30th Annual Siouan and Caddoan Conference

[Catherine Rudin]

Hi, John.  

I plan on giving a paper -- by coincidence I just started working on it this week.  

Title:  "How different are Omaha and Ponca?  A preliminary investigation based on the Dorsey Slip File".

Very brief abstract:  

In years of working on Omaha-Ponca language it has never been clear to me how much difference there is between Omaha and Ponca dialects.  This paper begins to answer the question, by using James Owen Dorsey's Omaha/Ponca slip file, much of which is now being made available online, as part of the Omaha and Ponca digital dictionary project.   My method is simply to search for slips with dialect marking (P.) or (Om.) immediately after head word.  The vast majority of slips have no dialect label, so are presumably used in both Ponca and Omaha with identical form.  However, there are a (to me) surprising number of lexemes which ARE marked as dialect-specific.   The paper will present a list of Omaha vs. Ponca words, and an analysis of how they differ.  Preliminary analysis shows various phonological distinctions (vowel length, nasalization, accent, etc.) and some instances of different morphological construction or simply different words.  Some but by no means all of the words which differ are modern developments, i.e. words for post-contact cultural items.  

Can you confirm the exact dates of the conference?  I have a partial conflict -- a workshop in Beloit that same weekend, June 3-6.  So for me it would be great if the conference (or at least the hard-core linguists part) was as early as possible... Wed-Friday?  I have the conference dates written down as June 2-5 but will probably not stay for the 5th.  

Cheers --
Catherine


>>> Northeastern university <jp-boyle at neiu.edu> 04/27/10 3:04 PM >>>
Hi Everyone,

This is just a reminder that conference abstracts are due on May 14.  If you
could let me know if you would like a 30 minute time slot or if you will
need more time (an hour slot).

I'm trying to get a rough idea as to who will be presenting and who will be
present so that I can get a rough draft of schedule going.  If you could
please e-mail and let me know if you will be presenting and if you could
send me a working paper title that would be most helpful.  If you plan on
attending but not presenting, I would appreciate it if you could also drop
me an e-mail so we can make sure we are prepared for everyone (name tags,
volumes of coffee, snacks, etc.).

In addition to the conference, Johannes and I would like to keep the
momentum going for the Comparative Siouan Workshop.  We would like people to
either A) present new findings, or B) present or prepare your old/current
data with a section titled "What I need to finish".  We would like to
encourage everyone to see what they are missing (what data from what
languages) and let everyone know so that we can all help each other in
finishing this task we have all undertaken.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

All the best,

John


John P. Boyle
Assistant Professor
Department of Linguistics
NEIU