Taos language

language
name=Taos
nativename=
familycolor=American
states=USA
region= Taos Pueblo, NM
speakers=803 (1980)
iso3=twf
fam1=Kiowa-Tanoan
fam2=Tiwa
fam3=Northern Tiwa

The Taos language is a Kiowa-Tanoan language spoken in Taos Pueblo, New Mexico.

Lynn Nichols of University of California, Berkeley is involved in the development of an electronic corpus of Taos texts.

Demographics and ethnography

In data collected in 1935 and 1937, George L. Trager (1946) notes that Taos was spoken by all members of the Taos Pueblo community. Additionally, most speakers were bilingual in either Spanish or English: speakers over 50 years of age were fluent in Spanish, adult speakers younger than 50 spoke Spanish and English, children around 5 years old could speak English but not Spanish — generally a decrease in age correlated with a decrease in Spanish fluency and an increase in English fluency. Pre-school children and a few very old women were monolingual Taos speakers.

A more recent report by Gomez (2003) notes that the language "until a few years ago remained viable only in age groups of thirty and older", a sign that Taos is being affected by language endangerment pressures. Nonetheless, it is one of 46 languages in North America that are being spoken by significant numbers of children as of 1995 (Goddard 1996). The most recent estimate is from 1980 with about 800 native speakers out of 1600 ethnic population (50% of the population).

Taos speakers have historically been reluctant to provide linguists with language data to work with and have preferred to keep their language secret from outsiders. G. Trager had to work with his consultants in private and keep their identities in confidence. [G. Trager's primary consultants in 1935 and 1937 were young men of about 30 years of age.] The tendency for secrecy is a continuing general Pueblo reaction starting in the 17th century in large part due to the oppressive persecution (including public executions and torture) of Pueblo religious practices by the colonial Spanish. The Taos community has been particularly guarded about revealing their language (and culture) to outsiders when compared with other eastern pueblos in New Mexico. [For example, the Taos degree of Indian "blood" averaged around 95% in 1972. In 1970 only one Spanish-American female and 23 non-Taos Indians were living in Taos Pueblo. See Bodine (1979) and Eggan (1979).] Due to secrecy practices, the details of language preservation are not known outside of the community.

Language variation

G. Trager found no dialectal variation in the 1930-1940s.

Genealogical relations

Taos belongs to a northern sub-grouping on the Tiwa branch of the Kiowa-Tanoan language family. It is closely related to and still mutually intelligible with Picurís (spoken at Picuris Pueblo). [Sources on mutual intelligibility report conflicting information. Mithun (1999): "they [Taos and Picuris] are close but generally considered mutually unintelligible". But, G. Trager (1969): "The facts that there are considerable phonological differences between the two languages [Taos and Picuris] , but that the grammatical systems are very much alike and that mutual intelligibility still persists...". G. Trager (1946): "The two Tiwa groups [Northern Tiwa and Southern Tiwa] are fairly homogeneous: Sandía and Isleta [of the Southern Tiwa group] differ very little and are mutually completely intelligible; Taos and Picurís [of the Northern Tiwa group] diverge more from each other. Further, the group as a whole is very similar: Taos and Picurís are each intelligible to the other three, and Sandía and Isleta are understood in the north, though with difficulty". G. Trager (1943): "Taos and Picurís are much alike, and mutually understandable. Sandía and Isleta are almost identical. A speaker of the southern languages can manage to understand the northern two, but the reverse is not true." F. Trager (1971): " [Picuris] is most closely related to Taos; these two languages are in part mutually intelligible." Harrington (1910) observed that an Isleta person (Southern Tiwa) communicated in "Mexican jargon" with Taos speakers as Taos and Southern Tiwa were not mutually intelligible.] It is slightly more distantly related to Southern Tiwa (spoken at Isleta Pueblo and Sandia Pueblo).

History

ounds

Taos has 18 consonants: [This list of consonants rests on Trager (1948). A different analysis is in Trager (1946) (and earlier publications). Both can be compared in Taos phonology.]

:

Taos has three degrees of stress: "primary", "secondary", and "unstressed", as well as three tones: "high", "mid", and "low".

Transcription

Taos has been transcribed by Trager in Americanist phonetic notation. However, his transcription differs between his earlier work exemplified by Trager (1946) and his later work following and explained in Trager (1948). The following chart lists the symbolization of Taos phonemes in Trager (1946) and Trager (1948) and also a corresponding IPA symbolization. However, the chart only lists symbols that differ between the three — if Trager (1946), Trager (1948), and the IPA all use the same symbol it is not listed in the chart below.

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Noun class I is composed of primarily animate nouns. The animate nouns include persons, animals, and kinship terms. Two non-animate nouns in the class are "unicode|c’ìpána" "doll" and "unicode|p’ȍxwíana" "egg". The class includes both native words and loanwords from Spanish (such as "unicode|yàwo’óna" "mare" < " [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yegua yegua] ", "unicode|prìmu’úna" "cousin" < " [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/primo#Spanish primo] ", etc.). Membership of this class is represented by the following list of nouns (cited in the singular form). The first list uses the "unicode|‑ną" inverse suffix in the duoplural.

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Examples of nouns in class II with the "unicode|‑nemą" inverse suffix are below.

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Trager treats class III and IV as sub-classes of a larger single class.

The noun class system also applies to some other word types besides nouns. Demonstratives and some numerals are also inflected for number with different suffixes that agree with the noun that they modify.

Connecting -e-

When some stems are followed by the number suffixes, they are followed by a connecting "unicode|‑e‑" vowel. For example, the word "flower" consists of a stem "unicode|pob‑" and in the inflected forms the intervening vowel appears: "unicode|pȍb‑é‑nemą" "flower". Other examples include "unicode|ȍd‑é‑nemą" "chin, jaw", "unicode|kwían‑e‑na" "bitch", "unicode|łȉw‑é‑na" "woman". However, not all instances of "unicode|e" vowels occurring directly before number suffixes are this intervening vowel as there also some stems which end in a "unicode|e" vowel, such as "unicode|c’ȕné‑na" "coyote" which has the stem "unicode|c’ùne‑".

Reduplication

Several noun stem have reduplicated stem material appearing between the stem and the number suffix. For example, "unicode|kò’óne" "washing" consists of the stem "unicode|ko‑" and the duoplural number suffix "unicode|‑ne". Between the stem and the suffix is the duplifix "unicode|‑’o‑". This duplifix consists of the consonant "unicode|’" and a copy of the final vowel of the stem "unicode|ko‑". The duplifix may be symbolized as "unicode|‑’V‑" where "V" represents the reduplication of any vowel that occurs at the end of the preceding noun stem. Thus "washing" is "unicode|ko‑’V‑ne", which after copying is "unicode|ko‑’o‑ne". Other examples include

:

ee also

* Taos phonology
* Kiowa-Tanoan languages
* Taos Pueblo
* Tiwa languages
* Picuris language
* Southern Tiwa language

Notes

Bibliography

* de Angulo, Jaime. (1925). Taos kinship terminology. "American Anthropologist", "27" (3), 482-483.
* Bodine, John J. (1968). Taos names: A clue to linguistic acculturation. "Anthropological Linguistics", "10" (5), 23-27.
* Bodine, John J. (1979). Taos Pueblo. In A. Ortiz (Ed.), "Handbook of North American Indians: Southwest" (Vol. 9, pp. 255-267). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.
* Eggan, Fred. (1979). Pueblos: Introduction. In A. Ortiz (Ed.), "Handbook of North American Indians: Southwest" (Vol. 9, pp. 224-235). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.
* Goddard, Ives. (1999). Introduction. In I. Goddard (Ed.), "Handbook of North American Indians: Languages" (Vol. 17, pp. 1-16). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.
* Gomez, Henrietta. (2003). Written testimony of Henrietta Gomez, Taos Pueblo Head Start Program Tiwa culture specialist and language instructor before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on the reauthorization of the Head Start Act and on Native American Indian language and culture. Online: [http://indian.senate.gov/2003hrgs/092503hrg/gomez.PDF indian.senate.gov/2003hrgs/092503hrg/gomez.PDF] .
* Hall, Robert. (1947). A note on Taos k'owena 'horse'. "International Journal of American Linguistics", "13" (2), 117-118.
* Harrington, J. P. (1909). Notes on the Piro language. "American Anthropologist", "11" (4), 563-594.
* Harrington, J. P. (1910). An introductory paper on the Tiwa language, dialect of Taos. "American Anthropologist", "12" (1), 11-48.
* Harrington, J. P. (1916). Ambiguity in the Taos personal pronoun. In "Holmes anniversary volume" (pp. 142-156). Washington: J.W. Bryan.
* Jones, William. (1960). Origin of the place name Taos. "Anthropological Linguistics", "2" (3), 2-4.
* Mithun, Marianne. (1999). "The languages of Native North America". Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
* Parsons, Elsie Clews. (1940). "Taos tales". Memoirs of the American Folklore Society (Vol. 34). New York.
* Trager, Felicia. (1971). The phonology of Picuris. "International Journal of American Linguistics", "37", 29-33.
* Trager, George L. (1936). The language of the pueblo of Taos. "Maître Phonétique", "56", 59-62.
* Trager, George L. (1939). The days of the week in the language of Taos Pueblo, New Mexico. "Language", "15", 51-55.
* Trager, George L. (1940). Appendix. In E. C. Parsons, "Taos tales". New York.
* Trager, George L. (1942). The historical phonology of the Tiwa languages. "Studies in Linguistics", "1" (5), 1-10.
* Trager, George L. (1943). The kinship and status terms of the Tiwa languages. "American Anthropologist", "45" (1), 557-571.
* Trager, George L. (1944). Spanish and English loanwords in Taos. "International Journal of American Linguistics", "10" (4), 144-158.
* Trager, George L. (1946). An outline of Taos grammar. In C. Osgood (Ed.), "Linguistic structures in North America" (pp. 184-221). New York: Wenner-Green Foundation for Anthropological Research.
* Trager, George L. (1948). Taos I: A language revisited. "International Journal of American Linguistics", "14" (3), 155-160.
* Trager, George L. (1954). Taos II: Pronominal reference. "International Journal of American Linguistics", "20" (3), 173-180.
* Trager, George L. (1960). Taos III: Paralanguage. "Anthropological Linguistics", "2" (2), 24-30.
* Trager, George L. (1960). The name of Taos, New Mexico. "Anthropological Linguistics", "2" (3), 5-6.
* Trager, George L. (1961). Taos IV: Morphemics, syntax, semology in nouns and in pronominal reference. "International Journal of American Linguistics", "27" (3), 211-222.
* Trager, George L. (1961). The typology of paralanguage. "Anthropological Linguistics", "3" (1), 17-21.
* Trager, George L. (1969). Taos and Picuris: How long separated?. "International Journal of American Linguistics", "35" (2), 180-182.