Hupa language
| Hupa | |
|---|---|
| Na:tinixwe Mixine:whe' | |
| Native to | USA |
| Region | California (Hoopa Valley) |
| Ethnicity | 2,000 Hupa (2007) |
|
Native speakers
|
1 fully fluent (2012) |
| Revival | L2 users: 30. |
|
Dené–Yeniseian?
|
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | hupa1239 |
Hupa (native name: Na:tinixwe Mixine:whe', lit. "language of the Hoopa Valley people") is an Athabaskan language (of Na-Dené stock) spoken along the lower course of the Trinity river in Northwest California by the Hupa (Na:tinixwe), and before European contact by the Chilula and Whilkut peoples to the west.
The 2000 US Census estimated the language to be spoken by 64 persons between the ages of 5 and 17, including 4 monolingual speakers. As of 2012, there are fewer than 10 individuals whose Hupa could be called fluent, at least one of whom (Verdena Parker) is a fully fluent bilingual. Perhaps another 50 individuals of all ages have restricted control of traditional Hupa phonology, grammar and lexicon. Beyond this, many tribal members share a small vocabulary of words and phrases of Hupa origin.
The consonants of Hupa in the standard orthography are listed below (with IPA notation in slashes):
Notes about the consonant system and how it is written:
Vowels may be lengthened.
The Hupa alphabet is as follows:
As with other Dene languages, the Hupa verb is based around a theme. Melissa Axelrod has defined a theme as “the underlying skeleton of the verb to which prefixes or strings of prefixes or suffixal elements are added in producing an utterance. The theme itself has a meaning and is the basic unit of the Athabaskan verbal lexicon.” In addition to a verb stem, a typical theme consists of a classifier, one or more conjunct prefixes, and one or more disjunct prefixes.
According to Victor Golla (1970, 2001 and others), each Hupa theme falls into one of eight structural classes according to its potential for inflection, along the following three parameters: active vs. neuter, transitive vs. intransitive, and personal vs. impersonal. Golla (2001: 817)
1. Active themes are inflected for aspect-mode categories, while neuter themes are not. 2. Transitive themes are inflected for direct object, while intransitive themes are not. 3. Personal themes are inflected for subject, while impersonal themes are not.
Golla (2001: 818) presents examples of themes from each of the eight structural classes. Orthography has been changed to conform to the current accepted tribal orthography:
Active themes: Transitive Personal O-ƚ-me:n ‘fill O’ Impersonal no:=O-d-(n)-ƚ-tan' ‘O gets used to something’
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