2nd singular disjunctive pronoun

pronoun n/a

Proto-Siouan-Catawba

Proto-Siouan *yi•-ʔe• ~ *yį́•-ʔe•

Proto-Crow-Hidatsa *ri•re

Crow diiléen; díilaa RG , díh

Hidatsa rí•ra J , ní•ra J , rí• , ní•

Proto-Mississipi-Valley *rí•ʔe ~ *rį́•ʔe

Proto-Dakota *niré

Dakota niyé

Proto-Hoocąk-Chiwere *rí•ʔe ~ *rį́•ʔe

Chiwere rí•re, rí•ʔe ~ ríe

Hoocąk nįʔé ~ née ~ neʔé ‘I or you’ KM:2299 , nį’e ~ nee ~ ne’e ‘I or you or we’ WL:29 , ne , nee

Proto-Dhegiha *rí-e

Omaha-Ponca ði

Kanza/Kaw yíe

Osage ðie

Quapaw díe

Proto-Southeastern *(a)yį-

Proto-Biloxi-Ofo *(a)yį́ri

Biloxi ayíndi, ayindí, hayínd, ayínt , †ayį́di

Ofo tcī´ⁿti , †čį́•ti JSS

Proto-Tutelo-Saponi

Tutelo yim, yisą́i [emph.] H

General comment

Proto-Siouan *yi•-ʔe• often > *yi•e > *yi•re with a V of variable nasality. The vast majority of these forms appear to be composite of *yi• (MVS *ri-) + ʔe• ‘you + demonstrative’. It is possible that virtually all second person forms may best be reconstructed with initial *a-, i.e. *ayá-, *ayí-, *ayį́, etc., but outside of the agent pronouns, only Biloxi shows any evidence of such a vowel. The necessity of reconstructing a deictic base for all of the disjunctive pronouns dovetails with the notion that the verb prefixes really are the underlying (pro)nominal arguments in languages like Siouan. The peculiar Hoocąk forms, esp. with their first person translations, are not explained here and are very strange indeed.

Language Cognate Phonetic Siouan Meaning Comment Sources