• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

PASSAMAQUODDY-MALISEET PARTS OF SPEECH ROBERT M LEAVTTT University of New Brunswick AND DAVID A. FRANCIS Pleasant Point Bilingual Program Thb paper explores ways of giving native names to the parts of speech in Passamaquoddy-Malbeet by identifying in each term the characteristics of a particular noun or verb type. A term may refer implicitly, for instance, to both the animacy and transitivity of a verb, or to the grammatical function of a noun. There has been much detailed analysb of Passamaquoddy- Malbeet as it b spoken today in Maine and New Brunswick. Lingubts and teachers have been working together to figure out how speakers make words, and what patterns can be found in the shape words take. Teachers especially see that new speak­ ers can learn to make use of these patterns; fluent speakers can use them to uncover the rich structure of the language. With­ out thb knowledge, teachers cannot plan a comprehensive native language instructional program. A catalogue of noun and verb paradigms keyed to descriptions of Passamaquoddy-Malbeet sentences is currently being com­ piled and will serve as a guide to the language. The paradigms are organized in a way that makes the hundreds of forms eas­ ily accessible. Both sections encourage users to compare similar words and to create categories of words that follow the same patterns. Any such guide must in turn be keyed to a dictionary 320 LEAVTTT AND FRANCIS that clearly displays the "principal parts" of each word (i.e., the different stems used in inflected forms). The guide and the dictio­ nary can then be used together to figure out how to say anything in Passamaquoddy-Malbeet—or at least make a good guess!— or how to translate anything from Passamaquoddy-Malbeet into English. A dictionary of Passamaquoddy-Maliseet and English has been developed by Philip LeSourd (1979) that meets the need for a usable source of words and wordstems. Its clear and straigh- forward format makes it easy to add more entries with either a manual or a computer filing system. An initial version of Passamaquoddy-Malbeet paradigms, with accompanying notes, has abo been publbhed (Leavitt and Francis 1984). It seems particularly appropriate, since it b fluent speakers of the language who will be teachers, to develop lingubtic terminol­ ogy in Passamaquoddy-Maliseet itself. Thb makes the structure of the language accessible to native speakers. Ideally, such ter­ minology describes the language without translating terms from English, but by trying to use the structure of Passamaquoddy- Malbeet itself to show different features of nouns, verbs, and other words in simple terms. Terms have been devised to name the properties of words (ko- lusuwakonot) as they are used in sentences. That b, the nomen­ clature has been approached from a functional point cl view. In order to name a word—or its relation to other words—we must first understand what the word does. To name the major parts of speech—nouns and verbs—we can form words with the partial stem -wosku-, meaning 'to talk about' or 'to explain'; thb b, after all, what words do in sen­ tences. From thb stem we form complete stems to tell what a word does: -woskuwim- TA • woskuhutom- TI PARTS OF SPEECH 321 -woskuhutomuwew(i)- AIor // By using these particular stems we can describe not only the function of a verb or noun but abo whether it is animate or inanimate, transitive or intransitive—all in a single term. 1) Noun weskuwimut—'an animate that b talked about' weskuhutasik—'an inanimate that b talked about' These two words are Indefinite Subject forms and refer to anyone or anything that can be talked about—without reference to who or what b talking. The gender of the noun b implicit. 2) Verb weskuwimiht—'something (i.e., a word) that talks about an animate' weskuhutok—'something that talks about an inanimate' Since Passamaquoddy-Malbeet does not dbtingubh between verbs and adjectives, anything that "talks about" a noun is a verb. Neither weskiwimiht nor weskuhutok includes the ideas of transitivity or intransitivity. Like gender, these ideas can be included in the term for each kind of verb. We continue to use the same verb stem. 3) AI Verb etoliskuwimiht elluhket—'(a word) that talks about what an animate does' 4) H Verb etoliskuhutok elluhkcwik—i{a> word) that talks about what an inanimate does' 5) TI Verb etoliksuwimiht elehtaq—'(a word) that talks about what an animate does to an inanimate' 6) TA Verb etoliskuwimiht elehlat—'(a word) that talks about what an animate does to an inanimate' 322 LEAVTTT AND FRANCIS 7) Double Object Verb etoliskuwimiht elehtuwat—'(a word) that talks about what an animate does to an animate/inanimate for (or of) an animate' (Examples: She found his money. She gave him money.) 8) AI Verb + Object etoliskuwimiht elehlat wenil kosona keqsey—'(a word) that talks about what an animate does to an ani­ mate/inanimate' (Only an AI + O verb can take either an animate or an inanimate object. Examples: ntapotehsinon ntapotu- hun.—'I lean on my cane (inan.).' ntapotehsinon ntakom. —'I lean on my snowshoe (an.).') 9) Diminutive Verb etoliskuwimiht apsokilsossit—'(a word) that talks about a little animate' (AI) etoliskuhutok apsokiqsossok—'(a word) that talks about a little inanimate' (II) 10) Past Verb etoliskuhutok eleyiks (eleyikpon)—'(a word) that talks about how it was or what happened' Each one of these terms in sentences 3-10 describes what a particular verb does in a sentence. It is not necessary to ask whether the verb has an object or whether its object b animate or inanimate. Each term refers unambiguously to the type of verb indicated. In all of the terms (except 8), as explained above) the verb following the first word b itself an example of the verb-type being identified. Negative forms: In order to identify negative verb forms, which have different inflections from those of positive forms it b only necessary to change the verb foUowing the first term to its negative counterpart. For example, a negative AI verb would be PARTS OF SPEECH 323 called etoliskuwimiht skat elluhkehq—'(a word) that talks about what an animate does not do.' Once verbs and nouns have been identified, we can dbcuss their functions in sentences. 11) Subject nutoluhket—'an animate that does (an action)' nutoluhkewik—'an inanimate that does (an action)' 12) Object No. 1 etoli lehlut—'an animate to which something is done' etoli lehtasik—'an inanimate to which something b done' 13) Object No. 2 etoli lehtuwut—'someone to whose animate/inanimate something b done' (Example: They found Peter's son.) 14) Object No. 3 etoli lehtuwewut—'someone for whom something is done to someone's animate/inanimate' (Example: They found Peter's son for me.) Each of these terms in 11 - 14 is a participle that can be used as a noun in precisely the grammatical function it designates. Objects No. 2 and No. 3 must always be animate—persons or animab. Just as nouns can be used in different ways, so can verbs. In Passamaquoddy-Malbeet there are five modes, commonly called the Independent Indicative, the Changed Conjunct, the Unchang­ ed Conjunct, the Relative, and the Imperative. 15) Independent Indicative nutacomuwik—'one that telb a story' (because it b used to state facts) 16) Changed Conjunct nuci skihutomuwewik—'one that describes' (because it describes an action or a noun) 324 LEAVITT AND FRANCIS 17) Unchanged Conjunct nuct skuhutomuwewik Hokec op3—'one that describes an "iP situation' (because it is used only in 'if clauses) 18) Relative nuct ankuwiskuhutok—'one that telb something addi­ tional' (because it is used in expressing a succeeding action) 19) Imperative nutokikesuwik—'one that gives commands' For each of these modes in 15 to 19 there are terms which describe how the subject and the object of Transitive Animate verbs are related to each other. These are known as Direct, Inverse, 1-2, 2-1, Indefinite Subject, and Inanimate Subject forms of the verb. 20) Direct Forms nekom (nihtol; niktok, nihiht) etoli lehlut—'third or fourth person object, singular or plural' 21) Inverse Forms nekom (nihtol; niktok, nihiht) nutolohket—'third or fourth person subject, singular or plural' 22) Inanimate Subject Forms nutoluhkewik skat pemawsuwinuhk—'subject not alive' These terms in 20-22 merely designate the nature of the sub­ ject or object of the verb, indicating the section of the verb paradigms where the forms will be found. 23) Indefinite Subject Forms nutoluhket skat nenuwamuhk—'animate subject unknown' nutoluhkewik skat nenasinuhk—'inanimate subject un• known' (for TI verbs) 24) 1-2 (I-You) Forms elehlol (elehlolek, elehloleq)—'what I (we) do to you' PARTS OF SPEECH 325 25) 2-1 (You-Me) Forms elehliyin (elehliyek, elehliyeq)—'what you do to me (us)' These terms in 23-25 are themselves examples of the verb forms they designate. In addition to nouns and verbs, Passamaquoddy-Malbeet has only three other parts of speech—Pronouns, Particles, and Pre- verbs. These may be named by describing their functions. 26) Personal Pronouns pomawsuwinuwey—'relating to a living being' 27) Interrogative Pronoun qecikesuwey—'asking a question' 28) Demonstrative Pronoun eluwikalut—'animate that b pointed out' eluwikatasik—'inanimate that is pointed out' 29) Particle kolusuwakonossis—'little word' 30) Preverb (or Prenoun) nihkantek—'part at the beginning' 31) Adverb (a Type of Particle) nihkantekewey—'derived from a Preverb' Other meaningful units in Passamaquoddy-Malbeet are Pre­ fixes, Suffixes, and Infixes. Like Preverbs, these parts are added to verb or noun stems—kolusuwakonatkul—(literally) 'the stems of words.' 32) Prefix nihkantehsok—'little part at the beginning' (These are all personal prefixes.) 33) Suffix asittehsok—'little part at the end' (These are all in­ flectional endings.) 326 LEAVTTT AND FRANCIS 34) Infix epastehsok—'little part in the middle' (These are theme markers, form special plural stems, or are augmenta­ tive or diminutive.) It remains to devbe terms for two other properties of nouns and verbs—Number and Obviation.

Load more

  10

Copy Link