Biloxi language

Biloxi is an extinct Siouan language, formerly spoken by the Native American Biloxi tribe in present-day Mississippi, Louisiana, and southeastern Texas.

History

The Biloxi tribe first encountered Europeans in 1699, along the Pascagoula River. By the mid-18th century, they had settled in central Louisiana. Some Biloxi were also noted in Texas in the early 19th century.

By the early 19th century, their numbers had already begun to dwindle. By 1934, the last native speaker, Emma Jackson, was in her eighties. Morris Swadesh and Mary Haas spoke with her in 1934 and confirmed that Jackson knew the language.

Classification

Biloxi is an Ohio Valley, or Southeastern, Siouan language. It is related to Ofo and Tutelo.

Phonology

Multiple possible inventories have been suggested. This article follows that of Einaudi (1976).

Vowels

Along with contrastive nasalization, Biloxi also has phonemic vowel length.

Notes

:A. May be either open-mid or close-mid.
:B. Biloxi may have a phonetic schwa, but Dorsey-Swanton (1912) and Haas (1968) are consistent in marking it.

Dorsey & Swanton (1912) postulated phonemic vowel length, which Haas and Swadesh verified in speaking with Emma Jackson in 1934. Their findings appeared in Haas (1968).

Also, there may still be some uncertainty about whether certain words contain /ą/ or /an/.

Consonants

Notes

:C. Has a marginal status

Biloxi may also have a phonemic aspiration distinction for some segments.

Phonotactics

Syllable structure is (C)(C)(C)V(C) or (C)V(C)(C). However, three-consonant clusters are rare.

Most words end in a vowel. The others usually end in /k/ or /x/ as a result of deletion: from "he fell."

Few consonant clusters end syllables. Most exceptions are caused by vowel deletion: from "horse."

The following consonant clusters are observed:

Geminates do not occur. /n/ sonorants and probably /d/ occur only as the second elements of clusters. /h/ and /m/ are never the second element. Fricatives do not co-occur.

There are a few three-consonant clusters, all of the form C+s+stop or C+x+glide and some with alternate forms:
; pst
: ~ 'she sews'
; psd
: ~ 'knife' (also )
; tsp
: 'it adheres' (?)
; tsk
: ~ 'fly'
: 'infant'
; kst
: 'he is stingy'
; nsk
: 'butterfly'
; pxw
: ~ 'he punches'
; txy
: 'letter'
; kxw
: 'he sits on a swing'
: 'always'
; kxy
: 'loop'

Grammar

Morphophonemics

There are many verb roots and two mode markers with the morphophonemically-conditioned alternation e~a~i (underlying E):

* 'go'
* , 'be'
* 'cause'
* 'say'
* (optative mode marker)
* (potential mode marker)

The alternation depends on the following morpheme:

Nouns and verbs whose stems end in or change to before the plural marker :
: + becomes 'their hair'

That may occur with 'to eat' also:
: + becomes ~ 'they eat'

The rule may optionally also apply in compounds and across word boundaries if the next element starts with CV:
: + becomes 'both arms'

Nouns that end in and can undergo pluralization change to : + becomes 'their father'.

Verbs whose stems end in , , or optionally lose their before the plural marker:
: + becomes 'they sew'
: + becomes 'they pulled it off her head'
: + > 'they grabbed'
, , k(i), , > x/___k occurs optionally across morpheme or word boundaries.
: + + becomes + > 'you untie me'
: becomes 'when it was reclining'
: but + + becomes 'it is too large for me'

The rule may cause the previous vowel to denasalize.
: + + becomes + becomes 'you have not forgotten us'
: > 'he sat until'

Verbs whose stems end in or may optionally change to before the negative mode marker :
: + becomes 'they were unwilling'

Stems ending in optionally become .
: + + + becomes + becomes 'I did not take it from him'

The dative marker becomes before a vowel.
: + + becomes 'they said to him'

(However, Einaudi cites one counterexample, + becomes 'they were drinking it for him', perhaps with a glottal stop inserted.)

The following rule is optional in compounds and across word boundaries and obligatory everywhere else:

V₁V₁ > V₁

V₁V₂ > V₂

: + + + becomes 'you do not make it'
: + > 'panther skin'

However, there are a few words with two adjacent vowels: 'day', 'be sick', etc.

Two morphophonemically identical syllables may not appear contiguously, but the former is dropped.
: + becomes 'she does not give'

Einaudi finds one counterexample, + becomes 'she wanted to hit him'.

C₁C₁ > C₁

: + + becomes + becomes 'you kill'

The following rule optionally applies to compounds:

XV#CY > XCY

: + becomes 'hand + round' = 'fist'

That may lead to otherwise-disallowed clusters, including geminates:
: + + becomes 'eagle + head + white' = 'bald eagle'
: + becomes 'snake + chief' = 'rattlesnake'

The following rule applies to compounds:

Vn#C > V̨#C

: + becomes + becomes 'eight'

The following rules are conditioned by person markers on nouns and verbs:

Stems beginning with and some beginning with undergo the following (obligatory for h-stems but optional for Y-stems):
becomes or ,

: + + becomes 'I know'
: + + becomes 'I come from'

However, that does not apply for y-initial (rather than Y-initial) stems:
: + becomes 'I sing'

The following rule applies before roots and the dative marker :
becomes

: + becomes 'I come back hither', + + becomes 'I gave him'

becomes (optionally or )

: + becomes 'I sit'
: + becomes 'we cheat'

becomes (optional except before and for unless it was covered by the previous rule)

: + becomes 'I hate him'
: but + becomes 'I am a boy'

becomes followed by a vowel

: + becomes 'I make'

Optionally, becomes ~ followed by or

: + becomes 'you go home'
: + becomes 'you carry on your shoulder'

becomes followed by a consonant

: + + becomes + becomes 'you (plural) eat'

becomes ~~ followed by a vowel

: + + becomes 'you fear greatly'
: + becomes 'you shall be so'
: + becomes 'you say'

The use of different allomorphs in free variation is attested for some verbs.

The next four rules combine personal affixes and so apply only to verbs:

+ becomes followed by a consonant

: + + becomes 'I kick you'

+ becomes followed by a vowel

: + + becomes 'I seek you'

+ becomes

: + + becomes 'I hit him'
, , ay + nk, , > /yąk/ (which may undergo further changes as described above)

: + + becomes 'you take me'

The subjunctive mode marker undergoes the following rule:

becomes after i or į

: 'she must have done it'

The habitual mode marker optionally undergoes the following rule:

becomes after a vowel

: becomes 'she is always so'
: but becomes 'I am still hungry'

The auxiliary undergoes the following rule:

becomes

: becomes 'I was, but'

Morphology

The three word classes in Biloxi are verbs, substantives (nouns and pronouns), and particles. Only the first two take affixes.

Verbs are always marked for person and number and may also take dative, reciprocal, reflexive, and/or instrumental markers as well as mode markers, the object specifier, and auxiliaries. They are at or immediately before the end of clauses.

All nominal affixes may also be used with verbs, but nouns use a subset of the verbal affixes. They may not use dative, reciprocal, reflexive, or instrumental markers, or mode markers, or auxiliaries.

Particles serve many functions, including noun phrase marking and acting as adverbials.

Inflection

= Nouns

=
Nouns may be inflectable or, as most are, non-inflectable.

The former group inflects for person and number. It contains names of body parts and kin terms, which must inflect, and a few other personal possessions, with optional inflection. The person markers are for the first person, for the second person, and for the third person.

They may be pluralized with the marker . The noun's number itself is not marked explicitly.

Examples of inflected nouns are below:
: 'throat'
:: 'my throat'
:: 'your throat'
:: 'their throats'
: 'father'
:: 'your father'
:: 'our father'

Here are examples of optionally-inflected nouns:
: 'house'
:: / 'my house'
: 'shirt'
:: 'your shirt'

Personal pronouns are formed by inflecting the root for person and number. (It may also have been done once by the demonstratives and .) Pronouns are always optional and emphasized. Singular pronouns may occur as the subject or the object, but the plurals are always subjects (see ).

Notes

:D. In free variation with and before
:E. In free variation with before

Biloxi has two common demonstratives: 'this' and 'that'. They may be marked for plurality as and , but that is very rare since they are used if plurality is unmarked elsewhere, and it is marked on the verb in noun phrases with classificatory verbs:
: 'these running men'

= Verbs

=

Verbs inflect for person (1st, 2nd, 3rd), number (singular vs. plural), and mode (many possibilities, including some less understood mode markers).

Morphemes within verbs have the following order:

Notes

:F. Very occasionally an enclitic will proceed , e.g. 'they are very black'.

Verbs may either be classificatory or normal. Classificatory verbs specify the subject's position (sitting, standing, etc.) and differ from normal verbs in that the first person is not inflected for person.

Inflection for person and number is identical to inflected nouns:
: 1st person
: 2nd person
: 3rd person
: pluralizes referent of prefix (not used for inanimate subjects)

Because of the rules determining the surface manifestations of some combinations of person markers, 2nd person on 1st and 3rd person on 1st forms are identical, e.g. 'you hit me, he hit me'. Also, 2nd person subj., 2nd person on 3rd, and 3rd person on 2nd are identical, e.g. 'you see, you see him, they see you'.

marks animate plurality (except with some motion verbs).
: 'we have not forgotten you'
: 'we did not know'

However, is not used:

# In the presence of the plural auxiliary 'are':
#: 'they were looking at it'
# When the sentence has already been marked as plural:
#: 'they climbed up, and were falling continually'
# If it is followed by a plural motion verb:
#: 'they took it and were returning'

Some (but not all) verbs of motion mark plurality with the prefix inserted directly before the root:
: 'he goes'
:: 'we go', 'you (pl.) go', 'they go'
: 'he goes homeward'
:: 'we go homeward'

But there are counterexamples (even ones derived from the same roots):
: 'he goes thither'
:: 'we go thither', 'you (pl.) go thither'

marks plural objects when they are not specified elsewhere. It comes after and before all mode markers.

Examples:
: 'he sent them'
: 'she named them (in the past)'

There are two examples of being reduced to :
: 'I will kick you pl.'
: 'I will give it to you pl.'

may be added to some verb roots to mark an unspecified indefinite object:
: 'carry on back'
:: 'I carried something on my back'
: 'gather'
:: 'I gather things'

Mode markers

There are many mode markers in Biloxi. Some are common and well understood, while others are infrequent and have elusive meanings.

Notes:

:G. With morphophonemic , see above
:H. becomes after or (see above)
:I. becomes / V^f___ optionally (see above)
:J. because + becomes , see above
:K. requires person marker
:L. Stems ending in lose and gain , others just gain

Derivation

= Nouns

=

Nouns may be derived either through nominalizing verbs or by compounding.

Verbs are nominalized via the prefix :
: 'sharp at all ends'
: 'briar'
: 'eat'
: 'food'

Compound nouns may be formed by combining two nouns or a noun and a verb. (Some morphophonemic rules are involved, see above.)

noun + noun:
: + becomes 'hip + bone' = 'hip bone'
: + becomes 'fire + house' = 'fireplace'

noun + verb:
: + becomes 'flour + make' = 'wheat'
: + becomes 'people + talk' = 'language'

= Pronouns

=

For the personal pronoun , see above. may be used as a reflexive pronoun. It is possible that both of these, and perhaps the reflexive pronoun (see below) are derived from a root .

= Interrogatives

=

A number of interrogatives come from the prefix (with vowel elision following morphophonemic rules):
: ~ 'where?'
: 'where (stands)?'
: 'how long?'
: 'how high, tall, deep?'
: 'which, how, why?'
: ~ 'how many'

Some are derived from pronouns:
: 'something, anything'
:: 'what?'
: 'a few, many'
:: 'how many?'

= Verbs

=

Verbal derivation may occur by root derivation (reduplication and compounding) or stem derivation (thematic prefixes, dative markers, reciprocals, reflexives, and instrumentals).

Reduplication

Reduplication, common in Biloxi, is used for intensification or distributiveness. Usually, the first CVC of the root is reduplicated, but sometimes it is only the first CV:

: 'he hung up a lot'
:: 'hang up on a nail or post'
: '(his heart) was beating'
:: 'beat'
: 'he broke it here and there'
:: 'break'
: 'my feet are slipping'
:: 'slip'

Compounding

Verbal compounds may be noun + verb or verb + verb.

It seems that most noun-verb compounds are formed by using the verb ''ǫ'' 'do, make':
: + + becomes 'string + make' = 'trap'
: + becomes 'which = do' = 'which to do (how)'
: + becomes 'deer + shoot' = 'shoot deer'

Examples of verb-verb compounds:
: + 'they find and shoot'
: + 'with + hit + do' = 'to hit with'

Some of the above compounds end up having adjacent vowels, since syncope in compounds is optional.

Thematic prefixes

Thematic prefixes come after person markers and before dative markers and instrumentals.

Dative, reciprocal, and reflexive markers

The dative marker ( before vowels) is used after thematic prefixes.
: 'they said to him'
: 'he showed it to them'

It is peculiar in that it may be used if someone else's body parts are the direct object (the "dative of possession").
: 'they pulled his ail/small>'
: ' hey/small> saw his hadow/small>'
: 'she looked at her ead/small>'

It appears as before 'do, make' and gives it a benefactive gloss ( 'he made for them'). (It should not be mistaken for .)

The reduplicated marks reciprocity. The plural marker is then optional.
: 'they were calling to one another'
: 'they were looking at one another'

(or , perhaps because of the denasalizing morphophonemic rule above) marks reflexives. It normally comes immediately after person markers, but in some third-person cases, may come before it:
: 'he was wrapping it around himself'
: 'they wash themselves'

Instrumental prefixes

Instrumentals serve to mark how the event was carried out and immediately precede the root.

Notes:
:M. Einaudi speculates that V₁V₂ is not removed because of possible ambiguity.
:N. Only traces of the prefixes remain.

= Adverbs

=

Adverbs may be derived from connectives, pronouns, verbs, and particles via a number of affixes:

= Connectives

=

There are various instances of derived connectives:

; 'and (?), the aforesaid (?)'
: + 'and then'
: + 'and then'
: + (?) 'and so'
; 'so' (probably derived itself, see above)
: + 'that is why'
: + 'and then'
: + 'and then'
: + 'well'
: + + 'therefore'

= Numerals

=

Derived numbers contain predictable vowel syncope (see above).

Notes

:O. may be derived from + 'two + bones' and + 'three + bones'

11-19 are derived via the formula 'X sitting on Y' ('').

20-99 are derived via the formula 'X sitting on Y Zs' ('')

Notes

:P. shows up twice as ''kįkįke''

Ordinal numerals (1st, 2nd, 3rd) are not attested. To express 'once', 'twice', 'three times', etc.', use the verb 'to go' before cardinal numbers:
: 'once'
: 'twice'
: 'three times'
: 'four times'
: 'five times'

To form multiplicatives, use 'to double' before cardinal numbers:
: 'twofold'
: 'threefold'
: 'fourfold'
: 'tenfold'
: 'one hundredfold'

Syntax

Biloxi is a left-branching SOV language.

Its lexical categories include interjections (I), adverbials (A), subjects (S), objects (O), verbs (V), and connectives (C).

The three types of phrases are:
# interjectory phrases: ''I'' with pauses before and after it
#: 'Oh friend!'
# postpositional phrase: pp N (yą)/(de) (see below)
#: 'inside a coat'
# noun phrase: any ''S'' or ''O'' (see below)
#: 'your corn'

There are dependent and independent clauses as well as major and minor sentences. (see below)

Interjections

Interjections may be:

= Interjectory particles

=
: 'oh no!'
: 'hello!'
: 'help!'
: 'pshaw!'

= Animal cries

=
: 'caw'
: 'cry of the tiny frog'
: 'cry of the squealer duck'
: 'cry of the sapsucker'

= Vocatives

=

Vocatives are almost always unmarked:
: 'Oh grandmother!'
: 'Oh mother!'
: 'Oh Cidikuna!'

There are only three exceptions:
: 'Oh father!' ( suppletive – the regular stem meaning 'father' is ''adi'')
: 'Oh wife!' (literally 'my old lady')
: 'Oh husband!' (literally 'my old man')

Adverbials

Adverbials most often appear directly before the verb, but they may also act as subjects and objects. They may not follow verbs or precede connectives in sentence-initial position.

Adverbials may be:

= Adverbial particles

=

Some particles:
: 'yesterday'
: 'right there'
: 'there'
: 'again'
: 'almost'

(Also, see "adverbs", above.)

Usage examples:
: 'the Ancient of Opossums thought he would reach there very early in the morning'
: 'and then he went again'
: 'come back here!' (male to female)
: 'yesterday it snowed'

= Postpositional phrases

=

(For vowel elision, see above.)

Notes

:Q. may have a base form
:R. less occurrences than ~
:S. ''eu'' here, an unexpected diphthong, is shortened 'there'

Almost all of the above allow following or . has the expected meaning 'here' or 'this', while may be glossed 'the' or 'yonder'.

Prepositions are sometimes used without modifying a noun, becoming adverbial:
: 'I do it again on the other side'
: 'to stand a tall object on something'
: 'to dig under, undermine'

= Some interrogatives

=

Notes

:T. derived from ''cina''
:U. ''cak'' and ''caką'' appear to be in free variation
:V. occurs indicatively a few times, e.g. 'he untied some hair for her'

Subjects and objects

Subjects and objects are formed almost identically, except that the nominal particle may only be used after objects.

A subject or object must include a simple noun, and may optionally also include a verb, nominal particle, and/or demonstrative pronoun, in that order.

If the noun is a personal pronoun, it may only (optionally) be followed by either a demonstrative pronoun or a nominal particle, but not both. Other pronouns (e.g. 'this') may not be followed by anything.

= Examples

=

noun-verb
: 'the old woman'
noun-nominal particle
: 'the person'
noun-demonstrative pronoun
: 'these people'
noun-verb-nominal particle
: 'the old woman'
noun-verb-demonstrative pronoun
: 'these two men'
noun-nominal particle-demonstrative pronoun
: 'the bear, too'
noun-verb-nominal particle-demonstrative pronoun
: 'the Indian, too'

Possession in subjects and objects is expressed by the possessor followed by the possessed, followed by nominal particles.
: 'people's hair' (obj.)
: 'the man's house'

Two subjects may be juxtaposed with reciprocal verbs:
: 'the rabbit and the bear were friends to one another'

Additives may be expressed by juxtaposition followed by the nominal particle , but this is not used often due to ambiguity (it might be interpreted as a possessive phrase):
: 'I saw a horse and a cow'
: 'a man and a woman were coming'

Alternatives are expressed with juxtaposition followed by the particle ''ha'' (otherwise a nominal particle):
: 'is that a boy or a girl?'
: 'is that a horse or a cow?'

= Nominal particles

=

Biloxi has many nominal particles, and for the most part their function is unclear.

A non-exhaustive list:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

For the most part it's unclear what conditions the use of a particular np (or ∅), but the following can be said:

# , , , are only used with objects
# almost always is used with human nouns
# is used when the noun is a pronoun, when the main verb is stative, or when there is an interrogative present.

Verbs

Simple verbs (not causatives or expanded verbs, see below) must contain a person marker, root, and number marker, and optionally the following:

Prefixes:
: thematic prefixes
: reciprocals, dative markers, reflexives
: instrumental markers

Suffixes:
: mode markers
: object markers

= Auxiliary constructions

=

Biloxi contains a defective auxiliary verb / ( is used in singular, for plural). By itself, it may mean 'to be' or 'to stay', but with another verb, it lends durativity. The plural marker is not used with since the defective form itself already serves to mark number.

When the auxiliary construction is used, both the main verb and the auxiliary are inflected.

Examples:
: 'he was departing'
: 'you (pl.) are eating'

Generally, to express the negative, the stem is negated, rather than the auxiliary:
: 'they were unwilling'
: 'they could not raise (it)'

Note V (): But see Einaudi 1976, p. 154, where 'he is not always working' and 'I am not always working' occur, perhaps to avoid ambiguity due to the rule + becomes

= Classificatory verbs

=

Biloxi contains five classificatory verbs, which indicate duration and position of the subject: (See above for morphophonemic explanation of becoming .)
; 'sitting'
: 'what have you suffered that causes you to sit and cry?'
: 'she sat looking at her head'
; 'reclining', 'in a horizontal position'
: 'he continually sent for them'
: 'he listened (reclining)'
; plural form: ~
: 'while they were looking at him'
: 'they were telling news to one another'
; 'upright'
: 'he stood slaying the deer'
: 'what were you saying as you stood?'
; plural form:
: 'they were moving'
; 'walking'
: 'do you know the walking man?'
: 'the walking horse is gray' (fem.)
; 'running'
: 'the (running) wild turkey'
: 'do you know the running man?'

They may be used alone as verbs ( 'when it was lying high') but often reinforce synonymous roots:
: 'she is sitting (sitting)'
: 'he was lying (lying)'
: 'it was standing (standing)'
: 'do you know the walking (walking) man?'
: 'do you know the running (running) man?'

They are used mostly with animates.

Classificatory verbs are only inflected for second person when used as auxiliaries.

~ is used as the plural form for all five classificatory verbs (even optionally for and , which have their own plural forms ~ and ):
: 'are you all making arrows?'
: 'we wish to kill them' (masc.)
: 'I know the two reclining men'
: 'I know the two walking men'
: 'do you know all the standing men?'

Notes

:W. Unknown whether this inflects the same way as other classificatory verbs in 2nd person.
:X. Compare with 'they reached the small (sitting) stream' and 'the wood lies burning'

= Causatives

=

The causative verb comes after (uninflected) stems to form a causative construction. In first and second person, (sometimes if followed by a vowel, see 3.1 above) is inserted between the stem and .

Examples:
* 'I have stuck it in (as I sit)' (masc.)
* 'you kill them all'
* 'he killed her'

= Expanded verbs

=

Serial verb constructions occur with two or three verbs in sequence. All are of the same person and number, but only the final stem has suffixes:
: 'I do it, I will hit you if...'
: 'he found her, took her, and skinned her'

Connectives

Connectives may be coordinating or subordinating:

= Coordinating

=

= Subordinating

=
All subordinating connectives end the clause. is the most common by far and may be related to its nominal particle counterpart.

Clauses

Clauses may end with no more than one clause final connective. Subordinating connectives are used to create dependent clauses.

In clauses, the following order generally holds:

(Connective) (Subject) (Object) (Adverb) Verb (Connective)

There are occasional examples of subjects and/or objects occurring after the verb, always with animates. The object rarely precedes the subject, possibly for emphasis.

Direct objects always precede indirect objects: "the chief gave him the woman".

Full sentences always end in independent clauses. Embedded sentences are not usually marked, but the hortatory marker can be used if the embedded action has not yet occurred, and can be used if the action was not performed. (or ) is used for mistaken ideas.Einaudi 1976, p. 173.

See also

* Biloxi tribe
* Tunica-Biloxi

References

Inline citations and notes

Sources referenced

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External links

Native Languages: Biloxi

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Languages of the United States
Extinct languages of North America
Western Siouan languages
Languages extinct in the 1930s
Languages of Louisiana