The Morphology of Modern Western Abenaki Jesse Beach ‘04 Honors Thesis Dartmouth College Program of Linguistics & Cognitive Science Primary Advisor: Prof. David Peterson Secondary Advisor: Prof. Lindsay Whaley May 17, 2004 Acknowledgements This project has commanded a considerable amount of my attention and time over the past year. The research has lead me not only into Algonquian linguistics, but has also introduced me to the world of Native American cultures. The history of the Abenaki people fascinated me as much as their language. I must extnd my fullest appreciate to my advisor David Peterson, who time and again proposed valuable reference suggestions and paths of analysis. The encouragement he offered was indispensable during the research and writing stages of this thesis. He also went meticulously through the initial drafts of this document offering poignant comments on content as well as style. My appreciation also goes to my secondary advisor Lindsay Whaley whose door is always open for a quick chat. His suggestions helped me broaden the focus of my research. Although I was ultimately unable to arrange the field research component of this thesis, the generosity of the Dean of Faculty’s Office and the Richter Memorial Trust Grant that I received from them assisted me in gaining a richer understanding of the current status of the Abenaki language. With the help of this grant, I was able to travel to Odanak, Quebec to meet the remaining speakers of Abenaki. From these conversations I was able to locate additional materials that aided me tremendously in my analysis. Many individuals have offered me assistance in one form or another throughout the unfolding of my research. To them I offer a heartfelt thank you for their time: Colin Calloway, Dennis Runnels, George Ducharme, Monique Nolett, Retired Chief Howard F. Knight, and Patricia Forget. 1 Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................................................................................ 1 1 -- INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................... 5 1.1 THE STATE OF THE ABENAKI LANGUAGE ........................................................................ 5 1.2 PURPOSE..................................................................................................................................... 5 1.3 CLASSIFICATION OF ABENAKI............................................................................................. 9 1.4 PHONOLOGICAL INVENTORY............................................................................................... 9 1.5 TEXTUAL SOURCES AND THEIR IDIOSYNCRASIES....................................................... 11 1.6 ORTHOGRAPHIES...................................................................................................................14 2 -- GENERAL MORPHOSYNTACTIC PROPERTIES........................................................................ 17 2.1 ANIMACY OF NOUNS ............................................................................................................ 17 2.2 PERSON DISTINCTIONS ........................................................................................................ 18 2.3 WORD ORDER ......................................................................................................................... 22 3 -- VERBS .............................................................................................................................................. 25 3.1 THE BASIC STRUCTURE OF ABENAKI VERBS................................................................. 25 3.1.1 MATRIX CLAUSE VERBS............................................................................................... 26 3.1.2 SUBORDINATE CLAUSE VERBS................................................................................... 30 3.2 VALENCE SPECIFIERS........................................................................................................... 31 3.2.1 TRANSITIVE VERB SPECIFIERS ................................................................................... 32 3.2.2 INTRANSITIVE VERB SPECIFIERS ............................................................................... 38 3.3 SCENARIO MARKERS............................................................................................................ 42 3.4 VOICE........................................................................................................................................ 47 3.5 MATRIX CLAUSE AGREEMENT INFLECTION.................................................................. 52 3.5.1 AGREEMENT CLITICS .................................................................................................... 53 3.5.2 CENTRAL PARTICIPANT AGREEMENT INFLECTIONS............................................ 57 3.5.3 PERIPHERAL PARTICIPANT AGREEMENT FORMATIVES ...................................... 62 3.6 OBJECTS AND DEFINITENESS............................................................................................. 65 3.6.1 OBJECTS............................................................................................................................ 65 3.6.2 N-OBJECT MARKER ........................................................................................................ 66 3.6.3 DEFINITENESS ................................................................................................................. 68 3.6.4 THE PECULIAR BEHAVIOR OF THE N-OM................................................................. 72 3.7 BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER - MATRIX CLAUSE MORPHOLOGY IN SUMMARY .. 76 3.7.1 INTRANSITIVE VERB MORPHOLOGY......................................................................... 76 3.7.2 TRANSITIVE VERB MORPHOLOGY............................................................................. 77 3.8 SUBORDINATE CLAUSE AGREEMENT .............................................................................. 78 3.8.1 FORMATIVES AND ARGUMENT AGREEMENT......................................................... 78 3.8.2 DEPENDENT CLAUSES................................................................................................... 85 3.8.3 RELATIVIZED VERBS AND THE PRIVILEGED SYNTACTIC ARGUMENT............ 87 3.8.4 NULL-SUBJECT SUBORDINATE VERBS ..................................................................... 90 3.9 POLARITY ................................................................................................................................ 95 3.9.1 NEGATION OF MATRIX CLAUSE VERBS ................................................................... 95 3.9.2 NEGATION OF SUBORDINATE CLAUSE VERBS....................................................... 98 3.10 TENSE...................................................................................................................................... 101 3.10.1 PRETERIT TENSE........................................................................................................... 102 3.10.2 FUTURE TENSE.............................................................................................................. 109 3.11 ASPECT ................................................................................................................................... 110 3.12 MOOD...................................................................................................................................... 112 3.12.1 INDICATIVE.................................................................................................................... 112 3.12.2 INTERROGATIVE........................................................................................................... 112 3.12.3 IMPERATIVE MOOD...................................................................................................... 112 2 3.12.4 SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD................................................................................................... 117 4 -- NOUNS ........................................................................................................................................... 121 4.1 NUMBER................................................................................................................................. 122 4.2 ANIMATE OBVIATIVE OBJECTS ....................................................................................... 124 4.3 POSSESSION........................................................................................................................... 125 4.4 LOCATIVE FORM.................................................................................................................. 129 4.5 ABSENTIVE FORM................................................................................................................ 131 5 -- ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS .................................................................................................... 133 5.1 ADJECTIVE AGREEMENT ................................................................................................... 133 5.2 PARTICLES AND ADVERBS................................................................................................ 134 6 -- CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................... 137 APPENDICES .......................................................................................................................................