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Kawaiisu
Kawaiisu
Nɨwɨ'abigidɨ, Nɨwɨ'abigipɨ
Pronunciation	[nɨwɨʔabiɣidɨ], [nɨwɨʔabiɣipɨ]
Native to	United States
Region	California
Ethnicity	150 Kawaiisu (2005)
Native speakers	5 (2005)
Language family	Uto-Aztecan Numic Southern Numic Kawaiisu; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	xaw
Glottolog	kawa1283
ELP	Kawaiisu
	Kawaiisu
	Kawaiisu is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
	This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

The Kawaiisu language^[2] is a Uto-Aztecan language spoken by the Kawaiisu people of California.

Classification

Kawaiisu is a member of the Southern Numic division of the Uto-Aztecan language family.

Linguistic environment

The Kawaiisu homeland was bordered by speakers of non-Numic Uto-Aztecan languages: the Kitanemuk to the south spoke Takic, the Tubatulabal to the north spoke Tubatulabal, the Yokuts to the west were non-Uto-Aztecan. Because they shared the Southern Numic language, the Chemehuevi to the east are considered the closest relatives to Kawaiisu.

Geographic distribution

The remaining Kawaiisu speakers live in the Tehachapi area of California.

Revitalization

In 1994, the language was severely endangered, with perhaps fewer than 20 remaining speakers.^[3]^{[page needed]}

In 2011, The Kawaiisu Project received the Governor’s Historic Preservation Award for its efforts to document the Kaiwaiisu language and culture, including "the Handbook of the Kawaiisu, language teaching and the Kawaiisu Language and Cultural Center [and] the Kawaiisu exhibit at the Tehachapi Museum."^[4]^[5] As of 2012^[update], the Kawaiisu Language and Cultural Center offers language classes and DVDs for home learning, as well as training for other groups seeking to create language learning programs and materials.

Morphology

Kawaiisu is an agglutinative language, in which words use suffix complexes for a variety of purposes with several morphemes strung together.

Phonology

Vowels

Kawaiisu has a typical Numic vowel inventory of six vowels.

	front	back
	front	unrounded	rounded
High	i	ɨ	u
Non-High	e	a	o

Consonants

Kawaiisu has an atypical Numic consonant inventory in that many of the predictable consonant alternations in other Numic languages are no longer predictable in Kawaiisu. The Kawaiisu consonant inventory, therefore is much larger than the typical Numic language.

		Bilabial	Coronal	Palatal	Velar		Glottal
		Bilabial	Coronal	Palatal	plain	lab.	Glottal
Nasal		m	n		(ŋ)*
Plosive	voiceless	p	t		k	kʷ	ʔ
Plosive	voiced	b	d
Affricate			ts	tʃ
Fricative	voiceless		s	ʃ			h / hʷ
Fricative	voiced	β	z	ʒ	ɣ	ɣʷ
Approximant			(l)*	j		w
Flap			ɾ

/l/ and /ŋ/ are found only in loanwords.

References

Footnotes

^ ^a ^b Kawaiisu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ Zigmond, Maurice L.; Booth, Curtis G.; Munro, Pamela (1991). Munro, Pamela (ed.). Kawaiisu, A Grammar and Dictionary with Texts. University of California Publications in Linguistics. Vol. 119. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520097476. OCLC 22184454.
^ Hinton, Leanne (1994). Flutes of Fire: Essays on California Indian Languages. Heyday Books.
^ Hammond, Jon (November 29, 2011). "Kawaiisu Project receives Governor's Historic Preservation Award". TehachapiNews.com. Archived from the original on October 4, 2013. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
^ Hammond, Jon (April 6, 2010). "The original Tehachapi language: new grant funds new grant funds two-year Nüwa (Kawaiisu) project". TehachapiNews.com. Archived from the original on October 4, 2013. Retrieved August 26, 2012.