Plains Apache language: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 13:08, 15 April 2020

Revision as of 12:17, 2 May 2020

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| fam4 = [[Southern Athabaskan languages|Southern Athabaskan]]

| map = Southern_Athabaskan_languages.svg

| mapcaption = Historical distribution of Southern Athabaskan languages. Plains Apache (labeled Kiowa Apache) is located in northwestern Oklahoma.

| iso3 = apk

| glotto = kiow1264

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The '''Plains Apache''' language (or '''Kiowa Apache''' language) is a [[Southern Athabaskan languages|Southern Athabaskan language]] formerly spoken by the [[Plains Apache]], organized as the [[Apache Tribe of Oklahoma]], living primarily around [[Anadarko, Oklahoma|Anadarko]] in southwest [[Oklahoma]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Everett |first1=Dianna |title=Apache Tribe of Oklahoma |url=https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=AP002 |website=The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture |publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society |accessdate=20 January 2020}}</ref> The language is [[extinct language|extinct]] as of 2008, when Alfred Chalepah, Jr., the last native speaker, died.

Plains Apache is the most divergent member of the Southern Athabaskan languages, a family which also includes [[Navajo language|Navajo]], [[Chiricahua language|Chiricahua Apache]], [[Mescalero language|Mescalero Apache]], [[Lipan Apache language|Lipan Apache]], [[Western Apache language|Western Apache]], and [[Jicarilla Apache language|Jicarilla Apache]]. As a member of the broader Athabaskan family, it has an extremely complex system of verbal morphology, often enabling entire sentences to be constructed with only a verb: for example, ''šìɣàdàdlòh'', meaning "He is going to laugh at me."

==Phonology==

This article follows the orthography of Bittle (1963); where this differs from the [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]], IPA is given onbetween the left, and Bittle's transcription is given on the right in italicsslashes.

===Consonants===

Plains Apache has a large consonant inventory resembling that of its close relatives Navajo and Western Apache.

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! rowspan="3" | [[Stop consonant|Stop]]

! <small>[[tenuis consonant|unaspirated]]</small>

|b {{IPA|/p/}} ''b''||d {{IPA|/t/}} ''d''||dl {{IPA|/tɬ/}} ''dl''||dz {{IPA|/ts/}} ''dz''||dž {{IPA|/tʃ/}} ''dž''|| ||g {{IPA|/k/}} ''g''||

|-

! <small>[[aspiration (phonetics)|aspirated]]</small>

| || ||tł {{IPA|/tɬʰ/}} ''tł''||ts {{IPA|/tsʰ/}} ''ts''||tš {{IPA|/tʃʰ/}} ''tš''|| ||k {{IPA|/kʰ/}} ''k''||

|-

! <small>[[Glottalized consonant|glottalized]]</small>

| || {{IPA|tʼ}} ||tłʼ {{IPA|/tɬʼ/}} ''tłʼ''||{{IPA|tsʼ}} ||tšʼ {{IPA|/tʃʼ/}} ''tšʼ''|| || {{IPA|kʼ}} ||{{IPA|ʔ}}

|-

! rowspan="2" | [[Continuant]]

! <small>[[voiceless]]</small>

| || ||ł {{IPA|/ɬ/}} ''ł''||{{IPA|s}} ||š {{IPA|/ʃ/}} ''š''|| || {{IPA|x}} ||{{IPA|h}}

|-

! <small>[[voiced]]</small>

| || || {{IPA|l}} || {{IPA|z}} ||ž {{IPA|/ʒ/}} ''ž''|| || {{IPA|ɣ}} ||

|-

! rowspan="2" |[[Nasal stop|Nasal]]

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|-

! colspan="2" | [[Approximant consonant|Glide]]

| || || || || ||y {{IPA|/j/}} ''y''|| ||

|}

The phoneme {{IPA|/ⁿd/}} is only found in prefixes and does not occur before {{IPA|/o/}}. {{IPA|/h/}} is in free variation with {{IPA|/x/}} preceding {{IPA|/a/}} and also does not occur before {{IPA|/o/}}. The fricated alveolar and postalveolar series are tend to be realized as slightly retroflex preceding {{IPA|/i/}} and {{IPA|/e/}}, though these variants are in free variation with the unretroflexed realizations. The plain alveolar and velar series are slightly fronted preceding ''{{IPA|/i''/}} and ''{{IPA|/e''/}}, and slightly backed and rounded preceding {{IPA|/o/}}.

===Vowels===

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|-

![[Close vowel|High]]

|{{IPA|i~ɪ}} ''i''|| rowspan="2" |{{IPA|u~o}} ''o''

|-

! [[Open-mid vowel|Mid]]

|e {{IPA|/ɛ/}} ''e''

|-

! [[Open vowel|Low]]

| colspan="2" |{{IPA|a}}

|}

Additionally, all vowels may be either short or long and nasal or oral. Length is indicated in the orthography by writing the vowel twice (e.g. ''kóó'', "water"); nasalization is indicated with an [[ogonek]] (e.g. ''nǫ̀ǫ̀'', "earth"). When long, the realization of ''{{IPA|/i''/}} tends to be closer to {{IPA|[i]}}, and when short, closer to {{IPA|[ɪ]}}. An analogous alternation is true of ''{{IPA|/o''/}} {{IPA|[u~o]}}, although this variation is more free, and is lexicalized by some speakers in certain words.

===Syllable Structure===

The Plains Apache syllable is maximally CCV:C, e.g. ''stłèèh'' "pants", though initial clusters are rare and must co-occur with a long vowel, making most syllables (C)V(:)(C), e.g. ''xòòš'' "cactus" and ''séé'' "dust". All consonants may appear in the syllable onset, although ''{{IPA|/l''/}} and a null onset are not permitted word-initially; only ''{{IPA|/d, g, ʔ, s, z, šʃ, žʒ, h, l,''/}} and ''ł''{{IPA|/ɬ/}} may appear in the syllable coda, whether word-final or not.

=== Tone ===

Plains Apache has a [[register tone]] system with two levels, low and high. Low is written with a grave accent (e.g. ''bìs'', "bank"), and high is written with an acute accent (e.g. ''šéł'', "kindness"). Syllables with short vowels bear a single toneme, but those with long vowels have one toneme for each [[Mora (linguistics)|mora]] of the vowel, making for a total of four contours:

* high-high (e.g., ''tʼǫ́ǫ́š'', "bark"),
* high-low (e.g., ''béè-lą̀ą̀ʔ'', "point"),
* low-high (e.g., ''gòóʔ'', "snake"), and
* low-low (e.g., ''gààd'', "spread of cedars").

== Morphology ==

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=== Verbs ===

Like those of most other Athabaskan languages, Plains Apache verbs are highly morphologically complex, exhibiting [[polypersonal agreement]], rich [[Grammatical aspect|aspect]] marking, and the characteristic Athabaskan classifier system. Bittle (1963) identifies 14 positions in the verb template, divided into the verbal base (which defines the lexical meaning of the verb) and [[Inflectional paradigm|paradigmatic]] prefixes (which inflect the verb for person, number, tense, aspect, mood, and voice). The following verb template table is reproduced from Bittle:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

! rowspan="2" |Position

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|séé mi-džǫ́ʔ-dą́ʔ dà-yi-ɣí-ø-ø-nííł

|dirt 3SG-back-PP ADV-3OBJ-PROG-3SUBJ-CLF-throw|'He threw dirt on his back'}}

However, due to the morphological complexity of the Plains Apache verb, it is often possible for a sentence to consist of only a single verb, e.g.

:{{interlinear| lang = apk

|Dàdį̀į̀mą̀ą̀s

|da-di-∅-į̀į̀d-∅-mą̀ą̀s

|NUM-THM-IPFV-1DUPL.SBJ-CLF-go.to.war|'Each one of us is starting off to war'}}

==See also==