Konkow language

Konkow
Koyoom k'awi
Spoken in	United States
Region	California
Native speakers	3 to 6  (date missing)
Language family	Maiduan Konkow
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mjd

The Konkow language (also called Northwestern Maidu — or Koyoomk'awi, in the language itself) is a part of the Maiduan language group. The word koyoo means, "meadow", with the additional 'm' being the adjective form of the word. 'Koyoo+ [m, adj.] k'awi + [m, adj.] Ma'a [tribe].' It is spoken in California and is a severely endangered language, as only two or three persons remain who speak it as a first language are still living. As part of an effort to regain official recognition of one of the Konkow groups as an officially recognized tribe from the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, an effort to provide language instruction amongst the descendants of the original tribe and affiliated family members has begun.

Dialects

One source supports the claim that Konkow had at least 9 dialects, designated today according to the locality in which each was spoken. These dialects were: Otaki; Mikchopdo; Cherokee; Eskeni; Pulga; Nemsu; Feather Falls; Challenge; and Bidwell Bar. Lexicon of each remains scant. In addition, there may have been many family variations within each dialect group; thus, certainly there was no one Konkow language, but Konkow means a phonologically distinct pronunciation from what is popularly defined as 'Maidu' or 'Mountain Maidu', namely in terms of stress patterns on lexicon. According to limited historical data, by the turn of the 19th century there were only four of these dialects still being spoken.

Modern Konkow

Since 2002, a dialect which could be called "Modern Konkow," based on what is conventionally called the Cherokee dialect of Konkow, has come into limited use by some California native Americans with cultural and familial ties to the old Konkow tribe. This dialect is primarily based on the dialect as learned by Mary Jones, one of the last speakers of Old Konkow, who learned the dialect that was spoken in the vicinity of Cherokee, California. It is being promulgated with a DVD-based course of study called "Twenty-two Lessons in the Koyoongk'awi Language".

External links

• Konkow language overview at the Survey of California and Other Indian Languages