do/done auxiliary

R. Rankin rankin at ku.edu
Fri Jun 21 18:40:28 UTC 2002


> Is this the -noN (1st person -noNmoN) that I always
gloss "usually" or
> "habitual"?  How would past/perfective give this very
IMperfective meaning?
> Or are there (sigh) TWO -noN suffixes?   Catherine

Looking at this more closely ... yes, there are clearly
two -naN suffixes in Omaha (or one naN and one dhaN)
and you exemplified both.  The first is probably
the -naN from earlier *-$naN, i.e., the 'habitual'
proper, while -maN is the first person of the
*other* -naN, the one JOD glosses 'past'.  This latter
one is the conjugated form of *?uN 'do, be'.  It
acquires an epenthetic initial -n- or -dh- in Dhegiha
like several other V-initial auxiliaries do.  And it is
the second one of these that I've been referring to in
this thread unless I referred specifically to the
'habitual'.

Bob



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