Chiwere language

Voiceless stop sounds /p, t, tʃ, k/ may be heard as voiced [b, d, dʒ, ɡ] in final position.[11] The phoneme /ɾ/ has a number of variants and allophones. It can appear as a dental tap or flap [ɾ] (especially word-medially), as an alveolar fricative [r], as an (inter)dental fricative [ð], as a lateral [l], as a nasal [n], or as a voiced dental plosive [d].[12][13] The velar nasal phoneme /ŋ/ does not occur word-initially, being confined to "medial position after a nasal vowel."[14]

In languages there are certain clusters of phonemes that show up in particular environments within a word. According to William Whitman's research of Chiwere, there are approximately 23 known consonant clusters which are word medial and approximately 14 of these show up word initially or word medially. In this research it has been found that the stop + stop consonant cluster čd, as in áčda ('then'),[15] shows up in the word medial position but not as a word initial phoneme cluster.

The stop + spirant clusters ʔθ, ʔs, and ʔh all show up word initially and word medially, whereas the stop + semivowel clusters dw and gw only show up word medially.[15] The stop + liquid clusters bl and gl show up word initially and word medially.[15] Spirant + stop clusters generally appear in both word initial and word medial position, these clusters include θg, sǰ, sg, hd, and hg, however the spirant + stop clusters sd and xd only appear word medially.[15] These are all the spirant + stop clusters accounted for in the research of William Whitman, however, the spirant + stop cluster hk has been found to exist word medially, as in chéthka ('domestic cow').[16]

According to Whitman's research there are two spirant + nasal consonant clusters that have been found, which are hm, as in sáhmã ('seven') and hn, as in láhnũwe ('calumet'), however Whitman does account that hñ is a combination which appears as a future tense suffix.[15] After reviewing further data, the cluster hñ has been found in the word medial position, as in péhñi ('whiskey')[17] and thus appears to be another possible spirant + nasal consonant combination.

The stop + semivowel consonant clusters θw, xw, and hw all appear to be restricted to the word medial environment, whereas the stop + semivowel consonant cluster sw appears to be the only stop + semivowel known to show up both word initially, as in swá̃la ('to be soft') and baswá ('to cut piece off').[15] The stop + liquid phoneme clusters θl, sl, and xl have all been found in the word initial and word medial environments.[15]

An interesting analysis of the Chiwere language has shown that the spirant + stop consonant cluster hg is the more commonly used pronunciation of the spirant + stop cluster θg and that the hg cluster may be replacing the θg altogether.[15]

In William Whitman's research, the spirant + stop combination xd, with the one given example used in this journal being iblí̃xdo ('blackbird'), is mentioned as being an error for the spirant + stop combination hd.[15] But the spirant + stop combination xd has also been found in the words chéxdó ('buffalo bull'),[18] náxda ('sour'), and náxdage ('kick').[19] With this data we can see that the consonant cluster xd is a possible combination and can show up in word medial position.

Chiwere has five oral vowel phonemes, /a e i o u/, and three nasal vowel phonemes, /ã ĩ ũ/. Vowel length is distinctive as well.[12]

The verbal complex is formed of preverbal and postverbal affixes, with preverbal affixes communicating positional, instrumental and pronominal elements.[20] These are added to a verb stem, which can be mono-, duo- or polysyllabic, and either agent (transitive) or patient (intransitive). Most verb stems are passive. Altogether, the Chiwere verb complex is arranged as follows:

[wa- pronoun] [wa- directional] [positional] [-wa/ri- pronouns] [ha-/ra- pronouns] [reflexive] [possession] [gi- directional] [instrumental] STEM [pronoun suffix] [causative][23]

Positional prefixes occupy the first position in the verbal complex. These prefixes refer to the location or direction of the verb's action:[24]

• a- on, upon, over
• i- at, to, by
• u- in, within, into

Chiwere distinguishes three persons – first, second and inclusive, which functions as an inclusive first person plural. Each person has an agent (subject) and patient (object) form. The agent forms mark the subjects of active verbs, whereas the patient forms mark the objects of active verbs and the subjects of passive verbs, making Chiwere, like many other Siouan languages, active-stative. Third person forms as they exist in English are not directly marked.[25] Following are the subject and object forms of the pronominal prefixes:[24]

• First Person: ha- hi-
• Second Person: ra- ri-
• Inclusive: hi- wa-wa-

(note that the inclusive object form is spelled "wa-wa" because it can be separated by the positional prefixes)

The plural forms of these pronominal forms are expressed via a combination of the above listed prefixes with suffixes. Thus:[24]

• First Person: hi-…wi, wa-wa…wi
• Second Person: ra-…wi, ri-…wi
• Inclusive (pl.): …wi, wa-
• Inclusive: …ñe, wa-…wi

This prefix, perhaps best translated as "something," occurs before every other verbal element except for the pronominal hi-, and approximates the English third person plural object of a transitive verb. Additionally, the prefix can be used as a dummy pronoun to make transitive verbs intransitive; these verbal forms are often used as nouns, and this prefix is thus the general method of forming nouns from verb stems. There are several intransitive verbs that take the wa- prefix idiomatically, wherein the prefix has no literal meaning.[26]

Verbs are made reflexive by the "ki-" prefix; reduplication of this prefix ("kiki-") expresses reciprocity.[27] Thus:

• Uhákigisa (I helped myself)
• Ukikisa ke (They helped each other)[24]

A number of verbs that are non-reflexive in English take the reflexive prefix in Chiwere.[26]

These three prefixes serve to indicate an indirect object[28] and as such are grouped together, even though they do not occupy the same position within the verbal complex:

• wa- indicates that the action moves away from a third point not occupied by the speaker
• gi- indicates that the action moves towards a third point and communicates the English prepositions of to, for or concerning
• gla- indicates that the action reverts towards the subject and is used to form possessive constructions

There are nine separate prefixes that indicate instrumentality, all of which change passive verbs into active.[24]

• wa- by pushing with the hand
• gi- by pushing or striking with a held object
• ru-/ri- by hand
• na- by means of the feet or a machine
• ra- by means of the mouth or teeth
• bo- by means of blow or blast
• ba- by cutting
• da- because of heating or freezing

The causative, wherein the subject causes or makes something else to do or be something, is expressed via the suffix -hi.

"Tense" in Chiwere can be divided into present/past and future. Present and past tenses are unmarked in the language, and are distinguished by actual statements of time using words like "yesterday" or "today." The future tense is indicated with the particle hnye, which follows the verb.[29]

Chiwere is a pro-drop language;[30] once the subject of the sentence has been established, it can be omitted.

• First Person: mi'e (sing.), hi'e (inc.)
• Second Person: ri'e
• Third Person: alé

Statements are negated with the particle skunyi, which follows the verb.[29]

Commands are formed using the simple verb stem plus a gender-specific particle – le for male speakers and lé for female speakers.[31]