Pawnee language
| Pawnee | |
|---|---|
| Native to | United States |
| Region | North-central Oklahoma |
| Ethnicity | 2,500 Pawnee (2007)[1] |
Native speakers | 10 (2007)[1] |
Caddoan
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | paw |
| Glottolog | pawn1254 |
| ELP | Pawnee |
| Linguasphere | 64-BAB-b |
 Pre-contact distribution of Pawnee | |
The Pawnee language is a Caddoan language spoken by some Pawnee Native Americans who now live in north-central Oklahoma. Their traditional historic lands were along the Platte River in what is now Nebraska.
Dialects
Two important dialect divisions are evident in Pawnee: South Band and Skiri. The distinction between the two dialects rests on differences in their respective phonetic inventory and lexicon.
Status
Once the language of thousands of Pawnees, today Pawnee is spoken by a shrinking number of elderly speakers. As more young people learn English as their first language, the status of Pawnee declines towards extinction. However, as of 2007, the Pawnee Nation is developing teaching materials for the local high school and for adult language classes. Now, there are extensive documentary materials in the language archived at the American Indian Studies Research Institute.[2] The Pawnee language can be heard spoken in the 2015 movie The Revenant.[3]
Phonology
The following describes the South Band dialect.
Consonants
Pawnee has eight consonant phonemes, and according to one analysis of medial- and final-position glottal stops, one may posit a ninth consonant phoneme.
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | p | t | k | (ʔ) |
| Affricate | ts | |||
| Rhotic | r | |||
| Fricative | s | h | ||
| Approximant | w |
- /ʔ/ is predictable when it occurs in the middle of words. However, since /ʔ/ is not completely predictable at the end of words, it may also need to be considered a phoneme.
Vowels
Pawnee has four short vowel phonemes and four long counterparts (also phonemic).
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| High | i/iː | u/uː |
| Mid-low | e/eː | a/aː |
Morphology
Pawnee is an ergative-absolutive polysynthetic language.
Alphabet
The Pawnee alphabet[citation needed] has 9 consonants and 8 vowels. The letters are relatively similar in pronunciation to their English counterparts.
Consonants
| Spelling | Sound (IPA) | English equivalents |
|---|---|---|
| p | p | poke, cup |
| t | t | top, cat |
| k | k | cool, stuck |
| c | ʃ ~ ts | shell, push ~ pants |
| s | s | silly, face |
| h | h | heart, ahead |
| r | r | car, ferry |
| w | w | wacky, away |
| ′ | ʔ | The "-" in uh-oh |
Vowels
| Spelling | Sound (IPA) | English equivalents |
|---|---|---|
| i | ɪ | sit |
| ii | i | feed |
| e | ɛ | red |
| ee | eɪ | paid |
| a | ʌ | nut |
| aa | ɑ | father |
| u | ʊ | book |
| uu | u | rude |
Notes
- ^ a b Pawnee at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/language/paw
- ^ nolanb@indiana.edu, Bethany Nolan. "IU linguists provide Arikara and Pawnee dialogue for Oscar-nominated film 'The Revenant'". Inside IU Bloomington. Retrieved 2019-07-24.
References
- American Indian Studies Research Institute. (2008). Dictionary Database: Pawnee (Skiri and Southband dialects).
- American Indian Studies Research Institute. (2001). Pawnee Alphabet Book.
- Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
- Parks, Douglas R. (1976). A grammar of Pawnee. New York: Garland.
- Taylor, Allan R. (1978). [Review of A grammar of Pawnee by D. Parks]. Language, 54 (4), 969-972.
External links
- Pawnee Language Program, sponsored by the Pawnee Nation and Indiana University
Italics indicate extinct languages * indicates extinct language in Oklahoma but still spoken elsewhere | |
| Indigenous |
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| Sign languages | |
| Non-Indigenous | |
