Nouns with Person Inflection

• Possessed Nouns
• Extended Stems
• Dependent Nouns

Possessed Nouns

Observation

ᒥᔅᒋᓯᓐ		mischisin	a shoe
ᓂᒥᔅᒋᓯᓐ		nimischisin	my shoe
ᒥᔅᒋᓯᓐᐦ		mischisinh	shoes
ᓂᒥᔅᒋᓯᓐᐦ		nimischisinh	my shoes

To express possession, noun stems can take a personal prefix. For example, ni- above. Nouns like ᒥᔅᒋᓯᓐ mischisin, which can appear either with or without personal prefixes, are called INDEPENDENT.

ᓂᒨᐦᑯᒫᓐ		nimuuhkumaan	my knife
ᐅᒨᐦᑯᒫᓐ		umuuhkumaan	his/her knife

However, there are nouns which always need personal prefixes, like:

ᓂᒧᔓᒻ		nimushum	my grandfather
ᓂᔥᑎᐧᑳᓐ		nishtikwaan	my head

Such nouns are called DEPENDENT. They express kinship, body parts, and personal belongings like certain pieces of clothing. They can be animate, like ᓂᒧᔓᒻ nimushum or inanimate, like ᓂᔥᑎᐧᑳᓐ nishtikwaan.

The personal prefixes used on nouns for possession are almost the same as the ones used on verbs for inflection (to indicate the participants in the action).

ᓂᒧᐦᑯᒫᓐ		nimuuhkumaan	my knife
ᓂᓂᐹᓐ		ninipaan	I sleep

TABLE OF PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES FOR POSSESSION

Example: DEPENDENT NOUN Animate

POSSESSOR	NOUN			English TRANSLATION
2	ᒋᒥᔅ		chimis	your older sister
1	ᓂᒥᔅ		nimis	my older sister
2p	ᒋᒥᓯᐧᐋᐤ		chimisiwaau	your (plural) older sister
21p	ᒋᒥᓯᓂᐤ		chimisiniu	our (including you) older sister
1p	ᓂᒥᓯᓈᓐ		nimisinaan	our (excluding you) older sister
3	ᐅᒥᔅᐦ		umis-h	his/her older sister(s)
3p	ᐅᒥᓯᐧᐋᐤᐦ		umisiwaauh	their older sister(s)
3′(p)	ᐅᒥᓯᔨᐤᐦ		umisiyiuh	his/her/their older sister(s)

Some dependent nouns take a prefix mi- when there is no specific possessor.

ᓂᑖᔅ		nitaas	my sock
ᐅᑖᔅᐦ		utaas-h	his/her socks
ᒥᑖᔅ		mitaas	a sock

	ᒌᐦ ᐧᐋᐱᑎᒻ ᐊᓐ ᐃᔅᐧᑳᐤ ᐋᐦ ᒥᐦᐧᑳᔨᒡᐦ ᒥᑖᔅᐦ᙮
	chiih waapihtim an iskwaau aah mihkwaayich-h mitaas-h.
	That woman saw red socks.

The mi- prefix is also used with inanimate dependent nouns:

ᓂᐦᑎᐧᐃᑮ		nihtiwikii	my ear
ᓂᔥᑎᐧᑳᓐ		nishtikwaan	my head
ᒥᐦᑎᐧᐃᑮ		mihtiwikii	an ear
ᒥᔥᑎᐧᑳᓐ		mishtikwaan	a head