A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE ...

(111) Sorry been a long day. I’ll look at it wabang goda.
sorry been a long day I’ll look at it tomorrow DM
‘Sorry been a long day. I’ll look at it tomorrow okay.’
After apologizing for having not been able to listen to my audio files, she offers up a plan
(i.e. a resolution to the problem at hand) to look at them the next day. It is this phrase
that is accented by goda.
3.2.2.7 naa
The mystery particle naa has various functions, as a HEDGE, as an EVIDENTIARY
MARKER, and as an PLEADING MARKER. Each of these functions will be discussed in
the following sections.
3.2.2.7.1 naa as a hedge
According to Trask, a hedge is an “expression added to an utterance which permits
the speaker to reduce her/his commitment to what she/he is saying: I think, I suppose, I
fancy, I would guess, I take it, it seems to me” (Trask 1993:128). In Ojibwe, one of the
functions of the mystery particle naa is to serve as a hedge, and when used, allows
speakers to generally distance themselves from a proposition. Distancing themselves
may include situations where the speaker is either unsure of the correctness of a
proposition, that they are unsure of the exact details or circumstances of a situation, or
that they cannot explain how something has occurred. When speakers use mystery
particle naa, they are essentially expressing the following rough glosses: I guess, I can’t
be sure, somehow, I don’t how it happened, etc. In short, mystery particle naa allows
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