Experiencer Statives in Omaha-Ponca

Koontz John E John.Koontz at Colorado.EDU
Mon Mar 22 01:34:39 UTC 1999


It took a little longer to get this together than I expected.  

Omaha-Ponca Non-Adjectival Statives

The verbs below were selected by analogy with the forms Bob Rankin had
collected for Kansa and Quapaw.  They are cases were a subject that seems
to be active or an experiencer takes a patient pronominal.  I've arranged
them alphabetically by the English gloss to facilitate comparisons. 
Unspecified references are to the Dorsey texts.  MS91 represents the 1991
printing/edition of Mark Swetland's UmoNhoN Iye of Elizabeth Stabler. 

Non-Adjectival Statives

'ache, be hurt'   

    NB:  Note nominal subjects or themes.  

    nie 'ache' (stative)

      niN'gha aNni'e 'my stomach aches me' 133.13

    ginie 'ache for one' (stative + dative)

      niN'gha iN'nie '(my) stomach aches for me' 133.14

      NB: This is not suus, because that has the form a-gi-(g)-, not iN,
      which is aN + (g)i, the P1s form of the dative.  

    ni=...dhe 'to hurt one' (stative + causative ?)

      si' ni=aN'dhe 'my foot hurts me' 296.4

    giniedhe 'one's own to be hurt' (stative, dative, causative?)

      kkaN'dehi=daN=shte iNdhiNniedhe 'my relations be perhaps hurt 
        by a plum tree' 560.9/10

      NB:  The dhe here (and hence above) is probably NOT causative, since
      there is a suus form of the causative:  gidhe.

    nie gaghe 'get hurt' MS91:98 (presumably active)

    naN'k(k)a 'to hurt' MS91:98  (inflectional pattern unknown)

'arise, get up'

  cf. ppaha(N) ihe=dhe 'display, i.e., upright/standing to lay'

  I can't locate this at the moment, but I would swear that somewhere 
  I've seen Dorsey say this verb is inflected ppahaN, s^pahaN, ppahaN,
  which is rather a singular pattern.  ppa, s^pa, ba would be regular,
  or appa, dhappa, ppa.  

'convalesce, improve'

  ???

'grant wish'

  ???

'bend down, stoop, bow head'

  bamaNgdhe ~ ppa maNxe (maNgdhe??) 'bow, bent over' MS91:23
    I think these are 'bend by pushing' (active) and 'head bent' (???).
    cf. hi maNgdhe 'cane', wakkaN ppa maNgdhe 'checkers, gamble with
    bent heads' MS91:33,37  Hence these are probably not relevant.

'have a characteristic'

  ???

'have chills, ...' 

  ???

  No examples of 'shiver', either.

Add:  'be cold'

  sniN'=...tte 'be cold' (stative)

    sniN=aN't(t)e 'I am chilly' 316.7 (Dorsey writes t-apostrophe, i.e., an
      explicit sign of aspiration, which in his usage generally means it's tt!
      I have elicited this and I'm pretty sure it's tte.  
    sniN'=dhitte 'you are cold' 

'have cramp'

  dhikku 'have cramp, convulsions' MS91:276 (Uninflected, but probably active.)

'get dizzy' 

  naNxe (naNghe?) ska=zhi 'get dizzy' MS91:61  (Inflection unknown)

    Perhaps 'ears not clear', cf. naNxide 'inner ears'.

    cf. naNxi'de aNska'=xti 'I have excellent hearing' 630.9

'fall' ...

  Notice the nominal subjects/themes.  

  uxpadhe=...dhe 'to lose' (active)
  u...gixpadhe 'to lose one's' (stative, dative)

    s^aNge iNwiN'xpadhe=de 'when (surprisingly) I lost a horse' 647.2
    udhi'xpadha=z^i=tta=the 'you shall not lose it'  18.5

    NB: The latter is possible u..xpadhe 'to lose' (stative only)

  ui'xpadhe 'to lose one's own'

    wiN=e'=s^te=waN s^uN'gaz^iNga uixpadha=b=az^i 'even one child they
      did not lose' 1891:92.1

  u...xpadhe 'to fall' (stative?)

    niN=khe=di uxpadha=bi=egaN '(he) having fallen into the water' 227.19

'have fever'       

  zhu na=kkade MS91:76 

    NB: Literally 'flesh be hot'; should inflect as stative due to na=...

add:  'have none'

  NB:  Notice subject or theme noun.

  dhiNge' 

    maN'ze=s^te aNdhiNge he 'I have no (piece of) iron at all'  107.12
    naNghi'de dhidhiN'ge 'you have no inner ear' (= 'you are disobedient') 17.8
    wanaNghi dhidhiNge=tta=i=the 'you shall lack a spirit' 18.8
    niN'e dhidhiNge=xti 'you had no pain at all' 587.6
    s^iN'gaz^iNga=s^tewaN wadhInga=i=daN=s^te 'child we had none at all' 219.12



'forget', 'remember'

  naNbdhiN 'forget, not understand' (active)  ??? cf. 'perspire'

    anaN'bdhiN 'I forgot (I do not understand)' 774.5

  gisidhe 'remember' (active)

  sidha=zhi 'forget' (active?)

    sidha=b=azhi 'they had forgotten' 779.1

'have, possess'

  t(t)aN 'have, be, (be) abundant at a place, exist' 
    given by Dorsey as t?aN and thaN (once) (active)

    we'dhihide attaN' e=the'=gaN 'I am apt to have tools'  10.8
    udhi'kka dhattaN '(one) to help you you have'  1891:110.15

add:  'hear well'

    Notice nominal subject or theme.  

    naNxi'de ...ska 'stative'

      naNxi'de aNska'=xti 'I have excellent hearing' 630.9

'itch'

  kki'e 'to itch' MS91:104 (inflection unknown)

  Notice the nominal subjects/themes.

  dha?i?idhe (stative)

    izhaN'ghe aN'dha?i?idha 'my anus itches me' 314.1
    tta=staNde=dhaN=di dha?i?idha 'it itched him in the flank' 576.1

'lie, tell lies'  

  i'usishtaN 'to tell lies' (active)

    cf. i' 'mouth'?, but idh => i..., the locative.  

    idha'usishtaN 'I told a lie' 63.4

'pant'

  niN=ugoNdha  'gasp' MS91:84 (inflection unknown)

    NB:  Looks like it might be 'desire of water'.

'recover' 

  giniN 'be well, OK; heal; the cure' (stative)

    aNgi'niN 'I recover' 663.2
    wagi'niN aNgadha=... 'we recovered (progressive?)' 689.5
    aNgi'niN e=the'=gaN 'we are apt to recover (sic)' 671.5

  i'giniN 'to recover by means of sthg.'

    i'giniN=ama 'he recovered by it'  36.16

  giniN=...khidhe 'to cause to recover'

'share'

  udhuxdhega?, iwaxdhega?? 'to fall to one as a share' (stative)

  cf. aNdhaNwa(N?)xdhega 'it fell to me as my share' 227.17

'suffer'

  agdha 'to go home; to leave' (this is a homophonous stem, actually agdhe) 
        MS91:207
        'to offend; to aggravate; to abhor'  MS91:207
        'to accuse of; to blame; to complain'  MS91:207

  uwagdha thaN 'to suffer'  (thaN 'the standing') (requires positional)

    uwagdha=xti=aN aNgathaN 'we were suffering a lot'  145.1

  u?agdha dhiN 'to suffer'  (dhiN 'to be')  (JOD u?a ~ uwa might not be 
    reliable!)

    u?agdha aNdhiN' ha 'we are suffering' 502.9

    NB:  This is not dhiN 'the moving', which has aNgadhiN for agent inclusive 
    form.

  agdha dhiN 'be suffering'

    agdha=xti aN'dhiN 'we are suffering greatly'  37.10

    Note following form.  Error in person here?

  agdha a...dhiN 'to keep in a condition of suffering'

    agdha=xti, nisi'=ha, aN'dhiN 'suffering much, child, he keeps me' 45.9

    NB aN'dhiN = *a-aN-dhiN (regular development in a- locatives)

  a...gdha=zhi 'not to suffer' 

    a?a'gdha=maNzhi 'I do not suffer' 752.15 (? surprises me)

    NB: not sure of inflectional pattern, looks active, presumably
    infixing.  The ? is JOD's, but probably reflects his detection of the
    length plus falling pitch that marks a-a- LOC + A1s sequences in
    modern Omaha. 

  agdhe=...dhe 'make suffer' (active, causative)

    agdhe=aNdhadhe 'you made me suffer' 38.17

  udhugdhe 'suffer on account of' (stative)
                  
    aNdhaNwaNgdha ha 'I suffer on account of it'  480.9

  i'...sabe 'suffer' (stative)

    aNdhaNsabe i'nahiN 'I truly suffered' 196.11
    i'dhisabe=xti 'you suffered exceedingly' 181.3
    we'asabe=xti 'we suffered a lot' 197.4 (wa-i-a- with wa-a- as patient
      form) 

  i'...gisabe   'ones relations suffer' (stative, dative)

    iNdhiNsabe=xti 'my relations suffering very much' 180.16

  dhizhu=azhi   'make one suffer' (looks active, probably not relevant here)

    aNdhizhu=azhi 'he has made me suffer' 550.6

'squint, wilt, shrivel up' 

  iNshta xaNxaN 'to squint' MS91:163  Inflection unknown.  

    NB: xaNxaN should perhaps be stative because xaN 'to break' would be.
    The xaN stem would normally be used with instrumentals.  

'sweat, perspire'  

  unabdhiN 'perspire' MS91:136 (una'bdhi 153.6)

    NB: could inflect as stative due to na=..., albeit u... has been added,
    and it's not clear to me where that leaves us!  Anyway, this is stative.

    aNwaNnabdhiN 'I perspired' 153.2
    udhi'nabdhiN 'you p.' 153.8

'swell'

  i'ba MS91:167  Also in JOD, but no inflected examples.  

Add:  'teeth chatter'

  hi'=...saNsaNde=...aN 'one's teeth chatter, are set on edge'

    hi=aN'saNsaNde=maN 'my teeth shake' (in reaction to eating something,
      perhaps astringent) 
    
'tumble one'

  ugat(t)aNt(t)aNdha 'to tumble' MS91:177 (not clear if sense applies, or what
    the inflectional pattern is)
  
  kkinaNza (kkinaNsa?) 'stumble' (apparently a reflexive) MS 91:166


Dorsey ms:67-8 (the grammar) lists the following impersonals:  "Adjective
verbs and some neuter verbs appear to be used impersonally and are varied
by means of the same pronouns; as u-daN > udaN=iN 'he is good'; dhi-udaN
('thee-good') 'thou art good', etc . 

"These verbs are included in the Sixth Conjugation ..."  (Dorsey's statives)

u...dhixaga 'be chapped':  aNwaNdhixaga, udhi'dhizaga, u'dhixaga=i,
  uwadhixaga=i

e=...kkigaN 'to be like one':  e=aNkkigaN, e=dhikkigaN, e=kkigaN=i,
  e=awakkigaN=iN 'I am like him', etc.

e=...gaN 'to be so':  e=aNgaN, e=dhigaN, e=gaN=iN, e=awagaN=iN
  'I am so', etc.

However, I have also seen the last as e=gimaN, egiz^aN, etc., in Dorsey.

Dorsey ms:68 also lists as "Impersonal verbs" "used only in the third
person singular" 

naz^iN' 'it rains'
ma'dhe 'it snows'
masi 'it hails'
dhiaNba=i 'it lightens'
xaN 'it is proper'

The first four of these are not quite the same thing as what we are
looking for. 

Dorsey also lists among his first kind of impersonal the example:

wakhege [sic, for wakhega]:  aNwaNkhega 'I am sick', wadhikhega,
  wakhega=i, wawakhega=i 'I am sick', etc.

This represents a smallish class of wa-initial statives, here from Dorsey
and the "Ponca" ms. that is probably the work of Frida Hahn. 

wakhega 'be sick'
was^us^e 'be brave, be generous'
wasi'sige 'be active'
wasniNd(e?) 'to delay, be tardy'  (wadhisniNda=i 'ypu delayed' 419.7)
wahe'ha 'be stouthearted'
waxpa'dhiN 'to be poor'
wase'k(k)aN 'to be fast' 

Similar examples from Osage (see LaFlesche) are:

wapiN' 'to bleed'
wakkaN'didhe 'to be in distress'
was^o's^e 'be courageous'
watto'ke 'be active, alert'
waxpa'dhiN 'be exhausted'

I suspect that this list of wa-statives is not exhaustive.  

Noting that in these verbs the wa is quite analogous to the nominal
subjects or theme arguments seen with verbs like 'ache, be hurt',
'fall/lose', 'get dizzy', 'have fever', 'itch', 'hear well', 'have the
teeth chatter', etc., I would be inclined to see them as quite comparable
to the general class of experiencer statives.  However, note that I am not
aware of any of these stems occurring without wa, and so we have to see wa
here as a fixed element of the stem morphology.  It can't be replaced by a
noun or simply deleted. 

Verbs of the experiencer sort reported as statives in the Frida Hahn
ms:55, ...: 

saNsaN' 'to be nervous'
dhiNge' 'to have none' (above)
p(p)ai' 'to be clever, sharp'
niye' 'to be sore, hurt' (above)
s^ti'de 'be warm' ??? (depending on whether it is 'one feels warm' or 'be warm'
da'dhiN 'be drunk'
baski'dhe 'be angry, out of temper' (in form a ba-instrumental)
mu'=...s^tide 'to be warm (from inside, by alcohol, etc.)'
na'=...s^tide 'be warm (by heat)'
e'=...dhaNbe 'to come in sight'

In a number of these cases whether or not the sense is proper to an
experiencer interpretation depends on whether the sense is experiential or
objective (based on external attributes). 

A few words in summation.  It appears that there is no real marking of
subjectivity via use of agentive/proximate articles like akha, ama.  In
fact, quite the contrary:  at least one form uses thaN as an auxiliary. 
However, it is clear from the repeated use of additional nominal arguments
and perhaps of wa prefixes that the argument that governs stative
agreement is in many cases not the only argument, which in itself makes
these a rather special class of stative. 

A few formatives appear frequently:  i-, u-, udhu- (< *i-u-), na=...  The
last have been treated historically as cases of an instrumental that
simply requires stative inflection for some arbitrary reason, though
clearly it has been obvious to all concerned that the agents involved are
inanimate, for the most part, and that this was what determined the
behavior.  The occasional examples of ba- and mu= instrumentals that have
turned up in Bob's work and now Hahn's, should be ample evidence that
"impersonal"  statives are not restricted to na=.  That makes me wonder
about cases where ga- indicates action by wind or current. 

Possible examples (form LaFlesche's Osage Dictionary):

kaski'ke 'tedious, wearisome, lassitude, fatigue, be weary, exhausted, die
  of exhaustion'

kata'xe 'to drench, to saturate, to soak through' ()actually used
  passively) 

I believe there are other examples with locative prefixes.  



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