aspirated and unaspirated caga

[rlarson at unlnotes01.unl.edu]

> Third, while "ice" is always aspirated, as John points out, you'll have
> to check with the native speakers for the "icaga" pronunciatiion -- and
it
> may not help.  Unfortunately, all the palatalized forms of "kaga" that
I'm
> familiar with EXCEPTIONALLY aspirate that initial when it changes from
"k"
> to "c"; the best examples are the dative/benefactives, which go from kaga
> to kichaga.  My little note in the volume of IJAL that was dedicated to
> Eric Hamp speculates, on the basis of comparative evidence, that the "ch"
> in this case is not from the "k" at all, but from PSI *y.  There is a
> tendency that I haven't been able to find rules for for "k" to disappear
> between vowels in derived forms.  I speculate that that's what happened
to
> kicaga.  Since PSi *y regularly gives aspirated "ch" in Dakotan (cf.
> heart, wood, etc.), the sequence is: ***ki-kaga > **ki-aga > *ki -yaga
> (epenthetic y; note that this is "edh" in Dhegiha) > ki-chaga.

Interesting!  Actually, the OP (Dorsey) equivalent of this is gi-agha,
derived from gaghE, to make or do.  The equivalent sequence is:
***gi-gagha > gi-agha = gi-yagha, but NOT > *gi-dhagha.

We might need to distinguish two kinds of "epenthetic" here.  Sometimes
ease of speaking causes a new sound to arise, which can then function
as a new phoneme.  In this case, however, there is probably no
difference in actual pronunciation between *ki-aga and *ki-yaga, or
between *gi-agha and *gi-yagha; whether or not there is a y there is
entirely the listener's interpretation.  Apparently the Dakotans heard
a y and carried this word along with other y's to get ki-chaga, while
the Dhegihans did not count it as a y and left it alone as gi-agha.


Rory