do/done auxiliary

[R. Rankin]

> Just in case anyone was iinterested in my Altaic
interlude, I have  consulted my notes and find that the
atmaq 'shoot' auxiliary forms  continuatives as in:
>oquvati men<oq-up +at+ men 'I read, am reading'
> oquvaqtmaymen 'I am not reading'
> oquvatqan idim <opq-up +at+qan id+im 'I was reading'
> oquvatqanda <oq-up +at+qan+da 'while reading'

> The corresponding perfective suffix is -et from etmek
'to finish',

Yes, and it's more generally "do" in several other
Turkic languages.  There are a number of Siouan
parallels that, to my knowledge, have never been
systematically explored.  The corresponding Siouan verb
is *?uN 'do, be' and its common instrumental derivative
*i?uN 'use, do with'.  ?uN crops up on most Siouan
languages as a part of various enclitics signaling
'past' or 'perfective', including but not limited to,
Dhegiha -noN/-naN, glossed 'past' by Dorsey, and
Dhegiha egoN/egaN 'this done', Dakotan k?uN/echuN.  It
crops up as a past or perfective in Biloxi also, so it
isn't just MVS.  Someone needs to trace this
auxiliary/enclitic through the system.

Bob