Kalapuyan languages

Language family

Kalapuyan (also Kalapuya) is a small extinct language family that was spoken in the Willamette Valley of Western Oregon, United States. It consists of three languages.^[1]

The Kalapuya language is currently in a state of revival. Kalapuyan descendants in the southernmost Kalapuya region of Yoncalla, Oregon, published 100 copies of a comprehensive dictionary, with plans to expand.^[2][3]

Family division

Kalapuyan consists of

• Kalapuyan
  • Northern Kalapuya † (also known as Tualatin–Yamhill)
  • Central Kalapuya † (several dialects, including Santiam)
  • Yoncalla † (also known as Southern Kalapuya)

Genetic relations

One of the boulders engraved with Kalapuyan words along the paths of east Alton Baker Park in Eugene, Oregon; this one is next to the Willamette River: Whilamut (meaning, Where the river ripples and runs fast)

Kalapuyan is usually connected with the various Penutian proposals. This was originally part of an Oregon Penutian branch along with Takelma, Siuslaw, Alsea and Coosan.^[4] A special relationship with Takelma had been proposed, together forming a "Takelma–Kalapuyan" or "Takelman" family.^[5][6][7][8] However, an unpublished paper by Tarpent & Kendall (1998)^[9] finds this relationship to be unfounded because of the extremely different morphological structures of Takelma and Kalapuyan.

Proto-language

Below is a list of Proto-Kalapuyan reconstructions by Shipley (1970):^[10]

References

1. Berman, H. (1990). An Outline of Kalapuya Historical Phonology. International Journal of American Linguistics, 56(1), 27-59.
2. Reece, Myers (2022-03-06). "The quest to save Oregon's Kalapuya: 'You lose a language, you lose a culture'". oregonlive. Retrieved 2022-05-14.
3. Notarianni, John (2022-04-02). "Bringing Oregon's Kalapuya language back from the brink of extinction". opb. Retrieved 2022-05-14.
4. Sapir, E. (1921). A Characteristic Penutian Form of Stem. International Journal of American Linguistics, 2(1/2), 58-67.
5. Frachtenberg, L. (1918). Comparative Studies in Takelman, Kalapuyan and Chinookan Lexicography, a Preliminary Paper. International Journal of American Linguistics, 1(2), 175-182.
6. Swadesh, M. (1965). Kalapuya and Takelma. International Journal of American Linguistics, 31(3), 237-240.
7. Shipley, W. (1969). Proto-Takelman. International Journal of American Linguistics, 35(3), 226-230.
8. Kendall, D. (1997). The Takelma Verb: Toward Proto-Takelma-Kalapuyan. International Journal of American Linguistics, 63(1), 1-17.
9. cited in: Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America, pp. 432-433. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
10. Shipley, William. 1970. Proto-Kalapuyan. In Swanson, Jr., Earl H. (ed.), Languages and Cultures of Western North America, 97-106. Pocatello: Idaho State University Press.

Further reading

• Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
• Goddard, Ives (Ed.). (1996). Languages. Handbook of North American Indians (W. C. Sturtevant, General Ed.) (Vol. 17). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 0-16-048774-9.
• Jacobs, Melville (1945). Kalapuya Texts. University of Washington Publications in Anthropology. Vol. 11. Seattle: University of Washington.
• Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
• Sturtevant, William C. (Ed.). (1978–present). Handbook of North American Indians (Vol. 1-20). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution. (Vols. 1-3, 16, 18-20 not yet published).

External links

• The Verbal Morphology of Santiam Kalapuya (Northwest Journal of Linguistics)