Lake Miwok language
The Lake Miwok language is a moribund (or possibly extinct) language of Northern California, traditionally spoken in an area adjacent to the Clear Lake. It is one of the languages of the Clear Lake Linguistic Area, along with Patwin, East and Southeastern Pomo, and Wappo.[1]
Phonology
Vowels
Consonants
The consonant inventory of Lake Miwok differs substantially from the inventories found in the other Miwok languages. Where the other languages only have one series of plosives, Lake Miwok has four: plain, aspirated, ejective and voiced. Lake Miwok has also added the affricates č, c, čʼ, ƛʼ and the liquids r and ł. These sounds appear to have been borrowed through loanwords from other, unrelated languages in the Clear Lake area, after which they spread to some native Lake Miwok words.[1][2]
Grammar
The word order of Lake Miwok is relatively free, but SOV (subject–object–verb) is the most common order.[3]
Verb morphology
Subject prefixes
|
Singular |
Dual |
Plural |
| 1st person |
ka- |
ʔic- |
ma-, ʔim- |
| 2nd person |
ʔin- |
moc- |
mon- |
| 3d person non-reflexive |
ʔi- |
koc- |
kon- |
| 3d person reflexive |
hana- |
hanakoc- |
hanakon- |
| indefinite |
ʔan- |
In her Lake Miwok grammar, Callaghan reports that one speaker distinguishes between 1st person dual inclusive -ʔoc and exclusive ʔic-. Another speaker also remembers that this distinction formerly was made by older speakers.[4]
Noun morphology
Case inflection
Nouns can be inflected for ten different cases:
- the Subjective case marks a noun which functions as the subject of a verb. If the subject noun is placed before the verb, the Subjective has the allomorph -n after vowel (or a vowel followed by /h/), and -Ø after consonants. If it is placed after the verb, the Subjective is -n after vowels and -nu after consonants.
-
-
| kukú |
-n |
ʔin- |
tíkki |
-t |
mékuh |
| flea |
-subjective |
2sg- |
forehead |
-allative |
sit |
| "A flea is sitting on your forehead." |
- the Possessive case is -n after vowels and -Ø after consonants
-
-
| ʔóle |
-n |
ṣúluk |
táj |
-Ø |
ṣáapa |
| coyote |
-possessive |
skin |
man |
-possessive |
hair |
| "coyote skin" |
"the man's hair" |
- the Objective case marks a noun which functions as the object of a verb. It has a the allomorph -u (after a consonant) or -Ø (after a vowel) when the noun is placed immediately before a verb which contains the 2nd person prefix ʔin- (which then has the allomorph -n attached to the noun preceding the verb; compare the example below) or does not contain any subject prefix at all.
-
-
| káac |
-u |
-n |
ʔúṭe? |
| fish |
-objective |
-2sg |
see |
| "Did you see the fish?" |
- It has the allomorph -Ø before a verb containing any other subject prefix:
-
-
| kawáj |
-Ø |
ka- |
ʔúṭe |
| horse |
-objective |
1sg- |
see |
| "I saw the horse" |
- If the object noun does not immediately precede the verb, or if the verb is in the imperative, the allomorph of the Objective is -uc:
-
-
| káac |
-uc |
jolúm |
-mi |
| fish |
-objective |
eat |
-imperative |
| "Eat the fish" |
- the allative case is -to or -t depending on the environment. It has a variety of meaning, but often expresses direction towards a goal.
- the locative case -m gives a less specific designation of locality than the Allative, and occurs more rarely.
- the ablative case is -mu or -m depending on the context, and marks direction out of, or away from, a place.
- the instrumental case -ṭu marks instruments, e.g. tumáj-ṭu "(I hit him) with a stick".
- the comitative case -ni usually translates as "along with", but can also be used to coordinate nouns, as in kaʔunúu-ni kaʔáppi-ni "my mother and my father".
- the vocative case only occurs with a few kinship terms, e.g. ʔunúu "mother (voc)" from ʔúnu "mother".
- the Appositive case is the citation form of nouns.
Possessive prefixes
Lake Miwok uses possessive prefixes to indicate the possessor of a noun. Except for the 3d person singular, they have the same shape as the subject prefixes, but show no allomorphy.
|
Singular |
Dual |
Plural |
| 1st person |
ka- |
ʔic- |
ma- |
| 2nd person |
ʔin- |
moc- |
mon- |
| 3d person non-reflexive |
ʔiṭi- |
koc- |
kon- |
| 3d person reflexive |
hana- |
hanakoc- |
hanakon- |
| indefinite |
ʔan- |
The reflexive hana-forms have the same referent as the subject of the same clause, whereas the non-reflexive forms have a different referent, e.g.:
- hanaháju ʔúṭe – “He sees his own dog”
- ʔiṭiháju ʔúṭe – “He sees (sombody else’s) dog”
Notes
- ^ a b Campbell 1997, p.336
- ^ Callaghan 1964, p.47
- ^ Callaghan 1965, p.5
- ^ Callaghan 1963, p.75
References
-
- Callaghan, Catherine A. (1963). A Grammar of the Lake Miwok Language. University of California, Berkeley.
- Callaghan, Catherine A. (1964). "Phonemic borrowing in Lake Miwok". In William Bright (ed.). Studies in Californian Linguistics. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 46–53.
- Callaghan, Catherine A. (1965). Lake Miwok Dictionary. Berkeley: University of California Press.
- Campbell, Lyle (1997). American Indian Languages. The Historical Linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press.
External links