Chiricahua language

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Chiricahua
Spoken in: USA 
Region: Oklahoma, New Mexico
Total speakers: 279 (1990)
Language family: Na-Dené
 Athabaskan-Eyak
  Athabaskan
   Eastern
    Chiricahua
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: apa
ISO/FDIS 639-3: apm

Chiricahua (also known as Mescalero-Chiricahua Apache) is a Southern Athabaskan language spoken by the Chiricahua tribe in Oklahoma and New Mexico. It is very closely related to the Mescalero language and more distantly related to Navajo and Western Apache. 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 Viriginia.

Contents

[edit] Sounds

[edit] Consonants

The 31 consonants of Chiricahua:

  Bilabial Alveolar Post-alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
central lateral
Stop unaspirated p t       k  
aspirated          
ejective   t’       k’ ʔ
Affricate unaspirated   ʦ ʧ      
aspirated   ʦʰ tɬʰ ʧʰ      
ejective   ʦ’ tɬ’ ʧ’      
Nasal simple m n          
prenasalized (mb) nd          
Fricative voiceless   s ɬ ʃ   x h
voiced   z ɮ ʒ ʝ ɣ  

[edit] Vowels

The 16 vowels of Chiricahua:

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

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

[edit] 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 (Unpublished manuscript).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.
  • 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.
  • Young, Robert W., & Morgan, William, Sr. (1987). The Navajo language: A grammar and colloquial dictionary, (rev. ed.). Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. ISBN 0-8263-1014-1.

[edit] External links

[edit] See also

In other languages