Ohio Valley Siouan breakdown and evidence redux.

[Rankin, Robert L]

2) And given the (admittedly scarce) evidence for the Casa being a Siouan tribe,
 
I'd have to say, not just 'scarce' . . .  non-existant actually.
 
> ...I wonder if there was an "Ohio Siouan" language consisting of the Mosopelea-Ousperie-Ofo and Casa tribolects, alongside the "Virginia Siouan" language, conceivably consisting of some or all of the following tribolects: Moneton, Nahyssan, Monacan, Manahoac, Tutelo, Saponi, and Occaneechi.
 
The evidence only permits us a couple of conclusions:
 
1.  Biloxi and Ofo (along with all of its earlier spellings) constitute one branch of the Ohio Valley subgroup of Siouan.  
 
2.  Tutelo, Saponi, Monyton and Occaneechi constitute the other (Virginia) branch of the OVS subgroup.  Those are the ONLY languages for which we have any sort of proof of Siouan identity (and Occaneechi is hearsay).  
 
Nahyssan (and variant spellings) is just the Tutelo name for "Tutelo" (Tutelo was a name given them by Iroquoian speakers), and so not a separate group/language.  Unfortunately "Manahoac, Monacan, Casa" (along with several other names like "Stuckanox, Tomahittan", etc.) cannot be identified as Siouan-speaking.  We just don't know for sure who they were.  If you uncover accounts in which more than one individual says something like "these guys speak the same language as the Tutelos", it would be a real contribution.  But thus far I haven't seen anything like that.  Various scholars have produced long lists of alledgedly Siouan names in VA and WV, but none of them adds up to reliable evidence.  
 
> In this case, perhaps the Casa autonym is Ohio Siouan *KhoN'?e/*KhoN'se, showing alteration between theta and ess, and with the form "Casa" being the tribe's name in the language that transmitted the name to La Salle.
 
I'd say the identification of "Casa" as Kansa can only be taken seriously  if they were located right around areas in which the ethnonym "Akans(e)a" turns up in early accounts or maps.  
 
Bob