The uniqueness marker in Mandan

Sara Trechter
CSU-Chico

The internally headed relative clauses of Mandan (Siouan) have been previously described in the literature as marked by a number of diverse morphemes, whose meaning is undetermined (Mixco 1997).  Among these is the relativizer {ko-}, which optionally occurs on the verb of an internally-headed relative clauses. The same morpheme also occurs with comparative/superlative meanings, non-optionally on third person possessive kinship terms, and in certain expressions.  In this paper, I both differentiate and unite such disparate functions by demonstrating that {ko-} does not function as a relativizer or necessarily a nominalizer, but as a marker of uniqueness.