MOTION VERBS

goodtracks at peoplepc.com goodtracks at peoplepc.com
Wed Feb 14 20:55:35 UTC 2007


Brian:
Thanks for your reply and that of Bob; and meanwhile, excuss that long time to reply.

If you refer to the chart we got from Linda, there were some languages that had more complete repertoires of motion verbs than others. 
I happen to be sitting next to Johannes as Linda made her presentation, so I was able to add on to the lOM lists those that she left out.
For  Group A  departed from "here".  (Follow down on her list as she listed the terms), the corrections, additions are:
1.  hire (go off; depart)
2.  re  (go; be going; start going).  Destination not mentioned.
3.  hi   (arrive there [going]).
4.  gu  (depart back; start back [to return here]).
5.  guhe (be coming back; approach coming back).
6.  gri  (arrive back home; arrive back at the place one initiated the action of departing).

Group B   departed from "there".
7.   hu  (start to come; be coming).
8.   huhe (be coming; on way to there).
9.   ji    (arrive there at this place).
10. gigre (go by; going away; be gone).
11. gre  (come back home; be coming back).  
12. gi   (arrive going back there to that place)

You see those "combined" forms like hidhe in older texts.  
OP arrival verbs seem to be aspectually accomplishment verbs (that is, they entail a bounded activity, a process with a definite termination point).  Is it the same for other Siouan languages?
IOM is particularily rich in combined forms.  I have not ever tried to list them.  However, a quick glance at the dictionary, we find:
Arrive going back; go on by    =     jigre.
Come here; draw near; approach=jihu.
Go to a certain place            =        iware.
Have gone home again        =        gre rustan.
Go having something; take  =       añi re.
Depart back with s.t.; bring=        añi gu.
Come back home & sit down/
Return to one's seat           =        grinange.
Arrive having something    =        añi hi.

And so it goes.  And I am fairly sure that the other Siouan languages have similar examples to offer.

Now, when time permits, to see how it all comes out in the texts....when time permits.
Jimm

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Bryan Gordon 
  To: siouan at lists.colorado.edu 
  Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 5:33 PM
  Subject: Fwd: Any reference terms for frozen hide?



  Howdy Jimm!

  It's not a given that the motion verb template functions the same across all the languages, BUT I think it's a really nice working hypothesis that it does work the same or almost the same, and we can all test it in our respective languages to see how much the same it does work. 

  If you refer to the chart we got from Linda, there were some languages that had more complete repertoires of motion verbs than others. 
  For instance, I remember that most of the languages collapsed the verbs of departure and motion-in-progress together, and distinguished them from verbs of arrival. But there were some that had three separate categories for these. Also, I remember that the verbs of departure, for some reason, seemed to be composed of the other two categories in most cases. 

  Omaha-Ponca seems in a more archaic form to have distinguished all three, but in its modern form only to distinguish the two. You see those "combined" forms like hidhe in older texts.

  Another note: OP arrival verbs seem to be aspectually accomplishment verbs (that is, they entail a bounded activity, a process with a definite termination point). This is very different from English arrival verbs, which are aspectually achievement verbs (that is, they entail just the termination point, not the process that precedes it). Is it the same for other Siouan languages? 

  By way of explanation, in English, we would say, "After work I went home and ate," while in OP we would say "After work I arrived back there at home and ate." You only use the OP motion verb "go back there" when the motion is in progress or has just begun, and you only use the English arrival verb when you're not interested in the motion part. 

  - Bryan


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