A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE ...

utterances are accented by naa as well, showing the overall bewilderment and deductive
reasoning on the part of the uncle in reconstructing what happened, all functions of naa.
In sum, what these various clusters suggest is that when mystery particles cluster
together, the resulting cluster is a product of the individual markers. The individual
meanings of the individual markers remain largely transparent, allowing speakers to
accomplish various functions within discourse. For example in valedictions, while sa in
the cluster sa naa signals that a visit has come to an end, the urging function of naa
allows the speaker to increase the illocutionary force of their goodbyes. Ojibwe clusters
also show that mystery markers may be used to accomplish a lot of the same work that
intonation contours do in English. For example, in the phrase I’m not that old, an English
speaker makes use of stress and an intonation rise over the demonstrative that in order to
rebuke their interlocutors. Ojibwe, on the other hand, does not make productive use of
stress and intonation in this way, but rather uses mystery particles to accomplish this
same function, e.g. Gaawiin sha go naa inde-apiitizisiin. “I’m not that old.’
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