Lakota ki- 'to become by itself'

Tue Dec 11 01:09:05 UTC 2007

Thanks for the enchanting discussion, folks!

Regarding Regina's first category, one notes with fascination that ki- 
ska, in addition to that literal sense, (mentioned by Regina below),  
of 'turn white/bleach(intr.)' may also (accdg. to Buech.-Md. 2002)  
have the useful metaphorical meaning of : 'to recover common sense'!  
B&D (p. 88; Sect.101) also record meaning of : " 'to fade'('to return  
to an original white colour') "
ki-bleza, as well as meaning 'become conscious'-->'regain  
consciousness' (?)/'come to' (?), may (B-Md.s.v.) have the obviously  
kindred signification of : 'to sober up'/to recover from  
drunkenness' ['to become mentally clear again'/'to regain mental  
clarity')].
There are also :

ki-chepa              : 'to become fat again' ('wakíchepa wi' June,  
moon of things getting fat again)
ki-gnas^kiNyaN : 'to turn crazy'; [Buech. BH]
ki-sagye              : 'to turn into a cane/rod' [Buech. BH]
ki-saN                  : Interestingly, glossed in Buech.-Md. as :  
'to turn whitish FOR one'
                                (Might this be a clue to origins as  
some sort of variant of B&D's "first" Dative, I wonder?)
ki-sapA                : 'to become black (or 'bare') again' "as does  
the ground by the disappearance of snow" [Buech.-Md].

Boas & Deloria's 1941 "Dakota Grammar", has the following, at Section  
101. p.88 :

"The Use of 'ki-' for Back Again"

"A peculiar use of ki- is probably reducible to the dative ki-  
"........."A number of other forms which render the idea of return to  
a previous state are expressed by forms corresponding to the first  
dative ki-m with first person waki-."

Pace  B&D, but I note that native-speaker Ivan STARR, ("Lakota  
Eyapaha", 1996), in his humane essay about ongoing traumatization of  
returning Lakota Vietnam vets "Vietnam Okicize Kin : Nahanhci  
Wokakije Wan Inyanke" [=The Vietnam Conflict : the Ordeal Continues  
Still] (pp.35-37), writes, with affecting pathos :

"NahahNci hoks^ilapi eyas^ wicas^a thawichoh^'aN waN inila iyapi na  
echuNpi. Lila oh^'ankhoya kiwichas^api."

"Even though they were still just boys, they were sent to do a man's  
job, and they did just that, without complaint (lit.: speaking  
silently). They became men too quickly."

Starr's English version : "They were still young boys yet they were  
sent to do a man's job which they did without complaining. They  
became men before their time." (p.37)

In that context, imho, the verb there could scarcely mean : "they  
became men AGAIN." Perhaps, in the half-century or so, the verb had  
acquired a more diffuse, or generalized sense, in addition to the  
meaning of returning to the pre-existing state?  Any thoughts, friends?

Rood & Taylor's Sketch supplies, (in their regrettably brief  
discussion of this suffix at Section 9.2.2.2.) :

ki-skuyA             : 'to become sweet'
ki-thaNka           : 'to grow old', (as opposed to : 'thaNka ayA' :  
'to get big').

R&T comment : "In most cases, ki- imparts a meaning of inevitable  
change into the state mentioned by the verb, change over which the  
referent has no control."

Good wishes,
Clive.

P.S. : As a matter of general interest, Finnish seems to convey a  
similar idea nominally, being endowed with a nominal/adjectival case- 
ending called the Translative, one of whose functions is to denote  
entrance into, or attaining the end-point of changes of state. There  
is yet another noun-inflection to convey the state or temporary  
character of sthng/s.o., christened, appropriately enough, the Essive!
['TY Finnish' 1956, A.H. Whitney, Less.10, (e) (i)(ii) & (f);  pp. 
129-130; "Finnish Gr."-Fred Karlsson, 1999, Ch.11, Sect. 49 & 50, pp.  
123 -127. ]

P.S. Thanks to Bruce, Alfred, and others for the interesting  
replies : I'm still thinking them over! :)

On 11/12/2007, at 5:30 AM, REGINA PUSTET wrote:

> Here's my two cents on ki- 'to become by itself', examples first,  
> in random order:
>
> ki-ska 'to turn white'
> ki-sake   'to get hard, stiff'
> ki-suta  'to get hard'
> ki-wichas^a  'to have become a man, to have completed growing up'
> ki-wiNyaN  'to have become a woman'
> ki-thamahecha  'to get skinny'
> ki-haNska  'to get tall'
> ki-ksapa  'he got smart'
> ki-luzahaN 'to get fast'
> ki-bleza  'to become conscious'
> ki-phaNs^phaNz^ela   'to get soft'
> ki-ni 'to come back to life'
> ki-'okhate  'to become warm inside, like when turning up the heat'
>
> ki-was^tecaka ye!  'behave yourself!'
> pheta ki ki-sni 'the fire went dead/out (by itself)'
> thaspaNzi ki ki-phaNs^phaNz^ela 'the orange has ripened'
> wakhalapi ki ki-sni  'the coffee is cold/has gotten cold'
>
> There is a second usage of ki- with meteorological expressions,  
> which, however, is rendered by the slightly different translation  
> 'to become/happen suddenly, unexpectedly'. Is this still "the same"  
> ki-? I'd say at least this usage is close enough to the above ki-  
> to postulate a historical connection.
>
> ki-mag^az^u 'all of a sudden it rains, unexpectedly' (classed as an  
> "old word" by informant)
> ki-mas^te 'the sun came out all of a sudden'
> ki-wahiNhe  'all of a sudden it is snowing'
>
> The lexical productivity of ki- appears to be restricted. Statives  
> are most easily compatible with ki-, but by far not all of them  
> are. For instance, the following combinations are ungrammatical,  
> among many others:
> *ki-khate 'to get hot'
> *ki-'owothaNla  'to get straight'
>
> It could be that ki- is actually completive, so that 'to have  
> become by itself' is a better translation. Since I inadvertently  
> kicked this file out of the "active" materials that needed double- 
> checking with native speakers years ago, I couldn't pursue this  
> issue further. I hope that didn't happen with too many of my  
> grammar files!
> As for Jimm's suggestion of categorizing ki- as an instrumental  
> prefix, that's exactly what I had in mind while working on this  
> element. At least, this type of ki- seems to go nicely with  
> semantically similar prefixes such as na- 'to become by itself' and  
> ka- 'to do/become by itself' (yes, there IS an intransitive ka-).  
> Alternatively, ki- could be treated as an aspect marker. I've also  
> considered connections with benefactive/possessive ki-, but that  
> didn't turn out to be particularly illuminating.
>
> Regina
>
>
> ""Alfred W. Tüting"" <ti at fa-kuan.muc.de> wrote:
> Thanks a lot, Bruce,
> only now I know that I should've remembered _kizuzeca_, at least.  
> Now, I found still another one: kimakxa (B.-M. "turn into soil, as  
> anything rotten in the ground").
>
> Alfred
>
> P.S. I wonder if kimimila (butterfly) has smth to do with this  
> issue (mila??)
>
>
> Am 10.12.2007 um 13:47 schrieb shokooh Ingham:
>
>> I know kimathathanka 'turn into a buffalo', kizuzeca 'turn into a  
>> snake', kiwitko 'go mad', kiwanice 'turn into nothing' and kiwe  
>> 'turn into blood'; a very useful prefix.  You can also use  
>> ic'icag^a/mic'icag^e 'make oneself into', but I think that is more  
>> conscious, whereas the first is non-intentional perhaps.
>> Bruce
>>
>> ""Alfred W. Tüting"" <ti at fa-kuan.muc.de> wrote:
>> > Fascinating examples from Clive.  The use of a- to mean 'more  
>> than' is an interesting one in Lakota.  It seems to be not totally  
>> productive and is a bit illusive, but one sees examples of it.  I  
>> have  a feeling that it is more frequent in Dakota, but can't  
>> think on what basis I have this feeling.  Does anyone else have  
>> this impression?
>> Bruce <
>>
>>
>> It's my impression that with regard to productiveness, it's maybe  
>> comparable to the use of ki- (in the sense of "become", "turn to")  
>> e.g. kiaguyapi (to turn into bread). Does anyone happen to know of  
>> other renderings like "turn into stone" (petrify) or such??
>>
>> BTW, this a- in the sense of "more than" seems to express a  
>> "general idea" found also in other languages. E.g. think of  
>> Hungarian adessive  -nÃ¡l/-nÃ©l (at) also used as comparative  
>> (e.g. ennÃ©l jobb - better than this).
>>
>> Alfred
>>
>>
>> ""Alfred W. TÃ¼ting"" <ti at fa-kuan.muc.de> wrote:
>> > "LochiNpi kiN he iyes^ akhiphapi kta thawat'elyapi na iyoks^ica  
>> uNpi
>> > kiN he e athawat'elyapi s^ni kiN hecha."e
>>
>> > [=As for themselves, they preferred facing hunger,
>> to living in
>> > sadness (i.e. loneliness) - such were their (feelings) or 'such was
>> > their situation'.]
>> > (lit. : they felt willing to face the prospect of hunger, and they
>> > did not feel a greater willingness to be living in desolation -
>> > that's the way it was).
>>
>>
>> (LoÄ‹inpi kin he iyeá¹¡ aá¸±ip'a pi kta á¹«awat'elya pi na
>> iyokiá¹¡ica un pi kin he e
>> aá¹«awat'elya pi á¹¡ni kin hÃ©Ä‹a.)
>>
>> (...)
>>
>> BTW, I like your reading of a-á¹«awat'elyA <- a-waá¹¡te (better  
>> than), it's very
>> convincing.
>>
>> Alfred
>>
>>
>> Sent from Yahoo! - a smarter inbox.
>
>
>
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