Upper Chinook language

Last updated
Upper Chinook
Kiksht
Native to United States
Region Columbia River
Extinct 11 July 2012 [1]
with the death of Gladys Thompson
Chinookan
  • Upper Chinook
Language codes
ISO 639-3 wac
Glottolog wasc1239
ELP Wasco-Wishram

Upper Chinook, endonym Kiksht, [2] also known as Columbia Chinook, and Wasco-Wishram after its last surviving dialect, is a recently extinct language of the US Pacific Northwest. It had 69 speakers in 1990, of whom 7 were monolingual: five Wasco [3] and two Wishram. In 2001, there were five remaining speakers of Wasco. [4]

Contents

The last fully fluent speaker of Kiksht, Gladys Thompson, died in July 2012. [1] She had been honored for her work by the Oregon Legislature in 2007. [5] [6] [7] Two new speakers were teaching Kiksht at the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in 2006. [8] The Northwest Indian Language Institute of the University of Oregon formed a partnership to teach Kiksht and Numu in the Warm Springs schools. [9] [10] Audio and video files of Kiksht are available at the Endangered Languages Archive. [11]

The last fluent speaker of the Wasco-Wishram dialect was Madeline Brunoe McInturff, and she died on 11 July 2006 at the age of 91. [12]

Dialects

Kathlamet has been classified as an additional dialect; it was not mutually intelligible.

Phonology

Consonants
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
plain sibilant lateral plain labial plain labial
Nasal m n
Plosive/
Affricate
plain p t ts k q ʔ
ejective tsʼ tɬʼ tʃʼ kʷʼ qʷʼ
voiced b d ɡ ɡʷ
Continuant voiceless s ɬ ʃ x χ χʷ h
voiced w l j ɣ ɣʷ

Vowels in Kiksht are as follows: /u a i ɛ ə/.

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References

  1. 1 2 Kristian Foden-Vencil (2012-07-17). "Last Fluent Speaker Of Oregon Tribal Language 'Kiksht' Dies". Oregon Public Broadcasting. Retrieved 2013-02-26.
  2. Leonard, Wesley Y.; Haynes, Erin (December 2010). "Making "collaboration" collaborative: An examination of perspectives that frame linguistic field research". Language Documentation & Conservation. 4: 269–293. ISSN   1934-5275.
  3. Culture: Language. The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon. 2009 (retrieved 9 April 2009)
  4. "Lewis & Clark—Tribes—Wasco Indians". National Geographic. Retrieved 2013-02-25.
  5. Last Fluent Speaker of Kiksht Dies
  6. "Honors Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs elder Gladys Miller Thompson for her contribution to preserving Native languages of Oregon". 74th OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2007 Regular Session. Retrieved 2013-02-26.
  7. "Zelma Smith, 1926-2010". Spilyay Tymoo, Coyote News, the Newspaper of the Warm Springs Reservation. Retrieved 2013-02-25.
  8. Keith Chu (2006-07-30). "New speakers try to save language". The Bulletin. Bend, OR. Retrieved 2013-02-25.
  9. Joanne B. Mulcahy (2005). "Warm Springs: A Convergence of Cultures" (Oregon History Project). Retrieved 2013-02-26.
  10. Aaron Clark. "USA: Tribes Strive to Save Native Tongues". GALDU, Resource Centre for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Retrieved 2013-02-26.
  11. Nariyo Kono. "Conversational Kiksht". Endangered Languages Archive. Retrieved 2013-02-25.
  12. "Holy road: Speaker of Wasco language dead at 91 - Indian Country Media Network". indiancountrymedianetwork.com. Retrieved 2017-05-24.

Bibliography