The Crow Language. Grammatical Sketch and Analyzed Text

144 Pages·2016·13.07 MB·English

by  Lowie R.H.

AT'ICAL
GRA`M STCHE
AND'A
XT.
TE
B3y
ROBER-T-H. LOWI
Urn Tsr,OF CALIF1iA PUDLICATIONS IN'
AIIc N'AACuA19OLO1iY AND ETHNOLOGY
UNIVERSItY. OF-CALZFORNIA PRIFSS
'B1RKEtEY AN LOS ANGEZ
THE CROW LANGUAGE
GRAMMATICAL SKETCH
AND ANALYZED TEXT'
BY
ROBERT H. LOWIE
UNIVER3ITYOF CAIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS INAMERICANARCHAEOLOGY
AND ETHNOLOGY
EDIrORS: A. L. KROEBER, R. H. Lowm, R. L. OLSON, T. D. MCCOWN
Volume39, No. 1, pp. 1-142
TransmittedJanuary26, 1939
IssuedJanuary2, 1942
Price, $1.50
UNIVERSITYOFCALiFomu PRESS
BERKELEY, CALIORNIA
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESs
LONDON, ENGLAND
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERIOA
PREFACE
IN THE SUMMER of 1931 agrantfrom the Committee on Native Languages of
theAmerican CouncilofLearned Societiesenabledmetoresumefieldwork on
theCrowReservationinsoutheasternMontana,withemphasisonthelanguage.
As a result, a fair amount of textual material was obtained, including some
prayers, a long historical tradition, several trickster tales, a version of the
Creation story, and a full variant of "Old Woman's Grandchild," the most
popular Crow hero tale. I have published the prayers intext,* andfour ofthe
talesinEnglish, utilizingthetraditionforethnographicpurposes.t Thetextof
"Old Woman's Grandchild" being now ready forpublicationtwith grammat-
ical notes, it seems best to defer more adequate grammatical treatment, and
to prefix a preliminary sketch. The data presented naturally supersede those
accompanyingaverybrieftext communicated some years ago.§ Forillumina-
tion of grammatical points I have drawn freely upon the texts I recorded on
other field trips, undertaken under the auspices of the American Museum of
Natural History, in 1907 and 1910-1916. Unfortunately, Zellig Harris' and
C. F. Voegelin's edition of "Hidatsa Texts, with Grammatical Notes and
PhonographTranscriptions"| wasissuedtoolateformetomakeuseofit.
R.H.L.
* R.H.Lowie,CrowPrayers,AA35:433-442,1933.
tIdem,TheCrowIndians(NewYork, 1935), 119-171,passim.
tMost of the typing done in the preparation of this paper was by Work Projects
Administrationemployees towhomIhereexpressmythanks.
iR. H. Lowie, A Crow iPext, withGrammatical Notes, UC-PAAE 29:155-175, 1930.
a IndianaHistorical Society, Prehistory Research Series, Vol. I, No. 6 (Indianapolis,
1939).
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CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION
SYNTAX
SECTION
1. Typesofsimple sentence. 5
2-12. Position ofwords
2. Subject, predicate, andobject .
3. Indirect object 6
4. "Genitive". 7
5. Postpositions 7
6. Adverbial modifiers 8
7. Adjectives 8
8. Variousnominal andpronominal relations 9
9. Verbaljuxtaposition. 9
i. Participles 9
ii. Auxiliaries 9
.
iii. The verb bi'a, towant.
iv. Miscellaneous .
.~~~~~~~11
10. Demonstrative ofidentity
11. Suus-eius distinction. .~~~~~~~12
12. Plurality
13-18. Complexsentences .~~~~~~~13
13. Subject and object clauses .~~~~~~~13
14. Relative clauses .~~~~~~~13
15. Temporal subordination . .~~~~~~~14
16. Conditional sentences .~~~~~~~15
17. Final andcausal expressions .~~~~~~~15
18. Various connectives .~~~~~~~15
MORPHOLOGY .~~~~~~~17
19-24. Processes .~~~~~~~17
19. Juxtaposition .~~~~~~~17
20. Composition .~~~~~~~17
21. Reduplication. .~~~~~~~17
22. "Infixation" .~~~~~~~18
23. Prefixes. .~~~~~~~18
i. Possession. .~~~~~~~21
24. Suffixes .~~~~~~23
i. Nounclassifiers .~~~~~~23
ii. Aspectual . .~~~~~~25
iii. Modal suffixesandparticles .~~~~~~27
iv. Verbalizing .~~~~~~29
v. Vocative, emphatic, diminutive .~~~~~~30
vi. Plural. .~~~~~~30
25-29. Verbs .~~~~~~~31
25. Independentpronouns .~~~~~~~31
26. Participles . .~~~~~~32
27. Future conjugation .~~~~~~33
28. Aorist-present. .~~~~~~34
i. Regularprefixless stems .~~~~~~34
ii. Causativeforms. .~~~~~~34
iii. Initial vocalic stems .~~~~~~35
iv. Instrumental prefixes .~~~~~~35
v. Irregularverbs .~~~~~~36
29. Pronominal subjectandobject . .~~~~~~37
TEXTANDTRANSLATION .~~~~~~38
K'a'ricba-pi'tuac (Old Woman's Grandchild). .~~~~~~38
ANALYZED TExT. .~~~~~~63
BIBIAOGRAPHicALABBREVIATIONS USED . .~~~~~~~141
. . . .
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THE CROW IANGUAGE: GRAMMATICAL SKETCH
AND ANALYZED TEXT
BY
ROBERT H. LOWIE
INTRODUCTION
CROWANDHIDATSAconstituteadistinctbranchoftheSiouanstock,andCrow
is the more remote from proto-Siouan. Both differ from Dakota in substitut-
inginitialdfortcandy, aswellastsforDakotas, andbothlackvocalicnasali-
zation.' Since my experience with Hidatsa has been slight and Matthews's
grammarisinadequate, I canpoint outonlyafewnoteworthy differences and
similarities. Crowsubstitutes tsforinitialHidatsa k andatleastsometimes k'
forterminalHidatsats;Hidatsalacksthe characteristic palatalizedCrowstop
written ky (actually intermediate between ky and ty); Crow often substitutes
8 for Hidatsa t. Grammatically, the two languages share a conjugation of the
future by suffixed pronouns instead of expressing that tense by an invariable
particle (e.g., Dakota kte); and Crow does not regularly denote possession by
thesubjectthroughaverbalprefix.
The following lexical comparisons illustrate some of the foregoing state-
ments:
Dakota Hidatsa Crow English
ti ati ace' tent, lodge
ite i'te £V8(e) face
pte bite' bice' buffalo
to tohi cu'9 blue
tcaje dazi da-s name
tceji dezi de'ace tongue
t'a te sa, ce dead
ya da da, de togo
yuta duti du'ci eat
yuza dutsi du'tsi seize
ha8ka hatski ha'tsgye long
k'i tei tsi- to carryonthe back
xpa'ya xapi xapi' tolie down
ape'tu bape ba'pe' day
zi t8i(ri) ci 're yellow
cupe cipe ci 'pe bowels
Though CrowislexicallyremotefromDakota, Tetontextsrevealanumber
ofinterestingresemblances ofdetail, bothlinguisticallyandstylistically. Thus,
though the usual Dakota wordfor "very" is lila, there is an occasional substi-
tution of it'a'pi (lit., they are dead by it),2 which corresponds exactly to ice',
1WashingtonMatthews,EthnographyandPhilologyoftheHidatsaIndians (Washing-
ton, 1877),pp.75-80,84.
2EllaDeloria, DakotaTexts, AES-P14:265, 1932.
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2 UniversityofCaliforniaPublications inAm. Arch. andEthn.
the usual Crow word for "very." More striking is the constant use in both
languages of the diminutive nominal suffix (Dakota -la, Crow -kata) as a
verbal suffix to suggest the speaker's sympathy with the subject.3 Again, dis-
approvalofapersonpresentisgenerallyexpressedbysubstitutingthethirdfor
thesecondpersoninanironicquery.4
The symbols here used to render Crow generally bear the significance at-
tached to them in my previous text in this series. Greek iota is added for the
opensound (b,'a [stone]; butbi-'a[woman]). Parasiticvowelsare commonand
areindicatedbysuperposition.
As in Dakota, final a and e interchange for reasons only partly phonetic.
Thus, he-ky (he says) becomeshak' toindicate asequel completing the predi-
cation. Vocative forms tendto terminate ina;forexample, bi-'ikya (myelder
brother). In the expression ihe'm hu"'ge (send another one [imper.]), the e of
ihe'm (another) was said to signify that no particular substitute was meant,
otherwise theformwouldhavebeeniha'm. Finally, averbalformusedadjec-
tivally (sometimestranslatable byanEnglishrelative clause) substitutesefor
terminala. Corresponding changesmayapplytoothervowels,suchaseandi.
i'gye'xatsi 'se,fixedstar(xatsi'sa,nottomove).
bice'waru'cise,noteatenbybuffalo (waruw'cisa, nottoeatsomething).
el kyara'ke,thatonewhomyousee (ara'ka,yousee).
ak'-tsi'-a 'kine-di'tsic, Struck-one-riding-a-light-roan (a"'kinaik',herode).
is9i'ptsiwaxpa '-kure'-dits'c, Struck-carrying-his-holy-pipe (kura'k', heholds).
aktire'c,thosewhowerealive (iri',tobealive).
aci'oce,Sore-lipclan (bi aci-'ociky, IamaSore-lip).
Ingeneral, eandi,eanda,andoanduarecloselyrelated.
Certain vocalic changes are clearlyphonetic. Thesuffixed article-ctendsto
change afinal a oritoanesound; whereas a-cbecomes sbefore aandbefore
the plural suffix -u. Palatalization is consistent only with preceding e and i
vowels, andfollowscorts.
i'tsec,itwasgood. i'tsiky,itisgood.
ce-ky,heisdead. su-kt,theyaredead.
ba'ciky,Iamdead. it'baci'sak', Iamnotyetdead.
basew'wi,Imightdie. sak'ba 'tsiky, deaditlay.
he-ky,hesays. huk',theysay.
be-c,soIsaid. bak',Isaid.
micgye',dog. ha'tsgye,long.
Though the combination tsu is admissible (tsu-'sa, one-half; tsu'9, one of a
pair), the juxtaposition of ts with the plural suffix u precipitates a change to
eithert (t') ork'.
du'tsiky,heseizes. du'tuk',theyseize.
bari-'atsiky, Ithought. bari-'atuk', wethought.
battse-'ky, Icaused. batku'kt,wecaused.
8Ibid., 15, 149, 151, 200, 202, 222, 260.
4Ibid., 24, 187.
Lowie: The CrowLanguage 3
Therulefor the occasional change of x to k (as in the following) examples
has notyetbeendetermined.
ba-ictci-'re-xa-'ri'9-c, Old-white-man.
kea-'ri-c,theoldwoman.
keawi-'ky,xawi-'ky, bad.
Initial m and nare so weakly nasalized that theyare constantly heard as b
and d. In intervocalic position m (b) becomes w; n (d), r, an untrilled sound
producedbyincomplete closureinpronouncingad.
a'm-bici, isthereearth? (awe',earth).
itsi-'n-disu'a, horsedance (it.si're, horse).
Thelasttwoexamplesintheforegoingillustrate contraction, anoutstanding
characteristic ofCrow. Generally, composition involves elision ofthe terminal
vowel ofthefirstwordwith consequent assimilation oftheterminalconsonant
totheinitial consonantofthefollowingwordorsuffix;wbecomesm, rchanges
to n, tsto t'. Of course, not all consonants admit ofassimilation. Owing to the
initial phoneticweakness ofmanystems, theyarethus completelyobscuredor
eveneliminated.
a 're, arm. a'n-dutu'a, arm-seizing.
ba-'ru, bead. ba-'m-bice, beaded.
bare',wood. ba'm-bice,wooded.
ba'n-dactsiky, sheisdoingbeadwork. ba 'm-bactsiky, Iambeading.
k'o-wi'ak, hefinished. kto-'mbak', Ifinished.
k'o-'mnak',youfinished.
ba'ciky, Idied. ba-'c-bi-ma-tsiky, Ishalldie.
ba-'c-ddkt, whenIdie. ceI'-rakt a'xp9kesa, ifhedies, withhim
die.
iv're,blood. ir'm-batse, bloodman.
i''n-duxtsaxq'k', (with) hisbloodex-
hausted.
iri', ishealive? ba-ri'ky, Ilive.
ba'-rn-biky, Ishalllive. ban-na"k', ifIlive.
am-ba'-m-bi-re-t9-kt, itisimpossible
formetolive.
The stemri (iri'), to live, thus sometimes completely disappears, beingrep-
resented only by -n-, assimilated from the original r to the following future
suffix.
Lessradicalaretheelisionsofunaccentedvowels.
pi-'cen,behindher. da'-pcen,behindyou.
bire', fire. bira-'-kce, match (-kice,imitation).
ak'-bare-acu-'pckyo, thosewhocut ba-ptsi're-ky, Ipush.
(pa'ckyo) people'sheads.
pa-'tsire-ky, hepushes. sapi '-cpite,blackcloth(cipi'te,black).
4 UniversityofCaliforniaPublications inAm. Arch. andEthn.
In composition a final vowel before initial ts and some other stops of the
followingwordorparticletakesonaperceptibleaspiration.
he, tosay. he"tseruk', hesays,itissaid.
Even an accentedfinal vowel readilyfuses with an accented initial vowelof
thefollowingword.
ace 'ren, amongthecamps (ace', camp;he'ren,among.)
SYNTAX
§1. TYPES OF SIMPLE SENTENCE
PREDICATIONS offactalmostinvariablyendink' (ky),the oral stop, omitted in
declarations of possibilities, optative statements, interrogations, and com-
mands. Queries maybe indicated bysuch particles as-heor-dake; commands,
bythesuffixes-kawe,-wa,and (intheplural) -ra.
Lackingtechniquesforexpressingindirectdiscourse, Crowquotesverbatim,
adding forms of heky (he says) or hiri'atsiky (he thinks). Statements not
guaranteed by the narrator end with the quotative particle tseruk' (-tseruct),
probablyderivedfromausitativeverbalform.
xawi-'kyhe"tseruk', itisbad, hesaid (qt.) (xawi ', bad;he-, tosay).5
da'"karaxta-ri, youmightforgetit.
i'ttadaka"kuri,mayyoulivewithoutworry.
co'cdare-',whereareyougoing? (de-,togo).
bats-a'xpa-xpa--ra, lie together! (bats-, reciprocal; a'xpa, with, companion;
xapi', tolie).
ktan-di'ta-wisa"'-raba"'-rakt,nowyoureyesopenye,whenIsay.
k'tar-awac-da*',nowgoaway.
ba'xu-kawe, askhim!
xatsi"'-sa, movenot.
§§2-12. POSITION OF WORDS
§2.Subject, Predicate, andObject
The object, nominal or pronominal, precedes the verb in declarative and im-
perative sentences. The pronominal third person object or subject is not ex-
pressedexceptbyindependentemphaticformsandinthefuture (§ 27).
ihe'mhu"tka,giveheranother (imper.).
icbi'tsiaru'ctak',hetookouthisknife.
apa 'riqcnu'tdk',shetooktheporcupine.
bice'rWk',nap-'iVt8eruk', theykilledabuffalo (qt.).
micgye'awa'kak', Isawadog.
bii'kyakt,helookedatme.
bi i'kya,lookatme (imper.).
di'wap-'e-'wima-tsiky, I'llkillyou.
bare'watseci'um, theyhavedistressedus.
bi-ara'kam, youseeme.
apsa"'rukekura"`tserukt, theychasedtheCrow (qt.).
isa 'cpu 'cektarakuru"`tserukt, nowtheychasedtheCheyenne (qt.).
The subject of an intransitive verb precedes the predicate. There is no
copula;oralstopsverbalizetheadjectiveattribute.
bi-watseckya-'t-k, Iammiserable.
bikymiri'tdsi'tsi-m, I, Iamyourscout.
i't'abare'ce-'r9k',almostwedied.
isatpe'it'bu-'retk', hismoccasinissoleless.
6Hereafter the quotativewill beindicated by "qt." or omitted intranslation.
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