A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE ...

significant pause, showing that onzaam occurs within the intonational contour of the
following clause. The use of onzaam to accent (=to occur with) the second proposition
allows the interpretation that the second proposition is the cause of the first proposition,
i.e. P1 because P2. What is also important about this example is that onzaam bears little
resemblance to its lexical meaning of too much, excessively, extremely since there is no
degree distinction being made in this example by the use of onzaam. In other words, the
meaning conveyed here is because his father was skillful, not that the boy’s father was
too skillful. The fact that it does not denote extreme degree (at least for Mille Lacs
speakers) is shown by the following example provided by my consultants.
(39) Onzaam (Mille Lacs Sessions)
a) Aanish ge-onji-anoonag bezhig indinawemaaganag da-naadid o’ow?
why should I have one my relatives to get it this
b) Gidaa-miizh igo onzaam geyaabi gibaakaakosijige.
you should give it to me because still you are open
a) ‘Why should I have one of my relatives get this.
b) You should just give it to me since you’re still open.’
In (39), onzaam precedes the proposition you are still open. Since stores are either open
or closed, a degree distinction cannot be indicated by onzaam here. In other words, a
store cannot be too open, or extremely open, it is just open. This appears to suggest that
onzaam, in its discourse role, has become fully lexicalized at Mille Lacs as a marker
which denotes causation, rather than as a marker of degree. Other dialects are reputed to
have this usage as well, although the variety of Ojibwe spoken at Red Lake (another
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