MVS -> OP stop series ?

[R. Rankin]

The only question marks for me are these:

> Da shifts *th to h in initial position in verbs.

I can't recall at the moment if we had real instances of initial *th in Dakotan.
The reconstruction behind the set DAK h-, WINN j- and DHEG th- is *rh- (Allan
Taylor's 1970's paper on motion verbs).  These, in turn, probably stem from
earlier *rV-h-, where the *rV- was probably a deictic or maybe the verb *re:
'go'.  But maybe there are initial *th examples too.  I'll have to do a search,
something that is becoming harder and harder as Windows XP will no longer permit
me to access the CSD files with their proper fonts.  I have to crank up a
Windows 98 machine with the files on it.

> Many *ph become h.

This is true in Omaha, Ponca and, as I recall, Quapaw, but not in Osage or
Kansa.  I *think* most of these *ph > h cases are bi-morphemic, i.e., the *p
part is a different morpheme historically from the h, which begins the root.  I
guess the place to check for crucial examples might be the 1st sg. of the verb
/hi/ and the noun 'mosquito'.  But this probably isn't saying much, as most
examples of /ph/ were bi-morphemic.

Bob