Michigamea (Re: (O)maha)

[Rankin, Robert L]

I just heard Ives give his "history of Algonquian negation" paper and
was drawing on memory.   A lot of the forms had the /w/ all right, but
it was often followed by /i/ or /ii/, which may have some other identity
for all I know.  I think the /si(i)/ is probably the /hisi(i)/
diminutive that seems to take part in negation, but I'll have to go
check Ives' handout.

Bob

-----Original Message-----
From: David Costa [mailto:pankihtamwa at earthlink.net]
Sent: Monday, March 29, 2004 1:53 PM
To: siouan at lists.colorado.edu
Subject: Re: Michigamea (Re: (O)maha)


There isn't any Algonquian negative /wi(i)/ that I'm aware of, at least
not a prefix, which is what seems to be present here. There is a SUFFIX
/-w-/ which characterizes the negative in Eastern Algonquian languages,
and which co-occurs with the negative suffix /-si(i)/ in Ojibwe and
Miami, but nothing at the front of words like this. Whatever the
Michagamea <we-> is, it's probably homegrown Siouan.

Dave



> The "negative" we- looks much more like the Algonquian negative wi(i)
> than anything Siouan, but I'm not in a position to say much more, I'm
> afraid.
>
> Bob