Cahuilla language


Cahuilla, or Ivilyuat, is an endangered Uto-Aztecan language, spoken by the various tribes of the Cahuilla Nation, living in the Coachella Valley, San Gorgonio Pass and San Jacinto Mountains region of southern California. The Cahuilla demonyms include Ɂívil̃uwenetem or Iviatam – speakers of Ivilyuat – or táxliswet meaning "person." A 1990 census revealed 35 speakers in an ethnic population of 800. With such a decline, Ivilyuat is classified as "critically endangered" by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger as most speakers are middle-aged or older with limited transmission rates to children.
Three dialects are known to exist: Desert, Mountain and Pass, as well as some other sub-dialects.

Classification

Cahuilla is a member of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Together with Cupeño it forms the Cupan subdivision of the Californian subgroup, other members of which are Serrano, Kitanemuk, Luiseño and Tongva. This Californian subgroup consisting of Cupan and Serran languages was once known as the Takic group, a name which has fallen out of use.

Exonyms and endonyms

One of the indigenous designations for the language is Ɂívil̃uɂat, or ʼÍvilluʼat, while Cahuilla could call themselves Ɂívil̃uqalet / Ɂívil̃uwenetem, 'speaker of ɂívil̃uɂat.' Other variations include Ivilyuat and Ivia. However, both the language and the people are oftentimes called 'Cahuilla.'

Phonology

Cahuilla has the following vowel and consonant phonemes :

Consonants

Consonants in parentheses only occur in loans.

Vowels

  1. and are allophones of and, respectively, when in an unstressed or secondary stress position. However, both and appear in the stressed position and are preceding any of the following consonants:,,,,. Lengthened version of both result in their opened variant occurring. Finally, word final instances of and are always open.
  2. Both long and short only appear in borrowings.
  3. As an allophone of, -distribution is unclear, conforming to the same rules of and sometimes. The word final variant of is always the open.
  4. Similar to the high and mid vowels, sees similar allophonic distribution where occurs under stress and falls in unstressed positions. is found in monosyllabic and polysyllabic words containing only one instance of the.
  5. The semivowels, and, are difficult to distinguish from their counterpart diphthongs: and. When the semivowel is following an or, it is realized as or . When, or is followed by, the usually becomes half-long.

    Voiceless vowels

A salient feature found in Ivilyuat is the phenomenon of voiceless vowels which occur in word-final positions or around. Word-finally, voiceless vowels occur as -Vh.
  • = 'owl'
  • = 'ceremonial chief'
  • = 'the day before yesterday'
  • = 'my breast'
  • = 'his nose'
  • = 'my shoulder'

    Phonotactics

Words in Ivilyuat may never start with a vowel, and consonant clusters generally indicate the break between morphemic units. Whereas is treated as a regular consonant in word-initial locations, it occurs in consonant clusters via infixation or insertion and is not representative of a morphemic break.

Stress

There are three primary types of stress in Ivilyuat: primary, secondary and unstressed. Primary is distinguished from an unstressed syllable by loudness and elevation of pitch. Secondary stress carries less volume and the pitch is not as elevated as with primary stress. Generally, stress falls on the first syllable of the root, however there are numerous cases of doubt and ambiguity. The general pattern is:... CV̀CVCV́CVCV̀CVCV̀..., where regular alternation occurs after the primary stress and secondary stress is added to the first syllable if followed by an additional -CV- group without stress. Long vowels function also as a distinct -CV- unit and take stress with the following syllable unit also taking stress:... CV́VCV̀... This process can be seen here:
  • CV́VCCV̀CVC : qáankìčem 'palo verde,' plur.
  • CV́CVCV̀CVC : tákalìčem 'one-eyed ones'

    Grammar

Ivilyuat is an agglutinative language. It uses various affixes, both prefixes and suffixes, to change the meaning and grammatical function of words. As well, Ivilyuat leans heavily on descriptive properties in the construction of nouns, turning predicates into nouns.

Morphology

Ivilyuat has a rich morphology. For example, the word 'arrow,' húyal, is derived from 'it is straightened' which has been transformed into 'that which is straightened' or 'the straightened one', where the verb stem 'to straighten' is immediately recognizable. This phenomenon permeates the language such that some words are examples of a double derivation, such as 'blue/green'. The word for the colour, túkvašnekiš, is derived from 'that which comes from heaven' which in turn comes from 'the thing where carrying takes place,' where túkvaš means 'sky' and -nek is from nek-en.

Nouns and noun phrases

Some, but not all, nouns occur in two different states: absolutive and construct. Outside of these two states fall certain other nouns that both refuse to take a P1 nor a construct state form such as ɂáwal and almost all additional animal terms which cannot be directly possessed; however, there is indication that some of these nouns show historical ties to both states, and issues present with either state usage tend to be semantic.
Distinguishing a noun from a verb can sometimes be difficult in Ivilyuat, however, whereas both verbs and nouns can take P1 prefixes, only nouns can take P2 ones.
Absolutive and construct states
Absolutive, also known as non-possessed nouns, and construct states help in the classification of nouns. For nouns that take either state, the process can either exhibit itself where the noun takes one form, both forms or even more productive derivations. For example, the word for flower/blossom can be: séɂiš, séɂi, séɂiški where séɂ- means to blossom and iš is the relativizing and absolutive suffix. Thus, séɂiš means 'blossom/flower' or, more literally, 'having completed the act of blossoming.'
The absolutive state occurs when a relational expression is transformed into an absolute expression, or when a predicate becomes an argument that can then be assigned to a particular place in a predicate. This state is constructed using the absolutive suffix, being one of four consonants. The suffix often is found in amalgamation with the preceding vowel, mostly -a or -i; however the case may be that there are more complex underlying functions than just that of the absolutive suffix.
The construct state is marked with P1 relational constructions and translates very roughly to possession.
  • né-puš : 'my eye'
  • né-ɂaš : 'my pet'
  • né-téviŋiki : 'my little basket'
  • púč-il̃ : 'the eye, seed'
  • ɂáč-il̃ : 'the pet'
  • téviŋi-l̃ : 'the little basket'
  • ne-téviŋi-l̃-ki : 'my little basket'
    Inflection
Prefixes
Inflection in Ivilyuat is realized through both prefixation and suffixation, where prefixes mark the distinction of persons and suffixes mark plurality and case. Both O and P2 may co-occur, which sees O precede P2; P2 may precede P1. Never can all three prefixes occur simultaneously. O, for example, cannot combine with P1 within nouns ; P2 can only occur in nouns.
  1. he- is only found alongside monosyllabic noun stems.
  2. -y only occurs if an O prefix precedes it.
    Suffixes
is marked with the suffixes -m, -em, -im and -am, making a simple singular/plural distinction. Some nouns are not pluralizable, such as kʷíñil̃ 'acorn' or méñikiš 'mesquite bean.'
The object is marked with the oblique case suffix -i, -y and -iy which sometimes includes glottalization either through insertion or infixation:
  • táxliswet : 'the Indigenous person'
  • táxlisweɂt-i : 'id.'
  • táxliswet-em : 'the Indigenous people'
  • táxliswet-m-i : 'id.'
The other cases are the: locative -ŋa, lative -ka and abl -ax, marking roughly location/placement, direction/towards and point of departure, respectively. The lative case appears to combine only with construct state nouns only:
  • kú-t : 'fire'
  • kú-t-ŋa / kú-ŋa : 'in the fire'
  • kú-yka / kút-ika : 'into the fire'
Case and plural endings can combine with one another, especially the locative and ablative:
  • táxliswet-m-i : 'the Indigenous people'
  • téma-l-ŋa-x / téma-ŋa-x : 'from the earth'
    Pronouns
Pronouns in Ivilyuat can be broken down into three categories: personal, question/answer – indefinite and non-personal – non-question/answer – non-indefinite.
Nominalizers
, or the creation of nouns from verbs and adverbs as is the case in Ivilyuat, occurs fairly frequently.
Verbial nominalizers
Seiler lists ten nominalizers attached to the verb playing a wide range of functions.
-ka 'inceptive'

Using Seiler's terminology, this nominalizer indicates an oriented relationship in the noun/action, very similar to the nominal suffix -ka. As tense plays little role in the language, this should not be taken to mean 'future.'

SUFF:suffix
PRON:pronoun
STEM:stem
P2:P2 prefix
P1:P1 prefix
O:object prefix

-k 'excellence'

This denotes goodness or excellence.
-nax 'supposed to fulfill function'

This denotes where one is supposed to fulfill a specialized function, notably in a socio-cultural context.
-š 'completed action or process'

Denotes a completed action or being completed as a process.
v-vaš 'performing in a special situation'

Denotes performing an act in a specially defined situation. Compare the following examples:
-wet/-et 'habitual or competent performer'

Functioning similarly to -vaš, denotes a competent or habitual performer. When in combination with the durative or stative, it takes the form -et. Compare the following examples:
-ɂa & -at/-il̃ 'abstract nominalizers'

These makes abstract verbs into nouns. Where -at and -il̃/-ɂil̃ can attach to abstract verbs with few restrictions, -ɂa is restricted to abstract verbs which are then possessed once nominalized.
-piš 'unrealized subordination'

Nominalizes verbs that both indicates subordination and something that has not yet happened.
-vel/-ve 'event already occurring or occurred'

Nominalizes verbs in regard to occurrence of the action.
-vaɂal 'located event'

A complex of suffixes where the verbal suffix -vaɂ indicates 'locale, place' such as:
Combining with -al, the abstract nominalizer, there become forms such as: