Alsea language

Alsea or Alsean (also Yakonan) was two closely related speech varieties spoken along the central Oregon coast. They are sometimes taken to be different languages, but it is difficult to be sure given the poor state of attestation; Mithun (1999) believes they were probably dialects of a single language.

Varieties

1. Alsea (Alséya) (†)
2. Yaquina (Yakwina, Yakona) (†)

Both are now extinct.

The name Alsea derives from the Coosan name for them, alsí or alsí·, and the Marys River Kalapuyan name for them, alsí·ya. Alsea was last recorded in 1942 from the last speaker, John Albert, by J. P. Harrington.

The name Yaquina derives from the Alsean name for the Yaquina Bay and the Yaquina River region, yuqú·na. Yaquina was last recorded in 1884 by James Owen Dorsey.

There may be a distant relationship between Alsea, Siuslaw, and the Coosan languages. They may also be related to the Wintuan languages. Linguistic research is being carried out to determine if any of these relationships are valid—this research also is a part of a larger Penutian super-family hypothesis.

Sounds

Consonants

Alsea had 34 consonants:

• The status of /hʷ/ is uncertain.
• /s/ is actually between alveolar and post-alveolar.

Vowels

There were both oral and nasal vowels.

Bibliography

• Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
• Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.