Omaha and Lakota Words

[Jimm G. GoodTracks]

Include me on the story list!


From: Scott Collins 
Sent: Friday, August 26, 2011 12:48 AM
To: siouan at lists.Colorado.EDU 
Subject: Re: Omaha and Lakota Words


      Me too...

      Scott P. Collins


      --- On Thu, 8/25/11, Mary C Marino <mary.marino at usask.ca> wrote:


        From: Mary C Marino <mary.marino at usask.ca>
        Subject: Re: Omaha and Lakota Words
        To: siouan at lists.Colorado.EDU
        Date: Thursday, August 25, 2011, 11:25 AM


        I'd like to hear it.

        Mary


        On 25/08/2011 6:42 AM, Cumberland, Linda A wrote:
        > Not for Dhegiha, but I have a nifty and rather lengthy one for
        > Assiniboine, if you're interested. -Linda
        >
        > Quoting Scott Collins <saponi360 at yahoo.com>:
        >
        >> In relation to Umon'hon'ti, the Sacred Pole of the Omaha, Riddinton
        >> from 1993 states, "...Umon'hon'ti is a single person in whom these
        >> halves have joined." This statement is talking about the nature of
        >> the Sacred Pole, i.e ceremonial object, an the coming together of the
        >> Above World and the Middle World into one being/ceremonial object.
        >> Are there any other examples of this dual nature in Omaha words.
        >>
        >> On another subject, I also wanted to ask if there are Omaha stories
        >> about Morning Star that are similar in any fashion to the Hochunk
        >> stories of Morning Star and Evening Star. Anyone on the list that may
        >> have information regarding this in Osage, Quawpa, Ponca and Kansa-Kaw
        >> also?
        >>
        >>
        >>
        >> Scott P. Collins
        >>
        >>
        >> --- On Mon, 8/22/11, Rory M Larson <rlarson at unlnotes.unl.edu> wrote:
        >>
        >>
        >> From: Rory M Larson <rlarson at unlnotes.unl.edu>
        >> Subject: Re: Omaha and Lakota Words
        >> To: siouan at lists.Colorado.EDU
        >> Date: Monday, August 22, 2011, 6:16 PM
        >>
        >>
        >> David wrote:
        >>>                   I wonder if wiN and Omaha mi are cognate, despite
        >>> the difference
        >>> in meaning.  Lakota 'moon' is wi, without nasalization.
        >>
        >>
        >> David, I'm pretty sure they are cognate in this case, both with the
        >> meaning of 'woman'.  We are dealing with two separate roots here, but
        >> in Omaha they are similar enough to be confused.
        >>
        >>               Lakhota           Omaha
        >>               -------           -----
        >>
        >>   sun/moon      wi               mi`(N)
        >>
        >>   woman         wiN              mi_(N)
        >>
        >> I've recently established, tentatively, with one speaker, that there
        >> is a pronunciation difference between the two terms in Omaha.  The
        >> 'sun/moon' term apparently has an emphatic, falling pitch or tone,
        >> while the 'woman' term is more drawn out and level in pitch.  In
        >> terms of the long/short vowel dichotomy researchers have been looking
        >> at in other languages, I have been supposing that the emphatic,
        >> falling pitch is short, while the more level pitch is long.  (There
        >> is a third, rising and falling tone in Omaha which is much less
        >> common, and which is neither of these.)  However, this interpretation
        >> clashes with what is recorded in Carolyn Quintero's Osage Dictionary
        >> and in Helmbrecht/Lehmann's Hocak Teaching Materials, both of which
        >> have the vowel for the 'sun/moon' term as long.  Perhaps Omaha has
        >> reinterpreted the original system so that length itself is no longer
        >> a factor.
        >>
        >> In Lakhota, wi and wiN can easily be distinguished by nasalization or
        >> not, because /w/ is an oral consonant.  In Dhegiha, this /w/ has
        >> become /m/, which can flavor the following vowel with its nasality
        >> and ruin the distinction.
        >>
        >> As an added complication, the old mi_(N) term for 'woman' has dropped
        >> out of the vocabulary in Omaha, and I believe in Dhegiha generally.
        >>  It has been replaced by *wak?o, which is wa?u` in Omaha.  The mi_(N)
        >> term remains in about a half-dozen compounds, where it sometimes
        >> contrasts with nu`, 'man', which is cognate with Lakhota blo.  But
        >> the fact that it doesn't exist as a separate word means that native
        >> speakers may not recognize that mi_(N) means 'woman'.  In the case of
        >> mi_(N)-x^u_ga, some of them apparently rationalized the mi_(N) as
        >> mi`(N), understood as 'moon', and developed the moon dream conception
        >> as an explanation for the existence of the mi_(N)-x^u_ga.
        >>
        >> Rory
        >>
        >
        >
        >

     
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