Mescalero-Chiricahua language
Mescalero-Chiricahua (also known as Mescalero-Chiricahua Apache) is a Southern Athabaskan language spoken by the Mescalero and Chiricahua tribes in Oklahoma and New Mexico. It is related to Navajo and Western Apache. Mescalero-Chiricahua has been described in great detail by the anthropological linguist Harry Hoijer (1904–1976), especially in Hoijer & Opler (1938) and Hoijer (1946). Hoijer & Opler's Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache Texts, including a grammatical sketch and traditional religious and secular stories, has been converted into an online "book" available from the University of Virginia.
Sounds
Consonants
The 31 consonants of Mescalero-Chiricahua:
| |
Bilabial |
Alveolar |
Post-alveolar |
Palatal |
Velar |
Glottal |
| central |
lateral |
| Stop |
unaspirated |
p |
t |
|
|
|
k |
|
| aspirated |
|
tʰ |
|
|
|
kʰ |
|
| ejective |
|
tʼ |
|
|
|
kʼ |
ʔ |
| Affricate |
unaspirated |
|
ts |
tɮ |
tʃ |
|
|
|
| aspirated |
|
tsʰ |
tɬʰ |
tʃʰ |
|
|
|
| ejective |
|
tsʼ |
tɬʼ |
tʃʼ |
|
|
|
| Nasal |
simple |
m |
n |
|
|
|
|
|
| prenasalized |
(mᵇ) |
nᵈ |
|
|
|
|
|
| Fricative |
voiceless |
|
s |
ɬ |
ʃ |
|
x |
h |
| voiced |
|
z |
ɮ |
ʒ |
ʝ |
ɣ |
|
Vowels
The 16 vowels of Mescalero-Chiricahua:
| |
Front |
Central |
Back |
| short |
long |
short |
long |
short |
long |
| High |
oral |
i |
iː |
|
|
|
|
| nasal |
ĩ |
ĩː |
|
|
|
|
| Mid |
oral |
ɛ |
ɛː |
|
|
o |
oː |
| nasal |
ɛ̃ |
ɛ̃ː |
|
|
õ |
õː |
| Low |
oral |
|
|
a |
aː |
|
|
| nasal |
|
|
ã |
ãː |
|
|
Mescalero-Chiricahua has phonemic oral, nasal, short, and long vowels.
References
- Grimes, Barbara F. (Ed.). (2000). Ethnologue: Languages of the world, (14th ed.). Dallas, TX: SIL International. ISBN 1-55671-106-9. (Online edition: http://www.ethnologue.com/, accessed on Nov. 19th, 2004).
- Hoijer, Harry. (n.d.). Chiricahua Apache stems. (Unpublished manuscript).
- Hoijer, Harry. (1938). The southern Athapaskan languages. American Anthropologist, 40 (1), 75-87.
- Hoijer, Harry. (1939). Chiricahua loan-words from Spanish. Language, 15 (2), 110-115.
- Hoijer, Harry. (1945). Classificatory verb stems in the Apachean languages. International Journal of American Linguistics, 11 (1), 13-23.
- Hoijer, Harry. (1945). The Apachean verb, part I: Verb structure and pronominal prefixes. International Journal of American Linguistics, 11 (4), 193-203.
- Hoijer, Harry. (1946). The Apachean verb, part II: The prefixes for mode and tense. International Journal of American Linguistics, 12 (1), 1-13.
- Hoijer, Harry. (1946). The Apachean verb, part III: The classifiers. International Journal of American Linguistics, 12 (2), 51-59.
- Hoijer, Harry. (1946). Chiricahua Apache. In C. Osgood (Ed.), Linguistic structures in North America. New York: Wenner-Green Foundation for Anthropological Research.
- Hoijer, Harry; & Opler, Morris E. (1938). Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache texts. The University of Chicago publications in anthropology; Linguistic series. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Reprinted in 1964 by Chicago: University of Chicago Press; in 1970 by Chicago: University of Chicago Press; & in 1980 under H. Hoijer by New York: AMS Press, ISBN 0-404-15783-1).
- Opler, Morris E., & Hoijer, Harry. (1940). The raid and war-path language of the Chiricahua Apache. American Anthropologist, 42 (4), 617-634.
- Pinnow, Jürgen. (1988). Die Sprache der Chiricahua-Apachen: Mit Seitenblicken auf das Mescalero [The language of the Chiricahua Apache: With side glances at the Mescalero]. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag.
- Webster, Anthony K. (2006). On Speaking to Him (Coyote): The Discourse Functions of the yi-/bi- Alternation in Some Chiricahua Apache Narratives. Southwest Journal of Linguistics, 25(2), 143-160.
- Young, Robert W. (1983). Apachean languages. In A. Ortiz, W. C. Sturtevant (Eds.), Handbook of North American Indians: Southwest, (Vol. 10), (p. 393-400). Washington: Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 0-16-004579-7.
External links
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Italics indicate extinct languages
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