Lakota ki- 'to become by itself'

[Clive Bloomfield]

On 11/12/2007, at 12:09 PM, Clive Bloomfield wrote:

> 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 went off to do a man's  
> job, and they did just that, without complaint (lit.: 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)
>

A minor quibble :

I've double-checked Starr's text there, and he does actually have  
'inila iyapi' there. I'm uneasy with that ; wouldn't 'inila' alone  
suffice to express the idea : 'without backchat/complaint'?
I wonder if, given his English translation, that could be a defective  
transcription of an originally spoken : 'iyayapi' (=they set off/went  
away),
or even, possibly 'iyayeyapi' (interpreted 'passively'=they were sent  
away?). But I guess one might have expected : 'iyayewichayapi' [=they  
sent them away] for that second meaning.

Clive.
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