Wailaki language

Wailaki, also known as Eel River, is an extinct Athabaskan language spoken by the people of the Round Valley Reservation of northern California, one of four languages belonging to the California Athabaskan cluster of the Pacific Coast Athabaskan languages. Dialect clusters reflect the four Wailaki-speaking peoples, the Sinkyone, Wailaki, Nongatl, and Lassik, of the Eel River confederation.

Wailaki
Eel River
Native to	United States
Region	California
Ethnicity	Eel River Athapaskans
Extinct	1960s
Language family	Dené–Yeniseian? Na-Dené Athabaskan Pacific Coast Athabaskan California Athabaskan Wailaki
Dialects	Sinkyone Wailaki Nongatl Lassik
Language codes
ISO 639-3	wlk
Glottolog	wail1244
ELP	Eel River Athabaskan

Wailaki and other California Athabaskan languages.

Phonology

The sounds in Wailaki:

Consonants

		Bilabial	Alveolar			Palatal	Velar		Glottal
			plain	sibilant	lateral		plain	pal.
Nasal		m	n				ŋ
Plosive	plain	p	t	ts		tʃ	k	kʲ	ʔ
	aspirated		tʰ			tʃʰ	kʰ	kʲʰ
	ejective		tʼ	tsʼ		tʃʼ	kʼ	kʲʼ
Fricative				s	ɬ	ʃ	ɣ		h
Approximant					l	j	w

Vowels

Vowels in Wailaki are /i e a o/, and with length as /iː eː aː oː/.

References

• Goddard, Pliny E. (1923). "Wailaki Texts". International Journal of American Linguistics. 2 (3/4): 77–135. doi:10.1086/463738. JSTOR 1263274. S2CID 224806395.
• Seaburg, William R. (1977). "A Wailaki (Athapaskan) Text with Comparative Notes". International Journal of American Linguistics. 43 (4): 327–332. doi:10.1086/465503. S2CID 144969995.
• Begay, Kayla Rae (2017). Wailaki Grammar (Ph.D. thesis). University of California Berkeley.

External links

• Wailaki language overview at the Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
• Wailaki Language (Sinkyone, Lassik, Nongatl, Eel River Athabaskan)
• OLAC resources in and about the Wailaki language
• Wailaki at the California Language Archive