Motion Verbs (Re: OP: coming and going)

[Koontz John E]

On Sun, 21 May 2006, Koontz John E wrote:
>       motion toward                        arriving
>       here               there             here            there
>       regular vert       regular vert      regular vert    regular vert
>
> PMV  *(h)u   *k-u       *rE    *k -rE    *t-hi   *k -ri   *hi     *k-hi
>
> OP    (h)i    g-i       dhE     g-dhE     t-hi    g-dhi    hi      k-hi
> Ma      hur   k-uh       rEh    kE-rEh    t- i    ki- ri   hi      k- ih
>
> Taken together it is hard not to believe that final -h corresponds to
> stem initial aspiration elsewhere.  The disappearing finals in Mandan
> are -r, -h, and -?, sometimes -?r.  We know that some Mandan dialects
> had different endings for some words (a list from Maximilian analyzed by
> Dick Carter), so it appears that "final" behavior has been subject to
> some degree of analogical restructuring of these transitions.  So, for
> example, a -r form may represent something else.

Let me try to reword that last so makes some sort of sense!

To fair extent it appears that Mandan -h corresponds to aspiration of the
initial in MVS.

> PMV  *(h)u   *k-u       *rE    *k -rE    *t-hi   *k -ri   *hi     *k-hi
> Ma      hur   k-uh       rEh    kE-rEh    t- i    ki- ri   hi      k- ih

For example, here the rule holds with *khi : kih, and perhaps with *ku :
kuh.  However it doesn't occur with *thi : ti.  But, that set (*thi :
ti) is one where -r would be a natural, and we also don't find *tir.  We
also find -h with *rE : rEh, unexpectedly.  However, it appears that this
stem may have been *reh- or *rehV, cf. Hidatsa rEhE.

I assume that historically -r- reflects an epenthetic glide between a stem
final vowel and a following vowel-initial morpheme, while -h and -?
reflect "aspiration" and "glottalization" of the root.  At present in
Mandan the conditioning is much more arbitrary.  In fact, we find 0
(nothing), -r, -h, -?, and -?r without any obvious Mandan-internal
conditioning, In fact, we know that Mandan once had dialects that differed
in which of these endings they associated with a particular root.  This
was deduced from Maximilian's word lists by Dick Carter.

I conclude that -r or -h or -? reflect V-final, aspirated and glottalized
stems, and may occur in correspondence to such things elsewhere, or may
not, for Mandan-internal reasons.  If a Mandan final matches the right
pattern elsewhere, they are cognate.  If it doesn't, then something has
happened to this stem in Mandan to alter its behavior.  I don't think we
can reliably reconstruct a feature for a PS root from a Mandan final by
itself, and, on the whole, these finals simply attest that certain stem
features occurred, not where they occurred.