Ofo language
 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (April 2014) |
| Ofo | |
|---|---|
| Native to | United States |
| Region | Mississippi |
| Extinct | 1997, with the death of Thomas Darko[1] |
Siouan
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | ofo |
| Glottolog | ofoo1242 |
 | |
The Ofo language was a language spoken by the Mosopelea tribe who lived until c. 1673 in what is now Ohio along the Ohio River. They moved down the Mississippi River to Mississippi, near the Natchez people, and thence to Louisiana, settling near the Tunica.
It was sometimes suspected that the Ofo language was Muskogean. But in 1908, anthropologist John R. Swanton discovered an aged female speaker living among the Tunica who had spoken Ofo since childhood. He obtained a vocabulary of the language, and quickly established that it was in fact Siouan, and similar to Biloxi.
Phonology
Ofo follows Grassmann's Law, with /h/ counting as an aspirated consonant. Thus /oskʰa/ 'crane' + /afʰã/ 'white' > /oskəfʰa/ 'white egret', and /apʰeti/ 'fire' + either /təsʰihi/ 'to burn' or /təsʰihi/ 'to breathe' > /apesʰihi/ 'smoke'.[2]
The inventory is as follows:[3]
Consonants
The following table lists the consonants of Ofo in IPA notation:
Labial Dental Palatal Velar Glottal Plosive tenuis p t t͡ʃ k aspirated pʰ tʰ t͡ʃʰ kʰ Fricative tenuis f s ʃ x h aspirated fʰ sʰ Sonorant w l j b[clarification needed] d[clarification needed] Nasal m n
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i, iː ĩ, ĩː |
u, uː ũ, ũː | |
| Mid | e, eː | ə | o, oː |
| Low | a, aː ã, ãː |
All vowels, including /ə/, may bear stress.
Morphology
Ofo is considered to be a mildly polysynthetic language.[3]
Possession
Ofo distinguishes between alienable and inalienable possession through the use of a prefix for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person singular and 1st person dual (abbreviated as 1sg, 2sg, 3sg and 1du respectively). The alienable possessions include the following: 1sg {ba-, aba-}, 2sg {č-, ača-}, 3sg {}, 1du {ã-}. The inalienable possessions include the following: 1sg {mi-}, 2sg {čĩ-}, 3sg {ĩ-}, 1du {ã-}.
Negation
Ofo uses the enclitic suffix, -ni, to demonstrate negation. This enclitic is usually added after the predicate.
Pluralization
Ofo uses the enclitic suffix, -tu, to pluralize either the subject, object, or both.
Instrumental Prefixes
Instrumental prefixes describe the manner in which an action is carried out. Some of the instrumental prefixes in Ofo include:
- atə- 'by extreme temperature'
- tu-, du- 'by pulling/hand'
- ta- 'by mouth'
- pa- 'by pushing'
- la- 'by foot'
- ka- 'by striking'
- pú- 'by pressure'
- po- 'by blowing/shooting'
Person
| "mí̃ti, mí̃*te" 'I, me' | "čí̃*ti" 'you' |
| "í̃*ti" 'he' | "á̃ti, á̃*ti" 'we' |
Gender
Ofo appears to not have grammatical gender
Space, Time, Modality
Irrealis mood consists of the suffix -abe. This can be translated as future tense. Below are some examples:
- óktat-,abe, 'he will kill you'
- tcóktat-abĕ, 'you will work'
- atcikthé-be, 'I will kill you'
Continuative aspect is formed using the word nóñki.
Iterative aspect is created using reduplication. Below are some examples:
- è-te-te, 'sick, keep on suffering'
- šni-šni-we, 'itch, keep on itching'
- tó-fku-fku-pi, 'wink, blink, keep on winking or blinking'
Syntax
The documentation of Ofo has not provided enough information to develop a complete syntax of the language. The data provided contains enough information to elicit commonly sentence structures that are also found in Ofo's related languages.[3]
Ofo appears to have a head-dependent ordering in sentences, which gives it an OV word order. The order of verbs may be described as being clause-final. There appear to be many cases which support this. An example can be seen below:
b-aphú̂ska a-tci-tp-ábe
my-fist I-you-hit-IRREALIS
'I will hit you with my fist'
Case
There doesn't appear to be much data for case, because of the lack of phrases recorded. However, some case structures can be elicited.
Dative case appears in Ofo and can be interpreted as resembling an accusative pronoun in English.
tcilétci ó̃tcĭku
your.tongue me.you.give
'hold your tongue!'
athé ãtcókpe
dress me.you.put on
'you help me dress'
Complements, Causatives
The data for Ofo does not yield data in support of explicit complement clauses. However, it is apparent that embedded clauses precede the main clause.
détõ-ni á-kiu-bĕ
(he),go.COND I-come-IRREALIS
'if he goes, I will come'
Causative is marked with the enclitic -we.
ifphé-we
teach-CAUSATIVE
'to teach'
Sources
- Holmer, Nils, M., An Ofo Phonetic Law, International Journal of American Linguistics, 13:1, 1947.
- Moseley, Christopher and R. E. Asher, ed. Atlas of the Worlds Languages (New York:Routelege, 1994) Map 5
- Dorsey, J. Owen, and John R. Swanton. 1912. "A Dictionary of the Biloxi and Ofo Languages". Bureau of American
Ethnology Bulletin 47. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office.
- Swanton, John R. c.1908 [Ofo-English dictionary], Typed and Autographed Document, 613 cards. National
Anthropological Archives, 2455-OFO, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.
- Swanton, John R. 1909. A New Siouan Dialect. "Putnam Anniversary Volume: Anthropological Essays Presented to
Prederic Ward Putnam in Honor of His Seventieth Birthday", pp. 477–86. New York: G. E. Stechert.
References
- ^ "The Last of the Ofos". google.co.in. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
- ^ De Reuse (1981) " Grassmann's Law in Ofo", IJAL 47: 243
- ^ a b c Rankin, Robert. "The Ofo Language of Louisiana: Philological Recovery of Grammar and Typology". LAVIS III: Language Variety in the South: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives. University of Alabama, 2004. PDF file.