WHICH IS IT?

[Mark J Awakuni-Swetland]

Jimm,
The speakers routinely described the tailed-c as being either /s/ or /z/ 
in the F&LaF system. Grandma Elizabeth probably ignored the Omaha 
spelling, looked at the English gloss (or context of the word), and 
rendered the appropriate sound.

So, tailed-ci could be 'zi' yellow, or 'si' foot.

Not very useful for students who don't know the underlying possibilities.

One particular example had stumped us for many years -- a female personal 
name that appears in several Omaha clans.

noN tailed-ce iN tailed-ce

noNseiNse?
noNseiNze?
noNzeiNse?
noNzeiNze?

None of my speakers could recall anyone with the name as a model for 
pronunciation.

An Omaha tribal member who transferred to UNL last fall and got into our 
Omaha language class recognized it as belonging to one of his elder female 
relatives. It turns out the the fourth rendereing was it. Who could have 
known based upon the 2-sound possibilities for the tailed-c.

washkoN-ga-ho!
Uthixide



Omaha Nation Public School and UNL have routinely been changing the 
tailed-c to the appropriate /z/ or /s/.

Perhaps others on the List can address the /th/ question.





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WHICH IS IT?






In LaFleche's Osage Dicionary and Mark S's Omaha Lexicon, both use Dorsey 
"c" with a cedilla.
LaFleche's phonetic key has reads:  "C (+ cedilla)  as in thin" 
Mark's pronunciation guide has:  "C (+ cedilla) sounds like s in the word 
say." 
 
Which way is it? Are they both correct?
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