Northern Paiute language

Northern Paiute /ˈpaɪuːt/,^[2] endonym Numu or nɨɨmɨ,^[3][4] also known as Paviotso, is a Western Numic language of the Uto-Aztecan family, which according to Marianne Mithun had around 500 fluent speakers in 1994.^[5] It is closely related to the Mono language.

Northern Paiute
Paviotso
Numu, nɨɨmɨ
Native to	United States
Region	Nevada, California, Oregon, Idaho
Ethnicity	6,000 Northern Paiute and Bannock (1999)[1]
Native speakers	700 (2007)[1]
Language family	Uto-Aztecan Northern Numic Western Northern Paiute
Language codes
ISO 639-3	pao
Glottolog	nort2954
ELP	Northern Paiute
Map showing the traditional geographic distribution of Northern Paiute and Mono
Northern Paiute is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.
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Language revitalization

In 2005, the Northwest Indian Language Institute of the University of Oregon formed a partnership to teach Northern Paiute and Kiksht in the Warm Springs Indian Reservation schools.^[6] In 2013, Washoe County, Nevada became the first school district in Nevada to offer Northern Paiute classes, offering an elective course in the language at Spanish Springs High School.^[7] Classes have also been taught at Reed High School in Sparks, Nevada.^[8]

Elder Ralph Burns of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation worked with University of Nevada, Reno linguist Catherine Fowler to help develop a spelling system. The alphabet uses 19 letters. They have also developed a language-learning book, “Numa Yadooape,” and a series of computer disks of language lessons.^[8]

Phonology

Northern Paiute's phonology is highly variable, and its phonemes have many allophones.^[9]

Consonants

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar		Glottal
				Plain	Lab.
Nasal	m	n		ŋ
Stop	p	t		k	kʷ	ʔ
Affricate		ts	tʃ
Fricative		s				h
Semivowel	w		j

Vowels

Vowel chart of the Mono Lake dialect of Northern Paiute^[10]

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i	ɨ	u
Open-Mid	e		ɔ
Open		a

Morphology

Northern Paiute is an agglutinative language, in which words use suffix complexes for a variety of purposes with several morphemes strung together.