View source for Sahaptian languages

{{Short description|Plateau Penutian language branch of US}}
{{Infobox language family
| name          = Sahaptian
| altname       = 
| region        = [[Pacific Northwest]]
| familycolor   = penutian
| fam1          = [[Penutian languages|Penutian]]?
| fam2          = [[Plateau Penutian languages|Plateau Penutian]]
| glotto        = saha1239
| glottorefname = Sahaptian
| child1        = ''[[Nez Perce language|Nez Perce]]''
| child2        = ''[[Sahaptin language|Sahaptin]]''
| mapcaption    = Sahaptian among Plateau Penutian languages
| map           = Plateau Penutian labeled cropped.svg
}}

'''Sahaptian''' (also '''Sahaptianic''', '''Sahaptin''', '''Shahaptian''') is a two-language branch of the hypothetical [[Plateau Penutian]] family spoken by [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] peoples in the [[Columbia Plateau]] region of [[Washington (state)|Washington]], [[Oregon]], and [[Idaho]] in the northwestern [[United States]].

The terms ''Sahaptian'' (the family) and ''Sahaptin'' (the language) have often been confused and used interchangeably in the literature.

==Family division==
Sahaptian includes two languages:

:1. '''[[Nez Perce language|Nez Perce]]''' (''Niimi{{hamza}}ipuutímt'')
:2. '''[[Sahaptin language|Sahaptin]]'''

Nez Perce has two principal dialects, Upper and Lower. Sahaptin has somewhat greater internal diversity, with its main dialects being [[Umatilla language|Umatilla]] and [[Yakima|Yakama]].

Noel Rude's (2012) classification of Sahaptian is as follows.<ref name="Rude-2012"/>

{{tree list}}
*'''Proto-Sahaptian'''
**[[Nez Perce language|Nez Perce]]
**[[Sahaptin language|Sahaptin]]
***''[[Columbia River]]'' dialect
***''Northern'' dialect
****''Northwest'' dialect
****''Northeast'' dialect
{{tree list/end}}

==Proto-language==<!---[[Proto-Sahaptian]] redirects here--->
{{Infobox proto-language
| name             = Proto-Sahaptian 
| familycolor      = penutian
| ancestor         = 
| target          = Sahaptian languages
}}

Work on Proto-Sahaptian reconstruction has been undertaken by Aoki (1962) and Noel Rude (2006,<ref name="Rude-2006">Rude, Noel. 2006. [https://lingpapers.sites.olt.ubc.ca/files/2018/02/Rude_2006.pdf Proto-Sahaptian vocalism]. In ''Papers for the 41st International Conference on Salish and neighbouring languages'', 264-277. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.</ref> 2012<ref name="Rude-2012">Rude, Noel. 2012. [https://lingpapers.sites.olt.ubc.ca/files/2018/01/2012_Rude.pdf Reconstructing Proto-Sahaptian Sounds].  In ''Papers for the 47th International Conference on Salish and neighbouring languages'', 292-324. Working Papers in Linguistics (UBCWPL). Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.</ref>).

Proto-Sahaptian consonants:<ref name="Rude-2012"/>{{rp|306}}<!---Please do not reorder or retranscribe. This table follows the source, which presents the reconstructed phonemes in a family specific structure, and in a notation commonly used for Native American languages--->
:{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! colspan=2 rowspan=2| !! rowspan=2| [[Bilabial consonant|Bilabial]] !! colspan=3| [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]] !! rowspan=2| [[Postalveolar consonant|Post-<br/>alveolar]] !! colspan=2| [[Velar consonant|Velar]] !! colspan=2| [[Uvular consonant|Uvular]] !! rowspan=2| [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! <small>plain</small> !! <small>lateral</small> !! <small>central</small> !! <small>plain</small> !! <small>labialized</small> !! <small>plain</small> !! <small>labialized</small>
|-
! colspan=2| [[Stop consonant|Stop]]/[[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
| p || t || t͡ɬ || t͡s || t͡ʃ || k || kʷ || q || qʷ || ʔ
|-
! colspan=2| [[Ejective consonant|Ejective]]
| p’ || t’ || t͡ɬʼ || t͡sʼ || t͡ʃʼ || kʼ || kʷʼ || qʼ || qʷʼ ||
|-
! colspan=2| [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
|  ||  || ɬ || s || ʃ || x || xʷ || χ || χʷ  || h
|-
! rowspan=2| [[Sonorant]] !! plain
| m || n || l ||  || j || || w ||  ||  || 
|-
! [[Glottalization|glottalized]]
| mˀ || nˀ || lˀ || || jˀ || || wˀ || ||  || 
|}

Proto-Sahaptian vowels:<ref name="Rude-2012"/>{{rp|293}}
:{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
!  !! front !! central !! back
|-
! high
| i || ɨ || u
|-
! mid
|  ||  || o
|-
! low
| æ ||  || ɑ
|}

==Bibliography==
*Aoki, Haruo. 1962. Nez Perce and Northern Sahaptin: A binary comparison. International Journal of American Linguistics 28(3). 172–182.
* Aoki, Haruo (1963). On Sahaptian-Klamath Linguistic Affiliations. ''International Journal of American Linguistics'' 29, no. 2: 107–112.
* Aoki, Haruo (1966). Nez Percé vowel harmony and proto-Sahaptian vowels. ''Language'', ''42'', 759-767.
* Aoki, Haruo (1970). ''Nez Percé grammar''. University of California publications in linguistics (Vol. 62). Berkeley: University of California Press. {{ISBN|0-520-09259-7}}.
* Mithun, Marianne (1999). ''The languages of Native North America''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-23228-7}} (hbk); {{ISBN|0-521-29875-X}}.
* Rigsby, Bruce (1965). Continuity and change in Sahaptian vowel systems. ''International Journal of American Linguistics'', ''31'', 306-311.
* Rigsby, Bruce; & Silverstein, Michael (1969). Nez Percé vowels and proto-Sahaptian vowel harmony. ''Language'', ''45'', 45-59.
* Rude, Noel.  (2012). Reconstructing Proto-Sahaptian Sounds. ''University of British Columbia Working Papers in Linguistics'', Vol. 32, pp.&nbsp;292–324.  Papers for the Forty-seventh International Conference on Salish and Neighbouring Languages, Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada, August 3–5, 2012, edited by Joel Dunham, John Lyon & Natalie Weber.

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Penutian languages}}

{{Indigenous peoples in Washington}}

[[Category:Sahaptian languages| ]]
[[Category:Language families]]
[[Category:Plateau Penutian languages]]
[[Category:Indigenous languages of the North American Plateau]]
[[Category:Indigenous languages of the United States]]