Historical written works on the Quapaw Language

Historical written works on the Quapaw Language

This document is a compilation of sources in Quapaw and an analysis of their reliability based upon their consistency, or lack thereof, between other sources of Quapaw as well as their consistency between other Dhegiha language sources.

1827 George Izard ……. reliable, with few exceptions

Governor of Arkansas Territory, compiled a Quapaw vocabulary consisting of approximately 226 entries.

“The Quapaw interpreters are exclusively French creoles or half-breeds. I was therefore under the necessity of using the French language in the first instance to explain the Indian words.”

“I originally wrote the Indian words as they were uttered successfully by two individuals, one the interpreter, the other an Indian chief,”

See G.Izard.pdf & George Izard Material 1825 Language Comparison Sheet.pdf

1882 Lewis F. Hadley ……. material is extremely unreliable

James Owen Dorsey’s extract of Lewis F. Hadley’s material notes some of Hadley’s discrepancies in Dorsey’s handwriting in the margins. Lewis F. Hadley’s material is beset with problems.

Most aspects of Hadley’s system of spelling fail to accurately represent the pronunciation of Quapaw. There is no consistency with vowels and consonants, as well as lack of understanding of the basic Dhegiha language concepts and sounds.

Here are just a few examples of the problems with Hadley’s material.

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Hadley’s entry: a-go-de - good bye, I go now

Dhegiha Cognate Comparison:

a-kde (akdé) - I go home, I start homeward (Quapaw)

a-gthe (ag¢é) - I go back, I go homeward (Omaha/Ponca)

a-gthe (á-ghte) - I go home (FL-Osage)

a-le (alée) - I return there (CQ-Osage)

a-le (alé) - I go back to a place, I go home (Kanza)

Please see "go home, to start homeward" on our language pages for this comparison.

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Hadley’s entry: crûñ-kâ - dog

Quapaw Comparison:

shoⁿ-ke (schŏnnkĭēh) - dog (Izard 1827 - Quapaw)

shoⁿ-ke (căñ′k͓e) - dog (Dorsey 1890 - Quapaw)

shoⁿ-ge (šǫ́Ge) - dog (Siebert 1940 - Quapaw)

shoⁿ-ke (šǫ́ke) - dog (Rankin 1973 - Quapaw)

Please see "dog" on our language pages for this comparison.

Dhegiha Cognate Comparison:

shoⁿ-ge (shóⁿ-ge) - horse (Omaha/Ponca)

shoⁿ-ge (shoⁿ́-ge) - dog or wolf (FL-Osage)

shoⁿ-ke (šǫ́ke) - dog, wolf (CQ-Osage)

shoⁿ-ge o-yu-da (shóⁿge óyudá) - dog (Kanza)

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Hadley’s entry: cru, cron, crun - tree, wood

Quapaw Comparison:

zhoⁿ (jon) - tree (Izard 1827 - Quapaw)

zhoⁿ (jŭⁿ) - tree (Dorsey 1890 - Quapaw)

zhaⁿ (žą) - tree, wood (Siebert 1940 - Quapaw)

zhaⁿ (žą), zhoⁿ (žǫ) - wood, tree, log (Rankin 1973 - Quapaw)

Please see "tree" on our language pages for this comparison.

Dhegiha Cognate Comparison:

zhoⁿ (zhoⁿ) - wood, tree, yard of cloth, span of horses (Omaha/Ponca)

zhoⁿ (zhoⁿ) - wood, a tree, fuel (FL-Osage)

zhaⁿ (žą́ą) - tree, log, wood, lumber, stick, pole, woods, forest (CQ-Osage)

zhaⁿ (zhaⁿ) - wood, a tree, or log (Kanza)

* Note that there in no “r” in any of the documentation as far back as 1827. It seems that Hadley used the following spelling “cru” and “cro” to represent the Dhegiha sounds “zho (žo)”, “sho (šo)”, “zha (ža)”, and “sha (ša)”.

1890-94 James Owen Dorsey ……. reliable

James Owen Dorsey was an ethnologist and linguist who worked with the Quapaw, Omaha, Ponca, Osage, and Kanza Tribes, documenting their language and culture. Dorsey’s main body of work was with the Omaha Tribe.

Dorsey’s Quapaw work consists of folklore, mythology, history, texts, linguistic notes, vocabulary, personal names, and names for other tribes. Dorsey’s Quapaw vocabulary has been updated by Dr. Robert Rankin. The vocabulary is a 415 page document, written in Siouan IPA, with verb conjugation listed.

1940 Frank T. Siebert ……. reliable, with few exceptions

Linguist, complied a Quapaw vocabulary consisting of approximately 86 entries.

“The following Quapaw terms were collected from Victor Griffin and Frank Vallier …. The former was a diffident informant, who pointed out to me that Quapaw was closely related to Ponca and Omaha, especially to the latter, and suggested that I study these languages instead.”

Frank T.Siebert, Jr. Material 1940.pdf , Frank T. Siebert, Jr., International Journal of American Linguistics, Vol.55, No.4

1973-74 Dr. Robert L. Rankin ……. reliable

Dr. Robert Rankin was a professor at Kansas University Department of Linguistics. In 1973, Dr. Rankin came to Oklahoma and visited the Quapaw tribe and worked with the few remaining speakers. This field work, along with the historic documentation on the Quapaw language allowed him to create the following Quapaw works:

· Audio recordings from his field work and tapes acquired from various Quapaw families.

· Quapaw Grammer, Native Languages of the Southeastern United States edited by Janine Scancarelli, Heather Kay Hardy. (note: 30mb .pdf)

· The Unmarking of Quapaw Phonology, The Study of Language Death, in which he basically describes how the Quapaw language changed due to acculturation.

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examples:

Non-Fluent Fluent Speakers/

Generation Historical Quapaw

wa-sha-ge hi (wašáge-hi) < wa-sh'a-ke hi (wašʔáke-hi) ‘very big’

wi-ki (wikkí) < wi-k'i (wikʔí) ‘I give you’

wa-ho (wahó) < wa-x'o (waxʔo) ‘woman’

jhi-e (ǰíe) < di-e (díe) ‘you’

zro (zro) < zho (žo) ‘flesh’

o-ga-fpa (ogáfpa) < o-ka-xpa (okáxpa) ‘Quapaw’

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· A Quapaw Vocabulary, 27 pages from his field studies in 1973-74.

· 415 page Quapaw Vocabulary, with approximately 4,000 entries, consisting of his field studies in 1973 and James Owen Dorsey’s field work from 1890-94.