Zuni language
Encyclopedia
Zuni is a language of the Zuni people, indigenous to western New Mexico
and eastern Arizona
in the United States
. It is spoken by around 9,500 people worldwide, especially in the vicinity of Zuni Pueblo
, New Mexico
, and much smaller numbers in parts of Arizona
.
Unlike most indigenous languages in the US, Zuni is still spoken by a significant number of children and, thus, is comparatively less threatened with language endangerment. Edmund Ladd reported in 1994 that Zuni is still the main language of communication in the pueblo and is used in the home (Newman 1996).
Within the language, the language itself is called (shiwi "Zuni" + -’ma "vernacular", trans. as "Zuni way") and its speakers are collectively A:shiwi (’a:(w)- "plural" + shiwi "Zuni").
(i.e., unrelated to any other language). A number of possible relationships to other languages have been proposed by various researchers although none of these has gained general acceptance. The main hypothetical proposals have been connections with Penutian (and Penutioid and Macro-Penutian), Tanoan, and Hokan phyla and also the Keresan languages
.
The most clearly articulated hypothesis is Newman's (1964) connection to Penutian, but even this was considered by Newman (according to Michael Silverstein
) to be a tongue-in-cheek work due to the inherent problematic nature of the methodology used in Penutian studies (Goddard 1996). Newman's cognate sets suffered from common problems in comparative linguistics
, such as comparing commonly borrowed forms (e.g. "tobacco"), forms with large semantic differences (e.g. "bad" and "garbage", "horse" and "hoof"), nursery forms, and onomatopoetic forms (Campbell 1997). Zuni was also included under Morris Swadesh
's Penutioid proposal and Joseph Greenberg
's very inclusive Penutian sub-grouping – both without convincing arguments (Campbell 1997).
Zuni was included with reservations under Aztec-Tanoan under Edward Sapir
's heuristic 1929 classification (without supporting evidence). Later discussions of the Aztec-Tanoan hypothesis usually excluded Zuni (Foster 1996).
Karl-Heinz Gursky published problematic unconvincing evidence for a Keresan-Zuni grouping. J. P. Harrington wrote one unpublished paper with the title "Zuñi Discovered to be Hokan" (Campbell 1997).
, it shares a number of features with Hopi
, Keresan, and Tanoan (and to a lesser extent Navajo
) that are probably due to language contact
. The development of ejective consonant
s in Zuni may be due to contact with Keresan and Tanoan languages which have complete series of ejectives. Likewise, aspirated
consonants may have diffused into Zuni. Some Tanoan languages have i-e-a-o-u vowel systems, which may have resulted from contact with Zuni. Other shared traits include: final devoicing of vowels and sonorant
consonants, dual number
, ceremonial vocabulary, and the presence of a labialized velar [kʷ] (Campbell 1997).
Zuni vowels:
Zuni syllable
s have the following specification:
Newman (1965, 1996) classifies Zuni words according to their structural morphological
properties (namely the presence and type of inflectional suffixes) and not according to their associated syntactic frames. His terms, noun and substantive, are, therefore, not synonymous.
Note the syncretism between dual and plural non-possessive forms in the first and second persons. Utterances with these pronouns are typically disambiguated by the fact that plural pronouns agree with plural-marked verb forms.
Names – Teknonymy
. Zuni adults are often known after the relationship between that adult and a child. For example, a person might be called "father of so-and-so", etc. This circumlocution is used to avoid using adult names, which have religious meanings and are very personal.
A /a/, B, D, CH, E /e/, H, I /i/, K, L, Ł, M, N, O /o/, P, S, T, U /ʊ/, W, Y
This orthography was largely worked out by Curtis Cook.
essentially followed Americanist phonetic notation
with the substitution of some uncommon letters with other letters or digraphs (two letter combinations). A further revised orthography is used in Dennis Tedlock's transcriptions of oral narrative
s.
A comparison of the systems is in the table below.
! Tedlock || Newman || Americanist || Current orthography || IPA
|-
| ʼ || / || ʔ || ’ || /ʔ/
|-
| ʼʼ || // || ʔʔ || ’’ || /ʔʔ/
|-
| a || a || a || a || /a/
|-
| aa || a: || a· || a: || /aː/
|-
| ch || ch || č || ch || /tʃ/
|-
| cch || chch || čč || chh || /tʃtʃ/
|-
| e || e || e || e || /e/
|-
| ee || e: || e· || e: || /eː/
|-
| i || i || i || i || /i/
|-
| ii || i: || i· || i: || /iː/
|-
| h || j || h || h || /h/
|-
| hh || jj || hh || hh || /hh/
|-
| k || k || k || k || /k/
|-
| kk || kk || kk || kk || /kk/
|-
| kw || q || kʷ || kw || /kʷ/
|-
| kkw || qq || kʷkʷ || kkw || /kʷkʷ/
|-
| l || l || l || l || /l/
|-
| ll || ll || ll || ll || /ll/
|-
| lh || lh || ł || ł || /ɬ/
|-
| llh || lhlh || łł || łł || /ɬɬ/
|-
| m || m || m || m || /m/
|}
In Newman's orthography (used in his dictionary, Newman 1958), the symbols, ch, j, lh, q, sh, z, /, : replaced Americanist č, h, ł, kʷ, š, c, ʔ, and · (used in Newman's grammar, Newman 1965).
Tedlock's orthography uses ʼ instead of Newman's / except at the beginning of words where it is not written. Additionally, in Tedlock's system, long vowels are written doubled instead with a length mark : as in Newman's system (e.g. aa instead of a:) and h and kw are used instead of j and q. Finally, Tedlock writes the following long consonants – cch, llh, ssh, tts – with a doubled initial letter instead of Newman's doubling of the digraphs – chch, lhlh, shsh – and kkw and tts are used instead of Newman's qq and zz.
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
and eastern Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It is spoken by around 9,500 people worldwide, especially in the vicinity of Zuni Pueblo
Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico
Zuni Pueblo is a census-designated place in McKinley County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 6,367 at the 2000 census...
, New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, and much smaller numbers in parts of Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
.
Unlike most indigenous languages in the US, Zuni is still spoken by a significant number of children and, thus, is comparatively less threatened with language endangerment. Edmund Ladd reported in 1994 that Zuni is still the main language of communication in the pueblo and is used in the home (Newman 1996).
Within the language, the language itself is called (shiwi "Zuni" + -’ma "vernacular", trans. as "Zuni way") and its speakers are collectively A:shiwi (’a:(w)- "plural" + shiwi "Zuni").
Classification
Zuni is considered a language isolateLanguage isolate
A language isolate, in the absolute sense, is a natural language with no demonstrable genealogical relationship with other languages; that is, one that has not been demonstrated to descend from an ancestor common with any other language. They are in effect language families consisting of a single...
(i.e., unrelated to any other language). A number of possible relationships to other languages have been proposed by various researchers although none of these has gained general acceptance. The main hypothetical proposals have been connections with Penutian (and Penutioid and Macro-Penutian), Tanoan, and Hokan phyla and also the Keresan languages
Keresan languages
Keresan , also Keres , is a group of seven related languages spoken by Keres Pueblo peoples in New Mexico, U.S.A.. Each is mutually intelligible with its closest neighbors...
.
The most clearly articulated hypothesis is Newman's (1964) connection to Penutian, but even this was considered by Newman (according to Michael Silverstein
Michael Silverstein
Michael Silverstein is a professor of anthropology, linguistics, and psychology at the University of Chicago. He is a theoretician of semiotics and linguistic anthropology. Over the course of his career he has drawn together research on linguistic pragmatics, sociolinguistics, language ideology,...
) to be a tongue-in-cheek work due to the inherent problematic nature of the methodology used in Penutian studies (Goddard 1996). Newman's cognate sets suffered from common problems in comparative linguistics
Comparative linguistics
Comparative linguistics is a branch of historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages to establish their historical relatedness....
, such as comparing commonly borrowed forms (e.g. "tobacco"), forms with large semantic differences (e.g. "bad" and "garbage", "horse" and "hoof"), nursery forms, and onomatopoetic forms (Campbell 1997). Zuni was also included under Morris Swadesh
Morris Swadesh
Morris Swadesh was an influential and controversial American linguist. In his work, he applied basic concepts in historical linguistics to the Indigenous languages of the Americas...
's Penutioid proposal and Joseph Greenberg
Joseph Greenberg
Joseph Harold Greenberg was a prominent and controversial American linguist, principally known for his work in two areas, linguistic typology and the genetic classification of languages.- Early life and career :...
's very inclusive Penutian sub-grouping – both without convincing arguments (Campbell 1997).
Zuni was included with reservations under Aztec-Tanoan under Edward Sapir
Edward Sapir
Edward Sapir was an American anthropologist-linguist, widely considered to be one of the most important figures in the early development of the discipline of linguistics....
's heuristic 1929 classification (without supporting evidence). Later discussions of the Aztec-Tanoan hypothesis usually excluded Zuni (Foster 1996).
Karl-Heinz Gursky published problematic unconvincing evidence for a Keresan-Zuni grouping. J. P. Harrington wrote one unpublished paper with the title "Zuñi Discovered to be Hokan" (Campbell 1997).
Language contact
Since Zuni is a member of the Pueblo linguistic areaPueblo linguistic area
The Pueblo linguistic area is a Sprachbund consisting of the language spoken in and near North American Pueblo locations....
, it shares a number of features with Hopi
Hopi language
Hopi is a Uto-Aztecan language spoken by the Hopi people of northeastern Arizona, USA, although today some Hopi are monolingual English speakers.The use of the language has gradually declined over the course of the 20th century...
, Keresan, and Tanoan (and to a lesser extent Navajo
Navajo language
Navajo or Navaho is an Athabaskan language spoken in the southwestern United States. It is geographically and linguistically one of the Southern Athabaskan languages .Navajo has more speakers than any other Native American language north of the...
) that are probably due to language contact
Language contact
Language contact occurs when two or more languages or varieties interact. The study of language contact is called contact linguistics.Multilingualism has likely been common throughout much of human history, and today most people in the world are multilingual...
. The development of ejective consonant
Ejective consonant
In phonetics, ejective consonants are voiceless consonants that are pronounced with simultaneous closure of the glottis. In the phonology of a particular language, ejectives may contrast with aspirated or tenuis consonants...
s in Zuni may be due to contact with Keresan and Tanoan languages which have complete series of ejectives. Likewise, aspirated
Aspiration (phonetics)
In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. To feel or see the difference between aspirated and unaspirated sounds, one can put a hand or a lit candle in front of one's mouth, and say pin ...
consonants may have diffused into Zuni. Some Tanoan languages have i-e-a-o-u vowel systems, which may have resulted from contact with Zuni. Other shared traits include: final devoicing of vowels and sonorant
Sonorant
In phonetics and phonology, a sonorant is a speech sound that is produced without turbulent airflow in the vocal tract; fricatives and plosives are not sonorants. Vowels are sonorants, as are consonants like and . Other consonants, like or , restrict the airflow enough to cause turbulence, and...
consonants, dual number
Dual (grammatical number)
Dual is a grammatical number that some languages use in addition to singular and plural. When a noun or pronoun appears in dual form, it is interpreted as referring to precisely two of the entities identified by the noun or pronoun...
, ceremonial vocabulary, and the presence of a labialized velar [kʷ] (Campbell 1997).
Sounds
The 16 consonants of Zuni in orthography (with IPA phonetic symbol when different from orthography):| Bilabial Bilabial consonant In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:... |
Dental/Alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth... |
Post- alveolar Postalveolar consonant Postalveolar consonants are consonants articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of the alveolar ridge, further back in the mouth than the alveolar consonants, which are at the ridge itself, but not as far back as the hard palate... |
Palatal Palatal consonant Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate... |
Velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum).... |
Glottal Glottal consonant Glottal consonants, also called laryngeal consonants, are consonants articulated with the glottis. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the so-called fricative, to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other consonants have; in fact, some do not consider... |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| central Central consonant A central or medial consonant is a consonant sound that is produced when air flows across the center of the mouth over the tongue. The class contrasts with lateral consonants, in which air flows over the sides of the tongue rather than down its center.... |
lateral Lateral consonant A lateral is an el-like consonant, in which airstream proceeds along the sides of the tongue, but is blocked by the tongue from going through the middle of the mouth.... |
plain | labial Labialisation Labialization is a secondary articulatory feature of sounds in some languages. Labialized sounds involve the lips while the remainder of the oral cavity produces another sound. The term is normally restricted to consonants. When vowels involve the lips, they are called rounded.The most common... |
|||||
| Plosive | p | t | k, ky /k/ | kw /kʷ/ | ’ /ʔ/ | |||
| Affricate Affricate consonant Affricates are consonants that begin as stops but release as a fricative rather than directly into the following vowel.- Samples :... |
ts | ch /tʃ/ | ||||||
| Fricative Fricative consonant Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or... |
s | ł /ɬ/ | sh /ʃ/ | h | ||||
| Nasal Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :... |
m | n | ||||||
| Approximant Approximant consonant Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough or with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no... |
l | y /j/ | w | |||||
Zuni vowels:
| Front Front vowel A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also... |
back Back vowel A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark... |
|
|---|---|---|
| High Close vowel A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.This term is prescribed by the... |
i | u |
| Mid Open-mid vowel An open-mid vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of an open-mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned two-thirds of the way from an open vowel to a mid vowel... |
e | o |
| Low Open vowel An open vowel is defined as a vowel sound in which the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth. Open vowels are sometimes also called low vowels in reference to the low position of the tongue... |
a | |
Zuni syllable
Syllable
A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus with optional initial and final margins .Syllables are often considered the phonological "building...
s have the following specification:
- C(C)V(ː)(C)(C)
Grammar
Word order in Zuni is fairly free with a tendency toward SOV. There is no case-marking on nouns. Verbs are complex, compared to nouns, with loose incorporation. Like other languages in the Southwest, Zuni employs switch-reference.Newman (1965, 1996) classifies Zuni words according to their structural morphological
Morphology (linguistics)
In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis and description, in a language, of the structure of morphemes and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context...
properties (namely the presence and type of inflectional suffixes) and not according to their associated syntactic frames. His terms, noun and substantive, are, therefore, not synonymous.
Pronouns
Zuni uses overt pronouns for first, second and third person referents. These pronouns distinguish three numbers (singular, dual and plural) and three cases (subject, object and possessive). In addition, some subject and possessive pronouns have different forms depending on whether they appear utterance-medially or utterance-finally (object pronouns do not occur utterance-medially). All the pronoun forms are shown in the following table:| Subject | Object | Possessive | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| medial | final | medial | final | ||||
| 1sg. | ho' | hoo'o | hom | hom | homma | ||
| 2sg. | to' | too'o | tom | tom | tomma | ||
| 3sg. | – | – | 'an | 'an | 'aani | ||
| 1du. | hon | ho'no | ho'na' | ho'na' | ho'na' | ||
| 2du. | ton | to'no | to'na' | to'na' | to'na' | ||
| 3du. | 'aachi | 'aachi | 'aachiya' | 'aachiya' | 'aachiya' | ||
| 1pl. | hon | ho'no | ho'na' | ho'n'aawan | ho'n'aawan | ||
| 2pl. | ton | to'no | to'na' | to'n'aawan | to'n'aawan | ||
| 3pl. | – | – | 'aawan | 'aawan | 'aawan |
Note the syncretism between dual and plural non-possessive forms in the first and second persons. Utterances with these pronouns are typically disambiguated by the fact that plural pronouns agree with plural-marked verb forms.
Sociolinguistic aspects
- storytelling (telapnaawe) – Tedlock (1972)
- ceremonial speech – Newman (1955)
- slang – Newman (1955)
Names – Teknonymy
Teknonymy
Teknonymy is the practice of referring to parents by the names of their children. This practice can be found in many different cultures around the world....
. Zuni adults are often known after the relationship between that adult and a child. For example, a person might be called "father of so-and-so", etc. This circumlocution is used to avoid using adult names, which have religious meanings and are very personal.
Orthography
There are 18 letters in the Zuni alphabet.A /a/, B, D, CH, E /e/, H, I /i/, K, L, Ł, M, N, O /o/, P, S, T, U /ʊ/, W, Y
- c is not part of the alphabet, although the combination ch is. There are also other two letter combination sounds (like sh).
- c, r, g, v, z, x, q, f, and j are not used to write Zuni, except for the occasional borrowed word.
- it includes Ł, ł indicates IPA /ɬ/
- : is used to indicate long vowels where it follows the vowel
- ’ indicates IPA /ʔ/ (a glottal stopGlottal stopThe glottal stop, or more fully, the voiceless glottal plosive, is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. In English, the feature is represented, for example, by the hyphen in uh-oh! and by the apostrophe or [[ʻokina]] in Hawaii among those using a preservative pronunciation of...
) – it is written medially and finally but not word-initially
This orthography was largely worked out by Curtis Cook.
Old orthographies
Linguists and anthropologists have made up and used their own writing system for Zuni before the alphabet was standardized. One was developed for Zuni by linguist Stanley Newman (Newman 1954). This practical orthographyOrthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...
essentially followed Americanist phonetic notation
Americanist phonetic notation
Americanist phonetic notation is a system of phonetic notation originally developed by European and American anthropologists and language scientists for the phonetic and phonemic transcription of Native American and European languages...
with the substitution of some uncommon letters with other letters or digraphs (two letter combinations). A further revised orthography is used in Dennis Tedlock's transcriptions of oral narrative
Narrative
A narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...
s.
A comparison of the systems is in the table below.
-
- {| cellspacing="5" class="wikitable"
! Tedlock || Newman || Americanist || Current orthography || IPA
|-
| ʼ || / || ʔ || ’ || /ʔ/
|-
| ʼʼ || // || ʔʔ || ’’ || /ʔʔ/
|-
| a || a || a || a || /a/
|-
| aa || a: || a· || a: || /aː/
|-
| ch || ch || č || ch || /tʃ/
|-
| cch || chch || čč || chh || /tʃtʃ/
|-
| e || e || e || e || /e/
|-
| ee || e: || e· || e: || /eː/
|-
| i || i || i || i || /i/
|-
| ii || i: || i· || i: || /iː/
|-
| h || j || h || h || /h/
|-
| hh || jj || hh || hh || /hh/
|-
| k || k || k || k || /k/
|-
| kk || kk || kk || kk || /kk/
|-
| kw || q || kʷ || kw || /kʷ/
|-
| kkw || qq || kʷkʷ || kkw || /kʷkʷ/
|-
| l || l || l || l || /l/
|-
| ll || ll || ll || ll || /ll/
|-
| lh || lh || ł || ł || /ɬ/
|-
| llh || lhlh || łł || łł || /ɬɬ/
|-
| m || m || m || m || /m/
|}
| Tedlock | Newman | Americanist | Current orthography | IPA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| mm | mm | mm | mm | /mm/ |
| n | n | n | n | /n/ |
| nn | nn | nn | nn | /nn/ |
| o | o | o | o | /o/ |
| oo | o: | o· | o: | /oː/ |
| p | p | p | p | /p/ |
| pp | pp | pp | pp | /pp/ |
| s | s | s | s | /s/ |
| ss | ss | ss | ss | /ss/ |
| sh | sh | š | sh | /ʃ/ |
| ssh | shsh | šš | shh | /ʃʃ/ |
| t | t | t | t | /t/ |
| tt | tt | tt | tt | /tt/ |
| ts | z | c | ts | /ts/ |
| tts | zz | cc | tts | /tsts/ |
| u | u | u | u | /u/ |
| uu | u: | u· | u: | /uː/ |
| w | w | w | w | /w/ |
| ww | ww | ww | ww | /ww/ |
| y | y | y | y | /j/ |
| yy | yy | yy | yy | /jj/ |
In Newman's orthography (used in his dictionary, Newman 1958), the symbols, ch, j, lh, q, sh, z, /, : replaced Americanist č, h, ł, kʷ, š, c, ʔ, and · (used in Newman's grammar, Newman 1965).
Tedlock's orthography uses ʼ instead of Newman's / except at the beginning of words where it is not written. Additionally, in Tedlock's system, long vowels are written doubled instead with a length mark : as in Newman's system (e.g. aa instead of a:) and h and kw are used instead of j and q. Finally, Tedlock writes the following long consonants – cch, llh, ssh, tts – with a doubled initial letter instead of Newman's doubling of the digraphs – chch, lhlh, shsh – and kkw and tts are used instead of Newman's qq and zz.
External links
- Ethnologue report for Zuni
- Zuni World View "Linguistic and Ontological Implications of the Conceptual Presuppositions of the Zuni Worldview", HTML and PDF.
- Zuni Enigma (Listen in RealAudio…) Did a group of thirteenth century Japanese pilgrims come to the American Southwest and merge with the people of Zuni? Guests include Nancy Yaw Davis, author of "The Zuni Enigma" and members of the Zuni Nation, Hayes Lewis, Arden Kucate, and Malcolm Bowekety.
- English-Zuni Word list
- English-Zuni Conversational phrases
- Zuni Bible Portions