Cocopah language
Cocopah is a Delta language of the Yuman language family spoken by the Cocopah. It is still being learned by children.
Sounds
Consonants
Cocopah has 21 consonants:
- /r/ is usually a trill [r] but sometimes is a flap [ɾ].
- /tʃ, ɲ, ʃ/ are postalveolar (palato-alveolar). /lʲ, ɬʲ/ are palatalized alveolar consonants.
- /ɬʲ/ is usually palatalized but unlike /lʲ/ it does not contrast with a non-palatalized [ɬ].
Vowels
Cocopah has 4 vowels.
Cocopah has both short and long vowels.
Syllable & phonotactics
The Cocopah syllable:
- (C)(C)(C)V(ː)(C)(C)
- Word-initial two-consonant clusters usually consist of a fricative plus another consonant, e.g. /sp, ʂm, ʃp, xt͡ʃ/. Rarer two-consonant clusters start with a lateral or a stop consonant, e.g. /lt͡ʃ, ɬʲt͡ʃ, ps, t͡ʃp/.
- Three-consonant clusters are rare, recorded examples include /pxk, pxkʷ, spx/.
Grammar
Bibliography
- Crawford, James M. (1970). Cocopa baby talk. International Journal of American linguistics, 36, 9-13.
- Crawford, James M. (1978). More on Cocopa baby talk. International Journal of American linguistics, 44, 17-23.
- Crawford, James M. (1989). Cocopa dictionary. University of California publications in linguistics (Vol. 114). Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-09749-1.
- Crawford, James M. (1983). Cocopa texts. University of California publications in linguistics (Vol. 100). Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-09652-5.
- Crawford, James M. (1998). Classificatory verbs in Cocopa. In L. Hinton & P. Munro (Eds.), American Indian languages: Description and theory (pp. 5–9). Berkeley: University of California.
- Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
- Wares, Alan C. (1968). A comparative study of Yuman consonantism. Janua linguarum, Series practica (No. 57). The Hauge: Mouton.
External links
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Other languages spoken in Mexico
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