h- vs. x-aspiration in LDN

[Koontz John E]

On Thu, 22 Feb 2001, Kathleen Shea wrote:

> I've noticed a very "strong" aspiration, verging on x, in Ponca after t
> before low back vowels, for instance in the word for 'Arapaho':  maxpi'
> atHaN.  One speaker I work with says this means "standing on the clouds,"
> (verb tHaN).

I'm pretty sure Fletcher & LaFlesche give maxpiattu 'blue sky', which I
think must be loosely adapted from Dakotan maxpiyatho 'blue sky'.
Regularly Omaha would have maxpittu and Dakotan would have a velar
aspiration that might underlie the Ponca reanalysis.  I take it that
velarized aspiration occurs in other words, too, though?

> By the way, what is the etiquette when referring to speakers of a language
> we're studying?  Should we protect their privacy by not mentioning their
> names or should we give them credit for their valuable assistance?

I'm not sure about convention, but perhaps it should depend on the
speaker's views?