Semantics of abstract finals in Algonquian transitive inanimate verbs

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique
• Main Author: Denny, J. Peter
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1983
• Subjects: Linguistics and Language; Language and Linguistics; montagnais
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0008413100024087; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0008413100024087

A general problem in Algonquian verb derivation is the role of various morphemes conveying abstract meanings, in contrast to those conveying the main concrete meaning of the verb. Usually, the specific action taking place is quite well described by the root, medial and concrete final, but other morphemes appear such as pre-medials, post-medials and abstract finals which have much more abstract but nonetheless vital meanings. The abstract morphemes are especially important because they are few in number, but occur frequently, so that the abstract meaning of any one of them is a component of the meaning of large numbers of verbs. In previous papers I have tried to show what some of these abstract meanings are. In Denny and Mailhot (1976) we showed that, in Cree-Montagnais, pre-medial -ā- indicates that the root expresses an extrinsic property of the object referred to by the medial, e.g., ossisk ā kam-āw ‘cypress-EXTRINSIC-lake-it.is = it is a cypress lake,’ whereas lack of pre-medial -ā- indicates that the root expresses an intrinsic property, e.g., čino-kam-āw ‘long-lake-it.is = it is a long lake.’