Affricates in Omaha-Ponca (long)

[Koontz John E]

Affricated Words in Omaha-Ponca in the Dorsey Texts
JE Koontz


Essentially, affrication has diminutive force, but this diminution may
work to indicate small size, or to mitigate the sense of something
possibly offensive, or perhaps to forfend a reference to something
dangerous, or to indicate cute behavior, or to speak to children, or as a
child, and so on.

Affricates also occur in foreign names (and maybe other borrowings), in
onomatopoeic forms, and exclamations.


Vocabulary

+ a'gaz^ade ~ a'gaz^aj^e 'take a step, step over'

Occurs once affricated, in reference to stepping over a snake.  Perhaps
placative?

+ bac^ha'ge 'blunt'

Only in a name, He'bac^hage 'Blunt Horns'.

+ bic^[h]i'c^[h]ide 'to press on and break'

Cf. perhaps naNt[h]i'de 'to make a drumming sound in running'.

+ c^hakki 'slouchy' (per Swetland)

Somewhere - maybe from Mark Swetland - I have gotten the impression that
'disheveled' might work also as a gloss.  Occurs in a name
MaNdhiN'=c^[h]akki, presumably 'Goes along in a disreputable condition'.
One of three words in initial ch in Swetland, the other two being c^ha'za
(see below) and c^[h]e'dhukki 'Cherokee', probably an English loan.

+ c^[h]a'za 'slouchy' (per Swetland)

Occurs in a name, C^[h]a'zadhiNge, apparently 'Lacking slouchiness'.
Might be a Dakotan loan, since c^ha'za has unaccented final a after z,
which is more typical of Dakotan forms.  OP would tend to have e there.
However, the form is attested for OP in Swetland and the comparable form
c^[h]akki is also somewhat non-canonical.  I don't know of any comparable
forms in Dakotan.

+ c^c^es^ka 'small'

Always affricated.  Occurs in both c^c^e's^ka=xti and c^c^e's^ka=xc^i
'very small'.

+ c^hi 'to have sex with; to fuck' (of humans or humanized creatures)

Always affricated, perhaps originally to mitigate its force.  Cf. Dakotan
hu, both from PSi *thu.

+ c^[h]u 'spit'

Two examples, one reduplicated, but affricated.  Onomatopoeic?

+ dhi?a'j^e 'to open (fan) out the tail' (of a bird)

Nonce form.

+ du'ba ~ j^u'ba 'some, a few'; j^u'ba=xc^i 'very little'

Both forms fairly common.  Dorsey writes j^ as dj, but sometimes a form
d<apostrophe opening right>u'ba occurs.  Might be j^u'ba or duu'ba with
glottalization to emphasize length?

+ haN'egaNc^he 'morning' (modern Omaha h<ae>N'gac^hi)

Probably haN'=egaN=c^he affricated from haN'=egaN=the 'when it is [a bit]
like night'.  Always affricated.

+ iNc^haN'ga 'mouse'

Always affricated.

+ iNc^haNgaska 'weasel' < 'mouse' + 'white'

Always affricated.  I believe I have also encountered iNc^haN'ska
somewhere.

+ iNde' ~ iN'j^e 'face'

The affricated form occurs once in the name of a raccoon in a story:
IN'j^e xdhe'ghe 'Spotted Face'.  I'd have guessed 'striped' or 'barred'
more apt than 'spotted'!

+ i(N)s^ta' ~ is^c^a' 'eye'

Once in is^c^asi 'eyeball' < 'eye' + 'seed', in a fixed (offensive)
epithet 'big eyeballs' directed at the Rabbit.

+ iN'thaN ~ iN'c^haN 'now' (especially iN'c^haN=xc^i)

Affricated form much more common.

+ kki'xaxaj^aN 'wren'

Always affricated, but occurs in one story only.  Possibly onomatopoeic.

+ maNc^hu' 'grizzly bear'

Always affricated.  Perhaps a placative form.  Cf. Dakotan matho'.

+ mas^tiN'ge ~ mas^c^iN'ge 'rabbit; Rabbit'

The affricated variant is more common in the texts.  Dorsey does not use
the word 'hare', so we can't tell if 'hare' vs. 'rabbit' is meant.
However, most references refer to the Rabbit or a rabbit character (not
necessarily the usual folk hero Rabbit) in a story.

+ naNz^a'z^aj^e 'kicking his legs out'

Nonce form.  Reduplicated.  Cf. a'gaz^ade.

+ na'=zizij^e 'to sizzle on the fire'

Nonce form.

+ nudaN'haNga ~ nuj^aN'haNga 'war chief, war party leader'

Initially accented in vocative.  Affricated form not common, but occurs
sporadically.

+ si'j^u=axc^i 'alone, only'

Nonce form.

+ ttac^[h]u'ge 'antelope'

Nonce form, confirmed in Fletcher & LaFlesche.

+ Tta'xti Gi'kkida=bi ~ Tta'=xti Gi'kkij^a=bi 'They Kill His Deer for Him'

Name of a monster.  Occurs once affricated.

+ t?e ~ c^?e 'to die'; t?e=dhe ~ c^?e=dhe 'to kill'

Sporadically with c^?.  Perhaps a mitagatory form.

+ uc^[h]iz^e 'thicket'

Also once, a verbal form wi'uc^[h]iz^e 'they are troublesome to us', which
is the wa- 'us' form of udhu'c^[h]iz^e (udhu- cf. Dakotan iyo-).  Always
affricated.  Perhaps a placative form. Os ochiz^e 'a row, an uproar, a
riot', Ks oc^hiz^e 'confusion, as many talking at once'.  Cf. perhaps
Dakotan iyotiyekhiya 'to have troubles' (but that isn't aspirated).

+ (maN'ze) ukkia'c^[h]ac^[h]a 'iron chain' = 'iron' + the next form
+ u[']kkia'c^[h]ac^[h]a=xti 'tied in many places'

Two nonce forms.  Dorsey indicates accent on the third vowel.

+ wac^higaghe 'to dance' (wadhachigaghe 'you dance')

Gaghe perhaps added historically to avoid homophony with c^hi.  Cf.
Dakotan wac^hi.

+ waj^e'ppa 'herald'

Occurs as a name, reported in Fletcher & LaFlesche, I think, to mean
'herald', i.e., camp crier.

+ wathi's^ka ~ wac^his^ka 'creek'

The affricated form is the more common variant in the texts.

+ waxta' ~ waxc^a' 'fruit, vegetable'

Occurs just once affricated in the phrase waxc^a' z^iN'ga 'small
vegetable'.  Also used for 'flower', but doesn't occur in Dorsey in that
sense.

+ we'wac^hi 'scalp dance'

Nonce derivative of wac^hi in wa-i-, see wac^higaghe.


Grammatical Elements

+ c^[h]abe 'very'

This is an adverbial auxiliary that inserts between the verb and the
plural/proximate marker, e.g., thaN' c^ha'ba=i 'they were numerous',
ppi'=b=az^i c^ha'ba=i 'they are very bad', aNwaN'xpani c^ha'be 'I am very
poor'.

+ =di ~ =j^i 'in, at'

Occurs once as =j^i in idha'naxida=j^i 'at a sheltered place' (vs.
idha'naxide=adi, also attested).

+ =s^te ~ =xc^e 'soever'

Nonce form a'=naska=xc^e=xc^i 'of some size or another'.  A'=naska is
'what/some size'.

+ =thaN ~ =c^haN EXTENT

Nonce form ga'=c^haN=ma 'the ones that high'

+ =the ~ =c^he 'the (inanimate upright), the(time), when'

See haN'egaNc^he.

Also in ga'=c^he=gaN 'thus', etc.

+ =tte ~ =c^c^e IRREALIS

Sporadically affricated, e.g., e'be xtaN'=dhe=c^c^e 'who will love me?'
(Rabbit being cute), wic^hi=c^c^e 'I will have sex with you'.

+ =xti ~ =xc^i 'very, true'

The =xc^i variant is fairly common, but tends to occur with certain forms,
e.g., this non-exahustive list:

dha'dhuha=xc^i 'almost'
j^u'ba=xc^i 'a very little'
kkaN'ge=xc^i 'very near'
ppahaN'ga=xc^i 'the very first'
ppa'ze=xc^i 'very late in the evening'
ppez^i'=xc^i 'very bad'
ppi'=az^i=xc^i 'very bad'
naN'z^iNs^ke=xc^i 'scarcely'
ni=a'z^i=xc^i 'not at all in pain'
uma'kka=xc^i 'very easy (in mind, behavior), i.e., placid, sanguine'
uxdhe'=xc^i 'very soon'
wiN'a=xc^i '(just) one'
z^iN'ga=xc^i 'very small'

Also, PRO=xc^i 'only PRO', e.g., wi'=xc^i 'I only'.  Also not affricated.

Also, PRO=(s^)na=xc^i 'only PRO', e.g., wi'=naN=xc^i 'only me' or
e'=na=xc^i (or e=na'=xc^i) 'only one, alone, him only'.  Sometimes not
affricated.

Also, COLOR=xc^i 'very COLOR' (maybe 'rather COLOR'?), e.g., ska'=xc^i
'very white', ttu'=xc^i 'very green'.  Unaffricated examples of these
occur.

Also in two kinterm truncated diminutives, saN'=z^iN=xc^i 'dear little
brother' < isaN'ga '(his/her) younger brother' + z^iN'ga 'little' + xc^i,
and si'=z^iN=xc^i 'dear little child' < ini'si 'offspring' + ... and
untruncated (i)ttu's^pa=z^iN=xc^i '(one's) dear little grandchild' <
ittu's^pa 'one's grandchild' + ...


Example of "Grandmother" or "Baby" Speech

E=a'c^haN=   xc^i c^?e'=wadhadhe=c^c^e=iN=the
How on earth very will you kill them   perhaps
JOD 90:28.18  (Grandmother to Rabbit)

This would more normally be pronounced:

E=a'thaN=xti t?e'=wadhadhe=tte=iN=the

There may be lexical differences as well, since 'How on earth" is usually
rendered as a'=xt(i)=aN.  Dorsey glosses this 'how possibly'.  'How on
earth' is my rendition of that.


Foreign Names

+ C^[h]eghappa = C^hegha=(pabu ?) 'Beats the Drum' (Dakota)

+ J^o 'Joe (Joseph LaFlesche)'  English (originally French)

+ MaNac^[h]eba = Mawac^hepa (said to be Yankton)

+ Mic^[h]axpe Z^iNga = Mic^haxpi (C^histina?) 'Little Star' (Da)

+ MuNj^e XaN'j^e 'Big Bear' (IO)


Onomatopoeia

+ See c^hu 'to spit' above.
+ See kki'xaxaj^aN 'wren' above.

+ c^hu 'sound of hot iron inserted in wound'
+ c^?u 'sound of bullet'
+ c^hu 'noise of ratling'
+ c^hi c^hi c^hi 'call of chipmunk'


Exclamations

+ hiNc^[h]e 'surprising'

Perhaps a variant of the common hiNda(khe) 'let's see'.

+ i'c^[h]ic^[h]i 'ouch, it's hot'

+ idhiac^? idhiac^?e 'exclamation of wonder'

John E. Koontz
http://spot.colorado.edu/~koontz