Siouan and Iroquoian

[Wallace Chafe]

I was interested to see the PMV reconstruction =xti(N), because this is one
of those intriguing resemblances between Siouan and Iroquoian, where in the
latter there's an intensifier with the form =hji. (No nasalization, but
Iroquoian doesn't have a nasalized I.) I guess you'd call it fossilized
too, in the sense that it only occurs with a few established forms.
Particularly intriguing is the combination -keN-hji, which is an Iroquoian
stem meaning "old" as applied to a human. How widespread in Siouan is -kaN-
"old"?

Wally

> There are at least three morphemes that show final i ~ iN in Dakotan.  It
> is intersting to see this alternation so far afield.  Besides =ki (Teton
> and/or modern?) and =kiN (Santee and/or old?), I have run into:
>
> PMV =xti(N) 'real, very'
>
> Te ec^he'=xc^i just so'
> Sa ec^he'=xc^iN ~ ec^he'=xtiN 'just so'
> (In Da more or less fossilized where it occurs, I think.)
>
> OP =xti ~ =xc^i
>
> IO =xj^i
>
> Wi =xj^iN