Friday, March 6, 2009

GRAMMAR p 21

===begin Grammar p 21===

e-to-ska, ----------his, or her nephew.
he-nto-ska-me, ------my niece.
de-to-ska-me,-------your niece.
e-to-ska-me,--------his, or her niece.
he-yu-gae, ---------my daughter.
de-yu-gae,----------your daughter.
e-yu-gae,----------his, or her daughter.
he-ye-gae, ----------my son
de-ye-gae,-----------your son.
e-ye-gae, -----------his, or her son.
he-nta-kwa,---------my grandson.
de-ta-kwa,----------your grandson.
e-ta-kwa,-----------his , or her grandson.
he-nta-kwame,--------my granddaughter.
de-ta-kwa-me,-------your granddaughter.
e-ta-kwa-me,--------his, or her granddaughter.
he-ye-na,-----------my elder brother.
de-ye-na,------------your elder brother.
e-ye-na, ------------his, or her elder brother.
he-nfu-gae,----------my younger brother.
de-fu-gae,-----------your younger brother.
e-fu-gae,-----------his, or her younger brother.
he-yu-na,-----------my elder sister.
de-yu-na,-----------your elder sister
e-yu-na,-----------his, or her elder sister.

===end p 21===

Lance's Notes for p 21



nephew (c'td from p 20)

e-to-ska, ----------his, or her nephew.
itoska (H/I)
hintosge (today)

The a vs e in tosga/tosge is because the actual
sound is like e in bet; H/I wrote it using a
a and today we use an e, although the sound
is neither a strict a 'ah' or a strict e 'ay' sound

in other words, you don't pronounce it
to-SGAY or to-SKAH
it is supposed to sound more like
to-SKEH
as in hintosge/hintoska
heen-TOH-skeh = my nephew

And remember in Indian usage, you don't refer
to your relative by name, but by kinship.
We do this partially in English.
Most of us say "Mom" or "Dad"
not "Jane" or Joe"
We say "Grandma" or "Grandpa"
not "Bob" or "Sue"
We do say "Uncle Fred" or "Aunt Sue"
Kind of a hybrid form
But in English we call brothers or sisters,
sons, daughters, nephews, nieces
by their given name.
Not so in traditional Indian culture,
where we always address someone
by the relationship they have to us.
Using someone's given name to
address them is not respectful,
the same way calling your Grandmother
"hey Emily !" is not respectful.

niece

he-nto-ska-me, ------my niece.
hintoskami (H/I)
hintosgemi (today)

de-to-ska-me,-------your niece.
ditoskami (H/I)
ritosgemi (today)

NOTE on R, a a reminder: H/I and many others have hear initial r as d,
--because initial r flapped sounds much like a d to English-speakers;
--Ioway r is not the hard r we hear in English, is is like the flapped r
---in Spanish (not the trilled r in Spanish)

e-to-ska-me,--------his, or her niece.
itoskami (H/I)
itosgemi (today)

daughter

he-yu-gae, ---------my daughter.
hiyunge (H/I)
hiyunge (today)

the i is nasalized,
but if I wrote hinyunge, some might be
tempted to pronounce it
hee-NYOONG-ay
instead of the way it should be pronounced
hee(n)-YOONG-ay

de-yu-gae,----------your daughter.
diyunge (H/I)
riyunge (today)

e-yu-gae,----------his, or her daughter.
iyunge (H/I)
iyunge (today)

son

he-ye-gae, ----------my son
hiyinge (H/I)
hiyinge (today)

de-ye-gae,-----------your son.
diyinge (H/I)
riyinge (today)

e-ye-gae, -----------his, or her son.
iyinge (H/I)
iyinge (today)

grandson

he-nta-kwa,---------my grandson.
hintakwa (H/I)
hintagwa (today)

de-ta-kwa,----------your grandson.
ditagwa (H/I)
ritagwa (today)

e-ta-kwa,-----------his , or her grandson.
itakwa (H/I)
itagwa (today)

granddaughter

he-nta-kwame,--------my granddaughter.
hintakwami (H/I)
hintagwami (today)

de-ta-kwa-me,-------your granddaughter.
ditagwami (H/I)
ritagwami (today)

e-ta-kwa-me,--------his, or her granddaughter.
itakwami (H/I)
itagwami (today)

elder brother

he-ye-na,-----------my elder brother.
hiyina (H/I)
hiyina (today)

de-ye-na,------------your elder brother.
diyina (H/I)
riyina (today)

e-ye-na, ------------his, or her elder brother.
iyina (H/I)
iyina (today)

younger brother

he-nfu-gae,----------my younger brother.
hinthunge (H/I)
hinthunge (today)

de-fu-gae,-----------your younger brother.
dithunge (H/I)
rithunge (today)

e-fu-gae,-----------his, or her younger brother.
ithunge (H/I)
ithunge (today)

elder sister

he-yu-na,-----------my elder sister.
hiyuna (H/I)
hiyuna (today)

de-yu-na,-----------your elder sister
diyuna (H/I)
riyuna (today)

e-yu-na,-----------his, or her elder sister.
iyuna (H/I)
iyuna (today)

[end p. 21 notes]

Monday, March 2, 2009

GRAMMAR p 20

===begin Grammar p 20===

[affir]med; as,

He-gka,--------my father.
na-ncae,-------your father.
a-ncae,--------his father.
a-ncae-he,-----the father.
he-na,---------my mother.
de-hu,---------your mother.
e-hu,----------his mother.
he-ntu-ka,-------my grandfather, or father-
-----------------in-law.
de-tu-ka,-------your grandfather, or
----------------father-in-law.
e-tu-ka, ---his, or her grandfather, or
-----------father-in-law.
he-gku-nyae-----my grandmother, or
-----------------mother-in-law.
de-ku-nyae, or de-ku,--your grandmother or
-------------------mother-in-law.
e-kun-nyae or e-ku, --his, or her grandmother,
--------------------or mother-in-law.
he-ntu-me, --------my aunt.
de-tu-me,---------your aunt.
e-tu-me,----------his aunt.
he-ncae-ka,-------my uncle.
de-cae-ka,--------your uncle.
e-cae-ka,---------his, or her uncle.
he-nto-ska,-------my nephew.
de-to-ska,--------your nephew.

===end p. 20===

Lance's Notes for p. 20



He-gka,--------my father.
hingka (H/I)
hinka (today)

na-ncae,-------your father.
nanche (H/I)
nanje (today)

a-ncae,--------his father.
anche (H/I)
anje (today)

a-ncae-he,-----the father.
anchehi (H/I)
anjehi (today)

he-na,---------my mother.
hina (H/i)
hina (today)

de-hu,---------your mother.
dihu (H/I) (r-flap likely heard as a d in initial position)
rihu (today)

e-hu,----------his mother.
ihu (H/I)
ihu (today)

he-ntu-ka,-------my grandfather, or father-
-----------------in-law.
hintuka (H/I)
hintuga (today)

-Interesting that the term for grandfather was also
used for father-in-law- doubtless because as a
term of respect and deference.

de-tu-ka,-------your grandfather, or
----------------father-in-law.
rituka (H/I)
rituga (today)

e-tu-ka, ---his, or her grandfather, or
-----------father-in-law.
ituka (H/I)
ituga (today)

he-gku-nyae-----my grandmother, or
-----------------mother-in-law.
hingkunye (H/I)
hinkunyi (today)

Again, as above, the same term for grandmother
is used for mother-in-law. Be careful not to
read too much into it as anything about age.
It is about respect and deference. But also
remember that our modern culture has a negative
thing about age. Not traditional Indian
culture, which regards age as something good
and to be venerated.

de-ku-nyae, or de-ku,--your grandmother or
-------------------mother-in-law.
rikunye, or riku (H/I) (again, initial r is heard as d)
rikunyi/riku (today)

e-kun-nyae or e-ku, --his, or her grandmother,
--------------------or mother-in-law.
ikunye or iku (H/I)
ikunyi/iku (today)

he-ntu-me, --------my aunt.
hintumi (H/I)
hintumi (today)

de-tu-me,---------your aunt.
ditumi (H/I) (initial r heard as d)
ritumi (today)

e-tu-me,----------his aunt.
itumi (H/I)
itumi (today)

he-ncae-ka,-------my uncle.
hincheka (H/I)
hinjega (today)

de-cae-ka,--------your uncle.
dicheka (H/I)
rijega (today)

e-cae-ka,---------his, or her uncle.
icheka (H/I)
ijega (today)

he-nto-ska,-------my nephew.
hintoska (H/I)
hintosge (today)

de-to-ska,--------your nephew.
ditoska (H/I)
ritosge (today)

And also remember that these terms
are not used the same as in modern
culture. In Ioway culture, there was
no term for "cousin." Everyone fit into
a kinship system that called people
sister, brother, aunt, uncle, mother,
father, grandmother, grandfather. Or
friend, if not related as kin.

Just as a short example-
Using my nephews and niece as an
example, my sister Amber's children
would call me "Uncle", but my sister
Brandi "Mother" or "Little Mother."
Same with Brandi's son.
See, they are the same gender, but
I am not.
Now if my brothers Bryan and Garth
had children, their children would call
me "Father" or "Little Father" as I am the
same gender as their father. But
they would call my sisters "Aunts."
Just a short example that you can't
assume anything.

One more example-
My father's mother, I called Grandma.
Her sisters I would have called Grandma
as well. But her brothers, like Uncle
Marvin Murphy, I would call Uncle.
There was no "great uncle" in the Indian
system.
My dad would have called Aunt Alma
"Mother" because she was his mother's
sister. But he would have called Uncle
Dick or Uncle Marvin, "Uncle."
Because of that, Dad would have called
Pete Fee, son of Alma, "Brother" and
Sharon Fee Denious "Sister." And so
I would call Pete "Father" or "Little Father"
in the Indian system, while in the American
system, he is "Cousin Pete" (Second Cousin).
And don't get me involved in that
"once-removed" stuff!

And of course there are relatives you
really despise or don't want to claim--
those you ignore when possible--
or when not possible to ignore them,
you call by the proper term but with added
coldness when you are stuck having
to talk to them ("Oh. Hello. 'Uncle'.")

But of course in the old days that
didn't happen much, because you
knew your relatives were the only
ones who you could count on, so
there was elaborate means of respect
and making things right when people
hurt each other's feelings. Your relatives
were forever, so you took care of each
other. If you didn't get along personally,
you just gave each other space until
the chips were down.

The word for stranger was the same
as for (potential) enemy; that's why
when you wanted to have peace or
good relations with a stranger, you
adopted them as some sort of kin,
or became a friend with them (which
also meant something deeper than
our present kind of "friend")

===end p. 20===

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Changes in the Ioway-Otoe-Missouria Language

As you go through these pages from Hamilton
and Irvin, and compare it to contemporary
examples from scholars like Good Tracks,
Wistrand-Robinson, or even people you
know personally as friends or family, you
will see things that may be different from
each other.

A lot of Ioway-Otoe seems to have had phonological
(sound) changes due to the increasing importance
and use of English, and also probably because of
isolation and eventual differentiation among Ioway
speakers who lived in different areas, some in
Kansas-Nebraska, and others in Oklahoma; some
associating or intermarrying more with Otoe, others
Sauk (Sac and Fox), others white people, and even
other tribes in Oklahoma like Pawnee, Creek, etc.

There has been a long period of drift and
differentiation in this
way, for sounds, spelling, vocabulary, diction.
Sometimes to the point that each extended family
or geographic group has its own "right way" of
talking Ioway or Otoe, and anyone who "talks
different" isn't doing it "the right way."

But the reality is, no one is wrong, it is just that in
isolation and disuse, the language has drifted
in different directions over the last 150-200 years,
sort of like Texas English vs New York English.
Texans and New Yorkers can still MOSTLY understand
and talk to each other... WHEN they want to!

This blog doesn't make any judgements about
what is "right" or "wrong"...it just gives examples
from the past and the present, and you can make
up your own mind about it all. The main thing is,
try to PRACTICE and USE the language to your best
knowledge and ability!

GRAMMAR p 19

===begin p 19===

ployed, according to the number of
the noun., e.g.

jug-ae a-nye-a-kre-kae....I brought the horse
jug-ae wa-nye-a-kre-kae...I brought the horses

11. The particle hju, or kju, is some
times added to nouns to give them
force, or generality, or universality;
and, when used as a conjunction in-
stead of ku, it shows that the noun is
plural: as,

wa-nu-ncae,..........an animal
wa-nu-ncae-hju,.....animals, all kinds of animals
wa-je-kae,.............a person,
wa-je-kae-hju,.....all, or different kinds of
...............................persons.
cae-fka.................a cow.
cae-fka-hju..........various kinds of cattle.
he-yeg-ae-ku,........my son.
he-yeg-ae-hju,.....my sons.

12. Words denoting kindred undergo
a change, which, in most instances, is
effected by prefixing one of the
fragments of the personal pronoun
which also indicates the person of
the noun of which the relation is affir-

===end p 19===

Lance's Notes for p. 19



SHUNGE ANYIKRI KE



jug-ae a-nye-a-kre-kae....I brought the horse

shunge anyikri ke (H/I)
Sunge/shunye anyigri ke (today)

jug-ae wa-nye-a-kre-kae...I brought the horses

shunge wanyikri ke (H/I)
Sunge/shunye wanyigri ke (today)

Good Tracks' 1992 Dictionary has for "bring" (brought):

agu; anyigu = bring (v.t.)
anyaji = bring; arrive having (v.)
agu = bring back; get back (v.t.)
anyigri = bring back home (v.t.)

One sees that Hamilton-Irvin's examples
specifically meant:

Shunge anyigri ke. = I brought the horse back home.
Shunge wanyigri ke, = I brought the horses back home.

So one could then it seems one can make the
following sentences,
combining the information from both
Good Tracks (1992) and Hamilton and Irvin (1848)
--and recall in Ioway-Otoe
that present tense and past tenses are said the same
way, in many instances:

Shunge agu ke. OR Shunge anyigu ke.=
I am bringing the horse back home.
I brought the horse back home.
I bring back the horse.
I brought back the horse.
I get the horse back.
I got the horse back.

Shunge wagu ke. =
I am bringing the horses back home.
I brought the horses back home.
I bring back the horses.
I brought back the horses.
I get the horses back.
I got the horses back.

Shunge anyigri ke. =
I am bringing the horse back home.
I brought the horse back home.

Shunge wanyigri ke. =
I am bringing the horses back home.
I brought the horses back home.

Shunge anyaji ke. =
I arrive bringing the horse.
I arrive having brought the horse.

Shunge wanyaji ke. =
I arrive bringing the horses.
I arrive having brought the horses.

It is good to practice making your own
sentences in as many different acceptable
forms as possible. That is an ESSENTIAL
part of learning a language. You want to
be able to make your own sentences as
needed, rather than just parroting the
sentences of another!


-XSHU

hju (hshu) / kju (kshu) = -xshu

This is a suffix meaning "all kinds of"
and sometimes acts as a plural indicating
a sense of uniqueness to each "thing"
when used as a plural, as when speaking
of "sons" in H/I's example.

Good Tracks (1992) gives -hsu from Hamilton as
"about (more/less)" and "all kinds of";
Related words from GT include:

ikirara:an adjective and verb meaning "mixed;
different kinds of; of different kinds (colors, etc.)"

ikihi: "to mix things together" (see the causative -hi?)


WANUNJE / WANUNJEXSHU



wa-nu-ncae,..........an animal
wanunche (H/I)
wanunje (today)

wa-nu-ncae-hju,.....animals, all kinds of animals
wanunchehshu (H/I)
wanunjexshu (today)

Trying our own sentences, one
might then say (and let's
use an example as a woman would say it):

Wanunje ada ki. "She sees an animal."

Wanunjexshu ada ki. "She sees all kinds of animals."


WANSHIGE / WANSHIGEXSHU



wa-je-kae,.............a person,
washike (H/I)
wanshige (today)

wa-je-kae-hju,.....all, or different kinds of
...............................persons.
washikehshu (H/I)
wanshigexshu (today)

Examples of sentences (woman's form):

Wanshige hu ki. "A person is coming."

Washigexshu hu ki. "All kinds of people are coming."


CHEXGA / CHEXGAXSHU




cae-fka.................a cow.
chethka (H/I)
chexga (today)

che-thka = "buffalo-white" =
"cattle" (domestic cow)

Note that the sound has shifted from the
"th" sound to the "x" (as in German aCHtung)
over the last 150 years. You will also
find older examples of "sh" or "s" in the same
place, as in the famous example of
Mahaska /Mahashka (old form of "White Cloud")
Now, it then became Mahathka, and now
Mahaxga (Mahaxka). None of the meaning
has changed, it is just a phonological change
such as all living languages sometimes go through.
See the next post for a note about this!

cae-fka-hju..........various kinds of cattle.
chethkaxshu (H/I)
chexgaxshu (today)

Examples of sentences:

Chexga anyi ki.
"He has a cow." OR
"She has a cow."

Chexgaxshu anyi ki.
"She has all kinds of cattle."


HINYINGE / HINYINGEKU / HINYINGEXSHU



he-yeg-ae-ku,........my son.
hiyingeku (H/I)
hinyinge (my son) (today)
Note the form has changed since
H/I's time, with the "ku" sound
dropped in this singular form.

he-yeg-ae-hju,.....my sons.
hiyingehshu (H/I)
hinyingexshu (today)
Again, not used today, but you can
see it could come in handy, when
speaking of your sons as
different individuals (and
wouldn't that generally be the case?)

Je'e hinyingeku ki. "This is my son."
or just
Je'e hinyinge ki.

Je'e hinyingexshu ki.
"These are my sons." (Implying their
individuality and unique natures.)

Saturday, February 21, 2009

GRAMMAR p 18

===begin p 18===

3 --By adding a pronoun in the possessive
case.

NOTE. Nouns expressive of kindred, or relation, are
exceptions to this rule.

V.
OF NUMBER.

9 --The number of nouns is indicated,
not by a change in the noun, but by
the singular, or plural form of the
verb, or, of the fragment-pronoun
used in its conjugation. as,

ma-he cae a-rae-kae,----here is the knife.
ma-he cae a-rae-nyae-kae, here are the knives.
fe-gae a-rae-kae,------ it is a squirrel.
fe-gae a-rae-nyae-kae, -they are squirrels.
mu-ncae e-ya a-ta-kae, --I saw a bear.
mu-ncae wa-ta-kae, ---I saw (several) bears.
e-ce-nce-gae he-gke-cae-
kae, ----------------my child is dead.
e-ce-nce-gae he-gke-cae-
nyae-kae, -----------my children are dead.

10--If the noun is in the objective case,
then the singular, or plural form of the
fragment-pronoun, by the help of
which the verb is conjugated, is em-

===end p 18===

Lance's Notes on p 18



MAHI



ma-he cae a-rae-kae,----here is the knife.

mahi che are ke (H/I)

mahi je'e are ke (today)=

mahi (knife) + je'e (this(here)) + are (is)+
ke (statement of fact)

ma-he cae a-rae-nyae-kae, here are the knives.

mahi che arenye ke (H/I)

mahi je'e arenye ke (today)=

mahi (knife) + je'e (this(here)) + arenye (are)+
ke (statement of fact)

THINGE




fe-gae a-rae-kae,------ it is a squirrel.

thinge are ke (H/I)

thinge are ke (today)
(thinge = THEENG-eh or THEENG-ay)

thinge (squirrel) + are (is) + ke (statement of fact)

Today's materials indicate thinge is used by the
Otoe, while Ioway use thinye; this seems
to be an interesting change from H/I's time

fe-gae a-rae-nyae-kae, -they are squirrels.

thinge arenye ke (H/I)

thinge (or thinye) arenye ke (today)

Thinge/thinye also means "tail";
it makes sense that the squirrel would
have been named based on its most
obvious feature! In this case, thinge refers
to tree squirrels rather than ground squirrels.
There are two native tree squirrel species for Iowa
and the midwest, the Eastern Gray Squirrel
(Sciurus carolinensis) (top) and the
Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger) (bottom).

MUNJE




mu-ncae e-ya a-ta-kae, --I saw a bear.

munche iya ata ke (H/I)

munje iyan ada ke (today)

munje (bear) + iyan (a/one)
+ ada (I see/saw) + ke (statement of fact)

mu-ncae wa-ta-kae, ---I saw (several) bears.

munche wata ke (H/I)

munje wada ke (today) or
munje adanye ke

munje (bear) + wada (see more than one)
+ ke

I have heard more people use the regular
form of adding -nye to the verb; apparently
ada was once an irregular verb with a special
verbal form, wada...interesting.

The black bear (Ursus americana) (top photo)
was the main species of bear in Iowa's woodlands.
The plains grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) (bottom)
extended as far as Iowa before the contact
period. Their claws have been found in
Oneota archaeological sites. Some believe
the claws were indications of trade, but folklore and
tradition indicates the Ioway were familiar
with the grizzly bear, and distinguished the
grizzly from the black bear.

The Ioway term for grizzly bear is mahto
(compare Winnebago: macho (yep!), Omaha
monchu, and Dakota mato). The Ioway term
for black bear is munje (compare Winnebago
hunj(a) and Omaha wasabe "something black").


ICHINCHINGE



e-ce-nce-gae he-gke-cae-
kae, ----------------my child is dead.

ichinchinge hingke che ke (H/I)

ichichinge (child) + hingke (my) +
che (dead) + ke (statement of fact)

-compare->

ichichinge mintawe ch'e ke (today)

ichichinge (child) + mintawe (my) +
ch'e (dead) + ke (statement of fact)

Here we see a shift from a specialized
term of possession through kinship
"hingke" which was lost over time and its
replacement by the generalized term
for possession "mintawe".

e-ce-nce-gae he-gke-cae-
nyae-kae, -----------my children are dead.

ichichinge hingke chenye ke (H/I)

ichichinge mintawe ch'enye ke (today)

The word "dead" is ch'e, and as they said
earlier, H/I used an abbreviated system that
did not mark all the sounds less familiar
to English-speaker's ears, such as the
glottal stop. Yet there is a profound difference
between che "buffalo" and ch'e "dead."

You can try to remember:

che ch'e ke. --"It is a dead buffalo."

But this last example is very sad and odd...
that the missionaries would use the example
of "Ichinchinye hingke ch'enye ke."
"My children are dead." But considering
the times, the wars, and the disease epidemics,
it must have been heard too often.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

GRAMMAR p 17

===begin p 17===

wa-je-kae-me, ----a female person.
Pa-hu-cae, -------an Ioway man. [w/ handwritten note: "dusty nose"]
Pa-hu-cae-me, ----an Ioway woman.
cae, -------------a buffalo.
cae to-kae,--------a buffalo bull.
cae-me, ----------a buffalo cow.

NOTE. In words of this class, where the feminine
termination "me", is not added, the noun is under-
stood to be of the masculine gender; or that no-
thing respecting the gender is implied; as,

ta, ------------- a deer.
ju-gko-kae-nye, ---a dog.

IV.
OF CASE.

7 - The nominative and objective cases
are indicated, in most instances by
their position in the sentence (Rules 6
& 7.)

8 - The possessive case is known,
---1 - By a change in the verb;
---2 - By the introduction of a par-
------ticle denoting possession; (Rule
------4th) or,

===end p 17===

Lance's Notes for p. 17



Note that the discussion on this page began
on the previous page (p. 16), so we continue:

wa-je-kae-me, ----a female person.
washikemi (H/I)=
wanshigemi (today...)
BUT this word is not
used today; instead, hinage "woman" is used.
Kind of interesting that wange survived for man
(today's Ioway uses wanye as well) and wanshige
for human being/man....But only hinage remains
for woman and female human being.

Pa-hu-cae, -------an Ioway man.
[w/ handwritten note: "dusty nose"]
Pahuche (H/I)=
Baxoje (today)
We discussed this one before; but it was interesting
that "m dusty nose" was added in tight, old-fashioned
handwriting in the Google copy

Pa-hu-cae-me, ----an Ioway woman.
Pahuchemi (H/I)
Baxojemi (today)




cae, -------------a buffalo.
che (H/I)
che (today)

cae to-kae,--------a buffalo bull.
chetoke (H/I)
chedoge (today)

cae-me, ----------a buffalo cow.
chemi (H/I)
cheminge (today's usage uses the full
suffix -minge as indicated on the earlier page
for female animals)



ta, ------------- a deer.
ta (H/I)
ta (today)

ju-gko-kae-nye, ---a dog.
shugkokenyi (H/I)
shungk'ukenyi (today)
shungka (dog) + ukenyi (normal/usual/everyday kind)



Shungk'unkenyi on the left... Udwayinge on the right :-)

===end p 17 ===

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

GRAMMAR p 16

===begin p 16===

III.
OF GENDER.

4. There are three ways of distin-
guishing the genders of nouns,
First; By the use of different words,
as,

wa-gae,------------a man.
he-na-a-gae--------a woman.
e-nro,-------------a stone.
e-cen-to-eg-ae, ----a young man.
e-ce-hme-eg-ae,----a girl, or maiden.

5. Sec'd; By the addition of to-kae, sig-
nifying a male, and meg-ae, a female.
as;

ju--gae,-----------a horse.
ju-gk'-to-kae, ------a stallion
ju-gk'-meg-ae,------a mare.

NOTE. It will be seen that these are contractions
for ju-gae to-kae a stallion, and ju-gae me-gae a
mare: and so in other examples. (P. 14. 2.)

6. Third; By adding to words of the
masculine gender the feminine termi-
nation me, as,

wa-je-kae, --------a person, a man.

=== end p. 16 ===

Lance's Notes for p. 16



Gender is distinguished by three ways.

1. Different words for different genders:

wa-gae, ---a man,
wage (H/I)
wange (today)


Mahi (Knife), an Ioway man

This shows the difficulty of both Ham-
ilton and Irvin's system, and that of
today.

And now, I will self-indulge a pet peeve
in learning Ioway...a short rant on how
to write Ioway-Otoe:
PROBLEMS IN IOWAY-OTOE
ORTHOGRAPHY

(orthography = how sounds are represented
by a writing system)

In wage/wange, the "a" should be nasalized,
and H/I did not show that in their orthography.
Their orthography would result in saying
WAH-gay (wage). Someone unaccustomed
to the system might even say "wage" as in
"hourly wage"!

Today's orthography denotes the nasal-
ization of a noun by putting an
"n" after the "a," as in "man" which would
be said "MAH" with a nasal tone to the "a".
Again, a modern person might be tempted
to say "man" as in "a male."

It gets even worse if there is an NG
(as in song) sound right after the nasalized
"man" as in mange "chest"--
is it MAHNG-ay
or MAHNG-gay?

Here, is wage/wange/wannge:
WAH-gay = wage (today)
WANG-ay = wange (today)
WAHNG-gay? = wangge (today)

You see the problem. Without a specific
way to show the "a" is nasalized, and
a special character for the NG sound
(1 character), things are not as efficient
as they could be.

If one uses "an" to show the "a" is nasalized-
If one uses "ng" for
the NG sound in "song"-
and the "g" for the
sound in "goat"-
Then you would have
"wanngge" for WANG-gay.
Using linguistic notations
would only require 5 letters for the same word.

Oh well, we could wish for the moon
too, because people resist using
"odd-looking letters"...plus one cannot
show the special linguistic orthography
on the average Internet system anyways!

Ok, now back to Hamilton and Irvin...


Kunzayami (Circling Above), an Ioway woman

he-na-a-gae--------a woman.
hina'age (H/I)
hinage (today) - It's interesting that
Hamilton and Irvin have an extra "a" in
there, which seems to indicate a glottal
stop was once a part of the word, but
had disappeared between 1848 (when
H/I published their work) and the 1930s
when Gordon Marsh did his fieldwork.

(Oh yeah... I forgot to tell you. Although
William Whitman gets the credit for the
Ioway-Otoe linguistics published in 1947,
the fieldwork was actually done by Gordon
Marsh in the 1930s...I have compared
Marsh's notes with the Whitman article,
and they are verbatim...OUCH...but that's
another story...)



This is Pilot Rock, an important landmark
in northwest Iowa, near Cherokee and
overlooking the Little Sioux River, used by
the Ioway, Otoe, and other tribes in
pathfinding across the prairie.


e-nro,-------------a stone.
inro (H/I)
inro (today) (the "i" is nasalized, so
EEN-ro...remember the "r" is not like
the English "r" but more like the flapped
Spanish "r", not the trilled "r")


An illustration of four kids at a powwow for a children's book, by Lance Foster

e-cen-to-eg-ae, ----a young man.
ichintoige (H/I)
(ee-cheen-to-ee-gay)
ichindoinge (today) = a boy, up until puberty
(ee-CHEEn-doh-eeng-ay)

e-ce-hme-eg-ae,----a girl, or maiden.
ichihmi'ige (H/I)
(ee-CHEE-hmee-eeg-ay)
ichiminge (today) = a girl, up until puberty
(ee-CHEE-hmeeng-ay)

Do you see some of the subtle differences
that seem to represent changes in
pronunciation over the last hundred and fifty
years?

One more sound to highlight here that
Hamilton and Irvin did not mark as a separate
sound, but that they did mark in this word,
and which continues as a separate sound in today's
Ioway-Otoe. That is the sound HM in
ichiHMinge "girl." It is not a sound I have
heard in any of the other languages I have studied.

In Ioway "r" is like Spanish "r" in "pero" (but), and
in Ioway "x" is like the "ch" sound in German "achtung!"
(attention!)..but there are sounds in Ioway-Otoe that
are unique in my experience. One of them is the
HM sound... it is made by saying the "mmm" sound
while expelling air through the nostrils. For real.
You can hear it in "sahma" (SAH-hma) = seven.
There is also a version for N, as in HN. You can hear
it in HNye.. future tense:
hamanyi = "I walk"
hamanyi hnye = "I will walk"

2. Gender is also indicated in at least some
animals by adding:

to-kae, added to indicate a male
toke (H/I)
doge (today)

meg-ae, added to indicate a female.
mige (H/I)
minge (today) (MEENG-ay)

SO...

ju--gae,-----------a horse.
shuge (H/I)
shunge --
But today's forms are interestingly:
Otoe= sunge (SOONG-geh)
Ioway= shunye (SHOON-yeh)



ju-gk'-to-kae, ------a stallion
shugk'toke (H/I)
shungdoge (today) (SHUNG-doh-geh)
(From ju-gae to-kae = shunge+doge)

ju-gk'-meg-ae,------a mare.
shugk'mige (H/I)
shungminge (today) (SHUNG-meeng-eh)
(From ju-gae me-gae = shunge+minge)

3. Add to the end of words indicating
a human male, the suffix -me (-mi)

wa-je-kae, --------a person, a man.
washike (H/I)
wanshige (today)
Note that there are two words for "man"
so far: wange and wanshige

This example continues on the next page (p. 17)
where H/I give the example of wanshigemi,
"female human being," a word not in use today.
We will look at this in the notes for tomorrow.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

GRAMMAR p 15

===begin p 15===

GRAMMAR

I. PARTS OF SPEECH

1. THE NOUN, ADJECTIVE, ARTICLE,
ADVERB, PREPOSITION, CONJUNCTION,
INTERJECTION, PRONOUN, VERB, AND
PARTICIPPLE [SIC], OR PARTICIPIAL-VERB.

2. Of these, the verb is the most im-
portant, and a knowledge of its va-
rious forms and inflections is indispen-
sable to a correct understanding of the
language. The other parts of speech
are simple in their construction, and
for the most part unvaried.

II. OF NOUNS.

3. No change is made in the termina-
tion of nouns to indicate their case
or number: unless we except the oc-
casional change of the final vowel of
some nouns, when addressed, making
a vocative case.

=== end p 15 ===

Monday, February 9, 2009

ALPHABET p 14

===begin p 14===

2 -In speaking, the Ioways frequently drop the
final vowel of a word, when the word next follow-
ing begins with a vowel. Hence, two words in
such connection, are frequently pronounced as is
they were but one.

3 -Compound words are frequently formed on
the same principle; as

no-me-yae (a floor) for na o-me-yae

no-ra-fe-na-ha (fruit, or what a tree bears)
for na o-ra-fe-na-ha

4 -In the formation of compounds, -the conju-
gation of verbs, -after the first person of the
fragment-pronoun &c. a letter, for the sake of
euphony, is frequently introduced into the word
according to the following rule, viz.

g, before k,
m, before p,
n, before c, d, f, r, & t; -as,

heg-ke-ro-kae, --- I am glad.
hem-pre-hae-kae, ---I am strong.
hen-cae-ta-nyae-kae, --we will die.
an-de-ho-kae-kae, ---he scolds me.
un-ru-hae-kae, -----she was married to me.
men-ta-wae, -------mine
hen-fa-pae-ta-kae ---I am wise.
mem-prae-kae, --strouding, thin bro'd cloth.
woj-kam pe, ------a good disposition.
men fae-wae, -----black cloth.

===end p 14===

Lance's Notes for Page 14



Note 2: When a word ends in a vowel,
and the next word in the sentence begins
with a vowel, when you speak, the last
vowel of the first word is dropped, which
sometimes makes the two words sound
like one.

In English we don't do that as much. Test
yourself by saying "three apples" at a regular
speed. Most people in English put a little
glottal stop in between the two words to
separate them. You can hear the glottal
stop even more if you say "a apple." That
stop in your throat is called a glottal stop.
If we wrote English the way they wrote Ioway
we would write "thri'apals" or "a'apal"
(or something like that); the ' represents
a glottal stop.

But even in English, if we are talking fast,
we do something similar to Ioway, only
instead of dropping one of the vowels,
we often combine them into a sound called
a diphthong which is a blend of the two
vowels into a NEW sound. So talking fast,
instead of saying "thri'apals," it would
sound more like "thriyapals"- the
i and a sounds would combine with a new
sound y, not heard in either of the original
words (thri= three; apals = apples). See,
linguistics is kind of interesting that way.

Note 3: In Ioway, you make SOME compound
words the same way. Hamilton and Irvin
give the examples:

no-me-yae (a floor) for na o-me-yae

=nomiye (a floor) comes from
na (wood; tree) + omiye (not sure how to
analyze this one yet, but I see the morpheme
(morpheme= a fragment that has meaning)
o- which indicates a location.

So this is a good chance to practice guessing
from context what an unknown word might
mean, in this case omiye. If na = "wood",
o- refers to the location, and
nomiye = "floor", then likely omiye
refers to "where someone lays/puts on/in" the
"wood" in order to make "a floor." So
"omiye" MIGHT mean "to lay in" a substance,
such as wood to make a floor, but also perhaps
lead in a pipe, as in the lead inlay we often
see in pipestone, or in the old Otoe-Ioway
horsehead dance mirrors.




PERHAPS "omiye" means "inlay" (lead, wood, etc.)
but this is by no means certain, but is only a guess
from context. Learning language often requires
such guesses from context. We cannot know
for sure until/unless we find more examples of
the word "omiye" in sentences in the future that
seems to indicate "inlay"...or unless someone
like Dorsey, Marsh, Whitman,
Wistrand-Robinson, or Good Tracks already
collected the word many years ago, and we just
don't have that information yet :-)

no-ra-fe-na-ha (fruit, or what a tree bears)
for na o-ra-fe-na-ha

So let's try the same thing with this word:
norathinaha = "fruit; what a tree bears"
na "a tree" + orathinaha "fruit; what is borne"

A little tougher, this one. Orathinaha.
We see o- again,
meaning "something located somewhere."
that leaves rathinaha. What might be recognized
from this part? ra- often means "you" or "by
means of using the mouth." thi means "foot."
If it was meant to be dhi, it would mean "yellow."
And that leaves naha, which means "bark", from
na "tree" and ha "skin, covering."

So that makes a word norathinaha
which might mean
tree+location+you/by-mouth+foot/yellow+bark.
This doesn't make much sense, though some
parts "feel" appropriate. ra- because you
eat fruit. na-o because fruit grows on trees.
thi "foot" doesn't seem to apply, but perhaps
"dhi" because some fruit is yellow in some
stages, plus H&I didn't write the th sound
always separately from the dh sound. Most
tree-fruits in Ioway-Otoe lands were very
dark, even blackish, when ripe, such as
chokecherry (top), wild plum (middle), or
prairie crabapple (bottom).






So it isn't always as simple as simply breaking
down a word into its smallest components.
Sometimes you just have to learn a word as
a whole, and take it for what it is.
In this case, norathinaha means "a fruit which
comes from a tree" such as a crabapple, cherry,
plum, chokecherry. But not a berry, hadhe, which
grows on a bush or vine, not a tree. Berries would
include gooseberries, strawberries,
grapes, and raspberries.

Note 4: Sometimes when a compound word is
made, an extra sound is found which has no
real meaning (it is not a morpheme) but is
just to make the sound "more harmonious
to the ear" (euphony), so it is phonological
(about sound-making).

Hamilton and Irvin give the following examples:

heg-ke-ro-kae, --- I am glad.
higkiroke (H/I) =
hin giro ke (today) =
hin "I" + giro "happy" + ke (stating fact)

hem-pre-hae-kae, ---I am strong.
himpriheke (H/I) =
hin brixe ke (today)=
hin "I" + brixe "strong" + ke (stating fact)

hen-cae-ta-nyae-kae, --we will die.
hinchetanyeke (H/I) =
hin ch'e ta hnye ke (today) (notice the
-nye suffix is plural "I" thus "we"
but also that hnye is the future tense).
ch'e is "to die" while che is buffalo,
though H&I don't make the distinction
in their writing.

an-de-ho-kae-kae, ---he scolds me.
andihokeke (H/I) =
arixoge ke (today)=
"to scold, rebuke" + statement
=an unaltered verb (without ra, hin, etc.)
indicates third person he, she, it.
In this case, this could also mean
"he scolds it," "she scolds him" etc.
Or here, "he scolds" with the object
"me" not said, but understood.

un-ru-hae-kae, -----she was married to me.
unruheke (H/I) =
unruxe ke (today)=
unruxe "to marry" + statement...BUT..
unruxe "to marry" is only used when
speaking of a woman marrying a man,
not the other way around (don't ask
me why, that was just the way it was!)
In this case, just as with the example
above, "me" is not said but understood
anyways. In Ioway-Otoe, the past and
present tenses are not differentiated in the
basic verb.

men-ta-wae, -------mine
mintawe (H/I) = mintawe (today)
"my, mine" ...no difference between
H&I's time and today

hen-fa-pae-ta-kae ---I am wise.
hinthapetake (H/I) =
hin thabeda ke (today)
"I"+"wisdom/wise"+statement of fact

mem-prae-kae, --strouding, thin bro'd cloth.
--by the way, bro'd means "brocaded"
mimpreke (H/I) =
mi breke (today)=
"cloth" + "thin"

mi originally meant "a robe", typically a buffalo robe,
then when trade with Euroamericans began,
mi came to mean blanket, and finally, cloth.
Every man or woman in the old days had a
robe to wear as everyday clothing on top of
the breechcloth or dress, heavier robes in winter
and lighter ones in summer. It was also a part
of body language, "the language of the robe,"
which Fletcher and LaFlesche write about in
_The Omaha_.

I have used blankets instead of a bathrobe
for many years when in my own house. In the
cold mornings I will grab an old wool blanket
and use it "the old style." I grew up doing this
and I would use one in public only they'd probably
think I was nuts or "playing Indian." It's a lot
better than a bathrobe though, as you can adjust
as necessary, the way the Romans used their
togas.

Strouding is a coarse woolen cloth, often red or
dark blue, and lighter than a blanket-weight.
It was often used for breechcloths, leggings,
shawls, and dresses, as well as summer-weight
blankets. It was named after a town in
England, Stoud, that made such cloth for
the Indian trade. And of course there is
Stroud, Oklahoma.



You can look at and buy stroud cloth at Crazy Crow
or Iroqrafts.
Some information on stroud and other types of trade cloth can be found at
at Women of the Fur Trade and
Stroud Cloth, and finally the
History of Cloth from Stroud



woj-kam pe, ------a good disposition.
woshkam pi (H/I) =
woshgan pi (today)=
woshgan "ways, habits, abilities, talents,
skills" + pi "good"

men fae-wae, -----black cloth.
min thewe (H/I) =
mi thewe (today)= the i in mi is nasalized
"cloth" + "black"

Saturday, February 7, 2009

ALPHABET p 13

=== begin p 13 ===

have sometimes a strong nasal sound.
This sound for the want of proper
type, cannot be indicated.

3 In the names given to the conso-
nants, the sound of the vowel is al-
ways heard after the consonant; which
is not always the case in their En-
glish sound; the name, however, does
not alter the power of the character.

The reason why this has been done,
is, all words, in Ioway, end with a
vowel sound; and, in most cases the
syllables. Hence the propriety of the
change.

-------------

OF READING.

1 - In reading, or pronouncing words,
it may be necessary for the learner to
spell, as in English; in that case, the
consonant may be called by its own
appropriate name; but a little practice
will enable him to place the organs of
speech in such a position as if he were
about to pronounce the consonant, or
consonants that may precede the vowel,
and the pronunciation of the vowel will
give the correct sound.

=== end p 13 ===

Friday, February 6, 2009

ALPHABET p 12

===begin p 12===

Of the consonants, q (que) has been
omitted, as its power is obtained by
using kw. In writing the language,
to some there may appear to be a need
of two more vowels, one to represent
the long sound of i, as in time, and
another to represent the sound of ou
as in loud.

These, however, are both compound
sounds, as i is equivalent to ae pro-
nounced quickly, and ou (diphthtong)
to au. Instead therefore, of i, long, a
is written, followed by y; and for ou,
a is followed by w, as the beginning
of the sound of y, is e; and the begin-
ning of w, is u, or oo:

Thus,
na-yae in stead [sic] of ni-ae
wa-yae-rae instead of wi-ae-rae
me-nta-wae in stead [sic] of me-ntou-ae
ra-wae in stead [sic] of rou-ae

The vowels, in the conjugation of
verbs, and in a few other situations

===end p 12===

Lance's notes on p. 12



The first paragraph is a little puzzling, as
Ioway does not currently have a kw sound
of which I am aware. Perhaps Hamilton
and Irvin meant the xw sound, as in
xwanye "to fall away; to be lost."

The second paragraph is just an explanation
of how they decided to write diphthongs;
their choice corresponds with today's
practice, but was at variance with some
contemporaries'.

The examples they give are:

"na-yae in stead [sic] of ni-ae"
= naye = likely here they meant "to stand,"
which we now render as nayi

"wa-yae-rae instead of wi-ae-rae"
= wayere "who"

"me-nta-wae in stead [sic] of me-ntou-ae"
= mintawe "my; mine"

"ra-wae in stead [sic] of rou-ae"
= rawe "to gnaw; to count"

Thursday, February 5, 2009

ALPHABET p 11

===begin p 11===

W, and Y, have the same power
that they have when used as conso-
nants in such words as we, wan, ye,
you &c. S is always followed by anoth-
er consonant in words purely Ioway.

It might, however, be proper to re-
mark, that a sometimes appears to
have the short broad sound of a in
wad, what, etc. especially when preceded
by w, and occasionally by m, & n; but
in such situations it so nearly resem-
bles the sound of a in far, (the differ-
ence being about as great as it is in
the sound this same letter has in the
words what, fall,) that it is thought
inexpedient to employ a distinct char-
acter to represent this sound.

In the first printing down at the sta[-]
tion, v was used to designate this
sound. For a similar reason, x, rep-
resenting the short sound of u as in
tub, has also been omitted.

I, as heard in pin, has likewise been
left out; its place is supplied by e.

===end of page 11===

Lance's note



The document they are talking about as
"the first printing down at the station"
was the 1843
An elementary book of
the Ioway language : with an English
translation
, or
"Wv-wv-kv-hæ e-ya e-tu u-na-ha
pa-hu-cæ e-cæ æ-ta-wæ,
mv-he-hvn-yæ e-cæ
ra-prae-tae-kae"

This would be written in today's
orthography as:

Wawagaxe iya itu unaha
(writing/book one -?- -?-)

itun = first

unaha might be today's unax'u "hear"

so perhaps (book a first-one-hears =
book a elementary =an elementary book)

Paxuche ich'e etawe,
(Ioway language theirs,)

mahixanye ich'e
(American language)

rabreteke.
(translate)

This last term might be
ra-bredhe-ke ="by the mouth clarity statement"

ra: here a prefix indicating instrumentality
by means of the mouth (Whitman)

bredhe: clear; clarity

ke: statement of fact

So together it would mean more literally

"A book by which one first hears the Ioways'
language, made clear by oral means of the
American language."

You can see that it helps when learning the
Ioway language to play with the words,
move them around, which begins to
help one understand better how sentences
are constructed and the literal word-for-word
meaning underneath.

Often language expressions can NOT be
literally translated, but for me at
least, it helps me to go through and use
literal word for word translation.
This has helped me understand such prefixes as
ra-, in this situation, so that one gets used
to that ra- in some cases means "you" and
in others ra- indicates that something happens
in relation to the mouth.

An example is ranuwe, sometimes spelled
danuwe, which means a tobacco pipe. Sacred pipe
would be ranuwe waxonyita (pipe + sacred).

Whitman analyzed ranuwe as:

ra- (by means of the mouth)
nuwe (two)

This might be indicating the two parts of
a pipe, the bowl and the stem, which
is unified through the mouth, in smoking
the pipe. OR it might refer to the mouth
unifying the person smoking and the
"other" with whom the pipe is being shared.
such as another person, a spirit, or
God, etc.

This is all of course conjecture, but it is
fun nonetheless! :-)

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

ALPHABET p 10

===p 10===

F. This letter represents the sound
produced by the combination of th in
the words theft, think, etc. the lips,
however, are thrown more open,
than they are in general, when we
pronounce words of the same class in
English.

G represents the sound of ng
in wrong, wing, or the nasal sound of
n in uncle. It is often thrown in be-
tween words for the sake of euphony,
or to distinguish the person of verbs.
H is aspirate, but expresses in gene-
ral a stronger breathing than it does
in the words has, hoe, his, etc.

K, M, N, P, R, S, and T, have the
same power that they have in English,
with the exception of p, which some-
times partakes slightly of the sound of
b; and r, the sound which, in some
words, so nearly resembles that given
to d, (with which letter it is often in-
terchanged,) that it is difficult, to de-
termine, which is intended; as,

daeh-to-hrae-kae, or,
raeh-to-hrae-kae, -----a strawberry.

====end p. 10 ====

Lance Foster's notes about Page 10



F: Hamilton and Irvin use the letter F to
represent the sound written as TH (THink)
in today's Ioway-Otoe (THinye: squirrel).
They do not however seem to use/recognize
the sound DH (THat) in Ioway-Otoe (maDHe: iron).

G: In modern Ioway-Otoe this is written NG
(maNGe=chest/breast). Hamilton and Irvin
do not distinguish the use of k in opposition to g;
however modern Iowa-Otoe does, and uses
both k and g. There is also a particular symbol
in modern linguistics that signifies this sound
that looks like an "n" with a tail descending
from the second leg of the n. It can get
confusing in modern Ioway-Otoe when
you write such words sinnge as the first n
just indicates the i is nasalized. There are
also words that have the NG sound just
before the G sound so one ends up with
mannge, which actually has a nasalized a
which makes manngge (manNG-gay) so
there are more graceful and efficient ways
if one uses the linguistics orthography, yet
the modern community would have to
learn that and there is resistance
to doing so among some.

H: I look forward to seeing the words
using H, as Hamilton and Irvin do not
make provision for the glottal fricative
that is written as X in today's Ioway-Otoe.
There is a difference between H and X,
and perhaps Hamilton and Irvin conflate
the two. We shall see in the pages
to come.

R: R actually is different than the English R;
Whitman heard it as an L sound, and it
has been written in modern Ioway-Otoe
that way at times, although at present
the R is favored. And as Hamilton and Irvin
indicate here with their example of "strawberry",
the R is realized in speech as a D,
especially at the beginning of words
(Whitman noted this).
So ranuwe/lanuwe (sacred pipe) actually
sounds to an English speaker more like
danuwe in regular conversation.

P: P is also an in issue in speaking Ioway
for the native English-speaker. That is
why we often see Baxoje written as Paxoje,
Pahodse, etc. in historic documents. The
difference between P and B in English is
whether the sound is voiceless and aspirated
which gives the P, or voiced and unaspirated,
which gives the B in English. Some Ps
in English are more aspirated than others too.
Hold your hand in front of your lips
and say "People"...feel the puff of air?
That's aspiration. Now hold your hand up
by your lips and say "Stop"...you won't
notice much, if any, puff. That's an
unaspirated P. The Ioway P/B was unaspirated
historically apparently, which explains
why some writers used a B and some a P
to write Baxoje and Paxoje.

Minimal Pairs and Paxoje vs Baxoje



One essential way a linguist gets at
figuring out what sound is meant is to
elicit "minimal pairs." A minimal pair is
a pair of words in which only one sound
(phoneme) is changed, but the meanings
are changed when the phoneme is changed.

In English, examples of minimal pairs would be
"rid - lid" as well as "rid - red"

In Ioway-Otoe, examples would be
"che (buffalo) - chi (house)" and
"pa (nose) - ba (snow)"

This is why we really don't know for sure
whether the Ioways' name for themselves
was meant to be:

Ba-xoje = Snow-gray -- or
Pa-xoje = Nose-gray
(In ancient usage, especially with animals,
pa also relates to the head as a whole;
as in goose,
mixe-paxanje- waterfowl-big nose/head;
xoje = means both ashes and the color of ashes)









The Mystery of Strawberry



Finally here Hamilton and Irvin give us
the word for strawberry in 1848,
as raeh-to-hrae-kae
This would be written in today's spelling
as rehtohreke, or perhaps rexdoxreke.
Today we use the word hashje, which
comes from hadhe "berry" blended with
shuje "red"

In trying to figure out which way to go,
one can compare it to some of the other
Siouan language terms for strawberry
(Kindscher, Edible Wild Plants of the Prairie, p. 116):

Winnebago: haz-shchek (haz means fruit or berry)
Omaha-Ponca: bashte
Osage: ba-stse'-ga
Dakota: wazhushteca

It looks like all of the other Siouan names
here use their own words for fruit/berry + red
and look very similar to what we now use
in Ioway-Otoe, hashje.

It is a mystery to me then why Hamilton and
Irvin have this long word, rehdo-xrege,
or something along those lines, as
meaning "strawberry." It seems though,
that I may have seen this word before
in connection to another plant, perhaps
in one of Alanson Skinner's works.
But that will have to wait for another time.

In collecting some of the photos of
wild strawberries here from Google,
I notice that the five-petaled star-shaped
flowers and red berries are seen in beadwork.
It would be very interesting to see what
other wild plants were used in Ioway-Otoe
beadwork. I know I have seen wild grapes
used on Ioway-Otoe clothing/moccasins.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

ALPHABET

In the copy I originally was using, the alphabet was in an earlier place, but this is where it probably should be, as in the Google Books example.

==Begin==

ALPHABET

Letters. - Power. - Name.

A a - as a in far - a
AE ae - " a " fate - ae
C c - " ch " chat - che
D d - " d " did - de
E e - " e " me - e
F f - " th " think - the
G g - " ng " wrong - ang
H h - " h " hat - he
J j -" sh " she - she
K k -" k " keep - ke
M m - " m " man - me, em
N n - " n " none - ne, en
O o - " o " note - o
P p - " p " peep - pe
R r - " r " reap - re, er
S s - " s " see - se, es
T t - " t " tea - te
U u - " u " true - u
W w - " w " weep - we
Y y -" y " ye - ye

===end unnumbered page===


[LF: Hamilton and Irvin's orthography can be translated into the orthography currently used in Baxoje as:

HAM.& IRV. = CONTEMP. IOM

a as the a in father = a (ma = arrow)
ae as the "a" in fate = e (be = to throw)
c as the "ch" in chat = ch (che = buffalo)
d as the "d" in did = d (do = wild potato)
e as the "e" in me = i (chi = house)
f as the "th" in think = th (thi = foot) - NOTE: H&I do not use the dh sound as the "th" in that (madhe = iron)
g as the "ng" in wrong = ng (thinge = tail, Otoe form) - NOTE: H & I do not use the ny sound (nyi = water)
h as the "h" in hat = h (ha = skin)
j as the "sh" in she = sh (shunye = horse) - NOTE: H & I do not have a "j" sound represented in their system at all
k as the "k" in keep = k (k'o = the thunder)
m as the "m" in man = m (mi = blanket; robe)
n as the "n" in none = n (na = tree; wood)
o as the "o" in note = o (do = wild potato)
p as the "p" in peep = p (pi = good)
r as the "r" in reap = r (ruje = to eat)
s as the "s" in see = s (sahma = seven)
t as the "t" in tea = t (ta = deer)
u as the "u" in true = u (buje = acorn)
w as the "w" in weep = w (w = wanye (Ioway); wange (Otoe))
y as the "y" in ye (you) = y (yan = to lie down)

There are a number of sounds that are used in contemporary Ioway-Otoe that are not represented in Hamilton and Irvin. There are no glottal stops, there is no x, no j, no dh, etc. We will examine this situation as the project progresses.]


===New page - 9. ===

GRAMMAR.

REMARKS ON THE ALPHABET

The vowels have always a uniform
sound, as represented on the prece-
ding page.
The consonants are signs repre-
senting a particular position of the or-
gans of speech, which is shown by
pronouncing them in connection with
a vowel. This position is nearly, but
not quite, the same, that it is when the
vowels and consonants are uttered to-
gether in the pronunciation of words
or syllables in English.
In speaking Ioway, the larynx is
more open than it is in the pronuncia-
tion of most words in English, which
gives to a very large portion of their
words a guttural sound.
C, is sounded like ch, in cheer, or
church. D. The pure English sound
of d is seldom heard, yet the sound is
much nearer that of d, than t.

===end page 9===

Monday, February 2, 2009

Index

In the Google Books version (I do not have an original) the Index comes next after the Preface. It is made of two pages, both unnumbered.

Note that this Index was intended by Hamilton and Irvin to be used in place of a Table of Contents and thus is at the beginning of the Grammar instead of at the end.

=====begin Index, unnumbered page===


INDEX

---------------------Page.

Remarks on the alphabet --- 9
Parts of speech ---------- 15
Nouns, of, -------------- 15
-" gender of ------------ 16
-" case of -------------- 17
- " number of ----------- 18
- " denoting kindred, ----- 19-22
Adjectives, ------------- 23
- " comparison of, ------- 23-25
- " numeral, ------------ 26-28
Article, ---------------- 28
- " indefinite ----------- 28-29
- " definite ------------ 29
Adverbs, ---------------- 30
- " list of, -------------- 30-32
- " affixes and suffixes, ---- 33
Prepositions, ------------ 34
- " affixes and suffixes, ---- 35
Conjunctions, ------------ 36
- " list of, --------------- 37
- " enclitical, ------------- 38
Interjections, ------------- 39
- " list of, --------------- 39
Pronouns, --------------- 40
- " personal, ------------- 40-41
- " declension of, ---------- 41
- " remarks on, ------------ 42-44
- " fragment, -------------- 44
- " declension of, ---------- 41
- " adjective, -------------- 46
- " -- " demonstrative, ------ 46
- " -- " indefinite, ---------- 46
- " -- " interrogative, -------- 47

===end page===

===begin page===

Pronouns,
- " -- " relative, -------------- 47
- " -- " declension of, ---------- 47
Verbs, ---------------------- 48
- " conjugation of, ------------- 59-61
- " -- " -- conj. of, active voice ---83-94
- " -- " ---------- passive, " ---- 95
- " -- " ---------- middle, " ---- 96
- " -- " ---------- reciprocal, " -- 96-104
- " moods of, ----------------- 50-53
- " -- " -----formation of, ------ 61-62
- " -- participles, -------------- 57-58
- " -- number of, -------------- 64
- " -- Person of, with the changes of the
-----fragment-pronoun (rules) -- 65, 67, & 69, 73
- " --- exceptions to rules, ------ 67, 68, 74-76
- " --- adjectives &c. used as, ---- 79, 80
- " --- compound, ------------- 71-72
Of the change of a into ae, ------- 72, 74, 124
Of the change of the fragment-pronoun in
--the passive and reciprocal voices, -- 73-74
Verb -- to be, ------------------- 80-81
Verbs, rule to find the, ground form --- 81
-- " Formation of moods and tenses, table of, - 82
-- " conj. of, examples of differnt [sic], -- 111, 115
-- " -- "--------" ---- reciprocal voice - 115, 117
Irregular verbs, -------------------- 118-119
Examples of the different positions of the
--------fragment-pronouns -------- 120
-- " ---of verbs derived from adjectives, 121, 122
-- " ---of the conjugation of compound verbs - 123
-- " ---miscellaneous, -------------- 124-126
Verb -- u, to do ------------------- 126
General remarks, ------------------- 128
Rules, -------------------------- 132- 139
Appendix ------------------------ 151

===end of page===

Compare to Google Books' Ioway Grammar, given as pp 6-7

Errata: Oops

I just discovered there are a couple of page arrangement differences between the photocopy I am transcribing from and the Google Books version. Perhaps the Alphabet and/or the Index fell out of one or the other and people stuck them in the best they could.

So I will leave yesterday's post as is, for now, and list the alphabet again as in the Google Books version, when I get there. But the next section in the Google Books version is the Index!

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Hamilton and Irvin's "An Ioway Grammar": Intro; Preface (pages i - xi)-

My new project for this Ioway-Otoe Language, Culture and History blog is to take an in-depth look at a historic document published in 1848 and go through it page-by-page. I figure if I try to do a page or so a day, it will take about 6 months, as it is just over 150 pages long. That would put the end of this project in early August. So if I neglect my efforts for more than a day or so, please remind me at lancemfoster@yahoo.com At the end of the project, sometime in August I hope, I will have it all in a form that can be downloaded for free as a PDF; it will include the original text as well as my bracketed notes and comments. This work is not being scanned, but hand-transcribed.

You can read the original on Google Books: An Ioway Grammar

This is a grammar of the Ioway language published by William Hamilton and Samuel Irvin, Presbyterian missionaries to the Ioways after we moved to the Kansas reservation due to the provisions of the 1836 treaty. Their mission was located near Highland, Kansas; the grounds are currently preserved as the Native American Heritage Museum(there is a little history of the Ioway and Sac and Fox Mission at that link), belonging to the Kansas State Historical Society. Unfortunately as of this date, it is due to be closed shortly (Jan-Feb 2009), if it isn't closed already, due to state budget shortfalls.

This first blog entry covers the beginning, from the title page to the end of the Preface, 9 pages in all; the first three pages are unnumbered, and then there are discrepancies the numbering, running: iv, v, vi, vii, viii, xi. There are no pages numbered ix and x. But while we will come across errors at times, we should remember that Hamilton and Irvin were not trained printers and were learning on the job, and self-taught. They did a pretty amazing job by any reckoning.

TITLE PAGE



The title page of the grammar reads as follows [My comments are in brackets and italicized]:

===Begin title page i ===

AN

IOWAY GRAMMAR,

ILLUSTRATING

THE PRINCIPLES

OF THE LANGUAGE

USED BY THE

IOWAY, OTOE AND MISSOURI

INDIANS.

-

PREPARED AND PRINTED

BY

REV. WM. HAMILTON

AND

REV. S. M. IRVIN.

Under the direction of the Presbyterian B. F. M. [Board of Foreign Missions]

-

IOWAY AND SAC MISSION PRESS.

1848.

==end title page i ==


PREFACE



===begin page ii facing PREFACE===

NOTE. ANY defect, which may appear
in the mechanical execution of this
work, will be accounted for, when it is
remembered that the little press at
the station, on which it has been done,
is provided with only two kinds of
type, and that our experience in the
art has been acquired entirely in the
Indian country, and without any
instructor[.]

===end page ii===


===begin preface page iii===

PREFACE

Every language has something
peculiar of its own, not only as far as
the construction of sentences, and the
arrangement of words are concerned,
but also in reference to the particular
manner of pronouncing many of its
words. The different Indian lan-
guages have sounds that none of our
characters represent and which an
ear, not familiar with the language,
can with difficulty detect.
In using, therefore, the Roman char-
acter, to write an Indian language,
and in adopting the different sounds of
the letters, to represent, as far as

===end page iii===


===begin page iv===

practicable, the different sounds em-
ployed by them in the formation of
words, it is not to be inferred, that
every variety of sound is preserved,
or that the combination of letters, as
we use them, does in all instances,
represent the true pronunciation of
the different Indian words. As well
might it be supposed than an English-
man and Frenchman, in reading Lat-
in or Greek, would always pronounce
the words alike. A good degree of ex-
actness, has, however, been attained;
and an Indian, when taught to read in
his own language, will give the dif-
ferent words their correct sound.
The language used by the Ioway,
and Otoe and Missouri tribes, is the
same; a slight difference is percep-

===end page iv===



===begin unnumbered page after page iv, and facing page v===

ALPHABET

Letters. - Power. - Name.

A a - as a in far - a
AE ae - " a " fate - ae
C c - " ch " chat - che
D d - " d " did - de
E e - " e " me - e
F f - " th " think - the
G g - " ng " wrong - ang
H h - " h " hat - he
J j -" sh " she - she
K k -" k " keep - ke
M m - " m " man - me, em
N n - " n " none - ne, en
O o - " o " note - o
P p - " p " peep - pe
R r - " r " reap - re, er
S s - " s " see - se, es
T t - " t " tea - te
U u - " u " true - u
W w - " w " weep - we
Y y -" y " ye - ye

===end unnumbered page===


[LF: Hamilton and Irvin's orthography can be translated into the orthography currently used in Baxoje as:

HAM.& IRV. = CONTEMP. IOM

a as the a in father = a (ma = arrow)
ae as the "a" in fate = e (be = to throw)
c as the "ch" in chat = ch (che = buffalo)
d as the "d" in did = d (do = wild potato)
e as the "e" in me = i (chi = house)
f as the "th" in think = th (thi = foot) - NOTE: H&I do not use the dh sound as the "th" in that (madhe = iron)
g as the "ng" in wrong = ng (thinge = tail, Otoe form) - NOTE: H & I do not use the ny sound (nyi = water)
h as the "h" in hat = h (ha = skin)
j as the "sh" in she = sh (shunye = horse) - NOTE: H & I do not have a "j" sound represented in their system at all
k as the "k" in keep = k (k'o = the thunder)
m as the "m" in man = m (mi = blanket; robe)
n as the "n" in none = n (na = tree; wood)
o as the "o" in note = o (do = wild potato)
p as the "p" in peep = p (pi = good)
r as the "r" in reap = r (ruje = to eat)
s as the "s" in see = s (sahma = seven)
t as the "t" in tea = t (ta = deer)
u as the "u" in true = u (buje = acorn)
w as the "w" in weep = w (w = wanye (Ioway); wange (Otoe))
y as the "y" in ye (you) = y (yan = to lie down)

There are a number of sounds that are used in contemporary Ioway-Otoe that are not represented in Hamilton and Irvin. There are no glottal stops, there is no x, no j, no dh, etc. We will examine this situation as the project progresses.]


===begin page v===

tible in their mode of speaking, and
a few words are common to one tribe
that are not common to the others;
(App. 11.) yet the difference is not
greater than is often found to prevail
among the inhabitants of the different
States.
There is so much similarity in the
languages of many of the Indian tribes,
that it shows them to have had one
common origin, while others, again,
differ as widely as two languages can
differ. This dissimilarity is seen in
the Ioway and Sac languages in
which no two words are alike.
If the language of the Ioway In-
dians be taken as the starting point,
(though tradition says that they,
with many other tribes, were original-

===end page v===

===begin page vi===

ly Winnebagoes,) then those of the
same family would, as far as has been
ascertained, stand related to it in the
following order;

-1st. IOWAY
---- OTOE
---- MISSOURI.
-2nd. WINNEBAGO
-3rd.---Kanzas
-------Osage
-------Quapaw
----------Omahaw
----------Panca.

A number of words are common to
all these tribes, and not a few words
differ only in the accent and the
change of a few letters, indicating a
common origin; yet time has produ-
ced such a change that in conversing
together an interpreter is necessary.

===end page vi===

===begin page vii===

The barrenness which is supposed
to belong to most Indian languages,
does not result from the structure, or
nature of the language, but from the
want of ideas in those who use it.
So far as they have ideas, they do not
lack words to express them, though
the mode of expression, among them,
is often as different from that in use
among us, as their language is from
ours. *
------

* Illustrative of this remark is the following note,
which should have been added to the table of kin-
dred on page 20.
1st. There is no word in Ioway expressive of
---the relation of cousin.
2nd. UNCLES on the father's side, are called fa-
---thers, and their children, brothers and sisters.
3rd. AUNTS on the mother's side, are called
---mothers, and their children, brothers and
---sisters.
4th. UNCLES on the mother's side, are called
---uncles, and their sons sustain the same rela-

===end page vii===


===begin page viii===

In reducing an unwritten to a writ-
ten language, difficulties will necessa-
rily be encountered, and it is not pre-
tended that all these difficulties have
been surmounted in the present case.
But it is believed that, in the attempt
here made, a sufficient degree of exact-
ness has been attained to aid those
who may wish to acquire a knowledge
of the Ioway language.
It will be seen, on examination, that
this little work has not been prepared
to teach the science of Grammar, but
to illustrate the grammatical construc- [sic: needs "tion"]
of the language. All definitions of

-----
---tion, while their daughters are called mo-
---thers.
5th. AUNTS on the father's side are called aunts,
---and their children nephews and nieces.
6th. Children of cousins, address the cousins of
---their parents as uncle and aunt; and vice
---versa of all the above.

===end of page viii===

===begin page ix -- mistakenly numbered xi in original, as there is no ix nor x===

the parts of speech etc. have there-
fore been omitted, presuming that all
whose interest or curiosity may lead
them to examine this, are already ac-
quainted with the science of Grammar.

IOWAY AND SAC MISSION:
INDIAN TERRITORY.
1848.

===end page ix===