A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE ...

Acknowledgements
I am indebted to the elders of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe without whom this
work would not have been possible, and thankful for their patience as I bombarded them
with my endless questions. Miigwech gidinininim: Biidaabanookwe (Marge Anderson),
Okaadaak (Elfreda Sam), Naawigiizis (Jim Clark), Zhaawanigiizhigookwe (Millie
Benjamin), Bebaamaashiikwe (Susan Shingobe), Biidwewidamookwe (Maggie Kegg),
Mashkawigaabawiikwe (Virginia Davis), Gimiwan (Raining Boyd), Asinigaabawiikwe
(Carol Nickoboine), Amikogaabaw (Larry Smallwood), Obizaan (Lee Staples), and
Naawigiizis (Frank Mason). All these elders allowed me free access to their brains and
their intuitions about the language data contained in this thesis. I would especially like to
thank Marge Anderson for letting me text and call her anytime I wanted to ask her a
million questions and to pick her brain! This was invaluable. I would also like to thank
Lillian Rice (Ogimaakwe) also in helping me to understand many of the nuances existing
with many of the discourse markers examined for this thesis.
I would also like to thank the members of my committee who provided me with
much need feedback and support. Their counsel and mentoring has allowed me to be a
much better researcher.
I would also like to acknowledge my father for his speeches growing up about the
importance of getting an education, for my mom who always said I was smart, and for
my grandma who has always inspired me by her love of education and hatred of alcohol,
a liquid that has done so much destruction among my own people (the Kickapoos and
Ojibwes) and among other tribes. To this day, I have never had a drink because of her.
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