The Kitsai (also Kichai) language is an extinct member of the Caddoan language family. The French first record the

Kichai people The Kichai tribe (also Keechi or Kitsai) was a Native American Southern Plains tribe that lived in Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. Their name for themselves was K'itaish. History The Kichai were most closely related to the Pawnee. French explore ...

's presence along the upper Red River in 1701. By the 1840s Kitsai was spoken in southern

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, but by the 1930s no native speakers remained. It is thought to be most closely related to

Pawnee Pawnee initially refers to a Native American people and its language: * Pawnee people * Pawnee language Pawnee is also the name of several places in the United States: * Pawnee, Illinois * Pawnee, Kansas * Pawnee, Missouri * Pawnee City, Nebraska * ...

. The Kichai people today are enrolled in the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, Keechi),

Waco Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the st ...

and Tawakonie), headquartered in

Anadarko, Oklahoma Anadarko is a city in Caddo County, Oklahoma, United States. The city is fifty miles southwest of Oklahoma City. The population was 5,745 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Caddo County. History Anadarko got its name when its post off ...

Phonology

Consonants

Kitsai's

consonant In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced wit ...

inventory consists of the

phonemes In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language. For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-west o ...

shown in the chart below. The phoneme /c/ is analyzed below as a

palatal The palate () is the roof of the mouth in humans and other mammals. It separates the oral cavity from the nasal cavity. A similar structure is found in crocodilians, but in most other tetrapods, the oral and nasal cavities are not truly separ ...

stop, even though its typical realization is

alveolar Alveolus (; pl. alveoli, adj. alveolar) is a general anatomical term for a concave cavity or pit. Uses in anatomy and zoology * Pulmonary alveolus, an air sac in the lungs ** Alveolar cell or pneumocyte ** Alveolar duct ** Alveolar macrophage * ...

with

delayed release A delayed release or late release may refer to: * Delayed release (film), the delayed release of a film to the public * Delayed release (pharmacology), oral medicines that do not immediately disintegrate and release the active ingredient(s) into t ...

, so as to not have an affricate "series" consisting of only one phoneme. Similarly, /w/ is analyzed as a velar (i.e. labio-velar) rather than a

labial The term ''labial'' originates from '' Labium'' (Latin for "lip"), and is the adjective that describes anything of or related to lips, such as lip-like structures. Thus, it may refer to: * the lips ** In linguistics, a labial consonant ** In zoolog ...

so as to not be the only labial consonant.

Vowels

Kitsai has the following vowel phonemes:

Documentation

Kitsai is documented in the still mostly-unpublished field notes of anthropologist

Alexander Lesser Alexander Lesser (1902–1982) was an American anthropologist. Working in the Boasian tradition of American Cultural Anthropology, he adopted critical stances of several ideas of his fellow Boasians, and became known as an original and critical th ...

, of

Hofstra University Hofstra University is a private university in Hempstead, New York. It is Long Island's largest private university. Hofstra originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University (NYU) under the name Nassau College – Hofstra Memorial of Ne ...

. Lesser discovered five speakers of Kitsai in 1928 and 1929, none of whom spoke English. Communicating to the Kitsai speakers through Wichita/English bilingual translators, he filled 41 notebooks with Kitsai material.Salvador Bucca and Alexander Lesser
"Kitsai Phonology and Morphophonemics,"
(University of Chicago Press, 1969): 7. Kai Kai was the last fluent speaker of Kitsai. She was born around 1849 and lived eight miles north of Anadarko. Kai Kai worked with Lesser to record vocabulary and

oral history Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people wh ...

and prepare a grammar of the language. In the 1960s, Lesser shared his materials with Salvador Bucca of the

Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires ( es, Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established in 1821, it is the premier institution of higher learning in the country and one of the most prestigi ...

, and they published scholarly articles on Kitsai.

Vocabulary

Some Kitsai words include the following:"Kitsai and Caddoan Word Set."
''Native Languages.'' (retrieved 3 May 2010) *Bear: Wari:ni *Corn: Kotay *Coyote: 'Taxko *Grass: A'tsi'u *Man: Wí:ta *Sweet potato: 'Ihts *White: Kaxtsnu *Wind: Ho'tonu *Woman: Tsakwákt

Notes

References

* Sturtevant, William C., general editor, and Raymond D. Fogelson, volume editor. ''Handbook of North American Indians: Southeast. Volume 14''. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2004. .

External links

Native Languages

{{Caddoan languages Caddoan languages Extinct languages of North America Wichita tribe Languages extinct in the 1930s