Wukchumni dialect

{{Infobox language

| name = Wukchumni

| altname = Wikchamni

| ethnicity = Wukchumni

| speakers =

| date = 2021

| ref = {{Cite news|date=October 8, 2021|title=Marie Wilcox, who saved her tribe's language, dies|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/marie-wilcox-who-saved-her-tribes-language-dies/2021/10/08/f91964dc-286d-11ec-8739-5cb6aba30a30_story.html|issn=0190-8286|agency=Associated Press|quote=Wilcox was once the last fluent speaker of Wukchumni but she worked for more than 20 years to produce a dictionary of the language spoken by her tribe in California’s San Joaquin Valley and taught her family. Now there are at least three fluent speakers of the language, including her daughter.|accessdate=2021-10-10}}

| speakers2 =

| familycolor = penutian

| fam1 = Yok-Utian

| fam2 = Yokutsan

| fam3 = General Yokuts

| fam4 = Nim

| fam5 = Tule-Kaweah Yokuts

| isoexception = dialect

| glotto = wikc1234

| glottorefname = Wikchamni

| script = Latin alphabet

| extinct = September 25, 2021, with the death of Marie Wilcox

| revived = L2: 3 fluent (2021)

| states = United States

}}

Wukchumni or Wikchamni is an extinct dialect of Tule-Kaweah Yokuts that was historically spoken by the Wukchumni people of the east fork of the Kaweah River of California.

File:Marie Wilcox Lifetime Achievement Award.jpeg

As of 2014, Marie Wilcox (1933–2021) was the last remaining native speaker of the language. There are efforts at revitalization, and Wilcox completed a comprehensive Wukchumni dictionary;{{Cite web|url=http://www.nationalgeographic.org/media/maries-dictionary-recording-dying-language/|title=Recording a Dying Language|date=2017-06-23|publisher=National Geographic Society|access-date=2019-08-29 |type=with video, 9 min, 36 sec}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/22/learning/teaching-with-who-speaks-wukchumni.html|title=Teaching With: 'Who Speaks Wukchumni?'|last=Gilpin|first=Caroline Crosson|date=2018-03-22|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-08-29|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} at her death there were at least three fluent speakers.{{Cite news |last=Kohlruss |first=Carmen |date=2021-10-08 |title=Native elder saved her tribe's language. Her Tulare County family vows to 'keep it going' |work=The Fresno Bee |url=https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article254851952.html |accessdate=2023-08-23}}

Status

In 2019, Wukchumni was categorized as 8a or "moribund" on the Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/about/language-status|title=Language Status|website=Ethnologue|language=en|access-date=2019-09-01}}{{Cite web|last=Riley|first=Elise A.|date=2016|title=Language Revitalization Practices in Indigenous Communities of the U.S.|url=https://scholarship.tricolib.brynmawr.edu/handle/10066/17574|language=en-US}} It became extinct upon the death of its last native speaker, Marie Wilcox, in 2021.

Revitalization efforts

In the early 2000s, Marie Wilcox, aided by her daughter Jennifer Malone, began compiling a Wukchumni dictionary. The work was copyrighted in 2019, but has not been published.{{Cite news|last=Seelye|first=Katharine Q.|date=2021-10-06|title=Marie Wilcox, Who Saved Her Native Language From Extinction, Dies at 87|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/06/us/marie-wilcox-dead.html|issn=0362-4331|accessdate=2021-10-10}} Wilcox and Malone held classes teaching beginner and intermediate Wukchumni to interested tribal members;{{Cite web|url=http://www.ovcdc.com/blog/tulare-county-language/|title=Tulare County Nüümü Yadoha Program|website=Owens Valley Career Development Center|date=25 September 2013 }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.salon.com/2018/04/20/keeping-native-american-languages-alive-in-maries-dictionary-wukchumni-lives-on/|title=Keeping Native American languages alive: In 'Marie's Dictionary,' Wukchumni lives on|date=2018-04-20|website=Salon|access-date=2019-08-29}} Malone continues this teaching at Owens Valley Career Development Center.

Efforts to revive Wukchumni have additionally been organized through the Master-Apprentice Language Learning Program.

= Possibility of more native speakers =

Due to Wilcox's efforts, at least three people are fluent in the language. Destiny Treglown, Marie Wilcox's great-granddaughter, is raising her child, Oliver, as a Wukchumni speaker. If he reaches fluency, he will become the first native speaker of the language in four generations.{{Cite web|url=https://emergencemagazine.org/story/language-keepers/|title=Language Keepers|website=Emergence Magazine|access-date=2019-08-29}}{{Citation|title=Wukchumni: Four Generations |publisher=Emergence Magazine |website=YouTube |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krq4nsCa70Y|date=2019-07-08|access-date=2019-08-30 |type=video, 2 min 58 sec}}

Phonology

The following tables are based on Gamble (1978).{{Cite book|title=Wikchamni Grammar|last=Gamble|first=Geoffrey|publisher=University of California Publications in Linguistics, 89|year=1978|location=Berkeley / Los Angeles}}

= Consonants =

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" ! colspan="2" \| !Bilabial !Dental/ Alveolar !Post- alveolar !Velar !Glottal
align="center" ! rowspan="3" \|Plosive !voiceless \|{{IPAlink\|p}} \|{{IPAlink\|t̪}} \|{{IPAlink\|ʈ}} \|{{IPAlink\|k}} \|{{IPAlink\|ʔ}}
aspirated \|{{IPAlink\|pʰ}} \|{{IPAlink\|t̪ʰ}} \|{{IPAlink\|ʈʰ}} \|{{IPAlink\|kʰ}} \|
align="center" !ejective \|{{IPAlink\|pʼ}} \|{{IPAlink\|t̪ʼ}} \|{{IPAlink\|ʈʼ}} \|{{IPAlink\|kʼ}} \|
align="center" ! rowspan="3" \|Affricate !voiceless \| \| \|{{IPAlink\|t͡ʃ}} \| \|
aspirated \| \| \|{{IPAlink\|t͡ʃʰ}} \| \|
align="center" !ejective \| \| \|{{IPAlink\|t͡ʃʼ}} \| \|
align="center" ! colspan="2" \|Fricative \| \|{{IPAlink\|s}} \|{{IPAlink\|ʃ}} \|{{IPAlink\|x}} \|{{IPAlink\|h}}
rowspan="2" \|Nasal !plain \|{{IPAlink\|m}} \|{{IPAlink\|n}} \| \|{{IPAlink\|ŋ}} \|
glottalized \|{{IPAlink\|mˀ}} \|{{IPAlink\|nˀ}} \| \|{{IPAlink\|ŋˀ}} \|
align="center" ! rowspan="2" \|Approximant !plain \|{{IPAlink\|w}} \|{{IPAlink\|l}} \|{{IPAlink\|j}} \| \|
align="center" !glottalized \|{{IPAlink\|wˀ}} \|{{IPAlink\|lˀ}} \|{{IPAlink\|jˀ}} \| \|

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

! colspan="2" |

align="center"

! rowspan="3" |Plosive

!voiceless

|{{IPAlink|p}}

|{{IPAlink|t̪}}

|{{IPAlink|ʈ}}

|{{IPAlink|k}}

|{{IPAlink|ʔ}}

aspirated

|{{IPAlink|pʰ}}

|{{IPAlink|t̪ʰ}}

|{{IPAlink|ʈʰ}}

|{{IPAlink|kʰ}}

align="center"

!ejective

|{{IPAlink|pʼ}}

|{{IPAlink|t̪ʼ}}

|{{IPAlink|ʈʼ}}

|{{IPAlink|kʼ}}

align="center"

! rowspan="3" |Affricate

!voiceless

|{{IPAlink|t͡ʃ}}

aspirated

|{{IPAlink|t͡ʃʰ}}

align="center"

!ejective

|{{IPAlink|t͡ʃʼ}}

align="center"

! colspan="2" |Fricative

|{{IPAlink|s}}

|{{IPAlink|ʃ}}

|{{IPAlink|x}}

|{{IPAlink|h}}

rowspan="2" |Nasal

!plain

|{{IPAlink|m}}

|{{IPAlink|n}}

|{{IPAlink|ŋ}}

glottalized

|{{IPAlink|mˀ}}

|{{IPAlink|nˀ}}

|{{IPAlink|ŋˀ}}

align="center"

! rowspan="2" |Approximant

!plain

|{{IPAlink|w}}

|{{IPAlink|l}}

|{{IPAlink|j}}

align="center"

!glottalized

|{{IPAlink|wˀ}}

|{{IPAlink|lˀ}}

|{{IPAlink|jˀ}}

Allophones of {{IPA|/ʃ, x/}} include {{IPA|[ʒ̊, xʷ]}}.

= Vowels =

class="wikitable" style=text-align:center ! !Front !Central !Back
Close \|{{IPAlink\|i}} {{IPAlink\|iː}} \|{{IPAlink\|ɨ̹}} {{IPAlink\|ɨ̹ː}} \|{{IPAlink\|u}} {{IPAlink\|uː}}
Mid \|{{IPAlink\|e}} {{IPAlink\|eː}} \|{{IPAlink\|ə̹}} {{IPAlink\|ə̹ː}} \|{{IPAlink\|o}} {{IPAlink\|oː}}
Open \| \|{{IPAlink\|a}} {{IPAlink\|aː}} \|

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

!Front

!Central

!Back

|{{IPAlink|i}} {{IPAlink|iː}}

|{{IPAlink|ɨ̹}} {{IPAlink|ɨ̹ː}}

|{{IPAlink|u}} {{IPAlink|uː}}

Mid

|{{IPAlink|e}} {{IPAlink|eː}}

|{{IPAlink|ə̹}} {{IPAlink|ə̹ː}}

|{{IPAlink|o}} {{IPAlink|oː}}

Open