Catawba language

Catawba
katába nieyé wuininare
Native to United States
Region South Carolina
Ethnicity Ye Iswąˀ (Catawba)
Extinct probably early 20th century;[1] before 1960[2]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 chc
Glottolog cata1286[3]
Linguasphere 64-ABA-ab

Catawba /kʌˈtɔːbʌ/ (Catawba katába nieyé wuininare [kataːba nieyeː wuiniare]) is one of two Eastern Siouan languages of the eastern US, which together with the Western Siouan languages formed the Siouan language family.

The last native speaker of Catawba died before 1960.[2] Red Thunder Cloud, apparently an impostor born Cromwell Ashbie Hawkins West, claimed to speak the language until he died in 1996 (Goddard 2000). The Catawba tribe is now working to revive the Catawba language.

Phonology

Consonants

Bilabial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive plain p t k ʔ
voiced b d
Fricative s ʃ h
Trill r
Affricate tʃ
Nasal m n
Approximant w j

There is also a /ɡ/ sound, which happens to be an allophone of /k/. /ʃ/ is seldom used.

Vowels

Short Long Nasal
Close i iː ĩ
Mid e eː ẽ
Open a aː ã
Back u uː ũ

Short vowel sounds /i, e, a, u/ can be unstressed, ranging to /ɪ, ə~ɛ, ɑ, ʊ/. Back vowel sounds can range from /u/ to /o/, and a short /a/ can range to a back vowel sound /ɑ/.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Chief Sam Blue, who died in 1959, was raised by one of the last native speakers.
  2. 1 2 Catawba at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  3. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Catawba". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  4. ↑ Rudes, Costa, Blair, David (2003). Essays in Algonquian, Catawban, and Siouan Linguistics in Memory of Frank T. Siebert, Jr.


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