The Fusion of Tense and Evidentiality in Mi'gmaq

8/14/2019 The Fusion of Tense and Evidentiality in Mi'gmaq

1/44

The Fusion of Tense and Evidentiality in Mi'gmaqJenny Loughran

Department of LinguisticsMcGill University

December, 2012

A submitte to McGill University in partial fulfilment of the re!uirements of the egreeof

Master of Arts in Linguistics

1


2/44

Acknowledgements

"irst an foremost, # $oul li%e to than% my language consultant Janine Metallic, $ho gifte me$ith the %no$lege of her language& 'er e(citement about unerstaning Mi)gma! $as inspirationalan # am prou to have $or%e $ith such an impassione iniviual&

# o$e tremenous than%s to my supervisor, *rofessor Jessica +oon, $ho provie invaluable%no$lege an acaemic support throughout the $riting process, but also enless patience an support&ithout her guiance this paper $oul not have been possible&

# $oul also li%e to than% the Linguistics epartment an Mcgill University, especially *rofessorLisa -ravis $ho, espite an increibly busy scheule, al$ays foun time for a meeting& #n aition, #$oul li%e to than% +onnor .uinn for sharing his %no$lege of Mi)gma! an Algon!uian languages

"inally, #) li%e to than% my friens an family& ithout all of you cheering me on from the sielines none of this $oul have been possible&

2


3/44

List of Abbreviations

A++ accusative

AU/ au(iliary

+#

coincieD# irect

D#3+- irect eviential

3M*' emphatic

#M* imperfect

#D# inirect eviential

#4 inverse

'3A5A6 hearsay eviential

L+ locative7J ob8ect

74 obviation

*A5-D3" *ast 9 eferential eviential

*A5-D# past 9 irect eviential

*A5-'3A5A6

*A5-#D# past 9inirect eviential

*A5-*35&3/ past 9personal e(perience eviential

*3" perfective*35&3/ personal e(perience eviential

*L plural

*LL+AL local :1 ; 2 person< plural

*L=L+AL non=local :>rperson< plural

*55 possessive

3"L refle(ive

3G negation

4#5 non=visual eviential5G singular

5U7 sub8ect

4#5 visual eviential

>


4/44


5/44

b& k#NOPNQKQRSNT nTNOK F9aressee1=very&love=>5G 1=aughter)6ou love my aughter)

;)s claim that Algon!uian languages lac% an inflectional tense noe an that an utterance is

anchore via participant base on an analysis of 7lac%foot, a +entral Algon!uian language genetically

affiliate to Mi)gma!& *art of the evience that 7lac%foot lac%s a -* noe lies in the temporal

ambiguity that arises bet$een past an non=past interpretations& "or e(ample, :?< can be interprete as

either past or present tense&

:?< a& tsel VEme( :aapte from iltsc%o 200>E CW@C=*A5-D# $al%&>=*A5-#D#5he $al%e& :# sa$ it< 5he $al%e& :# hear about it=*A5-D5he $al%e& :Din)t sheZ& -he absence of the tense mar%ers unambiguously results in a non=past interpretation& 5ource of information must obligatorily be e(presse only in the past tense

2


6/44

?& -he eviential suffi(es are incompatible $ith temporal averbs that e(press the presentor future tense suggesting that they carry a past tense meaning&

A secon purpose of the stuy is to e(amine ho$ the -3 mar%ers fit into the moel of

evientiality propose by 5peas :200b[ 200< in $hich evientiality is a type of person agreement&&

UtiliBing the analysis of person features evelope by 'arley an itter :2002< 5peas is able to preict

the inventory of the $orls eviential systems& -his moel, ho$ever, oes not account for e(ample in:Cc< ,$hich #nglis refers to as a deferentialeviential& e $ill see in section ? that the eferential

eviential can easily fall uner 5peas moel if $e slightly e(pan it to use a secon feature escribe

by 'arley an itter F9= Aressee& # $ill follo$ 5peas :200a[ 200b[ 200< in her use of

terminology an in efining each categoryE personal e(perience, irect, inirect, hearsay& -hese are

introuce in the follo$ing subsection&

11 Terminology

Languages that grammaticaliBe evientials use a eicate set of morphemes that e(press thesource of the spea%ers %no$lege& Accoring to 5peas :200a[ 200b[ 200


7/44

b& i\y] $a)]re yaha%&(og fish steal=4#5)-he og stole the fish) :# hear the noise0


11/44

:1< 8lackfoota& n#itsi%aK %ominna=$a n=itaK b& QTNOPNQKQRSNT TNOK

1=very&love=>5G 1=aughter 1=very&love=>5G 1=aughter)# love my aughter) )6ou love my aughter)

c& ROTNNQKQRSNSST TRQdT RTOKTN

>=very&love=>5G

1=son=>5G

>=aughter=74

)'er aughter loves my son)

#n the intransitive e(amples above the sub8ect is mar%e on the verb using the appropriate prefi(& #n

transitive constructions both the sub8ect an the ob8ect are mar%e on the verb, one as a prefi( an one

as a suffi(& hich participant is foun in $hich position is etermine by the participants position

along $hat is referre to as theAl)on*uian Hierarchy :see 7ruening 200?, Jolley 1@> among others

for iscussion


12/44

As previously state, the Mi)gma! inepenent orer is escene from the proto=Algon!uian

con8unct orer resulting in the use use of person suffi(es rather than prefi(es1& -his is sho$n belo$2&

:20< Mi'gmaq "ntransitive :aapte from "ielholtB 1@CE ?2C

)# gro$) )you :sg< gro$) )he gro$s):21< sho$s transitive enings in Mi)gma!& +omparing to the 8ib$e e(ample in :1@&

:21< Mi'gmaq transitivea& pema)lin b& pema)lul c& pema)l'g

pema)l=i#n pema)l=ul pema)l='gcarry=1=2 carry=2:=1< carry=>:=1 carry=2=> carry=2=>she carries me 6ou carry himher) )he carries you)

g& pema)latl &pema)l=a=tl5he carry=>=74)5he carries himher

-hese transitive enings are actually a comple( of morphemes that mar% both the sub8ects an

the ob8ect inepenently, as $ell as number an obviation& 3ach person is represente ifferently

epening on $hether they are the sub8ect or ob8ect of the verb& -he unerlying morphemes for each

person an argument are given belo$ in -able 2&

1 ne place in $hich Mi)gma! has retaine the use of prefi(es to mar% the sub8ect& +ompare the follo$ing formsE

Mi'gmaq 6ossessive :aapte from "ielholtB 1@CE WW=$oman=*55=74My $ife :lit& $oman< 6our $ife 'isher $ife

2 "or space an comple(ity consierations only constructions involving singular agents an goals are sho$n&> ote that uner certain circumstances phonological reuction occurs an first=person sub8ects appear unmar%e

@


13/44

Table , Mi'gmaq transitive singular -erson -aradigm

*erson Agent Goal

1 =i =i:)lie=h< $e see that all local plural participant ob8ects are mar%e using the morpheme -u)si.

Due to a phonological shortening rule, the sub8ect =i is roppe $or finally& :see "ielholtB 1@C ch& ? for iscussion

Documents

The Fusion of Tense and Evidentiality in Mi'gmaq