Sahaptin language

Sahaptin (Template:Respell), also called Ichishkiin (Template:Respell; Umatilla: , Yakama: ), is one of the two-language Sahaptian branch of the Plateau Penutian family spoken in a section of the northwestern plateau along the Columbia River and its tributaries in southern Washington, northern Oregon, and southwestern Idaho, in the United States;Template:Sfn the other language is Nez Perce (Niimi'ipuutímt).

Sahaptin is spoken by various tribes of the Washington Reservations; Yakama, Warm Springs, Umatilla; and also spoken in many smaller communities such as Celilo, Oregon.

The Yakama Nation tribal cultural resources program has been promoting the use of their traditional name of the language, ('this language'), instead of the Salish-derived name Sahaptin.Template:Sfn

Name

Sahaptin is typically known as Ichiskiin in its various dialects.Template:Sfn In the Yakama dialect, it is called , spelled variously , , , or .Template:Sfn In the Umatilla dialect, it is called or .

The words Sahaptin, Shahaptin, and Sahaptian are derived from the Columbia-Moses name for the Nez Perce, .Template:Sfn Cognates appear in other Interior Salishan languages, such as Okanagan Template:Langx 'Nez Perce' or Spokane 'Nez Perce', indictating the ancient age of the ethnonym. The name Sahaptin has also been spelled "Shahaptin", "Sahapten", "Shahaptian", and "Shawpatin".Template:Sfn

The first usage of the word "Sahaptin" dates to 1811, in the journal of fur trader David Thompson, who wrote of the "Chief of all the Shawpatin Tribes", referring to the Nez Perce. At the time, "Sahaptin" (and variants) was used to refer to the Nez Perce, while "Walla Walla" was used to refer to the Sahaptin-speaking peoples. Alexander Ross visited a large camp on the Walla Walla River later that year, identifying "the Walla-Wallas, the Shaw Haptens, and the Cajouses". In 1844, Horatio Hale wrote of the "Sahaptin or Nez-Perces" language and the "Walawala" language. At the same time, the Snake River was also sometimes called the Sahaptin River, because it led from the Columbia River to the country of the Nez Perce.Template:Sfn

In the 1960s, the name "Sahaptin" was used by linguists, but it was rare for Sahaptin speakers to even be aware of the term. Most speakers used the terms (Yakama) or (Walla Walla and Umatilla), which mean literally "in this way/manner".Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Dialects

In the Handbook of North American Indians, Sahaptin was split in the following dialects and dialect clusters:Template:Sfn

• Sahaptin
  • Northern Sahaptin
    • Northwest cluster
      • Klikatat
      • Taitnapam (Upper Cowlitz)
      • Upper Nisqually (Mishalpam)
      • Yakima
      • Pshwanwapam
    • Northeast cluster
      • Wanapum
      • Palouse
      • Lower Snake River
      • Chamnapam
      • Wauyukma
      • Naxiyampam
      • Walla Walla (Waluulapam)
  • Southern Sahaptin (Columbia River dialects)
    • Umatilla
    • Rock Creek
    • John Day
    • Celilo (Wyampam)
    • Tenino
    • Tygh Valley

Phonology

The charts of consonants and vowels below are used in the Yakima Sahaptin (Ichishkiin) language:Template:Sfn

Consonants

		Bilabial	Alveolar			(Alveolo-) palatal	Velar		Uvular		Glottal
			plain	sibilant	lateral		plain	labial	plain	labial
Plosive/ Affricate	plain	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
	ejective	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
Fricative				Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
Nasal		Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
Approximant					Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink
Low		Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink

Vowels can also be accented (e.g. /á/).

Writing system

This writing system is used for Umatilla Sahaptin.

Sahaptin alphabet (Umatilla)Template:Sfn

ˀ	a	c	c̓	č	č̓	h	i	ɨ	k	k̓	kʷ
k̓ʷ	l	ł	m	n	p	p̓	q	q̓	qʷ	q̓ʷ	s
š	t	t̓	ƛ	ƛ̓	u	w	x	x̣	xʷ	x̣ʷ	y

Other works use the Yakima practical alphabet.Template:Sfn

Grammar

There are published grammars,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn a recent dictionary,Template:Sfn and a corpus of published texts.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Sahaptin has a split ergative syntax, with direct-inverse voicing and several applicative constructions.Template:Sfn

The ergative case inflects third-person nominals only when the direct object is first- or second-person (the examples below are from the Umatilla dialect):

Template:Interlinear

Template:Interlinear

The direct-inverse contrast can be elicited with examples such as the following. In the inverse, the transitive direct object is coreferential with the subject in the preceding clause.

Direct	Inverse
Template:Interlinear	Template:Interlinear

The inverse (marked by the verbal prefix pá-) retains its transitive status, and a patient nominal is case marked accusative.

A semantic inverse is also marked by the same verbal prefix pá-.

Direct	Inverse
Template:Interlinear	Template:Interlinear

In Speech Act Participant (SAP) and third-person transitive involvement, direction marking is as follows:

Direct	Inverse
Template:Interlinear	Template:Interlinear

See also

• Sahaptian languages
• Sahaptin people
• Cayuse
• Palus (tribe)
• Umatilla (tribe)
• Walla Walla (tribe)
• Yakama

References

Bibliography

• part 1 (English language) Template:Hdl

  part 2 (Sahaptin language) Template:Hdl

• cited in

• Template:Cite thesis

External links

• Template:Cite thesis
• ELAR archive of Yakima (Sahaptin) language documentation materials