Omaha nasal vowels

[Koontz John E]

On Wed, 23 Aug 2000, Ardis R Eschenberg wrote:
> The uN definitely seems to be transcribed when before a back consonant
> like 'k' or 'g' (hence allophonic variation).

Could we have some examples of what you mean?

> For the most part, the nasal vowels sound like [aN] when the elders speak.

I've noticed occasionally that I get a funny reaction to this aN
pronunciation when dealing with people who know or work with Ponca.  I
don't know if this is due to a general feature of the Ponca dialect, or to
my using aN with words where the vowel is actually a contrasting oN.

> However, there are a few times when there is a distinct nasalized [o].
> I believe this is because it is nasalized and not 'a nasal'; that is, it
> is nasal as it occurs before a nasal consonant.  Example: Kombtha 'I
> want,' 'Shkona 'You want' Here, the [o] has a nasal quality but it is
> very [o] not [a] sounding.

This actually sounds to me like an excellent case of a probable
contrasting vowel.  I'm pretty sure the cognate in Chiwere has uN.  Other
cognates don't come to mind at the moment, though I think they exist.

Note that these are no likely contexts for a display of the influence of a
following nasal consonant, because there isn't in kk[V]N=bdha.  There is
currently in s^k[V]N=na, but note that this is historically s^k[V]N=s^na,
and that the n, in any case is followed by an oral vowel.

This one of those places where n is from R - "funny" (or different) r -
not *rVN (or *n, if this contrasted).  The *s^r and *sr sequences (where r
could also be written dh, in the Dhegiha context) are environments in
which Dhegiha develops as if it actually had had *SR, not *Sr.  Here I'm
writing S as a cover symbol for s and s^.  The same development occurs in
Dakotan, but not in Winnebago and Chiwere.  Because r in these contexts
behaves like *R, we get OP s^na, Osage s^ta, Dakotan (Teton) s^la, etc.,
where n, t, and l are all reflexes of *R.  The expected reflex of *r would
be dh, dh, and y.  Note that OP and Dakotan both lose s^ in many of these
clusters, especially in second persons of *r-stems, hence s^kaN=na from
earlier s^kaN=s^na.

Or maybe it's s^koN=na.

By all means make note of every word in which you clearly hear oN, or
someone else does, and likewise, of every word in which you or someone
else clearly hear aN. This is a problem that has been nagging at me (and
Bob Rankin) for a while.

This will be complicated somewhat by cases of ma or na where a isn't
(historically)  nasal, and m comes from *W (like ma 'snow', me 'spring')
and n from *R or *s^R (na= 'by heat'; negi 'uncle'; nathe 'you eat'; ne
'you go').  I'm not sure I could always hear a difference in aN and a
after n, e.g., between na= 'by heat, spontaneously', naN- 'by foot'.
There is a clear contrast between things like ma 'snow' and maN 'arrow,
bullet'.

If you want lists of words to look for, Bob, or Kathy or I can supply
them.

JEK