The Comanche language is a member of the Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. It is closely related to the language of the Shoshone, from which the Comanche diverged around 1700. Although efforts are now being made to ensure its survival, much of the original language has been lost. In the late 1800s, Comanche children were placed in boarding schools where they were discouraged from speaking their native language, and even severely punished for doing so. During World War II, a group of seventeen young men referred to as "The Comanche Code Talkers" were trained and used by the U.S. Army to send messages conveying sensitive information that could not be deciphered by the enemy. ISO 639 is one of several international standards that lists short codes for language names. ... SIL International is a non-profit, Christian, scientific organization with the main purpose to study, develop and document lesser-known languages for the purpose of expanding linguistic knowledge, promoting world literacy and aiding minority language development. ... This list of languages is alphabetical by English name. ... Jump to: navigation, search Quanah Parker, the last major chief of the Comanche Indians Comanche territory Flag The Comanche Nation is a Native American group of approximately 10,000 members, about half of whom live in Oklahoma with the remainder concentrated in Texas, California, and New Mexico. ... The Uto-Aztecan languages are a Native American language family. ... Most languages are known to belong to language families (families hereforth). ... Shoshone is a Native American language. ... Events and Trends Beginning of the Napoleonic Wars (1803 - 1815). ... Jump to: navigation, search World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons such as the atom bomb . Known in the USSR as: the Great Patriotic War World War II, also known as the Second... Page one of Navajo recommendation letter, 1942. ... The Army is the branch of the United States armed forces which has primary responsibility for land-based military operations. ...

Writing system

The Comanche Alphabet was developed by Dr. Alice Anderton, a linguistic anthropologist, and was adopted as the official Comanche Alphabet by the Comanche Nation in 1994. The alphabet is not entirely phonemic, as there are some phonemes that are represented by two letters. The alphabet is as follows: Quanah Parker, the last major chief of the Comanche Indians Comanche territory Flag The Comanche Nation is a Native American group of approximately 10,000 members, about half of whom live in Oklahoma with the remainder concentrated in Texas, California, and New Mexico. ...

Notes:

• Long vowels are indicated by doubling the vowel, e.g. <aa, ee, ii, oo, uu, uu>.
• Voiceless vowels are indicated by an underline, e.g. <a, e, i, o, u, u>.
• When the stress does not fall on the first syllable of the word, it is marked with an acute accent <´>, e.g. kutséena, "coyote".
• The glottal stop <ʔ> is sometimes written as <?>.
• The phonemes /ʦ/ and /kʷ/ are written as <ts> and <kw>, respectively.

Examples

The following are examples of words from the Comanche language. They are based primarily on the Comanche Vocabulary: Trilingual Edition by Manuel García Rejón. The orthography used here is not the official Comanche Alphabet, but is based on Spanish orthography. In it, doubled letters are long, and h is always sounded as in the English "hit", even in the middle of a word, as in "cuhtz" (buffalo). An accent mark indicates stress on that syllable.

References

• Ager, Simon. "Comanche (numu tekwapu)." Internet: <http://www.omniglot.com/writing/comanche.htm> October 14, 2005.
• Bruce, Benjamin. "Marúawe!" Internet: <http://hello-oklahoma.niwic.net/comanche.htm> October 14, 2005.
• Charney, Jean Ormsbee, 1993. A Grammar of Comanche. London/Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. (Viewed at the Rosetta Project)
• Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.), 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com/.
• Rejón, Manuel García, 1995. Comanche Vocabulary: Trilingual Edition. Austin: University of Texas Press.