Question re: Dhegiha and other Siouan quotatives

[Mcbride, Justin]

For what it's worth, I believe that what appears to be a second token of
aba in the example, aba-daN is actually a different type altogether. In
this case, I think it's a case of the verb e(e), 'to say', plus the -(a)be
completive aspect marker plus the conjunction -(a)daN, 'and'
[e(e)-(a)be-(a)daN > aba-daN]. If so, then, that one really is just 's/he
said and,' and the first one is actually the subject marker. But that's not
to say that there aren't other examples of the quotative use of subject
markers in Ks, even within the same text. Here's an example of quotative
akHa:

iccikkitaNga akha oo aNs^i waali miNkHe akHa.
The Old Man said, "Oh, I'm getting fat."

This case is much clearer to my way of thinking because there are two
verbal auxiliaries marking the same state (in this case, at rest)
back-to-back, one of which refers to 1st person (miNkHe, part of the
quotation), and one 3rd person (akHa, marks quotation). It's curious to
note that in the audio for this, the speaker laughs after miNkHe and then
almost catches her breath before saying akHa, which would indicate to me
that she felt it was essential for concluding the sentence. It's
interesting to me in that it seems that the entire quoted clause is acting
almost like a verb following the canonical pattern (subject) SUBJ (verb)
AUX, where SUBJ and AUX match shape in the continuative aspect, as in
s^idoz^iNga akHa ghaage akHa, 'the boy is crying.'

-jtm


On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 1:50 PM, Rory Larson <rlarson1 at unl.edu> wrote:

>  Hi Dave,
>
>
>
> In Omaha and Ponca, the corresponding article is amá, where you have abá.
> As with Kaw, it tends to imply 'moving/absent'.  But we also have another
> particle, apparently pronounced the same way, coming at the end of the
> sentence, that implies that the foregoing is hearsay rather than solid
> fact.  It can stand by itself, or it can be coupled with the 'allegedly'
> particle bi to make the common ending for 3rd person hearsay action,
> biama.
>
>
>
> I notice the accent changes to the first syllable in the second case of
> your example.  I wonder if that could be underlyingly a-aba in that case?
> The first would be the ablauted version of 'he said it', followed by either
> the Old Man's article abá or a 'hearsay' particle as in OP.  One problem
> with that would be that the 'hearsay' amá in OP shouldn't cause a preceding
> verb to ablaut.
>
>
>
> My $0.02.
>
>
>
> Best,
>
> Rory
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Siouan Linguistics [mailto:SIOUAN at listserv.unl.edu] *On Behalf Of
> *David Kaufman
> *Sent:* Thursday, February 20, 2014 1:30 PM
> *To:* SIOUAN at LISTSERV.UNL.EDU
> *Subject:* Question re: Dhegiha and other Siouan quotatives
>
>
>
> Hi all,
>
>
>
> I have a question re: a curious structure in Kaw, and whether anything
> like it occurs in other Dhegihan or even non-Dhegihan Siouan languages.
>  The structure involves the articles akhá and abá, used for subjects in Kaw
> and usually translated 'the', the first being roughly for
> 'standing/sitting' and the other for 'moving/absent'.  However, in Kaw,
> these subject articles also somehow seem to have become used as quotatives,
> or 's/he said.'  Here is an example sentence with gloss:
>
>
>
> *Icíkitanga  abá, "Anyáxtaga-édan," ába-dan,  nanstábe.*
>
> Old.Man   said   bite.me-then          said-then   kicked.him
>
> The Old Man said, "Then bite me," and he kicked him.
>
>
>
> So abá, which is normally used for 'moving' subjects and is usually
> translated 'the', is now being used for 's/he said.'
>
>
>
> Any thoughts on this, esp. from other Dhegihan perspectives, or other
> Siouan languages that might have some similar usage?
>
>
>
> Thanks!
>
>
>
>
>   David Kaufman
>
> Linguistic Anthropology PhD candidate, University of Kansas
>
> Director, Kaw Nation Language Program
>
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