Nebraska

[Lance Foster]

Ok.. I am trying to get a better handle of the s/th/hk trasnformation/shift
(in linguistics which term is used to describe the change in a phoneme over
time rather then in a particular linguistic setting) in IOM.

You say
"this would have to be in a very
conservative form, e.g., with -s- where most recent speakers would have
<theta> or <h> (preaspiration of k)"

To make sure I understand this right, the oldest descriptions in historic
word lists imply a "s" rather than a "th" and now you also see it as "x" (I
am assuming in this case it is not a true "x" but as you say a preaspiration
of "k").

Why do you think this change occurred and when? And what is the standard
practice in word lists when wanting to show such changes and recognizing the
variations in the various family dialects.

My Grandma spoke only a little IO from her parents, and my Uncle John learned
some from them as well and so I have been able to collect a short list of
words and expressions from that source as well. For example they were given
"Hinuu" as meaning "I'm afraid." One strange variation in pronunciation was
that "baxoje" was pronounced "paxoji"/"paxoci"/"pakoci" in our family dialect
from my Grandmother's Mother's side.

Lance

Koontz John E wrote:

> On Wed, 21 Feb 2001, Koontz John E wrote:
> > Or it could be - in fact I think it may be - Ioway-Otoe braske.  It
> > depends on what -ka represents in something like ne-bras-ka.  Ne is
> > clearly niN, which tends to suggest ka is ke.  It is, of course, very
> > difficult to tell.
>
> I should also say that, if IO, probably specifically Otoe, from the
> location of the Otoe village at its mouth, this would have to be in a very
> conservative form, e.g., with -s- where most recent speakers would have
> <theta> or <h> (preaspiration of k).  Also, the (predictable)
> palatalization of n before i, iN, e is not indicated, which may also be
> conservative, or simply a simplification.
>
> JEK

--
Lance Michael Foster
Email: ioway at earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~ioway
-------------------------
Native Nations Press,
1542 Calle Angelina, Santa Fe, NM 87501
Phone: 505-438-2945
info at nativenations.com
-------------------------
NativeNations.Com - Native Nations Press (http://www.nativenations.com)
Baxoje Ukich'e: The Ioway Nation (http://www.ioway.org)