Comanche language
Encyclopedia
Comanche is a Uto-Aztecan language
spoken by the Comanche people, who split off from the Shoshone
soon after they acquired horses in around 1705. The Comanche language and the Shoshoni language are therefore quite similar, although certain low-level consonant changes in Comanche have inhibited mutual intelligibility.
The name "Comanche" comes from the Ute
word meaning "enemy, stranger". Their own name for the language is nʉmʉ tekwapʉ which means "language of the people".
Although efforts are now being made to ensure its survival, most speakers of the language are elderly, and less than one percent of the Comanche people can speak the language. In the late 19th century, Comanche children were placed in boarding schools where they were discouraged from speaking their native language, and even severely punished for doing so. The second generation then grew up speaking English, because of the belief that it was better for them not to know Comanche.
The Comanche language was briefly prominent during World War II
. A group of seventeen young men referred to as the Comanche Code Talkers
were trained and used by the U.S. Army
to send messages conveying sensitive information in the Comanche language so that it could not be deciphered by the enemy.
inventory of six vowels. In addition, there is the common diphthong
/ai/. Historically, there was a certain amount of free variation between [ai] and [e] (as shown by comparison with Shoshoni cognates), but the variation is no longer so common and most morphemes have become fixed on either /ai/ or /e/. In the following chart, the basic symbols given are in the IPA
, whereas the equivalent symbols in the conventional orthography are given to the right of them, in parentheses and boldface. Note that Comanche also has voiceless
vowels, but they are non-phonemic and therefore not represented in this chart. In the conventional orthography, these vowels are marked with an underline: .
VD represents “voiced vowels” VL represents “voiceless vowels."
In the previous example of the Comanche language it’s possible to predict were voiceless vowels occurred. In addition, according to Canonge by using minimal pairs we are able to perceive the contrast of voiced and voiceless vowels. Also, the prediction of where voiceless vowels are found reflects on the Devoicing process. Devoicing produces a “voiceless vowel when a short unstressed vowel is followed by s or h.”
However, Armagost analyzes some exceptions to the voiceless vowels rule, which are the followed.
inventory. As with the vowel charts, the basic symbols given in this chart are in the IPA
, whereas the equivalent symbols in the conventional orthography are given to the right of them in parentheses and boldface.
', and aná, meaning 'ouch!', are marked with an acute accent.
For the purpose of stress placement, the diphthong
s /ai/, /oi/, and /ui/ act as one vowel with one mora
. Additionally, possessive pronouns, which serve as proclitics
, do not affect the stress of a word (so that nʉ + námi 'my sister' retains its stress on the /a/ in námi).
Secondary stress
is placed on the second syllable of a two-syllable word, the third syllable of a word with three, four, or five syllables, and the fourth syllable of a word with six syllables.
Primary stress is “marked when it is non-initial stress”. In addition, “when a pronoun is suffixed by, for instance a postposition, the pronouns dose take primary- and initia-l stress.” An example is [nɨvía] nɨ-pia, which means my mother (my-mother). In the following data where primary stress appears it will be shown as an “acute accent.” Primary stress is found in words or compounds of three, six and five syllables. However, when primary stress is marked in a third syllable it can also be consider as a secondary stress according to Canonge’s but an “exception to this case is when both a proclitic and prefix are used.” An example of a third syllable stress is [há.bi+hu.píi.tu] which means 'stopped and lay down'. Words with “five syllables have primary stress on the first syllable.” An example is [ká.wo+nò.ka.tu] which means ‘stress’. Also, words with six syllables have primary stress on the first syllable. An example is [kú.ʔi.na.kù.ʔe.tu] which means ‘rosts for’.
Non-initial stress can be found in any syllable of a word that is not in the initial position and it can also fall on long vowel. Also, the “initial syllable never weekends to the point of voicelessness”
However, some exceptions to the non-initial stress are animal and plant names because some of them end with a stress long vowel plus which is represented by "ʔ".“Loans are common sources of words with nonitinal stress” an example is [pirísii] pitísii, which means ‘policeman’. A word with two stresses is [ánikúra] ánikúta, which means ant (analysis unknown).
Alternating stress occurs when there are words with three four, five and six syllables. In addition alternating stress is given “when nouns of compound are coequal, a root or stem has one-syllable suffix.” Also, prefixes or not stem-changes do not receive an indicial stress because the alternating stress “begins on the second syllable as in the following word of six syllables, following the pattern of five-syllable words.” An example is [wu.hká.ʔa.mí.ʔanu] which means 'went to cut down'. An examples of alternating stress in a four, five and six syllabuses are [á.ni.múi ]‘housefly’, [yú.pu.sí.a] meaning ‘louse’ and [wuh+tú.pu káʔ ‘buckle] which meaning 'button’. A examples of three syllables is [wáhkát ìmat òʔiàt I] waha=-?? twelve, which means 'two-??'.
Stress shift occurs when “verves often exhibit stylistic stress shift when occurring at the end of a breathing group.” In addition, stress moves “one syllable to the right if that syllable is voiced; otherwise it skips over the voiceless vowels to the next syllable”. An example is [pohínu ]‘jumped. According to Charney stress shift is caused by a suffixes-n which cause a ‘right ward shift of stress in form with the shape CVHCV or CVhV.” Examples of CVHCV is [marohtíkwan] ma-toH-tíkwa-n which means ‘he hit him’ and an example of CVhv is [pahín] pahi-n which means 'he fell'.
By using the form CVHCV or CVhV we can see that -h “is presented as a second or a precipitated consonant”. However, “stress dos not shift rightwards when the verb root dos not contain [h]. An example is [nómiʔan] no-miʔa-n meaning ‘they moved camp.’
.
number. Like many Uto-Aztecan languages, nouns may take an absolutive
suffix. Many cases are also marked using postpositions.
Personal pronouns exist for three numbers
(singular, dual, and plural) and three persons
. They have different forms depending on whether or not they are the subject or object of a verb, possessive (including reflexive
possessive forms), or the object of a postposition. Like many languages of the Americas
, Comanche first-person plural pronouns have both inclusive and exclusive forms
.
The Comanche paradigm for nominal number suffixes is illustrated below:
: intransitive verb
s are suppletive for singular versus plural subject
and transitive verbs are suppletive for singular versus plural object
. Verbs can take various affixes, including incorporated
nouns before the stem. Most verb affixes are suffixes, except for voicing-changing prefixes and instrumental prefixes.
The verb stem can take a number of prefixes and suffixes. A sketch of all the elements that may be affixed to the verb is given on the right:
In addition to verbal affixes, Comanche verbs can also be augmented by other verbs. Although in principle Comanche verbs may be freely combined with other verbs, in actuality only a handful of verbs, termed auxiliary verb
s, are frequently combined with others. These forms take the full range of aspectual suffixes. Common auxiliary verbs in Comanche include hani 'to do, make', naha 'to be, become', miʔa 'to go', and katʉ / yʉkwi 'to sit'. An example of how the verbs combine: katʉ 'to sit' + miʔa 'to go' = katʉmiʔa to ride (and go).
prefixes, and certain verbs (termed instrumental verbs) cannot occur without an instrumental prefix. These prefixes can affect the transitivity of a verb. The Comanche instrumental prefixes are listed below:
s (such as haa 'yes' and kee 'no'), as well as particles
.
The word order
is SOV: Subject - Object - Verb. But while the standard word order in Comanche is SOV, it can shift in two specific circumstances. The topic of a sentence, though marked with one of two particles, is often placed at the beginning of the sentence, defying the standard word order. Furthermore, the subject of a sentence is often placed second in a sentence. When the subject is also the topic, as is often the case, it ends up in the first position, preserving SOV word order; otherwise, the subject will be placed second. For example, the English sentence 'I hit the man' could be rendered in Comanche with the components in either of the following two orders: 'I' (topic) 'man' (object) 'hit' (an aspect marker) - the standard SOV word order - or 'man' (object and topic) 'I' 'hit' (an aspect marker) - an OSV word order, which accentuates the role of the man who was hit.
When the verb of a subordinate clause
has a different subject from the verb of the main clause
, and the time of the verbs is simultaneous, the subordinate verb is marked with -ku, and its subject is marked as if it were an object. When the time of the verbs is not simultaneous, the subordinate verb is marked with one of several affixes depending on the duration
of the subordinate verb and whether it refers to an action which occurred before that described by the main verb or one which occurred after.
The orthography used here is not the official Comanche Alphabet, but is based on Spanish orthography
. In it, doubled letters are long, and h is always sounded as in the English "hit", even in the middle of a word, as in "" (kuutsuu 'buffalo'). An accent mark indicates stress on that syllable.
Uto-Aztecan languages
Uto-Aztecan or Uto-Aztekan is a Native American language family consisting of over 30 languages. Uto-Aztecan languages are found from the Great Basin of the Western United States , through western, central and southern Mexico Uto-Aztecan or Uto-Aztekan is a Native American language family...
spoken by the Comanche people, who split off from the Shoshone
Shoshone
The Shoshone or Shoshoni are a Native American tribe in the United States with three large divisions: the Northern, the Western and the Eastern....
soon after they acquired horses in around 1705. The Comanche language and the Shoshoni language are therefore quite similar, although certain low-level consonant changes in Comanche have inhibited mutual intelligibility.
The name "Comanche" comes from the Ute
Ute language
Colorado River Numic , of the Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family, is a dialect chain that stretches from southeastern California to Colorado...
word meaning "enemy, stranger". Their own name for the language is nʉmʉ tekwapʉ which means "language of the people".
Although efforts are now being made to ensure its survival, most speakers of the language are elderly, and less than one percent of the Comanche people can speak the language. In the late 19th century, Comanche children were placed in boarding schools where they were discouraged from speaking their native language, and even severely punished for doing so. The second generation then grew up speaking English, because of the belief that it was better for them not to know Comanche.
The Comanche language was briefly prominent during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. A group of seventeen young men referred to as the Comanche Code Talkers
Code talker
Code talkers was a term used to describe people who talk using a coded language. It is frequently used to describe 400 Native American Marines who served in the United States Marine Corps whose primary job was the transmission of secret tactical messages...
were trained and used by the U.S. Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
to send messages conveying sensitive information in the Comanche language so that it could not be deciphered by the enemy.
Vowels
Comanche has a typical Numic vowelVowel
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
inventory of six vowels. In addition, there is the common diphthong
Diphthong
A diphthong , also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: That is, the tongue moves during the pronunciation of the vowel...
/ai/. Historically, there was a certain amount of free variation between [ai] and [e] (as shown by comparison with Shoshoni cognates), but the variation is no longer so common and most morphemes have become fixed on either /ai/ or /e/. In the following chart, the basic symbols given are in the IPA
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...
, whereas the equivalent symbols in the conventional orthography are given to the right of them, in parentheses and boldface. Note that Comanche also has voiceless
Voiceless
In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, this is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word "phonation" implies voicing, and that voicelessness is the lack of...
vowels, but they are non-phonemic and therefore not represented in this chart. In the conventional orthography, these vowels are marked with an underline: .
| Short Vowel length In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. Often the chroneme, or the "longness", acts like a consonant, and may etymologically be one, such as in Australian English. While not distinctive in most dialects of English, vowel length is an important phonemic factor in... |
Long Vowel length In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. Often the chroneme, or the "longness", acts like a consonant, and may etymologically be one, such as in Australian English. While not distinctive in most dialects of English, vowel length is an important phonemic factor in... |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front Front vowel A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also... |
Central Central vowel A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a central vowel is that the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel... |
Back Back vowel A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark... |
Front | Central | Back | |
| High (close) | i | ɨ (ʉ) | u | iː (ii) | ɨː (ʉʉ) | uː (uu) |
| Mid Mid vowel A mid vowel is a vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned mid-way between an open vowel and a close vowel... |
e | o | eː (ee) | oː (oo) | ||
| Low (open) | a | aː (aa) |
Vowel length distinction
Comanche has vowel length distinction. Vowels can be long or short. Long Vowels are never devoiced and they are in the orthography (aa, ee, ii, oo, uu, ɨɨ). An example of a long vowel is (ee) in [wakaréʔee] meaning 'turtle'. Short vowels can be lengthened when they are stressed. They can either be voiced or voiceless. In this example [múúptsɫ] or [múptsvɫ] which stands for “the name of a monster in Comanche folklorecan”notice how stress changes a short vowel into long vowel. In addition, the next examples are sentences with voiceless and voiced vowels.VD represents “voiced vowels” VL represents “voiceless vowels."
- VD: ʔu’hanikɨkʔuʔ he came to fix it for me
- VL: ʔu’hanikIkiʔuʔ he fixed it for him and came
In the previous example of the Comanche language it’s possible to predict were voiceless vowels occurred. In addition, according to Canonge by using minimal pairs we are able to perceive the contrast of voiced and voiceless vowels. Also, the prediction of where voiceless vowels are found reflects on the Devoicing process. Devoicing produces a “voiceless vowel when a short unstressed vowel is followed by s or h.”
However, Armagost analyzes some exceptions to the voiceless vowels rule, which are the followed.
- “When a consonant is followed by a vowel that should be voiced and its identical to the s or h or when its comparable in stridency with –s which is follows by a vowel devoicing dos not occur.”
- “Two consecutive syllables cannot be organically voiceless. If a syllable is voiceless, the vowel in the next syllable rightwards will not be devoicing.”
- “A stress shift may create an environment for evoking well after the point in the derivation for devoicing well after the point in the derivation at which devoicing should have taken place”
Consonants
Comanche has a typical Numic consonantConsonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...
inventory. As with the vowel charts, the basic symbols given in this chart are in the IPA
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...
, whereas the equivalent symbols in the conventional orthography are given to the right of them in parentheses and boldface.
| 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 | Palatal | 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... |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | labial | |||||
| 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 :... |
m | n | ||||
| Plosive | p | t | k | kʷ (kw) | ʔ | |
| Affricate Affricate consonant Affricates are consonants that begin as stops but release as a fricative rather than directly into the following vowel.- Samples :... |
ts | |||||
| 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... |
s | 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 (y) | w |
Stress
Comanche stress most commonly falls on the first syllable. Exceptions to this rule, such as in the words Waʔsáasiʔ, meaning 'Osage peopleOsage Nation
The Osage Nation is a Native American Siouan-language tribe in the United States that originated in the Ohio River valley in present-day Kentucky. After years of war with invading Iroquois, the Osage migrated west of the Mississippi River to their historic lands in present-day Arkansas, Missouri,...
', and aná, meaning 'ouch!', are marked with an acute accent.
For the purpose of stress placement, the diphthong
Diphthong
A diphthong , also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: That is, the tongue moves during the pronunciation of the vowel...
s /ai/, /oi/, and /ui/ act as one vowel with one mora
Mora (linguistics)
Mora is a unit in phonology that determines syllable weight, which in some languages determines stress or timing. As with many technical linguistic terms, the definition of a mora varies. Perhaps the most succinct working definition was provided by the American linguist James D...
. Additionally, possessive pronouns, which serve as proclitics
Clitic
In morphology and syntax, a clitic is a morpheme that is grammatically independent, but phonologically dependent on another word or phrase. It is pronounced like an affix, but works at the phrase level...
, do not affect the stress of a word (so that nʉ + námi 'my sister' retains its stress on the /a/ in námi).
Secondary stress
Secondary stress
Secondary stress is the weaker of two degrees of stress in the pronunciation of a word; the stronger degree of stress is called 'primary'. The International Phonetic Alphabet symbol for secondary stress is a short vertical line preceding and at the foot of the stressed syllable: the nun in ...
is placed on the second syllable of a two-syllable word, the third syllable of a word with three, four, or five syllables, and the fourth syllable of a word with six syllables.
- Primary Stress
Primary stress is “marked when it is non-initial stress”. In addition, “when a pronoun is suffixed by, for instance a postposition, the pronouns dose take primary- and initia-l stress.” An example is [nɨvía] nɨ-pia, which means my mother (my-mother). In the following data where primary stress appears it will be shown as an “acute accent.” Primary stress is found in words or compounds of three, six and five syllables. However, when primary stress is marked in a third syllable it can also be consider as a secondary stress according to Canonge’s but an “exception to this case is when both a proclitic and prefix are used.” An example of a third syllable stress is [há.bi+hu.píi.tu] which means 'stopped and lay down'. Words with “five syllables have primary stress on the first syllable.” An example is [ká.wo+nò.ka.tu] which means ‘stress’. Also, words with six syllables have primary stress on the first syllable. An example is [kú.ʔi.na.kù.ʔe.tu] which means ‘rosts for’.
- Non-initial stress
Non-initial stress can be found in any syllable of a word that is not in the initial position and it can also fall on long vowel. Also, the “initial syllable never weekends to the point of voicelessness”
However, some exceptions to the non-initial stress are animal and plant names because some of them end with a stress long vowel plus which is represented by "ʔ".“Loans are common sources of words with nonitinal stress” an example is [pirísii] pitísii, which means ‘policeman’. A word with two stresses is [ánikúra] ánikúta, which means ant (analysis unknown).
- Alternating stress
Alternating stress occurs when there are words with three four, five and six syllables. In addition alternating stress is given “when nouns of compound are coequal, a root or stem has one-syllable suffix.” Also, prefixes or not stem-changes do not receive an indicial stress because the alternating stress “begins on the second syllable as in the following word of six syllables, following the pattern of five-syllable words.” An example is [wu.hká.ʔa.mí.ʔanu] which means 'went to cut down'. An examples of alternating stress in a four, five and six syllabuses are [á.ni.múi ]‘housefly’, [yú.pu.sí.a] meaning ‘louse’ and [wuh+tú.pu káʔ ‘buckle] which meaning 'button’. A examples of three syllables is [wáhkát ìmat òʔiàt I] waha=-?? twelve, which means 'two-??'.
- Stress Shift
Stress shift occurs when “verves often exhibit stylistic stress shift when occurring at the end of a breathing group.” In addition, stress moves “one syllable to the right if that syllable is voiced; otherwise it skips over the voiceless vowels to the next syllable”. An example is [pohínu ]‘jumped. According to Charney stress shift is caused by a suffixes-n which cause a ‘right ward shift of stress in form with the shape CVHCV or CVhV.” Examples of CVHCV is [marohtíkwan] ma-toH-tíkwa-n which means ‘he hit him’ and an example of CVhv is [pahín] pahi-n which means 'he fell'.
By using the form CVHCV or CVhV we can see that -h “is presented as a second or a precipitated consonant”. However, “stress dos not shift rightwards when the verb root dos not contain [h]. An example is [nómiʔan] no-miʔa-n meaning ‘they moved camp.’
Phonological Processes
- Free VariationFree variationFree variation in linguistics is the phenomenon of two sounds or forms appearing in the same environment without a change in meaning and without being considered incorrect by native speakers...
: although not often reflected in the orthography, certain sounds occur in free variation. For instance, /j/ can be pronounced as a [dʒ] (for example: ma yaa [ma dʒaː]), and a labialized /k/ can be voiced (as in nʉ gwʉhʉ: it is written gw, even though it is more accurately /ɡʷ/, just as the labialized /k/ is written in Comanche as kw rather than /kʷ/). In contemporary times, preaspiration and preglottalization may occur in free variation with a long vowel: aakaaʔ / ahkaaʔ ('devil's horn'). - SpirantizationLenitionIn linguistics, lenition is a kind of sound change that alters consonants, making them "weaker" in some way. The word lenition itself means "softening" or "weakening" . Lenition can happen both synchronically and diachronically...
: spirantization can occur in the phonemes /p/ and /t/ when they are preceded by vowels. /p/ becomes the voiced bilabial fricative, [β], usually written as a b, and /t/ becomes the voiced alveolar tap, [ɾ], written as an r. An intervening /h/ or /ʔ/ does not block this spirantization process, as seen in tuaʔbaʔa 'on the son' (the sound [β] is written here as b, and is allophonicAllophoneIn 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...
with the Comanche /p/). In the past, there was a process of nasalization in Comanche which has since been lost and which blocked spirantization; certain words that would otherwise exhibit spirantization in modern Comanche do not, therefore, as a result of the historical presence of what would have been a preceding nasal (ʉ papi 'your head' would historically have been ʉn papi). - MetathesisMetathesis (linguistics)Metathesis is the re-arranging of sounds or syllables in a word, or of words in a sentence. Most commonly it refers to the switching of two or more contiguous sounds, known as adjacent metathesis or local metathesis:...
: A fairly regular process of metathesis occurs, sporadically with voiceless consonants and regularly with voiced consonants. It is accompanied by the deletion of a vowel: otʉnhʉh -> orʉhʉ -> ohrʉ ('they', dual). In modern Comanche, voiceless, unaspirated stops followed by a long /ɨ/ (written ʉ) and an /h/ may be realized as aspirated equivalents at the expense of the subsequent long vowel and [h]: -> pitsipʰa ('milk'). - PreaspirationPreaspirationIn phonetics, preaspiration is a period of voicelessness or aspiration preceding the closure of a voiceless obstruent, basically equivalent to an -like sound preceding the obstruent. In other words, when an obstruent is preaspirated, the glottis is opened for some time before the obstruent closure...
and Preglottalization: Certain consonants undergo preaspiration word medially, namely, /n/ and the voiceless, unaspirated stops /p/, /t/, and /k/ (rendered in the IPA as [ʰn], [ʰp], [ʰt], [ʰk], respectively). It is usually written with an h before the consonant, as in aworahna 'cupboard' or ekasahpanaʔ 'soldier'. Similarly, many of the same consonants can also undergo preglottalization, which is written with ʔ before the consonant (resulting in the digraphs ʔn, ʔb, ʔw, and ʔr), as in hunuʔbiʔ 'creek' or taʔwoʔiʔ 'gun'. - Organic and Inorganic DevoicingVoicelessIn linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, this is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word "phonation" implies voicing, and that voicelessness is the lack of...
: each Comanche vowel has an allophonic voicelessVoicelessIn linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, this is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word "phonation" implies voicing, and that voicelessness is the lack of...
(or "whispered") equivalent. The devoicing process in Comanche follows a predictable pattern, and can be broken down into two categories - organic (compulsory) and inorganic (optional).- A vowel which precedes an /s/ or an /h/ undergoes induced organic devoicing, provided that the vowel is unstressed, shortVowel lengthIn linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. Often the chroneme, or the "longness", acts like a consonant, and may etymologically be one, such as in Australian English. While not distinctive in most dialects of English, vowel length is an important phonemic factor in...
, and not part of a cluster (contrast situsuʔa, 'this one also', which undergoes organic devoicing, with the similar word situusuʔa, 'these ones also', which does not because the vowel is not short). Two adjacent syllables cannot both have organic voiceless vowels. In such a situation, the second vowel does not devoice. - The second type of devoicing that can occur in Comanche is inorganic devoicing. Short vowels that are not part of a cluster may be optionally devoiced at the end of a breath group, and this may apply even if the preceding vowel has undergone organic devoicing. Additionally, an inorganic, voiceless vowel conditions optional lengthening of a voiced penultimate vowel if there is no intervening preaspiratedPreaspirationIn phonetics, preaspiration is a period of voicelessness or aspiration preceding the closure of a voiceless obstruent, basically equivalent to an -like sound preceding the obstruent. In other words, when an obstruent is preaspirated, the glottis is opened for some time before the obstruent closure...
consonant (for example, 'wing' and 'leg').
- A vowel which precedes an /s/ or an /h/ undergoes induced organic devoicing, provided that the vowel is unstressed, short
Morphology
Like many languages of the Americas, Comanche can be classified as a polysynthetic languagePolysynthetic language
In linguistic typology, polysynthetic languages are highly synthetic languages, i.e., languages in which words are composed of many morphemes. Whereas isolating languages have a low morpheme-to-word ratio, polysynthetic languages have extremely high morpheme-to-word ratios.Not all languages can be...
.
Nouns
Comanche nouns are inflected for case and number, and the language possesses a dualDual (grammatical number)
Dual is a grammatical number that some languages use in addition to singular and plural. When a noun or pronoun appears in dual form, it is interpreted as referring to precisely two of the entities identified by the noun or pronoun...
number. Like many Uto-Aztecan languages, nouns may take an absolutive
Absolutive case
The absolutive case is the unmarked grammatical case of a core argument of a verb which is used as the citation form of a noun.-In ergative languages:...
suffix. Many cases are also marked using postpositions.
Personal pronouns exist for three numbers
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
(singular, dual, and plural) and three persons
Grammatical person
Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...
. They have different forms depending on whether or not they are the subject or object of a verb, possessive (including reflexive
Reflexive pronoun
A reflexive pronoun is a pronoun that is preceded by the noun, adjective, adverb or pronoun to which it refers within the same clause. In generative grammar, a reflexive pronoun is an anaphor that must be bound by its antecedent...
possessive forms), or the object of a postposition. Like many languages of the Americas
Indigenous languages of the Americas
Indigenous languages of the Americas are spoken by indigenous peoples from Alaska and Greenland to the southern tip of South America, encompassing the land masses which constitute the Americas. These indigenous languages consist of dozens of distinct language families as well as many language...
, Comanche first-person plural pronouns have both inclusive and exclusive forms
Clusivity
In linguistics, clusivity is a distinction between inclusive and exclusive first-person pronouns and verbal morphology, also called inclusive "we" and exclusive "we"...
.
The Comanche paradigm for nominal number suffixes is illustrated below:
| Subject Nominative case The nominative case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or the predicate noun or predicate adjective, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments... |
Object Accusative case The accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. The same case is used in many languages for the objects of prepositions... |
Possessive Genitive case In grammar, genitive is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun... |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Dual I | -nʉkwʉh | -nʉkwʉh-ha | -nʉkwʉh-ha |
| Dual II | -nʉhʉ | -nihi | -nʉhʉ |
| Plural | -nʉʉ | -nii | -nʉʉ |
- Notes:
- The objective and possessive forms differ only in their final feature: fortisFortis and lenisIn linguistics, fortis and lenis are terms generally used to refer to groups of consonants that are produced with greater and lesser energy, respectively, such as in energy applied, articulation, etc....
is applied at the end of the possessive suffixes. - The two dual suffixes are not technically distinct and may be used interchangeably. However, the first of the two (Dual I) is preferred for humans.
- The absolutive suffix may be dropped before the addition of these suffixes.
Verbs
Many of the verb stems regularly are suppletiveSuppletion
In linguistics and etymology, suppletion is traditionally understood as the use of one word as the inflected form of another word when the two words are not cognate. For those learning a language, suppletive forms will be seen as "irregular" or even "highly irregular". The term "suppletion" implies...
: intransitive verb
Intransitive verb
In grammar, an intransitive verb is a verb that has no object. This differs from a transitive verb, which takes one or more objects. Both classes of verb are related to the concept of the transitivity of a verb....
s are suppletive for singular versus plural subject
Subject (grammar)
The subject is one of the two main constituents of a clause, according to a tradition that can be tracked back to Aristotle and that is associated with phrase structure grammars; the other constituent is the predicate. According to another tradition, i.e...
and transitive verbs are suppletive for singular versus plural object
Object (grammar)
An object in grammar is part of a sentence, and often part of the predicate. It denotes somebody or something involved in the subject's "performance" of the verb. Basically, it is what or whom the verb is acting upon...
. Verbs can take various affixes, including incorporated
Incorporation (linguistics)
Incorporation is a phenomenon by which a word, usually a verb, forms a kind of compound with, for instance, its direct object or adverbial modifier, while retaining its original syntactic function....
nouns before the stem. Most verb affixes are suffixes, except for voicing-changing prefixes and instrumental prefixes.
The verb stem can take a number of prefixes and suffixes. A sketch of all the elements that may be affixed to the verb is given on the right:
In addition to verbal affixes, Comanche verbs can also be augmented by other verbs. Although in principle Comanche verbs may be freely combined with other verbs, in actuality only a handful of verbs, termed auxiliary verb
Auxiliary verb
In linguistics, an auxiliary verb is a verb that gives further semantic or syntactic information about a main or full verb. In English, the extra meaning provided by an auxiliary verb alters the basic meaning of the main verb to make it have one or more of the following functions: passive voice,...
s, are frequently combined with others. These forms take the full range of aspectual suffixes. Common auxiliary verbs in Comanche include hani 'to do, make', naha 'to be, become', miʔa 'to go', and katʉ / yʉkwi 'to sit'. An example of how the verbs combine: katʉ 'to sit' + miʔa 'to go' = katʉmiʔa to ride (and go).
Instrumental Prefixes
As mentioned above, Comanche has a rich repertoire of instrumentalInstrumental case
The instrumental case is a grammatical case used to indicate that a noun is the instrument or means by or with which the subject achieves or accomplishes an action...
prefixes, and certain verbs (termed instrumental verbs) cannot occur without an instrumental prefix. These prefixes can affect the transitivity of a verb. The Comanche instrumental prefixes are listed below:
- kʉh- = 'with the teeth, chin, mouth'
- kuh- = 'with heat, fire'
- ma- = 'with the hand' and as a generalized instrumental
- mu- / muh = 'with the nose, lips, front'
- nih- = 'verbally'
- pih- = 'with the buttocks, rear (e.g., of a car)'
- sʉ- = 'with cold'; fortisFortis and lenisIn linguistics, fortis and lenis are terms generally used to refer to groups of consonants that are produced with greater and lesser energy, respectively, such as in energy applied, articulation, etc....
is applied at the end of the prefix - sʉh- = 'with the foot, in a violent motion'
- su- = 'with the mind, mental activity'; fortis is applied at the end of the prefix
- tah- = 'with the foot'
- toh- = 'with the hand, violent or completed action'
- tsah- = 'with the hand (extended to hand tools)'
- tsih- = 'with a sharp point, with the finger'
- tsox- = 'with the head'
- kʉh- = 'with the teeth, chin, mouth'
- wʉh- = an all-purpose instrumental
Syntax
Comanche parts of speech include nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, and interjectionInterjection
In grammar, an interjection or exclamation is a word used to express an emotion or sentiment on the part of the speaker . Filled pauses such as uh, er, um are also considered interjections...
s (such as haa 'yes' and kee 'no'), as well as particles
Grammatical particle
In grammar, a particle is a function word that does not belong to any of the inflected grammatical word classes . It is a catch-all term for a heterogeneous set of words and terms that lack a precise lexical definition...
.
The word order
Word order
In linguistics, word order typology refers to the study of the order of the syntactic constituents of a language, and how different languages can employ different orders. Correlations between orders found in different syntactic subdomains are also of interest...
is SOV: Subject - Object - Verb. But while the standard word order in Comanche is SOV, it can shift in two specific circumstances. The topic of a sentence, though marked with one of two particles, is often placed at the beginning of the sentence, defying the standard word order. Furthermore, the subject of a sentence is often placed second in a sentence. When the subject is also the topic, as is often the case, it ends up in the first position, preserving SOV word order; otherwise, the subject will be placed second. For example, the English sentence 'I hit the man' could be rendered in Comanche with the components in either of the following two orders: 'I' (topic) 'man' (object) 'hit' (an aspect marker) - the standard SOV word order - or 'man' (object and topic) 'I' 'hit' (an aspect marker) - an OSV word order, which accentuates the role of the man who was hit.
Switch Reference
Like other Numic languages, Comanche has switch-reference markers to handle subordination. This refers to markers which indicate whether or not a subordinate verb has the same or different subject as the main verb, and in the case of Comanche, also the temporal relation between the two verbs.When the verb of a subordinate clause
Dependent clause
In linguistics, a dependent clause is a clause that augments an independent clause with additional information, but which cannot stand alone as a sentence. Dependent clauses modify the independent clause of a sentence or serve as a component of it...
has a different subject from the verb of the main clause
Independent clause
An independent clause is a clause that can stand by itself, also known as a simple sentence. An independent clause contains a subject and a predicate; it makes sense by itself....
, and the time of the verbs is simultaneous, the subordinate verb is marked with -ku, and its subject is marked as if it were an object. When the time of the verbs is not simultaneous, the subordinate verb is marked with one of several affixes depending on the duration
Length (phonetics)
In phonetics, length or quantity is a feature of sounds that are distinctively longer than other sounds. There are long vowels as well as long consonants .Many languages do not have distinctive length...
of the subordinate verb and whether it refers to an action which occurred before that described by the main verb or one which occurred after.
Writing system
The Comanche Alphabet was developed by Dr. Alice Anderton, a linguistic anthropologist, and was adopted as the official Comanche Alphabet by the Comanche Nation in 1994. The alphabet is as follows:| Alphabet | Pronunciation | Alphabet | Pronunciation | Alphabet | Pronunciation | Alphabet | Pronunciation | Alphabet | Pronunciation | Alphabet | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | /a/ | b | [β] /p/ | e | /e/ | h | /h/ | i | /i/ | k | /k/ |
| m | /m/ | n | /n/ | o | /o/ | p | [p] /p/ | r | [ɾ] /t/ | s | /s/ |
| t | [t] /t/ | u | /u/ | /ə/ | w | /w/ | y | /j/ | ʔ | /ʔ/ |
- Notes:
- Long vowels are indicated by doubling the vowel: aa, ee, ii, oo, uu, ʉʉ.
- Voiceless vowels are indicated by an underline: .
- When the stress does not fall on the first syllable of the word, it is marked with an acute accent ´: 'coyote'.
- The glottal stop /ʔ/ is sometimes written as ?.
- The phonemes /ts/ and /kʷ/ are written as ts and kw, respectively.
Examples
The following are examples of words from the Comanche language. They are based primarily on the Comanche Vocabulary: Trilingual Edition by Manuel García Rejón (originally published in 1864).The orthography used here is not the official Comanche Alphabet, but is based on Spanish orthography
Writing system of Spanish
Spanish orthography is the writing system for the Spanish language. It is fairly phonemic, especially in comparison to more opaque orthographies like English and Irish, having a relatively consistent mapping of graphemes to phonemes.-Alphabet:...
. In it, doubled letters are long, and h is always sounded as in the English "hit", even in the middle of a word, as in "" (kuutsuu 'buffalo'). An accent mark indicates stress on that syllable.
| English | Comanche | Official alphabet equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Boy | ||
| Brother (Older) | ( following vowel) | |
| Brother (Younger) | (sometimes following vowel) | |
| Buffalo | ||
| Corn | ||
| Cougar | ||
| Coyote | ? (usual modern term is ) | |
| Cricket | ||
| Deer | ||
| Dog | ||
| Father | ||
| Fire | ||
| Fish | ||
| Frog | ||
| Grass | ||
| Horse | ||
| House | ||
| Jerky (meat) | ||
| Moon | ||
| Mother | ||
| No | ?? (modern 'no' is ) | |
| Owl | ||
| Rabbit | ||
| Rain | ||
| Rainbow | ||
| River | ||
| Sister (Older) | ( following a vowel) | |
| Sister (Younger) | ||
| Sky | ||
| Star | ||
| Sun | ||
| Water | ||
| Yes |
See also
- Comanche peopleComancheThe Comanche are a Native American ethnic group whose historic range consisted of present-day eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas, all of Oklahoma, and most of northwest Texas. Historically, the Comanches were hunter-gatherers, with a typical Plains Indian...
- Numic languagesNumic languagesNumic is a branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. It includes seven languages spoken by Native American peoples traditionally living in the Great Basin, Colorado River basin, and southern Great Plains. The word Numic comes from the cognate word in all Numic languages for "person." For...
- Shoshoni language
- Timbisha languageTimbisha languageThe Timbisha language is the language of the Native American people who have inhabited the region in and around Death Valley, California and the southern Owens Valley since late prehistoric times...
External links
- Linguist List map of Comanche
- Comanche Language and Cultural Preservation Committee (Nʉmʉ Tekwapʉha Nomneekatʉ)
- Comanche alphabet at Omniglot.com
- Comanche
- Learn Comanche web site
- Exploration of the Red River of Louisiana, in the year 1852 / by Randolph B. Marcy ; assisted by George B. McClellan. hosted by the Portal to Texas History. See charts in the back of the book that compare the English, Comanche, and Wichita languages.