Question re: Dhegiha and other Siouan quotatives

[Bryan James Gordon]

Really, there are many different configurations of verbs-in-a-row with
respect to which ones are conjugated for what. I say "verbs-in-a-row" in
order to avoid the issue of precisely determining what are "serial verbs"
as opposed to other types of constructions, and the separate but related
issue of figuring out what the appropriate classification is in Siouan
languages vis-à-vis linguistic theory in general.

Some more examples from Umóⁿhoⁿ Íye and Páⁿka Íye:

*"verb plus grammaticalised auxiliary"*
I would include in this category any use of the positionals as an
auxiliary, certainly as a continuative or future-tense marker, possibly as
evidential too. *In these examples the main verb DOES receive subject
inflection in Umóⁿhoⁿ Íye or Páⁿka Íye.*
íye-akʰa "S/he [prominent figure] is speaking"
itháe-miⁿkʰe "I am speaking"
aⁿtháⁿe-taⁿgatʰaⁿ "we are going to speak" (taⁿgatʰaⁿ = te "potential" +
aⁿgatʰaⁿ which is the "we" form of tʰaⁿ "standing positional")

*"verb plus not-quite-as-grammaticalised auxiliary"*
This includes examples like the one Sky just posted from Báxoje Ich^é, in
which the auxiliary is something that can also serve as a main verb. *In
these examples the main verb receives subject pronominals, but NOT
plural/proximate marking in Umóⁿhoⁿ Íye or Páⁿka Íye.*
íye naⁿzhíⁿi "S/he [prominent figure] is about to speak / is speaking as
s/he stands" *not *íya naⁿzhíⁿi as it would be if the main verb were
inflected for number/proximacy*
anáⁿ'aⁿ maⁿbthíⁿ "I am listening as I walk" *not *naⁿ'áⁿ maⁿbthíⁿ as it
would be if the main verb did not get its subject pronominal*

*"desire-raising"*
Umóⁿhoⁿ Íye and Páⁿka Íye raise the subject of the complement clause of
gáⁿtha "desire" to the syntactic object of gáⁿtha. The complement verb gets
subject inflection for the same argument, so the argument appears twice.
Shkí wikáⁿbtha "I want you to come back" *not *gí wikáⁿbtha as it would be
if the complement verb were uninflected, and not *shkí káⁿbtha as it would
be if there were no raising*
*As in the "not-quite-as-grammaticalised auxiliary" examples,
"desire-raising" constructions have number/proximacy marking only on the
final verb, not on the complement verb.*
wachígaxe ewékoⁿbtha "I want them to dance" ("Adventures of the orphan",
JOD 1890:601.5) *not *wachígaxa(i) ewékoⁿbtha as it would be if the
complement verb had number marking*

*"command-raising"*
Unlike "desire-raising", the complement of ágazhi "command" is not
inflected at all.
unáⁿ'aⁿ aⁿthágazhi "you told me to hear about it" *not *uánaⁿ'aⁿ aⁿthágazhi
as it would be if the complement verb were inflected*

The distinction between the "desire-raising" and "command-raising"
categories is what I was referring to with my vague talk about
subcategorisation. I expect there are many more members of both categories,
and more complications that I have not reported, and more categories that I
have either not discovered or have simply escaped me.
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