Same word, different meanings

Rory M Larson rlarson at unlnotes.unl.edu
Mon Oct 25 22:59:20 UTC 2004


Rory wrote:
> I don't think the first two words are actually homonyms,
> at least in Omaha.  Our speakers definitely distinguish
> them, and pronounce them with a somewhat different tonal
> contour that I haven't really been able to pin down yet.
> I'll have to raise this with them again.

Just did that, and got shot down.  This time our speaker
held that noNz^iN 'stand' and noNz^iN 'rain' are in fact
homonyms, as Kathy originally stated.  (She started to cramp
up just about the moment I took the opportunity to ask her,
so I failed to get a very clear rendition of the word from
her, and possibly 'homonym' was the least painful answer
for her to give at that moment.)  She did confirm Kathy's
noNz^iN noNz^iN, and augmented it in repetition to

  S^ettaN'na naNz^iN' naNz^iN'.
  Still      rain     stands
  It's still raining.

In any case, I'd like to retract the above cited paragraph,
at least for now.  Sorry about that.

Rory



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