Lakota demonstratives

[regina pustet]

Dear Siouanists:

Obviously, there are three demonstratives in Lakota: le' 'this, he'
'that', and ka' 'that over yonder' (Boas & Deloria 1941:114). However, in
the large body of Lakota texts I have compiled about five years ago, there
is not a single instance of ka' occurring as a demonstrative, either with
or without a head noun. ka' is used as an adverb meaning 'over yonder'
though. What's going on? Dialectal variation? (My speakers are from Pine
Ridge and Rosebud.) Or is ka' going out of use, perhaps under the
influence of English, which does not have a triple distinction of
demonstratives? Do comparative Siouan data shed some more light on the
issue?

Regina