Plains Apache language

Not to be confused with Kiowa language.

Plains Apache
Kiowa Apache
Native to	United States
Region	Caddo County, Oklahoma
Ethnicity	Plains Apache
Extinct	2008
Language family	Dené–Yeniseian? Na-Dene Athabaskan Southern Athabaskan Plains Apache
Language codes
ISO 639-3	apk
Glottolog	kiow1264
ELP	Kiowa Apache
Historical distribution of Southern Athabaskan languages

The Plains Apache language (or Kiowa Apache language) is a Southern Athabaskan language formerly spoken by the Plains Apache, organized as the Apache Tribe of Oklahoma, living primarily around Anadarko in southwest Oklahoma.

Plains Apache is most closely related to other Southern Athabaskan languages like Navajo, Chiricahua Apache, Mescalero Apache, Lipan Apache, Western Apache, and Jicarilla Apache. Plains Apache is the most divergent member of the subfamily. The language is extinct as of 2008, when Alfred Chalepah, Jr., the last native speaker, died.

Phonology

This article follows the orthography of Bittle (1963); where this differs from the IPA, the corresponding IPA transcription is given on the right between slashes.

Consonants

Plains Apache has a large consonant inventory resembling that of its close relatives Navajo and Western Apache.

		Bilabial	Alveolar			Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
			plain	lateral	fricated
Stop	unaspirated	b /p/	d /t/	dl /tɬ/	dz /ts/	dž /tʃ/		g /k/
	aspirated			tł /tɬʰ/	ts /tsʰ/	tš /tʃʰ/		k /kʰ/
	glottalized		tʼ	tłʼ /tɬʼ/	tsʼ	tšʼ /tʃʼ/		kʼ	ʔ
Continuant	voiceless			ł /ɬ/	s	š /ʃ/		x	h
	voiced			l	z	ž /ʒ/		ɣ
Nasal	stop		ⁿd
	continuant	m	n
Glide							y /j/

The phoneme ⁿd is only found in prefixes and does not occur before o. h is in free variation with x preceding a and also does not occur before o. The fricated alveolar and postalveolar series are tend to be realized as slightly retroflex preceding i and e, though these variants are in free variation with the unretroflexed realizations. The plain alveolar and velar series are slightly fronted preceding i and e, and slightly backed and rounded preceding o.

Vowels

Plains Apache distinguishes four vowel qualities, much like the other Southern Athabaskan languages.

	Front	Back
High	i /i ~ ɪ/	o /o ~ u/
Mid	e /ɛ/
Low	a

Additionally, all vowels may be either short or long and nasal or oral. Length is indicated in the orthography by writing the vowel twice (e.g. kóó, "water"); nasalization is indicated with an ogonek (e.g. nǫ̀ǫ̀, "earth").

Syllable Structure

The Plains Apache syllable is maximally (C)(C)V(:)(C), though initial clusters are rare and must co-occur with a long vowel, making most syllables (C)V(:)(C). All consonants may appear in the syllable onset, although l and a null onset are not permitted word-initially; only d, g, ʔ, s, z, š, ž, h, l, and ł may appear in the syllable coda, whether word-final or not.

See also

• Apache
• Southern Athabaskan languages
• Kiowa

References

• Bittle, William E. (n.d.). Plains Apache field notes. (Unpublished manuscript).
• Bittle, William E. (1956). The position of Kiowa-Apache in the Apachean group. (Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles).
• Bittle, William E. (1963). Kiowa-Apache. In H. Hoijer (Ed.), Studies in the Athapaskan languages (pp. 76–101). University of California publications in linguistics (No. 29). Berkeley: University of California Press.
• Bittle, William E. (1967). Kiowa-Apache. In H. Hoijer (Ed.), Studies in Southwestern ethnolinguistics: meaning and history in the languages of the American Southwest. Berkeley: University of California Press.
• Bittle, William E. (1971). A brief history of the Kiowa-Apache. Oklahoma Papers in Anthropology 12(1): 1-34.
• Bittle, William E. (1979). Kiowa Apache Raiding Behavior. Oklahoma Papers in Anthropology 20(2): 33-47.
• Collins, Melanie Ruth. (1983). Plains Apache: Strength Relations Among the Phonological Elements in a Dying Language. MA thesis, University of Oklahoma.
• Gatschet, Albert S. (1884). Na-isha Band, Apache (Kiowa Apache). Vocabulary and brief texts with interlinear translation November - December, 1884. Manuscript 62, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution. Washington, DC.
• Goddard, Pliny Earle. (1911). Field notes in California Athabascan languages. American Council of Learned Societies Committee on Native American Languages, American Philosophical Society. Philadelphia, PA.
• Hoijer, Harry. (1971). The Position of the Apachean Languages in the Athapaskan Stock. Apachean Culture History and Ethnology, ed. by Keith H. Basso and Morris E. Opler. Anthropological Papers of the University of Arizona 21.3-6.