[Algonquiana] animacy question

[MONICA MACAULAY]

Thanks, Mary Ann and Bernie and everyone else!  I am definitely starting to think it’s an innovation, judging by the responses.  Of course then you get into the issue of whether it’s (prescriptively) “wrong” or if you just say it’s language change.  Luckily, not my place to decide!

On Dec 10, 2015, at 5:47 PM, Bernie <plnal at hotmail.com<mailto:plnal at hotmail.com>> wrote:

Hi Monica,

I'm very suspicious about your apple becoming inanimate after it hits the ground. Also Bloomfield is talking about something else. Of course, if an apple turns into a being of some sort as in a legend it would take on the animate form.

I'll give you the following not knowing as to whether or not it will be of any help or muddy the waters further:

Kmu'j in Micmac meaning a tree is always animate. A stick on the ground (which could've come from that tree) also called kmu'j is always inanimate.

Now take that stick and shape it into say, a tree, a potato, a turnip, any heavenly body and etc, (all animate objects to begin with in Micmac) that previously inanimate kmu'j now becomes animate of course.

Once again take that same kmu'j on the ground and shape it into an apple, cranberry, a bridge, a TV, a pillow, a bed and etc it remains inanimate since it was fashioned into inanimate objects.

The inanimate kmu'j on the ground really doesn't change unless it has been imbued with a spirit by a carver, shall we say, after he's fashioned it into something animate. It can change again however into an inanimate kmu'j if say, someone throws it out and after a time is no longer recognizable as the animate object the carver fashioned.

As a side note an apple tree in Micmac is animate as are all other trees but an apple is always inanimate, on or off a tree.

Cheers Monica

bern francis




Sent from my iPad

On 2015-12-10, at 5:32 PM, "MONICA MACAULAY" <mmacaula at wisc.edu<mailto:mmacaula at wisc.edu>> wrote:

That one holds in Menominee too - it seems to have something to do with size (large boards are animate but smaller ones are inanimate, according to Bloomfield).

- Monica

On Dec 10, 2015, at 3:07 PM, Guillaume Jacques <rgyalrongskad at gmail.com<mailto:rgyalrongskad at gmail.com>> wrote:

In Ojibwe, mitig means "tree" when animate (pl mitigoog), and "stick" when inanimate (pl mitigoon), which looks in some way similar to the "apple" case you mention (becoming inanimate when removed from the place where it grew). This pair exists in other Algonquian languages, I think.

2015-12-10 21:48 GMT+01:00 MONICA MACAULAY <mmacaula at wisc.edu<mailto:mmacaula at wisc.edu>>:
Recently I’ve heard Menominee learners saying that “apple” is animate while it’s attached to the tree, but inanimate when it falls on the ground.  Bloomfield does talk about how inanimate nouns can be treated as animate in, for example, stories where some object takes on magical qualities, but I don’t think he talks about this kind of switch (although I could just be missing it!).  Do you find this in other Algonquian languages?  Or do you think this is an innovation by the learners?  I’ve heard it from a lot of people and have been wondering about it for a while.

thanks!

- Monica
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--
Guillaume Jacques
CNRS (CRLAO) - INALCO
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