Nouns: Locatives


There is a special ending put on nouns to express location. This ending has the basic form, /-ing/, as in the following:

jiimaan boat jiimaaning in, on the boat
(n)injiimaan my boat (n)injiimaaning in, on my boat

This ending is called the locative, and a noun carrying it is said to be locative. The meaning of the locative is vague, and can translate into a number of different English locational prepositions. Context usually specifies the particular sense intended in Anishinaabemowin.

For nouns that end in long vowels, the first vowel of the locative suffix is deleted, as in the following

Anishinaabe Ojibwe person Anishinaabeng in, on the Ojibwe person
ikwe woman ikweng in, on the woman

For nouns that have a basic form that ends in /iw/, such as inini, man, (basic form /ininiw/) or /aw/, such as oodena, town (basic form /oodenaw/), the final w is deleted before the locative, and the locative has a long vowel, as in the following:

Word Basic Form Gloss Locative
inini /ininiw/ man ininiing
oodena /oodenaw/ town odenaang

Nouns that end in short i or y in their basic forms have a locative suffix with an ii.

Word Basic Form Gloss Locative
aki /aki/ land, earth akiing
abwi /abwi/ paddle abwiing
asab /asaby/ net asabiing
asin /asiny/ stone asiniing

Nouns that have basic forms that end in a consonant followed by a w have locatives that sound like /ong/, as in the following words.

Word Basic Form Gloss Locative
wazhashk /wazhashkw/ muskrat wazhashkong
mooz /moozw/ moose moozong
akik /akikw/ pail akikong
aakoziiwigamig /aakoziiwigamigw/ hospital aakoziiwigamigong

Certain body part terms, and a few other words, have a special augment, /aa/, before the locative suffix.

Word Basic Form Gloss Locative
nizid /nizid(aa)/ my foot nizidaang
(n)indengway /(n)indengway(aa)/ my face (n)indengwaang
(n)indiy /(n)indiy(aa)/ my rump (n)indiyaang
mashkimod /mashkimod(aa)/ bag mashkimodaang