Molala language

Last updated
Molala
Molalla
Native to United States
Region Cascade Mountains of Oregon
Ethnicity Molala people
Extinct 1958, with the death of Fred Yelkes (1885–1958) [1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 mbe
Glottolog mola1238

Molala is an extinct language once spoken by the Molala people of Oregon. Currently it is included among the Plateau Penutian language family, with Klamath and Sahaptin being considered the closest related. [2] [3]

Contents

Dialects

There were three known dialects:

Waiilatpuan family

The first written vocabulary of the Molala language was published by Horatio Hale in 1846. As a member of the United States Exploring Expedition, he had visited the Pacific Northwest in 1841. Missionary Marcus Whitman was credited for providing "much valuable information" about the Cayuse people and other natives nearby Waiilatpu. [4] Hale also recorded a Cayuse language vocabulary with Whitman's assistance. In his Waiilatpuan language family, Hale put Cayuse and Molala as the sole members. [5]

In 1910 or 1911, Stephens Savage, a Molala speaker, had told Leo Frachtenberg that the following five words were identical in both Cayuse and Molala: [6]

sorrel horseqasqasi tasiwitkwi
spotted horseyuꞏk tasiwitkwi
black horsemúkimuki tasiwitkwi
combtaꞏsps
spoonƚúꞏpinc

In 1929 Edward Sapir grouped Cayuse with Molala as part of the Waiilatpuan branch of the Plateau Penutian languages. [7]

Bruce Rigsby reexamined the Cayuse-Molala lexical pairs provided by Hale and found only a tenth to be potentially related terms. Whitman was credited as the origin of the Waiilatpuan linguistic family. Upon his review of extant Molala and Cayuse linguistic data, Rigsby concluded "I do not see how the two languages could have possibly been mutually intelligible." [8]

Phonology

The phonology of the Molala language:

Consonants

Bilabial Alveolar Lateral Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Plosive plain p t k q ʔ
aspirated
ejective
Nasal m n ŋ
Affricate plain ts
ejective tsʼ
Fricative ɸ s ɬ x h
Approximant w l j

Vowels

ShortLong
Close i
Open a ~ e
Back u

/i/ and /a/ can also shift to [ə]. [9]

Grammar

Molala is a verb-heavy polysynthetic language.

Case

Molala nouns have seven cases:

  1. nominative
  2. accusative
  3. genitive
  4. instrumental
  5. locative
  6. allative
  7. ablative

Orthography

This is a (unofficial) Salish-Based Orthography for the Molala Language:

Molala Alphabet (unofficial)
aaacefhiiiklɬƛmnŋpqstuuuwxyʔ
atstsʼe~əɸhikk’lɬmnŋpp’qq’stt’uwxyʔ

Bibliography

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References

  1. Wurm, Mühlhäusler & Tryon, p. 1148.
  2. Pharris 2006, pp. 358–359.
  3. NLA 2005.
  4. Hale 1846, p. 542.
  5. Hale 1846, p. 561.
  6. Rigsby 1969.
  7. Sapir 1929.
  8. Rigsby 1969, pp. 82–83.
  9. Berman 1996, pp. 3–5.