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Sahaptin language

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Sahaptin
Native toUnited States
RegionWashington, Oregon, and Idaho
Ethnicity10,000 Sahaptins (1977)[1]
Native speakers
100–125 (2007)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3Variously:
uma – Umatilla
waa – Walla Walla
yak – Yakama
tqn – Tenino
qot Sahaptin
Glottologsaha1240
ELPSahaptin
Sahaptin is classified as Severely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Sahaptin or Shahaptin, endonym Ichishkin,[2] is one of the two-language Sahaptian branch of the Plateau Penutian family spoken in a section of the northwestern plateau along the Columbia River and its tributaries in southern Washington, northern Oregon, and southwestern Idaho, in the United States;[3] the other language is Nez Perce or Niimi'ipuutímt.

The word Sahaptin/Shahaptin is not the one used by the tribes that speak it, but from the Columbia Salish name, Sħáptənəxw / S-háptinoxw, which means "stranger in the land". This is the name Sinkiuse-Columbia speakers traditionally called the Nez Perce people.[4] Early white explorers mistakenly applied the name to all the various Sahaptin speaking people, as well as to the Nez Perce. Sahaptin is spoken by various tribes of the Washington Reservations; Yakama, Warm Springs, Umatilla; and also spoken in many smaller communities such as Celilo, Oregon.

The Yakama tribal cultural resources program has been promoting the use of the traditional name of the language, Ichishkíin Sɨ́nwit ('this language'), instead of the Salish term Sahaptin.[5]

Dialects

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In the Handbook of North American Indians, Sahaptin was split in the following dialects and dialect clusters:[6]

  • Sahaptin
    • Northern Sahaptin
      • Northwest cluster
        • Klikatat
        • Taitnapam (Upper Cowlitz)
        • Upper Nisqually (Mishalpam)
        • Yakima
        • Pshwanwapam
      • Northeast cluster
        • Wanapum
        • Palouse
        • Lower Snake River
        • Chamnapam
        • Wauyukma
        • Naxiyampam
        • Walla Walla (Waluulapam)
    • Southern Sahaptin (Columbia River dialects)
      • Umatilla
      • Rock Creek
      • John Day
      • Celilo (Wyampam)
      • Tenino
      • Tygh Valley

Phonology

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The charts of consonants and vowels below are used in the Yakima Sahaptin (Ichishkiin) language:[7]

Consonants

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Bilabial Alveolar (Alveolo-)
palatal
Velar Uvular Glottal
plain sibilant lateral plain labial plain labial
Plosive/
Affricate
plain p t ts k q ʔ
ejective tsʼ tɬʼ tʃʼ kʷʼ qʷʼ
Fricative s ɬ ʃ x χ χʷ h
Nasal m n
Approximant l j w

Vowels

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Front Central Back
High i ɨ u
Low a

Vowels can also be accented (e.g. /á/).

Writing system

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This writing system is used for Umatilla Sahaptin.

Sahaptin alphabet (Umatilla) [8]
ˀ a c č č̓ h i ɨ k
k̓ʷ l ł m n p q q̓ʷ s
š t ƛ ƛ̓ u w x x̣ʷ y

Other works use the Yakima practical alphabet.[7]

Grammar

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There are published grammars,[9][6] a recent dictionary,[5] and a corpus of published texts.[10][11]

Sahaptin has a split ergative syntax, with direct-inverse voicing and several applicative constructions.[12]

The ergative case inflects third-person nominals only when the direct object is first- or second-person (the examples below are from the Umatilla dialect):

i-

3.NOM-

q̓ínu

see

-šana

-ASP

yáka

bear

paanáy

3SG.ACC

i- q̓ínu -šana yáka paanáy

3.NOM- see -ASP bear 3SG.ACC

'the bear saw him'

i-

3.NOM-

q̓ínu

see

-šana

-ASP

=aš

=1SG

yáka

bear

-nɨm

-ERG

i- q̓ínu -šana =aš yáka -nɨm

3.NOM- see -ASP =1SG bear -ERG

'the bear saw me'

The direct-inverse contrast can be elicited with examples such as the following. In the inverse, the transitive direct object is coreferential with the subject in the preceding clause.

Direct Inverse

wínš

man

i-

3.NOM-

q̓ínu

see

-šana

-ASP

wapaanłá

grizzly

-an

-ACC

ku

and

i-

3.NOM-

ʔíƛ̓iyawi

kill

-ya

-PST

paanáy

3SG.ACC

wínš i- q̓ínu -šana wapaanłá -an ku i- ʔíƛ̓iyawi -ya paanáy

man 3.NOM- see -ASP grizzly -ACC and 3.NOM- kill -PST 3SG.ACC

'the man saw the grizzly and he killed it'

wínš

man

i-

3.NOM-

q̓ínu

see

-šana

-ASP

wapaanłá

grizzly

-an

-ACC

ku

and

pá-

INV-

ʔiƛ̓iyawi

kill

-ya

-PST

wínš i- q̓ínu -šana wapaanłá -an ku pá- ʔiƛ̓iyawi -ya

man 3.NOM- see -ASP grizzly -ACC and INV- kill -PST

'the man saw the grizzly and it killed him'

The inverse (marked by the verbal prefix pá-) retains its transitive status, and a patient nominal is case marked accusative.

ku

and

pá-

INV-

ʔiƛ̓iyawi

kill

-ya

-PST

wínš

man

-na

-ACC

ku pá- ʔiƛ̓iyawi -ya wínš -na

and INV- kill -PST man -ACC

'and it killed the man' (= 'and the man was killed by it')

A semantic inverse is also marked by the same verbal prefix pá-.

Direct Inverse

q̓ínu

see

-šana

-ASP

=maš

=1SG/2SG

q̓ínu -šana =maš

see -ASP =1SG/2SG

'I saw you'

pá-

INV-

q̓inu

see

-šana

-ASP

=nam

=2SG

pá- q̓inu -šana =nam

INV- see -ASP =2SG

'you saw me'

In Speech Act Participant (SAP) and third-person transitive involvement, direction marking is as follows:

Direct Inverse

á-

OBV-

q̓inu

see

-šana

-ASP

=aš

=1SG

paanáy

3SG.ACC

á- q̓inu -šana =aš paanáy

OBV- see -ASP =1SG 3SG.ACC

'I saw him/her/it'

i-

3.NOM-

q̓ínu

see

-šana

-ASP

=aš

=1SG

pɨ́nɨm

3.ERG

i- q̓ínu -šana =aš pɨ́nɨm

3.NOM- see -ASP =1SG 3.ERG

'he/she/it saw me'

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Umatilla at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Walla Walla at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Yakama at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Tenino at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Leonard & Haynes 2010.
  3. ^ Mithun 1999.
  4. ^ Wassink & Hargus 2020.
  5. ^ a b Beavert & Hargus 2010.
  6. ^ a b Rigsby & Rude 1996.
  7. ^ a b Jansen 2010.
  8. ^ Jansen 2010, p. 28-34.
  9. ^ Jacobs 1931.
  10. ^ Jacobs 1929.
  11. ^ Jacobs 1934–1937.
  12. ^ Rude 2009.

Bibliography

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  • Jacobs, Melville (1929). "Northwest Sahaptin Texts, 1". University of Washington Publications in Anthropology. 2 (6). Seattle: University of Washington Press: 175–244.
  • Jacobs, Melville (1931). "A Sketch of Northern Sahaptin Grammar". University of Washington Publications in Anthropology. 4 (2). Seattle: University of Washington Press: 85–292.
  • Jacobs, Melville (1934–1937). Northwest Sahaptin Texts. Columbia University Contributions to Anthropology. Vol. 19. New York: Columbia University Press.
    part 1 (English language) hdl:/2027/mdp.39015036673898
    part 2 (Sahaptin language) hdl:/2027/inu.39000005878934
  • Rigsby, Bruce; Rude, Noel (1996). "Sketch of Sahaptin, a Sahaptian Language". In Goddard, Ives (ed.). Languages. Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 17. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution. pp. 666–692. ISBN 9780160487743. cited in Hargus, Sharon; Beavert, Virginia (2012-01-08). "First Position Clitics in Northwest Sahaptin" (PDF). University of Washington. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2014-03-02. Retrieved 2023-10-19.
  • Mithun, Marianne (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7.
  • Rude, Noel (2009). "Transitivity in Sahaptin" (PDF). Northwest Journal of Linguistics. 3 (3): 1–37.
  • Beavert, Virginia; Hargus, Sharon (2010). Ichishkiin Sɨ́nwit Yakama/Yakima Sahaptin Dictionary. Toppenish and Seattle: Heritage University and University of Washington Press. ISBN 9780295989150.
  • Jansen, Joana Worth (June 2010). A grammar of Yakima Ichishkiin/Sahaptin (PDF) (PhD thesis). University of Oregon. Archived from the original (PDF) on Nov 27, 2023.
  • 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. hdl:10125/4482. ISSN 1934-5275. Archived from the original on April 8, 2024.
  • Wassink, Alicia Beckford; Hargus, Sharon (Dec 2020). "Heritage Language Features and the Yakama English Dialect". Publication of the American Dialect Society. 105 (1): 11–38. doi:10.1215/00031283-8820598. Archived from the original on April 8, 2024.
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