h- vs. x-aspiration in LDN

[Kathleen Shea]

Yes, Fletcher & LaFlesche do give the form Maxpi'ato ("blue clouds") for
both Arapaho and Kiowa on page 102 of the Omaha Tribe, and the word might
very well have been borrowed from Dakotan and reanalyzed, but I'm just
saying that there is strong aspiration in the Ponca word (and nasalization
of the last vowel).  I'm not sure about other aspirated stops before low
back vowels.  As you know, aspirated stops are somewhat rare in Omaha-Ponca,
occurring mostly in the definite articles (of which, of course, tHaN is
one).  The definite article akHa' doesn't have strong, velar aspiration, but
I seem to recall that the word for 'elk' does:  aNpHaN.  (I'm using H here
for a raised h, which is necessary in the standard orthography for Ponca.
Omaha writing differs only in that the low back nasal vowel is written oN
instead of aN in these examples.  Also, I don't think that any long vowels
are recorded in the Omaha standard writing currently being used.)  Actually,
I should have written a nasal vowel for the first vowel in the word for
Arapaho since that's what I heard:  maNxpi' atHaN.  I'll try to be on the
lookout for other examples.

Kathy

----- Original Message -----
From: "Koontz John E" <John.Koontz at colorado.edu>
To: <siouan at lists.colorado.edu>
Sent: Thursday, February 22, 2001 3:05 PM
Subject: Re: h- vs. x-aspiration in LDN


> 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?
>
>