Northern Paiute
Native toUnited States
RegionNevada, California, Oregon, Idaho
Ethnicity6,000 Northern Paiute and Bannock (1999)[1]
Native speakers
700 (2007)[1]
Uto-Aztecan
  • Numic
    • Western Numic
      • Northern Paiute
Language codes
ISO 639-3pao
Glottolognort2954
ELPNorthern Paiute
Northern Paiute Mono map.svg
Map showing the traditional geographic distribution of Northern Paiute and Mono
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Northern Paiute /ˈpaɪuːt/,[2] endonym Numu,[3] also known as Paviotso, is a Western Numic language of the Uto-Aztecan family, which according to Marianne Mithun had around 500 fluent speakers in 1994.[4] Ethnologue reported the number of speakers in 1999 as 1,631.[5] It is closely related to the Mono language.

Phonology

Northern Paiute's phonology is highly variable, and its phonemes have many allophones.[6]

Consonants

Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Plain Lab.
Nasal m n ŋ
Stop p t k kʷ ʔ
Affricate ts tʃ
Fricative s h
Semivowel w j

Vowels

Vowel chart of the Mono Lake dialect of Northern Paiute[7]
Vowel chart of the Mono Lake dialect of Northern Paiute[7]
Front Central Back
Close i ɨ u
Open-Mid e ɔ
Open a

Language revitalization

In 2005, the Northwest Indian Language Institute of the University of Oregon formed a partnership to teach Northern Paiute and Kiksht in the Warm Springs Indian Reservation schools.[8] In 2013, Washoe County, Nevada became the first school district in Nevada to offer Northern Paiute classes, offering an elective course in the language at Spanish Springs High School.[9] Classes have also been taught at Reed High School in Sparks, Nevada.[10]

Elder Ralph Burns of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation worked with University of Nevada, Reno linguist Catherine Fowler to help develop a spelling system. The alphabet uses 19 letters. They have also developed a language-learning book, “Numa Yadooape,” and a series of computer disks of language lessons.[10]

Morphology

Northern Paiute is an agglutinative language, in which words use suffix complexes for a variety of purposes with several morphemes strung together.

References

  1. ^ a b Northern Paiute at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student’s Handbook, Edinburgh
  3. ^ Leonard, Wesley Y.; Haynes, Erin (December 2010). "Making "collaboration" collaborative: An examination of perspectives that frame linguistic field research". Language Documentation & Conservation. 4: 269–293. ISSN 1934-5275.
  4. ^ Mithun (1999:541)
  5. ^ "Report on Northern Paiute". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2007-03-29.
  6. ^ Haynes, Erin Flynn (2010). "Phonetic and Phonological Acquisition in Endangered Languages Learned by Adults: A Case Study of Numu (Oregon Northern Paiute)". PhD dissertation, University of California, Berkeley
  7. ^ Babel, Molly; Houser, Michael J.; Toosarvandani, Maziar (2012), "Mono Lake Northern Paiute", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 42 (2): 240, doi:10.1017/S002510031100051X
  8. ^ Joanne B. Mulcahy (2005). "Warm Springs: A Convergence of Cultures" (Oregon History Project). Retrieved 2013-02-26.
  9. ^ Joe Hart (Director). "Nevada Proud: Students get a chance to learn native language in school". My News 4. KRNV, Reno, NV. Archived from the original on 2013-10-29. Retrieved 2013-10-24.
  10. ^ a b Vogel, Ed (2014-02-01). "Paiute elder rescues language near extinction". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved 2014-02-26.

Bibliography

External links


Uto-Aztecan languages
Languages of California
Languages of Oregon
Languages of Idaho
Languages of Nevada
Categories