Taos is a language of the Tiwa branch of the Tanoan language family and is mainly spoken in the unincorporated community of Taos Pueblo and the city of Taos, both of them being in New Mexico.
In data collected in 1935 and 1937, George L. Trager (1946) notes that Taos was spoken by all members of the Taos Pueblo community. Additionally, most speakers were bilingual in either Spanish or English: speakers over 50 years of age were fluent in Spanish, adult speakers younger than 50 spoke Spanish and English, children around 5 years old could speak English but not Spanish—generally a decrease in age correlated with a decrease in Spanish fluency and an increase in English fluency. Pre-school children and a few very old women were monolingual Taos speakers.
A more recent report by Gomez (2003) notes that the language "until a few years ago remained viable only in age groups of thirty and older", a sign that Taos is being affected by language endangerment pressures. Nonetheless, it is one of 46 languages in North America that are being spoken by significant numbers of children as of 1995 (Goddard 1996). The most recent estimate is from 1980 with about 800 native speakers out of 1600 ethnic population (50% of the population).
Taos speakers have historically been reluctant to provide linguists with language data to work with and have preferred to keep their language secret from outsiders. G. Trager had to work with his consultants in private and keep their identities in confidence.[3] The tendency for secrecy is a continuing general Pueblo reaction starting in the 17th century in large part due to the oppressive persecution (including public executions and torture) of Pueblo religious practices by the colonial Spanish. The Taos community has been particularly guarded about revealing their language (and culture) to outsiders when compared with other eastern pueblos in New Mexico.[4] Due to secrecy practices, the details of language preservation are not known outside of the community.
Language variation
George L. Trager found no dialectal variation in the 1930 and 1940s.
In July 2012, Taos Pueblo, which "does not formally encourage persons outside the tribe to learn their language" hosted a Tiwa Language Festival for tribal members to keep Tiwa from "going to sleep". The Cultural Education Committee hopes to incorporate the Tiwa language into Head Start in the fall.[6]
Taos has three degrees of stress: primary, secondary, and unstressed, as well as three tones: high, mid, and low.
Transcription
Taos has been transcribed by Trager in Americanist phonetic notation. However, his transcription differs between his earlier work exemplified by Trager (1946) and his later work following and explained in Trager (1948). The following chart lists the symbolization of Taos phonemes in Trager (1946) and Trager (1948) and also a corresponding IPA symbolization. However, the chart only lists symbols that differ between the three—if Trager (1946), Trager (1948), and the IPA all use the same symbol it is not listed in the chart below.
Trager 1946
Trager 1948
IPA
ʔ
’
ʔ
c
c
tʃ~ts
c’
c’
tʃʼ~tsʼ (1946), tʃʔ~tsʔ (1948)
fr
phr
fɾ~ɸɾ
g
g
ɡ
k’
k’
kʼ (1946), kʔ
kw
kw
kʷ (1946), kw (1948)
kw’
kw’
kʷʼ (1946), kwʔ (1948)
ł
ł
ɬ
p’
p’
pʼ (1946), pʔ (1948)
p‛
ph
pʰ (1946), ph (1948)
r
r
ɾ
s
s
s~ʃ
t’
t’
tʼ (1946), tʔ (1948)
t‛
th
tʰ (1946), th (1948)
xw
xw
xʷ (1946), xw (1948)
y
y
j
Both Trager (1946) and Trager (1948) use the same vowel symbolization. This symbols have roughly approximate values of corresponding IPA symbols except that the vowel transcribed as ⟨o⟩ by Trager is phonetically IPA [ɑ] and in Trager's phonemic categorizing a low back vowel (with rounding details irrelevant to the categorization).
More different is Trager's two ways of transcribing tone and stress. The table below shows the differences on the syllable ta.
Stress + Tone combination
Trager 1946
Trager 1948
IPA
primary stress + mid tone
tˈa
tá
ˈtā
secondary stress + mid tone
tˌa
tà
ˌtā
primary stress + high tone
tá
ta̋
ˈtá
secondary stress + high tone
tá
tǎ
ˌtá
primary stress + low tone
tà
tâ
ˈtà
secondary stress + low tone
tà
tȁ
ˌtà
unstressed
ta
ta
ta
The conflation between primary + high and secondary + high as well as primary + low and secondary + low in Trager (1946) was due to the belief that they were in complementary distribution. Trager rescinded this view in Trager (1948) and onward. In Trager's terminology, primary stress is called "loud" stress, secondary stress is "normal", and unstressed is "weak".
The orthography used in this article is essentially that of Trager (1948) with one modification: Trager (1948: 158) mentioned that the glottal stop ’ was not written when word-initial in the practical orthography he was teaching his informants—this practice is followed here.
Grammar
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (May 2008)
Nouns are generally composed of a noun stem with a following number suffix. The number suffixes distinguish between singular and plural. However, in verbs, three numbers are distinguished—singular, dual, and plural—because of this distinction in verbs the plural suffixes on nouns are more appropriately duoplural (Trager uses the term "nonsingular"). The singular suffix is ‑na and the duoplural suffix is ‑ne.
Two other number suffixes ‑ną and ‑nemą can express either singular number or duoplural depending upon the grammatical class of noun. For example, the noun stem cupa‑ "judge" is duoplural with the addition of ‑ną: cùpáną "judges". On the other hand, the noun stem t’awa‑ "wheel" is singular with the addition of ‑ną: t’áwaną "wheel". Examples with ‑nemą include ká‑nemą "mothers" (duoplural) and cí‑nemą "eye" (singular). Following the terminology used for other Tanoan languages, these will be called here "inverse" number suffixes.[8] These inverse suffixes effectively indicate the grammatical number opposite the other suffix that appears on a given noun. Thus, since the stem p’iane‑ "mountain" requires the plural suffix ‑ne in the duoplural form (namely, p’íane‑ne "mountains"), the inverse ‑nemą marks the singular in p’íane‑nemą "mountain". And, likewise, since the stem cibiki‑ "robin" requires the singular suffix ‑na in the singular form (namely, cìbikí‑na "robin"), the inverse ‑ną marks the duoplural in cìbíki‑ną "robins".
Number classes
Taos nouns can be grouped into four grammatical classes based on which number affixes are required for the singular and duoplural inflectional forms. Trager calls these noun classes "genders". One class requires the singular suffix ‑na in the singular form and an inverse suffix in the duoplural. Another class requires an inverse suffix in the singular and the duoplural suffix ‑ne in the duoplural. A third class requires the singular and duoplural suffixes for the singular and duoplural forms, respectively. A fourth class only occurs with the duoplural suffix ‑ne. The first two classes, which use an inverse suffix, can be separated into two subclasses based on whether inverse ‑ną or ‑nemą is used. These are summarized in the following table.
Noun class I is composed of primarily animate nouns. The animate nouns include persons, animals, and kinship terms. Two non-animate nouns in the class are c’ìpána "doll" and p’ȍxwíana "egg". The class includes both native words and loanwords from Spanish (such as yàwo’óna "mare" from yegua, and prìmu’úna "cousin" from primo). Membership of this class is represented by the following list of nouns (cited in the singular form). The first list uses the ‑ną inverse suffix in the duoplural.
àłu’úna "paternal grandmother"
c’ìpána "doll"
c’ȕnéna "coyote"
c’ùwala’ána "squirrel"
cìbikína "robin"
cìwyu’úna "bird"
cìyúna "mouse"
cùlo’óna "dog"
cùpána "judge"
ə̀wyu’úna "boy"
hȕolóna "quail"
gòyu’úna "rooster" (loan)
į̀ęmę’éna "paternal aunt"
k’òwa’ána "relative"
k’ùo’ȕ’úna "lamb"
kàyúna "maternal aunt"
kìłu’úna "nephew, niece"
kòlno’óna "badger"
kòsi’ína "cow"
kòw’ȕ’úna "colt"
kóywona "Kiowa Indian" (loan)
kùci’ína "pig" (loan)
kumàyli’ína "godmother" (loan)
kumpàyli’ína "godfather" (loan)
kùylulúna "skunk"
kw’àyána "magpie"
láyna "king" (loan)
lìlúna "chicken"
łìtúna "maternal grandmother"
mą́kuna "grandchild"
mèstu’úna "teacher" (loan)
mį̏mína "maternal uncle"
mùlo’óna "mule" (loan)
mùldu’úna "donkey" (loan)
mùoya’ána "ox" (loan)
mų̀si’ína "cat"
nábahuna "Navajo Indian" (loan)
nòdu’úna "soldier" (loan)
oxènti’ína "agent" (loan)
p’àyu’úna "younger sister"
p’ȍ’ǫ́yona "spider"
p’ȍwàya’ána "worm"
p’ȍxwíana "egg"
p’óyona "beaver"
p’ǫ́yna "younger brother"
pènku’úna "orphan"
pę̀cu’úna "rattlesnake"
phìayána "louse, flea"
phonsáyna "white man" (loan)
phų̀yu’úna "fly"
pòpóna "older brother"
prìmu’úna "cousin" (loan)
sayénuna "Cheyenne Indian" (loan)
sə̀oyi’ína "daughter-in-law"
t’òyłóna "giant"
tà’ána "son-in-law"
tàłułi’ína "grandfather"
tòbúna "governor of pueblo"
tràmpi’ína "tramp" (loan)
tȕculóna "hummingbird"
tùlu’úna "bull" (loan)
tų̀łu’úna "paternal uncle"
tùtúna "older sister"
tùxwána "fox"
ȕłęłę’éna "youth"
upę̀yu’úna "girl"
yàwo’óna "mare" (loan)
The following belong to noun class I with the ‑nemą inverse suffix.
c’ȁwéna "bluejay"
cíwena "eagle"
kána "mother"
kə́ona "bear"
kòléna "wolf"
kònéna "buffalo"
kǫ̏wéna "owl"
kwę́na "Mexican"
kwə́lena "maiden"
kwíanena "bitch"
łȉwéna "woman"
łùłi’ína "old man"
p’į́wna "sparrow"
pę́na "deer"
pə̏’ə́na "fish"
phȉwéna "daughter"
pȉwéna "rabbit"
pulísena "policeman" (loan)
púyena "friend"
sə́onena "man"
sȕléna "bluebird"
t’óyna "person"
tǫ̏ména "father"
ȕp’iléna "baby"
ȕ’úna "son"
Nouns in classes II and III are opposed to class I in that they are inanimates. However, there is no apparent semantic motivation for distinguishing the types of nouns with membership in class II and class III. Both classes include body parts, plants, natural phenomena, and man-made materials. Loanwords are incorporated into both classes. Examples of nouns in class II follow. Those with the ‑ną inverse suffix are below.
bósuną "glass tumbler" (loan)
butéyoną "bottle" (loan)
bútoną "boot" (loan)
cìatúną "legging"
hálgoną "rug" (loan)
hǫ́luną "lung"
hų́łoliną "weapon"
hų̏p’ôhaną "juniper"
íałoną "willow"
į̂ęthuną "ladder"
kwę́łoną "oak"
kwíltoną "quilt" (loan)
łòmų́ną "mouth"
łòwatúną "chief's cane"
łòxwóloną "window"
mą̂nmųną "glove"
mę́dianą "stocking" (loan)
mę́soną "table" (loan)
p’ȍk’úowoną "fir"
pisóloną "blanket" (loan)
púeloną "frying pan" (loan)
sédoną "silk" (loan)
t’áwaną "wheel"
túłoną "tree"
tų́łęną "birch"
tûoyoną "towel" (loan)
úliną "rubber (object)" (loan)
xų̀p’íną "knee"
yúwolaną "skirt"
Examples of nouns in class II with the ‑nemą inverse suffix are below.
cínemą "eye"
ę́nemą "shoulder"
hų̂nemą "cedar"
į̏ęnénemą "foot"
k’ə́onemą "neck"
kə̏dénemą "door"
kə̀nénemą "cradle"
kə̀obénemą "shoe"
kínemą "blanket"
mą̏nénemą "hand"
ȍdénemą "chin"
p’íanenemą "mountain"
p’ínemą "head"
phùolénemą "yucca"
piakə̀nénemą "chest"
pȍbénemą "flower"
telędúnenemą "fork" (loan)
wę̀’énemą "pine"
wǫ́nemą "wind"
xomúnenemą "ham" (loan)
xónemą "arm"
xų́nemą "leg"
yò’ónemą "song"
Examples of noun in class III are the following:
bòyi’ína "valley" (loan)
belísena "suitcase" (loan)
bùtúnena "button" (loan)
c’únena "deerhide strip"
c’òwowo’óna "ankle"
cą̀pienéna "yeast"
cȅdéna "anus"
cìakǫ’óna "question"
cûdena "shirt"
ə̂bena "cherry"
kàsu’úna "cheese" (loan)
kàyi’ína "street" (loan)
kayúnena "canyon" (loan)
kèke’éna "cake" (loan)
kə́na "vulva"
komòlto’óna "bed frame" (loan)
kòmpu’úna "camp" (loan)
kòwmą̏celéna "hoof"
kùli’ína "cabbage" (loan)
kùti’ína "coat" (loan)
kwę̀xòci’ína "bracelet"
kwìawìp’į́ęna "racetrack"
kwóna "axe"
kwę̀mų́na "carpenter's apron"
láyna "law" (loan)
lílena "belt"
lìmunéna "lemon" (loan)
łòxóyna "lip"
łúna "buckskin"
mą̏c’élena "fingernail"
mąkìno’óna "machine" (loan)
mę̀diaxų̀ci’ína "garter"
mę̀so’óna "(Catholic) mass" (loan)
mę̀sotu’úna "church" (loan)
mį̀yo’óna "mile" (loan)
moltìyu’úna "hammer" (loan)
monsònu’úna "appletree" (loan)
mùlso’óna "pocket" (loan)
mųstúnena "button" (loan)
ną̀xù’úna "adobe brick"
p’ȍkúna "bread"
p’óna "moon"
p’ȍpə́na "sky"
p’ȍtukw’ilóna "mint"
p’ȍxəłóna "star"
pànąthóna "underwear"
pèro’óna "pear" (loan)
phę́na "cloud"
phə́yna "nose"
phò’ína "peach" (loan)
phóna "hair"
píana "heart"
pį̏ę’éna "bed"
pį́ęna "road"
plòso’óna "city" (loan)
pòmų́na "trousers"
póna "pumpkin"
pǫ̏’óna "land, country"
púlulúna "plum"
pùohóna "ball"
pùru’úna "cigar" (loan)
ràncu’úna "ranch" (loan)
rarą̀xu’úna "orange" (loan)
supòno’óna "bedspring" (loan)
t’àmų́na "cheek"
t’ółəona "ear"
tą́na "bean"
thį̀ę’éna "stomach"
thȕléna "sun"
tį̀ęndo’óna "store" (loan)
tìkiti’ína "ticket" (loan)
tomòli’ína "tamale" (loan)
tròki’ína "truck" (loan)
tumą̀ti’ína "tomato" (loan)
ùbo’óna "grape" (loan)
úyna "charcoal" (loan)
úypha’ána "burning coal"
wána "penis"
xwílena "bow"
The final class IV consists of mostly abstract and deverbal nouns. All nouns in this class only are inflected with the duoplural. They may be semantically either singular or collective. Examples follow.
adùbi’íne "adobe" (loan)
benę̀nu’úne "poison" (loan)
biną̀gre’éne "vinegar" (loan)
c’óne "liver"
cì’íne "knot"
cìli’íne "chili" (loan)
cìliłə̀’ə́ne "chili soup"
cìlithə̀o’óne "chili powder"
gosulínene "gasoline" (loan)
hə́olene "sickness"
ȉa’áne "corn"
į̀ękǫ́ne "hail"
kopháne "coffee" (loan)
kùku’úne "cocoa" (loan)
lecùgo’óne "lettuce" (loan)
łáne "tobacco"
łíne "grass"
łitǫ́ne "wheat"
łò’óne "wood"
łùléne "rain"
mùoli’íne "return"
ną̀méne "soil"
obènu’úne "oats" (loan)
p’ȍcíane "ice"
p’ȍxúone "steam"
p’ȍ’óne "water"
páne "clothing"
phà’áne "fire"
pòwdo’óne "baking powder" (loan)
sùdo’óne "baking soda" (loan)
téne "tea" (loan)
Trager treats class III and IV as sub-classes of a larger single class.
The noun class system also applies to some other word types besides nouns. Demonstratives and some numerals are also inflected for number with different suffixes that agree with the noun that they modify.
Connecting -e-
When some stems are followed by the number suffixes, they are followed by a connecting ‑e‑ vowel. For example, the word "flower" consists of a stem pob‑ and in the inflected forms the intervening vowel appears: pȍb‑é‑nemą "flower". Other examples include ȍd‑é‑nemą "chin, jaw", kwían‑e‑na "bitch", łȉw‑é‑na "woman". However, not all instances of e vowels occurring directly before number suffixes are this intervening vowel as there also some stems which end in a e vowel, such as c’ȕné‑na "coyote" which has the stem c’ùne‑.
Reduplication
Several noun stem have reduplicated stem material appearing between the stem and the number suffix. For example, kò’óne "washing" consists of the stem ko‑ and the duoplural number suffix ‑ne. Between the stem and the suffix is the duplifix‑’o‑. This duplifix consists of the consonant ’ and a copy of the final vowel of the stem ko‑. The duplifix may be symbolized as ‑’V‑ where V represents the reduplication of any vowel that occurs at the end of the preceding noun stem. Thus "washing" is ko‑’V‑ne, which after copying is ko‑’o‑ne. Other examples include
The reduplication occurs in all four noun classes before the all number suffixes except inverse ‑ną (in both class I duoplural and class II singular). The following examples show the patterning of reduplication and number suffixes found by Trager.
Singular
Duoplural
Noun class
Gloss
c’ìliyo‑’ó‑na
reduplication
c’íliyo‑ną
no reduplication
Class I
"bat"
ȕ‑’ú‑na
reduplication
ȕ‑’ú‑nemą
reduplication
Class I
"son"
yúwola‑ną
no reduplication
yùwola‑’á‑ne
reduplication
Class II
"skirt"
yò‑’ó‑nemą
reduplication
yò‑’ó‑ne
reduplication
Class II
"song"
kwę̀xòci‑’í‑na
reduplication
kwę̀xòci‑’í‑ne
reduplication
Class III
"bracelet"
mę̀sotu‑’ú‑na
reduplication
mę́sotu‑ne
no reduplication
Class III
"church"
Stress shift
Place-gender (local)
Vocatives
Noun stems of the nouns in class I can standalone as free words when they are used to refer to persons as proper nouns.
↑ G. Trager's primary consultants in 1935 and 1937 were young men of about 30 years of age.
↑ For example, the Taos degree of Indian "blood" averaged around 95% in 1972. In 1970 only one Spanish-American female and 23 non-Taos Indians were living in Taos Pueblo. See Bodine (1979) and Eggan (1979).
↑ Sources on mutual intelligibility report conflicting information. Mithun (1999): "they [Taos and Picuris] are close but generally considered mutually unintelligible". But, G. Trager (1969): "The facts that there are considerable phonological differences between the two languages [Taos and Picuris], but that the grammatical systems are very much alike and that mutual intelligibility still persists...". G. Trager (1946): "The two Tiwa groups [Northern Tiwa and Southern Tiwa] are fairly homogeneous: Sandía and Isleta [of the Southern Tiwa group] differ very little and are mutually completely intelligible; Taos and Picurís [of the Northern Tiwa group] diverge more from each other. Further, the group as a whole is very similar: Taos and Picurís are each intelligible to the other three, and Sandía and Isleta are understood in the north, though with difficulty". G. Trager (1943): "Taos and Picurís are much alike, and mutually understandable. Sandía and Isleta are almost identical. A speaker of the southern languages can manage to understand the northern two, but the reverse is not true." F. Trager (1971): "[Picuris] is most closely related to Taos; these two languages are in part mutually intelligible." Harrington (1910) observed that an Isleta person (Southern Tiwa) communicated in "Mexican jargon" with Taos speakers as Taos and Southern Tiwa were not mutually intelligible.
↑ This list of consonants rests on Trager (1948). A different analysis is in Trager (1946) (and earlier publications). Both can be compared in Taos phonology.
↑ In Kiowa and Jemez linguistic studies these suffixes are known as "inverse number" suffixes. In this type of analysis nouns belong to grammatical classes which have a default grammatical number specification. The inverse suffixes change (or toggle) to a non‑default number.
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Trager, George L. (1969). Taos and Picuris: How long separated?. International Journal of American Linguistics, 35 (2), 180–182.
Trager, George L.; & Trager, Felicia H. (1970). The cardinal directions at Taos and Picuris. Anthropological Linguistics, 12 (2), 31–37.
Madí—also known as Jamamadí after one of its dialects, and also Kapaná or Kanamanti (Canamanti)—is an Arawan language spoken by about 1,000 Jamamadi, Banawá, and Jarawara people scattered over Amazonas, Brazil.
Shoshoni, also written as Shoshoni-Gosiute and Shoshone, is a Numic language of the Uto-Aztecan family, spoken in the Western United States by the Shoshone people. Shoshoni is primarily spoken in the Great Basin, in areas of Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and Idaho.
Tanoan, also Kiowa–Tanoan or Tanoan–Kiowa, is a family of languages spoken by indigenous peoples in present-day New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.
Keres, also Keresan, is a Native American language, spoken by the Keres Pueblo people in New Mexico. Depending on the analysis, Keres is considered a small language family or a language isolate with several dialects. If it is considered a language isolate, it would be the most widely spoken language isolate within the borders of the United States. The varieties of each of the seven Keres pueblos are mutually intelligible with its closest neighbors. There are significant differences between the Western and Eastern groups, which are sometimes counted as separate languages.
Kiowa or Cáuijògà/Cáuijò꞉gyà is a Tanoan language spoken by the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma in primarily Caddo, Kiowa, and Comanche counties. The Kiowa tribal center is located in Carnegie. Like most North American indigenous languages, Kiowa is an endangered language.
In linguistics, apophony is an alternation of vowel (quality) within a word that indicates grammatical information.
Plains Cree is a dialect of the Algonquian language, Cree, which is the most populous Canadian indigenous language. Plains Cree is considered a dialect of the Cree-Montagnais language or a dialect of the Cree language that is distinct from the Montagnais language. Plains Cree is one of five main dialects of Cree in this second sense, along with Woods Cree, Swampy Cree, Moose Cree, and Atikamekw. Although no single dialect of Cree is favored over another, Plains Cree is the one that is the most widely used. Out of the 116,500 speakers of the Cree language, the Plains Cree dialect is spoken by about 34,000 people primarily in Saskatchewan and Alberta but also in Manitoba and Montana.
Tübatulabal is an Uto-Aztecan language, traditionally spoken in Kern County, California, United States. It is the traditional language of the Tübatulabal, who still speak the traditional language in addition to English. The language originally had three main dialects: Bakalanchi, Pakanapul and Palegawan.
Dulong or Drung, Derung, Rawang, or Trung, is a Sino-Tibetan language in China. Dulong is closely related to the Rawang language of Myanmar (Burma). Although almost all ethnic Derung people speak the language to some degree, most are multilingual, also speaking Burmese, Lisu, and Mandarin Chinese except for a few very elderly people.
George Leonard Trager was an American linguist. He was the president of the Linguistic Society of America in 1960.
Aguaruna is an indigenous American language of the Chicham family spoken by the Aguaruna people in Northern Peru. According to Ethnologue, based on the 2007 Census, 53,400 people out of the 55,700 ethnic group speak Aguaruna, making up almost the entire population. It is used vigorously in all domains of life, both written and oral. It is written with the Latin script. The literacy rate in Aguaruna is 60–90%. However, there are few monolingual speakers today; nearly all speakers also speak Spanish. The school system begins with Aguaruna, and as the students progress, Spanish is gradually added. There is a positive outlook and connotation in regard to bilingualism. 50 to 75% of the Aguaruna population are literate in Spanish. A modest dictionary of the language has been published.
Taos is a Tanoan language spoken by several hundred people in New Mexico, in the United States. The main description of its phonology was contributed by George L. Trager in a (pre-generative) structuralist framework. Earlier considerations of the phonetics-phonology were by John P. Harrington and Jaime de Angulo. Trager's first account was in Trager (1946) based on fieldwork 1935-1937, which was then substantially revised in Trager (1948). The description below takes Trager (1946) as the main point of departure and notes where this differs from the analysis of Trager (1948). Harrington's description is more similar to Trager (1946). Certain comments from a generative perspective are noted in a comparative work Hale (1967).
Picuris is a language of the Northern Tiwa branch of Tanoan spoken in Picuris Pueblo, New Mexico.
The Southern Tiwa language is a Tanoan language spoken at Sandia Pueblo and Isleta Pueblo in New Mexico and Ysleta del Sur in Texas.
Jemez is a Kiowa-Tanoan language spoken by the Jemez Pueblo people in New Mexico. It has no common written form, as tribal rules do not allow the language to be transcribed; linguists describing the language have used the Americanist phonetic notation with slight modifications.
The Pueblo linguistic area is a Sprachbund consisting of the languages spoken in and near North American Pueblo locations. There are also many shared cultural practices in this area. For example, these cultures share many ceremonial vocabulary terms meant for prayer or song.
In linguistic morphology, inflection is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and definiteness. The inflection of verbs is called conjugation, while the inflection of nouns, adjectives, adverbs, etc. can be called declension.
Warndarrang (waɳʈaraŋ), also spelt Warndarang, Wanderang, Wandaran, and other variants is an extinct Aboriginal Australian language in the Arnhem family, formerly spoken by the Warndarrang people in southern Arnhem Land, along the Gulf of Carpentaria. The last speaker was Isaac Joshua, who died in 1974, while working with the linguist Jeffrey Heath.
The Kwaio language, or Koio, is spoken in the centre of Malaita Island in the Solomon Islands. It is spoken by about 13,000 people.
Ute is a dialect of the Colorado River Numic language, spoken by the Ute people. Speakers primarily live on three reservations: Uintah-Ouray in northeastern Utah, Southern Ute in southwestern Colorado, and Ute Mountain in southwestern Colorado and southeastern Utah. Ute is part of the Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Other dialects in this dialect chain are Chemehuevi and Southern Paiute. As of 2010, there were 1,640 speakers combined of all three dialects Colorado River Numic. Ute's parent language, Colorado River Numic, is classified as a threatened language, although there are tribally-sponsored language revitalization programs for the dialect.
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