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Coyotero

This article addresses the Western Apache language. Also known as Coyotero, Western Apache is an Athapaskan tribal language spoken on certain Indian reservations in Arizona. This article contains information about the grammar, phonetic structure, usage, and cultural significance of the Western Apache language. The information is gathered from a variety of academic journals and books written specifically about Western Apache. This article will also address the various dialects of Western Apache that are spoken on specific reservations. This article also discusses the endangered nature of the Western Apache language and what is being done to preserve this languages, as well as the challenges it faces

History

·     The great majority of Western Apache place names currently in use are believed to have been created long ago by the ancestors of the Apache people (SPEAKING WITH NAMES) The ancestors, who had to travel constantly in search of food, covered vast amounts of territory and needed to be able to remember and discuss many different locations. This was facilitated by the invention of hundreds of descriptive place names that were intended to depict their referents in close and exact detail (SPEAKING WITH NAMES)

Grammar

To take a simple example from Western Apache: the stems –tii and –'a are employed in the phrases nato sentii and nato sen’a both of which may be translated broadly as “hand (me) the tobacco.” The difference in meaning between the two verb forms is signaled by their stems: --tii refers to the handling of a single, elongated object (e.g., a cigarette), while –‘a refers to the handling of a single, compact object (e.g., a packet of cigarettes). In short, the referent of the noun nato (“tobacco”) is made more precise according to the stem with which it is coupled. (CVS)

The use of classificatory verbs is similar to that of nouns: the speaker must select an expression that corresponds to the situation in the world he wishes to refer to. He must decide that a specific object belongs to a particular category and label it accordingly . Seven categories that are part of the classificatory verb system are as follows:

 1. Animal/Non-animal. There are two features on this dimension: "animal" and "non-animal." The former, designated by the symbol (ai) includes all vertebrates and insects. The latter, designated (a2), includes flora, liquids, minerals, and practically all items of material culture.

 2. Enclosure. There are two features on this dimension. The first (bl) refers to the condition whereby the item or object being talked about is enclosed in a container. The second (b2) refers to the condition whereby it is not enclosed, i.e., not in a container.

3. State. There are three features on this dimension: "solid" (ci), "plastic" (C2), and "liquid" (cs). The second feature refers to moist, plastic substances such as mud, wet clay, etc., and might also have been defined as "neither solid nor liquid."

4. Number. There are three features on this dimension: “one” (d1), “two” (d2), and “more than two” (d3).

5. Rigidity. There are two features on this dimension: “rigid” (e1), and “non-rigid” (e2). The Apache consider and object tp be rigid (nkliz) if, when held at its edge or end, it does not bend.

6. Length. There are two features on this dimension. The first (f1), refers to the condition whereby the horizontal length of an object is at least three times greater than either its width of height. The second feature (f2) refers to the condition whereby the length of an object is less than three times its width or height.          

7. Portability. There are two features on this dimension: “portable” (g1) and non-portable” (g2). The former refers to items light enough in weight to be easily carried by one man. The latter refers to items sufficiently heavy to require at least two men to carry them. (CVS)

Phonetic Structure

Western Apache utilizes unaffricated stops. Unaffricated stop consonants are produced in three locations: bilabial, aveolar, velar. At the aveolar and velar places of articulation, there are three possibilities: aspirated, ejective, and unaspirated. (The voiceless unaspirated aveolars are characteristically realized as taps in intervocalic environments other than stem-initial position) The bilabial stops are more restricted. Ejective bilabial stops do not occur, and aspirated bilabial stops are rarely attested, surfacing primarily, if not exclusively, in borrowed words. The closure for three aveolar stops is voiceless, as indicated by the absence of any energy in the spectrograms during the closure phase. (PS)

Writing

A Silas John prayer-text may be defined as a set of graphic symbols written on buckskin or paper whose members are arranged in horizontal lines to be read from left to right in descending order. Each symbol is separated from the one that follows it by an empty space, and each corresponds to a single line of prayer, which may consist of a word a phrases or one or more sentences (WAW)

A striking feature of the Silas John script is that it encodes information calling for nonverbal behavior as well as for speech (WAW)

The "names" of elements that function as non-compound symbols are identical to the prayer-lines these symbols elicit in ritual contexts. Consequently, the linguistic referent of a non-compound symbol is always isomorphic with the meaning of the element that forms it and can be learned in a single operation (WAW)

Usage

Nothing is considered more basic to the effective telling of a Western Apache "story" or "narrative" than identifying the geographical locations at which events in the story unfolded. (SPEAKING WITH NAMES)

all Western Apache narratives are spatially anchored to points upon the land with precise depictions of specific locations (SPEAKING WITH NAMES)

The Western Apache practice of "speaking with names" manifests just this sort of functional range and versatility. A description of a place may be understood to accomplish all of the following actions: (1) produce a mental image of a particular geographical location; (2) evoke prior texts, such as historical tales and sagas; (3) affirm the value and validity of traditional moral precepts (i.e., ancestral wisdom); (4) display tactful and courteous attention to aspects of both positive and negative face; (5) convey sentiments of charitable concern and personal support; (6) offer practical advice for dealing with disturbing personal circumstances (i.e., apply ancestral wisdom); (7) transform distressing thoughts caused by excessive worry into more agreeable ones marked by optimism and hopefulness; (8) heal wounded spirits. (SPEAKING WITH NAMES)

Over a period of years, I have become convinced that one of the distinctive characteristics of Western Apache discourse is a predilection for performing a maximum of socially relevant actions with a minimum of linguistic means (SPEAKING WITH NAMES)

Amidst the modern changes, many traditional ideas and place-naming acts remain in use to further teach their wisdom and even create new ideas. (WSIPR)

Examples

Hat' ii baa nadaa? - What are you doing?/What are you busy with?

Shiyoo' baa nashaa. - I am doing my beading.

Doo shaa nadaa da. - Don't bother me.

Naa naghaa. - S/he is bothering you (ILTD)

Revitalization Efforts

In San Carlos and Whiteriver, the largest towns on the San Carlos and White Mountain Apache Reservations respectively, kindergarten playgrounds appear to be very much monolingual in English (ILTD)

·     The TPR method relies heavily, especially in the beginning of a course, on commands. (ILTD)

·     Straightforward syntactic structures (at least in Apache), such as negation and yes-no questions, can be taught through TPR exercises and supplemented by grammatical explanations. (ILTD)

Native experts should monitor any text to avoid culturally sensitive or politically inappropriate material    (ILTD)

Bibliography

Basso, K. H. (1996). Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language among the Western Apache.

Basso, K. H. (1988). 'Speaking with Names': Language and Landscape among the Western Apache. Cultural Anthropology, (2). 99.

Basso, K. H., & Anderson, N. (1973). A Western Apache Writing System: The Symbols of Silas John. Science, (4090). 1013.

Basso, K. H. (1968). The Western Apache Classificatory Verb System: A Formal Analysis. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, (3). 252.

De Reuse, W. J. (1997). Issues in Language Textbook Development: The Case of Western Apache.

Gordon, M., Potter, B., Dawson, J., de Reuse, W., & Ladefoged, P. (2001). Phonetic Structures of Western Apache. International Journal of American Linguistics, (4). 415.

Hunn, E. S. (n.d). Western Apache Language and Culture (Book). Ethnohistory, 38(4), 463.

Nevins, T. J., & Eleanor Nevins, M. (2013). Speaking in the mirror of the other: Dialectics of intersubjectivity and temporality in Western Apache discourse. Language And Communication, 33292-306. doi:10.1016/j.langcom.2012.10.002

Nevins, M. E. (2008). 'They Live in Lonesome Dove': Media and Contemporary Western Apache Place-Naming Practices. Language in Society, (2). 191.

Sabau, I., & Sabau, M. (2008). Keith Basso. Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language among the Western Apache. Rocky Mountain Review, (1), 78.