Question re: Dhegiha and other Siouan quotatives

[Rory Larson]

Thanks for the analysis, Justin.  That makes much better sense than what I had suggested.  Very interesting that the Kaw (a)be particle, which should be either cognate or closely related to the Omaha (a)bi particle, can ablaut.  I wasn't aware of that; it's good to know.

Best,
Rory


From: Siouan Linguistics [mailto:SIOUAN at listserv.unl.edu] On Behalf Of Mcbride, Justin
Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2014 3:00 PM
To: SIOUAN at LISTSERV.UNL.EDU
Subject: Re: Question re: Dhegiha and other Siouan quotatives

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<mailto: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<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<mailto: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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