Jicarilla language

Language revitalization

680 people reported their language as Jicarilla on the 2000 census. However, Golla (2007) reported that there were about 300 first-language speakers and an equal or greater number of semi-speakers (out of a total ethnic population of 3,100); the census figures therefore presumably include both fluent and semi-speakers. In 2003, the Jicarilla Apache Nation became the first Tribe in New Mexico to certify community members to teach a Native American language. Revitalization efforts (as of 2012) have included compilation of a dictionary, classes, and seasonal camps for youth.

Consonants

Jicarilla has 34 consonants:

What has developed into /d/ in Jicarilla corresponds to /n/ and /ⁿd/ in other Southern Athabaskan languages (e.g. Navajo and Chiricahua).

Aspirated Stops

The consonant /t ʰ/, occurring in most other Athabaskan languages, only occurs alone in a few forms in Jicarilla and has mostly merged with /k ʰ/. This consequently has made most of the aspirated stops in Jicarilla velar.

Fricatives and Approximants

[w] and [ɰʷ] are allophones of /ɣʷ/.

[ɰ] is an allophone of /ɣ/.

Nasals

/m/ is never found word-finally and its most frequent position is in prefixes.

/n/: See section on Syllabic /n/.

Syllabic /n/ in Jicarilla

The consonant /n/ can appear as a syllable and bear a high or low tone, but not a falling tone. High-toned /ń/ actually represents an underlying syllable, /nÍ/. There are four possible contours for Vowel-/n/ and /n/-/n/ combinations: Low-high, High-low, High-high, and Low-low. The contours are illustrated in the following table:

(Modified from Tuttle & Sandoval 2002, p. 109)

/n/ may occur between /t/, /ʔ/, or /n/ and any stem-initial consonant, but when /n/ occurs alone before a stem-initial consonant, it forms a syllable of its own. When preceded by another prefix consonant, /n/ may or may not be judged to form a syllable by native speakers of Jicarilla.

Vowels

Jicarilla has 16 vowels:

All vowels may be

oral or nasal

short or long

The long high front oral vowel is phonetically higher than its nasal and short counterparts ([iː] vs. [ɪ, ɪ̃, ɪ̃ː]). The short back vowel is higher than its long and nasal counterparts ([ʊ] vs. [oː, õ, õː]). The short low vowel is higher than its long and nasal counterparts ([ə] vs. [aː, ã, ãː]).

Nasal vowels are indicated by underlining in the Jicarilla orthography.

There are oral and nasal versions of each vowel, but not all combinations of vowel quality, nasality, and tone are possible.

Tone

Jicarilla has three different tones: high, low, and falling.

High tone is indicated with an acute accent. Low tone is unmarked. Falling tone is indicated by a sequence of acute-accented vowel and an unmarked vowel.

high tone: tsé (rock), dééh (tea)

low tone: ts’e 'sagebush', jee 'pitch'

falling tone: zháal (money), ha’dáonáa (how?)

Syllable Structure

Syllables may be constructed as CV, CVC, or CV:C (C – Consonant; V – Vowel) depending on the morphology of a sequence. Onset may be any consonant, but coda consonants are limited to /ʔ/, /l/, /ɬ/, /ʃ/, /h/, /s/and /n/.

Syllable Duration

A study of the durational effects of Jicarilla Apache show that morphology and prosody both affect and determine the durational realization of consonants and syllables. It was found that in a recording of a passage read by native speakers stem, suffix, and particle syllables were found to be longer than prefix syllables, but there is not enough a distinction to see difference in duration. Syllables at the end of phrases were lengthened differently from syllables lengthened because of stress; this is in regards to a ratio of onset lengthening to rhyme lengthening. This study was only a beginning to analysis of Apachean language prosody.

Morphophonology

The Athabaskan morphophonological process known as the "d-effect" occurs when 1st pl/dual iid- is prefixed to a verb stem. The following examples are taken from Phone, Olson and Martinez 2007: 39:

-iid- + classifier [ƚ] → [ƚ] ex. ‘óoƚkai’(< /’o-iid-ƚ-kai’/) ‘we two count it’ -iid- + stem initial [ʔ] → [t’] ex. hit’aaƚ(< /hi-iid-‘aaƚ/) 'we two chew it’ -iid- + stem initial [m] → [h] ex. hiihmas(< /hi-iid-mas/) ‘we two are rolling’ -iid- + stem initial [n] → [h] ex. goohndé (< /go-iid-ndé/) 'we two shout’ -iid- + stem initial [y] → [d], [dz] ex. hiidá (< /hi-iid-yá/) ‘we two eat it’ -iid- + stem initial gh [ɣ] → [g] ex. hiigá (< /hi-iid-ghá/) ‘we two kill them’ -iid- + stem initial [z] → [dz] ex. naa’iidzii(< /naa-í-iid-zii/) 'we two work’ -iid- + stem initial [l] → [tƚ] ex. haatƚee (< /ha-iid-lee/) ‘we two pull it out with a rope’ -iid- + other consonant → ø (zero) ex. hiiká' (< /hi-iid-ká’/) ‘we two pound (a drum)’

Jicarilla Words of Spanish Origin

The Jicarilla people have been in contact with Spanish-speaking and English-speaking peoples for a long time and have over time adopted loanwords that have influenced Jicarilla phonology. Most of the sounds used to take in a loanword from Spanish are sounds in Jicarilla. Some sounds not occurring in Jicarilla phonology are changed into Jicarilla as follows:

/r/ → /l/ or /lal/ as in ‘’alalóos’’ (from Spanish ‘arroz’ ‘rice’); ‘’goléelo’’ (from ‘correo’ ‘mail’)

/ɾ/ → /ɬ/ as in ‘’déełbidi’’ (from ‘intérprete’ ‘interpreter’)

*Or /l/ as in ‘’béela’’ (from ‘pera’ ‘pear’)

/f/ → /h/ as in ‘’as’dóoha’’ (from ‘estufa’ ‘stove’)

*Or /ʔ/ as in ‘’ga’ée’’ (from ‘café’ ‘coffee’) *Or /k/ as in ‘’kéesda’’ (from ‘fiesta’ ‘party’)

/gu/ → /ɣʷoː/ as in ‘’awóoha’’ (from ‘aguja’ ‘needle’)

/b/ → /p/ as in ‘’báaso’’ (from ‘vaso’ ‘drinking glass’)

Words of Spanish origin using /p/ in Jicarilla are the only instances where the /p/ or any other labial obstruent did not descend from a sonorant.

/ɲ/ → /j/ with nasalization of following corresponding vowel

‘’Báayoo’’ (from ‘paño’ ‘scarf’)

Syllable final /l/ turns into /ɬ/ in words of Spanish origin in Jicarilla even though /l/ is a possible coda in Jicarilla. See:

‘’Bíił’’ (from ‘automóvil’ ‘automobile’)

‘’Bołdóon’’ (from ‘bulto’ ‘small haystack’)

‘’Gołjóon’’ (from ‘colchón’ ‘mattress’)

(Observations from entries in Pono, et al., p. 9-16)