Siouan tongue twisters?

[Greer, Jill]

Thanks, Saul -  Actually, Grandpa Truman still talked about the number 888 -  he would just laugh about it.  I can't remember any more right now, but if I ever get to go through all my field notes...



 of course, the sound symbolism he enjoyed too -  the word for sneeze was SO dead on target soundwise -  he?shi (sorry, no keyboard symbols here - it's a glottal stop, and the sh is as in English..)



Best,

Jill Greer



________________________________
From: Siouan Linguistics [SIOUAN at listserv.unl.edu] on behalf of Saul Schwartz [sschwart at PRINCETON.EDU]
Sent: Saturday, May 11, 2013 2:54 PM
To: SIOUAN at listserv.unl.edu
Subject: Siouan tongue twisters?

Hello,

Just wanted to share an amusing anecdote I encountered when I was in the American Philosophical Society Library recently going through Gordon Marsh's correspondence with Franz Boas. The following is in a letter from Marsh, dated August 6, 1936, updating Boas on the progress of his fieldwork with Chiwere speakers near Perkins, Oklahoma:

"I can say a few words and simple sentences and can ask for food at the table. The Indians get a great kick out of hearing me talk. Sometimes I read them parts of my text, a lot of which they have never heard, and they say it sounds very natural to them and they all understand it. They are pleased when I say 8888 for them. It is supposed to be the hardest thing to say and some of them say they can’t say it themselves. It is simply:

kóge glelábliⁿ gléblaⁿ húyaⁿ glelábliⁿnaⁿ gléblaⁿ glelábliⁿ aglíⁿ glelábliⁿ."

While I know that tongue twisters are a recognized form verbal play and source of amusement in many languages, this is the first time I've come across a Siouan one. If there are other examples of Siouan tongue twisters, I'd be interested to hear about them.

Be well,
Saul


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