inclusive/exclusive

[BARudes at aol.com]

Dave,

The short answer is "yes", there has been more research on the relationship 
of the Yuchi language to the Siouan languages that you are probably not aware 
of. I gave a paper back in the 1980s pointing out a fair number of lexical 
pairs among Yuchi, Catawba, and Proto-Siouan that appeared to be cognate. More 
recently, Bob has done research that demonstrates what appear to be cognate 
pronominal elements and a system of classificatory prefixes on nouns among Yuchi, 
Catawba, and Proto-Siouan. Bob may have done additional research that I am not 
aware of. The evidence taken together increases the probability that Yuchi, 
Catawba, and Proto-Siouan are genetically related. Whether the combined weight 
of the evidence is sufficient to "confirm" the relationship is still a matter 
of debate for some.

I should note, however, that even if the relationship is taken as 
"confirmed", it is not appropriate to say that Yuchi is a Siouan language. Proto-Catawban 
(the ancestor of modern Catawba, the Woccon language, and perhaps other 
extinct languages of the Carolinas) and Proto-Siouan descend from coordinate 
off-shoots of a language that I refer to as Proto-Siouan-Catawban. Where Yuchi fits 
in is uncertain. Based on such morphological features as the absence of 
instrumental prefixes in Yuchi versus their presence in Catawba and Siouan, I would 
specualte that Proto-Siouan-Catawban and Pre-Yuchi were coordinate offshoots 
of a still older language that, for lack of a better term at the moment, could 
be called Proto-Siouan-Catawban-Yuchi.

Blair  
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