Mi'kmaq language/Grammar

What exactly does the word "na" mean and how it is used?

Mi'kmaq uses free word order, based on emphasis rather than a traditionally fixed order of subjects, objects and verbs. For instance, the sentence "I saw a moose standing right there on the hill" could be stated "sapmi'k ala nemaqt'k na tett ti'am kaqamit" (I saw him/there/on the hill/right-there/a moose/he was standing) or "sapmi'k ala ti'am nemaqt'k na tett kaqamit" (I saw him/there/a moose/on the hill/right-there/he was standing); the latter sentence puts emphasis on the moose by placing ti'am (moose) earlier in the utterance. Further complicating matters is the fact that Mi'kmaq, as a polysynthetic language, has verbs which usually contain the sentence's subject and object: for instance, the aforementioned sapmi'k translates to "I saw him".

Like other Algonquian languages, Mi'kmaq language has three types of words: nouns, verbs and particles. The particles' type includes the pronouns.

Note: all the words in the below tables are in Francis-Smith orthography, for more details, see Chapter 3.

Nouns

Mi'kmaq language has two genders for nouns which is called "animacy" for Algonquian languages. Those are "animate" and "inanimate". Animate nouns include persons, animals, spirits and large trees as well as some objects. While it is straightforward for persons and animals, it is not the case for all words. For example, in Mi'kmaq, the calf of the leg is an animate noun while the thigh is inanimate and a raspberry is animate while a strawberry is inanimate.

Examples of animate nouns

Mi'kmaq word	English translation
aqam	snowshoe
awa'qi'kn	crooked knife
klitaw	raspberry
mg'sn	shoe
snawei	maple tree
tmaqan	smoking pipe

Examples of inanimate nouns

Mi'kmaq word	English translation
a's'tuo'kuom	church
ki'k	your house
klpisun	anchor
lasup	soup
pe'skewey	gun
sismo'qon	sugar

Verbs

In Mi'kmaq verbs are either transitive or intransitive and both can be animate or inanimate. The animacy of intransitive verbs depends on the animacy of the subject they refer to. For example, the Mi'kmaq verb "she moves fast" is intransitive animate while the verb "it moves fast" is intransitive inanimate (assuming the "it" is an inanimate object). For transitive verbs, it is the animacy of the object that determines the animacy of the verb. For example, the verb "I pull him" is transitive animate while the verb "I pull it" is transitive inanimate (again, assuming the "it" is an inanimate object). Note that even if we assume here that "it" is an inanimate Mi'kmaq word, you need to remember that some objects are also animate words.

Examples of verbs

Mi'kmaq word	English translation	Type
Alasumteket	He/she walks through snow	Intransitive animate
Ekuma'toq	He/she anchors it (inanimate object)	Transitive inanimate
Etlatalk	He/she is eating	Intransitive animate
Malqutk	He/she eats it (inanimate food)	Transitive inanimate
Malqomatl	He/she eats it (animate food)	Transitive animate
Meni'kwet	He/she strips off birch bark	Intransitive animate

Particles

Particles is the third word type in Algonquian languages, including Mi'kmaq. Since pronouns in Mi'kmaq are not inflected, they are considered as the same word type as particles.

Examples of particles

Mi'kmaq word	English translation
aqq	and
ala'	that
ki'l	you
nankmiw	immediately
ni'n	I
ula'	this