animate wa-

[Koontz John E]

On Mon, 22 Dec 2003, REGINA PUSTET wrote:
> The form wawokiya 'to help people with something' in
> my previous post, however, remains a grain in the
> ointment. My speaker feels that in this case, wa-
> indeed expresses the notion of 'people in general'.

I wonder if it might not be reasonable to consider wa in this case (and
also the waphata 'to butcher' case) as "especially general" or "especially
indefinite" animates, perhaps sanctioned by lexicalization at a stage in
which wic^ha was primarily inflectional?  Do these forms admit use of
wic^ha as well, perhaps with some contrast in meaning?