| Chiricahua | |
| Nativename: | Ndee bizaa |
| States: | Mexico and USA |
| Region: | Sonora, Chihuahua, Oklahoma, New Mexico |
| Ethnicity: | Chiricahua, Mescalero |
| Speakers: | 1,500 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | Dené-Yeniseian |
| Fam2: | Na-Dene |
| Fam3: | Athabaskan |
| Fam4: | Southern Athabaskan |
| Fam5: | Southwestern Apache |
| Fam6: | Western |
| Map: | Lang Status 40-SE.svg |
| Iso3: | apm |
| Glotto: | mesc1238 |
| Glottorefname: | Chiricahua Apache |
| Notice: | IPA |
| Minority: |  Mexico |
| Agency: | Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas |
Mescalero-Chiricahua (also known as Chiricahua Apache) is a Southern Athabaskan language spoken by the Chiricahua and Mescalero people in Chihuahua and Sonora, México and in Oklahoma and New Mexico.[1] It is related to Navajo and Western Apache and has been described in great detail by the anthropological linguist Harry Hoijer (1904–1976), especially in Hoijer & Opler (1938) and Hoijer (1946). Hoijer & Opler's Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache Texts, including a grammatical sketch and traditional religious and secular stories, has been converted into an online "book" available from the University of Virginia.
Virginia Klinekole, the first female president of the Mescalero Apache Tribe, was known for her efforts to preserve the language.[2]
There is at least one language-immersion school for children in Mescalero.[3]
Chiricahua has 31 consonants:
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Post- alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||||
| (pronounced as /mᵇ/) | pronounced as /nᵈ/ | ||||||||
| Plosive | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/~pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||
| pronounced as /tʰ/ | pronounced as /tsʰ/ | pronounced as /tɬʰ/ | pronounced as /tʃʰ/ | pronounced as /kʰ/ | |||||
| pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||
| Fricative | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||
| pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||
Chiricahua has 16 vowels:
| Front | Central | Back | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /iː/ | ||||||
| pronounced as /ĩ/ | pronounced as /ĩː/ | |||||||
| Mid | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ɛː/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /oː/ | ||||
| pronounced as /ɛ̃/ | pronounced as /ɛ̃ː/ | pronounced as /õ/ | pronounced as /õː/ | |||||
| Low | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /aː/ | ||||||
| pronounced as /ã/ | pronounced as /ãː/ | |||||||
Chiricahua has phonemic oral, nasal, short, and long vowels.