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Cahto language

{{Short description|Extinct Athabaskan language of California}}{{Distinguish|Caddo language}}{{More inline|date=September 2024}}{{Infobox language

| name = Kato

| nativename = Cahto

| region = California (Eel River)

| ethnicity = Cahto people

| extinct = 1960s

| ref = e18

| familycolor = Dené-Yeniseian

| fam2 = Na-Dené

| fam3 = Athabaskan

| fam4 = Pacific Coast Athabaskan

| fam5 = California Athabaskan

| iso3 = ktw

| glotto = kato1244

| glottorefname = Kato

| states = United States

| script = Latin (proposed)

| revived = 2010s{{Cite web |last=Anderson |first=Sally R. |date=1996-12-12 |title=Cahto Language Homepage |url=https://www.turtlenodes.com/calath/caindex.html |access-date=2024-09-09 |website=www.turtlenodes.com |language=en}}

}}

Cahto (also spelled Kato) is an extinct Athabaskan language that was formerly spoken by the Kato people of the Laytonville and Branscomb area at the head of the South Fork of the Eel River. It is one of the four languages belonging to the California Athabaskan cluster of the Pacific Coast Athabaskan languages. Most Kato speakers were bilingual in Northern Pomo and some also spoke Yuki. It went extinct in the 1960s.{{Cite book |last=Golla |first=Victor |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/668191602 |title=California Indian languages |date=2011 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-26667-4 |location=Berkeley |oclc=668191602}}

Phonology

=Consonants=

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

! rowspan="2" colspan="2" |

! rowspan="2" | Labial

! rowspan="2" | Dental

! colspan="2" | Alveolar

! rowspan="2" | Post-
alveolar

! rowspan="2" | Palatal

! colspan="2" | Velar

! rowspan="2" | Uvular

! rowspan="2" | Glottal

{{small|central}} || {{small|lateral}}

! {{small|plain}} || {{small|labial}}

colspan="2" | Nasal

| {{IPAlink|m}} {{grapheme|m}}

|

| {{IPAlink|n}} {{grapheme|n}}

|

|

| {{IPAlink|ɲ}} {{grapheme|ñ}}

|

|

|

|

rowspan="3" | Plosive/
Affricate

! {{small|unaspirated}}

| {{IPAlink|p}}~{{IPAlink|b}} {{grapheme|b}}

| {{IPAlink|t}}~{{IPAlink|d}} {{grapheme|d}}

| {{IPAlink|ts}} {{grapheme|ts}}

|

| {{IPAlink|t͡ʃ}}~{{IPAlink|d͡ʒ}} {{grapheme|dj}}

| {{IPAlink|c}}~{{IPAlink|ɟ}} {{grapheme|g}}

| {{IPAlink|k}}~{{IPAlink|g}} {{grapheme|g}}

| {{IPAlink|kʷ}} {{grapheme|kw}}

| {{IPAlink|k}}~{{IPAlink|q}} {{grapheme|q}}

| {{IPAlink|ʔ}} {{grapheme|′}}

{{small|ejective}}

|

| {{IPAlink|tʼ}} {{grapheme|t'}}

| {{IPAlink|tsʼ}} {{grapheme|ts'}}

| {{IPAlink|tɬʼ}} {{grapheme|L}}

| {{IPAlink|t͡ʃʼ}} {{grapheme|tc'}}

| {{IPAlink|cʼ}} {{grapheme|k'}}

| {{IPAlink|kʼ}} {{grapheme|k'}}

| {{IPAlink|kʷʼ}} {{grapheme|kw'}}

|

|

{{small|aspirated}}

|

| {{IPAlink|tʰ}} {{grapheme|t}}

|

|

| {{IPAlink|t͡ʃʰ}} {{grapheme|tc}}

| {{IPAlink|cʰ}} {{grapheme|k}}

| {{IPAlink|kʰ}} {{grapheme|k}}

|

|

|

rowspan="2" | Fricative

! {{small|voiceless}}

|

|

| {{IPAlink|s}} {{grapheme|s}}

| {{IPAlink|ɬ}} {{grapheme|ʟ}}

| {{IPAlink|ʃ}} {{grapheme|c}}

|

|

|

|

| {{IPAlink|h}} {{grapheme|h}}

{{small|voiced}}

|

|

| {{IPAlink|z}} {{grapheme|z}}

|

| {{IPAlink|ʒ}}

|

| {{IPAlink|ɣ}} {{grapheme|ɢ}}

|

|

|

colspan="2" | Approximant

|

|

| {{IPAlink|l}} {{grapheme|l}}

|

|

| {{IPAlink|j}} {{grapheme|y}}

|

| {{IPAlink|w}} {{grapheme|w}}

|

|

Cahto has 26 consonant phonemes and 30 phones.

=Vowels=

class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
style="font-size: 90%;"

!colspan=1|

!colspan=1| Front

!colspan=1| Central

!colspan=1| Back

!colspan=1 rowspan=1| Diphthong

High

|[{{IPAlink|i}}(ː)] ī

|{{IPAblink|ɪ}} i ~ {{IPAblink|ʊ}} û

|[{{IPAlink|u}}(ː)] ū

| rowspan="4" style="border-bottom: 0;" |[ai] ai

High-Mid

|[{{IPAlink|e}}(ː)] ē

|{{IPAblink|e}} ɛ ~ {{IPAblink|ə}} ę

|[{{IPAlink|o}}(ː)] ō

Low-Mid

|{{IPAblink|ɛ}} ɛ ~ {{IPAblink|ə}} ę

|colspan=1|

|{{IPAblink|ʌ}} ą ~ {{IPAblink|a}} a

Low

|colspan=3|[{{IPAlink|a}}(ː)] ā, {{IPAblink|ʌ}} ą ~ {{IPAblink|a}} a

Cahto has 9 vowel phonemes (including the diphthong) and 12 phones.

References

{{Reflist}}

  • {{cite book|last1=Goddard|first1=Pliny Earle|author-link=Pliny Earle Goddard|author2=Bill Ray|title=Kato texts|url=https://archive.org/details/textskato00goddrich|access-date=24 August 2012|year=1909|publisher=The University Press}} University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnography 5(3):65-238.
  • Goddard, Pliny Earle (1912). [https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/anthpubs/ucb/text/ucp011-002.pdf Elements of the Kato Language]. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnography 11(1):1-176.
  • {{cite book |last1=Goddard |first1=Pliny Earle |title=Elements of the Kato language |url=https://theswissbay.ch/pdf/Books/Linguistics/Mega%20linguistics%20pack/North%20American/Na-Dene/Cahto%3B%20Elements%20of%20the%20Kato%20Language%20%28Goddard%29.pdf |access-date=24 August 2012 |year=1916 |publisher=University of California Press}}
  • Golla, Victor (2011). California Indian Languages. Berkeley: University of California Press. {{ISBN|978-052-026667-4}}.

External links

  • [http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~survey/languages/kato.php Kato language] overview at the Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
  • [http://www.native-languages.org/kato.htm Kato Language (Cahto)], nativelanguages.org
  • [http://www.turtlenodes.com/calath/caindex.html The Cahto ("Kato") Language]
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20160304084326/http://www.turtlenodes.com/calath/cgi-bin/dbsearch.cgi Experimental Cahto lexical database]
  • [http://www.language-archives.org/language/ktw OLAC resources in and about the Kato language]
  • [http://www.mip.berkeley.edu/cilc/bibs/kato.html Kato Bibliography]
  • [http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/response.cgi?root=new100&morpho=0&basename=new100\nde\pca&limit=-1 Kato basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database]

{{Languages of California}}

{{Athabaskan languages}}

Category:Pacific Coast Athabaskan languages

Category:Extinct languages of North America

Category:Languages of the United States

Category:Languages extinct in the 1960s

Category:Cahto

Category:1960s disestablishments in California

{{indigenousAmerican-lang-stub}}