Other Contexts that Condition =bi

[rlarson at unlnotes01.unl.edu]

> On Sat, 22 Sep 2001, Koontz John E wrote:
>> 4) The 'heraldic' or 'announcement by authority' or 'formal' declarative
>>    particles a'dha (male) and e'dhe (female) (sometimes ano (anau) in
>>    songs or modern speech, I think) also condition =bi. Dorsey often
>>    glosses these as 'indeed'.
>>
>> Dorsey 1890:33.10-11
>>
>> "Mas^c^iN'ge ni'kkagahi s^ka'ghe=tta=i"    a'=bi   a'dha.
>> "Rabbit      chief      you will make him" he says INDEED
>>
>> - Note that 'Rabbit' is consistently Mas^c^iN'ge in Dorsey's texts,
>>   whereas modern Omahas seem to much prefer Mas^tiN'ge.
>>
>> - This form of the future, with =i (if needed) and no positional is used
>>   for polite requests.  You might call it the precative.

> I spoke too soon, cf.

> 90:144.14

> s^aN'= s^kaghe=tta=i  a'dha
> enough you do  FUT PL indeed

> 'you will finish, indeed'

Yes.  I don't think that a'dha will predict -bi any more than
ki or egaN do.  The -i vs. -bi relate to the preceding thought,
not to the conjunctions or emotional modifiers that follow.

The second example is clear enough.  The -i there is either PL,
as you have it marked, or the factual declarative -i.  This is
a declaration (or veiled command) in the dialogue, addressed
to a group, of what they are to do.  There is no reason to use
the suppositional, dubitative, subjunctive particle -bi in
this case.

Your first example is much more interesting.  I have said in
an earlier posting that you would find virtually no examples
of -bi used in the dialogue.  Here you have found one that I
hadn't noticed before.

>> "Mas^c^iN'ge ni'kkagahi s^ka'ghe=tta=i"    a'=bi   a'dha.
>> "Rabbit      chief      you will make him" he says INDEED

If this is to be taken as a straight, deadpan statement

   "He says (or They say) you will make Rabbit a chief, indeed."

then I would predict a=i rather than a=bi.  But the Rabbit's
dialogue here is subtile.  The people he has freed from the
Devouring Hill had started homeward, and then gathered together
with the thought of making him chief.

   "Mas^c^iN'ge ni'kkagahi aNga'ghe tta=i", a'=bi=ama.

   "We will make Rabbit chief," they said (supposedly).

The Rabbit may or may not be with them at the time; this isn't
clear.  In any case, he addresses the people and scornfully
spikes the proposal as an absurdity.

   Mas^c^iN'ge ni'kkagahi s^ka'ghe tta=i a'       =bi      a'dha.
   Rabbit      chief      you make will  he says, they say INDEED

   Wi' ni'kkagahi kaN'bdha a'dhiNhe'iNthe.
   I   chief      I wish   I who move, it may be.

Dorsey has a note on page 34:

  33, 11. mas^c^iNge - - - a'bi a'dha, the words of the crier
  going through the camp, quoted by the Rabbit.
  kaN'bdha a'dhiNhe'iNthe (i. e., kaNbdha achiNhe eiNthe) is
  not in the *form* of a question, though it *implies* one,
  according to Sanssouci.

His free translation runs:

  "It is said, 'You shall make the Rabbit chief.'  As if *I*,
  for my part, had been desiring to be chief!!  (Or, Have I
  been behaving as if I wished to be chief?)

We all seem to be having a little trouble here.  Dorsey's
note implies that the entire first sentence is a quote by
Rabbit of what the camp crier had said.  But the people's
words were already quoted in the previous sentence as a
group proposal rather than as a command issued by a crier.
Dorsey's own translation breaks out the a'bi a'dha as the
Rabbit's assertion "It is said", and makes the rest of the
sentence a direct quote, which contradicts the note.

On page 83-84, we have a couple of examples of a herald
issuing the chief's commands to the camp.  They take the
form:

  [Sentence] tte  a=i'    a'dha  u+!
             will he says INDEED halloo!

(Note the use of tte in this case as referencing a plurality.)

This is closely parallel to what the Rabbit says, but takes
the definite -i form rather than the dubitative -bi form.
Also, the "he says" presumably refers to the chief; the
people in the case of the Rabbit have as yet no chief.

I'm not entirely sure what to make of this sentence, and I
would like to see some more comparable examples.  However,
if I read it by the rule of suppositional -bi, I get:

  "You shall make Rabbit chief," they supposedly say, indeed.
  As if *I* wanted to be chief!

Perhaps this can be best understood as a device commonly
used by leading figures in the community to refuse an office
that is about to be thrust upon them.  If they use the
definite form a=i' to reference the proposal, they make
the proposal real.  This is embarrassing to everyone if it
should happen that it isn't.  Furthermore, it clearly
implies that some particular people that could be named are
actually making the proposal.  This association would be
embarrassing to those implied parties, likely the leader's
fondest friends, given that the proposal is being rejected.
In this circumstance, it is probably better all around to
pretend that the proposal is only a rumor, or the speaker's
own misunderstanding of what has been said.  While the
Rabbit is certainly not going out of his way to be polite
in this case, his lead-in to his rejection speech may just
reflect the standard courteous formula of any leader in
the circumstance of trying to reject an unwanted office.


Rory