Hupa language

Hupa
Na:tinixwe Mixine:whe'
Native to	USA
Region	California (Hoopa Valley)
Ethnicity	2,000 Hupa (2007)
Native speakers	1 fully fluent (2012)
Revival	L2 users: 30.
Language family	Dené–Yeniseian? Na-Dené Athabaskan–Eyak Athabaskan Pacific Coast Athabaskan Hupa
Language codes
ISO 639-2	hup
ISO 639-3	hup
Glottolog	hupa1239

Hupa (native name: Na:tinixwe Mixine:whe', lit. "language of the Hoopa Valley people") is an Athabaskan language (of Na-Dené stock) spoken along the lower course of the Trinity river in Northwest California by the Hupa (Na:tinixwe), and before European contact by the Chilula and Whilkut peoples to the west.

Speakers

The 2000 US Census estimated the language to be spoken by 64 persons between the ages of 5 and 17, including 4 monolingual speakers. As of 2012, there are fewer than 10 individuals whose Hupa could be called fluent, at least one of whom (Verdena Parker) is a fully fluent bilingual. Perhaps another 50 individuals of all ages have restricted control of traditional Hupa phonology, grammar and lexicon. Beyond this, many tribal members share a small vocabulary of words and phrases of Hupa origin.

Orthography

The Hupa alphabet is as follows:

a, a:, b, ch, chʼ, chw, chwʼ, d, dz, e, e:, g, gy, h, i, j, k, kʼ, ky, kyʼ, l, ł, m, n, ng, o, o:, q, qʼ, s, sh, t, tʼ, tł, tłʼ, ts, tsʼ, u, w, wh, x, xw, y, ʻ

Phonology

Hupa consonants

		Labial	Alveolar		Palatal		Velar		Uvular	Glottal
			central	lateral	plain	labial.	plain	labial.		plain	labial.
Nasal		m	n				ŋ
Stop	plain	(p)	t		kʲ		(k)		q	ʔ
	aspirated		tʰ		kʲʰ		kʰ
	ejective		tʼ		kʲʼ		(kʼ)		qʼ
Affricate	plain		ts		tʃ
	aspirated		tsʰ			tʃʷʰ
	ejective		tsʼ	tɬʼ	tʃʼ	(tʃʷʼ)
Fricative			s	ɬ	(ʃ)		x	xʷ		h	hʷ
Approximant		w		l	j

Hupa vowel phonemes

	Front	Central	Back
Close-mid	ɪ~e		o
Open		a

Vowels may be lengthened.

Morphology

Verb themes and classes

As with other Dene languages, the Hupa verb is based around a theme. Melissa Axelrod has defined a theme as “the underlying skeleton of the verb to which prefixes or strings of prefixes or suffixal elements are added in producing an utterance. The theme itself has a meaning and is the basic unit of the Athabaskan verbal lexicon.” In addition to a verb stem, a typical theme consists of a classifier, one or more conjunct prefixes, and one or more disjunct prefixes.

According to Victor Golla (1970, 2001 and others), each Hupa theme falls into one of eight structural classes according to its potential for inflection, along the following three parameters: active vs. neuter, transitive vs. intransitive, and personal vs. impersonal. Golla (2001: 817)

1. Active themes are inflected for aspect-mode categories, while neuter themes are not. 2. Transitive themes are inflected for direct object, while intransitive themes are not. 3. Personal themes are inflected for subject, while impersonal themes are not.

Golla (2001: 818) presents examples of themes from each of the eight structural classes. Orthography has been changed to conform to the current accepted tribal orthography:

Active themes: Transitive Personal O-ƚ-me:n ‘fill O’ Impersonal no:=O-d-(n)-ƚ-tan' ‘O gets used to something’

Intransitive Personal ts’i-(w)-la‧n/lan' ‘play (at a rough sport)’ Impersonal (s)-daw ‘melt away disappear’

Neuter themes: Transitive Personal O-si-ƚ-'a:n ‘have (a round object) lying’ Impersonal O-wi-l-chwe:n ‘O has been made, created’

Intransitive Personal di-n-ch'a:t ‘ache, be sick’ Impersonal k̓i-qots' ‘there is a crackling sound’

Verb template

As with other Dene languages, the Hupa verb is composed of a verb stem and a set of prefixes. The prefixes can be divided into a conjunct prefix set and disjunct prefix set. The disjunct prefixes occur on the outer left edge of the verb. The conjunct prefixes occur after the disjunct prefixes, closer to the verb stem. The two types of prefixes can be distinguished by their different phonological behavior. The prefix complex may be subdivided into 10 positions, modeled in the Athabaskanist literature as a template, as follows:

11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1	0
adv	thematic material	pl/aug- thematic	3 subj	obj	thematic material	adv	distributive- thematic	mode- aspect	1/2 subj	classifier (voice/valency marker)	verb stem

Pronouns, pronominal inflection

Hupa verbs have pronominal (i.e., pronoun) prefixes that mark both subjects and objects. The prefixes can vary in certain modes, particularly the perfective mode (See e.g., Mode and Aspect for a discussion of modes in Navajo, a related Dene language). The prefixes vary according to person and number. The basic subject prefixes are listed in the table below:

Person/Number	Subject Prefixes		Object Prefixes
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
First (1)	-wh-	-di-	-wh-	-noh-
Second (2)	ni-	-oh-	ni-
Third animate (3)	-ch'i-		xo-
Third obviative (3)	yi-		-Ø-
Third indefinite (3)	k'i-		-Ø-
Third impersonal (areal-situational)	-xo-		-Ø-
Reflexive	–		'a:di-
Reciprocal	–		n- łi

The subject prefixes occur in two different positions. The first and second subject prefixes (-wh- (or allomorph -e: ), -di-, -ni-, -oh-) occur in position 2, directly before the classifier (voice/valency) prefixes. The animate, obviative, indefinite and "areal-situational" subject prefixes (ch'i-, yi-, k'i- and xo-) are known as "deictic subject pronouns" and occur in position 8.

The direct object prefixes occur in position 7.

The Hupa free personal subject pronouns are as follows:

Person+Number	form
1sg	whe:
2sg	ning
3sg	xong, min (low animacy)
1pl	nehe
2pl	nohni
3pl	xong

Golla (2001:865-6) notes that the 3rd person free pronouns are very rarely used, with demonstrative pronouns being used in their place.

Demonstrative pronouns

-hay(i)  <  hay-i  ‘the one (who)’
-hay-de:  <  hay-de:-i  ‘the one here’  (de: ‘here’)
-hay-de:d  <  hay-de:-d-i  ‘this one here’  (de:-di ‘this here’)
-hay-yo:w  <  hay-yo:w-i  ‘the one there (close)’  (yo:wi ‘there’)
-hay-ye:w  <  hay-ye:w-i  ‘the one in the distance’  (ye:wi ‘yonder’)

External links

• Danny Ammon's Hupa Language Page
• Hupa language overview at the Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
• Hupa Language Dictionary and Texts
• Hupa basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
• OLAC resources in and about the Hupa language