This section gives an overview of how linguists think about words in Potawatomi.
For beginning students, Potawatomi words can seem like a lot to take on! But over time, you will begin to see patterns in how words are put together, and how fluent speakers can manipulate these patterns to make a point.
Here, we'll try to answer two major questions:
The rest of this page provides and discussess a template for Potawatomi words.
Words in all languages can be described as either simple or complex. Simple words are just that: simple. They can't be broken down any further.
An example from English might be the word dog - it doesn't make sense to describe the word dog as having two pieces d-, say meaning "fuzzy," and -og, say meaning "round," that come together to form the word dog.
Many Potawatomi words are simple. The pronouns nin ("I, me"), gin ("you"), and win ("him/her/it") are all simple -- they can't be broken down any further. Same with a word like amo 'bee' -- it can't really be broken down into two little pieces.
But Potawatomi, of course, is famous for having many wonderful complex words, like gzhabkezo 'it (rock or metal) is hot', that have recurring, reusable, meaningful pieces.
Linguists have found that these kinds of complex Potawatomi words can be divided into three types of pieces: an initial, a medial, and a final. The medial and final are both optional, but if a medial is present, a final must also be present. So complex words in Potawatomi come in the following templates:
A word with just an initial is a simple word, like agem 'snowshoe' or amo 'bee'.
Many words are like type 2 -- they have an initial and a final. Two examples of word with only an initial and a final are bmashe 'it (animate) is flying, soaring along' (which consists of bem- and -ashe) and bmasen 'it (inanimate) is flying, soaring along' (which consists of bem- and -asen). The first piece, bem-, is translated as 'along.' The finals differ, depending on the noun class (animacy) of the thing doing the flying!
An example of type 3, a word with all three meaningful pieces is gzhapkedé 'it (inanimate, inorganic solid) is hot.' Both the initial gzh- and the final -edé contribute to the meaning of 'heat,' but the final also makes sure that the verb only refers to inanimate nouns. The medial element, -apk-, means that the verb can only refer to inorganic solids. If you wanted to describe liquids (like coffee or tea) as hot, you would have to say gzh-agm-edé, with a different medial!
Sometimes, part of a word or an entire word can become an initial, medial, or final, if a speaker chooses to use the word that way.
An example of this is the word zégzeshke 'she or he is a fraidy cat, always afraid.' Here, the word zégze 'he or she is afraid' combines together with the final -shke -- this piece adds the meaning of something happening all the time, habitually, in an out of control way. Sometimes you'll hear linguists call these the verbs of addiction in Algonquian languages.
Sometimes, it's easy to tell where one of these secondary words comes from, like abzabshke 'he or she likes to stare' is pretty clearly from abzabe 'he or she stares.' Other times, the source is missing - the verb gyawéshke 'he or she is jealous, prone to jealousy' should be derived from a verb like gyawé 'he or she is jealous,' but that word not appear to exist in Potawatomi. (It does exist in Ojibwe, but without the y!).