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Cayuse language

Extinct Native American language formerly spoken in Oregon From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cayuse language
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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 horseqasqasi tasiwitkwi
spotted horseyuꞏk tasiwitkwi
black horsemúkimuki tasiwitkwi
combtaꞏsps
spoonƚúꞏpinc

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]

Iiniŋ
you (sg.)nikí
you (du.)nkímiš
henip
wenámək
you (pl.)mkímiš
theynípik

Cayuse pronouns listed by McBean:[6]

Iin ning
you (sg., pl.)in kai
heneepe
wenung naw naw
theycap 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.

Nouns

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Adjectives

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Pronouns

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Adverbs and others

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Numerals

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Verbs

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References

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