaq words also generally have one portion that is pronounced more emphatically, or [[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, 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 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

Main Page

2012-06-04T20:39:28Z

Gretchen: /* Verbs */

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, you can create an account using the link at the top right corner of the screen, although we would also love to hear from you in person. 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 and thirteen consonants according to the Listuguj orthography. For a longer description of them, see [[Sound Inventory and Pronunciation]], and for a description of how Mi'gmaq sounds compare to English sounds, see [[Pronunciation Differences]]. Mi'gmaq words also generally have one portion that is pronounced more emphatically, or [[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==
[[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 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