wichamak'u (Re: argument structure k'u etc.)

[Koontz John E]

On Mon, 4 Apr 2005, REGINA PUSTET wrote:
> In an earlier discussion, I quoted the follwing example from my text data:
>
> (4)        wicha-ma-k'u-pi  'they (my family) gave me to them (my husband's family) in marriage'

This is very like the example Linda earlier reported that her Assiniboine
consultant gave once, but now rejects.  The difference is that the patient
and recipient are reversed:

LC > [*]pusapina wiNc^ha-ma-k'u-pi  'they gave me the kittens'"

Of course, the ranking of kittens is lower, presumably, than spouse's
family, and these are different dialects, but I'm still wondering if what
we might have is the possibility of both indexes, but with low felicity.
Or is it English influence, etc.?  I note that Regina's example came from
text, not elicitation, so it should be reasonably natural, for all of
which it might still be English influence, if the text was modern, which I
no longer recall, though I think it was.