<div><EM>> echa-m-uN 'I do' is echuN, and echamiN 'I think" is echiN.<BR><BR>In Omaha-Ponca the latter is a'=zaN=miN 'I think', a'=z^a=z^iN 'you<BR>think', vs. a'=z^=iN 'he thinks'. The a'=z^a= matches e=c^ha= well enough<BR>to suggest *DEM=ya=.<BR></EM></div> <div>I'm really having trouble with the analysis of echiN 'to think'. 1SG is echaNmi, 2SG is echaNni. I can't see any regularity in there, even if we say that there is a small class of verbs that (in an internally regular way) prefix or infix m- for 1SG and n- for 2SG. For echuN 'to do', we said in previous email that the original (Siouan) root is uN 'to do', which must have formed a compound with echa-, which could be the adverb 'like that', at least from my completely synchronic perspective. Under these assumptions, the inflection of echuN (1SG echamuN, 2SG echanuN) conforms with the reqúirements for regularity within the m/n-paradigm. But what about echiN 'to do'? is there a basic historical form iN 'to think'
or something like that? Is the echaN- that we see in the 1SG and 2SG of echiN related to the echa- in 1SG and 2SG of echuN? The Omaha-Ponca data now seem to suggest that the case is a lot more complicated. </div> <div> </div> <div>And anyway, I still claim that the reader of a Lakota grammar that posits a 'regular' m/n-class togther with all the phonological rules needed to derive the actual inflectional forms will end up more confused than someone who is simply confronted with a list of verbs that do not inflect in a carefree way. 'Carefree inflection' in Lakota is what we see in verbs that have wa- 1SG and ya- 2SG. Even if there are rules which ultimately make it possible to motivate the verb forms with m/n, this class, in terms of regularity, is a far cry from the wa/ya-class, which is truly regular. Do we do the readers of a grammar a favor if we overstuff it with rules? Such rules may be very real at the diachronic level, and are definitely interesting to
discuss, but to what extent should a grammar be burdened with these things?</div> <div> </div> <div>Regina</div> <div> </div> <div> </div> <div><BR><BR><B><I>Koontz John E <John.Koontz@colorado.edu></I></B> wrote:</div> <BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">On Wed, 14 Jun 2006, ROOD DAVID S wrote:<BR>> echa-m-uN 'I do' is echuN, and echamiN 'I think" is echiN.<BR><BR>In Omaha-Ponca the latter is a'=zaN=miN 'I think', a'=z^a=z^iN 'you<BR>think', vs. a'=z^=iN 'he thinks'. The a'=z^a= matches e=c^ha= well enough<BR>to suggest *DEM=ya=.<BR><BR>> It doesn't happen in iyuNga/imuNge because of the /y/.<BR><BR>I think this is *i=(r)uNge, with intrusive *r > y in the third person,<BR>right? It's like (same structure, not same gloss) OP i'maNghe 'I ask him<BR>about it', i'z^aNghe 'you ask him about it' vs. i'dhaNghe 'he asks him<BR>about it'. It's neat when little details match across
fairly different<BR>languages!<BR><BR>Not surprizingly, Osage likes ipraNghe for the first person of 'ask one<BR>about' (per LaFlesche, anyway). This illustrates the route by which<BR>Dakotan likely gets the n's in the second person of this paradigm.<BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><p>
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