PREFACE XI 



still an active peyotist in 1954, he preferred to take a less active role. 

 He died in 1955 at the age of 66, 



The initials of the above-named informants following a sentence 

 or paragraph in the text indicate that the information in the respective 

 sentence or paragraph was supplied by one of them. Full names are 

 used for informants who supplied lesser amounts of data. Quota- 

 tions are not verbatim, but are paraphrases expanded from "short- 

 hand" field notes. 



PHONETIC KEY 



There are almost as many different ways of transcribing ^egiha, 

 the language spoken by the Ponca, Omaha, Osage, Kansa, and 

 Quapaw, as there are authors who have worked with the tribes 

 speaking the language, I believe that it is asking a great deal to 

 require the reader of this monograph to learn a new alphabet in order 

 to pronounce the native words herein. It is certainly asking too 

 much to expect him, in addition, to work his way through each of the 

 systems employed by others who have written on the Ponca and 

 Omaha. Therefore, although it is a departure from the usual 

 scholarly procedure, all J^egiha words in this study — even, those in 

 quotations— have been placed in a single uniform system. To 

 insure complete accuracy, each word or phrase was read to Peter Le 

 Claire and at least one other Ponca informant. The informants 

 then pronounced it back and it was transcribed. The symbols 

 employed and their values are as follows: 



Vowels: 



i High, front, close, unrounded (as ee in American English sheep) 

 J High, front, open, unrounded (as i in American English in) 

 e Mid, front, close, unrounded (as A in American English April) 

 e Mid, front, open, unrounded (as e in American English extra) 

 a Low, front, open, unrounded (as a in American English mama) 

 9 Mid, central, close, unrounded (as e in American English the) 

 u High, back, close, rounded (as oo in American English toot) 

 o Mid, back, close, rounded (as o in American English open) 

 i, /, €, a, 9, u, and o also have nasalized forms, as i, /, e, s\,, 9, u, and q. 

 When i and u are phonemically consonants they are written y and w. 

 The symbol • adds length to the preceding vowel. 

 Consonants: 

 Stops: 



p Bilabial, unaspirated, voiceless 



b Bilabial, unaspirated, voiced 



t Alveolar, unaspirated, voiceless 



d Alveolar, unaspirated, voiced 



f" Alveolar, aspirated, voiceless 



ts Alveo-palatal, affricated, voiceless (as ch in American English 



church) 

 k Velar, unaspirated, voiceless 

 g Velar, unaspirated, voiced 

 ' Glottal, unaspirated, voiceless 



