O'ODHAM LANGUAGE

(Redirected from Pima language)

'O'odham' (//) is an Uto-Aztecan language of Southern Arizona and northern Sonora where the Tohono O'odham and Pima reside. As of the year 2000, there were estimated to be approximately 9750 speakers in the United States and Mexico combined, although there may be more due to underrepresentation. It is the 10th most-spoken language in Arizona, the 3rd most-spoken indigenous language in Arizona after Apache and Navajo. It is the 3rd most-spoken language in Pinal County and the 4th most-spoken language in Pima County (German is the 3rd). Approximately 8% of speakers in the US speak English "not well" or "not at all", according to results of the 2000 Census. Approximately 13% of speakers in the US were between the ages of 5 and 17, and among the younger speakers, approximately 4% were reported as speaking English "not well" or "not at all".
Native names for the language, depending on the dialect and orthography, include ''Oʼodham ha-ñeʼokĭ'', ''Oʼottham ha-neoki'', and ''Oʼodham ñiok''.
==Dialects^[1]==

★ Tohono O'odham

★
★ Cukuḍ Kuk

★
★ Gigimai

★
★ Hu:huʼula

★
★ Huhuwoṣ

★
★ Totoguani

★ Akimel O'odham

★
★ Eastern Gila

★
★ Kohadk

★
★ Salt River

★
★ Western Gila

★ Hia C-ed O'odham

★
★ ?
Due to the paucity of data on the linguistic varieties of the Hia C-ed O'odham, this section currently focuses on the Tohono O'odham and Akimel O'odham dialects only.
The greatest dialectal differences are between the Tohono O'odham and the Akimel O'odham dialect groupings. Some examples:

Tohono O'odham	Akimel O'odham	English
ʼaʼad	hotṣ	to send
ñeñida	tamiam	to wait for
s-hewhogĭ	s-heubagĭ	to be cool
sisiṣ	hoʼiumi ''(but ''si:ṣpakuḍ'', stapler)''	to fasten
pi: haʼicug	pi ʼac	to be absent
wia	ʼoʼoid	hunt ''tr.''

There are other major dialectal differences between northern and southern dialects, for example:

Early O'odham	Southern	Northern	English
★ ''ʼa:pi:m''	ʼa:ham	ʼa:pim	you
★ ''cu:khug''	cu:hug	cu:kug	flesh
★ ''ʼe:kheg''	ʼe:heg	ʼe:keg	to be shaded
★ ''ʼu:pham''	ʼu:hum	ʼu:pam	(go) back

The Cukuḍ Kuk dialect has null in certain positions where other Tohono O'odham dialects have a bilabial:

Other TO dialects	Chukuḍ Kuk	English
jiwia, jiwa	jiia	to arrive
ʼuʼuwhig	ʼuʼuhig	bird
wabṣ	haṣ	only
wabṣaba, ṣaba	haṣaba	but

==Phonology^[2]

Contents

Vowels

Allophony and distribution

Orthography

Etymological vs. Phonetic spelling

Verbs

Nouns

Adjectives

Sample text

See also

External links

References

==

Consonants

	Labial		Dental		Retroflex		Palatal		Velar		Glottal
Plosives
Fricatives
Nasal
Approximant

The retroflex consonants are apical postalveolar.
In most Papago dialects, the two sounds and have merged completely into , whereas in all Pima dialects, the distinction is still made. For example, Pima ''cu:vĭ'' (jackrabbit) is written and pronounced ''cu:wĭ'' in Papago, but Pima ''wuai'' (deer) is pronounced identically in Papago, although it is written ''huawĭ''. Pima ''wiyoṣa'' (face) is written ''wuhioṣa'' in Papago; Pima ''wi'' (eye) is written ''wuhĭ'' in Papago. Thus, the letter "v" is not used to write Papago, but it is used to write Pima.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High
Mid
Low

All vowels distinguish three degrees of length: long, short, and extra-short.

★ "Seri"

★ "permission"

★ "you"

★ "I don't know", "who knows?"
Papago is pronounced in Pima.

Allophony and distribution

★ is realized as , and devoices preceding obstruents: → "jackrabbit".

★ is a fricative before unrounded vowels: .

★ appears before and in Spanish loanwords, but native words do not have nasal assimilation: "hill", "meet", "monkey". , , and rarely occur initially in native words, and does not occur before .

★ and are largely in complementary distribution, appearing before high vowels , appearing before low vowels : "sing". They contrast finally ( (1st imperfective auxiliary) vs. "next to speaker"), though Saxton analyzes these as and , respectively, and final as in as . However, there are several Spanish loanwords where occurs: "number". Similarly, for the most part and appear before low vowels while and before high vowels, but there are exceptions to both, often in Spanish loanwords: ("tequila") "wine", TO / AO ("[de]bajo") "under".

Orthography

There are two orthographies commonly used for the O'odham language, Alvarez-Hale and Saxton. The Alvarez-Hale orthography is officially used by the Tohono O'odham Nation and the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, and is used in this article, but the Saxton orthography is also common and is official in the Gila River Indian Community. It is relatively easy to convert between the two, the differences between them being largely no more than different graphemes for the same phoneme, but there are distinctions made by Alvarez-Hale not made by Saxton.

Phoneme	Alvarez-Hale	Saxton	Meaning
	'a' ''ʼaʼal''	'a' ''a'al''	baby
	'b' ''ban''	'b' ''ban''	coyote
	'c' ''cehia''	'ch' ''chehia''	girl
	'd' ''da:k''	'th' ''thahk''	nose
	'ḍ' ''meḍ''	'd' ''med''	run
?	'ḏ' ''juḏum''	'd' ''judum''	bear
TO , AO	'e' ''ʼeʼeb''	'e' ''e'eb''	stop crying
	'g' ''gogs''	'g' ''gogs''	dog
	'h' ''haʼicu''	'h' ''ha'ichu''	something
TO , AO	'i' ''ʼi:bhai''	'i' ''ihbhai''	prickly pear cactus
	'j' ''ju:kĭ''	'j' ''juhki''	rain
	'k' ''ke:k''	'k' ''kehk''	stand
	'l' ''lu:lsi''	'l' ''luhlsi''	candy
	'm' ''mu:ñ''	'm' ''muhni''	bean(s)
	'n' ''na:k''	'n' ''nahk''	ear
	'ñ' ''ñeʼe'', ''mu:ñ''	'n', 'ni' ''ne'e'', ''muhni''	sing, bean(s)
	'ŋ' ''aŋhil'', ''wa:ŋgo''	'ng', 'n' ''anghil'', ''wahngo''	angel, bank
	'o' ''ʼoʼohan''	'o' ''o'ohan''	write
	'p' ''pi''	'p' ''pi''	not
	's' ''sitol''	's' ''sitol''	honey
	'ṣ' ''ṣoiga''	'sh' ''shoiga''	pet
	't' ''to:bĭ''	't' ''tohbi''	cottontail ''(Sylvilagus audubonii)''
	'u' ''ʼu:s''	'u' ''uhs''	tree, wood
	'v' ''vainom''	'v' ''vainom''	knife
	'w' ''wuai''	'w' ''wuai''	male deer
	'y' ''payaso''	'y' ''pa-yaso''	clown
	'ʼ' ''ʼaʼan''	''' ''a'an''	feather
	':' ''ju:kĭ''	'h' ''juhki''	rain

The Saxton orthography does not mark word-initial or extra-short vowels. Final generally corresponds to Hale-Alvarez <ĭ> and final to Hale-Alvarez :

★ Hale-Alvarez vs. Saxton "cottontail rabbit"

★ Hale-Alvarez vs. Saxton "I"

Etymological vs. Phonetic spelling

There is some disagreement among speakers as to whether the spelling of words should be only phonetic, or whether etymology should be concerned.
For example: '''oam'ajda'' vs. '''wua'majda'' ("frybread"; some people may also use a ''c'' instead of a ''j''), ''oam'' means "yellow/brown/orange" and thus this is a compound word of sorts. Some people believe it should begin like any word that starts with a , ''wua'', while others think its spelling should match that of the word ''oam'' (''oam'' is in fact a form of ''s-oam'', so while it could be spelt ''wuam'' itself, it is not because it is just a different declension of the same word) to reflect its etymology.
According to the regulatory bodies, "'oamajda'" is better, but they are always careful not to make any definitive rules on grammar, pronunciation, or minor orthographic issues because people are often very proud of their dialect or may feel very strongly about such issues.
==Grammar^[3]==

Syntax

O'odham is notable for being non-configurational; for example, all of the following sentences mean "the boy brands the pig":

★ ''ceoj ʼo g ko:ji ceposid''

★ ''ko:ji ʼo g ceoj ceposid''

★ ''ceoj ʼo ceposid g ko:ji''

★ ''ko:ji ʼo ceposid g ceoj''

★ ''ceposid ʼo g ceoj g ko:ji''

★ ''ceposid ʼo g ko:ji g ceoj''
In principle, these could also mean "the pig brands the boy", but such an interpretation would require an unusual context.
Despite the general freedom of sentence word order, O'odham is fairly strictly verb-second in its placement of the auxiliary verb (in the above sentences, it is ''ʼo''):

★ ''cipkan 'ʼañ' '' "I am working"

★ but ''pi 'ʼañ' cipkan'' "I am not working", not
★ ''pi cipkan ʼañ''

Verbs

Verbs are inflected for aspect (imperfective ''cipkan'', perfective ''cipk''), tense (future imperfective ''cipkanad''), and number (plural ''cicpkan''). Number agreement displays ergative behavior: verbs agree with the number of the subject in intransitive sentences, but with that of the object in transitive sentences:

★ ''ceoj ʼo cipkan'' "the boy is working"

★ ''cecoj ʼo cicpkan'' "the boys are working"

★ ''ceoj ʼo g ko:ji ceposid'' "the boy is branding the pig"

★ ''cecoj ʼo g ko:ji ceposid'' "the boys are branding the pig"

★ ''ceoj ʼo g kokji ha-cecposid'' "the boy is branding the pigs"
The main verb agrees with the object for person (''ha-'' in the above example), but the auxiliary agrees with the subject: ''ʼa:ñi ʼañ g kokji ha-cecposid'' "I am branding the pigs".

Nouns

Three numbers are distinguished in nouns: singular, plural, and distributive, though not all nouns have distinct forms for each. Most distinct plurals are formed by reduplication and often vowel loss, plus other occasional morphophonemic changes, and distributives are formed from these by gemination of the reduplicated consonant:

★ ''gogs'' "dog", ''gogogs'' "dogs", ''goggogs'' "dogs (all over)"

★ ''ma:gina'' "car", ''mamgina'' "cars", ''mammagina'' "cars (all over)"

★ ''mi:stol'' "cat", ''mimstol'' "cats"

Adjectives

O'odham adjectives can act both attributively modifying nouns and predicatively as verbs, with no change in form.

★ ''ʼi:da ṣu:dagĭ ʼo s-he:pid'' "This water is cold"

★ ''ʼs-he:pid ṣu:dagĭ ʼañ hohoʼid'' "I like cold water"

Sample text

The following is an excerpt from ^[4]. It exemplifies the Salt River dialect.
:''
In Saxton orthography:
:''Nahnse ehtha, moh hek jeved uhth sih vehchoch, mahsh hek Tadai siskeg uhth u'uhig. Hek a'anach ch vopohch sih vo skegach ch ep sih chechvach. Kush am hebai hai kih g O'ottham sham o'oitham k am upam thahtha k am cheh mahsh hehkai chu hek ha nahtha. Ihtham O'othham sham eh hehmapa k am a'aga mahsh has mahsma vo bei hek nahtha ab amjeth hek Tataniki Jiosh. Sha bi'ih a mahsh mo kahke hek Tadai mahsh mo mehtk amo tah'ih hek nahtha ha vehhejed ihtham O'ottham. Tadai shah ma sohhih mahsh mo mehdk amo tah'ih g nahtha hek Tataniki Jiosh. Tho shuth mehtkam, am “sih ih naihsh hek vohgk” k gau mel mahsh am kih g Tataniki Jiosh.''
Translation:

See also

★ Tohono O'odham

★ Pima Bajo

External links

★ Ethnologue Report for O'odham

★ Papago - English Dictionary

References

1. Saxton, Dean, Saxton, Lucille, & Enos, Susie. (1983). ''Dictionary: Tohono O'odham/Pima to English, English to Tohono O'odham/Pima''. Tucson, AZ: The University of Arizona Press
2. Saxton, Dean. (1963). Papago Phonemes. ''International Journal of American Linguistics, 29'', 29-35
3. Zepeda, Ofelia. (1983). ''A Tohono O'odham Grammar''. Tucson, AZ: The University of Arizona Press.
4. Oʼodham Piipaash Language Program. ''Taḏai''. Salt River, AZ: Oʼodham Piipaash Language Program