Western Abenaki/Grammar Documentation

Parts of Speech

Western Abenaki has heavily inflected verbs, which have affixes marking subject person and number as well as object person and number, nouns inflected with formatives in a similar manner, adjectives which have agreement with nouns, adverbs, and pronouns.

Spell Relax

ȣ and ô

A variety of symbols have been used by various authors at various times to represent the open-mid nasalized back vowel: /ɔ̃/. These symbols include: o̱ (Wzokhilain, 1830), ȣ (various authors), ô (Day, 1994, Joubert 2011), and 8 (Masta, 1932, and others; as a misrepresentation of ȣ).

• "by contrast, however, on the other hand"
  • o̱zoka
  • 8zoka
  • ôzoka

w

"w" and "u" are used fairly interchangeably across the corpus. It is unclear (but unlikely) that there is a pronunciation difference.

• "a way, direction, region, vacinity"
  • laguiwi - Masta (1932)
  • lagwiwi - Day (1994)
• "Iroquois people"
  • Maguak - Masta (1932)
  • Magwak - Day (1994)

Additionally, "w" is sometimes dropped orthographically and phonetically when followed by "ȣ."

• "white"
  • wȣbi vs ȣbi
• "child"
  • awôȣiz vs aȣsiz

Morphology

Noun Pluralization

Regular plurals are formed depending on whether the noun is animate or inanimate.

• Regular animate plurals are formed with -ak
  • kanal - teakettle
  • kanal<n><aa><pl> ↔ kanalak
• After -d the animate plural becomes -ik, and the -d becomes -j
  • alokad - worker
  • alokad<n><aa><pl> ↔ alokajik
• After -gw and -kw the animate plural becomes -ok and the w disappears.
  • amiskw - beaver
  • amiskw<n><aa><pl> ↔ amiskok
  • azeskwamagw - mud fish
  • azeskwamagw<n><aa><pl> ↔ azeskwamagok
• After -ȣ and -a the animate plural becomes -k
  • abitȣ - farmer
  • abitȣ<n><aa><pl> ↔ abitȣk
  • alȣtegwihla - wood duck
  • alȣtegwihla<n><aa><pl> ↔ alȣtegwihlak
• Regular inanimate plurals are formed with -al:
  • badoziz - little rowboat
  • badoziz<n><nn><pl> ↔ badozizal
  • bamskoda - meadow
  • bamskoda<n><nn><pl> ↔ bamskodaal
• After -g the inanimate plural becomes -il
  • bakagaȣkwtag - crosspiece of a canoe
  • bakagaȣkwtag<n><nn><pl> ↔ bakagaȣkwtagil
• After -gw and -kw the inanimate plural becomes -ol and the w disappears.
  • bamskodaitegw - prairie river
  • bamskodaitegw<n><nn><pl> ↔ bamskodaitegol
  • bakwaaskw - cattail
  • bakwaaskw<n><nn><pl> ↔ bakwaaskol
• After -ȣ the inanimate plural becomes -l
  • wizenȣ - beaver castor
  • wizenȣ<n><nn><pl> ↔ wizenȣk
• Certain words ending in -m and -n form their plural with -ok and -ol (animate and inanimate respectively)
  • migwen - feather
  • migwen<n><aa><pl> ↔ migwenok
  • madagen - hide, skin
  • madagen<n><nn><pl> ↔ madagenol
  • adialwassem - hunting dog
  • adialwassem<n><aa><pl> ↔ adialwassemok

Pronouns

Pronouns are usually affixed to verbs, but sometimes are found as their own words.

Person and Number	Western Abenaki
1st person singular	nia
2nd person singular	kia
3rd person singular	agma
1st person plural (exclusive)	niona
1st person plural (inclusive)	kiona
2nd person plural	kiowȣ
3rd person plural	agmȣwȣ
3st person plural (obviative)	agmȣgik

Possessive pronouns have their own forms which are affixed onto nouns to mark possession.

Person and Number	Prefix	Suffix
1st person singular	n-
2nd person singular	k-
3rd person singular	w-	-a
1st person plural (exclusive)	n-	-na
1st person plural (inclusive)	k-	-na
2nd person plural	k-	-wȣ
3rd person plural	w-	-wȣ

• kaozem - cow
  • kaozem<n><aa><px1sg> ↔ n'kaozem
  • kaozem<n><aa><px2sg> ↔ k'kaozem
  • kaozem<n><aa><px3sg> ↔ w'kaozema
  • kaozem<n><aa><px1pl excl> ↔ n'kaozemna
  • kaozem<n><aa><px1pl incl> ↔ k'kaozemna
  • kaozem<n><aa><px2pl> ↔ k'kaozemwȣ
  • kaozem<n><aa><px3pl> ↔ w'kaozemwȣ
  • kaozem<n><aa><pl><px1sg> ↔ n'kaozemak
  • kaozem<n><aa><pl><px2sg> ↔ k'kaozemak
  • kaozem<n><aa><pl><px3sg> ↔ w'kaozema
  • kaozem<n><aa><pl><px1pl excl> ↔ n'kaozemnawak
  • kaozem<n><aa><pl><px1pl incl> ↔ k'kaozemnawak
  • kaozem<n><aa><pl><px2pl> ↔ k'kaozemwȣk
  • kaozem<n><aa><pl><px3pl> ↔ w'kaozemwȣ

Locative Case

The locative form (<loc>) of Western Abenaki nouns (<n>) denotes a location or being located at or with something, adding a "place" quality to a noun. The functions roughly like with English prepositions "in/at/on."

It is suffixed to the noun with allomorphs of the "-ikw" suffix, which usually surfaces as one of three forms: "-k" "-ek" or "-ik." This is because the morpheme is often word final, meaning the glide is deleted. A distinction is not made for animacy with the locative form.

• ababskweda<n><loc> ↔ ababskwedak
  • "stove" - "at/on the stove"
• msazesko<n><loc> ↔ msazeskok
  • "much mud" - "in much mud"
• abagapskw<n><loc> ↔ abagapskok
  • "flat rock" - "at/on the flat rock"
• gȣgajigapskw<n><loc> ↔ gȣgajigapskok
  • "cliff" - "at/on the cliff"
• abagijiman<n><loc> ↔ abagijimanek
  • "rowboat/flat-bottomed boat" - "at/in the rowboat"
• sibsiz<n><loc> ↔ sibsizek
  • "little bird" - "at/on/with(?) the little bird"

In some cases, with nouns that typically appear in plural form ("besigaskol" floor, literally "the boards" e.g.), the locative plural (<loc><pl>) retains the /i/ vowel and the glide becomes /o/, resulting in "-ikok"

• skweda<n><loc><pl> ↔ Skwedaikok
  • "fire" - "Castle Island" literally "Place where two fires once burned"
• skamoniodebkwanal<n><loc><pl> ↔ skamoniodebkwanikok
  • "corn hairs/cornsilk" - "at/in the cornsilk"

Adjective Agreement

Most adjectives in Western Abenaki are expressed through verb-like structures.