Vocabulary
Few vocabulary items are considered unique to Ottawa. The influx of speakers of other Ojibwe dialects into the Ottawa area has resulted in mixing of dialects that were historically distinct. Given that vocabulary spreads readily from one dialect to another the presence of a particular vocabulary item in a given dialect is not a guarantee of the original source of the item. Two groups of function words are characteristically Ottawa: the sets of demonstrative pronouns and interrogative adverbs are both distinctive relative to other dialects of Ojibwe. Although some of the vocabulary items in each set are found in other dialects, taken as a group each is uniquely Ottawa.
Read more about this topic: Ottawa Dialect
Famous quotes containing the word vocabulary:
“[T]here is no breaking out of the intentional vocabulary by explaining its members in other terms.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)
“One forgets words as one forgets names. One’s vocabulary needs constant fertilizing or it will die.”
—Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966)
“Institutional psychiatry is a continuation of the Inquisition. All that has really changed is the vocabulary and the social style. The vocabulary conforms to the intellectual expectations of our age: it is a pseudo-medical jargon that parodies the concepts of science. The social style conforms to the political expectations of our age: it is a pseudo-liberal social movement that parodies the ideals of freedom and rationality.”
—Thomas Szasz (b. 1920)