Palaihnihan languages explained
| Palaihnihan |
| Also Known As: | Palaihnih, Laikni |
| Familycolor: | American |
| Fam1: | Hokan ? |
| Fam2: | Shasta–Palaihnihan ? |
| Glotto: | pala1350 |
| Glottorefname: | Palaihnihan |
| Child1: | Atsugewi |
| Child2: | Achumawi |
Palaihnihan (also Palaihnih) is a language family of northeastern California. It consists of two closely related languages, both now extinct:
Reconstruction
The original reconstruction of proto-Palaihnihan suffered from poor quality data. David Olmsted's dictionary depends almost entirely upon de Angulo, who did not record the phonological distinctions consistently or well,[1] and carelessly includes Pomo vocabulary from a manuscript in which he (de Angulo) set out to demonstrate that Achumawi and Pomo are not related.[2] William Bright has also pointed out problems with Olmsted's methods of reconstruction.[3] The reconstruction is being refined with newer data.[4]
Good, McFarland, & Paster (2003) conclude there were at least three vowels, *a *i *u, and possibly marginal *e, along with vowel length and ablaut. Consonants were as follows:[4]
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | (Epi)glottal |
|---|
| Plosive | plain | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ |
|---|
| aspirated | pronounced as /pʰ/ | pronounced as /tʰ/ | pronounced as /tʃʰ/ | pronounced as /kʰ/ | pronounced as /qʰ/ | |
|---|
| ejective | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
|---|
| Fricative | | pronounced as /link/ | | | | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ |
|---|
| Nasal | plain | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | | | | |
|---|
| glottalized | pronounced as /mˀ/ | pronounced as /nˀ/ | | | | |
|---|
| Trill | plain | | pronounced as /link/ | | | | |
|---|
| glottalized | | pronounced as /rˀ/ | | | | |
|---|
| Approximant | plain | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | | | |
|---|
| glottalized | pronounced as /wˀ/ | pronounced as /lˀ/ | pronounced as /jˀ/ | | | | |
|---|
Genetic relations
The Palaihnihan family is often connected with the hypothetical Hokan stock. Proposed special relationships within Hokan include Palaihnihan with Shastan (known as Shasta-Achomawi) and within a Kahi sub-group (also known as Northern Hokan) with Shastan, Chimariko, and Karuk.
References
- Nevin 1991, 1998.
- Gursky . Karl-Heinz . Achumawi und Pomo, eine besondere Beziehung? . Abhandlungen der völkerkundlichen Arbsgemeinschaft . 57 . Nortorf . 1987 .
- 10.2307/411871 . Bright . William . Olmsted . D. L. . Review of A history of Palaihnihan phonology by D. L. Olmsted . 411871 . Language . 41 . 1 . 175–178 . Linguistic Society of America . Baltimore . 1965 .
- http://pages.pomona.edu/~mp034747/SSILA2003.pdf Good, McFarland, & Paster (2003) "Reconstructing Achumawi and Atsugewi: Proto-Palaihnihan revisited"
Bibliography
- 10.2307/411871 . Bright . William . Olmsted . 1965 . D. L. . [Review of ''A history of Palaihnihan phonology'' by D. L. Olmsted] . 411871. Language . 41 . 1. 175–178 .
- Good, Jeff; McFarland, Teresa; & Paster, Mary. (2003). Reconstructing Achumawi and Atsugewi: Proto-Palaihnihan revisited. Atlanta, GA. (Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas, January 2–5).
- Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (hbk); .
- Nevin, Bruce E. (1991). "Obsolescence in Achumawi: Why Uldall Too?". Papers from the American Indian Languages Conferences, held at the University of California, Santa Cruz, July and August 1991. Occasional Papers on Linguistics 16:97–127. Department of Linguistics, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
- Nevin, Bruce E. (1998). Aspects of Pit River phonology. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pennsylvania.
- 10.1086/464275 . Olmsted . David L. . 1954 . Achumawi–Atsugewi non-reciprocal intelligibility . International Journal of American Linguistics . 20 . 3. 181–184 . 144619581 .
- 10.2307/410654 . Olmsted . David L. . 1956 . Palaihnihan and Shasta I: Labial stops . 410654. Language . 32 . 1. 73–77 .
- 10.2307/410725 . Olmsted . David L. . 1957 . Palaihnihan and Shasta II: Apical stops . 410725. Language . 33 . 2. 136–138 .
- 10.2307/410603 . Olmsted . David L. . 1959 . Palaihnihan and Shasta III: Dorsal stops . 410603. Language . 35 . 4. 637–644 .
- Olmsted, David L. (1958). Atsugewi Phonology, International Journal of American Linguistics, Vol. 24, No. 3, Franz Boas Centennial, Volume (Jul., 1958), pp. 215–220.
- Olmsted, David L. (1964). A history of Palaihnihan phonology. University of California publications in linguistics (Vol. 35). Berkeley: University of California Press.
