Taos dialect

The Taos language of the Northern Tiwa branch of the Tanoan language family is spoken in Taos Pueblo, New Mexico.

Sociolinguistics

In data collected in 1935 and 1937, George L. Trager (1946) notes that Taos was spoken by all members of the Taos Pueblo community. Additionally, most speakers were bilingual in either Spanish or English: speakers over 50 years of age were fluent in Spanish, adult speakers younger than 50 spoke Spanish and English, children around 5 years old could speak English but not Spanish—generally a decrease in age correlated with a decrease in Spanish fluency and an increase in English fluency. Pre-school children and a few very old women were monolingual Taos speakers.

A more recent report by Gomez (2003) notes that the language "until a few years ago remained viable only in age groups of thirty and older", a sign that Taos is being affected by language endangerment pressures. Nonetheless, it is one of 46 languages in North America that are being spoken by significant numbers of children as of 1995 (Goddard 1996). The most recent estimate is from 1980 with about 800 native speakers out of 1600 ethnic population (50% of the population).

Taos speakers have historically been reluctant to provide linguists with language data to work with and have preferred to keep their language secret from outsiders. G. Trager had to work with his consultants in private and keep their identities in confidence. The tendency for secrecy is a continuing general Pueblo reaction starting in the 17th century in large part due to the oppressive persecution (including public executions and torture) of Pueblo religious practices by the colonial Spanish. The Taos community has been particularly guarded about revealing their language (and culture) to outsiders when compared with other eastern pueblos in New Mexico. Due to secrecy practices, the details of language preservation are not known outside of the community.

Language variation

George L. Trager found no dialectal variation in the 1930 and 1940s.

Genealogical relations

Taos belongs to a northern sub-grouping on the Tiwa branch of the Tanoan language family. It is closely related to and partly mutually intelligible with Picurís (spoken at Picuris Pueblo). It is slightly more distantly related to Southern Tiwa (spoken at Isleta Pueblo and Sandia Pueblo).

History

In July 2012, Taos Pueblo, which "does not formally encourage persons outside the tribe to learn their language" hosted a Tiwa Language Festival for tribal members to keep Tiwa from "going to sleep". The Cultural Education Committee hopes to incorporate the Tiwa language into Head Start in the fall.

Phonology

According to one analysis, Taos has 18 consonants:

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The alveolar flap is found in loanwords from New Mexican Spanish.

Taos has six vowels—five of these have an oral-nasal contrast. Taos has five (native) vowel clusters (i.e. diphthongs).

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Taos has three degrees of stress: ''primary'', ''secondary'', and ''unstressed'', as well as three tones: ''high'', ''mid'', and ''low''.

Transcription

Taos has been transcribed by Trager in Americanist phonetic notation. However, his transcription differs between his earlier work exemplified by Trager (1946) and his later work following and explained in Trager (1948). The following chart lists the symbolization of Taos phonemes in Trager (1946) and Trager (1948) and also a corresponding IPA symbolization. However, the chart only lists symbols that differ between the three—if Trager (1946), Trager (1948), and the IPA all use the same symbol it is not listed in the chart below.

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Both Trager (1946) and Trager (1948) use the same vowel symbolization. This symbols have roughly approximate values of corresponding IPA symbols except that the vowel transcribed as by Trager is phonetically IPA and in Trager's phonemic categorizing a low back vowel (with rounding details irrelevant to the categorization).

More different is Trager's two ways of transcribing tone and stress. The table below shows the differences on the syllable ''ta''.

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The conflation between primary + high and secondary + high as well as primary + low and secondary + low in Trager (1946) was due to the belief that they were in complementary distribution. Trager rescinded this view in Trager (1948) and onward. In Trager's terminology, primary stress is called "loud" stress, secondary stress is "normal", and unstressed is "weak".

The orthography used in this article is essentially that of Trager (1948) with one modification: Trager (1948: 158) mentioned that the glottal stop ''’'' was not written when word-initial in the practical orthography he was teaching his informants—this practice is followed here.

Grammar

Nouns

Taos nouns are inflected according to grammatical number with the number suffixes. Additionally, they may be inflected for possession with prefixes that indicate the number and grammatical person of the possessor as well as agreeing with the number of noun stem.

Number inflection

Nouns are generally composed of a noun stem with a following number suffix. The number suffixes distinguish between singular and plural. However, in verbs, three numbers are distinguished—singular, dual, and plural—because of this distinction in verbs the plural suffixes on nouns are more appropriately duoplural (Trager uses the term "nonsingular"). The singular suffix is ''‑na'' and the duoplural suffix is ''‑ne''.

Two other number suffixes ''‑ną'' and ''‑nemą'' can express either singular number or duoplural depending upon the grammatical class of noun. For example, the noun stem ''cupa‑'' "judge" is duoplural with the addition of ''‑ną'': ''cùpáną'' "judges". On the other hand, the noun stem ''t’awa‑'' "wheel" is singular with the addition of ''‑ną'': ''t’áwaną'' "wheel". Examples with ''‑nemą'' include ''ká‑nemą'' "mothers" (duoplural) and ''cí‑nemą'' "eye" (singular). Following the terminology used for other Tanoan languages, these will be called here "inverse" number suffixes.In Kiowa and Jemez linguistic studies these suffixes are known as "inverse number" suffixes. In this type of analysis nouns belong to grammatical classes which have a default grammatical number specification. The inverse suffixes change (or toggle) to a non‑default number. These inverse suffixes effectively indicate the grammatical number opposite the other suffix that appears on a given noun. Thus, since the stem ''p’iane‑'' "mountain" requires the plural suffix ''‑ne'' in the duoplural form (namely, ''p’íane‑ne'' "mountains"), the inverse ''‑nemą'' marks the singular in ''p’íane‑nemą'' "mountain". And, likewise, since the stem ''cibiki‑'' "robin" requires the singular suffix ''‑na'' in the singular form (namely, ''cìbikí‑na'' "robin"), the inverse ''‑ną'' marks the duoplural in ''cìbíki‑ną'' "robins".

=Number classes

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Taos nouns can be grouped into four grammatical classes based on which number affixes are required for the singular and duoplural inflectional forms. Trager calls these noun classes "genders". One class requires the singular suffix ''‑na'' in the singular form and an inverse suffix in the duoplural. Another class requires an inverse suffix in the singular and the duoplural suffix ''‑ne'' in the duoplural. A third class requires the singular and duoplural suffixes for the singular and duoplural forms, respectively. A fourth class only occurs with the duoplural suffix ''‑ne''. The first two classes, which use an inverse suffix, can be separated into two subclasses based on whether inverse ''‑ną'' or ''‑nemą'' is used. These are summarized in the following table.

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Noun class I is composed of primarily animate nouns. The animate nouns include persons, animals, and kinship terms. Two non-animate nouns in the class are ''c’ìpána'' "doll" and ''p’ȍxwíana'' "egg". The class includes both native words and loanwords from Spanish (such as ''yàwo’óna'' "mare" from
yegua
', and ''prìmu’úna'' "cousin" from
primo
'). Membership of this class is represented by the following list of nouns (cited in the singular form). The first list uses the ''‑ną'' inverse suffix in the duoplural.

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The following belong to noun class I with the ''‑nemą'' inverse suffix.

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Nouns in classes II and III are opposed to class I in that they are inanimates. However, there is no apparent semantic motivation for distinguishing the types of nouns with membership in class II and class III. Both classes include body parts, plants, natural phenomena, and man-made materials. Loanwords are incorporated into both classes. Examples of nouns in class II follow. Those with the ''‑ną'' inverse suffix are below.

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Examples of nouns in class II with the ''‑nemą'' inverse suffix are below.

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Examples of noun in class III are the following:

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The final class IV consists of mostly abstract and deverbal nouns. All nouns in this class only are inflected with the duoplural. They may be semantically either singular or collective. Examples follow.

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Trager treats class III and IV as sub-classes of a larger single class.

The noun class system also applies to some other word types besides nouns. Demonstratives and some numerals are also inflected for number with different suffixes that agree with the noun that they modify.

=Connecting -e-

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When some stems are followed by the number suffixes, they are followed by a connecting ''‑e‑'' vowel. For example, the word "flower" consists of a stem ''pob‑'' and in the inflected forms the intervening vowel appears: ''pȍb‑é‑nemą'' "flower". Other examples include ''ȍd‑é‑nemą'' "chin, jaw", ''kwían‑e‑na'' "bitch", ''łȉw‑é‑na'' "woman". However, not all instances of ''e'' vowels occurring directly before number suffixes are this intervening vowel as there also some stems which end in a ''e'' vowel, such as ''c’ȕné‑na'' "coyote" which has the stem ''c’ùne‑''.

=Reduplication

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Several noun stem have reduplicated stem material appearing between the stem and the number suffix. For example, ''kò’óne'' "washing" consists of the stem ''ko‑'' and the duoplural number suffix ''‑ne''. Between the stem and the suffix is the duplifix ''‑’o‑''. This duplifix consists of the consonant ''’'' and a copy of the final vowel of the stem ''ko‑''. The duplifix may be symbolized as ''‑’V‑'' where ''V'' represents the reduplication of any vowel that occurs at the end of the preceding noun stem.
Thus "washing" is ''ko‑’V‑ne'', which after copying is ''ko‑’o‑ne''. Other examples include

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Further details about the phonology of the reduplication are found in Taos phonology: Reduplicative vowel patterning.

The reduplication occurs in all four noun classes before the all number suffixes except inverse ''‑ną'' (in both class I duoplural and class II singular). The following examples show the patterning of reduplication and number suffixes found by Trager.

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=Stress shift

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=Place-gender (local)

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Vocatives

Noun stems of the nouns in class I can standalone as free words when they are used to refer to persons as proper nouns.

Compounding

Verbs

Pronominal inflection

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See also

* Taos phonology
* :wikt:Taos language
* Taos Pueblo

Notes

Bibliography

* de Angulo, Jaime. (1925). Taos kinship terminology. ''American Anthropologist'', ''27'' (3), 482-483.
* Bodine, John J. (1968). Taos names: A clue to linguistic acculturation. ''Anthropological Linguistics'', ''10'' (5), 23-27.
* Bodine, John J. (1979). Taos Pueblo. In A. Ortiz (Ed.), ''Handbook of North American Indians: Southwest'' (Vol. 9, pp. 255–267). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.
* Eggan, Fred. (1979). Pueblos: Introduction. In A. Ortiz (Ed.), ''Handbook of North American Indians: Southwest'' (Vol. 9, pp. 224–235). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.
* Goddard, Ives. (1999). Introduction. In I. Goddard (Ed.), ''Handbook of North American Indians: Languages'' (Vol. 17, pp. 1–16). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.
* Gomez, Henrietta. (2003). Written testimony of Henrietta Gomez, Taos Pueblo Head Start Program Tiwa culture specialist and language instructor before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on the reauthorization of the Head Start Act and on Native American Indian language and culture. Online
indian.senate.gov/2003hrgs/092503hrg/gomez.PDF

* Hall, Robert. (1947). A note on Taos k'owena 'horse'. ''International Journal of American Linguistics'', ''13'' (2), 117–118.
* Harrington, J. P. (1909). Notes on the Piro language. ''American Anthropologist'', ''11'' (4), 563–594.
* Harrington, J. P. (1910). An introductory paper on the Tiwa language, dialect of Taos. ''American Anthropologist'', ''12'' (1), 11–48.
* Harrington, J. P. (1916). Ambiguity in the Taos personal pronoun. In ''Holmes anniversary volume'' (pp. 142–156). Washington: J.W. Bryan.
* Jones, William. (1960). Origin of the place name Taos. ''Anthropological Linguistics'', ''2'' (3), 2–4.
* Mithun, Marianne. (1999). ''The languages of Native North America''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (hbk); .
* Parsons, Elsie Clews. (1940). ''Taos tales''. Memoirs of the American Folklore Society (Vol. 34). New York.
* Trager, Felicia. (1971). The phonology of Picuris. ''International Journal of American Linguistics'', ''37'', 29–33.
* Trager, George L. (1936). Taos (). he language of the pueblo of Taos ''Maître Phonétique'', ''56'', 59–62.
* Trager, George L. (1939). The days of the week in the language of Taos Pueblo, New Mexico. ''Language'', ''15'', 51–55.
* Trager, George L. (1940). Appendix. In E. C. Parsons, ''Taos tales''. New York.
* Trager, George L. (1942). The historical phonology of the Tiwa languages. ''Studies in Linguistics'', ''1'' (5), 1-10.
* Trager, George L. (1943). The kinship and status terms of the Tiwa languages. ''American Anthropologist'', ''45'' (1), 557–571.
* Trager, George L. (1944). Spanish and English loanwords in Taos. ''International Journal of American Linguistics'', ''10'' (4), 144–158.
* Trager, George L. (1946). An outline of Taos grammar. In C. Osgood (Ed.), ''Linguistic structures in North America'' (pp. 184–221). New York: Wenner-Green Foundation for Anthropological Research.
* Trager, George L. (1948). Taos I: A language revisited. ''International Journal of American Linguistics'', ''14'' (3), 155–160.
* Trager, George L. (1954). Taos II: Pronominal reference. ''International Journal of American Linguistics'', ''20'' (3), 173–180.
* Trager, George L. (1960). Taos III: Paralanguage. ''Anthropological Linguistics'', ''2'' (2), 24–30.
* Trager, George L. (1960). The name of Taos, New Mexico. ''Anthropological Linguistics'', ''2'' (3), 5–6.
* Trager, George L. (1961). Taos IV: Morphemics, syntax, semology in nouns and in pronominal reference. ''International Journal of American Linguistics'', ''27'' (3), 211–222.
* Trager, George L. (1961). The typology of paralanguage. ''Anthropological Linguistics'', ''3'' (1), 17–21.
* Trager, George L. (1969). Taos and Picuris: How long separated?. ''International Journal of American Linguistics'', ''35'' (2), 180–182.
* Trager, George L.; & Trager, Felicia H. (1970). The cardinal directions at Taos and Picuris. ''Anthropological Linguistics'', ''12'' (2), 31–37.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taos Language

Tanoan languages
Indigenous languages of New Mexico
Indigenous languages of the Southwestern United States
Indigenous languages of the North American Southwest