[MarcSnelling]

Proto-Dakotan Swadesh word #5
*Diindehokduwa, you (plural).

Unfortunately I have only been able so far to find the words for “you plural” in five languages – not really enough to form a clearer picture. Since most languages do seem to exhibit a degree of paralellism, I am presuming the plural form of *Diinda would have logically been *Diindehokduwa.

Any language’s pronominal system is actually more complex than the Swadesh list is set up to show; it is what uniquely distinguishes that language and sets it apart from other languages. Not just the words are different but the whole systems are different, [For example, French, related to English, but instead of the 3 words, he she and it, there are only two, il and elle, and in the plural there are two words, ils and elles, instead of only one in English, they.] So we typically see a lot of languages breaking with tradition especially by the time you get to the 2nd person plural (y’all”) and find their own ways of expressing the concept of “y’all”…

1. WOCCON: ?
2. CATAWBA /Wewe/
3. YESAN /Yiimahuk/ <Jiimahuktu <*Diinehuktu <*Diindehokduwa
4. OFO ?
5. BILOXI /Ayiinxtu/ <*Jiinktu <*Jiinuktu <*Jiimahuktu ^
6. QUAPAW >
7. OMAHA-PONCA ?
8. KANSA ?
9. OSAGE ?
10. HOCHAK ?
11.CHIWERE ?
12. MANDAN ?
13. DAKOTA Niiyeepii < Niiyee + pii
14. NAKOTA ?
15. HIDATSA ?
16. CROW /Diilu/ < *Diinuk <*Diinehuk <*Diinehuktu ^

Proto-Dakotan Swadesh word #6
indehokduwa, they.

Once again I have too much data lacking to form a very clear picture, but based on the usual parallelism, I am tentatively guessing “they” was *Iindehokduwa formed like the others by adding “hokduwa” all, to the singular.

Yesan is the only language here that breaks with the parallelism in this one and has a totally different ending, since it was recorded by Hale as Imahese, instead of “Imahuk” parallel to Mimahuk and Yimahuk. But since none of the others seem to do this, I am supposing this is an innovation unique to Yesan and can’t really explain why or how “Imahuk” would have been changed to “Imahese” other than the stylistic effect this produced (perhaps it is in some way meant to parallel or rhyme with the pronominal suffix for “they” which is -hne, -hle…)

Catawba is also curious because it does not seem to normally distinguish singular and plural in the 3rd person, and the same word Owe can apparently mean she, he, it or they…

1. WOCCON: ?
2. CATAWBA /Owe/ ( = “he”)
3. YESAN /Iimaheesee/ <*Iimahuk ? <*Imahuktu ? <*Iinehuktu
4. OFO ?
5. BILOXI /Iinxtu/ <*Iinktu <*Iinuktu <*Iinehuktu ^
6. QUAPAW ?
7. OMAHA-PONCA ?
8. KANSA ?
9. OSAGE ?
10. HOCHAK ?
11.CHIWERE ?
12. MANDAN ?
13. DAKOTA Iiyepii < Iiyee + pii
14. NAKOTA ?
15. HIDATSA ?
16. CROW /Iilu/ < *Iinuk <*Iinehuk <*Iinehuktu ^

William Meuse

Proto-Dakotan Swadesh word #7
*Hndeewa, this.

The forms from the similar word #9 *Hneendo “here”, remain similar in all languages. The Yesan form of *Hndeewa “this” is Lewa (Newa), and the Yesan form from *Hneendo “here” is Ney (Ley), but they are not strictly separated, that is, they are close enough to be interchangeable and used in place of each other without much bother, i.e., although ‘Lewa’ would be the ‘proper’ word for ‘this’, and ‘Ney’ for ‘here’, they can easily be switched around.
In Ofo, there is only one word used to mean both “here” and “this”: /Lemontii/. I see this as the Ofo two forms coalescing in a late combination, of *Lemon (from *Hndeewa) with *Hemontii (from *Hneendo, word #9).

1. WOCCON: ?
2. CATAWBA /Ha/ <*Halee <*Hlee <*Hnee <*Hndee <*Hndeewa
3. YESAN /Leewa/ <*Neewa <*Hneewa <*Hndeewa
4. OFO /Lemontii/ = *Hemontii “here” + *Lemon <*Leewan <*Neewa ^
5. BILOXI /Tee/ <*Dee <*Deewa <*Hndeewa
6. QUAPAW /De/ <*Dee ^
7. OMAHA-PONCA ?
8. KANSA /Ye/ <*Je <*De ^
9. OSAGE /Dhee/ <*Dee ^
10. HOCHAK /Tee’ee/ <*Dee’ee <*Deewe <*Hdeewe <*Hndeewa
11.CHIWERE /Jee’ee/ <*Dee’ee ^
12. MANDAN /Ree/ <*Dee <*Hdee <*Hndee <*Hndeewa
13. DAKOTA /Dee/ <*Hdee ^
14. NAKOTA /Nee/ <*Hnee <*Hndee ^
15. HIDATSA ./Hiidii/ <*Hdee ^
16. CROW /Hnee/ ^

_______________________
RANKIN: U Colorado’s scheme (typically confusing and opaque i.m.o.) has all the words from languages #3-12 above, variously coming from two proto-Dakotan words he says would have meant “this, here, now”. And apparently, both of these words would have been pronounced /Ree/ according to him (As in Mandan).
He spells one as *re and one as *Re with a capital R, yet he offers little practical advice on how these two may have differed in any meaningful way other than to say the capital R represents “funny r”, that had a “different set of reflexes” according to his scheme.

 

Proto-Dakotan Swadesh word #8
*Sheeke, that.

Below are all the main words meaning “that” in each language, along with a possible path of development. The Yesan equivalent is /Heeke/ (Heke).

1. WOCCON: ?
2. CATAWBA /Heye/ <*Heeke <*Xeeke <*Sheeke
3. YESAN /Heeke/ ^
4. OFO /Temuwa/ (not related to others)
5. BILOXI /Hee/ <*Heye ^
6. QUAPAW /She/ <*Shee <*Sheega <*Sheeka < *Sheeke
7. OMAHA-PONCA /Shee/ ^
8. KANSA /She/ ^
9. OSAGE /Ee/, /Ga/ <*Eega <*Sheega ^
10. HOCHAK /Ga’/ <Sheega ^
11.CHIWERE /Shee’ee/ <Sheega ^
12. MANDAN /O/ <*Ko <*Eeko <*Heeko <*Xeeko <*Sheeko <*Sheeke
13. DAKOTA /Hee/ <*Xee <*Shee < *Sheeko ^
14. NAKOTA /Zhee/ <*Shee ^
15. HIDATSA ./She/ <*Shee ^
16. CROW /Eehk/, /Ko/ <*Eehko <*Heeko ^

Rankin mentions most of these words above, but treated them as unrelated despite their similarity in form and meaning, and deduced from them no fewer than five separate proto-Siouan words, all meaning “that” according to him: *She, *He, *E, *Ka and *Ko. Specifically, he derives the words shown above for languages #6, 7, 8, 11, and 15 to *She; for #3, 5, and 13 to *He; for #9a and #16a to *E, for #9b and 10 to *Ka, and for #16b to *Ko. That’s a lot of different words for “that”…

 

William Meuse

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