Traditional Ottawa stories fall into two general categories, aasookaan 'legend, sacred story' (plural aasookaanag)[1] and dbaajmowin 'narrative, story' (plural dbaajmownan).[2] Stories in the aasookaan category involve mythical characters such as Nenbozh.[3][4][5][6] Stories in the dbaajmowin category include traditional stories that do not necessarily involve mythical characters,[7] with the same term also used more generally to refer to any type of story not in the aasookaan category. Published Ottawa text material includes a range of genres, including historical narratives,[8] stories of conflict with other indigenous groups,[9] humorous stories,[10] and others.[6][11]
Ottawa speaker Andrew Medler dictated the following text while he was working with Leonard Bloomfield in a linguistic field methods class at the Linguistic Institute of the Linguistic Society of America, held during the summer of 1938 at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan.[12] Medler grew up near Saginaw, Michigan but spent most of his life at Walpole Island.[13] The texts that Medler dictated were originally published in a linguistically oriented transcription using phonetic symbols, and have been republished in the modern orthography, with analysis.[14]
Love Medicine
Andrew Medler
(1) Ngoding kiwenziinh ngii-noondwaaba a-dbaajmod wshkiniigkwen gii-ndodmaagod iw wiikwebjigan.
Once I heard an old man tell of how a young woman asked him for love medicine.
(2) Wgii-msawenmaan niw wshkinwen.
She was in love with a young man.
(3) Mii dash niw kiwenziinyan gii-ndodmawaad iw wiikwebjigan, gye go wgii-dbahmawaan.
So then she asked that old man for the love medicine, and she paid him for it.
(4) Mii dash gii-aabjitood maaba wshkiniigkwe iw mshkiki gaa-giishpnadood.
Then this young woman used that medicine that she had bought.
(5) Mii dash maaba wshkinwe gaa-zhi-gchi-zaaghaad niw wshkiniigkwen.
Then this young man accordingly very much loved that young woman.
(6) Gye go mii gii-wiidgemaad, gye go mii wiiba gii-yaawaawaad binoojiinyan.
Then he married her; very soon they had children.
(7) Aapji go gii-zaaghidwag gye go gii-maajiishkaawag.
They loved each other and they fared very well.
Below is an interlinear glossing and analysis of the words in each sentence, with lines of analysis being vertically aligned on a word-by-word basis. For each sentence the first line presents the text, the second presents a morphological analysis, the third line presents a translation of the elements identified in line 2, and the fourth line presents a word-by-word translation. A more detailed morphological analysis is also available.[15] A table of codes for grammatical elements used in interlinear glossing occurs after the glossed sentences.[16]
In the first line the hyphen '-' is used to mark the division between a preverb and an immediately following verb, as in Sentence 1: ngii-noondwaaba 'I heard it,' with past tense preverb gii-; or a preverb followed by another preverb, as in Sentence 5, gaa-zhi-gchi-zaaghaad, where the first two hyphens indicate the boundaries between preverbs, and the third hyphen indicates the boundary between a preverb and a verb. In the second line, where morphological analysis is presented, the hyphen marks the start of a suffix, as in wshkiniigkwe-n 'young.man' followed by Obviative suffix -n. Also in the second line, the marker '=' indicates the boundary between a verb and a following verb or preverb.
Sentence 1
(1) | Ngoding | kiwenziinh | ngii-noondwaaba | a-dbaajmod | wshkiniigkwen | gii-ndodmaagod | iw | wiikwebjigan | ||||||||||
(2) | ngoding | kiwenziinh | n- | gii= | noondaw | -aa | -ba | a= | dbaajmo- | -d | wshkiniigkwe- | -n | gii= | ndodmaw- | -igw | -d | iw | wiikwebjigan |
(3) | once | old.man | 1 | PAST | hear NA | DIR | PRET | PV.CNJ | tell.story | CNJ.3 | young.woman | OBV | PAST | ask NA for NI | INV | CNJ.3 | that | love.medicine |
(4) | Once | old man | I heard him | he says | young woman | he asked the other for | that | love medicine |
Sentence 2
(1) | Wgii-msawenmaan | niw | wshkinwen | |||||
(2) | w- | gii= | msawenm- | -aa- | -n | niw | wshkinwe | -n |
(3) | 3 | PAST | desire NA | DIR | OBV | that.NA.OBV | young.man | OBV |
(4) | She desired him | that one | young man |
Sentence 3
(1) | Mii | dash | niw | kiwenziinyan | gii-dodamaagod | iw | wiikwebjigan, | gye | go | wgii-dbahmawaan | ||||||||
(2) | mii | dash | niw | kiwenziinh | -an | gii= | dodamaw- | -igw | -d | iw | wiikwebjigan | gye | go | w- | gii= | dbahmaw- | -aa | -an |
(3) | so | then | that.NA | old.man | OBV | PV.PAST | do so to NA | INV | CNJ.3 | that.NI | love.medicine | and | emphatic | 3 | PV.PAST | pay NI to NA | DIR | OBV |
(4) | So | then | that one | old man | she asked him for it | that | love medicine, | and | emphatic | she paid him for it |
Sentence 4
(1) | Mii | dash | gii-aabjitood | maaba | wshkiniigkwe | iw | mshkiki | gaa-giishpnadood | ||||
(2) | mii | dash | gii= | aabjitoo- | -d | maaba | wshkiniigkwe | iw | mshkiki | gaa= | giishpnadoo- | -d |
(3) | so | then | PV.PAST | use NI | CNJ.3 | this NA | young.woman | that NI | medicine | IC.PAST | buy NI | CNJ.3 |
(4) | So | then | she used it | this | young woman | that | medicine | that she bought |
Sentence 5
(1) | Mii | dash | maaba | wshkinwe | gaa-zhi-gchi-zaaghaad | niw | wshkiniigkwen | ||||||
(2) | mii | dash | maaba | wshkinwe | gaa= | zhi= | gchi= | zaagh- | -aa | -d | niw | wshkiniigkwe- | -n |
(3) | so | then | this NA | young.man | IC.PAST | thus | very | love NA | DIR | CNJ.3 | that NA | young.woman | OBV |
(4) | So | then | this one | young man | he very much loved her | that one | young woman |
Sentence 6
(1) | Gye | go | mii | gii-wiidgemaad, | gye | go | mii | wiiba | gii-yaawaawaad | binoojiinyan | ||||||||
(2) | gye | go | mii | gii= | wiidgem- | -aa | -d | gye | go | mii | wiiba | gii= | yaaw- | -aa | -waa | -d | binoojiinh | -an |
(3) | and | emphatic | so | PAST | marry NA | DIR | CNJ.3 | and | emphatic | so | soon | PV.PAST | have NA | DIR | CNJ.PL.3 | CNJ.3 | child | OBV |
(4) | And | indeed | so | he married her | and | indeed | so | soon | they had | children |
Sentence 7
(1) | Aapji | go | gii-zaaghidwag | gye | go | gii-maajiishkaawag | ||||
(2) | aapji | go | gii= | zaaghidi- | -wag | gye | go | gii= | maajiishkaa- | -wag |
(3) | very | emphatic | PV.PAST | love.each.other | PL.NA | and | emphatic | PV.PAST | fare.well | PL.NA |
(4) | Very much | indeed | they loved each other | and | indeed | they fared very well |
The following table lists codes used in the interlinear analysis of the text.
Code | Gloss | Code | Gloss | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | First person | NI | Inanimate gender | |
3 | Third person | OBV | Obviative form of noun | |
CNJ | Conjunct form of verb | PAST | Past tense preverb | |
DIR | Direct inflection of verb | PL | Plural | |
IC | Initial Change | PRET | Preterit mode | |
INV | Inverse form of verb | PV | Preverb element occurring before verb | |
NA | Animate gender |