A first look at copular verbs in Niitsi’powahsin (Blackfoot)

Abstract

 Introduction 

The learner of languages such as Spanish (Hengeveld 1986) and Mandarin Chinese (Hengeveld 1990) needs to understand which of two copulas to use in which type of non-verbal construction. The learner of Niitsi’powahsin (Blackfoot; Algonquian; ISO: BLA) has even more options to choose from. A cursory glance at the most comprehensive modern grammar and dictionary provides a bewildering number of options. In this contribution to the festschrift for Kees I take my inspiration from his early work on copulas and non-verbal predication (Hengeveld 1992) to begin to investigate copula constructions in Niitsi’powahsin. 

My modest goal is to make a first inventory of copular expressions, in preparation for planned fieldwork. Section 2 briefly describes what we find in the most recent grammar and dictionary. In Section 3 I attempt to summarize that information. In Section 4 I discuss each copula in turn. Section 5 concludes by noting the limitations of this work and directions for future fieldwork research.