"WOUND"

[BARudes at aol.com]

Bob,

Catawba /-hu:-/ is a mutating verb where the initial consonant changes to 
indicate subject :

-hu :- 'come'
c'u:re: 'I come'
y'u:re: 'you (sg.) come'
h'u:re: 'he, she, it comes'
h'u:re: 'we come'
w'u:re: 'you (pl.) come'
ir'u:re: 'they come'

Of the other mutating verbs, the conjugation of /-hu:-/ is most like the 
conjugation of the verb /-ri:-/ 'be located' (Saraw dialect) (/-re:-/ in the Esaw 
dialect) :

-ri:- 'be located'
c'i:re: 'I am located'
y'i:ire: 'you (sg.) are located'
d'i:re: 'he, she, it is located'
h'i:re: 'we are located'
w'i:re: 'you (pl.) are located'
ir'i:re: 'they are located'

It has generally been assumed that the third person singular forms of 
mutating verbs take a zero allomorph of the third person. For example, /-ri:-/ 'be 
located' + /-re:/ 'independent mode' becomes /d'i:re:/ with the regular, 
automatic shift of /r/ to /d/ in initial position before an oral vowel. Based on this 
assumption, the bare stem of the verb 'come' would be /-hu:-/. It is, 
however, possible that the initial /h/ here is an atypical manifestation of the third 
person singular subject prefix /h(i)-/ on a mutating verb. If so, then the 
original form of the verb would have been *-u:-. There is, however, no direct 
evidence for such a proto-form; at the same time, there are no (other) mutating 
verbs that begin with a vowel. There are also no other mutating verbs that 
have root-initial /h/ and an initial /h/ in the third person form. So, an 
analogical explanation is a possibility for the initial /h/ of Catawba /-hu:-/ 
'come'.

Blair
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