Michigamea (Re: (O)maha)

[David Costa]

Right, the /-si(i)w-/ negative often seen in Ojibwe & Miami is a fusion of a
diminutive suffix (the part with the 's') with an old dubitative suffix (the
part with the 'w'). My point was just that the leap from an old Algonquian
suffix to a prefix in an apparently Siouan language seems unlikely.

Dave


> 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
>>