Eastern Pomo language
Encyclopedia
Eastern Pomo is a moribund Pomoan
language, spoken around Clear Lake in Lake County, California
by one of the several Pomo people
s. It is not mutually intelligible with the other Pomoan languages. Prior to contact with Europeans, it was spoken along the northern and southern shores of Clear Lake to the north of San Francisco, and in the coast mountains west of Sacramento Valley
. Eastern Pomo shared borders in the north with the Patwin
and the Yuki
languages, in the south with the Lake Wappo, the Wappo
, the Southeastern Pomo, the Southern Pomo, the Central Pomo, the Northern Pomo
, and the Lake Miwok
. They also shared a border to the west with the Northern Pomo.
The southern and northern areas in which Eastern Pomo was spoken were geographically separate, and apparently represented differing dialects,split by certain lexical and phonological differences. Contemporary Eastern Pomo speakers refer to the north shore dialect
area as Upper Lake
, and the south shore dialect area as Big Valley.
s, which all occur both short and long
. The vowels /i/, /e/, and /a/ are all unrounded vowel
s (respectively high
, mid
, and low), and the vowels /u/ and /o/ are rounded vowels (high and mid, respectively). In many linguistic descriptions of Eastern Pomo, Americanist phonetic notation
is used, and a mid-dot represents long vowels: a· e· i· o· u·.
There are no occasions in Eastern Pomo where multiple vowels appear in sequence within the same syllable. There is one occasion where two vowels are in sequence across a syllable boundary, and that is in the word /tʃéː.al/, meaning 'toward where' or 'whither.' Also, vowels do not occur word-initially in Eastern Pomo.
Eastern Pomo has thirty-eight consonants. The voiceless plosives have a three-way distinction for each point of articulation
: unaspirated (plain), aspirated, and ejective. The plosives also distinguish between lamino
-dental and apico
-alveolar
points of articulation for each series, transcribed /t̪ t̪ʰ t̪ʼ/ and /t̺ t̺ʰ t̺ʼ/ respectively. /tʃ/ is pronounced as an affricate, [tʃ], in word-initial position, and as a voiceless palatal
plosive, [c], in word-medial position. /ʃ/ is a laminal
pre-palatal fricative, while /s/ represents [s̺], an apico-alveolar fricative, with a slightly retroflexed
tongue tip. In linguistic publications using Americanist phonetic notation
the alveolar plosive series is distinguished from the dental one with the addition of under-dots: ; the palatal consonants /tʃ tʃʰ tʃʼ ʃ/ are written ; the alveolar affricates /ts tsʰ tsʼ/ are written ; and the voiceless nasals, semivowels, and liquid are written using capital letters: M N W Y L.
There are a number of restrictions on the distribution of the various phonemes. /p/, /ts/, and /tʃ/ are relatively rare in Eastern Pomo. Voiceless unaspirated (plain) stops; voiced stops; voiceless nasals, semi-vowels, and voiceless /l̥/; and the fricative /h/ never occur in word-final position. /x/ never occurs before /i/, and very rarely before /e/ and /u/. /h/ only occurs at the beginning of syllables, and only occurs word-initially before /o/ and /u/ in words borrowed from Spanish
. The voiceless nasals don't occur before the vowels /e/ and /o/.
The various pronunciations of the rhotic
/r/ are complex. Syllable-finally, it as a voiced alveolar trill, [r], though word-finally, it has a fricative release. Word-medially, it is a voiced alveolar flap
, [ɾ]. It is more frequently found initially in unstressed syllables than in stressed syllables, and occurs most commonly in syllable- and word-final position.
The following words illustrate possible syllable shapes for words in Eastern Pomo:
Vowels do not occur in sequence (VV) within a syllable, nor across syllable boundaries. Sequences of two or more consonants within a syllable only occur at the end of a syllable, not initially. For example, /pʰorkʰ/, 'knock something (as acorns, fruit) off something (as tree)', shows a two consonant cluster in word-final position.
Across syllable boundaries in the middle of a word, it is common for there to be two-consonant sequences without restrictions, except that unaspirated stops, voiced stops, voiceless nasals, voiceless semi-vowels, and /h/ don't occur syllable-finally.
The weakest degree of stress falls on a syllable following a primarily or secondarily stressed syllable, and alternates on the following syllables. The syllables following the primarily stressed syllable alternates with every second syllable being slightly louder than the preceding unstressed syllable, but not as loud as the primarily or secondarily stressed syllable.
Secondary stress occurs when a word contains two or more primary stressed syllables, in which case all but one primary stress is reduced to secondary. There are exceptions in certain syllables that are always secondarily stressed, regardless of the alternating pattern of lightly and heavily stressed syllables following the primarily stressed syllable. This type of secondary stress is included as part of the morpheme. Suffixes that have this type of stress include /-kiːmà/ 'plural habitual', and /-bàja/ 'sentence connective'.
, consonant ablaut, or consonant and vowel deletion.
Vowel Harmony: This process affects the two high vowels, /u/ and /i/. The vowel /u/ lowers to become the mid vowel /o/ in instrumental
prefixes. The vowel /i/ lowers to become the mid vowel /e/ if followed by /h/ or /ʔ/ and another /e/.
Consonant Ablaut: This process affects aspirated stops (plosives) except /t̺ʰ/, and the fricative /x/. When aspirated stops are in morpheme-final position, and are followed by a morpheme beginning with a vowel, the aspirated stops (other than /t̺ʰ/) deaspirate to become the corresponding unaspirated stops, and /x/ becomes /q/. For example, /xótʃʰ/, 'two', becomes /xótʃ-a/, 'two (things)'; and /kóːx/, 'to shoot' becomes /kóːq-a/, '(someone) shot something'.
Deletion: This process affects suffixes beginning with the vowels /i/ or /a/, or with the consonants /j/ or /l/:
, and comitative
through the processes of suffixation and partial suppletion. Kinship terms distinguish between a person's own relative and another person's relative by means of suffixation and suppletion, and occur with two sets of possessive pronominal prefixes.
Common stems have a root with the canonical shape CV’(:). The difference between common stems and unanalyzable stems is that commons stems can include an additional single position class of instrumental prefixes with the shape CV(·)-, and/or a member of one or both of two position classes of manner suffixes, with the shape -C, -CC, or /-ː/. A common stem is often used to apply to a variety of situations, which may not be formally associated in the typical English perspective. For example, si·qál, meaning both, 'pure, clean, all of one kind, homogeneous' and 'lick something like ice cream off fingers.' These two situations are distinguished through verbal and extra-linguistic context. And at the same time, a single event can be described by a variety of stems depending on what aspect of the act is in focus.
Unanalyzable stems consist of a longer sequence of phonemes than roots, such as CVC, or CVCV. Some of these unanalyzable stems are borrowed from Spanish, such as , 'to visit, a visit'.
Position Classes of Suffixes (Verbs)
An example of derivational suffixes are the gender suffixes, {-p’} for the masculine gender, and {-t’} for the feminine gender.
It is clear that the reduplicated sequence comes after the base stem because of the fact that the primary stress associated with all roots is not reduplicated in the process. The amount of distributiveness is determined by the number of morphemes involved in the reduplication. For example, in the first type of reduplication, only the root is copied, and only its meaning is affected. In the second type, the root and a manner suffix are reduplicated, and both of their meanings are affected.
For example, in the word mi·ṭʰi’ṭʰik’i·l, meaning 'kick something along, a little way at a time,' where only the root is reduplicated, it is possible that only one toe is used to do the kicking. The motion of spreading, as indicated in the phrase 'a little way at a time,' is the part that is distributed.
The relation of instruments is marked by the suffix {-yay} when a morphologically marked subject and object are in the clause as well. The locative suffixes used to mark the locative complement are: {-w}, {-xa·m}, {-da}, {-a·ma·}, {-ya}, {-Na}, or {-iday}.
There is a syntactic relation of possession or dependency between the members of a phrase and the head of a phrase. Possession is marked morphologically by the genitive suffix {-bax} or a possessive pronoun:
Dependency is not morphologically marked, but is interpreted through paraphrasing or dropping words.
is expressed by four evidential suffix
es that are added to verbs: -ink’e (nonvisual sensory), -ine (inferential), -·le (hearsay), -ya (direct knowledge):
An example of one of the switch-reference markers in context is the sentence , "I took a bath, so [same subject] I got sick".
Pomoan languages
Pomoan is a family of endangered languages spoken in northern California by the Pomo people on the Pacific Coast. According to the 2000 census, there are 255 speakers of the languages...
language, spoken around Clear Lake in Lake County, California
Lake County, California
Lake County is a county located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of California, north of the San Francisco Bay Area. It takes its name from Clear Lake, the dominant geographic feature in the county and the largest natural lake wholly within California...
by one of the several Pomo people
Pomo people
The Pomo people are an indigenous peoples of California. The historic Pomo territory in northern California was large, bordered by the Pacific Coast to the west, extending inland to Clear Lake, and mainly between Cleone and Duncans Point...
s. It is not mutually intelligible with the other Pomoan languages. Prior to contact with Europeans, it was spoken along the northern and southern shores of Clear Lake to the north of San Francisco, and in the coast mountains west of Sacramento Valley
Sacramento Valley
The Sacramento Valley is the portion of the California Central Valley that lies to the north of the San Joaquin-Sacramento Delta in the U.S. state of California. It encompasses all or parts of ten counties.-Geography:...
. Eastern Pomo shared borders in the north with the Patwin
Patwin language
Patwin is a moribund or extinct Wintuan language language of Northern California. There was one speaker left ca. 1997.Southern Patwin went extinct shortly after contact. It is very poorly attested, and may be a separate Southern Wintuan language .- References :*Mithun, Marianne, ed. The Languages...
and the Yuki
Yuki language
The Yuki language, also known as Yukian, Ukiah, Ukomno'm, was a language of California, spoken by the indigenous American Yuki people, formerly in the Eel River area, the Round Valley Reservation, northern California. It became extinct some time in the 20th century...
languages, in the south with the Lake Wappo, the Wappo
Wappo
The Wappo are a group of Native Americans who traditionally lived in Northern California in the areas of Napa Valley, the south shore of Clear Lake, Alexander Valley, and Russian River. When Mexicans arrived to colonize California, Wappo villages existed near the present-day towns of Yountville,...
, the Southeastern Pomo, the Southern Pomo, the Central Pomo, the Northern Pomo
Northern Pomo
Northern Pomo is an extinct Pomoan language formerly spoken around Clear Lake in Lake County, California by the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake, one of the several Pomo peoples....
, and the Lake Miwok
Lake Miwok
The Lake Miwok were a branch of the Miwok, a Native American people of Northern California. The Lake Miwok lived in the Clear Lake basin of what is now called Lake County.-Culture:...
. They also shared a border to the west with the Northern Pomo.
The southern and northern areas in which Eastern Pomo was spoken were geographically separate, and apparently represented differing dialects,split by certain lexical and phonological differences. Contemporary Eastern Pomo speakers refer to the north shore dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
area as Upper Lake
Upper Lake
Upper Lake may refer to:* Upper Lake, Bhopal, a lake in Bhopal, India; also known as Bada Talaab* Upper Lake, California, a census-designated place in Lake County, California, United States* Upper Lake in Missoula County, Montana...
, and the south shore dialect area as Big Valley.
Vowels
Eastern Pomo has five 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...
s, which all occur both short and 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...
. The vowels /i/, /e/, and /a/ are all unrounded vowel
Roundedness
In phonetics, vowel roundedness refers to the amount of rounding in the lips during the articulation of a vowel. That is, it is vocalic labialization. When pronouncing a rounded vowel, the lips form a circular opening, while unrounded vowels are pronounced with the lips relaxed...
s (respectively high
Close vowel
A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.This term is prescribed by the...
, 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...
, and low), and the vowels /u/ and /o/ are rounded vowels (high and mid, respectively). In many linguistic descriptions of Eastern Pomo, Americanist phonetic notation
Americanist phonetic notation
Americanist phonetic notation is a system of phonetic notation originally developed by European and American anthropologists and language scientists for the phonetic and phonemic transcription of Native American and European languages...
is used, and a mid-dot represents long vowels: a· e· i· o· u·.
There are no occasions in Eastern Pomo where multiple vowels appear in sequence within the same syllable. There is one occasion where two vowels are in sequence across a syllable boundary, and that is in the word /tʃéː.al/, meaning 'toward where' or 'whither.' Also, vowels do not occur word-initially in Eastern Pomo.
| 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... |
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 | Back | |
| High | i | u | iː | uː |
| 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 | oː |
| Low | a | aː | ||
Consonants
| Labial Bilabial consonant In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:... |
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).... |
Uvular Uvular consonant Uvulars are consonants articulated with the back of the tongue against or near the uvula, that is, further back in the mouth than velar consonants. Uvulars may be plosives, fricatives, nasal stops, trills, or approximants, though the IPA does not provide a separate symbol for the approximant, and... |
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... |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | plain | p | t̪ | t̺ | tʃ | k | q | |
| aspirated Aspiration (phonetics) In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. To feel or see the difference between aspirated and unaspirated sounds, one can put a hand or a lit candle in front of one's mouth, and say pin ... |
pʰ | t̪ʰ | t̺ʰ | tʃʰ | kʰ | |||
| ejective Ejective consonant In phonetics, ejective consonants are voiceless consonants that are pronounced with simultaneous closure of the glottis. In the phonology of a particular language, ejectives may contrast with aspirated or tenuis consonants... |
pʼ | t̪ʼ | t̺ʼ | tʃʼ | kʼ | qʼ | ʔ | |
| voiced | b | d̺ | ||||||
| Affricate | voiceless | ts | ||||||
| aspirated Aspiration (phonetics) In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. To feel or see the difference between aspirated and unaspirated sounds, one can put a hand or a lit candle in front of one's mouth, and say pin ... |
tsʰ | |||||||
| ejective Ejective consonant In phonetics, ejective consonants are voiceless consonants that are pronounced with simultaneous closure of the glottis. In the phonology of a particular language, ejectives may contrast with aspirated or tenuis consonants... |
tsʼ | |||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | s | ʃ | x | h | |||
| trill Trill consonant In phonetics, a trill is a consonantal sound produced by vibrations between the articulator and the place of articulation. Standard Spanish <rr> as in perro is an alveolar trill, while in Parisian French it is almost always uvular.... |
r | |||||||
| 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 :... |
voiceless Phonation Phonation has slightly different meanings depending on the subfield of phonetics. Among some phoneticians, phonation is the process by which the vocal folds produce certain sounds through quasi-periodic vibration. This is the definition used among those who study laryngeal anatomy and physiology... |
m̥ | n̥ | |||||
| voiced Voice (phonetics) Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer to two separate concepts. Voicing can refer to the articulatory process in which the vocal cords vibrate... |
m | n | ||||||
| Semivowel Semivowel In phonetics and phonology, a semivowel is a sound, such as English or , that is phonetically similar to a vowel sound but functions as the syllable boundary rather than as the nucleus of a syllable.-Classification:... |
plain Voice (phonetics) Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer to two separate concepts. Voicing can refer to the articulatory process in which the vocal cords vibrate... |
w | j | |||||
| voiceless Phonation Phonation has slightly different meanings depending on the subfield of phonetics. Among some phoneticians, phonation is the process by which the vocal folds produce certain sounds through quasi-periodic vibration. This is the definition used among those who study laryngeal anatomy and physiology... |
w̥ | ȷ̊ | ||||||
| Lateral Lateral consonant A lateral is an el-like consonant, in which airstream proceeds along the sides of the tongue, but is blocked by the tongue from going through the middle of the mouth.... |
plain Phonation Phonation has slightly different meanings depending on the subfield of phonetics. Among some phoneticians, phonation is the process by which the vocal folds produce certain sounds through quasi-periodic vibration. This is the definition used among those who study laryngeal anatomy and physiology... |
l | ||||||
| voiceless Phonation Phonation has slightly different meanings depending on the subfield of phonetics. Among some phoneticians, phonation is the process by which the vocal folds produce certain sounds through quasi-periodic vibration. This is the definition used among those who study laryngeal anatomy and physiology... |
l̥ |
Eastern Pomo has thirty-eight consonants. The voiceless plosives have a three-way distinction for each point of articulation
Place of articulation
In articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation of a consonant is the point of contact where an obstruction occurs in the vocal tract between an articulatory gesture, an active articulator , and a passive location...
: unaspirated (plain), aspirated, and ejective. The plosives also distinguish between lamino
Laminal consonant
A laminal consonant is a phone produced by obstructing the air passage with the blade of the tongue, which is the flat top front surface just behind the tip of the tongue on the top. This contrasts with apical consonants, which are produced by creating an obstruction with the tongue apex only...
-dental and apico
Apical consonant
An apical consonant is a phone produced by obstructing the air passage with the apex of the tongue . This contrasts with laminal consonants, which are produced by creating an obstruction with the blade of the tongue .This is not a very common distinction, and typically applied only to fricatives...
-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...
points of articulation for each series, transcribed /t̪ t̪ʰ t̪ʼ/ and /t̺ t̺ʰ t̺ʼ/ respectively. /tʃ/ is pronounced as an affricate, [tʃ], in word-initial position, and as a voiceless palatal
Palatal consonant
Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate...
plosive, [c], in word-medial position. /ʃ/ is a laminal
Laminal consonant
A laminal consonant is a phone produced by obstructing the air passage with the blade of the tongue, which is the flat top front surface just behind the tip of the tongue on the top. This contrasts with apical consonants, which are produced by creating an obstruction with the tongue apex only...
pre-palatal fricative, while /s/ represents [s̺], an apico-alveolar fricative, with a slightly retroflexed
Retroflex consonant
A retroflex consonant is a coronal consonant where the tongue has a flat, concave, or even curled shape, and is articulated between the alveolar ridge and the hard palate. They are sometimes referred to as cerebral consonants, especially in Indology...
tongue tip. In linguistic publications using Americanist phonetic notation
Americanist phonetic notation
Americanist phonetic notation is a system of phonetic notation originally developed by European and American anthropologists and language scientists for the phonetic and phonemic transcription of Native American and European languages...
the alveolar plosive series is distinguished from the dental one with the addition of under-dots: ; the palatal consonants /tʃ tʃʰ tʃʼ ʃ/ are written ; the alveolar affricates /ts tsʰ tsʼ/ are written ; and the voiceless nasals, semivowels, and liquid are written using capital letters: M N W Y L.
There are a number of restrictions on the distribution of the various phonemes. /p/, /ts/, and /tʃ/ are relatively rare in Eastern Pomo. Voiceless unaspirated (plain) stops; voiced stops; voiceless nasals, semi-vowels, and voiceless /l̥/; and the fricative /h/ never occur in word-final position. /x/ never occurs before /i/, and very rarely before /e/ and /u/. /h/ only occurs at the beginning of syllables, and only occurs word-initially before /o/ and /u/ in words borrowed from Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
. The voiceless nasals don't occur before the vowels /e/ and /o/.
The various pronunciations of the rhotic
Rhotic consonant
In phonetics, rhotic consonants, also called tremulants or "R-like" sounds, are liquid consonants that are traditionally represented orthographically by symbols derived from the Greek letter rho, including "R, r" from the Roman alphabet and "Р, p" from the Cyrillic alphabet...
/r/ are complex. Syllable-finally, it as a voiced alveolar trill, [r], though word-finally, it has a fricative release. Word-medially, it is a voiced alveolar flap
Flap consonant
In phonetics, a flap or tap is a type of consonantal sound, which is produced with a single contraction of the muscles so that one articulator is thrown against another.-Contrast with stops and trills:...
, [ɾ]. It is more frequently found initially in unstressed syllables than in stressed syllables, and occurs most commonly in syllable- and word-final position.
Syllable Structure
The most common syllable structure used is a two-syllable form, CV:CV(:)(C)(C), with primary stress on the second syllable (where "C" represents a consonant, "V" represents a vowel, ":" represents vowel length, and items enclosed in parentheses indicate that the position is optionally filled). An example of this is /biːt̺ʼéːmkʰ/, "maggots to move around on something; many blackbirds to be in a field." In word-medial position, the syllable boundary falls before the final consonant in a sequence. For example, the structure [CV(:)(C)(C)(:)] is used for non-final syllables in words. Non-final syllables in words will end in C, CC, C:, or CC: only if another syllable beginning with a consonant follows. Word-final syllables can take the shape CV:CC.The following words illustrate possible syllable shapes for words in Eastern Pomo:
- CV : /ká/ 'house'
- CV: : /káː/ 'for one to sit'
- CVC : /kál/ 'to the house'
- CV:C : /káːm/ 'stay, remain sitting!'
- CVCC : /dójkʼ/ 'several each to grind with mortar and pestle'
- CV:CC : /xéːlkʼ/ 'stretch'
- CV:CV : /muːká/ 'wild wheat, any grain'
- CV:CV: : /maːkáː/ 'look, search for something or someone'
- CV:CVCC : /maːt̺ʰinkʰ/ 'to massage, press certain part of body with feet'
- CV:CV:CC : /biːt̺ʼéːmkʰ/ 'maggots to move around on something; many blackbirds to be in a field'
Vowels do not occur in sequence (VV) within a syllable, nor across syllable boundaries. Sequences of two or more consonants within a syllable only occur at the end of a syllable, not initially. For example, /pʰorkʰ/, 'knock something (as acorns, fruit) off something (as tree)', shows a two consonant cluster in word-final position.
Across syllable boundaries in the middle of a word, it is common for there to be two-consonant sequences without restrictions, except that unaspirated stops, voiced stops, voiceless nasals, voiceless semi-vowels, and /h/ don't occur syllable-finally.
Stress
All roots carry primary stress. Most words begin with a two-syllable sequence of the sort, CV:CV (with primary stress on the V). The roots of polysyllabic words cannot always be isolated in this language, making it impossible to predict where the primary stress is going to fall solely on the type of morpheme. However, primary stress does occur on the second syllable of most words, including the words in which the roots cannot be isolated.The weakest degree of stress falls on a syllable following a primarily or secondarily stressed syllable, and alternates on the following syllables. The syllables following the primarily stressed syllable alternates with every second syllable being slightly louder than the preceding unstressed syllable, but not as loud as the primarily or secondarily stressed syllable.
Secondary stress occurs when a word contains two or more primary stressed syllables, in which case all but one primary stress is reduced to secondary. There are exceptions in certain syllables that are always secondarily stressed, regardless of the alternating pattern of lightly and heavily stressed syllables following the primarily stressed syllable. This type of secondary stress is included as part of the morpheme. Suffixes that have this type of stress include /-kiːmà/ 'plural habitual', and /-bàja/ 'sentence connective'.
Phonological Processes
Here are some examples of phonologically conditioned variation within the Eastern Pomo language involving one of the three processes: vowel harmonyVowel harmony
Vowel harmony is a type of long-distance assimilatory phonological process involving vowels that occurs in some languages. In languages with vowel harmony, there are constraints on which vowels may be found near each other....
, consonant ablaut, or consonant and vowel deletion.
Vowel Harmony: This process affects the two high vowels, /u/ and /i/. The vowel /u/ lowers to become the mid vowel /o/ in instrumental
Instrumental 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. The vowel /i/ lowers to become the mid vowel /e/ if followed by /h/ or /ʔ/ and another /e/.
Consonant Ablaut: This process affects aspirated stops (plosives) except /t̺ʰ/, and the fricative /x/. When aspirated stops are in morpheme-final position, and are followed by a morpheme beginning with a vowel, the aspirated stops (other than /t̺ʰ/) deaspirate to become the corresponding unaspirated stops, and /x/ becomes /q/. For example, /xótʃʰ/, 'two', becomes /xótʃ-a/, 'two (things)'; and /kóːx/, 'to shoot' becomes /kóːq-a/, '(someone) shot something'.
Deletion: This process affects suffixes beginning with the vowels /i/ or /a/, or with the consonants /j/ or /l/:
- Vowel Deletion occurs when the morpheme before a suffix ends in a vowel, the suffix begins with /i/ or /a/, and the rest of the suffix does not consist only of this vowel. An example of this is the morpheme, {-aya}, indicating 'plural'.
- Consonant Deletion occurs in a similar situation, except instead of the vowel initializing the suffix, it is either /j/ or /l/, and the previous morpheme ends in a consonant. This can be seen in the morpheme, {-yiNàl}, indicating 'indirect object'.
Morphology
The most important processes of Eastern Pomo morphology are suffixation and prefixation. There are half as many morphemes that serve as prefixes than suffixes. Other processes used are reduplication and compounding. The verbal or non-verbal function of a morphological unit is specified by the addition of inflectional suffixes, and/or syntactic relations. The inflectional suffixes fall into categories creating morphological classes; mainly, verbs, animates, substantives, and four minor classes, adverbial indefinites, locatives, directionals and directional preverbs. There are also uninflecteds, which include proper names, interjections and syntactic particles.Verbs
Verbs are morphologically the most complex and syntactically the most important. There are eight optional position classes of suffixes for verbs, specifying categories of aspect, mode, plurality, locality, reciprocity, source of information (evidentials), and forms of syntactic relations. Stems may be inflected as a verb by means of suffixation, prefixation and reduplication.Animates
Animates have two subclasses, pronouns and kinship terms. They are inflected for subject, object, genitiveGenitive case
In grammar, genitive is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun...
, and comitative
Comitative case
The comitative case , also known as the associative case , is a grammatical case that denotes companionship, and is used where English would use "in company with" or "together with"...
through the processes of suffixation and partial suppletion. Kinship terms distinguish between a person's own relative and another person's relative by means of suffixation and suppletion, and occur with two sets of possessive pronominal prefixes.
Substantives
Substantives have five subclasses, personal nouns, adjectives, nouns, demonstratives, and numerals. They are inflected for noun aspect. Nouns are inflected for possession and commitation, while personal nouns and adjectives are inflected for plurality through suffixation and suppletion.Uninflecteds
Uninflecteds include proper nouns, interjections and syntactic particles. The basic morphological unit is the stem, which can be either common or unanalyzable.Common stems have a root with the canonical shape CV’(:). The difference between common stems and unanalyzable stems is that commons stems can include an additional single position class of instrumental prefixes with the shape CV(·)-, and/or a member of one or both of two position classes of manner suffixes, with the shape -C, -CC, or /-ː/. A common stem is often used to apply to a variety of situations, which may not be formally associated in the typical English perspective. For example, si·qál, meaning both, 'pure, clean, all of one kind, homogeneous' and 'lick something like ice cream off fingers.' These two situations are distinguished through verbal and extra-linguistic context. And at the same time, a single event can be described by a variety of stems depending on what aspect of the act is in focus.
Unanalyzable stems consist of a longer sequence of phonemes than roots, such as CVC, or CVCV. Some of these unanalyzable stems are borrowed from Spanish, such as , 'to visit, a visit'.
Suffixes
Position Classes of Suffixes (Non-verb)- I- Specifying: {-r}, {-·U}, {-yay}, {-l}
- II- Manner: {-n}
- III- Locative: {-w}, {-xa·m}, {-da}, {-a·ma·}, {-ya}, {-NA}
- IV- Directional: {-lal}
- V- Directional: {-ma}, {-wa}
- VI- Temporal Locative: {-Mi}, {-iday}
- VII- Number: {-i·nay}, {-aya}
- VIII: Deictic: {-ʔba·}
- IX: Syntactic: {-bax}, {-Mak’}, {-a}, {-al}, {-yiNàl}, {i·kò}, {-ba}, {-Nalal}, {-heʔè}, {-heʔ}
Position Classes of Suffixes (Verbs)
- I- {-kʰ}, {-k’}
- II- {-ma}, {-ʔwà·}, {-mli}
- III- {-qa}
- IV- {-ki}
- V- {-Mak’}
- VI- {-yaki}, {-kìl}, {-ki·mà}, {-baqay}
- VII- {-ayax}, {-ine}, {-baʔè}
- VIII (for dependent verb forming members)- {-iy}, {-qan}, {-in}, {-sa}, {-pʰi}, {-pʰila}, {-bàya}, {-iday}, {-ʔ}, {-Nalal}, {-ba}
- VIII (for independent verb forming members)- {-ya}, {-·hi}, {-·}, {-i·Nàʔ}, {-yaʔè·le}, {-iš}, {-è·}, {-ink’e}, {-·le}, {-baʔ}, {-im}, {-me}
An example of derivational suffixes are the gender suffixes, {-p’} for the masculine gender, and {-t’} for the feminine gender.
Instrumental Prefixes
There are 18 frequently used instrumental prefixes in Eastern Pomo, which are used to indicate how something was done. An example of one of the frequent forms is {da} meaning 'with or affecting the hand'. It is seen in the word da·kʰó·, meaning 'grab at something, steady something with hand, catch with hand'.Stem Reduplication
Stem reduplication signifies different types of distributiveness, meaning that the action affects many individuals or creates many distributed results. There are four types in Eastern Pomo:- reduplication of the root alone, {r}
- reduplication of the root plus a manner suffix, {ʔr}
- reduplication of an instrumental prefix plus a root, {R}
- reduplication of an instrumental prefix, root and manner suffix
It is clear that the reduplicated sequence comes after the base stem because of the fact that the primary stress associated with all roots is not reduplicated in the process. The amount of distributiveness is determined by the number of morphemes involved in the reduplication. For example, in the first type of reduplication, only the root is copied, and only its meaning is affected. In the second type, the root and a manner suffix are reduplicated, and both of their meanings are affected.
For example, in the word mi·ṭʰi’ṭʰik’i·l, meaning 'kick something along, a little way at a time,' where only the root is reduplicated, it is possible that only one toe is used to do the kicking. The motion of spreading, as indicated in the phrase 'a little way at a time,' is the part that is distributed.
Syntax
Word order is not fixed, but predictable, in the Eastern Pomo language. Verbs are the head of the clause, and typically the final word in that clause. Generally, the order preceding the verb begins with an optional adverbial or locative complement, then the subject, object, instrument, and possibly another adverbial or locative complement.Case Marking
The position of the agent is morphologically specified by one of the three suffixes: {-là·}, {-u·là·}, or {-yeʔèkʰ}.- bu·ráqalu·là· wi qa·néa = bear-AGENT me bite = "I got bit by a bear"
The relation of instruments is marked by the suffix {-yay} when a morphologically marked subject and object are in the clause as well. The locative suffixes used to mark the locative complement are: {-w}, {-xa·m}, {-da}, {-a·ma·}, {-ya}, {-Na}, or {-iday}.
There is a syntactic relation of possession or dependency between the members of a phrase and the head of a phrase. Possession is marked morphologically by the genitive suffix {-bax} or a possessive pronoun:
- bó·bax ká·wkʰ = west-GENITIVE people = "people from Ukiah"
Dependency is not morphologically marked, but is interpreted through paraphrasing or dropping words.
Evidentials
Grammatical evidentialityEvidentiality
In linguistics, evidentiality is, broadly, the indication of the nature of evidence for a given statement; that is, whether evidence exists for the statement and/or what kind of evidence exists. An evidential is the particular grammatical element that indicates evidentiality...
is expressed by four evidential suffix
Suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
es that are added to verbs: -ink’e (nonvisual sensory), -ine (inferential), -·le (hearsay), -ya (direct knowledge):
| Evidential type | Example Verb | Gloss |
|---|---|---|
| nonvisual sensory | pʰa·békʰ-ink’e | "burned" [speaker felt the sensation] |
| inferential | pʰa·bék-ine | "must have burned" [speaker saw circumstantial evidence] |
| hearsay (reportative) | pʰa·békʰ-·le | "burned, they say" [speaker is reporting what was told] |
| direct knowledge | pʰa·bék-a | "burned" [speaker has direct evidence] |
Switch-reference
Eastern Pomo, like the other Pomoan languages, exhibits a system of switch-reference, whereby suffixes are used to mark whether a clause has the same or a different subject from the preceding clause. The suffixes also mark temporal, causative, and other distinctions. The switch-reference suffixes of Eastern Pomo are given in the table below:| Meaning | Same Subject | Different Subject |
|---|---|---|
| Action of verb suffixed precedes in time that of main verb | -iy | -qan |
| Action of verb (1) explains, justifies that of main verb, (2) is simultaneous with that of main verb |
-in | -sa1 |
| Action of suffixed verb is prior to and a prerequisite for the realization of the action expressed by the main verb |
||
| Action of main verb continues over same period or begins with time specified by suffixed verb |
-bàya | -iday |
- 1 Occurs only with meaning (1)
An example of one of the switch-reference markers in context is the sentence , "I took a bath, so [same subject] I got sick".
Sample Lexicon
- la·bi’tʰ 'flash on and off' : {la·-} (occurs only with this root, meaning unknown) + {bi’-} 'position, be positioned' + {-tʰ} (suffix characterizes intermittent actions)
- qa·léy 'eaten up, eat up' : {qa·-} 'with jaws and teeth, with jaw-like action' + {lé-} 'extend, with even, smooth distribution, and by extension, completely include' + {-y} (perfective suffix indicating an action that is completed or accomplished)
- xá ku·ṭʰi’ski· 'splash water (with side of palm)' : {xá} 'water' + {ku·-} 'with a flat surface, such as the palm' + {ṭʰi-} 'motion which spreads or extends' + {-s} 'suffix indicating concentration, intensity' + {-ki} 'semelfactive' + {-·} 'stative mode'
- ba·q’ál 'finish talking, going to school, or job of cutting fish or apricots'
- da·q’áṭ’ki· 'scratch off'
- da·q’á·s 'scratch with nails'
External links
- Eastern Pomo Language
- Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians
- Robinson Rancheria Tribe of Pomo Indians Home Page
- Ethnologue: Eastern Pomo
- Vocabulary Words in Native American Languages: Pomo
- Eastern Pomo language overview at the Survey of California and Other Indian LanguagesSurvey of California and Other Indian LanguagesThe Survey of California and Other Indian Languages at the University of California at Berkeley documents, catalogs, and archives the indigenous languages of the Americas...