Comanche language

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Comanche
Nʉmʉ tekwapʉ̲
Spoken in: United States 
Region: Western Oklahoma
Total speakers: 200
Language family: Uto-Aztecan
 Northern Uto-Aztecan
  Numic
   Central
    Comanche
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: nai
ISO 639-3: com
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-​based pronunciation key.

Comanche is a Uto-Aztecan language spoken by the Comanche people. It is closely related to the language of the Shoshone, from which the Comanche diverged around 1700. Although efforts are now being made to ensure its survival, most speakers of the language are elderly, and less than one percent of the Comanches can speak the language. In the late 1800s, Comanche children were placed in boarding schools where they were discouraged from speaking their native language, and even severely punished for doing so. The second generation then grew up speaking English, because of the belief that it was better for them not to know Comanche.

During World War II, a group of seventeen young men referred to as the Comanche Code Talkers, were trained and used by the U.S. Army to send messages conveying sensitive information that could not be deciphered by the enemy.

Contents

[edit] Sounds

Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for a pronunciation key.

[edit] Vowels

Comanche has six vowels which occur voiced with short and long forms, and voiceless in a short form. The phoneme /ə/ is phonetically [ɘ] or [ɜ].

  Front Central Back
short long voiceless short long voiceless short long voiceless
Close i iː i̥ u uː u̥
Mid e eː e̥ ə əː ə̥ o oː o̥
Open a aː ḁ

[edit] Diphthongs

Comanche has two diphthongs:

  • /ai/
  • /oi/

[edit] Consonants

Labial Dental Palatal Velar Glottal
plain labial
Stop p t k kʷ ʔ
Affricate ʦ
Fricative s h
Nasal m n
Approximant w j

[edit] Writing system

The Comanche Alphabet was developed by Dr. Alice Anderton, a linguistic anthropologist, and was adopted as the official Comanche Alphabet by the Comanche Nation in 1994. The alphabet is not entirely phonemic, as there are some phonemes that are represented by two letters. The alphabet is as follows:

Alphabet Pronunciation Alphabet Pronunciation
a /a/ p [p] /p/
b [β] /p/ r [ɾ] /t/
e /e/ s /s/
h /h/ t [t] /t/
i /i/ u /u/
k /k/ ʉ /ə/
m /m/ w /w/
n /n/ y /j/
o /o/ ʔ /ʔ/
Notes:
  • Long vowels are indicated by doubling the vowel, e.g. <aa, ee, ii, oo, uu, ʉʉ>.
  • Voiceless vowels are indicated by an underline, e.g. <a̲, e̲, i̲, o̲, u̲, ʉ̲>.
  • When the stress does not fall on the first syllable of the word, it is marked with an acute accent <´>, e.g. kʉtséena, "coyote".
  • The glottal stop <ʔ> is sometimes written as <?>.
  • The phonemes /ʦ/ and /kʷ/ are written as <ts> and <kw>, respectively.

[edit] Examples

The following are examples of words from the Comanche language. They are based primarily on the Comanche Vocabulary: Trilingual Edition by Manuel García Rejón. The orthography used here is not the official Comanche Alphabet, but is based on Spanish orthography. In it, doubled letters are long, and h is always sounded as in the English "hit", even in the middle of a word, as in "cuhtz" (buffalo). An accent mark indicates stress on that syllable.

English Comanche Official alphabet equivalent
Boy Tuinéhpua tuinʉpʉ
Brother (Older) Bávi pabi (-babi following vowel)
Brother (Younger) Rámi tami (sometimes -rami following vowel)
Buffalo Cuhtz kuutsuu
Corn Janib hanipʉ
Cougar Toyarohco toyaruku
Coyote Tzensa tzsensa ? (usual modern term is kʉtséena)
Cricket Tuaahtaqui tuaahtaki
Deer Areca arʉka
Dog Sarrie sarii
Father Ap apʉ
Fire Cuuna kuuna
Fish Pécui pekwi
Frog Pasauiyió pasawʔóo
Grass Sonip sunipʉ
Horse Puc puuku
House Caani kahni
Jerky (meat) Inap inapʉ
Moon Muea mʉa
Mother Pia pia
No Niatz niats ?? (modern 'no' is kee)
Owl Mupitz mupitsʉ
Rabbit Tábo tabu
Rain Emar ʉmarʉ
Rainbow Paracoa paracoa
River Piajunubi pia hunuubi
Sister (Older) Batzi patsi (-batsi following a vowel)
Sister (Younger) Nami nami
Sky Tomóbi tomoobi
Star Tatzinupi tatsinupi
Sun Taabe taabe
Water Paa paa
Yes Jaa haa

[edit] External links

[edit] References

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