Kaw and Osage 'rain', 'stand' and 'boy'

[Rory M Larson]

> Carolyn writes:
>> In Osage, 'to stand' has a long nasal a:N.  'To rain', on the other
hand, is
either ni'z^u or nu'z^u, where the first syllable vowel is not long, or at
least
is not so long as the a:N in 'to stand'. I don't write 'rain' with a long
vowel.

> Ditto in Kansa.
>
> naaNz^iN'    'stand'  (1st syll. long, second accented)
>
> nuz^u'    'rain'  (1st syll short, second accented, /u/ is a
front-rounded V as
> in French)
>
> 'Boy' would be dissimilar in any event [...]
>
> So Kaw and Osage have no homonyms among these three.
>
> Bob

Hmm.  Well, I asked our other Omaha speaker on Friday, and after
mulling it over for a while, she denied that the first syllable
in naNz^iN', 'stand', was long.  I wonder how Ponka handles it?

Rory