Wailaki language
{{Short description|Athabaskan language of California}}
{{Infobox language
| name = Wailaki
| altname = Eel River
| states = United States
| region = California
| ethnicity = Eel River Athapaskans
| extinct = 1960s
| ref = e19
| familycolor = Dené-Yeniseian
| fam2 = Na-Dené
| fam3 = Athabaskan
| fam4 = Pacific Coast Athabaskan
| fam5 = California Athabaskan
| iso3 = wlk
| glotto = wail1244
| glottorefname = Eel River Athabaskan
| dia1 = Sinkyone
| dia2 = Wailaki
| dia3 = Nongatl
| dia4 = Lassik
| map2 = Lang Status 01-EX.svg
| mapcaption2 = {{center|{{small|Eel River Athabaskan is classified as Extinct by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger}}}}{{cite report |title=Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger |publisher=UNESCO |edition=3rd |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000187026 |date=2010 |page=11}}
| map = California-athabaskan.svg
| mapcaption = Wailaki and other California Athabaskan languages.
| linglist = qt8
}}
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.{{Cite web |last=Stansberry |first=Linda |date=June 9, 2015 |title=Welcome Back Wailaki: An Extinct Native Language Rebounds |url=https://www.northcoastjournal.com/NewsBlog/archives/2015/06/09/welcome-back-wailaki-an-extinct-native-language-rebounds |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=North Coast Journal |language=en}}
Phonology
The sounds in Wailaki:
= Consonants =
| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! rowspan="2" colspan="2" | ! rowspan="2" | Bilabial ! colspan="3" | Alveolar ! rowspan="2" | Palatal ! colspan="2" | Velar ! rowspan="2" | Glottal |
| plain || sibilant || lateral
! plain || pal. |
|---|
| colspan="2" | Nasal
| {{IPA link|m}}{{efn|name=rare}} | {{IPA link|n}} | | | | {{IPA link|ŋ}} | | |
| rowspan="3" |Plosive
! plain | {{IPA link|p}} | {{IPA link|t}} | {{IPA link|ts}}{{efn|name=rare|Sounds /m, ts, w/ are rather rare.}} | | {{IPA link|tʃ}} | {{IPA link|k}} | {{IPA link|kʲ}} | {{IPA link|ʔ}} |
| aspirated
| | {{IPA link|tʰ}} | | | {{IPA link|tʃʰ}} | {{IPA link|kʰ}} | {{IPA link|kʲʰ}} | |
| ejective
| | {{IPA link|tʼ}} | {{IPA link|tsʼ}} | | {{IPA link|tʃʼ}} | {{IPA link|kʼ}} | {{IPA link|kʲʼ}} | |
| colspan="2" | Fricative
| | | {{IPA link|s}} | {{IPA link|ɬ}} | {{IPA link|ʃ}} | {{IPA link|ɣ}} | | {{IPA link|h}} |
| colspan="2" | Approximant
| | | | {{IPA link|l}} | {{IPA link|j}} | {{IPA link|w}}{{efn|name=rare}} | | |
{{notelist}}
= 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.{{Cite web |date=2017-01-26 |title=Reviving the Language – and Culture – of the Wailaki People {{!}} Humboldt NOW {{!}} Cal Poly Humboldt |url=https://now.humboldt.edu/news/reviving-the-language-and-culture-of-the-wailaki-people |access-date=2024-08-26 |website=now.humboldt.edu |language=en}}
References
{{Reflist}}
- {{Cite journal |last=Goddard |first=Pliny E. |date=1923 |title=Wailaki Texts |jstor=1263274 |journal=International Journal of American Linguistics |volume=2 |issue=3/4 |pages=77–135 |doi=10.1086/463738 |s2cid=224806395 }}
- {{Cite journal |last=Seaburg |first=William R. |date=1977 |title=A Wailaki (Athapaskan) Text with Comparative Notes |journal=International Journal of American Linguistics |volume=43 |issue=4 |pages=327–332 |doi=10.1086/465503 |s2cid=144969995 }}
- {{Cite thesis |last=Begay |first=Kayla Rae |title=Wailaki Grammar |date=2017 |degree=Ph.D. |publisher=University of California Berkeley |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/76x3h5kg }}
External links
- [http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~survey/languages/wailaki.php Wailaki language] overview at the Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
- [http://www.native-languages.org/wailaki.htm Wailaki Language (Sinkyone, Lassik, Nongatl, Eel River Athabaskan)]
- [http://www.language-archives.org/language/wlk OLAC resources in and about the Wailaki language]
- [https://cla.berkeley.edu/languages/eel-river-athabaskan.html Wailaki at the California Language Archive]
{{Languages of California}}
{{Athabaskan languages}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Indigenous languages of California