Wukchumni dialect

Wukchumni or Wikchamni was a dialect of Tule-Kaweah Yokuts that was historically spoken by the Wukchumni people of the east fork of the Kaweah River of California.

Marie Wilcox in 2016
Wukchumni
Wikchamni
RegionCalifornia
EthnicityWukchumni
ExtinctSeptember 25, 2021[1]
L2: 2 fluent[1]
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3–
Glottologwikc1234

As of 2014, Marie Wilcox (1933–2021) was the last remaining native speaker of the language. There are efforts at revitalization, and Wilcox completed a comprehensive Wukchumni dictionary;[2][3] at her death there were at least three fluent speakers.[1][4]

Phonology

The following tables are based on Gamble (1978).[5]

Consonants
Bilabial Dental/
Alveolar		 Post-
alveolar		 Velar Glottal
Plosive voiceless p t̪ ʈ k ʔ
aspirated pʰ t̪ʰ ʈʰ kʰ
ejective pʼ t̪ʼ ʈʼ kʼ
Affricate voiceless t͡ʃ
aspirated t͡ʃʰ
ejective t͡ʃʼ
Fricative s ʃ x h
Nasal plain m n ŋ
glottalized mˀ nˀ ŋˀ
Approximant plain w l j
glottalized wˀ lˀ jˀ

Allophones of /ʃ, x/ include [ʒ̊, xʷ].

Vowels
Front Central Back
Close i iː ɨ̹ ɨ̹ː u uː
Mid e eː ə̹ ə̹ː o oː
Open a aː

A long vowel /eː/ can be lowered to [æː] when occurring before an /n/. The central vowels /ɨ/ and /ə/ are partially rounded.

All phonetic short vowel allophones include [ɪ], [ɛ], [ɨ̞], [ɜ], [ʌ], [o̞], [ʊ].

Status

In 2019, Wukchumni was categorized as 8a or "moribund" on the Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale.[6][7] It became extinct upon the death of its last native speaker, Marie Wilcox, in 2021.

Revitalization efforts

In the early 2000s, Marie Wilcox, aided by her daughter Jennifer Malone, began compiling a Wukchumni dictionary. The work was copyrighted in 2019, but has not been published.[8] Wilcox and Malone held classes teaching beginner and intermediate Wukchumni to interested tribal members;[9][10] Malone continues this teaching at Owens Valley Career Development Center.[1][8]

Efforts to revive Wukchumni have additionally been organized through the Master-Apprentice Language Learning Program.[7]

Possibility of more native speakers

Due to Wilcox's efforts, at least three people are fluent in the language.[1] Destiny Treglown, Marie Wilcox's great-granddaughter, is raising her child, Oliver, as a Wukchumni speaker. If he reaches fluency, he will become the first native speaker of the language in four generations.[11][12]

References
  1. "Marie Wilcox, who saved her tribe's language, dies". Washington Post. Associated Press. October 8, 2021. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2021-10-10. Wilcox was once the last fluent speaker of Wukchumni but she worked for more than 20 years to produce a dictionary of the language spoken by her tribe in California's San Joaquin Valley and taught her family. Now there are at least three fluent speakers of the language, including her daughter.
  2. "Recording a Dying Language" (with video, 9 min, 36 sec). National Geographic Society. 2017-06-23. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
  3. Gilpin, Caroline Crosson (2018-03-22). "Teaching With: 'Who Speaks Wukchumni?'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
  4. Kohlruss, Carmen (2021-10-08). "Native elder saved her tribe's language. Her Tulare County family vows to 'keep it going'". The Fresno Bee. Retrieved 2023-08-23.
  5. Gamble, Geoffrey (1978). Wikchamni Grammar. Berkeley / Los Angeles: University of California Publications in Linguistics, 89.
  6. "Language Status". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2019-09-01.
  7. Riley, Elise A. (2016). "Language Revitalization Practices in Indigenous Communities of the U.S." {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. Seelye, Katharine Q. (2021-10-06). "Marie Wilcox, Who Saved Her Native Language From Extinction, Dies at 87". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
  9. "Tulare County Nüümü Yadoha Program". Owens Valley Career Development Center. 25 September 2013.
  10. "Keeping Native American languages alive: In 'Marie's Dictionary,' Wukchumni lives on". Salon. 2018-04-20. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
  11. "Language Keepers". Emergence Magazine. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
  12. "Wukchumni: Four Generations", YouTube (video, 2 min 58 sec), Emergence Magazine, 2019-07-08, retrieved 2019-08-30
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