Question re: Dhegiha and other Siouan quotatives

David Kaufman dvkanth2010 at GMAIL.COM
Thu Feb 20 20:42:16 UTC 2014


Hi Rory,

Thanks for your two cents.  I think that that second ába is the actual verb
e 'say' with the non-continuative marker -be, which is then ablauted before
dan 'then'.  So that leaves just the first abá that's really in question as
to its supposed dual usage of article and quotative.  But examples of this
dual usage abound in the Kaw texts with both articles akhá and abá.

Dave

David Kaufman
Linguistic Anthropology PhD candidate, University of Kansas
Director, Kaw Nation Language Program


On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 1:50 PM, Rory Larson <rlarson1 at unl.edu> wrote:

>  Hi Dave,
>
>
>
> In Omaha and Ponca, the corresponding article is amá, where you have abá.
> As with Kaw, it tends to imply 'moving/absent'.  But we also have another
> particle, apparently pronounced the same way, coming at the end of the
> sentence, that implies that the foregoing is hearsay rather than solid
> fact.  It can stand by itself, or it can be coupled with the 'allegedly'
> particle bi to make the common ending for 3rd person hearsay action,
> biama.
>
>
>
> I notice the accent changes to the first syllable in the second case of
> your example.  I wonder if that could be underlyingly a-aba in that case?
> The first would be the ablauted version of 'he said it', followed by either
> the Old Man's article abá or a 'hearsay' particle as in OP.  One problem
> with that would be that the 'hearsay' amá in OP shouldn't cause a preceding
> verb to ablaut.
>
>
>
> My $0.02.
>
>
>
> Best,
>
> Rory
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Siouan Linguistics [mailto:SIOUAN at listserv.unl.edu] *On Behalf Of
> *David Kaufman
> *Sent:* Thursday, February 20, 2014 1:30 PM
> *To:* SIOUAN at LISTSERV.UNL.EDU
> *Subject:* Question re: Dhegiha and other Siouan quotatives
>
>
>
> Hi all,
>
>
>
> I have a question re: a curious structure in Kaw, and whether anything
> like it occurs in other Dhegihan or even non-Dhegihan Siouan languages.
>  The structure involves the articles akhá and abá, used for subjects in Kaw
> and usually translated 'the', the first being roughly for
> 'standing/sitting' and the other for 'moving/absent'.  However, in Kaw,
> these subject articles also somehow seem to have become used as quotatives,
> or 's/he said.'  Here is an example sentence with gloss:
>
>
>
> *Icíkitanga  abá, "Anyáxtaga-édan," ába-dan,  nanstábe.*
>
> Old.Man   said   bite.me-then          said-then   kicked.him
>
> The Old Man said, "Then bite me," and he kicked him.
>
>
>
> So abá, which is normally used for 'moving' subjects and is usually
> translated 'the', is now being used for 's/he said.'
>
>
>
> Any thoughts on this, esp. from other Dhegihan perspectives, or other
> Siouan languages that might have some similar usage?
>
>
>
> Thanks!
>
>
>
>
>   David Kaufman
>
> Linguistic Anthropology PhD candidate, University of Kansas
>
> Director, Kaw Nation Language Program
>
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