Discourse Particles

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Revision as of 10:38, 5 February 2014 by Carol (talk | contribs) (→‎na)
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This page outlines the commonly used and heard discourse particles in Mi'gmaq. A discourse particle is " is a lexeme or particle which has no direct semantic meaning in the context of a sentence, having rather a pragmatic function: it serves to indicate the speaker's attitude, or to structure their interactions with other participants in a conversation"[1].

na

The discourse particle na is often heard and used. It is very useful. In various instances, it can be translated as a copular verb.

  1. ula   na  ji'nm  
    this  na  man    
    'This is a man.'
  1. ni'n  na  Piel  
    1     na  Piel  
    'I am Piel'

<gl> \gll ula na nmis this na my.sister \trans This is my (older) sister.

Refereces