Cocopah language

Much of the Cocopah language was passed down through speaking, rather than through writing. This, in large part, is because the language did not have an alphabet for the majority of its existence. It was not until the 1970s that a written language was developed, when a scholar decided to approach this task for a dissertation. Although the creation of an alphabet was useful, the original proved to be less than ideal, and so a new one was developed by the tribe in the early 2000s. As the revival of the language progressed, it became apparent that the language did not have words to fit the advances made in modern society. In turn, the tribe developed new words to attribute to modern objects that did not exist in the ancient language. The elders of the tribe were given the responsibility of developing these new words and/or phrases.[http://www.yumasun.com/news/language-35558-cocopah-tribe.html "Cocopah language class seeks to keep ancient tongue from dying out" (July 29, 2007) Yuma Sun] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130209212010/http://www.yumasun.com/news/language-35558-cocopah-tribe.html |date=February 9, 2013 }}

While the Cocopah tribe inhabits parts of Arizona and parts of Mexico, the written language differs based on the location of the tribe. For instance, Cocopah in Mexico use a different orthography than Cocopah in Arizona. The Mexican-based Cocopah use an orthography that was designed by the INALI, an organization that examines and protects the rights of endangered languages.

Cocopah has 21 consonants:

• {{IPA|/r/}} is usually a trill {{IPAblink|r}} but sometimes is a flap {{IPAblink|ɾ}}.
• {{IPA|/tʃ, ɲ, ʃ/}} are postalveolar (palato-alveolar). {{IPA|/lʲ, ɬʲ/}} are palatalized alveolar consonants.
• {{IPA|/ɬʲ/}} is usually palatalized, but unlike {{IPA|/lʲ/}} it does not contrast with a non-palatalized {{IPAblink|ɬ}}.

Cocopah has 4 vowels.

Cocopah has both short and long vowels.

The Cocopah syllable:

: {{IPA|(C)(C)(C)V(ː)(C)(C)}}

• Word-initial two-consonant clusters usually consist of a fricative plus another consonant, e.g. {{IPA|/sp, ʂm, ʃp, xt͡ʃ/}}. Rarer two-consonant clusters start with a lateral or a stop consonant, e.g. {{IPA|/lt͡ʃ, ɬʲt͡ʃ, ps, t͡ʃp/}}.
• Three-consonant clusters are rare, recorded examples include {{IPA|/pxk, pxkʷ, spx/}}.

• {{cite journal |last=Crawford |first=James M. |year=1970 |title=Cocopa Baby Talk |journal=International Journal of American Linguistics |volume=36 |pages=9–13|doi=10.1086/465083 |s2cid=144118246 }}
• {{cite journal |last=Crawford |first=James M. |year=1978 |title=More on Cocopa Baby Talk |journal=International Journal of American Linguistics |volume=44 |pages=17–23|doi=10.1086/465514 |s2cid=145412999 }}
• {{cite book |last=Crawford |first=James M. |year=1983 |title=Cocopa Texts |series=University of California Publications in Linguistics |volume=100 |location=Berkeley |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0-520-09652-5}}
• {{cite book |last=Crawford |first=James M. |year=1989 |title=Cocopa Dictionary |series=University of California Publications in Linguistics |volume=114 |location=Berkeley |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0-520-09749-1}}
• {{cite book |last=Crawford |first=James M. |year=1998 |chapter=Classificatory Verbs in Cocopa |editor-last=Hinton |editor-first=L. |editor-last2=Munro |editor-first2=P. |title=American Indian Languages: Description and Theory |pages=5–9 |location=Berkeley |publisher=University of California}}
• {{cite book |last=Mithun |first=Marianne |year=1999 |title=The Languages of Native North America |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-23228-7}}
• {{cite book |last=Wares |first=Alan C. |year=1968 |title=A Comparative Study of Yuman Consonantism |chapter=The Phonemes of Cocopa |pages=37–38 |series=Janua Linguarum, Series Practica |volume=57 |location=The Hauge |publisher=Mouton |doi=10.1515/9783111659077.37|isbn=978-3-11-127469-0 }}

{{reflist}}

• [http://cuentame.inegi.org.mx/hipertexto/todas_lenguas.htm Lenguas indígenas y hablantes de 3 años y más, 2020] INEGI. Censo de Población y Vivienda 2020.

• {{Cite web

| title = Native American Audio Collections: Cocopa

| work = American Philosophical Society

| url = http://www.amphilsoc.org/exhibit/natamaudio/cocopa

| access-date = 2013-05-20

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160513172449/https://amphilsoc.org/exhibit/natamaudio/cocopa

| archive-date = 2016-05-13

| url-status = dead

}}

• [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Swadesh_lists_for_Yuman_languages Cocopa Swadesh vocabulary list] (from Wiktionary)
• [https://books.google.com/books?id=KF3I2fxKZMkC Cocopa dictionary on Google Books]
• [http://globalrecordings.net/en/language/18 Cocopah language audio Bible stories and lessons - free mp3 downloads]
• [http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/response.cgi?root=new100&morpho=0&basename=new100\hok\yum&first=0 Cocopah basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database]

{{Hokan languages}}

{{Languages of Arizona}}

{{Languages of Mexico}}

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Category:Yuman–Cochimí languages

Category:Indigenous languages of Arizona

Category:Indigenous languages of the Southwestern United States

Category:Indigenous languages of the North American Southwest

Category:Articles citing INALI