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"