Southern Sierra Miwok language

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Southern Sierra Miwok is a Utian language spoken by the Native American people called the Southern Sierra Miwok of Northern California.

Contents 1 Sounds 1.1 Consonants 1.2 Vowels 1.3 Length 1.4 Syllable 2 See also 3 External links 4 References

[edit] Sounds

[edit] Consonants

The 15 consonants of Southern Sierra Miwok:

		Bilabial	Labio-velar	Dental	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Stop		p		t̪	t		k	ʔ
Affricate						ʧ
Nasal		m			n		ŋ
Fricative					s	ʃ		h
Approximant	central		w			j
	lateral				l

[edit] Vowels

The 6 vowels of Southern Sierra Miwok:

	Front	Central	Back
High	i	ɨ	u
Mid	ɛ		ɔ
Low		a

[edit] Length

Since vowel and consonant length is contrastive, /ː/ is considered to be a separate (archi-)phoneme.

[edit] Syllable

The syllable structure of Southern Sierra Miwok is the following:

CV(ː)(C)

[edit] See also

• Miwok
• Valley and Sierra Miwok
• Penutian

[edit] External links

• Ethnologue: Utian
• Online books about the Southern Sierra Miwok
• Southern Sierra Miwok Dictionary
• Native Tribes, Groups, Language Families and Dialects of California in 1770 (map after Kroeber)

[edit] References

• 1. Broadbent, Sylvia. (1964). The Southern Sierra Miwok Language. University of California publications in linguistics (Vol. 38). Berkeley: University of California Press.
• 2. Origin of the word Yosemite (and linked references)
• 3. Callaghan, Catherine. (2001). More evidence for Yok-Utian: A reanalysis of the Dixon and Kroeber sets International Journal of American Linguistics, 67 (3), 313-346.
• 5. Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.

Miwok Indigenous Peoples of California
Distinct Ethnic Groups • Valley & Sierra Miwok   • Coast Miwok   • Lake Miwok   • Bay Miwok
Regions Sierra Nevada & Central Valley | Marin & Sonoma County | Lake County | Contra Costa County
Culture    • Miwok mythology | Eastern Miwok Narratives | Coast Miwok Narratives | Lake Miwok Narratives   Utian languages  • Hunting & Gathering  • Kuksu