?uN as AUX V.

[R. Rankin]

Apropos our recent discussion of the meaning(s)/use(s)
of reflexes of Proto-Siouan ?uN 'do, be' as some sort
of past (perfective or imperfective) and
probably-aspectual auxiliary, I was just going over an
old paper of mine on Biloxi aspiration and ran across
this obvious entry in Dorsey and Swanton's 1912 Biloxi
dictionary:

uNni 'sign of continuous action' (?) with various
examples (p. 284, and the ? is Dorsey's).  This pretty
much confirms Catherine's and John's notion that this
aux. functions as an imperfective marker.  Thus far I
have no feeling for when you would use reflexes of *?uN
and when you might use positionals, but presumably the
distinction is that one that exists between
'continuative aspect' and 'imperfective aspect'.

Bob