Winnebago info

[David Kaufman]

Hi John,

Thanks for the info!

- There are lots of nasal vowels in all Siouan languages except Crow and
Hidatsa.  Winnebago or Hochank/Hocak as the folks in Wisconsin seem to
prefer is one of the Siouan languages where it seems more or less posible
to consider that nasal stops (or sonorants) m and n are allophones of w
and r conditioned by nasal vowels.  There is also a special nasalized r
that is an allophone of r after a nasal vowel.

Upon my relatively brief perusal of the Winnebago Grammar so far, I did see that n seems to replace r after a nasal vowel.  I wasn't aware of the m and w, and I also did not know about a special nasalized r (but doesn't the r change to n after a nasalized vowel?).  I am reminded of the Hidatsa (although this may include other Siouan languages too) trait of m and w being allophonic as well as (I think) b and n especially when in word initial position.  Apparently in Hidatsa m comes out in the "careful" slow pronunciation instead of w.  Hidatsa also seems to have a habit of making -voiced consonants into +voiced in medial positions, e.g., p > b, k > g.  (John B, please correct me on any of this if I'm wrong.)  Is this also a trait of other Siouan languages?

Yes, I am interested in Winnebago/Ho Chunk.  John B. actually got me interested in it upon my visit last year in Chicago when I was grilling him about Hidatsa (this is the first Siouan language I've somewhat studied from Matthews's dictionary and grammar).  Ho Chunk is also the language I'd probably like to work on for a PhD dissertation if and when I get into a linguistics PhD program (so far I've applied to U of Chicago and UC Santa Barbara--still awaiting word from both) just as John B is doing with Hidatsa.  I'm also at least passively interested in Osage since I'm told I'm a wee small part Osage by heritage, and I'm anxious to see Carolyn Quintero's grammar!  Anyway, we'll see what happens.   

I just have way TOOO much fun with languages!!!

Take care,
Dave



----- Original Message -----
From: Koontz John E
Sent: Wednesday, January 01, 2003 2:46 PM
To: Siouan List
Subject: Re: Winnebago info

On Wed, 1 Jan 2003, David Kaufman wrote:
> Hope everyone is enjoying the LSA conference.  Wish I could have been
> there, but the budget is VERY tight right now!  Hopefully I'll at
> least get to the Siouan conference in August!
>
> I've been looking at a copy of the Winnebago Grammar by William
> Lipkind given to me by John B.  Now I'm wondering if there is any way
> to get a copy of Kenneth Miner's unpublished Winnebago Field Lexicon
> from 1984.  (John K.--You mentioned this in your paper "Winnebago
> Vowel Length in Diachronic Perspective" of 1986.)  I'm also wondering
> if there are any Winnebago recordings which I might be able to get a
> copy of.  (I notice there are a lot of nasal vowels in Winnebago; I'd
> like to get some idea of what the language sounds like, if possible,
> short of finding a native speaker--probably not easy in California.)
> I understand there is also some question of tone in Winnebago.

- I do have the Field Lexicon on paper, a bit dog-eared.
- I probably also have access to a computerized version, albeit for DOS!

- There are several other lexical resources for Winnebago, including Mary
Marino's dissertation (based on Radin's slips), an out of print dictionary
(or start of one?) by Josie White Eagle from MIT, the Zeps-icon (started
by the late Valdemar(?) Zeps), and a start at a more formal dictionary by
Ken Miner.

- There's a list of plant names in Gilmore, and another by Huron K.
Smith at the Milwaukee Public Museum (can't remember if this was a
published one or an unpublished one - he was working on a couple when he
and his family were wiped out crossing a train track on a Sunday drive).

- It's worth tracking down Sussman's dissertation (which I don't have),
and Marten's though this is a bit exhausting to work through.

- Don't overlook the debate on Winnebago accent between Miner and Hale &
White Eagle and others (a Miner victory, as far as I can tell).  There's a
summary article somewhere, but the book it was published in is out of
print.  Bob Rankin knows the reference, and must have the citation files
somewhere.  The whole thing starts in IJAL.

- I'd call it pitch accent, not tone.  It's a particular contour of highs
and lows as I understand it.  I have, however, not studied it directly.

- Don't forget the recent great article by Johannes Helmbrecht in IJAL.

- There are various Radin texts in the Siouan Archives (available on CD),
and I think there are others never entered.

- I don't know of any recordings available.

- There are lots of nasal vowels in all Siouan languages except Crow and
Hidatsa.  Winnebago or Hochank/Hocak as the folks in Wisconsin seem to
prefer is one of the Siouan languages where it seems more or less posible
to consider that nasal stops (or sonorants) m and n are allophones of w
and r conditioned by nasal vowels.  There is also a special nasalized r
that is an allophone of r after a nasal vowel.

- I'm glad you're looking at Winnebago.  It's a fascinating language, and
very understudied.  I think other Siouan languages in this category would
include Ioway-Otoe, Yankton-Yanktonais, and Mandan, though anything in
Crow-Hidatsa and Dhegiha wouldn't be far behind.  I'm leaving aside
Biloxi, Ofo, and Tutelo, because there isn't much to study, and, of
course, any Siouan language is understudied by comparison with, say,
Albanian or Basque.

JEK
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