OP /the/ vs. /dhaN/ (fwd)

[R. Rankin]

> > I should have added that this hypothesis depends on OP tHe going back
> > approximately as far as MVS.  Perhaps John or Bob could comment on
> > whether that's possible?

> The morpheme =the is that old or older because there are cognates (used as
> auxiliaries and positional verbs) across MVS.  Use of *the as an article,
> however, seems to be a Dhegiha innovation.  The whole Dhegiha article
> system seems to be a Dhegiha innovation.

Definitely.  Wi je, Dak. he, etc. are cognate and come from positional verb
roots like most such.  Mandan /te/ (unaspirated /t/), as described by Kennard
1936 certainly appears to be cognate, and that would get it outside MVS.

> It's more likely, though this is
> not entirely clear, that Dakotan *ki(N) ~ *k(?uN)was an article or
> something like one in PS as a whole.  As I recall there are some similar
> forms (among others) in Biloxi.

Don't know about Biloxi, but Tutelo uses ki or kiN.  It's a bit strange, since
it's found very seldom other than that.  I can't make up my mind whether it's
should be reconstructed as an article or as something broader.