User:Razlem/Houma language

Houma
Homa
Native to	United States
Region	Southeastern Louisiana
Extinct	19th century
Language family	Muskogean Western Muskogean Houma
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Linguist List	07n

The Houma language (Reconstructed Houma: Homa anumpa) is a Muskogean language historically spoken by the Houma people of Southeast Louisiana. It is closely related to Choctaw and shares specific vocabulary with Mobilian Jargon, indicating that the Houma people contributed parts of their language to the region's trade pidgin. Originally thought to be a dialect of Choctaw or Mobilian Jargon itself, a study by C. Brown and H. Hardy showed that the Houma language featured distinct grammar patterns not seen in its close relatives. The Houma language became extinct in the 19th century, but an ongoing language revival was started by members of the Houma Nation in 2013. Since the historical Houma language had no system of writing, the revival has relied solely on the written accounts of European settlers and American anthropologists including John R. Swanton and Mary Haas.

Origins

Little is known about the origins of Houma, other than it being a distinct language of the Western-Muskogean language family. After the last native speakers died in the 1800s, only a few phrases and folk songs remained. The language has had to be reconstructed from a short vocabulary list collected by Swanton and second-hand accounts by tribal elders.

Sounds

Consonants

Houma Consonants (reconstructed)

	Labial	Alveolar		Post- alveolar	Velar	Glottal
		central	lateral
Nasal	m	n
Plosive	p  b	t  d			k  g	' /ʔ/
Affricate				tch* /tʃ/
Fricative	f	s	hl* /ɬ/	ch* /ʃ/		h
Approximant			l	y /j/	ou* /w/

*These digraphs were chosen to reflect a French orthographic style.

Vowels

Houma Vowels (reconstructed)

	Front			Central			Back
	short	long		short	long		short	long
	oral		nasal	oral		nasal	oral		nasal
Close	i [i]	ī [iː]	î [ĩː]				u [u]	ū [uː]	û [ū:]
Mid	e [ɛ]	ē [ɛː]	ê [ɛ̃:]				o [o]	ō [oː]	ô [õː]
Open				a [a]	ā [aː]	â [ãː]

Vocabulary

Swanton's original list of Houma vocabulary contained approximately 80 words and phrases, from which inklings of grammar and morphology could be gathered.

Morphology

Houma exhibits verbal morphology similar to other Muskogean languages, with dative and objective pronominal affixes.