Picuris language

Picuris (also Picurís) is an endangered Kiowa-Tanoan language spoken in Picuris Pueblo, New Mexico.

Genealogical relations

Picuris belongs to a northern sub-grouping on the Tiwa branch of the Kiowa-Tanoan language family. It is closely related to and still mutually intelligible with Taos (spoken at Taos Pueblo). [Sources on mutual intelligibility report conflicting information. Mithun (1999): "they [Taos and Picuris] are close but generally considered mutually unintelligible". But, G. Trager (1969): "The facts that there are considerable phonological differences between the two languages [Taos and Picuris] , but that the grammatical systems are very much alike and that mutual intelligibility still persists...". G. Trager (1946): "The two Tiwa groups [Northern Tiwa and Southern Tiwa] are fairly homogeneous: Sandía and Isleta [of the Southern Tiwa group] differ very little and are mutually completely intelligible; Taos and Picurís [of the Northern Tiwa group] diverge more from each other. Further, the group as a whole is very similar: Taos and Picurís are each intelligible to the other three, and Sandía and Isleta are understood in the north, though with difficulty". G. Trager (1943): "Taos and Picurís are much alike, and mutually understandable. Sandía and Isleta are almost identical. A speaker of the southern languages can manage to understand the northern two, bu the reverse is not true." F. Trager (1971): " [Picuris] is most closely related to Taos; these two languages are in part mutually intelligible."] It is slightly more distantly related to Southern Tiwa (spoken at Isleta Pueblo and Sandia Pueblo).

ound system

:

Picuris has three degrees of stress: "primary", "secondary", and "unstressed". Stress affects the phonetic length of syllable rimes (lengthening the vowel or the syllable-final sonorant consonant).

Additionally, there are three tones: "high", "mid", and "low" — the mid tone being the most frequent.

Grammar

Text

Two sentences with interlinear glosses:

::

Notes

ee also

* Kiowa-Tanoan languages
* Picuris Pueblo
* Tiwa languages
* Taos language
* Southern Tiwa language

Bibliography

* Harrington, John P.; & Roberts, Helen. (1928). Picuris children's stories with texts and songs. "Bureau of American Ethnology: Annual report", "43", 289-447.
* Nichols, Lynn. (1994). Vowel copy and stress in Northern Tiwa (Picurís and Taos). In S. Epstein et al. (Eds.), "Harvard working papers in linguistics" (Vol. 4, pp. 133-140).
* Nichols, Lynn. (1995). Referential hierarchies and C-command in Picurís. In S. Epstein et al. (Eds.), "Harvard working papers in linguistics" (Vol. 45, pp. 76-92).
* Trager, Felicia. (1968). "Picuris Pueblo, New Mexico: An ethnolinguistic "salvage" study". (Doctoral dissertation, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY).
* Trager, Felicia. (1971). The phonology of Picuris. "International Journal of American Linguistics", "37", 29-33.
* Trager, Felicia. (1975). Morphemic change in Picuris: A case of culture contact? "Studies in Linguistics", "25", 89-93.
* Trager, George L. (1942). The historical phonology of the Tiwa languages. "Studies in Linguistics", "1" (5), 1-10.
* Trager, George L. (1943). The kinship and status terms of the Tiwa languages. "American Anthropologist", "45" (1), 557-571.
* Trager, George L. (1969). Taos and Picuris: How long separated?. "International Journal of American Linguistics", "35" (2), 180-182.
* Zaharlick, Ann Marie (Amy). (1975). Pronominal reference in Picurís. "Studies in Linguistics", "25", 79-88.
* Zaharlick, Ann Marie (Amy). (1977). "Picurís syntax". (Doctoral dissertation, American University).
* Zaharlick, Ann Marie (Amy). (1979). Picuris and English: Similarities and differences. In R. J. Rebert (Ed.), "Language descriptions from Indian New Mexico" (pp. 20-51). Albuquerque: The University of New Mexico, American Indian Bilingual Education Center, pp.
* Zaharlick, Ann Marie (Amy). (1980). An outline of Picuris syntax. "Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences", "345", 147-163.
* Zaharlick, Ann Marie (Amy). (1981). A preliminary examination of tone in Picuris. Special Issue: Native Languages of the Americas. "Journal of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest", "4" (2), 123-129.
* Zaharlick, Ann Marie (Amy). (1982). Tanoan studies: Passive sentences in Picuris. "Ohio State University Working Papers in Linguistics", "26", 34-48.