Mi'kmaq Language - Syntax

Syntax

Mi'kmaq uses free word order, based on emphasis rather than a traditionally fixed order of subjects, objects and verbs. For instance, the sentence "I saw a moose standing right there on the hill" could be stated "sapmi'k ala nemaqt'k na tett ti'am kaqamit" (I saw him/there/on the hill/right-there/a moose/he was standing) or "sapmi'k ala ti'am nemaqt'k na tett kaqamit" (I saw him/there/a moose/on the hill/right-there/he was standing); the latter sentence puts emphasis on the moose by placing ti'am (moose) earlier in the utterance. Further complicating matters is the fact that Mi'kmaq, as a polysynthetic language, has verbs which usually contain the sentence's subject and object: for instance, the aforementioned sapmi'k translates to "I saw him".

While it is thus difficult to classify Mi'kmaq under traditional word-order categories such as SVO or SOV, a more fixed aspect in the language comes in the morphology of its verbs. Certain areas of internal morphology of verbs in Mi'kmaq have regular placement: for instance, when the aspect of a verb is included, it appears as the first prefix, while the negative marker always appears directly after the verb root. An example for both of these instances can be seen in the Mi'kmaq verb kisipawnatqa'ti'w (kisi-paw-natq-a'ti-w), translated as "they cannot get out": the prefix kisi marks the verb as being in the completive aspect, whereas the negative marker, w, appears directly after the verb root a'ti ("the two move"). Unfortunately these solidly-placed elements of verbs are paired with markers that can appear throughout the word, depending again on emphasis; animacy in particular can appear fluidly throughout verbs. In short, while a few specific aspects of Mi'kmaq can be predicted, its syntax in general is largely free and dependent on context.