Omaha-Ponca Long Vowels

[Koontz John E]

On Mon, 19 Mar 2001, ardis eschenberg wrote:
> Re: Kathy's long vowels:
> I have gotten niNde for 'butt' and niide for 'ripe,' but I'll try listening
> again.  Hmmm...It's hard for me to hear nasalization after a nasal.  For
> example, with the verb 'to be' bthiN 'I am' sounds very nasal but niN 'you
> are' sounds just like assimilated nasality.

For what it is worth, niide 'ripe' isn't historically nasal.  It's a
"funny *R" word, corresponding to Osage cu'ce and Lakota luta 'red'.  I
think Winnebago has duuc^.  The "funny R" words have a nasal reflex of the
consonant "funny *R" in OP, but nowhere else.

Note, of course, that what was true historically need not be the case
today.  There's no reason why this or other n from funny *R words
shouldn't be nasalized today.  In cases where the n precedes e or u < *o,
one might not expect this (negi 'mother's brother', neghe 'pot', ne 'lake'
(said to be Ponca only), nu 'man', 'nu 'potato'), but there are cases of
*R before i, a, and *u > i, where nasalization could occur.  At the moment
I'm not recalling the examples (other than 'ripe', of course).  I think
'ice' is nughe from *Roogh(e).  One of the various senses of naNzhiN may
be an a-example - hair'?

What does come to me is that *pr also behaves as *R in nouns in OP, e.g.,
in nu 'man', and nu 'potato' compare Lakota bloka', blo, and ne 'lake',
compare Dakota ble.  And the *pr can precede a nasal vowel, as in ni(N?)
'fluid, water, major river' compare Dakota mni.

JEK

P.S.  Sorry about typing vowel as vowl in the subject earlier.  See what I
mean about me and vowel length?