A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE ...

eak from further elaboration within a given topic in order to transition to a new one.
Therefore, the contrast is realized with the introduction of new topics.
It is this contrastive action, i.e. breaking with prior content, which allows for smooth
transitions into what may be new and unrelated content within a narrative. As a result,
the use of idash has an additive effect, since it helps to organize topics and events within
the development of a story. The following example illustrates this additive effect. The
use of idash in the following excerpt of a narrative shows how idash is used by a narrator
to provide information about three different participants in a story: a brave, his wife, and
the curtain of their wigwam. In this story, some Ojibwes went out to search for their
enemies, the Dakotas. This excerpt includes an explanation of the seating arrangement of
an Ojibwe brave and his wife within their lodge, as well as an explanation as to the kind
of door they had on that lodge. A Dakota brave then enters their lodge, and the brave
being startled and frightened jumps over the fire in the lodge and falls down. The brave’s
wife, showing here bravery, then picks up a axe and clubs the Dakota over the head.
(52) idash (Nichols 1995:54-55, story told by Jim Littlewolf) 47
a) Gii-miigaadim ingwana imaa, gaa-tazhi-miigaading gii-kabeshiwaad.
there was a battle turns out there where the battle was they were camping
b) Mii imaa gii-miigaadiwiingen imaa dazhi-gabeshiwaad.
DP there there must have been a battle there where they camp
c) Wiiwan-sh odayaawaan;
and his wife he had her
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It is very difficult to accurately to provide a translation for the words mii and idash in these examples.
Deictic particle mii can have various translations depending on its use, and while idash may be translated as
‘but’ in sentence level uses, this translation is many times infelicitous in its discourse use. For this reason, I
have chosen to gloss mii as DP (“deictic particle”) and idash as DM (“discourse marker”).
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