Funny W

[Rory M Larson]

> Basically, the idea was that W and R were parallel phenomena with similar
conditioning factors apparently often involving laryngeals that had
disappeared in all of the languages.

I've been assuming that they were parallel too, but I'm a little mystified
on how *W => w across Dakotan, while *R => Da. d, Na. n, and La. l.  By
that division, I would have expected *W => Da. b, Na. m, and perhaps La. w.
And I think Winnebago also has *W => w, while *R => d, doesn't it?

Why laryngeals?

> 'Snow' would be an example ('Spring' too,I think) with *wa-wa > *w-wa >
*Wa.

For Dakotan it's wa, for OP it's ma, and for Osage/Kaw I believe it's
pa/ba.  Where are we finding the *wa-wa combination?  Southeastern?  And
how do we know it reflects the primitive state, rather than just being a
reduplication or something?

> *w+glottal would be the sort of thing we've discussed before on the list
with regard to the verb ?oo 'to wound, shoot at and hit'.  In the 1st
person you would have *w(a)-?oo. Unfortunately I've never found all the
conjugated forms of this verb in most of the languages.  In Dakotan,
analogy as reintroduced the full wa-prefix.  Hi?u is another case that
David pointed out, with hibu in the 1st person sg. (b is the allophone of
/w/ that occurs preceding /u/ in Dakotan.)

I'm not following.  Does this have to do with *W, or are we talking about a
separate *w+glottal development here?

> *w+r gives all those bl- stems (Omaha bdh-).  What is happening is that
ordinary [w] and [r] are assimilating a feature from an adjacent consonant
or sonorant that is causing them to obstruentize one degree.

So *w+r => MVS bl/bdh, and *p+r => Dakotan bl, other MVS *R ?

Thanks, Bob!
Rory
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