Omaha–Ponca language
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Omaha–Ponca language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator |
| Omaha–Ponca | ||
|---|---|---|
| Native to | United States | |
| Region | Nebraska and Oklahoma | |
| Ethnicity | Omaha, Ponca | |
| Native speakers | 85 (Omaha) (1986)[1] 70 reported 2004 |
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| Language family |
Siouan
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| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-3 | oma | |
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Omaha–Ponca is a Siouan language spoken by the Omaha (Umoⁿhoⁿ) people of Nebraska and the Ponca (Paⁿka) people of Oklahoma and Nebraska. There are today only 60 speakers of Omaha, and 25 fluent speakers, all over 60; and a handful of semi-fluent speakers of Ponca. The two dialects differ minimally but are considered distinct languages by their speakers.[2]
Contents |
Phonology[edit]
Consonants[edit]
| Labial | Dental | Alveopalatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal stop | m | n | |||
| Voiced stop | b | d | dʒ | ɡ | |
| Tenuis stop | p | t | tʃ | k | ʔ |
| Aspirated stop | pʰ | tʰ | tʃʰ | kʰ | |
| Ejective stop | pʼ | tʼ | |||
| Voiced fricative | z | ʒ | ɣ | ||
| Tenuis fricative | s | ʃ | x | ||
| Glottalized fricative | sʼ | ʃʼ | xʼ | ||
| Approximant | w | lᶞ | h |
One consonant, sometimes written l or th, is a velarized lateral approximant with interdental release, [ɫᶞ], found for example in ní btháska [ˌnĩ ˈbɫᶞaska] "flat water" (Platte River), the source of the name Nebraska. It varies freely from [ɫ] to a light [ð̞], and derives historically from Siouan *r.
Initial consonant clusters include approximates, as in /blᶞ/ and /ɡlᶞ/.
Consonants are written as in the IPA in school programs, apart from the alveopalatals j, ch, chʰ, zh, sh, shʼ, the glottal stop ’, the voiced velar fricative gh, and the dental approximant th. Historically, this th has also been written dh, ð, ¢, and the sh and x as c and q; the tenuis stops p t ch k have either been written upside-down or double (pp, kk, etc.). These latter unusual conventions serve to distinguish these sounds from the p t ch k of other Siouan languages, which are not specified for voicing and so may sound like either Omaha–Ponca p t ch k or b d j g. The consonants f, l, q, r, v are not used in writing Omaha-Ponca.
Vowels[edit]
| Vowels[3] | Front | Back |
|---|---|---|
| High Oral | i | u |
| High Nasal | iⁿ | |
| Mid Oral | e | |
| Low Oral | a | o |
| Low Nasal | aⁿ |
The simple vowels are /a, e, i, u/, plus a few words with /o/ in men's speech. The letter ‘o’ is phonemically /au/, and phonetically [əw].
There are two or three nasal vowels, depending on the variety. In the Omaha and Ponca Dhegiha dialects *õ and *ã have merged unconditionally as /õ/, which may range across [ã] ~ [õ] ~ [ũ] and is written ⟨oⁿ⟩ in Omaha and ⟨aⁿ⟩ in Ponca. The close front nasal vowel /ĩ/ remains distinct.
Nasalized vowels are fairly new to the Ponca language. Assimilation has taken place leftward, as opposed to right to left, from nasalized consonants overtime. "Originally when the vowel was oral, it nasalized the consonant and a nasalized vowel never followed suit, instead, the nasalized vowel came to preceded it"; though this is not true for the Omaha, or its 'mother' language."[4]
Omaha/Ponca is a tonal language that utilizes downstep (accent) or a lowering process that applies to the second of two high-tone syllables. A downstepped high tone would be slightly lower than the preceding high tone.”: wathátʰe /walᶞaꜜtʰe/ "food", wáthatʰe /waꜜlᶞatʰe/ "table". Vowel length is distinctive in accented syllables, though it is often not written: [nãːꜜde] "heart", [nãꜜde] "(inside) wall".[5]
Common Siouan vowels may be either long or short.[clarification needed]
Omaha-Ponca is a daughter language to the Siouan mother language, but has developed some of its own rules for nasalization and aspiration. What were once allophones in Proto-Siouan have become phonemes in the Omaha–Ponca language.
Many contrasts in the Omaha/Ponca language are unfamiliar to speakers of English.[6] Below are examples of minimal pairs for some sounds which in English would be considered allophones, but in Omaha/Ponca constitute different phonemes:
| Contrast | Word | Gloss | Word | Gloss |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [p] vs. [pʰ] | [pa] | head/nose | [pʰa] | bitter |
| [i] vs. [ĩ] | [nazhi] | to go out | [nazhíⁿ] | to stand |
| [t] vs. [tʼ] | [tóⁿde] | the ground | [t’óⁿde] | during future early autumns |
In many languages nasalization of vowels would be a part of assimilation to the next consonant, but Omaha/Ponca is different because it is always assimilating.[clarification needed] For example: iⁿdáthiⁿga, meaning mysterious, moves from a nasalized /i/ to an alveolar, stop. Same thing happens with the word iⁿshte, meaning, for example, has the nasalized /i/ which does not assimilate to another nasal. It changes completely to an alveolar fricative.
Morphology[edit]
Omaha Ponca language adds endings to its definite articles to indicate inanimate, number, position and number. Ponca definite articles indicate inanimate, number, position and number[7]
| morphological ending | gloss meaning |
|---|---|
| -kʰe | for inanimate horizontal object |
| -tʰe | for inanimate standing object |
| -ðaⁿ | for inanimate round object |
| akʰá | for singular animate agent |
| -amá | for singular animate agent in motion or plural |
| -tʰaⁿ | for animate singular patient in standing position |
| ðiⁿ | for animate singular patient in motion |
| -ma | for animate plural patient in motion |
| -ðiⁿkʰé | for animate singular patient in sitting position |
| -ðaⁿkʰá | for animate plural patient in sitting position |
Syntax[edit]
Omaha-Ponca's syntactic type is subject-object-verb.[8]
References[edit]
- ^ Omaha–Ponca at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
- ^ Rudin & Shea (2006) "Omaha–Ponca", in the Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics
- ^ Bruce, Benjamin. "Ponca Alphabet." The Hello Oklahoma! Project. Web. 24 Oct. 2011. <http://hello-oklahoma.benjaminbruce.com/index.php>.
- ^ Michaud, Alexis. "Historical Transfer of Nasality between Consonantal Onset and Vowel." Diachronica 2012th ser. 29.2 (2011): 1-34. Web. 26 Oct. 2011. <http://docs.exdat.com/docs/index-73578.html>.
- ^ Crystal, David. A Dictionary of Linguistics & Phonetics. 5th ed. Blackwell, 2003. Print.
- ^ http://omahaponca.unl.edu/
- ^ Finegan, Edward, and John R. Rickford. Language in the USA: Themes for the Twenty-first Century. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2004. Print. (page 171)
- ^ http://spot.colorado.edu/~koontz/omaha/syntax.htm
- Franz Boas, "Notes on the Ponka grammar", Congrès international des américanistes
- Dorsey, James Owen. Omaha and Ponka Letters. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1891
- Dorsey, James Owen. The Cegiha Language. Washington: Government Printing Office. 1890
- Dorsey, Rev. J. Owen Omaha Sociology. Washington: Smithsonian, Bureau of American Ethnology, Report No. 3, 1892–1893
External links[edit]
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