Indoojibwem!

Indoojibwem!

When I set out to look for learning materials on the web, I was initially excited to find so many search results for the language. This excitement quickly faded with the number of 404 - Not Found messages I kept getting on each click of a link. So I've created this space as a repository of resources for learning Anishinaabemowin, or more specifically, Ojibwemowin. With time, I hope it can be of use not just to me, but to others.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Stepping through a course - Lesson 6

Much like Lesson 4, the notes and dialog were either out of order or didn't make much sense, so I've tried to reorganize a little bit.


Dialog -

F: ingikendaan.
M: gigikendaan.

F: Gigikendaan na?
M: gaawiin. ingikendanziin.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
M: giwii-wiisin na giin?
F: Henyan. niwii-wiisin igo.
M: Henn. niwii-wiisin igo.


Here's the line-by-line breakdown:

F: Ingikendaan.
  • gikendaan is the verb "to know something". We know that the prefix of "in" is for "I", so Ingikendaan means "I know".

M: Gigikendaan.
  • And we've also already learned that a prefix of "gi" is "you", so Gigikendaan means "You know".
F: Gigikendaan na?
  • And with the questions marker of "na", "Gigikendaan na?" becomes "Do you know?"
M: Gaawiin. Ingikendaanziin.
  • We've already seen that 'Gaawiin" means no. When it's combined with the verb and a suffix of "ziin" is added, this turns a positive statement into a negative. So "Gaawiin. Ingikendaaziin." really just means "I don't know."
* * * * * * * * * * * *

M: Giwii-wiisin na giin?
  • We have a new word here, "wiisin". It means "eat". We also have the question marker and the word "giin" to emphasize "you". So the complete phrase "Giwii-wiisin na giin?" means "Would you like to eat?"
F: Henyan. Niwii-wiisin igo.
  • Here, "igo" is emphasizing "me" or "I" , so the phrase of "Henyan. Niwii-wiisin igo." is "Yes. I would like to eat."
M: Henn. Niwii-wiisin igo.
  • This is the same as the previous phrase, but with "Henn" being "yes" spoken by a male.

We've learned two new words this lesson:
  • gikendaan - know something
  • wiisin - eat

It's a short lesson, and I suspect that there is really more to it. But without audio, this is all I've been able to get from the notes and dialog.

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