One more request - noun classifier suffix in Mandan

[George Wilmes]

Bryan, here is something from Kennard's Mandan grammar that might be
relevant to your query about subkinds:

93. Classifying -nacini. - The suffix
-na'cini is a classifier, in that it refers to the
class of objects to which the noun belongs. It
is related to the verbal suffix -nac which
expands the stem to include actions not
ordinarily included (see section 78). Examples are:
kate'kana'cini such as chokecherries (kate'ka stem;
na'cini classifier)
mako:'na'cini omini'kana'cini things like squash
and beans (mako:' stem; na'cini; omini'k stem;
na'cini)
si:'na'cini things such as tallow
meni'sna'cini such as horses

Here is the source for the above:
IJAL Vol. 9, No. 1, Aug., 1936
ISSN:00207071
Issue Stable URL:http://www.jstor.org/stable/i253985
page 26

And just for context, here is the section 78 referred to above, for
the verbal suffix -nac:

78. Suffix -nac. - The suffix -nac is similar
to -ahka in adding a quality of vagueness
to the stem, and widening the category in
some instances (see section 93). Examples are:
xa'mahanaco'makoc it was kind of small (xa'mah
small; -a- inserted between sonant and surd; -nac
kind of ; -o'makoc narrative past)
si'nacha da'hini he went wandering and (si to
travel; -nac changes meaning to wander; -ha
adverbalizes the complex; dah from deh to go; -i-
phonetic connective; -ni general connective)
i'rexana'cki when it was light enough (i'rex light;
-a- inserted betwee nsurd and sonant; -nac enough;
-ki temporal subordination)
i'kahekana'cka')he he remembered well enough it is
said (i'kahek stem; -a- between sonant and surd;
-nac well enough; -ka'^eh quotative)
'i'ckanaco'makoc he resembled him (he was some-
what like that) ('zt'cka to be that way; -nac kind
of, changes stem to "resemble"; -o'makoc narra-
tive past)
e'henactore he would imply (he would kind of say)
(e'he third person of irregular verb; -nac changes
stem from "to say" to "to imply"; -tore future
to women)
That is from page 23 of the book.

Hope that helps.

George

On Sun, May 23, 2010 at 2:38 PM, Bryan James Gordon <linguista at gmail.com> wrote:
> One more thing (and this one does not need audio):
> Does anyone have any examples, in whatever language, of what is called
> "subkind" reference?
> This means using a noun to refer to particular different sorts of things
> that that noun refers to. In English such nouns are always plural. Here's
> some English examples:
> SHOES
> A: What shoes do you have? B: High-top, low-top, loafers...
> MAGAZINES
> A: What magazines do you have? B: Leisure, sports, news...
> COFFEES
> A: What coffees do you have? B: French roast, decaf, light roast...
> Here are some things that are NOT subkinds:
> A: What coffees do you have? B: Small cups, large cups, medium cups...
> A: What magazines do you have? B: Esquire, NASCAR, Newsweek...
> A: What shoes do you have? B: These here, this pair, and the discount rack.
>
> --
> ***********************************************************
> Bryan James Gordon, MA
> Joint PhD Program in Linguistics and Anthropology
> University of Arizona
> ***********************************************************
>