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Cayuse language
Extinct Native American language formerly spoken in Oregon From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Cayuse is an extinct unclassified language once spoken by the Cayuse people (autonym: Liksiyu[3]) of Oregon.
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Classification
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The first written vocabulary of the Cayuse language was published by Horatio Hale in 1846. As a member of the United States Exploring Expedition, he had visited the Pacific Northwest in 1841. Missionary Marcus Whitman was credited for providing "much valuable information" about the Cayuse people and other natives nearby Waiilatpu.[4] In his Waiilatpuan language family, Hale put Cayuse and the Molala language as the sole members.[5]
In 1910 or 1911, Stephens Savage, a Molala speaker, had told Leo Frachtenberg that the following five words were identical in both Cayuse and Molala:[6]
sorrel horse qasqasi tasiwitkwi spotted horse yuꞏk tasiwitkwi black horse múkimuki tasiwitkwi comb taꞏsps spoon ƚúꞏpinc
In 1929 Edward Sapir grouped Cayuse with Molala as part of the Waiilatpuan branch of the Plateau Penutian languages.[7]
Bruce Rigsby reexamined the Cayuse-Molala lexical pairs provided by Hale in 1969 and found only a tenth to be potentially related terms. Whitman was credited as the origin of the Waiilatpuan linguistic family. The words presented by Savage were concluded by Rigsby to likely be loanwords. Upon his review of extant Molala and Cayuse linguistic data, Rigsby concluded "I do not see how the two languages could have possibly been mutually intelligible."[8]
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Pronouns
Cayuse pronouns listed by Hale:[6]
I iniŋ you (sg.) nikí you (du.) nkímiš he nip we námək you (pl.) mkímiš they nípik
Cayuse pronouns listed by McBean:[6]
I in ning you (sg., pl.) in kai he neepe we nung naw naw they cap pick
Verbs
Cayuse verb paradigms documented by Henry W. Henshaw:[6]
- 'hungry'
I am hungry. wi-tu-tŭnt I was hungry. kler-ka-wĭ-tu-tŭnt I will be hungry. wí-tu-näk-sŭnt You and I are hungry. swi-tu-ter-yìk You and I were hungry. swi-tu-te-lì-kai-ĭk You and I will be hungry. nĭng-i-li-pʔl-swi-tu-nak-stunk-a-wak You are hungry. tu-swi-tu-tuñg-a You were hungry. swi-tu-til-kutla You will be hungry. swi-tu-nak-stung-at-la
- 'thirsty'
I am thirsty. nĭs-ka-mu-tiñg I was thirsty. nĭs-ka-mu-til I will be thirsty. nĭs-ka-mu-näk-skĭn You are thirsty. tu-mĭs-ka-mu-tĭñg You were thirsty. mĭs-ka-mu-til-hă You will be thirsty. mĭs-ka-mu-na-stĭnk-la
Vocabulary
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Limited lexical items in Cayuse have been collected by Rigsby, Melville Jacobs, Verne Ray, and Theodore Stern. Their Cayuse informants had highly limited knowledge of the language and were more fluent in either Sahaptin or Nez Perce.
Hale
A word list of Cayuse with nearby 200 lexical items was documented by Hale.[9] The word list has been reproduced below.
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References
External links
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