Osage | |
Nativename: | Wažáže ie |
States: | United States |
Region: | Oklahoma |
Ethnicity: | Osage people |
Extinct: | 2005, with the death of Lucille Robedeaux |
Revived: | As of 2009, 15-20 L2 speakers, ongoing revival program |
Familycolor: | American |
Fam1: | Siouan |
Fam2: | Western Siouan |
Fam3: | Mississippi Valley |
Fam4: | Dhegiha |
Fam5: | Kansa–Osage |
Script: | Latin (Osage alphabet), Osage script |
Iso2: | osa |
Iso3: | osa |
Glotto: | osag1243 |
Glottorefname: | Osage |
Linglist: | qlc |
Lingname: | Kansa-Osage |
Map: | Oklahoma Indian Languages.png |
Map2: | Lang Status 20-CR.svg |
Osage (; Osage: Wažáže ie) is a Siouan language that is spoken by the Osage people of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Their original territory was in present-day Missouri and Kansas but they were gradually pushed west by European-American pressure and treaties.
Osage has an inventory of sounds very similar to that of Dakota, also a Siouan language, plus vowel length, preaspirated obstruents and an interdental fricative (like "th" in English "then"). In contrast to Dakota, phonemically aspirated obstruents appear phonetically as affricates, and the high back vowel *u has been fronted to pronounced as /[y]/.
Osage is written primarily with two systems: one using the Latin script with diacritics, and another derived Osage script created in 2006.[1] Osage is among the few indigenous languages in the United States that has developed its own writing system.
As of 2009, about 15–20 elders were second-language speakers of Osage. The Osage Language Program, created in 2003, provides audio and video learning materials on its website.[2] The 2nd Annual Dhegiha Gathering in 2012 brought Osage, Kaw, Quapaw, Ponca and Omaha speakers together to share best practices in language revitalization.[3] In early 2015, Osage Nation Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear announced he would make Osage language immersion a priority.[4]
Osage phonology is quite similar to that of Kansa. But, it preserves many historical alternations that have been leveled out in Kansa; for example, Kansa *u has merged with *i, whereas it is still largely distinct in Osage.
Osage has five plain vowels:
Front | Central | Back | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unrounded | Rounded | ||||
Close | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ ~ pronounced as /link/ | |||
Mid | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
Open | pronounced as /link/ ~ pronounced as /link/ |
pronounced as //u// varies between central and front, pronounced as /[ʉ ~ y]/, and frequently unrounds to pronounced as //i//. It is especially far front pronounced as /[y]/ following a velar obstruent and when it is near a front vowel with no intervening obstruent. It most commonly conflates with pronounced as //i// following ð and n.
Usually in fast speech, unstressed /a/ is pronounced pronounced as /[ə]/.[5] This assimilation occurs after a stressed syllable, or at the end of a word. For example: pronounced as /céska [tsɛ́skə]/ 'cow', pronounced as /tóa [tóə]/ 'this one'.
There are three vowels that carry this feature: pronounced as /[ɑ̃] [ĩ] [õ]/. It is quite common for nasalized pronounced as /[ɑ̃]/ to become a nasal pronounced as /[õ]/ and vice versa. Non-nasalized vowels can be heard as nasalized as well. In general, vowels tend to become nasalized adjacent to another nasal vowel or consonant when there is no intervening obstruent. On the other hand, final nasal vowels tend to become oral. However, nasal vowels are always short, regardless of their position. Examples: pronounced as /[ʃímĩʒɛ]/ 'girl' and pronounced as /[paˑɣõ]/ 'mountain'
According to Hans Wolff [6] (65), common Osage vowel clusters are:
Vowel length is important in Osage, but it is hard to perceive and has a good deal of variation. For example, long vowels are often reduced to short ones when they are not accented.[7] Quintero took long vowels to be the underlying form in such situations. There is not enough information to specify exactly how the accent system works in Osage, and there is still uncertainty about Osage vowel length.
Oral vowels are long before non-stop consonants and in final stressed position. When they are unstressed in final position, they are always short.
Lengthening of short vowels often occurs in questions.[8]
Example: pronounced as //ʃkó̃ʃta// 'you want' becomes pronounced as /[ʃkó̃õʃta]/?
Long vowels also arise when ð is omitted between identical vowels.[7]
Example: ðakʼéwaða 'be kind to them' may become ðakʼéwaa.
When e(e) changes to a(a), an immediately preceding c is often replaced by t (thought not always)[9]
Example: océ 'look for, hunt for' becomes otá 'look for it!'
The vowel sequences pronounced as //aĩ// pronounced as //eĩ// pronounced as //oĩ// and pronounced as //ai// are almost certainly diphthongs. The Osage script has letters to represent each of the diphthongs.
There are thirty-one consonant phonemes in Osage, twenty-two of which are voiceless and nine are voiced. However, Osage has a rich system of stop sounds, known as the stop series, or the stop sequence. (See below)
Bilabial | Dentalveolar | Postalveolar | Velar | Glottal | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasals | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
Stops | Preaspirated (fortis) | pronounced as /link/~pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/~pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/~pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/~pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/~pronounced as /link/ | |||
Tenuis (lenis) | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | |||
Aspirated | pronounced as /px/~pronounced as /pʃ/ | pronounced as /tx/~pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/~pronounced as /kʃ/ | ||||
Ejective | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
Voiced | pronounced as /br/ | ||||||
Fricatives | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
Approximants | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/, (pronounced as /link/) | pronounced as /link/ |
The stop series can be grouped according to five categories:
The ejective, fortis, and lenis series of the alphabet are not distinguished in Osage orthography.
Listed below is some features and phonological alternations of Osage:
pronounced as //ts/ → [tʃ]/_[ʃ]/
Examples:
íðotse 'be open'
ihtṍtse 'son-in-law'
ðekṍõce 'now'
pronounced as /[mɑ̃ʃtʃĩ́kɛ]/ 'rabbit'
pronounced as /[ʃtʃɛ́]/ 'you went'
pronounced as //x/ → [ɣ]/V__V/
Examples:
pronounced as /[hóxpe]/ 'cough'
pronounced as /[hpéɣe]/ 'gourd'
pronounced as /[nɑ̃́ɑ̃ɣe]/ 'spirit'
pronounced as /[hkáɣe]/ 'crow'
pronounced as //ð/ → [d]/#__a/
Examples:
ðɑ̃lĩ pronounced as /[dɑ̃dlĩ]/ 'good'
ðɑ̃brĩ pronounced as /[dɑ̃bəðĩ]/ 'three'
ðĩe pronounced as /[ðĩɛ]/ 'you'
cʼéðe pronounced as /[tsʼɛˑðɛ]/ 'he killed it'
Examples:
pronounced as /brĩiʃtɑ̃/ 'I'm finished'
pronounced as /abrĩ/ 'I have'
pronounced as /waabrṍ/ 'I am unable'
The dentalveolar obstruents are often fricated: the ejective always (though it has other sources as well), and the other series before the front vowels pronounced as //i ĩ e u//. Exceptions occur due to compounding and other derivational processes. For example, from hką́ą́ce 'fruit' and oolá 'put in' is hkąącóla 'pie'. (The fricated allophone is written c.)
Č, hč are rare, and only found in diminutives: č only in two words, čóopa 'a little', čáahpa 'squat', and hč for hc in endearment forms of kin terms like wihčóšpa 'my grandchild'. In Hominy, šc is pronounced šč.
Osage has a simple expanded CV syllabic template: (C(C)) V (V).[14] All consonants occur initially and medially; they never occur in final position. Consonant clusters of the type CC only occur in initial and medial positions. Furthermore, only voiceless consonants form clusters, with the exception of pronounced as /[br]/.[6] The initial clusters are pronounced as /[pʃ] [kʃ] [tsʼ] [st] [sts] [sk] [ʃt] [ʃk] [br]/, excluding aspirated stops.
Examples:
pʃĩta 'I'll come (to your house)'
kʃí 'he reached home'
ʰtséka 'crazy'
stúʒa 'you wash it'
stsétse 'long'
skɑ̃ 'white'
ʃtátɑ̃ 'you drank it'
ʃkṍʃta 'you wanted it'
bráze 'torn'
Medial clusters may be divided into two groups:
Examples:
tapʼõkʼe 'he hit it'
wécʼa 'snake'
nɑ̃ḱṍ 'he heard it'
aṍpha 'I understand it'
áthɑ̃ 'he kicked it'
áððikhɑ̃ 'he lay down'
épʃe 'I spoke'
ðacpé 'to eat'
nĩ́kʃe 'you are here'
nã́kwĩ 'both, we two'
Examples:
ĩ́spe 'ax'
laská 'flower'
ókisce 'half'
ðaʃtú 'to bite'
paʃpú 'to chip'
iʃtá 'eyes'
walúʃks 'bug'
mɑ̃ʃcĩ́ke 'rabbit'
mɑ̃xpú 'clouds'
ðaxtáke 'to bite'
mõĩ́xka 'soil/dirt'
wĩ́xci 'one'
The historically aspirated series *pʰ *tʰ *kʰ is seldom realized with aspiration today. Before back vowels they are pronounced as /[px tx kx]/, and before front vowels pronounced as /[pʃ tsʰ kʃ]/ (written pš ch kš). Some speakers from Hominy assimilate tx to pronounced as /[tkx]/ or pronounced as /[kx]/.
Đ, n, r all derive from historic *r, and l from *kr and *xr. The latter is a recent phenomenon; in the 1930s words with modern l were transcribed xth and gth. Historically *r became ð before oral vowels and n before nasal vowels, but since the nasalization has often been lost, there are minimal pairs and pronounced as //l, n// are now separate phonemes. Nonetheless, intervocalic ð is optionally pronounced pronounced as /[n]/ in many words. It is also sometimes strongly palatalized intervocalically, to the point of becoming pronounced as /[j]/.
In words with l, this is sometimes pronounced pronounced as /[hl]/ or pronounced as /[dl]/. The former derives from historic *xl, the latter from *kð and *gð; these sequences have largely merged with simple *l. This is productive; ð in verbs may become l when prefixed with k.
The r is apparently an approximant like English pronounced as /[ɹ]/. Br is most common in first-person forms of verbs beginning with ð, where the agent prefix w(a)- assimilates to pronounced as /[b]/ before the ð, and indeed this was written bth in the 1930s. However, in rarer cases the origin of br is opaque.