Central Kalapuya language

Central Kalapuyan was a Kalapuyan language indigenous to the central and southern Willamette Valley in Oregon in the United States. It was spoken by various bands of the Kalapuya peoples who inhabited the valley up through the middle of the 19th century. The language is closely related to Northern Kalapuya, spoken in the Tualatin and Yamhill valleys.

Central Kalapuya
Native to	United States
Region	Northwest Oregon
Ethnicity	Kalapuya of Willamette Valley
Extinct	c. 1954, with the death of John B. Hudson[1][2]
Language family	Kalapuyan Central Kalapuya
Dialects	Ahantchuyuk Santiam Luckiamute Chepenafa Chemapho Chelamela Tsankupi Winefelly-Mohawk
Language codes
ISO 639-3	kyl
Glottolog	kala1400

Dialects

Dialects of Central Kalapuya that have been identified include:

• Ahantchuyuk dialect, spoken in the northeastern Willamette Valley along the Pudding and Molalla rivers
• Santiam dialect, spoken in the central Willamette Valley along the lower Santiam River
• Luckiamute dialect, spoken in the central Willamette Valley along the Luckiamute River
• Chepenafa dialect, spoken in the central Willamette Valley along Marys River
• Chemapho dialect, spoken in the central Willamette Valley along Muddy Creek
• Chelamela dialect, spoken in the southwestern Willamette Valley along the Long Tom River
• Tsankupi dialect, spoken in the southeastern Willamette Valley along the Calapooia River
• Winefelly-Mohawk dialects, spoken in the southeastern Willamette Valley along the McKenzie, Mohawk, and Coast Fork Willamette rivers

Phonology

The phonology of the Santiam dialect, as described by Jacobs (1945) and analyzed by Banks (2007), is listed below.^[3][4] Banks notes that Jacobs' analysis does not rigorously account for allophonic variation, and that, according to Jacobs, there may have been some interchangeability between the velar and uvular series.^[4]

Consonants

		Bilabial	Alveolar			Palatal	Velar		Uvular		Glottal
			plain	sibilant	lateral		plain	lab.	plain	lab.	plain	lab.
Plosive/ Affricate	plain	p	t	ts		tʃ	k	kʷ	q	qʷ	ʔ
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ	tsʰ		tʃʰ	kʰ	kʷʰ	qʰ	qʷʰ
	ejective	pʼ	tʼ	tsʼ		tʃʼ	kʼ	kʷʼ	qʼ	qʷʼ
Nasal		m	n				ŋ
Fricative		ɸ		s	ɬ	ʃ	x		χ		h	hʷ
Approximant					l	j		w

The nasals [m] and [n] likely had syllabic forms: [m̩] and [n̩]. Jacobs possibly notes that the plosives also have voiced allophones, as [b], [d], [ɡ], [ɡʷ], [ɢ], and [ɢʷ]. Banks also notes that /h/, /hʷ/, /dz/, /dʒ/, and /ɸʷ/ may have been allophones.^[4]

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Open-mid	æ ~ ɛ		ɔ
Open		a

Santiam Kalapuya had three diphthongs: [ai], [au], and [ui]. Vowel length may have been phonemic, /ɔ/ may have been an allophone of /u/.^[4]