Emmon Bach
I want to do two things here today. First, I want to describe and comment on
some materials in and on Western Abenaki. Second, I want to make some
additions to the various lists of Western Abenaki verb forms that have been
available from published sources. This will be strictly a report on work in
progress. Let me make acknowledgments right off to two colleagues: Roger
Higgins, who has been working on Wampanoag (Massachusett) for some years, and
Roy Wright, with whom I have been collaborating on some of the WA materials,
as I will report in a minute. And I want to give special thanks to Cécile
Wawanolett, who first introduced me to her language. I put my email address
on the handout. I would appreciate any comments that you might care to send
to me on what I present here today.
I will divide these into two groups: published materials, given in reverse
chronological order; archival materials. Exact references are given at the
end of my handout. In each case I will try to characterize the document and
tell you the status of my work on it.
About half of this book consists of WA texts with parallel renderings in
English. I say ``in'' rather than ``into,'' as the English texts are not at
all direct translations of the texts. The texts include ``Legends'' as in the
title as well as short conversations between various fictional characters.
The second half is devoted to the grammar and place-names of the title, and
the book ends with a picture of the author's daughter and words to a song (in
WA). Here is a sample from the first part (references throughtout to pages of
documents, Masta uses "8" for the nasal vowel throughout):
Lol8:-- N'ndadanis Sakso k'kiziba kia hlin awanina mdawleno? (32)
As the page references indicate, the WA and English texts are not
interlineated. The ``grammar'' parts of the book give basic information on
such matters as gender, nominal and verbal inflections, common adverbs.
Obviative forms of nouns are called ``accusative''. More on some of these
forms in the second half of my paper.
The quality of the textual and grammatical material is not very good. There
are many typographical errors (and plain mistakes?). Still it is a valuable
source. It should be reprinted, and maybe an annotated version should be
produced.
I have scanned the first half of the book (texts) and am in process of making
an interpolated version with obvious typos fixed, noting possible errors, and
giving closer translations of the WA texts where I can.
This little book is well known. I will be mentioning some of the verb forms
that can be found in the book, scattered through the conversational material
as well as the some 40 pages of paradigms and lists of verbs. Besides the
main parts of the book, some printings include a list of errata, and there is
a typed sheet of errata from Chief Joseph Laurent's son, the late Steven
Laurent (Atian Lolô). (I will mention the audio tapes for this book in a moment.)
Laurent's book is a classic of its kind and deserves to be reprinted as it
stands, with corrections of obvious typos. It also deserves to be published
in a critical edition with commentary by a competent Algonquianist.
I have a scanned version of the book on file (gratia Roger Higgins). I also
have a first pass on a concordance and glossary. I am in process of putting
together lists of all the verb forms in the book, and will mention some in the
second part of my paper. The book has been a source for various linguists,
such as J. Warne in her 1975 McGill MA thesis, and Ives Goddard in his study
of the Independent Indicative (Goddard, 1967). I will be citing examples
from this book in the second half of my presentation (below Section 2).
For now here are a couple of examples, first a few lines from the
``dialogues'' proper, which follow extensive lists of words and phrases,
and then a paradigm from the section on ``words that may
be conjugated'':
Nidôbak, u pita wlitebi nôguad sôghebaigamigw.
K'nawadosanana nawa u?
Pidigada.
N'kiziba tosgomenana u?
Pakalmeguat.
... ... ...
Nmitôgwes. `My father.'
There are four publications from around 1830, three of them authored by
Wzôkhilain (see first entry below for alternate spelling of name), one
anonymous, but presumably by the same man. (I have worked with copies from
copies in the Dartmouth library kindly supplied to me by Roy Wright.)
I have scanned and edited all these texts into ASCII files and am in process of
analyzing, understanding, and giving close translations of them. Roy Wright
and I have talked about preparing a publication of all four.
I'll mention the last one first:
The copy I have used has handwritten on first page: ``Tr. by P.P. Wzokhilain [illegible letters..?]
O'Sunkhirhine.''
This document is a translation from a shorter Catholic catechism and is embedded
in French -- e.g. in section headings -- so I presume that the source is
French (I haven't yet pinned down the original catechism). The spelling is
somewhat different from the following items, but I have not done a careful
linguistic comparison. P.P.W. is said to have switched allegiance from
Catholic to Anglican (Roy Wright, p.c.), which would fit with the difference
between this item and the following, but what about the dates?.
This book is a small primer for learning to write and read Western Abenaki.
It is embedded in English. It starts with a listing of the letters with
English approximations. Then it goes through progressively longer bits,
syllables, then sequences of syllables, eventually putting together words and
then going into complete sentences and texts. There is practically no English
in the main parts of the book. The texts include some Aesop's fables. (One or
more of the texts was reread or recast by one of Gordon Day's modern
consultants and is among the transcribed materials in the Hull archives, more
below.) Towards the end there is some explanatory material on grammar in
English, with examples. Here is a sample:
Nbaio agmak.. I come to him.
Paia kiak.. He comes to you. (p. 88)
(As shown, this document uses an underlined "o" for the nasal vowel.)
This item is a devotional book, beginning with (as far as I can understand
them so far) some explanatory material of various kinds, including a number of
passages translated from the bible. There is no English in the book.
Except for a few missing verses in Ch. XVI, this is a complete and fairly
close translation of Mark's gospel. Besides scanning and editing the text
itself, I have prepared a version with verses interpolated from an English
bible: "Commonly known as the Authorized (King James) version." (Thanks to
the Gideon Society for putting bibles in motel rooms.) I am in process of
making a close translation and analysis of the inflected words in the text. I
will cite some verb forms in the second part of my presentation. Here is a bit,
together with the interpolated English text:
Ni oskinnoma wdilgon knamihǒ kasit chitamkǒgoan ni ǒzoka kdidamen
awani nǒznit?
(As shown, this document uses "o" with a breve -- ǒ -- for the nasal
vowel.)
The late Gordon Day devoted most of his professional life to recording,
studying, and understanding the language and life and history of the Western
Abenaki people. I will mention here some items from the various archives that
contain the materials he left behind from this very rich life's work. The
repositories that I know of are three: first, in the Canadian Museum of
Civilization in Hull, Québec, where Day worked many years; second, at Dartmouth
College, Hanover, New Hampshire, where Day taught; third, with his family,
especially his son Donal (who lives in Louisiana). There are also some
materials in the Boas collection at the A.P.S. archives in Philadelphia.
The items in the museum in Hull can be copied for research purposes. Among
the materials in the museum in Hull are these:
These two typescripts summarize a good bit of nominal and verbal morphology,
including information on derivational morphemes. I believe they bear some
close relation to a sketch intended to be included in the Day Western Abenaki
Dictionary but not present in the published versions (Day, 1994). They are
close to ready to publish with some minor notes and corrections. Roy Wright
and I are preparing an edited version of the two, which we would like to
publish soon. There is some overlap between these two items and the one listed
as Ms1.
This item is a major work, unfortunately not completed in Day's lifetime. The
bulk of the material (several hundred pages, mostly in typed form, with
generous line-spaces) consists of transcriptions and gloss/translations of a
variety of materials, mostly or all (?) included in the audio tapes referred
to as Day, Tapes in my references. The texts include traditional stories and
conversations with various of Day's consultants. One text is a translation
into Western Abenaki of a Penobscot text, and there are about five pages of a
fotocopy of a handwritten manuscript from Henry Lee Masta (with an instruction
not to publish without permission from Masta's daughter). A number of the
texts are given in several versions, sometimes with differences in spelling
conventions. Throughout there are marginalia in Day's hand, and there is at
least one place with a page or two written down by one of Day's consultants.
It is possible that there is a later version of this manuscript in possession
of Day's heirs. (We haven't managed to check on this yet.)
I am in process of scanning and editing this item. I will cite some examples
in the second half of my presentation. The book surely merits publication,
but it will take a lot of work, including major editorial decisions, such as
whether or not to make smooth English translations -- unless of course a later
more nearly finished version exists. The glossing follows the order of the
original texts word by word pretty closely, and is laid out roughly in
alignment with the WA text, but doesn't give any analysis of words. (Alice
Nash, Roy Wright, and I have been at least contemplating the idea of doing
this job.)
The museum has about 100 audio tapes listed (reel to reel), and some of them
exist in audio cassette copied form in the Day archives at Dartmouth and in
the A.P.S. library in Philadelphia. A notable inclusion consists of ten tapes
of Laurent's son, the late Steven Laurent, reading the entire text of
Laurent's dialogues (Laurent, 1884), with occasional asides. The museum
archivists are preparing CD copies of these cassettes. I have copied a few
from the Dartmouth archives. A list of the contents can be obtained at the
museum in Hull: the materials range from songs to sets of vocabulary items
(some based on Swadesh lists) to narratives of various kinds, some at least
being the basis for the texts in the manuscript I just talked about.
All in all, then, there is a considerable body of material in Western Abenaki
waiting to be mined.
I am using `other' in two ways: forms other than those that have been displayed
in published linguistic accounts; and in the sense that obviative forms are
sometimes glossed as (e.g. by Gordon Day) as `other': I will mention a few
obviative forms that have not found their way into the literature. Let me
reiterate that this is a report on work in progress, in no way exhausting the
sources mentioned already and others (such as Prince, 1901).
The most prominent modern listing of verb forms from WA is Goddard, 1967, a
comprehensive study of the Independent Indicative; other modern listings
include Warne, 1975; Day, 1964 and 1984, none of these last three give forms
in paradigmatic summaries. In addition, Goddard (1979) mentions and analyzes
WA verb forms in several places. The most comprehensive listing of nominal and
verbal paradigms can be found in Laurent, 1884. I will begin by just
mentioning the various sets of verb forms that are found in the 41 pages given
under the heading ` THE PARTS OF SPEECH THAT MAY BE CONJUGATED' (JL84:121-182)
(I use Laurent's spellings throughout):
Laurent gives ``future'' and ``conditional'' sets of forms using the
(second-position) clitics -ji and -ba throughout and
``perfect'' and ``second future'' (future perfect) forms using the preverbal
element kizi. I won't mention these further in this listing. (Laurent was perfectly aware of the movable nature of the future
and conditional clitics, as can be seen from the listings on p. 119.)
I will also use the more usual designation ``preterit'' in place of Laurent's
``imperfect.''
Here is a compact summary of the forms given in this section of the book:
There is a set of ``past definite'' forms here, which I do not understand,
partly identical with the ordinary preterit forms, . Compare, the ordinary
``imperfect'' and the ``past definite'' forms:
O'da n'okaozemib. `I had no cow.'
Examples:
N'okaozemin. `That I may h. a cow.'
Example verbs:
okaozemimuk `to have a cow', wôbigimuk `to be white',
aimuk `to be.' [note the ending spelled muk here
could more properly be spelled mek with the usual orthographic
e for a schwa type vowel), see Laurent's explanation on p. 12.]
All of the AI Independent Indicative forms used in this section of the book
are like okaozemi, verbs in -i with third person forms
ending in -o -oak . Elsewhere in examples and sentences we find two
other types:
nbaiô `I come, arrive', 3sg paia
Example verbs: wajônômuk `to have' (TA),
wajônôzik `to have' (TI), namihômuk `to see' (TA), namitozik `to see'
(TI).
The present tense Independent Indicative forms for the present affirmative are
given in Goddard, 1967 (supplemented with a few forms from Prince, 1901).
Laurent gives a section of ``Passive verbs,'' with the verb
Kazalmegwzimuk `to be loved' as exemplar. These are just AI forms built with
the suffix -zi (reflexive, reciprocal). (JL84:177--179)
There is a section entitled ``RELATIVE CONJUGATION'' with the model verb
Kazal-mô-muk `to love', affirmative and negative: these are verbs of
the indirect form Theme Sign II, and the ``you and me'' forms (Theme Signs III
and IV)(JL84:179--181). A couple of examples:
K'kezalmel. `I love thee.'
As Goddard notes (1967) there are no Obviative on Proximate (3' - 3) forms in
the paradigms. (I'll return to this topic in a separate section in a minute.)
Laurent lists as a``Dubitative Conjugation'' conjunct forms in the indicative
and subjunctive present and preterit (``imperfect'') for the TA verb
wajônômuk `to have' and the TI verb
wajônôzik. The examples are
given construed with wskebi `perhaps.' Here are just a couple of
forms:
Wskebi wajônok telaps. `Perhaps I have a trap.'
*Here a footnote tells us that we have to use the obviative form
telapsa for the Animate noun telaps
Laurent consistently uses `thou' etc. for 2 singular forms.
The first illustrative verb here is the possessive verb okaozemi `to
have a cow' so the imperatives include the delightful forms okaozemi
and okaozemigw `Have a cow!' (sg. and pl.).
Okaozemi! Okaozemigw! `Have a cow!' (sg. and pl.)
Inanimate Intransitive (II) forms are not included in this section of the book, but
but there are plenty elsewhere, for example:
There are several other systematic listings of forms in the book besides in the
section just cited, for example,
And there is a long
``LIST OF SOME OF THE VERBS MOST FREQUENTLY MET WITH IN THE ABENA-KIS
LANGUAGE'' (JL84:182--194)
For each verb, Laurent gives the form traditionally cited as an ``infinitive''
(changed conjunct with indefinite subject) and the singular and plural 2nd
person Imperative, examples:
Agimômuk, `To count;' Agima, Agimogw.
The * refers to a footnote explaining the two or three different verbs cited
for a single English gloss, as Animate, Inanimate, and ``neuter'' (I think
this means intransitives matching transitives).
There is then a section entitled
``SYNOPTICAL ILLUSTRATIONS SHOWING THE NUMEROUS MODIFICATIONS OF THE
ABENAKIS VERB (JL84:195--202)
This listing includes examples of various derivational classes
MODIFICATIONS OF THE ABENAKIS VERB such as
24. Substantive verb. -- Sanôbaimuk, `to be a
man'; Sôgmôimuk, `to be a chief,' derived
respectively from: Sanôba, `a man,' and
Sôgmô, `a chief.'
This ends (but does not complete) my sketch of the more or less paradigmatic
listings in Laurent's book.
As cited above, when Laurent gives 3 on 3' forms for transitive verbs he duly
notes the requirement of putting the object nominal in the obviative form, as
in this form:
telapsa `trap'
Western Abenaki has only one obviative category for animate nouns, which goes for
both singular and plural. It is either an -a as in the form just
cited, or -o as in
phanemo `woman, women' (obviative)
where it is a reflex of a final w that disappears in final position
except after g (Warne, 1975). Words ending on a have no
special form. This contrasts with the -a of the 1sg conjunct showing
up as an extra a in forms like
alokaa `I work' (conjunct indicative) JL84:97.
An additional type of obviative form is found in conjunct nominal forms like
this one in Laurent, 1984:
Niswiidiji `His wife; her husband.' (JL84:21)
And there are similar forms in other documents, e.g. Masta, 1932, some
including an -il component:
w8bigiliji `Frenchmen' (obv) (Masta, 1932: 30)
The obviative forms in Laurent, 1884, occur most frequently, as you might
expect, in examples of possessed forms with a third person possessor, as in
the paradigm for `x's father' cited above.
There are hardly any forms which reflect distinct forms for obviative
arguments of verbs (except the ordinary proximate on obviative transitive
forms). There are a couple of interesting examples of different verb forms
according to obviation of the argument:
N'kaozem-ji ônkohlôn. `My cow will be sold.'
(I've set off the future clitic -ji with hyphens.)
These forms (gratia Ives Goddard, p.c.), are likely indefinite subject forms.
There are two examples of regular -i AI verb with obviative subjects
in Laurent:
Wibguigoa w'-d-asoma. `His (her) horse is grey.' JL84:46
[These examples were not included in the original presentation at SSILA 2001
nor on the handout.]
A final remark on `other' forms. Goddard's listing for Western Abenaki in his
1967 paper reports that there are no examples of obviative on proximate
Independent Indicative forms in Laurent, 1884.
Other documents (Day Ms.4, especially Mark) have many examples, as in the
example verse from Mark I cited above, or these examples from the Day
typescript:
odihlôn `he told him' (3-3')
odeliôzidamegon `he answered him' (3'-3)
For information and links to various Abenaki websites:
www.cowasuck.org
Anon [Wzôkhilain, P.P.?]. 1832. KAGAKIMZOUIASIS UEJI UO`BANAKIAK
ADALI KIMO`GIK ALIUITZO`KI ZA PLASUA. IMPRIME' PAR FRE'CHETTE CIE. Rue
Lamontagne, No. 25, Basse-Ville, Québec. 1832. [This is a transcription of
the title page.] 44 pp.
Day, Gordon M. 1964. A St. Francis Abenaki Vocabulary. IJAL 30:
371--392.
Day, Gordon M. 1994. Western Abenaki Dictionary Volume 1:
Abenaki-English. Volume 2: English-Abenaki. [Hull] Canadian Museum of
Civilization.
Day, Gordon M. Ms1. Organization of the Western Abenaki Verb. [with
marginalia by Roy Wright] [`A provisional working paper only. Not intended
for publication.'] (provided by Roy Wright)
Day, Gordon M. Ms2. Western Abenaki Grammatical Sketch. Canadian Museum of
Civilization: Cat. No. III-j-25M (B403,f4)
Day, Gordon M. Ms3 Word Morphology. Canadian Museum of Civilization: Cat.
No. III-J-23M.
Day, Gordon M. Ms.4 [The Way it Was.] [Western Abenaki Texts.]
Goddard, Ives. 1967. The Algonquian independent indicative. National Museum
of Canada Bulletin 214.66--106.
Laurent, Joseph. 1884. New familar Abenakis and English
dialogues. Québec: Leger Brousseau. (JL84)
Masta, Henry Lorne. 1932. Abenaki Indian Legends, Grammar and Place
Names. Victoriaville, P.Q.: La Voix des Bois-Francs.
Prince, J. Dyneley. 1901. The modern dialect of the Canadian Abenakis. In
Miscellanea Linguistica in in Onore di Graziado Ascoli (Turin), pp.
343--362.
Warne, Janet. 1975. A historical phonology of Abenaki. McGill University
M.A. thesis.
Wzôkhilain, P.P. 1830a. Kimzowi Awigihgan. Boston: Crocker and
Brewer. 90 pp.
Full title page: KIMZOWI AWIGIHGAN P. P. WZüKHILAIN,
([handwritten:] Masta, Peter) KIZITOKW. BOSTON: PRINTED BY CROCKER AND
BREWSTER. 183O.
Wzôkhilain, P.P. 1830b. Wawasi Lagidamwoganik.... 35 pp. Boston: Crocker
and Brewster.
Full title page: WAWASI LAGIDAM-WOGANEK MDA-LA CHOWAGI-DAM-WO-GA-NAL
TAB-TAGIL, ONKAWODO-KODOZWAL WJI PO'BATAMI KID-WO'GAN. P. P. WZOKH-ILAIN.
Boston: Printed by Crocker Brewster, 47, Washington Street. 1830.
Wzôkhilain, P.P. n.d.o.p. [Translation of the Gospel according to Mark.] 58
pp. (I'll refer to this as Mark.) Here is a transcription of the first page of
the Dartmouth copy:
This Gospel is translated from the English Testament into the the language
spoken by the Indians of the Abenaquis Tribe of St. Francis. P.P. O'Sun
Kr[blotched out] [different hand or pen:] Translated by Peter Paul O'Sunkerine, an Indian who
was educated at "??ors [Moors] Charity School" Hanover N.H.
Western Abenaki: Some Other Verb Forms
UMass(Amherst) / SOAS
ebach@linguist.umass.edu
SSILA Summer Meeting
UCSB, July 8, 2001
[lightly revised 2004-01-06]
0. Summary.
1.0 Some Western Abenaki Documents
1.1 Published Sources
Masta, 1932:
Lol8:-- Uncle Sakso can you tell me what is a wizard? (33)
Laurent, 1884:
`My friends, here is a respectable looking inn.'
`Shall we alight here?'
`Let us go in.'
`Can we stop over night here?' (JL84: 108)
`Of course.'
Kmitôgwes. `Thy father.'
Wmilôgwsa. `His (her) father.'
Nmitôgwsena. `Our father, (exclusive.)'
Kmitôgwsena. `Our father, (inclusive.)'
Kmitôgwsowô. `Your father.'
Wmitôgwsowô. `Their father.' (JL84: 121)
c. 1832 Writings by P.P. Wzôkhilain (incl. anonymous PPW?):
a. Anon. 1832.
b. Wzôkhilain, 1830a.
c. Wzôkhilain, 1830b.
d. Wzôkhilain, n.d.o.p (Mark)
And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging
thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? (Mark 5:31)
1.2 Archival Materials
Two grammatical sketches:
Day, Ms2 and Ms3
Day, Ms3
Day, Tapes
2.0 Some Other Verb Forms in Western Abenaki
2.1 Verb Paradigms in Laurent, 1984
Independent Order
Animate Intransitive (AI):
Independent Indicative, Affirmative and Negative, Present and Preterit
O'da n'okaozemiib. `I had no cow.'
Independent ``Subjunctive'' [Subordinative] , Affirmative and Negative,
Present and Preterit
'Okaozemin. `That he may h. a cow.'
N'okaozeminana. `That we may h. a cow.'
ndaloka `I work', 3sg aloka
Transitive Animate (TA) and Transitive Inanimate (TI):
Basically the same set of forms but including definite (objective) and
indefinite forms.
K'kezalmi. `Thou lovest me.'
N'kezalmegw. `He loves me.'
K'kezalmegwôk. `They love you.'
Conjunct Order
" wajônôd.. * ` " he has c.'
Imperfect (Preterit forms):
Wskebi wajônokza tôbi. `Perhaps I had a bow.'
" wajônôakza c. ` " we had c.'
" wajônôakwza c. ` " you had c.'
Imperative Order (including 1st and 3rd person forms):
Affirmative and negative forms (with akui).
Inanimate Instransitives (II), Independent Indicative
Wligen. 7 `It is good.' (JL84:66)
(The number 7 is Laurent's way of indicating the plural form, here
-ol, p. 15, fn. 2)
Uninflected Adjective forms in -i: JL84:65
Inflected attributive (conjunct) and Independent Adjectives:
JL84:66--73
Agidôzik, `To read.' * Agida, Agidamogw.
2.2 Obviative forms: Nominal and Verbal
W'kaozema-ji ônkôhlôna. `His cow will be sold.'
N'kaozemna-ji ônkôhlôn. `Our cow will be sold.'
W'kaozemwô-ji ônkolôna. `Their cow will be sold.' (JL84:123)
W'meljassa wazabizoa. `His (her) mittens are thin.' JL84:67
References.