inclusive/exclusive

[David Kaufman]

Blair,
   
  Thanks for the information.  I don't know much about Yuchi but would like to learn more.  
   
  I'd need several lifetimes to learn all I want to know about so many languages!  (So many languages, so little time!...heh.)
   
  Dave
  

BARudes at aol.com wrote:
  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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