Washo language
Encyclopedia
The Washo language (also Washoe) is an endangered
Native American
language isolate
spoken by the Washo on the California
–Nevada
border in the drainages of the Truckee
and Carson
Rivers, especially around Lake Tahoe
. While there are very few speakers of Washo today (only 10 according to some; 252 according to the 2000 US Census), there are Washo-language programs aimed at increasing the number of proficient speakers. The speakers of Washo at the end of the twentieth century included 64 individuals between the ages of 5 and 17, 4 of whom have limited English proficiency.
Ethnographic Washo speakers belonged to the Great Basin
culture area and they were the only non-Numic group of that area. The language has borrowed from the neighboring Uto-Aztecan, Maiduan and Miwokan languages and is connected to both the Great Basin and California sprachbund
s.
is Maiduan, and Miwok
is Utian), and no strong relation with any other language has been found. Washo is often placed in the theoretical Hokan stock. Others have considered that if Washo is a member of this family, it is only a distant relationship. The first connection of Washo with Hokan appeared when J. P. Harrington suggested a connection between Washo and the Chumashan family (which was already placed under Hokan). Following Harrington, subsequent statements of Hokan (especially "core Hokan") have included Washo. However, even one of the originators of the Hokan hypothesis (Alfred L. Kroeber
) finds that the relationship between Washo and Hokan "cannot be close". A 1988 reappraisal of Hokan by Terrence Kaufman considers Washo a probable Hokan member (although he considers Chumashan to be doubtful). Because of the lack of a strong connection and doubts about the validity of a Hokan family itself, Mithun (1999) considered Washo to be a language isolate
.
According to many early anthropologists and linguists, Washo has a variety of genetic backgrounds. According to the early work of Powell, Washo is classified into its own distinct isolate, referred to as Washoan (Holder 1966). With the introduction of Sapir’s ‘tiered’ classification, Washo falls under the ‘Hokan–Siouan’ stock, the ‘Hokan–Coahuiltecan’ sub-stock, and the ‘Hokan’ family (Mandelbaum 1949). Voeglin et. al continued similar classification of Washo by including it in the ‘Hokan’ family based on their 1965-1966 work (referenced from Bright 2007: 764). In their Languages of Native America, Campbell and Mithun (1979) classify Washo as its own distinct isolate. Finally, Greenberg (1987) classifies Washo as a language in the ‘Nuclear Hokan’ sub-family, the ‘Hokan’ family, the ‘Northern Amerind’ sub-stock, and the ‘Amerind’ stock, whilst The Ethnologue (2009) classifies Washo as part of the ‘Hokan’ language family.
The Washo language was originally spoken in an area centered on Lake Tahoe and extending to approximately 140 miles between the northern-most and southern-most boundaries (Jacobsen 1964: 3); it is still being spoken in its aboriginal area, although European contact has changed the geographic locations of primary Washo communities (Jacobsen 1964: 3). The original settlement area (and synonymous language area) is outlined and labeled in black in the figure to the right (Jacobsen 1964: 2).
The primary grammar used to describe the Washo language is A Grammar of the Washo Language as written by William Horton Jacobsen, Jr. for dissertation purposes at the University of California, Berkeley. The dissertation was written in 1964 and covers the entire language of Washo, as there are no known dialects.
(or umlaut
). The mechanics of vowel harmony differ between the northern and southern varieties.
There are six distinct vowel qualities found in the Washo language. The sound quality of a vowel is dependent upon their length and the character of the consonant they precede, as well as the stress put on the vowel (Jacobsen 1964: 53). Following is a list of short allophones of the most common vowels:
(1)/i/ high front rounded
/ɨ/ high central unrounded, as in the u in the English just
/u/ high back rounded
/e/ mid front unrounded
/o/ mid back rounded
/a/ low central unrounded
As mentioned, the sound quality of a vowel can change. In Washo, vowels can have either long or short length qualities, noted by appending a /:/ to the vowel. Vowels with such a mark are usually pronounced twice its normal length (Jacobsen 1964: 53).
Stress can also be added to syllables, and is noted by /ʹ/written over the vowel in the syllable. Stressed syllables have higher pitch and greater intensity than weak syllables do. The stress gradually diminishes over successive syllables until it is again raised by another stressed syllable or intonation change (Jacobsen 1964: 57).
B.Consonants and Intonation
The consonants of Washo are much more complex, phonologically. Stops of Washo can be voiced, voiceless, or glottalized, and are described below:
(2)/p/, /t/, /k/ are voiceless stops with labial, apical, and velar positions of articulation, respectively. They may have slight aspiration before a vowel or intonation. /ṕ/, /ť/, and /ḱ/ are their glottalized counterparts where the glottal stop in (2) is pronounced simultaneously with the consonant (Jacobsen 1964: 54).
(3)/ʔ/ is the glottal stop. If followed by a voiceless stop, it has an open transition, accompanied by a short echo of the preceding vowel (the pause in the English ‘uh-oh’ is similar to the glottal stop). The glottal stop is aspirated before an intonation (Jacobsen 1964: 53-4).
(4)/b/, /d/, /g/ are voiced stops with bilabial, apical, and velar articulation, respectively (Jacobsen 1964: 54).
(5)/z/ is a voiced affricate that is similar to [d] released into [z]. (Jacobsen 1964: 54).
(6)/ć/ is a glottalized affricate similar to the [ť], but released into an [s] (Jacobsen 1964: 54).
There are three fricatives in Washo:
(7)/s/, /š/, /h/ are voiceless fricatives with apical, frontal, and glottal articulation, respectively. /š/ is pronounced similar to the sh- in the English ship.
There are nasal resonants in Washo:
(8)/m/, /n/, /ŋ/ are voiced nasals with bilabial, apical, and velar articulation, respectively. /ŋ/ is similar to the -ng in the English sing (Jacobsen 1964: 54).
(9)/M/, /Ŋ/ are voiceless nasals with bilabial and velar articulation, respectively (Jacobsen 1964: 54).
The final category of Washo consonants is oral resonants:
(10)/w/, /l/, /y/ are voiced oral resonants with labial, apical, and frontal articulation, respectively (Jacobsen 1964: 55).
(11)/W/, /L/, /Y/ are voiceless oral resonants with labial, apical, and frontal
articulation, respectively (Jacobsen 1964: 55).
Intonation in Washo is characterized by /,/ when there is a drawling of the preceding syllable together with the maintenance of the pitch at an equivalent level. While /./ denotes a lesser amount of drawl and a fast decline of pitch on the preceding syllable (Jacobsen 1964: 55).
C.Comparison to Bright Classification
From the display of phonemes in the Washo language, it is evident that Bright makes generalizations that are comparable with Washo. First, is Bright’s generalization that Native American languages commonly use the glottal stop /ʔ/ as a consonant sound (Bright 1997: 756). This is true for Washo as demonstrated in example (2) of this section.
Another generalization Bright (2007: 756) makes is that many Native American languages have contrasting consonant sounds all due to a unique positioning of the tongue. This is true of Washo in that it has glottalized counterparts (/p'/, /t'/, and /k'/) to its voiceless stops (/p/, /t/, and /k/).
Bright (2007: 757) also points out that Native American languages of the West utilize the lateral phoneme such as /l/, and also have voiceless counterparts to these laterals. This is true of Washo, seen in examples (10) and (11).
Bright’s analysis of vowel harmony (2007: 757) is also common in Washo. Jacobsen defines vowel harmony as a “vowel-coloring condition” put forth by specific stressed vowels (for explanation of stress see II-A). Vowel harmony can be predicted by the initial stressed vowel of the noun as shown by the following examples (Jacobsen 1964: 300) :
Vowel harmony by |á| or |é| of de- possessive prefix
(12) da-háŋa ‘his mouth’
3POSS-mouth
(13) de-ḱétep ‘his bottle’
3POSS-bottle
Finally, Bright’s description of consonant clusters (1997: 757) is also common in Washo. In Washo, consonant clusters usually occur initially, “intervocalically” (Jacobsen 1964: 117), and finally in two-consonant pairs or “intervocalically” (Jacobsen 1964: 118) or finally in three-consonant clusters (Jacobsen 1964: 118). A couple of examples can be seen below:
Some consonant clusters in Washo:
(14) páyp ‘pipe’
with a ‘yp’ cluster
(15) mámpš ‘mumps’
with a ‘mpš’ cluster
What is particularly interesting about the consonant clusters in Washo is that they almost always occur in borrowed words from English (Jacobsen 1964: 117).
of verbs or nouns to indicate repetitive aspect
or plural number
. Washo uses both prefixation and suffixation on noun
s and verb
s. Verbal inflection
is rich with a large number of tenses
.
Word order
is SOV.
Endangered language
An endangered language is a language that is at risk of falling out of use. If it loses all its native speakers, it becomes a dead language. If eventually no one speaks the language at all it becomes an "extinct language"....
Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
language isolate
Language isolate
A language isolate, in the absolute sense, is a natural language with no demonstrable genealogical relationship with other languages; that is, one that has not been demonstrated to descend from an ancestor common with any other language. They are in effect language families consisting of a single...
spoken by the Washo on the California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
–Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
border in the drainages of the Truckee
Truckee River
The Truckee River is a stream in the U.S. states of California and Nevada. The river is about long. Its endorheic drainage basin is about , of which about are in Nevada. The Truckee is the sole outlet of Lake Tahoe and drains part of the high Sierra Nevada, emptying into Pyramid Lake in the Great...
and Carson
Carson River
The Carson River is a northwestern Nevada river that empties into the Carson Sink, an endorheic basin. The main stem of the river is long....
Rivers, especially around Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the United States. At a surface elevation of , it is located along the border between California and Nevada, west of Carson City. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America. Its depth is , making it the USA's second-deepest...
. While there are very few speakers of Washo today (only 10 according to some; 252 according to the 2000 US Census), there are Washo-language programs aimed at increasing the number of proficient speakers. The speakers of Washo at the end of the twentieth century included 64 individuals between the ages of 5 and 17, 4 of whom have limited English proficiency.
Ethnographic Washo speakers belonged to the Great Basin
Great Basin
The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds in North America and is noted for its arid conditions and Basin and Range topography that varies from the North American low point at Badwater Basin to the highest point of the contiguous United States, less than away at the...
culture area and they were the only non-Numic group of that area. The language has borrowed from the neighboring Uto-Aztecan, Maiduan and Miwokan languages and is connected to both the Great Basin and California sprachbund
Sprachbund
A Sprachbund – also known as a linguistic area, convergence area, diffusion area or language crossroads – is a group of languages that have become similar in some way because of geographical proximity and language contact. They may be genetically unrelated, or only distantly related...
s.
Regional variation
Washo shows very little geographic variation. Jacobsen (1986:108) wrote, "When there are two variants of a feature, generally one is found in a more northerly area and the other in a more southerly one, but the lines separating the two areas for the different features do not always coincide."Genetic relations
Washo is not in the same language family as any of its three direct neighboring languages: (Northern Paiute is a Numic language (Uto-Aztecan), MaiduMaidu language
Maidu is a severely endangered Maiduan language spoken by Maidu peoples traditionally in the mountains east and south of Lassen Peak in the American River and Feather River river drainages...
is Maiduan, and Miwok
Miwok languages
The Miwok or Miwokan languages, also known as Moquelumnan, are a group of endangered languages spoken in central California in the Sierra Nevada. There are a few dozen speakers of the three Sierra Miwok languages, and as of 1994, two speakers of Lake Miwok...
is Utian), and no strong relation with any other language has been found. Washo is often placed in the theoretical Hokan stock. Others have considered that if Washo is a member of this family, it is only a distant relationship. The first connection of Washo with Hokan appeared when J. P. Harrington suggested a connection between Washo and the Chumashan family (which was already placed under Hokan). Following Harrington, subsequent statements of Hokan (especially "core Hokan") have included Washo. However, even one of the originators of the Hokan hypothesis (Alfred L. Kroeber
Alfred L. Kroeber
Alfred Louis Kroeber was an American anthropologist. He was the first professor appointed to the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, and played an integral role in the early days of its Museum of Anthropology, where he served as director from 1909 through...
) finds that the relationship between Washo and Hokan "cannot be close". A 1988 reappraisal of Hokan by Terrence Kaufman considers Washo a probable Hokan member (although he considers Chumashan to be doubtful). Because of the lack of a strong connection and doubts about the validity of a Hokan family itself, Mithun (1999) considered Washo to be a language isolate
Language isolate
A language isolate, in the absolute sense, is a natural language with no demonstrable genealogical relationship with other languages; that is, one that has not been demonstrated to descend from an ancestor common with any other language. They are in effect language families consisting of a single...
.
According to many early anthropologists and linguists, Washo has a variety of genetic backgrounds. According to the early work of Powell, Washo is classified into its own distinct isolate, referred to as Washoan (Holder 1966). With the introduction of Sapir’s ‘tiered’ classification, Washo falls under the ‘Hokan–Siouan’ stock, the ‘Hokan–Coahuiltecan’ sub-stock, and the ‘Hokan’ family (Mandelbaum 1949). Voeglin et. al continued similar classification of Washo by including it in the ‘Hokan’ family based on their 1965-1966 work (referenced from Bright 2007: 764). In their Languages of Native America, Campbell and Mithun (1979) classify Washo as its own distinct isolate. Finally, Greenberg (1987) classifies Washo as a language in the ‘Nuclear Hokan’ sub-family, the ‘Hokan’ family, the ‘Northern Amerind’ sub-stock, and the ‘Amerind’ stock, whilst The Ethnologue (2009) classifies Washo as part of the ‘Hokan’ language family.
The Washo language was originally spoken in an area centered on Lake Tahoe and extending to approximately 140 miles between the northern-most and southern-most boundaries (Jacobsen 1964: 3); it is still being spoken in its aboriginal area, although European contact has changed the geographic locations of primary Washo communities (Jacobsen 1964: 3). The original settlement area (and synonymous language area) is outlined and labeled in black in the figure to the right (Jacobsen 1964: 2).
The primary grammar used to describe the Washo language is A Grammar of the Washo Language as written by William Horton Jacobsen, Jr. for dissertation purposes at the University of California, Berkeley. The dissertation was written in 1964 and covers the entire language of Washo, as there are no known dialects.
Sounds
Washo has regressive vowel harmonyVowel harmony
Vowel harmony is a type of long-distance assimilatory phonological process involving vowels that occurs in some languages. In languages with vowel harmony, there are constraints on which vowels may be found near each other....
(or umlaut
I-mutation
I-mutation is an important type of sound change, more precisely a category of regressive metaphony, in which a back vowel is fronted, and/or a front vowel is raised, if the following syllable contains /i/, /ī/ or /j/ I-mutation (also known as umlaut, front mutation, i-umlaut, i/j-mutation or...
). The mechanics of vowel harmony differ between the northern and southern varieties.
There are six distinct vowel qualities found in the Washo language. The sound quality of a vowel is dependent upon their length and the character of the consonant they precede, as well as the stress put on the vowel (Jacobsen 1964: 53). Following is a list of short allophones of the most common vowels:
(1)/i/ high front rounded
/ɨ/ high central unrounded, as in the u in the English just
/u/ high back rounded
/e/ mid front unrounded
/o/ mid back rounded
/a/ low central unrounded
As mentioned, the sound quality of a vowel can change. In Washo, vowels can have either long or short length qualities, noted by appending a /:/ to the vowel. Vowels with such a mark are usually pronounced twice its normal length (Jacobsen 1964: 53).
Stress can also be added to syllables, and is noted by /ʹ/written over the vowel in the syllable. Stressed syllables have higher pitch and greater intensity than weak syllables do. The stress gradually diminishes over successive syllables until it is again raised by another stressed syllable or intonation change (Jacobsen 1964: 57).
B.Consonants and Intonation
The consonants of Washo are much more complex, phonologically. Stops of Washo can be voiced, voiceless, or glottalized, and are described below:
(2)/p/, /t/, /k/ are voiceless stops with labial, apical, and velar positions of articulation, respectively. They may have slight aspiration before a vowel or intonation. /ṕ/, /ť/, and /ḱ/ are their glottalized counterparts where the glottal stop in (2) is pronounced simultaneously with the consonant (Jacobsen 1964: 54).
(3)/ʔ/ is the glottal stop. If followed by a voiceless stop, it has an open transition, accompanied by a short echo of the preceding vowel (the pause in the English ‘uh-oh’ is similar to the glottal stop). The glottal stop is aspirated before an intonation (Jacobsen 1964: 53-4).
(4)/b/, /d/, /g/ are voiced stops with bilabial, apical, and velar articulation, respectively (Jacobsen 1964: 54).
(5)/z/ is a voiced affricate that is similar to [d] released into [z]. (Jacobsen 1964: 54).
(6)/ć/ is a glottalized affricate similar to the [ť], but released into an [s] (Jacobsen 1964: 54).
There are three fricatives in Washo:
(7)/s/, /š/, /h/ are voiceless fricatives with apical, frontal, and glottal articulation, respectively. /š/ is pronounced similar to the sh- in the English ship.
There are nasal resonants in Washo:
(8)/m/, /n/, /ŋ/ are voiced nasals with bilabial, apical, and velar articulation, respectively. /ŋ/ is similar to the -ng in the English sing (Jacobsen 1964: 54).
(9)/M/, /Ŋ/ are voiceless nasals with bilabial and velar articulation, respectively (Jacobsen 1964: 54).
The final category of Washo consonants is oral resonants:
(10)/w/, /l/, /y/ are voiced oral resonants with labial, apical, and frontal articulation, respectively (Jacobsen 1964: 55).
(11)/W/, /L/, /Y/ are voiceless oral resonants with labial, apical, and frontal
articulation, respectively (Jacobsen 1964: 55).
Intonation in Washo is characterized by /,/ when there is a drawling of the preceding syllable together with the maintenance of the pitch at an equivalent level. While /./ denotes a lesser amount of drawl and a fast decline of pitch on the preceding syllable (Jacobsen 1964: 55).
C.Comparison to Bright Classification
From the display of phonemes in the Washo language, it is evident that Bright makes generalizations that are comparable with Washo. First, is Bright’s generalization that Native American languages commonly use the glottal stop /ʔ/ as a consonant sound (Bright 1997: 756). This is true for Washo as demonstrated in example (2) of this section.
Another generalization Bright (2007: 756) makes is that many Native American languages have contrasting consonant sounds all due to a unique positioning of the tongue. This is true of Washo in that it has glottalized counterparts (/p'/, /t'/, and /k'/) to its voiceless stops (/p/, /t/, and /k/).
Bright (2007: 757) also points out that Native American languages of the West utilize the lateral phoneme such as /l/, and also have voiceless counterparts to these laterals. This is true of Washo, seen in examples (10) and (11).
Bright’s analysis of vowel harmony (2007: 757) is also common in Washo. Jacobsen defines vowel harmony as a “vowel-coloring condition” put forth by specific stressed vowels (for explanation of stress see II-A). Vowel harmony can be predicted by the initial stressed vowel of the noun as shown by the following examples (Jacobsen 1964: 300) :
Vowel harmony by |á| or |é| of de- possessive prefix
(12) da-háŋa ‘his mouth’
3POSS-mouth
(13) de-ḱétep ‘his bottle’
3POSS-bottle
Finally, Bright’s description of consonant clusters (1997: 757) is also common in Washo. In Washo, consonant clusters usually occur initially, “intervocalically” (Jacobsen 1964: 117), and finally in two-consonant pairs or “intervocalically” (Jacobsen 1964: 118) or finally in three-consonant clusters (Jacobsen 1964: 118). A couple of examples can be seen below:
Some consonant clusters in Washo:
(14) páyp ‘pipe’
with a ‘yp’ cluster
(15) mámpš ‘mumps’
with a ‘mpš’ cluster
What is particularly interesting about the consonant clusters in Washo is that they almost always occur in borrowed words from English (Jacobsen 1964: 117).
Morphology and Syntax
Washo uses partial or total reduplicationReduplication
Reduplication in linguistics is a morphological process in which the root or stem of a word is repeated exactly or with a slight change....
of verbs or nouns to indicate repetitive aspect
Grammatical aspect
In linguistics, the grammatical aspect of a verb is a grammatical category that defines the temporal flow in a given action, event, or state, from the point of view of the speaker...
or plural number
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
. Washo uses both prefixation and suffixation on noun
Noun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
s and verb
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
s. Verbal inflection
Inflection
In grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case...
is rich with a large number of tenses
Grammatical tense
A tense is a grammatical category that locates a situation in time, to indicate when the situation takes place.Bernard Comrie, Aspect, 1976:6:...
.
Word order
Word order
In linguistics, word order typology refers to the study of the order of the syntactic constituents of a language, and how different languages can employ different orders. Correlations between orders found in different syntactic subdomains are also of interest...
is SOV.
External links
- University of Chicago Washo Revitalization Project
- The Rosetta Project
- Speaking the Language of the Land
- Reno Linguist Foremost Expert on Washoe Language
- Ethnologue: Washo
- Washo language overview at the Survey of California and Other Indian LanguagesSurvey of California and Other Indian LanguagesThe Survey of California and Other Indian Languages at the University of California at Berkeley documents, catalogs, and archives the indigenous languages of the Americas...