lack of rhymes

[Koontz John E]

Alan notes:
> Although I know this is not the type of rhyme Jan was thinking of but
> for the past 30 plus years I've been fascinated by the name "totanka
> yotanka". Being a linguistics student at the time it popped out at me,
> is this a type of rhyme common in naming customs or am I out in
> centerfield?

I think this isn't quite right, but, on reflection, I'm not sure I know it
correctly either.  ThathaNka Iyot(h?)aNka?  'Sitting Bull" of course.

I think I've noticed or heard of a few cases in which Dakota speakers
seemed to like a sort of repetition of sounds in expressions - seemingly
considered it interesting or attractive or noteworthy or maybe just
amusing.  One is the Lakota word for pepper.  Another example was a name
that means "Charging Whirlwind" which also involves repeated mn-clusters.
Maybe repeating mn-clusters is the only thing that triggers this.  I've
tried to reconstruct the name example in my memory - I got it from Dick
Carter - but the best I can recall is maybe omni womni and then a third
word that (also) won't come back to me - yuhomni, kahomni?  I haven't ever
been in a position to know if this sort of thing can be manipulated
deliberately or is simply treasured when it occurs, maybe somewhat like
Americans remarking "I'm a poet and didn't know it" when rhymes occur
accidentally.