Wailaki language

Wailaki
Wailaki
Eel River
Native to	United States
Region	California
Ethnicity	Eel River Athapaskans
Extinct	1960s
Revival	2010s
Language family	Dené–Yeniseian? Na-Dené Athabaskan Pacific Coast Athabaskan California Athabaskan Wailaki; ; ; ; ;
Dialects	Sinkyone; Wailaki; Nongatl; Lassik;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	wlk
Linguist List	qt8
Glottolog	wail1244
ELP	Eel River Athabaskan
	Wailaki and other California Athabaskan languages.
	Eel River Athabaskan is classified as Extinct by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Wailaki, also known as Eel River, is an extinct and revitalizing Athabaskan language spoken by the people of the Round Valley Reservation of northern California, one of four languages belonging to the California Athabaskan cluster of the Pacific Coast Athabaskan languages. Dialect clusters reflect the four Wailaki-speaking peoples, the Sinkyone, Wailaki, Nongatl, and Lassik, of the Eel River confederation. While less documented than Hupa, it is considered to be close to it. It went dormant in the 1960s, but in modern times it is being revived.^[3]^[2]

Phonology

The sounds in Wailaki:

Consonants

		Bilabial	Alveolar			Palatal	Velar		Glottal
		Bilabial	plain	sibilant	lateral	Palatal	plain	pal.	Glottal
Nasal		m^[a]	n				ŋ
Plosive	plain	p	t	ts^[a]		tʃ	k	kʲ	ʔ
	aspirated		tʰ			tʃʰ	kʰ	kʲʰ
	ejective		tʼ	tsʼ		tʃʼ	kʼ	kʲʼ
Fricative				s	ɬ	ʃ	ɣ		h
Approximant					l	j	w^[a]

^ ^a ^b ^c Sounds /m, ts, w/ are rather rare.

Vowels

Vowels in Wailaki are /i e a o/, and with length as /iː eː aː oː/.

Grammar

Wailaki is polysynthetic, meaning that a single word in it is expressed in English as a sentence.^[3]

References

^ Wailaki at Ethnologue (19th ed., 2016)
^ ^a ^b Stansberry, Linda (June 9, 2015). "Welcome Back Wailaki: An Extinct Native Language Rebounds". North Coast Journal. Retrieved 2024-09-08.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Reviving the Language – and Culture – of the Wailaki People | Humboldt NOW | Cal Poly Humboldt". now.humboldt.edu. 2017-01-26. Retrieved 2024-08-26.
^ Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (Report) (3rd ed.). UNESCO. 2010. p. 11.

Goddard, Pliny E. (1923). "Wailaki Texts". International Journal of American Linguistics. 2 (3/4): 77–135. doi:10.1086/463738. JSTOR 1263274. S2CID 224806395.
Seaburg, William R. (1977). "A Wailaki (Athapaskan) Text with Comparative Notes". International Journal of American Linguistics. 43 (4): 327–332. doi:10.1086/465503. S2CID 144969995.
Begay, Kayla Rae (2017). Wailaki Grammar (Ph.D. thesis). University of California Berkeley.

External links

[rare-5] Sounds /m, ts, w/ are rather rare.

[e19-1] Wailaki at Ethnologue (19th ed., 2016)

[:0-2] Stansberry, Linda (June 9, 2015). "Welcome Back Wailaki: An Extinct Native Language Rebounds". North Coast Journal. Retrieved 2024-09-08.

[:1-3] "Reviving the Language – and Culture – of the Wailaki People | Humboldt NOW | Cal Poly Humboldt". now.humboldt.edu. 2017-01-26. Retrieved 2024-08-26.

[4] Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (Report) (3rd ed.). UNESCO. 2010. p. 11.

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