Pawnee language
Endangered Caddoan language of Oklahoma, US
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pawnee or pâri pakûru’[2] is a Caddoan language traditionally spoken by Pawnee Native Americans, currently inhabiting north-central Oklahoma. Historically, the Pawnee lived along the Platte River in what is now Nebraska.
| Pawnee | |
|---|---|
| pâri pakûru’ | |
| Native to | United States |
| Region | North-central Oklahoma |
| Ethnicity | 2,500 Pawnee (2007) |
Native speakers | <10 (2007)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | paw |
| Glottolog | pawn1254 |
| ELP | Pawnee |
| Linguasphere | 64-BAB-b |
Pre-contact distribution of Pawnee | |
 Pawnee is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger. | |
Dialects
Status
As of 2007, there are fewer than 10 native speakers, all elderly. The Pawnee Nation is developing teaching materials for the local high school and for adult language classes. There are also extensive documentary materials in the language archived at the American Indian Studies Research Institute.[4] The Pawnee language can be heard spoken in the 2015 movie The Revenant.[5] In 2019 and 2020, the Pawnee Nation posted online videos teaching the Pawnee language.[6]
Phonology
The following describes the South Band dialect.
Consonants
Pawnee has eight consonant phonemes, and according to one analysis of medial- and final-position glottal stops, one may posit a ninth consonant phoneme.
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | p | t | k | (ʔ) |
| Affricate | ts | |||
| Rhotic | r | |||
| Fricative | s | h | ||
| Approximant | w |
- /ʔ/ is predictable when it occurs in the middle of words. However, since /ʔ/ is not completely predictable at the end of words, it may also need to be considered a phoneme.
Vowels
Pawnee has four short vowel phonemes and four long counterparts (also phonemic).
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| High | i/iː | u/uː |
| Mid-low | e/eː | a/aː |
Phonotactics
Consonant clusters are common in Pawnee in initial, medial, and final positions. These clusters fall into a small number of types, illustrated in the table below. The sequence /ks/ patterns as a single unit in initial and medial clusters, and so it is not considered a cluster in itself.
| C1 | C2 | Examples | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial | /ts, ks/ | /p, t, k/ | cpiraːrus "to fly"
kspata "flesher" |
| Medial | /t, k, ks, s/ | /p, t, k/ | pitkus "two"
istu "again" |
| /h/ | any consonant except /s, h/ | rahwa "captive" | |
| Final | /h/ | /t, k, ts, r/ | wahc "to be open"
ahr "to live, exist" |
Vowel sequences are allowed morpheme-internally and across morpheme boundaries. Pawnee distinguishes between long vowels, doubled vowels (e.g. kskiːtiiks "four"), long + short vowel sequences (cakiːis "trotter"), and short-long vowel sequences (tiiːtit "snipe"). No morpheme contains two long vowels in sequence, however.
Morphology
Pawnee is an ergative-absolutive polysynthetic language.
Alphabet
The Pawnee alphabet has nine consonants and eight vowels. The letters are relatively similar in pronunciation to their English counterparts.
Consonants
| Spelling | Sound (IPA) | English equivalents |
|---|---|---|
| p | p | poke, cup |
| t | t | top, cat |
| k | k | cool, stuck |
| c | ʃ ~ ts | shell, push ~ pants |
| s | s | silly, face |
| h | h | heart, ahead |
| r | r | car, ferry |
| w | w | wacky, away |
| ′ | ʔ | The "-" in uh-oh |
Vowels
| Spelling | Sound (IPA) | English equivalents |
|---|---|---|
| i | ɪ | sit |
| ii | i | feed |
| e | ɛ | red |
| ee | eɪ | paid |
| a | ʌ | nut |
| aa | ɑ | father |
| u | ʊ | book |
| uu | u | rude |
Other alphabets
Here are other alphabets that are used sometimes in Pawnee texts.
| a | â | c | č | e | ê | h | i | î | k | p | r | s | t | u | û | w | ‘ |
| a | aa | ch | e | ee | h | i | ii | k | o | oo | p | r | s | t | ts | u | uu | w | ‘ |
