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VTA Stem Classes One of the greatest challenges of learning Anishinaabemowin is in learning all the different forms that VTA verbs can take. Not only are there many hundreds of commonly forms, but there is variation in forms, depending on how the basic stem of the VTA verb ends. While there is lots to learn, recognition of a small number of distinct sub-classes of VTA will help immensely in knowing how to form and understand various forms. Here are the basic types of VTA verb. Each of these discussed in greater detail below. I. II. III. IV. V. Class Consonant-Final Consonant+/w/-Final /aw/-Final /N/-Final /S/-Final Example waabam nazikwe’ bizindaw miizh mawadish Example Meaning ‘see s.o.’ ‘comb s.o.’s hair’ ‘listen to s.o.’ ‘give to s.o’ ‘visit s.o.’ Basic Stem /waabam/ /nazikwe’w/ /bizindaw/ /miiN/ /mawadiS/ Descriptions of Classes A careful analysis of the workings of VTA verbs allows us to identify prefixes and sets of endings (suffixes and groups of suffixes) that are added to VTA’s in order to identify the subject and object. These affixes (prefixes and suffixes) are quite constant in their basic forms, but sometimes interact with the basic verb stem to create small amounts of variation in either or both the suffixes and the basic verb stem. The five classes outlined above account for this variation, by grouping VTA verbs according to the form the final consonant of their basic stems. The kinds of variation that is found in inflectional patterns can be seen from the following forms. imp., 2s » 3 ind., 3s » 1s ind., 2s » 1s ind., 1s » 2s 1 2 3 4 C-Final waabam see s.o. niwaabamig giwaabam giwaabamin Cw-Final1 naazikwe’ comb s.o.’s hair ninaazikwe’og ginaazikwe’ ginaazikwe’on /aw/-Final2 bizindaw listen to s.o. nimbizindaag gibizindaw gibizindoon /N/-Final3 miizh give to s.o. nimiinig gimiizh gimiinin /S/-Final4 mawadish visit s.o. nimawadisig gimawadish gimawadisin Note how this form in some ways appears to resemble a C-final stem, but has suffix forms /og/ and /on/ where C-final stems have /ig/ and /in/. Note how the 3s»1s form obliterates the final /aw/ of the stem, and appears to add a suffix /aag/; note how /aw/ is also obliterated too in the 1s»3s form, and the suffix appears to be /oon/. Note how the basic form of the verb appears to alternate between having a final /zh/ and a final /n/. Note how the basic form of the verb appears to alternate between having a final /sh/ and a final /s/. Note too that where /N/-final stems have /zh/, /S/-final have /sh/, and where /N/-final have /n/, /S/-final have /s/. VTA STEM CLASSES 2 VTA Class I. Consonant-Final VTA Stems This is the most straightforward class, in terms of the transparency of suffixation. These are verbs that have a basic stem that ends in a single consonant, usually /m/, /n/, or /’/. The imperative form cited in the dictionary accurately identifies the basic form. Example adaam amadin anokii’ awi’ ayeko’ bawin minwenim waabam webin wiidosem Example Meaning ‘buy (something) from s.o.’ ‘wake s.o.’ ‘make s.o. work’ ‘loan (something) to s.o. ‘make s.o. tired’ ‘shake s.o.’ ‘like s.o.’ ‘see s.o.’ ‘throw s.o. away; divorce s.o.’ ‘walk with s.o.’ Basic Stem /adaam/ /amadin/ /anokii’/ /awi’/ /ayeko’/ /bawin/ /minwenim/ /waabam/ /webin/ /wiidosem/ VTA Class II. Consonant+/w/ Final VTA Stems This class has a basic stem that ends in a consonant followed by /w/. When suffixes are added that begin with /i/, the /w/ very often coalesces with the /i/ to produce /o/. In the case of simple imperatives, the final /w/ of the stem combines with the /i/ of the imperative suffix to become /o/, and this /o/ is then usually deleted by the standard rule that deletes final short vowels in nouns and verbs. Since the citation form in the dictionary is the simple imperative, this form often fails to indicate that the stem actually ends in /w/. Nichols and Nyholm list the basic stem form separately, as I have below. Example aaba’ abiz adima’ amo atis baashkiz bakite’ bazhiba’ diba’ moona’ Example Meaning ‘undo s.o., untie s.o.’ ‘warm s.o. at the fire’ ‘catch up to s.o., in a boat’ ‘eat s.o.’ ‘dye s.o.’ ‘shoot s.o.’ ‘hit s.o.’ ‘stab s.o.’ ‘pay for s.o., bail s.o. out’ ‘dig s.o. up’ Basic Stem /aaba’w/ /abizw/ /adima’w/ /amw/ /atisw/ /baashkizw/ /bakite’w/ /bazhiba’w/ /diba’w/ /moona’w/ VTA STEM CLASSES 3 In Southwestern Ojibwe, the VTA verbs of tasting having the final /(i)pw/ take a dummy element /-izh/ in their imperative form, which combines with the final /w/ of the stem to produce /ozh/. This dummy element doesn’t occur in non-imperative forms. Example gojipozh minopozh Example Meaning ‘take a taste of s.o.’ ‘like the taste of s.o.’ Basic Stem /gojipw/ /minopw/ VTA Class III. /aw/-Final VTA Stems This class has stems that end in /aw/, and is very common because many VTA verbs are derived by adding /-amaw/ to a VTI base. The main distinction of this class is that the final /aw/ coalesces with certain endings that begin with /ig/ to produce /aa/, as in ninoondaag, ‘s/he hears me’ (from /ni-noondaw-ig/, and with endings that begin with /in/ to produce /oo/, as in ginoondoon, ‘I hear you (sg.),’ (from /gi-noondaw-in/). Example biizikaw gabenaw ganawendamaw giimitaw giizizamaw gikinoo’amaw jiibiingwetaw mamaw noondaw ozhitamaw Example Meaning ‘wear s.o., put s.o. on’ ‘win from/beat s.o. in a game’ ‘take care of (something) for s.o.’ ‘eavesdrop on s.o.’ ‘cook (something) for s.o.’ ‘teach (something) to s.o. ‘wink at s.o.’ ‘take (something) from s.o.’ ‘hear s.o.’ ‘make (something) for s.o.’ Basic Stem /biizikaw/ /gabenaw/ /ganawendamaw/ /giimitaw/ /giizisamaw/ /gikinoo’amaw/ /jiibiingwetaw/ /mamaw/ /noondaw/ /ozhitamaw/ VTA Class IV. /N/-Final VTA Stems Members of this class of stems alternate between having a final /n/ and a final /zh/. In imperatives and in forms having first person objects, the final consonant of the base is /zh/, as in miizh, ‘give (it) to her/him,’ and miizhiyan, ‘(if ) you (sg.) give it to me.’ Elsewhere the final consonant is /n/, as in nimiinaa, ‘I give (it) to her/him,’ and miininaan, ‘(if) I give (it) to you (sg.).’ Linguists distinguish these /n/’s that sometimes show up as /zh/ by representing them with a capital /N/, which is distinct from a regular /n/, which is always spelled in basic forms with a lower case «n». So when you see a form in your dictionary listed as having the stem /miiN/, this means that the final sound of its stem alternates between /n/ and /zh/, or to use our classification, belongs to VTA Class IV. This class of verbs can often be identified by its citation form, because most VTA verbs that have citation forms that end in /zh/ are of this type, the exception being verbs that end in /zhw/ (and thus belong to Class II, above—these are a problem because they will lose their final /w/ in the imperative, e.g., gwayakozh, ‘cut it (an.) straight,’ from /gwayakozhw/, and so appear to end in /zh/, but in reality end with a /w/). Where things get tricky for us as learners is when we hear a VTA STEM CLASSES 4 new VTA verb in a particular usage, such as nimaagonaa, ‘I press on it (an.).’ Here we can’t tell whether this verb is a Class I, and has a basic form of /maagon/, or a Class IV, and has a basic form of /maagoN/. If you are with a native speaker, you can ask them how to give the command form, and if you are not, you can try looking the word up in the dictionary, and hopefully, the word will be listed there. Example aawazh biizh bookobizh dakobizh dasoozh debibizh gaazh ganoozh giiwewizh izhi miizh naazh Example Meaning ‘haul s.o.’ ‘bring s.o.’ ‘break s.o. in half with one’s hands’ ‘tie s.o., bind s.o.’ ‘trap s.o.’ ‘grab s.o., get ahold of s.o.’ ‘hide s.o.’ ‘speak to s.o., call s.o. on the phone’ ‘take s.o. home’ ‘say (something) to s.o.’ ‘give (something) to s.o.’ ‘go get s.o., fetch s.o.’ Basic Stem /aawaN/ /biiN/ /bookobiN/ /dakobiN/ /dasooN/ /debibiN/ /gaaN/ /ganooN/ /giiwewiN/ /iN/ /miiN/ /naaN/ Stems in /nN/. There are also a couple of VTA verbs that have /n/ before the final /zh/ (/N/). This /n/ is deleted when the final /N/ is realized as /n/, as in niwaawiinaa, ‘I mention it (an.).’ Example gonzhi izhi-wiinzh waawiinzh wiinzh Example Meaning ‘swallow s.o.’ ‘name s.o. a certain way’ ‘name s.o., mention s.o.’ ‘name s.o., mention the name of s.o.’ Basic Stem /gonN/ /izhi-wiinN/ /waawiinN/ /wiinN/ The Verb izhi. The verb izhi, ‘say (something) to s.o.,’ is quite irregular in its behavior, in that its basic stem is /iN/, but before suffixes that begin with /ig/, the basic stem is deleted, compare, for example, niwaabamig, ‘s/he sees me,’ from VTA waabam, ‘see s.o.,’ with (n)indig, ‘s/he says to me,’ the latter of which consists only of the person prefix /(n)ind/, and the suffix /-ig/. The verb base is completely deleted. Because izhi also alternates between final /n/ and /zh/ in its forms, it often presents a great puzzle to language learners. But, in fact, its forms are quite predictable if one has a good understanding of how VTA verbs work. VTA Class V. /S/-Final VTA Stems This class has stems that alternate between having a final /s/ and a final /sh/. The alternation is according to the same pattern that describes the alternation of /n/ and /zh/ in /N/-final VTA’s, that is, in imperatives and in forms with first person objects, /sh/ occurs, and /s/ elsewhere, as in mawadishishin, ‘visit me!,’ but nimawadisaa, ‘I visit her/him.’ Again, linguists use a special convention of identifying these sounds that alternate between /s/ and /sh/ by means of a capital /S/. Capital /S/ in a basic form in the dictionary indicates this alternation. We identify verbs VTA STEM CLASSES 5 whose basic forms end with this /S/ as belonging to Class V. There is only a small number of common verbs that show this pattern. Example ashi goshi mawadish nishi odish Example Meaning ‘put s.o. in a certain place’ ‘fear s.o.’ ‘visit s.o.’ ‘kill s.o.’ ‘come up to s.o., reach s.o.’ Basic Stem /aS/ /goS/ /mawadiS/ /niS/ /odiS/