Locative Postpositions (was Re: Mandan (again))

[Alan H. Hartley]

John,

Thanks for all the help with locatives.

Are you saying that specifically in Lakota -l is a reduction of -tu or
-c^a ? Is the same true of -n in other Dakotan languages? Is -ka/-c^a
also a locative? Is there (I ask facetiously, if hopefully) a
comparative tabulation of Siouan locatives? Has anyone published a
modern attempt at a tabulation of Siouan sound correspondences?

Is it correct to say that, in both Mandan & Dakotan, -awa- (reduced to
open back -a-) is a variant of -ã-? In other words, that the modern
Dakota forms (e.g., mawa'tadã) could represent mãta + diminutive
(whereas an older Assiniboine form was mãta + locative).

Following is a revision of the etymology, correcting the enclitic forms
to -l/-n and making it clear that the French name was borrowed from
Assiniboine. (Please let me know if the tildes don't display correctly
for anyone.)

MANDAN < Fr. Mantanne (1738, explicitly as an Assiniboine ethnonym; and
cf. late 18th-cent. Sp. Mandana), or directly from its etymon
Assiniboine mãtan < Mandan mãta 'Missouri River' + Assiniboine locative
enclitic -n. The English variants in -l (e.g., Mandal, Mandelle) reflect
the Lakota form of the name, in which the locative enclitic is realized
as -l.

Alan