Upper Chinook language

Upper Chinook
Kiksht
Native toUnited States
RegionColumbia River
Extinct11 July 2012, with the death of Gladys Thompson
Revival270 (2009-2013)
Chinookan
  • Upper Chinook
Dialects
  • Multnomah
  • Kiksht
  • (Kathlamet)
Language codes
ISO 639-3wac
Glottologwasc1239
ELPWasco-Wishram

Upper Chinook, endonym Kiksht, also known as Columbia Chinook, and Wasco-Wishram after its last surviving dialect, is a recently extinct language of the US Pacific Northwest. It had 69 speakers in 1990, of whom 7 were monolingual: five Wasco and two Wishram. In 2001, there were five remaining speakers of Wasco.

The last fully fluent speaker of Kiksht, Gladys Thompson, died in July 2012. She had been honored for her work by the Oregon Legislature in 2007. Two new speakers were teaching Kiksht at the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in 2006. The Northwest Indian Language Institute of the University of Oregon formed a partnership to teach Kiksht and Numu in the Warm Springs schools. Audio and video files of Kiksht are available at the Endangered Languages Archive.

The last fluent speaker of the Wasco-Wishram dialect was Madeline Brunoe McInturff, and she died on 11 July 2006 at the age of 91.

Dialects

Kathlamet has been classified as an additional dialect; it was not mutually intelligible.

Phonology

Consonants
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
plainsibilantlateral plainlabial plainlabial
Nasal m n
Plosive/
Affricate		 plain p t ts tɬ tʃ k kʷ q qʷ ʔ
ejective pʼ tʼ tsʼ tɬʼ tʃʼ kʼ kʷʼ qʼ qʷʼ
voiced b d ɡ ɡʷ
Continuant voiceless s ɬ ʃ x xʷ χ χʷ h
voiced w l j ɣ ɣʷ
Kiksht Vowels
Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid ɛ ə
Open a

References

  1. 1 2 Kristian Foden-Vencil (2012-07-17). "Last Fluent Speaker Of Oregon Tribal Language 'Kiksht' Dies". Oregon Public Broadcasting. Archived from the original on 2019-10-10. Retrieved 2013-02-26.
  2. ↑ Bureau, US Census. "Detailed Languages Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over: 2009-2013". Census.gov. Retrieved 2024-09-01.
  3. ↑ Leonard, Wesley Y.; Haynes, Erin (December 2010). "Making "collaboration" collaborative: An examination of perspectives that frame linguistic field research". Language Documentation & Conservation. 4: 269–293. hdl:10125/4482. ISSN 1934-5275.
  4. ↑ Culture: Language.[link removed] The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon. 2009 (retrieved 9 April 2009)
  5. ↑ "Lewis & Clark—Tribes—Wasco Indians". National Geographic. Archived from the original on December 22, 2002. Retrieved 2013-02-25.
  6. ↑ Last Fluent Speaker of Kiksht Dies [permanent dead link]
  7. ↑ "Honors Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs elder Gladys Miller Thompson for her contribution to preserving Native languages of Oregon". 74th OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2007 Regular Session. Archived from the original on 2008-12-19. Retrieved 2013-02-26.
  8. ↑ "Zelma Smith, 1926-2010". Spilyay Tymoo, Coyote News, the Newspaper of the Warm Springs Reservation. Archived from the original on 2013-12-08. Retrieved 2013-02-25.
  9. ↑ Keith Chu (2006-07-30). "New speakers try to save language". The Bulletin. Bend, OR. Retrieved 2013-02-25.
  10. ↑ Joanne B. Mulcahy (2005). "Warm Springs: A Convergence of Cultures" (Oregon History Project). Retrieved 2013-02-26.
  11. ↑ Aaron Clark. "USA: Tribes Strive to Save Native Tongues". GALDU, Resource Centre for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Archived from the original on 2011-06-22. Retrieved 2013-02-26.
  12. ↑ Nariyo Kono. "Conversational Kiksht". Endangered Languages Archive. Retrieved 2013-02-25.
  13. ↑ "Holy road: Speaker of Wasco language dead at 91 - Indian Country Media Network". indiancountrymedianetwork.com. Retrieved 2017-05-24.

Bibliography