Apachean, also known as Southern Athabaskan, refers to members of the Apachean language family (including Navajo) which is in turn a member of the larger Athabaskan family. These languages are spoken by various bands of Apache and Navajo peoples. They are spoken in primarily the southwestern part of the United States (Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, but also in Colorado & Utah), and formerly spoken in Mexico and Texas. This is unusual because most Athabaskan languages are spoken in the northwest of Canada and Alaska.

Western Apaches call their language Nnee biyáti’ or Ndee biyáti’. Navajos call their language Diné bizaad. The most famous speaker of an Apachean language was Geronimo who spoke Chiricahua.

Genetic Classification

Southern Athabaskan languages can be divided into 2 groups: (I) Plains Apache and (II) Southwestern Apachean. Plains Apache is the only member of the Plains Apache group. The Southwestern Apachean group can be further divided into two subgroups (A) Western and (B) Eastern. The Western subgroup consists of Western Apache, Navajo, Mescalero, and Chiricahua. The Eastern subgroup consists of Jicarilla and Lipan.

I. Plains Apache

1. Plains Apache

II. Southwestern Apachean

• A. Western
  1. Western Apache
  2. Navajo
  3. Mescalero Apache
  4. Chiricahua Apache
• B. Eastern
  1. Jicarilla Apache
  2. Lipan Apache

Mescalero and Chiricahua are considered different languages even though they are mutually intelligible (Ethnologue considers them the same language). Western Apache and Navajo are closer to each other than either is to Mescalero/Chiricahua. Lipan Apache and Plains Apache are nearly extinct (in fact Lipan may already be extinct). Chiricahua is severely endangered. Mescalero, Jicarilla, and Western Apache are considered endangered as well, but fortunately children are still learning the languages. Navajo is one of the most vigorous North American languages (but use among first-graders has declined from 90% to 30% in (1998 N.Y. Times, April 9, p. A20)).

Pronunciation (Phonology)

All Southern Athabaskan languages have a similar phonology. The description below will concentrate mostly no Western Apache. You can expect minor variations of this description in other Apachean languages.

Vowels

Apachean languages have four vowels of contrasting tongue dimensions (as written in the practical orthography):

These vowels may also be short or long and oral (non-nasal) or nasal. Nasal vowels are indicated by an ogonek (or nasal hook) diacritic ˛ (borrowed from Polish orthography). This results in sixteen different vowels (in practical orthography):

IPA equivalents for oral vowels: i = [ɪ], ii = [iː], e = [ɛ], ee = [ɛː], o = [o], oo = [ʊː], a = [ɐ], aa = [ɑː].

orthography (vowels)

In Western Apache, there is a practice where orthographic vowels o and oo are written as u in certain contexts. These contexts do not include nasalized vowels, so nasal u never occurs in the orthography. This practice continues into the present (perhaps somewhat inconsistently).

However, in Harry Hoijer's work all o vowels are written as o. Similarly, Navajo does not use orthographic u, consistently writing this vowel as o.

In Chiricahua and Mescalero, this vowel is written as u in all contexts (including nasalized ų).

Other practices may be used in other Apachean languages.

Tone

Apachean languages are tonal languages. Hoijer and other linguists analyze Apachean languages as having 4 tones (using Americanist transcription system):

• high (marked with acute accent ´, Example: á)
• low (marked with grave accent `, Example: à)
• rising (marked with háček ˇ, Example: â)
• falling (marked with circumflex ˆ, Example: ǎ)

Rising and falling tones are less common in the language (often occurring over morpheme boundaries) and almost exclusively occurs on long vowels. Vowels can carry tone as well as syllabic n (Example: ń).

The practical orthography has tried to simplify the Americanist transcription system by representing only high tone with an acute accent while leaving low tone unmarked:

• high: á
• low: a

So now niziz (instead of nìzìz). Additionally, rising tone on long vowels is indicated by an unmarked first vowel and an acute accent on the second, and vice versa for falling tone:

• rising: aá (instead of Americanist: â·)
• falling: áa (instead of Americanist: ǎ·)

Nasal vowels carry tone as well, resulting in a two diacritics on vowels with high tone: ą́ (presenting problems for computerization). Recently, de Reuse (forthcoming) has found that Western Apache also has a mid tone, which he indicates with a macron diacritic ¯, as in ō, ǭ. In Chiricahua, a falling tone can occur on a syllabic n: n̂.

Here are some vowel contrasts involving nasalization, tone, and length from Chiricahua Apache:

chąą 'feces'

chaa 'beaver'

shiban 'my buckskin'

shibán 'my bread'

bik’ai’ 'his hip'

bík’ai’ 'his stepmother'

hah’aał 'you two are going to chew it'

hah’ał 'you two are chewing it'

Consonants

The consonants of Western Apache written in (IPA):

orthography (consonants)

Here is a table pairing up the IPA with the orthographic symbol:

Spelling conventions:

1. Fricatives [h] and [x] are both written as h. (see also #2 below)
2. The fricative [x] is usually written as h, but after o it is written as hw (may be pronounced as [xʷ]).
3. The fricative [ɣ] is written gh the majority of the time, but before i and e it is written as y (& may be pronounced as [ʝ]), and before o it is written as w (& may be pronounced as [ɣʷ]).
4. All words that begin with a vowel are pronounced with a glottal stop ’ [ʔ]. This glottal stop is never written at the beginning of a word.
5. Some words are pronounced either as d or n or nd, depending on the dialect of the speaker. This is represented in the consonant table above as [ⁿd]. The same is true with b and m in a few words.
6. In many words n can occur in a syllable by itself in which case it is a syllabic [n̩]. This is not indicated in the spelling.
7. As mentioned aboved, o or oo may be written as u (but never uu).

Grammar

Word order

Apachean languages have a basic SOV word order. As in the Navajo sentence below:

Mósí tsídii yiníł'į́ 'The cat is looking at the bird.'

Subject = mósí 'the cat'
Object = tsídii 'the bird'
Verb = yiníł'į́ 'it is looking at it'

Animacy

Like most Athabaskan languages, Apachean languages show various levels of animacy in its grammar, with certain nouns taking specific verb forms according to their rank in this animacy hierarchy. For instance, Navajo nouns can be ranked by animacy on a continuum from most animate (a human) to least animate (an abstraction) (Young & Morgan 1987: 65-66):

Human → Infant/Big Animal → Med-size Animal → Small Animal → Natural Force → Abstraction

Generally, the most animate noun in a sentence must occur first while the noun with lesser animacy occurs second. If both nouns are equal in animacy, then either noun can occur in the first position. So, both example sentences (1) and (2) are correct. The yi- prefix on the verb indicates that the 1st noun is the subject and bi- indicates that the 2nd noun is the subject.

But example sentence (3) sounds wrong to most Navajo speakers because the less animate noun occurs before the more animate noun:

In order express this idea, the more animate noun must occur first, as in sentence (4):

Links

• Simplified Apache Pronunciation (http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8352/lang.htm)
  
• Chiricahua and Mescalero Texts (http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/apache/)
  
• Grammatical Sketch of Chiricahua/Mescalero (http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/apache/frames/grammar.html)
  
• Other Apache Ethnographical Sources (http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/apache/Resources/resources.html)
  
• Apache texts (http://apache-texts.co.nr)
  
• Goddard's Jicarilla Texts (translation only) (http://www.sacred-texts.com/nam/pla/jat/)
  
• Issues in Language Textbook Development: The Case of Western Apache (http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/TIL_11.html)
  
• White Mountain Apache Language: Issues in Language Shift, Textbook Development, and Native Speaker-University Collaboration (http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/TIL_12.html)
  
• Apachean Languages on Ethnologue site (http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=1841)
  
• Phonetic Structures of Western Apache (318 kb PDF: technical work on acoustic phonetics) (http://www.linguistics.ucsb.edu/faculty/gordon/apachephonetics.pdf)
  
• sample of Apache bible translation (http://www.language-museum.com/a/apache.php)
• Wikipedia in Navajo

References and Recommended Reading/Listening

An Apache dictionary (Western Apache-English Dictionary: A Community-Generated Bilingual Dictionary) was recently published by Dorothy Bray and the White Mountain Apache Tribe in 1998. Some of the classification and pronunciation information has been challenged, but this remains the only reference of Western Apache still in print.

• Grimes, Barbara F. (Ed.). (2000). Ethnologue: Languages of the world, (14th ed.). Dallas, TX: SIL International. ISBN 1-55671106-9. [Online edition: http://www.ethnologue.com/, accessed on Nov. 19th, 2004.]
• Hoijer, Harry. (1938). The southern Athapaskan languages. American Anthropologist, 40(1), 75-87.
• Hoijer, Harry. (1945). Classificatory verb stems in the Apachean languages. International Journal of American Linguistics, 11(1), 13-23.
• Hoijer, Harry. (1945). The Apachean verb, part I: Verb structure and pronominal prefixes. International Journal of American Linguistics, 11(4), 193-203.
• Hoijer, Harry. (1946). The Apachean verb, part II: The prefixes for mode and tense. International Journal of American Linguistics, 12(1), 1-13.
• Hoijer, Harry. (1946). The Apachean verb, part III: The classifiers. International Journal of American Linguistics, 12(2), 51-59.
• Hoijer, Harry. (1963). Studies in the Athapaskan languages. University of California publications in linguistics 29. Berkeley: University of California Press.
• de Reuse, Willem J. (2004). [personal communication].
• Young, Robert W. (1983). Apachean languages. In A. Ortiz, W. C. Sturtevant (Eds.), Handbook of North American Indians: Southwest, (Vol. 10), (p. 393-400). Washington: Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 0-16004579-7.

Western Apache

• Basso, Keith H. (1979). Portraits of "the whiteman": Linguistic play and cultural symbols among the Western Apache. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-52129593-9.
• Basso, Keith H. (1990). Western Apache language and culture: Essays in lingustic anthropology. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. ISBN 0-81651323-6.
• Basso, Keith H. (1996). Wisdom sits in places: Landscape and language among the Western Apache. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. ISBN 0-82631724-3.
• Bray, Dorothy, & White Mountain Apache Tribe. (1998). Western Apache-English dictionary: A community-generated bilingual dictionary. Tempe, AZ: Bilingual Press. ISBN 0-927534-79-7.
• Goddard, Pliny E. (1919). San Carlos Apache texts. Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History, (Vol. 24, Part 3). New York: The American Museum of Natural History.
• Goddard, Pliny E. (1920). White Mountain Apache texts. Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History, (Vol. 24, Part 4). New York: The American Museum of Natural History.
• Goodwin, Grenville. (1939). Myth and tales of the White Mountain Apache. New York: American Folk-Lore Society (J. J. Augustin). ISBN 0-81651451-8
• Gordon, Matthew; Potter, Brian; Dawson, John; de Reuse, Willem; & Ladefoged, Peter. (2001). Phonetic structures of Western Apache. International Journal of American Linguistics, 67(4), 415-481.
• de Reuse, Willem J. (1993). Stylistic and dialectal variation in Western Apache phonology. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson.
• de Reuse, Willem J. (forthcoming). A practical grammar of the San Carlos Apache language.
• White Mountain Apache Culture Center. (1972). Western Apache dictionary. Fort Apache, AZ: White Mountain Apache Culture Center.
• White Mountain Apache Culture Center. (1983). New! keys to reading and writing Apache. Fort Apache, AZ: White Mountain Apache Culture Center.

Jicarilla

• Goddard, Pliny E. (1911). Jicarilla Apache texts. Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History, (Vol. 8). New York: The American Museum of Natural History.
• Lachler, Jordan. (1998). Abáchi mizaa iłkee’ siijai: Jicarilla dictionary. Jicarilla Cultural Preservation Program; Department of Linguistics, University of New Mexico.
• Phone, Wilma; & Torivio, Patricia. (1981). Jicarilla mizaa medaóołkai dáłáéé. Albuquerque: Native American Materials Development Center.
• Tuttle, Siri G.; & Sandoval, Merton. (2002). Jicarilla Apache. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 32, 105-112.
• Wilson, Alan, & Vigil Martine, Rita. (1996). Apache. Guilford, CT: Audio-Forum. ISBN 0-88432903-8.

Chiricahua/Mescalero

• Hoijer, Harry. (1938). Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache texts. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-40415783-1.
• Hoijer, Harry. (1946). Chiricahua Apache. In C. Osgood (Ed.), Linguistic structures in North America. New York: Wenner-Green Foundation for Anthropological Research.
• Breunginger, Evelyn; Hugar, Elbys; & Lathan, Ellen Ann. (1982). Mescalero Apache dictionary. Mescalero: NM: Mescalero Apache Tribe.
• Opler, Morris E., & Hoijer, Harry. (1940). The raid and war-path language of the Chiricahua Apache. Language, 42 (4), 617-634.
• Rushforth, Scott. (1991). Uses of Bearlake and Mescalero (Athapaskan) classificatory verbs. International Journal of American Linguistics, 57, 251-266.
• Webster, Anthony K. (1999). Sam Kenoi's "Coyote and the Whiteman": Contact in and out of a Chiricahua narrative. In A. Trefzer & R. L. Murray (Eds.), Reclaiming Native American cultures, proceedings of the Native American Symposium (pp. 67-80). Durant, OK: Southeastern Oklahoma State University.
• Webster, Anthony K. (1999). Sam Kenoi's coyote stories: Poetics and rhetoric in some Chiricahua Apache narratives. American Indian Culture and Research Journal, 23, 137-163.
• Webster, Anthony K. (1999). Lisandro Medez's "Coyote and Deer": On reciprocity, narrative structures, and interactions. American Indian Quarterly, 23, 1-24.

Navajo

• Frishberg, Nancy. (1972). Navajo object markers and the great chain of being. In J. Kimball (Ed.), Syntax and semantics, (Vol. 1), (p. 259-266). New York: Seminar Press.
• Hale, Kenneth L. (1973). A note on subject-object inversion in Navajo. In B. B. Kachru, R. B. Lees, Y. Malkiel, A. Pietrangeli, & S. Saporta (Eds.), Issuse in linguistics: Papers in honor of Henry and Renée Kahane, (p. 300-309). Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
• Sapir, Edward, & Hoijer, Harry. (1967). Phonology and morphology of the Navaho language. Berkeley: University of California Press.
• Wilson, Garth A. (1995). Conversational Navajo workbook: An introductory course for non-native speakers. Blanding, UT: Conversational Navajo Publications. ISBN 0-93871754-5.
• Young, Robert W., & Morgan, William, Sr. (1987). The Navajo language: A grammar and colloquial dictionary, (rev. ed.). Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. ISBN 0-8263-1014-1.