Omaha fricative set

[Koontz John E]

On Thu, 28 Sep 2006, Rory M Larson wrote:
> > Apical refers to the tongue tip.
>
> Good, that's what I thought.  In that case, my confusion is over the
> apparent contrast between apical and alveolar.

It should be apico-dental and apico-alveolar.

> I do carefully write tt vs. tH, and not t vs. tH.  I learned this
> convention from you years ago, and I've been following it pretty
> religiously.

Me, too.  Or rather tt vs. th.  I don't see any point in raising the h if
the "r" isn't written th, but instead is written dh (i.e., edh, or the
curled, crossed d).  But the two popular schemes write t vs. tH and write
edh mostly as "th".  I think one or the other writes l in some contexts,
but I've just ignored that.  It would be fine, but of course, but th is
clearly prefered, and l doesn't contrast with th, so th it is.

> I'm entirely convinced that any native speaker of English using loose t
> or x to transcribe Omaha will frequently put down t indifferently for tt
> or tH, and x indifferently for x^ and g^, and go right on without
> realizing anything is amiss.  If you force yourself to use only the
> marked form, then you seldom make that kind of mistake.

This is Bob's argument for the stops.  I don't think he would claim it for
x vs. gamma, because no linguist is confused about that for long, and no
English speaker thinks x is a velar fricative.  Omahas (not Poncas, I
think) are a special case.

However, insofar as I can in email and in lingusitic conscience, I have
been sticking to the "Macy Schools Scheme," as I used to call it.  (I
don't think it came with a name.)  That is, I have been doing that
mentally and in certain side work.  For actual use on the list and
lingusitic publication I stick pretty close to Standard Siouan, because I
think it's less confusing not to switch back and forth (and less confusing
period).

> You mean a branch of a river, not the branch of a tree growing by a river,
> right?  :)

Yes.

> Would that be gahe' ?  (I'm not sure if we ever got the pronunciation of
> this word pinned down.)

It might be, but I don't think it was just h, so maybe not.

> > As for bighoN and bixoN, one was something like 'make a farting noise',
> > but I'll have to look this pair up.  What, you want meanings, too?
>
> For elicitation purposes, that would sure help!

Bob provided them.  I forget which one CS laughed at and said it sounded
like I was talking about farting when I said that.