Datapoint Michif/Predicative adjectives

There are several equivalents to European adjectives.

There are a number of inflected verbs (from Cree) with the same meanings as many adjectives. They have different forms for animate and inanimate nouns, e.g. kishikwatiw 'he is heavy', kishikwan 'it is heavy', and often different inflections (here: -w and -n).

French adjectives can be used predicatively and will be preceded by a copula, e.g. li veer il i kleer 'the glass is transparent'.

The French copula has a number of different forms for person, and also for past and future tense. No gender distinction is made, but frequent predicative adjectives will have distinct forms for masculine and feminine referents (ili gruu, ili gros).

Finally, French adjectives may be verbalized in a Cree frame, as in: li-muyii-yi-wan 'it gets, is wet', where the first two elements are from French le and mouillé, and -yiwan is the ending with the copula element -iyi-.

Values

Variable copula

Example 75-186:
Si tenn ptsit parsonn Irene.
Sitenn
be.3
ptsi-t
little-f
parsonn
person
Irene.
Irene
Irene is a small person.

Source: Laverdure and Allard 1983: 123

Example 75-185:
Ilite pleu vyeu ki sa awa.
Ilite
3.cop.pst
pleu
more
vyeu
old
ki
than
sa
that
awa.
dem.3.anim
He was older than that.

Source: Fleury 2007

Example 75-189:
Kayaash niishta kaaapishiishishiyaan kiiachimostaakowiyaan nuhkum.
Kayaash
long.time.ago
niishta
1sg.too
kaa-apishiish-ishi-yaan
rel-little-cop-1sg
kii-achimo-staa-kow-iyaan
pst-tell.story-ben-inv-1sg
n-uhkum.
1-grandmother
When I too, long ago, was small, it was told to me by my grandmother.

Source: Fleury 2007

Example 75-191:
Sitenn bel fiy.
Sitenn
be.f
bel
pretty.f
fiy.
girl
She is a pretty girl.

Source: Fleury 2007

Example 75-192:
Kihchiwiinaniyiw sa rob.
Kihchi-wiinan-iyi-w
great-dirty-poss-3
sa
3.poss.f
rob.
dress
Her dress is very dirty.

Source: Fleury 2007

Example 75-193:
Eewku la rob ili kwarik pur itee kaaweeitustayt.
Eewku
that
la
def.art.f.sg
rob
cop
ili
dress
kwarik
appropriate
pur
for
itee
where
kaa-wee-itustay-t.
rel-fut-go-3
That dress is appropriate for where she's going.

Source: Laverdure and Allard 1983: 25

Example 75-194:
Wiipach lii grenn kalimeuriwanwa.
Wiipach
soon
lii
the.pl
grenn
berries
ka-li-meur-iw-an-wa.
fut-the-ripe-be-inan-pl
The berries will soon be ripe.

Source: Fleury 2007

Example 75-199:
Li zaabr mishkitiw.
Li
def.art.m.sg
zaabr
tree
mishkiti-w.
be.big.anim-3
The tree is big.

Source: Laverdure and Allard 1983: 41

Confidence:
Very certain