Arikara language
Arikara | |
---|---|
Sáhniš | |
Native to | United States |
Region | North-central North Dakota |
Ethnicity | 792 Arikara (2010 census)[1] |
Native speakers | 10 (2007)[2] |
Latin script | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | ari |
Glottolog | arik1262 |
ELP | Arikara |
Linguasphere | 64-BAA-a |
Arikara language distribution | |
Arikara is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger |
Arikara is a Caddoan language spoken by the Arikara Native Americans who reside primarily at Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. Arikara is close to the Pawnee language, but they are not mutually intelligible.
The Arikara were apparently a group met by Lewis and Clark in 1804; their population of 30,000 was reduced to 6,000 by smallpox.[3]
History
For several hundred years, the Arikara lived as a semi-
During the sedentary seasons, the Arikara lived primarily in villages of earth lodges. While traveling or during the seasonal bison hunts, they erected portable tipis as temporary shelter. They were primarily an agricultural society, whose women cultivated varieties of corn (or maize). The crop was such an important staple of their society that it was referred to as "Mother Corn".
Traditionally an Arikara family owned 30–40 dogs. The people used them for hunting and as sentries, but most importantly for transportation in the centuries before the Plains tribes adopted the use of horses in the 1600s. Many of the Plains tribes had used the travois, a lightweight transportation device pulled by dogs. It consisted of two long poles attached by a harness at the dog's shoulders, with the butt ends dragging behind the animal; midway, a ladder-like frame, or a hoop made of plaited thongs, was stretched between the poles; it held loads that might exceed 60 pounds. Women also used dogs to pull travois to haul firewood or infants. The travois were used to carry meat harvested during the seasonal hunts; a single dog could pull a quarter of a bison.[4]
In the late 18th century, the tribe suffered a high rate of fatalities from
The three tribes are settled on the
Phonology
Consonants
Arikara has the following consonant phonemes:[6] Notably, it is one of the very few languages without [m].
Labial | Alveolar | Post- alveolar |
Velar | Glottal | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Stop
|
p | t | c [t͡ʃ] | k | ʔ |
Fricative
|
s | ʃ | x | h | |
Nasal | n | ||||
Approximant
|
w | r |
Arikara distinguishes between the affricate [t͡ʃ] and the consonant cluster /t+ʃ/:
- čipátš 'knotweed' = [t͡ʃiˈpətʃ][7]
Voiced consonants in Arikara have voiceless allophones. Whenever a sonorant precedes a devoiced vowel, that sonorant devoices as well.
- čiíRA 'hello (male greeting)' = [t͡ʃiːr̥ə̥][7]
- táWIt 'three' = [ˈtəw̥ɪ̥t][7]
- NAhaá'U 'his or her child' = [n̥ə̥ˈhaːʔʊ̥][7]
Vowels
Arikara also has the following vowel phonemes:
Short | Long | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Front | Back | Front | Back | |
High
|
i | u | iː | uː |
Mid | e | o | eː | oː |
Low
|
a | aː |
Current status
Arikara is now spoken in
Arikara is extensively documented, with several volumes of
The language is used in the 2015 film The Revenant starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Hugh Glass, a mountain man who interacted with Arikara people and learned the language in the 19th century.[14][15]
Bibliography
- Campbell, Lyle (1997). American Indian languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America, New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
- Mithun, Marianne (1999). The Languages of Native North America, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
References
- ^ "2010 Census CPH-T-6. American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2010" (PDF). census.gov. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
- ^ "UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger". www.unesco.org. Retrieved 2018-05-24.
- ^ "Arikara". Retrieved 2015-08-29.
- ^ Fiedel, Stuart J. (2005). "Man's best friend – mammoth's worst enemy? A speculative essay on the role of dogs in Paleoindian colonization and megafaunal extinction," World Archaeology, 37:1, 15—16
- ^ "Lewis and Clark . Native Americans. Arikara Indians". pbs.org. Archived from the original on January 15, 2010. Retrieved January 28, 2010.
- ^ Parks, Douglas R., Janet Beltra, & Ella P. Waters (1979). Introduction to the Arikara Language. Bismarck, ND: Mary College.
- ^ a b c d AISRI Online Arikara Dictionary. Available online at http://zia.aisri.indiana.edu/~dictsearch/. Accessed 12-27-2015
- ^ "Tribe mourns loss of fluent Arikara speaker". nativetimes.com. Retrieved 2010-01-29.
- ^ "MHA Nation – Three Affiliated Tribes". www.mhanation.com. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2010-01-28.
- ^ a b Rudy, Dan (2014-04-20). "Arikara app aims to revitalize language". Minot Daily News, via KansasCity.com. Retrieved 2014-04-26.
- ISBN 978-0-8032-3691-2.
- ^ Douglas R. Parks (1998). Sáhniš wakuúnuʼ: An introduction to the Arikara language. (Roseglen, N.D): White Shield School District. Retrieved 2010-01-28.
- ^ Merlan, Francesca (1975). Noun-verb relationships in Arikara syntax. University of New Mexico.
- ^ Morin, Brandi (Jan 7, 2016). "Meet the man who taught Leonardo DiCaprio to speak the Arikara language in The Revenant". Retrieved Apr 14, 2021.
- ^ Lee, Stephen (11 January 2016). "Arikara man was adviser on DiCaprio's "The Revenant"". Capital Journal. Retrieved Apr 14, 2021.