Zuñi (language)

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Zuni language

Zuñi (also Zuni or Shiwi ) is one of about 9,500 Zuñi , one of today's 19 Pueblo peoples , spoken in New Mexico , and some Zuñi speakers can also be found in parts of Arizona . The language enjoys a special status among the indigenous languages ​​of North America, as, unlike most others, it is hardly endangered. Almost all of the Zuñi tribe speak their own language, many use it at home, and it also dominates traditional and religious fields. The fact that it is successfully passed on to children also speaks for the healthy state of the language, something which is not done or only to a small extent with most Indian languages in the USA.

The Zuñi refer to their language as Shiwi'ma (derived from: shiwi - "meat" i.e. "Zuñi" + 'ma - "dialect" or "like the Zuñi") and refer to themselves in their language as A: shiwi (derived from a : (w) - "plural" + shiwi "meat", i.e. "zuñi").

Relationship with other languages

Zuñi is currently counted among the isolated languages . Some linguists have assigned them to the Penuti language family . Bertha Dutton hypothesized that the Zuñi language, according to its basic vocabulary, “ ... if it is a member of the Penuti language family, has a distant relationship with the Tanoan languages ​​(Tewi). "

The Penuti hypothesis was established by Alfred Kroeber and Roland B. Dixon and later specified by Edward Sapir . This was done as part of an attempt to reduce the number of isolated language families in a culturally diverse region with a core area on the Central Coast of California. The theory is viable for some languages, but so far there are still no relevant related words for a verified relationship between these Californian original languages ​​and the Zuñi. The languages ​​have probably developed independently of one another for 3,000 or even 5,000 years.

Phonology

Consonants

There are 16 Zuñi consonants:

Bilabial Alveolar Postalveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
central lateral easy labial
Plosive ​p​ ​t​ ​k​ kʷ ​ʔ​
Affricates ​ʦ​ ​ʧ​
nasal ​m​ ​n​
Fricative ​s​ ​ɬ​ ​ʃ​ ​H​
Approximant ​l​ ​j​ ​w​

Vowels

front center back
closed vowel i iː u uː
half-open vowel e eː O O
open vowel a aː

origin

' The Zuni Enigma' , a work by Nancy Yaw Davis , compares related words in the Zuñi language and Japanese . The approach is speculative, but for many more convincing than the Penuti Hypothesis.

The works of Frank Hamilton Cushing are also of interest . He was one of the first anthropologists to practice the participatory observation method; he became a member of the Zuñi tribe during his research in the pueblo between 1879 and 1884.

literature

  • Ruth L. Bunzel: The Pueblo Potter: A Study of Creative Imagination in Primitive Art . Dover Publications, 1972, ISBN 0-486-22875-4 .
  • Ruth L. Bunzel: Introduction to Zuñi Ceremonialism . University of New Mexico Press, 1992.
  • Ruth L. Bunzel: Zuni Texts (Publications of the American Ethnological Society NO 15) . Ams Pr, 1973, ISBN 0-404-58165-X .
  • Carol Condie: Problems of a Chomskyan Analysis of Zuni Transitivity. In: International Journal of American Linguistics. 39, 1973, pp. 207-223.
  • Curtis D. Cook: Nucleus and Margin of Zuni Clause Types. In: Linguistics. 13, 1975, pp. 5-37.
  • Nancy Yaw Davis: The Zuni Enigma . Norton, 2000, ISBN 0-393-04788-1 .
  • Bertha P. Dutton: American Indians of the Southwest. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque 1983.
  • Jesse Green (Ed.): Zuni: Selected Writings of Frank Hamilton Cushing . University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London 1979, ISBN 0-8032-2100-2 .
  • Jesse Green: Cushing at Zuni: The Correspondence and Journals of Frank Hamilton Cushing, 1879-1884 . University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque 1990, ISBN 0-8263-1172-5 .
  • Nancy P. Hickerson: Two Studies of Color: Implications for Cross-Cultural Comparability of Semantic Categories. In: M. Dale Kinkade, Kenneth Hale, Oswald Werner (Eds.): Linguistics and Anthropology: In honor of CF Voegelin. The Peter De Ridder Press, 1975, pp. 317-330.
  • Louis A. Hieb: Meaning and Mismeaning: Toward an Understanding of the Ritual Clowns. In: Alfonso Ortiz (Ed.): New Perspectives on the Pueblos. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque 1972, pp. 163-195.
  • Dell H. Hymes: Some Penutian Elements and the Penutian Hypothesis. In: Southwestern Journal of Anthropology. 13, 1957, pp. 69-87.
  • Kenneth L. Miner: Noun Stripping and Loose Incorporation in Zuni. In: International Journal of American Linguistics. 52, 1986, pp. 242-254.
  • Mithun, Marianne (ed.) .: The Languages ​​of Native North America. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1999.
  • Stanley Newman: Vocabulary Levels: Zuni Sacred and Slang Usage. In: Southwestern Journal of Anthropology. 11, 1955, pp. 345-354.
  • Stanley Newman: Zuni Dictionary . Indiana University Research Center Publication Six. Indiana University, Bloomington 1958.
  • Stanley Newman: The Zuni Verb "To Be". In: John W. Verhaar (Ed.): Foundations of Language, Supplemental Series. Vol. 1, The Humanities Press, 1967.
  • Willard Walker: Inflection and Taxonomic Structure in Zuni. In: International Journal of American Linguistics. 32 (3), 1966, pp. 217-227.
  • Willard Walker: Toward a Sound Pattern of the Zuni. In: International Journal of American Linguistics. 38 (4), 1968, pp. 240-259.
  • M. Jane Young: Signs from the Ancestors: Zuni Cultural Symbolism and Perceptions in Rock Art . University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque 1988, ISBN 0-8263-1203-9 .

Weblinks (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ethnologue report for the Zuñi language