Cheyenne (language)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cheyenne ( Tsêhesenêstsestôtse )

Spoken in

United States
speaker 1700
Linguistic
classification

Algonquian languages

  • Cheyenne
Language codes
ISO 639 -2

chy

ISO 639-3

chy

Cheyenne ( Cheyenne: Tsêhesenêstsestôtse ) is an indigenous North American language of the Algonquin language family , spoken by approximately 1,700 Cheyenne in the states of Montana and Oklahoma in the United States .

Phonology

Phonologically, Cheyenne is a typical Algonquian language: it is characterized by a small phoneme inventory , but has a highly complex system of morphophonological processes at the morpheme boundaries . The phonemes are in detail:

Consonants

Bilabial Dental Postalveolar Velar Glottal
Plosive ​p​ ​t​ ​k​ ​ʔ​
Fricative ​v​ ​s​ ​ʃ​ ​x​ ​H​
nasal ​m​ ​n​

Vowels

Front Central Back
Closed ​e​ ​O​
Open ​a​

A and E can be pronounced voiceless (whispered). This is characteristic of the Cheyenne language, in which both pronunciations produce different phonemes and are not interchangeable. In this article, the voiceless vowels are written as ḁ and e̥.

grammar

Like other North American languages, Cheyenne is a polysynthetic language with e.g. T. fusional trains. The pronominal system has an inclusive / exclusive distinction .

Modes

Independent forms Cheyenne German
indicative épe̥hêvahe He is good.
Interrogative épe̥hêvḁhe Is he good?
Dubitative mópe̥hêvḁhehe-he I think he's good.
Attributive épe̥hêvḁhese̥stse It is said that he is good.
Media éhpe̥hêvḁhêhoo'o He was good.

The indicative is used for simple statements, the truth of which the speaker can testify himself. Interrogative forms are used for questions. Dubitative forms are chosen when the speaker wants to tone down the assertion he is making. Attributive forms describe statements that the speaker has heard from a third person. Mediate forms refer to statements in time and space and are often used for narratives (compare the use of the past tense in German).

Conjunctional forms Cheyenne German
indicative tséhpe̥hêvaese when he was good.
conjunctive mḁhpe̥hévaestse if he's good. (unnoticed)
Iterative ho'pe̥hévaestse whenever he's good.
Iterative subjunctive ǫhpe̥hévḁhese̥stse if he's good. (general)
participle tsépe̥hêvaestse the one who is good.
Interrogative éópe̥hêvaestse is he good?
Mandatory áhpe̥hêvḁhese̥stse it should be good.
Optional momóxepe̥hévaestse i wish he was good
Negation (intense) móho'nópe̥hevaestse no doubt he's no good.
Imperative forms Cheyenne German
Immediately (directly) méseestse Eat!
Delayed (direct) mése̥heoˀo Eat (later)!
Hortative mése̥heha Let him eat!
Hortative nétanéméne Let's eat!

The forms of the hortative can appear in the singular as well as in the plural.

Pronominal affixes

There are three basic pronominal prefixes in Cheyenne:

ná- first person, né- second person, é- third person

These three basic prefixes can be combined with various suffixes to express all Cheyenne pronominal differences. For example the prefix "ná-" can be combined with the verb suffix "-me" to express the first person plural (exclusive = "we, without you"). nátahpetame , "Wir.EXCL are great."

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ according to Ethnologue
  2. ^ A b c d Marianne Mithun: The Languages ​​of Native North America. Cambridge University Press 1999, p. 172. ISBN 0-521-29875-X

Web links

Wikipedia on Cheyenne