Omaha nasal vowels

[Koontz John E]

On Thu, 24 Aug 2000, Catherine Rudin wrote:
> The place where I find it hard to hear nasality is i/iN after nasals -- to the
> point where I've doubted a contrast actually exists.  (My ear isn't THAT bad.)
> Does anyone have clear examples of an audible contrast between ...ni... and
> ...niN... ?

It's not always easy to hear the difference even between #iN and #i.
There's considerable variation in recording some examples with ?#iN, e.g.,
iNkhede 'shoulder', iNda'daN 'what', iNs^ta 'eye'.  I think iNs^?age
'elder' is usually consistantly recorded.  Here I'm talking about
variations between LaFlesche and Dorsey, etc.  I heard iN in all cases,
but didn't hear iNda'daN at all, only eda'daN.

For a near minimal pair, how about niN'de 'buttocks' (?) vs. ni'da
'dwarf'?