Chapter 5: Inanimate Pluralization

Doris Googoo

Chapter 5 – Inanimate

Chapter 5: Inanimate Pluralization

Level 1 Mikmaw: Video 10 - Inanimate Plurals

Source: Video produced by Captive Expression for No'kmaq Village / Flat Bay Band, Inc., June 12, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwOOmnZ-1jQ

Using the word list from Chapter 5: Inanimate Singular, look for the patterns and apply the following rules.

If an inanimate objects end in a vowel, add 'l.

Pleku	Nail	Pleku'l	Nails
Sipu	River	Sipu'l	Rivers

If the object ends in a consonant, add an l.

Wasuek	Flower	Wasuekl	Flowers
Qospem	Lake	Qospeml	Lakes

If however, the word ends in an n, add another n or add l if that is your preference.

Tepaqn	Car / Toboggan	Tepaqnn or Tepaqnl	Cars / Toboggans
Km'tn	Mountain	Km'tnn or Km'tnl	Mountains

If the object ends with the blend ew, replace it with al.

Kun'tew	Rock	Kun'tal	Rocks
Puktew	Fire	Puktal	Fires

If the object ends with the blend ey, drop the y and add an l and the e' becomes long.

Pui'kney	Broom	Pui'kne'l	Brooms
Sapte'kney	Fork	Sapte'kne'l	Forks

Now you can apply a verb to these objects, though keep in mind once again, that the verb itself has changed to indicate pluralization.

Nemituann	I see <inanimate> things.

E.g.,

Nemituann kun'tal.	I see rocks.

Inanimate Numbers

Notice how the suffix of these numbers has changed compared to the animate numbers in Chapter 4.

	Newte'j	1
	Tapu'kl	2
	Ne'sikl	3
	Newkl	4
	Nankl	5
	Asukom-te'sikl	6
	L'ui'knek-te'sikl	7
	Ukumuljin-te'sikl	8
	Pesqunatek-te'sikl	9
	Newtiska'q-te'sikl	10

The next step is to add these numbers to the simple sentence to be more specific.

E.g.,

Nemituann ne'sikl kun'tal.

I see three rocks.

This chapter concludes the material covered in Level 1, Videos 1-10. At this point, you should be familiar with the sounds of the Mi'kmaw language, have a basic vocabulary to build on, and have some comprehension of the animate vs. inanimate nouns. The next step is to build upon this by examining first, second, and third person points of view, with singular, dual, and plural (3+) subjects.

Remember, Mi'kmaq works by adding prefixes and suffixes to word roots, so look for patterns in the words you will encounter in the following chapters. And if you are ever uncertain, seek out a fluent speaker. To this end, the final video in the series, as well as an appendix, contains other sources of information, particularly online resources.