Mescalero-Chiricahua language

Mescalero-Chiricahua
Ndee bizaa
Native to USA
Region Oklahoma, New Mexico
Ethnicity 3,000+ Chiricahua (2007)[1]
Native speakers
 1,500 (2007)[1]
Dené–Yeniseian?
Language codes
ISO 639-3 apm
Glottolog mesc1238[2]

Mescalero-Chiricahua (also known as Mescalero-Chiricahua Apache) is a Southern Athabaskan language spoken by the Mescalero and Chiricahua tribes in Oklahoma and New Mexico. It is related to Navajo and Western Apache. Mescalero-Chiricahua has been described in great detail by the anthropological linguist Harry Hoijer (1904–1976), especially in Hoijer & Opler (1938) and Hoijer (1946). Hoijer & Opler's Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache Texts, including a grammatical sketch and traditional religious and secular stories, has been converted into an online "book" available from the University of Virginia.

Virginia Klinekole, the first female president of the Mescalero Apache Tribe, was known for her efforts to preserve the language.[3]

There is at least one Apache language immersion school for children in Mescalero.[4]

Sounds

Consonants

The 31 consonants of Mescalero-Chiricahua:

  Bilabial Alveolar Post-alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
central lateral
Stop unaspirated p t       k  
aspirated   tʰ       kʰ  
ejective   tʼ       kʼ ʔ
Affricate unaspirated   ts tˡ tʃ      
aspirated   tsʰ tɬʰ tʃʰ      
ejective   tsʼ tɬʼ tʃʼ      
Nasal simple m n          
prenasalized (mᵇ) nᵈ          
Fricative voiceless   s ɬ ʃ   x h
voiced   z n ʒ ʝ ɣ  

Vowels

The 16 vowels of Mescalero-Chiricahua:

  Front Central Back
short long short long short long
 High  oral i iː        
nasal ĩ ĩː        
 Mid  oral ɛ ɛː     o oː
nasal ɛ̃ ɛ̃ː     õ õː
 Low  oral     a aː    
nasal     ã ãː    

Mescalero-Chiricahua has phonemic oral, nasal, short, and long vowels.

References

  1. 1 2 Mescalero-Chiricahua at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Mescalero-Chiricahua Apache". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. ↑ "Former tribal leader dies : Past Mescalero president, council member, writer remembered". Alamogordo Daily News. 2011-03-15. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
  4. ↑ http://www.alamogordonews.com/tablehome/ci_21431757/udall-visits-mescalero-apache-schools-talk-language-preservation
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