Atsugewi language

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Atsugewi
Spoken in California
Total speakers Extinct
Language family Palaihnihan
  • Atsugewi
Language codes
ISO 639-1 None
ISO 639-2  
Ethnologue 14th edition: ATW
ISO 639-3 nai

Atsugewi is an extinct Palaihnihan language of northeastern California spoken by the Hat Creek and Dixie Valley people. In 1962, there were four speakers out of an ethnic group of 200, all elderly.

Astugewi is related to Achumawi. They have long been considered as part of the hypothetical Hokan stock, and it has been supposed that within that stock they comprise the Palaihnihan family.

The name properly is Atsugé, to which the -wi of the Achumawi or Pit River language was erroneously suffixed.

Contents

Sounds

Consonants

Atsugewi has 32 consonants. Most of these form pairs of plain and glottalized. Plosives and affricates also have a third, aspirated member of the series (except for the single glottal stop).

  Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Nasal plain m n        
glott.        
Stop plain p t t k q ʔ
ejective tʃʼ
aspir. tʃʰ
Fricative plain   s       h ɦ
ejective          
Rhotic plain   r        
glott.          
Approximant plain   l j w    
glott.      

Vowels

Atsugewi language has basically only three vowels: /a/, /o/, and /i/; /e/ is the allophone of /i/ while /o/ is the allophone of /u/. However, it has been supported by Leonard Talmy (1972) that there are instances such as the word ce "the eye(s)" where e can be analyzed as a proper phoneme.

External links

Bibliography


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