postpositions

[Hu Matthews]

In Crow postpositions is (are) the rule. I know of no prepositions in Crow.
However, the postpositions are often moved to pre-verb position and
pronounced as if they were part of the verb. Also they are bi-morphemic.

awé     áakeen
earth      on
on the earth

áakeen  consists of  áake (surface,top)  plus  n (at)

Another way of looking at it is to call it a partitive construction. awé
áake (the surface of the earth) plus the postposition  n. However, if áake
is a noun and n is the postposition, then we need to explain why there are
very few nouns that can be suffixed with a postposition.

Hu Matthews

----- Original Message -----
From: <bi1 at soas.ac.uk>
To: <siouan at lists.colorado.edu>
Sent: Friday, January 02, 2004 6:32 AM
Subject: postpositions


> Can anyone tell me whether postpositions rather than prepositions are
> general in Siouan-Caddoan.  I have some sources on Crow, Omaha
> and Wichita, but they are not clear on that point.
> Bruce
>