Pawnee language

Pawnee language

language
name=Pawnee
familycolor=lightblue
states=United States
region=North-central Oklahoma
speakers=20
fam1=Caddoan languages
fam2=Northern Caddoan
fam3=Pawnee-Kitsai
fam4=Pawnee
iso1=
iso2b=|iso2t=
iso3=paw

The Pawnee language is a Caddoan language spoken by Pawnee Native Americans located in North central Oklahoma. Once the language of thousands of Pawnees, today Pawnee is spoken by a shrinking number of elderly speakers, and as more young people continue to learn English as their first language, the status of Pawnee declines towards extinction.

Dialects

Two important dialect divisions are evident in Pawnee: South Band and Skiri. The distinction between the two dialects rests on differences in their respective phonetic inventory and lexicon.

ounds

The sounds described in this section belong to the South Band dialect of Pawnee.

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.

* IPA|/ʔ/ is predictable when it occurs in the middle of words. However, since IPA|/ʔ/ is not completely predictable at the ends of words, it may also need to be considered as a (phonemic) consonant.

Vowels

Pawnee has four short vowel phonemes and four long counterparts (also phonemic).

Grammar

Pawnee is a polysynthetic language and displays ergativity between nouns and verbs.

References

*American Indian Studies Research Institute. (2008). Dictionary Database: Pawnee (Skidi and Southband dialects). http://zia.aisri.indiana.edu/~dictsearch/
* Mithun, Marianne. (1999). "The languages of Native North America". Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
* Parks, Douglas R. (1976). "A grammar of Pawnee". New York: Garland.
* Taylor, Allan R. (1978). [Review of "A grammar of Pawnee" by D. Parks] . "Language", "54" (4), 969-972.

External links

* [http://www.ethnologue.org/show_language.asp?code=paw Ethnologue report for Language]
* [http://www.rosettaproject.org Rosetta Project Archive]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Pawnee — Infobox Ethnic group group=Pawnee poptime=5,500 popplace=Oklahoma, USA rels=Christianity, other langs=Caddoan, Pawnee related=other Caddoan peoples The Pawnee (also Paneassa, Pari, Pariki) are a Native American tribe that historically lived along …   Wikipedia

  • Pawnee mythology — is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Pawnee concerning their gods and heroes. The Pawnee are a federally recognized tribe of Native Americans, originally located on the Great Plains along tributaries of the Missouri River. They spoke …   Wikipedia

  • Pawnee(langue) — Pawnee (langue) Pawnee Parlée aux  États Unis Région  Oklahoma Nombre de locuteurs …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Pawnee — [pô nē′] n. [NAmFr pani < Illinois < Iowa panyi ] 1. pl. Pawnees or Pawnee a member of a group of North American Plains Indian peoples, formerly living in the valley of the Platte River in Nebraska and now living in N Oklahoma 2. the… …   English World dictionary

  • Pawnee — /paw nee /, n., pl. Pawnees, (esp. collectively) Pawnee for 1. 1. a member of a confederacy of North American Plains Indians of Caddoan stock formerly located along the Platte River valley, Nebraska, and now living in northern Oklahoma. 2. the… …   Universalium

  • Pawnee — 1. noun a) A near extinct language of North America. b) A person of Pawnee origin or descent. 2. adjective Relating to the Pawnee people or language …   Wiktionary

  • Pawnee — 1 Original name in latin Pawnee Name in other language State code US Continent/City America/Chicago longitude 39.59172 latitude 89.58037 altitude 186 Population 2739 Date 2011 05 14 2 Original name in latin Pawnee Name in other language State… …   Cities with a population over 1000 database

  • Pawnee — noun 1. a member of the Pawnee nation formerly living in Nebraska and Kansas but now largely in Oklahoma • Hypernyms: ↑Caddo 2. the Caddoan language spoken by the Pawnee • Hypernyms: ↑Caddo, ↑Caddoan, ↑Caddoan language …   Useful english dictionary

  • Pawnee — [pɔ: ni:] noun (plural same or Pawnees) 1》 a member of an American Indian confederacy formerly living in Nebraska, and now mainly in Oklahoma. 2》 the Caddoan language of the Pawnee. Origin from Canad. Fr. Pani, from a N. Amer. Ind. language …   English new terms dictionary

  • language — I (New American Roget s College Thesaurus) System of communication Nouns 1. language, tongue, lingo, vernacular, mother tongue, protolanguage; living or dead language; idiom, parlance, phraseology; wording; dialect, patois, cant, jargon, lingo,… …   English dictionary for students

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”