A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE ...

c) Giwiisin. d) Mii wiisiniyan. (inceptive)
2.eat/INDEP ASP eat.2/CONJ
‘You are eating.’ ‘Now you’re finally eating.’
The aspectual use of mii can also be seen with the use of the past tense marker gii-. The
expression without mii represents actions which occurred sometime in the past, but the
expression with mii represents that the action has just occurred.
(45) Aspectual use of mii (examples from Fairbanks 2008, forthcoming)
a) Ingii-wanendaan. b) Mii gii-wanendamaan.
1.PAST.forget/INDEP ASP PAST.forget.1/CONJ
‘I forgot it (sometime in the past).’ ‘I forgot it (just now).’
As a veridical marker, mii has an epistemic function and marks that the “speaker has
no doubt about the verity of a statement or proposition being proposed by its containing
clause(s), resulting in roughly the English glosses: it is fact, it will happen, there is no
doubt that, it’s a sure thing, for good, really, etc.” (Fairbanks 2008, forthcoming). I
consider this function to be a discourse function, as discussed in detail in Section 3.2.1.1.
Therefore, a quick example should suffice for now.
(46) Veridical marker (Mille Lacs Sessions)
a) Gaawiin nigikendanziin. b) Mii gaawiin nigikendanziin.
not I don’t know VER not I don’t know
‘I don’t know.’ ‘I have no idea.’
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