Kickapoo/Grammar

Nouns

Animate Nouns

Animate nouns end in -a which is the marker for ‘ANIMATE.’

• In order for a noun to be considered animate, it must be organic, i.e., it must have to be perceived as a living entity. Also, sacred ceremonial objects, including musical instruments, that don’t usually meet the normal animacy requirements can be considered animate (Whittaker, 2006:2). For the most part, nouns are considered animate if they can move on their own.
  • anemoh<n><aa> ↔ anemoha
  • pesia<n><aa> ↔ pesiaa
  • wiiskenoh<n><aa> ↔ wiiskenoha
  • ahkhkw<n><aa> ↔ ahkhkwa
  • aathan<n><aa> ↔ aathana
  • miikona<n><aa> ↔ miikonaa

it might help if you could add glosses (here and throughout) -JNW

Inanimate Nouns

• Inanimate nouns end in -i, which is the marker for ‘INANIMATE.’ Inanimate nouns are considered to be inorganic nonliving entities that do not move on their own, breathe, and are not found in a ceremony.
  • aikaachikan<n><nn> ↔ aikaachikani
  • menwaachikan<n><nn> ↔ menwaachikani
  • pakachikan<n><nn> ↔ pakachikani
  • makatheh<n><nn> ↔ makathehi
  • motaahi<n><nn> ↔ motaahii

Noun Inflection (Posession)

• • makatheh<px1sg><n><nn> ↔ nemakathehi
  • makatheh<px2sg><n><nn> ↔ kemakathehi
  • makatheh<px3sg><n><nn> ↔ omakathehi
  • okometh<px1sg><n><aa> ↔ nokometha
  • okometh<px2sg><n><aa> ↔ kokomethaki

The px* tags are grammatical tags and should come after POS tags (like n) and subcategory tags (like aa). -JNW

Plural Nouns

Animate Nouns

• • kwiyetheeh<n><aa><pl> ↔ kwiyetheehaki
  • okometh<n><aa><pl> ↔ okomathaki
  • sooniyaah<n><aa><pl> ↔ sooniyaahani

Inanimate Nouns

• • aikaachi<n><nn><pl> ↔ aikaachikanani
  • sooniyaahem<n><nn><pl> ↔ sooniyaahemani

Is there a generalisation, or some level of irregularity, or something else? -JNW

Verb

Gender

Person

• There are fourteen pronominal categories in Kickapoo. Various pronominal affixes are used to distinguish these pronominal categories.
  • meskothi<v><aa><p1><sg><tv> ↔ Nemeskothi
  • meskothi<v><aa><p2><sg><tv> ↔ Kemeskothi
  • meskothi<v><aa><p3><sg><tv> ↔ Meskothiwa
  • meskothi<v><aa><p4><sg><tv> ↔ Meskothiniani
  • meskothi<v><nn><sg><iv> ↔ meskwaawi
  • meskothi<v><nn><p4><sg><iv> ↔ meskwaanii
  • meskothi<v><aa><p2><pl><tv> ↔ Meskothiwaki
  • meskothi<v><aa><p3><pl><tv> ↔ Meskothiniahi
  • meskothi<v><aa><p4><pl><tv> ↔ meskwaani
  • meskothi<v><nn><p4><pl><iv> ↔ meskwaaniiani

the forms should begin with lower case characters. Subcategory tags (iv, tv) come after the POS tag and before grammatical tags. If this is subject agreement (and object agreement also exists in the language, which I think it does), then I would recommend tags like s_p1sg, etc. Also, is animacy a subcategory of verbs (I know it can be in other Algonquian languages), or is it a property of the subject (I can see analyses for other Algonquian languages which would treat it this way instead)? If the former, what you've done with those tags is fine; if the latter, you'll want to somehow include that in the s_* tags. - JNW

Tense

• There are four tenses in Kickapoo, the future tense, and the first, second, and third aorists.

Future Tense

The future tense is marked by the prefix iih– which is attached immediately before the verb root.

• • namatho<p1><v><sg><fut> ↔ niihnamatho
  • nimi<p1><v><sg><fut> ↔ iihnimiaani

First Aorist

The first aorist is used to denote actions that have begun at the time of speaking and generally equate the English present and past tense. The first aorist expresses a meaning equivalent of the present progressive, present, and past tenses in English:

• • namatho<p1><v><sg><aor> ↔ nenamatho

Second Aorist

For the second aorist, actions are considered to have been begun but remain incomplete at the time of speaking. The second aorist is marked with a prefix eeh–.

• • namatho<p1><v><sg><2aor> ↔ eehnamathoaani

Third Aorist

The third aorist denotes actions that are considered completed at the time of speaking and is marked with a vowel change.

• • meno<p1><v><sg><3aor> ↔ meenoaani

Aspect

• Aspect ‘describes the internal temporal shape of events or states’ (Payne 1997, 238). Aspect in

Kickapoo is shown thru affixes. These affixes show the internal temporal structure of situations which includes the start or conclusion of an event, frequency, habituality, and the efforts or desire for the agent/subject to bring the event to fruition. ¥¥这一块我不确定

• • pooni<p1><v><sg><fut> ↔ niihnamatho

Mode

pri dub

Negation

• In Kickapoo, negation is expressed through the morphemes <aakwi>, <pai>, <awita>, and

<poni>. Each of the ten modes described in the previous section requires just one of these morphemes in order to express negation. ¥¥this is based on the mode so I havent tag the modes yet

• • mayo<p1><v><sg><neg> ↔ aakwi mayoaani conjunct
  • mayo<p1><v><sg><neg> ↔ aakwi mayoaanini iterative
  • siethi<p1><v><sg><neg> ↔ paisiethiaane subjunctive
  • siethi<p1><v><sg><neg> ↔ awita siethihkaaha potential
  • siethi<p2><v><sg><neg> ↔ poni siethino imperative
  • mayo<p2><v><sg><neg> ↔ kaata mayokani prohibitive