Pronunciation há·nis Ethnicity Hanis people ISO 639-3 csz | Language family CoosanHanis | |
Extinct 1972with the death of Martha Harney Johnson (1886–1972). | ||
Hanis, or Coos, was one of two Coosan languages of Oregon, and the better documented. It was spoken north of the Miluk around the Coos River and Coos Bay. The há·nis was the Hanis name for themselves. The last speaker of Hanis was Martha Harney Johnson, who died in 1972. Another speaker was Annie Miner Peterson, who worked with linguist Melville Jacobs to document the language.
As of 2007, classes in Hanis were offered by the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians. A book and CD, Hanis for Beginners, were published in 2011, and a companion website is available for tribal members at hanis.org.
Phonology
The /p t ts tɬ tʃ k q/ series are optionally voiced. /l m n/ may be syllabic. Vowels /i e a u/ may be long or short; there is also a short /ə/. Stress is phonemic.