Omaha fricative set

[Rankin, Robert L]

You're right!  I copied the Kaw form by mistake.  Kaw does have /ziziga/; Omaha /zizikka/.  But Omaha does have /zaNziga/ 'flicker', with the etymologically correct form of the root.  I guess /zizikka/ is what happened to common Dhegiha *sihka in Omaha.  These various largish bird terms don't seem to really be cognate across the plains Siouan languages.  Dakotan /ziNtka-/ not only has the z/s problem compared with Dhegiha, but it also has the nasal vowel and the /tk/ cluster.  Superficially, the /tk/ looks like it should match Dhegiha /kk/ or /hk/, but, in fact, it doesn't.  The *tk cluster actually metathesizes in Dhegiha to /kt/, with means that 'chicken' should really be /sitta/, not /sikka/.  So these are all borrowings and diffused words.  Unfortunately this reduces the usefullness of those three sets of apparent z/s correspondences I posted.  'Five' is still a mystery though. 
 
Bob

> OM  sikka  'chicken'    (but ziziga 'turkey')

??  The only 'chicken' terms I've heard of are waz^iN'gaz^ide ("red bird", Dorsey) and waz^iN'ga ("bird", modern Omaha).  On the other hand, to my knowledge, 'turkey' is zizi'kka, not zizi'ga.  Do you know where these terms were found?

Otherwise, thanks for your suggestions!  I'll try to follow up on them.

Rory