obviation in Siouan languages

[REGINA PUSTET]

(quoting Willem DeReuse)
  >Thank you Regina, David, and Wally for your input. I was thinking that 
chaNke might have originated as a contraction of cha + hanke. Cha is 
'and so' and haNke is "part of, half of', so chaNke might mean 
something like 'and so, part of (the continuing storyline)' Any 
thoughts about this?

  Sounds like a possible analysis. Maybe the second component is actually haNkeya 'finally', which would fit better semantically. The first component must be cha 'and so'. As a matter of fact, my Pine Ridge speakers hardly use chaNk(h)e any more -- they told me it's a word that you hear mostly from reservation elders. The conjunction that expresses continuation of the storyline as expected, in their speech, is cha. The semantic and syntactic properties of chaNkhe and coordinating cha seem to be identical anyway.
   
  Regina
   
   
  
 

       
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