Usage of w/m in Tutelo pronouns

[Rankin, Robert L]

I believe that in her analysis she felt that the sounds [m] and [w] were treated as the same sound by Tutelo/Saponi speakers.  The single phoneme would have had the pronunciation [m] if it came before a nasal vowel and [w] before an oral vowel.  This may not resolve the issue completely, as speakers may simply have vacillated back and forth between the two pronunciations.  The two sounds do not seem to actually contrast with each other in Virginia Siouan like they do in English "met" vs. "wet".  
 
One of my former students, Cory Spotted Bear, was learning the Mandan language from Edwin Benson.  One day he heard Mr. Benson say a particular word but couldn't quite make out the first sound in the word.  He asked "was that an "m" or a "w"??  Mr. Benson answered "yes".
 
Just yesterday I was typing some of my Kansa language notes and found that on one page I had heard the word "milk" as [bazeni].  On the very next page (from the following day's recordings) I had written it [mazeni].  Those two little anecdotes may say something about the same sounds in Saponi.  My guess is that the 19th century linguists who wrote the words down probably had similar experiences.
 
Giulia Oliverio is probably still using the email address:  fngro at uaf.edu.  You can try corresponding with her.
 
Good luck,
 
Bob Rankin

________________________________

From: owner-siouan at lists.colorado.edu on behalf of Marvin Richardson
Sent: Fri 9/1/2006 2:35 PM
To: siouan at lists.colorado.edu
Subject: Usage of w/m in Tutelo pronouns



Is it more proper to use w or m in the case of Tutelo pronouns, such as wi 1sgP vs. mi 1sgP in Tutelo verbs.  Could someone explain Oliverio's usage a little. Sorry if I'm not asking the question correctly.

 

Marvin "Marty" Richardson

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