Traditional Ottawa stories fall into two general categories, aasookaan 'legend, sacred story' (plural aasookaanag)Rhodes, Richard, 1985, 14 and dbaajmowin 'narrative, story' (plural dbaajmownan).Rhodes, Richard, 1985, 103 Stories in the aasookaan category involve mythical characters such as Nenbozh.Valentine, J. Randolph, 1988, 197-215; 113-115Piggott, Glyne, 1985, 11-16Piggott, Glyne, 1985a, 13-16Nichols, John and Leonard Bloomfield, 1991, 18-23 Stories in the dbaajmowin category include traditional stories that do not necessarily involve mythical characters,Piggott, Glyne, 1985a, 1-12 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,Piggott, Glyne, 1985, 1-10 stories of conflict with other indigenous groups,McGregor, Gregor with C. F. Voegelin, 1988, 114-118 humorous stories,Fox, Francis and Nora Soney with Richard Rhodes, 1988 and others.Wilder, Julie, ed. 1999

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.Bloomfield, Leonard, 1958, p. vii Medler grew up near Saginaw, Michigan but spent most of his life at Walpole Island.Bloomfield, Leonard, 1958, p. viii 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.Valentine, J. Randolph, 1998, pp. 57, 167, 239-240

Love Medicine Andrew Medler

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.Valentine, J. Randolph, 1998, pp. 239-240 A table of codes for grammatical elements used in interlinear glossing occurs after the glossed sentences.Valentine, J. Randolph, 1998, pp. xiii-xiv; 217

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 iwwiikwebjigan(2) ngoding kiwenziinh n- gii= noondaw -aa -ba a= dbaajmo- -d wshkiniigkwe- -ngii=ndodmaw--igw-diwwiikwebjigan(3) once old.man 1 PAST hear NA DIR PRET PV.CNJ tell.story CNJ.3 young.woman OBVPASTask NA for NIINVCNJ.3thatlove.medicine(4) Once old man I heard him he says young woman he asked the other for thatlove 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 iwwiikwebjigan,gyegowgii-dbahmawaan(2) mii dash niw kiwenziinh -an gii= dodamaw- -igw -d iw wiikwebjigan gye gow-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 andemphatic3PV.PASTpay NI to NADIROBV(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 mshkikigaa-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 thatmedicine 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.womanOBV(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 miiwiibagii-yaawaawaadbinoojiinyan(2) gye go mii gii= wiidgem- -aa -d gye go mii wiiba gii=yaaw--aa-waa-dbinoojiinh-an(3) and emphatic so PAST marry NA DIR CNJ.3 and emphatic so soon PV.PASThave NADIRCNJ.PL.3CNJ.3childOBV(4) And indeed so he married her and indeed sosoonthey hadchildren

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.

CodeGlossCodeGloss 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

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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.