Kawaiisu language
| Kawaiisu | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nɨwɨ'abigidɨ, Nɨwɨ'abigipɨ | ||||
| Pronunciation | [nɨwɨʔabiɣidɨ], [nɨwɨʔabiɣipɨ] | |||
| Spoken in | United States | |||
| Region | California | |||
| Native speakers | 8 to 10 (date missing) | |||
| Language family |
Uto-Aztecan
|
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| Language codes | ||||
| ISO 639-3 | xaw | |||
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The Kawaiisu language[1] is an Uto-Aztecan language spoken by the Kawaiisu people of California.
Contents |
[edit] Classification
Kawaiisu is a member of the Southern Numic division of the Uto-Aztecan language family.
[edit] Linguistic Environment
The Kawaiisu homeland was bordered by speakers of non-Numic Uto-Aztecan languages: the Kitanemuk to the south spoke Takic, the Tubatulabal to the north spoke Tubatulabal, the Yokuts to the west were non-Uto-Aztecan. Because they shared the Southern Numic language, the Chemehuevi to the east are considered the closest relatives to Kawaiisu.
[edit] Geographic distribution
The remaining Kawaiisu speakers live in the Tehachapi area of California. The language is severely endangered, with perhaps fewer than 20 remaining speakers.[2]
[edit] Morphology
Kawaiisu is an agglutinative language, in which words use suffix complexes for a variety of purposes with several morphemes strung together.
[edit] Sounds
[edit] Vowels
Kawaiisu has a typical Numic vowel inventory of six vowels.
| front | back unrounded |
back rounded |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | ɨ | u |
| Non-High | e | a | o |
[edit] Consonants
Kawaiisu has an atypical Numic consonant inventory in that many of the predictable consonant alternations in other Numic languages are no longer predictable in Kawaiisu. The Kawaiisu consonant inventory, therefore is much larger than the typical Numic language.
| Bilabial | Coronal | Palatal | Velar | Labialized velar |
Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop voiceless |
p | t | k | kʷ | ʔ | |
| Stop voiced |
b | d | ||||
| Affricate | ts | tʃ | ||||
| Fricative voiceless |
s | ʃ | h / hʷ | |||
| Fricative voiced |
β | z | ʒ | ɣ | ɣʷ | |
| Nasal | m | n | (ŋ) | |||
| Flap | ɾ | |||||
| Lateral | (l) | |||||
| Semivowel | j | w |
l and ŋ are only found in loanwords.
[edit] References
- ^ Maurice L. Zigmond, Curtis G. Booth, & Pamela Munro. 1991. Kawaiisu, A Grammar and Dictionary with Texts. Ed. Pamela Munro. University of California Publications in Linguistics Volume 119. Berkeley, California: University of California Press.
- ^ Leanne Hinton. 1994. Flutes of Fire: Essays on California Indian Languages. Heyday Books.
[edit] External links
- Kawaiisu language at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
- Kawaiisu language overview at the Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
- Kawaiisu Language and Cultural Center
