Kansa language
| Kansa | |
|---|---|
| Kánza | |
| Native to | United States |
| Region | Kansas, Oklahoma |
| Ethnicity | 1,700 Kaw (2007) |
| Extinct | early 1980s a dozen claim to know it (2007) |
|
Siouan
|
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
|
Linguist list
|
qlc Kansa-Osage |
| Glottolog | kans1243 |
Kansa is a Siouan language of the Dhegihan group once spoken by the Kaw people of Oklahoma. The last mother-tongue speaker, Walter Kekahbah, died in 1983.
Pioneering anthropologist and linguist James Owen Dorsey collected 604 Kansa words in the 1880s and also made about 25,000 entries in a Kansa-English dictionary which has never been published. Dorsey also collected 24 myths, historical accounts, and personal letters from nine Kansa speakers.
In 1974, Linguist Robert L. Rankin met Kekahbah, Ralph Pepper (d. 1982), and Maud McCauley Rowe (d. 1978), the last surviving native speakers of Kansa. Rankin made extensive recordings of all three, especially Rowe, and his work over the next 31 years documented the language and helped the Kaw Nation to develop language learning materials.
Kansa has 30 consonants and 8 vowels.
Consonants
The long consonant sounds /pː tː tʃː kː/ can also be pronounced normally.
Vowels/ Nasal Vowels
Nasal vowels are in parentheses. /a/ and /o/ can also be pronounced as /ə/ and /u/.
As of 2012, the Kaw Nation offers online language learning for Kansa second language speakers.
The 2nd Annual Dhegiha Gathering in 2012 brought Kansa, Quapaw, Osage, Omaha and Ponca speakers together to share best practices in language revitalization.
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Wikipedia