Sahaptin language

Sahaptin (also Shahaptin), Sħáptənəxw, is a Plateau Penutian language of the Sahaptian branch spoken in a section of the northwestern plateau along the Columbia River and its tributaries in southern Washington, northern Oregon, and southwestern Idaho, in the United States.^[2]

The Yakama tribal Cultural Resources program has been promoting the use of the traditional name of the language, Ichishkíin Sɨ́nwit, instead of Sahaptin which means "stranger in the land." ^[3]

Dialects

The Sahaptin language into four languages, since it forms a dialect cluster :^[4]

• Northern Sahaptin group
  • Northwest Sahaptin dialect cluster: Klickitat (Klikitat) (Yakama name: Xwálxwaypam or L'ataxat), Tainapam (Taidnapam / Táytnapam or Upper Cowlitz), Upper Nisqually (Meshal / Mashel or Mica'l, also known as Mishalpam), Yakima (Yakama) (Lower or Yakama proper, autonym: Mámachatpam), Kittitas (Upper Yakama, autonym: Pshwánapam or Pshwanpawam)
  • Northeast Sahaptin dialect cluster: Wanapum (Wanapam) (Wánapam), Palouse (Palus) (Yakama name: Pelúuspem), Lower Snake (Chamnapam, Wauyukma, and Naxiyampam), Walla Walla (Waluulapan)
• Southern Sahaptin group (Columbia River cluster): Umatilla (Rock Creek Indians, Yakama name: Amatalamlama; Imatalamlama), Skin-pah (Sk'in tribe or Sawpaw, also known as Fall Bridge and Rock Creek people or K'milláma, a Tenino subtribe; perhaps another Yakama name for the Umatilla, which were known as Rock Creek Indians), Tenino (Tygh Valley dialect of the Tygh (Taih, Tyigh or Tayxɫáma) or "Upper Deschutes", Celilo dialect of the Wyam (Wayámɫáma) (Yakama name: Wayámpam) or "Lower Deschutes", also known as "Celilo Indians", Tenino dialect of the Dalles Tenino or "Tinainu (Tinaynuɫáma)"; John Day dialect oft the Dock-Spus (Tukspush or Takspasɫáma) or "John Day.")

Grammar

There exist published grammars,^[5][6] a recent dictionary,^[7] and a corpus of published texts.^[8][9] Sahaptin has a split ergative syntax with direct-inverse voicing and several applicative constructions.^[10]

The ergative case inflects 3rd person nominals only when the direct object is 1st or 2nd person (examples below are from the Umatilla dialect).

1) i-q̓ínu-šana yáka paanáy

3nom-see-asp bear 3acc.sg

‘the bear saw him’

2) i-q̓ínu-šana=aš yáka-nɨm

3nom-see-asp=1sg bear-erg

‘the bear saw me’

The direct-inverse contrast can be elicited with examples such as the following. In the inverse the transitive direct object is coreferential with the subject in the preceding clause.

Direct:

3) wínš i-q̓ínu-šana wapaanłá-an ku i-ʔíƛ̓iyawi-ya paanáy

man 3nom-see-asp grizzly-acc and :3nom-kill-pst 3acc.sg

‘the man saw the grizzly and he killed it’

Inverse:

4) wínš i-q̓ínu-šana wapaanłá-an ku pá-ʔiƛ̓iyawi-ya

man 3nom-see-asp grizzly-acc and inv-kill-pst

‘the man saw the grizzly and it killed him’

The inverse (marked by the verbal prefix pá-) retains its transitive status and a patient nominal is case marked accusative.

5) ku pá-ʔiƛ̓iyawi-ya wínš-na

and inv-kill-pst man-acc

‘and it killed the man’ (= ‘and the man was killed by it’)

A semantic inverse is also marked by the same verbal prefix pá-.

Direct:

6) q̓ínu-šana=maš

see-asp=1sg/2sg

‘I saw you’

Inverse:

7) pá-q̓inu-šana=nam

inv-see-=2sg

‘you saw me’

In Speech Act Participant (SAP) and 3rd person transitive involvement direction marking is as follows:

Direct:

8) á-q̓inu-šana=aš paanáy

obv-see-asp=1sg 3sg.acc

‘I saw him/her/it’

Inverse:

9) i-q̓ínu-šana=aš pɨ́nɨm

3nom-see-asp=1sg 3erg

‘he/she/it saw me’

See also

• Sahaptian languages
• Sahaptin people
• Cayuse
• Palus (tribe)
• Umatilla (tribe)
• Walla Walla (tribe)
• Yakama

Notes

References

• Beavert, Virginia, and Sharon Hargus (2010). Ichishkiin Sɨ́nwit Yakama/Yakima Sahaptin Dictionary. Toppenish and Seattle: Heritage University and University of Washington Press.
• Hargus, Sharon, and Virginia Beavert. (2002). Yakima Sahaptin clusters and epenthetic [ɨ]. Anthropological Linguistics, 44.1-47.
• Jacobs, Melville (1929). Northwest Sahaptin Texts, 1. University of Washington Publications in Anthropology 2:6:175-244. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
• Jacobs, Melville (1931). A Sketch of Northern Sahaptin Grammar. University of Washington Publications in Anthropology 4:2:85-292. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
• Jacobs, Melville (1934). Northwest Sahaptin Texts. English language only. Columbia University Contributions to Anthropology 19, Part 1. New York: Columbia University Press.
• Jacobs, Melville (1937). Northwest Sahaptin Texts. Sahaptin language only. Columbia University Contributions to Anthropology 19, Part 2. New York: Columbia University Press.
• Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
• Rigsby, Bruce, and Noel Rude. (1996). Sketch of Sahaptin, a Sahaptian Language. In Languages, ed. by Ives Goddard, pp. 666-692. Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 17. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.
• Rude, Noel. (1988). Pronominal prefixes in Klikitat Sahaptin. In Papers from the 1988 Hokan-Penutian Languages Workshop: Held at the University of Oregon, June 16–18, 1988, compiled by Scott DeLancey, pp. 181–197. Eugene, Oregon: University of Oregon Papers in Linguistics.
• Rude, Noel. (1994). Direct, inverse and passive in Northwest Sahaptin. In Voice and Inversion, ed. by T. Givón. Typological Studies in Language, Vol. 28:101-119. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
• Rude, Noel. (2009). Transitivity in Sahaptin. Northwest Journal of Linguistics, Vol. 3, Issue 3, pp. 1–37.

External links

• Beavert, Virginia; Sharon Hargus (2010). Ichishkiin sinwit Yakama/Yakima Sahaptin Dictionary. Toppenish, WA: Heritage University, University of Washington Press. Retrieved 2012-07-10. 
• "Sahaptin Noun Dictionary (Yakama Dialect)". Retrieved 2012-07-10. 
• Muir, Pat (2010-02-20). "Virginia Beavert keeping Sahaptin language alive". Yakima Herald-Republic. Retrieved 2012-07-10. 
• McDonald, Rachael (2009-05-25). "Yakama Elder Keeps Language Alive". KLCC Eugene Oregon NPR. Retrieved 2012-07-10. 
• Martin, Shelby (2009-02-14). "Rare Yakama Sahaptin language taught at university". Spokesman.com, The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved 2012-07-10. 
• Dadigan, Marc (2010). "Guardians of Language". CAScade, UO College of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 2012-07-10. 

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