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Kawaiisu language

Uto-Aztecan language spoken in California

Kawaiisu
Nɨwɨ'abigidɨ, Nɨwɨ'abigipɨ
Pronunciation	[nɨwɨʔabiɣidɨ], [nɨwɨʔabiɣipɨ]
Native to	United States
Region	California
Ethnicity	150 Kawaiisu (2005)[1]
Native speakers	5 (2005)[1]
Language family	Uto-Aztecan Numic Southern Numic Kawaiisu
Language codes
ISO 639-3	xaw
Glottolog	kawa1283
ELP	Kawaiisu
Kawaiisu is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
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The Kawaiisu language^[2] is a Uto-Aztecan language spoken by the Kawaiisu people of California.

Classification[edit]

Kawaiisu is a member of the Southern Numic division of the Uto-Aztecan language family.

Linguistic environment[edit]

The Kawaiisu homeland was bordered by speakers of non-Numic Uto-Aztecan languages: the Kitanemuk to the south spoke Takic, the Tubatulabal to the north spoke Tubatulabal, the Yokuts to the west were non-Uto-Aztecan. Because they shared the Southern Numic language, the Chemehuevi to the east are considered the closest relatives to Kawaiisu.

Geographic distribution[edit]

The remaining Kawaiisu speakers live in the Tehachapi area of California.

Revitalization[edit]

In 1994, the language was severely endangered, with perhaps fewer than 20 remaining speakers.^[3]

In 2011, The Kawaiisu Project received the Governor’s Historic Preservation Award for its efforts to document the Kaiwaiisu language and culture, including "the Handbook of the Kawaiisu, language teaching and the Kawaiisu Language and Cultural Center [and] the Kawaiisu exhibit at the Tehachapi Museum."^[4][5] As of 2012, the Kawaiisu Language and Cultural Center offers language classes and DVDs for home learning, as well as training for other groups seeking to create language learning programs and materials.

Morphology[edit]

Kawaiisu is an agglutinative language, in which words use suffix complexes for a variety of purposes with several morphemes strung together.

Phonology[edit]

Vowels[edit]

Kawaiisu has a typical Numic vowel inventory of six vowels.

Consonants[edit]

Kawaiisu has an atypical Numic consonant inventory in that many of the predictable consonant alternations in other Numic languages are no longer predictable in Kawaiisu. The Kawaiisu consonant inventory, therefore is much larger than the typical Numic language.

• /l/ and /ŋ/ are found only in loanwords.

References[edit]

Footnotes[edit]

Sources[edit]

• Gifford, Edward Winslow (1917). Tübatulabal and Kawaiisu kinship terms. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Retrieved 2012-08-26.

External links[edit]

• Kawaiisu Language and Cultural Center^[usurped]
• Kawaiisu lexicon
• Kawaiisu language overview at the Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
• OLAC resources in and about the Kawaiisu language
• Sheldon and Carol Klein Papers on the Kawaiisu Language at the California Language Archive
• Sheldon Klein collection of Kawaiisu sound recordings  at the California Language Archive