Tillamook language

Tillamook is an extinct Salishan language, formerly spoken by the Tillamook people in northwestern Oregon, United States. The last fluent speaker was Minnie Scovell who died in 1972,^[3] in an effort to prevent the language from being lost, a group of researchers from the University of Hawaii interviewed the few remaining Tillamook-speakers and created a 120-page dictionary.^[4]

Phonology

Vowels

Consonants

Internal Rounding

The so-called "rounded" consonants (traditionally marked with the diacritic ⟨ʷ⟩, but here indicated with ⟨ᵓ⟩), including rounded vowels and ⟨w⟩ (/ɰᵓ/), are not actually labialized. The acoustic effect of labialization is created entirely inside the mouth by cupping the tongue. Uvulars with this distinctive internal rounding have "a kind of ɔ timbre" while "rounded" front velars have ɯ coloring. These contrast and oppose otherwise very similar segments having ɛ or j coloring—the "unrounded" consonants.

/w/ is also formed with this internal rounding instead of true labialization, making it akin to [ɰ]. So are vowel sounds formerly written as /o/ or /u/, which are best characterized as the diphthong /əɰ/ with increasing internal rounding.^[5]

Notes

Bibliography

• Thompson, Lawrence C.; M. Terry Thompson (1966). "A Fresh Look at Tillamook Phonology". International Journal of American Linguistics. 32 (4): 313–319. doi:10.1086/464920. 
• Edel, May M (1939). The Tillamook language. New York: J.J. Augustin. Retrieved 2013-09-22. 
• "May M. Edel papers". Special Collections, University of Washington Libraries. Retrieved 2013-09-22. 

External links

• University of Oregon: The Tillamook
• Tillamook Language
• "Tillamook Vocabulary". California Language Archive. Retrieved 2013-09-22. 
• OLAC resources in and about the Tillamook language

Languages of Oregon
Italics indicate extinct languages
Indigenous	Alsean Alsea (Alséya) Yaquina (Yakwina, Yakona) Athabaskan Siletz Dee-ni Galice language (Galice-Applegate) Chinookan Chinook Jargon Kathlamet language Lower Chinook Upper Chinook (Kiksht, Columbia Chinook, Wasco-Wishram) Coosan Hanis (Coos) Miluk (Lower Coquille) Kalapuyan Central Kalapuya (Santiam) Northern Kalapuya (Tualatin dialect (Tfalati, Atfalati)) Northern Kalapuya (Yamhill dialect (Yamell)) Yoncalla (Southern Kalapuya) Oregon Coast Penutian Siuslaw Plateu Penutian Klamath-Modoc (Klamath, Lutuamian) Molala language Sahaptian Sahaptin (Shahaptin, Sħáptənəxw, Ichishkíin Sɨ́nwit) Umatilla Salishan Tillamook language Unclassified Plains Sign Talk Plateau Sign Language Cayuse language Takelma language Uto-Aztecan Northern Paiute (Numu and Paviotso)
Non-Indigenous	Indo-European American English Dutch German Russian Spanish Swedish French Sign American Sign Language Uralic Finnish