Bimaadiziwin/Animacy
Nishnaabemowin doesn’t necessarily have gender, rather it classes nouns based on Animacy.
Verbs often structure themselves around whether the noun is animate or inanimate, so to know the Animacy of a noun is important.
Animacy is typically based on whether a noun is a living noun or not, but there are nouns that are animate in Nishnaabemowin that, in the western world, aren’t seen as animate (reproductive organs are a good example of these that are culturally animate).
Animate Nouns
Animate nouns are pluralized using the ending -g
Example: Waagosh (Fox) -> Waagoshag (Foxes)
Animate nouns also use the animate forms of verbs and particles
Example: Wadikwaniwig oweg wadoopag:
Those alders have branches (lit: they have branches those alders)
Typically Animate Nouns:
Living things (plants, animals, etc)
Rocks and earth
Reproductive organs
Inner-body phenomena (blood clots, heart attacks, etc)
Inanimate Nouns
Inanimate nouns are pluralized using -n
Example: Emikwaan (Spoon) -> Emikwaanan (Spoons)
There are also separate verbs and particles for inanimate nouns
Example: Iw Emikwaan Odininaan:
He is holding that spoon
Iniw Emikwaanan Odininaanig
He is holding those spoons
