{{Short description|Language spoken in Oklahoma and New Mexico}} {{Infobox language | name = Chiricahua | nativename = {{lang|apm|Ndee bizaa}} | states = [[Mexico]] and [[United States|USA]] | region = [[Sonora]], [[Chihuahua (state)|Chihuahua]], [[Oklahoma]], [[New Mexico]] | ethnicity = [[Chiricahua people|Chiricahua]], [[Mescalero]] | speakers = 1,500 | date = 2007 | ref = e18 | familycolor = Dené-Yeniseian | fam1 = [[Na-Dene]] | fam2 = [[Athabaskan languages|Athabaskan]] | fam3 = [[Southern Athabaskan]] | fam4 = Southwestern Apache | fam5 = Western | map = Lang Status 40-SE.svg | mapcaption = {{center|Mescalero-Chiricahua is classified as Severely Endangered by the [[UNESCO]] ''[[Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger]]''.{{failed verification|date=November 2024}}}} | iso3 = apm | glotto = mesc1238 | glottorefname = Chiricahua Apache | notice = IPA | minority = {{flag|Mexico}} | agency = [[Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas]] }}
'''Mescalero-Chiricahua''' (also known as '''Chiricahua Apache''') is a [[Southern Athabaskan languages|Southern Athabaskan]] language spoken by the [[Chiricahua]] and [[Mescalero]] people in [[Chihuahua (state)|Chihuahua]] and [[Sonora]], [[Mexico|México]] and in [[Oklahoma]] and [[New Mexico]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Historia de la lengua y cultura n'dee/n'nee/ndé |url=https://contigoenladistancia.cultura.gob.mx/detalle/conversatorio-historia-de-la-lengua-y-cultura-n-dee-n-nee-nde-hacia-el-registro-en-el-catalogo-de-las-lenguas-indigenas-nacionales-clin-}}</ref> It is related to [[Navajo language|Navajo]] and [[Western Apache language|Western Apache]] and has been described in great detail by the anthropological linguist [[Harry Hoijer]] (1904–1976), especially in Hoijer & Opler (1938) and Hoijer (1946). Hoijer & Opler's ''Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache Texts'', including a grammatical sketch and traditional religious and secular stories, has been converted into an online "book" available from the University of Virginia.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chirichua and Mescalero Apache Texts |url=https://xtf.lib.virginia.edu/xtf/view?docId=Apache/uvaGenText/tei/other/intro.xml |publisher=University of Virginia Library}}</ref>
[[Virginia Klinekole]], the first female president of the Mescalero Apache Tribe, was known for her efforts to preserve the language.<ref name="Alamogordo">{{Cite news |title = Former tribal leader dies : Past Mescalero president, council member, writer remembered |work = Alamogordo Daily News |access-date = 2013-03-26 |date = 2011-03-15 |url = http://www.alamogordonews.com/ci_17614404 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140525202353/http://www.alamogordonews.com/ci_17614404 |archive-date = 2014-05-25 }}</ref>
There is at least one language-immersion school for children in Mescalero.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.alamogordonews.com/tablehome/ci_21431757/udall-visits-mescalero-apache-schools-talk-language-preservation |title=Udall visits Mescalero Apache Schools to talk language preservation - Alamogordo Daily News |access-date=2015-08-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140525234738/http://www.alamogordonews.com/tablehome/ci_21431757/udall-visits-mescalero-apache-schools-talk-language-preservation |archive-date=2014-05-25 }}</ref>
==Phonology== ===Consonants=== Chiricahua has 31 [[consonants]]:
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" |- ! rowspan="2" colspan="2" | ! rowspan="2" | [[Bilabial consonant|Bilabial]] ! colspan="3" | [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]] ! rowspan="2" | [[Postalveolar consonant|Post-<br>alveolar]] ! rowspan="2" | [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]] ! rowspan="2" | [[Velar consonant|Velar]] ! rowspan="2" | [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]] |- ! {{small|plain}} ! {{small|[[sibilant]]}} ! {{small|[[lateral consonant|lateral]]}} |- ! rowspan="2"| [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]] ! {{small|simple}} | {{IPAlink|m}} | {{IPAlink|n}} | | | | | | |- ! {{small|[[prenasalized consonant|post-stopped]]}} | ({{IPA|mᵇ}}) | {{IPA|nᵈ}} | | | | | | |- ! rowspan="3" | [[Plosive]] ! {{small|plain}} | {{IPAlink|p}} | {{IPAlink|t}} | {{IPAlink|ts}} | {{IPAlink|tˡ}}~{{IPAlink|tɬ}} | {{IPAlink|tʃ}} | | {{IPAlink|k}} | rowspan="3" | {{IPAlink|ʔ}} |- ! {{small|[[aspirated consonant|aspirated]]}} | | {{IPA link|tʰ}} | {{IPA link|tsʰ}} | {{IPA link|tɬʰ}} | {{IPA link|tʃʰ}} | | {{IPA link|kʰ}} |- ! {{small|[[ejective consonant|ejective]]}} | | {{IPAlink|tʼ}} | {{IPAlink|tsʼ}} | {{IPAlink|tɬʼ}} | {{IPAlink|tʃʼ}} | | {{IPAlink|kʼ}} |- ! rowspan="2"| [[Fricative]] ! {{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}} | | | {{IPAlink|s}} | {{IPAlink|ɬ}} | {{IPAlink|ʃ}} | | {{IPAlink|x}} | {{IPAlink|h}} |- ! {{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}} | | | {{IPAlink|z}} | {{IPAlink|ɮ}} | {{IPAlink|ʒ}} | {{IPAlink|ʝ}} | {{IPAlink|ɣ}} | |}
===Vowels=== Chiricahua has 16 [[vowels]]:
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" |- ! rowspan="2" colspan="2" | ! colspan="2" | [[Front vowel|Front]] ! colspan="2" |[[Central vowel|Central]] ! colspan="2" | [[Back vowel|Back]] |- ! {{small|short}} || {{small|long}} !{{small|short}} !{{small|long}} ! {{small|short}} || {{small|long}} |- ! rowspan="2" | [[High vowel|High]] ! {{small|oral}} | {{IPAlink|i}} || | {{IPA link|iː}} | | | || |- ! {{small|nasal}} | {{IPA link|ĩ}} || {{IPA link|ĩː}} | | | || |- ! rowspan="2" | [[Mid vowel|Mid]] ! {{small|oral}} | {{IPAlink|ɛ}} || {{IPA link|ɛː}} | | | {{IPAlink|o}} || {{IPA link|oː}} |- ! {{small|nasal}} | {{IPA link|ɛ̃}} || {{IPA link|ɛ̃ː}} | | | {{IPA link|õ}} || {{IPA link|õː}} |- ! rowspan="2" | [[Low vowel|Low]] ! {{small|oral}} | || |{{IPAlink|a}} |{{IPA link|aː}} | || |- ! {{small|nasal}} | || |{{IPA link|ã}} |{{IPA link|ãː}} | || |}
Chiricahua has [[phonemic]] oral, [[nasal vowel|nasal]], short, and [[vowel length|long]] vowels.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== {{Refbegin|30em}} * [[Harry Hoijer|Hoijer, Harry]]. (n.d.). Chiricahua Apache stems. (Unpublished manuscript). * {{cite journal |last=Hoijer |first=Harry |year=1938 |title=The southern Athapaskan languages |journal=American Anthropologist |volume=40 |issue=1 |pages=75–87|doi=10.1525/aa.1938.40.1.02a00080 }} * {{cite journal |last=Hoijer |first=Harry |year=1939 |title=Chiricahua loan-words from Spanish |journal=Language |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=110–115|doi=10.2307/408729 |jstor=408729 }} * {{cite journal |last=Hoijer |first=Harry |year=1945 |title=Classificatory verb stems in the Apachean languages |journal=International Journal of American Linguistics |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=13–23|doi=10.1086/463846 }} * {{cite journal |last=Hoijer |first=Harry |year=1945 |title=The Apachean verb, part I: Verb structure and pronominal prefixes |journal=International Journal of American Linguistics |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=193–203|doi=10.1086/463871 }} * {{cite journal |last=Hoijer |first=Harry |year=1946 |title=The Apachean verb, part II: The prefixes for mode and tense |journal=International Journal of American Linguistics |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=1–13|doi=10.1086/463881 }} * {{cite journal |last=Hoijer |first=Harry |year=1946 |title=The Apachean verb, part III: The classifiers |journal=International Journal of American Linguistics |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=51–59|doi=10.1086/463889 }} * {{cite book |last=Hoijer |first=Harry |year=1946 |chapter=Chiricahua Apache |editor-first=C. |editor-last=Osgood |title=Linguistic structures in North America |location=New York |publisher=Wenner-Green Foundation for Anthropological Research}} * {{cite book |last1=Hoijer |first1=Harry |last2=Opler |first2=Morris E. |year=1980 |publisher=AMS Press |location=New York |isbn=0-404-15783-1 |title=Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache texts |orig-date=1938, University of Chicago Press; 1964, University of Chicago Press; 1970, University of Chicago Press}} * {{cite journal |last1=Opler |first1=Morris E. |last2=Hoijer |first2=Harry |year=1940 |title=The raid and war-path language of the Chiricahua Apache |journal=American Anthropologist |volume=42 |issue=4 |pages=617–634|doi=10.1525/aa.1940.42.4.02a00070 }} * {{cite book |last=Pinnow |first=Jürgen |year=1988 |lang=de |title=Die Sprache der Chiricahua-Apachen: Mit Seitenblicken auf das Mescalero |trans-title=The language of the Chiricahua Apache: With side glances at the Mescalero |location=Hamburg |publisher=Helmut Buske}} * {{cite journal |last=Webster |first=Anthony K. |year=2006 |title=On Speaking to Him (Coyote): The Discourse Functions of the ''yi-/bi-'' Alternation in Some Chiricahua Apache Narratives |journal=Southwest Journal of Linguistics |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=143–160}} * {{cite book |last=Young |first=Robert W. |year=1983 |chapter= Apachean languages |editor-first=A. |editor-last=Ortiz |title=Handbook of North American Indians |volume=10: Southwest |pages=393–400 |location=Washington |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |isbn=0-16-004579-7}} {{Refend}}
==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20120501003314/http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/apache/ Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache Texts] * [http://www.language-archives.org/language/apm OLAC resources in and about the Mescalero-Chiricahua Apache language] *{{cite book|last1=Goddard|first1=Pliny Earle|author-link=Pliny Earle Goddard|title=San Carlos Apache texts|url=https://archive.org/details/sancarlosapache00goddgoog|access-date=24 August 2012|year=1919|publisher=American Museum of Natural History}} * {{Cite news |last = Rene Romo |title = Apaches work to save language |work = Alamogordo Daily News |access-date = 2012-08-08 |date = 2011-11-11 |url = http://www.alamogordonews.com/ci_19318722 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111116015830/http://www.alamogordonews.com/ci_19318722 |archive-date = 2011-11-16 }} *{{Cite news |last = Harold Oakes |title = Udall visits Mescalero Apache Schools to talk language preservation |work = Alamogordo Daily News |access-date = 2012-09-02 |date = 2012-08-29 |url = http://www.alamogordonews.com/ci_21431757/udall-visits-mescalero-apache-schools-talk-language-preservation |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120904130837/http://www.alamogordonews.com/ci_21431757/udall-visits-mescalero-apache-schools-talk-language-preservation |archive-date = 2012-09-04 }}
{{Athabaskan languages}}{{Languages of Mexico}}{{Languages of Arizona}} {{Languages of New Mexico}} {{Languages of Oklahoma}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chiricahua Language}} [[Category:Southern Athabaskan languages]] [[Category:Chiricahua]] [[Category:Indigenous languages of Oklahoma]] [[Category:Indigenous languages of Mexico]] [[Category:Indigenous languages of New Mexico]] [[Category:Native American language revitalization]] [[Category:Endangered Athabaskan languages]] [[Category:Mescalero Apache]] [[Category:Languages of Mexico]]