ASB puza

[BARudes at aol.com]

John,

I can barely decide where to begin with a discussion of the problems with
your proposal.

MI      wiikwee-

PSI      *-truN  (one might have plumped for *-kwuN, too)
PreDa    *ikwuN  (i.e., m = w/__VN)
Te        igmu'
Sa        inmu'
PreIO  *wiitwaN ???
IO        udwaN' (+ yiNGe 'little')  (u- ???)
Wi      wiic^aN'wa(siNiNc^serec^) 'cougar' (long-tailed cat)
PreWi *wii'twaN
PreDh *i(N)kruN-ka  (*-ka is a noun former)
OP       iNgdhaN'(ga)
Ks        iluN      (l < *kr)
Os        iluN'ka   (l < *kr)
Bi        *tmoc^-ka (tmo suggests *twuN)
Tu        *talus-ka yiNki (attested form regularized as "taluskik")

Yuchi     atyuNne 'wildcat'
Mohawk    atiiru

A. I assume you are suggesting that the Miami form is a loan from the
PreDakotan reconstruction, since it is the only form in your set that bears any
resemblance to the Miami form.  However, as you point out, the Miami and the
PreDakotan forms share only the consonant cluster.

B. You are proposing to explain the initial w- in the Miami form from a
PreDakotan initial *w- from one or another of several sources, but the *w- is not
even reconstructable for the PreDakotan form.

C. You are proposing that Proto-Siouan *-truN ' panther, mountain lion' is
cognate with or in some other way related to Proto-Iroquoian *ti:l-i/oN 'skunk'
(see cognates in previous email), despite the difference in meanings and the
problem of where the vowel separating the consonants came from in Iroquoian or
went to in Siouan.

D. You are proposing that Proto-Siouan *-truN 'panther, mountain lion' is
cognate with a purposed Yuchi form atyuNne 'wildcat'. No such form exists!
(Please check your sources before citing data from other languages, even in emails;
otherwise, you run the risk, as here (and with the gloss for the Mohawk word
('skunk', not 'panther or mountain lion'), of creating new or perpetuating old
ghost forms.) A check of Bill Ballard's English-Yuchi lexicon shows that the
Yuchi word for 'wildcat' is $athy at N ($ = s hachek, @N = nasal open o). He also
cites a form from Gunther Wagner, cat' an' e ($at?ane) which is not the same
word. $athy at N also means 'raccoon'.  I have seen no evidence (other cognate
sets) suggesting that Proto-Siouan *tr corresponds to either Yuchi thy or t?,
and there is no explanation for the initial $a- or final - at N or -ane in Yuchi.

In summary, a relationship between Proto-Siouan *-truN 'mountain lion,
panther', Proto-Iroquoian *ti:l-i/oN 'skunk', and Yuchi $athy at N 'wildcat; raccoon'
or $at?ane 'wildcat' is by no means certain. And, a relationship between
preDakotan *ikwuN- and Miami wiikwee requires too many ad hoc explanations to be
very satisfying.

Comparions of data across language families (Siouan, Yuchi, Iroquoian, not to
mention Algonquian) requires just as much (if not more) philological rigor
and adherence to the comparative method as does comparison within a language
family. It helps no one to propose such speculative relationships reminiscent of
Greenburg's Amerindian comparisons as the one above.

Blair


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