Caddo language
Caddo (endonym: Hasí꞉nay, pronounced [hasí:naj]) is a Caddoan language indigenous to the Southern United States and the traditional language of the Caddo Nation.[3] It is dormant but not dead, with the last native speaker dying in 2025, down from 25 native speakers in 1997; nevertheless there are revitalization programs.[4][5] Caddo had several mutually-intelligible dialects. The most commonly used dialects was Hasinai and Hainai; others included Kadohadacho, Natchitoches and Yatasi.[6] Linguistic connectionsCaddo is member of the Caddoan language family; this family includes the Pawnee-Kitsai (Keechi) languages (Arikara, Kitsai, and Pawnee) and the Wichita language. Like Caddo, Kitsai and Wichita are now dormant. Another language, Adai, is postulated to have been a Caddoan language while it was extant, but because of scarce resources and the language's extinct status, this connection is not conclusive, and Adai is generally considered a language isolate.[7] Use and language revitalization effortsThe Caddo Nation is making a concentrated effort to save the Caddo language. The Kiwat Hasí꞉nay ('Caddo Home') foundation, located at the tribal home of Binger, Oklahoma, offers regular Caddo language classes, in addition to creating dictionaries, phrase books, and other Caddo language resources. They have also made a long-term project of trying to record and digitally archive Caddoan oral traditions, which are an important part of Caddo culture.[8] As of 2010, a Caddo app is available for Android phones.[9] As of 2012, the Caddo Nation teaches weekly language classes; language CDs, a coloring book, and an online learning website are also available.[10][11] There is a Caddo grammar, published August 2018,[12] and an in-depth examination of the Caddo verb, published in 2004.[13] In August 2022 the Caddo Nation Language Preservation Program was launched. The program's goals are to archive resources in the language, share their resources through community events and programs, and develop a curriculum to teach the language.[14] PhonologyConsonantsCaddo has 19 contrastive consonants, a normal-sized consonant inventory. It is somewhat unusual in that it lacks liquid consonants.[15] The IPA symbols for the consonants of Caddo are given below:
Caddo also features contrastive gemination of consonants, which is generally indicated in orthography by a double letter: /nɑ́ttih/ "woman."[7] VowelsCaddo has three contrastive vowel qualities: /i/, /a/ and /u/, and two contrastive vowel lengths, long and short.
However, there is a great deal of phonetic variation in the short vowels. The high front vowel /i/ is generally realized as its lower counterpart /ɪ/, and the high back vowel /u/ is similarly often realized as its lower counterpart /ʊ/. The low central vowel /ä/ has a wider range of variation, pronounced (most commonly) as /ɐ/ when it is followed by any consonant except a semivowel or a laryngeal consonant, as a low central /ä/ at the end of an open syllable or when followed by a laryngeal consonant, and as /ə/ before a semivowel. In general, the long vowels do not feature this kind of variation but are simply lengthened versions of the phonemes that are represented in the chart.[16] Caddo also has four diphthongs, which can be written a number of different ways; the transcription below shows the typical Caddo Nation orthography (a vowel paired with a glide) and the IPA version, represented with vowels and offglides.[7]
ToneCaddo has three lexical tones: a low tone (e.g. /ù/), unmarked in the orthography ⟨u⟩; a high tone (e.g. /ú/), marked by an acute accent over the vowel ⟨ú⟩; and falling tone, which always occurs on long vowels (e.g. /ûː/) and is marked by a grave accent over the vowel ⟨ù꞉⟩. Tone occurrs both lexically (as a property of the word), non-lexically (as a result of tonological processes), and also as a marker of certain morphological features. For instance, the past tense marker is associated with high tone.[16] Tonological processesThere are three processes that can create non-lexical high tone within a syllable nucleus.[16] See the section below for an explanation of other phonological changes which may occur in the following examples.
Phonological processesVowel syncopeThere are two vowel syncope processes in Caddo, which both involve the loss of a low-tone vowel in certain environments.[16] The first syncope process is described above as low tone-deletion. The second syncope process is described below:
Consonant cluster simplificationAs a result of the syncope processes described above, several consonant clusters emerge that are then simplified by way of phonological process. At the present stage of research, the processes seem to be unrelated, but they represent a phonetic reduction in consonant clusters; therefore, they are listed below without much further explanation.[16]
Syllable coda simplificationSimilar to the consonant cluster simplification process, there are four processes by which a syllable-final consonant is altered:[16]
Word boundary processesThere are three word-boundary processes in Caddo, all of which occur word-initially:
Such processes are generally not applicable in the case of proclitics (morphemes that behave like an affix and are phonologically dependent on the morpheme to which they are attached). An example is the English articles.[16] GlottalizationCaddo has a glottalization process by which any voiceless stop or affricate (except p) becomes an ejective when it is followed by a glottal stop.[16]
PalatalizationCaddo has a palatalization process that affects certain consonants when they are followed by /j/, with simultaneous loss of the /j/.
(Melnar includes a third palatization process, /tj/ → [ts]. However, /ts/ is not a palatal affricate so it has not been included here. Nevertheless, the third process probably occurs.)[16] LengtheningCaddo has three processes by which a syllable nucleus (vowel) may be lengthened:[16]
InfluenceThe Caddo word táy:sha’ ([tə́jːʃaʔ]), meaning 'ally' or 'friend', is the ultimate origin of the place name Texas.[5][12] Citations
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