Instrumental/locative.

[Rgraczyk at aol.com]

In a message dated 12/05/2001 7:33:36 AM Pacific Standard Time, rankin at ku.edu
writes:


> The larger and far more interesting/important matter of the "real" identity
> of i- is a can of worms I hadn't intended to open just now.  My
> understanding is that there are at least TWO distinct prefixes
> historically,
> and probably synchronically, in each Siouan language.  One is instrumental
> i- and the other is locative i-.  The locative generally signals 'movement
> toward'.  One has a long vowel and/or is inherently accented.  The other is
> short/unaccented underlyingly. But obviously accent and
> lengthening/shortening rules in particular languages along with speakers'
> reanalyses can be expected to mess with this nice scenario.
>
>

Crow provides evidence for two distinct prefixes: ii (long vowel)
'instrumental', and i' (short vowel, accented) 'locative'.  Instrumental ii
is a postposition, while locative i' is a verbal prefix that patterns with
the a'- and o'- instrumentals.  The general sense of locative i'- is
'touching, in contact with', e.g. i'hkuluu 'touching', i'kaxxi 'lean on',
i'koochi 'hang up, hang over', i'kuxxa 'equal to'.

Randy
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