i- in Dhegiha i-POSITIONAL=...CAUSE (RE: Word for 'prairie'?)

[Rory M Larson]

> In general, however, I think the first set of evidence is fairly
> conclusive.

I agree, and would count myself newly convinced.

I remember about a year ago there was a discussion about
[verb of motion]+[another verb] combinations, like
"come help" or "go get drunk" in English.  I've forgotten
the jargon for this.  It almost looks like we might have
had that sort of situation using positionals for the
second verb.  Then the result of that becomes a descriptor
of a condition, which can thus be fed as the lexical
concept into a causative in these cases.  Thoughts?

Rory




                      Koontz John E
                      <John.Koontz at colorad        To:       siouan at lists.colorado.edu
                      o.edu>                      cc:
                      Sent by:                    Subject:  i- in Dhegiha i-POSITIONAL=...CAUSE (RE: Word for
                      owner-siouan at lists.c         'prairie'?)
                      olorado.edu


                      02/02/2004 12:50 AM
                      Please respond to
                      siouan






> > khe  ihe=...dhe
> > (The i here is probably not a locative, however.)
>
> I'm surprised.  It certainly "feels" like one to me.
> Is there evidence from other languages against the
> i- dative interpretation?

There are two sorts of evidence against i as a locative - instrumenal,
dative or otherwise - though I admit that I initially took this as a
locative myself, and we are lacking evidence of the most desirable sort -
a case of, say, A12 or P1 aN coming up against the i and not doing the
standard aNdhaN thing that characterizes the locative i.

The first kind of evidence is internal (and applies throughout Dhegiha, as
far as I know).  It happens that idhaN, ithe, and ihe occur frequently in
causatives (form=...dhe) in the sense 'put and object of such and such a
shape down' or 'put an object positioned in such and such a
configuration'.  However, they also occur alone and with causatives in the
sense 'be positioned; begin; do suddenly; do suddenly and repeatedly', and
in all these situations they alternate with thi-forms like thidhaN,
thithe, or thihe.  And we also see some cases with hi initial in such
sequences.  So it appears that i alternates with thi and hi, which are
clearly motion verbs ('to arrive here' and 'to arrive there'). Thus, it
seems likely that it is a motion verb itself, and, of course, there is i
'to come'.  However, dhe 'to go' never occurs in this context, so there
are some oddities to the slot.

The second kind of evidence is comparative.  In Dakotan equivalents of the
i forms you generaly see uN, e.g., uNgnahela 'suddenly', where I think the
initial uNgna matches igdhaN.  I am not positive of this, and the OP i
matches i across Dhegiha and in IO, all places where u might be expected,
if i is from *u.

In general, however, I think the first set of evidence is fairly
conclusive.