comparison.BLACKFOOT.11_morphology-2.htm


Tlazoltéotl

PROTO-LANGUAGE PHONEMES

in IE and Blackfoot (Algonquian)

by Patrick C. Ryan

(8/29/97)

PART TWO

(continued from Part One)

PL MORPHOLOGICAL ELEMENTS IN BLACKFOOT

(not included under lexical headings)

Ojibway Designs



(A23) nominal: -NO ("basket"); (IE -n in -nt, 3rd p. pl.; -men, 1st p. pl.); (Egyptian -n pronominal plural); (Uralic -n, plural [originally inanimate]); (Japanese plural -no in ono [see #6], and so(-)no, "that, those"; properly a marker of the definite plural)

(A24)verbal: -N[H]A ("start to..."); (IE: not formally recognized but -*l, inchoative [cf. Armenian infinitive in -l {but possibly from R[H]O, "rise to ..."}]); (cf. Uralic -l, inchoative (perhaps this has been weakened to mean only "move"); (Beng -N, inchoative); (Japanese Miller's -n- "perfect" but see p. 326, where it is clearly an inchoative)

*(A24) nominal: -N[H]A-$E ('moving inside-like'); (cf. Afrasian *li, [in]to); (Japanese ni, locative ["into"])

(A24) nominal: -N[H]A {see NA above}

(A25) nominal: -N[H]O

B(A25a) nominal: -P[?]A ("piece"); Blackfoot -?p(also -hp), an ending for the 1st and 2nd singular persons of the transitive verb when it takes an inanimate object; (IE *u- in 4. au-, "that"); (cf. Egyptian-pin pi, p3, pn, pw, demonstratives)

B(A26b) verbal: -P[H]A ("move over"); Blackfoot diminutive -hp in ss-tahp-ik, "by choice"; IE -p in em>top- (T[H]O-P[H]A), "desire to reach, intend"

B(A26c) nominal: P[H]O ("swell(er) = breather? "); Blackfoot -hp (also -?p), an ending for the 1st and 2nd singular persons of the transitive verb when it takes an inanimate object; (cf. Egyptian -f, "he, it", 3rd person suffix, verbal and possessive)

(A26) verbal: QO ("attached"); (cf. Uralic Nenets -ngć, essive); (cf. Altaic -q in genitives [-i/ďq = $E-QO or $E-QA; -ni/ďq = NA-$E-QO or NA-$E-QA]); (Japanese ga, emphatic subject, but [Japanese a for o is unexplained])

(A26) nominal: -QO ("skull, pot"); (IE -ng collectives); (cf. Uralic -ka/ä, non-singular)

*(A26) nominal: QO ("skull = animate entity"); (Sumerian ga-10, I); (Beng qa, "they" [with negatives]; qO [*qo + va, imperfective], "they" [with present/future]); this use of QO is particularly frequent in Australian languages

**(A26) nominal: QO-?A ("be attached"); (IE *(n)go:, listed under g[^]ho:; (*eng- in en-dh-, and, listed incorrectly under en-); (cf. Uralic Nenets ngo?, also); (cf. [Sino-]Tibetan -ang in ky+ang, also); (Sumerian -ng-, modal prefix, also); (Egyptian in [i]gr, also); (Japanese -go:, "after" [= MJ go])

(A27) nominal: Q[H]O ("hooked"); (IE not found); (Beng possibly in ńaaN, "hear now, well"); perhaps doubtful

(A28) verbal: RE ("scratch, (any) one"); (IE in Latin -r, passive ending); (Japanese -r-, passive)

(A28) nominal: -RE ("scratch" = indefinite number), (Japanese in so(-)re, "it, that"); (cf. [Sino-]Tibetan -re, "each", distributive); (Altaic -a/er, distributive); properly, -RE is a marker of the indefinite singular: cf. Egyptian p-3, any one, as against p-n, "the" (P[?]A-N/N[H]A); *ip-, "ones" ($A-P[?]A)

**(A28) nominal: RE-$E; (IE re:i-, listed under 1. ar-); (Japanese -ri, "single (any one)", in hito-ri, "single man")

(A29) verbal: RO (augmentative); theoretically reconstructed but not specifically identified

(A29) nominal: RO (elative); (IE -ro, comparative); (Beng -l/r, augmentative); (Japanese -*ro but not recognized as a suffix)

(A30) nominal: -R[H]A (color); (IE -r, in color words); (Beng -l in kala, "elderly person")

(A31) verbal: R[H]O ("rise"); (IE for *lo = "rise", cf. OHG ti-la, women's breast, and Greek tú-lo-s, swelling; cf. -lo, nouns of agent and instrument [this is from "give rise to"]; the Japanese imperfect ending -ru = either PL RE ("apply") + FA (imperfective) [cf. Egyptian -3] or R[H]O-F[H]A [Armenian infinitive in -l]); (Japanese -*ro: (= MJ -roo), presumptive, "rise to ...", "intend to")

-(A31) nominal: -R[H]O; (IE-lo, augmentative)

B(A32) nominal: -SA(-$E) or SA-FE ("strong[-like] {unbreakable}" or "strong-powerful"), Blackfoot s(s)-, intensive (4, 5, 6); Japanese *saFe = MJ súu-, "several"); (IE -s aorist; s-mobile or su-, "well"); (cf. Uralic Nenets -sy, "past tense" or so/wa, "good").

(A33) nominal: SE ("individual", inanimate); see S[H]E below.

(A34)nominal: S[H]A ("content = serene"); (IE desiderative / future in -s); (Japanese , -*s(a:)-, marker of respect [= MJ -mas-u {MA-S[H]A, "fully happy"; cf. masáru, "surpass, excel"}], 326)

*(A34) nominal: S[H]A ("rest, place"); (IE -s, nouns of quality [cf. Old Indian tápa-s, warmth); Mediterranean place names in -isso); (cf.[Sino-]Tibetan -sa, place of...; (Uralic -s(s)a, inessive); (Japanese -*sa:, noun of quality or place (cf. taka-sa) = MJ -sa)

**(A34) nominal: S[H]A ("rest, place"); (IE possibly -s- in -sk[^]o); (Japanese -s-, adjectivizer, in aka-s-i, "be red")

(A35) verbal: S[H]E ("individual"), (Japanese -se, causative); see (A6): verbal: $O above

B(A35) nominal: S[H]E ("individual"), Blackfoot -s, singular (16); (IE singular in -s); (Altaic as -z, Turkish suffix of one of objects occurring in pairs); (Beng in sia, "male").

(A36) verbal: S[H]O ("clan-member=same=so"); (IE swe-, *same, listed incorrectly under se-; mes-, listed under 1. me:-); (Japanese , -*s in negative irrealis -z- (from -*n-i-s- [NA-?A-$E-S[H]O= "not so"], 327); and -mas [M[H]A-S[H]O="hold so"], 327)

*(A36) verbal: S[H]O-$E ("follow-like"); (IE se:i-, *so, listed under se-); (Japanese shi, "and")

(A36) nominal: S[H]O ("clan=good"); (IE in su-, good); (cf. Egyptian s-, causative; this is not a true causative but rather an intensive: "well"); (Old Japanese so:-, intensive prefix)

*(A36) nominal: S[H]O-$E ("clan-member-like"); (IE secondary -s, 2nd p. sing. of active; syo-, "this", listed under so[s]); (cf. Altaic -si/ď, 3rd p. sing.; in sen, "you [sing.]"); (cf. Uralic , "he/she/it"); (Beng in sO\N, "person, someone, somebody, body"); (Japanese in so(-)re, "it, that"; so-no, "that, those")

B(A37) nominal: T[?]A ("hand"); -t, locative element added to verbal roots (29, 31, 33); (cf. Altaic -de/a, locative; (a lative ["at the side of, with"] in languages all over the world; seen dimly in IE ablative -e:/o:d, possibly a metathesis of *-d+e: (T?A+HHE, "go away from") to facilitate pronunciation of vowelless stems); (cf. Beng , díN, next to); (cf. Uralic -t (Vogul), locative); (cf. Sumerian -da, locative); Japanese de (from "T[?]A-$E), "at/in/on (the hand of); by means of (through the hand of")

(A38) verbal: -T[H]O, ("approach, gather"); (IE 2. to-); (cf. Uralic -*ta/ä, allative ["toward"]); [cf. Nenets dative -n~to/-h]); (Japanese to, "and, as soon as")

*(A38) verbal: -T[H]O (iterative); (IE -to, perfective passive participle); (cf. Altaic -d/t perfective); (Japanese -ta, perfect [the a for expected o is unexplained] ; also -t-, perfect [Miller: 326]);

(A38) nominal: T[H]O (definite animate plural); (IE 1. to-)

*(A38) nominal: -"T[H]O-$E ("tribesman-like"); (IE -ti, nomina agentis and nomina actionis; [cf. IE sru-ti-s, "a flowing, streaming", from sreu-); (cf. Uralic -tya in kun-tya, "urine"); (Japanese , -te, "one who performs", gerund)

(A39) verbal: T[?]SE-FA ("releasing=going away"); (IE *dheu-, listed under 3. dhe:-); (Japanese -zu, negative)

(A40) nominal: TS[H]O (circle of animates); (IE in -tu, forms abstract substantives; TS[H]O-F[H]A); (cf. [Sino-]Tibetan -tsho, plural).

*(A40) nominal: TS[H]O ("circling"); (IE ter-, there [Egyptian >3], listed incorrectly under 1. to-); (cf. Uralic "essive" -ta; Sumerian -ta, instrumental); (Japanese to, "(along) with")

**(A40) nominal: TS[H]O; (IE to, "then", under 1. to-); (Japanese to, "when")

(A41)verbal: X[H]A-F[H]A ("resting=(be)come"); (IE *kwe- in kwey6-); (Japanese -k[w] in forms of adjectives except non-past indicative, from kú-ru, "come")

B(A42) nominal: X[H]O (large indefinite animate plural), Blackfoot (see (A5) above); (IE kwo-); (cf. Egyptian S in iSzt, "what?" [S <- X]); (Japanese ka, interrogative particle ('what?'); indefinite [the Japanese a for expected o is unexplained])

*(A42) nominal: X[H]O-HA ("at the quanity"); (cf. IE kwei-, as, listed under kwo- ["of the quantity of"]); (cf. Uralic Nenets simulatives in -r-xa); (cf. Altaic -ca, aequativus) ["at the quantity of"]); (Japanese koo, "this way")

*(A43) (S)OV is the earliest Japanese word-order, corresponding to OV established by Lehmann for earliest IE; S-OV (and possibly OV-S, which may have distinguished between imperfective and perfective aspects before singular and plural elements were applied to convey the same aspects) word-order stems from the language of the active-type phase, where the transitive subject is only loosely linked to the object-"verb", which is primary, and need not be expressed overtly, a characteristic which Japanese also amply illustrates; Basque, Beng (Southern Mandé), and Sumerian also have SOV, which should also be assumed for Altaic and Uralic (proved by the invariable rectum-regens word order of Uralic and Altaic [except Northern Tungus]). Examples of Japanese OV-constructions are: monogátari, "tale" = mono, "things, affairs" + katari, deverbal from katar-u, "tell, relate"; cf. also mushi, "snake, worm" = PL MO-FA, "poison" + SE-$A, "emitted"; also, the related Modifier-Modifend (A[djective]N[oun]): kaizuka, "shell mound", from kai, "shell" + tsuka, "mound".

*(A44) verbal: REDUPLICATION indicates habituality; however, when the iterative -*to (-ta) began to be used for the perfective, reduplication was re-defined as iterative: when Japanese *ker-, "*run", is reduplicated, the vowel -a- represents a stress un-accented root -e-: *ke"ker- = kakér-u, "run"; kák-u, "write"; stem: ka(i)-.

B(A45)Blackfoot (as well as Japanese) -*o (seen in (1) in a secondary use as a marker for an anticipated animate object) archaically preserves archaic features of the Proto-Language active-type period, during which the transitive subject formed a separate sub-phrase of the sentence, and was frequently deleted. When the context required it to be included, the early ergative-type sub-phrases were formed: S + F[H]A, literally, (something) is 'circling around' the S, which is actually a topicalizer rather than a formative of the ergative subject; this element is very old; in Blackfoot, this formant appears as -wa (the -w- should be analyzed as a glide between the V and a former *o) after a vowel but, as the result of false analysis, -a after a consonant (instead of -*o); it is also the suffix marker of the verbal third person: áitsiniki-wa, "he relates"; we can see it in -su, the IE locative plural (-s + -u); and possibly the Latin nominative in -u; and in IE pronominal forms with -w, e.g. tewe; in -w, the Egyptian independent pronoun ending (zw, "he [topic {subject} of stative]"; "him [topic {not object} of transitive verb]"); Afrasian nominative in -u; Hurrian dative (of interest) -wa.

**(A45a) The Japanese direct object marker (*w)o is a relatively late innovation; according to Shibatani, "it was more common not to mark the direct object at all (p. 340)" in the earliest records; this is the most archaic pattern; in spite of the Japanese orthographical details, this particle seems to mean "toward", which would suggest a derivation from PLHHO, "come down on" (cf. IE 1. o, "to, with"; [cf. Egyptian h3]); this correlates better with the Japanese vocative and hortative use of o (cf. IE 2. o:, vocative) .

B(A46)The Blackfoot verb simplex records a completed act in whatever time frame without an implication of whether the verbal idea was perfected so that any verb without durative or future prefixes may be interpreted as "past". The closest IE equivalent is the perfect without reduplication. Just as the IE verbs must add suffixes or reduplicate to form a progressive aspect (present), so the Blackfoot verb must prefix á- for concomittance (durative). But the possibility of marking non-concomitant time also exists in IE with the e-augment and in Blackfoot with the II- prefix of the "past". Before II-, however, the 1st and 2nd person personal endings are palatalized, and I believe this is due to II- representing PL ?E-$E rather than simple $E as in IE. The Blackfoot "perfective aspect", ákaa-, is obviously a compound of á + kaa (-Ikaa-when preceded by a personal prefix), which we equate to the formant in the IE k-perfect, found in Greek and Latin. The Blackfoot future, yáak-, I believe most likely to be a compound of *II + kaa, and what might support this interpretation is that when the 1st and 2nd person pronouns precede yáak-, the finals are not palatalized: nitáak- and kitáak-.




return to

PL Morphological Elements in Blackfoot, Part One?






The correspondence of 75 roots + 28 formants suffices for a preliminary study to establish the presumption of a genetic relationship.






BIBLIOGRAPHY



Cavalli-Sforza, Luigi Luca and Cavalli-Sforza, Francesco. 1995. The Great Human Diasporas: The History of Diversity and Evolution. New York etal. Helix Books. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

Klimov, Georgij A. 1977. Tipologija Jazykov Aktivnogo Stroja. Moscow: Nauka

-------------------------1983. Printsipy Kontensivnoi Tipologij. Moscow: Nauka

Frantz, Donald G. 1991. Blackfoot Grammar. Toronto: University of Toronto Pressand Russell, Norma Jean. 1989. Blackfoot Dictionary of Stems, Roots, and Affixes. Toronto: University of Toronto Press

Pokorny, Julius. 1959. Indogermanisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch. Volume I. Bern and Munich: Francke Verlag






ADDITIONAL

BIBLIOGRAPHY





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