Ethnicity 2,500 Pawnee (2007) ISO 639-3 paw | Native speakers 100 (2007) | |
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Language family Caddoan languagesNorthernPawnee–KitsaiPawnee languagesPawnee | ||
The Pawnee language is a Caddoan language spoken by some Pawnee Native Americans who now live in north-central Oklahoma. Their traditional historic lands were along the Platte River in what is now Nebraska.
Contents
Dialects
Two important dialect divisions are evident in Pawnee: South Band and Skiri. The distinction between the two dialects rests on differences in their respective phonetic inventory and lexicon.
Status
Once the language of thousands of Pawnees, today Pawnee is spoken by a shrinking number of elderly speakers. As more young people learn English as their first language, the status of Pawnee declines towards extinction. However, as of 2007, the Pawnee Nation is developing teaching materials for the local high school and for adult language classes. Now, there are extensive documentary materials in the language archived at the American Indian Studies Research Institute.
Phonology
The following describes the South Bend dialect.
Consonants
Pawnee has eight consonant phonemes, and according to one analysis of medial- and final-position glottal stops, one may posit a ninth consonant phoneme.
Vowels
Pawnee has four short vowel phonemes and four long counterparts (also phonemic).
Morphology
Pawnee is both a polysynthetic language and an ergative-absolutive language.
Alphabet
The Pawnee alphabet has 9 consonants and 8 vowels. The letters are relatively similar in pronunciation to their English counterparts.