A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE ...

3.1.1.5 mii dash
The lone particle mii, on which mii dash is based, is a very prolific particle in
Ojibwe, as it has a wide variety of uses both at the sentence level and within discourse.
In an earlier work (Fairbanks 2008, forthcoming), I showed that mii has three major
functions: as a deictic particle, as an aspectual marker, and as veridical marker. As a
deictic particle, mii may stand in for physical referents (such as people or things), time
frames, or it may act as a modifier by providing further focusing power to the item it is
modifying.
(43) Deictic function of mii
a) mii as a pronoun (Mille Lacs Sessions)
Mii gaa-ikidoyan.
that what you said
‘That is what you said.’
b) mii as a temporal deictic (Clark 2003:56-57, audio)
i) Wiin odibendaan i'iw epiitagindaasod i'iw gikinoo’amoonang aaniin
him/her s/he owns it that how much it costs that teaching us what
enaapineyang.
how we are sick
ii) Mii izhinizha’onang oodi mashkikiiwigamigong ji-izhaayang
that when they send us over there to the drug store for us to go
mii gii-ozhibii’ang imaa mazina’igan awegonen dino mashkiki
DP that he wrote it there paper what kind medicine
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