Nominal Ablaut, Noun Theme Formants, and Demonstratives

Sat Sep 8 23:53:29 UTC 2001

On Wed, 5 Sep 2001, Rankin, Robert L wrote:
> >I would probably resist a derivational morpheme that was both prefixal
> >and suffixal myself, at least in a general way ,but I don't have any
> >problem with a prefix and a suffix coming from the same historical
> >source, say a demonstrative.
>
> Maybe I haven't understood, but that seems to be assuming what you're trying
> to prove. I think, though, that we may have reached our usual impass where I
> assume homophony where John assumes polysemy. This has happened many times
> over the past 15 years or so.

I agree that I often see multiple uses of a single morpheme where Bob sees
two homophonous morphemes, but I'm not sure I see any circularity in the
enterprise at hand.  Am I missing something?

> >...ga=tta 'to(ward) yon' and s^aNge=ga 'yon canine/horse' (emphasizing
> enclisis of the demonstrative with intent).
>
> I've never been able to elicit demonstratives optionally following their
> head like shonge-ga. Maybe something where both shonge and ga were heads
> like shonge=akha ga=akha or the like, not the former. If both ga shonge and
> shonge ga occur as constituents below the S level, then I stand corrected.

I've collected some instances of the relevant patterns from the Dorsey
texts.  It is true that demonstrative alone tend more often to precede the
noun (in OP), and that when they follow there is usually an article after
following the demonstrative.  It is also the case that OP often produces
situations like NOUN=ART DEM=ART, but it is possible to have NOUN DEM.
It is even possible to have "NOUN e."  There are, as I said, no examples
of a= (*Ha) following or preceding nouns, though it occurs with all the
enclitics that can attach to e.

This is the more common alternative with a single demonstrative and a
noun.

DEM NOUN

90:28.12     dhe' nikkas^iNga 'this person'
90:704.8     s^e' ni'kkas^iNga 'that fellow'
90:713.2     ga' waxiN'ha 'that paper [letter]'
90:25.5      e maN'ghe 'that sky'

DEM=NOUN (fused example of foregoing)

90:54.1      eaN'ba 'that day'

More elaborate possibilities:

DEM [NOUN VERB]
DEM [NOUN QUANT]

90:87.12-13  dhe' aN'xtiegaN u'z^u 'these principle head-men'
90:85.14     dhe' nu'z^iNga naN'ba 'these two boys'

This pattern seems to be pretty unusual:

DEM=ART NOUN

90:96.2      dhe'=khe s^aN'ge 'this horse'
90:57.9      s^e'=khe ttas^niN'gdhis^kaha 'that fawnskin bag'

More normal is:

DEM NOUN ART (QUANT)

90:86.7      dhe' us^te' ama 'these remaining ones'
90:149.4     dhe' tte'wa?u dhiNkhe 'this buffalo woman'
90:147.5-6   dhe' tti' ama' bdhu'ga 'all these lodges (of people)'

Demonstrative after noun also occurs, though I'm not sure what the
difference is.

NOUN DEM

90:85.2      a(N)'ma dhe 'this one'
90:330.1     niN' dhe' 'this water'
90:109.9     maN'zewethiN dhe(') 'this sword'
90:194.6     wadha'ha dhe' 'this clothing'
90:109.6     s^i'nudaN dhe=dhaNkhe=i=kki, maN'zewethiN dhe(')
             'these dogs and this sword'
90:721.3-5   ni'kkas^iNga s^e' 'those people'
90:295.15    xdhabe' s^e', zaNde' s^e' 'those trees, that thicket'
90:83.1      ttaN'waNgdhaN e 'that tribe'

Note the absence of ablaut in 109.6.  There =kki is 'when'.

NOUN=DEM (fused example of foregoing)

aN'ba=dhe 'today'

More common than just a demonstrative:

NOUN DEM=ART(=POST)

90:124.14    wa'xesabe dhe'=ama 'this blackman'
90:80.2      maN' dhe=the 'this arrow'
90:140.3     u'?e dhe'=khe 'this field'
90:213.11    z^aN" dhe'=the 'this wood'
90:109.6     s^i'nudaN dhe=dhaNkhe=i=kki, maN'zewethiN dhe
             'these dogs and this sword'
90:54.1      dhe'ghegakku s^e'=the 'that drum'
90:134.19    ppahe' s^e'=hi=dhe=khe 'that hill yonder'
90:...       ppa'he s^e'=hi=dhe=dhaN=di 'at that distant hill'
90:109.17    z^aN' s^e'=the 'that tree'
90:117.19    s^iu s^e'=thaN 'that prairie chicken'
90:167/2     s^i'nudaN s^e'=dhiNkhe 'that dog'
90:154.20    wa?u'zhiNga ga'=dhiN 'that old woman'
90:190.11    naN'b=udhixdhaN ga'=dhaN 'that ring'

The ... example is one that lacks a page number in the computer file and
I'm too lazy to look it up.

NOUN DEM=ART=ENC

90:221.14    ni'kkagahi dhe'=akha=s^ti 'this chief, too'

More elaborate structures:

[NOUN NOUN] DEM(=ART)
[NOUN VERB] DEM=ART
[NOUN QUANT] DEM (QUANT)

90:278.12    ni'as^iNga wahi' dhe' 'these human bones'
90:52.5      maNs^c^iN'ge iz^iN'ge e'=akha 'that Son of the Rabbit'
90:231.19    maN'ze na'=z^ide dhe'=khe 'this redhot iron'
90:278.5     wathaN'zi j^u'ba dhe'=dhiN 'a bit of corn like this'
90:107.13    we'?uhi e=s^naN dhe he'be
             'this piece of a mere hide scraper' (available in lieu
             of the desired metal blade)

Instances with DEM=naN 'that many' and DEM=dhaNska 'that large'

NOUN DEM=Q-THING
NOUN DEM=Q-THING(=ENC)
[NOUN QUANT] DEM=Q-THING

90:107.11    u?u'de dhe'=dhaNska '(a) hole this size'
90:27.12     ttez^iN'hiNde e'=dhaNska 'a yarn turban of that size'
90:149.19    tta' he'be dhe'=dhaNska 'a piece of jerked meat this size'
90:249.14    iN'?e ga'=dhaNska=xti dhe'=na=xti
             'just this many stones of just that size'

I included this as one example of an interesting idiom for 'this ...
behind'.

NOUN dhe'=tta ART (idiom: 'this X behind')

90:40.10     iNs^?a'ge dhe=tta dhiN 'this venerable man behind'

It is normal to have e after a noun if the following verb is 'mean,
intend'.  This looks like an incipient case of e= preverb, though Dorsey
doesn't write the e as a preverb.

NOUN DEM mean

90:181.12    he' e' wakhe'=akha=ama 'he meant those lice'
90:35.3      uc^hi'z^e e' wakha'=i 'he meant that thicket'

JEK