<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">John,<BR>
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I can barely decide where to begin with a discussion of the problems with your proposal.<BR>
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MI wiikwee-<BR>
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PSI *-truN (one might have plumped for *-kwuN, too)<BR>
PreDa *ikwuN (i.e., m = w/__VN)<BR>
Te igmu'<BR>
Sa inmu'<BR>
PreIO *wiitwaN ???<BR>
IO udwaN' (+ yiNGe 'little') (u- ???)<BR>
Wi wiic^aN'wa(siNiNc^serec^) 'cougar' (long-tailed cat)<BR>
PreWi *wii'twaN<BR>
PreDh *i(N)kruN-ka (*-ka is a noun former)<BR>
OP iNgdhaN'(ga)<BR>
Ks iluN (l < *kr)<BR>
Os iluN'ka (l < *kr)<BR>
Bi *tmoc^-ka (tmo suggests *twuN)<BR>
Tu *talus-ka yiNki (attested form regularized as "taluskik")<BR>
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Yuchi atyuNne 'wildcat'<BR>
Mohawk atiiru<BR>
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A. I assume you are suggesting that the Miami form is a loan from the PreDakotan reconstruction, since it is the only form in your set that bears any resemblance to the Miami form. However, as you point out, the Miami and the PreDakotan forms share only the consonant cluster. <BR>
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B. You are proposing to explain the initial w- in the Miami form from a PreDakotan initial *w- from one or another of several sources, but the *w- is not even reconstructable for the PreDakotan form.<BR>
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C. You are proposing that Proto-Siouan *-truN ' panther, mountain lion' is cognate with or in some other way related to Proto-Iroquoian *ti:l-i/oN 'skunk' (see cognates in previous email), despite the difference in meanings and the problem of where the vowel separating the consonants came from in Iroquoian or went to in Siouan.<BR>
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D. You are proposing that Proto-Siouan *-truN 'panther, mountain lion' is cognate with a purposed Yuchi form atyuNne 'wildcat'. No such form exists! (Please check your sources before citing data from other languages, even in emails; otherwise, you run the risk, as here (and with the gloss for the Mohawk word ('skunk', not 'panther or mountain lion'), of creating new or perpetuating old ghost forms.) A check of Bill Ballard's English-Yuchi lexicon shows that the Yuchi word for 'wildcat' is $athy@N ($ = s hachek, @N = nasal open o). He also cites a form from Gunther Wagner, cat' an' e ($at?ane) which is not the same word. $athy@N also means 'raccoon'. I have seen no evidence (other cognate sets) suggesting that Proto-Siouan *tr corresponds to either Yuchi thy or t?, and there is no explanation for the initial $a- or final -@N or -ane in Yuchi.<BR>
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In summary, a relationship between Proto-Siouan *-truN 'mountain lion, panther', Proto-Iroquoian *ti:l-i/oN 'skunk', and Yuchi $athy@N 'wildcat; raccoon' or $at?ane 'wildcat' is by no means certain. And, a relationship between preDakotan *ikwuN- and Miami wiikwee requires too many ad hoc explanations to be very satisfying.<BR>
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Comparions of data across language families (Siouan, Yuchi, Iroquoian, not to mention Algonquian) requires just as much (if not more) philological rigor and adherence to the comparative method as does comparison within a language family. It helps no one to propose such speculative relationships reminiscent of Greenburg's Amerindian comparisons as the one above.<BR>
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Blair<BR>
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