Sahaptian (also Sahaptianic, Sahaptin, Shahaptian) is a two-language branch of the
Plateau Penutian family spoken by
Native American peoples in the
Columbia Plateau region of
Washington,
Oregon
Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idah ...
, and
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and W ...
in the northwestern
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
.
The terms ''Sahaptian'' (the family) and ''Sahaptin'' (the language) have often been confused and used interchangeably in the literature.
Family division
Sahaptian includes two languages:
:1.
Nez Perce (''Niimiipuutímt'')
:2.
Sahaptin (''Sħáptənəxw'')
Nez Perce has two principle dialects, Upper and Lower. Sahaptin has somewhat greater internal diversity, with its main dialects being
Umatilla and
Yakima
Yakima ( or ) is a city in and the county seat of Yakima County, Washington, and the state's 11th-largest city by population. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 96,968 and a metropolitan population of 256,728. The uni ...
.
Nodel Rude's (2012) classification of Sahaptian is as follows.
*Proto-Sahaptian
**
Nez Perce
**
Sahaptin
***''
Columbia River'' dialect
***''Northern'' dialect
****''Northwest'' dialect
****''Northeast'' dialect
Proto-language
Work on Proto-Sahaptian reconstruction has been undertaken by Noel Rude (2006,
[Rude, Noel. 2006]
Proto-Sahaptian vocalism
In ''Papers for the 41st International Conference on Salish and neighbouring languages'', 264-277. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press. 2012
[Rude, Noel. 2012]
Reconstructing Proto-Sahaptian Sounds
In ''Papers for the 47th International Conference on Salish and neighbouring languages'', 292-324. Working Papers in Linguistics (UBCWPL). Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.).
Proto-Sahaptian consonants:
:
Proto-Sahaptian vowels:
:
Bibliography
* Aoki, Haruo (1963). On Sahaptian-Klamath Linguistic Affiliations. ''International Journal of American Linguistics'' 29, no. 2: 107–112.
* Aoki, Haruo (1966). Nez Percé vowel harmony and proto-Sahaptian vowels. ''Language'', ''42'', 759-767.
* Aoki, Haruo (1970). ''Nez Percé grammar''. University of California publications in linguistics (Vol. 62). Berkeley: University of California Press. .
* Mithun, Marianne (1999). ''The languages of Native North America''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (hbk); .
* Rigsby, Bruce (1965). Continuity and change in Sahaptian vowel systems. ''International Journal of American Linguistics'', ''31'', 306-311.
* Rigsby, Bruce; & Silverstein, Michael (1969). Nez Percé vowels and proto-Sahaptian vowel harmony. ''Language'', ''45'', 45-59.
* Rude, Noel. (2012). Reconstructing Proto-Sahaptian Sounds. ''University of British Columbia Working Papers in Linguistics'', Vol. 32, pp. 292–324. Papers for the Forty-seventh International Conference on Salish and Neighbouring Languages, Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada, August 3–5, 2012, edited by Joel Dunham, John Lyon & Natalie Weber.
References
{{Penutian languages
Language families
Plateau Penutian languages
Indigenous languages of the North American Plateau
Indigenous languages of the United States