Trisha Shetty (Editor)

Picuris language

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Native to
  
United States

Native speakers
  
70 (2007)

Ethnicity
  
230 (1990)

ISO 639-3
  
twf (Northern Tiwa)

Region
  
Picuris Pueblo, New Mexico

Language family
  
Tanoan Tiwa Northern Tiwa Picuris

The endangered Picuris (also Picurís) language of the Northern Tiwa branch of Tanoan is spoken in Picuris Pueblo, New Mexico.

Contents

Genealogical relations

Picuris is partially mutually intelligible with Taos dialect, spoken at Taos Pueblo. It is slightly more distantly related to Southern Tiwa (spoken at Isleta Pueblo and Sandia Pueblo).

  • The consonants /b, d, ɡ, ɾ/ are only found in recent Spanish loanwords.
  • G. Trager (1942, 1943) analyzed Picuris as also having aspirated stops /pʰ, tʰ/, ejective stops /pʼ, tʼ, tʃʼ, kʼ/, and labialized /kʷ, kʷʼ, xʷ/. These are considered by F. Trager (1971) to be sequences of /ph, th/, /pʔ, tʔ, tʃʔ, kʔ/, and /kw, kʔw, xw/.
  • Velar /x/ has strong frication.
  • Stops /p, t, ʔ/ are unaspirated while /k/ may be slightly aspirated.
  • The affricate /tʃ/ freely varies with a more forward articulation [tʃ~ts]: for example, F. Trager recorded the word /ˈtʃāˈxʌ̀nē/ "witch" with an initial [tʃ] but the related word /ˈtʃāˈxʌ́ˈɬāwēnē/ "witch chief" with initial [tsʲ].
  • The sequence /kʔw/ is only found in a single word /kʔwìatʃéne/.
  • Alveolar /n/ has an assimilated velar variant [ŋ] when it precedes labio-velar /w/.
  • Nasal /m/ in a low-toned syllable is partially devoiced and denasalized [mp] before a glottal stop /ʔ/, as in /ˈʔʌ̀mʔēnē/ "chokecherry" which is phonetically [ˈʌ̀mpʔɛ̄nɛ̄].
  • Fricative /ɬ/ freely varies between a lateral fricative and an central-lateral fricative sequence [ɬ~sɬ]
  • Lateral /l/ is palatalized [lʲ] before the high front vowel /i/.
  • Only the sonorants /m, n, l, w, j/ can occur in syllable coda position.

    • Picuris has three degrees of stress: primary, secondary, and unstressed. Stress affects the phonetic length of syllable rimes (lengthening the vowel or the syllable-final sonorant consonant).

    Additionally, there are three tones: high, mid, and low — the mid tone being the most frequent.

    Text

    Two sentences with interlinear glosses:

    References

    Picuris language Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA