View source for Biology:Mescalero-Chiricahua language

{{Short description|Language spoken in Oklahoma and New Mexico}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Chiricahua
| nativename       = ''Ndee bizaa''
| states           = Mexico and {{wipe|United States}}
| region           = [[Place:Sonora|Sonora]], Chihuahua, Oklahoma, New Mexico
| ethnicity        = Chiricahua, Mescalero
| speakers         = 1,500
| date             = 2007
| ref              = e18
| familycolor      = Dené-Yeniseian
| fam2             = Na-Dene
| fam3             = [[Social:Athabaskan languages|Athabaskan]]
| fam4             = Southern Athabaskan
| fam5             = Southwestern Apache
| fam6             = Western
| map              = Lang Status 40-SE.svg
| mapcaption       = {{center|{{small|Mescalero-Chiricahua is classified as Severely Endangered by the [[Organization:UNESCO|UNESCO]] Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger}}}}
| iso3             = apm
| glotto           = mesc1238
| glottorefname    = Chiricahua Apache
| notice           = IPA
| minority         = {{flag|Mexico}}
| agency           = Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas
}}

'''Chiricahua''' (also known as '''Chiricahua Apache''') is a [[Social:Southern Athabaskan languages|Southern Athabaskan]] language spoken by the [[Biology:Chiricahua|Chiricahua]] people in Chihuahua and [[Place:Sonora|Sonora]], México and in Oklahoma and New Mexico.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Historia de la lengua y cultura n'dee/n'nee/ndé |url=https://contigoenladistancia.cultura.gob.mx/detalle/conversatorio-historia-de-la-lengua-y-cultura-n-dee-n-nee-nde-hacia-el-registro-en-el-catalogo-de-las-lenguas-indigenas-nacionales-clin-}}</ref> It is related to [[Social:Navajo language|Navajo]] and Western Apache and has been described in great detail by the anthropological linguist Harry Hoijer (1904–1976), especially in Hoijer & Opler (1938) and Hoijer (1946). Hoijer & Opler's ''Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache Texts'', including a grammatical sketch and traditional religious and secular stories, has been converted into an online "book" available from the University of Virginia.

Virginia Klinekole, the first female president of the Mescalero Apache Tribe, was known for her efforts to preserve the language.<ref name="Alamogordo">{{Cite news
 |title       = Former tribal leader dies : Past Mescalero president, council member, writer remembered
 |work        = Alamogordo Daily News
 |access-date  = 2013-03-26
 |date        = 2011-03-15
 |url         = http://www.alamogordonews.com/ci_17614404
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20140525202353/http://www.alamogordonews.com/ci_17614404
 |archive-date = 2014-05-25
}}</ref>

There is at least one language-immersion school for children in Mescalero.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.alamogordonews.com/tablehome/ci_21431757/udall-visits-mescalero-apache-schools-talk-language-preservation |title=Udall visits Mescalero Apache Schools to talk language preservation - Alamogordo Daily News |access-date=2015-08-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140525234738/http://www.alamogordonews.com/tablehome/ci_21431757/udall-visits-mescalero-apache-schools-talk-language-preservation |archive-date=2014-05-25 }}</ref>

==Phonology==
===Consonants===
Chiricahua has 31 consonants:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="2" colspan="2" |
! rowspan="2" | Bilabial
! colspan="3" | Alveolar
! rowspan="2" | Post-<br>alveolar
! rowspan="2" | Palatal
! rowspan="2" | Velar
! rowspan="2" | Glottal
|-
! {{small|plain}}
! {{small|sibilant}}
! {{small|lateral}}
|-
! rowspan="2"| Nasal
! {{small|simple}}
| {{IPAlink|m}}
| {{IPAlink|n}}
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
! {{small|post-stopped}}
| ({{IPA|mᵇ}})
| {{IPA|nᵈ}}
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan="3" | Plosive
! {{small|plain}}
| {{IPAlink|p}}
| {{IPAlink|t}}
| {{IPAlink|ts}}
| {{IPAlink|tˡ}}~{{IPAlink|tɬ}}
| {{IPAlink|tʃ}}
|
| {{IPAlink|k}}
| rowspan="3" | {{IPAlink|ʔ}}
|-
! {{small|aspirated}}
|
| {{IPA|tʰ}}
| {{IPA|tsʰ}}
| {{IPA|tɬʰ}}
| {{IPA|tʃʰ}}
|
| {{IPA|kʰ}}
|-
! {{small|ejective}}
|
| {{IPAlink|tʼ}}
| {{IPAlink|tsʼ}}
| {{IPAlink|tɬʼ}}
| {{IPAlink|tʃʼ}}
|
| {{IPAlink|kʼ}}
|-
! rowspan="2"| Fricative
! {{small|voiceless}}
|
|
| {{IPAlink|s}}
| {{IPAlink|ɬ}}
| {{IPAlink|ʃ}}
|
| {{IPAlink|x}}
| {{IPAlink|h}}
|-
! {{small|voiced}}
|
|
| {{IPAlink|z}}
| {{IPAlink|ɮ}}
| {{IPAlink|ʒ}}
| {{IPAlink|ʝ}}
| {{IPAlink|ɣ}}
|
|}

===Vowels===
Chiricahua has 16 vowels:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="2" colspan="2" |
! colspan="2" | Front
! colspan="2" |Central
! colspan="2" | Back
|-
! {{small|short}} || {{small|long}}
!{{small|short}}
!{{small|long}}
! {{small|short}} || {{small|long}}
|-
! rowspan="2" | High
! {{small|oral}}
| {{IPAlink|i}} || | {{IPA|iː}}
|
|
|  ||
|-
! {{small|nasal}}
| {{IPA|ĩ}} || {{IPA|ĩː}}
|
|
|  ||
|-
! rowspan="2" | Mid
! {{small|oral}}
| {{IPAlink|ɛ}} || {{IPA|ɛː}}
|
|
| {{IPAlink|o}} || {{IPA|oː}}
|-
! {{small|nasal}}
| {{IPA|ɛ̃}} || {{IPA|ɛ̃ː}}
|
|
| {{IPA|õ}} || {{IPA|õː}}
|-
! rowspan="2" | Low
! {{small|oral}}
| ||
|{{IPAlink|a}}
|{{IPA|aː}}
|  ||
|-
! {{small|nasal}}
| ||
|{{IPA|ã}}
|{{IPA|ãː}}
|  ||
|}

Chiricahua has phonemic  oral, nasal, short, and long vowels.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* Hoijer, Harry. (n.d.). Chiricahua Apache stems. (Unpublished manuscript).
* Hoijer, Harry.  (1938).  The southern Athapaskan languages.  ''American Anthropologist'', ''40'' (1), 75-87.
* Hoijer, Harry.  (1939).  Chiricahua loan-words from Spanish.  ''Language'', ''15'' (2), 110-115.
* Hoijer, Harry.  (1945).  Classificatory verb stems in the Apachean languages.  ''International Journal of American Linguistics'', ''11'' (1), 13-23.
* Hoijer, Harry.  (1945).  The Apachean verb, part I: Verb structure and pronominal prefixes.  ''International Journal of American Linguistics'', ''11'' (4), 193-203.
* Hoijer, Harry.  (1946).  The Apachean verb, part II: The prefixes for mode and tense.  ''International Journal of American Linguistics'', ''12'' (1), 1-13.
* Hoijer, Harry.  (1946).  The Apachean verb, part III: The classifiers.  ''International Journal of American Linguistics'', ''12'' (2), 51-59.
* Hoijer, Harry.  (1946).  Chiricahua Apache.  In C. Osgood (Ed.), ''Linguistic structures in North America''.  New York: Wenner-Green Foundation for Anthropological Research.
* Hoijer, Harry; & Opler, Morris E.  (1938).  ''Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache texts''.  The University of Chicago publications in anthropology; Linguistic series.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press.  (Reprinted in 1964 by Chicago: University of Chicago Press; in 1970 by Chicago: University of Chicago Press; & in 1980 under H. Hoijer by New York: AMS Press, {{ISBN|0-404-15783-1}}).
* Opler, Morris E., & Hoijer, Harry.  (1940). The raid and war-path language of the Chiricahua Apache.  ''American Anthropologist'', ''42'' (4), 617-634.
* Pinnow, Jürgen. (1988). ''Die Sprache der Chiricahua-Apachen: Mit Seitenblicken auf das Mescalero [The language of the Chiricahua Apache: With side glances at the Mescalero]''. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag.
*Webster, Anthony K. (2006). On Speaking to Him (Coyote): The Discourse Functions of the ''yi-/bi-'' Alternation in Some Chiricahua Apache Narratives. ''Southwest Journal of Linguistics'', ''25(2)'', 143-160.
* Young, Robert W.  (1983).  Apachean languages.  In A. Ortiz, W. C. Sturtevant (Eds.), ''Handbook of North American Indians: Southwest'', (Vol. 10), (p.&nbsp;393-400).  Washington: Smithsonian Institution.  {{ISBN|0-16-004579-7}}.
{{Refend}}

==External links==
* [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/apache/ Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache Texts]
* [http://www.language-archives.org/language/apm OLAC resources in and about the Mescalero-Chiricahua Apache language]
*{{cite book|last1=Goddard|first1=Pliny Earle|title=San Carlos Apache texts|url=https://archive.org/details/sancarlosapache00goddgoog|access-date=24 August 2012|year=1919|publisher=American Museum of Natural History}}
* {{Cite news
 |last        = Rene Romo
 |title       = Apaches work to save language
 |work        = Alamogordo Daily News
 |access-date  = 2012-08-08
 |date        = 2011-11-11
 |url         = http://www.alamogordonews.com/ci_19318722
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20111116015830/http://www.alamogordonews.com/ci_19318722
 |archive-date = 2011-11-16
}}
*{{Cite news
 |last        = Harold Oakes
 |title       = Udall visits Mescalero Apache Schools to talk language preservation
 |work        = Alamogordo Daily News
 |access-date  = 2012-09-02
 |date        = 2012-08-29
 |url         = http://www.alamogordonews.com/ci_21431757/udall-visits-mescalero-apache-schools-talk-language-preservation
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20120904130837/http://www.alamogordonews.com/ci_21431757/udall-visits-mescalero-apache-schools-talk-language-preservation
 |archive-date = 2012-09-04
}}

{{Athabaskan languages}}{{Languages of Mexico}}{{Languages of Arizona}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chiricahua Language}}
[[Category:Chiricahua]]

{{Sourceattribution|Mescalero-Chiricahua language}}