Zuni language

Zuni ( Zuni or even Shiwi ) is one of about 9,500 Zuni, one of today's 19 Pueblo Peoples, language spoken in New Mexico, also there are some Zuni spokesman in parts of Arizona. The language enjoys a special status among the indigenous languages ​​of North America, as it is in contrast to most other hardly at risk. Almost all Zuni tribal members are their own language powerful, many use it at home, and it also dominates in traditional and religious areas. For the healthy state of the language is supported by the fact that it is successfully passed on to the children what not or is done in most Native American languages ​​in the United States only to a small extent.

The Zuni refer to their language as Shiwi'ma ( abgel by: shiwi - ' meat ie Zuni ' ' ma -' dialect 'or' as the Zuni ') and refer to themselves in their own language as A: shiwi ( abgel of' a: (w) - ' plural ' shiwi ' meat ie Zuni ').

Relationship to other languages

Zuni is currently ranked among the isolated languages. Some linguists have assigned the Penutian language family. Bertha Dutton hypothesized that the Zuni language according to their basic vocabulary, " ... if they are a member of the Penutian language family is it, a distant relationship with the Tanoan languages ​​( Tewi ) has. "

The Penutian - hypothesis was put forward by Alfred Kroeber and Roland B. Dixon and later specified by Edward Sapir. This was part of the attempt to reduce the number of isolated language families in a culturally diverse region with a core area on the California Central Coast. The theory is viable for some languages ​​for which verified this relationship Californian original languages ​​with the Zuni, however, still lacking still relevant related words. Probably the languages ​​have evolved independently since 3000 or even 5000 years.

Phonology

Consonants

There are 16 Zuni consonants:

Vowels

Origin

'The Zuni Enigma ', a work by Nancy Yaw Davis, compares related words in the Zuni language and in Japanese. The approach is speculative, but for many more convincing than the Penutian hypothesis.

Also of interest are the works of Frank Hamilton Cushing. He was one of the first anthropologists who practiced the method of participant observation; he became a member of the Zuni tribe during his research in Pueblo 1879-1884.