A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE ...

where a grandmother and granddaughter visit a friend who speaks a different dialect of
Ojibwe. This story centers around the practice of differing dialects of Ojibwe which
make different distinctions of gender in regards to, among other things, articles of
clothing, i.e. in this case, pants. Therefore, while some dialects may grammatically via
morphological forms refer to pants as animate (i.e. living beings), others grammatically
refer to them as inanimate (i.e. non-living). In the following story, the little girl
entertains the thought that her grandmother’s friend’s pants would be living. Her
grandmother responds to her comment, accenting her response with gosha.
(100) gosha (Nichols 1988:6-7) 60
a) Ikwezens miinawaa ookomisan izhaawaad adaawewigamigong.
little girl and her grandmother they go there to the store
b) Mii dash gaani-izhi-noogishkaawaad imaa owiijigamishkawaaganiwaan.
and then and then stopped off there their neighbors
c) Ikwezens ookomisan ezhi-gagwejimaad, “Aaniin ezhichigeyan?”
little girl her grandmother and asks him/her what are you doing
d) “Ingiboode’igwaazon indagonaa.
my pants I am hanging him/her up
e) Eni-maajaawaad gomaapii gii-ikido ikwezens, “Bimaadiziwidogenan
as they leave later on she said little girl s/he must be alive
iniw ogiboode’igwaazonan.”
that her pants
f) “Gaawiin, mii gosha omaa ezhi-giizhwewaad ongow Anishinaabeg.”
no DP DM here how they speak these Indians
60
It is unclear who the author of this story is as the original publication list three people as the authors for a
set of stories from whence this story came: Timothy Dunnigan, Rose Barstow, and Angeline Northbird. I
have cited Nichols, who was the editor for this collection.
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