Ottawa oral literature and texts

Ottawa oral literature and texts
Main article: Ottawa language

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]

Contents

Text

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.

Analysis of text

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

Notes

  1. ^ Rhodes, Richard, 1985, 14
  2. ^ Rhodes, Richard, 1985, 103
  3. ^ Valentine, J. Randolph, 1988, 197-215; 113-115
  4. ^ Piggott, Glyne, 1985, 11-16
  5. ^ Piggott, Glyne, 1985a, 13-16
  6. ^ a b Nichols, John and Leonard Bloomfield, 1991, 18-23
  7. ^ Piggott, Glyne, 1985a, 1-12
  8. ^ Piggott, Glyne, 1985, 1-10
  9. ^ McGregor, Gregor with C. F. Voegelin, 1988, 114-118
  10. ^ Fox, Francis and Nora Soney with Richard Rhodes, 1988
  11. ^ Wilder, Julie, ed. 1999
  12. ^ Bloomfield, Leonard, 1958, p. vii
  13. ^ Bloomfield, Leonard, 1958, p. viii
  14. ^ Valentine, J. Randolph, 1998, pp. 57, 167, 239-240
  15. ^ Valentine, J. Randolph, 1998, pp. 239-240
  16. ^ Valentine, J. Randolph, 1998, pp. xiii-xiv; 217

References

  • Bloomfield, Leonard. 1958. Eastern Ojibwa: Grammatical sketch, texts and word list. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
  • Cappel, Constance. (Editor).2006. Odawa Language and Legends: Andrew J. Blackbird and Raymond Kiogima. Bloomington,IN:Xlibris.
  • Fox, Francis and Nora Soney with Richard Rhodes. 1988. "Chippewa-Ottawa texts." John Nichols, ed., An Ojibwe text anthology, 33-68. London: The Centre for Teaching and Research of Canadian Native Languages, University of Western Ontario. ISBN 0-7714-1046-8
  • McGregor, Gregor with C. F. Voegelin. 1988. "Birch Island Texts." Edited by Leonard Bloomfield and John D. Nichols. John Nichols, ed., An Ojibwe text anthology, 107-194. London: The Centre for Teaching and Research of Canadian Native Languages, University of Western Ontario. ISBN 0-7714-1046-8
  • Nichols, John D. and Leonard Bloomfield, eds. 1991. The dog’s children. Anishinaabe texts told by Angeline Williams. Winnipeg: Publications of the Algonquian Text Society, University of Manitoba. ISBN 0-88755-148-3
  • Piggott, Glyne L., ed. 1985. Three stories from the Odawa language project. Algonquian and Iroquoian Linguistics, Readers and Study Guides. Winnipeg: Department of Native Studies, University of Manitoba. ISSN 0711-382X
  • Piggott, Glyne L., ed. 1985a. Stories of Sam Osawamick from the Odawa language project. Algonquian and Iroquoian Linguistics, Readers and Study Guides. Winnipeg: Department of Native Studies, University of Manitoba. ISSN 0711-382X
  • Valentine, J. Randolph. 1998. Weshki-bimaadzijig ji-noondmowaad. 'That the young might hear': The stories of Andrew Medler as recorded by Leonard Bloomfield. London, ON: The Centre for Teaching and Research of Canadian Native Languages, University of Western Ontario. ISBN 0-7714-2091-9
  • Wilder, Julie, ed. 1999. Wiigwaaskingaa / Land of birch trees: Ojibwe stories by Arthur J. McGregor. Ojibwe editor Mary E. Wemigwans. Hobbema, AB: Blue Moon Publishing. ISBN 0-9685103-0-2

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