Locative Postpositions

[Koontz John E]

On Sat, 30 Oct 1999, Koontz John E wrote:
> Examples with pronominals:
>
> JOD1890:77.9  wi'=e=bdhiN 'it is I'
> JOD1890:22262.15:  dhi'=e=hniN=de 'since it is you'
> JOD1890:113.7:  e'=e he 'it is he DECf'
>
> Of course, the third person is just what we've been seeing.

I neglected to point out that the first and second person (couldn't locate
an inclusive example) do involve an inflected verb dhiN 'to be'.  This can
occur without the e, as in

UmaN'haN=bdhiN 'I am an Omaha'

I recorded this latter example myself and concur with Dorsey that it cam
across as an enclitic.  The pattern of omitting what I might characterize
as 'be' and other auxiliary verbs with the third person is general in
Omaha-Ponca.  For example, =xti 'very, true' requires an inflected
auxiliary support maN 'I use', z^aN 'I use' in the first and second
person, but this is omitted (usually, not always) in the third.

> We can also find forms with edi 'at it/that; there' as a predicate:
...
> JOD1890:425.10  ihaN' ugi'ne               j^uba e=d=e=di=dhaN ama
>                 mother they seek their own some  of the company there are
> there

Oops, I meant 'they are there'

> JOD1890:443.14  s^aaN'=ama e=d=e=di ama    dhaNz^a
>                 Sioux  the there are there though

Ditto.

> All these constructions amount to:
>
> NP [article] e=d=e=di [article]
> (the NP) is there
>
> The articles agree, if both are present.  The final article occurs when
> the clause is a main clause.

... and seems to be part of the construction 'to be there'.  This would
amount to a progressive aspect formation, as this is the formation of the
progressive:  verb + article, where the article agrees with the subject,
which may have its own article if it is a definite NP.  It may be that
imperfective or something like that would be more appropriate than
progressive.

> There are some more existential constructions without the ed=:

To be consistent: e=d=

I have the impression that e'=di alone as a predicate is 'to be, exist',
while e'=d=e=di is 'to be someplace'.  Dorsey's translations tend that
way, but are not wholely consistent.

JEK