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Dē Graut Bʉr wrote:That's quite weird.

Dē Graut Bʉr wrote:Porphyrogenitos seemed to be talking about a contrast between /j/ and non-syllabic /i/ though.

Porphyrogenitos wrote:I'm not sure how weird this is, so I'll post it here for confirmation.

In Menominee, /i̯a/ and /u̯a/ are constrative with /ja/ and /wa/.

Quileute features an interesting prefix system that changes depending on the physical characteristics of the person being spoken to. When speaking to a cross-eyed person, [ƛ-] is prefixed to each word. When speaking to a hunchback, the prefix /c̀-/ is used. Additional prefixes are also used for short men (/s-/), "funny people" (/čk/), and people that have difficulty walking (/čχ̣/).

Porphyrogenitos wrote:Well, it turns out the Chimakuan languages (all two of them) are an odd bunch. Quileute has a very curious morphological feature:

Quileute features an interesting prefix system that changes depending on the physical characteristics of the person being spoken to. When speaking to a cross-eyed person, [ƛ-] is prefixed to each word. When speaking to a hunchback, the prefix /c̀-/ is used. Additional prefixes are also used for short men (/s-/), "funny people" (/čk/), and people that have difficulty walking (/čχ̣/).

hwhatting wrote:

Porphyrogenitos wrote:Well, it turns out the Chimakuan languages (all two of them) are an odd bunch. Quileute has a very curious morphological feature:

Quileute features an interesting prefix system that changes depending on the physical characteristics of the person being spoken to. When speaking to a cross-eyed person, [ƛ-] is prefixed to each word. When speaking to a hunchback, the prefix /c̀-/ is used. Additional prefixes are also used for short men (/s-/), "funny people" (/čk/), and people that have difficulty walking (/čχ̣/).

Are we sure that the last speakers weren't just pulling the legs of the linguists documenting the language?

Traditionally the Natchez had certain stories that could only be told during the winter time, and many of these stories revolved around the theme of cannibalism. Protagonists in such stories would encounter cannibals, trick cannibals, marry the daughters of cannibals, kill cannibals, and be eaten by cannibals. In these stories Natchez storytellers would employ a special speech register when impersonating the cannibal characters. This register was distinct from ordinary Natchez by substituting several morphemes and words for others.

In this example the standard optative prefix -ʔa- is exchanged for the cannibal register optative prefix -ka-

kapiʃkʷãː
ka-pi-ʃkʷ-aː-n
first.person.optative.(cannibal)-pl-eat-incompletive-phrasal.termination
"Let us [cannibals] eat him!"

Porphyrogenitos wrote:Haha, I don't know. Odd little socio-morpho-phonological features like that don't seem terribly uncommon among Native American languages. For example, Natchez has a special register used when pretending to be a cannibal

Sapir reports that the Nootka culture hero Kwátiyaˑt typically inserts χ after the first vowel of a word ... Raven inserts -čχ- into words. Deer and Mink replace all sibilants with laterals (as one does for persons with defects of the eye).

In Quileute mythological beings and animals also have distinctive speech. The culture hero Q'ǽtiˑ prefixes sx- to every word; Raven prefixes š-; Raven's wife prefixes c- and shifts d and l to n, and b to m ... Deer prefixes ƛk- to every word and shifts all sibilants to laterals. In Lushootseed Raven replaces b and d with corresponding nasals m and n. This pattern reverses a sound shift in Lushootseed whereby original nasals were replaced by the voiced stops.

Coyote's use of inappropriate vocabulary, distorted or nonsense speech, and special forms appears all over the West. He shifts s to š in Coeur d'Alene, s to š and n to l in Nez Perce, s to xʲ in Kutenai, infixes ʎ in Cocopa and Yuma, and suffixes -pai in Shoshone and -ajakʲ Chemehuevi.

Sapir reported that in Takelma the prefix sˑ- typically occurs in the speech of Coyote and ł- in the speech of Grizzly Bear.

gach wrote:

Raven's wife prefixes c- and shifts d and l to n, and b to m ...

(The same shift /m n/ > /b d/ happened at least in Makah, Ditidaht, Lushootseed and the Chimakuan languages causing them some extent of lack of nasals.)

alynnidalar wrote:Did Raven's wife have a cold?

Porphyrogenitos wrote:Well, it turns out the Chimakuan languages (all two of them) are an odd bunch. Quileute has a very curious morphological feature:

Quileute features an interesting prefix system that changes depending on the physical characteristics of the person being spoken to. When speaking to a cross-eyed person, [ƛ-] is prefixed to each word. When speaking to a hunchback, the prefix /c̀-/ is used. Additional prefixes are also used for short men (/s-/), "funny people" (/čk/), and people that have difficulty walking (/čχ̣/).

gach wrote:

Sapir reports that the Nootka culture hero Kwátiyaˑt typically inserts χ after the first vowel of a word ... Raven inserts -čχ- into words. Deer and Mink replace all sibilants with laterals (as one does for persons with defects of the eye).