Cranberries (Re: ho 'circle')

R. Rankin rankin at ku.edu
Thu Jul 15 00:01:01 UTC 2004


> The lack of the expected vowel has a phonologically regular solution.  It
> appears to me that *a > *e / [velar] ___ # in Winnebago-Chiwere, and all
> *e > 0 (that's zero) / [simple C] __ # in Winnebago.  Final e, original or
> from *a, is saved in Winnebago only in monosyllables and after clusters.
> Chiwere (Ioway-Otoe) is a God-send because it keeps all the final *e
> from final *a after velar, showing the vowel shift occurred.

I knew that.  I just couldn't remember it.   :-)

BTW, the reason for the modifier with the ho- 'cranberry', I think, is that the
*ho by itself was probably the 'black hawthorn' ("black haws") word.  It gets an
'absolutive' *wa- or *wi- in several dialects and the resultant *w-h cluster
apparently comes out as a /p/.

Bob



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