Lakota wa- 'variety object'

[R. Rankin]

It looks as though maybe some experimenting would
be possible with Omaha and Ponca with the support
of the 1890 Dorsey text collection.  So, how many
different WA- morphemes would you posit?  And what
are their different meanings/functions?

Bob

----- Original Message -----
From: "Koontz John E" <John.Koontz at colorado.edu>
To: "Siouan List" <siouan at lists.colorado.edu>
Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2003 2:24 AM
Subject: Re: Lakota wa- 'variety object'


> On Wed, 10 Dec 2003, REGINA PUSTET wrote:
> > But we can take it even further. My speaker
also gave
> > me
> >
> > (2) w-í-wa-w-iyuNg^a-pi
> > WA-LOC-WA-WA-ask-PL
> >         'they ask around about him'
> >
> > and this structure contains three *wa-*s. The
base
> > verb *iyúNg^a* 'to ask' is transitive, so
that, after
> > three detransitivizations or PAT-eliminations,
we'd
> > get a valence of [-2] for PAT. So I conclude
that
> > rather than taking away valence slots, *wa-*
functions
> > to add slots, at least in some cases.
>
> The comparable and cognate verb in OP is
i'waNghe 'to ask someone (a
> question)'.  The -waN- can be -maN-, too, though
that was historically
> reserved for the first person.  The personal
inflection of this stem is
> quite irregular, at least in part because the OP
materials attest parts of
> an old irregular paradigm intermingled with a
newer, "regularized" one.
>
> Older           Newer
>
> *i'maNghe       idha'maNghe
> *i'naNghe       i'dhamaNghe (sometimes
erroniously idha'maNghe)
>  i'waNghe       i'maNghe
>
> The starred forms aren't attested as such, but
occur in more complex forms
> and/or elsewhere in Dhegiha.
>
> I apologize for that digression, but anyone who
referred to the Dorsey
> texts would have encountered that horrible
complexity immediately!
>
> The thing about this verb that I wanted to bring
up is this.  The wa-forms
> [sic] for i'waNghe (i'maNghe) are:  we'maNghe
and wawe'maNghe.  These are
> both glossed something like 'to question', and
are used when there is not
> some specific object preceding (always eda'daN
or iNda'daN 'what', I
> think) and the context doesn't seem to suggest a
particular question.  If
> there is any difference between the two, it
seems to be that the latter
> form is often glossed 'to ask (different)
questions', i.e., with more
> than one question fairly explicitly indicated.
I don't think we'maNghe is
> ever glossed with multiple questions, though
wawe'maNghe is sometimes
> glossed with a single question or general
questioning.
>
> That's pretty close to the 'variety object' that
Regina was asking about,
> and, as I hope will be obvious to everyone, it
seems to involve a second
> occurrence of wa-:  wawe'maNghe <
wa-wa-i-(m)aNghe.
>
> Note that the wa or wa's here refer to the
question, not the person
> questioned.
>
> I looked for additional examples of wawe'- and
turned up:
>
> wawe'xaxa=i 'they are laughers at them' (they
scorn various things about
> people?)
>      < i'xa 'to laugh at'
>
> wawe'dhigdhaN=i 'rulers' (those who decide
[various things?] for people)
>      < i'dhigdhaN 'to decide for someone'
>
> wawe'k[k]it[t]at[t]a 'a deceiver' (he cheats
people [in various ways?])
>      < i'k[k]it[t]e 'to cheat'
>
> It seems particularly significant that two of
the three examples involve
> reduplication.  However, all of these examples
involve at least an
> implicit 'them', also marked with wa- in
Dhegiha.
>
> The following are probably not examples:
>
> wawe's^i 'pay' (means of hiring)
>      < wa...s^i' 'to hire, to employ, to send on
errand'
> u'wawes^i 'pay' (in which there is a means of
hiring)
>      < wa-u'-wa-wa-i-s^i)
>
> Here the wa- in was^i' seems to be a part of the
stem.  The u'- is from
> *wa-u'-, rendering the second form complex, but
OP is apparently only
> marginally aware of the *wa- in u'-, since it
provides a pleonastic -wa-
> after it in some paradigmatic contexts.
>
> wawe'dhit[t]aN=i 'he works at various things
*for us*'
>      < dhit[t}aN 'to work at various things'
>
> Here I think wawe' < wa-wa-gi- INDEF-P12-DAT,
and 'variou things' is
> implicit in the stem, e.g., wabdhit[t]aN 'I
worked at various things'.
>
> I'm not sure what to make of the next one; I
never have been!
>
> wawe'naNghidha 'to attack (him, them)'
>      < ie'naNghidhe 'to attack'
>
> It seems reasonable to ask if there are wawa'-
forms parallel with the
> wawe'- ones, but the answer seems to be "No."
All the examples of wawa-
> seem to be from verbs in wa-, like wa...khega
'be sick', wa...xpaniN 'be
> poor', wa...kha 'to mean', wa...s^i 'to hire'.
In this respect the
> presence of i- seems to be crucial to 'variety
objects'.
>
> JEK
>
>