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The Caddo Language: A grammar, texts, and dictionary based on materials collected by the author in Oklahoma between 1960 and 1970 - Paperback | Diverse Reads

The Caddo Language: A grammar, texts, and dictionary based on materials collected by the author in Oklahoma between 1960 and 1970

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The Caddos once inhabited a vast area that is now included in eastern Texas and parts of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. Their descendants have lived in southwestern Oklahoma since the middle of the 19th century. Their language is distantly related to Pawnee, Arikara, Wichita, and Kitsai within the Caddoan language family. Its polysynthetic verb morphology was described in an earlier work by Lynette Melnar. Chafe's work expands on that description, adding nouns and adjectives, a collection of representative texts and an English-Caddo dictionary.

ISBN-13: 9780990334415

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Mundart Press

Publication Date: 10-06-2018

Pages: 334

Product Dimensions: 7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.70(d)

Wallace Chafe is Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at the University of California at Santa Barbara. His work with Native American languages has focused especially on the Seneca language of New York State and on the Caddo language that is described in this book.

Table of Contents

Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Abbreviations viii

Part One. The Structure of the Caddo Language 1

Chapter 1. Introduction 2

The Caddos 3

Early Sources on the Language 5

Chapter 2. Phonology 7

Phonological Changes 8

Phonological Changes

Associated with Particular

Morphemes 13

Formal and Informal Styles 14

Chapter 3. Nouns 15

Chapter 4. Adjectives 18

Chapter 5. Basic Verb Structure 21

Weak Preverbs 23

Questionable Preverbs 23

Reconstructed Stage 24

Chapter 6. Pronominal Prefixes 25

The Defocusing Prefix 26

Realis and Irrealis 28

Chapter 7. Number and Distribution 31

Distribution 32

Summary of Number and

Distributive Prefixes 33

Chapter 8. Tense-Aspect Suffixes 36

Chapter 9. Proclitics 39

Past tense 43

Negation 44

Subordination 45

Deixis 46

Aspect 46

Modality 47

Chapter 10. Valence 48

v

The Causative Suffix 48

The Portative Prefix 49

The Motion Causative Prefix 49

The Benefactive Prefix 49

Middle Voice 50

Chapter 11. Extensions of the Base 52

Noun Incorporation 52

Posturals 55

Locatives 56

The Reversive 58

Finality 59

Chapter 12. Questions 60

Question-Word Questions 60

Yes-No Questions 61

Part Two. Caddo Texts 63

Introduction 64

Text 1. Coyote becomes a Mortar 65

Text 2. The Wolf and the Ducks 69

Text 3. The Wolf and the Wren 77

Text 4. How the Turtle Got Squares on his Back 90

Text 5. The Old Woman and the Elves 95

Text 6. The Transformed Husband and the Elf 103

Text 7. Memories from Dorcas Johnson’s

Mother 134

Text 8. Pauline Washington’s Father 149

Text 9. History of the Murrow Dance Ground 164

Text 10. Speech by T’ámma’ at Caddo Dance 182

Part Three. English-Caddo Dictionary 185

Introduction 186

The Dictionary 188

References 320