Tillamook is an extinct Salishan language, formerly spoken by the Tillamook people in northwestern Oregon, United States. The last fluent speaker was Minnie Scovell who died in 1972.[1] In an effort to prevent the language from being lost, a group of researchers from the University of Hawaii interviewed the few remaining Tillamook-speakers and created a 120-page dictionary.[3]
Tillamook | |
---|---|
Hutyáyu, Hutyéyu | |
Native to | United States |
Region | Northwestern Oregon |
Ethnicity | Tillamook, Siletz |
Extinct | 1972, with the death of Minnie Scovell[1] |
Salishan
| |
Dialects |
|
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | til |
Glottolog | till1254 |
Tillamook is classified as Extinct by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger [2] | |
Phonology
editVowels
editFront | Back | |
---|---|---|
High | i | ə |
Low | æ | ɑ |
Consonants
editAlveolar | Post- alveolar |
Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
central | sibilant | lateral | unrounded | rounded | unrounded | rounded | ||||
Stop | plain | t | t͡s | t͡ʃ | k | kᵓ | q | qᵓ | ʔ | |
ejective | tʼ | t͡sʼ | t͡ɬʼ | t͡ʃʼ | kʼ | kᵓʼ | qʼ | qᵓʼ | ||
Fricative | s | ɬ | ʃ | x | xᵓ | χ | χᵓ | h | ||
Sonorant | n | l | j | ɰᵓ |
Internal rounding
editThe so-called "rounded" consonants (traditionally marked with the diacritic ⟨ʷ⟩, but here indicated with ⟨ᵓ⟩), including rounded vowels and ⟨w⟩ (/ɰᵓ/), are not actually labialized. The acoustic effect of labialization is created entirely inside the mouth by cupping the tongue (sulcalization). Uvulars with this distinctive internal rounding have "a kind of ɔ timbre" while "rounded" front velars have ɯ coloring. These contrast and oppose otherwise very similar segments having ɛ or ɪ coloring—the "unrounded" consonants.
/w/ is also formed with this internal rounding instead of true labialization, making it akin to [ɰ]. So are vowel sounds formerly written as /o/ or /u/, which are best characterized as the diphthong /əɰ/ with increasing internal rounding.[4]
Notes
edit- ^ a b "A language all but lost". Tilamook Headlight Herald. May 19, 2009. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016.
- ^ Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (Report) (3rd ed.). UNESCO. 2010. p. 11.
- ^ "Speaking Tillamook". Clatsop-Nehalem Confederated Tribes. Archived from the original on June 16, 2011.
- ^ Thompson & Thompson 1966, p. 316.
Bibliography
edit- Edel, May M (1939). The Tillamook language. New York: J.J. Augustin. LCCN 40001628. OCLC 10272025.
- "May M. Edel papers". Archives West. April 13, 2018 [2007]. Retrieved June 19, 2024.
- Thompson, Lawrence C.; Thompson, M. Terry (1966). "A Fresh Look at Tillamook Phonology". International Journal of American Linguistics. 32 (4): 313–319. doi:10.1086/464920. JSTOR 1264085. S2CID 145658086.
External links
edit- University of Oregon: The Tillamook
- Tillamook Language
- "Tillamook Vocabulary". California Language Archive. Retrieved September 22, 2013.
- OLAC resources in and about the Tillamook language