plural

n/a

Proto-Siouan-Catawba

Proto-Siouan

Proto-Mississipi-Valley *-(a)pi ~ *-(a)pe

Proto-Dakota *-pi

Lakota -pi

Dakota -pi

Proto-Dhegiha *-(a)pi ~ *-(a)pe

Omaha-Ponca -(a)bi

Kanza/Kaw -(a)be

Quapaw -(a)we

General comment

This marker of plurality in predicates can refer to either agent or patient if both are animate. In DH languages it also apparently marks 3 sg.

non-continuative verb forms. The presence of initial *a- is controversial, since it would be identical with the “ablaute” -a of many verb forms. The analysis depends on diachronic segmentation, which may not be agreed upon. Crow áappaa ‘with’ (GG-63), Hidatsa aapi ‘with’ may shed some additional light on developments here. Crow reflects †áap-haa, where the second morpheme is the common adverbializer. Cf. also Lakota ob ‘with, together with’ (C), Lakota obtu ‘with (more than one)’ (B-367b).

Language Cognate Phonetic Siouan Meaning Comment Sources