White] THE PUEBLO OF SIA, NEW MEXICO 13 
priate and instructive here. First of all, I might observe that there is 
very considerable uniformity of pronunciation among all the villages 
of the Rio Grande Valley, Tewa and Tanoan as well as Keres; there is 
a sort of pan-Indian dialect of English. This is due, to some extent, 
no doubt, to the mingling of tribes in the big boarding schools in 
Albuquerque and Santa Fe, and also to interpueblo conversations. 
It would be difficult to tell, by ear alone, whether an Indian was from 
a Tewa or a Keres pueblo by the way he speaks English. And, it 
has seemed to me, this pan-Indian English dialect is more pronounced 
among women than among men. This dialect is characterized by 
intonation as well as pronunciation. L’s are often interchanged with 
R’s, as I have already noted. ‘Heese (rhymes with geese) not home”’ 
for “He is not home” is practically universal. The past tense is 
often past tense throughout: ‘‘What did he said?” or ‘‘Where did he 
went?” And, with many, all plurals end in s: cattles, potteries, and 
mens. ids tends to become kits; ride, rite; and dodge, dotch. ‘‘Wom- 
an’”’ is seldom, if ever, used; all adult female Indians, at least, are 
‘“ladies.”” Many of my informants have been quite pronunciation- 
conscious, with regard to both Keresan words and English words. 
One of my informants argued with me about the pronunciation of 
vomit, for example, insisting that he had always heard it pronounced 
vomup. Most Keres seem to eschew slang expressions even though 
they hear them. Very few resort to profanity except when intoxi- 
cated, and then they use it with little or no sense of American usage. 
There is no profanity in the Keresan language. I have never heard 
a Keresan Indian utter any of the words that are commonly con- 
sidered obscene in polite American society. How much my person- 
ality may have affected their conversations with me is a question I 
cannot answer. 
All Keresan informants find it virtually impossible to help the 
investigator with the etymology of words. I was never able to 
determine, for example, whether the words ho-teanyi (chief) and 
ho-tcanitsa (the official residence of the cacique) are genetically re- 
lated; or whether nawai (the head of a society) and ho-nawaiaiti 
(the name of an order in a curing society) are related. 
Also, it is exceedingly difficult for even the best of informants to 
tell the investigator what certain words mean. I made great effort 
to discover the meaning of notsinyico, for example, but never felt that 
I fully comprehended it (White, 1942 a, p. 19). My efforts fully to 
understand honawazarti likewise fell short of success. 
It is impossible, apparently, for the Keresan language to coin new 
words for new things. Thus, when talking in the Keresan language 
about an automobile, for example, an Indian is obliged to use such 
English words as tire, sparkplug, battery, etc. The Keresan language 
