Klamath-Modoc language

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Klamath–Modoc
Spoken in: United States 
Region: Southern Oregon and northern California
Total speakers: 1
Language family: Penutian
 Plateau Penutian
  Klamath–Modoc
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: –
ISO 639-3: kla
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

Klamath–Modoc (also simply Klamath, historically Lutuamian) is a Native American language that was spoken around Klamath Lake in what is now southern Oregon and northern California. It is the traditional language of the Klamath and Modoc peoples, each of whom spoke a dialect of the language. As of 1998, it was spoken by only one person[1].

Klamath–Modoc is thought to be a member of the Plateau Penutian branch of the Penutian language family, a family in which ablaut is common, just like in Indo-European. Evidence for this classification includes some consonant correspondences between Klamath–Modoc and other alleged Penutian languages. For example, the Proto-Yokuts retroflexes */ʈ ʈ’/ correspond to Klamath–Modoc /tʃ tʃ’/, and the Proto-Yokuts dentals */t̪ t̪ʰ t̪’/ correspond to the Klamath–Modoc alveolars /t tʰ t’/.

Contents

[edit] Phonology

[edit] Consonants

  Bilabial Coronal Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Stop p pʰ p’ t tʰ t’   k kʰ k’ q qʰ q’ ʔ
Nasal m m̥ m’ n n̥ n’        
Fricative   s       h
Affricate   tʃ tʃʰ tʃ’        
Approximant   l l̥ l’ j j̥ j’ w w̥ w’    

Obstruents in Klamath–Modoc except for /s/ all come in triplets of unaspirated, aspirated, and ejective sounds[2]. Sonorant triplets are voiced, voiceless, and "laryngealized" sounds, except for /h/ and /ʔ/[3].

Most consonants can be geminated. The fricative /s/ is an exception, and there is evidence suggesting this is a consequence of a recent sound change[4]. Albert Samuel Gatschet recorded geminated /sː/ in the late 1800s, but this sound was consistently recorded as degeminated /s/ by M. A. R. Barker in the 1960s. Sometime after Gatschet recorded the language and before Barker did the same, */sː/ may have degeminated into /s/.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Chen, 1998; Maudlin, 1998.
  2. ^ Blevins, 2004, p. 279.
  3. ^ Blevins, 2004, pp. 279–80.
  4. ^ Blevins, 2004

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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