<div><EM>> We should also note that in the Ofo and Biloxi dictionaries, 'green' is not necessarily strictly a color term. It may also stand for 'unripe'. ></EM></div> <div> </div> <div>You're right about thohi also being used for 'unripe'. At this point I'm really not aware of a "diminutive" consonant alternation in Biloxi, although I'm sure it's quite possible as you suggest. In fact, I don't think I've yet come across any type of diminutive suffix in Biloxi; usually it seems yiNki 'little/small' is used, as in coNki 'dog' and coNki yiNki 'puppy' (little dog).</div> <div> </div> <div>Dave<BR><BR><BR><B><I>Rory M Larson <rlarson@unlnotes.unl.edu></I></B> wrote:</div> <BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">Dave wrote:<BR>> Biloxi seems to retain only one term for a bluish-green hue, I guess,<BR>thohi. But what I find interesting is that its close cousin Ofo has
two<BR>separate words for blue and green: ithohi for the former and itchohi for<BR>the latter. I'm not sure if this implies that Ofo innovated separate words<BR>while Biloxi retained just the one, but that seems the most logical I<BR>think? It seems more logical for a language to develop differing words for<BR>different colors to be more specific rather than two originally separate<BR>color terms having been collapsed into one in Biloxi.<BR><BR>These two are originally just pronunciation variants of the same word,<BR>aren't they? This looks exactly like the 'Grandmother speech' usage that<BR>John has described for Omaha, a 'baby talk' convention that is productive<BR>of new words. The rule is simply to change all dental/alveolar stops to<BR>the corresponding palatal affricates to get a sort of diminutive. So did<BR>Biloxi and Ofo have this rule too?<BR><BR>For example, in Omaha, the basic word for 'good' is u'udaN. In Dorsey, I<BR>believe this word is also used for
'beautiful'. But in modern Omaha, our<BR>speakers have assured us that the word for 'beautiful' is u'udjaN, not<BR>u'udaN. We just learned the other day in Macy, however, that u'udaN can<BR>actually be used in the 'good-looking' sense for young men: i.e.<BR>'handsome'. Girls are u'udjaN, 'pretty'.<BR><BR>I would understand the Ofo set described as:<BR><BR>ithohi - grue (standard term) 'blue'<BR><BR>itchohi - (cute widdle) gwue (the diminutive form) 'green'<BR><BR>The thohi term might be the only one recorded for Biloxi, but if this sort<BR>of relationship was possible I think it would be hard to determine that<BR>they didn't use tchohi as an alternate if they really wanted to specify<BR>'green'. We should also note that in the Ofo and Biloxi dictionaries,<BR>'green' is not necessarily strictly a color term. It may also stand for<BR>'unripe'.<BR><BR>Rory<BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><p>
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