butterfly

[Koontz John E]

On Wed, 29 Oct 2003, Justin McBride wrote:
> This happens in Osage, too, although with some degree of variation.  I
> have heard both níhka sape and something begining with an m.
> Curiously, the m form of (n~m)i(hk)a sa(pe) comes out sounding like "miá
> sa" by just about everyone that uses it.  I have been told that it is in
> fact the same pun that you mentioned above.  And I also apologize for
> this, as it is definitely not my intention of offending anyone.

Reduction of medial lax stops is pretty standard in Osage, Kaw, and, I
think, Quapaw, especially in compounds.  I think the progression is sape >
sae > sa.  I think this is old, since some of the earliest known forms
probably of Osage origin are ethnonyms like Paniassa, possibly ppadhiN
(w)asa 'Black (Painted?) Pawnee' = 'Wichita'.

I've heard medial -d- reduced in OP, though I don't recall the example.
OP - and I think the rest of Dhegiha, too - also reduce dh to 0, so
e'gidhe 'and then, of course, ...' is egie or ege in fast speech.

OP also reduces things like CVCe to CV in first elements of compounds, as
do the others, but I think this is an outgrowth of old CVC- combining
forms, examples are things like s^aNttaNga 'wolf' and waz^iNttu 'blue
bird'.

Finally, there is an alternation between nikkas^iNga and nias^iNga for
'person'.  This actually has some sort of semantic distinction associated
with it.  I think the latter form refers to 'one of our people' vs. 'a
person generally', but this is just a hunch.