The Future Marker <i>ge</i> ‑ within the Temporal and Modal System of Potawatomi

The Algonquian language Potawatomi has two future tenses. This paper presents a description and analysis of those tenses and the modal to show how these markers overlap and differ. I give special attention to the future ge‑ because it has been scarcely and sparsely discussed in previous literature. I draw examples from archived Potawatomi narratives. I argue that contrary to what has been previously argued, the future tenses overlap in the future times which they can refer to. Semantically, I find that the modal da‑ is used in sentences with circumstantial, deontic, bouletic, and epistemic meanings, while the future tenses differ in that wi‑ co-occurs in sentences with a bouletic meaning and ge‑ co-occurs in sentences with a deontic meaning. I also find that ge‑ differs from wi‑ in terms of illocutionary mood. Only ge‑ is used in sentences with an indirect command for politeness, jussive, or hortative meanings.