Arapaho language
Encyclopedia
The Arapaho language or hinono'eitiit (also "Arapahoe Language" and hiinonoei'tiit) is a Plains Algonquian language
(an areal rather than genetic grouping) spoken almost entirely by elders in Wyoming, and to a much lesser extent in Oklahoma. It is in great danger of becoming extinct. As of 1996, there were approximately 1,000 speakers of the
Northern Arapaho. In 2008, it was reported that a school had been opened to teach the language to children. 22 children are being taught there. The school was established as a matter of urgency, as no person aged under 55 was fluent in Arapaho at that point.
Arapaho has diverged very significantly phonologically from its posited proto-language, Proto-Algonquian
(Proto-Algonquian *maθkwa "bear" became Arapaho wox, and Proto-Algonquian *weθari "her husband" became Arapaho ííx).
.
Using Wampanoag, which has generally been among the more conservative Proto-Algonquian languages, in order to exemplify the shift Arapaho has undergone a few contrasts will be noted. The Arapaho phoneme /ʧ/ for the voiceless palato-alveolar affricate sometimes referred to as the symbol /c/ corresponds to the morpheme /p/ in the Wampanoag. Likewise, the voiceless glottal stop /ʔ/ sometimes, as here, noted by the symbol /'/ corresponds to /k/ and the Arapaho /b/ to the Wampanoag /m/. According to Kennteth Lock Hale from the department of Linguistics and Philosophy at MIT and co-author of The Green Book of Language, Arapaho distinguishes itself as far as language evolution by holding onto the consonant sound /θ/ (sometimes referred to as /3/ in the Arapaho writing system) while other Proto-Algonquian languages shifted to the use of /n/ and others still use /l,y,r,t/.
s of a single phoneme
, as, with very few exceptions, the former does not occur after velar consonants, and the latter only occurs after them. However /ʒ/ does occur prior to /u/ but in underlying form only with the surface form of /x/. /u/ does have some exceptions as in the free variants kokíy/kokúy in which both mean 'gun', kookiyón/kookuyón which means 'for no reason', bíí'oxíyoo/bíí'oxúyoo which means 'Found in the Grass' (a mythological creature). There are no minimal pairs to discuss the contrast in distribution except núhu' which means 'this' versus níhi which has no meaning on it's own as it occurs only in bound form.
It also contains three diphthongs, /ei/, /ɔu/, and /ie/ and several tripthongs /eii oee ouu/ as well as extended sequences of vowels such as /eee/ with stress on either the first or the last vowel in the combination. Almost uniquely among the world's languages, it has no low vowels
, such as /a/. The lengthening of Arapaho's four vowel sounds changes the meaning of the word entirely. In order to demonstrate here are some examples of minimal pairs: hísi’ meaning tick with híːsi’ meaning day and hócoo meaning steak with hóːcoo meaning devil. Arapaho has no vowel initial words so in the context where a vowel would be realized in a word initial position an /h/ is added.
, /tʃ/ as , /ʔ/ as <'>, and /θ/ is sometimes written <3>.
(also known as Atsina), a divergent dialect of Arapaho or closely related language, has three additional phonemes, /tʲ/, /ts/, and /bʲ/, and lacks the velar fricative /x/.
was another language of the Arapahoan group, with a phonological development quite different from either Gros Ventre
or Arapaho proper. It has been identified as the former language of the Southern Arapaho, who switched to speaking Arapaho proper in the 19th century. However, the language is not well attested, being documented only in a vocabulary collected in 1899 by Alfred L. Kroeber
from the Oklahoma Arapaho. Among its divergent features is the appearance of Proto-Algonquian */s/ as /t/.
Besawunena, also only attested from a wordlist collected by Kroeber, differs only slightly from Arapaho, but a few of its sound changes resemble those seen in Gros Ventre. It had speakers among the Northern Arapaho as recently as the late 1920s.
Plains Algonquian languages
The Plains Algonquian languages are commonly grouped together as a subgroup of the larger Algonquian family, itself a member of the Algic family. Though this grouping is often encountered in the literature, it is an areal grouping rather than a genetic one...
(an areal rather than genetic grouping) spoken almost entirely by elders in Wyoming, and to a much lesser extent in Oklahoma. It is in great danger of becoming extinct. As of 1996, there were approximately 1,000 speakers of the
Northern Arapaho. In 2008, it was reported that a school had been opened to teach the language to children. 22 children are being taught there. The school was established as a matter of urgency, as no person aged under 55 was fluent in Arapaho at that point.
Arapaho has diverged very significantly phonologically from its posited proto-language, Proto-Algonquian
Proto-Algonquian language
Proto-Algonquian is the name given to the proto-language from which the various languages of the Algonquian family are descended. It is generally estimated to have been spoken around 2,500 to 3,000 years ago, but on the question of where it was spoken there is less agreement...
(Proto-Algonquian *maθkwa "bear" became Arapaho wox, and Proto-Algonquian *weθari "her husband" became Arapaho ííx).
Phonology
As mentioned above, Arapaho is phonologically very distinct from Proto-Algonquian and other Algonquian languages, and even from languages spoken in the adjacent Great BasinGreat Basin
The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds in North America and is noted for its arid conditions and Basin and Range topography that varies from the North American low point at Badwater Basin to the highest point of the contiguous United States, less than away at the...
.
More Examples of Arapaho shift from Proto-Algonquian
| Arapaho | Wampanoag | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| tóó'owún | taːkamiːyan | 'you hit me' |
| néʧ | nəpiː | 'water' |
| bétee | mətaːh | 'heart' |
| hinénn | nən | 'man' |
| hó' | aːkiː | 'dirt','land' |
| ʧeeb- | pəm- | 'along' (perlative, preverb)of Language' |
Using Wampanoag, which has generally been among the more conservative Proto-Algonquian languages, in order to exemplify the shift Arapaho has undergone a few contrasts will be noted. The Arapaho phoneme /ʧ/ for the voiceless palato-alveolar affricate sometimes referred to as the symbol /c/ corresponds to the morpheme /p/ in the Wampanoag. Likewise, the voiceless glottal stop /ʔ/ sometimes, as here, noted by the symbol /'/ corresponds to /k/ and the Arapaho /b/ to the Wampanoag /m/. According to Kennteth Lock Hale from the department of Linguistics and Philosophy at MIT and co-author of The Green Book of Language, Arapaho distinguishes itself as far as language evolution by holding onto the consonant sound /θ/ (sometimes referred to as /3/ in the Arapaho writing system) while other Proto-Algonquian languages shifted to the use of /n/ and others still use /l,y,r,t/.
Vowels
Arapaho has a series of four short vowels /ɪ ɛ ɔ ʊ/ and four long vowels /iː ɛː ɔː uː/. In fact, /i/ and /u/ are practically allophoneAllophone
In phonology, an allophone is one of a set of multiple possible spoken sounds used to pronounce a single phoneme. For example, and are allophones for the phoneme in the English language...
s of a single phoneme
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
, as, with very few exceptions, the former does not occur after velar consonants, and the latter only occurs after them. However /ʒ/ does occur prior to /u/ but in underlying form only with the surface form of /x/. /u/ does have some exceptions as in the free variants kokíy/kokúy in which both mean 'gun', kookiyón/kookuyón which means 'for no reason', bíí'oxíyoo/bíí'oxúyoo which means 'Found in the Grass' (a mythological creature). There are no minimal pairs to discuss the contrast in distribution except núhu' which means 'this' versus níhi which has no meaning on it's own as it occurs only in bound form.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | ɪ | ʊ | |
| Mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Low |
It also contains three diphthongs, /ei/, /ɔu/, and /ie/ and several tripthongs /eii oee ouu/ as well as extended sequences of vowels such as /eee/ with stress on either the first or the last vowel in the combination. Almost uniquely among the world's languages, it has no low vowels
Open vowel
An open vowel is defined as a vowel sound in which the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth. Open vowels are sometimes also called low vowels in reference to the low position of the tongue...
, such as /a/. The lengthening of Arapaho's four vowel sounds changes the meaning of the word entirely. In order to demonstrate here are some examples of minimal pairs: hísi’ meaning tick with híːsi’ meaning day and hócoo meaning steak with hóːcoo meaning devil. Arapaho has no vowel initial words so in the context where a vowel would be realized in a word initial position an /h/ is added.
Consonants
The consonant inventory of Arapaho is given in the table below. /j/ is normally transcribed as| Labial Labial consonant Labial consonants are consonants in which one or both lips are the active articulator. This precludes linguolabials, in which the tip of the tongue reaches for the posterior side of the upper lip and which are considered coronals... |
Dental | Alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth... |
Palatal Palatal consonant Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate... |
Velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum).... |
Glottal Glottal consonant Glottal consonants, also called laryngeal consonants, are consonants articulated with the glottis. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the so-called fricative, to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other consonants have; in fact, some do not consider... |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :... |
n | |||||
| Stop Stop consonant In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or an oral stop, is a stop consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. The occlusion may be done with the tongue , lips , and &... |
b | t | tʃ | k | ʔ | |
| Fricative Fricative consonant Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or... |
θ | s | x | h | ||
| Approximant Approximant consonant Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough or with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no... |
j | w |
Consonant Clusters
The only predictable consonant cluster in Arapaho is /hC/ as it is a;so the only underlying phoneme. This cluster is the only one that occurs on it's own and not as a result of vowel syncope or inter morphemic combination. No word clusters occur initially and /hC/ is the only one that occurs in a word final position. There are no word clusters in Arapaho that are more than two phonemes in length.Allophony
The phoneme /b/ (the voiced bilabial stop) has a voiceless allophone /p/ that occurs in a preconsonantal or word final position. The phonemes /c/, /k/, and /t/ are normally unaspirated but become aspirated in a preconsonantal and final environment or when in a syllable initial position with /h/ as the final phoneme separated by a short vowel such as /i/ in the following examples where cih (a directional word meaning towards the speaker ) turns to cʰih and tih (which means when or since ) to tʰih. Also in this environment /b/ is aspirated and voiceless almost to the /p/ sound as in the example héétb̥ʰih'ínkúútiinoo ("I will turn out the lights") where the b would be realized as devoiced and aspirated to the point of /p/.Prosody
Arapaho is a tonal language. Vowels can have a mid tone (unmarked), high tone (marked with an acute accent), or falling tone (marked with a circumflex). According to Cowell and Moss, the pitch of Arapaho does ewist but it is hard to hear by a non native speaker and native speakers are not always able to distinguish where and when it does occur but can produce the sound on a regular basis without direct forethought. Dipthongs can be marked with a falling pitch that has some times been attributed to the overall pitch of the morpheme in which the diphthong is included. Pitch accents can be considered as contrastive with the following minimal pairs as examples: tecénoo meaning 'door' with técenoo meaning 'roll it out' and hónoosóó meaning 'it is fancy' and honoosóó meaning 'it is raining. Although according to the data analyzed by Cowell and Moss there is not enough sufficient evidence to suggest that pitch can determine vowel meaning. The minimal pairs, such as those listed above, are rare and do not occur in such high frequency as in other tonal languages such as Mandarin Chinese.Gros Ventre
Gros VentreGros Ventre language
Atsina is the moribund Algonquian ancestral language of the Gros Ventre tribe in Montana. The last fluent speaker died in 1981. Atsina is the name applied by specialists in Algonquian linguistics...
(also known as Atsina), a divergent dialect of Arapaho or closely related language, has three additional phonemes, /tʲ/, /ts/, and /bʲ/, and lacks the velar fricative /x/.
Other Dialects
NawathinehenaNawathinehena language
Nawathinehena is an extinct Algonquian language formerly spoken among the Arapaho people. It had a phonological development quite different from either Gros Ventre or Arapaho proper. It has been identified as the former language of the Southern Arapaho, who switched to speaking Arapaho proper in...
was another language of the Arapahoan group, with a phonological development quite different from either Gros Ventre
Gros Ventre language
Atsina is the moribund Algonquian ancestral language of the Gros Ventre tribe in Montana. The last fluent speaker died in 1981. Atsina is the name applied by specialists in Algonquian linguistics...
or Arapaho proper. It has been identified as the former language of the Southern Arapaho, who switched to speaking Arapaho proper in the 19th century. However, the language is not well attested, being documented only in a vocabulary collected in 1899 by Alfred L. Kroeber
Alfred L. Kroeber
Alfred Louis Kroeber was an American anthropologist. He was the first professor appointed to the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, and played an integral role in the early days of its Museum of Anthropology, where he served as director from 1909 through...
from the Oklahoma Arapaho. Among its divergent features is the appearance of Proto-Algonquian */s/ as /t/.
Besawunena, also only attested from a wordlist collected by Kroeber, differs only slightly from Arapaho, but a few of its sound changes resemble those seen in Gros Ventre. It had speakers among the Northern Arapaho as recently as the late 1920s.
External links
- Entry for Arapaho at Rosetta Project
- The Arapaho Language
- Arapaho Language Archives, with many dialogues and narratives in Arapaho with glosses
- Nun-na-a-in-ah Ve-vith-ha Hin-nen-nau Hin-nen-it-dah-need (1895) Portions of the Book of Common Prayer in Arapaho