Reduplication in East Cree
MARIE-ODILE JUNKER et LOUISE BLACKSMITH Carleton University
Reduplication is a grammatical pattern found in many languages of the world.1 However, its semantics is not yet well understood, especially in Algonquian languages (Ahenakew and Wolfart 1983).2 In this paper we hope to contribute to a general description of Algonquian reduplication by looking at East Cree. We will study the effects of reduplication on two grammatical categories: numerals and verbs.
1. Reduplication of Numerals
Numerals can be freely reduplicated in East Cree by copying the first syl lable of the numeral and attaching it before the stem. The reduplication syllable consists of a copy of the initial onset of the root followed by an onsetless syllable consisting of -aah-.3
Research for this paper was partially supported by the Center for Aboriginal Education, Culture and Research at Carleton University, as well as by postdoc toral Fellowship 756-92-0075 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. We wish to thank Marguerite MacKenzie firstfo r getting us together, and second for sharing her field notes on reduplication with us. We also wish to thank Dejan Stojanovic for help with phonetics, the audience at the con ference for their comments and Kenny Blacksmith for the many Cree sentences he was tested on. The firstthoroug h description for Cree is Ahenakew and Wolfart (1983). They study reduplication on verbs in Plains Cree. A comprehensive description of reduplication in Fox or Mesquakie has been undertaken by Dahlstrom (1993). She observes two types of reduplication on verbs, monosyllabic and bisyllabic, with semantics effects comparable to those of Plains Cree light and heavy redu plication. As we discuss it in Section 2, no such distinctions seem to exist in East Cree. 3Although we call it reduplication, it may not be reduplication but rather affixation by -aa(h-) (Darlene LaCharite, personal communication). As proposed by ltd (1988), there is an Avoid Onsetless Syllables principle, which prevents onsetless syllables from occurring. In our case, the prefix -aa- satisfies its need for an onset by copying from the stem. This explains the regular appearance of
265 266 JUNKER et BLACKSMITH
(1) a. paa-peyakw red-one 'one by one, one each' b. naa-neu red-four 'four each' c. naa-nikutwaashch red-six 'six each' d. maa-mitaahtw red-ten 'ten each' The meaning of a reduplicated numeral is a distributive meaning, im plying a partition between participants in an event expressed by the verb of the sentence. This is illustrated in (2) with a transitive verb: (2) a. Naaneu chii muweuch waapimin anchii awaashich red-four past (3)-eat-pl apples those children 'the children ate four apples each.' b. Naaneu awaashich chii muweuch waapimin 'The children, together in groups of four, ate apples.'
In (2a), the numeral is interpreted together with the object of the sentence, waapimin- 'apples', and its meaning corresponds to the English binominal quantifier 'each'. Here distributivity consists of a one-to-one pairing be tween the entities denoted by the subject and the entities denoted by the object. In (2b), the reduplicated numeral is interpreted together with the subject of the sentence awaashich- 'children', and its meaning is that the entities denoted by the subject are distributed relatively to the event de noted by the verb. Note that in both cases, the total number of apples or children involved exceeds four, the number denoted by the numeral, be cause four counts as a unit for distribution. Such is the meaning resulting from the reduplication. When the verb is intransitive, the numeral can only combine with the subject:
(3) Naaneu awaashich chii miichisuuch red-four children past (3)-eat-pl 'The children ate in groups of four.' -aa-. One would expect a numeral like peyakw to produce peey-peyakw under a reduplication account. The (h) in -aa(h-) is sometimes pronounced, sometimes not. For example: paahpeyakw, but naaneu. It may be a change currently occuring in the language. REDUPLICATION IN EAST CREE 267
Cree, like other Algonquian languages, has a productive pattern de riving temporal expressions out of numerals: an -o suffix is added to the numeral: (4) peyakw peyako 'one' 'once' niish niisho 'two' 'twice' These temporal numerals can also be reduplicated: (5) a. paa-peyako red-once 'once each' b. naa-niisho red-twice 'twice each' c. naa-nishto red-three times 'three times each' d. naa-newaau red-four times 'four times each' The reduplication adds a distributive meaning to the meaning of the temporal numeral. The quantity of time denoted by the numeral has to be matched with each participant to the general event denoted by the sentence. (6) Chii ayimuuch naa-newaau past (3)-speak-pl red-four 'They spoke four times each.'
A list of East Cree numerals with their reduplicated form is given in the Appendix. An interesting fact about reduplicated numerals is that they must be in a sentence whose subject is plural. Junker (1994) showed that a constraint on distributive sentences in French is to have a plural sub ject. We see that a similar constaint applies to Cree distributive sentences. Compare (6) with (7). If the sentence only implies one participant, such as with a verb with a singular subject, the reduplicated form of the numeral renders the sentence ungrammatical. (7) *Chii ayimuu naa-newaau 'She/He spoke four times each' However, (7) is grammatical with the non-reduplicated temporal numeral newaau, as shown in (8). The plurality constraint therefore applies to the sentence containing a reduplicated numeral because of its distributive meaning. This also shows that distributivity, as expressed by reduplicated numerals, really concerns the participants in the verbal process. 268 JUNKER et BLACKSMITH
(8) Newaau chii ayimuu 'She/He spoke 4 times.'
Similarly, the plurality constraint does not apply only to reduplicated temporal numerals, but also to regular reduplicated numerals, as shown in (9):
(9) * Naaneu chii ayimuu 'She/He spoke in groups of four'
Interestingly, East Cree also has a lexical quantifier eshikum, to express periodicity, whenever this periodicity is not dependant on a partition of the participants of the sentence. While the reduplicated numerals are best translated by 'each', phrases with eshikum correspond to English 'every' or French 'toutes'. Compare phrases (a) in (10) with the quantifier eshikum and phrases (b) with the reduplicated numeral:
(10) a. eshikum tipahiikan b. naaneu tipahiikan 'every hour (or mile)' red-4 -hours/miles ('toutes les heures') '4 hours (or miles) each' eshikum neu apun naaneu apun 'every 4 years' '4 years each' eshikum neu minikush naaneu minikush 'every 4 minutes' '4 minutes each' eshikum neu piisim naaneu piisim 'every 4 months' '4 months each' eshikum tuushteu naaneu tuushteu 'every 4 weeks' '4 weeks each'
Unlike distributive numerals, there is no plurality requirement on sentences with eshikum. Compare (11a) and (lib): (11) a. Eshikum neu piisim niichiiutamaauch niichihiikuch every 4 months I visit my parents T visit my parents every 4 months.' b. *naaneu piisim niichiiutamaauch niichihiikuch red-4 months I visit my parents Reduplicated numerals therefore have a very distinct function in East Cree: to express distributive meanings. The plurality requirement on sen tences containing them shows that, like in other languages, distributivity in Cree is an operation which must always involve the participants in the event: for all (intransitive and transitive) verbs, if the sentence contains a reduplicated numeral, the participants denoted by the grammatical subject are always distributed. We now turn to the reduplication of verbs. REDUPLICATION IN EAST CREE 269
2. Reduplication of Verbs
We observe some dialectal differences in the domain of verb reduplication between Plains Cree and East Cree, as described by Ahenakew and Wolfart (1983:374). They observe two types of reduplication in Plains Cree: heavy reduplication, which has a long vowel in the reduplicated syllable and light reduplication whose vowel is short. These two types of reduplication also differ in their use: heavy reduplication means intermittent, while light reduplication means on-going:
(12) atoskee 'work' heavy red: nit-aa-atoskaan 'I work from time to time.' light red: nit-ay-atoskaan T am working right now.'
In East Cree, on the other hand, there does not seem to be two types of reduplication. In the following examples, only reduplication with a short vowel (or prefix -a- with onset copied from the root) is allowed: (13) a. Muweu waapimin 'She/He eats apples.' b. Ma-muweu waapimin 'She/He eats apples all the time/ a lot/ over and over.' c. *Maa-muweu waapimin
The only cases where we have noticed a long vowel in the reduplicated or prefixed syllable can be explained by the presence of a lengthening conso nant in the root. Therefore, there does not seem to be two morphological types of reduplication in East Cree, unlike Plains Cree. When the verbal root starts with a vowel, the most common pattern, illustrated in (14a, b and c), is where the initial vowel is reduplicated (a short a- is prefixed). In (14d), however, it is the next syllable which is being reduplicated. We leave this topic open for further research.
(14) a. asameu 'She/He feeds her/him.' a-yasameu 'She/He feeds her/him over and over.' b. e-apito 'Where they are in a pile.' e-a-yapito 'Where they are scattered about.' (e- = conjunct) c. iteu 'She/he says.' a-iteu 'She/he talks about it.' d. utaamukuhwaat 'She/He cuts (something animate) with an axe.' u-ta-taamukuhwaat 'She/He chops up (something animate) with an axe.' 270 JUNKER et BLACKSMITH
The meaning of verbal reduplication in East Cree is intensity or rep etition. The reduplicated verb is often glossed by 'He/She keeps on doing ... ' Below are a few examples:
(1°) pakaasimuu 'She/He swims.' pa-pakaasimuu 'She/He swims over and over/always.' 'She/He spends his time in the water.'
(1°) niimuu 'She/He dances.' na-niimuu 'She/He dances all the time/over and over.'
(I7) maatuu 'She/He cries.' ma-maatuu 'She/He keeps on crying.'
The following examples, extracted from Cree texts (Blacksmith et al 1979; identified as HT) show that reduplication expands the verb meaning along the lines of repetition, iteration or intermittency, in sometimes very subtle ways. Let us start with verbs expressing an activity. In (18) and (19), the reduplicated form of the verb, given in (a), has the added meaning of cutting or breaking into small pieces, due to repeated action. Compare with the bare form of the verb, given in (b).
(18) a. Ekun eti u-ta-taamukuhwaat aniyuu waapusha (HT) 'She/He started to chop up the rabbit (with an axe).' b. Ekun eti utaamukuhwaat aniyuu waapusha 'She/He started to cut the rabbit (with an axe).'
(19) a. Watihkunsha chii naanaatwaapitamukukupane (HT) 'She/He had broken off branches (into little bits and pieces).' b. Watihkunsha chii naatwaapitamukukupane 'She/He had broken off branches (into regular size pieces).'
In (20) and (21), reduplication allows the verb to take a new meaning, not along temporal dimensions only, but along spatial dimensions: (20) implies that the rocks are scattered about, as opposed to being stacked all in a pile; the bare (conjunct) verb eapito means 'where the rocks are' or 'rocks in a pile'. Example (21) implies that the speaker not only helped once in one place, but in many places, wherever she was needed.
(20) Asiniich eayapito (HT) 'Rocks are lying around (scattered about).'
(21) Kaye nii kaa waa-wiichihiiweyaan (HT) 'I also helped out (everywhere I was needed).' REDUPLICATION IN EAST CREE 271
In (22) the meaning change has to do with the depth of feelings. The non-reduplicated form of the verb, given in (22b) by contrast, just means that the father was thankful, while in (22a) he not only gives his thanks, he is also more demonstrative, like showing how thankful he is. (22) a. Ekw kiipaa iska nanaaskumuwaa aniyaa kaa uhtaawiito (HT) 'So their late father was grateful.' b. Ekw kiipaa iska niskumua aniyaa kaa uhtaawiito 'So their late father was thankful/gave his thanks.'
In (23) and (24), the reduplication seems to expand the meaning of the verb by putting some kind of emphasis on the speaker's feelings. In (24), for example, not only was the speaker never offered tea, but also, she or he seems to express disappointment about it.
(23) Namui naashch ni sa-saapeimaau pahkwesikan emuwak (HT) 'I am not too crazy about eating bannock.'
(24) Taapaa maak nihtaa nuuhchi ma-minihiikuun tiih (HT) 'I was never ever given tea.'
We believe all these uses are variations over the initial repetitive mean ing of reduplication. However, as we have seen in the last examples espe cially, this repetition may not just happen along temporal dimensions, but along spatial ones or even along psychological ones, expanding the meaning changes to the level of discourse, by bringing about information about the speaker.
3. Conclusion and Further Questions
Reduplication or prefixation by a copied onset and -aa- in East Cree takes place on numerals and verbs with related meaning effects. We have seen that for numerals, reduplication is used to express a distribution of the participants in the event relative to the verb. For verbs it is mainly used to express repetition in time or in space, which is a distribution of the event relative to its participant (s). It seems that what happens on verbs is a mirror image of what happens on nouns: distribution of the partici pants relatively to the event or distribution of the event relatively to its participant(s). However, before a fully unified semantic account of redupli cation can be attempted, work remains to be done on other grammatical categories, such as adverbs and quantifiers, to see how and when they can reduplicate. 272 JUNKER et BLACKSMITH
APPENDIX List of reduplicated numerals
The # column gives the bare numeral form, the #RED column gives its cor responding reduplicated form; the #TIMES column gives the temporal numeral and the #TIMES-RED, its corresponding reduplicated form.
#RED #TIMES #TIME5-RED 1. peyakw paahpeyakw peyako pahpeyako 2. niish naaniish niisho naaniisho 3. nisht naanisht niishto naanishto 4. neu naaneu newaau naanewaau 5. niyaain naaniyaain niyaaino naaniyaaino 6. (ni)kutwaashch naanikutwaashch (ni)kutwaasho naanikutwaasho 7. niishwaashch n aaniish washch niishwaashcho naaniish wash cho 8. (ni)yaanaaneu naaniyaanaaneu (ni)yaanaanewaau naaniyaanaanewaau paahpeyakushteu paahpeyakushtewaau 9. peyakushteu paahpeyakushtewaau maamitaahhtw mitahto 10. mitaahtw maamitahto paahpeyakushaap peyakushaapo 11. peyakushaap paahpeyakushaapo naaniishushaap niishushaapo 12. niishushaap naanishtushaap nishtushaapo naaniishushaapo 13. nishtushaap naaneushaap neushaapo naanishtushaapo 14. neushaap naaniyaainshaap niyaainshaapo naaneushaapo 15. niyaainshaap naanikutwaashaap (ni)kutwaashaapo naaniyaainshaapo 16. (ni)kutwaashaap naaniishwaashaap niish waashaapo naanikutwaashaapo 17. niish waashaap naaniyaanaaneushaap niyaanaaneushaapo naaniishwaashaapo 18. niyaanaaneushaap paahpeyakushteushaap peyakushteushaapo naaniyaanaaneushaapo 19. peyakushteushaap naaniishtuneu n i is htu newaau paah peyakushteushaapo 20. niishtuneu naaniish tunewaau
#RED 100. (peyako)mitaahtumituneu maamitaahtuneu (or) pahpeyako mitaahtumituneu 200. nisho mitaahtumituneu naanisho mitaahtumituneu 300. nishto mitaahtumituneu naanishto mitaahtumituneu 400. newaau mitaahtumituneu newaau mitaahtumituneu 500. niyaaino mitaahtumituneu naaniyaaino mitaahtumituneu 1000. (peyako) chishemitaahtumituneu paahpeyako chishemitaahtumituneu
#TIMES #TIMES-RED 100. mitaahtumitunewaa maamitaahtumitunewaa (pahpeyako mitaahtumitunewaa) 200. nisho mitaahtumitunewaa naanisho mitaahtumitunewaa 300. nishto mitaahtumitunewaa naanishto mitaahtumitunewaa 400. newaau mitaahtumitunewaa newaau mitaahtumitunewaa 500. niyaaino mitaahtumitunewaa naaniyaaino mitaahtumitunewaa 1000. (peyako) chishemitaahtumitunewaa paahpeyako chishemitaahtumitunewa
REFERENCES
Blacksmith, Louise, et al, eds. 1979 Hard Times: Stories by Elders from Mistassini. Mistassini: Cree Publications. Ahenakew, Freda, and H.C. Wolfart 1983 Productive Reduplication in Plains Cree. Pp. 369-377 in Actes du quatorzieme congres des algonquinistes. William Cowan, ed. Ottawa: Carleton University. Dahlstrom, Amy 1993 Fox Reduplication. Ms. REDUPLICATION IN EAST CREE 273 ltd, Junko 1988 Syllable Theory in Prosodic Phonology. New York: Garland. Junker, Marie-Odile 1994 Syntaxe et semantique des quantifieurs flottants 'tous' et 'chacun': distributivite en semantique conceptuelle. Geneva: Droz.