Tonkawa language

Tonkawa
Native to United States
Region Western Oklahoma, South-central Texas and into New Mexico
Extinct ca. 1940
Language codes
ISO 639-3 tqw
Glottolog tonk1249[1]

Pre-contact distribution of the Tonkawa language

The Tonkawa language was spoken in Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico by the Tonkawa people. A language isolate, with no known related languages, Tonkawa is now extinct. Members of the Tonkawa tribe now speak English.

Phonology

Vowels

Tonkawa has 10 vowels:

Front Back
short long short long short long
Close i u
Mid e o
Open a

Consonants

Tonkawa has 15 consonants:

Bilabial Coronal Dorsal Glottal
plain labial
Nasal m n
Plosive p t k ʔ
Affricate t͡s
Fricative s x h
Approximant l j w

Consonant clusters

There are two environments in which consonant clusters occur in Tonkawa:

Repeated or identical consonants are treated as one unit. However, the condition that causes this repetition has not been fully analyzed.

There are cases where the glottal stop is not used in the cluster or combination

There are certain consonants that can either begin or end in a cluster. However, if the cluster begins the syllable, there can be no intervening vowel.

Phonological processes and morphophonemics

Initial stem syllables that begin with h-

Final stem syllables

An interesting feature of Tonkawan phonology is that the vowels in even-numbered syllables are reduced. That is, long vowels are shortened, while short vowels disappear. Analyses of this were given by Kisseberth (1970), Phelps (1973, 1975) and Noske (1993).

Syllable structure

The Tonkawa language is a syllabic language that bases its word and sentence prosody on even stressed syllables.

There are five types of syllable arrangements: (CL consonant, CC: consonant cluster, V: vowel)

Grammar and morphology

Morphology

Morphological terms that are important for Tonkawa:

These are distinguished by hyphens. Example: ka-la 'mouth'

The morphemes in Tonkawa can be divided as follows:

I. Themes

In Tonkawa the theme is composed of morphologic units. The basic unit is the stem. The stem is composed of two elements (the consonant and vowel) and modified by affixes. The theme, or stem, is functional, which means it changes as more affixation is added. This leads to the fusion of the stem and affix where it becomes difficult to isolate the word into its smaller units.

II. Affixes

III. Enclitics

Grammar

Unlike English, where the pronouns, nouns, verbs, etc. are individual words, Tonkawa forms these parts of speech in a different manner. In Tonkawa, the most important grammatical function is affixation. This process shows the subjects, objects, and pronouns of words and/or verbs. Within affixations, the suffix has more importance than the prefix.

The differenation between subject and object is shown in the word ending, aka the suffix. While the word order tends to be subject, object, verb (SOV), compounding words is very common in Tonkawa. Reduplication is very common in Tonkawa and affects only the verb themes. Usually only one syllable is duplicated, and this duplication symbolizes a repeated action, vigorous action, or a plural subject.

Nouns

Nouns function as free themes, or stems, in Tonkawa. There is a limit of only two or three affixes that can compound with a noun. However, there are cases were a bound theme can occur in noun compounds. This occurs with the suffix -an is added. In English, pronouns and nouns are usually grouped together, but because pronouns in Tonkawa are bound themes, they will be discussed with the verb section.

Noun suffixes

Case Indefinite (singular/plural) Definite (singular/plural)
Nominative -la/ -ka -ʔaːla/ -ʔaːka
Accusative -lak/ -kak -ʔaːlak/ -ʔaːkak
Genitive -ʔan -ʔaːlʔan
Dative (Arrival) -ʔaːyik
Dative (Approach) -ʔaːwʔan
Instrumental -es / -kas -aːlas/ -ʔaːkay
Conjunctive -ʔen -ʔaːlʔen
Vocative (bare stem) (bare stem)

Verbs

Verbs are bound morphemes that have a limit of only two themes, of which the 2nd theme is the modifying theme. The 2nd theme usually serves an adverbial theme. However, if the suffix -ʔe/-wa is added the verb functions as a free theme.

Pronouns

Pronouns are only used for emphasis on the subject and are affixated as prefixes. Person and number are usually indicated by the affixation of the verb. Most pronouns are bound themes, especially the demonstrative pronouns.

Personal Pronoun Tonkawa Personal Pronoun English Personal Pronoun
1st person singular saː- me
2nd person singular naː- you
3rd person singular ʔa- him/her
1st person plural kew-saː- we/us
2nd person plural we-naː- you pl./them

Demonstrative pronouns

Demonstrative adverbs can be formed by adding -ca 'place', -l 'direction', -c 'manner' to the demonstrative pronouns below. Example: waː 'that one aforementioned' + ca 'place = 'waː-ca 'that place aforementioned'

Interrogative pronouns can be formed by adding the prefix he- to the demonstrative pronouns as well, using the same format for the demonstrative adverbs. Example: he 'interrogative' + teː 'this' + l 'direction' = he-teː-l 'where'

Indefinite pronouns can also be formed with affixation. (Interrogative + ʔax) Example: hecuː 'what' + ʔax = hecuː-ʔax 'anything, something, anyone, someone'

Tonkawa Demonstrative English Demonstrative
waː- the one aforementioned
teː- this
heʔe/ heʔeː/ heː that
weː (that) one yonder

Also within the verbal-prefix category exist the causatives ya- and nec-, where ya- is the older form.

Verb suffixes

Verb suffixes are important in Tonkawa because they usually indicate the tense, negativity, and manner (outside of that which is conveyed in the aforementioned prefixes) of the action performed.

Suffix Function Placement
-ape/-ap Negation suffix follows after the theme; except when 2nd person plural object pronoun is present (follows after the 2nd person plural object pronoun)
-nesʔe/ -nesʔ Dual subject suffix follows the negation suffix, future tense suffix, and 2nd person plural object pronoun
-wesʔe/ -weʔ Plural subject suffix same position as the dual subject; occurs in the 1st and 2nd person in all modes
-aːtew/ -aːto Future tense suffix after the stem/theme (present tense: -ʔe or just -ʔ; past tense: -ʔej or -ʔeːje)
-no/ -n Continuative suffix after the stem
-we/ -/ -o declarative mode suffix after the present or past tense
-kʷa Exclamatory suffix after the 3rd person singular or at the end of the word
-w Imperative mode only in the singular, dual, or 2nd person plural

Enclitics

Enclitics are bound morphemes that are suffixed to verbs, nouns, and demonstratives that end with -k. Enclitics often express modal concepts in Tonkawa, which occur in the declarative, interrogative, and quotative/narrative clauses or statements.

Clause Suffix Special Circumstances
Declarative -aw or -aːwe
Interrogative -je or -jelkʷa both take the ʔ suffix unless there is an interrogative pronoun
Quotative/ Narrative -noʔo/ -laknoʔo only added to verb forms with –k suffix and if the verb is used in telling a mythical story

Writing system

The orthography used on the Tonkawa Tribe's website is similar to Americanist phonetic notation.

Alphabet Pronunciation Alphabet Pronunciation
c /ts/ a /a/
h /h/ /aː/
k /k/ e /e/
/kʷ/ /eː/
l /l/ i /i/
m /m/ /iː/
n /n/ o /o/
p /p/ /oː/
s /s/ u /u/
t /t/ /uː/
w /w/    
x /x/    
/xʷ/    
y /j/    
'  or  ? /ʔ/    

Long vowels are indicated with a following middle dot ·. The affricate /ts/ is written c. The glottal stop /ʔ/ is written as either an apostrophe ' or as a superscript question mark ?. The palatal glide /j/ is written y.

The phonemic orthography used in Hoijer's Tonkawa Texts is a later version of Americanist transcription. It uses a colon for long vowels : and the traditional glottal stop symbol ʔ. Examples are mummun 'salt' and mummunchicew 'pepper'.

Example

The following text is the first four sentences of Coyote and Jackrabbit, from Hoijer's Tonkawa Texts.

ha·csokonayla ha·nanoklaknoˀo xamˀalˀa·yˀik. ˀe·kʷa tanmaslakʷa·low hecne·laklaknoˀo lak. ha·csokonayla "ˀo·c!" noklaknoˀo. "ˀekʷanesxaw sa·ken nenxales!" noklaknoˀo. ˀe·ta tanmaslakʷa·lowa·ˀa·lak hewleklaknoˀo.

Gloss:

Coyote / he was going along, S / on the prairie. When he did so / Jackrabbit / he was lying, S / (accus.). Coyote / "Oho!" / he said, S. "Horse /my / I have found it!" / he said, S. And then / that Jackrabbit afm / he caught him, S.

In this gloss, S is an abbreviation for "it is said", and afm for "the aforementioned".

References

  1. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Tonkawa". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

External links

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