Lipan language explained

Lipan
States:	Mexico, United States
Region:	Chihuahua, Coahuila, New Mexico, Texas
Ethnicity:	Lipan Apache people
Ref:	^[1]
Familycolor:	Dené-Yeniseian
Fam2:	Na-Dene
Fam3:	Athabaskan
Fam4:	Southern Athabaskan
Fam5:	Eastern
Iso3:	apl
Glotto:	lipa1241
Glottorefname:	Lipan Apache
Script:	Latin
Nation:	Mexico
Agency:	Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas
Nativename:	Ndé miizaa
Speakers:	110 (in Mexico)

Lipan (ndé miizaa) is an Eastern Southern Athabaskan language spoken by the Lipan Apache in the states of Coahuila and Chihuahua in northern Mexico, some reservations of New Mexico and parts of southern Texas. Lipan belongs to the Na-Dene languages family and it is closely related to the Jicarilla language, which is also part of the Eastern Southern Athabaskan languages.

History

In 1981, it was reported that in New Mexico there were only 2 or 3 elderly speakers still alive.^[2]

On March 22, 2023, a speech in Lipan was given in the tribune of the Chamber of Deputies of Mexico.^[3]

On July 22, 2023, the Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas presented and validated an official alphabet for Lipan in the Assembly Hall of Casas Grandes, Chihuahua.

Distribution

In Mexico, Lipan is traditionally spoken in some native communities in the states of Coahuila and Chihuahua: In Coahuila it was mainly spoken in Los Lirios and San Antonio de Alanzas in Arteaga Municipality, El Remolino and Zaragoza in Zaragoza Municipality, Sierra de Santa Rosa de Lima and Múzquiz in Múzquiz Municipality and the cities of Sabinas and Saltillo. In Chihuahua it is mainly spoken in Ciudad Juarez, the city of Chihuahua and other native towns.^[4]

Lipan was spoken in New Mexico in the Mescalero Reservation and in Texas near the Mexico-U.S. border.

Phonology

Consonants

There are 30 consonants in Lipan Apache:

		Bilabial	Alveolar			Palatal	Velar	Glottal
			plain	sibilant	lateral
Nasal		pronounced as /link/ ⟨m⟩	pronounced as /link/ ⟨n⟩
Stop	prenasal		pronounced as /link/ ⟨nd⟩
	voiceless	pronounced as /link/ ⟨b⟩	pronounced as /link/ ⟨d⟩	pronounced as /link/ ⟨dz⟩	pronounced as /link/ ⟨dl⟩	pronounced as /link/ ⟨j⟩	pronounced as /link/ ⟨g⟩	pronounced as /link/ ⟨'⟩
	aspirated		pronounced as /link/ ⟨t⟩	pronounced as /link/ ⟨ts⟩	pronounced as /link/ ⟨tł⟩	pronounced as /link/ ⟨ch⟩	pronounced as /link/ ⟨k⟩
	ejective		pronounced as /link/ ⟨t'⟩	pronounced as /link/ ⟨ts'⟩	pronounced as /link/ ⟨tł'⟩	pronounced as /link/ ⟨ch'⟩	pronounced as /link/ ⟨k'⟩
Fricative	voiceless			pronounced as /link/ ⟨s⟩	pronounced as /link/ ⟨ł⟩	pronounced as /link/ ⟨sh⟩	pronounced as /link/ ⟨x⟩	pronounced as /link/ ⟨h⟩
	voiced			pronounced as /link/ ⟨z⟩		pronounced as /link/ ⟨zh⟩	pronounced as /link/ ⟨gh⟩
Approximant					pronounced as /link/ ⟨l⟩	pronounced as /link/ ⟨y⟩

Vowels

There are 16 vowels in Lipan Apache:

		Front		Central		Back
		short	long	short	long	short	long
	oral	pronounced as /i/ ⟨i⟩	pronounced as /iː/ ⟨ii⟩
	nasal	pronounced as /ĩ/ ⟨į⟩	pronounced as /ĩː/ ⟨įį⟩
Mid	oral	pronounced as /e/ ⟨e⟩	pronounced as /eː/ ⟨ee⟩			pronounced as /o/ ⟨o⟩	pronounced as /oː/ ⟨oo⟩
	nasal	pronounced as /ẽ/ ⟨ę⟩	pronounced as /ẽː/ ⟨ęę⟩			pronounced as /õ/ ⟨ǫ⟩	pronounced as /õː/ ⟨ǫǫ⟩
	oral			pronounced as /a/ ⟨a⟩	pronounced as /aː/ ⟨aa⟩
	nasal			pronounced as /ã/ ⟨ą⟩	pronounced as /ãː/ ⟨ąą⟩

Tone

Tones are represented as high pronounced as /[V́]/, low pronounced as /[V̀]/, falling pronounced as /[V́V̀]/, and rising pronounced as /[V̀V́]/. Rising and falling tones only occur on long vowels.

Toponymy

The Lipan people preserve their own toponymic names to name important places within their history and culture that are part of the Ndé Bikéyaa ("Ndé land" in Lipan):^[5]

Mexico

Mehigu
Chihuahua City	Ją’éłąyá
Ciudad Juárez	Tsé Tahu’aya / Yaa tu enéé
Coahuila	Nacika

Bibliography

• Breuninger, Evelyn; Hugar, Elbys; Lathan, Ellen Ann; & Rushforth, Scott. (1982). Mescalero Apache dictionary. Mescalero, NM: Mescalero Apache Tribe.
• Gatschet, Albert S. [1884]. Lipan words, phrases, and sentences. (Unpublished manuscript No. 81, Bureau of American Ethnology Archives, Smithsonian Institution).
• Gatschet, Albert S. [1885]. Lipan words, clans, and stories. (Unpublished manuscript No. 114, Bureau of American Ethnology Archives, Smithsonian Institution).
• Goddard, Pliny E. [1906]. Lipan texts. (Unpublished manuscript in Archives of Traditional Music, Indiana University, Bloomington.)
• Hoijer, Harry. (n.d.). Lipan texts. (Available from the American Philosophical Society, Chicago.) (Unpublished field notes, includes handwritten transcription and typed versions, 4 texts, one text published as Hoijer 1975).
• Hoijer, Harry. (1938). The southern Athapaskan languages. American Anthropologist, 40 (1), 75–87.
• Hoijer, Harry. (1942). Phonetic and phonemic change in the Athapaskan languages. Language, 18 (3), 218–220.
• Hoijer, Harry. (1945). The Apachean verb, part I: Verb structure and pronominal prefixes. International Journal of American Linguistics, 11 (4), 193–203.
• Hoijer, Harry. (1946). The Apachean verb, part II: The prefixes for mode and tense. International Journal of American Linguistics, 12 (1), 1–13.
• Hoijer, Harry. (1946). The Apachean verb, part III: The classifiers. International Journal of American Linguistics, 12 (2), 51–59.
• Hoijer, Harry. (1948). Linguistic and cultural change. Language, 24 (4), 335–345.
• Hoijer, Harry. (1956). Athapaskan kinship systems. American Anthropologist, 58 (2), 309–333.
• Hoijer, Harry. (1956). The chronology of the Athapaskan languages. International Journal of American Linguistics, 22 (4), 219–232.
• Hoijer, Harry. (1975). The history and customs of the Lipan, as told by Augustina Zuazua. Linguistics: An international review, 161, 5-37.
• Jung, Dagmar. (2000). "Word Order in Apache Narratives." In The Athabaskan Languages. (Eds. Fernald, Theodore and Platero, Paul). Oxford: Oxford UP. 92–100.
• Opler, Morris E. (1936). The kinship systems of the southern Athabaskan-speaking tribes. American Anthropologist, 38, 620–633.
• Opler, Morris E. (2001). Lipan Apache. In Raymond J. DeMallie (ed.), Plains, 941-952. Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution.
• Webster, Anthony. (1999). "Lisandro Mendez’s ‘Coyote and Deer’: On narrative structures, reciprocity, and interactions." American Indian Quarterly. 23(1): 1-24.

References

1. https://www.inali.gob.mx/detalle/lengua-ndee-nnee-nde
2. 1981 R. W. Young
3. Web site: Hablante de lengua nde’ mizaa, pronuncia discurso en la tribuna de la Cámara de Diputados .
4. Web site: Historia de la lengua y cultura n'dee/n'nee/ndé; Ndé miizaa .
5. Web site: Toponimia en lengua Ndé .