Mescalero-Chiricahua language

Mescalero-Chiricahua
Spoken in	USA
Region	Oklahoma, New Mexico
Native speakers	279  (1990)
Language family	Dené–Yeniseian Na-Dene Athabaskan Southern Athabaskan Southwestern Apache Western Mescalero-Chiricahua
Language codes
ISO 639-3	apm

Mescalero-Chiricahua (also known as Mescalero-Chiricahua Apache) is a Southern Athabaskan language spoken by the Mescalero and Chiricahua tribes in Oklahoma and New Mexico. It is related to Navajo and Western Apache. Mescalero-Chiricahua has been described in great detail by the anthropological linguist Harry Hoijer (1904–1976), especially in Hoijer & Opler (1938) and Hoijer (1946). Hoijer & Opler's Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache Texts, including a grammatical sketch and traditional religious and secular stories, has been converted into an online "book" available from the University of Virginia.

Sounds

Consonants

The 31 consonants of Mescalero-Chiricahua:

		Bilabial	Alveolar		Post-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
			central	lateral
Stop	unaspirated	p	t				k
	aspirated		tʰ				kʰ
	ejective		tʼ				kʼ	ʔ
Affricate	unaspirated		ts	tɮ	tʃ
	aspirated		tsʰ	tɬʰ	tʃʰ
	ejective		tsʼ	tɬʼ	tʃʼ
Nasal	simple	m	n
	prenasalized	(mᵇ)	nᵈ
Fricative	voiceless		s	ɬ	ʃ		x	h
	voiced		z	ɮ	ʒ	ʝ	ɣ

Vowels

The 16 vowels of Mescalero-Chiricahua:

		Front		Central		Back
		short	long	short	long	short	long
High	oral	i	iː
	nasal	ĩ	ĩː
Mid	oral	ɛ	ɛː			o	oː
	nasal	ɛ̃	ɛ̃ː			õ	õː
Low	oral			a	aː
	nasal			ã	ãː

Mescalero-Chiricahua has phonemic oral, nasal, short, and long vowels.

References

• Grimes, Barbara F. (Ed.). (2000). Ethnologue: Languages of the world, (14th ed.). Dallas, TX: SIL International. ISBN 1-55671-106-9. (Online edition: http://www.ethnologue.com/, accessed on Nov. 19th, 2004).
• Hoijer, Harry. (n.d.). Chiricahua Apache stems. (Unpublished manuscript).
• Hoijer, Harry. (1938). The southern Athapaskan languages. American Anthropologist, 40 (1), 75-87.
• Hoijer, Harry. (1939). Chiricahua loan-words from Spanish. Language, 15 (2), 110-115.
• Hoijer, Harry. (1945). Classificatory verb stems in the Apachean languages. International Journal of American Linguistics, 11 (1), 13-23.
• Hoijer, Harry. (1945). The Apachean verb, part I: Verb structure and pronominal prefixes. International Journal of American Linguistics, 11 (4), 193-203.
• Hoijer, Harry. (1946). The Apachean verb, part II: The prefixes for mode and tense. International Journal of American Linguistics, 12 (1), 1-13.
• Hoijer, Harry. (1946). The Apachean verb, part III: The classifiers. International Journal of American Linguistics, 12 (2), 51-59.
• Hoijer, Harry. (1946). Chiricahua Apache. In C. Osgood (Ed.), Linguistic structures in North America. New York: Wenner-Green Foundation for Anthropological Research.
• Hoijer, Harry; & Opler, Morris E. (1938). Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache texts. The University of Chicago publications in anthropology; Linguistic series. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Reprinted in 1964 by Chicago: University of Chicago Press; in 1970 by Chicago: University of Chicago Press; & in 1980 under H. Hoijer by New York: AMS Press, ISBN 0-404-15783-1).
• Opler, Morris E., & Hoijer, Harry. (1940). The raid and war-path language of the Chiricahua Apache. American Anthropologist, 42 (4), 617-634.
• Pinnow, Jürgen. (1988). Die Sprache der Chiricahua-Apachen: Mit Seitenblicken auf das Mescalero [The language of the Chiricahua Apache: With side glances at the Mescalero]. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag.
• Webster, Anthony K. (2006). On Speaking to Him (Coyote): The Discourse Functions of the yi-/bi- Alternation in Some Chiricahua Apache Narratives. Southwest Journal of Linguistics, 25(2), 143-160.
• Young, Robert W. (1983). Apachean languages. In A. Ortiz, W. C. Sturtevant (Eds.), Handbook of North American Indians: Southwest, (Vol. 10), (p. 393-400). Washington: Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 0-16-004579-7.

External links

• Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache Texts