BL accent patterns.

[Rory Larson]

Ø  Would this be the kind of precedent to illustrate how two syllables mashed into “one” that some of you have mentioned?

Actually, I think the two syllables mashing into “one” is supposed to have happened perhaps a couple of thousand years ago, at least by the time of the language ancestral to MVS.  What you’re probably seeing there is confusion over how to write the schwa that is still floating between the two consonants, where the vowel of the first syllable used to be.  Schwa is an unformed vowel sound, in this case pretty short, that puts a little breathing space between the b or g and the following r.  It’s that “uh” in “guh-lay”.  In English, it’s like the sound of the “a” in “probably” or the “u” in “illustrate” or “supposed to”.  In writing Siouan words, people have sometimes tried to put it in.  We have both the Oglala tribe and the town of Ogallala that was named after them.  How much of a schwa there is might vary.  It’s an interesting observation you’ve made that Hamilton noted enough of a vowel sound between b and r to add an ‘a’ to represent it, but never did the same for the sound between g and r.  What do you notice from your speakers?  Is there a difference like that?



Ø  I’ll toss in something that may help you guys.  Much of what you are talking about is beyond me but I am studying it ☺.

Much of what we are talking about is obviously beyond us too.  Let us know when you figure it out.  :)

Rory


From: Siouan Linguistics [mailto:SIOUAN at listserv.unl.edu] On Behalf Of Sky Campbell
Sent: Thursday, September 12, 2013 8:32 PM
To: SIOUAN at LISTSERV.UNL.EDU
Subject: Re: BL accent patterns.

I’ll toss in something that may help you guys.  Much of what you are talking about is beyond me but I am studying it ☺.

I first noticed the idea of what I thought was one syllable like “gre” actually being something like “guh-lay” (to use the spelling that Wistrand-Robinson used in her Otoe-Iowa Indian Language Book I (1977) to describe the pronunciation for “hawk”).  I didn’t think too much about it at the time.  I noticed it but didn’t worry about it.  And when I help others learn Otoe-Missouria, I don’t bother with splitting it up and just call “gre” one syllable since I don’t want to over-complicate things for learners.

Back on topic…

I noticed this a while ago but couldn’t make sense of it.  Then I remembered how Wistrand-Robinson separated those syllables.  Currently our spellings for 8 and 10 are:

grerabri – eight (sometimes that final “i” is nasalized)

grebrą – ten

But Hamilton has in his An Ioway Grammar on page 26:

kræ-ra-ba-ne – eight

kræ-pa-na – ten

At first I couldn’t figure out what the extra syllables were doing on there.  What did they mean?  Then I realized that “bri” was simply “ba-ne” pronounced quickly and so was “brą (pa-na).  This leads me to think that these two distinct syllables were at one time individually pronounced.  The reason I say this is because there is a clue in those words with at the beginning with “kr.”  Hamilton doesn’t split “kr” into two syllables.  I would assume that if they were enunciated separately, he would have done so like he did at the ends of the words.  So it would appear that we had two syllables in the past which are now “one” (though still technically two if I am understanding these emails correctly).  I should also mention that Hamilton conjugates the heck out of “grahi” (love) throughout that book without ever separating the “gr.”

Would this be the kind of precedent to illustrate how two syllables mashed into “one” that some of you have mentioned?

Sky


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