Tewa language

Tewa (IPA: [tewa]) is a Tanoan language spoken by some Pueblo people, mostly in the Rio Grande valley in New Mexico north of Santa Fe, and in Arizona. It is also known as Tano,[2] or Tée-wah (archaic). There is some disagreement among the Tewa people about whether or not Tewa should have a written form, as some Pueblo elders believe that their language should be preserved by oral tradition alone. However, many Tewa speakers have decided that Tewa literacy is an important aspect in passing down the language and so orthographies have been created for this purpose.[3]

Not to be confused with Teiwa language or Tiwa languages.
Tewa
Native toUnited States
RegionNew Mexico, Arizona
EthnicityTewa people
Native speakers
1,600 (2007)[1]
Tanoan
  • Tewa
Language codes
ISO 639-3tew
Glottologtewa1261
ELPTewa
Linguasphere64-CAB-a
Tewa is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

The language has struggled to maintain a healthy speaker base; however, because of efforts to preserve the language starting in the 1980s—both by native speakers and linguists—this problem is not as dire as it for some other indigenous languages.

Tewa has a fairly large phoneme inventory with 45 distinct individual sounds. 12 of these are vowels, which can be either long or short. Tewa, like other Tanoan languages, also makes use of tones, of which it has 4.

Dialects and usage

The 1980 census counted 1,298 speakers, almost all of whom are bilingual in English. Each pueblo or reservation where it is spoken has a dialect:

As of 2012, Tewa is defined as "severely endangered" in New Mexico by UNESCO.[5]

In the names "Pojoaque" and "Tesuque", the element spelled "que" (pronounced something like [ɡe] in Tewa, or /ki/ in English) is Tewa for "place".

Tewa can be written with the Latin script; this is occasionally used for such purposes as signs (Be-pu-wa-ve, "Welcome", or sen-ge-de-ho, "Bye"). Because alphabet systems have been developed in the different pueblos, Tewa has a variety of orthographies rather than a single standardized alphabet.[6] The written form of the language is not as ubiquitous as in languages such as Cherokee or Navajo, because some Tewa speakers feel that the language should be passed on through the oral tradition.[2] The Tewa language was a spoken language through the 1960s; digital language documentation efforts were underway as of 1995.[7]

One of the main dialectical delineations of the Santa Clara dialect is the use of /j/ in words where only /y/ is heard in other pueblos, although some Santa Clara speakers use /y/ and /j/ sporadically.[8]

Another important dialectical difference aligns Santa Clara, Tesuque, and San Ildefonso Tewa against San Juan and Nambe Tewa. The former use /d/ in the same environments where the latter use a nasal plus /d/.[9]

In two-syllable word bases, words that have a short /u/ in the initial syllable have a long /u/ in the Santa Clara dialect. In the Santa Clara dialect, where other pueblos have a high tone on this syllable, there will instead be a glide tone. [10]

Phonology

The phonemes of Rio Grande Tewa are as follows:[11][12]

Consonants
Labial Dental/
Alveolar		 Palatal Velar Glottal
plain sibilant plain lab.
Plosive/
Affricate		 voiceless p t̪ ⟨t⟩ ts tʃ ⟨ch⟩ k kʷ ⟨kw⟩ ʔ ⟨'⟩
ejective pʼ tʼ tsʼ tʃʼ ⟨ch'⟩ kʼ kʷʼ ⟨kw'⟩
voiced b d (dʒ) ⟨j⟩ ɡ
Fricative voiceless f θ ⟨th⟩ s ʃ ⟨sh⟩ x xʷ ⟨xw⟩ h
voiced v
Nasal m n ɲ ⟨ñ⟩
Trill r
Approximant j ⟨y⟩ w
  • The voiced postalveolar affricate /dʒ/ occurs in the Santa Clara dialect.
  • All alveolars shown are apico-alveolar.
  • /g/ and /k/ are dorso-prevelar [k̟, ɡ̟] before front vowels and dorso-velar [k, ɡ] before back vowels. Spirantization can also occur, causing /ɡ/ to be pronounced like [ɣ] or [ʁ].
  • /t̪/ is apico-dental.
  • /f/ ranges from [f] to [ɸ] to [pʰ].
  • /θ/ ranges from apico-dental [θ] to [t̪].
  • /x/ ranges from [x] to [kʰ].
  • /v/ ranges from [v] to [β].
  • /n/ is pronounced as [ŋ] if proceeding velar or glottal consonants, /w/, or an external transition.

Vowels
Front Back
Close i ĩ u ũ
Close-mid e ẽ o õ
Open æ æ̃ a ã
  • Vowels have both length and nasal differentiation.
  • In syllables closed by nasal consonants or in final weak stressed syllables, /i/ occurs as [ɪˆ].
  • /e/ is [e] when long, but is [eˇ] when short and [əˆ] when closed by a nasal consonant.
  • /æ/, when following /m/ is realized a bit raised, and when following /n/ is realized as [əˆ].
  • /u/ is realized as [ʊˆ] in syllables closed by a nasal vowel.
  • The long nasalized variety of /a/ is, in some speakers, realized as [ɐ].

Syllable Structure

There are 9 types of syllables in Tewa: CV, CV:, CVN, CVh, CVʔ, CV', CVʔN, V, and VN.

Tone

Tewa has three tones, high, low, and glide.

Within two-syllable words, the only combinations found are high-high, low-low, low-high, and high-low.

Stress

The use of stress in Tewa is still relatively unknown.

In two-syllable nouns with the pattern CVCV and the tone pattern high-high or low-low, there is heavier stress placed on the first syllable. Roots also tend to show heavier stress than affixes if each is the same syllable and tone type. A stronger stress is associated with a higher tone and greater vowel length. However, because of the complex use of tone, syllable type, and contour segments more research does need to be done.

Morphology

Verbs

Tewa has 15 types of verbs, and a few example verbs and their conjugations are shown below.

Meaning Habitual Progressive Completive Potential Imperative Combining Stative
divide wiyende' wiyende' wiye wiyé wíyé wiye wiʔyen
enter cʔuyaʔ curemaen cʔú cʔún cuwave cure
get (pl. obj.) hónde' hónde' hógi hón hó'gí xon xo'gin
stir wí:re' wí:re' wí: wí: wí: wí: wíʔin
return bunde' bummá: bun bu:n bun bun buʔun
bite xunde' xunde' xu:gi: xu:n xú'gí xu:gi: xu'gin

Verbs can be divided into two classes, S and A, standing for stative and active, based of the pronomial prefixes which they contain. In general, S verbs deal with identity, quality, feeling, condition, position, and motion. Class A verbs are, in general, transitive verbs.

Verb affixes

All known verb affixes are included in the chart below

6 5 4 3 2 1 Root 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
ti wí VP pi ra wé: ri: í pí ri raʔ ân kun ho'
ri' an á á waen bo
waen bo há' an
há'

This affixes are used to delineate tense, subject, negation, and emphasis.

Nouns

Nouns are divided into two classes: class N, which is affixed with set marker /-n/, and class non-N, which doesn't have this affix.

Class non-N is the larger of the two, containing almost all nouns in Tewa, which are, for the most part, mono- or di-syllabic.

Class N nouns are comprised mostly of designations for age-sex differentiation, kinship terms, and forms which translate as pronouns.

Noun Affixes

All known noun affixes are included in the chart below.

Root 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
ti ge n gí' á rí bá bo raʔ ân kun ho'
n2 ví á2 waen há' á á ví
waen há'

/-n2/ is different from /-n/ because of the occurrence of /-n2/ with singular, dual, and plural situations involving the same root, which is never the case for /-n/.

Class Z words

Class Z words are neither particles, verbs, or nouns. They are affixable with suffixes like /-á/, /-ân/, /-bo/, and /-ho'/, /-reʔ/, /-an/, /-we/, and /-ge/, but unlike nouns and verbs they do not occur with the specific affixes which delineate those classes (/wé:-/ or /pi-/ and /-ví/ respectively).

These compromise words whose English equivalents involve time, location, manner, interrogation, etc.

Morphological Processes
  • Substitution:
    • /d/ becomes /r/, /d/ being the initial occurrence and following /n/.
    • /b/ becomes /v/ in similar vowels to the /d/ ~ /r/ substitution.
    • /n/ becomes /m/, with the latter occurring before labials and the latter elsewhere.
  • Augmentation: Some suffixes occur with a longer form following /n/.
  • Contraction: Certain suffixes occur preceding /-á/ series marker, /-á/ emphasizer, /-ân/ emphasizer, and /-an/ question marker.

Syntax

Word Order

Tewa is a subject-object-verb sentence, however there are simple sentences in Tewa such as "handiriho gi-c'u" (that's how we got in) that is simply a subject and a predicate.[13]

Number

Tewa, like other Tanoan languages, has a 3 number system and differentiates between singular, dual, and plural nouns.

However, Tewa also appears to group its nouns into two categories: those of "sets" and "entities," with sets being marked by the affix /-n/ and entities the lack of said affix. Because of this, when creating plurality out of an entity, the affix /-n/ must be removed and the base root will be one not seen outside of plurality or duality.

Language revitalization

Esther Martinez, who lived to be 94 years old, was nationally known for her commitment to preserving the Tewa language.[14] Her San Juan Pueblo Tewa Dictionary was published in 1982. The Esther Martinez Native American Languages Preservation Act is named for her, and as of Sept. 15, 2012, members of the New Mexico congressional delegation have introduced legislation to extend the program for another five years.[15]

Tewa language programs are available for children in most of the Tewa-speaking pueblos.[2][16] The Santa Clara Pueblo Tewa Language Revitalization Program also sponsors cultural activities, such as visiting Crow Canyon.[17][18]

Children's stories in Tewa have been digitized by the University of New Mexico, and are available online.[19][20]

A 2012 documentary film, "The Young Ancestors", follows a group of teenagers from Santa Fe Preparatory School as they learn the Tewa language in a self-study program with the help of a mentor, seventh grade literature teacher Laura Kaye Jagles.[21]

References
  1. "UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger". www.unesco.org. Retrieved 2018-05-24.
  2. "Tewa (Tano) Language and the Tewa Indian Tribes (Nambe, Pojoaque, San Ildefonso, San Juan, Santa Clara, and Tesuque Pueblos)". Retrieved 2012-09-27.
  3. "Tano/Tewa Indian Language". Retrieved 2023-01-29.
  4. "University of New Mexico Rewards Red Lodge Graduate". 2004-06-21. Retrieved 2012-09-27.
  5. "UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger". Retrieved 2012-09-29.
  6. Evan Ashworth. "On Nanbé Tewa Language Ideologies" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-04-12. Retrieved 2012-09-27.
  7. "Saving the Tewa Stories: A Model for Preserving Native Languages". Archived from the original on 2012-09-30. Retrieved 2012-09-27.
  8. Randall Hannaford Speirs, "Some Aspects of the Structure of Rio Grande Tewa". 1966. State University of New York at Buffalo PhD dissertation.
  9. Randall Hannaford Speirs, "Some Aspects of the Structure of Rio Grande Tewa". 1966. State University of New York at Buffalo PhD dissertation.
  10. Randall Hannaford Speirs, "Some Aspects of the Structure of Rio Grande Tewa". 1966. State University of New York at Buffalo PhD dissertation.
  11. Randall Hannaford Speirs, "Some Aspects of the Structure of Rio Grande Tewa". 1966. State University of New York at Buffalo PhD dissertation.
  12. Randall Hannaford Speirs, "An Orthography for Rio Grande Tewa". 1974.
  13. Naranjo, George; Naranjo, Christine; Curran, Mary; and Speirs, Randall (1960) "Tewa text,"Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session: Vol. 4, Article 4.
  14. Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb (2006-09-19). "Esther Martinez, 94; Preserved Language". Washington Post. Retrieved 2012-09-27.
  15. "Legislation aims to preserve native languages". The Santa Fe New Mexican. 2012-09-15. Archived from the original on 2013-01-05. Retrieved 2012-09-27.
  16. "Poeh Center". Retrieved 2012-09-27.
  17. "American Indian Student Education Project : Language preservation educators, students, and staff visit Crow Canyon". Crow Canyon Archaeological Center. 4 (9). 2009-09-25. Retrieved 2012-09-27.
  18. Jacobs, Sue - Ellen; Tuttle, Siri G.; Martinez, Esther (August 29, 1998). "Multimedia Technology in Language and Culture Restoration Efforts at San Juan Pueblo: A Brief History of the Development of the Tewa Language Project". Wíčazo Ša Review. 13 (2): 45–58. doi:10.2307/1409145. JSTOR 1409145 – via JSTOR.
  19. "American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL): Pueblo Stories--in Tewa--Digitized at the University of New Mexico". 6 March 2012. Retrieved 2012-09-27.
  20. "Tewa". Lake Forest College.
  21. "Santa Fean's film captures Native teens' effort to help preserve language". Santa Fe New Mexican. July 10, 2015.
  • Harrington, John P. (1910). A brief description of the Tewa language. American Anthropologist, 12, 497-504.
  • Speirs, Randall. (1966). Some aspects of the structure of Rio Grande Tewa. (Doctoral dissertation, SUNY Buffalo).
  • Martinez, Esther. (1982). San Juan Pueblo Tewa Dictionary. San Juan Pueblo Bilingual Program, San Juan Pueblo, New Mexico.

Further reading
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.