The Shasta language is an extinct
Shastan language formerly spoken from northern California into southwestern Oregon. It was spoken in a number of dialects, possibly including
Okwanuchu. By 1980, only two first language speakers, both elderly, were alive. Today, all ethnic Shasta people speak English as their first language. According to Golla, there were four distinct
dialect
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety of a language that is ...
s of Shasta:
* ''Ikirakácˑu'' (Oregon Shasta)
* ''Iruhikwáˑcˑu'' (
Klamath River
The Klamath River (Karuk: ''Ishkêesh'', Klamath: ''Koke'', Yurok: ''Hehlkeek 'We-Roy'') flows through Oregon and northern California in the United States, emptying into the Pacific Ocean. By average discharge, the Klamath is the second l ...
Shasta)
* ''Uwáˑtuhúcˑu'' (
Scott Valley
Scott Valley is a large, scenic rural area of western Siskiyou County, California, known for its vistas of the Marble Mountains, cattle and dairy ranches, and its historic background as a gold mining area, dating back to the days of the Californi ...
Shasta)
* ''Ahútˑireˀeˑcˑu'' (
Shasta Valley Shasta)
Phonology
Consonants
The length of a consonant distinguishes meaning in Shasta words. All stops, fricatives and nasals can occur as long or short in Shasta, but approximants /r j w/ only occur as short consonants.
Minimal pair
In phonology, minimal pairs are pairs of words or phrases in a particular language, spoken or signed, that differ in only one phonological element, such as a phoneme, toneme or chroneme, and have distinct meanings. They are used to demonstrate th ...
s and near minimal pairs are shown below:
* /t͡ʃákàráx/ ''a gnat'' vs. /t͡sàkːírʔ/ ''a board''
* /ʔátʼùʔ/ ''nothing'' vs. /ʔátʼːùʔ/ ''wild sunflower''
* /ʔìsíkʼːàʔ/ ''a person'' vs. /ʔìsːíkʼ/ ''cold''
Vowels
Shasta has four vowels, , with contrastive length, and two
tones: high and low.
Orthography
Silver (1966) devised a system to write words in Shasta. Long phonemes are represented with the symbol ⟨ˑ⟩ following the character (e.g. ⟨cˑ⟩ and ⟨eˑ⟩ for/ t͡sː/ and /eː/, respectively);
ejective
In phonetics, ejective consonants are usually voiceless consonants that are pronounced with a glottalic egressive airstream. In the phonology of a particular language, ejectives may contrast with aspirated, voiced and tenuis consonants. Some ...
s are indicated by an apostrophe written over the character (e.g. ⟨p̓⟩ for /pʼ/). The phoneme is represented by , and the glottal stop /ʔ/ is represented by the superscript IPA symbol ⟨ˀ⟩. The letters ⟨b d f g j l q v z⟩ are not used to represent Shasta sounds.
Tones
Shasta vowels can have low or high tones. High tones are marked by an acute accent ⟨′⟩ in the orthography devised by Silver (1966), whereas low tones are left unmarked. Examples for the vowel /u/ are given below:
References
*
Bibliography
*Golla, Victor (2011), ''California Indian languages'', Berkeley: University of California Press
*
External links
Shasta languageoverview at the
Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
The Survey of California and Other Indian Languages (originally the Survey of California Indian Languages) at the University of California at Berkeley documents, catalogs, and archives the indigenous languages of the Americas. The survey also host ...
Shasta basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical DatabaseOLAC resources in and about the Shasta language
{{Hokan languages
Shastan languages
Extinct languages of North America
Indigenous languages of California
Indigenous languages of Oregon