Nisenan language
| Nisenan | |
|---|---|
| Southern Maidu | |
| Native to | United States |
| Region | California: Central California, scattered, foothills of the Sierras. |
| Extinct | (No L1 speaker) |
|
Maiduan
|
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | nise1244 |
Nisenan (or alternatively, Southern Maidu, Neeshenam, Nishinam, Pujuni, or Wapumni) is a nearly extinct Maiduan language spoken by the Nisenan (or Southern Maidu, etc. as above) people of central California in the foothills of the Sierras, in the whole of the American, Bear and Yuba river drainages.
Ethnologue states that there is only one speaker left. However, it is believed that there are a few other speakers left, although the number is not known. Most speakers also speak one or more of the different dialects.
There has recently been a small effort at language revival. Most notably the release of the "Nisenan Workbook" (three volumes so far) put out by Alan Wallace, which can be found at the California State Indian Museum in Sacramento and the Maidu Interpretive Center in Roseville.
As the Nisenan (like many of the Natives of central California) were not a single large tribe but a collection of independent "tribelets" (smaller tribes, as compared to Native groups in the east) which are grouped together primarily on linguistic similarity, there were many dialects to varying degrees of variation. This has led to some degree of inconsistency in the available linguistic data, primarily in regard to the phonemes.
The phonology of Nisenan is similar to both Konkow and Maidu. Taking into account the various dialects, there appears to be a fair amount of allophones across the dialects.
The single affricate consonant has been most commonly described as alveolar [ts], though some sources describe it as postalveolar [tʃ]. According to the Nisenan Workbook by Alan Wallace, [tʃ] and [ts] appear in complementary distribution. For example, the word for 'ten' is transcribed as 'maacam' (/c/ being realized as [tʃ]) in Workbook #1 and 'maatsam' in Workbook #2. Similar allophony occurs between [s] and [ʃ].
/pʼ tʼ kʼ/ have been listed as ejectives (lenis ejectives according to "Central Hill Nisenan Texts with Grammatical Sketch" by Andrew Eatough) while other sources have labeled them simply as emphatic not specifying further as to how they contrast with the plain plosives. The Nisenan Workbooks depict these in transcription, though the sound guides have yet to distinguish them from the plain plosives.
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