Conjugation Of A Sentence in Tutelo-Saponi

[Rankin, Robert L.]

Aloha nā Siouanists,

> I had a guess on this sentence if it was UmoNhoN, which I checked with my NoNha.  In Omaha, the article would occur, but it would be functioning as a subordinator:

> MoNhiNskithe bthoN   tHe  xtaathe.
> Grass.sweet    it.smells the  I.like
ʻI like the smell of sweetgrassʻ  (Or awkwardly but more literally, ʻthat sweet grass smells, I like it.ʻ)

> Probably Tutelo articles donʻt function anywhere near like Omahaʻs beautiful, powerful articles, but I am wondering if there might not be a subordinator needed there, too.  The sentence feels awkward to me without.

Interesting, Ardis.  I bet Tutelo does work the same way.  That seems to be a standard Siouan pattern.  But I'll defer to my syntactician colleagues.

Does Omaha use MoNhiNskithe for real sweetgrass?  Sounds like a loan-translation from English.  The Dakotan term has a cognate in Dhegiha, but it's the word for 'onion'.  I was wondering if NE Nebraska has sweetgrass and, if so, what the Omahas and Poncas call it.

Best,

Bob
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